10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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290 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
291 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
294 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
295 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
296 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
297 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
298 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
299 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
300 License'' in the Emacs manual.
302 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
303 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
304 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
306 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
307 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
308 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
309 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
317 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
319 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
320 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
322 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
323 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
324 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
325 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
326 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
327 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
328 License'' in the Emacs manual.
330 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
331 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
332 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
334 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
335 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
336 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
337 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
345 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
348 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
349 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
350 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
352 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
353 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
354 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
355 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
356 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
357 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
358 License'' in the Emacs manual.
360 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
361 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
362 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
364 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
365 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
366 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
367 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
376 @top The Gnus Newsreader
380 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
381 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
382 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
385 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.07.
396 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
397 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
399 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
400 being accused of plagiarism:
402 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
403 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
404 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
405 can even read news with it!
407 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
408 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
409 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
410 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
411 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
417 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
418 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
419 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
420 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
421 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
422 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
423 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
424 * Various:: General purpose settings.
425 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
426 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
427 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
428 * Key Index:: Key Index.
431 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
435 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
436 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
437 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
438 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
439 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
440 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
441 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
442 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
443 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
444 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
445 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
449 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
450 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
451 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
455 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
456 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
457 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
458 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
459 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
460 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
461 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
462 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
463 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
464 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
465 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
466 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
467 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
468 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
469 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
470 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
471 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
475 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
476 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
477 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
481 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
482 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
483 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
484 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
485 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
489 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
490 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
491 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
492 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
493 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
497 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
498 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
499 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
500 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
501 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
502 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
503 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
504 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
505 * Threading:: How threads are made.
506 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
507 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
508 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
509 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
510 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
511 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
512 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
513 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
514 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
515 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
516 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
517 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
518 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
519 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
520 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
521 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
522 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
523 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
524 or reselecting the current group.
525 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
526 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
527 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
528 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
530 Summary Buffer Format
532 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
533 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
534 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
535 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
539 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
540 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
542 Reply, Followup and Post
544 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
545 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
546 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
547 * Canceling and Superseding::
551 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
552 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
553 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
555 * Generic Marking Commands::
556 * Setting Process Marks::
560 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
561 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
562 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
566 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
567 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
569 Customizing Threading
571 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
572 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
573 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
574 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
578 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
579 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
580 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
581 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
582 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
583 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
587 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
588 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
589 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
593 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
594 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
595 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
596 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
597 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
598 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
599 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
600 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
601 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
602 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
604 Alternative Approaches
606 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
607 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
609 Various Summary Stuff
611 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
612 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
613 * Summary Generation Commands::
614 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
618 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
619 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
620 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
621 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
622 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
626 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
627 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
628 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
629 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
630 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
631 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
632 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
633 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
637 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
638 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
639 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
640 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
641 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
642 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
643 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
644 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
648 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
649 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
650 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
651 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
652 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
653 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
654 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
658 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
659 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
663 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
664 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
665 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
669 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
670 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
671 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
672 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
673 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
674 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
675 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
676 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
677 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
678 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
679 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
680 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
681 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
685 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
686 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
687 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
689 Choosing a Mail Back End
691 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
692 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
693 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
694 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
695 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
696 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
701 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
702 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
703 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
704 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
705 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
706 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
710 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
711 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
712 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
713 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
717 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
718 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
719 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
720 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
721 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
725 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
729 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
730 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
731 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
735 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
736 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
740 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
741 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
742 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
743 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
744 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
745 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
746 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
747 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
748 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
749 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
750 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
754 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
755 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
756 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
760 * Group Agent Commands::
761 * Summary Agent Commands::
762 * Server Agent Commands::
766 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
767 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
768 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
769 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
770 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
771 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
772 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
773 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
774 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
775 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
776 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
777 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
778 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
779 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
780 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
781 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
782 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
786 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
787 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
788 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
789 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
793 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
794 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
795 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
799 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
800 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
801 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
802 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
803 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
804 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
805 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
806 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
807 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
808 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
809 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
810 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
811 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
812 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
813 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
814 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
815 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
816 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
817 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
821 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
822 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
823 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
824 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
825 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
826 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
827 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
828 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
832 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
833 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
834 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
835 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
836 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
840 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
841 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
842 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
843 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
844 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
848 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
849 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
850 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
854 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
855 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
856 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
857 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
858 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
859 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
860 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
861 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
862 * Frequently Asked Questions::
866 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
867 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
868 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
869 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
870 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
871 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
872 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
873 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
874 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
878 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
879 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
880 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
881 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
882 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
886 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
887 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
888 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
889 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
893 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
894 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
895 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
896 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
897 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
898 * Group Info:: The group info format.
899 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
900 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
901 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
905 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
906 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
907 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
908 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
909 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
910 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
914 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
915 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
919 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
920 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
926 @chapter Starting Gnus
931 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
932 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
935 @findex gnus-other-frame
936 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
937 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
938 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
940 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
941 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
942 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
944 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
945 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
948 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
949 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
950 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
951 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
952 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
953 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
954 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
955 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
956 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
957 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
958 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
962 @node Finding the News
963 @section Finding the News
966 @vindex gnus-select-method
968 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
969 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
970 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
971 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
974 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
975 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
978 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
981 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
984 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
987 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
988 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
989 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
991 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
993 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
994 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
995 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
996 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
997 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
998 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1000 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1001 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1002 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1003 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1005 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1006 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1007 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1008 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1009 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1010 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1011 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1012 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1013 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1016 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1018 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1019 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1020 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1021 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1022 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1023 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1025 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1027 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1028 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1029 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1030 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1031 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1032 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1035 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1036 you would typically set this variable to
1039 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1043 @node The First Time
1044 @section The First Time
1045 @cindex first time usage
1047 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1048 be subscribed by default.
1050 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1051 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1052 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1053 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1056 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1057 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1058 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1060 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1061 help you with most common problems.
1063 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1064 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1068 @node The Server is Down
1069 @section The Server is Down
1070 @cindex server errors
1072 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1073 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1074 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1076 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1077 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1078 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1079 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1080 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1081 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1082 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1084 @findex gnus-no-server
1085 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1087 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1088 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1089 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1090 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1091 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1092 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1093 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1097 @section Slave Gnusae
1100 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1101 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1102 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1103 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1105 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1106 @code{.newsrc} file.
1108 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1109 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1110 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1111 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1112 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1113 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1114 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1116 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1117 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1118 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1119 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1120 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1121 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1122 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1123 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1125 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1126 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1128 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1129 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1130 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1131 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1132 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1134 @node Fetching a Group
1135 @section Fetching a Group
1136 @cindex fetching a group
1138 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1139 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1140 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1141 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1142 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1143 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1149 @cindex subscription
1151 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1152 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1153 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1154 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1155 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1156 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1157 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1158 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1159 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1162 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1163 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1164 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1168 @node Checking New Groups
1169 @subsection Checking New Groups
1171 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1172 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1173 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1174 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1175 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1176 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1177 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1178 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1179 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1180 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1182 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1183 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1184 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1185 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1186 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1187 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1188 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1189 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1190 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1191 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1192 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1194 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1195 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1196 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1197 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1198 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1199 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1202 @node Subscription Methods
1203 @subsection Subscription Methods
1205 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1206 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1207 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1209 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1210 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1212 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1216 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1217 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1218 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1219 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1220 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1222 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1223 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1224 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1225 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1227 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1228 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1229 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1231 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1232 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1233 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1234 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1235 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1236 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1237 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1238 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1239 up. Or something like that.
1241 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1242 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1243 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1244 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1245 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1247 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1248 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1249 Kill all new groups.
1251 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1252 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1253 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1254 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1255 topic parameter that looks like
1261 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1264 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1269 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1270 A closely related variable is
1271 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1272 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1273 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1274 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1277 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1278 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1279 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1280 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1283 @node Filtering New Groups
1284 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1286 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1287 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1288 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1291 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1294 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1295 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1296 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1297 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1298 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1299 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1300 subscribing these groups.
1301 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1302 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1304 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1305 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1306 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1307 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1308 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1309 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1310 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1311 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1313 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1314 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1315 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1316 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1317 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1318 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1319 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1320 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1321 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1322 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1325 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1326 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1329 @node Changing Servers
1330 @section Changing Servers
1331 @cindex changing servers
1333 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1334 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1335 very flaky and you want to use another.
1337 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1338 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1342 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1343 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1344 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1345 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1348 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1349 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1350 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1351 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1353 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1354 @findex gnus-change-server
1355 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1356 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1357 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1358 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1359 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1361 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1362 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1363 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1364 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1365 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1367 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1368 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1369 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1370 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1371 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1372 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1374 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1375 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1376 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1377 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1379 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1380 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1381 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1382 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1383 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1384 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1385 cache for all groups).
1389 @section Startup Files
1390 @cindex startup files
1395 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1396 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1398 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1399 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1400 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1401 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1402 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1403 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1404 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1406 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1407 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1408 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1409 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1410 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1411 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1413 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1414 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1415 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1416 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1417 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1418 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1419 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1420 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1421 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1422 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1424 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1425 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1426 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1427 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1428 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1429 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1430 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1431 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1432 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1433 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1434 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1435 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1437 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1438 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1439 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1440 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1442 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1443 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1444 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1445 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1446 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1447 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1448 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1449 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1450 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1451 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1454 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1455 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1457 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1458 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1461 @vindex gnus-init-file
1462 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1463 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1464 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1465 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1466 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1467 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1468 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1469 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1470 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1476 @cindex dribble file
1479 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1480 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1481 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1482 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1483 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1486 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1487 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1490 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1491 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1492 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1494 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1495 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1496 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1497 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1498 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1499 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1501 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1502 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1503 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1506 @node The Active File
1507 @section The Active File
1509 @cindex ignored groups
1511 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1512 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1513 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1515 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1516 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1517 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1518 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1519 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1520 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1521 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1524 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1525 @c if you set it to anything else.
1527 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1529 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1530 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1531 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1533 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1534 you actually subscribe to.
1536 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1537 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1538 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1539 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1541 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1542 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1543 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1544 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1545 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1546 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1548 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1549 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1550 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1553 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1554 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1555 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1556 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1557 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1558 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1560 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1561 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1563 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1564 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1566 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1567 secondary select methods.
1570 @node Startup Variables
1571 @section Startup Variables
1575 @item gnus-load-hook
1576 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1577 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1578 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1579 times you start Gnus.
1581 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1582 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1583 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1585 @item gnus-startup-hook
1586 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1587 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1589 @item gnus-started-hook
1590 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1591 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1594 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1595 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1596 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1597 generating the group buffer.
1599 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1600 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1601 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1602 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1603 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1604 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1605 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1606 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1608 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1609 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1610 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1611 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1612 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1613 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1615 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1616 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1617 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1619 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1620 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1621 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1623 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1624 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1625 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1626 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1632 @chapter Group Buffer
1633 @cindex group buffer
1635 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1637 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1638 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1639 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1640 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1641 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1642 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1643 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1644 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1645 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1646 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1647 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1648 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1649 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1650 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1651 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1652 @c human rights at 9...
1655 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1656 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1657 long as Gnus is active.
1661 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1662 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1663 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1664 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1665 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1666 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1667 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1668 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1674 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1675 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1676 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1677 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1678 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1679 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1680 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1681 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1682 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1683 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1684 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1685 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1686 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1687 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1688 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1689 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1690 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1694 @node Group Buffer Format
1695 @section Group Buffer Format
1698 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1699 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1700 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1704 @node Group Line Specification
1705 @subsection Group Line Specification
1706 @cindex group buffer format
1708 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1709 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1711 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1714 25: news.announce.newusers
1715 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1720 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1721 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1722 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1723 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1725 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1726 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1727 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1728 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1729 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1730 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1732 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1734 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1735 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1736 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1737 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1738 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1740 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1741 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1742 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1744 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1749 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1752 Whether the group is subscribed.
1755 Level of subscribedness.
1758 Number of unread articles.
1761 Number of dormant articles.
1764 Number of ticked articles.
1767 Number of read articles.
1770 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1771 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1773 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1774 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1775 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1776 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1777 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1778 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1779 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1780 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1783 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1786 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1795 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1796 comment element in the group parameters.
1799 Newsgroup description.
1802 @samp{m} if moderated.
1805 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1814 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1818 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1821 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1822 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1823 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1824 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1825 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1828 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1830 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1834 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1837 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1841 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1842 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1843 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1844 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1845 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1846 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1851 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1852 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1853 group, or a bogus native group.
1856 @node Group Modeline Specification
1857 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1858 @cindex group modeline
1860 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1861 The mode line can be changed by setting
1862 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1863 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1867 The native news server.
1869 The native select method.
1873 @node Group Highlighting
1874 @subsection Group Highlighting
1875 @cindex highlighting
1876 @cindex group highlighting
1878 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1879 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1880 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1881 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1882 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1884 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1888 (cond (window-system
1889 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1890 (defface my-group-face-1
1891 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1892 (defface my-group-face-2
1893 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1894 (defface my-group-face-3
1895 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1896 (defface my-group-face-4
1897 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1898 (defface my-group-face-5
1899 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1901 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1902 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1903 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1904 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1905 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1906 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1909 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1911 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1918 The number of unread articles in the group.
1922 Whether the group is a mail group.
1924 The level of the group.
1926 The score of the group.
1928 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1930 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1931 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1933 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1934 topic being inserted.
1937 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1938 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1939 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1941 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1942 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1943 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1944 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1945 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1948 @node Group Maneuvering
1949 @section Group Maneuvering
1950 @cindex group movement
1952 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1953 expected, hopefully.
1959 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1960 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1961 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1967 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1968 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1969 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1973 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1974 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1978 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1979 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1983 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1984 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1985 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1989 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1990 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1991 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1994 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2000 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2001 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2002 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2007 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2008 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2009 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2013 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2014 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2015 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2018 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2019 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2020 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2021 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2025 @node Selecting a Group
2026 @section Selecting a Group
2027 @cindex group selection
2032 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2033 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2034 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2035 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2036 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2037 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2038 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2039 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2040 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2041 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2043 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2044 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2045 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2047 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2048 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2053 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2054 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2055 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2056 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2057 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2061 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2062 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2063 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2064 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2065 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2066 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2067 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2068 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2069 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2070 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2073 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2074 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2075 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2076 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2077 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2080 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2081 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2082 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2083 doing any processing of its contents
2084 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2085 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2086 manner will have no permanent effects.
2090 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2091 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2092 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2093 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2094 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2095 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2096 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2097 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2100 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2101 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2102 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2103 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2104 Which article this is is controlled by the
2105 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2111 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2114 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2117 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2119 @item unseen-or-unread
2120 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2121 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2125 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2129 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2130 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2132 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2133 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2134 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2135 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2139 @node Subscription Commands
2140 @section Subscription Commands
2141 @cindex subscription
2149 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2150 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2151 Toggle subscription to the current group
2152 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2158 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2159 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2160 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2161 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2167 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2168 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2169 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2175 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2176 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2179 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2180 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2181 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2182 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2183 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2189 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2190 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2194 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2195 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2198 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2199 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2200 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2201 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2202 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2203 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2204 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2205 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2206 @file{.newsrc} file.
2210 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2220 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2221 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2222 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2223 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2224 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2225 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2230 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2231 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2232 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2236 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2237 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2238 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2240 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2241 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2242 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2243 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2244 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2245 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2252 @section Group Levels
2256 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2257 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2258 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2259 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2260 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2262 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2268 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2269 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2270 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2271 prompted for a level.
2274 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2275 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2276 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2277 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2278 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2279 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2280 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2281 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2282 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2283 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2284 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2285 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2286 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2287 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2288 reasons of efficiency.
2290 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2291 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2293 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2294 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2295 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2296 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2297 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2298 groups are hidden, in a way.
2300 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2301 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2302 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2303 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2304 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2305 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2307 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2308 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2309 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2310 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2311 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2312 list of killed groups.)
2314 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2315 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2316 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2318 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2319 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2320 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2321 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2322 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2323 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2324 relevant valid ranges.
2326 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2327 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2328 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2329 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2330 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2331 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2334 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2335 one with the best level.
2337 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2338 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2339 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2342 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2343 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2344 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2345 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2348 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2349 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2350 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2351 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2353 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2354 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2355 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2356 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2357 to 5. The default is 6.
2361 @section Group Score
2366 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2367 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2368 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2371 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2372 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2373 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2374 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2375 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2376 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2377 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2378 least significant part.))
2380 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2381 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2382 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2383 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2384 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2385 action after each summary exit, you can add
2386 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2387 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2388 slow things down somewhat.
2391 @node Marking Groups
2392 @section Marking Groups
2393 @cindex marking groups
2395 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2396 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2397 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2398 bidding on those groups.
2400 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2401 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2402 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2410 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2411 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2417 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2418 Remove the mark from the current group
2419 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2423 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2424 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2428 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2429 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2433 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2434 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2438 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2439 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2440 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2443 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2445 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2446 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2447 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2448 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2449 the command to be executed.
2452 @node Foreign Groups
2453 @section Foreign Groups
2454 @cindex foreign groups
2456 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2457 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2458 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2459 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2466 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2467 @cindex making groups
2468 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2469 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2470 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2474 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2475 @cindex renaming groups
2476 Rename the current group to something else
2477 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2478 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2484 @findex gnus-group-customize
2485 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2489 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2490 @cindex renaming groups
2491 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2492 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2496 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2497 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2498 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2502 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2503 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2504 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2508 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2510 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2511 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2516 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2517 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2521 @cindex (ding) archive
2522 @cindex archive group
2523 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2524 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2525 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2526 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2527 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2528 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2529 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2533 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2535 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2536 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2537 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2538 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2542 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2544 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2545 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2546 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2550 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2551 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2553 Make a group based on some file or other
2554 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2555 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2556 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2557 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2558 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2559 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2560 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2561 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2562 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2566 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2567 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2568 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2569 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2573 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2577 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2578 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2579 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2580 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2581 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2582 @xref{Web Searches}.
2584 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2585 to a particular group by using a match string like
2586 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2589 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2590 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2591 This function will delete the current group
2592 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2593 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2594 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2595 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2596 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2600 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2601 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2602 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2606 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2607 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2608 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2611 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2614 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2615 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2616 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2617 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2618 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2619 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2623 @node Group Parameters
2624 @section Group Parameters
2625 @cindex group parameters
2627 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2628 Here's an example group parameter list:
2631 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2635 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2636 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2637 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2638 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2640 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2641 is an alist of regexps and values.
2643 The following group parameters can be used:
2648 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2651 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2654 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2655 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2656 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2657 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2658 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2660 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2661 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2662 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2663 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2664 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2665 list address instead.
2667 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2671 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2674 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2677 It is totally ignored
2678 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2679 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2681 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2682 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2683 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2684 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2685 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2687 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2688 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2689 sending the message.
2691 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2692 @cindex Mail List Groups
2693 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2694 entering summary buffer.
2696 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2701 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2702 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2703 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2704 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2705 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2706 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2708 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2709 directly uses this group parameter.
2713 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2714 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2715 of whether it has any unread articles.
2717 @item broken-reply-to
2718 @cindex broken-reply-to
2719 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2720 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2721 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2722 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2723 broken behavior. So there!
2727 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2728 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2732 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2733 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2734 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2739 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2740 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2741 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2742 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2743 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2744 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2745 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2746 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2747 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept artciles.
2751 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2752 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2753 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2755 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2758 @cindex total-expire
2759 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2760 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2761 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2762 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2765 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2769 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2770 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2771 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2772 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2773 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2774 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2777 @cindex score file group parameter
2778 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2779 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2780 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2783 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2784 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2785 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2786 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2789 @cindex admin-address
2790 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2791 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2792 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2793 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2797 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2798 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2802 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2805 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2806 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2809 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2813 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2815 Here are some examples:
2819 Display only unread articles.
2822 Display everything except expirable articles.
2824 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2825 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2829 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2830 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2831 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2832 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2833 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2837 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2838 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2839 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2843 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2844 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2845 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2849 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2850 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2851 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2853 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2855 @item ignored-charsets
2856 @cindex ignored-charset
2857 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2858 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2859 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2861 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2864 @cindex posting-style
2865 You can store additional posting style information for this group only
2866 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2867 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2868 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2869 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2871 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2872 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2873 like this in the group parameters:
2878 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2883 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2884 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2888 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2889 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2890 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2891 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2892 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2896 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2897 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2898 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2899 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2901 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2902 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2903 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2904 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2907 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2908 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2912 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2915 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2916 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2917 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2918 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2919 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2920 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2921 @code{eval}ed there.
2923 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2924 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2925 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2926 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2927 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2928 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2929 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2930 parameters for the group.
2933 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2934 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2935 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2936 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2937 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2941 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2942 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2943 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2944 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2945 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2947 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2948 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2952 (setq gnus-parameters
2954 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2955 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2956 (gnus-summary-line-format
2957 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2961 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2965 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2969 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2972 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2973 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2976 @node Listing Groups
2977 @section Listing Groups
2978 @cindex group listing
2980 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2988 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2989 List all groups that have unread articles
2990 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2991 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2992 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2993 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3000 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3001 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3002 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3003 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3004 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3005 unsubscribed groups).
3009 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3010 List all unread groups on a specific level
3011 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3012 with no unread articles.
3016 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3017 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3018 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3019 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3024 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3025 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3029 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3030 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3031 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3035 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3036 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3040 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3041 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3042 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3043 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3044 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3045 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3046 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3047 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3051 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3052 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3053 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3057 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3058 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3059 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3063 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3064 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3068 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3069 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3073 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3074 List groups limited within the current selection
3075 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3079 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3080 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3084 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3085 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3089 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3090 @cindex visible group parameter
3091 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3092 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3093 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3094 get the same effect.
3096 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3097 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3098 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3099 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3100 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3103 @node Sorting Groups
3104 @section Sorting Groups
3105 @cindex sorting groups
3107 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3108 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3109 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3110 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3111 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3112 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3117 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3118 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3119 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3121 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3122 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3123 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3125 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3126 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3127 Sort by group level.
3129 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3130 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3131 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3133 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3134 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3135 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3136 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3138 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3139 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3140 Sort by number of unread articles.
3142 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3143 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3144 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3146 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3147 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3148 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3153 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3154 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3158 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3159 some sorting criteria:
3163 @kindex G S a (Group)
3164 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3165 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3166 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3169 @kindex G S u (Group)
3170 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3171 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3172 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3175 @kindex G S l (Group)
3176 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3177 Sort the group buffer by group level
3178 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3181 @kindex G S v (Group)
3182 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3183 Sort the group buffer by group score
3184 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3187 @kindex G S r (Group)
3188 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3189 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3190 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3193 @kindex G S m (Group)
3194 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3195 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3196 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3200 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3201 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3203 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3204 commands will sort in reverse order.
3206 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3210 @kindex G P a (Group)
3211 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3212 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3213 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3216 @kindex G P u (Group)
3217 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3218 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3219 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3222 @kindex G P l (Group)
3223 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3224 Sort the groups by group level
3225 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3228 @kindex G P v (Group)
3229 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3230 Sort the groups by group score
3231 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3234 @kindex G P r (Group)
3235 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3236 Sort the groups by group rank
3237 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3240 @kindex G P m (Group)
3241 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3242 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3243 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3246 @kindex G P s (Group)
3247 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3248 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3252 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3256 @node Group Maintenance
3257 @section Group Maintenance
3258 @cindex bogus groups
3263 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3264 Find bogus groups and delete them
3265 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3269 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3270 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3271 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3272 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3273 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3277 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3278 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3279 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3280 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3281 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3282 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3285 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3286 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3287 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3288 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3293 @node Browse Foreign Server
3294 @section Browse Foreign Server
3295 @cindex foreign servers
3296 @cindex browsing servers
3301 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3302 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3303 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3304 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3307 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3308 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3309 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3310 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3312 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3317 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3318 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3322 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3323 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3326 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3327 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3328 Enter the current group and display the first article
3329 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3332 @kindex RET (Browse)
3333 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3334 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3338 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3339 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3340 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3346 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3347 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3351 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3352 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3356 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3357 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3358 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3363 @section Exiting Gnus
3364 @cindex exiting Gnus
3366 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3371 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3372 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3373 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3374 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3378 @findex gnus-group-exit
3379 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3380 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3384 @findex gnus-group-quit
3385 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3386 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3389 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3390 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3391 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3392 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3393 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3398 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3399 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3400 trying to customize meta-variables.
3405 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3406 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3407 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3413 @section Group Topics
3416 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3417 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3418 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3419 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3420 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3421 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3425 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3426 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3437 2: alt.religion.emacs
3440 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3442 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3443 13: comp.sources.unix
3446 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3448 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3449 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3450 is a toggling command.)
3452 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3453 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3454 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3455 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3458 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3459 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3460 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3463 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3467 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3468 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3469 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3470 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3471 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3475 @node Topic Commands
3476 @subsection Topic Commands
3477 @cindex topic commands
3479 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3480 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3481 definitions slightly.
3483 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3484 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3485 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3486 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3487 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3488 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3490 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3497 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3498 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3499 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3503 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3505 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3506 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3507 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3508 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3511 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3512 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3513 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3514 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3518 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3519 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3520 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3521 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3527 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3528 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3529 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3533 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3534 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3535 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3538 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3539 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3540 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3541 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3542 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3544 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3545 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3549 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3550 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3557 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3559 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3560 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3561 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3562 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3563 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3564 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3568 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3574 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3575 Move the current group to some other topic
3576 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3577 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3581 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3582 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3586 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3587 Copy the current group to some other topic
3588 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3589 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3593 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3594 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3595 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3599 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3600 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3601 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3605 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3606 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3607 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3608 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3609 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3610 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3611 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3614 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3615 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3619 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3620 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3621 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3625 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3626 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3627 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3631 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3632 Toggle hiding empty topics
3633 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3637 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3638 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3639 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3642 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3643 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3644 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3645 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3648 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3649 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3650 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3651 expiry process (if any)
3652 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3656 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3657 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3660 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3661 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3662 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3666 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3667 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3668 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3671 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3672 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3673 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3676 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3677 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3678 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3682 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3683 @cindex group parameters
3684 @cindex topic parameters
3686 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3687 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3692 @node Topic Variables
3693 @subsection Topic Variables
3694 @cindex topic variables
3696 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3697 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3699 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3700 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3701 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3714 Number of groups in the topic.
3716 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3718 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3721 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3722 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3723 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3726 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3727 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3729 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3730 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3731 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3735 @subsection Topic Sorting
3736 @cindex topic sorting
3738 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3744 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3745 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3746 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3747 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3750 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3751 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3752 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3753 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3756 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3757 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3758 Sort the current topic by group level
3759 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3762 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3763 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3764 Sort the current topic by group score
3765 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3768 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3769 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3770 Sort the current topic by group rank
3771 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3774 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3775 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3776 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3777 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3780 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3781 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3782 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3783 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3787 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3788 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3789 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3790 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3794 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3795 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3799 @node Topic Topology
3800 @subsection Topic Topology
3801 @cindex topic topology
3804 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3810 2: alt.religion.emacs
3813 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3815 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3816 13: comp.sources.unix
3819 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3820 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3821 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3826 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3827 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3831 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3832 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3833 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3834 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3835 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3836 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3838 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3839 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3840 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3843 @node Topic Parameters
3844 @subsection Topic Parameters
3845 @cindex topic parameters
3847 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3848 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3849 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3851 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3856 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3857 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3858 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3861 @item subscribe-level
3862 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3863 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3864 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3868 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3869 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3870 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3871 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3877 2: alt.religion.emacs
3881 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3883 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3884 13: comp.sources.unix
3888 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3889 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3890 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3891 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3892 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3893 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3895 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3896 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3897 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3898 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3899 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3901 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3902 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3903 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3904 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3905 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3906 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3907 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3908 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3911 @node Misc Group Stuff
3912 @section Misc Group Stuff
3915 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3916 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3917 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3918 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3919 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3926 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3927 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3928 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3932 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3933 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3934 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3935 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3936 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3937 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3938 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3942 @findex gnus-group-mail
3943 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3944 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3945 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3946 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3950 @findex gnus-group-news
3951 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3952 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3953 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3955 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3956 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3957 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3958 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3959 for this to work though.
3963 Variables for the group buffer:
3967 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3968 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3969 is called after the group buffer has been
3972 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
3973 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3974 is called after the group buffer is
3975 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
3978 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
3979 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
3980 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
3981 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
3983 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3984 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3985 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
3986 whether they are empty or not.
3988 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3989 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3990 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
3991 non-ASCII group names.
3995 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
3996 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
3999 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4000 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4001 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4002 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4003 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4004 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is nil.
4008 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4009 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4014 @node Scanning New Messages
4015 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4016 @cindex new messages
4017 @cindex scanning new news
4023 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4024 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4025 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4026 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4027 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4028 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4033 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4034 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4035 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4036 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4037 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4038 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4039 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4041 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4042 @cindex activating groups
4044 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4045 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4050 @findex gnus-group-restart
4051 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4052 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4053 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4057 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4058 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4060 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4061 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4065 @node Group Information
4066 @subsection Group Information
4067 @cindex group information
4068 @cindex information on groups
4075 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4076 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4079 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4080 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4081 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4082 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4083 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4084 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4085 for fetching the file.
4087 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4088 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4092 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4093 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4095 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4096 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4099 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4100 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4101 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4105 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4106 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4107 @cindex control message
4108 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4109 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4110 group if given a prefix argument.
4112 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-nil, Gnus
4113 will open the control messages in a browser using @code{browse-url}.
4114 Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp} and displayed in an
4117 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4118 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4119 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4123 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4125 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4126 @cindex describing groups
4127 @cindex group description
4128 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4129 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4130 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4134 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4135 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4136 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4143 @findex gnus-version
4144 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4148 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4149 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4152 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4155 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4156 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4160 @node Group Timestamp
4161 @subsection Group Timestamp
4163 @cindex group timestamps
4165 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4166 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4167 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4170 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4173 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4175 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4176 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4179 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4180 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4183 This will result in lines looking like:
4186 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4187 0: custom 19961002T012713
4190 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4191 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4195 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4196 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4199 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4200 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4204 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4205 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4206 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4207 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4209 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4215 @subsection File Commands
4216 @cindex file commands
4222 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4223 @vindex gnus-init-file
4224 @cindex reading init file
4225 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4226 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4230 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4231 @cindex saving .newsrc
4232 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4233 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4234 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4237 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4238 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4239 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4244 @node Sieve Commands
4245 @subsection Sieve Commands
4246 @cindex group sieve commands
4248 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4249 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4250 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4251 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4252 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4254 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4255 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4256 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4257 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4258 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4259 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4260 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4261 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4262 regenerate the Sieve script.
4264 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4265 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4266 is generated. If it is non-nil (the default) articles is placed in
4267 all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article is only
4268 placed in the group with the first matching rule. For example, the
4269 group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4270 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4271 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is nil. (When
4272 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-nil, it looks the same except that
4273 the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4276 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4277 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4282 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4288 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4289 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4290 @cindex generating sieve script
4291 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4292 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4296 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4297 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4298 @cindex updating sieve script
4299 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4300 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4301 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4306 @node Summary Buffer
4307 @chapter Summary Buffer
4308 @cindex summary buffer
4310 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4311 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4313 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4314 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4316 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4319 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4320 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4321 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4322 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4323 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4324 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4325 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4326 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4327 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4328 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4329 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4330 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4331 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4332 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4333 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4334 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4335 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4336 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4337 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4338 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4339 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4340 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4341 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4342 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4343 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4344 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4345 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4346 or reselecting the current group.
4347 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4348 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4349 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4350 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4354 @node Summary Buffer Format
4355 @section Summary Buffer Format
4356 @cindex summary buffer format
4360 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4361 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4362 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4368 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4369 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4370 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4371 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4374 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4375 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4376 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4377 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4378 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4379 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4380 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4381 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4382 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4383 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4384 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4387 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4388 'mail-extract-address-components)
4391 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4392 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4393 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4394 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4397 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4398 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4400 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4401 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4402 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4403 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4404 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4406 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4407 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4408 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4409 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4410 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4411 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4413 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4415 The following format specification characters and extended format
4416 specification(s) are understood:
4422 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4423 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4425 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4426 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4427 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4429 Full @code{From} header.
4431 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4433 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4436 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4437 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4438 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4439 may be more thorough.
4441 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4444 Number of lines in the article.
4446 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4447 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4449 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4450 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4452 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4454 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4457 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4458 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4460 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4461 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4463 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4464 for adopted articles.
4466 One space for each thread level.
4468 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4470 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4473 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4474 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4475 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4478 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4480 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4481 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4482 default level. If the difference between
4483 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4484 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4492 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4494 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4500 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4501 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4503 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4504 article has any children.
4510 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4511 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4513 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4514 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4515 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4516 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4517 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4518 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4521 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4522 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4523 There can only be one such area.
4525 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4526 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4527 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4528 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4529 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4530 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4532 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4533 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4535 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4538 @node To From Newsgroups
4539 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4543 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4544 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4545 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4546 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4547 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4551 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4552 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4553 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4557 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4558 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4561 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4562 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4565 @findex gnus-extra-header
4566 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4567 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4568 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4571 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4575 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4576 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4577 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4578 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4579 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4580 headers are used instead.
4584 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4585 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4586 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4587 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4588 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4589 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4591 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4592 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4593 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4594 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4596 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4600 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4602 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4603 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4604 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4605 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4609 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4612 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4613 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4616 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4617 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4618 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4624 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4625 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4628 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4629 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4631 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4632 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4633 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4634 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4636 Here are the elements you can play with:
4642 Unprefixed group name.
4644 Current article number.
4646 Current article score.
4650 Number of unread articles in this group.
4652 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4655 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4656 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4657 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4658 and no unselected ones.
4660 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4661 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4663 Subject of the current article.
4665 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4667 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4669 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4671 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4673 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4675 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4679 @node Summary Highlighting
4680 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4684 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4685 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4686 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4687 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4688 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4690 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4691 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4692 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4693 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4695 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4696 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4697 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4698 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4700 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4701 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4702 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4703 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4704 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4705 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4708 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4709 ((> score default) . bold))
4711 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4712 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4716 @node Summary Maneuvering
4717 @section Summary Maneuvering
4718 @cindex summary movement
4720 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4721 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4723 None of these commands select articles.
4728 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4729 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4730 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4731 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4732 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4736 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4737 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4738 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4739 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4740 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4743 @kindex G g (Summary)
4744 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4745 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4746 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4749 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4750 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4751 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4752 to the group buffer.
4754 Variables related to summary movement:
4758 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4759 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4760 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4761 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4762 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4763 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4764 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4765 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4766 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4767 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4768 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4769 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4770 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4771 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4773 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4774 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4775 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4776 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4777 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4778 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4779 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4781 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4783 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4784 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4785 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4786 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4787 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4789 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4790 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4791 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4792 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4793 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4794 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4795 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4796 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4799 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4800 the given number of lines from the top.
4805 @node Choosing Articles
4806 @section Choosing Articles
4807 @cindex selecting articles
4810 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4811 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4815 @node Choosing Commands
4816 @subsection Choosing Commands
4818 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4819 and they all select and display an article.
4821 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4822 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4826 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4827 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4828 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4829 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4834 @kindex G n (Summary)
4835 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4836 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4837 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4842 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4843 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4844 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4849 @kindex G N (Summary)
4850 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4851 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4856 @kindex G P (Summary)
4857 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4858 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4861 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4862 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4863 Go to the next article with the same subject
4864 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4867 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4868 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4869 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4870 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4874 @kindex G f (Summary)
4876 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4877 Go to the first unread article
4878 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4882 @kindex G b (Summary)
4884 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4885 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4886 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4887 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4892 @kindex G l (Summary)
4893 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4894 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4897 @kindex G o (Summary)
4898 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4900 @cindex article history
4901 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4902 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4903 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4904 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4905 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4906 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4911 @kindex G j (Summary)
4912 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4913 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4914 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4919 @node Choosing Variables
4920 @subsection Choosing Variables
4922 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
4925 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4926 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
4927 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
4928 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
4929 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
4930 the server and display it in the article buffer.
4932 @item gnus-select-article-hook
4933 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
4934 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
4935 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
4937 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
4938 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
4939 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
4940 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
4941 @findex gnus-unread-mark
4942 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
4943 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
4944 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
4945 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
4946 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
4947 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
4948 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
4949 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
4950 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
4955 @node Paging the Article
4956 @section Scrolling the Article
4957 @cindex article scrolling
4962 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4963 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4964 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
4965 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
4966 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4969 @kindex DEL (Summary)
4970 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
4971 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
4974 @kindex RET (Summary)
4975 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
4976 Scroll the current article one line forward
4977 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
4980 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
4981 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
4982 Scroll the current article one line backward
4983 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
4987 @kindex A g (Summary)
4989 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
4990 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
4991 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
4992 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
4993 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
4994 the way it came from the server.
4996 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
4997 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
4998 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5001 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5006 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5011 @kindex A < (Summary)
5012 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5013 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5014 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5019 @kindex A > (Summary)
5020 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5021 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5025 @kindex A s (Summary)
5027 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5028 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5029 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5033 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5034 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5039 @node Reply Followup and Post
5040 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5043 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5044 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5045 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5046 * Canceling and Superseding::
5050 @node Summary Mail Commands
5051 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5053 @cindex composing mail
5055 Commands for composing a mail message:
5061 @kindex S r (Summary)
5063 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5064 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5065 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5066 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5067 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5072 @kindex S R (Summary)
5073 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5074 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5075 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5076 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5077 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5080 @kindex S w (Summary)
5081 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5082 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5083 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5084 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5085 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5088 @kindex S W (Summary)
5089 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5090 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5091 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5092 the process/prefix convention.
5095 @kindex S v (Summary)
5096 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5097 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5098 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5099 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5100 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5101 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5104 @kindex S V (Summary)
5105 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5106 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5107 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5108 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5111 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5112 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5113 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5114 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5117 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5118 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5119 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5120 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5121 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5125 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5126 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5127 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5128 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5129 Forward the current article to some other person
5130 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5131 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5132 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5133 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5134 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5135 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5136 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5137 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5138 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime}
5144 @kindex S m (Summary)
5145 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5146 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5147 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5148 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5149 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5154 @kindex S i (Summary)
5155 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5156 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5157 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5158 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5160 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5161 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5162 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5163 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5164 for this to work though.
5167 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5168 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5169 @cindex bouncing mail
5170 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5171 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5172 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5173 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5174 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5175 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5176 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5177 very well fail, though.
5180 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5181 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5182 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5183 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5184 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5185 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5186 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5187 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5188 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5189 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5191 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5192 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5193 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5194 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5195 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5197 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5198 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5201 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5202 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5203 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5204 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5205 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5208 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5209 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5210 @cindex crossposting
5211 @cindex excessive crossposting
5212 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5213 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5215 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5216 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5217 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5218 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5219 command understands the process/prefix convention
5220 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5224 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5225 Manual}, for more information.
5228 @node Summary Post Commands
5229 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5231 @cindex composing news
5233 Commands for posting a news article:
5239 @kindex S p (Summary)
5240 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5241 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5242 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5243 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5244 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5249 @kindex S f (Summary)
5250 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5251 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5252 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5256 @kindex S F (Summary)
5258 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5259 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5260 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5261 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5262 process/prefix convention.
5265 @kindex S n (Summary)
5266 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5267 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5268 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5271 @kindex S N (Summary)
5272 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5273 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5274 message through mail and include the original message
5275 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5276 the process/prefix convention.
5279 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5280 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5281 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5282 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5283 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5284 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5285 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5286 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5287 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5288 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5289 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5290 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5291 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section.
5294 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5295 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5297 @cindex making digests
5298 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5299 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5300 process/prefix convention.
5303 @kindex S u (Summary)
5304 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5305 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5306 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5307 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5310 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5311 Manual}, for more information.
5314 @node Summary Message Commands
5315 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5319 @kindex S y (Summary)
5320 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5321 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5322 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5323 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5324 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5329 @node Canceling and Superseding
5330 @subsection Canceling Articles
5331 @cindex canceling articles
5332 @cindex superseding articles
5334 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5335 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5337 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5339 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5341 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5342 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5343 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5344 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5345 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5346 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5348 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5349 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5352 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5353 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5354 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5356 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5357 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5358 your original article.
5360 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5362 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5363 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5364 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5367 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5368 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5369 have posted almost the same article twice.
5371 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5372 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5373 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5374 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5375 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5376 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5377 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5378 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5379 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5380 canceled/superseded.
5382 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5384 @node Delayed Articles
5385 @section Delayed Articles
5386 @cindex delayed sending
5387 @cindex send delayed
5389 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5390 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5391 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5392 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5395 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5398 @findex gnus-delay-article
5399 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5400 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5401 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5402 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5406 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5407 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5408 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5409 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5412 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5413 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5414 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5417 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5418 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5419 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5420 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5421 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5422 that means a time tomorrow.
5425 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5426 couple of variables:
5429 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5430 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5431 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5432 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5434 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5435 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5436 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5437 formats described above.
5439 @item gnus-delay-group
5440 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5441 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5442 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5443 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5445 @item gnus-delay-header
5446 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5447 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5448 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5449 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5452 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5453 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5454 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5455 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5456 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5458 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5459 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5460 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5461 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5462 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5463 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5466 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5467 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5468 By default, this function installs the @kbd{C-c C-j} key binding in
5469 Message mode and @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5470 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts two optional arguments,
5471 @code{no-keymap} and @code{no-check}. If @code{no-keymap} is non-nil,
5472 the @kbd{C-c C-j} binding is not intalled. If @code{no-check} is
5473 non-nil, @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed.
5475 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to change the
5476 keymap but not to change @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. Presumably, you
5477 want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles. Just don't
5478 forget to set that up :-)
5482 @node Marking Articles
5483 @section Marking Articles
5484 @cindex article marking
5485 @cindex article ticking
5488 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5490 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5491 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5492 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5494 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5497 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5498 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5499 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5503 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5507 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5508 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5509 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5513 @node Unread Articles
5514 @subsection Unread Articles
5516 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5521 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5522 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5524 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5525 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5526 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5527 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5528 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5529 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5530 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5533 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5534 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5536 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5537 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5538 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5539 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5543 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5544 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5546 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5551 @subsection Read Articles
5552 @cindex expirable mark
5554 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5559 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5560 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5561 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5564 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5565 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5568 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5569 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5570 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5573 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5574 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5577 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5578 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5581 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5582 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5585 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5586 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5589 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5590 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5593 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5594 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5597 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5598 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5602 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5603 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5604 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5608 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5609 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5611 One more special mark, though:
5615 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5616 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5618 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5619 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5620 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5621 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5627 @subsection Other Marks
5628 @cindex process mark
5631 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5637 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5638 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5639 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5640 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5641 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5644 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5645 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5646 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5647 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5650 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5651 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5652 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5655 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5656 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5657 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5660 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5661 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5662 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5663 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5666 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5667 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5668 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5669 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5670 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5671 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5674 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5675 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5676 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5677 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5680 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5681 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5682 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5683 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5684 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5687 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5688 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5689 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5690 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5691 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5692 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5696 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5697 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5698 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5700 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5701 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5702 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5706 @subsection Setting Marks
5707 @cindex setting marks
5709 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5714 @kindex M c (Summary)
5715 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5716 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5717 @cindex mark as unread
5718 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5719 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5725 @kindex M t (Summary)
5726 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5727 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5728 @xref{Article Caching}.
5733 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5734 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5735 Mark the current article as dormant
5736 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5740 @kindex M d (Summary)
5742 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5743 Mark the current article as read
5744 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5748 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5749 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5750 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5755 @kindex M k (Summary)
5756 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5757 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5758 and then select the next unread article
5759 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5763 @kindex M K (Summary)
5764 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5765 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5766 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5767 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5770 @kindex M C (Summary)
5771 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5772 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5773 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5776 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5777 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5778 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5779 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5782 @kindex M H (Summary)
5783 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5784 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5785 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5788 @kindex M h (Summary)
5789 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5790 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5791 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5794 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5795 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5796 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5797 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5800 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5801 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5802 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5803 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5807 @kindex M e (Summary)
5809 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5810 Mark the current article as expirable
5811 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5814 @kindex M b (Summary)
5815 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5816 Set a bookmark in the current article
5817 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5820 @kindex M B (Summary)
5821 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5822 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5823 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5826 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5827 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5828 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5829 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5832 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5833 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5834 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5835 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5838 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5839 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5840 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5841 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5842 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5845 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5846 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5847 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5848 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5849 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5850 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5851 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5852 The default is @code{t}.
5855 @node Generic Marking Commands
5856 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5858 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5859 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5860 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5861 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5862 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5865 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5866 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5869 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5870 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5871 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5872 to list in this manual.
5874 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5875 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5876 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5877 article, you could say something like:
5880 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5881 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5882 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5888 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5889 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5893 @node Setting Process Marks
5894 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5895 @cindex setting process marks
5902 @kindex M P p (Summary)
5903 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
5904 Mark the current article with the process mark
5905 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
5906 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
5910 @kindex M P u (Summary)
5911 @kindex M-# (Summary)
5912 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
5913 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
5916 @kindex M P U (Summary)
5917 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
5918 Remove the process mark from all articles
5919 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
5922 @kindex M P i (Summary)
5923 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
5924 Invert the list of process marked articles
5925 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
5928 @kindex M P R (Summary)
5929 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
5930 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5931 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
5934 @kindex M P G (Summary)
5935 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
5936 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
5937 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
5940 @kindex M P r (Summary)
5941 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
5942 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
5946 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
5947 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
5950 @kindex M P t (Summary)
5951 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
5952 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5953 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
5956 @kindex M P T (Summary)
5957 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
5958 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
5959 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
5962 @kindex M P v (Summary)
5963 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
5964 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
5965 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
5968 @kindex M P s (Summary)
5969 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
5970 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5973 @kindex M P S (Summary)
5974 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
5975 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
5976 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
5979 @kindex M P a (Summary)
5980 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
5981 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
5984 @kindex M P b (Summary)
5985 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
5986 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
5987 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
5990 @kindex M P k (Summary)
5991 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
5992 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
5993 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
5996 @kindex M P y (Summary)
5997 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
5998 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
5999 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6002 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6003 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6004 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6005 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6009 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6010 set process marks based on article body contents.
6017 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6018 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6019 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6022 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6023 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6024 additional articles.
6030 @kindex / / (Summary)
6031 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6032 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6033 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6037 @kindex / a (Summary)
6038 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6039 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6040 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6044 @kindex / x (Summary)
6045 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6046 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6047 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6048 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6053 @kindex / u (Summary)
6055 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6056 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6057 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6058 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6059 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6062 @kindex / m (Summary)
6063 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6064 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6065 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6068 @kindex / t (Summary)
6069 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6070 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6071 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6072 articles younger than that number of days.
6075 @kindex / n (Summary)
6076 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6077 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6078 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6079 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6082 @kindex / w (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6084 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6085 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6089 @kindex / . (Summary)
6090 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6091 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6092 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6095 @kindex / v (Summary)
6096 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6097 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6098 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6101 @kindex / p (Summary)
6102 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6103 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6104 group parameter predicate
6105 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6106 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6110 @kindex M S (Summary)
6111 @kindex / E (Summary)
6112 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6113 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6114 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6117 @kindex / D (Summary)
6118 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6119 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6120 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6123 @kindex / * (Summary)
6124 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6125 Include all cached articles in the limit
6126 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6129 @kindex / d (Summary)
6130 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6131 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6132 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6135 @kindex / M (Summary)
6136 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6137 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6140 @kindex / T (Summary)
6141 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6142 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6145 @kindex / c (Summary)
6146 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6147 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6148 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6151 @kindex / C (Summary)
6152 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6153 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6154 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6155 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6158 @kindex / N (Summary)
6159 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6160 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6161 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6164 @kindex / o (Summary)
6165 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6166 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6167 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6175 @cindex article threading
6177 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6178 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6179 hierarchical fashion.
6181 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6182 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6183 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6184 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6185 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6186 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6187 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6189 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6193 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6196 A tree-like article structure.
6199 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6202 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6203 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6204 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6205 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6206 called loose threads.
6208 @item thread gathering
6209 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6211 @item sparse threads
6212 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6213 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6219 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6220 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6224 @node Customizing Threading
6225 @subsection Customizing Threading
6226 @cindex customizing threading
6229 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6230 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6231 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6232 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6237 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6240 @cindex loose threads
6243 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6244 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6245 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6246 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6247 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6248 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6250 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6251 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6252 There are four possible values:
6256 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6257 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6258 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6259 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6260 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6265 @cindex adopting articles
6270 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6271 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6272 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6273 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6276 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6277 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6278 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6279 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6280 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6281 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6282 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6285 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6286 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6287 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6291 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6292 display them after one another.
6295 Don't gather loose threads.
6298 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6299 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6300 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6301 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6302 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6303 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6304 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6305 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6306 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6307 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6308 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6310 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6311 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6312 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6315 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6316 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6317 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6318 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6319 simplification is used.
6321 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6322 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6323 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6324 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6326 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6328 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6334 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6335 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6336 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6337 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6342 (mapconcat 'identity
6343 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6345 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6348 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6351 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6352 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6353 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6354 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6355 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6356 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6358 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6361 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6362 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6363 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6365 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6366 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6369 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6370 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6371 Remove excessive whitespace.
6373 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6374 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6375 Remove all whitespace.
6378 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6381 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6382 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6383 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6384 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6385 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6386 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6387 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6388 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6390 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6391 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6392 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6393 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6394 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6395 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6396 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6397 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6398 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6402 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6403 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6404 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6405 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6407 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6408 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6409 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6412 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6416 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6417 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6423 @node Filling In Threads
6424 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6427 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6428 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6429 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6430 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6431 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6432 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6433 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6434 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6435 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6436 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6437 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6438 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6441 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6442 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6443 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6445 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6446 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6447 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6448 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6449 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6450 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6451 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6452 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6453 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6454 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6455 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6456 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6457 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6458 @code{nil} by default.
6460 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6461 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6462 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6463 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6464 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6465 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6466 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6468 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6469 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6470 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6475 @node More Threading
6476 @subsubsection More Threading
6479 @item gnus-show-threads
6480 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6481 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6482 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6483 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6484 slower and more awkward.
6486 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6487 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6488 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6491 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6492 Avaliable predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6493 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6498 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6499 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6500 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6503 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6504 unread, but you get my drift.)
6507 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6508 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6509 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6510 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6511 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6512 threads are expunged.
6514 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6515 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6516 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6519 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6520 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6521 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6522 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6523 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6524 result in a new thread.
6526 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6527 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6528 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6531 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6532 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6533 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6534 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6535 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6536 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6537 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6538 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6539 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6540 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6541 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6546 @node Low-Level Threading
6547 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6551 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6552 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6553 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6555 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6556 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6557 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6558 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6559 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6560 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6561 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6562 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6563 meaningful. Here's one example:
6566 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6568 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6569 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6571 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6573 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6580 @node Thread Commands
6581 @subsection Thread Commands
6582 @cindex thread commands
6588 @kindex T k (Summary)
6589 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6590 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6591 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6592 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6593 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6598 @kindex T l (Summary)
6599 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6600 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6601 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6602 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6605 @kindex T i (Summary)
6606 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6607 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6608 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6611 @kindex T # (Summary)
6612 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6613 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6614 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6617 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6618 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6619 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6620 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6623 @kindex T T (Summary)
6624 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6625 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6628 @kindex T s (Summary)
6629 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6630 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6631 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6634 @kindex T h (Summary)
6635 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6636 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6639 @kindex T S (Summary)
6640 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6641 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6644 @kindex T H (Summary)
6645 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6646 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6649 @kindex T t (Summary)
6650 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6651 Re-thread the current article's thread
6652 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6653 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6656 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6657 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6658 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6659 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6663 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6664 understand the numeric prefix.
6669 @kindex T n (Summary)
6671 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6673 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6674 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6675 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6678 @kindex T p (Summary)
6680 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6682 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6683 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6684 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6687 @kindex T d (Summary)
6688 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6689 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6692 @kindex T u (Summary)
6693 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6694 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6697 @kindex T o (Summary)
6698 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6699 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6702 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6703 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6704 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6705 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6706 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6707 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6708 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6709 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6710 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6711 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6712 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6713 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6717 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6718 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6720 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6721 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6722 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6723 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6724 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6725 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6726 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6727 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6728 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6729 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6730 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6731 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6732 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6734 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6735 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6736 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6737 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6738 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6739 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6740 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6741 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6743 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6744 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6745 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6747 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6748 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6749 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6750 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6751 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6752 ascending article order.
6754 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6755 by number, you could do something like:
6758 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6759 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6760 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6761 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6764 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6765 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6766 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6767 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6768 which the articles arrived.
6770 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6774 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6776 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6777 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6780 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6781 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6782 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6783 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6786 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6787 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6788 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6789 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6790 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6791 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6792 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6793 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6794 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6795 variable. It is very similar to the
6796 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6797 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6798 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6799 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6800 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6801 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6802 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6804 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6808 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6809 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6810 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6815 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6816 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6817 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6818 @cindex article pre-fetch
6821 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6822 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6823 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6824 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6825 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6827 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6828 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6830 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6831 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6832 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6833 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6834 connection is blocked.
6836 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6837 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6838 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6839 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6841 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6842 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6843 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6844 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6847 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6850 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6851 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6852 happen automatically.
6854 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6855 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6856 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6857 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6858 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6859 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6860 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6862 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6863 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6864 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6865 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6866 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6867 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6868 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6869 data structure as the only parameter.
6871 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6874 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6875 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6876 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6877 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6880 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6883 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6884 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6885 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6887 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6888 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
6889 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
6890 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
6894 Remove articles when they are read.
6897 Remove articles when exiting the group.
6900 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
6902 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
6903 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
6904 @c from the next group.
6907 @node Article Caching
6908 @section Article Caching
6909 @cindex article caching
6912 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
6913 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
6914 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
6915 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
6916 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
6918 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
6920 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
6921 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
6922 @vindex gnus-use-cache
6923 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
6924 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
6925 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
6926 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
6927 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
6929 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
6930 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
6931 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
6932 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
6933 as dormant, and don't worry.
6935 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
6937 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
6938 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
6939 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
6940 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
6941 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
6942 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
6943 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
6944 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
6945 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
6946 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
6948 @findex gnus-jog-cache
6949 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
6950 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
6951 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
6952 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
6953 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
6954 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
6955 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
6956 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
6957 not then be downloaded by this command.
6959 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
6960 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
6961 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
6962 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
6963 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
6964 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
6966 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
6967 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
6968 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
6969 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
6970 variables, the group is not cached.
6972 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
6973 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
6974 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
6975 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
6976 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
6977 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
6978 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
6979 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
6980 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
6983 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
6984 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
6985 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
6986 where, isn't that cool?
6988 @node Persistent Articles
6989 @section Persistent Articles
6990 @cindex persistent articles
6992 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
6993 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
6994 useful in my opinion.
6996 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
6997 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
6998 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
6999 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7000 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7001 the expiry going on at the news server.
7003 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7004 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7005 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7011 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7012 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7015 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7016 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7017 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7018 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7022 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7024 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7025 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7026 interested in persistent articles:
7029 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7033 @node Article Backlog
7034 @section Article Backlog
7036 @cindex article backlog
7038 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7039 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7040 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7041 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7042 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7043 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7044 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7045 increase memory usage some.
7047 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7048 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7049 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7050 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7051 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7052 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7053 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7055 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
7058 @node Saving Articles
7059 @section Saving Articles
7060 @cindex saving articles
7062 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7063 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7064 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7065 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7066 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7068 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7069 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7070 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7072 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7073 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7074 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7076 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7077 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7078 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7079 deleted before saving.
7085 @kindex O o (Summary)
7087 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7088 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7089 Save the current article using the default article saver
7090 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7093 @kindex O m (Summary)
7094 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7095 Save the current article in mail format
7096 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7099 @kindex O r (Summary)
7100 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7101 Save the current article in rmail format
7102 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7105 @kindex O f (Summary)
7106 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7107 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7108 Save the current article in plain file format
7109 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7112 @kindex O F (Summary)
7113 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7114 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7115 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7118 @kindex O b (Summary)
7119 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7120 Save the current article body in plain file format
7121 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7124 @kindex O h (Summary)
7125 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7126 Save the current article in mh folder format
7127 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7130 @kindex O v (Summary)
7131 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7132 Save the current article in a VM folder
7133 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7137 @kindex O p (Summary)
7139 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7140 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7141 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7144 @kindex O P (Summary)
7145 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7146 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7147 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7148 external program Muttprint (see
7149 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7150 options to use is controlled by the variable
7151 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7155 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7156 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7157 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7158 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7159 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7160 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7161 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7162 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7163 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7164 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7165 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7166 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7170 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7171 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7172 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7173 functions below, or you can create your own.
7177 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7178 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7179 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7180 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7181 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7182 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7183 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7185 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7186 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7187 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7188 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7189 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7190 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7192 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7193 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7194 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7195 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7196 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7197 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7198 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7200 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7201 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7202 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7203 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7204 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7205 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7207 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7208 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7209 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7210 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7211 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7213 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7214 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7215 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7216 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7217 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7220 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7221 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7222 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7223 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7224 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7226 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7227 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7228 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7229 reader to use this setting.
7232 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7233 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7234 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7235 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7238 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7239 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7240 available functions that generate names:
7244 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7245 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7246 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7248 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7249 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7250 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7252 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7253 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7254 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7256 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7257 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7258 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7260 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7261 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7262 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7265 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7266 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7267 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7268 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7269 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7273 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7274 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7275 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7276 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7279 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7280 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7281 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7282 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7283 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7284 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7285 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7286 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7287 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7289 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7290 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7291 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7292 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7294 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7295 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7296 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7299 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7300 lots of mail groups called things like
7301 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7302 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7303 following will do just that:
7306 (defun my-save-name (group)
7307 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7308 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7310 (setq gnus-split-methods
7311 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7316 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7317 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7318 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7319 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7320 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7321 all the files in the top level directory
7322 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7323 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7324 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7325 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7327 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7328 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7329 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7330 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7331 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7334 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7338 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7339 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7340 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7343 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7344 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7345 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7346 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7349 @node Decoding Articles
7350 @section Decoding Articles
7351 @cindex decoding articles
7353 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7354 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7357 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7358 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7359 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7360 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7361 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7362 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7366 @cindex article series
7367 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7368 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7369 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7370 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7371 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7373 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7374 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7375 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7377 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7378 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7379 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7381 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7382 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7383 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7386 @node Uuencoded Articles
7387 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7389 @cindex uuencoded articles
7394 @kindex X u (Summary)
7395 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7396 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7397 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7400 @kindex X U (Summary)
7401 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7402 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7403 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7406 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7407 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7408 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7411 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7412 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7413 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7414 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7418 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7419 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7420 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7421 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7422 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7424 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7425 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7426 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7427 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7430 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7431 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7432 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7433 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7434 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7435 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7439 @node Shell Archives
7440 @subsection Shell Archives
7442 @cindex shell archives
7443 @cindex shared articles
7445 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7446 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7447 some commands to deal with these:
7452 @kindex X s (Summary)
7453 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7454 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7457 @kindex X S (Summary)
7458 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7459 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7462 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7463 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7464 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7467 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7468 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7469 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7470 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7474 @node PostScript Files
7475 @subsection PostScript Files
7481 @kindex X p (Summary)
7482 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7483 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7486 @kindex X P (Summary)
7487 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7488 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7489 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7492 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7493 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7494 View the current PostScript series
7495 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7498 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7499 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7500 View and save the current PostScript series
7501 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7506 @subsection Other Files
7510 @kindex X o (Summary)
7511 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7512 Save the current series
7513 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7516 @kindex X b (Summary)
7517 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7518 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7519 doesn't really work yet.
7523 @node Decoding Variables
7524 @subsection Decoding Variables
7526 Adjective, not verb.
7529 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7530 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7531 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7535 @node Rule Variables
7536 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7537 @cindex rule variables
7539 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7540 variables are of the form
7543 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7550 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7551 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7553 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7554 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7557 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7558 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7561 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7562 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7563 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7564 user and default view rules.
7566 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7567 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7568 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7573 @node Other Decode Variables
7574 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7577 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7579 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7580 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7581 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7582 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7583 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7587 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7588 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7591 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7592 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7593 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7596 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7597 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7598 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7599 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7600 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7603 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7604 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7605 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7607 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7608 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7609 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7610 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7611 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7614 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7615 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7616 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7618 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7619 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7620 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7621 looking for files to display.
7623 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7624 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7625 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7628 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7629 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7630 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7633 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7634 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7635 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7638 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7639 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7640 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7643 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7644 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7645 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7646 decoded articles as unread.
7648 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7649 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7650 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7651 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7653 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7654 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7655 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7657 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7658 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7660 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7661 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7662 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7663 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7665 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7666 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7667 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7668 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7669 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7670 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7671 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7672 simply dropped them.
7677 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7678 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7682 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7683 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7684 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7685 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7686 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7687 for you when you post the article.
7689 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7690 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7691 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7692 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7694 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7695 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7696 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7697 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7698 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7699 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7700 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7702 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7703 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7704 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7705 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7706 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7707 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7708 Default is @code{t}.
7714 @subsection Viewing Files
7715 @cindex viewing files
7716 @cindex pseudo-articles
7718 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7719 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7720 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7721 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7722 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7723 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7724 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7726 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7727 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7728 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7729 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7731 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7732 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7733 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7735 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7736 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7737 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7738 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7739 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7741 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7742 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7743 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7744 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7745 a list of parameters to that command.
7747 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7748 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7749 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7751 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7752 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7753 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7756 @node Article Treatment
7757 @section Article Treatment
7759 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7760 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7761 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7762 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7763 these articles easier.
7766 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7767 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7768 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7769 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7770 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7771 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7772 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7773 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7774 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7775 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7779 @node Article Highlighting
7780 @subsection Article Highlighting
7781 @cindex highlighting
7783 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7784 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7789 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7790 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7791 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7792 Do much highlighting of the current article
7793 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7794 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7797 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7798 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7799 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7800 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7801 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7802 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7803 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7804 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7805 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7806 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7807 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7808 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7811 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7812 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7813 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7815 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7818 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7820 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7821 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7822 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7824 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7825 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7826 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7828 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7829 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7830 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7831 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7832 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7833 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7835 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7836 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7837 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7839 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7840 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7841 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7843 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7844 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7845 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7846 that it's a citation.
7848 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7849 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7850 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7852 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7853 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7854 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7856 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7857 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7858 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7859 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7865 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7866 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7867 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7868 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7869 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7870 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7871 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7872 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7877 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7880 @node Article Fontisizing
7881 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7883 @cindex article emphasis
7885 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7886 @kindex W e (Summary)
7887 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
7888 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
7889 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
7890 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
7892 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
7893 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
7894 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
7895 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
7896 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
7897 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
7898 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
7899 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
7903 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
7904 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
7905 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
7914 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
7915 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
7916 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
7917 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
7918 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
7919 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
7920 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
7921 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
7922 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
7923 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
7924 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
7925 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
7926 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
7928 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
7929 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
7930 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
7934 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
7937 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
7939 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
7940 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
7941 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
7942 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
7944 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
7947 @node Article Hiding
7948 @subsection Article Hiding
7949 @cindex article hiding
7951 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
7952 too much cruft in most articles.
7957 @kindex W W a (Summary)
7958 @findex gnus-article-hide
7959 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
7960 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
7961 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
7964 @kindex W W h (Summary)
7965 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
7966 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
7970 @kindex W W b (Summary)
7971 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7972 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
7973 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
7976 @kindex W W s (Summary)
7977 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
7978 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
7982 @kindex W W l (Summary)
7983 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
7984 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7985 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
7986 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
7987 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
7988 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
7989 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
7993 @item gnus-list-identifiers
7994 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
7995 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
7996 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8001 @kindex W W p (Summary)
8002 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
8003 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8004 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
8005 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
8006 signature has been hidden. For example, to automatically verify
8007 articles that have signatures in them do:
8009 ;;; Hide pgp cruft if any.
8011 (setq gnus-treat-strip-pgp t)
8013 ;;; After hiding pgp, verify the message;
8014 ;;; only happens if pgp signature is found.
8016 (add-hook 'gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
8019 (set-buffer gnus-original-article-buffer)
8024 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8025 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8026 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8027 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8030 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8031 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8032 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8033 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8036 @cindex stripping advertisements
8037 @cindex advertisements
8038 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8039 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8040 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8041 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8042 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8043 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8044 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8045 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8046 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8047 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8050 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8051 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8052 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8056 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8057 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8058 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8059 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8060 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8061 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8062 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8063 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8064 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8065 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8066 following element to remove them:
8069 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8075 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8076 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8077 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8078 customizing the hiding:
8082 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8083 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8084 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8085 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8086 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8087 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8088 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8093 Starting point of the hidden text.
8095 Ending point of the hidden text.
8097 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8099 Number of lines of hidden text.
8102 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8103 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8104 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8105 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8106 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8111 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8112 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8114 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8115 following two variables:
8118 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8119 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8120 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8121 50), hide the cited text.
8123 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8124 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8125 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8130 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8131 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8132 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8133 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8134 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8135 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8139 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8140 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8141 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8143 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8144 citation customization.
8146 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8150 @node Article Washing
8151 @subsection Article Washing
8153 @cindex article washing
8155 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8156 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8158 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8159 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8162 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8163 articles by default.
8168 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8169 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8173 @kindex W l (Summary)
8174 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8175 Remove page breaks from the current article
8176 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8180 @kindex W r (Summary)
8181 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8182 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8183 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8184 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8185 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8186 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8188 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8189 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8190 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8191 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8195 @kindex W t (Summary)
8197 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8198 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8199 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8202 @kindex W v (Summary)
8203 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8204 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8205 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8208 @kindex W o (Summary)
8209 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8210 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8213 @kindex W d (Summary)
8214 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8215 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8217 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8219 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8220 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8221 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8222 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8225 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8226 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8227 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8228 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8231 @kindex W k (Summary)
8232 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8233 @cindex Outlook Express
8234 Deuglify broken Outlook (Express) articles and redisplay
8235 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8238 @kindex W w (Summary)
8239 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8240 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8242 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8246 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8247 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8248 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8251 @kindex W C (Summary)
8252 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8253 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8254 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8257 @kindex W c (Summary)
8258 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8259 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8260 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8261 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8262 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8265 @kindex W q (Summary)
8266 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8267 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8268 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
8269 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
8270 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
8271 readable to me. Note that this is usually done automatically by
8272 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
8273 header that says that this encoding has been done.
8274 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8277 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8278 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8279 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8280 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8281 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8282 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8283 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8285 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8288 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8289 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8290 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8291 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8292 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8295 @kindex W u (Summary)
8296 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8297 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8298 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8299 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8300 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8303 @kindex W h (Summary)
8304 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8305 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8306 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8307 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8309 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8311 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8312 The default is to use the function specified by
8313 @code{mm-inline-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Customization, , , emacs-mime})
8314 to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by the
8315 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8323 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8327 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8330 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8333 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8338 @kindex W b (Summary)
8339 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8340 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8341 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8344 @kindex W B (Summary)
8345 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8346 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8347 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8350 @kindex W p (Summary)
8351 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8352 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8353 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8354 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8355 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8356 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8357 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8360 @kindex W s (Summary)
8361 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8362 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8363 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8366 @kindex W a (Summary)
8367 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8368 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8369 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8372 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8373 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8374 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8375 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8378 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8379 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8380 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8381 lines with a single empty line.
8382 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8385 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8386 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8387 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8388 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8391 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8392 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8393 Do all the three commands above
8394 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8397 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8398 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8399 Remove all blank lines
8400 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8403 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8404 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8405 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8406 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8409 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8410 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8411 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8412 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8416 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8419 @node Article Header
8420 @subsection Article Header
8422 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8427 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8428 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8429 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8432 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8433 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8434 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8435 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8438 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8439 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8440 Fold all the message headers
8441 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8445 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8446 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8447 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8452 @node Article Buttons
8453 @subsection Article Buttons
8456 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8457 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8458 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8459 button on these references.
8461 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8462 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8463 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8464 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8465 one that handles article heads:
8469 @item gnus-button-alist
8470 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8471 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8474 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8480 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
8481 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
8482 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a variable containing a
8483 regexp, useful variables to use include @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8486 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8487 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8488 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8491 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8492 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8493 avoid false matches.
8496 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8499 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8500 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8504 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8507 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8510 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8511 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8512 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8513 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8514 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8517 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8520 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8522 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8523 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8524 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8525 default values of the variables above.
8527 @item gnus-article-button-face
8528 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8529 Face used on buttons.
8531 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8532 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8533 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8537 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8541 @subsection Article Date
8543 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8544 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8545 when the article was sent.
8550 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8551 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8552 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8553 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8556 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8557 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8559 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8560 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8563 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8564 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8565 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8568 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8569 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8570 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8571 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8574 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8575 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8576 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8577 @findex format-time-string
8578 Display the date using a user-defined format
8579 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8580 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8581 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8582 for a list of possible format specs.
8585 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8586 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8587 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8588 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8589 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8590 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8593 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8596 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8597 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8600 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8601 into wonderful absurdities.
8603 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8606 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8609 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8610 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8614 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8615 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8616 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8617 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8618 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8619 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8620 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8624 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8625 preferred format automatically.
8628 @node Article Display
8629 @subsection Article Display
8634 These commands add various frivolous display gimmics to the article
8635 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8637 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8638 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8640 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8641 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8643 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8644 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8646 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8651 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8652 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8653 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8654 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8657 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8658 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8659 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8662 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8663 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8664 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8667 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8668 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8669 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8670 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8673 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8674 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8675 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8676 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8679 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8680 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8681 Remove all images from the article buffer
8682 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8688 @node Article Signature
8689 @subsection Article Signature
8691 @cindex article signature
8693 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8694 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8695 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8696 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8697 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8698 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8699 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8700 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8701 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8704 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8705 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8706 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8707 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8708 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8709 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8710 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8711 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8714 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8717 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8718 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8719 signature when displaying articles.
8723 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8726 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8729 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8730 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8732 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8733 in question is not a signature.
8736 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8737 listed above. Here's an example:
8740 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8741 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8744 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8745 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8746 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8747 signature after all.
8750 @node Article Miscellania
8751 @subsection Article Miscellania
8755 @kindex A t (Summary)
8756 @findex gnus-article-babel
8757 Translate the article from one language to another
8758 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8764 @section MIME Commands
8765 @cindex MIME decoding
8767 @cindex viewing attachments
8769 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8770 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8776 @kindex K v (Summary)
8777 View the @sc{mime} part.
8780 @kindex K o (Summary)
8781 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8784 @kindex K c (Summary)
8785 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8788 @kindex K e (Summary)
8789 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8792 @kindex K i (Summary)
8793 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8796 @kindex K | (Summary)
8797 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8800 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8805 @kindex K b (Summary)
8806 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8807 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8811 @kindex K m (Summary)
8812 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8813 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8814 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8815 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8816 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8819 @kindex X m (Summary)
8820 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8821 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8822 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8823 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8826 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8827 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8828 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8829 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8832 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8833 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8834 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8835 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8838 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8839 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8840 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8841 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8843 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8844 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8845 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8846 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8847 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8848 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8851 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8852 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8853 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8854 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8861 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8862 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8863 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8864 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8867 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8870 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
8874 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8875 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
8876 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8877 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8878 displayed or this variable is overriden by
8879 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
8882 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8883 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
8884 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8885 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
8886 displayed. This variable overrides
8887 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
8889 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
8890 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
8891 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} to the default value.
8893 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
8894 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
8895 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
8896 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
8897 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
8898 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
8899 save all jpegs into some directory).
8901 Here's an example function the does the latter:
8904 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
8905 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
8907 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
8908 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
8909 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
8910 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
8911 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
8914 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8915 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
8916 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
8918 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8919 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8920 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
8921 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
8923 Ready-made functions include@*
8924 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
8925 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
8926 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
8927 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
8928 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
8929 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
8930 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
8931 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
8932 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8933 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8934 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8935 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
8937 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
8938 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
8940 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
8941 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
8942 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
8945 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
8946 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
8947 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
8948 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
8952 to your @file{.gnus} file.
8961 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
8962 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
8963 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
8964 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
8965 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
8966 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
8967 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
8969 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
8970 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
8971 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
8972 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
8974 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
8975 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
8976 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
8977 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
8978 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
8979 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
8980 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
8981 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
8983 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
8984 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
8985 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
8986 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
8987 quoted-printable header encoding.
8989 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
8990 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
8991 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
8995 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
8998 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
8999 means encode all charsets),
9001 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9002 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9003 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9010 @cindex coding system aliases
9011 @cindex preferred charset
9013 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9015 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9016 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9019 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9020 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9023 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9024 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9026 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9029 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9032 This will almost do the right thing.
9034 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9038 (codepage-setup 1251)
9039 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9043 @node Article Commands
9044 @section Article Commands
9051 @kindex A P (Summary)
9052 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9053 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9054 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9055 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9056 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9057 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9062 @node Summary Sorting
9063 @section Summary Sorting
9064 @cindex summary sorting
9066 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9067 can't really see why you'd want that.
9072 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9073 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9074 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9077 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9078 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9079 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9082 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9083 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9084 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9087 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9088 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9089 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9092 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9093 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9094 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9097 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9098 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9099 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9102 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9103 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9104 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9107 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9108 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9109 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9112 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9113 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9114 Sort using the default sorting method
9115 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9118 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9119 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9120 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9121 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9122 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9126 @node Finding the Parent
9127 @section Finding the Parent
9128 @cindex parent articles
9129 @cindex referring articles
9134 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9135 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9136 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9137 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9138 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9139 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9140 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9141 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9142 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9144 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9145 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9146 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9147 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9148 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9152 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9153 @kindex A R (Summary)
9154 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9155 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9158 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9159 @kindex A T (Summary)
9160 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9161 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9162 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9163 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9164 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9165 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9166 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9168 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9169 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9170 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9171 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9172 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9173 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9176 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9177 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9179 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9180 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9181 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9182 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9183 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9184 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9185 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9188 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9189 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9190 by giving this command a prefix.
9192 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9193 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9194 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9195 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9196 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9197 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9200 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9201 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9202 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9205 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9206 then ask Google if that fails:
9209 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9211 (nnweb "refer" (nnweb-type google))))
9214 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9215 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9216 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9217 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9218 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9219 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9220 support this at all.
9223 @node Alternative Approaches
9224 @section Alternative Approaches
9226 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9227 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9230 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9231 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9236 @subsection Pick and Read
9237 @cindex pick and read
9239 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9240 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9241 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9242 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9244 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9245 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9246 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9247 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9248 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9249 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9251 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9256 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9257 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9258 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9259 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9260 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9261 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9262 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9263 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9266 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9267 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9268 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9269 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9273 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9274 Unpick the thread or article
9275 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9276 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9277 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9278 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9279 the thread or article at that line.
9283 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9284 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9285 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9286 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9287 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9288 will still be visible when you are reading.
9292 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9293 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9294 which is mapped to the same function
9295 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9297 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9300 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9303 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9304 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9306 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9307 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9308 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9310 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9311 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9312 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9313 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9314 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9315 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9316 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9320 @subsection Binary Groups
9321 @cindex binary groups
9323 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9324 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9325 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9326 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9327 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9328 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9329 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9332 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9333 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9334 command, when you have turned on this mode
9335 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9337 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9338 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9342 @section Tree Display
9345 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9346 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9347 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9348 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9351 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9354 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9355 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9356 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9358 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9359 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9360 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9361 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9362 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9364 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9365 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9366 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9367 default is @code{modeline}.
9369 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9370 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9371 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9372 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9373 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9374 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9375 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9381 The name of the poster.
9383 The @code{From} header.
9385 The number of the article.
9387 The opening bracket.
9389 The closing bracket.
9394 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9396 Variables related to the display are:
9399 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9400 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9401 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9402 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9403 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9404 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9406 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9407 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9408 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9409 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9413 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9414 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9415 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9416 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9417 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9418 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9419 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9420 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9421 other windows displayed next to it.
9423 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9427 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9428 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9431 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9432 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9433 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9434 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9435 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9436 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9437 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9441 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9444 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9454 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9458 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9459 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9461 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9463 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9468 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9469 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9470 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9473 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9474 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9475 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9476 (gnus-add-configuration
9480 (summary 0.75 point)
9485 @xref{Window Layout}.
9488 @node Mail Group Commands
9489 @section Mail Group Commands
9490 @cindex mail group commands
9492 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9493 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9495 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9496 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9501 @kindex B e (Summary)
9502 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9503 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9504 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9505 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9506 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9509 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9510 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9511 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9512 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9513 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9514 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9517 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9518 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9519 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9520 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9521 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9522 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9525 @kindex B m (Summary)
9527 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9528 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9529 Move the article from one mail group to another
9530 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9531 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9534 @kindex B c (Summary)
9536 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9537 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9538 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9539 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9540 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9543 @kindex B B (Summary)
9544 @cindex crosspost mail
9545 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9546 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9547 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9548 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9549 be properly updated.
9552 @kindex B i (Summary)
9553 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9554 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9555 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9556 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9559 @kindex B I (Summary)
9560 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9561 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9562 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9563 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9566 @kindex B r (Summary)
9567 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9568 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9569 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9570 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9571 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9572 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9573 (which is the default).
9577 @kindex B w (Summary)
9579 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9580 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9581 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9582 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9583 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9584 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9585 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9588 @kindex B q (Summary)
9589 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9590 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9591 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9592 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9595 @kindex B t (Summary)
9596 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9597 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9598 when repooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9601 @kindex B p (Summary)
9602 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9603 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9604 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9605 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9606 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9607 article from your news server (or rather, from
9608 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9609 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9610 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9611 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9612 just not have arrived yet.
9615 @kindex K E (Summary)
9616 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9617 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9618 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9619 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9620 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9624 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9625 @cindex moving articles
9626 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
9627 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9628 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9629 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9630 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9631 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9632 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9635 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9636 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9637 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9638 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9642 @node Various Summary Stuff
9643 @section Various Summary Stuff
9646 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9647 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9648 * Summary Generation Commands::
9649 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9653 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9654 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9655 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9657 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9658 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9659 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9660 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9661 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9662 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9665 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9666 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9667 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9668 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9669 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9671 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9672 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9673 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9676 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9677 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9678 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9679 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9680 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9681 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9682 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
9683 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9684 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9685 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9687 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9688 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9689 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9690 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9691 list of articles to be selected.
9693 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9694 the list in one particular group:
9697 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9698 (if (string= group "some.group")
9699 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9703 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9704 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9705 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9706 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9707 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9708 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9709 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9710 buffers. For example:
9713 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9714 '(message-use-followup-to
9715 (gnus-visible-headers .
9716 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9722 @node Summary Group Information
9723 @subsection Summary Group Information
9728 @kindex H f (Summary)
9729 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9730 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9731 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9732 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9733 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9734 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9735 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9736 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9737 be used for fetching the file.
9740 @kindex H d (Summary)
9741 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9742 Give a brief description of the current group
9743 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9744 rereading the description from the server.
9747 @kindex H h (Summary)
9748 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9749 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9750 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9753 @kindex H i (Summary)
9754 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9755 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9759 @node Searching for Articles
9760 @subsection Searching for Articles
9765 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9766 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9767 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9768 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9771 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9772 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9773 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9774 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9778 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9779 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9780 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9781 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9782 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9783 search backward instead.
9785 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9786 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9789 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9790 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9791 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9792 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9795 @node Summary Generation Commands
9796 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9801 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9802 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9803 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9806 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9807 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9808 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9809 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9814 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9815 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9821 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9822 @kindex A D (Summary)
9823 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9824 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9825 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9826 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9827 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9828 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9829 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9830 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9834 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9835 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9836 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9837 several documents into one biiig group
9838 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
9839 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
9840 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
9841 command understands the process/prefix convention
9842 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9845 @kindex C-t (Summary)
9846 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
9847 Toggle truncation of summary lines
9848 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
9849 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
9850 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
9854 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
9855 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
9856 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
9859 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
9860 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
9861 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9862 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
9865 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
9866 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
9867 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
9868 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
9873 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
9874 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
9875 @cindex summary exit
9876 @cindex exiting groups
9878 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
9879 group and return you to the group buffer.
9885 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
9887 @findex gnus-summary-exit
9888 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
9889 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
9890 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
9891 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
9892 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
9893 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
9894 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
9895 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
9896 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
9897 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
9901 @kindex Z E (Summary)
9903 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
9904 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
9905 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
9909 @kindex Z c (Summary)
9911 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
9912 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
9913 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
9914 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
9917 @kindex Z C (Summary)
9918 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
9919 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
9920 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
9923 @kindex Z n (Summary)
9924 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
9925 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
9926 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
9929 @kindex Z R (Summary)
9930 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
9931 Exit this group, and then enter it again
9932 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
9933 all articles, both read and unread.
9937 @kindex Z G (Summary)
9938 @kindex M-g (Summary)
9939 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
9940 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
9941 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
9942 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
9943 articles, both read and unread.
9946 @kindex Z N (Summary)
9947 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
9948 Exit the group and go to the next group
9949 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
9952 @kindex Z P (Summary)
9953 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
9954 Exit the group and go to the previous group
9955 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
9958 @kindex Z s (Summary)
9959 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
9960 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
9961 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
9962 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
9963 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
9966 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
9967 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
9968 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
9969 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
9971 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
9972 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
9973 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
9974 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
9975 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
9976 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
9977 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
9978 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
9979 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
9980 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
9981 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
9982 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
9984 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
9986 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
9987 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
9988 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
9989 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
9990 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
9991 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
9992 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
9993 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
9994 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
9997 @node Crosspost Handling
9998 @section Crosspost Handling
10002 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10003 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10004 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10005 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10006 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10007 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10010 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10011 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10012 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10013 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10014 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10016 @cindex cross-posting
10019 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10020 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10021 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10022 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10023 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10024 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10025 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10026 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10027 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10028 the cross reference mechanism.
10030 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10031 @cindex overview.fmt
10032 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10033 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10034 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10035 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10036 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10037 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10040 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10041 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10042 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10047 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10050 @node Duplicate Suppression
10051 @section Duplicate Suppression
10053 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10054 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10055 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10056 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10061 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10062 is evil and not very common.
10065 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10066 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10069 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10070 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10073 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10076 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10077 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10079 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10080 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10081 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10082 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10083 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10084 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10085 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10088 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10089 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10090 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10091 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10092 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10093 saw the article in.
10096 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10097 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10098 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10100 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10101 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10102 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10103 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10104 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10105 session are suppressed.
10107 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10108 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10109 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10110 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10112 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10113 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10114 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10115 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10118 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10119 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10120 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10121 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10122 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10123 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10124 to you to figure out, I think.
10129 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10130 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10131 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10135 To handle PGP messages, you have to install mailcrypt or gpg.el as
10136 well as a OpenPGP implementation (such as GnuPG).
10139 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10140 or newer is recommended.
10144 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10145 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10148 @item mm-verify-option
10149 @vindex mm-verify-option
10150 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10151 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10152 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10154 @item mm-decrypt-option
10155 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10156 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10157 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10158 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10163 @section Mailing List
10165 @kindex A M (summary)
10166 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10167 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10168 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10169 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10170 summary buffer, or say:
10173 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10176 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10181 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10182 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10183 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10186 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10187 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10188 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10191 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10192 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10193 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10197 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10198 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10199 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10202 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10203 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10204 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10207 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10208 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10209 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10213 @node Article Buffer
10214 @chapter Article Buffer
10215 @cindex article buffer
10217 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10218 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10219 tell Gnus otherwise.
10222 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10223 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10224 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10225 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10226 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10230 @node Hiding Headers
10231 @section Hiding Headers
10232 @cindex hiding headers
10233 @cindex deleting headers
10235 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10236 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10238 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10239 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10240 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10241 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10242 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10243 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10244 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10245 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10246 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10248 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10252 @item gnus-visible-headers
10253 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10254 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10255 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10256 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10258 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10259 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10262 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10265 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10268 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10269 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10270 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10271 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10272 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10273 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10275 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
10276 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
10279 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10282 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10285 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10286 variable will have no effect.
10290 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10291 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10292 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10293 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10294 the headers are to be displayed.
10296 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10297 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10300 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10303 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10304 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10306 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10307 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10308 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10309 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10310 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10311 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10312 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10315 These conditions are:
10318 Remove all empty headers.
10320 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10321 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10323 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10324 @code{From} header.
10326 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10329 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10330 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10332 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10335 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10337 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10340 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10343 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10344 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10347 This is also the default value for this variable.
10351 @section Using MIME
10354 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10355 while people stand around yawning.
10357 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10358 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10360 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10361 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10362 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10364 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10365 @findex gnus-display-mime
10366 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10367 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10368 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10369 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
10371 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10375 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10376 @item RET (Article)
10377 @kindex RET (Article)
10378 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10379 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
10380 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If builtin viewers can not display
10381 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
10382 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
10383 object is displayed inline.
10385 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10386 @item M-RET (Article)
10387 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10389 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10390 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10392 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10394 @kindex t (Article)
10395 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
10396 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10398 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10400 @kindex C (Article)
10401 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10402 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10404 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10406 @kindex o (Article)
10407 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
10408 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10410 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10411 @item C-o (Article)
10412 @kindex C-o (Article)
10413 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
10414 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10415 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10416 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
10417 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
10418 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10420 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10422 @kindex c (Article)
10423 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10424 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}).
10426 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10428 @kindex p (Article)
10429 Print the @sc{mime} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10430 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10431 @file{.mailcap} file.
10433 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10435 @kindex i (Article)
10436 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
10437 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10438 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10439 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
10440 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
10443 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
10445 @kindex E (Article)
10446 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
10447 viewer is available, use an external viewer
10448 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
10450 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
10452 @kindex e (Article)
10453 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
10454 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
10456 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
10458 @kindex | (Article)
10459 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
10461 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
10463 @kindex . (Article)
10464 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
10465 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
10469 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
10470 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
10473 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
10474 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
10475 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
10476 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
10477 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
10478 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
10479 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
10480 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
10481 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
10483 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10485 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10488 @node Customizing Articles
10489 @section Customizing Articles
10490 @cindex article customization
10492 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10493 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10494 called automatically when you select the articles.
10496 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10497 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10498 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10499 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10501 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10502 for sensible values.
10506 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10509 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10512 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10515 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10518 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10522 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10523 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10524 regexps in the list.
10527 A list where the first element is not a string:
10529 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10530 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10531 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10535 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10540 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10541 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10542 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10543 considered to contain just a single part.
10545 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10546 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10547 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10548 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10549 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10550 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10551 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10553 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10554 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10555 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10556 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10559 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10560 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10562 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10564 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10565 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10566 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10567 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10568 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10569 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10570 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10571 @item gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)
10572 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10573 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10575 @xref{Article Washing}.
10577 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10578 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10579 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10580 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10581 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10582 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10583 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10585 @xref{Article Date}.
10587 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10588 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10589 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10593 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10595 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10597 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10598 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10599 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10603 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10607 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10608 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10609 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10610 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10611 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10612 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10613 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10614 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10616 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10618 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10619 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10620 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10622 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10624 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10625 @item gnus-treat-translate
10626 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10628 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10629 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10630 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10631 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10633 @xref{Article Header}.
10638 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10639 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10640 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10641 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10642 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10646 @node Article Keymap
10647 @section Article Keymap
10649 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10650 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10651 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10652 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10655 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10660 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10661 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10662 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10665 @kindex DEL (Article)
10666 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10667 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10670 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10671 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10672 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10673 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10674 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10677 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10678 @findex gnus-article-mail
10679 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10680 given a prefix, include the mail.
10683 @kindex s (Article)
10684 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10685 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10686 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10689 @kindex ? (Article)
10690 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10691 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10692 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10695 @kindex TAB (Article)
10696 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10697 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10698 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10701 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10702 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10703 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10706 @kindex R (Article)
10707 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10708 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10709 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10710 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10714 @kindex F (Article)
10715 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10716 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10717 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10718 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10726 @section Misc Article
10730 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10731 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10732 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10733 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10736 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10737 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10739 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10740 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10742 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10743 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10744 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10745 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10746 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10747 the contents of the article buffer.
10749 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10750 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10751 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10753 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10754 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10755 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10756 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10758 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10759 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10760 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10761 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10762 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10768 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10769 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10770 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10775 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10778 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10781 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10782 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10783 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10786 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10789 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10792 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10797 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10801 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10803 @item gnus-break-pages
10804 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10805 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10806 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10807 paging will not be done.
10809 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10810 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10811 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10816 @node Composing Messages
10817 @chapter Composing Messages
10818 @cindex composing messages
10821 @cindex sending mail
10826 @cindex using s/mime
10827 @cindex using smime
10829 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
10830 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
10831 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
10832 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
10833 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
10834 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
10837 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
10838 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
10839 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
10840 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
10841 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
10842 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
10843 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
10844 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
10847 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
10848 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
10854 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
10857 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
10858 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
10859 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
10860 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
10862 @item gnus-add-to-list
10863 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
10864 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
10865 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
10867 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10868 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
10869 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus requests confirmation when replying to news.
10870 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
10871 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
10876 @node Posting Server
10877 @section Posting Server
10879 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
10880 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
10882 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
10884 It can be quite complicated.
10886 @vindex gnus-post-method
10887 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
10888 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
10889 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
10890 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
10891 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
10892 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
10893 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
10894 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
10895 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
10898 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
10901 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
10902 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
10903 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
10904 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
10906 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
10907 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
10909 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
10910 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
10913 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
10914 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
10916 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
10917 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
10918 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
10919 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
10920 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
10921 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
10922 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
10923 package correctly. An example:
10926 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
10927 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
10930 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
10931 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
10932 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
10934 Other possible choises for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
10935 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
10936 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
10938 @node Mail and Post
10939 @section Mail and Post
10941 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
10945 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
10946 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
10947 @cindex mailing lists
10949 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
10950 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
10951 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
10952 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
10953 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
10954 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
10955 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
10956 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
10957 still a pain, though.
10961 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
10962 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
10963 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
10966 @findex ispell-message
10968 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
10971 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
10972 you're in, you could say something like the following:
10975 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
10979 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
10980 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
10982 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
10985 Modify to suit your needs.
10988 @node Archived Messages
10989 @section Archived Messages
10990 @cindex archived messages
10991 @cindex sent messages
10993 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
10994 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
10995 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
10996 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
10999 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11000 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11003 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11004 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11005 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11008 (nnfolder "archive"
11009 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11010 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11011 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11012 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11015 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11016 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11017 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11018 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11021 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11022 '(nnfolder "archive"
11023 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11024 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11025 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11028 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11030 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11031 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11032 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11034 This variable can be used to do the following:
11039 Messages will be saved in that group.
11041 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11042 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11043 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11044 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11045 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11046 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11047 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11048 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11052 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11054 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11055 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11058 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11063 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11065 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11068 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11070 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11073 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11075 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11076 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11077 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11078 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11081 More complex stuff:
11083 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11084 '((if (message-news-p)
11089 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11090 messages in one file per month:
11093 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11094 '((if (message-news-p)
11096 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11099 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11100 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11102 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11103 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11104 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11105 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11106 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11107 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11108 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11109 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11110 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11111 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11113 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11114 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11115 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11116 this will disable archiving.
11119 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11120 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11121 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11122 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11123 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11126 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11127 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11128 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11131 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11132 but the latter is the preferred method.
11134 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11135 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11136 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11138 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11139 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11140 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11141 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11142 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11143 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11144 changed in the future.
11149 @node Posting Styles
11150 @section Posting Styles
11151 @cindex posting styles
11154 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11156 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11157 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11158 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11161 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11162 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11163 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11164 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11165 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11170 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11171 (organization "What me?"))
11173 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11174 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11175 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11178 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11179 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11180 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11181 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11182 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11183 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11184 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11185 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11187 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11188 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11189 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11190 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11191 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. If it's a function symbol, that
11192 function will be called with no arguments. If it's a variable symbol,
11193 then the variable will be referenced. If it's a list, then that list
11194 will be @code{eval}ed. In any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil}
11195 value, then the style is said to @dfn{match}.
11197 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11198 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11199 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11200 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11201 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11202 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11203 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11204 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11205 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11206 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11209 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11210 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11211 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11212 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11213 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11214 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11215 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11216 references chars lines xref extra.
11218 @vindex message-reply-headers
11220 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11221 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11222 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11224 @findex message-mail-p
11225 @findex message-news-p
11227 So here's a new example:
11230 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11232 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11234 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11235 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11237 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11238 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11239 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11240 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11241 (signature my-news-signature))
11242 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11243 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11244 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11245 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11246 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11247 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11248 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11249 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11250 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11251 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11253 (From (save-excursion
11254 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11255 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11257 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11260 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11261 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11262 if you fill many roles.
11269 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11270 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11271 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11272 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11273 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11275 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11276 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11277 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11278 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11279 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11283 @vindex nndraft-directory
11284 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11285 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11286 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11287 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11288 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11289 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11291 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11292 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11295 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11296 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11297 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11298 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11299 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11300 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11301 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11302 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11303 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11304 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11305 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11306 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11307 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11308 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11310 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11311 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11312 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11314 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11315 @kindex D e (Draft)
11316 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11317 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11318 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11320 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11323 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11324 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11325 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11326 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11327 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11328 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11329 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11332 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11333 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11334 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11337 @node Rejected Articles
11338 @section Rejected Articles
11339 @cindex rejected articles
11341 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11342 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11343 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11344 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11346 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
11347 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11348 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11349 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
11350 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11352 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11353 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11354 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11356 @node Signing and encrypting
11357 @section Signing and encrypting
11359 @cindex using s/mime
11360 @cindex using smime
11362 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11363 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11364 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11365 (@pxref{Security}).
11367 For PGP, Gnus supports two external libraries, @sc{gpg.el} and
11368 @sc{Mailcrypt}, you need to install at least one of them. The
11369 @sc{s/mime} support in Gnus requires the external program OpenSSL.
11371 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11372 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11373 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11374 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11375 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11376 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11377 automatically encrypted messages.
11379 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11380 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11381 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11386 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11387 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11389 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11392 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11393 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11395 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11398 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11399 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11401 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11404 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11405 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11407 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11410 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11411 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11413 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11416 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11417 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11419 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11422 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11423 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11424 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11428 Also @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}.
11430 @node Select Methods
11431 @chapter Select Methods
11432 @cindex foreign groups
11433 @cindex select methods
11435 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11436 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11437 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11438 personal mail group.
11440 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11441 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11442 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11443 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11444 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11445 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11447 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11448 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11450 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11453 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11454 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11455 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11456 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11457 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11459 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11462 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11463 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11464 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11465 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11466 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11467 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11468 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11469 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11473 @node Server Buffer
11474 @section Server Buffer
11476 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11477 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11478 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11479 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11480 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11481 back end represents a virtual server.
11483 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11484 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11485 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11486 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11488 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11489 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11490 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11491 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11492 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11493 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11494 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11496 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11497 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11500 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11501 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11502 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11503 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11504 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11505 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11506 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11509 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11510 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11513 @node Server Buffer Format
11514 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11515 @cindex server buffer format
11517 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11518 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11519 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11520 variable, with some simple extensions:
11525 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11528 The name of this server.
11531 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11534 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11537 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11538 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11539 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11540 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11550 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11553 @node Server Commands
11554 @subsection Server Commands
11555 @cindex server commands
11561 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11562 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11566 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11567 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11570 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11571 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11572 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11576 @findex gnus-server-exit
11577 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11581 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11582 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11586 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11587 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11591 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11592 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11596 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11597 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11601 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11602 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11603 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11608 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11609 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11610 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11611 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11616 @node Example Methods
11617 @subsection Example Methods
11619 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11622 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11625 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11631 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11632 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11635 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11636 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11638 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11639 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11643 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11646 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11647 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11649 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11650 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11651 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11655 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11658 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11661 Here's the method for a public spool:
11665 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11666 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11672 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11673 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11674 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11675 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11676 should probably look something like this:
11680 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11681 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11682 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11683 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11686 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11687 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11688 configuration to the example above:
11691 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11694 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11696 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11697 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11698 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11702 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11703 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11704 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11705 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11708 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11709 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11710 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11711 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11714 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11715 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11717 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11718 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11720 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11721 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11722 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11724 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11726 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11727 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11728 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11729 will contain the following:
11739 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11740 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11741 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11744 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11745 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11746 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11749 @node Server Variables
11750 @subsection Server Variables
11752 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11753 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11754 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11755 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11756 won't change the "derived" variables.
11758 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11759 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11760 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11761 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11762 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11763 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11764 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11765 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11766 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11770 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11771 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11772 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11776 @node Servers and Methods
11777 @subsection Servers and Methods
11779 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11780 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11781 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11782 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11786 @node Unavailable Servers
11787 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11789 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11790 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11791 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11792 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11793 actually the case or not.
11795 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11796 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11797 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11798 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11799 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11800 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11801 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11802 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11804 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11805 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11807 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11808 with the following commands:
11814 @findex gnus-server-open-server
11815 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
11816 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
11820 @findex gnus-server-close-server
11821 Close the connection (if any) to the server
11822 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
11826 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
11827 Mark the current server as unreachable
11828 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
11831 @kindex M-o (Server)
11832 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
11833 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
11834 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
11837 @kindex M-c (Server)
11838 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
11839 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
11840 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
11844 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
11845 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
11846 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
11850 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
11851 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
11857 @section Getting News
11858 @cindex reading news
11859 @cindex news back ends
11861 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
11862 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
11863 or it can read from a local spool.
11866 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
11867 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
11875 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
11876 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
11877 server as the, uhm, address.
11879 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
11880 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
11881 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
11882 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
11884 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
11885 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
11886 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
11888 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
11893 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
11894 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
11895 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
11897 @cindex authentification
11898 @cindex nntp authentification
11899 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11900 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
11901 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
11902 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
11903 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
11904 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
11905 present in this hook.
11907 @item nntp-authinfo-function
11908 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
11909 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
11910 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
11911 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
11912 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
11913 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
11914 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
11915 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
11916 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
11917 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
11918 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
11922 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
11925 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
11927 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
11928 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
11929 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
11930 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
11931 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
11932 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
11933 @samp{force} is explained below.
11937 Here's an example file:
11940 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
11941 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
11944 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
11945 have to be first, for instance.
11947 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
11948 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
11949 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
11950 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
11951 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
11952 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
11953 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
11955 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
11956 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
11962 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
11963 previously mentioned.
11965 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
11967 @item nntp-server-action-alist
11968 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
11969 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
11970 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
11971 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
11974 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
11975 '(("innd" (ding))))
11978 You probably don't want to do that, though.
11980 The default value is
11983 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
11984 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
11985 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
11988 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
11989 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
11991 @item nntp-maximum-request
11992 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
11993 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
11994 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
11995 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
11996 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
11997 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
11998 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12000 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12001 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12002 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12003 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12004 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12005 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12006 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12007 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12008 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12009 no timeouts are done.
12011 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12012 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12013 @c @cindex PPP connections
12014 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12015 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12016 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12017 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12018 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12019 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12020 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12021 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12022 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12023 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12025 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12026 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12027 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12028 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12029 @c described above.
12031 @item nntp-server-hook
12032 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12033 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12036 @item nntp-buggy-select
12037 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12038 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12040 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12041 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12042 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12043 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12046 @item nntp-xover-commands
12047 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12050 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12051 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12055 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12056 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12057 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12058 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12059 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12060 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12061 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12062 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12063 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12064 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12065 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12067 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12068 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12069 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12071 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12072 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12073 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12074 server closes connection.
12076 @item nntp-record-commands
12077 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12078 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12079 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12080 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12081 that doesn't seem to work.
12083 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12084 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12085 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12086 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12087 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12088 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12089 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12090 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12092 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12093 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12094 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12095 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12096 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12097 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12098 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12101 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12104 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12105 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12109 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12110 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12111 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12115 @node Direct Functions
12116 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12117 @cindex direct connection functions
12119 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12120 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12121 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12122 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12125 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12126 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12127 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12130 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12131 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12132 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12133 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12134 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12135 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12136 define a server as follows:
12139 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12141 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12142 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12144 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12145 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12146 (nntp-port-number 563)
12147 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12150 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12151 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12152 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12153 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12154 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12155 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12156 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12157 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12161 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12162 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12163 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12166 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12167 session, which is not a good idea.
12171 @node Indirect Functions
12172 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12173 @cindex indirect connection functions
12175 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12176 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12177 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12178 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12179 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12180 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12183 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12184 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12185 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12186 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12187 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12189 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12192 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12193 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12194 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12195 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12197 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12198 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12199 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12200 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12201 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12202 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12203 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12204 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12207 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12208 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12209 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12210 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12212 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12215 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12216 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12217 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12220 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12221 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12222 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12223 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12225 @item nntp-via-user-password
12226 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12227 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12229 @item nntp-via-envuser
12230 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12231 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12232 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12233 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12235 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12236 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12237 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12238 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12245 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12250 @item nntp-via-user-name
12251 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12252 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12254 @item nntp-via-address
12255 @vindex nntp-via-address
12256 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12261 @node Common Variables
12262 @subsubsection Common Variables
12264 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12265 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12270 @item nntp-pre-command
12271 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12272 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12273 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12274 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12275 wrapper for instance.
12278 @vindex nntp-address
12279 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12281 @item nntp-port-number
12282 @vindex nntp-port-number
12283 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12284 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12285 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12286 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12288 @item nntp-end-of-line
12289 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12290 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12291 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12292 using a non native connection function.
12294 @item nntp-telnet-command
12295 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12296 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12297 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12298 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12300 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12301 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12302 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12309 @subsection News Spool
12313 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12314 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12315 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12318 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12319 anything else) as the address.
12321 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12322 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12323 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12324 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12328 @item nnspool-inews-program
12329 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12330 Program used to post an article.
12332 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12333 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12334 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12336 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12337 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12338 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12339 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12341 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12342 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12343 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12344 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12346 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12347 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12348 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12350 @item nnspool-active-file
12351 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12352 The path to the active file.
12354 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12355 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12356 The path to the group descriptions file.
12358 @item nnspool-history-file
12359 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12360 The path to the news history file.
12362 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12363 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12364 The path to the active date file.
12366 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12367 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12368 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12371 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12372 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12374 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12375 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12376 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12382 @section Getting Mail
12383 @cindex reading mail
12386 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12390 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12391 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12392 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12393 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12394 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12395 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12396 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12397 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12398 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12399 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12400 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12401 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12402 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12406 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12407 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12409 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12410 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12411 of a culture shock.
12413 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12414 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12416 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12417 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12418 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12419 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12421 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12423 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12424 deleted? How awful!
12426 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12427 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12428 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12429 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12432 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12433 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12434 they want to treat a message.
12436 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12437 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12438 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12439 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12440 archived somewhere else.
12442 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12443 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12444 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12445 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12446 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12448 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12449 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12450 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12452 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12453 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12456 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12457 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12458 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12459 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12460 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12462 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12463 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12464 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12465 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12466 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12467 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12471 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12472 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12474 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12475 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12476 and things will happen automatically.
12478 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12479 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
12482 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12485 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12486 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12487 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12488 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12489 like any other group.
12491 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12494 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12495 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12496 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12500 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12501 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12502 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12505 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12506 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12507 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12510 @node Splitting Mail
12511 @subsection Splitting Mail
12512 @cindex splitting mail
12513 @cindex mail splitting
12515 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12516 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12517 to be split into groups.
12520 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12521 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12522 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12523 ("mail.other" "")))
12526 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12527 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12528 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12529 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12530 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12531 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12532 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12535 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12538 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12539 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12540 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12541 mail belongs in that group.
12543 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12544 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12545 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12546 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12547 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12548 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12550 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12551 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12552 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12553 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12554 thinks should carry this mail message.
12556 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12557 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12558 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12559 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12561 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12562 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12563 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12564 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12565 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12567 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12570 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12571 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12572 links. If that's the case for you, set
12573 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12574 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12576 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12577 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12578 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12579 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12580 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12581 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12584 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12585 Header lines longer than the value of
12586 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12589 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12590 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12591 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12592 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12593 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12594 can be turned off completely by binding
12595 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12596 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12598 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12599 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12600 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12601 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12602 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12603 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12604 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12607 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12608 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12609 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12610 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12611 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12612 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12613 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12614 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12615 month's rent money.
12619 @subsection Mail Sources
12621 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12622 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12626 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12627 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12628 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12632 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12633 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12635 @cindex mail server
12638 @cindex mail source
12640 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12641 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12646 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12649 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12650 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12651 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12654 The following mail source types are available:
12658 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12664 The path of the file. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12665 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12666 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12669 An example file mail source:
12672 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12675 Or using the default path:
12681 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12682 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12683 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12686 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12690 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12693 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12697 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12700 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12702 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12705 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12709 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12710 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12711 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12712 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12713 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12714 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12715 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12716 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12717 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12718 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12720 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12721 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12722 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12723 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12729 The path of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12733 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12737 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12738 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12739 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12740 predicate are considered.
12744 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12748 An example directory mail source:
12751 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12756 Get mail from a POP server.
12762 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12763 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12766 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12767 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12768 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12769 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12770 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12773 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12777 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12781 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12782 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12785 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12788 The valid format specifier characters are:
12792 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12793 included in this string.
12796 The name of the server.
12799 The port number of the server.
12802 The user name to use.
12805 The password to use.
12808 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12809 corresponding keywords.
12812 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12813 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12816 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
12817 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
12820 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
12821 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
12824 @item :authentication
12825 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
12826 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
12831 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
12832 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
12834 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
12835 default user name, and default fetcher:
12841 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
12844 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
12845 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
12848 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
12851 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
12855 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
12856 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
12857 contains exactly one mail.
12863 The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
12864 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
12867 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
12868 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
12870 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
12871 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
12872 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
12875 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
12876 from locking problems).
12880 Two example maildir mail sources:
12883 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
12884 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
12888 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
12893 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
12894 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
12895 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
12896 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
12899 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
12900 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
12906 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
12907 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12910 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
12911 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
12914 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
12918 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
12922 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
12923 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
12924 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
12925 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
12927 @item :authentication
12928 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
12929 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
12930 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
12931 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
12934 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
12935 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
12936 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
12942 The valid format specifier characters are:
12946 The name of the server.
12949 User name from `imap-default-user'.
12952 The port number of the server.
12955 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12956 corresponding keywords.
12959 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
12960 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
12963 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
12964 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
12965 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
12966 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
12967 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
12968 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
12971 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
12972 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
12973 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
12974 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
12977 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
12978 after finishing the fetch.
12982 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
12985 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
12987 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
12991 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
12992 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
12993 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
12995 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
12996 required for url "4.0pre.46".
12998 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13004 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13005 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13008 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13012 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13016 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13017 folder after finishing the fetch.
13021 An example webmail source:
13024 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13026 :password "secret")
13031 @item Common Keywords
13032 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13038 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13039 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13043 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13048 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13049 useful when you use local mail and news.
13054 @subsubsection Function Interface
13056 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13057 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13058 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13059 consider the following mail-source setting:
13062 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13063 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13066 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13067 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13068 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13069 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13070 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13072 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13075 @node Mail Source Customization
13076 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13078 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13079 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13083 @item mail-source-crash-box
13084 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13085 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13086 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13088 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13089 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13090 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13092 @item mail-source-directory
13093 @vindex mail-source-directory
13094 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13095 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13096 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13099 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13100 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13101 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13102 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13103 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13104 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13106 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13107 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13108 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13110 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13111 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13112 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13113 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13118 @node Fetching Mail
13119 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13121 @vindex mail-sources
13122 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13123 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13124 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13125 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13127 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13128 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13131 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13132 mail server, you'd say something like:
13137 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13138 :password "secret")))
13141 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13145 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13146 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13149 :password "secret")))
13153 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13154 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13155 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13156 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13157 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13158 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13162 @node Mail Back End Variables
13163 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13165 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13169 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13170 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13171 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13172 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13174 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13175 @item nnmail-split-hook
13176 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
13177 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13178 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13179 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13180 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13181 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13182 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13183 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13184 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13187 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13188 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13189 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13190 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13191 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13192 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13193 starting to handle the new mail) and
13194 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13195 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13196 default file modes the new mail files get:
13199 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13200 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13202 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13203 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13206 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13207 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13208 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13209 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13210 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13211 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13212 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13214 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13215 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13216 @findex delete-file
13217 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13219 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13220 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13221 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13222 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13223 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13225 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13226 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13227 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13228 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13229 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13231 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13232 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13233 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13238 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13239 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13240 @cindex mail splitting
13241 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13243 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13244 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13245 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13246 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13247 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13248 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13250 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13253 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13254 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13255 ;; from real errors.
13256 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13258 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13259 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13260 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13261 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13262 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13263 ;; Other mailing lists...
13264 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13265 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13266 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13267 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13268 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13269 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13270 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13271 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13273 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13274 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13278 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13279 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13280 the five possible split syntaxes:
13285 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13286 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13290 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13291 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13292 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13293 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13294 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13295 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13296 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13297 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13300 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13301 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13302 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13303 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13306 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13307 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13310 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13311 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13314 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13315 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13316 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13317 function should return a @var{split}.
13320 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13321 body of the messages:
13324 (defun split-on-body ()
13326 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13327 (goto-char (point-min))
13328 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13332 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13333 when the @code{:} function is run.
13336 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13337 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13338 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13342 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13346 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13347 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13348 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13349 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13350 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13352 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13353 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13354 are expanded as specified by the variable
13355 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13356 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13359 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13360 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13361 when all this splitting is performed.
13363 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13364 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13365 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13368 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13371 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13372 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13374 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13375 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13376 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13377 groupings 1 through 9.
13379 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13380 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13381 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13382 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13383 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13384 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13385 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13386 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13387 it once per thread.
13389 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13390 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13391 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13394 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13395 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13397 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13398 ;; other splits go here
13402 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13403 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13404 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13405 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13406 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13407 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13408 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13409 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13410 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13411 unless the group name matches the regexp
13412 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13413 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13414 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13415 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13416 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13417 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13418 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13419 messages goes into the new group.
13421 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13422 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13423 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13424 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13425 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13429 @node Group Mail Splitting
13430 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13431 @cindex mail splitting
13432 @cindex group mail splitting
13434 @findex gnus-group-split
13435 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13436 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13437 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13438 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13439 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13440 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13441 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13442 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13444 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13445 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13446 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13447 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13449 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13450 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13451 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13452 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13453 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13454 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13455 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13457 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13458 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13459 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13460 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13461 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13462 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13463 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13465 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13466 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13467 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13468 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13469 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13470 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13471 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13472 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13473 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13474 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13475 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13476 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13477 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13479 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13484 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13485 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13487 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13488 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13489 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13490 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13492 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13495 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13496 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13497 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13500 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13501 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13502 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13506 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13507 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13508 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13512 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13515 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13516 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13517 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13518 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13519 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13520 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13521 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13522 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13523 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13525 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13526 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13527 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13528 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13529 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13530 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13531 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13532 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13533 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13535 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13536 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13537 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13538 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13539 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13540 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus}:
13543 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13546 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13547 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13548 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13549 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13550 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13553 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13554 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13555 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13556 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13558 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13559 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13560 @cindex incorporating old mail
13561 @cindex import old mail
13563 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13564 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13565 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13568 Doing so can be quite easy.
13570 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13571 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13572 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13573 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13574 your @code{nnml} groups.
13580 Go to the group buffer.
13583 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13584 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13587 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
13590 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13591 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13594 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13595 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13598 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13599 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13600 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13601 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13602 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13604 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13605 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13606 using the new mail back end.
13609 @node Expiring Mail
13610 @subsection Expiring Mail
13611 @cindex article expiry
13613 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13614 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13615 different approach to mail reading.
13617 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13618 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13619 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13620 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13621 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13622 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13625 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13626 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
13627 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13628 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13629 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13630 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13631 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13632 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13634 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13635 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
13636 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
13637 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
13638 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
13639 column in the summary buffer.
13641 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13642 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13643 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13644 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13647 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13649 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13650 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13651 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13654 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13655 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13656 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13657 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13658 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13660 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13661 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13664 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13665 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13668 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13669 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13671 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13672 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13673 don't really mix very well.
13675 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13676 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13677 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13678 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13681 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13682 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13683 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13684 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13687 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13689 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13691 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13693 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13695 ((string= group "important")
13701 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13702 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13704 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13705 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13706 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13709 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13710 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13712 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13713 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13714 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13715 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13716 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13717 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13718 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13719 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13720 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13721 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13722 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13723 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13724 name or @code{delete}.
13726 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13728 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13731 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13732 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13733 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13734 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13735 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13738 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13739 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13740 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13741 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13742 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13745 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13746 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13747 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13748 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13749 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13750 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13752 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13753 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13754 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13755 easier for procmail users.
13757 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13758 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13759 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13760 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13761 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13762 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13763 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13764 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13765 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13766 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13767 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13768 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13769 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13772 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13774 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13775 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13776 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13777 auto-expire turned on.
13781 @subsection Washing Mail
13782 @cindex mail washing
13783 @cindex list server brain damage
13784 @cindex incoming mail treatment
13786 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
13787 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
13788 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
13789 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
13790 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
13791 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
13793 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
13794 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
13795 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
13798 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
13799 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
13800 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
13801 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
13804 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13805 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
13806 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
13807 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
13808 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
13811 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13812 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
13813 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
13814 Emacs running on MS machines.
13818 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13819 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
13820 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
13821 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
13824 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13825 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
13826 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
13827 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
13829 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
13830 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
13831 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
13832 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
13833 into a feature by documenting it.)
13835 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13836 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
13837 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
13838 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
13839 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
13840 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
13841 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
13844 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
13845 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
13848 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
13849 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
13852 This can also be done non-destructively with
13853 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
13855 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
13856 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
13857 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
13859 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13860 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
13862 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
13863 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
13864 @code{References} headers.
13868 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13869 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
13870 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
13874 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
13875 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
13876 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
13883 @subsection Duplicates
13885 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
13886 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
13887 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
13888 @cindex duplicate mails
13889 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
13890 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
13891 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
13892 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
13893 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
13894 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
13895 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
13896 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
13897 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
13898 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
13899 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
13900 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
13901 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
13903 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
13904 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
13905 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
13906 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
13908 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
13911 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
13912 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
13916 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
13917 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
13918 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
13919 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
13920 (any mail "mail.misc")
13927 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13928 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
13933 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
13934 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
13935 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
13936 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
13937 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
13940 @node Not Reading Mail
13941 @subsection Not Reading Mail
13943 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
13944 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
13945 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
13947 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
13948 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
13949 mail, which should help.
13951 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
13952 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
13953 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
13954 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
13955 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
13956 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
13957 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
13958 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
13959 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
13960 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
13961 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
13963 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
13964 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
13968 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
13969 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
13971 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
13972 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
13973 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
13975 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
13976 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
13977 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
13978 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
13979 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
13980 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
13981 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
13984 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
13985 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
13986 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
13987 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
13988 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
13989 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
13993 @node Unix Mail Box
13994 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
13996 @cindex unix mail box
13998 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
13999 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14000 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14001 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14002 which group it belongs in.
14004 Virtual server settings:
14007 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14008 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14009 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14012 @item nnmbox-active-file
14013 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14014 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14015 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14017 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14018 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14019 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14020 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14025 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14029 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14030 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14031 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14032 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14033 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14035 Virtual server settings:
14038 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14039 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14040 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14042 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14043 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14044 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14045 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14047 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14048 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14049 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14055 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14057 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14059 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14060 format. It should be used with some caution.
14062 @vindex nnml-directory
14063 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14064 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14065 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14066 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14068 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14071 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14072 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14073 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14074 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14075 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14076 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14077 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14078 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14080 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14081 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14082 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14083 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14085 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14087 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14088 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14089 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14090 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14091 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14092 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14093 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14094 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14097 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14098 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14099 them next time it starts.
14101 Virtual server settings:
14104 @item nnml-directory
14105 @vindex nnml-directory
14106 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14107 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14110 @item nnml-active-file
14111 @vindex nnml-active-file
14112 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14113 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14115 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14116 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14117 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14118 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14120 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14121 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14122 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14125 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14126 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14127 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14128 default is @code{nil}.
14130 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14131 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14132 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14134 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14135 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14136 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14138 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14139 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14140 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14141 default is @code{nil}.
14143 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14144 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14145 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14147 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14148 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14149 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14154 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14155 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14156 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14157 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14158 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14159 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14160 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14165 @subsubsection MH Spool
14167 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14169 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14170 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14171 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14172 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14174 Virtual server settings:
14177 @item nnmh-directory
14178 @vindex nnmh-directory
14179 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14180 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14183 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14184 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14185 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14189 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14190 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14191 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14192 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14193 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14194 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14195 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14200 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14202 @cindex mbox folders
14203 @cindex mail folders
14205 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14206 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14207 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14210 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14212 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14213 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14214 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14215 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14216 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14217 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14218 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14219 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14220 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14221 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14223 Virtual server settings:
14226 @item nnfolder-directory
14227 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14228 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14229 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14232 @item nnfolder-active-file
14233 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14234 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14236 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14237 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14238 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14239 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14241 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14242 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14243 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14246 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14247 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14248 @cindex backup files
14249 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14250 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14251 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14252 your @file{.emacs} file:
14255 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14256 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14258 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14261 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14262 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14263 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14264 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14265 extract some information from it before removing it.
14267 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14268 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14269 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14270 default is @code{nil}.
14272 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14273 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14274 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14276 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14277 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14278 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14279 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14281 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14282 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14283 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14284 default is @code{nil}.
14286 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14287 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14288 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14290 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14291 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14292 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14293 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14298 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14299 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14300 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14301 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14302 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14303 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14306 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14307 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14309 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14310 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14311 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14312 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14313 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14315 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14316 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14317 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14318 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14319 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14320 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14321 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14322 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14325 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14326 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14327 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14328 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14333 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14334 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14335 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14336 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14337 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14338 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14339 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14340 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14341 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14342 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14343 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14344 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14345 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14350 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14351 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14352 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14353 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14354 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14355 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14356 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14357 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14358 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14359 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14360 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14361 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14362 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14363 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14365 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14366 filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14371 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14372 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14373 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14374 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14375 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14376 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14377 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14378 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14379 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14380 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14381 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14382 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14383 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14384 provided by the active file and overviews.
14386 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14387 resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
14388 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14389 tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14390 the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14393 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14394 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14399 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14400 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14401 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14402 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14403 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14404 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14405 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14409 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14410 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14411 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14412 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14413 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14414 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14415 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14416 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14417 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14419 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14420 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14421 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14422 friendly mail back end all over.
14426 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14427 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14428 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14429 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14430 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14431 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14432 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14433 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14436 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14437 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14438 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14439 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14440 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14441 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14442 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14443 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14444 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14445 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14446 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14448 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14449 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14450 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14451 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14452 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14453 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14454 This will probably be changed in the future.
14456 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14457 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14458 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14459 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14460 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14463 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14464 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14466 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14467 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14468 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14469 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14470 parameter to somthing small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14471 would) to make it use less memory.
14473 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14474 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14475 depending in part on your filesystem.
14477 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14478 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14483 @node Browsing the Web
14484 @section Browsing the Web
14486 @cindex browsing the web
14490 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14491 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14492 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14493 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14494 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14495 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14496 even know what a news group is.
14498 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14499 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14500 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14501 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14502 you mad in the end.
14504 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14507 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14508 interfaces to these sources.
14512 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14513 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14514 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14515 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14516 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14517 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14520 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14522 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14523 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14524 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14525 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14526 though, you should be ok.
14528 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14529 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14530 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14531 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14532 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14534 @node Archiving Mail
14535 @subsection Archiving Mail
14536 @cindex archiving mail
14537 @cindex backup of mail
14539 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14540 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14541 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14542 marks is fairly simple.
14544 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14545 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14548 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14549 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14550 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14551 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14552 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14553 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14554 might interfer with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14555 before you restore the data.
14557 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14558 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14559 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14560 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14561 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14562 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14563 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14564 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14565 is unnecessary in that case.
14568 @subsection Web Searches
14573 @cindex Usenet searches
14574 @cindex searching the Usenet
14576 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14577 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14578 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14579 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14580 searches without having to use a browser.
14582 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14583 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14584 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14585 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14586 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14588 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14589 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14590 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14591 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14592 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14593 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14594 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14595 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14596 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14597 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14600 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14601 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14602 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14603 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14604 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14605 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14607 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14608 to use @code{nnweb}.
14610 Virtual server variables:
14615 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14616 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14617 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14620 @vindex nnweb-search
14621 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14623 @item nnweb-max-hits
14624 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14625 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14628 @item nnweb-type-definition
14629 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14630 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14631 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14636 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14640 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14643 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14646 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14650 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14657 @subsection Slashdot
14661 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14662 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14663 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14665 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14666 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14669 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14670 '((nnslashdot "")))
14673 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14674 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14675 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14676 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14677 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14680 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14681 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14683 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14684 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14685 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14686 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14687 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14688 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14691 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14694 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14695 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14696 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14697 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14698 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14699 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14700 but much, much slower than untreaded.
14702 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14703 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14704 The login name to use when posting.
14706 @item nnslashdot-password
14707 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14708 The password to use when posting.
14710 @item nnslashdot-directory
14711 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14712 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14713 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14715 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14716 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14717 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14718 news articles and comments. The default is
14719 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14721 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14722 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14723 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14725 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14727 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14728 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14729 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14731 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14733 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14734 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14735 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14737 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14738 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14739 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14740 updated. The default is 0.
14747 @subsection Ultimate
14749 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14751 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14752 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14753 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14754 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14756 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14757 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14758 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14759 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14760 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14761 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14762 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14764 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14767 @item nnultimate-directory
14768 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14769 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14770 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14775 @subsection Web Archive
14777 @cindex Web Archive
14779 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14780 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14781 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14782 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14785 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
14786 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
14787 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
14788 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
14789 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
14790 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
14791 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
14793 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
14796 @item nnwarchive-directory
14797 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
14798 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
14799 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
14801 @item nnwarchive-login
14802 @vindex nnwarchive-login
14803 The account name on the web server.
14805 @item nnwarchive-passwd
14806 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
14807 The password for your account on the web server.
14815 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
14816 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
14817 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14820 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
14821 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
14824 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
14827 @item nnrss-directory
14828 @vindex nnrss-directory
14829 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
14830 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
14834 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
14835 the summary buffer.
14838 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
14839 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
14841 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
14843 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
14844 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
14847 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
14850 (require 'browse-url)
14852 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
14854 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
14857 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
14858 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
14860 (browse-url (cdr url))
14861 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
14863 (eval-after-load "gnus"
14864 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
14865 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
14866 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
14869 @node Customizing w3
14870 @subsection Customizing w3
14876 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
14877 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
14878 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
14880 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
14881 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
14882 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
14885 (eval-after-load "w3"
14887 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
14888 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
14889 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
14890 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
14892 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
14895 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
14896 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
14905 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
14906 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
14907 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
14908 specify the network address of the server.
14910 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
14911 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
14912 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
14913 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
14914 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
14916 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
14917 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
14918 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
14919 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
14921 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
14922 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
14923 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
14924 usage explained in this section.
14926 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
14927 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
14928 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
14931 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14932 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
14933 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
14935 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14936 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
14937 ; a UW server running on localhost
14939 (nnimap-server-port 143)
14940 (nnimap-address "localhost")
14941 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
14942 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
14943 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
14944 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
14945 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
14946 (nnimap-stream network))
14947 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
14949 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
14950 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
14951 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
14954 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
14959 @item nnimap-address
14960 @vindex nnimap-address
14962 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
14963 server name if not specified.
14965 @item nnimap-server-port
14966 @vindex nnimap-server-port
14967 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
14969 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
14972 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14973 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
14976 @item nnimap-list-pattern
14977 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
14978 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
14979 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
14980 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
14981 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
14982 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
14984 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
14985 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
14986 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
14989 Example server specification:
14992 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
14993 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
14994 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
14997 @item nnimap-stream
14998 @vindex nnimap-stream
14999 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15000 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15001 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15002 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15004 Example server specification:
15007 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15008 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15011 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15015 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15016 @samp{imtest} program.
15018 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15020 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15021 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15024 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15025 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15026 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15028 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15030 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15033 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15034 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15035 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15036 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15037 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15038 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15039 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15040 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15041 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15044 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15045 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15046 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15047 and nnimap support it too - altough the most recent versions of
15048 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15049 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15050 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15051 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15052 distribution, for instance).
15054 @vindex imap-shell-program
15055 @vindex imap-shell-host
15056 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15057 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15059 @item nnimap-authenticator
15060 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15062 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15063 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15065 Example server specification:
15068 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15069 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15072 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15076 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15077 external program @code{imtest}.
15079 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15082 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15083 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15085 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15087 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15089 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your emailadress as password.
15092 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15094 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15095 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15096 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15097 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15098 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15099 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15102 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15103 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15104 running in circles yet?
15106 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15107 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15110 The possible options are:
15115 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15118 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15119 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15120 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15121 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15123 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15128 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15129 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15131 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15132 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15133 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15134 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15135 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15138 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15139 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15142 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15143 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15144 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15145 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15148 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15149 as ticked for other users.
15151 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15153 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15155 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15156 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15157 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15158 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15160 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15161 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15162 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15163 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15165 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15166 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15168 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15169 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15170 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15176 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15177 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15178 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15179 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15184 @node Splitting in IMAP
15185 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15186 @cindex splitting imap mail
15188 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15189 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15190 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15191 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15192 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15196 Here are the variables of interest:
15200 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15201 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15203 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15205 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15206 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15208 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15210 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15211 @cindex splitting, inbox
15213 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15215 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15216 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15220 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15221 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15224 No nnmail equivalent.
15226 @item nnimap-split-rule
15227 @cindex Splitting, rules
15228 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15230 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15233 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15234 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15235 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15236 Neither did I, we need examples.
15239 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15241 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15242 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15243 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15246 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15247 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15248 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15250 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15251 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15255 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15258 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15259 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15261 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15262 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15263 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15264 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15266 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15267 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15268 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15269 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15270 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15271 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15273 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15274 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15275 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15277 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15278 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15279 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15281 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15283 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15284 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15285 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15288 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15289 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15290 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15291 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15292 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15293 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15296 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15297 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15298 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15299 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15300 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15301 group/function elements.
15303 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15305 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15307 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15309 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15310 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15312 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15313 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15314 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15317 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15318 @cindex splitting, fancy
15319 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15320 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15322 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15323 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15324 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15326 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15327 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15328 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15329 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15334 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15335 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15338 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15342 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15343 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15344 @cindex editing imap acls
15345 @cindex Access Control Lists
15346 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15348 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15350 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15351 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15352 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15355 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15356 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15357 editing window with detailed instructions.
15359 Some possible uses:
15363 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15364 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15365 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15367 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15368 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15369 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15373 @node Expunging mailboxes
15374 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15378 @cindex Manual expunging
15380 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15382 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15383 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15384 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15386 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15389 @node A note on namespaces
15390 @subsection A note on namespaces
15391 @cindex IMAP namespace
15394 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15395 following text in the RFC:
15398 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15400 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15401 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15402 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15403 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15405 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15406 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15407 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15408 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15409 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15410 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15413 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15414 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15415 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15417 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15418 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15419 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15420 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15421 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15422 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15423 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15424 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15426 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15427 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15428 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15430 @node Other Sources
15431 @section Other Sources
15433 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15434 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15438 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15439 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15440 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15441 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15442 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15446 @node Directory Groups
15447 @subsection Directory Groups
15449 @cindex directory groups
15451 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15452 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15455 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15456 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15457 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15458 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15460 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15461 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15462 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15463 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15464 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15466 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15468 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15469 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15470 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15471 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15474 @node Anything Groups
15475 @subsection Anything Groups
15478 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15479 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15480 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15483 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15484 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15485 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15486 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15487 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15488 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15489 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15490 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15491 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15492 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15495 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15496 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15497 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15498 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15500 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15501 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15502 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15503 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15505 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15506 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15507 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15508 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15509 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15510 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15511 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15512 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15517 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15518 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15519 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15520 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15522 @item nneething-exclude-files
15523 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15524 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15525 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15527 @item nneething-include-files
15528 @vindex nneething-include-files
15529 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15530 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15532 @item nneething-map-file
15533 @vindex nneething-map-file
15534 Name of the map files.
15538 @node Document Groups
15539 @subsection Document Groups
15541 @cindex documentation group
15544 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15545 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15552 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15557 The standard Unix mbox file.
15559 @cindex MMDF mail box
15561 The MMDF mail box format.
15564 Several news articles appended into a file.
15567 @cindex rnews batch files
15568 The rnews batch transport format.
15569 @cindex forwarded messages
15572 Forwarded articles.
15575 Netscape mail boxes.
15578 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15580 @item standard-digest
15581 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15584 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15586 @item lanl-gov-announce
15587 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15589 @item rfc822-forward
15590 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15593 The Outlook mail box.
15596 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15599 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15602 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15605 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15611 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15614 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15620 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15621 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15622 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15625 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15626 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15627 group. And that's it.
15629 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15630 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15631 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15632 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15633 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15634 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15635 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15636 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15637 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15638 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15640 Virtual server variables:
15643 @item nndoc-article-type
15644 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15645 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15646 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15647 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15648 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15649 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15651 @item nndoc-post-type
15652 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15653 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15654 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15659 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15663 @node Document Server Internals
15664 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15666 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15667 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15668 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15669 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15671 First, here's an example document type definition:
15675 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15676 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15679 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15680 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15681 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15682 types can be defined with very few settings:
15685 @item first-article
15686 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15687 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15690 @item article-begin
15691 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15692 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15694 @item head-begin-function
15695 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15698 @item nndoc-head-begin
15699 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15702 @item nndoc-head-end
15703 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15704 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15706 @item body-begin-function
15707 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15711 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15714 @item body-end-function
15715 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15719 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15722 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15723 regexp will be totally ignored.
15727 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15728 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15729 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15730 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
15731 something that's palatable for Gnus:
15734 @item prepare-body-function
15735 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
15736 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
15737 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
15739 @item article-transform-function
15740 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
15741 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
15742 body of the article.
15744 @item generate-head-function
15745 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
15746 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
15747 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
15748 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
15752 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
15757 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15758 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
15759 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
15760 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
15761 (head-end . "^ ?$")
15762 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
15763 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
15764 (subtype digest guess))
15767 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
15768 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
15769 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
15770 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
15771 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
15773 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
15774 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
15775 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
15776 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
15777 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
15778 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
15779 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
15780 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
15781 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
15782 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
15790 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
15791 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
15792 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
15794 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
15795 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
15796 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
15799 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
15800 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
15801 that interested in doing things properly.
15803 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
15804 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
15807 First some terminology:
15812 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
15813 get news and/or mail from.
15816 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
15817 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
15820 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
15824 @item message packets
15825 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
15826 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
15827 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15829 @item response packets
15830 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
15831 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
15832 default, where @var{x} is a number.
15842 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
15843 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
15844 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
15845 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
15848 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
15851 You put the packet in your home directory.
15854 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
15855 the native or secondary server.
15858 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
15859 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
15862 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
15866 You transfer this packet to the server.
15869 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
15872 You then repeat until you die.
15876 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
15877 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
15880 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
15881 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
15882 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
15886 @node SOUP Commands
15887 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
15889 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
15893 @kindex G s b (Group)
15894 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
15895 Pack all unread articles in the current group
15896 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
15897 process/prefix convention.
15900 @kindex G s w (Group)
15901 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
15902 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
15905 @kindex G s s (Group)
15906 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
15907 Send all replies from the replies packet
15908 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
15911 @kindex G s p (Group)
15912 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
15913 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
15916 @kindex G s r (Group)
15917 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
15918 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
15921 @kindex O s (Summary)
15922 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
15923 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
15924 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
15925 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15930 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
15935 @item gnus-soup-directory
15936 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
15937 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
15938 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
15940 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
15941 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
15942 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
15943 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
15945 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
15946 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
15947 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
15948 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
15950 @item gnus-soup-packer
15951 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
15952 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
15953 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
15955 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
15956 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
15957 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
15958 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
15960 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
15961 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
15962 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
15964 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
15965 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
15966 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
15967 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
15973 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
15976 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
15977 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
15978 you can read them at leisure.
15980 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
15984 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
15985 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
15986 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
15987 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
15989 @item nnsoup-directory
15990 @vindex nnsoup-directory
15991 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
15992 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
15994 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
15995 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
15996 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
15997 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
15999 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16000 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16001 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16002 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16003 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16005 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16006 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16007 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16008 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16010 @item nnsoup-active-file
16011 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16012 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16013 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16014 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16015 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16017 @item nnsoup-packer
16018 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16019 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16020 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16022 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16023 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16024 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16025 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16027 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16028 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16029 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16032 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16033 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16034 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16037 @item nnsoup-always-save
16038 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16039 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16045 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16047 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16048 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16049 more for that to happen.
16051 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16052 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16053 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16056 In specific, this is what it does:
16059 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16060 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16063 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16064 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16065 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16068 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16069 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16070 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16073 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16074 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16075 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16077 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16083 @item nngateway-address
16084 @vindex nngateway-address
16085 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16087 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16088 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16089 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16090 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16091 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16092 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16093 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16096 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16097 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16098 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16101 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16104 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16107 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16110 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16112 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16115 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16116 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16117 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16119 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16121 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16122 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16123 @code{nngateway-address}.
16128 (setq gnus-post-method
16130 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16131 (nngateway-header-transformation
16132 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16140 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16143 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16148 @node Combined Groups
16149 @section Combined Groups
16151 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16155 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16156 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16160 @node Virtual Groups
16161 @subsection Virtual Groups
16163 @cindex virtual groups
16164 @cindex merging groups
16166 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16169 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16170 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16171 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16173 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16174 regexp to match component groups.
16176 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16177 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16178 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16179 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16180 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16181 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16182 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16183 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16185 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16186 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16189 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16192 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16193 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16195 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16196 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16197 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16198 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16201 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16204 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16205 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16206 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16208 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16209 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16210 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16211 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16212 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16214 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16215 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16216 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16218 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16219 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16220 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16221 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16222 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16223 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16224 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16225 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16226 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16227 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16228 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16230 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16231 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16232 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16233 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16234 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16235 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16236 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16238 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16239 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16241 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16242 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16246 @node Kibozed Groups
16247 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16251 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16252 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16253 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16254 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16256 @kindex G k (Group)
16257 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16260 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16261 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16262 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16263 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16265 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16266 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16267 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16269 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16270 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16271 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16272 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16273 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16274 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16275 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16276 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16278 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16279 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16280 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16281 Stranger things have happened.
16283 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16284 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16286 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16287 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16288 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16289 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16290 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16291 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16293 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16294 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16297 @node Gnus Unplugged
16298 @section Gnus Unplugged
16303 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16305 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16306 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16307 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16308 read news. Believe it or not.
16310 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16311 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16312 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16313 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16314 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16316 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16317 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16318 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16319 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16320 reading news on a machine.
16322 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16323 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16325 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16328 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16329 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16330 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16331 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16332 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16333 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16334 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16335 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16336 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16337 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16338 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16343 @subsection Agent Basics
16345 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16347 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16348 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16349 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16350 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16352 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16353 connected to the net continuously.
16355 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16356 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16358 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16363 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16364 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16365 already fetched while in this mode.
16368 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16369 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16370 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16371 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16372 Source Specifiers}).
16375 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16376 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16377 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16378 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16379 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16382 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16383 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16384 then you read the news offline.
16387 And then you go to step 2.
16390 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16396 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16397 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16398 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16399 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16400 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16401 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16402 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16403 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16406 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16413 @node Agent Categories
16414 @subsection Agent Categories
16416 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16417 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16418 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16419 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16420 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16421 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16422 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16424 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16425 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16426 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16427 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16428 managing categories.
16431 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16432 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16433 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16437 @node Category Syntax
16438 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16440 A category consists of two things.
16444 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16445 are eligible for downloading; and
16448 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16449 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16450 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16453 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16454 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16455 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16456 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16458 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16459 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16460 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16462 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16463 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16464 operators sprinkled in between.
16466 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16468 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16469 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16475 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16476 short (for some value of ``short'').
16478 Here's a more complex predicate:
16487 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16488 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16491 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16492 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16493 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16495 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16496 you want to do, you can write your own.
16500 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16501 lines; default 100.
16504 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16505 lines; default 200.
16508 True iff the article has a download score less than
16509 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16512 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16513 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16516 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16517 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16518 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16527 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16528 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16529 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16532 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16533 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16534 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16535 something along the lines of the following:
16538 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16539 "Say whether an article is old."
16540 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16541 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16544 with the predicate then defined as:
16547 (not my-article-old-p)
16550 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16551 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16555 (require 'gnus-agent)
16556 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16557 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16558 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16561 and simply specify your predicate as:
16567 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16568 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16569 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16570 just don't give a damn.
16572 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16573 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16574 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16575 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16576 parameters like so:
16579 (agent-predicate . short)
16582 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16583 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16584 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16586 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16589 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16592 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16593 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16594 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16597 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16598 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16599 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16600 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16601 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16602 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16604 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16605 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16606 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16607 if it's to be specific to that group.
16609 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16616 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16617 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16623 Category specification
16627 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16633 Group Parameter specification
16636 (agent-score ("from"
16637 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16642 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16648 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16655 Category specification
16658 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16664 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16668 Group Parameter specification
16671 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16674 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16679 Use @code{normal} score files
16681 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16682 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16683 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16684 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16686 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16687 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16688 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16689 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16693 Category Specification
16700 Group Parameter specification
16703 (agent-score . file)
16708 @node Category Buffer
16709 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16711 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16712 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16713 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16715 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16719 @kindex q (Category)
16720 @findex gnus-category-exit
16721 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16724 @kindex k (Category)
16725 @findex gnus-category-kill
16726 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16729 @kindex c (Category)
16730 @findex gnus-category-copy
16731 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
16734 @kindex a (Category)
16735 @findex gnus-category-add
16736 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
16739 @kindex p (Category)
16740 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
16741 Edit the predicate of the current category
16742 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
16745 @kindex g (Category)
16746 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
16747 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
16748 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
16751 @kindex s (Category)
16752 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
16753 Edit the download score rule of the current category
16754 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
16757 @kindex l (Category)
16758 @findex gnus-category-list
16759 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
16763 @node Category Variables
16764 @subsubsection Category Variables
16767 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
16768 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
16769 Hook run in category buffers.
16771 @item gnus-category-line-format
16772 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
16773 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
16774 Variables}). Valid elements are:
16778 The name of the category.
16781 The number of groups in the category.
16784 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
16785 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
16786 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
16788 @item gnus-agent-short-article
16789 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
16790 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
16792 @item gnus-agent-long-article
16793 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
16794 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
16796 @item gnus-agent-low-score
16797 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
16798 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
16801 @item gnus-agent-high-score
16802 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
16803 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
16809 @node Agent Commands
16810 @subsection Agent Commands
16812 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
16813 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
16814 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
16818 * Group Agent Commands::
16819 * Summary Agent Commands::
16820 * Server Agent Commands::
16823 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
16824 following incantation:
16826 @cindex gnus-agent-batch
16828 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch
16833 @node Group Agent Commands
16834 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
16838 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
16839 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
16840 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
16841 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
16844 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
16845 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
16846 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
16849 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
16850 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
16851 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
16852 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
16855 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
16856 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
16857 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
16858 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
16861 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
16862 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
16863 Add the current group to an Agent category
16864 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
16865 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16868 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
16869 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
16870 Remove the current group from its category, if any
16871 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
16872 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16875 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
16876 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
16877 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
16883 @node Summary Agent Commands
16884 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
16888 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
16889 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
16890 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
16893 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
16894 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
16895 Remove the downloading mark from the article
16896 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
16899 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
16900 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
16901 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
16904 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
16905 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
16906 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
16909 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
16910 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
16911 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
16912 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
16917 @node Server Agent Commands
16918 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
16922 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
16923 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
16924 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
16925 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
16928 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
16929 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
16930 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
16931 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
16936 @node Agent as Cache
16937 @subsection Agent as Cache
16939 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
16940 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
16941 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
16942 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
16943 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
16944 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
16945 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
16946 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
16947 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
16949 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
16950 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
16953 @subsection Agent Expiry
16955 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
16956 @findex gnus-agent-expire
16957 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
16958 @cindex Agent expiry
16959 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
16962 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
16963 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
16964 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
16965 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
16966 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
16967 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
16969 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
16970 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
16971 expiry in different groups.
16974 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
16980 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
16981 method---it must always match all groups.
16983 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
16984 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
16985 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
16986 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
16987 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
16989 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
16990 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
16991 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
16992 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
16994 @node Agent and IMAP
16995 @subsection Agent and IMAP
16997 The Agent work with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
16998 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
16999 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17000 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17002 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17003 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
17004 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17005 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17007 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17008 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17009 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17010 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17012 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17013 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17014 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17015 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17016 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17017 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17019 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17020 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17021 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17022 in the group buffer.
17024 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17025 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17030 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17033 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17037 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17038 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17039 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17040 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17041 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17042 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17043 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17044 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17047 @node Outgoing Messages
17048 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17050 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17051 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17052 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17054 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17055 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17056 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17057 messages in the draft group.
17061 @node Agent Variables
17062 @subsection Agent Variables
17065 @item gnus-agent-directory
17066 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17067 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17068 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17070 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17071 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17072 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17073 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17074 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17077 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17078 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17079 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17081 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17082 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17083 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17085 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17086 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17087 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17089 @item gnus-agent-cache
17090 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17091 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17092 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17093 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17095 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17096 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17097 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17098 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17099 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17100 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17101 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17104 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17105 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17106 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17107 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17108 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17109 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17110 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17111 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17112 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17117 @node Example Setup
17118 @subsection Example Setup
17120 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17121 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17122 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17125 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17126 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17127 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17129 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17130 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17131 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17133 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17134 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17136 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17137 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17138 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17141 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17142 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17145 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17146 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17147 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17148 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17149 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17152 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17153 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17154 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17155 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17156 back all the killed groups.)
17158 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17159 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17160 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17163 @node Batching Agents
17164 @subsection Batching Agents
17166 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17167 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17168 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17172 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null
17176 @node Agent Caveats
17177 @subsection Agent Caveats
17179 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17180 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17184 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17188 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17190 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17194 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17195 articles; when it's plugged, it only talks to your ISP and also uses the
17196 locally stored articles.
17203 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17204 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17205 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17208 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17209 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17210 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17211 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17212 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17214 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17215 before generating the summary buffer.
17217 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17218 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17219 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17221 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17222 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17223 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17224 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17227 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17228 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17229 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17230 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17231 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17232 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17233 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17234 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17235 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17236 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17237 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17238 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17239 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17240 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17241 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17242 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17243 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17247 @node Summary Score Commands
17248 @section Summary Score Commands
17249 @cindex score commands
17251 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17252 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17253 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17254 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17255 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17257 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17258 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17259 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17260 score file the current one.
17262 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17267 @kindex V s (Summary)
17268 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17269 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17272 @kindex V S (Summary)
17273 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17274 Display the score of the current article
17275 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17278 @kindex V t (Summary)
17279 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17280 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17281 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17284 @kindex V w (Summary)
17285 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17286 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17289 @kindex V R (Summary)
17290 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17291 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17292 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17293 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17294 effect you're having.
17297 @kindex V c (Summary)
17298 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17299 Make a different score file the current
17300 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17303 @kindex V e (Summary)
17304 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17305 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17306 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17310 @kindex V f (Summary)
17311 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17312 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17313 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17316 @kindex V F (Summary)
17317 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17318 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17319 after editing score files.
17322 @kindex V C (Summary)
17323 @findex gnus-score-customize
17324 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17325 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17329 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17334 @kindex V m (Summary)
17335 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17336 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17337 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17340 @kindex V x (Summary)
17341 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17342 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17343 expunge all articles below this score
17344 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17347 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17348 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17351 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17352 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17356 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17357 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17359 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17360 keys are available:
17364 Score on the author name.
17367 Score on the subject line.
17370 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17373 Score on the @code{References} line.
17379 Score on the number of lines.
17382 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17385 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17386 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17389 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17390 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17391 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17400 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17406 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17407 what headers you are scoring on.
17419 Substring matching.
17422 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17451 Greater than number.
17456 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17457 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17458 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17463 Temporary score entry.
17466 Permanent score entry.
17469 Immediately scoring.
17473 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17474 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17475 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17479 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17480 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17481 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17482 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17484 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17485 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17486 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17487 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17488 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17490 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17491 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17492 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17493 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17494 current score file.
17496 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17497 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17498 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17501 @node Group Score Commands
17502 @section Group Score Commands
17503 @cindex group score commands
17505 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17510 @kindex W f (Group)
17511 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17512 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17513 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17514 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17518 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17520 @findex gnus-batch-score
17521 @cindex batch scoring
17523 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17527 @node Score Variables
17528 @section Score Variables
17529 @cindex score variables
17533 @item gnus-use-scoring
17534 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17535 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17536 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17538 @item gnus-kill-killed
17539 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17540 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17541 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17542 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17543 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17544 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17545 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17547 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17548 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17549 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17550 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17551 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17553 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17554 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17555 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17556 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17558 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17559 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17560 @cindex score cache
17561 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17562 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17563 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
17564 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17565 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17566 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17569 @item gnus-save-score
17570 @vindex gnus-save-score
17571 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17572 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17573 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17575 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17576 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17577 across group visits.
17579 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17580 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17581 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17582 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17583 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17584 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17585 manually entered data.
17587 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17588 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17589 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17591 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17592 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17593 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17594 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17595 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17596 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17598 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17599 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17600 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17601 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17603 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17604 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17605 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17606 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17608 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17609 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17610 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17611 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17613 Predefined functions available are:
17616 @item gnus-score-find-single
17617 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17618 Only apply the group's own score file.
17620 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17621 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17622 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17623 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17624 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17625 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17626 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17627 then a regexp match is done.
17629 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17630 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17632 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17633 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17634 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17635 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17637 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17638 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17639 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17640 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17641 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17645 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17646 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17647 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17648 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17649 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17650 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17651 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
17654 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
17655 overall score file, you could use the value
17657 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
17658 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
17661 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
17662 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
17663 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
17664 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
17665 are expired. It's 7 by default.
17667 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17668 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
17669 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
17670 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
17671 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
17672 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
17673 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
17674 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
17676 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17677 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
17678 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
17680 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
17681 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
17682 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
17683 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
17684 threading---according to the current value of
17685 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
17686 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
17687 simplified in this manner.
17692 @node Score File Format
17693 @section Score File Format
17694 @cindex score file format
17696 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
17697 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
17698 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
17700 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
17704 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
17706 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
17708 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
17710 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
17715 (mark-and-expunge -10)
17719 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
17720 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
17721 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
17722 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
17726 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
17727 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
17729 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
17730 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
17731 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
17733 Six keys are supported by this alist:
17738 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
17739 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
17740 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
17741 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
17742 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
17743 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
17744 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
17745 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
17746 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
17747 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
17748 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
17749 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
17750 to articles that matches these score entries.
17752 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
17753 score entry has one to four elements.
17757 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
17758 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
17762 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
17763 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
17764 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
17765 is successful. If this element is not present, the
17766 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
17767 instead. This is 1000 by default.
17770 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
17771 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
17772 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
17773 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
17774 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
17777 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
17778 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
17779 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
17780 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
17783 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
17784 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
17785 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
17786 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
17787 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
17788 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
17789 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
17790 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
17791 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
17792 instead, if you feel like.
17795 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
17796 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
17797 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
17798 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
17799 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
17800 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
17803 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
17807 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
17808 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
17810 These predicates are true if
17813 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
17816 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
17817 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
17824 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
17825 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
17826 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
17827 it's not. I think.)
17829 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
17830 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
17831 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
17832 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
17835 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
17836 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
17837 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
17838 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
17839 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
17840 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
17841 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
17845 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
17846 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
17847 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
17848 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
17849 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
17850 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
17851 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
17852 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
17855 @item Head, Body, All
17856 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
17860 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
17861 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
17862 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
17863 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
17864 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
17865 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
17866 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
17870 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
17871 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
17872 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
17873 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
17874 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
17875 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
17876 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
17877 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
17878 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
17879 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
17880 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
17884 @cindex Score File Atoms
17886 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17887 lower than this number will be marked as read.
17890 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17891 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
17893 @item mark-and-expunge
17894 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
17895 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
17898 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
17899 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
17900 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
17901 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
17902 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
17905 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
17906 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
17909 @item exclude-files
17910 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
17911 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
17915 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
17916 ignored when handling global score files.
17919 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
17920 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
17921 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
17922 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
17925 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
17926 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
17927 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
17928 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
17930 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
17934 (mark-and-expunge -100)
17937 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
17938 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
17939 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
17940 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
17941 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
17943 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
17944 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
17945 scoring rules exist.
17948 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
17949 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
17950 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
17951 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
17952 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
17953 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
17954 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
17955 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
17956 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
17957 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
17958 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
17962 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
17963 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
17964 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
17965 file for a number of groups.
17968 @cindex local variables
17969 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
17970 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
17971 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
17972 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
17973 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
17977 @node Score File Editing
17978 @section Score File Editing
17980 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
17981 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
17982 with a mode for that.
17984 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
17985 additional commands:
17990 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
17991 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
17992 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
17993 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
17996 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
17997 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
17998 Insert the current date in numerical format
17999 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18000 you were wondering.
18003 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18004 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18005 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18006 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18007 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18012 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18014 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18015 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18017 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18018 e} to begin editing score files.
18021 @node Adaptive Scoring
18022 @section Adaptive Scoring
18023 @cindex adaptive scoring
18025 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18026 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18027 stupidity, to be precise.
18029 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18030 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18031 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18032 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18033 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18034 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18035 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18036 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18037 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18039 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18040 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18041 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18042 might look something like this:
18045 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18046 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18047 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18048 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18049 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18050 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18051 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18052 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18053 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18054 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18055 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18056 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18059 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18060 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18061 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18062 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18063 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18064 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18067 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18068 will be applied to each article.
18070 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18071 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18072 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18073 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18075 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18076 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18077 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18078 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18080 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18081 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18082 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18083 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18085 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18086 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18087 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18088 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18089 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18090 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18092 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
18093 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
18094 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
18095 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
18096 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
18097 aspirins afterwards.)
18099 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18100 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18101 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18103 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18104 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18105 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18107 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18108 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18109 let you use different rules in different groups.
18111 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18112 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18113 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18116 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18117 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18118 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18119 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18120 the length of the match is less than
18121 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18122 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18125 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18126 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18127 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18128 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18129 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18132 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18133 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18134 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18135 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18136 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18139 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18140 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18141 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18142 score with 30 points.
18144 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18145 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18146 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18147 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18148 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18150 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18151 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18152 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18153 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18154 variable defaults til @code{nil}.
18156 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18157 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18158 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18159 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18161 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18162 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18163 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18164 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18166 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18167 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18168 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18169 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18170 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18172 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18173 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18174 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18176 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18177 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18178 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18179 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18182 @node Home Score File
18183 @section Home Score File
18185 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18186 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18187 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18188 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18190 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18191 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18192 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18194 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18195 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18200 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18204 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18205 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18209 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18213 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18214 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18217 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18218 the home score file.
18221 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18224 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18229 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18232 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18233 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18236 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18237 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18239 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18241 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18242 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18245 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18246 Other functions include
18249 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18250 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18251 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18252 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18256 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18257 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18258 their own home score files:
18261 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18262 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18263 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18264 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18265 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18268 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18269 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18270 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18271 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18272 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18274 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18275 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18276 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18277 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18278 precedence over this variable.
18281 @node Followups To Yourself
18282 @section Followups To Yourself
18284 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18285 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18286 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18287 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18288 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18289 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18293 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18294 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18295 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18298 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18299 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18300 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18304 @vindex message-sent-hook
18305 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18306 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18308 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18312 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18313 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18317 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18318 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18321 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18322 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18327 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18331 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18332 is system-dependent.
18335 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18336 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18337 @cindex scoring on other headers
18339 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18340 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18341 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18342 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18343 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18345 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18346 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18347 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18348 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18349 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18351 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18354 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18355 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18358 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18359 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18360 time if you have much mail.
18362 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18363 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18369 @section Scoring Tips
18370 @cindex scoring tips
18376 @cindex scoring crossposts
18377 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18378 the @code{Xref} header.
18380 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18383 @item Multiple crossposts
18384 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18385 more than, say, 3 groups:
18388 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18392 @item Matching on the body
18393 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18394 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18395 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18396 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18397 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18398 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18399 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18402 @item Marking as read
18403 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18404 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18405 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18409 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18411 @item Negated character classes
18412 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18413 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18414 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18418 @node Reverse Scoring
18419 @section Reverse Scoring
18420 @cindex reverse scoring
18422 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18423 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18424 like this in your score file:
18428 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18433 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18434 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18437 @node Global Score Files
18438 @section Global Score Files
18439 @cindex global score files
18441 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18442 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18443 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18445 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18446 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18447 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18449 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18450 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18451 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18452 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18453 files are applicable to which group.
18455 To use the score file
18456 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18457 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18461 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18462 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18463 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18466 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18468 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18469 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18470 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18471 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18473 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18474 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18476 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18477 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18478 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18479 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18480 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18481 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18483 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18489 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18491 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18493 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18495 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18496 lowered out of existence.
18498 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18499 articles completely.
18502 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18503 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18504 old articles for a long time.
18507 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18508 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18509 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18510 holding our breath yet?
18514 @section Kill Files
18517 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18518 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18519 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18521 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18522 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18523 files into score files.
18525 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18526 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18527 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18528 that isn't a very good idea.
18530 Normal kill files look like this:
18533 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18534 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18538 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18539 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18541 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18542 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18545 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18550 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18551 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18552 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18555 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18556 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18557 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18560 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18565 @kindex M-k (Group)
18566 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18567 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18570 @kindex M-K (Group)
18571 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18572 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18575 Kill file variables:
18578 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18579 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18580 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18581 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18582 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18583 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18584 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18586 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18587 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18588 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18589 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18592 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18593 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18594 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18595 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18596 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18597 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18598 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18599 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18600 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18602 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18603 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18604 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18609 @node Converting Kill Files
18610 @section Converting Kill Files
18612 @cindex converting kill files
18614 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18615 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18616 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18619 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18620 You can fetch it from
18621 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18623 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18624 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18625 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18633 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18634 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18635 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18636 news articles generated every day.
18638 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18639 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18640 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18641 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18642 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18643 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18644 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18645 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18648 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18649 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18652 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18653 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18654 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18655 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18659 @node Using GroupLens
18660 @subsection Using GroupLens
18662 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
18664 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
18665 better bit in town at the moment.
18667 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
18671 @item gnus-use-grouplens
18672 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
18673 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
18674 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
18676 @item grouplens-pseudonym
18677 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
18678 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
18679 with the Better Bit Bureau.
18681 @item grouplens-newsgroups
18682 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
18683 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
18687 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
18688 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
18689 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
18690 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
18691 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
18692 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
18695 @node Rating Articles
18696 @subsection Rating Articles
18698 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
18699 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
18700 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
18701 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
18704 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
18709 @kindex r (GroupLens)
18710 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
18711 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
18714 @kindex k (GroupLens)
18715 @findex grouplens-score-thread
18716 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
18717 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
18718 threads in rec.humor.
18722 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
18723 the score of the article you're reading.
18728 @kindex n (GroupLens)
18729 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
18730 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
18733 @kindex , (GroupLens)
18734 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
18735 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
18739 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
18740 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
18743 @node Displaying Predictions
18744 @subsection Displaying Predictions
18746 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
18747 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
18748 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
18749 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
18750 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
18752 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
18753 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
18754 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
18755 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
18756 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
18757 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
18758 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
18759 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
18760 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
18761 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
18762 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
18763 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
18764 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
18766 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
18767 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
18768 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
18769 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
18771 The following are valid values for that variable.
18774 @item prediction-spot
18775 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
18778 @item confidence-interval
18779 A numeric confidence interval.
18781 @item prediction-bar
18782 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
18784 @item confidence-bar
18785 Numerical confidence.
18787 @item confidence-spot
18788 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
18790 @item prediction-num
18791 Plain-old numeric value.
18793 @item confidence-plus-minus
18794 Prediction +/- confidence.
18799 @node GroupLens Variables
18800 @subsection GroupLens Variables
18804 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
18805 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
18806 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
18807 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
18810 @item grouplens-bbb-host
18811 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
18814 @item grouplens-bbb-port
18815 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
18817 @item grouplens-score-offset
18818 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
18819 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
18822 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
18823 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
18824 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
18829 @node Advanced Scoring
18830 @section Advanced Scoring
18832 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
18833 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
18834 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
18835 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
18836 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
18838 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
18842 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
18843 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
18844 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
18848 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
18849 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
18851 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
18852 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
18853 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
18854 non-@code{nil} value.
18856 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
18857 operator, and various match operators.
18864 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18865 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
18866 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
18871 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
18872 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
18873 then this operator will return @code{false}.
18878 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
18879 logical negation of the value of its argument.
18883 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
18884 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
18885 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
18886 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
18887 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
18888 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
18889 the ancestry you want to go.
18891 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
18892 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
18893 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
18894 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
18895 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
18898 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
18899 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
18901 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
18902 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
18905 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
18906 when he's talking about Gnus:
18910 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18911 ("subject" "Gnus"))
18917 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
18921 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18928 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
18929 really don't want to read what he's written:
18933 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18934 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
18938 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
18939 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
18940 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
18947 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
18948 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
18949 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
18950 ("body" "white.*socks"))
18954 The possibilities are endless.
18957 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
18958 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
18960 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
18961 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
18962 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
18963 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
18964 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
18965 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
18966 @samp{subject}) first.
18968 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
18969 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
18980 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
18981 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
18987 ("subject" "Gnus")))
18994 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
18995 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19000 @section Score Decays
19001 @cindex score decays
19004 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19005 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19006 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19007 use them in any sensible way.
19009 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19010 @findex gnus-decay-score
19011 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19012 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19013 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19014 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19015 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19016 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19017 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19018 definition of that function:
19021 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19023 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19024 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19027 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19029 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19031 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19034 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19035 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19036 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19037 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19041 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19044 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19047 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19051 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19052 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19053 the new score, which should be an integer.
19055 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19056 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19061 @include message.texi
19062 @chapter Emacs MIME
19063 @include emacs-mime.texi
19065 @include sieve.texi
19073 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19074 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19075 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19076 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19077 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19078 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19079 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19080 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19081 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19082 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19083 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19084 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19085 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19086 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19087 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19088 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19089 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19090 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19091 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19095 @node Process/Prefix
19096 @section Process/Prefix
19097 @cindex process/prefix convention
19099 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19100 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19102 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19103 command to be performed on.
19107 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19108 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19109 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19110 with the current one.
19112 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19113 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19114 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19116 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19117 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19120 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19121 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19123 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19126 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19127 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19128 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19129 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19131 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19132 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19133 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19134 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19135 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19136 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19137 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19138 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19140 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19141 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19142 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19143 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19144 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19148 @section Interactive
19149 @cindex interaction
19153 @item gnus-novice-user
19154 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19155 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19156 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19157 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19158 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19161 @item gnus-expert-user
19162 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19163 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19164 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19165 matter how strange.
19167 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19168 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19169 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19170 is @code{t} by default.
19172 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19173 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19174 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19179 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19180 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19181 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19183 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19184 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19185 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19186 rule of 900 to the current article.
19188 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19189 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19190 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19191 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19192 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19193 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19194 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19196 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19197 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19198 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19199 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19200 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19201 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19202 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19203 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19204 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19206 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19207 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19208 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19210 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19214 @node Formatting Variables
19215 @section Formatting Variables
19216 @cindex formatting variables
19218 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19219 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19220 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19221 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19222 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19225 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19226 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19227 lots of percentages everywhere.
19230 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19231 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19232 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19233 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19234 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19235 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19236 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19237 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19240 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19241 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19242 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19243 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19244 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19245 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19246 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19247 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19249 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19250 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19252 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19253 @findex gnus-update-format
19254 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19255 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19256 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19257 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19261 @node Formatting Basics
19262 @subsection Formatting Basics
19264 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19265 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19266 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19268 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19269 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19270 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19271 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19272 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19275 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19276 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19277 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19278 less than 4 characters wide.
19280 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19281 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19284 @node Mode Line Formatting
19285 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19287 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19288 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19289 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19290 with the following two differences:
19295 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19298 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19299 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19300 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19301 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19302 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19303 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19304 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19309 @node Advanced Formatting
19310 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19312 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19313 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19314 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19315 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19317 These are the valid modifiers:
19322 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19326 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19331 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19334 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19339 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19342 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19345 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19348 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19354 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19359 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19360 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19361 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19362 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19363 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19364 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19365 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19367 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19368 last operation, padding.
19370 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
19371 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
19372 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
19373 @xref{Compilation}.
19376 @node User-Defined Specs
19377 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19379 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19380 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19381 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19382 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19383 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19384 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19385 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19386 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19387 should protect against that.
19389 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19390 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19392 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19393 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19394 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19395 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19399 @node Formatting Fonts
19400 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19402 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19403 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19404 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19405 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19408 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19409 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19410 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19411 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19412 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19413 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19415 Text inside the @samp{%<} and @samp{%>} specifiers will get the special
19416 @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you
19417 say @samp{%1<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The
19418 @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or symbols
19419 naming functions that return a string. Under @code{balloon-help-mode},
19420 when the mouse passes over text with this property set, a balloon window
19421 will appear and display the string. Please refer to the doc string of
19422 @code{balloon-help-mode} for more information on this.
19424 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19427 ;; Create three face types.
19428 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19429 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19431 ;; We want the article count to be in
19432 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19433 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19434 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19436 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19437 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19439 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19440 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19441 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19444 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19445 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19447 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19448 mode-line variables.
19450 @node Positioning Point
19451 @subsection Positioning Point
19453 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19454 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19455 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19457 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19459 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19460 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19461 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19463 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19464 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%C} specifier. If you
19465 put a @samp{%C} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19470 @subsection Tabulation
19472 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19473 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19474 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19475 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19477 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19478 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19480 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19481 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19482 This is the soft tabulator.
19484 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19485 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19486 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19489 @node Wide Characters
19490 @subsection Wide Characters
19492 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19493 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19494 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19496 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19497 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19498 these coutries, that's not true.
19500 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19501 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19502 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19503 prettieer. The default value is @code{t}.
19507 @node Window Layout
19508 @section Window Layout
19509 @cindex window layout
19511 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19513 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19514 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19515 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19516 @code{t} by default.
19518 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19519 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19521 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19522 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19523 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19526 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19527 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19528 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19532 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19533 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19534 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19535 possible names is listed below.
19537 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19538 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19541 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19545 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19546 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19547 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19548 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19549 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19550 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19551 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19552 size spec per split.
19554 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19555 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19556 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19557 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19558 present) gets focus.
19560 Here's a more complicated example:
19563 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19564 (summary 0.25 point)
19565 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19569 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19570 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19571 occupy, not a percentage.
19573 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19574 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19575 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19576 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19577 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19580 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19583 (article (horizontal 1.0
19588 (summary 0.25 point)
19593 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19594 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19596 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19597 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19598 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19599 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19600 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19602 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19603 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19604 lines from the splits.
19606 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19610 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19611 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19612 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19613 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19614 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19615 size = number | frame-params
19616 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19619 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19620 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19621 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19622 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19624 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19625 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19626 @cindex window height
19627 @cindex window width
19628 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19629 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19630 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19631 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19632 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19633 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19635 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19636 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19637 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19638 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19640 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19641 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19642 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19643 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19644 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19645 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19646 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19647 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19648 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19649 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19650 configuration list.
19653 (gnus-configure-frame
19657 (article 0.3 point))
19665 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
19666 @code{frame} split:
19669 (gnus-configure-frame
19672 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
19674 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
19675 (user-position . t)
19676 (left . -1) (top . 1))
19681 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
19682 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
19683 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
19684 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
19685 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
19686 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
19687 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
19688 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
19690 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
19691 be found in its default value.
19693 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
19694 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
19695 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
19699 (message (horizontal 1.0
19700 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
19702 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
19707 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
19708 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
19709 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
19714 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
19715 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
19716 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
19717 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
19718 (name . "Message"))
19719 (message 1.0 point))))
19722 @findex gnus-add-configuration
19723 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
19724 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
19725 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
19726 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
19729 (gnus-add-configuration
19730 '(article (vertical 1.0
19732 (summary .25 point)
19736 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
19737 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
19738 Gnus has been loaded.
19740 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
19741 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
19742 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
19743 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
19744 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
19746 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
19747 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
19748 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
19751 @subsection Example Window Configurations
19755 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
19756 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
19771 (gnus-add-configuration
19774 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19776 (summary 0.16 point)
19779 (gnus-add-configuration
19782 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
19783 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
19789 @node Faces and Fonts
19790 @section Faces and Fonts
19795 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
19796 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
19797 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
19802 @section Compilation
19803 @cindex compilation
19804 @cindex byte-compilation
19806 @findex gnus-compile
19808 Remember all those line format specification variables?
19809 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
19810 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
19811 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
19812 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
19813 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
19816 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
19817 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
19818 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
19819 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
19820 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
19821 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
19822 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
19826 @section Mode Lines
19829 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
19830 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
19831 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
19832 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
19833 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
19834 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
19835 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
19838 @cindex display-time
19840 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
19841 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
19842 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
19843 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
19844 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
19845 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
19846 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
19847 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
19850 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
19852 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
19853 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
19855 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
19856 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
19857 (length display-time-string)))))
19860 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
19861 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
19862 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
19863 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
19864 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
19867 @node Highlighting and Menus
19868 @section Highlighting and Menus
19870 @cindex highlighting
19873 @vindex gnus-visual
19874 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
19875 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
19876 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
19879 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
19880 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
19883 @item group-highlight
19884 Do highlights in the group buffer.
19885 @item summary-highlight
19886 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
19887 @item article-highlight
19888 Do highlights in the article buffer.
19890 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
19892 Create menus in the group buffer.
19894 Create menus in the summary buffers.
19896 Create menus in the article buffer.
19898 Create menus in the browse buffer.
19900 Create menus in the server buffer.
19902 Create menus in the score buffers.
19904 Create menus in all buffers.
19907 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
19908 buffers, you could say something like:
19911 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
19914 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
19917 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
19920 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
19921 in all Gnus buffers.
19923 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
19926 @item gnus-mouse-face
19927 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
19928 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
19929 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
19933 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
19937 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
19938 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
19939 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
19941 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
19942 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
19943 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
19945 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
19946 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
19947 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
19949 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
19950 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
19951 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
19953 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
19954 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
19955 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
19957 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
19958 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
19959 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
19970 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
19971 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
19972 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
19973 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
19974 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
19978 @vindex gnus-carpal
19979 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
19980 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
19981 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
19986 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
19987 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
19988 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
19990 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
19991 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
19992 Face used on buttons.
19994 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
19995 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
19996 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
19998 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
19999 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20000 Buttons in the group buffer.
20002 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20003 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20004 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20006 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20007 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20008 Buttons in the server buffer.
20010 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20011 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20012 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20015 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20016 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20017 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20025 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20026 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20027 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20028 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20029 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20031 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20032 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20033 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20035 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20036 been idle for thirty minutes:
20039 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20042 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20046 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20049 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20050 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20051 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20053 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20054 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20055 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20056 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20058 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20059 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20060 @var{idle} minutes.
20062 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20063 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20066 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20067 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20068 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20070 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20071 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20072 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20073 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20075 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20076 your @file{.gnus} file:
20078 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20080 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20083 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20084 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20085 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20086 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20087 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20088 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20089 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20090 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20091 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20092 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20093 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
20095 @findex gnus-demon-init
20096 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20097 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20098 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20099 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20100 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20102 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20103 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20104 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20113 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20114 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20116 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20117 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20118 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20119 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20122 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20123 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20124 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20125 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20127 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20128 this will make spam disappear.
20130 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20133 @item gnus-use-nocem
20134 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20135 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20138 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20139 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20140 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20141 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20142 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20144 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20145 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20146 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20147 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20148 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20149 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20151 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20152 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20154 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20155 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20156 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20157 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20158 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20159 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20160 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20161 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20162 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20163 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20165 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20166 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20169 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20172 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20173 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20176 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20179 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20182 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20183 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20185 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20186 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20187 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20188 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20190 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20191 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20194 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20196 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20204 This might be dangerous, though.
20206 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20207 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20208 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20209 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20211 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20212 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20213 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20214 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20215 might then see old spam.
20217 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20218 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20219 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20220 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20221 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20224 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20225 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20226 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20227 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20231 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20232 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20233 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20234 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20241 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20242 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20243 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20245 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20246 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20247 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20248 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20249 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20250 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20251 @code{undo} function.
20253 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20254 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20255 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20256 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20257 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20258 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20259 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20260 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20261 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20262 never be totally undoable.
20264 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20265 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20267 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20268 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20269 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20270 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20274 @node Predicate Specifiers
20275 @section Predicate Specifiers
20276 @cindex predicate specifiers
20278 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20279 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20280 to type all that much.
20282 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20287 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20288 gnus-article-unread-p)
20291 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20292 functions all take one parameter.
20294 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20295 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20296 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20297 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20302 @section Moderation
20305 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20306 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20307 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20310 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20314 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20317 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20319 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20324 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20325 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20326 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20329 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20330 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20333 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20334 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20338 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20341 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20342 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20346 @node Image Enhancements
20347 @section Image Enhancements
20349 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20350 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20353 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20354 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20355 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20356 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20357 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20370 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20371 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20372 over your shoulder as you read news.
20375 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
20376 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
20377 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
20378 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
20379 * Picon Useless Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
20384 @subsubsection Picon Basics
20386 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20395 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20396 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20397 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20398 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20399 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20400 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20401 @code{GIF} formats.
20404 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20405 If you have a permanent connection to the Internet you can use Steve
20406 Kinzler's Picons Search engine by setting
20407 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} to the string @*
20408 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/search.html}.
20410 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20411 Otherwise you need a local copy of his database. For instructions on
20412 obtaining and installing the picons databases, point your Web browser at @*
20413 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}. Gnus expects
20414 picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
20415 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20417 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20418 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20421 @node Picon Requirements
20422 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
20424 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must have @code{x} support
20425 compiled into XEmacs. To display color picons which are much nicer
20426 than the black & white one, you also need one of @code{xpm} or
20427 @code{gif} compiled into XEmacs.
20429 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20430 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you should have
20431 the @code{xface} support compiled into XEmacs. Otherwise you must have
20432 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
20433 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
20434 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20437 @subsubsection Easy Picons
20439 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
20440 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
20443 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
20444 (setq gnus-treat-display-picons t)
20447 and make sure @code{gnus-picons-database} points to the directory
20448 containing the Picons databases.
20450 Alternatively if you want to use the web piconsearch engine add this:
20453 (setq gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20454 "http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch")
20459 @subsubsection Hard Picons
20467 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
20468 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
20469 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
20470 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
20471 feature, you need to select where to get the picons from, and where to
20476 @item gnus-picons-database
20477 @vindex gnus-picons-database
20478 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
20479 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20480 subdirectories. This is only useful if
20481 @code{gnus-picons-piconsearch-url} is @code{nil}. Defaults to
20482 @file{/usr/local/faces/}.
20484 @item gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20485 @vindex gnus-picons-piconsearch-url
20486 The URL for the web picons search engine. The only currently known
20487 engine is @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/piconsearch}. To
20488 workaround network delays, icons will be fetched in the background. If
20489 this is @code{nil} 'the default), then picons are fetched from local
20490 database indicated by @code{gnus-picons-database}.
20492 @item gnus-picons-display-where
20493 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20494 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
20495 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
20496 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
20497 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
20498 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
20499 routines---@pxref{Window Layout}.
20501 @item gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20502 @vindex gnus-picons-group-excluded-groups
20503 Groups that are matched by this regexp won't have their group icons
20508 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
20509 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
20511 Now that you've made those decision, you need to add the following
20512 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
20515 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
20517 @item gnus-article-display-picons
20518 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
20519 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
20520 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer.
20522 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20523 @findex gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
20524 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.
20525 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the function name, not @code{xface})
20531 @node Picon Useless Configuration
20532 @subsubsection Picon Useless Configuration
20540 The following variables offer further control over how things are
20541 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
20542 don't need to worry about.
20546 @item gnus-picons-news-directories
20547 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directories
20548 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20549 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20551 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
20552 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
20553 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
20554 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
20556 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
20557 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
20558 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
20559 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20560 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20562 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20563 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
20564 If you don't have @code{xface} support builtin XEmacs, this is the
20565 command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
20566 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
20567 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
20568 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
20569 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20571 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20572 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
20573 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
20574 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
20575 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable name, not @code{xface})
20577 @item gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20578 @vindex gnus-picons-has-modeline-p
20579 If you have set @code{gnus-picons-display-where} to @code{picons}, your
20580 XEmacs frame will become really cluttered. To alleviate this a bit you
20581 can set @code{gnus-picons-has-modeline-p} to @code{nil}; this will
20582 remove the mode line from the Picons buffer. This is only useful if
20583 @code{gnus-picons-display-where} is @code{picons}.
20585 @item gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20586 @vindex gnus-picons-refresh-before-display
20587 If non-nil, display the article buffer before computing the picons.
20588 Defaults to @code{nil}.
20590 @item gnus-picons-display-as-address
20591 @vindex gnus-picons-display-as-address
20592 If @code{t} display textual email addresses along with pictures.
20593 Defaults to @code{t}.
20595 @item gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20596 @vindex gnus-picons-file-suffixes
20597 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20598 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your XEmacs.
20600 @item gnus-picons-setup-hook
20601 @vindex gnus-picons-setup-hook
20602 Hook run in the picon buffer, if that is displayed.
20604 @item gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20605 @vindex gnus-picons-display-article-move-p
20606 Whether to move point to first empty line when displaying picons. This
20607 has only an effect if `gnus-picons-display-where' has value `article'.
20609 If @code{nil}, display the picons in the @code{From} and
20610 @code{Newsgroups} lines. This is the default.
20612 @item gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20613 @vindex gnus-picons-clear-cache-on-shutdown
20614 Whether to clear the picons cache when exiting gnus. Gnus caches every
20615 picons it finds while it is running. This saves some time in the search
20616 process but eats some memory. If this variable is set to @code{nil},
20617 Gnus will never clear the cache itself; you will have to manually call
20618 @code{gnus-picons-clear-cache} to clear it. Otherwise the cache will be
20619 cleared every time you exit Gnus. Defaults to @code{t}.
20630 @subsection Smileys
20635 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20640 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20641 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20643 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20644 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20647 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20650 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20651 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20652 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20653 text and maps that to file names.
20655 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20656 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20657 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20658 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20659 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20660 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20662 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20663 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20665 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20666 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20667 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20669 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20670 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20674 @item smiley-data-directory
20675 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20676 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20678 @item smiley-flesh-color
20679 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20680 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20682 @item smiley-features-color
20683 @vindex smiley-features-color
20684 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20686 @item smiley-tongue-color
20687 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20688 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20690 @item smiley-circle-color
20691 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20692 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20694 @item smiley-mouse-face
20695 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20696 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20705 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20706 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20707 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20711 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20712 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20713 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20714 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20722 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20723 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20724 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20725 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20727 The variable that controls this is the
20728 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20729 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20730 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20731 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20732 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20734 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20735 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20736 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20737 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20740 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20741 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20742 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20743 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20744 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20745 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20746 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20747 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20749 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20752 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20753 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20755 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20756 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files
20757 in @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20758 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20759 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20760 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big.
20762 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
20763 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
20764 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
20766 Here's how you would typically use the former function. Put something
20767 like the folllowing in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20770 (setq message-required-news-headers
20771 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20772 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
20775 Using the latter function would be something like this:
20778 (setq message-required-news-headers
20779 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20780 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
20781 (gnus-x-face-from-file
20782 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
20787 @subsection Toolbar
20797 @item gnus-use-toolbar
20798 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
20799 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
20800 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
20801 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
20803 @item gnus-group-toolbar
20804 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
20805 The toolbar in the group buffer.
20807 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
20808 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
20809 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
20811 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20812 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20813 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
20819 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
20822 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20823 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20824 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
20825 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
20826 unusual directory structure.
20828 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20829 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20830 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
20831 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
20833 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20834 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20835 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
20836 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
20837 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
20838 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
20840 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20841 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
20842 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
20856 @node Fuzzy Matching
20857 @section Fuzzy Matching
20858 @cindex fuzzy matching
20860 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
20861 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
20863 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
20864 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
20865 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
20867 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
20868 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
20869 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
20870 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
20871 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
20874 @node Thwarting Email Spam
20875 @section Thwarting Email Spam
20879 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
20881 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
20882 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
20883 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
20884 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
20885 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
20886 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
20887 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
20888 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
20891 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
20892 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
20893 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
20894 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
20895 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
20896 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
20901 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
20902 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
20903 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
20906 @node Anti-Spam Basics
20907 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
20911 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
20913 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
20914 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
20916 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
20917 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
20918 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
20919 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
20920 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
20921 part of the mail address.)
20924 (setq message-default-news-headers
20925 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
20928 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
20929 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
20934 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
20935 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
20936 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
20942 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
20943 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
20944 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
20945 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
20947 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
20948 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
20949 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
20950 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
20951 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
20952 your fancy split rule in this way:
20957 (to "larsi" "misc")
20961 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
20962 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
20963 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
20964 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
20965 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
20967 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
20968 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
20969 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
20970 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
20971 cosmic balance somewhat.
20973 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
20974 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
20975 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
20976 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
20981 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
20982 @cindex SpamAssassin
20983 @cindex Vipul's Razor
20986 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
20987 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
20988 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
20989 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
20990 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
20991 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
20992 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
20994 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
20995 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
20996 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
20997 Specifiers}) follows.
21001 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21004 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21007 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21008 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21009 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21012 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21016 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21019 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21020 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21024 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21025 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21026 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21027 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21030 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21032 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21034 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21035 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21037 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21039 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21040 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21044 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21045 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21046 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21049 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21050 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21052 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21053 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21054 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21058 @subsection Hashcash
21061 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21062 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21063 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21064 since it is not part of the internet standards, but it may be useful
21065 in smaller communities.
21067 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21068 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21069 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21070 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21071 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21072 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21073 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21074 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21075 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21076 one of them separately.
21079 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21080 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21081 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21082 header. For more details, and for the external application
21083 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21084 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21085 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21087 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21091 (require 'hashcash)
21092 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21095 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21096 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21097 development contrib directory.
21099 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21103 @item hashcash-default-payment
21104 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21105 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21106 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21107 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21109 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21110 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21111 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21112 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21113 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21114 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21115 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21116 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21120 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21124 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21125 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21126 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21127 a useful contribution, however.
21129 @node Various Various
21130 @section Various Various
21136 @item gnus-home-directory
21137 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
21138 defaults to @file{~/}.
21140 @item gnus-directory
21141 @vindex gnus-directory
21142 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
21143 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
21144 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
21146 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
21147 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
21148 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
21149 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
21151 @item gnus-default-directory
21152 @vindex gnus-default-directory
21153 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
21154 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
21155 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
21156 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
21157 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
21158 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
21161 @vindex gnus-verbose
21162 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
21163 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
21164 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
21165 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
21166 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
21168 @item gnus-verbose-backends
21169 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
21170 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
21171 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
21173 @item nnheader-max-head-length
21174 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
21175 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
21176 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
21177 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
21178 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
21179 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
21180 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
21181 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
21182 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
21184 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
21185 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
21186 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
21187 read when doing the operation described above.
21189 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
21190 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
21192 @cindex invalid characters in file names
21193 @cindex characters in file names
21194 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
21195 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
21196 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
21199 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
21203 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
21204 Windows (phooey) systems.
21206 @item gnus-hidden-properties
21207 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
21208 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
21209 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
21210 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
21212 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
21213 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
21214 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
21215 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
21216 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
21218 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
21219 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
21220 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
21222 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
21223 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
21225 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
21226 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
21227 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
21228 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
21231 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
21239 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
21240 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
21242 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
21244 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
21250 Not because of victories @*
21253 but for the common sunshine,@*
21255 the largess of the spring.
21259 but for the day's work done@*
21260 as well as I was able;@*
21261 not for a seat upon the dais@*
21262 but at the common table.@*
21267 @chapter Appendices
21270 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
21271 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
21272 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
21273 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
21274 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
21275 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
21276 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
21277 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
21278 * Frequently Asked Questions::
21285 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
21287 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
21288 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
21289 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
21290 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
21291 @samp{xemacs-base}, and @samp{fsf-compat}.
21298 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
21299 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
21301 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
21302 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
21303 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
21304 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
21305 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
21307 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
21308 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
21309 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
21310 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
21311 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
21312 appropriate name, don't you think?)
21314 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
21315 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
21316 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
21317 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
21320 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
21321 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
21322 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
21323 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
21324 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
21325 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
21326 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
21327 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
21328 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
21332 @node Gnus Versions
21333 @subsection Gnus Versions
21335 @cindex September Gnus
21337 @cindex Quassia Gnus
21338 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
21342 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
21343 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
21344 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
21346 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
21347 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
21349 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
21350 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
21352 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
21353 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
21355 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
21356 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
21359 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
21361 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
21362 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
21363 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
21364 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
21365 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
21366 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
21369 @node Other Gnus Versions
21370 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
21373 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
21374 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
21375 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
21376 @sc{mime} capabilities.
21378 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
21379 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
21380 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
21381 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
21388 What's the point of Gnus?
21390 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
21391 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
21392 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
21393 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
21394 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
21395 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
21396 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
21397 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
21398 keep track of millions of people who post?
21400 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
21401 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
21402 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
21403 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
21404 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
21405 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
21406 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
21407 every one of you to explore and invent.
21409 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
21410 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
21413 @node Compatibility
21414 @subsection Compatibility
21416 @cindex compatibility
21417 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
21418 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
21419 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
21424 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
21428 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
21431 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
21434 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
21435 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
21436 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
21437 important variables have their values copied into their global
21438 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
21439 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
21441 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
21442 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
21443 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
21444 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
21445 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
21449 @cindex highlighting
21450 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
21451 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
21452 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
21453 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
21454 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
21455 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
21458 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
21459 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
21460 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
21461 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
21463 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
21464 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
21465 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
21466 to stop doing it the old way.
21468 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
21470 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
21472 @cindex reporting bugs
21474 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
21475 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
21476 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
21478 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
21479 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
21480 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
21481 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
21486 @subsection Conformity
21488 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
21489 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
21497 There are no known breaches of this standard.
21501 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
21503 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
21504 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
21505 We do have some breaches to this one.
21511 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
21512 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
21513 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
21514 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
21515 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
21520 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
21521 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
21522 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
21523 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
21525 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
21527 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
21529 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
21530 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
21532 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
21535 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
21536 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
21537 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
21538 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
21539 decoding (verification and decryption).
21541 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
21542 RFC 2015 (superceded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
21543 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
21544 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
21546 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
21547 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
21549 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
21550 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
21551 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
21552 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
21553 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
21554 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
21555 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
21559 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
21560 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
21565 @subsection Emacsen
21571 Gnus should work on :
21579 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
21583 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
21584 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
21587 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
21588 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
21589 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
21593 @node Gnus Development
21594 @subsection Gnus Development
21596 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
21597 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
21598 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
21599 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
21600 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
21601 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
21602 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
21603 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
21605 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
21606 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
21607 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
21608 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
21609 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
21612 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
21613 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
21614 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
21615 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
21616 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
21618 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
21619 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
21620 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
21621 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
21622 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
21623 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
21624 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
21625 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
21626 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
21627 can't be assumed to do so.
21632 @subsection Contributors
21633 @cindex contributors
21635 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
21636 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
21637 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
21638 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
21639 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
21640 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
21641 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
21642 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
21643 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
21644 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
21646 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
21652 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
21655 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
21656 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
21657 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
21658 functionality and stuff.
21661 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
21662 well as numerous other things).
21665 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
21668 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
21671 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
21674 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
21677 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
21678 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
21681 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
21684 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
21685 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
21688 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
21691 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
21694 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
21697 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
21700 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
21701 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
21704 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
21707 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
21710 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
21713 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
21717 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
21720 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
21723 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
21726 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
21727 well as autoconf support.
21731 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
21732 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
21734 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
21743 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
21747 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
21757 Alexei V. Barantsev,
21772 Massimo Campostrini,
21777 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
21778 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
21782 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
21785 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
21791 Michael Welsh Duggan,
21796 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
21800 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
21808 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
21810 Michelangelo Grigni,
21814 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
21816 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
21818 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
21825 François Felix Ingrand,
21826 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
21827 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
21829 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
21840 Peter Skov Knudsen,
21841 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
21843 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
21844 Thor Kristoffersen,
21847 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
21865 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
21866 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
21873 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
21878 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
21882 John McClary Prevost,
21888 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
21893 Christian von Roques,
21896 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
21903 Philippe Schnoebelen,
21905 Randal L. Schwartz,
21919 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
21924 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
21940 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
21945 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
21946 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
21947 (550kB and counting).
21949 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
21952 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
21953 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
21957 @subsection New Features
21958 @cindex new features
21961 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
21962 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
21963 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
21964 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
21965 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
21968 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
21969 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
21970 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
21973 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
21975 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
21980 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
21981 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
21984 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
21985 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
21988 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
21991 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
21992 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
21993 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
21996 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
21997 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
21998 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
21999 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
22002 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
22003 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
22006 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
22007 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
22008 (@pxref{The Active File}).
22011 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
22012 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
22015 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
22016 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
22017 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
22020 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
22021 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
22022 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
22025 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
22026 the @file{.emacs} file.
22029 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
22030 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
22033 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
22034 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
22037 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
22038 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
22041 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
22042 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
22045 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
22046 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
22049 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
22052 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
22053 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
22056 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
22057 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
22060 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
22061 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
22064 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
22067 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
22068 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
22071 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
22075 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
22079 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
22080 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
22083 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
22089 @node September Gnus
22090 @subsubsection September Gnus
22094 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
22098 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
22103 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
22104 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
22108 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
22109 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
22113 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
22117 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
22118 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
22121 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
22125 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22128 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
22131 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
22134 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
22138 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
22139 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
22142 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
22146 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
22150 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
22154 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
22158 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
22161 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
22162 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
22165 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
22169 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
22170 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
22173 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
22176 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
22177 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
22178 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
22181 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
22185 The Gnus cache is much faster.
22188 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
22192 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
22193 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
22196 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
22197 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
22200 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
22201 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22204 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
22205 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
22206 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
22209 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
22210 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
22213 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
22216 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
22219 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
22222 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
22225 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
22226 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
22229 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
22233 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
22236 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
22241 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
22244 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
22248 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
22251 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
22255 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
22258 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
22261 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
22262 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
22265 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
22266 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
22270 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
22271 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
22274 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
22278 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
22279 buffer to allow easier treatment.
22282 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
22285 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
22289 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
22293 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
22294 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
22297 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
22301 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
22302 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
22305 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
22306 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
22309 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
22313 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
22316 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
22319 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
22325 @subsubsection Red Gnus
22327 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
22331 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
22338 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
22341 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
22342 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
22345 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
22346 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
22350 Article washing status can be displayed in the
22351 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
22354 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
22357 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
22358 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
22361 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
22365 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
22366 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
22370 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
22371 Server Internals}).
22374 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
22378 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
22381 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
22382 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
22385 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
22386 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
22387 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
22390 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
22391 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
22394 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
22395 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
22398 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
22402 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
22403 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22406 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
22407 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
22410 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
22414 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
22417 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
22421 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
22422 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
22425 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
22426 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
22429 A new command for reading collections of documents
22430 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
22431 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
22434 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
22438 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
22439 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
22442 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
22443 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
22444 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
22447 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
22448 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
22452 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
22456 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
22460 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
22465 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
22469 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
22473 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
22474 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
22477 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
22483 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
22485 New features in Gnus 5.6:
22490 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
22491 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
22492 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
22495 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
22496 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
22497 group, which is created automatically.
22500 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
22504 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
22507 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
22508 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
22511 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
22515 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
22518 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
22519 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
22522 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
22525 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
22526 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
22529 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
22530 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
22533 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
22534 control over simplification.
22537 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
22540 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
22544 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
22547 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
22550 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
22551 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
22552 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
22555 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
22556 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
22559 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
22563 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
22564 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
22567 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
22568 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
22571 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
22575 A history of where mails have been split is available.
22578 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
22581 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
22582 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
22585 A new function for citing in Message has been
22586 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
22589 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
22592 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
22596 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
22597 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
22600 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
22601 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
22604 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
22607 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
22611 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
22612 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
22614 New features in Gnus 5.8:
22619 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
22620 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
22622 If you used procmail like in
22625 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
22626 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
22627 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
22628 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
22631 this now has changed to
22635 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
22639 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
22640 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
22643 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
22644 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
22647 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
22648 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
22651 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
22652 called to position point.
22655 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
22656 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
22659 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
22660 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
22663 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
22664 subtly different manner.
22667 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
22668 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
22669 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
22672 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
22680 @section The Manual
22684 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
22685 either @code{texi2dvi}
22687 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
22688 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
22690 to get what you hold in your hands now.
22692 The following conventions have been used:
22697 This is a @samp{string}
22700 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
22703 This is a @file{file}
22706 This is a @code{symbol}
22710 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
22714 (setq flargnoze "yes")
22717 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
22720 (setq flumphel 'yes)
22723 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
22724 ever get them confused.
22728 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
22729 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
22730 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
22731 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
22732 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
22733 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
22734 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
22740 @node On Writing Manuals
22741 @section On Writing Manuals
22743 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
22744 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
22745 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
22746 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
22747 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
22748 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
22751 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
22752 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
22753 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
22756 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
22757 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
22762 @section Terminology
22764 @cindex terminology
22769 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
22770 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
22771 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
22772 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
22773 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
22777 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
22778 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
22779 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
22780 not posting, and replying is not following up.
22784 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
22788 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
22793 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
22794 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
22795 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
22796 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
22797 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
22798 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
22799 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
22800 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
22801 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
22803 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
22804 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
22805 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
22806 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
22807 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
22810 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
22811 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
22812 access the articles.
22814 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
22815 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
22816 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
22821 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
22822 default, way of getting news.
22826 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
22827 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
22832 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
22833 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
22837 A message that has been posted as news.
22840 @cindex mail message
22841 A message that has been mailed.
22845 A mail message or news article
22849 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
22854 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
22859 A line from the head of an article.
22863 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
22864 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
22868 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
22869 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
22870 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
22871 normal @sc{head} format.
22875 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
22876 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
22877 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
22878 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
22879 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
22880 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
22882 @item killed groups
22883 @cindex killed groups
22884 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
22885 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
22887 @item zombie groups
22888 @cindex zombie groups
22889 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
22892 @cindex active file
22893 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
22894 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
22895 is rather large, as you might surmise.
22898 @cindex bogus groups
22899 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
22900 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
22901 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
22904 @cindex activating groups
22905 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
22906 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
22907 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
22911 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
22913 @item select method
22914 @cindex select method
22915 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
22918 @item virtual server
22919 @cindex virtual server
22920 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
22921 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
22922 whole is a virtual server.
22926 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
22927 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
22930 @item ephemeral groups
22931 @cindex ephemeral groups
22932 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
22933 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
22934 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
22937 @cindex solid groups
22938 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
22939 group buffer are solid groups.
22941 @item sparse articles
22942 @cindex sparse articles
22943 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
22944 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
22948 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
22949 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
22953 @cindex thread root
22954 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
22955 articles in the thread.
22959 An article that has responses.
22963 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
22967 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
22968 specified by RFC 1153.
22974 @node Customization
22975 @section Customization
22976 @cindex general customization
22978 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
22979 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
22980 for some quite common situations.
22983 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
22984 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
22985 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
22986 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
22990 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
22991 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
22993 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
22994 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
22995 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
22999 @item gnus-read-active-file
23000 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
23001 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
23002 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
23003 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
23004 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
23006 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
23007 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
23008 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
23009 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
23013 @node Slow Terminal Connection
23014 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
23016 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
23017 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
23018 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
23022 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
23023 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
23024 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
23025 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
23026 horizontal and vertical recentering.
23028 @item gnus-visible-headers
23029 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
23030 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
23031 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
23032 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
23034 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
23036 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
23037 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
23038 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
23041 @item gnus-use-full-window
23042 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
23043 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
23044 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
23045 want to read them anyway.
23047 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
23048 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
23052 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
23053 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
23054 lines, which might save some time.
23058 @node Little Disk Space
23059 @subsection Little Disk Space
23062 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
23063 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
23067 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
23068 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
23069 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
23070 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
23073 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
23074 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
23075 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
23076 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
23079 @item gnus-save-killed-list
23080 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
23081 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
23082 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
23083 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
23089 @subsection Slow Machine
23090 @cindex slow machine
23092 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
23093 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
23095 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
23096 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
23098 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
23099 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
23100 summary buffer faster.
23104 @node Troubleshooting
23105 @section Troubleshooting
23106 @cindex troubleshooting
23108 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
23116 Make sure your computer is switched on.
23119 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
23120 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
23124 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
23125 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
23126 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
23127 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
23130 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
23134 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
23135 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
23136 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
23137 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
23138 something like that.
23141 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
23144 @cindex reporting bugs
23146 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
23148 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
23149 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
23150 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
23151 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
23153 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
23154 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
23155 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
23156 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
23159 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
23160 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
23161 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
23162 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
23163 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
23164 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
23166 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
23167 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
23168 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
23172 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
23173 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
23176 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
23177 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
23178 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
23179 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
23180 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
23181 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
23182 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
23183 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
23184 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
23185 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
23186 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
23187 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
23188 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
23189 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
23191 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
23192 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
23194 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
23195 @cindex ding mailing list
23196 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
23197 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
23201 @node Gnus Reference Guide
23202 @section Gnus Reference Guide
23204 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
23205 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
23206 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
23207 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
23210 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
23211 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
23212 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
23213 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
23214 and general methods of operation.
23217 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
23218 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
23219 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
23220 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
23221 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
23222 * Group Info:: The group info format.
23223 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
23224 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
23225 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
23229 @node Gnus Utility Functions
23230 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
23231 @cindex Gnus utility functions
23232 @cindex utility functions
23234 @cindex internal variables
23236 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
23237 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
23238 Below is a list of the most common ones.
23242 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
23243 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
23244 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
23246 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
23247 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
23248 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
23250 @item gnus-group-real-name
23251 @findex gnus-group-real-name
23252 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
23255 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
23256 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
23257 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
23258 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
23260 @item gnus-get-info
23261 @findex gnus-get-info
23262 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
23264 @item gnus-group-unread
23265 @findex gnus-group-unread
23266 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
23270 @findex gnus-active
23271 The active entry for @var{group}.
23273 @item gnus-set-active
23274 @findex gnus-set-active
23275 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
23277 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
23278 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
23279 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
23282 @item gnus-continuum-version
23283 @findex gnus-continuum-version
23284 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
23285 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
23288 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
23289 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
23290 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
23292 @item gnus-news-group-p
23293 @findex gnus-news-group-p
23294 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
23296 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
23297 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
23298 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
23300 @item gnus-server-to-method
23301 @findex gnus-server-to-method
23302 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
23304 @item gnus-server-equal
23305 @findex gnus-server-equal
23306 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
23308 @item gnus-group-native-p
23309 @findex gnus-group-native-p
23310 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
23312 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
23313 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
23314 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
23316 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
23317 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
23318 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
23320 @item group-group-find-parameter
23321 @findex group-group-find-parameter
23322 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
23323 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
23325 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
23326 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
23327 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
23329 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
23330 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
23331 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
23333 @item gnus-check-backend-function
23334 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
23335 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
23336 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
23339 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
23343 @item gnus-read-method
23344 @findex gnus-read-method
23345 Prompts the user for a select method.
23350 @node Back End Interface
23351 @subsection Back End Interface
23353 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
23354 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
23355 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
23356 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
23357 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
23358 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
23360 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
23361 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
23362 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
23363 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
23364 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
23365 been opened, the function should fail.
23367 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
23368 name. Take this example:
23372 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
23373 (nntp-port-number 4324))
23376 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
23377 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
23379 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
23380 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
23381 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
23383 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
23384 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
23385 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
23387 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
23388 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
23389 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
23390 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
23391 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
23392 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
23395 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
23396 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
23397 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
23398 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
23401 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
23402 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
23403 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
23404 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
23405 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
23406 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
23407 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
23408 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
23409 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
23410 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
23412 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
23413 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
23414 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
23415 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
23416 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
23417 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
23418 of numbers as long as possible.
23420 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
23423 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
23426 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
23427 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
23428 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
23429 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
23430 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
23431 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
23435 @node Required Back End Functions
23436 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
23440 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
23442 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
23443 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
23444 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
23445 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
23447 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
23448 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
23449 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
23450 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
23452 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
23453 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
23454 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
23455 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
23456 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
23457 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
23458 number, do maximum fetches.
23460 Here's an example HEAD:
23463 221 1056 Article retrieved.
23464 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
23465 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
23466 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
23467 Subject: Re: Something very droll
23468 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
23469 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
23471 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
23472 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
23473 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
23477 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
23478 these in the data buffer.
23480 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
23484 head = error / valid-head
23485 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
23486 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
23487 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
23488 header = <text> eol
23491 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
23492 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
23496 nov-buffer = *nov-line
23497 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
23498 field = <text except TAB>
23501 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
23505 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
23507 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
23508 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
23510 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
23511 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
23512 server. In fact, it should do so.
23514 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
23515 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
23518 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
23520 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
23521 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
23524 There should be no data returned.
23527 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
23529 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
23530 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
23531 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
23532 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
23534 There should be no data returned.
23537 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
23539 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
23540 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
23541 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
23542 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
23544 There should be no data returned.
23547 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
23549 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
23551 There should be no data returned.
23554 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
23556 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
23557 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
23558 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
23559 it would be nice if that were possible.
23561 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
23562 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
23563 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
23564 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
23565 into its article buffer.
23567 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
23568 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
23569 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
23570 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
23571 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
23572 on successful article retrieval.
23575 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
23577 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
23578 making @var{group} the current group.
23580 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
23583 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
23586 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
23589 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
23590 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
23591 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
23592 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
23593 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
23594 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
23595 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
23596 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
23597 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
23601 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
23602 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
23603 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
23607 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
23609 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
23610 a no-op on most back ends.
23612 There should be no data returned.
23615 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
23617 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
23620 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
23623 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
23624 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
23627 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
23628 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
23629 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
23630 and the highest as 0.
23633 active-file = *active-line
23634 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
23636 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
23639 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
23640 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
23641 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
23644 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
23646 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
23647 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
23648 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
23649 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
23650 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
23651 clear if the posting could not be completed.
23653 There should be no result data from this function.
23658 @node Optional Back End Functions
23659 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
23663 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
23665 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
23666 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
23667 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
23669 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
23670 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
23671 former is in the same format as the data from
23672 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
23673 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
23676 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
23680 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
23682 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
23683 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
23684 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
23685 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
23686 should return the (altered) group info.
23688 There should be no result data from this function.
23691 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
23693 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
23694 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
23695 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
23696 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
23697 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
23698 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
23699 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
23700 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
23702 There should be no result data from this function.
23705 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
23707 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
23708 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
23709 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
23710 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
23711 propagate the mark information to the server.
23713 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
23716 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
23719 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
23720 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
23721 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
23722 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
23723 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
23724 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
23725 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
23726 possible, not limit itself to these.
23728 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
23729 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
23730 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
23731 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
23733 An example action list:
23736 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
23737 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
23738 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
23741 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
23742 mark on (currently not used for anything).
23744 There should be no result data from this function.
23746 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
23748 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
23749 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
23750 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
23751 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
23752 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
23754 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
23755 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
23756 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
23759 There should be no result data from this function.
23762 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
23764 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
23765 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
23766 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
23767 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
23768 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
23769 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
23770 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
23772 There should be no result data from this function.
23775 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
23777 The result data from this function should be a description of
23781 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
23783 description = <text>
23786 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
23788 The result data from this function should be the description of all
23789 groups available on the server.
23792 description-buffer = *description-line
23796 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
23798 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
23799 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
23800 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
23801 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
23802 in the active buffer format.
23804 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
23805 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
23806 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
23807 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
23808 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
23809 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
23810 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
23813 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
23815 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
23817 There should be no return data.
23820 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
23822 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
23823 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
23824 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
23825 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
23826 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
23829 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
23832 There should be no result data returned.
23835 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
23838 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
23839 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
23841 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
23842 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
23843 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
23844 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
23845 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
23846 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
23848 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
23849 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
23852 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
23853 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
23855 There should be no data returned.
23858 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
23860 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
23861 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
23862 this function in short order.
23864 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
23865 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
23867 There should be no data returned.
23870 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
23872 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
23873 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
23875 There should be no data returned.
23878 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
23880 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
23881 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
23882 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
23884 There should be no data returned.
23887 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
23889 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
23890 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
23892 There should be no data returned.
23897 @node Error Messaging
23898 @subsubsection Error Messaging
23900 @findex nnheader-report
23901 @findex nnheader-get-report
23902 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
23903 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
23904 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
23905 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
23906 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
23907 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
23910 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
23912 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
23915 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
23916 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
23917 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
23918 takes one argument---the server symbol.
23920 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
23921 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
23922 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
23925 @node Writing New Back Ends
23926 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
23928 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
23929 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
23930 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
23931 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
23932 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
23935 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
23936 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
23937 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
23939 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
23940 package called @code{nnoo}.
23942 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
23943 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
23949 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
23950 parameters. For instance:
23953 (nnoo-declare nndir
23957 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
23958 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
23961 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
23962 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
23963 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
23965 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
23966 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
23967 a function in those back ends.
23970 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
23971 "Where nndir will look for groups."
23972 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
23975 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
23976 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
23977 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
23979 @item nnoo-define-basics
23980 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
23984 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
23988 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
23989 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
23990 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
23992 @item nnoo-map-functions
23993 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
23994 functions from the parent back ends.
23997 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
23998 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
23999 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
24002 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
24003 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
24004 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
24005 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
24008 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
24009 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
24010 haven't already been defined.
24016 nnmh-request-newgroups)
24020 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
24021 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
24022 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
24027 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
24030 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
24031 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
24035 (require 'nnheader)
24039 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
24041 (nnoo-declare nndir
24044 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
24045 "Where nndir will look for groups."
24046 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
24048 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
24049 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
24052 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
24054 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
24055 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
24056 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
24058 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
24059 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
24061 ;;; Interface functions.
24063 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
24065 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
24066 (setq nndir-directory
24067 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
24069 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
24070 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
24071 (push `(nndir-current-group
24072 ,(file-name-nondirectory
24073 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
24075 (push `(nndir-top-directory
24076 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
24078 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
24080 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
24081 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
24082 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
24083 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
24084 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
24088 nnmh-status-message
24090 nnmh-request-newgroups))
24096 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
24097 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
24099 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
24100 @findex gnus-declare-backend
24101 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
24102 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
24103 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
24105 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
24106 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
24111 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
24114 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
24116 The abilities can be:
24120 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
24122 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
24124 This back end supports both mail and news.
24126 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
24129 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
24130 articles and groups.
24132 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
24133 true for almost all back ends.
24134 @item prompt-address
24135 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
24136 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
24137 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
24141 @node Mail-like Back Ends
24142 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
24144 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
24145 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
24146 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
24147 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
24150 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
24151 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
24152 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
24155 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
24156 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
24159 This function takes four parameters.
24163 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
24166 @item exit-function
24167 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
24169 @item temp-directory
24170 Where the temporary files should be stored.
24173 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
24174 performed for one group only.
24177 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
24178 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
24179 find the article number assigned to this article.
24181 The function also uses the following variables:
24182 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
24183 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
24184 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
24185 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
24189 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
24190 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
24194 @node Score File Syntax
24195 @subsection Score File Syntax
24197 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
24198 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
24199 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
24201 Here's a typical score file:
24205 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
24212 BNF definition of a score file:
24215 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
24216 element = rule / atom
24217 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
24218 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
24219 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
24220 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
24222 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
24223 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
24224 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
24225 date-header = "date"
24226 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
24227 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
24228 score = "nil" / <integer>
24229 date = "nil" / <natural number>
24230 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
24231 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
24232 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
24233 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
24234 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
24235 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
24236 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
24237 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
24238 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
24239 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
24240 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
24241 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
24242 exclude-files / read-only / touched
24243 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
24244 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
24245 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
24246 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
24247 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
24248 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
24249 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
24250 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
24251 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
24252 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
24253 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
24254 eval = "eval" space <form>
24255 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
24258 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
24261 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
24262 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
24263 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
24264 one looong line, then that's ok.
24266 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
24267 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
24271 @subsection Headers
24273 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
24274 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
24275 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
24276 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
24278 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
24279 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
24280 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
24281 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
24282 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
24283 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
24284 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
24286 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
24287 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
24288 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
24289 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
24290 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
24292 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
24293 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
24299 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
24300 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
24302 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
24303 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
24304 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
24305 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
24307 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
24311 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
24314 is transformed into
24317 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
24320 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
24321 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
24324 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
24327 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
24328 is slightly tricky:
24331 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
24337 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
24340 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
24346 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
24353 and is equal to the previous range.
24355 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
24356 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
24357 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
24361 range = simple-range / normal-range
24362 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
24363 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
24364 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
24365 number *[ " " contents ]
24368 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
24369 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
24370 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
24371 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
24372 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
24377 @subsection Group Info
24379 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
24380 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
24381 describes the group.
24383 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
24384 second is a more complex one:
24387 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
24389 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
24390 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
24392 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
24395 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
24396 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
24397 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
24398 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
24399 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
24400 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
24401 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
24402 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
24403 this section is about.
24405 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
24406 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
24407 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
24409 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
24412 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
24413 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
24414 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
24415 group = quote <string> quote
24416 ralevel = rank / level
24417 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
24418 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
24419 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
24421 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
24422 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
24423 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
24424 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
24427 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
24428 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
24431 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
24432 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
24435 @item gnus-info-group
24436 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
24437 @findex gnus-info-group
24438 @findex gnus-info-set-group
24439 Get/set the group name.
24441 @item gnus-info-rank
24442 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
24443 @findex gnus-info-rank
24444 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
24445 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
24447 @item gnus-info-level
24448 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
24449 @findex gnus-info-level
24450 @findex gnus-info-set-level
24451 Get/set the group level.
24453 @item gnus-info-score
24454 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
24455 @findex gnus-info-score
24456 @findex gnus-info-set-score
24457 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
24459 @item gnus-info-read
24460 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
24461 @findex gnus-info-read
24462 @findex gnus-info-set-read
24463 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
24465 @item gnus-info-marks
24466 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
24467 @findex gnus-info-marks
24468 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
24469 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
24471 @item gnus-info-method
24472 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
24473 @findex gnus-info-method
24474 @findex gnus-info-set-method
24475 Get/set the group select method.
24477 @item gnus-info-params
24478 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
24479 @findex gnus-info-params
24480 @findex gnus-info-set-params
24481 Get/set the group parameters.
24484 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
24485 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
24487 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
24488 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
24489 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
24490 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
24493 @node Extended Interactive
24494 @subsection Extended Interactive
24495 @cindex interactive
24496 @findex gnus-interactive
24498 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
24499 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
24500 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
24503 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
24504 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
24509 The best thing to do would have been to implement
24510 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
24511 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
24512 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
24513 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
24514 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
24515 @code{interactive}.
24517 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
24522 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
24523 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
24527 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
24528 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
24529 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
24532 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
24536 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
24540 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
24546 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
24547 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
24551 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
24552 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
24553 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
24555 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
24556 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
24557 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
24558 Gnus, that's very useful.
24560 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
24561 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
24562 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
24563 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
24564 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
24565 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
24566 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
24567 following function:
24570 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
24574 (,function ,@@args))
24578 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
24579 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
24580 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
24583 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
24584 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
24585 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
24587 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
24588 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
24589 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
24592 @node Various File Formats
24593 @subsection Various File Formats
24596 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
24597 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
24601 @node Active File Format
24602 @subsubsection Active File Format
24604 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
24605 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
24608 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
24611 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
24612 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
24613 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
24614 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
24615 no.general 1000 900 y
24618 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
24621 active = *group-line
24622 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
24623 group = <non-white-space string>
24625 high-number = <non-negative integer>
24626 low-number = <positive integer>
24627 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
24630 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
24631 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
24634 @node Newsgroups File Format
24635 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
24637 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
24638 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
24639 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
24642 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
24643 Here's the definition:
24647 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
24648 group = <non-white-space string>
24650 description = <string>
24655 @node Emacs for Heathens
24656 @section Emacs for Heathens
24658 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
24659 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
24660 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
24661 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
24662 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
24663 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
24664 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
24668 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
24669 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
24674 @subsection Keystrokes
24678 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
24681 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
24684 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
24685 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
24686 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
24687 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
24688 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
24689 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
24691 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
24692 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
24693 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
24694 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
24695 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
24696 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
24697 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
24699 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
24700 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
24701 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
24702 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
24703 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
24704 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
24705 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
24707 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
24708 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
24709 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
24710 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
24711 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
24717 @subsection Emacs Lisp
24719 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
24720 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
24721 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
24722 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
24724 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
24725 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
24726 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
24727 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
24728 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
24729 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
24730 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
24733 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
24734 write the following:
24737 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
24740 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
24741 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
24742 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
24745 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
24746 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
24747 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
24748 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
24749 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
24751 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
24752 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
24753 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
24757 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
24761 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
24764 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
24765 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
24768 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
24771 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
24772 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
24775 @include gnus-faq.texi
24795 @c Local Variables:
24797 @c coding: iso-8859-1
24799 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
24800 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
24801 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
24802 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
24803 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref