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335 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
340 @setchapternewpage odd
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
349 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
355 @top The Gnus Newsreader
359 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
360 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@acronym{NNTP}, local
361 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
364 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
365 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.4.
376 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
377 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
379 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
380 being accused of plagiarism:
382 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
383 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
384 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
385 can even read news with it!
387 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
388 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
389 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
390 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
391 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
397 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
398 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
399 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
400 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
401 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
402 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
403 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
404 * Various:: General purpose settings.
405 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
406 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
407 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
408 * Key Index:: Key Index.
410 Other related manuals
412 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
413 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
414 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
415 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
416 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
419 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
423 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
424 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
425 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
426 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
427 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
428 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
429 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
430 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
431 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
432 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
433 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
437 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
438 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
439 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
443 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
444 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
445 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
446 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
447 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
448 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
449 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
450 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
451 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
452 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
453 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
454 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
455 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
456 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
457 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
458 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
459 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
463 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
464 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
465 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
469 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
470 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
471 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
472 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
473 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
477 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
478 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
479 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
480 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
481 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
485 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
486 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
487 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
488 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
489 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
490 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
491 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
492 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
493 * Threading:: How threads are made.
494 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
495 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
496 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
497 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
498 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
499 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
500 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
501 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
502 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
503 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
504 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
505 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
506 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
507 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
508 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
509 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
510 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
511 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
512 or reselecting the current group.
513 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
514 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
515 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
516 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
518 Summary Buffer Format
520 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
521 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
522 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
523 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
527 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
528 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
530 Reply, Followup and Post
532 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
533 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
534 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
535 * Canceling and Superseding::
539 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
540 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
541 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
542 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
543 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
544 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
548 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
549 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
551 Customizing Threading
553 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
554 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
555 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
556 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
560 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
561 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
562 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
563 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
564 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
565 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
569 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
570 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
571 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
575 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
576 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
577 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
578 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
579 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
580 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
581 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
582 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
583 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
584 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
585 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
587 Alternative Approaches
589 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
590 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
592 Various Summary Stuff
594 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
595 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
596 * Summary Generation Commands::
597 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
601 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
602 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
603 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
604 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
605 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
609 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
610 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
611 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
612 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
613 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
614 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
615 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
616 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
617 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
621 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
622 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
623 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
624 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
625 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
626 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
627 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
628 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
629 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
633 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
634 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
635 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
636 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
637 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
638 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
639 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
643 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
644 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
648 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
649 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
650 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
651 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
655 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
656 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
657 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
658 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
659 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
660 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
661 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
662 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
663 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
664 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
665 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
666 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
667 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
671 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
672 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
673 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
675 Choosing a Mail Back End
677 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
678 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
679 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
680 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
681 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
682 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
683 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
688 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
689 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
690 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
691 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
692 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
693 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
697 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
698 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
699 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
700 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
701 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
702 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
706 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
707 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
708 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
709 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
710 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
714 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
718 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
719 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
720 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
724 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
725 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
729 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
730 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
731 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
735 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
736 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
737 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
739 The Gnus Diary Library
741 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
742 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
743 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
744 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
748 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
749 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
750 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
751 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
752 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
753 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
754 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
755 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
756 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
757 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
758 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
759 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
760 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
761 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
765 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
766 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
767 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
771 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
772 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
773 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
777 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
778 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
779 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
780 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
781 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
782 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
783 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
784 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
785 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
786 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
787 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
788 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
789 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
790 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
791 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
792 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
796 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
797 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
798 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
802 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
803 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
804 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
805 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
806 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
807 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
808 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
809 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
810 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
811 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
812 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
813 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
814 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
815 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
816 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
817 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
818 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
819 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
820 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
821 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
822 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
826 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
827 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
828 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
829 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
830 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
831 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
832 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
833 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
837 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
838 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
839 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were
841 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
842 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
846 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
847 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
848 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
849 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
853 * Spam Package Introduction::
854 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
855 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
856 * Spam and Ham Processors::
857 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
859 * Extending the Spam package::
860 * Spam Statistics Package::
862 Spam Statistics Package
864 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
865 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
866 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
870 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
871 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
872 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
873 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
874 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
875 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
876 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
877 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
878 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
882 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
883 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
884 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
885 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
886 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
887 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
888 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
889 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
890 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
894 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
895 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
896 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
897 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
898 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
899 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
900 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
904 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
905 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
906 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
907 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
911 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
912 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
913 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
914 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
915 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
916 * Group Info:: The group info format.
917 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
918 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
919 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
923 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
924 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
925 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
926 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
927 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
928 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
932 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
933 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
937 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
938 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
944 @chapter Starting Gnus
947 If you are haven't used Emacs much before using Gnus, read @ref{Emacs
952 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
953 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
954 your Emacs. If not, you should customize the variable
955 @code{gnus-select-method} as described in @ref{Finding the News}. For a
956 minimal setup for posting should also customize the variables
957 @code{user-full-name} and @code{user-mail-address}.
959 @findex gnus-other-frame
960 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
961 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
962 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
964 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
965 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
966 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
968 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
969 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
972 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
973 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
974 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
975 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
976 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
977 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
978 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
979 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
980 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
981 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
985 @node Finding the News
986 @section Finding the News
989 @vindex gnus-select-method
991 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
992 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
993 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
994 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
997 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
998 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1001 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1004 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1007 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1010 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1011 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1012 server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
1013 server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1015 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1017 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1018 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1019 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1020 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1021 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1022 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1023 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1025 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1026 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1027 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1028 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1030 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1031 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1032 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1033 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1034 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1035 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1036 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1037 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1038 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1041 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1043 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1044 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1045 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1046 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1047 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1048 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1050 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1052 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1053 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1054 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1055 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1056 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1057 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1060 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1061 you would typically set this variable to
1064 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1067 Note: the @acronym{NNTP} back end stores marks in marks files
1068 (@pxref{NNTP marks}). This feature makes it easy to share marks between
1069 several Gnus installations, but may slow down things a bit when fetching
1070 new articles. @xref{NNTP marks}, for more information.
1073 @node The First Time
1074 @section The First Time
1075 @cindex first time usage
1077 If no startup files exist (@pxref{Startup Files}), Gnus will try to
1078 determine what groups should be subscribed by default.
1080 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1081 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1082 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1083 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1086 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1087 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1088 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1090 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1091 help you with most common problems.
1093 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1094 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1098 @node The Server is Down
1099 @section The Server is Down
1100 @cindex server errors
1102 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1103 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1104 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1106 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1107 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1108 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1109 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1110 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1111 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1112 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1114 @findex gnus-no-server
1115 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1117 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1118 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1119 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1120 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1121 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1122 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1123 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1127 @section Slave Gnusae
1130 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1131 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1132 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1133 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1135 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1136 @file{.newsrc} file.
1138 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1139 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1140 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1141 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1142 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1143 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1144 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1147 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1148 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1149 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1150 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1151 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1152 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1153 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1154 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1156 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1157 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1159 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1160 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1161 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1162 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1163 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1170 @cindex subscription
1172 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1173 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1174 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1175 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1176 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1177 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1178 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1179 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1180 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1183 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1184 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1185 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1189 @node Checking New Groups
1190 @subsection Checking New Groups
1192 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1193 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1194 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1195 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1196 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1197 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1198 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1199 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1200 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1201 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1203 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1204 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1205 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1206 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1207 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1208 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1209 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1210 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1211 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1212 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1213 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1215 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1216 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1217 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1218 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1219 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1220 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1223 @node Subscription Methods
1224 @subsection Subscription Methods
1226 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1227 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1228 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1230 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1231 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1233 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1237 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1238 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1239 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1240 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1241 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1243 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1244 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1245 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1246 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1248 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1249 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1250 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1252 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1253 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1254 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1255 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1256 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1257 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1258 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1259 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1260 up. Or something like that.
1262 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1263 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1264 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1265 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1266 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1268 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1269 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1270 Kill all new groups.
1272 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1273 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1274 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1275 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1276 topic parameter that looks like
1282 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1285 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1290 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1291 A closely related variable is
1292 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1293 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1294 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1295 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1298 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1299 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1300 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1301 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1304 @node Filtering New Groups
1305 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1307 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1308 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1309 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1312 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1315 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1316 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1317 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1318 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1319 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1320 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1321 subscribing these groups.
1322 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1323 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1325 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1326 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1327 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1328 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1329 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1330 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1331 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1332 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1334 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1335 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1336 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1337 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1338 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1339 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1340 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1341 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1342 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1343 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1346 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1347 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1350 @node Changing Servers
1351 @section Changing Servers
1352 @cindex changing servers
1354 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1355 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1356 very flaky and you want to use another.
1358 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1359 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1363 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1364 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1365 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1366 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1369 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1370 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1371 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1372 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1374 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1375 @findex gnus-change-server
1376 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1377 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1378 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1379 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1380 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1382 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1383 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1384 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1385 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1386 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1388 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1389 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1390 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1391 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1392 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1393 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1395 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1396 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1397 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1398 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1400 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1401 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1402 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1403 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1404 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1405 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1406 cache for all groups).
1410 @section Startup Files
1411 @cindex startup files
1416 Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
1417 @file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
1418 groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
1421 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1422 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1423 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1424 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1425 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1426 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1427 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1429 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1430 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1431 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1432 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1433 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1434 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1436 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1437 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1438 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1439 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1440 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1441 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1442 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1443 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1444 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
1445 convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
1446 want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
1449 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1450 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1451 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1452 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1453 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1454 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1455 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1456 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1457 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1458 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1459 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1460 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1462 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1463 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1464 @vindex version-control
1465 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1466 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1467 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1468 If you want version control for this file, set
1469 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1470 @code{version-control} variable.
1472 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1473 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1474 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1475 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1476 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1477 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1478 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1479 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1480 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1481 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1484 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1485 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1487 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1488 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1491 @vindex gnus-init-file
1492 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1493 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1494 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus-init} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1495 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1496 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1497 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1498 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1499 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1500 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1501 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order). If Emacs was invoked with
1502 the @option{-q} or @option{--no-init-file} options (@pxref{Initial
1503 Options, ,Initial Options, emacs, The Emacs Manual}), Gnus doesn't read
1504 @code{gnus-init-file}.
1509 @cindex dribble file
1512 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1513 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1514 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1515 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1516 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1519 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1520 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1523 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1524 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1525 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1527 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1528 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1529 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1530 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1531 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1532 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1534 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1535 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1536 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1539 @node The Active File
1540 @section The Active File
1542 @cindex ignored groups
1544 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1545 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1546 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1548 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1549 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1550 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1551 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1552 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1553 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1554 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1557 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1558 @c if you set it to anything else.
1560 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1562 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1563 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1564 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1566 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1567 you actually subscribe to.
1569 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1570 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1571 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1572 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1574 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1575 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1576 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1577 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1578 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1579 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1581 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1582 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1583 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1586 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1587 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1588 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1589 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1590 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1591 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1593 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1594 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1596 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1597 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1599 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1600 secondary select methods.
1603 @node Startup Variables
1604 @section Startup Variables
1608 @item gnus-load-hook
1609 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1610 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1611 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1612 times you start Gnus.
1614 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1615 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1616 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1618 @item gnus-startup-hook
1619 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1620 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1622 @item gnus-started-hook
1623 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1624 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1627 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1628 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1629 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1630 generating the group buffer.
1632 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1633 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1634 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1635 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1636 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1637 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1638 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1639 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1641 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1642 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1643 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1644 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1645 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1646 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1648 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1649 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1650 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1652 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1653 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1654 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1656 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1657 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1658 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1659 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1665 @chapter Group Buffer
1666 @cindex group buffer
1668 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1670 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1671 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1672 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1673 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1674 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1675 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1676 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1677 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1678 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1679 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1680 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1681 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1682 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1683 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1684 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1685 @c human rights at 9...
1688 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1689 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1690 long as Gnus is active.
1694 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1695 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1696 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1697 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1698 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1699 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1700 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1701 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1707 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1708 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1709 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1710 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1711 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1712 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1713 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1714 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1715 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1716 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1717 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1718 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1719 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1720 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1721 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1722 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1723 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1727 @node Group Buffer Format
1728 @section Group Buffer Format
1731 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1732 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1733 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1736 You can customize the Group Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
1737 customize-apropos RET gnus-group-tool-bar}. This feature is only
1740 The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly depending on the
1741 cursor position. Therefore, moving around in the Group Buffer is
1742 slower. You can disable this via the variable
1743 @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}. Its default value depends on your
1746 @node Group Line Specification
1747 @subsection Group Line Specification
1748 @cindex group buffer format
1750 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1751 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1753 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1756 25: news.announce.newusers
1757 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1762 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1763 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1764 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1765 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1767 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1768 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1769 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1770 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1771 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1772 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1774 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1776 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1777 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1778 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1779 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1780 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1782 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1783 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1784 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1786 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1791 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1794 Whether the group is subscribed.
1797 Level of subscribedness.
1800 Number of unread articles.
1803 Number of dormant articles.
1806 Number of ticked articles.
1809 Number of read articles.
1812 Number of unseen articles.
1815 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1816 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1818 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1819 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1820 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1821 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1822 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1823 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1824 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1825 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1828 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1831 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1840 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1841 comment element in the group parameters.
1844 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1845 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1846 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1850 @samp{m} if moderated.
1853 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1859 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1865 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1869 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1872 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1873 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1874 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1875 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1876 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1879 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1881 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1885 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1888 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1892 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1893 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1894 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1895 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1898 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1899 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1900 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1901 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1902 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1903 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1908 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1909 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1910 group, or a bogus native group.
1913 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1914 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1915 @cindex group mode line
1917 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1918 The mode line can be changed by setting
1919 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1920 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1924 The native news server.
1926 The native select method.
1930 @node Group Highlighting
1931 @subsection Group Highlighting
1932 @cindex highlighting
1933 @cindex group highlighting
1935 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1936 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1937 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1938 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1939 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1941 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1945 (cond (window-system
1946 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1947 (defface my-group-face-1
1948 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1949 (defface my-group-face-2
1950 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1951 "Second group face")
1952 (defface my-group-face-3
1953 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1954 (defface my-group-face-4
1955 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1956 (defface my-group-face-5
1957 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1959 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1960 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1961 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1962 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1963 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1964 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1967 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1969 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1976 The number of unread articles in the group.
1980 Whether the group is a mail group.
1982 The level of the group.
1984 The score of the group.
1986 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1988 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
1989 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
1991 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1992 topic being inserted.
1995 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1996 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1997 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1999 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
2000 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
2001 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
2002 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
2003 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
2006 @node Group Maneuvering
2007 @section Group Maneuvering
2008 @cindex group movement
2010 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
2011 expected, hopefully.
2017 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
2018 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2019 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2025 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2026 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2027 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2031 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2032 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2036 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2037 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2041 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2042 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2043 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2047 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2048 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2049 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2052 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2058 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2059 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2060 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2065 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2066 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2067 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2071 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2072 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2073 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2076 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2077 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2078 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2079 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2083 @node Selecting a Group
2084 @section Selecting a Group
2085 @cindex group selection
2090 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2091 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2092 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2093 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2094 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2095 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2096 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2097 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2098 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2099 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2101 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2102 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2103 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2105 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2106 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2111 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2112 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2113 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2114 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2115 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2119 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2120 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2121 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2122 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2123 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2124 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2125 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2126 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2127 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2128 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2131 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2132 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2133 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2134 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2135 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2138 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2139 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2140 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2141 doing any processing of its contents
2142 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2143 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2144 manner will have no permanent effects.
2148 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2149 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2150 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2151 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2152 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2153 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2154 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2155 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2156 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2157 most recently will be fetched.
2159 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2160 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2161 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2164 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2165 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2166 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2167 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2168 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2169 Which article this is is controlled by the
2170 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2176 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2179 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2182 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2184 @item unseen-or-unread
2185 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2186 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2190 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2194 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2195 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2197 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2198 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2199 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2200 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2204 @node Subscription Commands
2205 @section Subscription Commands
2206 @cindex subscription
2214 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2215 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2216 Toggle subscription to the current group
2217 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2223 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2224 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2225 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2226 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2232 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2233 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2234 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2240 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2241 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2244 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2245 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2246 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2247 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2248 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2254 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2255 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2259 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2260 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2263 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2264 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2265 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2266 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2267 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2268 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2269 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2270 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2271 @file{.newsrc} file.
2275 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2285 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2286 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2287 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2288 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2289 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2290 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2295 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2296 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2297 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2301 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2302 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2303 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2305 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2306 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2307 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2308 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2309 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2310 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2317 @section Group Levels
2321 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2322 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2323 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2324 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2325 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2327 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2333 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2334 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2335 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2336 prompted for a level.
2339 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2340 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2341 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2342 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2343 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2344 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2345 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2346 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2347 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2348 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2349 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2350 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2351 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2352 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2353 reasons of efficiency.
2355 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2356 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2358 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2359 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2360 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2361 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2362 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2363 groups are hidden, in a way.
2365 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2366 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2367 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2368 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2369 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2370 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2372 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2373 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2374 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2375 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2376 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2377 list of killed groups.)
2379 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2380 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2381 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2383 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2384 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2385 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2386 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2387 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2388 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2389 relevant valid ranges.
2391 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2392 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2393 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2394 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2395 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2396 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2399 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2400 one with the best level.
2402 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2403 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2404 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2407 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2408 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2409 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2410 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2413 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2414 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2415 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2416 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2418 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2419 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2420 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2421 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2422 to 5. The default is 6.
2426 @section Group Score
2431 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2432 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2433 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2436 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2437 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2438 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2439 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2440 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2441 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2442 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2443 least significant part.))
2445 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2446 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2447 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2448 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2449 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2450 action after each summary exit, you can add
2451 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2452 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2453 slow things down somewhat.
2456 @node Marking Groups
2457 @section Marking Groups
2458 @cindex marking groups
2460 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2461 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2462 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2463 bidding on those groups.
2465 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2466 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2467 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2475 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2476 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2482 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2483 Remove the mark from the current group
2484 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2488 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2489 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2493 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2494 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2498 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2499 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2503 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2504 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2505 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2508 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2510 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2511 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2512 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2513 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2514 the command to be executed.
2517 @node Foreign Groups
2518 @section Foreign Groups
2519 @cindex foreign groups
2521 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2522 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2523 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2524 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2531 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2532 @cindex making groups
2533 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2534 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2535 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2539 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2540 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2541 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2545 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2546 @cindex renaming groups
2547 Rename the current group to something else
2548 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2549 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2555 @findex gnus-group-customize
2556 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2560 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2561 @cindex renaming groups
2562 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2563 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2567 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2568 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2569 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2573 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2574 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2575 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2579 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2581 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2582 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2587 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2588 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2592 @cindex (ding) archive
2593 @cindex archive group
2594 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2595 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2596 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2597 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2598 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2599 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2600 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2604 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2606 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2607 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2608 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2609 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2613 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2615 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2616 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2617 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2621 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2622 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2624 Make a group based on some file or other
2625 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2626 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2627 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2628 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2629 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2630 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2631 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2632 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2633 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2637 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2638 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2639 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2640 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2644 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2648 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2649 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2650 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2651 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2652 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2653 @xref{Web Searches}.
2655 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2656 to a particular group by using a match string like
2657 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2661 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2662 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2663 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2667 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2668 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2669 This function will delete the current group
2670 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2671 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2672 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2673 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2674 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2678 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2679 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2680 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2684 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2685 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2686 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2689 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2692 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2693 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2694 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2695 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2696 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2697 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2701 @node Group Parameters
2702 @section Group Parameters
2703 @cindex group parameters
2705 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2706 Here's an example group parameter list:
2709 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2713 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2714 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2715 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2716 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2718 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2719 is an alist of regexps and values.
2721 The following group parameters can be used:
2726 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2729 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2732 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2733 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2734 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2735 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2736 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2738 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2739 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2740 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2741 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2742 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2743 list address instead.
2745 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2749 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2752 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2755 It is totally ignored
2756 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2757 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2759 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2760 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2761 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2762 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2763 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2765 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2766 @cindex mail list groups
2767 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2768 entering summary buffer.
2770 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2775 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2776 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2777 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2778 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2779 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2780 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2781 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2782 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2785 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2786 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2789 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2790 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2794 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2795 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2796 of whether it has any unread articles.
2798 This parameter cannot be set via @code{gnus-parameters}. See
2799 @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.
2801 @item broken-reply-to
2802 @cindex broken-reply-to
2803 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2804 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2805 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2806 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2807 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2808 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2812 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2813 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2817 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2818 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2819 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2824 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2825 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2826 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2827 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2828 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2829 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2830 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2832 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2833 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2834 doesn't accept articles.
2838 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2839 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2840 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2842 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2845 @cindex total-expire
2846 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2847 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2848 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2849 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2852 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2856 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2857 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2858 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2859 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2860 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2861 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2862 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2865 @cindex expiry-target
2866 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2867 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2870 @cindex score file group parameter
2871 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2872 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2873 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2876 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2877 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2878 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2879 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2882 @cindex admin-address
2883 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2884 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2885 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2886 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2890 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2891 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2895 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2898 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
2899 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
2902 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2906 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2908 Here are some examples:
2912 Display only unread articles.
2915 Display everything except expirable articles.
2917 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2918 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2922 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2923 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2924 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2925 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2926 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2930 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2931 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2932 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2936 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2937 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2938 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2942 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2943 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2944 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2946 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2948 @item ignored-charsets
2949 @cindex ignored-charset
2950 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2951 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2952 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2954 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2957 @cindex posting-style
2958 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2959 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2960 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2961 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2962 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2964 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2965 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2966 like this in the group parameters:
2971 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2972 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2977 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2978 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2982 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
2983 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
2984 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2985 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2986 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2990 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2991 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2992 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2993 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2995 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
2996 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2997 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2998 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3001 if address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com" @{
3002 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3006 To generate tests for multiple email-addresses use a group parameter
3007 like @code{(sieve address "sender" ("name@@one.org" else@@two.org"))}.
3008 When generating a sieve script (@pxref{Sieve Commands}) Sieve code
3009 like the following is generated:
3012 if address "sender" ["name@@one.org", "else@@two.org"] @{
3013 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3017 See @pxref{Sieve Commands} for commands and variables that might be of
3018 interest in relation to the sieve parameter.
3020 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3021 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3023 @item (agent parameters)
3024 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of the its parameters
3025 to control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3026 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3027 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3028 minimize the configuration effort.
3030 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3031 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3032 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3033 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3034 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3035 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3036 @code{eval}ed there.
3038 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
3039 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3040 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3041 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3042 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3043 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3044 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3045 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3048 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3051 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3052 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3053 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3056 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3059 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3060 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3061 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3062 into the group parameters for the group.
3064 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function. If you want to
3065 hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put something like
3066 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group.
3067 @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the (meaningless) result of the
3070 Alternatively, since the VARIABLE becomes local to the group, this
3071 pattern can be used to temporarily change a hook. For example, if the
3072 following is added to a group parameter
3075 (gnus-summary-prepared-hook
3076 '(lambda nil (local-set-key "d" (local-key-binding "n"))))
3079 when the group is entered, the 'd' key will not mark the article as
3084 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
3085 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
3086 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
3087 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
3088 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
3090 @vindex gnus-parameters
3091 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3092 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect (For this
3093 case see @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.).
3097 (setq gnus-parameters
3099 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3100 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3101 (gnus-summary-line-format
3102 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3106 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3110 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3114 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3117 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3118 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3120 @vindex gnus-parameters-case-fold-search
3121 By default, whether comparing the group name and one of those regexps
3122 specified in @code{gnus-parameters} is done in a case-sensitive manner
3123 or a case-insensitive manner depends on the value of
3124 @code{case-fold-search} at the time when the comparison is done. The
3125 value of @code{case-fold-search} is typically @code{t}; it means, for
3126 example, the element @code{("INBOX\\.FOO" (total-expire . t))} might be
3127 applied to both the @samp{INBOX.FOO} group and the @samp{INBOX.foo}
3128 group. If you want to make those regexps always case-sensitive, set the
3129 value of the @code{gnus-parameters-case-fold-search} variable to
3130 @code{nil}. Otherwise, set it to @code{t} if you want to compare them
3131 always in a case-insensitive manner.
3133 You can define different sorting to different groups via
3134 @code{gnus-parameters}. Here is an example to sort an @acronym{NNTP}
3135 group by reverse date to see the latest news at the top and an
3136 @acronym{RSS} group by subject. In this example, the first group is the
3137 Debian daily news group @code{gmane.linux.debian.user.news} from
3138 news.gmane.org. The @acronym{RSS} group corresponds to the Debian
3139 weekly news RSS feed
3140 @url{http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main.en.rdf},
3146 '(("nntp.*gmane\\.debian\\.user\\.news"
3147 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3148 (gnus-article-sort-functions '((not gnus-article-sort-by-date)))
3149 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3150 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
3152 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3153 (gnus-article-sort-functions 'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
3154 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3155 (gnus-use-scoring t)
3156 (gnus-score-find-score-files-function 'gnus-score-find-single)
3157 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s %]%)\n"))))
3161 @node Listing Groups
3162 @section Listing Groups
3163 @cindex group listing
3165 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3173 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3174 List all groups that have unread articles
3175 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3176 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3177 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3178 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3185 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3186 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3187 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3188 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3189 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3190 unsubscribed groups).
3194 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3195 List all unread groups on a specific level
3196 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3197 with no unread articles.
3201 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3202 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3203 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3204 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3209 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3210 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3214 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3215 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3216 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3220 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3221 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3225 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3226 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3227 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3228 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3229 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3230 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3231 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3232 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3236 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3237 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3238 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3242 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3243 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3244 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3248 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3249 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3253 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3254 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3258 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3259 List groups limited within the current selection
3260 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3264 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3265 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3269 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3270 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3274 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3275 @cindex visible group parameter
3276 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3277 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3278 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3279 get the same effect.
3281 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3282 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3283 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3284 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3285 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3288 @node Sorting Groups
3289 @section Sorting Groups
3290 @cindex sorting groups
3292 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3293 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3294 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3295 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3296 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3297 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3302 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3303 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3304 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3306 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3307 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3308 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3310 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3311 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3312 Sort by group level.
3314 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3315 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3316 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3318 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3319 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3320 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3321 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3323 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3324 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3325 Sort by number of unread articles.
3327 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3328 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3329 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3331 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3332 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3333 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3338 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3339 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3343 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3344 some sorting criteria:
3348 @kindex G S a (Group)
3349 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3350 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3351 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3354 @kindex G S u (Group)
3355 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3356 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3357 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3360 @kindex G S l (Group)
3361 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3362 Sort the group buffer by group level
3363 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3366 @kindex G S v (Group)
3367 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3368 Sort the group buffer by group score
3369 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3372 @kindex G S r (Group)
3373 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3374 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3375 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3378 @kindex G S m (Group)
3379 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3380 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3381 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3384 @kindex G S n (Group)
3385 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3386 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3387 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3391 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3392 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3394 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3395 commands will sort in reverse order.
3397 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3401 @kindex G P a (Group)
3402 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3403 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3404 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3407 @kindex G P u (Group)
3408 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3409 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3410 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3413 @kindex G P l (Group)
3414 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3415 Sort the groups by group level
3416 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3419 @kindex G P v (Group)
3420 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3421 Sort the groups by group score
3422 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3425 @kindex G P r (Group)
3426 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3427 Sort the groups by group rank
3428 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3431 @kindex G P m (Group)
3432 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3433 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3434 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3437 @kindex G P n (Group)
3438 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3439 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3440 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3443 @kindex G P s (Group)
3444 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3445 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3449 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3453 @node Group Maintenance
3454 @section Group Maintenance
3455 @cindex bogus groups
3460 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3461 Find bogus groups and delete them
3462 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3466 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3467 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3468 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3469 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3470 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3474 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3475 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3476 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3477 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3478 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3479 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3482 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3483 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3484 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3485 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3490 @node Browse Foreign Server
3491 @section Browse Foreign Server
3492 @cindex foreign servers
3493 @cindex browsing servers
3498 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3499 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3500 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3501 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3504 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3505 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3506 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3507 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3509 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3514 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3515 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3519 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3520 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3523 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3524 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3525 Enter the current group and display the first article
3526 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3529 @kindex RET (Browse)
3530 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3531 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3535 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3536 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3537 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3543 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3544 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3548 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3549 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3553 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3554 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3555 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3560 @section Exiting Gnus
3561 @cindex exiting Gnus
3563 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3568 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3569 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3570 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3571 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3575 @findex gnus-group-exit
3576 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3577 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3581 @findex gnus-group-quit
3582 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3583 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3586 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3587 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3588 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3589 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3590 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3591 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3597 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3598 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3599 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3605 @section Group Topics
3608 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3609 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3610 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3611 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3612 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3613 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3617 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3618 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3629 2: alt.religion.emacs
3632 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3634 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3635 13: comp.sources.unix
3638 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3640 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3641 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3642 is a toggling command.)
3644 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3645 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3646 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3647 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3650 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3651 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3652 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3655 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3659 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3660 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3661 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3662 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3663 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3667 @node Topic Commands
3668 @subsection Topic Commands
3669 @cindex topic commands
3671 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3672 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3673 definitions slightly.
3675 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3676 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3677 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3678 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3679 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3680 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3682 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3689 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3690 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3691 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3695 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3697 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3698 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3699 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3700 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3703 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3704 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3705 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3706 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3710 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3711 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3712 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3713 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3719 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3720 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3721 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3725 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3726 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3727 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3730 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3731 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3732 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3733 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3734 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3736 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3737 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3741 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3742 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3749 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3751 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3752 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3753 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3754 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3755 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3756 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3760 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3766 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3767 Move the current group to some other topic
3768 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3769 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3773 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3774 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3778 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3779 Copy the current group to some other topic
3780 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3781 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3785 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3786 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3787 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3791 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3792 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3793 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3797 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3798 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3799 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3800 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3801 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3802 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3803 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3806 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3807 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3811 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3812 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3813 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3817 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3818 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3819 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3823 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3824 Toggle hiding empty topics
3825 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3829 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3830 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3831 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3832 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3835 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3836 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3837 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3838 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3839 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3842 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3843 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3844 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3845 expiry process (if any)
3846 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3850 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3851 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3854 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3855 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3856 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3860 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3861 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3862 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3865 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3866 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3867 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3870 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3871 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3872 Go to the previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3876 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3877 @cindex group parameters
3878 @cindex topic parameters
3880 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3881 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3886 @node Topic Variables
3887 @subsection Topic Variables
3888 @cindex topic variables
3890 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3891 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3893 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3894 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3895 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3908 Number of groups in the topic.
3910 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3912 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3915 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3916 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3917 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3920 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3921 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3923 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3924 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3925 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3929 @subsection Topic Sorting
3930 @cindex topic sorting
3932 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3938 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3939 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3940 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3941 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3944 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3945 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3946 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3947 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3950 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3951 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3952 Sort the current topic by group level
3953 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3956 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3957 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3958 Sort the current topic by group score
3959 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3962 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3963 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3964 Sort the current topic by group rank
3965 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3968 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3969 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3970 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3971 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3974 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3975 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3976 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3977 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3980 @kindex T S s (Topic)
3981 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3982 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3983 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3984 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3988 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3989 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3993 @node Topic Topology
3994 @subsection Topic Topology
3995 @cindex topic topology
3998 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
4005 2: alt.religion.emacs
4008 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4010 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4011 13: comp.sources.unix
4015 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
4016 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
4017 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
4022 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
4023 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
4027 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
4028 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
4029 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
4030 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
4031 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
4032 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
4034 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
4035 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
4036 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
4039 @node Topic Parameters
4040 @subsection Topic Parameters
4041 @cindex topic parameters
4043 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
4044 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
4045 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
4046 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
4047 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
4049 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
4054 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4055 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4056 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4059 @item subscribe-level
4060 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4061 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4062 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4066 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4067 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4068 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4069 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4076 2: alt.religion.emacs
4080 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4082 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4083 13: comp.sources.unix
4088 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4089 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4090 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4091 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4092 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4093 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4095 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4096 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4097 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4098 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4099 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4101 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4102 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4103 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4104 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4105 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4106 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4107 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4108 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4111 @node Misc Group Stuff
4112 @section Misc Group Stuff
4115 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4116 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4117 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4118 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4119 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4126 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Group)
4127 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it key to some
4128 function or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4131 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map (kbd "v j d")
4134 (gnus-group-jump-to-group "nndraft:drafts")))
4137 On keys reserved for users in Emacs and on keybindings in general
4138 @xref{Keymaps, Keymaps, , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.
4142 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4143 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4144 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4148 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4149 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4150 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4151 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4152 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4153 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4154 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4158 @findex gnus-group-mail
4159 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4160 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4161 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4162 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4166 @findex gnus-group-news
4167 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4168 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4169 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4171 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4172 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4173 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4174 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4175 for this to work though.
4179 Variables for the group buffer:
4183 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4184 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4185 is called after the group buffer has been
4188 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4189 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4190 is called after the group buffer is
4191 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4194 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4195 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4196 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4197 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4199 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4200 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4201 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4202 whether they are empty or not.
4204 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4205 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4206 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4207 non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4211 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4212 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4215 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4216 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4217 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4218 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4219 is used to show non-@acronym{ASCII} group names. @code{((".*"
4220 utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the
4221 default is @code{nil}.
4225 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4226 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4231 @node Scanning New Messages
4232 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4233 @cindex new messages
4234 @cindex scanning new news
4240 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4241 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4242 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4243 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4244 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4245 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4250 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4251 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4252 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4253 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4254 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4255 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4256 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4258 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4259 @cindex activating groups
4261 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4262 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4267 @findex gnus-group-restart
4268 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4269 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4270 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4274 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4275 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4277 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4278 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4282 @node Group Information
4283 @subsection Group Information
4284 @cindex group information
4285 @cindex information on groups
4292 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4293 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4296 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4297 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4298 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4299 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4300 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4301 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4302 used for fetching the file.
4304 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4305 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4309 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4310 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4312 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4313 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4316 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4317 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4318 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4322 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4323 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4324 @cindex control message
4325 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4326 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4327 group if given a prefix argument.
4329 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4330 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4331 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4332 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4334 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4335 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4336 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4340 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4342 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4343 @cindex describing groups
4344 @cindex group description
4345 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4346 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4347 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4351 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4352 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4353 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4360 @findex gnus-version
4361 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4365 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4366 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4369 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4372 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4373 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4377 @node Group Timestamp
4378 @subsection Group Timestamp
4380 @cindex group timestamps
4382 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4383 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4384 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4387 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4390 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4392 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4393 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4396 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4397 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4400 This will result in lines looking like:
4403 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4404 0: custom 19961002T012713
4407 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4408 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4412 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4413 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4416 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4417 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4421 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4422 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4423 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4424 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4426 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4432 @subsection File Commands
4433 @cindex file commands
4439 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4440 @vindex gnus-init-file
4441 @cindex reading init file
4442 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4443 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4447 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4448 @cindex saving .newsrc
4449 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4450 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4451 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4454 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4455 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4456 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4461 @node Sieve Commands
4462 @subsection Sieve Commands
4463 @cindex group sieve commands
4465 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4466 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4467 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4468 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4469 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4471 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4472 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4473 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4474 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4475 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4476 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4477 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4478 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4479 regenerate the Sieve script.
4481 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4482 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4483 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4484 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4485 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4486 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4487 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4488 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4489 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4490 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4493 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4494 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4499 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4505 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4506 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4507 @cindex generating sieve script
4508 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4509 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4513 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4514 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4515 @cindex updating sieve script
4516 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4517 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4518 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4523 @node Summary Buffer
4524 @chapter Summary Buffer
4525 @cindex summary buffer
4527 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4528 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4530 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4531 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4533 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4535 You can customize the Summary Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
4536 customize-apropos RET gnus-summary-tool-bar}. This feature is only
4540 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Summary)
4541 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it key to some
4542 function or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4544 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map (kbd "v -") "LrS") ;; lower subthread
4548 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4549 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4550 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4551 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4552 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4553 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4554 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4555 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4556 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4557 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4558 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4559 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4560 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4561 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4562 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4563 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4564 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4565 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4566 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4567 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4568 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4569 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4570 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4571 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4572 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4573 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4574 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4575 or reselecting the current group.
4576 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4577 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4578 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4579 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4583 @node Summary Buffer Format
4584 @section Summary Buffer Format
4585 @cindex summary buffer format
4589 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4590 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4591 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4597 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4598 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4599 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4600 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4603 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4604 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4605 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4606 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4607 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4608 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4609 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4610 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4611 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4612 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4613 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4616 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4617 'mail-extract-address-components)
4620 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4621 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4622 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4623 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4626 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4627 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4629 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4630 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4631 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4632 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4633 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4635 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4636 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4637 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4638 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4639 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4640 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4642 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4644 The following format specification characters and extended format
4645 specification(s) are understood:
4651 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4652 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4654 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4655 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4656 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4658 Full @code{From} header.
4660 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4662 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4665 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4666 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4667 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4668 may be more thorough.
4670 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4673 Number of lines in the article.
4675 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4676 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4678 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4679 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4681 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4683 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4684 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4697 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4698 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4699 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4700 line-drawing glyphs.
4702 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4703 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4704 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4705 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4707 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4708 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4709 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4710 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4712 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4713 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4714 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4715 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4717 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4718 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4719 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4721 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4722 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4723 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4725 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4726 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4727 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4729 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4730 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4731 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4736 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4737 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4739 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4740 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4742 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4743 for adopted articles.
4745 One space for each thread level.
4747 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4749 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4752 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4753 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4754 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4757 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4759 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4760 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4761 default level. If the difference between
4762 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4763 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4771 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4773 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4779 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4780 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4782 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4783 article has any children.
4789 Desired cursor position (instead of after first colon).
4791 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4792 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4794 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4795 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4796 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
4797 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4798 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4799 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4802 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4803 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4804 There can only be one such area.
4806 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4807 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4808 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4809 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4810 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4811 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4813 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4814 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4816 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4819 @node To From Newsgroups
4820 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4824 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4825 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4826 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4827 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4828 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4832 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4833 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4834 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4838 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4839 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4842 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4843 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4846 @findex gnus-extra-header
4847 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4848 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4849 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4852 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4856 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4857 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4858 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4859 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4860 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4861 headers are used instead.
4863 To distinguish regular articles from those where the @code{From} field
4864 has been swapped, a string is prefixed to the @code{To} or
4865 @code{Newsgroups} header in the summary line. By default the string is
4866 @samp{-> } for @code{To} and @samp{=> } for @code{Newsgroups}, you can
4867 customize these strings with @code{gnus-summary-to-prefix} and
4868 @code{gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix}.
4872 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4873 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4874 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
4875 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
4876 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
4877 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
4880 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4881 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4882 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4883 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4885 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4889 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4891 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4892 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4893 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4894 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4898 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4901 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4902 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4905 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4906 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4907 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4913 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4914 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4917 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4918 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4920 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4921 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4922 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4923 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4925 Here are the elements you can play with:
4931 Unprefixed group name.
4933 Current article number.
4935 Current article score.
4939 Number of unread articles in this group.
4941 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4944 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4945 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4946 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4947 and no unselected ones.
4949 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4950 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4952 Subject of the current article.
4954 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4956 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4958 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4960 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4962 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4964 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4968 @node Summary Highlighting
4969 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4973 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4974 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4975 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4976 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4977 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4979 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4980 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4981 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4982 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4984 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4985 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4986 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4987 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4989 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4990 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4991 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4992 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4993 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4994 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4997 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4998 ((> score default) . bold))
5000 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
5001 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
5005 @node Summary Maneuvering
5006 @section Summary Maneuvering
5007 @cindex summary movement
5009 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
5010 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
5012 None of these commands select articles.
5017 @kindex M-n (Summary)
5018 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
5019 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
5020 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
5021 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
5025 @kindex M-p (Summary)
5026 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
5027 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
5028 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
5029 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
5032 @kindex G g (Summary)
5033 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
5034 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
5035 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
5038 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
5039 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
5040 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
5041 to the group buffer.
5043 Variables related to summary movement:
5047 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
5048 @item gnus-auto-select-next
5049 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
5050 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
5051 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
5052 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
5053 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
5054 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
5055 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
5056 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
5057 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
5058 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
5059 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
5060 @pxref{Group Levels}.
5062 @item gnus-auto-select-same
5063 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
5064 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
5065 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
5066 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
5067 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
5068 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
5070 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
5072 @item gnus-summary-check-current
5073 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
5074 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
5075 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
5076 Instead, they will choose the current article.
5078 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
5079 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
5080 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
5081 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
5082 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
5083 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
5084 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
5085 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
5088 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
5089 the given number of lines from the top.
5094 @node Choosing Articles
5095 @section Choosing Articles
5096 @cindex selecting articles
5099 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5100 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5104 @node Choosing Commands
5105 @subsection Choosing Commands
5107 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5108 and they all select and display an article.
5110 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5111 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5115 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5116 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5117 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5118 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5120 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5121 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5122 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5127 @kindex G n (Summary)
5128 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5129 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5130 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5135 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5136 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5137 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5142 @kindex G N (Summary)
5143 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5144 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5149 @kindex G P (Summary)
5150 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5151 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5154 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5155 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5156 Go to the next article with the same subject
5157 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5160 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5161 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5162 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5163 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5167 @kindex G f (Summary)
5169 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5170 Go to the first unread article
5171 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5175 @kindex G b (Summary)
5177 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5178 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5179 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5180 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5185 @kindex G l (Summary)
5186 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5187 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5190 @kindex G o (Summary)
5191 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5193 @cindex article history
5194 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5195 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5196 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5197 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5198 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5199 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5204 @kindex G j (Summary)
5205 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5206 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5207 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5212 @node Choosing Variables
5213 @subsection Choosing Variables
5215 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5218 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5219 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5220 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5221 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5222 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5223 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5225 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5226 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5227 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. The default is
5228 @code{nil}. If you would like each article to be saved in the Agent as
5229 you read it, putting @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this
5232 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5233 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5234 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5235 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5236 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5237 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5238 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5239 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5240 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-read-mark}. The only
5241 articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5242 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5243 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5244 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5245 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5250 @node Paging the Article
5251 @section Scrolling the Article
5252 @cindex article scrolling
5257 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5258 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5259 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5260 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5261 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5263 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5264 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5265 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5266 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5267 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5268 what is considered uninteresting with
5269 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5270 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5273 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5274 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5275 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5278 @kindex RET (Summary)
5279 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5280 Scroll the current article one line forward
5281 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5284 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5285 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5286 Scroll the current article one line backward
5287 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5291 @kindex A g (Summary)
5293 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5294 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5295 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5296 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5297 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5298 the way it came from the server.
5300 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5301 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5302 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5305 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5310 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5315 @kindex A < (Summary)
5316 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5317 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5318 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5323 @kindex A > (Summary)
5324 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5325 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5329 @kindex A s (Summary)
5331 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5332 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5333 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5337 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5338 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5343 @node Reply Followup and Post
5344 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5347 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5348 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5349 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5350 * Canceling and Superseding::
5354 @node Summary Mail Commands
5355 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5357 @cindex composing mail
5359 Commands for composing a mail message:
5365 @kindex S r (Summary)
5367 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5368 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5369 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5370 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5371 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5376 @kindex S R (Summary)
5377 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5378 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5379 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5380 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5381 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5384 @kindex S w (Summary)
5385 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5386 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5387 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5388 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5389 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5390 present, that's used instead.
5393 @kindex S W (Summary)
5394 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5395 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5396 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5397 the process/prefix convention.
5400 @kindex S v (Summary)
5401 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5402 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5403 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5404 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5405 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5406 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5409 @kindex S V (Summary)
5410 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5411 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5412 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5413 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5416 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5417 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5418 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5419 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5420 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5421 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5422 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5423 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5426 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5427 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5428 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5429 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5430 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5434 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5435 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5436 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5437 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5438 Forward the current article to some other person
5439 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5440 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5441 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5442 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5443 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5444 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5445 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5446 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5447 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
5453 @kindex S m (Summary)
5454 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5455 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5456 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5457 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5458 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5463 @kindex S i (Summary)
5464 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5465 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5466 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5467 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5469 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5470 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5471 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5472 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5473 for this to work though.
5476 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5477 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5478 @cindex bouncing mail
5479 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5480 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5481 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5482 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5483 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5484 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5485 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5486 very well fail, though.
5489 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5490 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5491 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5492 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5493 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5494 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5495 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5496 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5497 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5498 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5500 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5501 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5502 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5503 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5504 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5506 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5507 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5510 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5511 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5513 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5514 if it were a new message before resending.
5517 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5518 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5519 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5520 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5521 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5524 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5525 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5526 @cindex crossposting
5527 @cindex excessive crossposting
5528 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5529 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5531 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5532 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5533 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5534 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5535 command understands the process/prefix convention
5536 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5540 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5541 Manual}, for more information.
5544 @node Summary Post Commands
5545 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5547 @cindex composing news
5549 Commands for posting a news article:
5555 @kindex S p (Summary)
5556 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5557 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5558 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5559 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5560 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5565 @kindex S f (Summary)
5566 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5567 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5568 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5572 @kindex S F (Summary)
5574 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5575 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5576 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5577 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5578 process/prefix convention.
5581 @kindex S n (Summary)
5582 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5583 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5584 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5587 @kindex S N (Summary)
5588 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5589 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5590 message through mail and include the original message
5591 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5592 the process/prefix convention.
5595 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5596 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5597 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5598 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5599 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5600 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5601 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5602 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5603 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5604 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5605 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5606 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5607 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
5610 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5611 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5613 @cindex making digests
5614 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5615 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5616 process/prefix convention.
5619 @kindex S u (Summary)
5620 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5621 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5622 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5623 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5626 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5627 Manual}, for more information.
5630 @node Summary Message Commands
5631 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5635 @kindex S y (Summary)
5636 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5637 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5638 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5639 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5640 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5645 @node Canceling and Superseding
5646 @subsection Canceling Articles
5647 @cindex canceling articles
5648 @cindex superseding articles
5650 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5651 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5653 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5655 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5657 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5658 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5659 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5660 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5661 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5662 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5664 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5665 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5668 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5669 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5670 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5672 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5673 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5674 message, Message Manual}).
5676 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5677 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5678 your original article.
5680 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5682 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5683 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5684 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5687 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5688 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5689 have posted almost the same article twice.
5691 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5692 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5693 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5694 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5695 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5696 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5697 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5698 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5699 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5700 canceled/superseded.
5702 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5704 @node Delayed Articles
5705 @section Delayed Articles
5706 @cindex delayed sending
5707 @cindex send delayed
5709 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5710 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5711 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5712 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5715 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5718 @findex gnus-delay-article
5719 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5720 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5721 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5722 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5726 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5727 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5728 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5729 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5732 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5733 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5734 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5737 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5738 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5739 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5740 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5741 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5742 that means a time tomorrow.
5745 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5746 couple of variables:
5749 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5750 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5751 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5752 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5754 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5755 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5756 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5757 formats described above.
5759 @item gnus-delay-group
5760 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5761 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5762 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5763 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5765 @item gnus-delay-header
5766 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5767 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5768 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5769 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5772 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5773 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5774 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5775 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5776 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5778 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
5779 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5780 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5781 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5782 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5783 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5784 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5787 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5788 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5789 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5790 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5791 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5792 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5793 argument is ignored.
5795 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5796 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5797 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5801 @node Marking Articles
5802 @section Marking Articles
5803 @cindex article marking
5804 @cindex article ticking
5807 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5809 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5810 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5811 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5813 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5816 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks.
5820 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5821 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5822 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5823 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5824 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5825 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5829 @node Unread Articles
5830 @subsection Unread Articles
5832 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5837 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5838 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5840 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5841 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5842 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5843 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5844 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5845 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5846 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5849 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5850 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5852 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5853 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5854 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5855 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5859 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5860 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5862 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5867 @subsection Read Articles
5868 @cindex expirable mark
5870 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5875 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5876 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5877 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5880 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5881 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5884 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5885 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5886 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5889 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5890 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5893 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5894 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5897 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5898 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5901 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5902 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5905 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5906 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5909 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5910 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5913 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5914 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5918 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5919 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5920 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5924 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5925 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5927 One more special mark, though:
5931 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5932 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5934 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5935 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5936 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5937 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5943 @subsection Other Marks
5944 @cindex process mark
5947 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5953 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5954 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5955 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5956 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5957 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5960 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5961 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5962 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5963 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5966 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5967 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5968 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5971 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5972 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5973 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5976 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5977 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5978 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5979 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5982 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5983 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5984 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5985 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5986 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5987 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5990 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5991 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5992 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5993 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5996 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5997 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
5998 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5999 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
6000 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
6004 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
6005 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
6006 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
6007 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
6008 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
6009 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
6012 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
6013 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
6014 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
6015 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
6016 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
6017 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
6021 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
6022 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
6023 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
6024 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
6025 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
6028 @vindex gnus-process-mark
6029 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
6030 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
6031 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
6032 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
6033 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
6037 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
6038 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
6039 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
6041 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
6042 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
6043 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
6047 @subsection Setting Marks
6048 @cindex setting marks
6050 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
6055 @kindex M c (Summary)
6056 @kindex M-u (Summary)
6057 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
6058 @cindex mark as unread
6059 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
6060 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
6066 @kindex M t (Summary)
6067 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
6068 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
6069 @xref{Article Caching}.
6074 @kindex M ? (Summary)
6075 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
6076 Mark the current article as dormant
6077 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6081 @kindex M d (Summary)
6083 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
6084 Mark the current article as read
6085 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
6089 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
6090 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
6091 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6096 @kindex M k (Summary)
6097 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6098 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6099 and then select the next unread article
6100 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6104 @kindex M K (Summary)
6105 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6106 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6107 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6108 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6111 @kindex M C (Summary)
6112 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6113 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6114 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6117 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6118 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6119 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6120 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6123 @kindex M H (Summary)
6124 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6125 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6126 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6129 @kindex M h (Summary)
6130 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6131 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6132 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6135 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6136 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6137 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6138 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6141 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6142 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6143 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6144 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6148 @kindex M e (Summary)
6150 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6151 Mark the current article as expirable
6152 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6155 @kindex M b (Summary)
6156 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6157 Set a bookmark in the current article
6158 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6161 @kindex M B (Summary)
6162 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6163 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6164 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6167 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6168 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6169 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6170 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6173 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6174 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6175 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6176 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6179 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6180 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6181 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6182 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6183 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6186 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6187 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6188 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6189 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6190 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6191 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6192 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6193 The default is @code{t}.
6196 @node Generic Marking Commands
6197 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6199 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6200 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6201 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6202 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6203 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6206 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6207 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6210 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6211 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6212 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6213 to list in this manual.
6215 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6216 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6217 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6218 article, you could say something like:
6222 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6223 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6224 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6232 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6233 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6237 @node Setting Process Marks
6238 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6239 @cindex setting process marks
6241 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6242 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6243 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6244 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6245 commands into the cache. For more information,
6246 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6253 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6254 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6255 Mark the current article with the process mark
6256 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6257 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6261 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6262 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6263 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6264 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6267 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6268 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6269 Remove the process mark from all articles
6270 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6273 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6274 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6275 Invert the list of process marked articles
6276 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6279 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6280 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6281 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6282 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6285 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6286 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6287 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6288 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6291 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6292 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6293 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6296 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6297 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6298 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6301 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6302 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6303 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6304 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6307 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6308 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6309 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6310 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6313 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6314 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6315 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6316 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6319 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6320 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6321 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6324 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6325 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6326 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6327 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6330 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6331 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6332 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}).
6335 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6336 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6337 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6338 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6341 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6342 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6343 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6344 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6347 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6348 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6349 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6350 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6353 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6354 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6355 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6356 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6360 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6361 set process marks based on article body contents.
6368 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6369 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6370 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6373 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6374 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6375 additional articles.
6381 @kindex / / (Summary)
6382 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6383 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6384 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6388 @kindex / a (Summary)
6389 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6390 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6391 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6395 @kindex / R (Summary)
6396 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient
6397 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some recipient
6398 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient}). If given a prefix, exclude
6402 @kindex / x (Summary)
6403 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6404 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6405 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6406 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6411 @kindex / u (Summary)
6413 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6414 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6415 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6416 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6417 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6420 @kindex / m (Summary)
6421 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6422 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6423 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6426 @kindex / t (Summary)
6427 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6428 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6429 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6430 articles younger than that number of days.
6433 @kindex / n (Summary)
6434 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6435 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6436 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6437 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6440 @kindex / w (Summary)
6441 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6442 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6443 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6447 @kindex / . (Summary)
6448 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6449 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6450 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6453 @kindex / v (Summary)
6454 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6455 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6456 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6459 @kindex / p (Summary)
6460 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6461 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6462 group parameter predicate
6463 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6464 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6467 @kindex / r (Summary)
6468 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6469 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6470 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6475 @kindex M S (Summary)
6476 @kindex / E (Summary)
6477 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6478 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6479 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6482 @kindex / D (Summary)
6483 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6484 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6485 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6488 @kindex / * (Summary)
6489 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6490 Include all cached articles in the limit
6491 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6494 @kindex / d (Summary)
6495 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6496 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6497 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6500 @kindex / M (Summary)
6501 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6502 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6505 @kindex / T (Summary)
6506 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6507 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6510 @kindex / c (Summary)
6511 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6512 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6513 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6516 @kindex / C (Summary)
6517 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6518 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6519 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6520 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6523 @kindex / N (Summary)
6524 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6525 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6526 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6529 @kindex / o (Summary)
6530 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6531 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6532 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6535 @kindex / b (Summary)
6536 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies
6537 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have bodies that match a
6538 certain regexp (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies}). If given a
6539 prefix, reverse the limit. This command is quite slow since it
6540 requires selecting each article to find the matches.
6548 @cindex article threading
6550 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6551 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6552 hierarchical fashion.
6554 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6555 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6556 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6557 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6558 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6559 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6560 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6562 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6566 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6569 A tree-like article structure.
6572 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6575 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6576 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6577 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6578 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6579 called loose threads.
6581 @item thread gathering
6582 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6584 @item sparse threads
6585 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6586 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6592 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6593 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6597 @node Customizing Threading
6598 @subsection Customizing Threading
6599 @cindex customizing threading
6602 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6603 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6604 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6605 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6610 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6613 @cindex loose threads
6616 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6617 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6618 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6619 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6620 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6621 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6623 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6624 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6625 There are four possible values:
6629 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6630 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6631 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6632 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6633 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6638 @cindex adopting articles
6643 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6644 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6645 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6646 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6649 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6650 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6651 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6652 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6653 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6654 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6655 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6656 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6657 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6658 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6661 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6662 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6663 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6667 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6668 display them after one another.
6671 Don't gather loose threads.
6674 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6675 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6676 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6677 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6678 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6679 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6680 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6681 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6682 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6683 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6684 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6686 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6687 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6688 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6691 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6692 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6693 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6694 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6695 simplification is used.
6697 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6698 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6699 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6700 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6702 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6704 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6710 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6711 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6712 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6713 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6718 (mapconcat 'identity
6719 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6721 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6724 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6727 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6728 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6729 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6730 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6731 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6732 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6734 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6737 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6738 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6739 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6741 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6742 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6745 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6746 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6747 Remove excessive whitespace.
6749 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6750 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6751 Remove all whitespace.
6754 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6757 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6758 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6759 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6760 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6761 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6762 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6763 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6764 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6766 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6767 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6768 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6769 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6770 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6771 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6772 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6773 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6774 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6778 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6779 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6780 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6781 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6783 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6784 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6785 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6788 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6792 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6793 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6799 @node Filling In Threads
6800 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6803 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6804 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6805 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6806 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
6807 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
6808 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
6809 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
6810 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
6811 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
6812 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6813 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6814 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
6817 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6818 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6819 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6821 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6822 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
6823 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
6826 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6827 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6828 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6829 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6830 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6831 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6832 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6833 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6834 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6835 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6836 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6837 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6838 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6839 @code{nil} by default.
6841 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6842 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6843 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6844 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6845 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6846 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6847 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6849 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6850 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6851 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6856 @node More Threading
6857 @subsubsection More Threading
6860 @item gnus-show-threads
6861 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6862 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6863 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6864 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6865 slower and more awkward.
6867 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6868 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6869 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6872 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6873 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6874 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
6879 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6880 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6881 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6884 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6885 unread, but you get my drift.)
6888 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6889 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6890 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6891 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6892 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6893 threads are expunged.
6895 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6896 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6897 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6900 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6901 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6902 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6903 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6904 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6905 result in a new thread.
6907 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6908 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6909 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6912 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6913 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6914 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6915 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6916 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6917 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6918 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6919 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6920 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6921 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6922 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6927 @node Low-Level Threading
6928 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6932 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6933 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6934 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6936 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6937 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6938 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6939 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6940 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6941 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6942 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6943 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6944 meaningful. Here's one example:
6947 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6949 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6950 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6952 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6954 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6961 @node Thread Commands
6962 @subsection Thread Commands
6963 @cindex thread commands
6969 @kindex T k (Summary)
6970 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6971 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6972 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6973 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6974 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6979 @kindex T l (Summary)
6980 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6981 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6982 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6983 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6986 @kindex T i (Summary)
6987 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6988 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6989 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6992 @kindex T # (Summary)
6993 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6994 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6995 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6998 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6999 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7000 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
7001 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7004 @kindex T T (Summary)
7005 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
7006 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
7009 @kindex T s (Summary)
7010 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
7011 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
7012 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
7015 @kindex T h (Summary)
7016 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
7017 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
7020 @kindex T S (Summary)
7021 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
7022 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
7025 @kindex T H (Summary)
7026 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
7027 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
7030 @kindex T t (Summary)
7031 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
7032 Re-thread the current article's thread
7033 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
7034 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
7037 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
7038 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
7039 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
7040 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
7043 @kindex T M-^ (Summary)
7044 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-children
7045 Make the current article the parent of the marked articles
7046 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-children}).
7050 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
7051 understand the numeric prefix.
7056 @kindex T n (Summary)
7058 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
7060 @kindex M-down (Summary)
7061 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
7062 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
7065 @kindex T p (Summary)
7067 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
7069 @kindex M-up (Summary)
7070 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
7071 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
7074 @kindex T d (Summary)
7075 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
7076 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
7079 @kindex T u (Summary)
7080 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
7081 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
7084 @kindex T o (Summary)
7085 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
7086 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
7089 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
7090 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
7091 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
7092 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
7093 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
7094 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
7095 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
7096 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
7097 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
7098 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
7099 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
7100 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
7104 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
7105 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
7107 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
7108 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
7109 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date-reverse
7110 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
7111 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7112 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
7113 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient
7114 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7115 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
7116 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
7117 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
7118 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
7119 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
7120 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
7121 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7122 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7124 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7125 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7126 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient},
7127 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7128 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date-reverse},
7129 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7130 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7131 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7132 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7133 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7135 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7136 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7137 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
7139 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7140 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7141 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7142 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7143 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7144 ascending article order.
7146 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7147 by number, you could do something like:
7150 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7151 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7152 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7153 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7156 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7157 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7158 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7159 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7160 which the articles arrived.
7162 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7166 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7167 '((not gnus-thread-sort-by-number)
7168 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7171 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7172 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7173 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7174 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7177 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7178 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7179 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7180 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7181 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7182 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7183 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7184 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7185 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7186 variable. It is very similar to the
7187 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7188 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7189 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7190 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7191 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7192 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7193 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7195 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7199 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7200 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7201 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7204 You can define group specific sorting via @code{gnus-parameters},
7205 @xref{Group Parameters}.
7208 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7209 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7210 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7211 @cindex article pre-fetch
7214 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7215 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7216 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7217 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7218 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7220 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7221 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
7223 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7224 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7225 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7226 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7227 connection is blocked.
7229 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7230 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7231 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7232 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
7234 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7235 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7236 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7237 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7240 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7243 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7244 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7245 happen automatically.
7247 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7248 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7249 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7250 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7251 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7252 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7253 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7255 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7256 @findex gnus-async-read-p
7257 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7258 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7259 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7260 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7261 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which
7262 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7263 article data structure as the only parameter.
7265 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7266 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7269 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7270 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7271 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7272 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7275 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7278 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7279 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7280 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7282 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7283 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7284 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7285 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7289 Remove articles when they are read.
7292 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7295 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7297 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7298 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7299 @c from the next group.
7302 @node Article Caching
7303 @section Article Caching
7304 @cindex article caching
7307 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7308 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7309 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7310 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7311 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7313 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7315 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7316 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7317 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7318 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7319 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7320 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7321 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7322 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7324 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7325 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7326 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7327 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7328 as dormant, and don't worry.
7330 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7332 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7333 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7334 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7335 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7336 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7337 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7338 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7339 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7340 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7341 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7343 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7344 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7345 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7346 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7347 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7348 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7349 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7350 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7351 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7352 not then be downloaded by this command.
7354 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7355 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7356 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7357 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7358 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7359 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7361 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7362 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7363 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7364 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7365 variables, the group is not cached.
7367 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7368 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7369 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7370 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7371 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7372 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7373 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7374 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7375 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7378 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7379 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7380 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7381 where, isn't that cool?
7383 @node Persistent Articles
7384 @section Persistent Articles
7385 @cindex persistent articles
7387 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7388 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7389 useful in my opinion.
7391 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7392 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7393 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7394 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7395 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7396 the expiry going on at the news server.
7398 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7399 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7400 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7406 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7407 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7410 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7411 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7412 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7413 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7417 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7419 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7420 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7421 interested in persistent articles:
7424 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7428 @node Article Backlog
7429 @section Article Backlog
7431 @cindex article backlog
7433 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7434 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7435 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7436 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7437 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7438 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7439 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7440 increase memory usage some.
7442 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7443 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7444 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7445 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7446 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7447 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7448 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7450 The default value is 20.
7453 @node Saving Articles
7454 @section Saving Articles
7455 @cindex saving articles
7457 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7458 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7459 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7460 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7461 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7463 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7464 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7465 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7467 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7468 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7469 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7471 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7472 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7473 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7474 deleted before saving.
7480 @kindex O o (Summary)
7482 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7483 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7484 Save the current article using the default article saver
7485 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7488 @kindex O m (Summary)
7489 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7490 Save the current article in a Unix mail box (mbox) file
7491 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7494 @kindex O r (Summary)
7495 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7496 Save the current article in Rmail format
7497 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7500 @kindex O f (Summary)
7501 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7502 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7503 Save the current article in plain file format
7504 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7507 @kindex O F (Summary)
7508 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7509 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7510 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7513 @kindex O b (Summary)
7514 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7515 Save the current article body in plain file format
7516 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7519 @kindex O h (Summary)
7520 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7521 Save the current article in mh folder format
7522 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7525 @kindex O v (Summary)
7526 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7527 Save the current article in a VM folder
7528 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7532 @kindex O p (Summary)
7534 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7535 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7536 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7537 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7538 complete headers in the piped output.
7541 @kindex O P (Summary)
7542 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7543 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7544 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7545 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7546 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7547 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7548 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7552 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7553 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7554 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7555 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7556 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7557 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7558 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7559 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7560 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7561 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7562 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7563 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7567 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7568 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7569 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the eight ready-made
7570 functions below, or you can create your own.
7574 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7575 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7576 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7577 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7578 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7579 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7580 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7582 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7583 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7584 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7585 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7586 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7587 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7589 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7590 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7591 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7592 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7593 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7594 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7595 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7597 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7598 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7599 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7600 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7601 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7602 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7604 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7605 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7606 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7607 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7608 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7610 @item gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7611 @findex gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7612 Write the article body straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7613 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7614 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7615 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7617 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7618 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7619 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7620 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7621 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7624 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7625 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7626 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7627 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7628 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7630 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7631 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7632 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7633 reader to use this setting.
7636 The symbol of each function may have the following properties:
7640 The value non-@code{nil} means save decoded articles. This is
7641 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-save-in-file},
7642 @code{gnus-summary-save-body-in-file},
7643 @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file}, and
7644 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7647 The value specifies an alternative function which appends, not
7648 overwrites, articles to a file. This implies that when saving many
7649 articles at a time, @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} is bound to
7650 @code{t} and all articles are saved in a single file. This is
7651 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file} and
7652 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7655 The value specifies the symbol of a variable of which the value
7656 specifies headers to be saved. If it is omitted,
7657 @code{gnus-save-all-headers} and @code{gnus-saved-headers} control what
7658 headers should be saved.
7661 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7662 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7663 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7664 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7667 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7668 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7669 available functions that generate names:
7673 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7674 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7675 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7677 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7678 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7679 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7681 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7682 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7683 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7685 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7686 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7687 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7689 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7690 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7691 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7694 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7695 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7696 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7697 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7698 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7702 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7703 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7704 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7705 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7708 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7709 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7710 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7711 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7712 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7713 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7714 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7715 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7716 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7718 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7719 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7720 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7721 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7723 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7724 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7725 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7728 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7729 lots of mail groups called things like
7730 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7731 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7732 following will do just that:
7735 (defun my-save-name (group)
7736 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7737 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7739 (setq gnus-split-methods
7740 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7745 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7746 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7747 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7748 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7749 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7750 all the files in the top level directory
7751 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7752 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7753 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7754 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7756 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7757 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7758 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7759 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7760 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7763 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7767 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
7768 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7769 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
7772 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7773 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7774 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7775 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7778 @node Decoding Articles
7779 @section Decoding Articles
7780 @cindex decoding articles
7782 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7783 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7786 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7787 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7788 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7789 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7790 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7791 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7795 @cindex article series
7796 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7797 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7798 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7799 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7800 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7802 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7803 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7804 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7806 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7807 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7808 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7810 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7811 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7812 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7815 @node Uuencoded Articles
7816 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7818 @cindex uuencoded articles
7823 @kindex X u (Summary)
7824 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7825 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7826 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7829 @kindex X U (Summary)
7830 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7831 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7832 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7835 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7836 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7837 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7840 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7841 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7842 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7843 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7847 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7848 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7849 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7850 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7851 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7853 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7854 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7855 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7856 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7859 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7860 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7861 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7862 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7863 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7864 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7868 @node Shell Archives
7869 @subsection Shell Archives
7871 @cindex shell archives
7872 @cindex shared articles
7874 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7875 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7876 some commands to deal with these:
7881 @kindex X s (Summary)
7882 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7883 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7886 @kindex X S (Summary)
7887 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7888 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7891 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7892 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7893 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7896 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7897 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7898 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7899 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7903 @node PostScript Files
7904 @subsection PostScript Files
7910 @kindex X p (Summary)
7911 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7912 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7915 @kindex X P (Summary)
7916 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7917 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7918 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7921 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7922 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7923 View the current PostScript series
7924 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7927 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7928 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7929 View and save the current PostScript series
7930 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7935 @subsection Other Files
7939 @kindex X o (Summary)
7940 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7941 Save the current series
7942 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7945 @kindex X b (Summary)
7946 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7947 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7948 doesn't really work yet.
7952 @node Decoding Variables
7953 @subsection Decoding Variables
7955 Adjective, not verb.
7958 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7959 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7960 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7964 @node Rule Variables
7965 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7966 @cindex rule variables
7968 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7969 variables are of the form
7972 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7979 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7980 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7982 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7983 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
7986 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7987 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7990 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7991 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7992 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7993 user and default view rules.
7995 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7996 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7997 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
8002 @node Other Decode Variables
8003 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
8006 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8008 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8009 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
8010 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
8011 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
8012 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
8016 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
8017 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
8020 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
8021 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
8022 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
8025 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8026 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8027 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
8028 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
8029 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
8032 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8033 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8034 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
8036 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8037 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8038 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
8039 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
8040 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
8043 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8044 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8045 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
8047 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8048 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8049 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
8050 looking for files to display.
8052 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
8053 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
8054 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
8057 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8058 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8059 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
8062 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8063 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8064 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
8067 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8068 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8069 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
8072 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8073 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8074 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
8075 decoded articles as unread.
8077 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8078 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8079 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
8080 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
8082 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8083 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8084 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
8086 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8087 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8089 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
8090 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
8091 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
8092 @code{metamail} for viewing.
8094 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8095 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8096 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
8097 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
8098 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
8099 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
8100 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
8101 simply dropped them.
8106 @node Uuencoding and Posting
8107 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
8111 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8112 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8113 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
8114 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
8115 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
8116 for you when you post the article.
8118 @item gnus-uu-post-length
8119 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
8120 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
8121 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
8123 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
8124 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
8125 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
8126 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
8127 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
8128 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
8129 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
8131 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8132 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8133 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
8134 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
8135 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
8136 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
8137 Default is @code{t}.
8143 @subsection Viewing Files
8144 @cindex viewing files
8145 @cindex pseudo-articles
8147 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
8148 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
8149 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
8150 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
8151 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
8152 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
8153 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
8155 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
8156 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8157 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8158 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8160 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8161 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8162 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8164 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8165 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8166 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8167 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8168 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8170 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8171 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8172 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8173 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8174 a list of parameters to that command.
8176 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8177 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8178 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8180 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8181 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8182 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8185 @node Article Treatment
8186 @section Article Treatment
8188 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8189 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8190 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8191 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8192 these articles easier.
8195 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8196 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8197 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8198 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8199 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8200 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8201 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8202 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8203 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
8204 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8205 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8209 @node Article Highlighting
8210 @subsection Article Highlighting
8211 @cindex highlighting
8213 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8214 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8219 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8220 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8221 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8222 Do much highlighting of the current article
8223 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8224 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8227 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8228 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8229 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8230 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8231 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8232 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8233 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8234 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8235 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8236 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8237 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8238 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8241 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8242 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8243 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8245 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8248 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8250 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8251 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
8252 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8254 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8255 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8256 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8258 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8259 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8260 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8261 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8262 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8263 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8265 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8266 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8267 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8269 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8270 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8271 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8273 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8274 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8275 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8276 that it's a citation.
8278 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8279 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8280 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8282 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8283 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8284 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8286 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8287 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8288 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8289 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8291 @item gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8292 @vindex gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8293 If non-@code{nil}, no citation highlighting will be performed on lines
8294 beginning with @samp{>From }. Those lines may have been quoted by MTAs
8295 in order not to mix up with the envelope From line. The default value
8302 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8303 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8304 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8305 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8306 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8307 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8308 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8309 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8314 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8317 @node Article Fontisizing
8318 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8320 @cindex article emphasis
8322 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8323 @kindex W e (Summary)
8324 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8325 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8326 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8327 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8329 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8330 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8331 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8332 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8333 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8334 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8335 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8336 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8340 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8341 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8342 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8351 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8352 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8353 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8354 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8355 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8356 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8357 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8358 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8359 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8360 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8361 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8362 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8363 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8365 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8366 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8367 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8371 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8374 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8376 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8377 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8378 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8379 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8381 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8384 @node Article Hiding
8385 @subsection Article Hiding
8386 @cindex article hiding
8388 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8389 too much cruft in most articles.
8394 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8395 @findex gnus-article-hide
8396 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8397 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8398 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8401 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8402 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8403 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8407 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8408 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8409 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8410 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8413 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8414 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8415 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8419 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8420 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8421 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8422 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8423 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8424 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8425 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8426 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8430 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8431 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8432 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8433 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8438 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8439 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8440 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8441 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8444 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8445 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8446 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8447 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8450 @cindex stripping advertisements
8451 @cindex advertisements
8452 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8453 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8454 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8455 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8456 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8457 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8458 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8459 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8460 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8461 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8464 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8465 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8466 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8470 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8471 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8472 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8473 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8474 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8475 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8476 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8477 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8478 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8479 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8480 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8483 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8484 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8490 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8491 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8492 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8493 customizing the hiding:
8497 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8498 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8499 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8500 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8501 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8502 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8503 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8508 Starting point of the hidden text.
8510 Ending point of the hidden text.
8512 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8514 Number of lines of hidden text.
8517 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8518 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8519 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8520 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8521 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8526 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8527 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8529 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8530 following two variables:
8533 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8534 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8535 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8536 50), hide the cited text.
8538 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8539 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8540 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8545 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8546 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8547 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8548 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8549 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8550 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8554 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8555 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8556 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8558 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8559 citation customization.
8561 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8565 @node Article Washing
8566 @subsection Article Washing
8568 @cindex article washing
8570 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8571 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8573 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8574 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8577 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8578 articles by default.
8583 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8584 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8588 Force redisplaying of the current article
8589 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8590 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8591 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8592 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8595 @kindex W l (Summary)
8596 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8597 Remove page breaks from the current article
8598 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8602 @kindex W r (Summary)
8603 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8604 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8605 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8606 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8607 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8608 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8610 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8611 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8612 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8613 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8616 @kindex W m (Summary)
8617 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8618 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8621 @kindex W i (Summary)
8622 @findex gnus-summary-idna-message
8623 Decode IDNA encoded domain names in the current articles. IDNA
8624 encoded domain names looks like @samp{xn--bar}. If a string remain
8625 unencoded after running invoking this, it is likely an invalid IDNA
8626 string (@samp{xn--bar} is invalid). You must have GNU Libidn
8627 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}) installed for this command
8632 @kindex W t (Summary)
8634 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8635 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8636 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8639 @kindex W v (Summary)
8640 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8641 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8642 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8645 @kindex W o (Summary)
8646 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8647 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8650 @kindex W d (Summary)
8651 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8652 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8654 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8656 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8657 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8658 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8659 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8662 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8663 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8664 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8665 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8668 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8669 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8670 @cindex Outlook Express
8671 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8672 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8673 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8676 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8677 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8678 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8679 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8680 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8681 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8682 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8683 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8684 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8685 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8688 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8689 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8690 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8691 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8694 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8695 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8696 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8697 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8700 @kindex W w (Summary)
8701 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8702 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8704 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8708 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8709 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8710 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8713 @kindex W C (Summary)
8714 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8715 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8716 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8719 @kindex W c (Summary)
8720 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8721 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8722 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8723 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8724 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8727 @kindex W q (Summary)
8728 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8729 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8730 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
8731 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
8732 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
8733 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
8734 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8735 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8736 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8739 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8740 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8741 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
8742 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
8743 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
8744 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8745 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
8746 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8749 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8750 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8751 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8752 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8753 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8756 @kindex W A (Summary)
8757 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
8758 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
8759 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
8760 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
8761 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
8764 @kindex W u (Summary)
8765 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8766 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8767 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8768 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8769 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8772 @kindex W h (Summary)
8773 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8774 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8775 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8776 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
8778 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for. If it is a number,
8779 the charset defined in @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist}
8780 (@pxref{Paging the Article}) will be used.
8782 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8783 The default is to use the function specified by
8784 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
8785 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
8786 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
8787 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
8795 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
8797 @item w3m-standalone
8798 Use @uref{http://w3m.sourceforge.net/, w3m}.
8801 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
8804 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
8807 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
8812 @kindex W b (Summary)
8813 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8814 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8815 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8818 @kindex W B (Summary)
8819 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8820 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8821 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8824 @kindex W p (Summary)
8825 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8826 Verify a signed control message
8827 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
8828 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
8829 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
8830 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8831 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
8832 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8835 @kindex W s (Summary)
8836 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8837 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
8838 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
8839 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8842 @kindex W a (Summary)
8843 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8844 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8845 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8848 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8849 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8850 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8851 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8854 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8855 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8856 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8857 lines with a single empty line.
8858 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8861 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8862 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8863 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8864 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8867 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8868 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8869 Do all the three commands above
8870 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8873 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8874 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8875 Remove all blank lines
8876 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8879 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8880 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8881 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8882 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8885 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8886 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8887 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8888 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8892 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8895 @node Article Header
8896 @subsection Article Header
8898 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8903 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8904 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8905 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8908 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8909 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8910 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8911 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8914 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8915 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8916 Fold all the message headers
8917 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8920 @kindex W E w (Summary)
8921 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8922 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8923 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8928 @node Article Buttons
8929 @subsection Article Buttons
8932 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8933 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8934 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8935 button on these references.
8937 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8938 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8939 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
8940 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
8941 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
8945 @item gnus-button-alist
8946 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8947 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8950 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
8956 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8957 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8958 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8959 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8960 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
8963 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8964 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8965 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8968 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8969 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8970 avoid false matches. Often variables named
8971 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
8972 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
8974 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
8977 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8980 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8981 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8985 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8988 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8991 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8992 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8993 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8994 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8995 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8998 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9001 @var{header} is a regular expression.
9004 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
9007 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
9008 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
9010 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
9012 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
9013 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
9014 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
9015 default values of the variables above.
9017 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
9019 @item gnus-button-man-handler
9020 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9021 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
9022 argument with a string naming the man page.
9024 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
9026 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9027 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9028 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
9030 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9031 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9032 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
9033 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
9034 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
9035 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
9036 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
9037 @code{ask}, always query the user what do do. If it is a function, this
9038 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
9039 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
9040 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
9041 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9043 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9044 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9045 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
9046 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
9047 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
9050 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9051 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9052 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
9053 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9055 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
9057 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
9058 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
9059 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
9060 argument, the string naming the URL.
9063 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
9064 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
9065 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
9069 @item gnus-article-button-face
9070 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
9071 Face used on buttons.
9073 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
9074 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
9075 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
9079 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
9082 @node Article Button Levels
9083 @subsection Article button levels
9084 @cindex button levels
9085 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
9086 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
9087 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
9088 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
9089 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
9090 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
9091 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
9092 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
9095 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
9096 (setq gnus-parameters
9097 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
9098 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
9099 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
9104 @item gnus-button-browse-level
9105 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
9106 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
9107 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
9108 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
9109 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
9111 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
9112 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
9113 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
9114 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
9115 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
9116 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
9117 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
9118 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
9119 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
9120 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
9121 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
9122 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
9123 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
9125 @item gnus-button-man-level
9126 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
9127 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
9128 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
9130 @item gnus-button-message-level
9131 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
9132 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
9133 Related variables and functions include
9134 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
9135 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
9136 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
9137 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
9139 @item gnus-button-tex-level
9140 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
9141 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
9142 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
9143 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
9144 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
9145 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
9151 @subsection Article Date
9153 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
9154 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
9155 when the article was sent.
9160 @kindex W T u (Summary)
9161 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
9162 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
9163 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
9166 @kindex W T i (Summary)
9167 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
9169 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
9170 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
9173 @kindex W T l (Summary)
9174 @findex gnus-article-date-local
9175 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9178 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9179 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9180 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9181 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9184 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9185 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9186 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9187 @findex format-time-string
9188 Display the date using a user-defined format
9189 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9190 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9191 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9192 for a list of possible format specs.
9195 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9196 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9197 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9198 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9199 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9200 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9203 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9206 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
9207 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
9208 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
9211 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
9212 into wonderful absurdities.
9214 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
9217 (gnus-start-date-timer)
9220 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
9221 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
9225 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9226 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9227 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9228 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9229 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9230 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9231 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9235 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9236 preferred format automatically.
9239 @node Article Display
9240 @subsection Article Display
9245 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9246 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9248 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9249 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9251 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9252 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9254 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9255 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9257 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9258 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9260 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9265 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9266 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9267 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9268 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9271 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9272 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9273 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9274 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9277 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9278 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9279 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9282 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9283 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9284 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9287 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9288 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9289 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9290 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9293 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9294 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9295 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9296 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9299 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9300 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9301 Remove all images from the article buffer
9302 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9308 @node Article Signature
9309 @subsection Article Signature
9311 @cindex article signature
9313 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9314 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9315 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9316 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9317 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9318 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9319 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9320 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9321 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9324 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9325 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9326 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9327 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9328 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9329 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9330 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9331 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9334 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9337 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9338 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9339 signature when displaying articles.
9343 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9346 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9349 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9350 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9352 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9353 in question is not a signature.
9356 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9357 listed above. Here's an example:
9360 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9361 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9364 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9365 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9366 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9367 signature after all.
9370 @node Article Miscellanea
9371 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9375 @kindex A t (Summary)
9376 @findex gnus-article-babel
9377 Translate the article from one language to another
9378 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9384 @section MIME Commands
9385 @cindex MIME decoding
9387 @cindex viewing attachments
9389 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9390 instance, @kbd{3 K v} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9396 @kindex K v (Summary)
9397 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9400 @kindex K o (Summary)
9401 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9404 @kindex K O (Summary)
9405 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} part and strip it
9406 from the article. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred
9407 via the message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
9410 @kindex K r (Summary)
9411 Replace the @acronym{MIME} part with an external body.
9414 @kindex K d (Summary)
9415 Delete the @acronym{MIME} part and add some information about the
9419 @kindex K c (Summary)
9420 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9423 @kindex K e (Summary)
9424 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9427 @kindex K i (Summary)
9428 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9431 @kindex K | (Summary)
9432 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9435 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9440 @kindex K b (Summary)
9441 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9442 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9446 @kindex K m (Summary)
9447 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9448 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9449 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9450 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9451 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9454 @kindex X m (Summary)
9455 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9456 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9457 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9458 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9461 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9462 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9463 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9464 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9467 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9468 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9469 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9470 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9473 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9474 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9475 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9476 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9478 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9479 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9480 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9481 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9482 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9483 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9486 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9487 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9488 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9489 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9496 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9497 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9498 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9499 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9502 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9505 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9509 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9510 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9511 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9512 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9513 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9514 default is @code{nil}.
9516 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9517 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9518 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9519 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9520 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9521 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9522 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9524 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9525 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9526 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9527 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9528 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9529 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9530 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9531 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9533 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9534 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9535 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9536 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9537 displayed. This variable overrides
9538 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9539 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9542 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9543 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9544 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9546 You could also add @code{"multipart/alternative"} to this list to
9547 display radio buttons that allow you to choose one of two media types
9548 those mails include. See also @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}
9549 (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The
9550 Emacs MIME Manual}).
9552 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9553 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9554 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9555 default value is @code{nil}.
9557 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9558 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9559 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9560 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9561 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9562 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9563 save all jpegs into some directory).
9565 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9568 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9569 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9571 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9572 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9573 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9574 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9575 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9578 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9579 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9580 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9582 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9583 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9584 Display "multipart/alternative" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9586 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9587 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9588 Display "multipart/related" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9590 If displaying "text/html" is discouraged, see
9591 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}, images or other material inside a
9592 "multipart/related" part might be overlooked when this variable is
9593 @code{nil}. @ref{Display Customization, Display Customization, ,
9594 emacs-mime, Emacs-Mime Manual}.
9596 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9597 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9598 Display "multipart" parts as "multipart/mixed". If @code{t}, it
9599 overrides @code{nil} values of
9600 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed} and
9601 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed}.
9603 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9604 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9605 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9606 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9608 Ready-made functions include@*
9609 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9610 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9611 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9612 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9613 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9614 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9615 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9616 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9617 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9618 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9619 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9620 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9622 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9623 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9625 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9626 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9627 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9630 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9631 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9632 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9633 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9637 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9646 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9647 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9648 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9649 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9650 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9651 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9652 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp}.
9654 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9655 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9656 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9657 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9659 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9660 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9661 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9662 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9663 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9664 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9665 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9666 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9667 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9669 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9670 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9671 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9672 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9673 quoted-printable header encoding.
9675 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9676 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9677 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9681 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9684 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9685 means encode all charsets),
9687 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9688 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9689 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9696 @cindex coding system aliases
9697 @cindex preferred charset
9699 @xref{Encoding Customization, , Encoding Customization, emacs-mime,
9700 The Emacs MIME Manual}, for additional variables that control which
9701 MIME charsets are used when sending messages.
9703 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9705 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9706 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9709 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9710 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9713 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9714 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
9716 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9719 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9722 This will almost do the right thing.
9724 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9728 (codepage-setup 1251)
9729 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9733 @node Article Commands
9734 @section Article Commands
9741 @kindex A P (Summary)
9742 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9743 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9744 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9745 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9746 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9747 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9752 @node Summary Sorting
9753 @section Summary Sorting
9754 @cindex summary sorting
9756 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9757 can't really see why you'd want that.
9762 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9763 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9764 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9767 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9768 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9769 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9772 @kindex C-c C-s C-t (Summary)
9773 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient
9774 Sort by recipient (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient}).
9777 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9778 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9779 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9782 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9783 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9784 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9787 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9788 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9789 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9792 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9793 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9794 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9797 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9798 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9799 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9802 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9803 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9804 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9807 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9808 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9809 Sort using the default sorting method
9810 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9813 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9814 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9815 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9816 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9817 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9821 @node Finding the Parent
9822 @section Finding the Parent
9823 @cindex parent articles
9824 @cindex referring articles
9829 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9830 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9831 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9832 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
9833 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9834 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9835 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9836 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9837 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9839 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9840 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9841 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9842 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9843 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9847 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9848 @kindex A R (Summary)
9849 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9850 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9853 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9854 @kindex A T (Summary)
9855 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9856 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9857 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9858 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9859 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9860 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9861 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9863 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9864 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9865 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9866 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9867 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9868 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9871 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9872 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9874 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9875 You can also ask Gnus for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it
9876 belongs to. @kbd{M-^} (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you
9877 for a @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read
9878 thingies that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}.
9879 You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9881 Gnus looks for the @code{Message-ID} in the headers that have already
9882 been fetched, but also tries all the select methods specified by
9883 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} if it is not found.
9886 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9887 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9888 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9889 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
9890 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
9891 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9894 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9895 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9896 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9899 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9900 then ask Google if that fails:
9903 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9905 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9908 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9909 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9910 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
9911 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9912 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
9913 group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does
9914 not support this at all.
9917 @node Alternative Approaches
9918 @section Alternative Approaches
9920 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9921 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9924 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9925 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9930 @subsection Pick and Read
9931 @cindex pick and read
9933 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9934 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9935 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9936 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9938 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9939 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9940 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9941 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9942 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9943 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9945 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9950 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9951 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9952 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9953 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9954 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9955 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9956 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9957 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9960 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9961 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9962 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9963 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9967 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9968 Unpick the thread or article
9969 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9970 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9971 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9972 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9973 the thread or article at that line.
9977 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9978 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9979 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9980 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9981 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9982 will still be visible when you are reading.
9986 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9987 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9988 which is mapped to the same function
9989 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9991 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9994 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9997 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9998 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
10000 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
10001 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
10002 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
10004 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
10005 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
10006 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
10007 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
10008 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
10009 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
10010 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
10013 @node Binary Groups
10014 @subsection Binary Groups
10015 @cindex binary groups
10017 @findex gnus-binary-mode
10018 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
10019 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
10020 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
10021 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
10022 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
10023 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
10026 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
10027 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
10028 command, when you have turned on this mode
10029 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
10031 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
10032 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
10036 @section Tree Display
10039 @vindex gnus-use-trees
10040 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
10041 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
10042 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
10043 in the tree buffer.
10045 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
10048 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
10049 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
10050 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
10052 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10053 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10054 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
10055 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
10056 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
10058 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
10059 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
10060 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
10061 default is @code{modeline}.
10063 @item gnus-tree-line-format
10064 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
10065 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
10066 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
10067 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
10068 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
10069 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
10075 The name of the poster.
10077 The @code{From} header.
10079 The number of the article.
10081 The opening bracket.
10083 The closing bracket.
10088 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
10090 Variables related to the display are:
10093 @item gnus-tree-brackets
10094 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
10095 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
10096 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
10098 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
10099 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
10100 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
10102 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
10104 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10105 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10106 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
10107 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
10111 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
10112 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
10113 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
10114 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
10115 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
10116 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
10117 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
10118 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
10119 other windows displayed next to it.
10121 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
10125 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
10126 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
10129 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
10130 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
10131 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10132 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
10133 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
10134 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
10135 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
10139 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
10142 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
10152 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
10157 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
10158 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
10160 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
10162 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
10168 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
10169 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
10170 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
10173 (setq gnus-use-trees t
10174 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10175 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
10176 (gnus-add-configuration
10180 (summary 0.75 point)
10185 @xref{Window Layout}.
10188 @node Mail Group Commands
10189 @section Mail Group Commands
10190 @cindex mail group commands
10192 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
10193 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
10195 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
10196 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10201 @kindex B e (Summary)
10202 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
10203 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
10204 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
10205 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
10206 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
10209 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
10210 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
10211 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
10212 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
10213 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
10214 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
10217 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
10218 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
10219 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
10220 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
10221 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
10222 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
10225 @kindex B m (Summary)
10227 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10228 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10229 Move the article from one mail group to another
10230 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10231 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10234 @kindex B c (Summary)
10236 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10237 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10238 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10239 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10240 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10243 @kindex B B (Summary)
10244 @cindex crosspost mail
10245 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10246 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10247 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10248 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10249 be properly updated.
10252 @kindex B i (Summary)
10253 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10254 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10255 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10256 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10259 @kindex B I (Summary)
10260 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10261 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10262 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10263 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10266 @kindex B r (Summary)
10267 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10268 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10269 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10270 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10271 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10272 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10273 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10274 (which is the default).
10278 @kindex B w (Summary)
10279 @kindex e (Summary)
10280 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10281 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10282 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10283 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10284 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10285 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10286 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10289 @kindex B q (Summary)
10290 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10291 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10292 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10293 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10296 @kindex B t (Summary)
10297 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10298 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10299 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10302 @kindex B p (Summary)
10303 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10304 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10305 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10306 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10307 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10308 article from your news server (or rather, from
10309 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10310 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10311 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10312 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10313 just not have arrived yet.
10316 @kindex K E (Summary)
10317 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10318 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10319 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10320 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10321 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10325 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10326 @cindex moving articles
10327 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
10328 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10329 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10330 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10331 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10332 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10333 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10336 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10337 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10338 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10339 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10343 @node Various Summary Stuff
10344 @section Various Summary Stuff
10347 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10348 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10349 * Summary Generation Commands::
10350 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10354 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10355 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10356 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10357 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10358 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10359 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10361 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10362 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10363 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10366 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10367 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10368 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10370 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10371 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10372 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10373 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10374 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10375 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10378 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10379 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10380 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10381 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10382 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10384 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10385 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10386 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10389 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10390 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10391 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10392 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10393 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10394 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10395 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10396 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10397 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10398 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10400 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10401 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10402 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10403 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10404 list of articles to be selected.
10406 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10407 the list in one particular group:
10410 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10411 (if (string= group "some.group")
10412 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10416 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10417 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10418 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10419 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
10420 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
10423 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
10424 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
10425 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
10426 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
10427 variable will be used instead.
10429 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10430 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10431 buffers. For example:
10434 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10435 '(message-use-followup-to
10436 (gnus-visible-headers .
10437 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10440 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
10444 @node Summary Group Information
10445 @subsection Summary Group Information
10450 @kindex H f (Summary)
10451 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10452 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10453 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10454 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10455 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10456 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10457 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10458 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10459 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10462 @kindex H d (Summary)
10463 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10464 Give a brief description of the current group
10465 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10466 rereading the description from the server.
10469 @kindex H h (Summary)
10470 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10471 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10472 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10475 @kindex H i (Summary)
10476 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10477 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10481 @node Searching for Articles
10482 @subsection Searching for Articles
10487 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10488 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10489 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10490 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10493 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10494 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10495 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10496 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10499 @kindex M-S (Summary)
10500 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward
10501 Repeat the previous search forwards
10502 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward}).
10505 @kindex M-R (Summary)
10506 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward
10507 Repeat the previous search backwards
10508 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward}).
10511 @kindex & (Summary)
10512 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10513 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10514 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10515 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10516 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10517 search backward instead.
10519 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10520 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10523 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10524 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10525 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10526 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10529 @node Summary Generation Commands
10530 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10535 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10536 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10537 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10540 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10541 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10542 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10543 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10546 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10547 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10548 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10549 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10554 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10555 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10561 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10562 @kindex A D (Summary)
10563 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10564 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10565 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10566 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10567 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10568 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10569 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10570 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10574 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10575 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10576 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10577 several documents into one biiig group
10578 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10579 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10580 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10581 command understands the process/prefix convention
10582 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10585 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10586 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10587 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10588 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10589 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10590 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10593 @kindex = (Summary)
10594 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10595 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10596 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10599 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10600 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10601 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10602 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10605 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10606 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10607 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10608 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10613 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10614 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10615 @cindex summary exit
10616 @cindex exiting groups
10618 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10619 group and return you to the group buffer.
10626 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10627 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
10628 @kindex q (Summary)
10629 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10630 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10631 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10632 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10633 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10634 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10635 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10636 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10637 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10638 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10639 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10640 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10644 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10645 @kindex Q (Summary)
10646 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10647 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10648 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10652 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10653 @kindex c (Summary)
10654 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10655 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10656 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10657 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10660 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10661 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10662 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10663 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10666 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10667 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10668 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10669 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10672 @kindex Z p (Summary)
10673 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group
10674 Mark all articles as read and go to the previous group
10675 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group}).
10679 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10680 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
10681 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10682 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10683 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10684 all articles, both read and unread.
10688 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10689 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10690 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10691 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10692 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10693 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10694 articles, both read and unread.
10697 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10698 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10699 Exit the group and go to the next group
10700 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10703 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10704 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10705 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10706 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10709 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10710 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10711 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10712 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10713 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10714 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10717 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10718 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10719 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10720 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10722 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10723 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10724 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10725 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10726 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10727 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10728 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10729 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10730 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10731 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10732 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10733 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10735 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10737 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10738 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10739 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10740 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10741 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10742 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10743 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10744 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10745 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10748 @node Crosspost Handling
10749 @section Crosspost Handling
10753 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10754 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10755 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10756 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10757 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10758 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10761 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10762 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10763 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10764 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10765 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10767 @cindex cross-posting
10769 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
10770 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10771 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
10772 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10773 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
10774 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10775 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10776 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10777 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10778 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10779 the cross reference mechanism.
10781 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10782 @cindex overview.fmt
10783 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10784 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10785 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10786 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10787 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10788 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10791 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10792 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10793 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10798 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10801 @node Duplicate Suppression
10802 @section Duplicate Suppression
10804 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10805 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10806 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10807 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10812 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10813 is evil and not very common.
10816 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10817 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10820 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10821 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
10824 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10827 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10828 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10830 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10831 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10832 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10833 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10834 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10835 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10836 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10839 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10840 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10841 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10842 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10843 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10844 saw the article in.
10847 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10848 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10849 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10851 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10852 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10853 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10854 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10855 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10856 session are suppressed.
10858 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10859 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10860 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10861 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10863 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10864 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10865 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10866 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10869 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10870 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10871 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10872 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10873 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10874 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10875 to you to figure out, I think.
10880 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10881 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
10882 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
10887 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
10888 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
10889 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
10890 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10893 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10894 or newer is recommended.
10898 The variables that control security functionality on reading messages
10902 @item mm-verify-option
10903 @vindex mm-verify-option
10904 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10905 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10906 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10908 @item mm-decrypt-option
10909 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10910 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10911 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10912 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10915 @vindex mml1991-use
10916 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10917 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10918 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10922 @vindex mml2015-use
10923 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10924 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
10925 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
10930 By default the buttons that display security information are not
10931 shown, because they clutter reading the actual e-mail. You can type
10932 @kbd{K b} manually to display the information. Use the
10933 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types} and
10934 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} variables to control this
10935 permanently. @ref{MIME Commands} for further details, and hints on
10936 how to customize these variables to always display security
10939 @cindex snarfing keys
10940 @cindex importing PGP keys
10941 @cindex PGP key ring import
10942 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
10943 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
10944 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
10945 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
10946 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
10947 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
10948 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
10949 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
10950 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
10953 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
10956 This happens to also be the default action defined in
10957 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
10959 More information on how to set things for sending outgoing signed and
10960 encrypted messages up can be found in the message manual
10961 (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10964 @section Mailing List
10965 @cindex mailing list
10968 @kindex A M (summary)
10969 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10970 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10971 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10972 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10975 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10980 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10981 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10982 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10985 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10986 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10987 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10990 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10991 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10992 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10996 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10997 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10998 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
11001 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
11002 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
11003 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
11006 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
11007 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
11008 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
11013 @node Article Buffer
11014 @chapter Article Buffer
11015 @cindex article buffer
11017 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
11018 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
11019 tell Gnus otherwise.
11022 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
11023 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
11024 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
11025 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
11026 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
11030 @node Hiding Headers
11031 @section Hiding Headers
11032 @cindex hiding headers
11033 @cindex deleting headers
11035 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
11036 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
11038 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
11039 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
11040 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
11041 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
11042 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
11043 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
11044 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
11045 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
11046 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
11048 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
11052 @item gnus-visible-headers
11053 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
11054 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
11055 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
11056 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
11058 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
11059 the article and the subject, you'd say:
11062 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
11065 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11068 @item gnus-ignored-headers
11069 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
11070 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
11071 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
11072 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
11073 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
11075 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
11076 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
11079 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
11082 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11085 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
11086 variable will have no effect.
11090 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
11091 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
11092 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
11093 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
11094 the headers are to be displayed.
11096 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
11097 and then the subject, you might say something like:
11100 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
11103 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
11104 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
11106 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
11107 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
11108 You can hide further boring headers by setting
11109 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
11110 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
11111 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
11112 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
11115 These conditions are:
11118 Remove all empty headers.
11120 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
11121 @code{Newsgroups} header.
11123 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
11124 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
11127 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
11130 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11131 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
11133 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11134 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11136 Remove the @code{CC} header if it only contains the address identical to
11137 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11139 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
11142 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
11144 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
11147 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
11150 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
11151 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
11154 This is also the default value for this variable.
11158 @section Using MIME
11159 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11161 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
11162 while people stand around yawning.
11164 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
11165 while all newsreaders die of fear.
11167 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
11168 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
11169 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
11171 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
11172 @findex gnus-display-mime
11173 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
11174 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
11175 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
11176 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
11178 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
11179 @acronym{MIME} button:
11182 @findex gnus-article-press-button
11183 @item RET (Article)
11184 @kindex RET (Article)
11185 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
11186 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
11187 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
11188 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
11189 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
11190 object is displayed inline.
11192 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
11193 @item M-RET (Article)
11194 @kindex M-RET (Article)
11196 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11197 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
11199 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
11201 @kindex t (Article)
11202 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
11203 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
11205 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
11207 @kindex C (Article)
11208 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11209 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
11211 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
11213 @kindex o (Article)
11214 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
11215 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
11217 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
11218 @item C-o (Article)
11219 @kindex C-o (Article)
11220 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
11221 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
11222 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
11223 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
11224 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
11225 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
11227 @findex gnus-mime-replace-part
11229 @kindex r (Article)
11230 Prompt for a file name, replace the @acronym{MIME} object with an
11231 external body refering to the file via the message/external-body
11232 @acronym{MIME} type. (@code{gnus-mime-replace-part}).
11234 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
11236 @kindex d (Article)
11237 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
11238 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
11239 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
11241 @c FIXME: gnus-auto-select-part should be documented here
11243 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
11245 @kindex c (Article)
11246 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
11247 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). If given a prefix, copy the raw contents
11248 without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual
11249 charset stuff (see @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in
11250 @ref{Paging the Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
11251 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
11252 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
11253 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11255 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
11257 @kindex p (Article)
11258 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
11259 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
11260 @file{.mailcap} file.
11262 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
11264 @kindex i (Article)
11265 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
11266 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
11267 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
11268 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
11269 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
11270 Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and @file{.bz2} are
11271 automatically decompressed depending on @code{jka-compr} regardless of
11272 @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed Files,, Accessing
11273 Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11275 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
11277 @kindex E (Article)
11278 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
11279 viewer is available, use an external viewer
11280 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
11282 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
11284 @kindex e (Article)
11285 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
11286 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
11288 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
11290 @kindex | (Article)
11291 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
11293 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
11295 @kindex . (Article)
11296 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
11297 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
11301 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
11302 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
11303 @acronym{MIME} manual.
11305 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
11306 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
11307 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
11308 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
11309 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
11310 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
11311 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
11312 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
11313 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
11315 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
11317 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
11320 @node Customizing Articles
11321 @section Customizing Articles
11322 @cindex article customization
11324 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
11325 exist. You can call these functions interactively
11326 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
11327 called automatically when you select the articles.
11329 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
11330 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
11331 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
11332 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
11334 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
11335 for sensible values.
11339 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
11342 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
11345 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
11348 @code{first}: Do this treatment on the first body part.
11351 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last body part.
11354 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
11358 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
11359 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
11360 regexps in the list.
11363 A list where the first element is not a string:
11365 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
11366 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
11367 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
11371 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
11376 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11377 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11378 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11379 considered to contain just a single part.
11381 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11382 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11383 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11384 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11385 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11386 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11387 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11389 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11390 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11391 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11392 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11395 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11396 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11398 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11400 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11401 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11402 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11403 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11404 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, first, integer)
11405 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11406 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11407 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11408 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11409 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11411 @xref{Article Washing}.
11413 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
11414 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
11415 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
11416 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
11417 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
11418 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
11419 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
11421 @xref{Article Date}.
11423 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11424 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11425 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11429 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
11431 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11433 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11434 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11435 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11439 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
11443 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
11447 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11448 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
11449 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
11450 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
11451 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
11452 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
11453 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
11454 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
11455 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
11456 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
11458 @xref{Article Hiding}.
11460 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
11461 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
11462 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
11464 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
11466 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
11467 @item gnus-treat-translate
11468 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
11469 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
11471 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
11472 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
11473 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
11474 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
11476 @xref{Article Header}.
11481 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11482 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11483 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11484 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11485 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11489 @node Article Keymap
11490 @section Article Keymap
11492 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11493 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11494 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11495 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11498 @kindex v (Article)
11499 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Article)
11500 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it key to some
11501 function or better use it as a prefix key.
11503 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11508 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11509 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11510 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11511 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11514 @kindex DEL (Article)
11515 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11516 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11517 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11520 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11521 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11522 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11523 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11524 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11527 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11528 @findex gnus-article-mail
11529 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11530 given a prefix, include the mail.
11533 @kindex s (Article)
11534 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11535 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11536 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11539 @kindex ? (Article)
11540 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11541 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11542 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11545 @kindex TAB (Article)
11546 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11547 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11548 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11551 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11552 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11553 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11556 @kindex R (Article)
11557 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11558 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11559 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
11560 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11564 @kindex F (Article)
11565 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11566 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11567 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
11568 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
11576 @section Misc Article
11580 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
11581 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
11582 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
11583 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
11586 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
11587 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
11588 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11589 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
11590 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
11592 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
11593 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
11594 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
11595 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
11596 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
11597 the contents of the article buffer.
11599 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
11600 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
11601 Hook called in article mode buffers.
11603 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11604 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
11605 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
11606 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
11608 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
11609 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
11610 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
11611 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
11613 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
11614 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
11615 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
11616 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
11617 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
11618 with two extensions:
11623 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
11624 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
11625 performed. The characters and their meaning:
11630 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
11633 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
11636 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
11637 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
11638 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
11641 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
11644 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
11647 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
11652 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
11656 @vindex gnus-break-pages
11658 @item gnus-break-pages
11659 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
11660 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
11661 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
11662 paging will not be done.
11664 @item gnus-page-delimiter
11665 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
11666 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
11670 @cindex internationalized domain names
11671 @vindex gnus-use-idna
11672 @item gnus-use-idna
11673 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
11674 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
11675 @samp{Cc} headers. @xref{IDNA, ,IDNA,message, The Message Manual},
11676 for how to compose such messages. This requires
11677 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
11678 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
11683 @node Composing Messages
11684 @chapter Composing Messages
11685 @cindex composing messages
11688 @cindex sending mail
11693 @cindex using s/mime
11694 @cindex using smime
11696 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11697 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11698 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11699 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11700 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11701 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11704 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11705 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11706 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
11707 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11708 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11709 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11710 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11711 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11712 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11715 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11716 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11722 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11725 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11726 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11727 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11728 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11729 @code{nil} include all headers.
11731 @item gnus-add-to-list
11732 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11733 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11734 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11736 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11737 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11738 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you for a confirmation when you are
11739 about to reply to news articles by mail. If it is @code{nil}, nothing
11740 interferes in what you want to do. This can also be a function
11741 receiving the group name as the only parameter which should return
11742 non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is needed, or a regular expression
11743 matching group names, where confirmation should be asked for.
11745 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11746 press @kbd{R} anyway, this variable might be for you.
11748 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11749 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11750 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11751 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11752 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11757 @node Posting Server
11758 @section Posting Server
11760 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11761 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11763 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11765 It can be quite complicated.
11767 @vindex gnus-post-method
11768 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11769 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11770 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11771 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11772 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11773 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11774 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11775 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11776 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11779 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11782 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11783 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11784 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11785 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11787 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11788 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11790 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11791 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11794 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11795 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11797 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11798 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11799 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11800 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11801 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @acronym{SMTP}
11802 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11803 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11804 package correctly. An example:
11807 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11808 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11811 To the thing similar to this, there is
11812 @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}. It is useful if your @acronym{ISP}
11813 requires the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication.
11814 @xref{POP before SMTP}.
11816 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11817 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11818 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11820 @node POP before SMTP
11821 @section POP before SMTP
11822 @cindex pop before smtp
11823 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
11824 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
11826 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
11827 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
11828 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
11829 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
11830 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
11833 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
11834 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
11838 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
11839 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
11840 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
11841 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
11842 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
11843 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
11844 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
11845 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
11847 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
11848 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
11849 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
11850 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
11851 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
11852 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
11855 (setq mail-source-primary-source
11856 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11857 :password "secret"))
11861 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
11862 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
11865 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
11867 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
11868 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
11869 :password "secret")))
11870 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
11873 @node Mail and Post
11874 @section Mail and Post
11876 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11880 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11881 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11882 @cindex mailing lists
11884 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11885 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
11886 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11887 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11888 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11889 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11890 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11891 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11892 still a pain, though.
11894 @item gnus-user-agent
11895 @vindex gnus-user-agent
11898 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
11899 User-Agent header. It can be one of the symbols @code{gnus} (show only
11900 Gnus version), @code{emacs-gnus} (show only Emacs and Gnus versions),
11901 @code{emacs-gnus-config} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus system
11902 configuration), @code{emacs-gnus-type} (same as @code{emacs-gnus} plus
11903 system type) or a custom string. If you set it to a string, be sure to
11904 use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
11908 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11909 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11910 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11913 @findex ispell-message
11915 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11918 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11919 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11922 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11926 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11927 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11929 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11932 Modify to suit your needs.
11935 @node Archived Messages
11936 @section Archived Messages
11937 @cindex archived messages
11938 @cindex sent messages
11940 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11941 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11942 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11943 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11946 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11947 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11950 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11951 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11952 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11955 (nnfolder "archive"
11956 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11957 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11958 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11959 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11962 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11963 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11964 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11965 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11968 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11969 '(nnfolder "archive"
11970 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11971 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11972 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11975 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11977 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11978 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11979 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11981 This variable can be used to do the following:
11985 Messages will be saved in that group.
11987 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11988 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11989 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11990 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11991 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11992 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11993 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11994 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11997 @item a list of strings
11998 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
12000 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
12001 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
12004 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
12009 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
12011 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
12014 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
12016 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
12019 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
12021 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12022 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
12023 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
12024 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
12027 More complex stuff:
12029 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12030 '((if (message-news-p)
12035 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
12036 messages in one file per month:
12039 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12040 '((if (message-news-p)
12042 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
12045 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
12046 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
12048 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
12049 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
12050 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
12051 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
12052 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
12053 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
12054 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
12055 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
12056 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
12057 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
12059 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
12060 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
12061 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
12062 this will disable archiving.
12065 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
12066 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
12067 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
12068 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
12069 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
12072 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
12073 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
12074 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
12077 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
12078 but the latter is the preferred method.
12080 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12081 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12082 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
12084 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12085 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12086 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
12087 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
12088 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
12089 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
12090 changed in the future.
12095 @node Posting Styles
12096 @section Posting Styles
12097 @cindex posting styles
12100 All them variables, they make my head swim.
12102 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
12103 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
12104 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
12107 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
12108 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
12109 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
12110 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
12111 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
12116 (signature "Peace and happiness")
12117 (organization "What me?"))
12119 (signature "Death to everybody"))
12120 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
12121 (organization "Emacs is it")))
12124 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
12125 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
12126 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
12127 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
12128 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
12129 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
12130 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
12131 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
12133 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
12134 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
12135 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
12136 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
12137 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
12138 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
12139 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
12140 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
12141 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
12142 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
12143 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
12144 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
12145 said to @dfn{match}.
12147 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
12148 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. In
12149 addition, you can also use the @code{(@var{name} :file @var{value})}
12150 form or the @code{(@var{name} :value @var{value})} form. Where
12151 @code{:file} signifies @var{value} represents a file name and its
12152 contents should be used as the attribute value, @code{:value} signifies
12153 @var{value} does not represent a file name explicitly. The attribute
12154 name can be one of:
12157 @item @code{signature}
12158 @item @code{signature-file}
12159 @item @code{x-face-file}
12160 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
12161 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
12165 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
12166 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
12167 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
12168 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
12169 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
12171 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
12172 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
12173 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
12174 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
12175 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
12176 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
12177 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
12178 references chars lines xref extra.
12180 @vindex message-reply-headers
12182 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
12183 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
12184 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
12186 @findex message-mail-p
12187 @findex message-news-p
12189 So here's a new example:
12192 (setq gnus-posting-styles
12194 (signature-file "~/.signature")
12196 (x-face-file "~/.xface")
12197 (x-url (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
12198 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
12200 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
12201 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
12202 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
12203 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
12204 (signature my-news-signature))
12205 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
12206 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
12207 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
12208 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
12209 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
12210 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
12211 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
12212 (address "user@@bar.foo")
12213 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
12214 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
12216 (From (save-excursion
12217 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
12218 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
12220 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
12223 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
12224 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
12225 if you fill many roles.
12226 You may also use @code{message-alternative-emails} instead.
12227 @xref{Message Headers, ,Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
12233 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
12234 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
12235 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
12236 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
12237 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
12239 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
12240 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
12241 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
12242 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
12243 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
12247 @vindex nndraft-directory
12248 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
12249 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
12250 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
12251 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
12252 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
12253 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
12255 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
12256 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
12257 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
12258 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
12259 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
12260 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
12261 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
12262 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
12263 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
12265 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
12266 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
12267 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
12268 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
12269 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
12270 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
12271 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
12272 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
12273 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
12274 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
12275 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
12276 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
12277 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
12278 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
12280 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
12281 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
12282 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
12284 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
12285 @kindex D e (Draft)
12286 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
12287 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
12288 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
12290 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
12293 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
12294 @kindex D s (Draft)
12295 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
12296 @kindex D S (Draft)
12297 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
12298 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
12299 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
12300 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
12301 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
12304 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
12305 @kindex D t (Draft)
12306 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
12307 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
12308 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
12311 @node Rejected Articles
12312 @section Rejected Articles
12313 @cindex rejected articles
12315 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
12316 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
12317 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
12318 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
12320 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
12321 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
12322 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
12323 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
12324 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
12326 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
12327 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
12328 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
12330 @node Signing and encrypting
12331 @section Signing and encrypting
12333 @cindex using s/mime
12334 @cindex using smime
12336 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
12337 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
12338 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
12339 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
12341 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
12342 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
12343 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
12344 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
12345 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
12346 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
12347 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
12348 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
12349 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
12350 automatically encrypted messages.
12352 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
12353 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
12354 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
12359 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
12360 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
12362 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12365 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
12366 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12368 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12371 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
12372 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12374 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12377 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
12378 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
12380 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12383 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
12384 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
12386 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12389 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
12390 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
12392 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12395 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
12396 @findex mml-unsecure-message
12397 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
12401 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
12403 @node Select Methods
12404 @chapter Select Methods
12405 @cindex foreign groups
12406 @cindex select methods
12408 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
12409 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
12410 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
12411 personal mail group.
12413 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
12414 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
12415 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
12416 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
12417 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
12418 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
12420 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
12421 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
12423 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
12426 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
12427 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
12428 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
12429 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
12430 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
12432 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
12435 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
12436 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
12437 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
12438 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
12439 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
12440 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
12441 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
12442 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
12443 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
12447 @node Server Buffer
12448 @section Server Buffer
12450 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
12451 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
12452 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
12453 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
12454 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
12455 back end represents a virtual server.
12457 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
12458 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
12459 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
12460 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
12462 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
12463 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
12464 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
12465 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
12466 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
12467 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
12468 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
12470 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
12471 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
12474 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
12475 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
12476 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
12477 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
12478 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
12479 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
12480 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
12483 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
12484 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
12487 @node Server Buffer Format
12488 @subsection Server Buffer Format
12489 @cindex server buffer format
12491 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
12492 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
12493 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
12494 variable, with some simple extensions:
12499 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
12502 The name of this server.
12505 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
12508 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
12511 Whether this server is agentized.
12514 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
12515 The mode line can also be customized by using the
12516 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
12517 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
12527 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12530 @node Server Commands
12531 @subsection Server Commands
12532 @cindex server commands
12538 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Server)
12539 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it key to some
12540 function or better use it as a prefix key.
12544 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12545 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12549 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12550 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12553 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12554 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12555 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12559 @findex gnus-server-exit
12560 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
12564 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
12565 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
12569 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
12570 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
12574 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
12575 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
12579 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
12580 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
12584 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
12585 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
12586 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
12591 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
12592 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
12593 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
12594 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
12599 @node Example Methods
12600 @subsection Example Methods
12602 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
12605 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
12608 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
12614 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
12615 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
12618 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
12619 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
12621 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
12622 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
12626 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
12629 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
12630 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
12632 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
12633 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
12634 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
12638 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
12641 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
12644 Here's the method for a public spool:
12648 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
12649 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
12655 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
12656 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
12657 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
12658 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
12659 should probably look something like this:
12663 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
12664 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
12665 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
12666 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12669 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
12670 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
12671 configuration to the example above:
12674 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12677 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}. Here's an example for
12678 an indirect connection:
12680 (setq gnus-select-method
12682 (nntp-address "news.server.example")
12683 (nntp-via-user-name "intermediate_user_name")
12684 (nntp-via-address "intermediate.host.example")
12685 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
12686 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
12687 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
12688 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)))
12691 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
12692 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
12693 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
12697 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12698 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
12699 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
12700 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
12703 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
12704 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
12705 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
12706 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
12709 @node Creating a Virtual Server
12710 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
12712 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
12713 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
12715 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
12716 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
12717 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
12719 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
12721 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
12722 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
12723 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
12724 will contain the following:
12734 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
12735 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
12738 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
12739 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
12740 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
12743 @node Server Variables
12744 @subsection Server Variables
12745 @cindex server variables
12746 @cindex server parameters
12748 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
12749 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
12750 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
12751 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
12752 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
12754 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
12755 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
12756 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
12757 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
12758 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
12759 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
12760 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
12761 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
12762 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
12766 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
12767 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
12768 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
12771 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
12773 @node Servers and Methods
12774 @subsection Servers and Methods
12776 Wherever you would normally use a select method
12777 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
12778 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
12779 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
12783 @node Unavailable Servers
12784 @subsection Unavailable Servers
12786 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
12787 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
12788 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
12789 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
12790 actually the case or not.
12792 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
12793 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
12794 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
12795 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
12796 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
12797 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
12798 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
12799 it will regard that server as ``down''.
12801 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
12802 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
12804 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
12805 with the following commands:
12811 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12812 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12813 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12817 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12818 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12819 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12823 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12824 Mark the current server as unreachable
12825 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12828 @kindex M-o (Server)
12829 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12830 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12831 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12834 @kindex M-c (Server)
12835 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12836 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12837 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12841 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12842 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12843 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12847 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12848 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12854 @section Getting News
12855 @cindex reading news
12856 @cindex news back ends
12858 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12859 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
12860 or it can read from a local spool.
12863 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
12864 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12872 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
12873 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
12874 server as the, uhm, address.
12876 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12877 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12878 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12879 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12881 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12882 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12883 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12885 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12890 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12891 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12892 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12894 @cindex authentication
12895 @cindex nntp authentication
12896 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12897 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12898 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12899 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
12900 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12901 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12902 present in this hook.
12904 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12905 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12906 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12907 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12908 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
12909 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12910 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12911 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12912 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12913 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12914 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12915 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12919 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12922 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12924 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12925 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12926 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12927 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12928 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12929 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12930 @samp{force} is explained below.
12934 Here's an example file:
12937 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12938 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12941 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12942 have to be first, for instance.
12944 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12945 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12946 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12947 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12948 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12949 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12950 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12952 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12953 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12959 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12960 previously mentioned.
12962 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12964 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12965 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12966 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12967 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12968 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12971 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12972 '(("innd" (ding))))
12975 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12977 The default value is
12980 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12981 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12982 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12985 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12986 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12988 @item nntp-maximum-request
12989 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12990 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
12991 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12992 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12993 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12994 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12995 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12997 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12998 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12999 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
13000 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
13001 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
13002 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
13003 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
13004 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
13005 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
13006 no timeouts are done.
13008 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
13009 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
13010 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
13011 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
13014 @item nntp-xover-commands
13015 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
13016 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
13018 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
13019 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
13023 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
13024 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
13025 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
13026 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
13027 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
13028 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
13029 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
13030 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
13031 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
13032 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
13033 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
13035 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
13036 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
13037 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13039 @item nntp-record-commands
13040 @vindex nntp-record-commands
13041 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
13042 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
13043 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
13044 that doesn't seem to work.
13046 @item nntp-open-connection-function
13047 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
13048 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
13049 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
13050 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
13051 Seven pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped
13052 in two categories: direct connection functions (four pre-made), and
13053 indirect ones (three pre-made).
13055 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
13056 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
13057 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
13058 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
13059 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
13060 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
13061 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
13064 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
13067 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
13068 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
13073 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
13074 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
13075 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
13076 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
13080 @node Direct Functions
13081 @subsubsection Direct Functions
13082 @cindex direct connection functions
13084 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
13085 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
13086 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
13087 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13090 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
13091 @item nntp-open-network-stream
13092 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
13095 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
13096 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
13097 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13098 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
13099 installed. You then define a server as follows:
13102 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13103 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
13105 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13106 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
13107 (nntp-port-number )
13108 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13111 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
13112 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
13113 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13114 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
13115 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
13116 then define a server as follows:
13119 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13120 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
13122 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13123 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
13124 (nntp-port-number 563)
13125 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13128 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
13129 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
13130 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
13131 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
13132 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
13133 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
13134 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
13135 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
13139 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13140 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
13141 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13144 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
13145 session, which is not a good idea.
13149 @node Indirect Functions
13150 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
13151 @cindex indirect connection functions
13153 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
13154 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13155 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
13156 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
13157 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
13158 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13161 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13162 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13163 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
13164 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
13165 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
13167 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13170 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13171 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13172 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13173 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13175 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13176 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13177 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13178 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
13179 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
13180 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
13181 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
13182 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
13186 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13187 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13189 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13190 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13191 Does essentially the same, but uses
13192 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} instead of @samp{telnet}
13193 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
13195 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
13198 @item nntp-via-netcat-command
13199 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-command
13200 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
13201 intermediate host. The default is @samp{nc}. You can also use other
13202 programs like @uref{http://www.imasy.or.jp/~gotoh/ssh/connect.html,
13205 @item nntp-via-netcat-switches
13206 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-switches
13207 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13208 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{nil}.
13210 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13211 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13212 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13213 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13215 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13216 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13217 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13218 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}.
13221 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13222 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13223 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
13224 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
13226 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13229 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
13230 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
13231 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
13234 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
13235 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
13236 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13237 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
13239 @item nntp-via-user-password
13240 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
13241 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
13243 @item nntp-via-envuser
13244 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
13245 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
13246 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
13247 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
13249 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
13250 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
13251 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
13252 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
13256 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13257 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13261 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
13266 @item nntp-via-user-name
13267 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
13268 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
13270 @item nntp-via-address
13271 @vindex nntp-via-address
13272 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
13277 @node Common Variables
13278 @subsubsection Common Variables
13280 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
13281 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
13282 affected (the values of the following variables will be used as the
13283 default if each virtual @code{nntp} server doesn't specify those server
13284 variables individually).
13288 @item nntp-pre-command
13289 @vindex nntp-pre-command
13290 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
13291 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
13292 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}). This is
13293 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
13296 @vindex nntp-address
13297 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13299 @item nntp-port-number
13300 @vindex nntp-port-number
13301 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13302 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
13303 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
13304 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
13305 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
13306 not work with named ports.
13308 @item nntp-end-of-line
13309 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
13310 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
13311 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
13312 using a non native telnet connection function.
13314 @item nntp-telnet-command
13315 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
13316 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
13317 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
13318 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13321 @item nntp-telnet-switches
13322 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
13323 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
13329 @subsubsection NNTP marks
13330 @cindex storing NNTP marks
13332 Gnus stores marks (@pxref{Marking Articles}) for @acronym{NNTP}
13333 servers in marks files. A marks file records what marks you have set
13334 in a group and each file is specific to the corresponding server.
13335 Marks files are stored in @file{~/News/marks}
13336 (@code{nntp-marks-directory}) under a classic hierarchy resembling
13337 that of a news server, for example marks for the group
13338 @samp{gmane.discuss} on the news.gmane.org server will be stored in
13339 the file @file{~/News/marks/news.gmane.org/gmane/discuss/.marks}.
13341 Marks files are useful because you can copy the @file{~/News/marks}
13342 directory (using rsync, scp or whatever) to another Gnus installation,
13343 and it will realize what articles you have read and marked. The data
13344 in @file{~/News/marks} has priority over the same data in
13345 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
13347 Note that marks files are very much server-specific: Gnus remembers
13348 the article numbers so if you don't use the same servers on both
13349 installations things are most likely to break (most @acronym{NNTP}
13350 servers do not use the same article numbers as any other server).
13351 However, if you use servers A, B, C on one installation and servers A,
13352 D, E on the other, you can sync the marks files for A and then you'll
13353 get synchronization for that server between the two installations.
13355 Using @acronym{NNTP} marks can possibly incur a performance penalty so
13356 if Gnus feels sluggish, try setting the @code{nntp-marks-is-evil}
13357 variable to @code{t}. Marks will then be stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
13363 @item nntp-marks-is-evil
13364 @vindex nntp-marks-is-evil
13365 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any marks files. The
13366 default is @code{nil}.
13368 @item nntp-marks-directory
13369 @vindex nntp-marks-directory
13370 The directory where marks for nntp groups will be stored.
13376 @subsection News Spool
13380 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
13381 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
13382 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
13385 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
13386 anything else) as the address.
13388 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
13389 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
13390 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
13391 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
13395 @item nnspool-inews-program
13396 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
13397 Program used to post an article.
13399 @item nnspool-inews-switches
13400 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
13401 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
13403 @item nnspool-spool-directory
13404 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
13405 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
13406 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
13408 @item nnspool-nov-directory
13409 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
13410 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
13411 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
13413 @item nnspool-lib-dir
13414 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
13415 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
13417 @item nnspool-active-file
13418 @vindex nnspool-active-file
13419 The name of the active file.
13421 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
13422 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
13423 The name of the group descriptions file.
13425 @item nnspool-history-file
13426 @vindex nnspool-history-file
13427 The name of the news history file.
13429 @item nnspool-active-times-file
13430 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
13431 The name of the active date file.
13433 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
13434 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
13435 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
13438 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13439 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13441 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
13442 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
13443 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
13450 @section Getting Mail
13451 @cindex reading mail
13454 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
13458 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
13459 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
13460 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
13461 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
13462 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
13463 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
13464 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
13465 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
13466 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
13467 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
13468 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
13469 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
13470 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
13474 @node Mail in a Newsreader
13475 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
13477 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
13478 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
13479 of a culture shock.
13481 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
13482 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
13484 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
13485 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
13486 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
13487 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
13489 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
13491 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
13492 deleted? How awful!
13494 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
13495 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
13496 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
13497 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
13500 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
13501 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
13502 they want to treat a message.
13504 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
13505 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
13506 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
13507 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
13508 archived somewhere else.
13510 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
13511 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
13512 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
13513 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
13514 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
13516 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
13517 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
13518 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
13520 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
13521 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
13524 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
13525 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
13526 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
13527 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
13528 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
13530 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
13531 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
13532 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
13533 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
13534 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
13535 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
13539 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
13540 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
13542 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
13543 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
13544 and things will happen automatically.
13546 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
13547 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
13550 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
13553 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
13554 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
13555 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
13556 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
13557 like any other group.
13559 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
13562 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13563 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13564 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13568 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
13569 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
13570 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
13573 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
13574 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
13575 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
13578 @node Splitting Mail
13579 @subsection Splitting Mail
13580 @cindex splitting mail
13581 @cindex mail splitting
13582 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
13584 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
13585 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
13586 to be split into groups.
13589 (setq nnmail-split-methods
13590 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
13591 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
13592 ("mail.other" "")))
13595 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
13596 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
13597 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
13598 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
13599 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
13600 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
13601 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
13604 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
13608 In that case, @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether
13609 the inserted text should be made lowercase. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
13611 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
13612 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
13613 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
13614 mail belongs in that group.
13616 @cindex @samp{bogus} group
13617 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
13618 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{""} so that it matches any mails
13619 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
13620 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first rule
13621 to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled. In
13622 that case, all matching rules will ``win''.) If no rule matched, the mail
13623 will end up in the @samp{bogus} group. When new groups are created by
13624 splitting mail, you may want to run @code{gnus-group-find-new-groups} to
13625 see the new groups. This also applies to the @samp{bogus} group.
13627 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
13628 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
13629 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
13630 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
13631 thinks should carry this mail message.
13633 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
13634 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
13635 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
13636 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
13638 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
13639 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
13640 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
13641 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
13642 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{""}) group.
13644 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
13647 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
13648 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
13649 links. If that's the case for you, set
13650 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
13651 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
13653 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
13654 @findex nnmail-split-history
13655 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
13656 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
13657 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
13658 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
13661 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
13662 Header lines longer than the value of
13663 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
13666 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
13667 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
13668 By default the splitting codes @acronym{MIME} decodes headers so you
13669 can match on non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. The
13670 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset} variable specifies the default
13671 charset for decoding. The behavior can be turned off completely by
13672 binding @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to @code{nil}, which is
13673 useful if you want to match articles based on the raw header data.
13675 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13676 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
13677 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
13678 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
13679 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
13680 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
13681 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
13682 other kinds of entries.)
13684 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
13685 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
13686 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
13687 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
13688 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
13689 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
13690 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
13691 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
13692 month's rent money.
13696 @subsection Mail Sources
13698 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
13699 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
13700 maildir, for instance.
13703 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
13704 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
13705 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
13709 @node Mail Source Specifiers
13710 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
13712 @cindex mail server
13715 @cindex mail source
13717 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
13718 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
13723 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
13726 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
13727 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
13728 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
13731 The following mail source types are available:
13735 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
13741 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
13742 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
13743 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
13747 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13750 An example file mail source:
13753 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
13756 Or using the default file name:
13762 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
13763 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
13764 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
13765 mail spool while moving the mail.
13767 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
13771 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
13774 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
13778 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
13781 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
13783 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
13786 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
13790 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
13791 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
13792 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
13793 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
13794 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
13795 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
13796 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
13797 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
13798 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
13799 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
13801 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
13802 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
13803 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
13804 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
13810 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
13814 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
13818 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
13819 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
13820 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
13821 predicate are considered.
13825 Script run before/after fetching mail.
13829 An example directory mail source:
13832 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
13837 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
13843 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
13844 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13847 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
13848 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
13849 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
13850 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
13851 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
13854 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
13858 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
13859 the user is prompted.
13862 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
13863 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
13866 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
13869 The valid format specifier characters are:
13873 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
13874 included in this string.
13877 The name of the server.
13880 The port number of the server.
13883 The user name to use.
13886 The password to use.
13889 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13890 corresponding keywords.
13893 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13894 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13897 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13898 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13901 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
13902 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
13903 mail should be moved to.
13905 @item :authentication
13906 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13907 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13912 @vindex pop3-movemail
13913 @vindex pop3-leave-mail-on-server
13914 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13915 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used. If the
13916 @code{pop3-leave-mail-on-server} is non-@code{nil} the mail is to be
13917 left on the @acronym{POP} server after fetching when using
13918 @code{pop3-movemail}. Note that POP servers maintain no state
13919 information between sessions, so what the client believes is there and
13920 what is actually there may not match up. If they do not, then the whole
13921 thing can fall apart and leave you with a corrupt mailbox.
13923 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server,
13924 using the default user name, and default fetcher:
13930 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13933 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13934 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13937 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13940 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13944 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13945 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13946 contains exactly one mail.
13952 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13953 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13956 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13957 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13959 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13960 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13961 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13964 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13965 from locking problems).
13969 Two example maildir mail sources:
13972 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13973 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13977 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13982 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
13983 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
13984 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
13985 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
13986 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
13988 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
13989 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13995 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
13996 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13999 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
14000 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14003 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
14007 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
14011 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
14012 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
14013 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
14014 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
14016 @item :authentication
14017 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
14018 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
14019 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
14020 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
14023 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
14024 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
14025 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
14031 The valid format specifier characters are:
14035 The name of the server.
14038 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
14041 The port number of the server.
14044 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14045 corresponding keywords.
14048 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
14049 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
14052 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
14053 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
14054 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
14055 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
14056 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
14057 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
14060 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
14061 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
14062 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
14063 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
14066 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
14067 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
14071 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
14074 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
14076 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
14080 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{http://www.hotmail.com/},
14081 @uref{http://webmail.netscape.com/}, @uref{http://www.netaddress.com/},
14082 @uref{http://mail.yahoo.com/}.
14084 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
14085 required for url "4.0pre.46".
14087 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
14093 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
14094 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
14097 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
14101 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
14105 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
14106 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
14110 An example webmail source:
14113 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
14115 :password "secret")
14120 @item Common Keywords
14121 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
14127 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
14128 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
14133 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
14138 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
14139 useful when you use local mail and news.
14144 @subsubsection Function Interface
14146 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
14147 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
14148 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
14149 consider the following mail-source setting:
14152 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
14153 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
14156 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
14157 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
14158 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
14159 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
14160 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
14162 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
14165 @node Mail Source Customization
14166 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
14168 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
14169 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
14173 @item mail-source-crash-box
14174 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
14175 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
14176 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
14178 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
14179 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
14180 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
14181 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
14182 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
14183 (This will only happen, when receiving new mail). You may also set
14184 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
14185 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
14187 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14188 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14189 If non-@code{nil}, ask for for confirmation before deleting old incoming
14190 files. This variable only applies when
14191 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
14193 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
14194 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
14195 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
14197 @item mail-source-directory
14198 @vindex mail-source-directory
14199 Directory where incoming mail source files (if any) will be stored. The
14200 default is @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for
14201 is to say where the incoming files will be stored if the variable
14202 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a number.
14204 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
14205 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
14206 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
14207 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
14208 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
14209 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a
14212 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
14213 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
14214 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
14216 @item mail-source-movemail-program
14217 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
14218 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
14219 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
14224 @node Fetching Mail
14225 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
14227 @vindex mail-sources
14228 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
14229 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
14230 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
14231 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
14233 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
14234 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
14237 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
14238 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
14243 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
14244 :password "secret")))
14247 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
14251 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
14252 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
14255 :password "secret")))
14259 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
14260 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
14261 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
14262 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
14263 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
14264 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
14268 @node Mail Back End Variables
14269 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
14271 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
14275 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
14276 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
14277 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
14278 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
14280 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
14281 @item nnmail-split-hook
14282 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
14283 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
14284 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
14285 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
14286 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
14287 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
14288 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
14289 in the buffer will show up in any files.
14290 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
14293 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14294 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14295 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14296 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14297 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
14298 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
14299 starting to handle the new mail) and
14300 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
14301 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
14302 default file modes the new mail files get:
14305 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14306 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
14308 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14309 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
14312 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
14313 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
14314 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
14315 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
14316 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
14317 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
14318 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
14320 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
14321 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
14322 @findex delete-file
14323 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
14325 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14326 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14327 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
14328 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
14329 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
14331 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
14332 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
14333 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
14334 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
14335 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
14337 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
14338 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
14339 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
14344 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
14345 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
14346 @cindex mail splitting
14347 @cindex fancy mail splitting
14349 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
14350 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
14351 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
14352 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
14353 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
14354 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
14356 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
14359 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
14360 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
14361 ;; @r{from real errors.}
14362 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
14364 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
14365 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
14366 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
14367 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
14368 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
14369 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
14370 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
14371 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
14372 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
14373 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
14374 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
14375 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
14376 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
14377 (any "mypackage@@somewhere" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
14378 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
14379 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
14380 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
14384 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
14385 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
14386 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
14391 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
14392 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
14394 @c Don't fold this line.
14395 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split} [@var{invert-partial}])
14396 The split can be a list containing at least three elements. If the
14397 first element @var{field} (a regexp matching a header) contains
14398 @var{value} (also a regexp) then store the message as specified by
14401 If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
14402 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
14403 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
14404 @var{split} is processed.
14406 The last element @var{invert-partial} is optional. If it is
14407 non-@code{nil}, the match-partial-words behavior controlled by the
14408 variable @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} (see below) is
14409 be inverted. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
14411 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
14412 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
14413 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
14414 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
14415 stored in one or more groups.
14417 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
14418 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
14419 process all @var{split}s in the list.
14422 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
14423 this message. Use with extreme caution.
14425 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
14426 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
14427 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
14428 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
14431 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
14432 body of the messages:
14435 (defun split-on-body ()
14439 (goto-char (point-min))
14440 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
14444 The buffer is narrowed to the message in question when @var{function}
14445 is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called after
14446 @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
14447 above. Also note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will
14448 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
14449 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
14450 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
14452 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
14453 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
14454 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
14455 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
14456 should return a split.
14459 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
14463 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
14465 Normally, @var{value} in these splits must match a complete @emph{word}
14466 according to the fundamental mode syntax table. In other words, all
14467 @var{value}'s will be implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers,
14468 which are word delimiters. Therefore, if you use the following split,
14472 (any "joe" "joemail")
14476 messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will normally not be filed
14477 in @samp{joemail}. If you want to alter this behavior, you can use any
14478 of the following three ways:
14482 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
14483 You can set the @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} variable
14484 to non-@code{nil} in order to ignore word boundaries and instead the
14485 match becomes more like a grep. This variable controls whether partial
14486 words are matched during fancy splitting. The default value is
14489 Note that it influences all @var{value}'s in your split rules.
14492 @var{value} beginning with @code{.*} ignores word boundaries in front of
14493 a word. Similarly, if @var{value} ends with @code{.*}, word boundaries
14494 in the rear of a word will be ignored. For example, the @var{value}
14495 @code{"@@example\\.com"} does not match @samp{foo@@example.com} but
14496 @code{".*@@example\\.com"} does.
14499 You can set the @var{invert-partial} flag in your split rules of the
14500 @samp{(@var{field} @var{value} @dots{})} types, aforementioned in this
14501 section. If the flag is set, word boundaries on both sides of a word
14502 are ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
14503 @code{nil}. Contrarily, if the flag is set, word boundaries are not
14504 ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
14505 non-@code{nil}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
14508 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
14509 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
14510 they are expanded as specified by the variable
14511 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
14512 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
14513 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
14514 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
14518 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
14520 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
14521 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
14523 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
14526 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
14527 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
14528 when all this splitting is performed.
14530 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
14531 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
14532 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
14535 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
14538 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
14539 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
14541 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
14542 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
14543 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
14544 groupings 1 through 9.
14546 @vindex nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded
14547 Where @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether the
14548 lowercase of the matched string should be used for the substitution.
14549 Setting it as non-@code{nil} is useful to avoid the creation of multiple
14550 groups when users send to an address using different case
14551 (i.e. mailing-list@@domain vs Mailing-List@@Domain). The default value
14554 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
14555 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
14556 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
14557 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
14558 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
14559 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
14560 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
14561 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
14562 it once per thread.
14564 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
14565 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
14566 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
14567 using the colon feature, like so:
14569 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
14570 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
14572 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
14573 ;; @r{other splits go here}
14577 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
14578 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
14579 in the file specified by the variable
14580 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
14581 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
14582 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
14583 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
14584 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
14585 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
14586 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
14587 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
14588 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
14589 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
14590 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
14591 300 kBytes in size.)
14592 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14593 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
14594 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
14595 messages goes into the new group.
14597 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
14598 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
14599 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
14600 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
14601 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
14602 ``outgoing'' group.
14605 @node Group Mail Splitting
14606 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
14607 @cindex mail splitting
14608 @cindex group mail splitting
14610 @findex gnus-group-split
14611 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
14612 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
14613 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
14614 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
14615 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
14616 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
14617 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
14618 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
14620 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
14621 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
14622 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
14623 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
14625 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
14626 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
14627 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
14628 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
14629 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
14630 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
14631 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
14633 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
14634 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
14635 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
14636 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
14637 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
14638 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
14639 @code{gnus-group-split}.
14641 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
14642 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
14643 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
14644 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
14645 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
14646 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
14647 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
14648 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
14649 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
14650 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
14651 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
14652 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
14653 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
14655 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
14660 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
14661 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
14663 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
14664 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
14665 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
14666 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
14668 ((split-spec . catch-all))
14671 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
14672 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
14673 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
14676 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
14677 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
14678 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
14682 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
14683 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
14684 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14688 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
14691 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
14692 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
14693 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
14694 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
14695 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
14696 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
14697 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
14698 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
14699 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
14701 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
14702 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
14703 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
14704 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
14705 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
14706 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
14707 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
14708 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
14709 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
14711 @findex gnus-group-split-update
14712 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
14713 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
14714 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
14715 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
14716 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
14719 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
14722 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
14723 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
14724 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
14725 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
14726 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
14729 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
14730 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
14731 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
14732 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
14734 @node Incorporating Old Mail
14735 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
14736 @cindex incorporating old mail
14737 @cindex import old mail
14739 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
14740 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
14741 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
14744 Doing so can be quite easy.
14746 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
14747 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
14748 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
14749 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
14750 your @code{nnml} groups.
14756 Go to the group buffer.
14759 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
14760 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14763 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
14766 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
14767 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14770 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
14771 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
14774 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
14775 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
14776 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
14777 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
14778 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
14780 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
14781 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
14782 using the new mail back end.
14785 @node Expiring Mail
14786 @subsection Expiring Mail
14787 @cindex article expiry
14789 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
14790 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
14791 different approach to mail reading.
14793 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
14794 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
14795 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
14796 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
14797 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
14798 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
14801 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
14802 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
14803 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
14804 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
14805 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
14806 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
14807 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
14808 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
14809 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
14811 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
14812 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
14813 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
14814 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
14815 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
14816 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
14817 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
14820 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
14821 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
14822 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
14823 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
14824 into its own group.)
14826 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
14827 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
14828 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
14829 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
14830 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
14831 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
14832 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
14833 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
14836 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14837 Groups that match the regular expression
14838 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
14839 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
14840 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
14842 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
14843 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
14844 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
14845 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
14846 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14848 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
14850 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
14851 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
14852 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
14855 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
14856 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
14857 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
14858 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
14859 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
14861 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
14862 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
14865 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
14866 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
14869 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
14870 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
14872 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
14873 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
14874 don't really mix very well.
14876 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
14877 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
14878 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
14879 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
14882 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
14883 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
14884 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
14885 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
14888 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14890 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
14892 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
14894 ((string= group "mail.junk")
14896 ((string= group "important")
14902 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
14903 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
14905 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
14906 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
14907 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
14910 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
14911 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14913 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
14914 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
14915 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
14916 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
14917 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
14918 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
14919 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
14920 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
14921 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
14922 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
14923 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
14924 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
14925 name or @code{delete}.
14927 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
14929 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
14932 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14933 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14934 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
14935 expire mail to groups according to the variable
14936 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
14939 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
14940 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
14941 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
14942 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
14943 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
14946 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
14947 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
14948 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
14949 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
14950 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
14951 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
14953 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
14954 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
14955 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
14956 easier for procmail users.
14958 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
14959 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
14960 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
14961 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
14962 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
14963 caution. Even more dangerous is the
14964 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
14965 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
14966 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
14967 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
14968 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
14969 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
14970 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
14973 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
14975 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
14976 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
14977 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
14978 auto-expire turned on.
14982 @subsection Washing Mail
14983 @cindex mail washing
14984 @cindex list server brain damage
14985 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14987 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14988 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14989 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14990 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14991 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14992 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14994 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14995 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14996 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14999 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
15000 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
15001 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
15002 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
15005 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15006 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15007 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
15008 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
15009 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
15012 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15013 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15014 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
15015 Emacs running on MS machines.
15019 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15020 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15021 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
15022 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
15025 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15026 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15027 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
15028 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
15030 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
15031 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
15032 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
15033 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
15034 into a feature by documenting it.)
15036 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15037 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15038 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
15039 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
15040 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
15041 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
15042 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
15045 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
15046 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
15049 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
15050 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
15053 This can also be done non-destructively with
15054 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
15056 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
15057 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
15058 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
15060 @item nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15061 @findex nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15062 @c @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
15065 Some mail user agents (e.g. Eudora and Pegasus) produce broken
15066 @code{References} headers, but correct @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This
15067 function will get rid of the @code{References} header if the headers
15068 contain a line matching the regular expression
15069 @code{nnmail-broken-references-mailers}.
15073 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15074 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15075 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
15079 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
15080 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
15081 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
15088 @subsection Duplicates
15090 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
15091 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
15092 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
15093 @cindex duplicate mails
15094 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
15095 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
15096 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
15097 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
15098 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
15099 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
15100 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
15101 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
15102 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
15103 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
15104 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
15105 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
15106 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
15108 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
15109 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
15110 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
15111 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
15113 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
15116 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
15117 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
15121 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
15122 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
15123 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
15124 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
15125 (any mail "mail.misc")
15126 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15132 (setq nnmail-split-methods
15133 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
15134 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15138 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
15139 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
15140 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
15141 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
15142 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
15145 @node Not Reading Mail
15146 @subsection Not Reading Mail
15148 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
15149 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
15150 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
15152 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
15153 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
15154 mail, which should help.
15156 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15157 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15158 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15159 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15160 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15161 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
15162 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
15163 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
15164 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
15165 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
15166 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
15168 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
15169 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
15173 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
15174 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
15176 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
15177 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
15178 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
15180 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
15181 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
15182 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
15186 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
15187 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
15188 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
15189 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
15190 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
15191 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
15192 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
15196 @node Unix Mail Box
15197 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
15199 @cindex unix mail box
15201 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
15202 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
15203 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
15204 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
15205 which group it belongs in.
15207 Virtual server settings:
15210 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
15211 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
15212 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
15215 @item nnmbox-active-file
15216 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
15217 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
15218 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
15220 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
15221 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15222 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
15223 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
15228 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
15232 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
15233 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
15234 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
15235 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
15236 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
15238 Virtual server settings:
15241 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
15242 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
15243 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
15245 @item nnbabyl-active-file
15246 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
15247 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
15248 @file{~/.rmail-active}
15250 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15251 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15252 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
15258 @subsubsection Mail Spool
15260 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
15262 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
15263 format. It should be used with some caution.
15265 @vindex nnml-directory
15266 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
15267 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
15268 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
15269 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
15271 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
15274 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
15275 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
15276 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
15277 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
15278 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
15279 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
15280 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
15281 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
15283 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
15284 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
15285 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
15286 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
15288 @cindex self contained nnml servers
15290 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
15291 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15292 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15293 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
15294 for a group are usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
15295 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
15296 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
15297 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
15300 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
15301 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
15302 them next time it starts.
15304 Virtual server settings:
15307 @item nnml-directory
15308 @vindex nnml-directory
15309 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
15310 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
15313 @item nnml-active-file
15314 @vindex nnml-active-file
15315 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
15316 @file{~/Mail/active}.
15318 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
15319 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
15320 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15321 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
15323 @item nnml-get-new-mail
15324 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15325 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
15328 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
15329 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
15330 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15331 default is @code{nil}.
15333 @item nnml-nov-file-name
15334 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
15335 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
15337 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
15338 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
15339 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
15341 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
15342 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
15343 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15344 default is @code{nil}.
15346 @item nnml-marks-file-name
15347 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
15348 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
15350 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
15351 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
15352 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
15353 files. This requires @code{auto-compression-mode} to be enabled
15354 (@pxref{Compressed Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
15355 If the value of @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is a string, it is used
15356 as the file extension specifying the comression program. You can set it
15357 to @samp{.bz2} if your Emacs supports it. A value of @code{t} is
15358 equivalent to @samp{.gz}.
15360 @item nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
15361 @vindex nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
15362 Default size threshold for compressed message files. Message files with
15363 bodies larger than that many characters will be automatically compressed
15364 if @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil}.
15368 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
15369 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
15370 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
15371 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
15372 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
15373 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
15374 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
15379 @subsubsection MH Spool
15381 @cindex mh-e mail spool
15383 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
15384 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
15385 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
15386 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
15389 Virtual server settings:
15392 @item nnmh-directory
15393 @vindex nnmh-directory
15394 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
15395 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15398 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
15399 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15400 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
15404 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
15405 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
15406 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
15407 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
15408 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
15409 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
15410 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
15415 @subsubsection Maildir
15419 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
15420 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
15421 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
15422 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
15423 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
15426 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
15427 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
15428 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
15429 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
15430 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
15431 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
15432 that appear as group in Gnus.
15434 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
15435 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
15436 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
15438 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
15439 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
15440 another, and you will keep your marks.
15442 Virtual server settings:
15446 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
15447 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
15448 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
15449 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
15450 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
15451 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
15452 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
15453 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
15454 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
15455 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
15457 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
15458 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
15459 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
15460 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
15461 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
15462 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
15463 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
15464 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
15465 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
15466 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
15469 @item target-prefix
15470 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
15471 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
15472 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
15475 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
15476 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
15477 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
15478 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
15479 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
15480 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
15481 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
15482 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
15483 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
15485 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
15486 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
15487 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
15488 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
15489 symlinks pointing to them will be).
15491 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
15492 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
15493 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
15494 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
15495 @code{force} argument.
15497 @item directory-files
15498 This should be a function with the same interface as
15499 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
15500 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
15501 parameter is optional; the default is
15502 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
15503 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
15504 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
15505 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
15506 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
15507 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
15510 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
15511 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
15512 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
15513 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
15514 value is @code{nil}.
15516 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
15517 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
15518 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
15519 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
15520 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
15523 @subsubsection Group parameters
15525 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
15526 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
15527 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
15528 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
15529 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
15530 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
15533 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
15534 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
15535 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
15536 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
15537 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
15538 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
15539 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
15540 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
15541 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
15545 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
15546 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
15547 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
15548 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
15549 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (the
15550 @code{expiry-wait} group parameter overrides @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}
15551 and makes @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} ineffective). If you
15552 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
15553 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
15554 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
15555 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
15556 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
15557 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
15560 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
15562 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
15564 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
15565 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
15566 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
15567 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
15568 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
15569 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
15570 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
15571 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
15572 article. So that form can refer to
15573 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
15574 article. @emph{Even if this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir}
15575 does not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
15576 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
15579 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
15580 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
15581 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
15582 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
15583 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
15584 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
15585 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
15586 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
15587 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
15588 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
15589 contain extra copies of the articles.
15591 @item directory-files
15592 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
15593 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
15594 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
15595 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
15597 @item distrust-Lines:
15598 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
15599 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
15600 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
15603 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
15604 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
15605 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
15606 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
15607 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
15608 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15611 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
15612 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
15613 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
15614 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
15615 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
15616 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
15617 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
15619 @item nov-cache-size
15620 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
15621 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
15622 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
15623 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
15624 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
15625 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
15626 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
15627 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
15628 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
15629 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
15630 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
15633 @subsubsection Article identification
15634 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
15635 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
15636 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
15637 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
15638 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
15639 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
15640 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
15641 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
15642 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
15643 request the article in the summary buffer.
15645 @subsubsection NOV data
15646 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
15647 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
15648 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
15649 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
15650 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
15651 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
15652 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
15653 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
15654 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
15655 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
15656 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
15658 @subsubsection Article marks
15659 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
15660 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
15661 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
15662 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
15663 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
15664 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
15665 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
15666 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
15668 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
15669 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
15670 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
15671 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
15672 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
15673 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
15674 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
15675 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
15676 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
15680 @subsubsection Mail Folders
15682 @cindex mbox folders
15683 @cindex mail folders
15685 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
15686 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
15687 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
15688 numbers and arrival dates.
15690 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
15692 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
15693 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15694 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15695 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
15696 Marks for a group are usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
15697 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
15698 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
15699 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
15700 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
15701 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
15703 Virtual server settings:
15706 @item nnfolder-directory
15707 @vindex nnfolder-directory
15708 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
15709 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
15710 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
15712 @item nnfolder-active-file
15713 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
15714 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
15716 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15717 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
15718 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15719 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
15721 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
15722 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15723 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
15724 default is @code{t}
15726 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15727 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
15728 @cindex backup files
15729 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
15730 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
15731 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
15732 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
15735 (defun turn-off-backup ()
15736 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
15738 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
15741 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15742 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
15743 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
15744 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
15745 extract some information from it before removing it.
15747 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15748 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
15749 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15750 default is @code{nil}.
15752 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15753 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
15754 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
15756 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
15757 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
15758 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
15759 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15761 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15762 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
15763 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15764 default is @code{nil}.
15766 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15767 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
15768 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
15770 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
15771 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
15772 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
15773 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
15778 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
15779 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
15780 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
15781 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
15782 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
15783 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
15786 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
15787 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
15789 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
15790 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
15791 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
15792 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
15793 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
15795 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
15796 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
15797 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
15798 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
15799 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
15800 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
15801 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
15802 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
15805 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
15806 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
15807 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
15808 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
15813 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
15814 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
15815 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
15816 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
15817 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
15818 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
15819 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
15820 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
15821 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
15822 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
15823 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
15824 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
15825 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
15830 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
15831 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
15832 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
15833 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
15834 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
15835 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
15836 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
15837 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
15838 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
15839 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
15840 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
15841 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
15842 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
15843 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
15845 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
15846 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
15851 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
15852 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
15853 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
15854 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
15855 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
15856 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
15857 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
15858 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
15859 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
15860 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
15861 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
15862 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
15863 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
15864 provided by the active file and overviews.
15866 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
15867 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
15868 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
15869 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
15870 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
15873 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
15874 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
15879 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
15880 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
15881 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
15882 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
15883 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
15884 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
15885 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
15889 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
15890 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
15891 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
15892 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
15893 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
15894 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
15895 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
15896 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
15897 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
15899 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
15900 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
15901 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
15902 friendly mail back end all over.
15906 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
15907 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
15910 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
15911 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
15912 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
15913 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
15914 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
15915 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
15916 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
15917 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
15920 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
15921 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
15922 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
15923 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
15924 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
15925 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
15926 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
15927 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
15928 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
15929 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
15930 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
15932 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
15933 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
15934 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
15935 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
15936 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
15939 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
15940 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
15941 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
15942 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
15943 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
15944 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
15945 removed in the future.
15947 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
15948 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
15949 on your file system.
15951 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
15952 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
15957 @node Browsing the Web
15958 @section Browsing the Web
15960 @cindex browsing the web
15964 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
15965 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
15966 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
15967 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
15968 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
15969 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
15970 even know what a news group is.
15972 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
15973 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
15974 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
15975 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
15976 you mad in the end.
15978 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
15981 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
15982 interfaces to these sources.
15986 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
15987 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
15988 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
15989 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
15990 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
15991 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
15994 All the web sources require Emacs/W3 and the url library or those
15995 alternatives to work.
15997 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
15998 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
15999 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
16000 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
16001 though, you should be ok.
16003 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
16004 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
16005 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
16006 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
16007 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
16009 @node Archiving Mail
16010 @subsection Archiving Mail
16011 @cindex archiving mail
16012 @cindex backup of mail
16014 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
16015 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
16016 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
16017 marks is fairly simple.
16019 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
16020 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
16023 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
16024 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
16025 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
16026 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
16027 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
16028 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
16029 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
16030 before you restore the data.
16032 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
16033 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
16034 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
16035 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
16036 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
16037 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
16038 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
16039 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
16040 is unnecessary in that case.
16043 @subsection Web Searches
16048 @cindex Usenet searches
16049 @cindex searching the Usenet
16051 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
16052 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
16053 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
16054 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
16055 searches without having to use a browser.
16057 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
16058 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
16059 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
16060 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
16061 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
16063 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
16064 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
16065 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
16066 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
16067 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
16068 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
16069 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
16070 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
16071 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
16072 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
16075 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
16076 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
16077 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
16078 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
16079 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
16080 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
16082 You must have the @code{url} and @code{W3} package or those alternatives
16083 (try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{mm-url} variable group)
16084 installed to be able to use @code{nnweb}.
16086 Virtual server variables:
16091 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
16092 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
16093 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
16096 @vindex nnweb-search
16097 The search string to feed to the search engine.
16099 @item nnweb-max-hits
16100 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
16101 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
16104 @item nnweb-type-definition
16105 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
16106 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
16107 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
16112 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
16116 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
16119 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
16122 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
16126 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
16133 @subsection Slashdot
16137 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
16138 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
16139 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
16141 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
16142 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
16145 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
16146 '((nnslashdot "")))
16149 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
16150 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
16151 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
16152 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
16153 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
16156 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
16157 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
16159 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
16160 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
16161 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
16162 @samp{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @samp{br} added to
16163 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
16164 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
16165 @acronym{HTML} forms.
16167 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
16170 @item nnslashdot-threaded
16171 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
16172 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
16173 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
16174 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
16175 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
16176 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
16178 @item nnslashdot-login-name
16179 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
16180 The login name to use when posting.
16182 @item nnslashdot-password
16183 @vindex nnslashdot-password
16184 The password to use when posting.
16186 @item nnslashdot-directory
16187 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
16188 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
16189 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
16191 @item nnslashdot-active-url
16192 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
16193 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the
16194 information on news articles and comments. The default is@*
16195 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
16197 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
16198 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
16199 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch comments.
16201 @item nnslashdot-article-url
16202 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
16203 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the news
16204 article. The default is
16205 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
16207 @item nnslashdot-threshold
16208 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
16209 The score threshold. The default is -1.
16211 @item nnslashdot-group-number
16212 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
16213 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
16214 updated. The default is 0.
16221 @subsection Ultimate
16223 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
16225 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
16226 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
16227 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
16228 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16230 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
16231 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
16232 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @acronym{URL}
16233 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
16234 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
16235 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
16236 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
16238 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
16241 @item nnultimate-directory
16242 @vindex nnultimate-directory
16243 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
16244 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
16249 @subsection Web Archive
16251 @cindex Web Archive
16253 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
16254 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
16255 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
16256 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
16259 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
16260 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
16261 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
16262 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
16263 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
16264 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
16265 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
16266 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
16268 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
16271 @item nnwarchive-directory
16272 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
16273 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
16274 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
16276 @item nnwarchive-login
16277 @vindex nnwarchive-login
16278 The account name on the web server.
16280 @item nnwarchive-passwd
16281 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
16282 The password for your account on the web server.
16290 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
16291 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
16292 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
16293 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
16294 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
16296 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
16297 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16299 Note: you had better use Emacs which supports the @code{utf-8} coding
16300 system because @acronym{RSS} uses UTF-8 for encoding non-@acronym{ASCII}
16301 text by default. It is also used by default for non-@acronym{ASCII}
16304 @kindex G R (Group)
16305 Use @kbd{G R} from the group buffer to subscribe to a feed---you will be
16306 prompted for the location, the title and the description of the feed.
16307 The title, which allows any characters, will be used for the group name
16308 and the name of the group data file. The description can be omitted.
16310 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
16311 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
16312 subscribe to groups.
16314 The @code{nnrss} back end saves the group data file in
16315 @code{nnrss-directory} (see below) for each @code{nnrss} group. File
16316 names containing non-@acronym{ASCII} characters will be encoded by the
16317 coding system specified with the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}
16318 variable. If it is @code{nil}, in Emacs the coding system defaults to
16319 the value of @code{default-file-name-coding-system}. If you are using
16320 XEmacs and want to use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names, you should set
16321 the value for the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} variable properly.
16323 The @code{nnrss} back end generates @samp{multipart/alternative}
16324 @acronym{MIME} articles in which each contains a @samp{text/plain} part
16325 and a @samp{text/html} part.
16328 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
16329 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
16332 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
16333 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
16337 @defun nnrss-opml-export
16338 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
16339 @acronym{OPML} format.
16342 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
16345 @item nnrss-directory
16346 @vindex nnrss-directory
16347 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
16348 @file{~/News/rss/}.
16350 @item nnrss-file-coding-system
16351 @vindex nnrss-file-coding-system
16352 The coding system used when reading and writing the @code{nnrss} groups
16353 data files. The default is the value of
16354 @code{mm-universal-coding-system} (which defaults to @code{emacs-mule}
16355 in Emacs or @code{escape-quoted} in XEmacs).
16357 @item nnrss-use-local
16358 @vindex nnrss-use-local
16359 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
16360 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
16361 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
16362 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
16363 download script using @command{wget}.
16365 @item nnrss-wash-html-in-text-plain-parts
16366 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{nnrss} renders text in @samp{text/plain}
16367 parts as @acronym{HTML}. The function specified by the
16368 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} variable (@pxref{Display Customization,
16369 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) will be used
16370 to render text. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default, text will
16371 simply be folded. Leave it @code{nil} if you prefer to see
16372 @samp{text/html} parts.
16375 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
16376 the summary buffer.
16379 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
16380 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
16382 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
16384 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
16385 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
16388 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
16392 (require 'browse-url)
16394 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
16396 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
16399 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
16400 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
16403 (browse-url (cdr url))
16404 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
16405 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
16407 (eval-after-load "gnus"
16408 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
16409 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
16410 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
16413 Even if you have added @code{"text/html"} to the
16414 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} variable (@pxref{Display
16415 Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
16416 Manual}) since you don't want to see @acronym{HTML} parts, it might be
16417 more useful especially in @code{nnrss} groups to display
16418 @samp{text/html} parts. Here's an example of setting
16419 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} as a group parameter (@pxref{Group
16420 Parameters}) in order to display @samp{text/html} parts only in
16421 @code{nnrss} groups:
16424 ;; @r{Set the default value of @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}.}
16425 (eval-after-load "gnus-sum"
16427 'gnus-newsgroup-variables
16428 '(mm-discouraged-alternatives
16429 . '("text/html" "image/.*"))))
16431 ;; @r{Display @samp{text/html} parts in @code{nnrss} groups.}
16434 '("\\`nnrss:" (mm-discouraged-alternatives nil)))
16438 @node Customizing W3
16439 @subsection Customizing W3
16445 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/W3 (or those
16446 alternatives) to display web pages. Emacs/W3 is documented in its own
16447 manual, but there are some things that may be more relevant for Gnus
16450 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/W3 follow links
16451 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
16452 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
16455 (eval-after-load "w3"
16457 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
16458 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
16459 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
16460 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
16462 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
16465 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in W3-rendered
16466 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
16473 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
16475 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
16476 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
16477 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
16478 specify the network address of the server.
16480 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
16481 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
16482 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
16483 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
16484 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
16485 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
16487 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
16488 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
16489 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
16490 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
16492 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
16493 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
16494 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
16495 usage explained in this section.
16497 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
16498 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
16499 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
16503 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
16504 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
16505 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
16507 (nnimap-address "localhost")
16508 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
16509 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
16511 (nnimap-server-port 143)
16512 (nnimap-address "localhost")
16513 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
16514 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
16515 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
16516 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
16517 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
16518 (nnimap-stream network))
16519 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
16521 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
16522 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
16523 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
16526 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
16527 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
16528 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
16529 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
16531 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
16536 @item nnimap-address
16537 @vindex nnimap-address
16539 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
16540 server name if not specified.
16542 @item nnimap-server-port
16543 @vindex nnimap-server-port
16544 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
16546 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
16549 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16550 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
16553 @item nnimap-list-pattern
16554 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
16555 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
16556 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
16557 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
16558 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
16559 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
16561 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
16562 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
16563 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
16566 Example server specification:
16569 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16570 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
16571 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
16574 @item nnimap-stream
16575 @vindex nnimap-stream
16576 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
16577 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
16578 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
16579 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
16580 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
16582 Example server specification:
16585 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16586 (nnimap-stream ssl))
16589 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
16593 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
16594 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
16596 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
16598 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
16599 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
16602 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
16603 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
16605 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
16606 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
16608 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
16610 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
16613 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
16614 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
16615 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
16616 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
16617 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
16618 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
16619 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
16620 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
16621 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
16624 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
16625 needed. It is available from
16626 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
16628 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
16629 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
16630 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
16631 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
16632 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
16633 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
16634 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
16637 @vindex imap-ssl-program
16638 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
16639 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
16640 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
16641 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
16642 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
16643 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
16646 @vindex imap-shell-program
16647 @vindex imap-shell-host
16648 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
16649 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
16651 @item nnimap-authenticator
16652 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
16654 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
16655 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
16657 Example server specification:
16660 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
16661 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
16664 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
16668 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
16669 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
16671 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
16674 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
16675 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
16677 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
16679 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
16681 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as ``anonymous'', supplying your email address as password.
16684 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
16686 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
16687 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
16688 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
16689 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
16690 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
16691 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
16694 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
16695 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
16696 running in circles yet?
16698 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
16699 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
16702 The possible options are:
16707 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
16710 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
16711 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
16712 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
16713 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
16715 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
16720 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
16721 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
16723 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
16724 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
16725 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
16726 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
16727 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
16730 Probably the only reason for frobbing this would be if you're trying
16731 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
16734 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
16735 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16736 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
16737 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
16740 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
16741 as ticked for other users.
16743 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
16745 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
16747 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
16748 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
16749 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
16750 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
16752 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
16753 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
16754 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
16755 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
16757 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
16758 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
16760 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
16761 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
16762 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
16763 @ref{NNTP}. An example of an .authinfo line for an IMAP server, is:
16766 machine students.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis port imap
16769 Note that it should be @code{port imap}, or @code{port 143}, if you
16770 use a @code{nnimap-stream} of @code{tls} or @code{ssl}, even if the
16771 actual port number used is port 993 for secured IMAP. For
16772 convenience, Gnus will accept @code{port imaps} as a synonym of
16775 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16776 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
16778 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
16779 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
16785 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
16786 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
16787 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
16788 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
16789 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
16790 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
16795 @node Splitting in IMAP
16796 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
16797 @cindex splitting imap mail
16799 Splitting is something Gnus users have loved and used for years, and now
16800 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
16801 @acronym{IMAP} servers have server side splitting and those that have
16802 splitting seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that
16803 @acronym{IMAP} support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
16807 (Incidentally, people seem to have been dreaming on, and Sieve has
16808 gaining a market share and is supported by several IMAP servers.
16809 Fortunately, Gnus support it too, @xref{Sieve Commands}.)
16811 Here are the variables of interest:
16815 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
16816 @cindex splitting, crosspost
16818 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
16820 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
16821 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
16822 found will be used.
16824 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
16826 @item nnimap-split-inbox
16827 @cindex splitting, inbox
16829 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
16831 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
16832 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
16833 splitting is disabled!
16836 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
16837 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
16840 No nnmail equivalent.
16842 @item nnimap-split-rule
16843 @cindex splitting, rules
16844 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
16846 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
16849 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
16850 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
16851 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
16852 Neither did I, we need examples.
16855 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16857 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
16858 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
16859 ("INBOX.private" "")))
16862 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
16863 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
16864 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
16866 The first string may contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by
16867 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
16871 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
16874 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
16875 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
16877 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
16878 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
16879 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
16880 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
16882 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
16883 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
16884 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
16885 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
16886 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
16887 them every time you fetch new mail.)
16889 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
16890 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
16891 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
16893 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
16894 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
16895 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16897 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
16899 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
16900 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
16901 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
16904 (setq nnimap-split-rule
16905 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
16906 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
16907 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
16908 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
16909 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
16912 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
16913 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
16914 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
16915 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
16916 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
16917 group/function elements.
16919 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
16921 @item nnimap-split-predicate
16923 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
16925 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
16926 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
16928 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
16929 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
16930 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
16933 @item nnimap-split-fancy
16934 @cindex splitting, fancy
16935 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
16936 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
16938 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16939 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
16940 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
16942 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
16943 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
16944 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
16945 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
16950 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
16951 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
16954 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
16956 @item nnimap-split-download-body
16957 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
16958 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
16960 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
16961 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
16962 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
16963 splitting function that analyzes the body to split the article.
16967 @node Expiring in IMAP
16968 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
16969 @cindex expiring imap mail
16971 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
16972 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
16973 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
16974 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
16975 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
16976 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
16979 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
16980 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
16981 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
16982 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
16983 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
16984 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
16985 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
16986 messages. Most do, fortunately.
16990 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
16991 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
16993 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
16994 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
16996 @item nnmail-expiry-target
16998 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
16999 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
17000 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
17001 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
17005 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
17006 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
17007 @cindex editing imap acls
17008 @cindex Access Control Lists
17009 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
17010 @kindex G l (Group)
17011 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
17013 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
17014 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
17015 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
17018 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
17019 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
17020 editing window with detailed instructions.
17022 Some possible uses:
17026 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
17027 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
17028 follow the list without subscribing to it.
17030 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
17031 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
17032 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
17036 @node Expunging mailboxes
17037 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
17041 @cindex manual expunging
17042 @kindex G x (Group)
17043 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
17045 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
17046 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
17047 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
17049 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
17052 @node A note on namespaces
17053 @subsection A note on namespaces
17054 @cindex IMAP namespace
17057 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
17058 by the following text in the RFC2060:
17061 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
17063 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
17064 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
17065 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
17066 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
17068 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
17069 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
17070 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
17071 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
17072 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
17073 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
17076 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
17077 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
17078 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
17080 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
17081 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
17082 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
17083 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
17084 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
17085 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
17086 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
17087 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
17090 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
17091 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
17092 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
17094 @node Debugging IMAP
17095 @subsection Debugging IMAP
17096 @cindex IMAP debugging
17097 @cindex protocol dump (IMAP)
17099 @acronym{IMAP} is a complex protocol, more so than @acronym{NNTP} or
17100 @acronym{POP3}. Implementation bugs are not unlikely, and we do our
17101 best to fix them right away. If you encounter odd behavior, chances
17102 are that either the server or Gnus is buggy.
17104 If you are familiar with network protocols in general, you will
17105 probably be able to extract some clues from the protocol dump of the
17106 exchanges between Gnus and the server. Even if you are not familiar
17107 with network protocols, when you include the protocol dump in
17108 @acronym{IMAP}-related bug reports you are helping us with data
17109 critical to solving the problem. Therefore, we strongly encourage you
17110 to include the protocol dump when reporting IMAP bugs in Gnus.
17114 Because the protocol dump, when enabled, generates lots of data, it is
17115 disabled by default. You can enable it by setting @code{imap-log} as
17122 This instructs the @code{imap.el} package to log any exchanges with
17123 the server. The log is stored in the buffer @samp{*imap-log*}. Look
17124 for error messages, which sometimes are tagged with the keyword
17125 @code{BAD}---but when submitting a bug, make sure to include all the
17128 @node Other Sources
17129 @section Other Sources
17131 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
17132 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
17136 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
17137 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
17138 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
17139 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
17140 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
17144 @node Directory Groups
17145 @subsection Directory Groups
17147 @cindex directory groups
17149 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
17150 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
17153 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
17154 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
17155 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
17156 back end to read directories. Big deal.
17158 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
17159 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
17160 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
17161 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
17162 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
17164 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
17166 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
17167 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
17168 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
17169 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
17172 @node Anything Groups
17173 @subsection Anything Groups
17176 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
17177 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
17178 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
17181 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
17182 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
17183 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
17184 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
17185 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
17186 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
17187 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
17188 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
17189 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
17190 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
17193 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
17194 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
17195 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
17196 in the article buffer, just as usual.
17198 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
17199 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
17200 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
17201 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
17203 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
17204 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
17205 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
17206 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
17207 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
17208 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
17209 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
17210 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
17215 @item nneething-map-file-directory
17216 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
17217 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
17218 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
17220 @item nneething-exclude-files
17221 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
17222 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
17223 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
17225 @item nneething-include-files
17226 @vindex nneething-include-files
17227 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
17228 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
17230 @item nneething-map-file
17231 @vindex nneething-map-file
17232 Name of the map files.
17236 @node Document Groups
17237 @subsection Document Groups
17239 @cindex documentation group
17242 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
17243 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
17249 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
17254 The standard Unix mbox file.
17256 @cindex MMDF mail box
17258 The MMDF mail box format.
17261 Several news articles appended into a file.
17263 @cindex rnews batch files
17265 The rnews batch transport format.
17268 Netscape mail boxes.
17271 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
17273 @item standard-digest
17274 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
17277 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
17279 @item lanl-gov-announce
17280 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
17282 @cindex forwarded messages
17283 @item rfc822-forward
17284 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
17287 The Outlook mail box.
17290 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
17293 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
17296 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
17299 An RFC934-forwarded message.
17305 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
17308 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
17314 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
17315 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
17316 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
17319 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
17320 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
17321 group. And that's it.
17323 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
17324 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
17325 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
17326 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
17327 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
17328 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
17329 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
17330 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
17331 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
17332 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
17334 Virtual server variables:
17337 @item nndoc-article-type
17338 @vindex nndoc-article-type
17339 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
17340 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
17341 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
17342 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
17343 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
17345 @item nndoc-post-type
17346 @vindex nndoc-post-type
17347 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
17348 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
17353 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
17357 @node Document Server Internals
17358 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
17360 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
17361 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
17362 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
17363 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
17365 First, here's an example document type definition:
17369 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
17370 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
17373 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
17374 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
17375 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
17376 types can be defined with very few settings:
17379 @item first-article
17380 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
17381 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
17384 @item article-begin
17385 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
17386 says what the beginning of each article looks like. To do more
17387 complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you can
17388 use @code{article-begin-function} instead of this.
17390 @item article-begin-function
17391 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the beginning
17392 of each article. This setting overrides @code{article-begin}.
17395 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
17396 article. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a
17397 simple regexp, you can use @code{head-begin-function} instead of this.
17399 @item head-begin-function
17400 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
17401 the article. This setting overrides @code{head-begin}.
17404 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
17405 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
17408 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
17409 to @samp{^\n}. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with
17410 a simple regexp, you can use @code{body-begin-function} instead of this.
17412 @item body-begin-function
17413 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
17414 of the article. This setting overrides @code{body-begin}.
17417 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. To do
17418 more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you
17419 can use @code{body-end-function} instead of this.
17421 @item body-end-function
17422 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
17423 the article. This setting overrides @code{body-end}.
17426 If present, this should match the beginning of the file. All text
17427 before this regexp will be totally ignored.
17430 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
17431 regexp will be totally ignored.
17435 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
17436 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
17437 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
17438 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
17439 something that's palatable for Gnus:
17442 @item prepare-body-function
17443 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
17444 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
17445 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
17447 @item article-transform-function
17448 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
17449 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
17450 body of the article.
17452 @item generate-head-function
17453 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
17454 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
17455 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
17456 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
17458 @item generate-article-function
17459 If present, this function is called to generate an entire article that
17460 Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a
17461 parameter when requesting all articles.
17463 @item dissection-function
17464 If present, this function is called to dissect a document by itself,
17465 overriding @code{first-article}, @code{article-begin},
17466 @code{article-begin-function}, @code{head-begin},
17467 @code{head-begin-function}, @code{head-end}, @code{body-begin},
17468 @code{body-begin-function}, @code{body-end}, @code{body-end-function},
17469 @code{file-begin}, and @code{file-end}.
17473 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
17478 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
17479 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
17480 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
17481 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
17482 (head-end . "^ ?$")
17483 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
17484 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
17485 (subtype digest guess))
17488 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
17489 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
17490 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
17491 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
17492 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
17494 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
17495 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
17496 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
17497 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
17498 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
17499 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
17500 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
17501 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
17502 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
17503 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
17504 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
17505 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
17513 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
17514 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
17515 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
17517 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
17518 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
17519 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
17522 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
17523 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
17524 that interested in doing things properly.
17526 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
17527 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
17530 First some terminology:
17535 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
17536 get news and/or mail from.
17539 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
17540 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
17543 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
17547 @item message packets
17548 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
17549 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
17550 default, where @var{x} is a number.
17552 @item response packets
17553 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
17554 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
17555 default, where @var{x} is a number.
17565 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
17566 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
17567 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
17568 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
17571 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
17574 You put the packet in your home directory.
17577 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
17578 the native or secondary server.
17581 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
17582 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
17585 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
17589 You transfer this packet to the server.
17592 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
17595 You then repeat until you die.
17599 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
17600 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
17603 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
17604 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
17605 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
17609 @node SOUP Commands
17610 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
17612 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
17616 @kindex G s b (Group)
17617 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
17618 Pack all unread articles in the current group
17619 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
17620 process/prefix convention.
17623 @kindex G s w (Group)
17624 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
17625 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
17628 @kindex G s s (Group)
17629 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
17630 Send all replies from the replies packet
17631 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
17634 @kindex G s p (Group)
17635 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
17636 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
17639 @kindex G s r (Group)
17640 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
17641 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
17644 @kindex O s (Summary)
17645 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
17646 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
17647 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
17648 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17653 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
17658 @item gnus-soup-directory
17659 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
17660 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
17661 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
17663 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
17664 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
17665 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
17666 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
17668 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
17669 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
17670 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
17671 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
17673 @item gnus-soup-packer
17674 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
17675 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
17676 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
17678 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
17679 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
17680 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
17681 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
17683 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
17684 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
17685 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
17687 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
17688 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
17689 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
17690 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
17696 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
17699 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
17700 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
17701 you can read them at leisure.
17703 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
17707 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
17708 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
17709 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
17710 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
17712 @item nnsoup-directory
17713 @vindex nnsoup-directory
17714 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
17715 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
17717 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
17718 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
17719 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
17720 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
17722 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
17723 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
17724 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
17725 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
17726 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
17728 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
17729 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
17730 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
17731 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
17733 @item nnsoup-active-file
17734 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
17735 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
17736 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
17737 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
17738 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
17740 @item nnsoup-packer
17741 @vindex nnsoup-packer
17742 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
17743 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
17745 @item nnsoup-unpacker
17746 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
17747 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
17748 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
17750 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
17751 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
17752 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
17755 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
17756 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
17757 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
17760 @item nnsoup-always-save
17761 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
17762 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
17768 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
17770 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
17771 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
17772 more for that to happen.
17774 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
17775 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
17776 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
17779 In specific, this is what it does:
17782 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
17783 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
17786 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
17787 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
17788 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
17791 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
17792 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
17793 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
17796 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
17797 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
17798 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
17800 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
17806 @item nngateway-address
17807 @vindex nngateway-address
17808 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
17810 @item nngateway-header-transformation
17811 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
17812 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
17813 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
17814 transformation should be called, and defaults to
17815 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
17816 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
17819 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
17820 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
17821 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
17824 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
17827 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
17830 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
17833 The following pre-defined functions exist:
17835 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17838 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
17839 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17840 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
17842 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17844 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
17845 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
17846 @code{nngateway-address}.
17854 (setq gnus-post-method
17856 "mail2news@@replay.com"
17857 (nngateway-header-transformation
17858 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
17861 So, to use this, simply say something like:
17864 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
17869 @node Combined Groups
17870 @section Combined Groups
17872 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
17876 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
17877 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
17881 @node Virtual Groups
17882 @subsection Virtual Groups
17884 @cindex virtual groups
17885 @cindex merging groups
17887 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
17890 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
17891 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
17892 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
17894 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
17895 regexp to match component groups.
17897 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
17898 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
17899 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
17900 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
17901 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
17902 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
17903 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
17904 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
17906 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
17907 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
17910 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
17913 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
17914 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
17916 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
17917 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
17918 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
17919 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
17922 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
17925 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
17926 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
17927 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
17929 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
17930 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
17931 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
17932 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
17933 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
17935 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
17936 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
17937 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
17939 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
17940 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} variable is non-@code{nil} (which
17941 is the default), @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread
17942 articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil}
17943 and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has
17944 been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up
17945 when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you
17946 have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If
17947 that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}. Or you can
17948 just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before you enter
17949 it---it'll have much the same effect.
17951 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
17952 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
17953 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
17954 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
17955 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
17956 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
17957 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
17959 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
17960 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
17962 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
17963 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
17967 @node Kibozed Groups
17968 @subsection Kibozed Groups
17972 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by the @acronym{OED} as ``grepping through
17973 (parts of) the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will
17974 do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server
17975 down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness!
17977 @kindex G k (Group)
17978 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
17981 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
17982 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
17983 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
17984 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
17986 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
17987 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
17988 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
17990 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
17991 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
17992 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
17993 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
17994 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
17995 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
17996 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
17997 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
17999 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
18000 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
18001 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
18002 Stranger things have happened.
18004 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
18005 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
18007 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
18008 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
18009 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/kiboze/} by default.
18010 One contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in
18011 the group, and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store
18012 information on what groups have been searched through to find
18013 component articles.
18015 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
18016 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
18019 @node Email Based Diary
18020 @section Email Based Diary
18022 @cindex email based diary
18025 This section describes a special mail back end called @code{nndiary},
18026 and its companion library @code{gnus-diary}. It is ``special'' in the
18027 sense that it is not meant to be one of the standard alternatives for
18028 reading mail with Gnus. See @ref{Choosing a Mail Back End} for that.
18029 Instead, it is used to treat @emph{some} of your mails in a special way,
18030 namely, as event reminders.
18032 Here is a typical scenario:
18036 You've got a date with Andy Mc Dowell or Bruce Willis (select according
18037 to your sexual preference) in one month. You don't want to forget it.
18039 So you send a ``reminder'' message (actually, a diary one) to yourself.
18041 You forget all about it and keep on getting and reading new mail, as usual.
18043 From time to time, as you type `g' in the group buffer and as the date
18044 is getting closer, the message will pop up again to remind you of your
18045 appointment, just as if it were new and unread.
18047 Read your ``new'' messages, this one included, and start dreaming again
18048 of the night you're gonna have.
18050 Once the date is over (you actually fell asleep just after dinner), the
18051 message will be automatically deleted if it is marked as expirable.
18054 The Gnus Diary back end has the ability to handle regular appointments
18055 (that wouldn't ever be deleted) as well as punctual ones, operates as a
18056 real mail back end and is configurable in many ways. All of this is
18057 explained in the sections below.
18060 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
18061 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
18062 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
18066 @node The NNDiary Back End
18067 @subsection The NNDiary Back End
18069 @cindex the nndiary back end
18071 @code{nndiary} is a back end very similar to @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
18072 Spool}). Actually, it could appear as a mix of @code{nnml} and
18073 @code{nndraft}. If you know @code{nnml}, you're already familiar with
18074 the message storing scheme of @code{nndiary}: one file per message, one
18075 directory per group.
18077 Before anything, there is one requirement to be able to run
18078 @code{nndiary} properly: you @emph{must} use the group timestamp feature
18079 of Gnus. This adds a timestamp to each group's parameters. @ref{Group
18080 Timestamp} to see how it's done.
18083 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
18084 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
18085 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
18088 @node Diary Messages
18089 @subsubsection Diary Messages
18090 @cindex nndiary messages
18091 @cindex nndiary mails
18093 @code{nndiary} messages are just normal ones, except for the mandatory
18094 presence of 7 special headers. These headers are of the form
18095 @code{X-Diary-<something>}, @code{<something>} being one of
18096 @code{Minute}, @code{Hour}, @code{Dom}, @code{Month}, @code{Year},
18097 @code{Time-Zone} and @code{Dow}. @code{Dom} means ``Day of Month'', and
18098 @code{dow} means ``Day of Week''. These headers actually behave like
18099 crontab specifications and define the event date(s):
18103 For all headers except the @code{Time-Zone} one, a header value is
18104 either a star (meaning all possible values), or a list of fields
18105 (separated by a comma).
18107 A field is either an integer, or a range.
18109 A range is two integers separated by a dash.
18111 Possible integer values are 0--59 for @code{Minute}, 0--23 for
18112 @code{Hour}, 1--31 for @code{Dom}, 1--12 for @code{Month}, above 1971
18113 for @code{Year} and 0--6 for @code{Dow} (0 meaning Sunday).
18115 As a special case, a star in either @code{Dom} or @code{Dow} doesn't
18116 mean ``all possible values'', but ``use only the other field''. Note
18117 that if both are star'ed, the use of either one gives the same result.
18119 The @code{Time-Zone} header is special in that it can only have one
18120 value (@code{GMT}, for instance). A star doesn't mean ``all possible
18121 values'' (because it makes no sense), but ``the current local time
18122 zone''. Most of the time, you'll be using a star here. However, for a
18123 list of available time zone values, see the variable
18124 @code{nndiary-headers}.
18127 As a concrete example, here are the diary headers to add to your message
18128 for specifying ``Each Monday and each 1st of month, at 12:00, 20:00,
18129 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 24:00, from 1999 to 2010'' (I'll let you find
18134 X-Diary-Hour: 12, 20-24
18137 X-Diary-Year: 1999-2010
18139 X-Diary-Time-Zone: *
18142 @node Running NNDiary
18143 @subsubsection Running NNDiary
18144 @cindex running nndiary
18145 @cindex nndiary operation modes
18147 @code{nndiary} has two modes of operation: ``traditional'' (the default)
18148 and ``autonomous''. In traditional mode, @code{nndiary} does not get new
18149 mail by itself. You have to move (@kbd{B m}) or copy (@kbd{B c}) mails
18150 from your primary mail back end to nndiary groups in order to handle them
18151 as diary messages. In autonomous mode, @code{nndiary} retrieves its own
18152 mail and handles it independently from your primary mail back end.
18154 One should note that Gnus is not inherently designed to allow several
18155 ``master'' mail back ends at the same time. However, this does make
18156 sense with @code{nndiary}: you really want to send and receive diary
18157 messages to your diary groups directly. So, @code{nndiary} supports
18158 being sort of a ``second primary mail back end'' (to my knowledge, it is
18159 the only back end offering this feature). However, there is a limitation
18160 (which I hope to fix some day): respooling doesn't work in autonomous
18163 In order to use @code{nndiary} in autonomous mode, you have several
18168 Allow @code{nndiary} to retrieve new mail by itself. Put the following
18169 line in your @file{gnusrc} file:
18172 (setq nndiary-get-new-mail t)
18175 You must arrange for diary messages (those containing @code{X-Diary-*}
18176 headers) to be split in a private folder @emph{before} Gnus treat them.
18177 Again, this is needed because Gnus cannot (yet ?) properly handle
18178 multiple primary mail back ends. Getting those messages from a separate
18179 source will compensate this misfeature to some extent.
18181 As an example, here's my procmailrc entry to store diary files in
18182 @file{~/.nndiary} (the default @code{nndiary} mail source file):
18191 Once this is done, you might want to customize the following two options
18192 that affect the diary mail retrieval and splitting processes:
18194 @defvar nndiary-mail-sources
18195 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
18196 @code{mail-sources} variable. It obeys the same syntax, and defaults to
18197 @code{(file :path "~/.nndiary")}.
18200 @defvar nndiary-split-methods
18201 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
18202 @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable. It obeys the same syntax.
18205 Finally, you may add a permanent @code{nndiary} virtual server
18206 (something like @code{(nndiary "diary")} should do) to your
18207 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}.
18209 Hopefully, almost everything (see the TODO section in
18210 @file{nndiary.el}) will work as expected when you restart Gnus: in
18211 autonomous mode, typing @kbd{g} and @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer, will
18212 also get your new diary mails and split them according to your
18213 diary-specific rules, @kbd{F} will find your new diary groups etc.
18215 @node Customizing NNDiary
18216 @subsubsection Customizing NNDiary
18217 @cindex customizing nndiary
18218 @cindex nndiary customization
18220 Now that @code{nndiary} is up and running, it's time to customize it.
18221 The custom group is called @code{nndiary} (no, really ?!). You should
18222 browse it to figure out which options you'd like to tweak. The following
18223 two variables are probably the only ones you will want to change:
18225 @defvar nndiary-reminders
18226 This is the list of times when you want to be reminded of your
18227 appointements (e.g. 3 weeks before, then 2 days before, then 1 hour
18228 before and that's it). Remember that ``being reminded'' means that the
18229 diary message will pop up as brand new and unread again when you get new
18233 @defvar nndiary-week-starts-on-monday
18234 Rather self-explanatory. Otherwise, Sunday is assumed (this is the
18239 @node The Gnus Diary Library
18240 @subsection The Gnus Diary Library
18242 @cindex the gnus diary library
18244 Using @code{nndiary} manually (I mean, writing the headers by hand and
18245 so on) would be rather boring. Fortunately, there is a library called
18246 @code{gnus-diary} written on top of @code{nndiary}, that does many
18247 useful things for you.
18249 In order to use it, add the following line to your @file{gnusrc} file:
18252 (require 'gnus-diary)
18255 Also, you shouldn't use any @code{gnus-user-format-function-[d|D]}
18256 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} provides both of these
18257 (sorry if you used them before).
18261 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
18262 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
18263 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
18264 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
18267 @node Diary Summary Line Format
18268 @subsubsection Diary Summary Line Format
18269 @cindex diary summary buffer line
18270 @cindex diary summary line format
18272 Displaying diary messages in standard summary line format (usually
18273 something like @samp{From Joe: Subject}) is pretty useless. Most of
18274 the time, you're the one who wrote the message, and you mostly want to
18275 see the event's date.
18277 @code{gnus-diary} provides two supplemental user formats to be used in
18278 summary line formats. @code{D} corresponds to a formatted time string
18279 for the next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00''),
18280 while @code{d} corresponds to an approximative remaining time until the
18281 next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``in 6 months, 1 week'').
18283 For example, here's how Joe's birthday is displayed in my
18284 @code{nndiary+diary:birthdays} summary buffer (note that the message is
18285 expirable, but will never be deleted, as it specifies a periodic event):
18288 E Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00: Joe's birthday (in 6 months, 1 week)
18291 In order to get something like the above, you would normally add the
18292 following line to your diary groups'parameters:
18295 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z %uD: %(%s%) (%ud)\n")
18298 However, @code{gnus-diary} does it automatically (@pxref{Diary Group
18299 Parameters}). You can however customize the provided summary line format
18300 with the following user options:
18302 @defvar gnus-diary-summary-line-format
18303 Defines the summary line format used for diary groups (@pxref{Summary
18304 Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} uses it to automatically update the
18305 diary groups'parameters.
18308 @defvar gnus-diary-time-format
18309 Defines the format to display dates in diary summary buffers. This is
18310 used by the @code{D} user format. See the docstring for details.
18313 @defvar gnus-diary-delay-format-function
18314 Defines the format function to use for displaying delays (remaining
18315 times) in diary summary buffers. This is used by the @code{d} user
18316 format. There are currently built-in functions for English and French;
18317 you can also define your own. See the docstring for details.
18320 @node Diary Articles Sorting
18321 @subsubsection Diary Articles Sorting
18322 @cindex diary articles sorting
18323 @cindex diary summary lines sorting
18324 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule
18325 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule
18326 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-schedule
18328 @code{gnus-diary} provides new sorting functions (@pxref{Sorting the
18329 Summary Buffer} ) called @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule},
18330 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule} and
18331 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-schedule}. These functions let you organize
18332 your diary summary buffers from the closest event to the farthest one.
18334 @code{gnus-diary} automatically installs
18335 @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule} as a menu item in the summary
18336 buffer's ``sort'' menu, and the two others as the primary (hence
18337 default) sorting functions in the group parameters (@pxref{Diary Group
18340 @node Diary Headers Generation
18341 @subsubsection Diary Headers Generation
18342 @cindex diary headers generation
18343 @findex gnus-diary-check-message
18345 @code{gnus-diary} provides a function called
18346 @code{gnus-diary-check-message} to help you handle the @code{X-Diary-*}
18347 headers. This function ensures that the current message contains all the
18348 required diary headers, and prompts you for values or corrections if
18351 This function is hooked into the @code{nndiary} back end, so that
18352 moving or copying an article to a diary group will trigger it
18353 automatically. It is also bound to @kbd{C-c D c} in @code{message-mode}
18354 and @code{article-edit-mode} in order to ease the process of converting
18355 a usual mail to a diary one.
18357 This function takes a prefix argument which will force prompting of
18358 all diary headers, regardless of their presence or validity. That way,
18359 you can very easily reschedule an already valid diary message, for
18362 @node Diary Group Parameters
18363 @subsubsection Diary Group Parameters
18364 @cindex diary group parameters
18366 When you create a new diary group, or visit one, @code{gnus-diary}
18367 automatically checks your group parameters and if needed, sets the
18368 summary line format to the diary-specific value, installs the
18369 diary-specific sorting functions, and also adds the different
18370 @code{X-Diary-*} headers to the group's posting-style. It is then easier
18371 to send a diary message, because if you use @kbd{C-u a} or @kbd{C-u m}
18372 on a diary group to prepare a message, these headers will be inserted
18373 automatically (although not filled with proper values yet).
18375 @node Sending or Not Sending
18376 @subsection Sending or Not Sending
18378 Well, assuming you've read of of the above, here are two final notes on
18379 mail sending with @code{nndiary}:
18383 @code{nndiary} is a @emph{real} mail back end. You really send real diary
18384 messsages for real. This means for instance that you can give
18385 appointements to anybody (provided they use Gnus and @code{nndiary}) by
18386 sending the diary message to them as well.
18388 However, since @code{nndiary} also has a @code{request-post} method, you
18389 can also use @kbd{C-u a} instead of @kbd{C-u m} on a diary group and the
18390 message won't actually be sent; just stored locally in the group. This
18391 comes in very handy for private appointments.
18394 @node Gnus Unplugged
18395 @section Gnus Unplugged
18400 @cindex Gnus unplugged
18402 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
18403 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
18404 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
18405 read news. Believe it or not.
18407 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
18408 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
18409 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
18410 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
18411 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
18413 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
18414 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
18415 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
18416 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
18417 reading news on a machine.
18419 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
18420 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
18421 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
18423 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
18426 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
18427 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
18428 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
18429 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
18430 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
18431 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
18432 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
18433 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
18434 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
18435 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
18436 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
18437 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
18438 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
18439 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
18444 @subsection Agent Basics
18446 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
18448 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
18449 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
18450 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
18451 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
18453 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
18454 connected to the net continuously.
18456 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
18457 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
18459 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
18460 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
18461 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
18462 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
18463 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
18465 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
18466 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
18467 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
18468 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
18469 they're kinda like plugged always).
18471 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
18472 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
18473 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
18476 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
18477 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
18478 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
18479 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
18480 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
18482 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
18487 @findex gnus-unplugged
18488 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
18489 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
18490 already fetched while in this mode.
18493 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
18494 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
18495 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
18496 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
18497 Source Specifiers}).
18500 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
18501 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
18502 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
18503 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
18504 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
18507 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
18508 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
18509 then you read the news offline.
18512 And then you go to step 2.
18515 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
18521 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
18522 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
18523 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
18524 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
18525 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
18526 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
18527 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
18528 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
18531 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
18532 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
18533 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
18534 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
18536 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
18537 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
18538 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
18539 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
18540 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
18541 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
18545 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
18549 @node Agent Categories
18550 @subsection Agent Categories
18552 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
18553 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
18554 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
18555 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
18556 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
18557 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
18558 you're interested in the articles anyway.
18560 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
18561 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
18562 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
18563 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
18564 buffer for creating and managing categories.
18566 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
18567 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
18568 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
18569 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
18570 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
18573 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
18574 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
18575 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
18576 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
18577 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
18578 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
18582 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
18583 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
18584 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
18588 @node Category Syntax
18589 @subsubsection Category Syntax
18591 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
18592 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
18593 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
18596 @cindex Agent Parameters
18599 The list of groups that are in this category.
18601 @item agent-predicate
18602 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
18603 are eligible for downloading; and
18606 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
18607 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
18608 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
18610 @item agent-enable-expiration
18611 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
18612 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
18613 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
18614 only groups that should not be expired.
18616 @item agent-days-until-old
18617 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
18618 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
18620 @item agent-low-score
18621 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
18623 @item agent-high-score
18624 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
18626 @item agent-short-article
18627 an integer that overrides the value of
18628 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
18630 @item agent-long-article
18631 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
18633 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
18634 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
18635 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
18636 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
18637 undownloaded faces.
18640 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
18643 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
18644 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
18645 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
18648 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
18649 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
18650 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
18651 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
18653 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
18654 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
18655 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
18657 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
18658 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
18659 operators sprinkled in between.
18661 Perhaps some examples are in order.
18663 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
18664 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
18670 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
18671 short (for some value of ``short'').
18673 Here's a more complex predicate:
18682 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
18683 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
18686 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
18687 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
18688 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
18690 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
18691 you want to do, you can write your own.
18693 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
18694 bound to the value determined by calling
18695 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
18696 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
18697 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
18698 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
18699 predicate to individual groups.
18703 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
18704 lines; default 100.
18707 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
18708 lines; default 200.
18711 True iff the article has a download score less than
18712 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
18715 True iff the article has a download score greater than
18716 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
18719 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
18720 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
18721 checksum and sees whether articles match.
18730 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
18731 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
18732 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
18735 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
18736 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
18737 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
18738 something along the lines of the following:
18741 (defun my-article-old-p ()
18742 "Say whether an article is old."
18743 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
18744 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
18747 with the predicate then defined as:
18750 (not my-article-old-p)
18753 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
18754 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
18758 (require 'gnus-agent)
18759 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
18760 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
18761 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
18764 and simply specify your predicate as:
18770 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
18771 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
18772 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
18773 just don't give a damn.
18775 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
18776 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
18777 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
18778 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
18779 parameters like so:
18782 (agent-predicate . short)
18785 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
18786 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
18787 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
18789 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
18792 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
18795 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
18796 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
18797 predicate is assumed to be a list.
18800 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
18801 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
18802 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
18803 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
18804 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
18805 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
18807 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
18808 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
18809 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
18810 if it's to be specific to that group.
18812 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
18819 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
18820 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
18826 Category specification
18830 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
18836 Group/Topic Parameter specification
18839 (agent-score ("from"
18840 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
18845 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
18851 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
18852 keywords stated above.
18858 Category specification
18861 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
18867 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
18871 Group Parameter specification
18874 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
18877 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
18882 Use @code{normal} score files
18884 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
18885 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
18886 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
18887 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
18889 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
18890 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
18891 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
18892 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
18896 Category Specification
18903 Group Parameter specification
18906 (agent-score . file)
18911 @node Category Buffer
18912 @subsubsection Category Buffer
18914 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
18915 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
18916 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
18918 The following commands are available in this buffer:
18922 @kindex q (Category)
18923 @findex gnus-category-exit
18924 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
18927 @kindex e (Category)
18928 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
18929 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
18930 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
18933 @kindex k (Category)
18934 @findex gnus-category-kill
18935 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
18938 @kindex c (Category)
18939 @findex gnus-category-copy
18940 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
18943 @kindex a (Category)
18944 @findex gnus-category-add
18945 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
18948 @kindex p (Category)
18949 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
18950 Edit the predicate of the current category
18951 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
18954 @kindex g (Category)
18955 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
18956 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
18957 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
18960 @kindex s (Category)
18961 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
18962 Edit the download score rule of the current category
18963 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
18966 @kindex l (Category)
18967 @findex gnus-category-list
18968 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
18972 @node Category Variables
18973 @subsubsection Category Variables
18976 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
18977 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
18978 Hook run in category buffers.
18980 @item gnus-category-line-format
18981 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
18982 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
18983 Variables}). Valid elements are:
18987 The name of the category.
18990 The number of groups in the category.
18993 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
18994 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
18995 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
18997 @item gnus-agent-short-article
18998 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
18999 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
19001 @item gnus-agent-long-article
19002 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
19003 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
19005 @item gnus-agent-low-score
19006 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
19007 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
19010 @item gnus-agent-high-score
19011 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
19012 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
19015 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
19016 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
19017 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
19018 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
19019 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
19020 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
19021 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
19022 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
19026 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
19027 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
19028 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
19029 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
19030 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
19031 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
19032 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
19037 @node Agent Commands
19038 @subsection Agent Commands
19039 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
19040 @kindex J j (Agent)
19042 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
19043 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
19044 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
19048 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
19049 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
19050 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
19056 @node Group Agent Commands
19057 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
19061 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
19062 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
19063 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
19064 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
19067 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
19068 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
19069 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
19072 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
19073 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
19074 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
19075 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
19078 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
19079 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
19080 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
19081 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
19084 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
19085 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
19086 Add the current group to an Agent category
19087 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
19088 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19091 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
19092 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
19093 Remove the current group from its category, if any
19094 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
19095 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19098 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
19099 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19100 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
19106 @node Summary Agent Commands
19107 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
19111 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
19112 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
19113 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
19116 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
19117 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
19118 Remove the downloading mark from the article
19119 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
19123 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
19124 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
19125 Toggle whether to download the article
19126 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
19130 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
19131 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
19132 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
19135 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
19136 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
19137 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
19138 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
19141 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
19142 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series
19143 Download all processable articles in this group.
19144 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series}).
19147 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
19148 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
19149 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
19150 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
19155 @node Server Agent Commands
19156 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
19160 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
19161 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
19162 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
19163 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
19166 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
19167 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
19168 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
19169 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
19174 @node Agent Visuals
19175 @subsection Agent Visuals
19177 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
19178 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
19179 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
19180 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
19181 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
19182 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
19183 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
19184 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
19185 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
19186 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
19188 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
19189 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
19190 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
19191 way, ``If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
19192 less than satisfying unplugged session''. For this reason, the Agent
19193 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
19194 the download status of each article so that you always know which
19195 articles will be available when unplugged.
19197 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
19198 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
19199 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
19200 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
19201 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
19202 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
19203 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
19204 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
19206 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
19207 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
19208 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
19209 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
19210 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
19211 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
19212 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
19213 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
19214 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
19216 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
19217 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
19218 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
19219 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
19220 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
19221 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
19222 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
19223 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
19224 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
19225 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
19227 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
19228 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
19229 group parameter to @code{t}. This parameter, like all other agent
19230 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}),
19231 a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an individual group
19232 (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19234 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
19235 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
19236 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
19237 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
19238 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
19239 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
19240 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
19241 expiring'' articles.
19243 @node Agent as Cache
19244 @subsection Agent as Cache
19246 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
19247 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
19248 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
19249 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
19250 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
19251 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
19252 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
19253 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
19254 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
19256 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
19257 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
19258 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
19259 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
19260 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
19263 @subsection Agent Expiry
19265 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
19266 @findex gnus-agent-expire
19267 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
19268 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
19269 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
19270 @cindex agent expiry
19271 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
19274 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
19275 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
19276 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
19277 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
19278 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
19279 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
19280 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
19281 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
19283 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
19284 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
19285 synchronized with the group.
19287 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
19288 prevent expiration in selected groups.
19290 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
19291 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
19292 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
19293 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
19294 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
19295 be kept indefinitely.
19297 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
19298 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
19299 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
19300 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
19302 @node Agent Regeneration
19303 @subsection Agent Regeneration
19305 @cindex agent regeneration
19306 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
19307 @cindex regeneration
19309 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
19310 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
19311 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
19312 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
19313 internal inconsistencies.
19315 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
19316 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
19317 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
19318 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
19319 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
19320 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
19322 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
19323 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
19324 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
19325 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
19326 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
19327 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
19329 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19330 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19331 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
19332 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
19333 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
19334 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
19337 @node Agent and flags
19338 @subsection Agent and flags
19340 The Agent works with any Gnus back end including those, such as
19341 nnimap, that store flags (read, ticked, etc) on the server. Sadly,
19342 the Agent does not actually know which backends keep their flags in
19343 the backend server rather than in @file{.newsrc}. This means that the
19344 Agent, while unplugged or disconnected, will always record all changes
19345 to the flags in its own files.
19347 When you plug back in, Gnus will then check to see if you have any
19348 changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the
19349 server. This behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
19351 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19352 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19353 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19354 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19355 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19356 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19358 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
19359 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
19360 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
19361 in the group buffer.
19363 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
19364 all local flags to the server, but rather by incrementally updated the
19365 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
19366 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group then
19367 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
19368 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
19369 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
19370 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
19372 @node Agent and IMAP
19373 @subsection Agent and IMAP
19375 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
19376 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
19377 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
19378 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
19380 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
19381 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
19386 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
19389 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
19393 @node Outgoing Messages
19394 @subsection Outgoing Messages
19396 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
19397 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
19398 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
19400 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
19401 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
19402 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
19404 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
19405 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
19406 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
19407 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
19410 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
19411 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
19412 ask you to confirm your action (see
19413 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
19415 @node Agent Variables
19416 @subsection Agent Variables
19421 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
19422 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
19423 automatically mark some back ends as agentized. You may change which
19424 back ends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
19426 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
19427 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
19430 @item gnus-agent-directory
19431 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
19432 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
19433 @file{~/News/agent/}.
19435 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
19436 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
19437 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
19438 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
19439 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
19442 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
19443 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
19444 Hook run when connecting to the network.
19446 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
19447 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
19448 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
19450 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
19451 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
19452 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
19454 @item gnus-agent-cache
19455 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
19456 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
19457 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
19458 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
19460 @item gnus-agent-go-online
19461 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
19462 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
19463 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
19464 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
19465 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
19466 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
19469 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
19470 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
19471 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
19472 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
19473 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
19474 read. The default is @code{t}.
19476 @item gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19477 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19478 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19479 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19480 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19481 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19482 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19484 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
19485 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
19486 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
19487 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
19488 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
19489 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
19490 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
19491 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
19492 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
19493 over and over again.
19495 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
19496 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
19497 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
19498 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
19499 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
19500 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
19501 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
19502 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
19503 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
19504 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
19505 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
19506 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
19509 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
19510 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
19511 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
19512 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
19513 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
19514 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
19515 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
19516 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
19517 is only valid if the Agent is used.
19519 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
19520 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
19521 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
19522 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
19523 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
19524 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
19526 The valid values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
19527 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
19528 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
19529 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
19530 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
19532 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
19533 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
19534 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
19535 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
19536 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
19537 mail. The default is @code{t}.
19539 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
19540 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
19541 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
19542 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
19543 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
19545 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
19546 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
19547 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
19548 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
19549 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
19550 which back ends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
19551 to agentize remote back ends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
19552 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
19553 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
19554 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
19555 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
19560 @node Example Setup
19561 @subsection Example Setup
19563 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
19564 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
19565 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
19568 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
19569 ;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
19570 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
19572 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
19573 ;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
19574 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
19576 ;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
19577 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
19579 ;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
19580 ;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
19581 ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
19584 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
19585 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
19588 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
19589 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
19590 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
19591 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
19592 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
19595 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
19596 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
19597 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
19598 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
19599 back all the killed groups.)
19601 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
19602 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
19603 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
19606 @node Batching Agents
19607 @subsection Batching Agents
19608 @findex gnus-agent-batch
19610 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
19611 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
19612 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
19614 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
19615 following incantation:
19619 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
19623 @node Agent Caveats
19624 @subsection Agent Caveats
19626 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
19627 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
19631 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
19633 @strong{No}. If you want this behavior, add
19634 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
19635 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
19637 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
19638 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
19640 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
19644 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
19645 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
19646 locally stored articles.
19653 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
19654 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
19655 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
19658 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
19659 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
19660 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
19661 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
19662 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
19664 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
19665 before generating the summary buffer.
19667 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
19668 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
19669 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
19671 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
19672 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
19673 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
19674 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
19677 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
19678 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
19679 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
19680 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
19681 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
19682 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
19683 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
19684 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
19685 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
19686 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
19687 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
19688 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
19689 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
19690 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
19691 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
19692 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
19696 @node Summary Score Commands
19697 @section Summary Score Commands
19698 @cindex score commands
19700 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
19701 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
19702 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
19703 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
19704 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
19706 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
19707 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
19708 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
19709 score file the current one.
19711 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
19716 @kindex V s (Summary)
19717 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
19718 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
19721 @kindex V S (Summary)
19722 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
19723 Display the score of the current article
19724 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
19727 @kindex V t (Summary)
19728 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
19729 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
19730 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
19731 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
19732 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
19733 score file and edit it.
19736 @kindex V w (Summary)
19737 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
19738 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
19741 @kindex V R (Summary)
19742 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
19743 Run the current summary through the scoring process
19744 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
19745 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
19746 effect you're having.
19749 @kindex V c (Summary)
19750 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
19751 Make a different score file the current
19752 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
19755 @kindex V e (Summary)
19756 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
19757 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
19758 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
19762 @kindex V f (Summary)
19763 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
19764 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
19765 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
19768 @kindex V F (Summary)
19769 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19770 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
19771 after editing score files.
19774 @kindex V C (Summary)
19775 @findex gnus-score-customize
19776 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
19777 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
19781 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
19786 @kindex V m (Summary)
19787 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
19788 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
19789 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
19792 @kindex V x (Summary)
19793 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
19794 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
19795 expunge all articles below this score
19796 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
19799 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
19800 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
19803 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
19804 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
19808 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
19809 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
19811 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
19812 keys are available:
19816 Score on the author name.
19819 Score on the subject line.
19822 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
19825 Score on the @code{References} line.
19831 Score on the number of lines.
19834 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
19837 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
19838 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
19841 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
19842 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
19843 @file{ADAPT} files.)
19852 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
19858 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
19859 what headers you are scoring on.
19871 Substring matching.
19874 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
19903 Greater than number.
19908 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
19909 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
19910 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
19915 Temporary score entry.
19918 Permanent score entry.
19921 Immediately scoring.
19925 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
19926 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
19927 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
19931 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
19932 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
19933 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
19934 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
19936 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
19937 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
19938 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
19939 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
19940 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
19942 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
19943 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
19944 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
19945 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
19946 current score file.
19948 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
19949 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
19950 pretend they are keymaps or not.
19953 @node Group Score Commands
19954 @section Group Score Commands
19955 @cindex group score commands
19957 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
19962 @kindex W e (Group)
19963 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
19964 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
19965 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
19968 @kindex W f (Group)
19969 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
19970 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
19971 all the time. This command will flush the cache
19972 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
19976 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
19978 @findex gnus-batch-score
19979 @cindex batch scoring
19981 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
19985 @node Score Variables
19986 @section Score Variables
19987 @cindex score variables
19991 @item gnus-use-scoring
19992 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
19993 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
19994 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
19996 @item gnus-kill-killed
19997 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
19998 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
19999 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
20000 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
20001 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
20002 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
20003 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
20005 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
20006 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
20007 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
20008 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
20009 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
20011 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
20012 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
20013 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
20014 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
20016 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
20017 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
20018 @cindex score cache
20019 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
20020 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
20021 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
20022 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
20023 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
20024 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
20025 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
20028 @item gnus-save-score
20029 @vindex gnus-save-score
20030 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
20031 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
20032 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20034 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
20035 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
20036 across group visits.
20038 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
20039 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
20040 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
20041 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
20042 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
20043 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
20044 manually entered data.
20046 @item gnus-summary-default-score
20047 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
20048 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
20050 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
20051 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
20052 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
20053 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
20054 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
20055 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
20057 @item gnus-score-over-mark
20058 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
20059 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
20060 default. Default is @samp{+}.
20062 @item gnus-score-below-mark
20063 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
20064 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
20065 default. Default is @samp{-}.
20067 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
20068 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
20069 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
20070 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
20072 Predefined functions available are:
20075 @item gnus-score-find-single
20076 @findex gnus-score-find-single
20077 Only apply the group's own score file.
20079 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
20080 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
20081 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
20082 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
20083 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
20084 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
20085 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
20086 then a regexp match is done.
20088 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
20089 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
20091 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
20092 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
20093 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
20094 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
20096 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
20097 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
20098 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
20099 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
20100 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
20104 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
20105 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
20106 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
20107 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
20108 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
20109 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
20110 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
20113 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
20114 overall score file, you could use the value
20116 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
20117 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
20120 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
20121 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
20122 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
20123 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
20124 are expired. It's 7 by default.
20126 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
20127 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
20128 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
20129 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
20130 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
20131 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
20132 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
20133 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
20135 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
20136 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
20137 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
20139 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
20140 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
20141 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
20142 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
20143 threading---according to the current value of
20144 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
20145 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
20146 simplified in this manner.
20151 @node Score File Format
20152 @section Score File Format
20153 @cindex score file format
20155 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
20156 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
20157 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
20159 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
20163 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
20165 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
20167 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
20169 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
20174 (mark-and-expunge -10)
20178 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
20179 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
20180 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
20181 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
20185 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
20186 Scoring}, for a different approach.
20188 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
20189 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
20190 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
20192 Six keys are supported by this alist:
20197 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
20198 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
20199 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
20200 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
20201 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
20202 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
20203 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
20204 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
20205 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
20206 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
20207 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
20208 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
20209 to articles that matches these score entries.
20211 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
20212 score entry has one to four elements.
20216 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
20217 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
20221 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
20222 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
20223 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
20224 is successful. If this element is not present, the
20225 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
20226 instead. This is 1000 by default.
20229 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
20230 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
20231 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
20232 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
20233 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
20236 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
20237 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
20238 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
20239 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
20242 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
20243 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
20244 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
20245 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
20246 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
20247 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
20248 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
20249 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
20250 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
20251 instead, if you feel like.
20254 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
20255 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
20256 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
20257 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
20258 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
20259 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
20263 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
20264 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
20268 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
20269 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
20271 These predicates are true if
20274 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
20277 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
20278 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
20285 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
20286 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
20287 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
20288 it's not. I think.)
20290 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
20291 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
20292 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
20293 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
20296 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
20297 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
20298 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
20299 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
20300 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
20301 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
20302 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
20306 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
20307 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
20308 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
20309 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
20310 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
20311 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
20312 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
20313 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
20316 @item Head, Body, All
20317 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
20321 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
20322 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
20323 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
20324 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
20325 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
20326 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
20327 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
20331 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
20332 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
20333 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
20334 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
20335 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
20336 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
20337 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
20338 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
20339 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
20340 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
20341 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
20345 @cindex score file atoms
20347 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20348 lower than this number will be marked as read.
20351 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20352 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
20354 @item mark-and-expunge
20355 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20356 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
20359 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
20360 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
20361 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
20362 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
20363 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
20366 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
20367 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
20370 @item exclude-files
20371 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
20372 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
20376 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
20377 ignored when handling global score files.
20380 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
20381 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
20382 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
20383 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
20386 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
20387 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
20388 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
20389 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
20391 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
20395 (mark-and-expunge -100)
20398 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
20399 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
20400 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
20401 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
20402 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
20404 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
20405 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
20406 scoring rules exist.
20409 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
20410 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
20411 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
20412 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
20413 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
20414 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
20415 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
20416 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
20417 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
20418 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
20419 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
20423 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
20424 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
20425 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
20426 file for a number of groups.
20429 @cindex local variables
20430 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
20431 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
20432 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
20433 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
20434 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
20439 @node Score File Editing
20440 @section Score File Editing
20442 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
20443 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
20444 with a mode for that.
20446 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
20447 additional commands:
20452 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
20453 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
20454 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
20455 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
20458 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
20459 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
20460 Insert the current date in numerical format
20461 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
20462 you were wondering.
20465 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
20466 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
20467 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
20468 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
20469 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
20474 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
20476 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
20477 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
20479 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
20480 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
20483 @node Adaptive Scoring
20484 @section Adaptive Scoring
20485 @cindex adaptive scoring
20487 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
20488 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
20489 stupidity, to be precise.
20491 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
20492 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
20493 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
20494 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
20495 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
20496 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
20497 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
20498 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
20499 variable to @code{(word line)}.
20501 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
20502 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
20503 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
20504 might look something like this:
20507 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
20508 '((gnus-unread-mark)
20509 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
20510 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
20511 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
20512 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
20513 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
20514 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
20515 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
20516 (gnus-ancient-mark)
20517 (gnus-low-score-mark)
20518 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
20521 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
20522 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
20523 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
20524 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
20525 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
20526 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
20529 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
20530 will be applied to each article.
20532 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
20533 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
20534 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
20535 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
20537 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
20538 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
20539 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
20540 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
20542 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
20543 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
20544 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
20545 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
20547 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
20548 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
20549 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
20550 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
20551 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
20552 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
20554 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
20555 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
20556 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
20558 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
20559 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
20560 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
20562 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
20563 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
20564 let you use different rules in different groups.
20566 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
20567 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
20568 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
20571 @vindex gnus-adaptive-pretty-print
20572 Adaptive score files can get huge and are not meant to be edited by
20573 human hands. If @code{gnus-adaptive-pretty-print} is @code{nil} (the
20574 deafult) those files will not be written in a human readable way.
20576 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
20577 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
20578 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
20579 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
20580 the length of the match is less than
20581 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
20582 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
20585 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
20586 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
20587 headers. If you adapt on words, the
20588 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
20589 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
20592 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
20593 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
20594 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
20595 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
20596 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
20599 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
20600 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
20601 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
20602 score with 30 points.
20604 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
20605 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
20606 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
20607 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
20608 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
20610 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
20611 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
20612 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
20613 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
20614 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
20616 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
20617 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
20618 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
20619 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
20621 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
20622 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
20623 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
20624 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
20626 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
20627 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
20628 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
20629 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
20630 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
20632 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
20633 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
20634 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
20636 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
20637 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
20638 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
20639 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
20642 @node Home Score File
20643 @section Home Score File
20645 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
20646 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
20647 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
20648 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
20650 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
20651 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
20652 could perhaps use the same home score file.
20654 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
20655 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
20660 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
20664 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
20665 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
20669 A list. The elements in this list can be:
20673 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
20674 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
20677 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
20678 be used as the home score file. The function will be called with the
20679 name of the group as the parameter.
20682 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
20685 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
20690 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
20693 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20694 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
20697 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
20698 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
20700 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
20702 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20703 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
20706 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
20707 Other functions include
20710 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
20711 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
20712 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
20713 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
20717 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
20718 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
20719 their own home score files:
20722 (setq gnus-home-score-file
20723 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
20724 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
20725 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
20726 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
20729 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
20730 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
20731 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
20732 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
20733 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
20735 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
20736 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
20737 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
20738 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
20739 precedence over this variable.
20742 @node Followups To Yourself
20743 @section Followups To Yourself
20745 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
20746 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
20747 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
20748 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
20749 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
20750 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
20754 @item gnus-score-followup-article
20755 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
20756 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
20759 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
20760 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
20761 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
20765 @vindex message-sent-hook
20766 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
20767 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
20769 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
20773 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
20774 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
20778 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
20779 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
20782 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
20783 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
20788 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
20792 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
20793 is system-dependent.
20796 @node Scoring On Other Headers
20797 @section Scoring On Other Headers
20798 @cindex scoring on other headers
20800 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
20801 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
20802 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
20803 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
20804 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
20806 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
20807 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
20808 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
20809 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
20810 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
20812 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
20815 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
20816 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
20819 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
20820 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
20821 time if you have much mail.
20823 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
20824 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
20830 @section Scoring Tips
20831 @cindex scoring tips
20837 @cindex scoring crossposts
20838 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
20839 the @code{Xref} header.
20841 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
20844 @item Multiple crossposts
20845 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
20846 more than, say, 3 groups:
20849 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
20853 @item Matching on the body
20854 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
20855 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
20856 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
20857 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
20858 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
20859 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
20860 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
20863 @item Marking as read
20864 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
20865 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
20866 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
20870 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
20872 @item Negated character classes
20873 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
20874 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
20875 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
20879 @node Reverse Scoring
20880 @section Reverse Scoring
20881 @cindex reverse scoring
20883 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
20884 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
20885 like this in your score file:
20889 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
20894 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
20895 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
20898 @node Global Score Files
20899 @section Global Score Files
20900 @cindex global score files
20902 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
20903 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
20904 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
20906 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
20907 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
20908 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
20910 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
20911 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
20912 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
20913 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
20914 files are applicable to which group.
20916 To use the score file
20917 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
20918 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
20922 (setq gnus-global-score-files
20923 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
20924 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
20927 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
20929 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
20930 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
20931 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
20932 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
20934 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
20935 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
20937 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
20938 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
20939 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
20940 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
20941 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
20942 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
20944 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
20950 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
20952 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
20954 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
20956 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
20957 lowered out of existence.
20959 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
20960 articles completely.
20963 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
20964 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
20965 old articles for a long time.
20968 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
20969 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
20970 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
20971 holding our breath yet?
20975 @section Kill Files
20978 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
20979 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
20980 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
20982 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
20983 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
20984 files into score files.
20986 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
20987 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
20988 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
20989 that isn't a very good idea.
20991 Normal kill files look like this:
20994 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
20995 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
20999 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
21000 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
21002 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
21003 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
21006 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
21011 @kindex M-k (Summary)
21012 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
21013 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
21016 @kindex M-K (Summary)
21017 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
21018 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
21021 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
21026 @kindex M-k (Group)
21027 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
21028 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
21031 @kindex M-K (Group)
21032 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
21033 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
21036 Kill file variables:
21039 @item gnus-kill-file-name
21040 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
21041 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
21042 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
21043 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
21044 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
21045 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
21047 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
21048 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
21049 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
21050 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
21053 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
21054 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
21055 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
21056 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
21057 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
21058 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
21059 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
21060 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
21061 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
21063 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
21064 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
21065 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
21070 @node Converting Kill Files
21071 @section Converting Kill Files
21073 @cindex converting kill files
21075 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
21076 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
21077 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
21080 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
21081 You can fetch it from
21082 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
21084 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
21085 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
21086 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
21090 @node Advanced Scoring
21091 @section Advanced Scoring
21093 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
21094 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
21095 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
21096 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
21097 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
21099 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
21103 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
21104 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
21105 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
21109 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
21110 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
21112 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
21113 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
21114 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
21115 non-@code{nil} value.
21117 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
21118 operator, and various match operators.
21125 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
21126 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
21127 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
21132 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
21133 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
21134 then this operator will return @code{false}.
21139 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
21140 logical negation of the value of its argument.
21144 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
21145 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
21146 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
21147 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
21148 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
21149 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
21150 the ancestry you want to go.
21152 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
21153 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
21154 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
21155 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
21156 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
21159 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
21160 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
21162 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
21163 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
21166 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
21167 when he's talking about Gnus:
21172 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21173 ("subject" "Gnus"))
21180 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
21184 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21191 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
21192 really don't want to read what he's written:
21196 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21197 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigil Logge")))
21201 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
21202 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
21203 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
21210 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
21211 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
21212 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
21213 ("body" "white.*socks"))
21217 Suppose you're reading a high volume group and you're only interested
21218 in replies. The plan is to score down all articles that don't have
21219 subject that begin with "Re:", "Fw:" or "Fwd:" and then score up all
21220 parents of articles that have subjects that begin with reply marks.
21223 ((! ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
21225 ((1- ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
21229 The possibilities are endless.
21231 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
21232 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
21234 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
21235 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
21236 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
21237 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
21238 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
21239 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
21240 @samp{subject}) first.
21242 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
21243 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
21254 Then that means ``score on the from header of the grandparent of the
21255 current article''. An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
21261 ("subject" "Gnus")))
21268 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
21269 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
21274 @section Score Decays
21275 @cindex score decays
21278 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
21279 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
21280 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
21281 use them in any sensible way.
21283 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
21284 @findex gnus-decay-score
21285 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
21286 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
21287 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
21288 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
21289 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
21290 If @code{gnus-decay-scores} is a regexp, only score files matching this
21291 regexp are treated. E.g. you may set it to @samp{\\.ADAPT\\'} if only
21292 @emph{adaptive} score files should be decayed. The decay itself if
21293 performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function} function, which is
21294 @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the definition of that
21298 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
21299 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
21300 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
21302 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
21304 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
21306 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
21307 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
21308 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
21309 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
21310 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
21312 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
21316 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
21317 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
21318 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
21319 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
21323 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
21326 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
21329 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
21333 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
21334 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
21335 the new score, which should be an integer.
21337 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
21338 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
21343 @include message.texi
21344 @chapter Emacs MIME
21345 @include emacs-mime.texi
21347 @include sieve.texi
21359 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
21360 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
21361 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
21362 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
21363 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
21364 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
21365 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
21366 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
21367 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
21368 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
21369 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
21370 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
21371 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
21372 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
21373 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
21374 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
21375 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
21376 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
21377 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
21378 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
21379 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
21380 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
21384 @node Process/Prefix
21385 @section Process/Prefix
21386 @cindex process/prefix convention
21388 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
21389 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
21391 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
21392 command to be performed on.
21396 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
21397 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
21398 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
21399 with the current one.
21401 @vindex transient-mark-mode
21402 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
21403 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
21405 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
21406 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
21409 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
21410 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
21412 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
21415 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
21416 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
21417 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
21418 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
21420 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
21421 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
21422 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
21423 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
21424 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
21425 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
21426 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
21427 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
21429 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
21430 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
21431 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
21432 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
21433 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
21437 @section Interactive
21438 @cindex interaction
21442 @item gnus-novice-user
21443 @vindex gnus-novice-user
21444 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
21445 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
21446 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
21447 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
21450 @item gnus-expert-user
21451 @vindex gnus-expert-user
21452 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
21453 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
21454 matter how strange.
21456 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
21457 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
21458 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
21459 is @code{t} by default.
21461 @item gnus-interactive-exit
21462 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
21463 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
21468 @node Symbolic Prefixes
21469 @section Symbolic Prefixes
21470 @cindex symbolic prefixes
21472 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
21473 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
21474 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
21475 rule of 900 to the current article.
21477 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
21478 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
21479 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
21480 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
21481 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
21482 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
21483 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
21485 @kindex M-i (Summary)
21486 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
21487 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
21488 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
21489 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
21490 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
21491 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
21492 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
21493 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
21495 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
21496 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
21497 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
21499 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
21503 @node Formatting Variables
21504 @section Formatting Variables
21505 @cindex formatting variables
21507 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
21508 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
21509 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
21510 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
21511 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
21514 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
21515 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
21516 lots of percentages everywhere.
21519 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
21520 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
21521 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
21522 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
21523 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
21524 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
21525 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
21526 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
21529 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
21530 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
21531 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
21532 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
21533 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
21534 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
21535 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
21536 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
21538 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
21539 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
21541 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
21542 @findex gnus-update-format
21543 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
21544 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
21545 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
21546 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
21550 @node Formatting Basics
21551 @subsection Formatting Basics
21553 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
21554 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
21555 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
21557 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
21558 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
21559 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
21560 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
21561 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
21564 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
21565 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
21566 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
21567 less than 4 characters wide.
21569 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
21570 @samp{%&user-date;}.
21573 @node Mode Line Formatting
21574 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
21576 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
21577 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
21578 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
21579 with the following two differences:
21584 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
21587 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
21588 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
21589 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
21590 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
21591 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
21592 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
21593 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
21598 @node Advanced Formatting
21599 @subsection Advanced Formatting
21601 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
21602 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
21603 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
21604 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
21606 These are the valid modifiers:
21611 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
21615 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
21620 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
21623 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
21628 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
21631 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
21634 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
21637 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
21643 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
21648 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
21649 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
21650 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
21651 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
21652 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
21653 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
21654 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
21656 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
21657 last operation, padding.
21659 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
21660 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
21661 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
21662 @xref{Compilation}.
21665 @node User-Defined Specs
21666 @subsection User-Defined Specs
21668 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
21669 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
21670 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
21671 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
21672 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
21673 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
21674 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
21675 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
21676 should protect against that.
21678 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
21679 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
21681 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
21682 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
21683 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
21684 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
21688 @node Formatting Fonts
21689 @subsection Formatting Fonts
21691 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
21692 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
21693 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
21694 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
21697 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
21698 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
21699 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
21700 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
21701 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
21702 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
21704 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
21705 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
21706 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
21707 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
21708 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
21709 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
21710 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
21711 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
21712 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
21713 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
21714 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
21717 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
21720 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
21721 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
21722 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
21724 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
21725 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
21726 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
21727 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
21728 ;; @r{Set the color.}
21729 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
21730 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
21732 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
21733 (setq gnus-group-line-format
21734 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
21737 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
21738 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
21740 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
21741 mode-line variables.
21743 @node Positioning Point
21744 @subsection Positioning Point
21746 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
21747 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
21748 line. You can customize this behavior in three different ways.
21750 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
21752 @findex gnus-goto-colon
21753 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
21754 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
21756 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
21757 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
21758 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
21763 @subsection Tabulation
21765 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
21766 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
21767 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
21768 about lining up the following text afterwards.
21770 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
21771 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
21773 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
21774 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
21775 This is the soft tabulator.
21777 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
21778 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
21779 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
21782 @node Wide Characters
21783 @subsection Wide Characters
21785 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
21786 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
21787 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
21789 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
21790 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
21791 these countries, that's not true.
21793 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
21794 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
21795 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
21796 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
21800 @node Window Layout
21801 @section Window Layout
21802 @cindex window layout
21804 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
21806 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
21807 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
21808 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
21809 @code{t} by default.
21811 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
21812 glitches. Use at your own peril.
21814 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
21815 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
21816 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
21819 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
21820 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
21821 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
21825 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
21826 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
21827 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
21828 possible names is listed below.
21830 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
21831 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
21834 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
21838 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
21839 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
21840 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
21841 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
21842 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
21843 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
21844 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
21845 size spec per split.
21847 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
21848 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
21849 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
21850 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
21851 present) gets focus.
21853 Here's a more complicated example:
21856 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
21857 (summary 0.25 point)
21858 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
21862 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
21863 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
21864 occupy, not a percentage.
21866 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
21867 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
21868 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
21869 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
21870 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
21873 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
21876 (article (horizontal 1.0
21881 (summary 0.25 point)
21886 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
21887 @code{horizontal} thingie?
21889 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
21890 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
21891 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
21892 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
21893 the screen is to be given to this strip.
21895 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
21896 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
21897 lines from the splits.
21899 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
21904 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
21905 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
21906 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
21907 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
21908 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
21909 size = number | frame-params
21910 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
21914 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
21915 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
21916 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
21917 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
21919 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
21920 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
21921 @cindex window height
21922 @cindex window width
21923 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
21924 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
21925 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
21926 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
21927 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
21928 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
21930 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
21931 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
21932 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
21933 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
21935 @findex gnus-configure-frame
21936 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
21937 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
21938 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
21939 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
21940 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
21941 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
21942 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
21943 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
21944 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
21945 configuration list.
21948 (gnus-configure-frame
21952 (article 0.3 point))
21960 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
21961 @code{frame} split:
21964 (gnus-configure-frame
21967 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
21969 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
21970 (user-position . t)
21971 (left . -1) (top . 1))
21976 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
21977 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
21978 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
21979 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
21980 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
21981 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
21982 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
21983 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
21985 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
21986 be found in its default value.
21988 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
21989 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
21990 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
21994 (message (horizontal 1.0
21995 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
21997 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
22002 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
22003 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
22004 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
22009 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
22010 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
22011 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
22012 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
22013 (name . "Message"))
22014 (message 1.0 point))))
22017 @findex gnus-add-configuration
22018 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
22019 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
22020 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
22021 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
22024 (gnus-add-configuration
22025 '(article (vertical 1.0
22027 (summary .25 point)
22031 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
22032 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
22033 Gnus has been loaded.
22035 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
22036 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
22037 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
22038 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
22039 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
22041 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
22042 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
22043 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
22046 @subsection Example Window Configurations
22050 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
22051 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
22066 (gnus-add-configuration
22069 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22071 (summary 0.16 point)
22074 (gnus-add-configuration
22077 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22078 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
22084 @node Faces and Fonts
22085 @section Faces and Fonts
22090 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
22091 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
22092 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
22097 @section Compilation
22098 @cindex compilation
22099 @cindex byte-compilation
22101 @findex gnus-compile
22103 Remember all those line format specification variables?
22104 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
22105 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
22106 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
22107 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
22108 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
22111 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
22112 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
22113 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
22114 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
22115 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
22116 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
22117 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
22121 @section Mode Lines
22124 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
22125 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
22126 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
22127 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
22128 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
22129 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
22130 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
22133 @cindex display-time
22135 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
22136 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
22137 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
22138 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
22139 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
22140 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
22141 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
22142 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
22145 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
22147 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
22148 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
22150 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
22151 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
22152 (length display-time-string)))))
22155 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
22156 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
22157 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
22158 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
22159 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
22162 @node Highlighting and Menus
22163 @section Highlighting and Menus
22165 @cindex highlighting
22168 @vindex gnus-visual
22169 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
22170 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
22171 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
22174 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
22175 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
22178 @item group-highlight
22179 Do highlights in the group buffer.
22180 @item summary-highlight
22181 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
22182 @item article-highlight
22183 Do highlights in the article buffer.
22185 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
22187 Create menus in the group buffer.
22189 Create menus in the summary buffers.
22191 Create menus in the article buffer.
22193 Create menus in the browse buffer.
22195 Create menus in the server buffer.
22197 Create menus in the score buffers.
22199 Create menus in all buffers.
22202 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
22203 buffers, you could say something like:
22206 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
22209 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
22212 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
22215 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
22216 in all Gnus buffers.
22218 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
22221 @item gnus-mouse-face
22222 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22223 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
22224 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
22228 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
22232 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
22233 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
22234 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
22236 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
22237 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
22238 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
22240 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
22241 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
22242 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
22244 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
22245 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
22246 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
22248 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
22249 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
22250 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
22252 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
22253 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
22254 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
22265 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
22266 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
22267 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
22268 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
22269 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
22273 @vindex gnus-carpal
22274 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
22275 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
22276 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
22281 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
22282 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
22283 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
22285 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
22286 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
22287 Face used on buttons.
22289 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
22290 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
22291 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
22293 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
22294 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
22295 Buttons in the group buffer.
22297 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
22298 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
22299 Buttons in the summary buffer.
22301 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
22302 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
22303 Buttons in the server buffer.
22305 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
22306 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
22307 Buttons in the browse buffer.
22310 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
22311 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
22312 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
22320 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
22321 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
22322 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
22323 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
22324 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
22326 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
22327 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
22328 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
22330 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
22331 been idle for thirty minutes:
22334 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
22337 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
22341 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
22344 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
22345 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
22346 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
22348 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
22349 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
22350 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
22351 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
22353 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
22354 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
22355 @var{idle} minutes.
22357 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
22358 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
22361 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
22362 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
22363 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
22365 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
22366 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
22367 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
22368 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
22370 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
22371 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22373 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
22375 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
22378 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
22379 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
22380 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
22381 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
22382 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
22383 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
22384 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
22385 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
22386 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
22387 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
22388 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
22390 @findex gnus-demon-init
22391 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
22392 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
22393 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
22394 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
22395 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
22397 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
22398 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
22399 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
22408 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
22409 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
22411 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
22412 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
22413 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
22414 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
22417 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
22418 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
22419 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
22420 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
22422 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
22423 this will make spam disappear.
22425 There are some variables to customize, of course:
22428 @item gnus-use-nocem
22429 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
22430 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
22433 You can also set this variable to a positive number as a group level.
22434 In that case, Gnus scans NoCeM messages when checking new news if this
22435 value is not exceeding a group level that you specify as the prefix
22436 argument to some commands, e.g. @code{gnus},
22437 @code{gnus-group-get-new-news}, etc. Otherwise, Gnus does not scan
22438 NoCeM messages if you specify a group level to those commands. For
22439 example, if you use 1 or 2 on the mail groups and the levels on the news
22440 groups remain the default, 3 is the best choice.
22442 @item gnus-nocem-groups
22443 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
22444 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
22447 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
22448 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
22451 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
22452 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
22453 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
22454 people you want to listen to. The default is
22456 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
22457 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
22459 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
22461 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
22462 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
22464 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
22465 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
22466 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
22467 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
22468 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
22469 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
22470 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
22471 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
22472 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
22473 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
22475 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
22476 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
22479 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
22482 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
22483 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
22486 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
22489 The specs are applied left-to-right.
22492 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
22493 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
22495 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
22496 says she is. The default is @code{pgg-verify}, which returns
22497 non-@code{nil} if the verification is successful, otherwise (including
22498 the case the NoCeM message was not signed) returns @code{nil}. If this
22499 is too slow and you don't care for verification (which may be dangerous),
22500 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
22502 Formerly the default was @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
22503 function. While you can still use it, you can change it into
22504 @code{pgg-verify} running with GnuPG if you are willing to add the
22505 @acronym{PGP} public keys to GnuPG's keyring.
22507 @item gnus-nocem-directory
22508 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
22509 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
22510 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
22512 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
22513 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
22514 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
22515 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
22516 might then see old spam.
22518 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
22519 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
22520 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
22521 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
22522 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
22525 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
22526 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
22527 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
22528 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
22532 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
22533 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
22534 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
22535 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
22542 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
22543 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
22544 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
22546 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
22547 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
22548 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
22549 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
22550 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
22551 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
22552 @code{undo} function.
22554 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
22555 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
22556 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
22557 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
22558 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
22559 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
22560 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
22561 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
22562 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
22563 never be totally undoable.
22565 @findex gnus-undo-mode
22566 @vindex gnus-use-undo
22568 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
22569 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
22570 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
22571 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
22575 @node Predicate Specifiers
22576 @section Predicate Specifiers
22577 @cindex predicate specifiers
22579 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
22580 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
22581 to type all that much.
22583 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
22588 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
22589 gnus-article-unread-p)
22592 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
22593 functions all take one parameter.
22595 @findex gnus-make-predicate
22596 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
22597 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
22598 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
22603 @section Moderation
22606 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
22607 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
22608 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
22611 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
22615 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
22618 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
22620 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
22625 You split your incoming mail by matching on
22626 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
22627 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
22630 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
22631 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
22634 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
22635 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
22639 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
22642 (setq gnus-moderated-list
22643 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
22647 @node Fetching a Group
22648 @section Fetching a Group
22649 @cindex fetching a group
22651 @findex gnus-fetch-group
22652 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
22653 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
22654 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
22655 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
22656 It takes the group name as a parameter.
22659 @node Image Enhancements
22660 @section Image Enhancements
22662 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
22663 support images yet.}, is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has
22664 taken advantage of that.
22667 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
22668 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
22669 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
22670 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
22671 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
22679 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
22680 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
22681 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
22685 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
22686 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
22687 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
22695 Viewing an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
22696 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
22697 have suitable conversion or display programs installed. If your Emacs
22698 has image support the default action is to display the face before the
22699 @code{From} header. If there's no native @code{X-Face} support, Gnus
22700 will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using external programs
22701 from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends. For XEmacs it's faster if
22702 XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support. The default action
22703 under Emacs without image support is to fork off the @code{display}
22706 On a GNU/Linux system, the @code{display} program is from the
22707 ImageMagick package. For external conversion programs look for packages
22708 with names like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.
22710 The variable that controls this is the
22711 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
22712 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
22713 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
22714 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
22715 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
22717 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
22725 @vindex gnus-x-face
22726 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
22727 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
22728 default colors are black and white.
22730 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
22731 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
22732 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
22733 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
22734 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
22735 XEmacs. Here are examples:
22738 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
22739 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
22740 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
22741 (png . (:ascent 80))))
22743 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
22744 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
22745 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
22746 (png . (:relief -2))))
22749 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
22750 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
22751 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
22752 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
22753 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
22754 @samp{libcompface} library.
22757 If you use posting styles, you can use an @code{x-face-file} entry in
22758 @code{gnus-posting-styles}, @xref{Posting Styles}. If you don't, Gnus
22759 provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow easier
22760 insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages. You also need the
22761 above mentioned ImageMagick, netpbm or other image conversion packages
22762 (depending the values of the variables below) for these functions.
22764 @findex gnus-random-x-face
22765 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
22766 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
22767 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
22768 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
22769 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
22770 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
22771 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
22772 header data as a string.
22774 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
22775 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
22776 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
22777 randomly generated data.
22779 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
22780 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
22781 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
22782 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
22783 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
22785 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
22786 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22789 (setq message-required-news-headers
22790 (nconc message-required-news-headers
22791 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
22794 Using the last function would be something like this:
22797 (setq message-required-news-headers
22798 (nconc message-required-news-headers
22799 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
22800 (gnus-x-face-from-file
22801 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
22809 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces' implementations should really be harmonized.
22811 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
22812 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
22813 represent the author of the message.
22816 @findex gnus-article-display-face
22817 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
22818 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
22821 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
22822 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
22824 Viewing an @code{Face} header requires an Emacs that is able to display
22827 @c (if (featurep 'xemacs)
22829 @c (image-type-available-p 'png))
22831 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
22832 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
22834 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
22835 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
22836 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
22838 @findex gnus-face-from-file
22839 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
22840 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
22841 converts the file to Face format by using the
22842 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
22844 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
22845 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22848 (setq message-required-news-headers
22849 (nconc message-required-news-headers
22850 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
22851 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
22856 @subsection Smileys
22861 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
22866 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
22867 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
22869 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
22870 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22873 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
22876 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
22877 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
22878 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
22879 text and maps that to file names.
22881 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
22882 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
22883 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
22884 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
22885 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
22888 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
22893 @item smiley-data-directory
22894 @vindex smiley-data-directory
22895 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
22897 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
22898 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
22899 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
22913 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
22914 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
22915 over your shoulder as you read news.
22917 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
22926 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
22927 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
22928 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
22929 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
22930 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
22931 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
22932 @code{GIF} formats.
22935 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
22936 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
22937 point your Web browser at
22938 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
22940 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
22941 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
22943 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
22944 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
22947 @vindex gnus-picon-style
22948 The variable @code{gnus-picon-style} controls how picons are displayed.
22949 If @code{inline}, the textual representation is replaced. If
22950 @code{right}, picons are added right to the textual representation.
22952 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
22956 @item gnus-picon-databases
22957 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
22958 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
22959 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
22960 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
22961 "/usr/local/faces")}.
22963 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
22964 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
22965 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
22966 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
22968 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
22969 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
22970 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
22971 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
22973 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
22974 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
22975 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
22976 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
22977 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
22979 @item gnus-picon-file-types
22980 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
22981 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
22982 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
22988 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
22991 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
22992 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
22993 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
22994 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
22995 unusual directory structure.
22997 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
22998 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
22999 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
23004 @subsubsection Toolbar
23008 @item gnus-use-toolbar
23009 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
23010 This variable specifies the position to display the toolbar. If
23011 @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If it is non-@code{nil}, it should
23012 be one of the symbols @code{default}, @code{top}, @code{bottom},
23013 @code{right}, and @code{left}. @code{default} means to use the default
23014 toolbar, the rest mean to display the toolbar on the place which those
23015 names show. The default is @code{default}.
23017 @item gnus-toolbar-thickness
23018 @vindex gnus-toolbar-thickness
23019 Cons of the height and the width specifying the thickness of a toolbar.
23020 The height is used for the toolbar displayed on the top or the bottom,
23021 the width is used for the toolbar displayed on the right or the left.
23022 The default is that of the default toolbar.
23024 @item gnus-group-toolbar
23025 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
23026 The toolbar in the group buffer.
23028 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
23029 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
23030 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
23032 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23033 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23034 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
23045 @node Fuzzy Matching
23046 @section Fuzzy Matching
23047 @cindex fuzzy matching
23049 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
23050 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
23052 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
23053 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
23054 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
23056 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
23057 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
23058 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
23059 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
23060 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
23063 @node Thwarting Email Spam
23064 @section Thwarting Email Spam
23068 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23070 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
23071 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
23072 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
23073 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
23074 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
23075 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
23076 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
23077 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
23080 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
23081 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
23082 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
23083 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
23084 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
23085 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
23087 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
23090 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
23091 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
23092 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
23093 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
23096 @node The problem of spam
23097 @subsection The problem of spam
23099 @cindex spam filtering approaches
23100 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
23102 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23104 First, some background on spam.
23106 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
23107 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
23108 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
23109 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
23110 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
23111 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
23112 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
23113 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
23114 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
23116 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
23117 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
23118 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
23119 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
23120 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
23121 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
23122 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
23123 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
23124 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
23127 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
23128 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
23129 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
23130 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
23131 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
23132 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
23133 from Bulgarian IPs.
23135 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
23136 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
23137 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
23138 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
23140 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
23141 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
23142 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
23143 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
23145 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
23146 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
23147 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
23148 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
23149 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
23150 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
23151 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
23152 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
23153 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
23155 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
23156 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
23157 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
23158 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
23159 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
23160 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
23161 down for some time because of the incident.
23163 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
23164 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
23165 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
23166 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
23167 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
23168 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
23169 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
23170 to store the database of spam analysis. Statistical analysis on the
23171 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
23172 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
23173 the server that it has misclassified mail.
23175 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
23176 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
23177 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
23178 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
23179 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
23180 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
23181 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
23184 @node Anti-Spam Basics
23185 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
23189 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23191 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
23192 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
23194 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
23195 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
23196 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
23197 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
23198 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
23199 part of the mail address.)
23202 (setq message-default-news-headers
23203 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
23206 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23207 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23211 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
23212 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
23213 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
23218 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
23219 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
23220 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
23221 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
23223 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
23224 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
23225 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
23226 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
23227 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
23228 your fancy split rule in this way:
23233 (to "larsi" "misc")
23237 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
23238 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
23239 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
23240 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
23241 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
23243 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
23244 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
23245 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
23246 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
23248 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
23252 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
23253 @cindex SpamAssassin
23254 @cindex Vipul's Razor
23257 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
23258 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
23259 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
23260 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
23261 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
23262 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
23263 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
23265 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
23266 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
23267 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
23270 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
23271 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
23272 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
23273 Specifiers}) follow.
23277 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
23281 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
23284 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
23285 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
23286 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
23289 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
23293 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23296 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
23297 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
23301 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
23302 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
23303 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
23304 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
23307 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
23309 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
23313 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
23314 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
23318 Note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will not be
23319 downloaded by default. You need to set
23320 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
23321 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
23323 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
23324 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
23325 spam. And here is the nifty function:
23328 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
23329 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
23331 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
23332 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
23333 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
23337 @subsection Hashcash
23340 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
23341 costly and demonstrably unique for each message they send. This has
23342 the obvious drawback that you cannot rely on everyone in the world
23343 using this technique, since it is not part of the Internet standards,
23344 but it may be useful in smaller communities.
23346 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
23347 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
23348 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
23349 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
23350 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
23351 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
23352 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
23353 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
23354 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
23355 one of them separately.
23358 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
23359 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
23360 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:} header.
23361 For more details, and for the external application @code{hashcash} you
23362 need to install to use this feature, see
23363 @uref{http://www.hashcash.org/}. Even more information can be found
23364 at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
23366 If you wish to generate hashcash for each message you send, you can
23367 customize @code{message-generate-hashcash} (@pxref{Mail Headers, ,Mail
23368 Headers,message, The Message Manual}), as in:
23371 (setq message-generate-hashcash t)
23374 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
23378 @item hashcash-default-payment
23379 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
23380 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
23381 should consist of. By default this is 20. Suggested useful values
23384 @item hashcash-payment-alist
23385 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
23386 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
23387 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
23388 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
23389 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
23390 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
23391 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
23392 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
23394 @item hashcash-path
23395 @vindex hashcash-path
23396 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed. This variable should
23397 be automatically set by @code{executable-find}, but if it's @code{nil}
23398 (usually because the @code{hashcash} binary is not in your path)
23399 you'll get a warning when you check hashcash payments and an error
23400 when you generate hashcash payments.
23404 Gnus can verify hashcash cookies, although this can also be done by
23405 hand customized mail filtering scripts. To verify a hashcash cookie
23406 in a message, use the @code{mail-check-payment} function in the
23407 @code{hashcash.el} library. You can also use the @code{spam.el}
23408 package with the @code{spam-use-hashcash} back end to validate hashcash
23409 cookies in incoming mail and filter mail accordingly (@pxref{Anti-spam
23410 Hashcash Payments}).
23413 @section Spam Package
23414 @cindex spam filtering
23417 The Spam package provides Gnus with a centralized mechanism for
23418 detecting and filtering spam. It filters new mail, and processes
23419 messages according to whether they are spam or ham. (@dfn{Ham} is the
23420 name used throughout this manual to indicate non-spam messages.)
23423 * Spam Package Introduction::
23424 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
23425 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
23426 * Spam and Ham Processors::
23427 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
23429 * Extending the Spam package::
23430 * Spam Statistics Package::
23433 @node Spam Package Introduction
23434 @subsection Spam Package Introduction
23435 @cindex spam filtering
23436 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
23439 You must read this section to understand how the Spam package works.
23440 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
23442 Make sure you read the section on the @code{spam.el} sequence of
23443 events. See @xref{Extending the Spam package}.
23445 @cindex spam-initialize
23446 @vindex spam-use-stat
23447 To use the Spam package, you @strong{must} first run the function
23448 @code{spam-initialize}:
23454 This autoloads @code{spam.el} and installs the various hooks necessary
23455 to let the Spam package do its job. In order to make use of the Spam
23456 package, you have to set up certain group parameters and variables,
23457 which we will describe below. All of the variables controlling the
23458 Spam package can be found in the @samp{spam} customization group.
23460 There are two ``contact points'' between the Spam package and the rest
23461 of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and leaving a group.
23463 Checking new mail for spam is done in one of two ways: while splitting
23464 incoming mail, or when you enter a group.
23466 The first way, checking for spam while splitting incoming mail, is
23467 suited to mail back ends such as @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap}, where
23468 new mail appears in a single spool file. The Spam package processes
23469 incoming mail, and sends mail considered to be spam to a designated
23470 ``spam'' group. @xref{Filtering Incoming Mail}.
23472 The second way is suited to back ends such as @code{nntp}, which have
23473 no incoming mail spool, or back ends where the server is in charge of
23474 splitting incoming mail. In this case, when you enter a Gnus group,
23475 the unseen or unread messages in that group are checked for spam.
23476 Detected spam messages are marked as spam. @xref{Detecting Spam in
23479 @cindex spam back ends
23480 In either case, you have to tell the Spam package what method to use
23481 to detect spam messages. There are several methods, or @dfn{spam back
23482 ends} (not to be confused with Gnus back ends!) to choose from: spam
23483 ``blacklists'' and ``whitelists'', dictionary-based filters, and so
23484 forth. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
23486 In the Gnus summary buffer, messages that have been identified as spam
23487 always appear with a @samp{$} symbol.
23489 The Spam package divides Gnus groups into three categories: ham
23490 groups, spam groups, and unclassified groups. You should mark each of
23491 the groups you subscribe to as either a ham group or a spam group,
23492 using the @code{spam-contents} group parameter (@pxref{Group
23493 Parameters}). Spam groups have a special property: when you enter a
23494 spam group, all unseen articles are marked as spam. Thus, mail split
23495 into a spam group is automatically marked as spam.
23497 Identifying spam messages is only half of the Spam package's job. The
23498 second half comes into play whenever you exit a group buffer. At this
23499 point, the Spam package does several things:
23501 First, it calls @dfn{spam and ham processors} to process the articles
23502 according to whether they are spam or ham. There is a pair of spam
23503 and ham processors associated with each spam back end, and what the
23504 processors do depends on the back end. At present, the main role of
23505 spam and ham processors is for dictionary-based spam filters: they add
23506 the contents of the messages in the group to the filter's dictionary,
23507 to improve its ability to detect future spam. The @code{spam-process}
23508 group parameter specifies what spam processors to use. @xref{Spam and
23511 If the spam filter failed to mark a spam message, you can mark it
23512 yourself, so that the message is processed as spam when you exit the
23522 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
23523 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
23524 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark
23525 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}).
23529 Similarly, you can unmark an article if it has been erroneously marked
23530 as spam. @xref{Setting Marks}.
23532 Normally, a ham message found in a non-ham group is not processed as
23533 ham---the rationale is that it should be moved into a ham group for
23534 further processing (see below). However, you can force these articles
23535 to be processed as ham by setting
23536 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
23537 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups}.
23539 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
23540 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
23541 The second thing that the Spam package does when you exit a group is
23542 to move ham articles out of spam groups, and spam articles out of ham
23543 groups. Ham in a spam group is moved to the group specified by the
23544 variable @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}, or the group parameter
23545 @code{ham-process-destination}. Spam in a ham group is moved to the
23546 group specified by the variable @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations},
23547 or the group parameter @code{spam-process-destination}. If these
23548 variables are not set, the articles are left in their current group.
23549 If an article cannot be moved (e.g., with a read-only backend such
23550 as @acronym{NNTP}), it is copied.
23552 If an article is moved to another group, it is processed again when
23553 you visit the new group. Normally, this is not a problem, but if you
23554 want each article to be processed only once, load the
23555 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and set the variable
23556 @code{spam-log-to-registry} to @code{t}. @xref{Spam Package
23557 Configuration Examples}.
23559 Normally, spam groups ignore @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations}.
23560 However, if you set @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only} to
23561 @code{nil}, spam will also be moved out of spam groups, depending on
23562 the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter.
23564 The final thing the Spam package does is to mark spam articles as
23565 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
23567 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
23568 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
23569 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
23571 @node Filtering Incoming Mail
23572 @subsection Filtering Incoming Mail
23573 @cindex spam filtering
23574 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
23577 To use the Spam package to filter incoming mail, you must first set up
23578 fancy mail splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}. The Spam package
23579 defines a special splitting function that you can add to your fancy
23580 split variable (either @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
23581 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on your mail back end):
23587 @vindex spam-split-group
23589 The @code{spam-split} function scans incoming mail according to your
23590 chosen spam back end(s), and sends messages identified as spam to a
23591 spam group. By default, the spam group is a group named @samp{spam},
23592 but you can change this by customizing @code{spam-split-group}. Make
23593 sure the contents of @code{spam-split-group} are an unqualified group
23594 name. For instance, in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server},
23595 the value @samp{spam} means @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The value
23596 @samp{nnimap+server:spam} is therefore wrong---it gives the group
23597 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam}.
23599 @code{spam-split} does not modify the contents of messages in any way.
23601 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
23602 Note for IMAP users: if you use the @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
23603 @code{spam-check-ifile}, and @code{spam-check-stat} spam back ends,
23604 you should also set set the variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body}
23605 to @code{t}. These spam back ends are most useful when they can
23606 ``scan'' the full message body. By default, the nnimap back end only
23607 retrieves the message headers; @code{nnimap-split-download-body} tells
23608 it to retrieve the message bodies as well. We don't set this by
23609 default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and that is not an
23610 appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user. @xref{Splitting
23613 You have to specify one or more spam back ends for @code{spam-split}
23614 to use, by setting the @code{spam-use-*} variables. @xref{Spam Back
23615 Ends}. Normally, @code{spam-split} simply uses all the spam back ends
23616 you enabled in this way. However, you can tell @code{spam-split} to
23617 use only some of them. Why this is useful? Suppose you are using the
23618 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and @code{spam-use-blackholes} spam back
23619 ends, and the following split rule:
23622 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
23623 (any "ding" "ding")
23625 ;; @r{default mailbox}
23630 The problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the ding
23631 folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam detected by
23632 SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through, when it's
23633 sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to the ding
23634 list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the invocation
23635 of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
23637 The solution is to let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, and
23638 perform the other @code{spam-split} rules (including a second
23639 invocation of the regex-headers check) after the ding rule. This is
23640 done by passing a parameter to @code{spam-split}:
23645 ;; @r{spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
23646 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
23647 (any "ding" "ding")
23648 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
23650 ;; @r{default mailbox}
23655 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
23656 your particular needs, and target the results of those checks to a
23657 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
23658 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
23659 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
23660 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
23661 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
23663 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
23664 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
23665 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
23666 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
23668 @c @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
23669 @c statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
23672 @node Detecting Spam in Groups
23673 @subsection Detecting Spam in Groups
23675 To detect spam when visiting a group, set the group's
23676 @code{spam-autodetect} and @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group
23677 parameters. These are accessible with @kbd{G c} or @kbd{G p}, as
23678 usual (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23680 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
23681 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
23682 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
23683 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
23685 By default, only unseen articles are processed for spam. You can
23686 force Gnus to recheck all messages in the group by setting the
23687 variable @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages} to @code{t}.
23689 If you use the @code{spam-autodetect} method of checking for spam, you
23690 can specify different spam detection methods for different groups.
23691 For instance, the @samp{ding} group may have @code{spam-use-BBDB} as
23692 the autodetection method, while the @samp{suspect} group may have the
23693 @code{spam-use-blacklist} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods
23694 enabled. Unlike with @code{spam-split}, you don't have any control
23695 over the @emph{sequence} of checks, but this is probably unimportant.
23697 @node Spam and Ham Processors
23698 @subsection Spam and Ham Processors
23699 @cindex spam filtering
23700 @cindex spam filtering variables
23701 @cindex spam variables
23704 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
23705 Spam and ham processors specify special actions to take when you exit
23706 a group buffer. Spam processors act on spam messages, and ham
23707 processors on ham messages. At present, the main role of these
23708 processors is to update the dictionaries of dictionary-based spam back
23709 ends such as Bogofilter (@pxref{Bogofilter}) and the Spam Statistics
23710 package (@pxref{Spam Statistics Filtering}).
23712 The spam and ham processors that apply to each group are determined by
23713 the group's@code{spam-process} group parameter. If this group
23714 parameter is not defined, they are determined by the variable
23715 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups}.
23717 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
23718 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
23719 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
23720 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
23721 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
23722 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
23723 by customizing the corresponding variable
23724 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
23725 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
23726 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
23727 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
23728 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
23729 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
23730 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
23733 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
23735 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
23736 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
23737 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
23738 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
23739 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
23740 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
23741 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
23742 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
23743 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
23744 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
23745 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
23746 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
23747 processor which will study them as spam samples.
23749 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
23750 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
23751 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
23752 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
23753 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
23754 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
23755 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
23756 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
23759 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
23760 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
23761 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
23762 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
23763 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
23764 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
23765 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
23770 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
23771 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
23772 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
23773 you really want to.
23776 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
23777 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
23778 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
23779 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
23780 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
23781 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
23784 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
23785 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
23786 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
23787 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
23788 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
23789 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
23790 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
23791 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
23792 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
23793 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
23794 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
23795 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
23796 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
23797 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
23798 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
23800 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
23801 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
23803 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
23804 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
23805 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
23807 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
23808 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
23810 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
23811 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
23812 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
23813 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
23814 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
23816 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
23817 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
23818 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
23819 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
23820 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
23823 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
23824 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
23825 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
23826 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
23827 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
23828 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
23829 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
23830 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
23831 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
23832 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
23833 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
23834 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
23835 group buffer then you need it here as well.
23837 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
23838 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
23840 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
23841 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
23844 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
23845 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
23846 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
23847 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
23848 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
23849 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
23850 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
23852 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
23853 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
23854 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
23855 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
23857 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
23858 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
23859 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
23860 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
23861 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
23862 from the mail server.
23864 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
23865 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
23866 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
23867 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
23869 @node Spam Package Configuration Examples
23870 @subsection Spam Package Configuration Examples
23871 @cindex spam filtering
23872 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
23873 @cindex spam configuration examples
23876 @subsubheading Ted's setup
23878 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
23880 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
23881 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
23882 (gnus-registry-initialize)
23885 ;; @r{I like @kbd{C-s} for marking spam}
23886 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map "\C-s" 'gnus-summary-mark-as-spam)
23889 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
23891 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
23892 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
23893 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
23894 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
23895 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
23896 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
23897 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
23898 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
23899 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
23900 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
23901 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
23902 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
23903 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
23904 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
23905 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
23906 (any "ding" "ding")
23907 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
23909 ;; @r{default mailbox}
23912 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
23914 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
23915 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
23916 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
23917 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
23919 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
23921 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
23922 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
23923 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
23924 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
23925 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
23927 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
23928 ((spam-autodetect . t))
23930 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
23932 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
23933 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
23935 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
23936 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
23937 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
23939 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
23941 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
23942 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
23944 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
23945 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
23946 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
23948 (gnus-ticked-mark))
23949 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
23950 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
23951 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
23953 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
23954 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
23955 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
23959 @subsubheading Using @code{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
23960 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
23962 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
23963 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
23964 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
23965 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
23966 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
23967 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
23968 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
23969 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
23970 @samp{training.spam} folders.
23972 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
23973 does most of the job for me:
23976 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
23977 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
23978 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
23979 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
23980 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
23981 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
23982 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
23987 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
23989 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
23990 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
23991 bogofilter or DCC).
23993 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
23994 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
23995 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark
23996 (@code{ham-marks}, @ref{Spam and Ham Processors}). On group exit,
23997 those messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want
23998 to have the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter)
23999 and deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
24001 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
24002 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
24003 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
24004 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
24005 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
24006 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
24008 @item @b{Ham folders:}
24010 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
24011 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
24012 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
24013 @samp{training.spam}.
24016 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
24018 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24020 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
24021 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
24022 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
24026 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
24029 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
24030 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
24031 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
24032 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
24033 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
24035 @node Spam Back Ends
24036 @subsection Spam Back Ends
24037 @cindex spam back ends
24039 The spam package offers a variety of back ends for detecting spam.
24040 Each back end defines a set of methods for detecting spam
24041 (@pxref{Filtering Incoming Mail}, @pxref{Detecting Spam in Groups}),
24042 and a pair of spam and ham processors (@pxref{Spam and Ham
24046 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
24047 * BBDB Whitelists::
24048 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
24049 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
24051 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
24053 * SpamAssassin back end::
24054 * ifile spam filtering::
24055 * Spam Statistics Filtering::
24059 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
24060 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
24061 @cindex spam filtering
24062 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
24063 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
24066 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
24068 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
24069 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
24070 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
24071 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
24076 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
24078 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
24079 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
24080 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24081 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
24082 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24086 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
24088 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
24089 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24090 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
24094 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
24096 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24097 customizing the group parameters or the
24098 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24099 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24100 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
24104 Instead of the obsolete
24105 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
24106 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
24107 the same way, we promise.
24111 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
24113 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24114 customizing the group parameters or the
24115 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24116 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24117 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24122 Instead of the obsolete
24123 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
24124 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
24125 the same way, we promise.
24129 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
24130 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
24131 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
24132 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
24133 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
24135 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
24136 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
24137 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
24138 Emacs regular expression syntax.
24140 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
24141 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
24142 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
24143 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
24144 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
24145 @file{blacklist} respectively.
24147 @node BBDB Whitelists
24148 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
24149 @cindex spam filtering
24150 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
24151 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
24154 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
24156 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24157 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
24158 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
24159 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
24160 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24161 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
24162 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24166 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
24168 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
24169 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24170 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
24171 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
24172 classified as spammers.
24174 While @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} @emph{can} be used as an alias
24175 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} as far as @code{spam.el} is concerned, it is
24176 @emph{not} a separate back end. If you set
24177 @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} to t, @emph{all} your BBDB splitting
24182 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
24184 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24185 customizing the group parameters or the
24186 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24187 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24188 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24193 Instead of the obsolete
24194 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
24195 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
24196 the same way, we promise.
24200 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
24201 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
24202 @cindex spam reporting
24203 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24204 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24207 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
24209 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24210 customizing the group parameters or the
24211 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24212 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
24213 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
24216 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
24220 Instead of the obsolete
24221 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
24222 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
24223 same way, we promise.
24227 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
24229 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
24230 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
24231 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
24232 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
24233 @code{spam-report.el} will fetch the number from the article headers.
24237 @defvar spam-report-user-mail-address
24239 Mail address exposed in the User-Agent spam reports to Gmane. It allows
24240 the Gmane administrators to contact you in case of misreports. The
24241 default is @code{user-mail-address}.
24245 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24246 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24247 @cindex spam filtering
24248 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
24251 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
24253 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24254 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
24255 instead of the sender address. Messages without a hashcash payment
24256 token will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an explicit
24257 filter, meaning that unless a hashcash token is found, the messages
24258 are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24263 @subsubsection Blackholes
24264 @cindex spam filtering
24265 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
24268 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
24270 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
24271 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
24272 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
24273 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
24274 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
24275 contains outdated servers.
24277 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
24278 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
24279 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
24280 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
24281 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
24282 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
24286 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
24288 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
24292 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
24294 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
24295 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
24299 @defvar spam-use-dig
24301 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
24302 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
24306 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
24307 ham processor for blackholes.
24309 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
24310 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
24311 @cindex spam filtering
24312 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
24315 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
24317 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
24318 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
24319 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
24320 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
24321 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
24322 message is spam or ham, respectively.
24326 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
24328 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24329 the message, positively identify it as spam.
24333 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
24335 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24336 the message, positively identify it as ham.
24340 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
24341 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
24344 @subsubsection Bogofilter
24345 @cindex spam filtering
24346 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
24349 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
24351 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
24354 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
24355 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
24356 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
24357 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
24358 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
24359 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
24361 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
24362 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
24365 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
24366 processing will be turned off.
24368 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
24377 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
24378 Get the Bogofilter spamicity score (@code{spam-bogofilter-score}).
24381 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
24383 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
24384 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
24385 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
24386 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
24387 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
24388 installation documents for details.
24390 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
24394 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
24395 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24396 customizing the group parameters or the
24397 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24398 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
24399 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
24403 Instead of the obsolete
24404 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
24405 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
24406 the same way, we promise.
24409 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
24410 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24411 customizing the group parameters or the
24412 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24413 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
24414 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
24415 of non-spam messages.
24419 Instead of the obsolete
24420 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
24421 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
24422 the same way, we promise.
24425 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
24427 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
24428 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
24429 database directory.
24433 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
24434 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
24435 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
24436 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
24437 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
24438 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
24440 @node SpamAssassin back end
24441 @subsubsection SpamAssassin back end
24442 @cindex spam filtering
24443 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
24446 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
24448 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
24450 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
24451 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
24452 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
24453 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
24456 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
24457 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
24458 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
24459 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
24462 You should not enable this if you use
24463 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
24467 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
24469 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
24470 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
24472 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
24476 @defvar spam-spamassassin-path
24478 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
24479 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
24480 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
24481 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
24485 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
24486 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
24487 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
24488 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
24489 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
24490 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
24491 to test this functionality.
24493 @node ifile spam filtering
24494 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
24495 @cindex spam filtering
24496 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
24499 @defvar spam-use-ifile
24501 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
24502 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
24506 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
24508 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
24509 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
24510 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
24514 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
24516 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
24517 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
24518 the default value of @samp{spam}.
24521 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
24523 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
24524 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
24528 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
24529 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
24530 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
24531 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
24534 @node Spam Statistics Filtering
24535 @subsubsection Spam Statistics Filtering
24536 @cindex spam filtering
24537 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
24541 This back end uses the Spam Statistics Emacs Lisp package to perform
24542 statistics-based filtering (@pxref{Spam Statistics Package}). Before
24543 using this, you may want to perform some additional steps to
24544 initialize your Spam Statistics dictionary. @xref{Creating a
24545 spam-stat dictionary}.
24547 @defvar spam-use-stat
24551 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
24552 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24553 customizing the group parameters or the
24554 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24555 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
24556 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
24560 Instead of the obsolete
24561 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
24562 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
24563 the same way, we promise.
24566 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
24567 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24568 customizing the group parameters or the
24569 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24570 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
24571 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
24572 of non-spam messages.
24576 Instead of the obsolete
24577 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
24578 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
24579 the same way, we promise.
24582 This enables @code{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
24583 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
24584 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
24585 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
24586 @code{spam-split} are provided.
24589 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
24590 @cindex spam filtering
24594 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
24595 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
24596 installed separately.
24598 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
24599 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
24600 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
24601 mail as a spam mail or not.
24603 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
24604 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
24605 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
24607 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Spam Package})
24610 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
24611 To enable SpamOracle usage by @code{spam.el}, set the variable
24612 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
24613 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}. @xref{Spam
24614 Package}. In this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is
24615 filtered using SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be
24616 moved to @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham
24617 messages stay in @samp{INBOX}:
24620 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
24621 spam-split-group "Junk"
24622 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
24623 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
24624 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
24627 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
24628 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
24632 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
24633 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
24634 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
24638 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
24639 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
24640 store its analysis. This is controlled by the variable
24641 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
24642 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
24643 database to live somewhere special, set
24644 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
24647 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
24648 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
24649 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns
24650 the characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
24651 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
24652 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary
24653 buffer and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using
24654 @file{spam.el}'s spam- and ham-processors, which is much more
24655 convenient. For a detailed description of spam- and ham-processors,
24656 @xref{Spam Package}.
24658 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
24659 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24660 customizing the group parameter or the
24661 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
24662 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
24663 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
24667 Instead of the obsolete
24668 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
24669 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
24670 the same way, we promise.
24673 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
24674 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24675 customizing the group parameter or the
24676 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
24677 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
24678 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
24683 Instead of the obsolete
24684 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
24685 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
24686 the same way, we promise.
24689 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
24690 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
24693 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
24694 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
24695 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
24697 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
24698 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
24699 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
24700 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
24701 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
24702 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
24704 @node Extending the Spam package
24705 @subsection Extending the Spam package
24706 @cindex spam filtering
24707 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
24708 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
24710 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
24711 incoming mail, provide the following:
24719 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
24720 "True if blackbox should be used.")
24723 Write @code{spam-check-blackbox} if Blackbox can check incoming mail.
24725 Write @code{spam-blackbox-register-routine} and
24726 @code{spam-blackbox-unregister-routine} using the bogofilter
24727 register/unregister routines as a start, or other restister/unregister
24728 routines more appropriate to Blackbox, if Blackbox can
24729 register/unregister spam and ham.
24734 The @code{spam-check-blackbox} function should return @samp{nil} or
24735 @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other conventions. See the
24736 existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can
24737 do, and stick to the template unless you fully understand the reasons
24742 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
24749 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
24750 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
24752 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
24753 variables. Instead the form @code{(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
24754 @code{(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
24755 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
24758 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
24759 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
24760 Only applicable to spam groups.")
24762 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
24763 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
24764 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
24773 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
24774 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
24776 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
24777 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
24778 variable customization.
24782 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
24784 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
24785 @code{gnus.el} if Blackbox can check incoming mail for spam contents.
24787 Finally, use the appropriate @code{spam-install-*-backend} function in
24788 @code{spam.el}. Here are the available functions.
24794 @code{spam-install-backend-alias}
24796 This function will simply install an alias for a back end that does
24797 everything like the original back end. It is currently only used to
24798 make @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} act like @code{spam-use-BBDB}.
24801 @code{spam-install-nocheck-backend}
24803 This function installs a back end that has no check function, but can
24804 register/unregister ham or spam. The @code{spam-use-gmane} back end is
24808 @code{spam-install-checkonly-backend}
24810 This function will install a back end that can only check incoming mail
24811 for spam contents. It can't register or unregister messages.
24812 @code{spam-use-blackholes} and @code{spam-use-hashcash} are such
24816 @code{spam-install-statistical-checkonly-backend}
24818 This function installs a statistical back end (one which requires the
24819 full body of a message to check it) that can only check incoming mail
24820 for contents. @code{spam-use-regex-body} is such a filter.
24823 @code{spam-install-statistical-backend}
24825 This function install a statistical back end with incoming checks and
24826 registration/unregistration routines. @code{spam-use-bogofilter} is
24830 @code{spam-install-backend}
24832 This is the most normal back end installation, where a back end that can
24833 check and register/unregister messages is set up without statistical
24834 abilities. The @code{spam-use-BBDB} is such a back end.
24837 @code{spam-install-mover-backend}
24839 Mover back ends are internal to @code{spam.el} and specifically move
24840 articles around when the summary is exited. You will very probably
24841 never install such a back end.
24846 @node Spam Statistics Package
24847 @subsection Spam Statistics Package
24848 @cindex Paul Graham
24849 @cindex Graham, Paul
24850 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
24851 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
24852 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
24854 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
24855 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
24856 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
24857 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
24858 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
24859 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
24860 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
24861 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
24862 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
24865 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
24866 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
24867 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
24868 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
24869 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
24870 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
24871 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
24872 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
24874 The Spam Statistics package adds support to Gnus for this kind of
24875 filtering. It can be used as one of the back ends of the Spam package
24876 (@pxref{Spam Package}), or by itself.
24878 Before using the Spam Statistics package, you need to set it up.
24879 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
24880 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
24881 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
24882 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
24885 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
24886 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
24887 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
24890 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
24891 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
24893 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
24894 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
24895 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
24896 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
24897 need several hundred emails in both collections.
24899 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
24900 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
24901 per mail. Use the following:
24903 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
24904 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
24905 is treated as one spam mail.
24908 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
24909 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
24910 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
24913 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
24914 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds to
24915 the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
24916 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
24917 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds to the group
24918 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
24920 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
24921 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
24922 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
24923 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
24924 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
24927 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
24928 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
24929 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
24930 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
24933 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
24934 reset the dictionary.
24936 @defun spam-stat-reset
24937 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
24940 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
24941 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
24942 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
24943 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
24944 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
24945 only non-spam mails.
24947 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
24948 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
24949 to update the dictionary incrementally.
24952 @defun spam-stat-save
24953 Save the dictionary.
24956 @defvar spam-stat-file
24957 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
24958 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
24961 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
24962 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
24964 This section describes how to use the Spam statistics
24965 @emph{independently} of the @xref{Spam Package}.
24967 First, add the following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
24970 (require 'spam-stat)
24974 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
24977 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
24978 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
24979 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
24980 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
24982 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
24983 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
24984 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
24985 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
24988 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
24989 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
24993 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
24994 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
24997 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
24998 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
24999 expression are considered potential spam.
25002 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25003 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25004 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25008 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
25009 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
25010 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
25011 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
25012 mails, when creating the dictionary!
25015 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25016 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25017 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25021 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
25022 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
25023 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
25024 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
25025 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
25029 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25030 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
25031 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25032 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25037 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25038 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25040 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
25042 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
25043 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
25044 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25047 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
25048 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
25049 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25052 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
25053 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
25054 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
25055 already been processed as non-spam.
25058 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
25059 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
25060 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
25061 been processed as spam.
25064 @defun spam-stat-save
25065 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
25066 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25069 @defun spam-stat-load
25070 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
25071 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25074 @defun spam-stat-score-word
25075 Return the spam score for a word.
25078 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
25079 Return the spam score for a buffer.
25082 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
25083 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
25084 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
25087 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
25088 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25091 (require 'spam-stat)
25095 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
25098 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25099 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25100 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25101 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25102 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25103 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25104 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25105 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25106 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25107 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25108 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25109 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25110 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25111 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25114 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
25117 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25118 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25119 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25120 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
25121 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25122 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25126 @section Interaction with other modes
25131 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provided some useful functions for dired
25132 buffers. It is enabled with
25134 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
25139 @findex gnus-dired-attach
25140 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
25141 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
25144 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
25145 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
25146 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
25150 @findex gnus-dired-print
25151 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
25152 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
25155 @node Various Various
25156 @section Various Various
25162 @item gnus-home-directory
25163 @vindex gnus-home-directory
25164 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
25165 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
25167 @item gnus-directory
25168 @vindex gnus-directory
25169 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
25170 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
25171 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
25173 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
25174 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
25175 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
25176 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
25178 @item gnus-default-directory
25179 @vindex gnus-default-directory
25180 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
25181 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
25182 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
25183 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
25184 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
25185 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
25188 @vindex gnus-verbose
25189 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
25190 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
25191 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
25192 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
25193 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
25195 @item gnus-verbose-backends
25196 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
25197 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
25198 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
25200 @item nnheader-max-head-length
25201 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
25202 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
25203 as little as possible. This variable (default 8192) specifies
25204 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
25205 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
25206 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
25207 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
25208 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
25209 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
25211 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
25212 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
25213 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
25214 read when doing the operation described above.
25216 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25217 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25219 @cindex invalid characters in file names
25220 @cindex characters in file names
25221 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
25222 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
25223 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
25227 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25232 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
25233 Windows (phooey) systems.
25235 @item gnus-hidden-properties
25236 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
25237 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
25238 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
25239 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
25241 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
25242 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
25243 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
25244 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
25245 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
25247 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
25248 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
25249 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
25251 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
25252 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
25254 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
25255 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
25256 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
25257 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
25260 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
25268 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
25269 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
25271 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
25273 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
25279 Not because of victories @*
25282 but for the common sunshine,@*
25284 the largess of the spring.
25288 but for the day's work done@*
25289 as well as I was able;@*
25290 not for a seat upon the dais@*
25291 but at the common table.@*
25296 @chapter Appendices
25299 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
25300 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
25301 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
25302 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
25303 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
25304 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
25305 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
25306 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
25307 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
25314 @cindex installing under XEmacs
25316 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
25317 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
25318 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
25319 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
25320 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{W3},
25321 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
25328 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
25329 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
25331 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
25332 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
25333 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
25334 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
25335 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
25337 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
25338 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
25339 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
25340 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
25341 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
25342 appropriate name, don't you think?)
25344 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
25345 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
25346 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
25347 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
25350 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
25351 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
25352 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
25353 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
25354 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
25355 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
25356 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
25357 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
25358 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
25362 @node Gnus Versions
25363 @subsection Gnus Versions
25365 @cindex September Gnus
25367 @cindex Quassia Gnus
25368 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
25371 @cindex Gnus versions
25373 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
25374 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
25375 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
25377 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
25378 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
25380 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
25381 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
25383 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
25384 It was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
25386 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
25387 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
25390 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun and was released as
25391 Gnus 5.10 on May 1st 2003 (24 releases).
25393 On the January 4th 2004, No Gnus was begun.
25395 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
25396 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
25397 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'', ``No Gnus'' -- don't panic.
25398 Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever
25399 you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach.
25400 Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
25403 @node Other Gnus Versions
25404 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
25407 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
25408 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
25409 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
25410 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
25412 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
25413 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
25414 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
25415 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
25422 What's the point of Gnus?
25424 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
25425 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
25426 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
25427 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
25428 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
25429 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
25430 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
25431 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
25432 keep track of millions of people who post?
25434 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
25435 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
25436 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
25437 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
25438 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
25439 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
25440 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
25441 every one of you to explore and invent.
25443 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
25444 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
25447 @node Compatibility
25448 @subsection Compatibility
25450 @cindex compatibility
25451 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
25452 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
25453 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
25458 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
25462 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
25465 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
25468 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
25469 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
25470 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
25471 important variables have their values copied into their global
25472 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
25473 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
25475 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
25476 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
25477 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
25478 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
25479 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
25483 @cindex highlighting
25484 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
25485 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
25486 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
25487 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
25488 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
25489 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
25492 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
25493 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
25494 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
25495 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
25497 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
25498 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
25499 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
25500 to stop doing it the old way.
25502 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
25504 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
25506 @cindex reporting bugs
25508 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
25509 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
25510 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
25512 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
25513 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
25514 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
25515 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
25520 @subsection Conformity
25522 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
25523 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
25531 There are no known breaches of this standard.
25535 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
25537 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
25538 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
25539 We do have some breaches to this one.
25545 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
25546 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
25547 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
25548 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
25549 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
25554 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
25555 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
25556 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
25557 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
25559 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
25560 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
25561 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
25563 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
25564 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
25566 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
25569 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
25570 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
25571 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
25572 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
25573 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
25576 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
25577 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
25578 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RFC 1991/2440 format.
25579 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
25581 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
25582 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
25584 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
25585 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
25586 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
25587 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
25588 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
25589 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
25590 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
25591 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
25595 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
25596 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
25601 @subsection Emacsen
25607 Gnus should work on:
25615 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
25619 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
25620 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
25621 Emacs versions. Particularly, Gnus 5.10.8 should also work on Emacs
25622 20.7 and XEmacs 21.1.
25624 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
25625 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
25626 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
25630 @node Gnus Development
25631 @subsection Gnus Development
25633 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
25634 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
25635 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
25636 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
25637 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
25638 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
25639 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
25640 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
25642 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
25643 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
25644 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
25645 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
25646 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
25649 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
25650 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
25651 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
25652 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
25653 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
25655 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
25656 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
25657 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
25658 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
25659 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
25660 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
25661 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
25662 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
25663 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
25664 can't be assumed to do so.
25669 @subsection Contributors
25670 @cindex contributors
25672 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
25673 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
25674 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
25675 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
25676 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
25677 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
25678 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
25679 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
25680 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
25681 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
25683 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
25689 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
25692 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
25693 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
25694 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
25695 functionality and stuff.
25698 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
25699 well as numerous other things).
25702 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
25705 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
25708 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
25711 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
25714 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
25715 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
25718 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
25721 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
25724 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
25727 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
25730 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
25733 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
25736 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
25737 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
25740 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
25743 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
25746 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
25749 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
25753 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
25756 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
25759 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
25762 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
25763 well as autoconf support.
25767 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
25768 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
25770 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
25785 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
25787 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
25791 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
25801 Alexei V. Barantsev,
25816 Massimo Campostrini,
25821 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
25822 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
25826 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
25829 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
25835 Michael Welsh Duggan,
25840 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
25844 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
25852 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
25854 Michelangelo Grigni,
25858 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
25860 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
25862 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
25869 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
25870 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
25871 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
25873 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
25883 Peter Skov Knudsen,
25884 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
25886 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
25887 Thor Kristoffersen,
25890 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
25908 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
25909 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
25916 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
25921 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
25925 John McClary Prevost,
25931 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
25936 Christian von Roques,
25939 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
25946 Philippe Schnoebelen,
25948 Randal L. Schwartz,
25962 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
25967 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
25987 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
25988 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
25989 (550kB and counting).
25991 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
25994 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
25995 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
25999 @subsection New Features
26000 @cindex new features
26003 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
26004 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
26005 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
26006 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
26007 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
26008 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
26009 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
26012 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
26013 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
26014 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
26017 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
26019 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
26024 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
26025 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
26028 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
26029 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
26032 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
26035 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
26036 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
26037 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
26040 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
26041 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
26042 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
26043 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26046 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
26047 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26050 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
26051 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
26052 (@pxref{The Active File}).
26055 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
26056 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
26059 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
26060 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
26061 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
26064 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
26065 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
26066 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
26069 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
26070 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
26073 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
26074 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
26077 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
26078 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
26081 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
26082 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26085 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
26086 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
26089 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
26090 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
26093 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
26096 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
26097 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
26100 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
26101 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
26104 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
26105 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
26108 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
26111 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
26112 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
26115 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
26119 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
26123 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
26124 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
26127 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
26133 @node September Gnus
26134 @subsubsection September Gnus
26138 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
26142 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
26147 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
26148 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
26152 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
26153 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
26157 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
26161 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
26162 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
26165 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
26169 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
26172 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
26175 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
26178 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
26182 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
26183 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
26186 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
26190 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
26194 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
26198 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
26202 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
26205 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
26206 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
26209 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
26213 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
26214 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
26217 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
26220 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
26221 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
26222 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
26225 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
26229 The Gnus cache is much faster.
26232 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
26236 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
26237 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
26240 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
26241 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
26244 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
26245 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
26248 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
26249 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
26250 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
26253 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
26254 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
26257 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
26260 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
26263 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
26266 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
26269 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
26270 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
26273 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
26277 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
26280 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
26285 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
26288 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
26292 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26295 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
26299 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
26302 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
26305 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
26306 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26309 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
26310 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
26314 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
26315 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
26318 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
26322 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
26323 buffer to allow easier treatment.
26326 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
26329 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
26333 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
26337 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
26338 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
26341 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
26345 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
26346 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
26349 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
26350 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
26353 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
26357 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
26360 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
26363 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
26369 @subsubsection Red Gnus
26371 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
26375 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
26382 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
26385 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
26386 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
26389 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
26390 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
26394 Article washing status can be displayed in the
26395 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
26398 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
26401 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
26402 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
26405 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
26409 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
26410 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
26414 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
26415 Server Internals}).
26418 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
26422 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
26425 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
26426 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
26429 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
26430 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
26431 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
26434 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
26435 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
26438 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
26439 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
26442 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
26446 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
26447 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
26450 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
26451 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
26454 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
26458 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
26461 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
26465 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
26466 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
26469 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
26470 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
26473 A new command for reading collections of documents
26474 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
26475 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
26478 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
26482 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
26483 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
26486 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
26487 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
26488 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
26491 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
26492 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
26496 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
26500 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
26504 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
26509 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
26513 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
26517 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
26518 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
26521 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
26527 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
26529 New features in Gnus 5.6:
26534 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
26535 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
26536 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
26539 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
26540 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
26541 group, which is created automatically.
26544 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
26548 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
26551 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
26552 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
26555 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
26559 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
26562 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
26563 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
26566 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
26569 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
26573 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
26574 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
26577 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
26578 control over simplification.
26581 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
26584 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
26588 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
26591 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
26594 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
26595 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
26596 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
26599 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
26600 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
26603 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
26607 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
26608 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
26611 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
26612 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
26615 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
26619 A history of where mails have been split is available.
26622 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
26625 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
26626 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
26629 A new function for citing in Message has been
26630 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
26633 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
26636 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
26640 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
26641 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
26644 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
26645 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
26648 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
26651 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
26655 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
26656 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
26658 New features in Gnus 5.8:
26663 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
26664 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
26666 If you used procmail like in
26669 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
26670 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
26671 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
26672 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
26675 this now has changed to
26679 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
26683 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
26686 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
26687 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
26690 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
26691 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
26694 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
26695 called to position point.
26698 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
26699 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
26702 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
26703 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
26706 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
26707 subtly different manner.
26710 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
26711 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
26712 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
26715 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
26720 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
26723 New features in Gnus 5.10:
26727 @item Installation changes
26728 @c ***********************
26732 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
26734 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
26735 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
26736 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
26737 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
26738 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
26739 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
26740 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
26741 isn't save in general.
26744 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
26746 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
26747 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
26748 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, iff you want
26749 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
26750 the second parameter.
26752 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
26753 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
26754 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
26755 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
26756 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
26757 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
26758 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
26759 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
26760 cycle used under Unix systems.
26762 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} and @file{xemacs.mak}
26763 superfluous, so they have been removed.
26766 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
26768 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
26769 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
26772 @c FIXME: `gnus-load' is mentioned in README, which is not included in
26773 @c CVS. We should find a better place for this item.
26775 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
26777 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
26778 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
26779 lisp directory into load-path.
26781 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
26782 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
26786 @item New packages and libraries within Gnus
26787 @c *****************************************
26792 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
26793 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
26796 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
26798 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
26799 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
26800 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
26801 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
26804 Improved anti-spam features.
26806 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
26807 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
26808 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
26809 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
26810 are also new. @ref{Thwarting Email Spam} and @ref{Spam Package}.
26811 @c FIXME: @xref{Spam Package}?. Should this be under Misc?
26814 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
26816 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
26817 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
26818 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
26819 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
26820 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
26824 @item Changes in group mode
26825 @c ************************
26830 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
26834 Retrieval of charters and control messages
26836 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
26837 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
26840 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
26842 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
26843 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
26844 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
26845 variable in @file{~/.gnus.el} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
26846 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
26849 (setq gnus-parameters
26851 (gnus-show-threads nil)
26852 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
26853 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
26854 (to-group . "\\1"))))
26858 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
26860 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
26861 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
26862 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
26863 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
26864 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
26865 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
26866 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
26867 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
26868 when getting new mail, remove the function.
26871 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
26873 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
26874 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
26875 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
26878 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
26879 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
26881 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
26882 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
26883 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
26885 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
26890 @item Changes in summary and article mode
26891 @c **************************************
26896 @kbd{F} (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}) and @kbd{R}
26897 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}) only yank the text in the
26898 region if the region is active.
26901 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
26902 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
26907 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
26908 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
26909 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
26910 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
26913 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
26918 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
26919 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
26921 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
26922 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
26926 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
26927 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
26930 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
26933 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
26934 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
26937 Warn about email replies to news
26939 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
26940 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
26944 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
26945 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
26949 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
26950 opposed to old but unread messages).
26953 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
26954 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
26957 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
26958 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
26961 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
26962 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
26965 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
26967 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
26968 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
26969 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
26970 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
26973 The new command @kbd{W Y f}
26974 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}) allows deuglifying broken
26975 Outlook (Express) articles.
26978 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
26980 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
26981 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
26982 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
26983 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
26985 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
26986 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
26987 message cited below.
26990 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now displayed graphically in
26993 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.gnus.el} to
26997 Face headers handling. @xref{Face}.
27000 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
27001 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
27004 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
27007 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
27009 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
27010 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
27011 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
27012 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
27013 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
27017 Deleting of attachments.
27019 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
27020 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
27021 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
27022 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
27023 that support editing.
27026 @code{gnus-default-charset}
27028 The default value is determined from the
27029 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
27030 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
27031 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
27034 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
27036 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
27037 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
27038 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
27041 Extended format specs.
27043 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
27044 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
27045 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
27046 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
27047 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
27048 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
27051 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
27052 @c FIXME: Was this a user-visible change?
27054 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
27055 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
27056 out other articles.
27059 Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
27061 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
27062 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
27063 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
27064 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
27067 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
27071 @item Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features
27072 @c ****************************************************
27079 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
27080 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
27081 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
27084 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
27085 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
27088 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
27089 Gcc articles as read.
27092 Externalizing of attachments
27094 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
27095 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
27096 local files as external parts.
27099 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
27100 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
27103 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
27105 Earlier it was generated iff the user configurable email address was
27106 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
27107 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
27108 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
27109 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
27110 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
27111 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
27112 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
27113 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
27116 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
27118 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
27119 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
27120 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
27121 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
27122 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
27123 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
27126 References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated when you
27127 start composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
27131 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers. @xref{X-Face}.
27134 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
27136 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
27137 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
27138 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
27139 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
27140 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
27141 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
27142 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
27143 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
27144 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
27145 was inserted directly.
27148 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
27150 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
27151 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
27152 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
27153 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
27156 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
27158 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
27160 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
27161 'bbdb-complete-name)
27165 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
27167 Add a new format of match like
27169 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
27170 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
27172 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
27174 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
27175 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
27179 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
27181 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
27182 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
27183 need add those two headers too.
27186 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
27187 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
27188 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
27192 The option @code{mm-fill-flowed} can be used to disable treatment of
27193 ``format=flowed'' messages. Also, flowed text is disabled when sending
27194 inline PGP signed messages. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
27197 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
27199 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
27202 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
27204 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
27208 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
27210 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
27211 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
27212 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
27213 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
27214 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
27215 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
27216 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
27217 The behavior can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
27220 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
27221 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
27223 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
27224 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
27225 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
27226 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
27229 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
27232 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
27233 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
27236 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to the symbol
27239 The behavior for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
27240 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
27241 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
27242 invalidate the digital signature.
27245 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
27246 decompressed when activated.
27247 @c FIXME: Does this affect article or message mode?
27250 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
27252 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
27253 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
27254 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
27255 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
27256 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
27259 @item You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
27260 See @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} and @code{mml-dnd-attach-options}.
27261 @xref{MIME, ,MIME, message, Message Manual}.
27262 @c New in 5.10.9 / 5.11
27266 @item Changes in back ends
27267 @c ***********************
27271 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
27274 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
27277 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
27279 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
27282 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
27284 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
27285 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
27286 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
27287 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
27288 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
27289 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
27290 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
27291 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
27292 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
27293 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
27294 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
27304 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
27305 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
27308 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
27309 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
27310 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
27311 message, Message Manual}).
27314 The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group, Summary and
27315 Message mode. You can also customize the tool bars. This is a new
27316 feature in Gnus 5.10.9. (Only for Emacs, not in XEmacs.)
27318 @item The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly
27319 in the group buffer, see the variable @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}.
27320 Its default value depends on your Emacs version. This is a new feature
27325 @item Miscellaneous changes
27326 @c ************************
27333 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
27334 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
27335 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
27336 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
27337 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
27338 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
27339 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
27340 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
27341 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
27342 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
27343 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
27344 behavior of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
27345 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
27346 is not needed any more.
27349 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
27351 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
27352 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
27353 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
27358 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
27359 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
27360 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
27364 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
27367 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
27369 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
27376 @subsubsection No Gnus
27379 New features in No Gnus:
27380 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
27382 @include gnus-news.texi
27388 @section The Manual
27392 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
27393 either @code{texi2dvi}
27395 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
27396 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
27398 to get what you hold in your hands now.
27400 The following conventions have been used:
27405 This is a @samp{string}
27408 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
27411 This is a @file{file}
27414 This is a @code{symbol}
27418 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
27422 (setq flargnoze "yes")
27425 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
27428 (setq flumphel 'yes)
27431 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
27432 ever get them confused.
27436 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
27437 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
27438 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
27439 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
27440 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
27441 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
27442 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
27448 @node On Writing Manuals
27449 @section On Writing Manuals
27451 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
27452 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
27453 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
27454 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
27455 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
27456 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
27459 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
27460 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
27461 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
27464 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
27465 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
27470 @section Terminology
27472 @cindex terminology
27477 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
27478 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
27479 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
27480 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
27481 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
27485 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
27486 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
27487 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
27488 not posting, and replying is not following up.
27492 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
27496 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
27501 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
27502 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
27503 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
27504 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
27505 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
27506 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
27507 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
27508 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
27509 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
27512 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
27513 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
27514 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
27515 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
27516 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
27517 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
27519 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
27520 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
27521 access the articles.
27523 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
27524 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
27525 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
27530 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
27531 default, way of getting news.
27535 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
27536 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
27541 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
27542 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
27546 A message that has been posted as news.
27549 @cindex mail message
27550 A message that has been mailed.
27554 A mail message or news article
27558 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
27563 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
27568 A line from the head of an article.
27572 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
27573 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
27575 @item @acronym{NOV}
27576 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
27577 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
27578 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
27579 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
27580 normal @sc{head} format.
27584 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
27585 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
27586 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
27587 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
27588 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
27589 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
27591 @item killed groups
27592 @cindex killed groups
27593 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
27594 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
27596 @item zombie groups
27597 @cindex zombie groups
27598 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
27601 @cindex active file
27602 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
27603 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
27604 is rather large, as you might surmise.
27607 @cindex bogus groups
27608 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
27609 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
27610 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
27613 @cindex activating groups
27614 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
27615 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
27616 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
27620 News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
27621 One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
27622 article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
27626 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
27628 @item select method
27629 @cindex select method
27630 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
27633 @item virtual server
27634 @cindex virtual server
27635 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
27636 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
27637 whole is a virtual server.
27641 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
27642 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
27645 @item ephemeral groups
27646 @cindex ephemeral groups
27647 @cindex temporary groups
27648 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
27649 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
27650 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
27653 @cindex solid groups
27654 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
27655 group buffer are solid groups.
27657 @item sparse articles
27658 @cindex sparse articles
27659 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
27660 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
27664 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
27665 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
27669 @cindex thread root
27670 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
27671 articles in the thread.
27675 An article that has responses.
27679 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
27683 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
27684 specified by RFC 1153.
27687 @cindex splitting, terminology
27688 @cindex mail sorting
27689 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
27690 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
27691 incorrectly called mail filtering.
27697 @node Customization
27698 @section Customization
27699 @cindex general customization
27701 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
27702 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
27703 for some quite common situations.
27706 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
27707 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
27708 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
27709 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
27713 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
27714 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
27716 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
27717 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
27718 Gnus has to get from the @acronym{NNTP} server.
27722 @item gnus-read-active-file
27723 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
27724 entire active file from the server. This file is often very large. You
27725 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
27726 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
27727 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
27729 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
27730 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
27731 the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast. Not all @acronym{NNTP} servers
27732 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
27736 @node Slow Terminal Connection
27737 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
27739 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
27740 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
27741 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
27745 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
27746 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
27747 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
27748 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
27749 horizontal and vertical recentering.
27751 @item gnus-visible-headers
27752 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
27753 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
27754 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
27755 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
27757 Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
27759 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
27760 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
27761 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
27764 @item gnus-use-full-window
27765 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
27766 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
27767 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
27768 want to read them anyway.
27770 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
27771 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
27775 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
27776 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
27777 lines, which might save some time.
27781 @node Little Disk Space
27782 @subsection Little Disk Space
27785 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
27786 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
27790 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
27791 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
27792 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
27793 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
27796 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
27797 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
27798 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
27799 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
27802 @item gnus-save-killed-list
27803 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
27804 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
27805 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
27806 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
27812 @subsection Slow Machine
27813 @cindex slow machine
27815 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
27816 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
27818 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
27819 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
27821 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
27822 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
27823 summary buffer faster.
27827 @node Troubleshooting
27828 @section Troubleshooting
27829 @cindex troubleshooting
27831 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
27839 Make sure your computer is switched on.
27842 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
27843 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
27847 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
27848 like @samp{Gnus v5.10.6} you have the right files loaded. Otherwise
27849 you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
27852 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
27853 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
27856 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
27857 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
27858 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
27859 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
27860 something like that.
27863 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
27866 @cindex reporting bugs
27868 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
27870 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
27871 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
27872 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
27873 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
27875 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
27876 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
27877 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
27878 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
27881 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
27882 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
27883 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
27884 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
27885 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
27886 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
27888 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
27889 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
27890 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
27894 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
27895 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
27898 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
27899 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
27900 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
27901 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
27902 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
27903 you discover some weird behavior when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
27904 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
27905 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
27906 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
27907 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
27908 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
27909 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
27910 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
27911 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
27916 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
27917 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
27918 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
27919 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
27920 helps isolating the real problem areas).
27922 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
27923 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
27924 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
27925 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
27926 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
27927 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
27928 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
27929 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
27930 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
27931 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
27932 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
27933 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
27934 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
27937 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
27938 @cindex ding mailing list
27939 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
27940 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
27941 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
27942 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
27946 @node Gnus Reference Guide
27947 @section Gnus Reference Guide
27949 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
27950 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
27951 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
27952 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
27955 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
27956 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
27957 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
27958 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
27959 and general methods of operation.
27962 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
27963 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
27964 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
27965 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
27966 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
27967 * Group Info:: The group info format.
27968 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
27969 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
27970 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
27974 @node Gnus Utility Functions
27975 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
27976 @cindex Gnus utility functions
27977 @cindex utility functions
27979 @cindex internal variables
27981 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
27982 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
27983 Below is a list of the most common ones.
27987 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
27988 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
27989 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
27991 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
27992 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
27993 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
27995 @item gnus-group-real-name
27996 @findex gnus-group-real-name
27997 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
28000 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
28001 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
28002 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
28003 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
28005 @item gnus-get-info
28006 @findex gnus-get-info
28007 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
28009 @item gnus-group-unread
28010 @findex gnus-group-unread
28011 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
28015 @findex gnus-active
28016 The active entry for @var{group}.
28018 @item gnus-set-active
28019 @findex gnus-set-active
28020 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
28022 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
28023 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
28024 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
28027 @item gnus-continuum-version
28028 @findex gnus-continuum-version
28029 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
28030 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
28033 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
28034 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
28035 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
28037 @item gnus-news-group-p
28038 @findex gnus-news-group-p
28039 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
28041 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
28042 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
28043 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
28045 @item gnus-server-to-method
28046 @findex gnus-server-to-method
28047 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
28049 @item gnus-server-equal
28050 @findex gnus-server-equal
28051 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
28053 @item gnus-group-native-p
28054 @findex gnus-group-native-p
28055 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
28057 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
28058 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
28059 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
28061 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
28062 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
28063 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
28065 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
28066 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
28067 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
28068 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
28070 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
28071 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
28072 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
28074 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
28075 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
28076 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
28078 @item gnus-check-backend-function
28079 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
28080 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
28081 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
28084 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
28088 @item gnus-read-method
28089 @findex gnus-read-method
28090 Prompts the user for a select method.
28095 @node Back End Interface
28096 @subsection Back End Interface
28098 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
28099 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
28100 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
28101 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
28102 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
28103 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
28105 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
28106 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
28107 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
28108 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
28109 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
28110 been opened, the function should fail.
28112 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
28113 name. Take this example:
28117 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
28118 (nntp-port-number 4324))
28121 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
28122 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
28124 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
28125 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
28126 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
28128 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
28129 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
28130 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
28132 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
28133 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
28134 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
28135 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
28136 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
28137 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
28140 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
28141 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
28142 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
28143 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
28146 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
28147 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
28148 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
28149 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
28150 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
28151 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
28152 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
28153 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
28154 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
28155 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
28157 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
28158 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
28159 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
28160 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
28161 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
28162 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
28163 of numbers as long as possible.
28165 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
28166 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
28167 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
28169 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
28172 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
28175 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
28176 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
28177 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
28178 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
28179 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
28180 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
28184 @node Required Back End Functions
28185 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
28189 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
28191 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
28192 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
28193 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
28194 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
28196 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
28197 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
28198 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
28199 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
28201 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
28202 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
28203 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
28204 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
28205 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
28206 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
28207 number, do maximum fetches.
28209 Here's an example HEAD:
28212 221 1056 Article retrieved.
28213 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
28214 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
28215 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
28216 Subject: Re: Something very droll
28217 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
28218 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
28220 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
28221 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
28222 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
28226 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
28227 these in the data buffer.
28229 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
28233 head = error / valid-head
28234 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
28235 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
28236 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
28237 header = <text> eol
28241 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
28243 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
28244 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
28248 nov-buffer = *nov-line
28249 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
28250 field = <text except TAB>
28253 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
28257 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
28259 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
28260 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
28262 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
28263 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
28264 server. In fact, it should do so.
28266 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
28267 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
28270 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
28272 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
28273 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
28276 There should be no data returned.
28279 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
28281 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
28282 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
28283 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
28284 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
28286 There should be no data returned.
28289 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
28291 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
28292 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
28293 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
28294 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
28296 There should be no data returned.
28299 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
28301 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
28303 There should be no data returned.
28306 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
28308 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
28309 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
28310 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
28311 it would be nice if that were possible.
28313 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
28314 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
28315 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
28316 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
28317 into its article buffer.
28319 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
28320 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
28321 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
28322 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
28323 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
28324 on successful article retrieval.
28327 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
28329 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
28330 making @var{group} the current group.
28332 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
28335 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
28338 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
28341 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
28342 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
28343 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
28344 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
28345 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
28346 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
28347 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
28348 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
28349 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
28353 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
28354 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
28355 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
28359 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
28361 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
28362 a no-op on most back ends.
28364 There should be no data returned.
28367 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
28369 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
28372 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
28375 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
28376 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
28379 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
28380 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
28381 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
28382 and the highest as 0.
28385 active-file = *active-line
28386 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
28388 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
28391 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
28392 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
28393 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
28396 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
28398 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
28399 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
28400 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
28401 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
28402 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
28403 clear if the posting could not be completed.
28405 There should be no result data from this function.
28410 @node Optional Back End Functions
28411 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
28415 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
28417 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
28418 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
28419 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
28421 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
28422 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
28423 former is in the same format as the data from
28424 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
28425 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
28428 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
28432 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
28434 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
28435 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
28436 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
28437 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
28438 should return a non-@code{nil} value (exceptionally,
28439 @code{nntp-request-update-info} always returns @code{nil} not to waste
28440 the network resources).
28442 There should be no result data from this function.
28445 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
28447 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
28448 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
28449 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
28450 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
28451 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
28452 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
28453 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
28454 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
28456 There should be no result data from this function.
28459 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
28461 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
28462 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
28463 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
28464 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
28465 propagate the mark information to the server.
28467 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
28470 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
28473 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
28474 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
28475 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
28476 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
28477 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
28478 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
28479 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
28480 possible, not limit itself to these.
28482 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
28483 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
28484 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
28485 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
28487 An example action list:
28490 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
28491 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
28492 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
28495 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
28496 mark on (currently not used for anything).
28498 There should be no result data from this function.
28500 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
28502 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
28503 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
28504 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
28505 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
28506 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
28508 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
28509 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
28510 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
28513 There should be no result data from this function.
28516 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
28518 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
28519 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
28520 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
28521 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
28522 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
28523 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
28524 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
28525 local if that's practical.
28527 There should be no result data from this function.
28530 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
28532 The result data from this function should be a description of
28536 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
28538 description = <text>
28541 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
28543 The result data from this function should be the description of all
28544 groups available on the server.
28547 description-buffer = *description-line
28551 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
28553 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
28554 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
28555 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
28556 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
28557 in the active buffer format.
28559 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
28560 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
28561 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
28562 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
28563 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
28564 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
28565 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
28568 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
28570 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
28572 There should be no return data.
28575 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
28577 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
28578 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
28579 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
28580 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
28581 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
28584 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
28587 There should be no result data returned.
28590 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
28592 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
28593 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
28595 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
28596 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
28597 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
28598 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
28599 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
28600 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
28602 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
28603 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
28606 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
28607 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
28609 There should be no data returned.
28612 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
28614 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
28615 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
28616 this function in short order.
28618 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
28619 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
28621 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
28622 article for that group.
28624 There should be no data returned.
28627 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
28629 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
28630 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
28632 There should be no data returned.
28635 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
28637 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
28638 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
28639 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
28641 There should be no data returned.
28644 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
28646 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
28647 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
28649 There should be no data returned.
28654 @node Error Messaging
28655 @subsubsection Error Messaging
28657 @findex nnheader-report
28658 @findex nnheader-get-report
28659 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
28660 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
28661 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
28662 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
28663 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
28664 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
28667 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
28669 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
28672 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
28673 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
28674 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
28675 takes one argument---the server symbol.
28677 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
28678 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
28679 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
28682 @node Writing New Back Ends
28683 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
28685 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
28686 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
28687 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
28688 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
28689 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
28692 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
28693 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
28694 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
28696 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
28697 package called @code{nnoo}.
28699 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
28700 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
28706 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
28707 parameters. For instance:
28710 (nnoo-declare nndir
28714 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
28715 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
28718 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
28719 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
28720 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
28722 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
28723 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
28724 a function in those back ends.
28727 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
28728 "Where nndir will look for groups."
28729 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
28732 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
28733 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
28734 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
28736 @item nnoo-define-basics
28737 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
28741 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
28745 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
28746 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
28747 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
28749 @item nnoo-map-functions
28750 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
28751 functions from the parent back ends.
28754 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
28755 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
28756 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
28759 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
28760 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
28761 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
28762 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
28765 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
28766 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
28767 haven't already been defined.
28773 nnmh-request-newgroups)
28777 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
28778 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
28779 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
28784 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
28787 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
28788 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
28792 (require 'nnheader)
28796 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
28798 (nnoo-declare nndir
28801 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
28802 "Where nndir will look for groups."
28803 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
28805 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
28806 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
28809 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
28811 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
28812 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
28813 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
28815 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
28816 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
28818 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
28820 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
28822 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
28823 (setq nndir-directory
28824 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
28826 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
28827 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
28828 (push `(nndir-current-group
28829 ,(file-name-nondirectory
28830 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
28832 (push `(nndir-top-directory
28833 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
28835 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
28837 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
28838 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
28839 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
28840 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
28841 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
28845 nnmh-status-message
28847 nnmh-request-newgroups))
28853 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
28854 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
28856 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
28857 @findex gnus-declare-backend
28858 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
28859 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
28860 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
28862 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
28863 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
28868 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
28871 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
28873 The abilities can be:
28877 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
28879 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
28881 This back end supports both mail and news.
28883 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
28886 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
28887 articles and groups.
28889 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
28890 true for almost all back ends.
28891 @item prompt-address
28892 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
28893 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
28894 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
28898 @node Mail-like Back Ends
28899 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
28901 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
28902 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
28903 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
28904 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
28907 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
28908 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
28909 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
28912 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
28913 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
28916 This function takes four parameters.
28920 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
28923 @item exit-function
28924 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
28926 @item temp-directory
28927 Where the temporary files should be stored.
28930 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
28931 performed for one group only.
28934 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
28935 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
28936 find the article number assigned to this article.
28938 The function also uses the following variables:
28939 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
28940 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
28941 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
28942 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
28946 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
28947 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
28951 @node Score File Syntax
28952 @subsection Score File Syntax
28954 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
28955 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
28956 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
28958 Here's a typical score file:
28962 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
28969 BNF definition of a score file:
28972 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
28973 element = rule / atom
28974 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
28975 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
28976 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
28977 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
28979 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
28980 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
28981 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
28982 date-header = "date"
28983 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
28984 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
28985 score = "nil" / <integer>
28986 date = "nil" / <natural number>
28987 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
28988 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
28989 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
28990 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
28991 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
28992 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
28993 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
28994 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
28995 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
28996 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
28997 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
28998 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
28999 exclude-files / read-only / touched
29000 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
29001 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
29002 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
29003 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
29004 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
29005 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
29006 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
29007 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
29008 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
29009 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
29010 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
29011 eval = "eval" space <form>
29012 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
29015 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
29018 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
29019 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
29020 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
29021 one looong line, then that's ok.
29023 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
29024 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
29028 @subsection Headers
29030 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
29031 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
29032 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
29033 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
29035 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
29036 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
29037 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
29038 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
29039 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
29040 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
29041 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
29043 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
29044 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
29045 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
29046 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
29047 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
29049 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
29050 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
29056 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
29057 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
29059 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
29060 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
29061 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
29062 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
29064 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
29068 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
29071 is transformed into
29074 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
29077 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
29078 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
29081 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
29084 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
29085 is slightly tricky:
29088 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
29094 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
29097 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
29103 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
29110 and is equal to the previous range.
29112 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
29113 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
29114 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
29118 range = simple-range / normal-range
29119 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
29120 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
29121 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
29122 number *[ " " contents ]
29125 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
29126 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
29127 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
29128 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
29129 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
29134 @subsection Group Info
29136 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
29137 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
29138 describes the group.
29140 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
29141 second is a more complex one:
29144 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
29146 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
29147 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
29149 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
29152 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
29153 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
29154 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
29155 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
29156 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
29157 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
29158 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
29159 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
29160 this section is about.
29162 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
29163 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
29164 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
29166 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
29169 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
29170 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
29171 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29172 group = quote <string> quote
29173 ralevel = rank / level
29174 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
29175 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
29176 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
29178 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
29179 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
29180 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
29181 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
29184 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
29185 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
29188 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
29189 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
29192 @item gnus-info-group
29193 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
29194 @findex gnus-info-group
29195 @findex gnus-info-set-group
29196 Get/set the group name.
29198 @item gnus-info-rank
29199 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
29200 @findex gnus-info-rank
29201 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
29202 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
29204 @item gnus-info-level
29205 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
29206 @findex gnus-info-level
29207 @findex gnus-info-set-level
29208 Get/set the group level.
29210 @item gnus-info-score
29211 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
29212 @findex gnus-info-score
29213 @findex gnus-info-set-score
29214 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
29216 @item gnus-info-read
29217 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
29218 @findex gnus-info-read
29219 @findex gnus-info-set-read
29220 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
29222 @item gnus-info-marks
29223 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
29224 @findex gnus-info-marks
29225 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
29226 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
29228 @item gnus-info-method
29229 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
29230 @findex gnus-info-method
29231 @findex gnus-info-set-method
29232 Get/set the group select method.
29234 @item gnus-info-params
29235 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
29236 @findex gnus-info-params
29237 @findex gnus-info-set-params
29238 Get/set the group parameters.
29241 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
29242 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
29244 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
29245 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
29246 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
29247 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
29250 @node Extended Interactive
29251 @subsection Extended Interactive
29252 @cindex interactive
29253 @findex gnus-interactive
29255 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
29256 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
29257 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
29260 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
29261 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
29266 The best thing to do would have been to implement
29267 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
29268 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
29269 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
29270 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
29271 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
29272 @code{interactive}.
29274 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
29279 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
29280 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
29284 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
29285 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
29286 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
29289 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
29293 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
29297 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
29303 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
29304 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
29308 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
29309 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
29310 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
29312 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
29313 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
29314 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
29315 Gnus, that's very useful.
29317 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
29318 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
29319 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
29320 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
29321 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
29322 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
29323 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
29324 following function:
29327 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
29331 (,function ,@@args))
29335 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
29336 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
29337 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
29340 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
29341 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
29342 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
29344 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
29345 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
29346 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
29349 @node Various File Formats
29350 @subsection Various File Formats
29353 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
29354 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
29358 @node Active File Format
29359 @subsubsection Active File Format
29361 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
29362 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
29365 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
29368 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
29369 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
29370 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
29371 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
29372 no.general 1000 900 y
29375 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
29378 active = *group-line
29379 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
29380 group = <non-white-space string>
29382 high-number = <non-negative integer>
29383 low-number = <positive integer>
29384 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
29387 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
29388 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
29391 @node Newsgroups File Format
29392 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
29394 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
29395 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
29396 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
29399 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
29400 Here's the definition:
29404 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
29405 group = <non-white-space string>
29407 description = <string>
29412 @node Emacs for Heathens
29413 @section Emacs for Heathens
29415 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
29416 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
29417 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
29418 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
29419 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
29420 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
29421 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
29425 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
29426 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
29431 @subsection Keystrokes
29435 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
29438 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
29441 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
29442 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
29443 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
29444 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
29445 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
29446 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
29448 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
29449 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
29450 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
29451 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
29452 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
29453 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
29454 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
29456 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
29457 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
29458 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
29459 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
29460 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
29461 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
29462 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
29464 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
29465 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
29466 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
29467 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
29468 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
29474 @subsection Emacs Lisp
29476 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
29477 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
29478 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
29479 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
29481 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
29482 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
29483 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
29484 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
29485 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
29486 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
29487 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
29488 file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
29489 in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
29490 @file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
29492 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
29493 write the following:
29496 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
29499 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
29500 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
29501 you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
29502 change how Gnus works.
29504 If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
29505 read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
29506 start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
29507 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
29508 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
29510 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
29511 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
29512 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
29516 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
29520 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
29523 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
29524 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
29527 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
29530 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
29531 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
29534 @include gnus-faq.texi
29554 @c Local Variables:
29556 @c coding: iso-8859-1
29560 arch-tag: c9fa47e7-78ca-4681-bda9-9fef45d1c819