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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 v0.7.
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)
394 @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change the following line:
395 This manual corresponds to No Gnus v0.7.
397 @heading Other related manuals
399 @item Message manual: Composing messages
400 @item Emacs-MIME: Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
401 @item Sieve: Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
402 @item PGG: @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
403 @item SASL: @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
409 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
410 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
411 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
412 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
413 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
414 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
415 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
416 * Various:: General purpose settings.
417 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
418 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
419 * GNU Free Documentation License:: The license for this documentation.
420 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
421 * Key Index:: Key Index.
423 Other related manuals
425 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
426 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
427 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
428 * PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
429 * SASL:(sasl). @acronym{SASL} authentication in Emacs.
432 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
436 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
437 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
438 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
439 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
440 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
441 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
442 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
443 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
444 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
445 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
446 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
450 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
451 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
452 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
456 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
457 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
458 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
459 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
460 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
461 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
462 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
463 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
464 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
465 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
466 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
467 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
468 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
469 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
470 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
471 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
472 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
473 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
477 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
478 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
479 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
483 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
484 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
485 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
486 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
487 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
491 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
492 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
493 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
494 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
495 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
499 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
500 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
501 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
502 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
503 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
504 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
505 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
506 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
507 * Threading:: How threads are made.
508 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
509 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
510 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
511 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
512 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
513 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
514 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
515 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
516 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
517 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
518 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
519 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
520 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
521 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
522 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
523 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
524 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
525 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
526 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
527 or reselecting the current group.
528 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
529 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
530 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
531 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
533 Summary Buffer Format
535 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
536 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
537 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
538 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
542 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
543 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
545 Reply, Followup and Post
547 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
548 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
549 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
550 * Canceling and Superseding::
554 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
555 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
556 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
557 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
558 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
559 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
563 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
564 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
566 Customizing Threading
568 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
569 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
570 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
571 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
575 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
576 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
577 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
578 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
579 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
580 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
584 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
585 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
586 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
590 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
591 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
592 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
593 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
594 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
595 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
596 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
597 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
598 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
599 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
600 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
602 Alternative Approaches
604 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
605 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
607 Various Summary Stuff
609 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
610 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
611 * Summary Generation Commands::
612 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
616 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
617 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
618 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
619 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
620 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
624 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
625 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
626 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
627 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
628 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
629 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
630 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
631 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
632 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
636 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
637 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
638 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
639 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
640 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
641 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
642 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
643 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
644 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
648 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
649 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
650 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
651 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
652 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
653 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
654 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
658 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
659 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
663 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
664 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
665 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
666 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
670 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
671 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
672 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
673 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
674 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
675 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
676 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
677 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
678 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
679 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
680 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
681 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
682 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
686 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
687 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
688 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
690 Choosing a Mail Back End
692 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
693 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
694 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
695 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
696 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
697 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
698 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
703 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
704 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
705 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
706 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
707 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
708 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
712 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
713 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
714 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
715 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
716 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
717 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
721 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
722 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
723 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
724 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
725 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
729 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
733 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
734 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
735 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
739 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
740 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
744 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
745 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
746 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
750 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
751 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
752 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
754 The Gnus Diary Library
756 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
757 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
758 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
759 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
763 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
764 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
765 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
766 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
767 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
768 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
769 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
770 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
771 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
772 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
773 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
774 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
775 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
776 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
780 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
781 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
782 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
786 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
787 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
788 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
792 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
793 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
794 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
795 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
796 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
797 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
798 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
799 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
800 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
801 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
802 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
803 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
804 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
805 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
806 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
807 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
811 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
812 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
813 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
817 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
818 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
819 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
820 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
821 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
822 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
823 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
824 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
825 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
826 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
827 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
828 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
829 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
830 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
831 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
832 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
833 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
834 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
835 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
836 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
837 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
841 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
842 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
843 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
844 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
845 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
846 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
847 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
848 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
852 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
853 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
854 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were
856 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
857 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
861 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
862 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
863 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
864 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
868 * Spam Package Introduction::
869 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
870 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
871 * Spam and Ham Processors::
872 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
874 * Extending the Spam package::
875 * Spam Statistics Package::
877 Spam Statistics Package
879 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
880 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
881 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
885 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
886 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
887 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
888 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
889 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
890 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
891 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
892 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
893 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
897 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
898 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
899 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
900 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
901 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
902 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
903 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
904 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
905 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
909 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
910 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
911 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
912 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
913 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
914 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
915 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
919 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
920 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
921 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
922 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
926 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
927 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
928 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
929 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
930 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
931 * Group Info:: The group info format.
932 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
933 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
934 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
938 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
939 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
940 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
941 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
942 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
943 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
947 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
948 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
952 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
953 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
959 @chapter Starting Gnus
962 If you haven't used Emacs much before using Gnus, read @ref{Emacs for
967 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
968 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
969 your Emacs. If not, you should customize the variable
970 @code{gnus-select-method} as described in @ref{Finding the News}. For a
971 minimal setup for posting should also customize the variables
972 @code{user-full-name} and @code{user-mail-address}.
974 @findex gnus-other-frame
975 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
976 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
977 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
979 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
980 variables in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file. This file is similar to
981 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when Gnus starts.
983 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
984 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
987 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
988 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
989 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
990 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
991 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
992 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
993 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
994 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
995 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
996 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
1000 @node Finding the News
1001 @section Finding the News
1002 @cindex finding news
1004 @vindex gnus-select-method
1006 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
1007 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
1008 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
1009 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
1012 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @acronym{NNTP} server is where
1013 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
1016 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
1019 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
1022 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
1025 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
1026 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
1027 server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
1028 server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
1030 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1032 @cindex @acronym{NNTP} server
1033 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1034 @env{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1035 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1036 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter.
1037 If that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs
1038 as an @acronym{NNTP} server. That's a long shot, though.
1040 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1041 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1042 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1043 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1045 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1046 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1047 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1048 @acronym{NNTP} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1049 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1050 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1051 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1052 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1053 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1056 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1058 However, if you use one @acronym{NNTP} server regularly and are just
1059 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1060 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1061 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1062 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1063 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1065 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1067 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1068 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1069 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1070 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1071 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1072 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1075 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1076 you would typically set this variable to
1079 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1082 Note: the @acronym{NNTP} back end stores marks in marks files
1083 (@pxref{NNTP marks}). This feature makes it easy to share marks between
1084 several Gnus installations, but may slow down things a bit when fetching
1085 new articles. @xref{NNTP marks}, for more information.
1088 @node The First Time
1089 @section The First Time
1090 @cindex first time usage
1092 If no startup files exist (@pxref{Startup Files}), Gnus will try to
1093 determine what groups should be subscribed by default.
1095 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1096 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1097 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1098 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1101 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1102 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1103 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1105 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1106 help you with most common problems.
1108 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1109 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1113 @node The Server is Down
1114 @section The Server is Down
1115 @cindex server errors
1117 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1118 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1119 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1121 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1122 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1123 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1124 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1125 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1126 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1127 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1129 @findex gnus-no-server
1130 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1132 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1133 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1134 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1135 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1136 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1137 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1138 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1142 @section Slave Gnusae
1145 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1146 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1147 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1148 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1150 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1151 @file{.newsrc} file.
1153 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1154 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1155 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1156 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1157 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1158 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1159 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1162 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1163 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1164 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1165 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1166 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1167 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1168 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1169 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1171 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1172 information in the normal (i.e., master) @file{.newsrc} file.
1174 If the @file{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1175 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1176 file. If you answer ``yes'', the unsaved changes to the master will be
1177 incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
1178 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1185 @cindex subscription
1187 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1188 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1189 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1190 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1191 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1192 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1193 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1194 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1195 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1198 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1199 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1200 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1204 @node Checking New Groups
1205 @subsection Checking New Groups
1207 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1208 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1209 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1210 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1211 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1212 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1213 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1214 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1215 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1216 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1218 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1219 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1220 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1221 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1222 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1223 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1224 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1225 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1226 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1227 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1228 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1230 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1231 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1232 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1233 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1234 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1235 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1238 @node Subscription Methods
1239 @subsection Subscription Methods
1241 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1242 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1243 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1245 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1246 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1248 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1252 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1253 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1254 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1255 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1256 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1258 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1259 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1260 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1261 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1263 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1264 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1265 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1267 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1268 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1269 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1270 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1271 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1272 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1273 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1274 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1275 up. Or something like that.
1277 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1278 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1279 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1280 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1281 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1283 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1284 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1285 Kill all new groups.
1287 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1288 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1289 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1290 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1291 topic parameter that looks like
1297 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1300 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1305 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1306 A closely related variable is
1307 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1308 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1309 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1310 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1313 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1314 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1315 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1316 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1319 @node Filtering New Groups
1320 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1322 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1323 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1324 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1327 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1330 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1331 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1332 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1333 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1334 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1335 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1336 subscribing these groups.
1337 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1338 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1340 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1341 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1342 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1343 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1344 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1345 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1346 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1347 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1349 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1350 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1351 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1352 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous,
1353 but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is
1354 more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is
1355 used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new
1356 groups that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1357 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1358 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1361 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1362 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1365 @node Changing Servers
1366 @section Changing Servers
1367 @cindex changing servers
1369 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another.
1370 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1371 very flaky and you want to use another.
1373 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1374 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1378 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1379 @acronym{NNTP} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1380 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1381 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1384 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1385 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1386 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1387 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1389 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1390 @findex gnus-change-server
1391 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1392 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1393 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1394 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1395 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1397 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1398 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1399 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1400 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1401 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1403 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1404 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1405 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1406 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1407 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1408 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1410 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1411 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1412 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1413 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1415 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1416 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1417 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1418 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1419 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1420 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1421 cache for all groups).
1425 @section Startup Files
1426 @cindex startup files
1431 Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
1432 @file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
1433 groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
1436 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1437 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1438 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1439 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1440 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1441 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1442 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1444 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1445 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1446 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1447 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1448 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1449 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1451 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1452 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1453 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1454 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1455 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1456 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1457 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1458 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1459 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
1460 convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
1461 want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
1464 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1465 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1466 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1467 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1468 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1469 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1470 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1471 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1472 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1473 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1474 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1475 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1477 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1478 @vindex gnus-backup-startup-file
1479 @vindex version-control
1480 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1481 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1482 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1483 If you want version control for this file, set
1484 @code{gnus-backup-startup-file}. It respects the same values as the
1485 @code{version-control} variable.
1487 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1488 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1489 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1490 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1491 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1492 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1493 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1494 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1495 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1496 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1499 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1500 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1502 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1503 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1506 @vindex gnus-init-file
1507 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1508 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1509 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus-init} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1510 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1511 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1512 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1513 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1514 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1515 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1516 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order). If Emacs was invoked with
1517 the @option{-q} or @option{--no-init-file} options (@pxref{Initial
1518 Options, ,Initial Options, emacs, The Emacs Manual}), Gnus doesn't read
1519 @code{gnus-init-file}.
1524 @cindex dribble file
1527 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1528 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1529 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1530 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1531 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1534 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1535 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1538 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1539 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1540 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1542 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1543 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1544 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1545 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1546 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1547 file permissions as the @file{.newsrc} file.
1549 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1550 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1551 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1554 @node The Active File
1555 @section The Active File
1557 @cindex ignored groups
1559 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1560 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1561 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1563 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1564 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1565 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1566 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1567 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1568 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1569 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1572 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1573 @c if you set it to anything else.
1575 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1577 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1578 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1579 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1581 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1582 you actually subscribe to.
1584 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1585 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1586 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1587 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1589 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1590 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1591 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1592 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1593 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1594 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1596 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1597 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1598 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1601 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1602 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1603 @acronym{NNTP} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1604 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1605 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1606 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1608 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1609 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1611 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1612 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1614 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1615 secondary select methods.
1618 @node Startup Variables
1619 @section Startup Variables
1623 @item gnus-load-hook
1624 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1625 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1626 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1627 times you start Gnus.
1629 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1630 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1631 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1633 @item gnus-startup-hook
1634 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1635 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1637 @item gnus-started-hook
1638 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1639 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1642 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1643 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1644 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1645 generating the group buffer.
1647 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1648 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1649 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1650 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1651 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1652 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1653 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1654 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1656 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1657 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1658 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1659 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1660 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1661 @file{~/.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1663 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1664 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1665 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1667 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1668 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1669 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1671 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1672 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1673 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1674 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1680 @chapter Group Buffer
1681 @cindex group buffer
1683 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1685 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1686 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1687 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1688 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1689 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1690 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1691 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1692 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1693 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1694 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1695 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1696 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1697 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1698 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1699 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1700 @c human rights at 9...
1703 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1704 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1705 long as Gnus is active.
1709 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1710 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1711 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1712 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1713 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1714 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1715 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1716 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1722 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1723 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1724 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1725 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1726 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1727 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1728 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1729 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1730 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1731 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1732 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1733 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1734 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1735 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1736 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1737 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1738 * Non-ASCII Group Names:: Accessing groups of non-English names.
1739 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1743 @node Group Buffer Format
1744 @section Group Buffer Format
1747 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1748 * Group Mode Line Specification:: The group buffer mode line.
1749 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1752 You can customize the Group Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
1753 customize-apropos RET gnus-group-tool-bar}. This feature is only
1756 The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly depending on the
1757 cursor position. Therefore, moving around in the Group Buffer is
1758 slower. You can disable this via the variable
1759 @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}. Its default value depends on your
1762 @node Group Line Specification
1763 @subsection Group Line Specification
1764 @cindex group buffer format
1766 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1767 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1769 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1772 25: news.announce.newusers
1773 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1778 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1779 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1780 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1781 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1783 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1784 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1785 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1786 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1787 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1788 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1790 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1792 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1793 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1794 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1795 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1796 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1798 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1799 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1800 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1802 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1807 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1810 Whether the group is subscribed.
1813 Level of subscribedness.
1816 Number of unread articles.
1819 Number of dormant articles.
1822 Number of ticked articles.
1825 Number of read articles.
1828 Number of unseen articles.
1831 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1832 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1834 Gnus uses this estimation because the @acronym{NNTP} protocol provides
1835 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1836 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1837 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1838 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1839 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1840 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job.
1842 The nnml backend (@pxref{Mail Spool}) has a feature called ``group
1843 compaction'' which circumvents this deficiency: the idea is to
1844 renumber all articles from 1, removing all gaps between numbers, hence
1845 getting a correct total count. Other backends may support this in the
1846 future. In order to keep your total article count relatively up to
1847 date, you might want to compact your groups (or even directly your
1848 server) from time to time. @xref{Misc Group Stuff}, @xref{Server Commands}.
1851 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1854 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1863 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1864 comment element in the group parameters.
1867 Newsgroup description. You need to read the group descriptions
1868 before these will appear, and to do that, you either have to set
1869 @code{gnus-read-active-file} or use the group buffer @kbd{M-d}
1873 @samp{m} if moderated.
1876 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1882 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1888 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1892 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1895 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1896 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1897 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1898 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1899 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1902 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1904 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1908 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1911 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1915 The disk space used by the articles fetched by both the cache and
1916 agent. The value is automatically scaled to bytes(B), kilobytes(K),
1917 megabytes(M), or gigabytes(G) to minimize the column width. A format
1918 of %7F is sufficient for a fixed-width column.
1921 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1922 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1923 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1924 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1925 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1926 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1931 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1932 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1933 group, or a bogus native group.
1936 @node Group Mode Line Specification
1937 @subsection Group Mode Line Specification
1938 @cindex group mode line
1940 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1941 The mode line can be changed by setting
1942 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1943 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1947 The native news server.
1949 The native select method.
1953 @node Group Highlighting
1954 @subsection Group Highlighting
1955 @cindex highlighting
1956 @cindex group highlighting
1958 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1959 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1960 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1961 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1962 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1964 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1968 (cond (window-system
1969 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1970 (defface my-group-face-1
1971 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1972 (defface my-group-face-2
1973 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t)))
1974 "Second group face")
1975 (defface my-group-face-3
1976 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1977 (defface my-group-face-4
1978 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1979 (defface my-group-face-5
1980 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1982 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1983 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1984 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1985 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1986 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1987 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1990 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1992 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1999 The number of unread articles in the group.
2003 Whether the group is a mail group.
2005 The level of the group.
2007 The score of the group.
2009 The number of ticked articles in the group.
2011 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather,
2012 @var{max-number} minus @var{min-number} plus one.
2014 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
2015 topic being inserted.
2018 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
2019 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
2020 functions for snarfing info on the group.
2022 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
2023 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
2024 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
2025 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
2026 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
2029 @node Group Maneuvering
2030 @section Group Maneuvering
2031 @cindex group movement
2033 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
2034 expected, hopefully.
2040 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
2041 Go to the next group that has unread articles
2042 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
2048 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
2049 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
2050 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
2054 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2055 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2059 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2060 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2064 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
2065 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
2066 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2070 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2071 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2072 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2075 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2081 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2082 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2083 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2088 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2089 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2090 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2094 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2095 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2096 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2099 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2100 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2101 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2102 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2105 @vindex gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit
2106 If @code{gnus-summary-next-group-on-exit} is @code{t}, when a summary is
2107 exited, the point in the group buffer is moved to the next unread group.
2108 Otherwise, the point is set to the group just exited. The default is
2111 @node Selecting a Group
2112 @section Selecting a Group
2113 @cindex group selection
2118 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2119 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2120 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2121 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2122 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2123 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2124 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{n}, @var{n}
2125 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{n} is
2126 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{n} newest articles, if @var{n} is
2127 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{n})} oldest articles.
2129 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2130 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2131 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2133 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2134 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2139 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2140 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2141 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2142 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2143 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2147 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2148 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2149 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2150 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2151 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2152 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2153 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2154 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2155 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2156 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2159 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2160 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2161 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2162 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2163 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2166 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2167 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2168 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2169 doing any processing of its contents
2170 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2171 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2172 manner will have no permanent effects.
2176 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2177 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should
2178 consider to be a big group. If it is @code{nil}, no groups are
2179 considered big. The default value is 200. If the group has more
2180 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2181 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many
2182 articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a
2183 negative number (@var{-n}), the @var{n} oldest articles will be
2184 fetched. If it is positive, the @var{n} articles that have arrived
2185 most recently will be fetched.
2187 @vindex gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup
2188 @code{gnus-large-ephemeral-newsgroup} is the same as
2189 @code{gnus-large-newsgroup}, but is only used for ephemeral
2192 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles
2193 In groups in some news servers, there might be a big gap between a few
2194 very old articles that will never be expired and the recent ones. In
2195 such a case, the server will return the data like @code{(1 . 30000000)}
2196 for the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, for example. Even if there
2197 are actually only the articles 1-10 and 29999900-30000000, Gnus doesn't
2198 know it at first and prepares for getting 30000000 articles. However,
2199 it will consume hundreds megabytes of memories and might make Emacs get
2200 stuck as the case may be. If you use such news servers, set the
2201 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} to a positive number.
2202 The value means that Gnus ignores articles other than this number of the
2203 latest ones in every group. For instance, the value 10000 makes Gnus
2204 get only the articles 29990001-30000000 (if the latest article number is
2205 30000000 in a group). Note that setting this variable to a number might
2206 prevent you from reading very old articles. The default value of the
2207 variable @code{gnus-newsgroup-maximum-articles} is @code{nil}, which
2208 means Gnus never ignores old articles.
2210 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2211 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2212 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2213 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2214 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2215 Which article this is is controlled by the
2216 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2222 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2225 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2228 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2230 @item unseen-or-unread
2231 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2232 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2236 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2240 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2241 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2243 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2244 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2245 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2246 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2250 @node Subscription Commands
2251 @section Subscription Commands
2252 @cindex subscription
2260 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2261 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2262 Toggle subscription to the current group
2263 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2269 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2270 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2271 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2272 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2278 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2279 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2280 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2286 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2287 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2290 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2291 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2292 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2293 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2294 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2300 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2301 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2305 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2306 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2309 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2310 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2311 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2312 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2313 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2314 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2315 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2316 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2317 @file{.newsrc} file.
2321 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2331 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2332 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2333 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2334 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2335 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2336 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2341 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2342 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2343 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2347 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2348 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2349 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2351 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2352 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2353 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2354 If you have switched from one @acronym{NNTP} server to another, all your marks
2355 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2356 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2363 @section Group Levels
2367 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2368 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2369 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2370 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2371 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2373 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2379 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2380 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2381 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2382 prompted for a level.
2385 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2386 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2387 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2388 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2389 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2390 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2391 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2392 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2393 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2394 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2395 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2396 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2397 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2398 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2399 reasons of efficiency.
2401 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2402 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2404 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2405 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2406 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2407 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2408 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2409 groups are hidden, in a way.
2411 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2412 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2413 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2414 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2415 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2416 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2418 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2419 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2420 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2421 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2422 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2423 list of killed groups.)
2425 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2426 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2427 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2429 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2430 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2431 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2432 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2433 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2434 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2435 relevant valid ranges.
2437 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2438 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2439 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2440 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2441 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2442 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2445 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2446 one with the best level.
2448 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2449 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2450 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2453 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2454 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2455 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2456 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2459 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2460 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2461 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2462 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2464 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2465 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2466 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2467 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2468 to 5. The default is 6.
2472 @section Group Score
2477 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2478 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2479 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2482 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2483 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2484 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2485 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2486 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2487 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2488 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2489 least significant part.))
2491 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2492 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2493 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2494 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2495 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2496 action after each summary exit, you can add
2497 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2498 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2499 slow things down somewhat.
2502 @node Marking Groups
2503 @section Marking Groups
2504 @cindex marking groups
2506 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2507 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2508 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2509 bidding on those groups.
2511 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2512 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2513 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2521 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2522 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2528 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2529 Remove the mark from the current group
2530 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2534 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2535 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2539 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2540 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2544 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2545 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2549 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2550 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2551 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2554 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2556 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2557 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2558 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2559 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2560 the command to be executed.
2563 @node Foreign Groups
2564 @section Foreign Groups
2565 @cindex foreign groups
2567 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2568 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2569 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2570 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2573 Changes from the group editing commands are stored in
2574 @file{~/.newsrc.eld} (@code{gnus-startup-file}). An alternative is the
2575 variable @code{gnus-parameters}, @xref{Group Parameters}.
2581 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2582 @cindex making groups
2583 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2584 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2585 to subscribe to @acronym{NNTP} groups (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
2589 @findex gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group
2590 Make an ephemeral group (@code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group}). Gnus
2591 will prompt you for a name, a method and an @dfn{address}.
2595 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2596 @cindex renaming groups
2597 Rename the current group to something else
2598 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2599 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2605 @findex gnus-group-customize
2606 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2610 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2611 @cindex renaming groups
2612 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2613 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2617 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2618 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2619 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2623 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2624 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2625 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2629 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2631 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2632 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2637 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2638 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2642 @cindex (ding) archive
2643 @cindex archive group
2644 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2645 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2646 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2647 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2648 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2649 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2650 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2654 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2656 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2657 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2658 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2659 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2663 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2665 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2666 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2667 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2671 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2672 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2674 Make a group based on some file or other
2675 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2676 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2677 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2678 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2679 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2680 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2681 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2682 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2683 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2687 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2688 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2689 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2690 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2694 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2698 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2699 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2700 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2701 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2702 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2703 @xref{Web Searches}.
2705 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2706 to a particular group by using a match string like
2707 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2711 @findex gnus-group-make-rss-group
2712 Make a group based on an @acronym{RSS} feed
2713 (@code{gnus-group-make-rss-group}). You will be prompted for an URL.
2717 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2718 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2719 This function will delete the current group
2720 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2721 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2722 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2723 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2724 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} groups), though.
2728 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2729 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2730 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2734 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2735 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2736 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2739 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2742 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2743 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2744 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2745 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2746 groups from different @acronym{NNTP} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2747 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2751 The following commands create ephemeral groups. They can be called not
2752 only from the Group buffer, but in any Gnus buffer.
2755 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2756 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group
2757 @vindex gnus-gmane-group-download-format
2758 Read an ephemeral group on Gmane.org. The articles are downloaded via
2759 HTTP using the URL specified by @code{gnus-gmane-group-download-format}.
2760 Gnus will prompt you for a group name, the start article number and an
2763 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2764 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group-url
2765 This command is similar to @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-gmane-group}, but
2766 the group name and the article number and range are constructed from a
2767 given @acronym{URL}. Supported @acronym{URL} formats include e.g.
2768 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12300/focus=12399},
2769 @url{http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2770 @url{http://article.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/},
2771 @url{http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.foo.bar/12345/}, and
2772 @url{http://news.gmane.org/group/gmane.foo.bar/thread=12345}.
2774 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2775 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group
2776 Read an Emacs bug report in an ephemeral group. Gnus will prompt for a
2777 bug number. The default is the number at point. The @acronym{URL} is
2778 specified in @code{gnus-bug-group-download-format-alist}.
2780 @item gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2781 @findex gnus-read-ephemeral-debian-bug-group
2782 Read a Debian bug report in an ephemeral group. Analog to
2783 @code{gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group}.
2786 Some of these command are also useful for article buttons, @xref{Article
2794 '("#\\([0-9]+\\)\\>" 1
2795 (string-match "\\<emacs\\>" (or gnus-newsgroup-name ""))
2796 gnus-read-ephemeral-emacs-bug-group 1))
2800 @node Group Parameters
2801 @section Group Parameters
2802 @cindex group parameters
2804 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2806 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2807 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2808 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2809 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2810 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2811 Additionally, you can set group parameters via the
2812 @code{gnus-parameters} variable, see below.
2814 Here's an example group parameter list:
2817 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2821 We see that each element consists of a ``dotted pair''---the thing before
2822 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2823 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2824 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2826 Some parameters have correspondent customizable variables, each of which
2827 is an alist of regexps and values.
2829 The following group parameters can be used:
2834 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2837 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2840 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2841 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2842 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2843 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2844 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2846 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2847 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2848 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2849 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2850 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2851 list address instead.
2853 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2857 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2860 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2863 It is totally ignored
2864 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2865 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2867 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2868 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2869 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2870 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2871 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2873 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2874 @cindex mail list groups
2875 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2876 entering summary buffer.
2878 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2883 @cindex Mail-Followup-To
2884 @findex gnus-find-subscribed-addresses
2885 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2886 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2887 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2888 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2889 headers for your posts to these lists. The second step is to put the
2890 following in your @file{.gnus.el}
2893 (setq message-subscribed-address-functions
2894 '(gnus-find-subscribed-addresses))
2897 @xref{Mailing Lists, ,Mailing Lists, message, The Message Manual}, for
2898 a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2902 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2903 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2904 of whether it has any unread articles.
2906 This parameter cannot be set via @code{gnus-parameters}. See
2907 @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.
2909 @item broken-reply-to
2910 @cindex broken-reply-to
2911 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2912 headers in this group are to be ignored, and for the header to be hidden
2913 if @code{reply-to} is part of @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}. This
2914 can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv
2915 has inserted @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv
2916 itself. That is broken behavior. So there!
2920 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2921 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2925 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2926 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2927 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2932 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2933 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2934 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2935 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2936 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2937 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2938 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
2940 @strong{Caveat}: Adding @code{(gcc-self . t)} to the parameter list of
2941 @code{nntp} groups (or the like) isn't valid. An @code{nntp} server
2942 doesn't accept articles.
2946 @cindex expiring mail
2947 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2948 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2949 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2951 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2954 @cindex total-expire
2955 @cindex expiring mail
2956 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2957 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2958 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2959 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2962 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2966 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2967 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2968 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2969 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2970 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2971 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2972 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2975 @cindex expiry-target
2976 Where expired messages end up. This parameter overrides
2977 @code{nnmail-expiry-target}.
2980 @cindex score file group parameter
2981 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2982 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2983 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2986 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2987 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2988 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2989 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2992 @cindex admin-address
2993 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2994 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2995 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2996 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
3000 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
3001 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
3005 Display all articles, both read and unread.
3008 Display the last @var{integer} articles in the group. This is the same as
3009 entering the group with @kbd{C-u @var{integer}}.
3012 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
3016 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
3018 Here are some examples:
3022 Display only unread articles.
3025 Display everything except expirable articles.
3027 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
3028 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
3032 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
3033 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
3034 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
3035 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
3036 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
3040 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
3041 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
3042 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
3046 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
3047 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
3048 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
3052 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
3053 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
3054 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
3056 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
3058 @item ignored-charsets
3059 @cindex ignored-charset
3060 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
3061 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
3062 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
3064 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
3067 @cindex posting-style
3068 You can store additional posting style information for this group
3069 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
3070 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
3071 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
3072 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
3074 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
3075 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
3076 like this in the group parameters:
3081 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
3082 (signature "Funky Signature"))
3085 If you're using topics to organize your group buffer
3086 (@pxref{Group Topics}), note that posting styles can also be set in
3087 the topics parameters. Posting styles in topic parameters apply to all
3088 groups in this topic. More precisely, the posting-style settings for a
3089 group result from the hierarchical merging of all posting-style
3090 entries in the parameters of this group and all the topics it belongs
3096 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
3097 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
3101 If it is set, and the setting of @code{mail-sources} includes a
3102 @code{group} mail source (@pxref{Mail Sources}), the value is a
3103 mail source for this group.
3107 An item like @code{(banner . @var{regexp})} causes any part of an article
3108 that matches the regular expression @var{regexp} to be stripped. Instead of
3109 @var{regexp}, you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
3110 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
3111 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
3115 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
3116 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
3117 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
3118 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
3120 For example, if the @samp{INBOX.list.sieve} group has the @code{(sieve
3121 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
3122 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
3123 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
3126 if address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com" @{
3127 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3131 To generate tests for multiple email-addresses use a group parameter
3132 like @code{(sieve address "sender" ("name@@one.org" else@@two.org"))}.
3133 When generating a sieve script (@pxref{Sieve Commands}) Sieve code
3134 like the following is generated:
3137 if address "sender" ["name@@one.org", "else@@two.org"] @{
3138 fileinto "INBOX.list.sieve";
3142 See @pxref{Sieve Commands} for commands and variables that might be of
3143 interest in relation to the sieve parameter.
3145 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve,
3146 Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
3148 @item (agent parameters)
3149 If the agent has been enabled, you can set any of the its parameters
3150 to control the behavior of the agent in individual groups. See Agent
3151 Parameters in @ref{Category Syntax}. Most users will choose to set
3152 agent parameters in either an agent category or group topic to
3153 minimize the configuration effort.
3155 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
3156 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
3157 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
3158 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
3159 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
3160 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
3161 @code{eval}ed there.
3163 Note that this feature sets the variable locally to the summary buffer.
3164 But some variables are evaluated in the article buffer, or in the
3165 message buffer (of a reply or followup or otherwise newly created
3166 message). As a workaround, it might help to add the variable in
3167 question to @code{gnus-newsgroup-variables}. @xref{Various Summary
3168 Stuff}. So if you want to set @code{message-from-style} via the group
3169 parameters, then you may need the following statement elsewhere in your
3170 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3173 (add-to-list 'gnus-newsgroup-variables 'message-from-style)
3176 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
3177 A use for this feature is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
3178 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
3181 nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps
3184 has the tag @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this
3185 tag can be removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for
3186 the group by putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")}
3187 into the group parameters for the group.
3189 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function. If you want to
3190 hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put something like
3191 @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that group.
3192 @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the (meaningless) result of the
3195 Alternatively, since the VARIABLE becomes local to the group, this
3196 pattern can be used to temporarily change a hook. For example, if the
3197 following is added to a group parameter
3200 (gnus-summary-prepared-hook
3201 '(lambda nil (local-set-key "d" (local-key-binding "n"))))
3204 when the group is entered, the 'd' key will not mark the article as
3209 @vindex gnus-parameters
3210 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
3211 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect (For this
3212 case see @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} as an alternative.).
3216 (setq gnus-parameters
3218 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3219 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
3220 (gnus-summary-line-format
3221 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
3225 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
3229 (gnus-use-scoring t))
3233 (broken-reply-to . t))))
3236 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
3237 the @code{to-group} example shows.
3239 @vindex gnus-parameters-case-fold-search
3240 By default, whether comparing the group name and one of those regexps
3241 specified in @code{gnus-parameters} is done in a case-sensitive manner
3242 or a case-insensitive manner depends on the value of
3243 @code{case-fold-search} at the time when the comparison is done. The
3244 value of @code{case-fold-search} is typically @code{t}; it means, for
3245 example, the element @code{("INBOX\\.FOO" (total-expire . t))} might be
3246 applied to both the @samp{INBOX.FOO} group and the @samp{INBOX.foo}
3247 group. If you want to make those regexps always case-sensitive, set the
3248 value of the @code{gnus-parameters-case-fold-search} variable to
3249 @code{nil}. Otherwise, set it to @code{t} if you want to compare them
3250 always in a case-insensitive manner.
3252 You can define different sorting to different groups via
3253 @code{gnus-parameters}. Here is an example to sort an @acronym{NNTP}
3254 group by reverse date to see the latest news at the top and an
3255 @acronym{RSS} group by subject. In this example, the first group is the
3256 Debian daily news group @code{gmane.linux.debian.user.news} from
3257 news.gmane.org. The @acronym{RSS} group corresponds to the Debian
3258 weekly news RSS feed
3259 @url{http://packages.debian.org/unstable/newpkg_main.en.rdf},
3265 '(("nntp.*gmane\\.debian\\.user\\.news"
3266 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3267 (gnus-article-sort-functions '((not gnus-article-sort-by-date)))
3268 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3269 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
3271 (gnus-show-threads nil)
3272 (gnus-article-sort-functions 'gnus-article-sort-by-subject)
3273 (gnus-use-adaptive-scoring nil)
3274 (gnus-use-scoring t)
3275 (gnus-score-find-score-files-function 'gnus-score-find-single)
3276 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%d %I%(%[ %s %]%)\n"))))
3280 @node Listing Groups
3281 @section Listing Groups
3282 @cindex group listing
3284 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3292 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3293 List all groups that have unread articles
3294 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3295 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3296 only lists groups of level five (i.e.,
3297 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3304 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3305 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3306 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3307 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3308 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3309 unsubscribed groups).
3313 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3314 List all unread groups on a specific level
3315 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3316 with no unread articles.
3320 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3321 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3322 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3323 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3328 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3329 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3333 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3334 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3335 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3339 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3340 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3344 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3345 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3346 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3347 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3348 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3349 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3350 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3351 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3355 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3356 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3357 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3361 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3362 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3363 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3367 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3368 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3372 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3373 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3377 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3378 List groups limited within the current selection
3379 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3383 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3384 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3388 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3389 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3393 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3394 @cindex visible group parameter
3395 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3396 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3397 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3398 get the same effect.
3400 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3401 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3402 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3403 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3404 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3407 @node Sorting Groups
3408 @section Sorting Groups
3409 @cindex sorting groups
3411 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3412 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3413 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3414 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3415 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3416 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3421 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3422 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3423 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3425 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3426 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3427 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3429 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3430 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3431 Sort by group level.
3433 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3434 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3435 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3437 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3438 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3439 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3440 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3442 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3443 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3444 Sort by number of unread articles.
3446 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3447 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3448 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3450 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3451 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3452 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3457 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3458 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3462 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3463 some sorting criteria:
3467 @kindex G S a (Group)
3468 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3469 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3470 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3473 @kindex G S u (Group)
3474 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3475 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3476 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3479 @kindex G S l (Group)
3480 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3481 Sort the group buffer by group level
3482 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3485 @kindex G S v (Group)
3486 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3487 Sort the group buffer by group score
3488 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3491 @kindex G S r (Group)
3492 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3493 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3494 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3497 @kindex G S m (Group)
3498 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3499 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name@*
3500 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3503 @kindex G S n (Group)
3504 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3505 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3506 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3510 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3511 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3513 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3514 commands will sort in reverse order.
3516 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3520 @kindex G P a (Group)
3521 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3522 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3523 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3526 @kindex G P u (Group)
3527 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3528 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3529 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3532 @kindex G P l (Group)
3533 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3534 Sort the groups by group level
3535 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3538 @kindex G P v (Group)
3539 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3540 Sort the groups by group score
3541 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3544 @kindex G P r (Group)
3545 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3546 Sort the groups by group rank
3547 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3550 @kindex G P m (Group)
3551 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3552 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name@*
3553 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3556 @kindex G P n (Group)
3557 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3558 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3559 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3562 @kindex G P s (Group)
3563 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3564 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3568 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3572 @node Group Maintenance
3573 @section Group Maintenance
3574 @cindex bogus groups
3579 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3580 Find bogus groups and delete them
3581 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3585 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3586 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3587 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3588 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3589 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3593 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3594 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3595 @cindex expiring mail
3596 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3597 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3598 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3599 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3602 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3603 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3604 @cindex expiring mail
3605 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3606 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3611 @node Browse Foreign Server
3612 @section Browse Foreign Server
3613 @cindex foreign servers
3614 @cindex browsing servers
3619 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3620 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3621 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3622 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3625 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3626 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3627 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3628 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3630 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3635 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3636 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3640 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3641 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3644 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3645 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3646 Enter the current group and display the first article
3647 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3650 @kindex RET (Browse)
3651 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3652 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3656 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3657 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3658 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3664 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3665 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3669 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3670 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3674 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3675 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3676 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3681 @section Exiting Gnus
3682 @cindex exiting Gnus
3684 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3689 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3690 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3691 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3692 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3696 @findex gnus-group-exit
3697 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3698 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3702 @findex gnus-group-quit
3703 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3704 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3707 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3708 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3709 @vindex gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook
3710 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3711 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3712 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3718 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3719 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3720 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3726 @section Group Topics
3729 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3730 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3731 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3732 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3733 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3734 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3738 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3739 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3750 2: alt.religion.emacs
3753 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3755 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3756 13: comp.sources.unix
3759 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3761 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3762 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3763 is a toggling command.)
3765 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3766 dum@dots{} Nice tune, that@dots{} la la la@dots{} What, you're back?
3767 Yes, and now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed
3768 under @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
3771 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3772 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3773 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
3776 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3780 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3781 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3782 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3783 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3784 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3788 @node Topic Commands
3789 @subsection Topic Commands
3790 @cindex topic commands
3792 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3793 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3794 definitions slightly.
3796 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3797 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3798 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3799 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3800 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3801 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3803 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3810 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3811 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3812 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3816 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3818 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3819 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3820 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3821 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3824 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3825 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3826 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3827 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3831 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3832 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3833 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3834 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3840 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3841 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3842 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3846 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3847 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3848 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3851 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3852 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the ``cut'' part of cut and paste. Then,
3853 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the ``Gnus''
3854 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the ``paste'' part of cut and
3855 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3857 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3858 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3862 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3863 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3870 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3872 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3873 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3874 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3875 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3876 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3877 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3881 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3887 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3888 Move the current group to some other topic
3889 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3890 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3894 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3895 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3899 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3900 Copy the current group to some other topic
3901 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3902 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3906 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3907 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3908 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3912 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3913 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3914 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3918 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3919 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3920 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3921 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3922 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3923 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3924 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3927 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3928 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3932 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3933 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3934 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3938 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3939 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3940 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3944 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3945 Toggle hiding empty topics
3946 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3950 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3951 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3952 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3953 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3956 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3957 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3958 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3959 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}). This command works recursively on
3960 sub-topics unless given a prefix.
3963 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3964 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3965 @cindex expiring mail
3966 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3967 expiry process (if any)
3968 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3972 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3973 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3976 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3977 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3978 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3982 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3983 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3984 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3987 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3988 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3989 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3992 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3993 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3994 Go to the previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3998 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3999 @cindex group parameters
4000 @cindex topic parameters
4002 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
4003 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
4008 @node Topic Variables
4009 @subsection Topic Variables
4010 @cindex topic variables
4012 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
4013 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
4015 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
4016 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
4017 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4030 Number of groups in the topic.
4032 Number of unread articles in the topic.
4034 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
4037 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
4038 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
4039 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
4042 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
4043 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
4045 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
4046 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
4047 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
4051 @subsection Topic Sorting
4052 @cindex topic sorting
4054 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
4060 @kindex T S a (Topic)
4061 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
4062 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
4063 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
4066 @kindex T S u (Topic)
4067 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
4068 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
4069 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
4072 @kindex T S l (Topic)
4073 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
4074 Sort the current topic by group level
4075 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
4078 @kindex T S v (Topic)
4079 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
4080 Sort the current topic by group score
4081 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
4084 @kindex T S r (Topic)
4085 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
4086 Sort the current topic by group rank
4087 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
4090 @kindex T S m (Topic)
4091 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
4092 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
4093 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
4096 @kindex T S e (Topic)
4097 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
4098 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
4099 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
4102 @kindex T S s (Topic)
4103 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
4104 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
4105 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
4106 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
4110 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
4111 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
4115 @node Topic Topology
4116 @subsection Topic Topology
4117 @cindex topic topology
4120 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
4127 2: alt.religion.emacs
4130 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4132 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4133 13: comp.sources.unix
4137 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
4138 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
4139 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
4144 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
4145 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
4149 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
4150 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
4151 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
4152 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
4153 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
4154 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
4156 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
4157 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
4158 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
4161 @node Topic Parameters
4162 @subsection Topic Parameters
4163 @cindex topic parameters
4165 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent
4166 (and ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid
4167 topic parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}). When the agent is
4168 enabled, all agent parameters (See Agent Parameters in @ref{Category
4169 Syntax}) are also valid topic parameters.
4171 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
4176 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
4177 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
4178 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
4181 @item subscribe-level
4182 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
4183 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
4184 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
4188 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
4189 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
4190 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
4191 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
4198 2: alt.religion.emacs
4202 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
4204 8: comp.binaries.fractals
4205 13: comp.sources.unix
4210 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
4211 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
4212 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
4213 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
4214 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
4215 . "religion.SCORE")}.
4217 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
4218 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
4219 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
4220 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
4221 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
4223 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
4224 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
4225 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
4226 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
4227 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
4228 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
4229 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
4230 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
4233 @node Non-ASCII Group Names
4234 @section Accessing groups of non-English names
4235 @cindex non-ascii group names
4237 There are some news servers that provide groups of which the names are
4238 expressed with their native languages in the world. For instance, in a
4239 certain news server there are some newsgroups of which the names are
4240 spelled in Chinese, where people are talking in Chinese. You can, of
4241 course, subscribe to such news groups using Gnus. Currently Gnus
4242 supports non-@acronym{ASCII} group names not only with the @code{nntp}
4243 back end but also with the @code{nnml} back end and the @code{nnrss}
4246 Every such group name is encoded by a certain charset in the server
4247 side (in an @acronym{NNTP} server its administrator determines the
4248 charset, but for groups in the other back ends it is determined by you).
4249 Gnus has to display the decoded ones for you in the group buffer and the
4250 article buffer, and needs to use the encoded ones when communicating
4251 with servers. However, Gnus doesn't know what charset is used for each
4252 non-@acronym{ASCII} group name. The following two variables are just
4253 the ones for telling Gnus what charset should be used for each group:
4256 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4257 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4258 An alist of select methods and charsets. The default value is
4259 @code{nil}. The names of groups in the server specified by that select
4260 method are all supposed to use the corresponding charset. For example:
4263 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4264 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4267 Charsets specified for groups with this variable are preferred to the
4268 ones specified for the same groups with the
4269 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} variable (see below).
4271 A select method can be very long, like:
4275 (nntp-address "news.gmane.org")
4276 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
4277 (nntp-open-connection-function
4278 nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
4279 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
4280 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
4281 ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
4282 (nntp-via-address @dots{}))
4285 In that case, you can truncate it into @code{(nntp "gmane")} in this
4286 variable. That is, it is enough to contain only the back end name and
4289 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4290 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4291 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4292 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names.
4293 @code{((".*" . utf-8))} is the default value if UTF-8 is supported,
4294 otherwise the default is @code{nil}. For example:
4297 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4298 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)
4302 Note that this variable is ignored if the match is made with
4303 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist}.
4306 Those two variables are used also to determine the charset for encoding
4307 and decoding non-@acronym{ASCII} group names that are in the back ends
4308 other than @code{nntp}. It means that it is you who determine it. If
4309 you do nothing, the charset used for group names in those back ends will
4310 all be @code{utf-8} because of the last element of
4311 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4313 There is one more important variable for non-@acronym{ASCII} group
4314 names. @emph{XEmacs users must set this}. Emacs users necessarily need
4318 @item nnmail-pathname-coding-system
4319 The value of this variable should be a coding system or @code{nil}
4320 (which is the default). The @code{nnml} back end, the @code{nnrss} back
4321 end, the @acronym{NNTP} marks feature (@pxref{NNTP marks}), the agent,
4322 and the cache use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names in those files and
4323 directories. This variable overrides the value of
4324 @code{file-name-coding-system} which specifies the coding system used
4325 when encoding and decoding those file names and directory names.
4327 In XEmacs (with the @code{mule} feature), @code{file-name-coding-system}
4328 is the only means to specify the coding system used to encode and decode
4329 file names. Therefore, @emph{you, XEmacs users, have to set it} to the
4330 coding system that is suitable to encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII}
4331 group names. On the other hand, Emacs uses the value of
4332 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} if @code{file-name-coding-system}
4333 is @code{nil}. Normally the value of
4334 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} is initialized according to the
4335 locale, so you will need to do nothing if the value is suitable to
4336 encode and decode non-@acronym{ASCII} group names.
4338 The value of this variable (or @code{default-file-name-coding-system})
4339 does not necessarily need to be the same value that is determined by
4340 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} and
4341 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist}.
4343 If you want to subscribe to the groups spelled in Chinese but
4344 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} is initialized by default to
4345 @code{iso-latin-1} for example, that is the most typical case where you
4346 have to set @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} even if you are an
4347 Emacs user. The @code{utf-8} coding system is a good candidate for it.
4348 Otherwise, you may change the locale in your system so that
4349 @code{default-file-name-coding-system} may be initialized to an
4350 appropriate value, instead of specifying this variable.
4353 Note that when you copy or move articles from a non-@acronym{ASCII}
4354 group to another group, the charset used to encode and decode group
4355 names should be the same in both groups. Otherwise the Newsgroups
4356 header will be displayed incorrectly in the article buffer.
4359 @node Misc Group Stuff
4360 @section Misc Group Stuff
4363 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
4364 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
4365 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
4366 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
4367 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
4374 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Group)
4375 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4376 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4379 (define-key gnus-group-mode-map (kbd "v j d")
4382 (gnus-group-jump-to-group "nndraft:drafts")))
4385 On keys reserved for users in Emacs and on keybindings in general
4386 @xref{Keymaps, Keymaps, , emacs, The Emacs Editor}.
4390 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
4391 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
4392 @xref{Server Buffer}.
4396 @findex gnus-group-post-news
4397 Start composing a message (a news by default)
4398 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
4399 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
4400 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
4401 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
4402 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4406 @findex gnus-group-mail
4407 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
4408 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
4409 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
4410 @xref{Composing Messages}.
4414 @findex gnus-group-news
4415 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
4416 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
4417 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
4419 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
4420 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
4421 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
4422 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
4423 for this to work though.
4427 @findex gnus-group-compact-group
4429 Compact the group under point (@code{gnus-group-compact-group}).
4430 Currently implemented only in nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes
4431 gaps between article numbers, hence getting a correct total article
4436 Variables for the group buffer:
4440 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
4441 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
4442 is called after the group buffer has been
4445 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4446 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4447 is called after the group buffer is
4448 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4451 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4452 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4453 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4454 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4456 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4457 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4458 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4459 whether they are empty or not.
4463 @node Scanning New Messages
4464 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4465 @cindex new messages
4466 @cindex scanning new news
4472 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4473 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4474 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4475 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4476 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4477 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4482 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4483 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4484 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4485 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4486 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4487 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4488 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4490 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4491 @cindex activating groups
4493 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4494 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4499 @findex gnus-group-restart
4500 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4501 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4502 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4506 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4507 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4509 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4510 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4514 @node Group Information
4515 @subsection Group Information
4516 @cindex group information
4517 @cindex information on groups
4524 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4525 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4528 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} for the current group
4529 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the @acronym{FAQ}
4530 from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on
4531 a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
4532 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4533 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be
4534 used for fetching the file.
4536 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4537 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4541 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4542 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4544 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4545 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4548 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4549 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4550 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4554 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4555 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4556 @cindex control message
4557 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4558 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4559 group if given a prefix argument.
4561 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4562 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4563 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4564 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4566 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4567 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed
4568 Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
4572 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4574 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4575 @cindex describing groups
4576 @cindex group description
4577 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4578 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4579 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4583 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4584 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4585 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4592 @findex gnus-version
4593 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4597 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4598 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4601 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4604 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4605 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4609 @node Group Timestamp
4610 @subsection Group Timestamp
4612 @cindex group timestamps
4614 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4615 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4616 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4619 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4622 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4624 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4625 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4628 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4629 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4632 This will result in lines looking like:
4635 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4636 0: custom 19961002T012713
4639 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4640 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4644 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4645 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4648 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4649 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4653 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4654 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4655 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4656 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4658 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4664 @subsection File Commands
4665 @cindex file commands
4671 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4672 @vindex gnus-init-file
4673 @cindex reading init file
4674 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4675 @file{~/.gnus.el}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4679 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4680 @cindex saving .newsrc
4681 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4682 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4683 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4686 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4687 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4688 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4693 @node Sieve Commands
4694 @subsection Sieve Commands
4695 @cindex group sieve commands
4697 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4698 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4699 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4700 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4701 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4703 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4704 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4705 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4706 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4707 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4708 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4709 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4710 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4711 regenerate the Sieve script.
4713 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4714 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4715 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4716 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4717 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4718 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4719 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4720 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4721 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4722 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4725 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4726 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4731 @xref{Top, Emacs Sieve, Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4737 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4738 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4739 @cindex generating sieve script
4740 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4741 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4745 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4746 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4747 @cindex updating sieve script
4748 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4749 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4750 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4755 @node Summary Buffer
4756 @chapter Summary Buffer
4757 @cindex summary buffer
4759 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4760 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4762 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4763 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4765 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4767 You can customize the Summary Mode tool bar, see @kbd{M-x
4768 customize-apropos RET gnus-summary-tool-bar}. This feature is only
4772 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Summary)
4773 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
4774 command or better use it as a prefix key. For example:
4776 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map (kbd "v -") "LrS") ;; lower subthread
4780 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4781 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4782 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4783 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4784 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4785 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4786 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4787 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4788 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4789 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4790 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4791 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4792 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4793 * Sticky Articles:: Article buffers that are not reused.
4794 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4795 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4796 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4797 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4798 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4799 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4800 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4801 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4802 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4803 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4804 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4805 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4806 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4807 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4808 or reselecting the current group.
4809 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4810 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4811 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4812 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4816 @node Summary Buffer Format
4817 @section Summary Buffer Format
4818 @cindex summary buffer format
4822 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4823 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4824 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4830 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4831 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4832 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4833 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4836 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4837 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4838 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4839 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4840 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4841 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4842 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4843 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4844 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4845 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4846 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4849 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4850 'mail-extract-address-components)
4853 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4854 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4855 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4856 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4859 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4860 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4862 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4863 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4864 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4865 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4866 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4868 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4869 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4870 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4871 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4872 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4873 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4875 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4877 The following format specification characters and extended format
4878 specification(s) are understood:
4884 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4885 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4887 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4888 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4889 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4891 Full @code{From} header.
4893 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4895 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4898 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4899 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4900 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4901 may be more thorough.
4903 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4906 Number of lines in the article.
4908 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4909 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4911 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4912 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4914 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4916 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4917 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4930 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4931 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4932 replacing the default @acronym{ASCII} characters with graphic
4933 line-drawing glyphs.
4935 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4936 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4937 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4938 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4940 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4941 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-false-root
4942 Used for the false root of a thread (@pxref{Loose Threads}). If
4943 @code{nil}, use subject instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4945 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4946 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4947 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4948 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4950 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4951 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4952 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4954 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4955 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4956 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4958 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4959 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4960 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4962 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4963 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4964 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4969 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4970 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4972 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4973 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4975 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4976 for adopted articles.
4978 One space for each thread level.
4980 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4982 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4985 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4986 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4987 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4990 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4992 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4993 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4994 default level. If the difference between
4995 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4996 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
5004 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
5006 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
5012 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
5013 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
5015 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
5016 article has any children.
5022 Desired cursor position (instead of after first colon).
5024 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
5025 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
5027 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
5028 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
5029 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{x}}, where @var{x} is the letter
5030 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
5031 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
5032 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
5035 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
5036 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
5037 There can only be one such area.
5039 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
5040 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
5041 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
5042 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
5043 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
5044 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
5046 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
5047 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
5049 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
5052 @node To From Newsgroups
5053 @subsection To From Newsgroups
5057 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
5058 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
5059 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
5060 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
5061 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
5065 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
5066 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
5067 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
5071 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5072 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
5075 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
5076 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
5079 @findex gnus-extra-header
5080 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
5081 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
5082 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
5085 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
5089 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5090 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
5091 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
5092 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
5093 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
5094 headers are used instead.
5096 To distinguish regular articles from those where the @code{From} field
5097 has been swapped, a string is prefixed to the @code{To} or
5098 @code{Newsgroups} header in the summary line. By default the string is
5099 @samp{-> } for @code{To} and @samp{=> } for @code{Newsgroups}, you can
5100 customize these strings with @code{gnus-summary-to-prefix} and
5101 @code{gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix}.
5105 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
5106 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
5107 to include extra headers when generating overview (@acronym{NOV}) files.
5108 If you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after
5109 changing this variable, by entering the server buffer using @kbd{^},
5110 and then @kbd{g} on the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause
5113 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
5114 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
5115 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
5116 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
5118 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
5122 (setq gnus-extra-headers
5124 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
5125 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
5126 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
5127 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
5131 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
5134 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
5135 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
5138 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
5139 the @acronym{NOV} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
5140 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
5146 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
5147 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
5150 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
5151 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
5153 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
5154 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
5155 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
5156 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
5158 Here are the elements you can play with:
5164 Unprefixed group name.
5166 Current article number.
5168 Current article score.
5172 Number of unread articles in this group.
5174 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
5177 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
5178 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
5179 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
5180 and no unselected ones.
5182 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
5183 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
5185 Subject of the current article.
5187 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
5189 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
5191 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5193 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
5195 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
5197 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
5201 @node Summary Highlighting
5202 @subsection Summary Highlighting
5206 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5207 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
5208 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
5209 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
5210 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5212 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
5213 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
5214 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
5215 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
5217 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
5218 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
5219 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
5220 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
5222 @item gnus-summary-highlight
5223 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
5224 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
5225 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
5226 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
5227 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
5230 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
5231 ((> score default) . bold))
5233 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
5234 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
5238 @node Summary Maneuvering
5239 @section Summary Maneuvering
5240 @cindex summary movement
5242 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
5243 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
5245 None of these commands select articles.
5250 @kindex M-n (Summary)
5251 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
5252 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
5253 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
5254 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
5258 @kindex M-p (Summary)
5259 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
5260 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
5261 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
5262 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
5265 @kindex G g (Summary)
5266 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
5267 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
5268 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
5271 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
5272 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
5273 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
5274 to the group buffer.
5276 Variables related to summary movement:
5280 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
5281 @item gnus-auto-select-next
5282 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
5283 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
5284 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
5285 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
5286 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
5287 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
5288 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
5289 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
5290 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
5291 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
5292 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
5293 @pxref{Group Levels}.
5295 @item gnus-auto-select-same
5296 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
5297 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
5298 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
5299 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
5300 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
5301 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
5303 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
5305 @item gnus-summary-check-current
5306 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
5307 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
5308 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
5309 Instead, they will choose the current article.
5311 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
5312 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
5313 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
5314 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
5315 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
5316 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
5317 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
5318 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
5321 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
5322 the given number of lines from the top.
5327 @node Choosing Articles
5328 @section Choosing Articles
5329 @cindex selecting articles
5332 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
5333 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
5337 @node Choosing Commands
5338 @subsection Choosing Commands
5340 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
5341 and they all select and display an article.
5343 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
5344 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
5348 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5349 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5350 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
5351 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5353 If you have an article window open already and you press @kbd{SPACE}
5354 again, the article will be scrolled. This lets you conveniently
5355 @kbd{SPACE} through an entire newsgroup. @xref{Paging the Article}.
5360 @kindex G n (Summary)
5361 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
5362 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
5363 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
5368 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
5369 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
5370 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
5375 @kindex G N (Summary)
5376 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
5377 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
5382 @kindex G P (Summary)
5383 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
5384 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
5387 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
5388 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
5389 Go to the next article with the same subject
5390 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
5393 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
5394 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
5395 Go to the previous article with the same subject
5396 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
5400 @kindex G f (Summary)
5402 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
5403 Go to the first unread article
5404 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
5408 @kindex G b (Summary)
5410 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
5411 Go to the unread article with the highest score
5412 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
5413 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
5418 @kindex G l (Summary)
5419 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
5420 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
5423 @kindex G o (Summary)
5424 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
5426 @cindex article history
5427 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
5428 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
5429 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
5430 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
5431 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
5432 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
5437 @kindex G j (Summary)
5438 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
5439 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
5440 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
5445 @node Choosing Variables
5446 @subsection Choosing Variables
5448 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5451 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5452 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5453 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5454 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5455 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5456 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5458 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5459 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5460 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. The default is
5461 @code{nil}. If you would like each article to be saved in the Agent as
5462 you read it, putting @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this
5465 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5466 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5467 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5468 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5469 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5470 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5471 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5472 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5473 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-read-mark}. The only
5474 articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5475 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5476 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5477 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5478 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5483 @node Paging the Article
5484 @section Scrolling the Article
5485 @cindex article scrolling
5490 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5491 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5492 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5493 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5494 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5496 @vindex gnus-article-boring-faces
5497 @vindex gnus-article-skip-boring
5498 If @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} is non-@code{nil} and the rest of
5499 the article consists only of citations and signature, then it will be
5500 skipped; the next article will be shown instead. You can customize
5501 what is considered uninteresting with
5502 @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}. You can manually view the article's
5503 pages, no matter how boring, using @kbd{C-M-v}.
5506 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5507 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5508 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5511 @kindex RET (Summary)
5512 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5513 Scroll the current article one line forward
5514 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5517 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5518 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5519 Scroll the current article one line backward
5520 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5524 @kindex A g (Summary)
5526 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5527 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5528 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5529 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5530 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5531 the way it came from the server.
5533 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5534 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5535 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5538 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5543 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5548 @kindex A < (Summary)
5549 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5550 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5551 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5556 @kindex A > (Summary)
5557 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5558 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5562 @kindex A s (Summary)
5564 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5565 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5566 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5570 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5571 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5576 @node Reply Followup and Post
5577 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5580 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5581 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5582 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5583 * Canceling and Superseding::
5587 @node Summary Mail Commands
5588 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5590 @cindex composing mail
5592 Commands for composing a mail message:
5598 @kindex S r (Summary)
5600 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5601 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5602 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5603 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5604 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5609 @kindex S R (Summary)
5610 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5611 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5612 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5613 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5614 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5617 @kindex S w (Summary)
5618 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5619 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5620 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5621 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5622 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers. If @code{Mail-Followup-To} is
5623 present, that's used instead.
5626 @kindex S W (Summary)
5627 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5628 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5629 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5630 the process/prefix convention.
5633 @kindex S v (Summary)
5634 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5635 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5636 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5637 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5638 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5639 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5642 @kindex S V (Summary)
5643 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5644 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5645 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5646 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5649 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5650 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5651 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5652 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5653 If you need this because a mailing list incorrectly sets a
5654 @code{Reply-To} header pointing to the list, you probably want to set
5655 the @code{broken-reply-to} group parameter instead, so things will work
5656 correctly. @xref{Group Parameters}.
5659 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5660 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5661 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5662 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5663 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5667 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5668 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5669 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5670 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5671 Forward the current article to some other person
5672 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5673 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5674 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5675 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5676 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5677 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5678 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5679 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5680 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME}
5686 @kindex S m (Summary)
5687 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5688 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5689 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5690 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5691 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5696 @kindex S i (Summary)
5697 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5698 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5699 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5700 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5702 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5703 This is useful for ``posting'' messages to mail groups without actually
5704 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5705 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5706 for this to work though.
5709 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5710 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5711 @cindex bouncing mail
5712 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5713 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5714 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5715 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5716 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5717 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5718 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5719 very well fail, though.
5722 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5723 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5724 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5725 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5726 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5727 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5728 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5729 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5730 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5731 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5733 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5734 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5735 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5736 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5737 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5739 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5740 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5743 @kindex S D e (Summary)
5744 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message-edit
5746 Like the previous command, but will allow you to edit the message as
5747 if it were a new message before resending.
5750 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5751 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5752 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5753 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5754 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5757 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5758 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5759 @cindex crossposting
5760 @cindex excessive crossposting
5761 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5762 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5764 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5765 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5766 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5767 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5768 command understands the process/prefix convention
5769 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5773 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5774 Manual}, for more information.
5777 @node Summary Post Commands
5778 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5780 @cindex composing news
5782 Commands for posting a news article:
5788 @kindex S p (Summary)
5789 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5790 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5791 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5792 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5793 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5798 @kindex S f (Summary)
5799 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5800 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5801 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5805 @kindex S F (Summary)
5807 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5808 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5809 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5810 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5811 process/prefix convention.
5814 @kindex S n (Summary)
5815 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5816 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5817 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5820 @kindex S N (Summary)
5821 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5822 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5823 message through mail and include the original message
5824 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5825 the process/prefix convention.
5828 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5829 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5830 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5831 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5832 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5833 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5834 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5835 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5836 as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5837 forward as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5838 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5839 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5840 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @acronym{MIME} section.
5843 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5844 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5846 @cindex making digests
5847 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5848 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-post-forward}). This command uses the
5849 process/prefix convention.
5852 @kindex S u (Summary)
5853 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5854 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5855 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5856 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5859 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5860 Manual}, for more information.
5863 @node Summary Message Commands
5864 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5868 @kindex S y (Summary)
5869 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5870 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5871 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5872 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5873 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5878 @node Canceling and Superseding
5879 @subsection Canceling Articles
5880 @cindex canceling articles
5881 @cindex superseding articles
5883 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5884 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5886 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5888 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5890 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5891 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5892 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5893 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5894 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5895 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5897 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5898 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5901 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5902 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5903 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5905 Gnus ensures that only you can cancel your own messages using a
5906 @code{Cancel-Lock} header (@pxref{Canceling News, Canceling News, ,
5907 message, Message Manual}).
5909 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5910 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5911 your original article.
5913 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5915 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5916 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5917 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5920 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5921 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5922 have posted almost the same article twice.
5924 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5925 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5926 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5927 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5928 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5929 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5930 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5931 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5932 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5933 canceled/superseded.
5935 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5937 @node Delayed Articles
5938 @section Delayed Articles
5939 @cindex delayed sending
5940 @cindex send delayed
5942 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5943 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5944 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5945 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5948 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5951 @findex gnus-delay-article
5952 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5953 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5954 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5955 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5959 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5960 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5961 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5962 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5965 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5966 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5967 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5970 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5971 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5972 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5973 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5974 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5975 that means a time tomorrow.
5978 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5979 couple of variables:
5982 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5983 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5984 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5985 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5987 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5988 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5989 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5990 formats described above.
5992 @item gnus-delay-group
5993 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5994 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5995 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5996 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5998 @item gnus-delay-header
5999 @vindex gnus-delay-header
6000 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
6001 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
6002 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
6005 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
6006 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
6007 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
6008 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
6009 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
6011 @findex gnus-delay-send-queue
6012 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
6013 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
6014 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
6015 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
6016 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
6017 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
6020 @item gnus-delay-initialize
6021 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
6022 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
6023 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
6024 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
6025 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
6026 argument is ignored.
6028 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
6029 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
6030 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
6034 @node Marking Articles
6035 @section Marking Articles
6036 @cindex article marking
6037 @cindex article ticking
6040 There are several marks you can set on an article.
6042 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
6043 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
6044 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
6046 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
6049 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks.
6053 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
6054 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
6055 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
6056 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
6057 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
6058 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
6062 @node Unread Articles
6063 @subsection Unread Articles
6065 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
6070 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
6071 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
6073 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
6074 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
6075 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
6076 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
6077 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
6078 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
6079 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
6082 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
6083 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
6085 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
6086 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
6087 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
6088 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
6092 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
6093 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
6095 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
6100 @subsection Read Articles
6101 @cindex expirable mark
6103 All the following marks mark articles as read.
6108 @vindex gnus-del-mark
6109 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
6110 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
6113 @vindex gnus-read-mark
6114 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
6117 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
6118 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
6119 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
6122 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
6123 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
6126 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
6127 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
6130 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
6131 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
6134 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
6135 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
6138 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
6139 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
6142 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
6143 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
6146 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
6147 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
6151 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
6152 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
6153 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
6157 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
6158 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
6160 One more special mark, though:
6164 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
6165 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
6167 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
6168 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
6169 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
6170 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
6176 @subsection Other Marks
6177 @cindex process mark
6180 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
6186 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
6187 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
6188 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
6189 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
6190 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
6193 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
6194 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
6195 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
6196 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
6199 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
6200 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
6201 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
6204 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
6205 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
6206 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6209 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
6210 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
6211 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
6212 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
6215 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
6216 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
6217 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
6218 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
6219 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
6220 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
6223 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
6224 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
6225 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
6226 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
6229 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
6230 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), articles may be
6231 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
6232 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
6233 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
6237 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
6238 When using the Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}), some articles might
6239 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
6240 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
6241 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
6242 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
6245 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
6246 The Gnus agent (@pxref{Agent Basics}) downloads some articles
6247 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
6248 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
6249 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
6250 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
6254 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
6255 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
6256 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
6257 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
6258 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
6261 @vindex gnus-process-mark
6262 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
6263 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
6264 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
6265 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
6266 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
6270 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
6271 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
6272 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
6274 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
6275 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
6276 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
6280 @subsection Setting Marks
6281 @cindex setting marks
6283 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
6288 @kindex M c (Summary)
6289 @kindex M-u (Summary)
6290 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
6291 @cindex mark as unread
6292 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
6293 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
6299 @kindex M t (Summary)
6300 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
6301 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
6302 @xref{Article Caching}.
6307 @kindex M ? (Summary)
6308 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
6309 Mark the current article as dormant
6310 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
6314 @kindex M d (Summary)
6316 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
6317 Mark the current article as read
6318 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
6322 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
6323 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
6324 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
6329 @kindex M k (Summary)
6330 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
6331 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
6332 and then select the next unread article
6333 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
6337 @kindex M K (Summary)
6338 @kindex C-k (Summary)
6339 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
6340 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
6341 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
6344 @kindex M C (Summary)
6345 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
6346 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
6347 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
6350 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
6351 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
6352 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
6353 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
6356 @kindex M H (Summary)
6357 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
6358 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
6359 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
6362 @kindex M h (Summary)
6363 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
6364 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
6365 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
6368 @kindex C-w (Summary)
6369 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
6370 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
6371 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
6374 @kindex M V k (Summary)
6375 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
6376 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
6377 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
6381 @kindex M e (Summary)
6383 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
6384 Mark the current article as expirable
6385 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
6388 @kindex M b (Summary)
6389 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
6390 Set a bookmark in the current article
6391 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
6394 @kindex M B (Summary)
6395 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
6396 Remove the bookmark from the current article
6397 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
6400 @kindex M V c (Summary)
6401 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
6402 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
6403 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6406 @kindex M V u (Summary)
6407 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
6408 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
6409 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
6412 @kindex M V m (Summary)
6413 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
6414 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
6415 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
6416 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
6419 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
6420 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
6421 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
6422 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
6423 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
6424 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
6425 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
6426 The default is @code{t}.
6429 @node Generic Marking Commands
6430 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
6432 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
6433 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
6434 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
6435 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
6436 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
6439 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
6440 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
6443 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
6444 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
6445 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
6446 to list in this manual.
6448 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
6449 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
6450 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
6451 article, you could say something like:
6455 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
6456 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6457 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
6465 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
6466 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
6470 @node Setting Process Marks
6471 @subsection Setting Process Marks
6472 @cindex setting process marks
6474 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
6475 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6476 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6477 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6478 articles into the cache. For more information,
6479 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6486 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6487 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6488 Mark the current article with the process mark
6489 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6490 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6494 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6495 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6496 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6497 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6500 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6501 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6502 Remove the process mark from all articles
6503 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6506 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6507 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6508 Invert the list of process marked articles
6509 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6512 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6513 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6514 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6515 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6518 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6519 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6520 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6521 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6524 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6525 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6526 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6529 @kindex M P g (Summary)
6530 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6531 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6534 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6535 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6536 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6537 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6540 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6541 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6542 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6543 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6546 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6547 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6548 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6549 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6552 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6553 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6554 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6557 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6558 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6559 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6560 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6563 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6564 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6565 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}).
6568 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6569 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6570 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6571 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6574 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6575 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6576 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6577 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6580 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6581 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6582 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6583 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6586 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6587 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6588 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6589 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6593 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @ref{Searching for Articles}, for how to
6594 set process marks based on article body contents.
6601 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6602 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6603 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6606 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6607 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6608 additional articles.
6614 @kindex / / (Summary)
6615 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6616 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6617 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6621 @kindex / a (Summary)
6622 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6623 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6624 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6628 @kindex / R (Summary)
6629 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient
6630 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some recipient
6631 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient}). If given a prefix, exclude
6635 @kindex / A (Summary)
6636 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-address
6637 Limit the summary buffer to articles in which contents of From, To or Cc
6638 header match a given address (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-address}). If
6639 given a prefix, exclude matching articles.
6642 @kindex / S (Summary)
6643 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons
6644 Limit the summary buffer to articles that aren't part of any displayed
6645 threads (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-singletons}). If given a prefix,
6646 limit to articles that are part of displayed threads.
6649 @kindex / x (Summary)
6650 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6651 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6652 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6653 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6658 @kindex / u (Summary)
6660 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6661 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6662 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6663 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6664 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6667 @kindex / m (Summary)
6668 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6669 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6670 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6673 @kindex / t (Summary)
6674 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6675 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6676 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6677 articles younger than that number of days.
6680 @kindex / n (Summary)
6681 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6682 With prefix @samp{n}, limit the summary buffer to the next @samp{n}
6683 articles. If not given a prefix, use the process marked articles
6684 instead. (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}).
6687 @kindex / w (Summary)
6688 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6689 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6690 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6694 @kindex / . (Summary)
6695 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6696 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6697 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6700 @kindex / v (Summary)
6701 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6702 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6703 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6706 @kindex / p (Summary)
6707 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6708 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6709 group parameter predicate
6710 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). @xref{Group
6711 Parameters}, for more on this predicate.
6714 @kindex / r (Summary)
6715 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-replied
6716 Limit the summary buffer to replied articles
6717 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-replied}). If given a prefix, exclude
6722 @kindex M S (Summary)
6723 @kindex / E (Summary)
6724 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6725 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6726 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6729 @kindex / D (Summary)
6730 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6731 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6732 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6735 @kindex / * (Summary)
6736 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6737 Include all cached articles in the limit
6738 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6741 @kindex / d (Summary)
6742 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6743 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6744 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6747 @kindex / M (Summary)
6748 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6749 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6752 @kindex / T (Summary)
6753 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6754 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6757 @kindex / c (Summary)
6758 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6759 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit@*
6760 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6763 @kindex / C (Summary)
6764 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6765 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6766 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6767 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6770 @kindex / N (Summary)
6771 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6772 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6773 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6776 @kindex / o (Summary)
6777 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6778 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6779 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6782 @kindex / b (Summary)
6783 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies
6784 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have bodies that match a
6785 certain regexp (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-bodies}). If given a
6786 prefix, reverse the limit. This command is quite slow since it
6787 requires selecting each article to find the matches.
6790 @kindex / h (Summary)
6791 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-headers
6792 Like the previous command, only limit to headers instead
6793 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-headers}).
6801 @cindex article threading
6803 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6804 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6805 hierarchical fashion.
6807 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6808 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6809 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6810 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6811 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6812 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6813 @ref{Customizing Threading}.
6815 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6819 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6822 A tree-like article structure.
6825 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6828 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6829 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6830 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6831 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6832 called loose threads.
6834 @item thread gathering
6835 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6837 @item sparse threads
6838 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6839 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6845 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6846 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6850 @node Customizing Threading
6851 @subsection Customizing Threading
6852 @cindex customizing threading
6855 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6856 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6857 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6858 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over@dots{} but you were wrong!
6863 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6866 @cindex loose threads
6869 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6870 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6871 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6872 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6873 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6874 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6876 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6877 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6878 There are four possible values:
6882 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6883 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6884 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6885 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6886 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6891 @cindex adopting articles
6896 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6897 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6898 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6899 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6902 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6903 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6904 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6905 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6906 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6907 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6908 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6909 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6910 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6911 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6914 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6915 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6916 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6920 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6921 display them after one another.
6924 Don't gather loose threads.
6927 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6928 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6929 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6930 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6931 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6932 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6933 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6934 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6935 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6936 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6937 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6939 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6940 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6941 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6944 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6945 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6946 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6947 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6948 simplification is used.
6950 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6951 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6952 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6953 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6955 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6957 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6963 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6964 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6965 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6966 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6971 (mapconcat 'identity
6972 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6974 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6977 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6980 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6981 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6982 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6983 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6984 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6985 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6987 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6990 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6991 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6992 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6994 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6995 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6998 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6999 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
7000 Remove excessive whitespace.
7002 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
7003 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
7004 Remove all whitespace.
7007 You may also write your own functions, of course.
7010 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
7011 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
7012 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
7013 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
7014 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
7015 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
7016 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
7017 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
7019 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7020 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7021 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
7022 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
7023 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
7024 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
7025 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
7026 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
7027 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
7031 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
7032 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
7033 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
7034 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
7036 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
7037 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
7038 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
7041 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
7045 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
7046 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
7052 @node Filling In Threads
7053 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
7056 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
7057 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
7058 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
7059 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you would
7060 like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still connect as
7061 many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable to
7062 @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than that
7063 number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case, fetching
7064 old headers only works if the back end you are using carries overview
7065 files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
7066 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
7067 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can
7070 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
7071 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
7072 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
7074 @item gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7075 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-ephemeral-headers
7076 Same as @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}, but only used for ephemeral
7079 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
7080 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
7081 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
7082 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
7083 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
7084 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
7085 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
7086 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
7087 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
7088 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
7089 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
7090 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
7091 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
7092 @code{nil} by default.
7094 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
7095 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
7096 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
7097 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
7098 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
7099 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
7100 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
7102 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
7103 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
7104 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
7109 @node More Threading
7110 @subsubsection More Threading
7113 @item gnus-show-threads
7114 @vindex gnus-show-threads
7115 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
7116 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
7117 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
7118 slower and more awkward.
7120 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7121 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7122 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
7125 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
7126 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
7127 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}.
7132 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
7133 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
7134 gnus-article-unseen-p))
7137 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
7138 unread, but you get my drift.)
7141 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
7142 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
7143 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
7144 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
7145 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
7146 threads are expunged.
7148 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
7149 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
7150 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
7153 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7154 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
7155 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
7156 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
7157 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
7158 result in a new thread.
7160 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
7161 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
7162 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
7165 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7166 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
7167 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
7168 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
7169 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
7170 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
7171 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
7172 Setting this variable to an alternate value
7173 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
7174 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
7175 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
7180 @node Low-Level Threading
7181 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
7185 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
7186 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
7187 Hook run before parsing any headers.
7189 @item gnus-alter-header-function
7190 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
7191 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
7192 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
7193 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
7194 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
7195 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
7196 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
7197 meaningful. Here's one example:
7200 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
7202 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
7203 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
7205 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
7207 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
7214 @node Thread Commands
7215 @subsection Thread Commands
7216 @cindex thread commands
7222 @kindex T k (Summary)
7223 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
7224 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
7225 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
7226 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
7227 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
7232 @kindex T l (Summary)
7233 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
7234 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
7235 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
7236 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
7239 @kindex T i (Summary)
7240 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
7241 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
7242 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
7245 @kindex T # (Summary)
7246 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
7247 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
7248 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
7251 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
7252 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
7253 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
7254 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
7257 @kindex T T (Summary)
7258 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
7259 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
7262 @kindex T s (Summary)
7263 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
7264 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any@*
7265 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
7268 @kindex T h (Summary)
7269 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
7270 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
7273 @kindex T S (Summary)
7274 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
7275 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
7278 @kindex T H (Summary)
7279 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
7280 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
7283 @kindex T t (Summary)
7284 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
7285 Re-thread the current article's thread
7286 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
7287 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
7290 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
7291 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
7292 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
7293 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
7296 @kindex T M-^ (Summary)
7297 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-children
7298 Make the current article the parent of the marked articles
7299 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-children}).
7303 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
7304 understand the numeric prefix.
7309 @kindex T n (Summary)
7311 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
7313 @kindex M-down (Summary)
7314 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
7315 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
7318 @kindex T p (Summary)
7320 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
7322 @kindex M-up (Summary)
7323 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
7324 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
7327 @kindex T d (Summary)
7328 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
7329 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
7332 @kindex T u (Summary)
7333 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
7334 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
7337 @kindex T o (Summary)
7338 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
7339 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
7342 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
7343 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
7344 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
7345 a command like @kbd{T k} (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
7346 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
7347 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
7348 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
7349 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
7350 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
7351 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
7352 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
7353 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
7357 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
7358 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
7360 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
7361 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
7362 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
7363 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7364 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
7365 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient
7366 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7367 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
7368 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
7369 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number
7370 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date
7371 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
7372 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
7373 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
7374 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
7376 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
7377 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
7378 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-recipient},
7379 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
7380 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date},
7381 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
7382 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
7383 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
7384 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
7385 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
7387 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
7388 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
7389 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
7391 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
7392 last function in the list. You should probably always include
7393 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
7394 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
7395 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
7396 ascending article order.
7398 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
7399 by number, you could do something like:
7402 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7403 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
7404 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
7405 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
7408 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
7409 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
7410 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
7411 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
7412 which the articles arrived.
7414 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
7418 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
7419 '((not gnus-thread-sort-by-number)
7420 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
7423 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
7424 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
7425 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
7426 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
7429 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
7430 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
7431 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
7432 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
7433 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
7434 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
7435 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
7436 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
7437 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
7438 variable. It is very similar to the
7439 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
7440 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
7441 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
7442 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
7443 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
7444 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
7445 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
7447 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
7451 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
7452 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
7453 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
7456 You can define group specific sorting via @code{gnus-parameters},
7457 @xref{Group Parameters}.
7460 @node Asynchronous Fetching
7461 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
7462 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
7463 @cindex article pre-fetch
7466 If you read your news from an @acronym{NNTP} server that's far away, the
7467 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
7468 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
7469 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
7470 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
7472 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
7473 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
7475 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
7476 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
7477 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
7478 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
7479 connection is blocked.
7481 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
7482 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
7483 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
7484 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
7486 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
7487 the link between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server will become more
7488 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
7489 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
7492 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing@dots{} unless
7495 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
7496 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
7497 happen automatically.
7499 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
7500 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
7501 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
7502 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
7503 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
7504 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
7505 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
7507 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
7508 @findex gnus-async-unread-p
7509 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
7510 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p}
7511 variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This
7512 function should return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is
7513 to be pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-unread-p}, which
7514 returns @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an
7515 article data structure as the only parameter.
7517 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter
7518 than 100 lines, you could say something like:
7521 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
7522 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
7523 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
7524 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
7527 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
7530 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
7531 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
7532 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
7534 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
7535 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7536 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7537 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7541 Remove articles when they are read.
7544 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7547 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7549 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7550 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7551 @c from the next group.
7554 @node Article Caching
7555 @section Article Caching
7556 @cindex article caching
7559 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @acronym{NNTP} connection, you may
7560 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7561 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7562 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7563 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7565 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7567 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7568 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7569 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7570 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7571 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7572 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7573 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7574 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7576 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7577 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7578 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7579 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7580 as dormant, and don't worry.
7582 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7584 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7585 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7586 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7587 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7588 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7589 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7590 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7591 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7592 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7593 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7595 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7596 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7597 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7598 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7599 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7600 command if 1) your connection to the @acronym{NNTP} server is really, really,
7601 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7602 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7603 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7604 not then be downloaded by this command.
7606 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7607 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7608 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7609 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7610 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7611 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7613 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7614 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7615 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7616 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7617 variables, the group is not cached.
7619 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7620 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7621 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7622 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7623 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7624 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7625 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7626 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @acronym{NOV}
7627 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7630 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7631 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7632 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7633 where, isn't that cool?
7635 @node Persistent Articles
7636 @section Persistent Articles
7637 @cindex persistent articles
7639 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7640 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7641 useful in my opinion.
7643 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7644 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7645 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7646 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7647 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7648 the expiry going on at the news server.
7650 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7651 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7652 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7658 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7659 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7662 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7663 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7664 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7665 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7669 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7671 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7672 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7673 interested in persistent articles:
7676 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7679 @node Sticky Articles
7680 @section Sticky Articles
7681 @cindex sticky articles
7683 When you select an article the current article buffer will be reused
7684 according to the value of the variable
7685 @code{gnus-single-article-buffer}. If its value is non-@code{nil} (the
7686 default) all articles reuse the same article buffer. Else each group
7687 has its own article buffer.
7689 This implies that it's not possible to have more than one article buffer
7690 in a group at a time. But sometimes you might want to display all the
7691 latest emails from your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle and
7692 your 17 cousins to coordinate the next christmas party.
7694 That's where sticky articles come in handy. A sticky article buffer
7695 basically is a normal article buffer, but it won't be reused when you
7696 select another article. You can make an article sticky with:
7700 @kindex A S (Summary)
7701 @findex gnus-sticky-article
7702 Make the current article sticky. If a prefix arg is given, ask for a
7703 name for this sticky article buffer.
7706 To close a sticky article buffer you can use these commands:
7712 Puts this sticky article buffer at the end of the list of all buffers.
7716 @findex gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffer
7717 Kills this sticky article buffer.
7720 To kill all sticky article buffers you can use:
7722 @defun gnus-kill-sticky-article-buffers ARG
7723 Kill all sticky article buffers.
7724 If a prefix ARG is given, ask for confirmation.
7727 @node Article Backlog
7728 @section Article Backlog
7730 @cindex article backlog
7732 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7733 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7734 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7735 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7736 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7737 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7738 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7739 increase memory usage some.
7741 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7742 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7743 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7744 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7745 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7746 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7747 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7749 The default value is 20.
7752 @node Saving Articles
7753 @section Saving Articles
7754 @cindex saving articles
7756 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7757 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7758 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7759 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7760 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7762 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7763 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7764 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7766 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7767 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7768 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7770 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7771 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7772 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7773 deleted before saving.
7779 @kindex O o (Summary)
7781 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7782 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7783 Save the current article using the default article saver
7784 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7787 @kindex O m (Summary)
7788 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7789 Save the current article in a Unix mail box (mbox) file
7790 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7793 @kindex O r (Summary)
7794 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7795 Save the current article in Rmail format
7796 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7799 @kindex O f (Summary)
7800 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7801 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7802 Save the current article in plain file format
7803 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7806 @kindex O F (Summary)
7807 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7808 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7809 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7812 @kindex O b (Summary)
7813 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7814 Save the current article body in plain file format
7815 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7818 @kindex O h (Summary)
7819 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7820 Save the current article in mh folder format
7821 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7824 @kindex O v (Summary)
7825 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7826 Save the current article in a VM folder
7827 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7831 @kindex O p (Summary)
7833 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7834 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7835 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7836 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7837 complete headers in the piped output.
7840 @kindex O P (Summary)
7841 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7842 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7843 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7844 external program @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/,
7845 Muttprint}. The program name and options to use is controlled by the
7846 variable @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}.
7847 (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7851 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7852 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7853 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7854 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7855 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7856 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7857 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7858 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7859 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7860 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7861 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7862 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7866 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7867 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7868 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the eight ready-made
7869 functions below, or you can create your own.
7873 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7874 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7875 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7876 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7877 This is the default format, @dfn{Babyl}. Uses the function in the
7878 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7879 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7881 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7882 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7883 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7884 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7885 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7886 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7888 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7889 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7890 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7891 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7892 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7893 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7894 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7896 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7897 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7898 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7899 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7900 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7901 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7903 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7904 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7905 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7906 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7907 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7909 @item gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7910 @findex gnus-summary-write-body-to-file
7911 Write the article body straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7912 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7913 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7914 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7916 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7917 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7918 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7919 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7920 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7923 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7924 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7925 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7926 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7927 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7929 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7930 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7931 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7932 reader to use this setting.
7935 The symbol of each function may have the following properties:
7939 The value non-@code{nil} means save decoded articles. This is
7940 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-save-in-file},
7941 @code{gnus-summary-save-body-in-file},
7942 @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file}, and
7943 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7946 The value specifies an alternative function which appends, not
7947 overwrites, articles to a file. This implies that when saving many
7948 articles at a time, @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} is bound to
7949 @code{t} and all articles are saved in a single file. This is
7950 meaningful only with @code{gnus-summary-write-to-file} and
7951 @code{gnus-summary-write-body-to-file}.
7954 The value specifies the symbol of a variable of which the value
7955 specifies headers to be saved. If it is omitted,
7956 @code{gnus-save-all-headers} and @code{gnus-saved-headers} control what
7957 headers should be saved.
7960 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7961 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7962 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7963 @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7966 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7967 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7968 available functions that generate names:
7972 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7973 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7974 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7976 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7977 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7978 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7980 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7981 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7982 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7984 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7985 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7986 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7988 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7989 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7990 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7993 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7994 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7995 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7996 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7997 related to VM in @file{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
8001 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
8002 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
8003 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
8004 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
8007 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
8008 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
8009 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
8010 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
8011 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
8012 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
8013 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
8014 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
8015 called returns a string or a list of strings.
8017 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
8018 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
8019 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
8020 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
8022 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
8023 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
8024 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
8027 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
8028 lots of mail groups called things like
8029 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
8030 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
8031 following will do just that:
8034 (defun my-save-name (group)
8035 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
8036 (substring group (match-end 0))))
8038 (setq gnus-split-methods
8039 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
8044 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
8045 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
8046 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
8047 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
8048 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
8049 all the files in the top level directory
8050 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
8051 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
8052 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
8053 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
8055 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
8056 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
8057 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
8058 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
8059 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
8062 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
8066 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; @r{to get a hierarchy}
8067 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
8068 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; @r{no encoding}
8071 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
8072 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
8073 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
8074 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
8077 @node Decoding Articles
8078 @section Decoding Articles
8079 @cindex decoding articles
8081 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
8082 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
8085 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
8086 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
8087 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
8088 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
8089 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
8090 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
8094 @cindex article series
8095 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
8096 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
8097 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
8098 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
8099 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
8101 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
8102 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
8103 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
8105 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
8106 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
8107 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
8109 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
8110 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
8111 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
8114 @node Uuencoded Articles
8115 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
8117 @cindex uuencoded articles
8122 @kindex X u (Summary)
8123 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
8124 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
8125 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
8128 @kindex X U (Summary)
8129 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
8130 Uudecodes and saves the current series
8131 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8134 @kindex X v u (Summary)
8135 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
8136 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
8139 @kindex X v U (Summary)
8140 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
8141 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
8142 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
8146 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
8147 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
8148 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
8149 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
8150 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
8152 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
8153 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
8154 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
8155 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
8158 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
8159 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
8160 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
8161 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
8162 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
8163 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
8167 @node Shell Archives
8168 @subsection Shell Archives
8170 @cindex shell archives
8171 @cindex shared articles
8173 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
8174 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
8175 some commands to deal with these:
8180 @kindex X s (Summary)
8181 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
8182 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
8185 @kindex X S (Summary)
8186 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
8187 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
8190 @kindex X v s (Summary)
8191 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
8192 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
8195 @kindex X v S (Summary)
8196 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
8197 Unshars, views and saves the current series
8198 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
8202 @node PostScript Files
8203 @subsection PostScript Files
8209 @kindex X p (Summary)
8210 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
8211 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
8214 @kindex X P (Summary)
8215 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
8216 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
8217 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
8220 @kindex X v p (Summary)
8221 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
8222 View the current PostScript series
8223 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
8226 @kindex X v P (Summary)
8227 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
8228 View and save the current PostScript series
8229 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
8234 @subsection Other Files
8238 @kindex X o (Summary)
8239 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
8240 Save the current series
8241 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
8244 @kindex X b (Summary)
8245 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
8246 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
8247 doesn't really work yet.
8250 @kindex X Y (Summary)
8251 @findex gnus-uu-decode-yenc
8252 yEnc-decode the current series and save it (@code{gnus-uu-decode-yenc}).
8256 @node Decoding Variables
8257 @subsection Decoding Variables
8259 Adjective, not verb.
8262 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
8263 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
8264 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
8268 @node Rule Variables
8269 @subsubsection Rule Variables
8270 @cindex rule variables
8272 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
8273 variables are of the form
8276 (list '(regexp1 command2)
8283 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8284 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8286 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
8287 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @file{.au} sound file, you could
8290 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
8291 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
8294 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8295 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
8296 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
8297 user and default view rules.
8299 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8300 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
8301 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
8306 @node Other Decode Variables
8307 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
8310 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8312 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
8313 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
8314 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
8315 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
8316 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
8320 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
8321 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
8324 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
8325 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
8326 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
8329 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8330 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
8331 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
8332 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
8333 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
8336 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8337 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
8338 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
8340 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8341 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
8342 Files with a @acronym{MIME} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
8343 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
8344 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @acronym{MIME} package (yet), so this is slightly
8347 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8348 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
8349 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
8351 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8352 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
8353 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
8354 looking for files to display.
8356 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
8357 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
8358 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
8361 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8362 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
8363 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
8366 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8367 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
8368 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
8371 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8372 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
8373 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
8376 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8377 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
8378 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
8379 decoded articles as unread.
8381 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8382 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
8383 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
8384 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
8386 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8387 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
8388 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
8390 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8391 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
8393 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
8394 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @acronym{MIME}
8395 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
8396 @code{metamail} for viewing.
8398 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8399 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
8400 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
8401 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
8402 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
8403 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
8404 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
8405 simply dropped them.
8410 @node Uuencoding and Posting
8411 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
8415 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8416 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
8417 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
8418 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
8419 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
8420 for you when you post the article.
8422 @item gnus-uu-post-length
8423 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
8424 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
8425 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
8427 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
8428 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
8429 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
8430 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
8431 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
8432 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
8433 think that counts@dots{}) Default is @code{nil}.
8435 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8436 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
8437 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
8438 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
8439 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
8440 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
8441 Default is @code{t}.
8447 @subsection Viewing Files
8448 @cindex viewing files
8449 @cindex pseudo-articles
8451 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
8452 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
8453 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
8454 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
8455 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
8456 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
8457 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
8459 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
8460 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
8461 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
8462 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
8464 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
8465 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
8466 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
8468 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
8469 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
8470 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
8471 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
8472 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
8474 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
8475 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
8476 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
8477 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
8478 a list of parameters to that command.
8480 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
8481 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
8482 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
8484 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
8485 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
8486 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
8489 @node Article Treatment
8490 @section Article Treatment
8492 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
8493 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
8494 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
8495 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
8496 these articles easier.
8499 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
8500 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
8501 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
8502 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
8503 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
8504 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
8505 * Article Button Levels:: Controlling appearance of buttons.
8506 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
8507 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
8508 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
8509 * Article Miscellanea:: Various other stuff.
8513 @node Article Highlighting
8514 @subsection Article Highlighting
8515 @cindex highlighting
8517 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
8518 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
8523 @kindex W H a (Summary)
8524 @findex gnus-article-highlight
8525 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
8526 Do much highlighting of the current article
8527 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
8528 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
8531 @kindex W H h (Summary)
8532 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
8533 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
8534 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
8535 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
8536 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
8537 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
8538 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
8539 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
8540 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
8541 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
8542 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
8545 @kindex W H c (Summary)
8546 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
8547 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
8549 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
8552 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8554 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
8555 If the article size in bytes is bigger than this variable (which is
8556 25000 by default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
8558 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
8559 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
8560 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
8562 @item gnus-cite-face-list
8563 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
8564 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
8565 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
8566 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
8567 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
8569 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
8570 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
8571 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
8573 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8574 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
8575 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
8577 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8578 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
8579 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
8580 that it's a citation.
8582 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8583 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
8584 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
8586 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8587 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
8588 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
8590 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
8591 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
8592 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
8593 cited text belonging to the attribution.
8595 @item gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8596 @vindex gnus-cite-ignore-quoted-from
8597 If non-@code{nil}, no citation highlighting will be performed on lines
8598 beginning with @samp{>From }. Those lines may have been quoted by MTAs
8599 in order not to mix up with the envelope From line. The default value
8606 @kindex W H s (Summary)
8607 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8608 @vindex gnus-signature-face
8609 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
8610 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
8611 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
8612 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
8613 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
8618 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
8621 @node Article Fontisizing
8622 @subsection Article Fontisizing
8624 @cindex article emphasis
8626 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
8627 @kindex W e (Summary)
8628 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8629 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8630 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8631 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8633 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8634 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8635 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8636 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8637 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8638 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8639 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8640 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8644 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8645 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8646 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8655 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8656 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8657 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8658 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8659 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8660 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8661 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8662 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8663 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8664 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8665 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8666 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8667 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8669 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8670 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8671 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8675 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8678 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8680 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8681 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8682 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8683 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8685 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8688 @node Article Hiding
8689 @subsection Article Hiding
8690 @cindex article hiding
8692 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8693 too much cruft in most articles.
8698 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8699 @findex gnus-article-hide
8700 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8701 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8702 headers, @acronym{PGP}, cited text and the signature.
8705 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8706 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8707 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8711 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8712 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8713 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8714 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8717 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8718 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8719 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8723 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8724 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8725 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8726 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8727 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8728 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8729 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8730 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8734 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8735 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8736 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8737 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8742 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8743 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8744 Hide @acronym{PEM} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8745 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8748 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8749 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8750 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8751 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8754 @cindex stripping advertisements
8755 @cindex advertisements
8756 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8757 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8758 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8759 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8760 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8761 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8762 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8763 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8764 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8765 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8768 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8769 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8770 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8774 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8775 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8776 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8777 @code{(@var{address} . @var{banner})}, where @var{address} is a regexp
8778 matching a mail address in the From header, @var{banner} is one of a
8779 symbol @code{signature}, an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist},
8780 a regexp and @code{nil}. If @var{address} matches author's mail
8781 address, it will remove things like advertisements. For example, if a
8782 sender has the mail address @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a
8783 banner something like @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he
8784 sends, you can use the following element to remove them:
8787 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" .
8788 "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8794 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8795 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8796 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8797 customizing the hiding:
8801 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8802 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8803 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8804 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8805 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8806 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8807 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8812 Starting point of the hidden text.
8814 Ending point of the hidden text.
8816 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8818 Number of lines of hidden text.
8821 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8822 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8823 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8824 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8825 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8830 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8831 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8833 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8834 following two variables:
8837 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8838 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8839 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8840 50), hide the cited text.
8842 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8843 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8844 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8849 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8850 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8851 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8852 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8853 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8854 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8858 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8859 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8860 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8862 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8863 citation customization.
8865 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8869 @node Article Washing
8870 @subsection Article Washing
8872 @cindex article washing
8874 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8875 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8877 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8878 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8881 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8882 articles by default.
8887 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8888 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8892 Force redisplaying of the current article
8893 (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). This is also not really washing.
8894 If you type this, you see the article without any previously applied
8895 interactive Washing functions but with all default treatments
8896 (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8899 @kindex W l (Summary)
8900 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8901 Remove page breaks from the current article
8902 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8906 @kindex W r (Summary)
8907 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8908 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8909 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8910 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8911 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8912 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8914 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8915 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8916 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8917 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8920 @kindex W m (Summary)
8921 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8922 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8925 @kindex W i (Summary)
8926 @findex gnus-summary-idna-message
8927 Decode IDNA encoded domain names in the current articles. IDNA
8928 encoded domain names looks like @samp{xn--bar}. If a string remain
8929 unencoded after running invoking this, it is likely an invalid IDNA
8930 string (@samp{xn--bar} is invalid). You must have GNU Libidn
8931 (@url{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/}) installed for this command
8936 @kindex W t (Summary)
8938 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8939 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8940 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8943 @kindex W v (Summary)
8944 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8945 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8946 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8949 @kindex W o (Summary)
8950 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8951 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8954 @kindex W d (Summary)
8955 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8956 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8958 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8960 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8961 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8962 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8963 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8966 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8967 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8968 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8969 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8972 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8973 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8974 @cindex Outlook Express
8975 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8976 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8977 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8980 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8981 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8982 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min
8983 @vindex gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max
8984 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8985 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8986 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8987 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the minimum and
8988 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8989 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines}).
8992 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8993 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8994 Repair a broken attribution line.@*
8995 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8998 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8999 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
9000 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
9001 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
9004 @kindex W w (Summary)
9005 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
9006 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
9008 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
9012 @kindex W Q (Summary)
9013 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
9014 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
9017 @kindex W C (Summary)
9018 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
9019 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
9020 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
9023 @kindex W c (Summary)
9024 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
9025 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
9026 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
9027 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
9028 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
9031 @kindex W q (Summary)
9032 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
9033 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
9034 Quoted-Printable is one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when
9035 sending non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. It typically
9036 makes strings like @samp{d@'ej@`a vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu},
9037 which doesn't look very readable to me. Note that this is usually
9038 done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9039 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9040 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9043 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
9044 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
9045 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}). Base64 is
9046 one common @acronym{MIME} encoding employed when sending
9047 non-@acronym{ASCII} (i.e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is
9048 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9049 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding
9050 has been done. If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
9053 @kindex W Z (Summary)
9054 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
9055 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
9056 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
9057 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
9060 @kindex W A (Summary)
9061 @findex gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences
9062 @cindex @acronym{ANSI} control sequences
9063 Translate @acronym{ANSI} SGR control sequences into overlays or
9064 extents (@code{gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences}). @acronym{ANSI}
9065 sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for highlighting.
9068 @kindex W u (Summary)
9069 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
9070 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
9071 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
9072 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
9073 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
9076 @kindex W h (Summary)
9077 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
9078 Treat @acronym{HTML} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
9079 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
9080 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @acronym{HTML}.
9082 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for. If it is a number,
9083 the charset defined in @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist}
9084 (@pxref{Paging the Article}) will be used.
9086 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
9087 The default is to use the function specified by
9088 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display
9089 Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) to convert the
9090 @acronym{HTML}, but this is controlled by the
9091 @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions you
9099 Use @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/, emacs-w3m}.
9101 @item w3m-standalone
9102 Use @uref{http://w3m.sourceforge.net/, w3m}.
9105 Use @uref{http://links.sf.net/, Links}.
9108 Use @uref{http://lynx.isc.org/, Lynx}.
9111 Use html2text---a simple @acronym{HTML} converter included with Gnus.
9116 @kindex W b (Summary)
9117 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
9118 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
9119 @xref{Article Buttons}.
9122 @kindex W B (Summary)
9123 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
9124 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
9125 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
9128 @kindex W p (Summary)
9129 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
9130 Verify a signed control message
9131 (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}). Control messages such as
9132 @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are usually signed by the
9133 hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the @acronym{PGP} public key of
9134 the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
9135 message.@footnote{@acronym{PGP} keys for many hierarchies are
9136 available at @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
9139 @kindex W s (Summary)
9140 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
9141 Verify a signed (@acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME} or
9142 @acronym{S/MIME}) message
9143 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
9146 @kindex W a (Summary)
9147 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
9148 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
9149 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
9152 @kindex W E l (Summary)
9153 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
9154 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
9155 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
9158 @kindex W E m (Summary)
9159 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
9160 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
9161 lines with a single empty line.
9162 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
9165 @kindex W E t (Summary)
9166 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
9167 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
9168 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
9171 @kindex W E a (Summary)
9172 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
9173 Do all the three commands above
9174 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
9177 @kindex W E A (Summary)
9178 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
9179 Remove all blank lines
9180 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
9183 @kindex W E s (Summary)
9184 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
9185 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
9186 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
9189 @kindex W E e (Summary)
9190 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
9191 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
9192 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
9196 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
9199 @node Article Header
9200 @subsection Article Header
9202 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
9207 @kindex W G u (Summary)
9208 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
9209 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
9212 @kindex W G n (Summary)
9213 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
9214 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
9215 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
9218 @kindex W G f (Summary)
9219 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
9220 Fold all the message headers
9221 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
9224 @kindex W E w (Summary)
9225 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
9226 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
9227 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
9232 @node Article Buttons
9233 @subsection Article Buttons
9236 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
9237 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
9238 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
9239 button on these references.
9241 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9242 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
9243 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man pages and
9244 Emacs or Gnus related references. This is controlled by two variables,
9245 one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads:
9249 @item gnus-button-alist
9250 @vindex gnus-button-alist
9251 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
9254 (@var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9260 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
9261 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
9262 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
9263 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
9264 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp} and @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp}.
9267 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
9268 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
9269 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
9272 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
9273 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
9274 avoid false matches. Often variables named
9275 @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} are used here, @xref{Article Button
9276 Levels}, but any other form may be used too.
9278 @c @code{use-p} is @code{eval}ed only if @code{regexp} matches.
9281 This function will be called when you click on this button.
9284 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
9285 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
9289 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
9292 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
9295 @item gnus-header-button-alist
9296 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
9297 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
9298 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
9299 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
9302 (@var{header} @var{regexp} @var{button-par} @var{use-p} @var{function} @var{data-par})
9305 @var{header} is a regular expression.
9308 @subsubsection Related variables and functions
9311 @item gnus-button-@var{*}-level
9312 @xref{Article Button Levels}.
9314 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-browse-level
9316 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
9317 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
9318 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
9319 default values of the variables above.
9321 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-man-level
9323 @item gnus-button-man-handler
9324 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
9325 The function to use for displaying man pages. It must take at least one
9326 argument with a string naming the man page.
9328 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-message-level
9330 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9331 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp
9332 Regular expression that matches a message ID or a mail address.
9334 @item gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9335 @vindex gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail
9336 This variable determines what to do when the button on a string as
9337 @samp{foo123@@bar.invalid} is pushed. Strings like this can be either a
9338 message ID or a mail address. If it is one of the symbols @code{mid} or
9339 @code{mail}, Gnus will always assume that the string is a message ID or
9340 a mail address, respectively. If this variable is set to the symbol
9341 @code{ask}, always query the user what to do. If it is a function, this
9342 function will be called with the string as its only argument. The
9343 function must return @code{mid}, @code{mail}, @code{invalid} or
9344 @code{ask}. The default value is the function
9345 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9347 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9348 @findex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic
9349 Function that guesses whether its argument is a message ID or a mail
9350 address. Returns @code{mid} if it's a message IDs, @code{mail} if
9351 it's a mail address, @code{ask} if unsure and @code{invalid} if the
9354 @item gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9355 @vindex gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist
9356 An alist of @code{(RATE . REGEXP)} pairs used by the function
9357 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}.
9359 @c Stuff related to gnus-button-tex-level
9361 @item gnus-button-ctan-handler
9362 @findex gnus-button-ctan-handler
9363 The function to use for displaying CTAN links. It must take one
9364 argument, the string naming the URL.
9367 @vindex gnus-ctan-url
9368 Top directory of a CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) archive used
9369 by @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler}.
9373 @item gnus-article-button-face
9374 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
9375 Face used on buttons.
9377 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
9378 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
9379 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
9383 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
9386 @node Article Button Levels
9387 @subsection Article button levels
9388 @cindex button levels
9389 The higher the value of the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level},
9390 the more buttons will appear. If the level is zero, no corresponding
9391 buttons are displayed. With the default value (which is 5) you should
9392 already see quite a lot of buttons. With higher levels, you will see
9393 more buttons, but you may also get more false positives. To avoid them,
9394 you can set the variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} local to
9395 specific groups (@pxref{Group Parameters}). Here's an example for the
9396 variable @code{gnus-parameters}:
9399 ;; @r{increase @code{gnus-button-*-level} in some groups:}
9400 (setq gnus-parameters
9401 '(("\\<\\(emacs\\|gnus\\)\\>" (gnus-button-emacs-level 10))
9402 ("\\<unix\\>" (gnus-button-man-level 10))
9403 ("\\<tex\\>" (gnus-button-tex-level 10))))
9408 @item gnus-button-browse-level
9409 @vindex gnus-button-browse-level
9410 Controls the display of references to message IDs, mail addresses and
9411 news URLs. Related variables and functions include
9412 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}, @code{browse-url}, and
9413 @code{browse-url-browser-function}.
9415 @item gnus-button-emacs-level
9416 @vindex gnus-button-emacs-level
9417 Controls the display of Emacs or Gnus references. Related functions are
9418 @code{gnus-button-handle-custom},
9419 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-function},
9420 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-variable},
9421 @code{gnus-button-handle-symbol},
9422 @code{gnus-button-handle-describe-key},
9423 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos},
9424 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-command},
9425 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-variable},
9426 @code{gnus-button-handle-apropos-documentation}, and
9427 @code{gnus-button-handle-library}.
9429 @item gnus-button-man-level
9430 @vindex gnus-button-man-level
9431 Controls the display of references to (Unix) man pages.
9432 See @code{gnus-button-man-handler}.
9434 @item gnus-button-message-level
9435 @vindex gnus-button-message-level
9436 Controls the display of message IDs, mail addresses and news URLs.
9437 Related variables and functions include
9438 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-regexp},
9439 @code{gnus-button-prefer-mid-or-mail},
9440 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic}, and
9441 @code{gnus-button-mid-or-mail-heuristic-alist}.
9443 @item gnus-button-tex-level
9444 @vindex gnus-button-tex-level
9445 Controls the display of references to @TeX{} or LaTeX stuff, e.g. for CTAN
9446 URLs. See the variables @code{gnus-ctan-url},
9447 @code{gnus-button-ctan-handler},
9448 @code{gnus-button-ctan-directory-regexp}, and
9449 @code{gnus-button-handle-ctan-bogus-regexp}.
9455 @subsection Article Date
9457 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
9458 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
9459 when the article was sent.
9464 @kindex W T u (Summary)
9465 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
9466 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
9467 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
9470 @kindex W T i (Summary)
9471 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
9473 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
9474 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
9477 @kindex W T l (Summary)
9478 @findex gnus-article-date-local
9479 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
9482 @kindex W T p (Summary)
9483 @findex gnus-article-date-english
9484 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
9485 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
9488 @kindex W T s (Summary)
9489 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
9490 @findex gnus-article-date-user
9491 @findex format-time-string
9492 Display the date using a user-defined format
9493 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
9494 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
9495 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
9496 for a list of possible format specs.
9499 @kindex W T e (Summary)
9500 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
9501 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
9502 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
9503 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
9504 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
9507 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
9510 @vindex gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header
9511 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
9512 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
9515 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
9516 into wonderful absurdities.
9518 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
9521 (gnus-start-date-timer)
9524 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
9525 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
9529 @kindex W T o (Summary)
9530 @findex gnus-article-date-original
9531 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
9532 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
9533 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
9534 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
9535 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
9539 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
9540 preferred format automatically.
9543 @node Article Display
9544 @subsection Article Display
9549 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
9550 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
9552 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
9553 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
9555 @code{Face} headers are small colored images supplied by the message
9556 headers (@pxref{Face}).
9558 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
9559 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
9561 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
9562 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
9564 All these functions are toggles---if the elements already exist,
9569 @kindex W D x (Summary)
9570 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
9571 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
9572 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
9575 @kindex W D d (Summary)
9576 @findex gnus-article-display-face
9577 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
9578 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
9581 @kindex W D s (Summary)
9582 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
9583 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
9586 @kindex W D f (Summary)
9587 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
9588 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
9591 @kindex W D m (Summary)
9592 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
9593 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
9594 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
9597 @kindex W D n (Summary)
9598 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
9599 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
9600 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
9603 @kindex W D D (Summary)
9604 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
9605 Remove all images from the article buffer
9606 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
9612 @node Article Signature
9613 @subsection Article Signature
9615 @cindex article signature
9617 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
9618 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
9619 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
9620 that says what is to be considered a signature is
9621 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
9622 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
9623 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
9624 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
9625 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
9628 (setq gnus-signature-separator
9629 '("^-- $" ; @r{The standard}
9630 "^-- *$" ; @r{A common mangling}
9631 "^-------*$" ; @r{Many people just use a looong}
9632 ; @r{line of dashes. Shame!}
9633 "^ *--------*$" ; @r{Double-shame!}
9634 "^________*$" ; @r{Underscores are also popular}
9635 "^========*$")) ; @r{Pervert!}
9638 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
9641 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
9642 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
9643 signature when displaying articles.
9647 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
9650 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
9653 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
9654 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
9656 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
9657 in question is not a signature.
9660 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
9661 listed above. Here's an example:
9664 (setq gnus-signature-limit
9665 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
9668 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
9669 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
9670 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
9671 signature after all.
9674 @node Article Miscellanea
9675 @subsection Article Miscellanea
9679 @kindex A t (Summary)
9680 @findex gnus-article-babel
9681 Translate the article from one language to another
9682 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
9688 @section MIME Commands
9689 @cindex MIME decoding
9691 @cindex viewing attachments
9693 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
9694 instance, @kbd{3 K v} means ``view the third @acronym{MIME} part''.
9700 @kindex K v (Summary)
9701 View the @acronym{MIME} part.
9704 @kindex K o (Summary)
9705 Save the @acronym{MIME} part.
9708 @kindex K O (Summary)
9709 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} part and strip it
9710 from the article. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred
9711 via the message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
9714 @kindex K r (Summary)
9715 Replace the @acronym{MIME} part with an external body.
9718 @kindex K d (Summary)
9719 Delete the @acronym{MIME} part and add some information about the
9723 @kindex K c (Summary)
9724 Copy the @acronym{MIME} part.
9727 @kindex K e (Summary)
9728 View the @acronym{MIME} part externally.
9731 @kindex K i (Summary)
9732 View the @acronym{MIME} part internally.
9735 @kindex K | (Summary)
9736 Pipe the @acronym{MIME} part to an external command.
9739 The rest of these @acronym{MIME} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
9744 @kindex K H (Summary)
9745 @findex gnus-article-browse-html-article
9746 View @samp{text/html} parts of the current article with a WWW browser.
9747 The message header is added to the beginning of every html part unless
9748 the prefix argument is given.
9750 Warning: Spammers use links to images in HTML articles to verify whether
9751 you have read the message. As this command passes the @acronym{HTML}
9752 content to the browser without eliminating these ``web bugs'' you should
9753 only use it for mails from trusted senders.
9755 If you always want to display @acronym{HTML} parts in the browser, set
9756 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} to @code{nil}.
9759 @kindex K b (Summary)
9760 Make all the @acronym{MIME} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
9761 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
9765 @kindex K m (Summary)
9766 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
9767 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
9768 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
9769 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
9770 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
9773 @kindex X m (Summary)
9774 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
9775 Save all parts matching a @acronym{MIME} type to a directory
9776 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
9777 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9780 @kindex M-t (Summary)
9781 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
9782 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
9783 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
9786 @kindex W M w (Summary)
9787 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
9788 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
9789 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
9792 @kindex W M c (Summary)
9793 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
9794 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
9795 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
9797 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
9798 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
9799 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
9800 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
9801 include @acronym{MIME} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
9802 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9805 @kindex W M v (Summary)
9806 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
9807 View all the @acronym{MIME} parts in the current article
9808 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
9815 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
9816 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
9817 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9818 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
9821 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
9824 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9828 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9829 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9830 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't require the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9831 before interpreting the message as a @acronym{MIME} message. This helps
9832 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9833 default is @code{t}.
9835 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9836 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9839 There are other, non-@acronym{MIME} encoding methods used. The most common
9840 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9841 this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9842 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9843 Gnus @acronym{MIME} machinery. The default is @code{t}. Only
9844 single-part yEnc encoded attachments can be decoded. There's no support
9845 for encoding in Gnus.
9847 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9848 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9849 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9850 this list won't have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9851 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9852 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9853 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9854 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is @code{nil}.
9856 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9857 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9858 This is a list of regexps. @acronym{MIME} types that match a regexp from
9859 this list will have @acronym{MIME} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9860 displayed. This variable overrides
9861 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9862 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9865 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9866 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9867 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9869 You could also add @code{"multipart/alternative"} to this list to
9870 display radio buttons that allow you to choose one of two media types
9871 those mails include. See also @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}
9872 (@pxref{Display Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The
9873 Emacs MIME Manual}).
9875 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9876 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9877 If this is non-@code{nil}, then all @acronym{MIME} parts get buttons. The
9878 default value is @code{nil}.
9880 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9881 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9882 For each @acronym{MIME} part, this function will be called with the @acronym{MIME}
9883 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9884 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9885 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9886 save all jpegs into some directory).
9888 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9891 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9892 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9894 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9895 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9896 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9897 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9898 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9901 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9902 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9903 Alist of @acronym{MIME} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9905 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9906 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed
9907 Display "multipart/alternative" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9909 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9910 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed
9911 Display "multipart/related" parts as "multipart/mixed".
9913 If displaying @samp{text/html} is discouraged, see
9914 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}, images or other material inside a
9915 "multipart/related" part might be overlooked when this variable is
9916 @code{nil}. @ref{Display Customization, Display Customization, ,
9917 emacs-mime, Emacs-Mime Manual}.
9919 @vindex gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9920 @item gnus-mime-display-multipart-as-mixed
9921 Display "multipart" parts as "multipart/mixed". If @code{t}, it
9922 overrides @code{nil} values of
9923 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-alternative-as-mixed} and
9924 @code{gnus-mime-display-multipart-related-as-mixed}.
9926 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9927 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9928 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @acronym{MIME} parts.
9929 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9931 Ready-made functions include@*
9932 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9933 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9934 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9935 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9936 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9937 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9938 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9939 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9940 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9941 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9942 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9943 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9945 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9946 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9948 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9949 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9950 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9953 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9954 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9955 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9956 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9960 to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
9969 People use different charsets, and we have @acronym{MIME} to let us know what
9970 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9971 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @acronym{MIME}, and
9972 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9973 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9974 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9975 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp}.
9977 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9978 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9979 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9980 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9982 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets
9983 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @acronym{MIME}-aware agents that
9984 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9985 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9986 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9987 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9988 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9989 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9990 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9992 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9993 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9994 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @acronym{MIME}
9995 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9996 quoted-printable header encoding.
9998 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9999 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
10000 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
10004 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
10007 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
10008 means encode all charsets),
10010 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
10011 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
10012 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
10019 @cindex coding system aliases
10020 @cindex preferred charset
10022 @xref{Encoding Customization, , Encoding Customization, emacs-mime,
10023 The Emacs MIME Manual}, for additional variables that control which
10024 MIME charsets are used when sending messages.
10026 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
10028 If there are several @acronym{MIME} charsets that encode the same Emacs
10029 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
10032 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
10033 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
10036 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
10037 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @acronym{MIME} charset.
10039 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
10042 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
10045 This will almost do the right thing.
10047 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
10051 (codepage-setup 1251)
10052 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
10056 @node Article Commands
10057 @section Article Commands
10064 @kindex A P (Summary)
10065 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
10066 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
10067 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
10068 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
10069 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
10070 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
10075 @node Summary Sorting
10076 @section Summary Sorting
10077 @cindex summary sorting
10079 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
10080 can't really see why you'd want that.
10085 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
10086 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
10087 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
10090 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
10091 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
10092 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
10095 @kindex C-c C-s C-t (Summary)
10096 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient
10097 Sort by recipient (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient}).
10100 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
10101 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
10102 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
10105 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
10106 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
10107 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
10110 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
10111 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
10112 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
10115 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
10116 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
10117 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
10120 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
10121 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
10122 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
10125 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
10126 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
10127 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
10130 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
10131 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
10132 Sort using the default sorting method
10133 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
10136 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
10137 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
10138 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
10139 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
10140 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
10144 @node Finding the Parent
10145 @section Finding the Parent
10146 @cindex parent articles
10147 @cindex referring articles
10151 @kindex ^ (Summary)
10152 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
10153 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
10154 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
10155 if the current group is fetched by @acronym{NNTP}, the parent hasn't expired
10156 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
10157 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
10158 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
10159 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
10160 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
10162 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
10163 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
10164 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
10165 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
10166 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
10169 @item A R (Summary)
10170 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
10171 @kindex A R (Summary)
10172 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
10173 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
10175 @item A T (Summary)
10176 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
10177 @kindex A T (Summary)
10178 Display the full thread where the current article appears
10179 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
10180 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
10181 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
10182 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
10183 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
10184 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
10186 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
10187 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
10188 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
10189 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
10190 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
10191 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
10193 @item M-^ (Summary)
10194 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
10195 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
10197 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
10198 You can also ask Gnus for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it
10199 belongs to. @kbd{M-^} (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you
10200 for a @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read
10201 thingies that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}.
10202 You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
10204 Gnus looks for the @code{Message-ID} in the headers that have already
10205 been fetched, but also tries all the select methods specified by
10206 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} if it is not found.
10209 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
10210 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
10211 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
10212 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @acronym{NNTP} method. It
10213 would, perhaps, be best if the @acronym{NNTP} server you consult is the one
10214 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
10217 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
10218 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
10219 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
10222 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
10223 then ask Google if that fails:
10226 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
10228 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
10231 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
10232 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
10233 @code{nnbabyl}, @code{nnmaildir}, @code{nnml}, are able to locate
10234 articles from any groups, while @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
10235 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current
10236 group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does
10237 not support this at all.
10240 @node Alternative Approaches
10241 @section Alternative Approaches
10243 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
10244 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
10247 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
10248 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
10252 @node Pick and Read
10253 @subsection Pick and Read
10254 @cindex pick and read
10256 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
10257 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
10258 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
10259 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
10261 @findex gnus-pick-mode
10262 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
10263 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
10264 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
10265 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
10266 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
10268 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
10273 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
10274 Pick the article or thread on the current line
10275 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10276 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
10277 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
10278 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
10279 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
10280 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
10283 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
10284 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
10285 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
10286 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
10290 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
10291 Unpick the thread or article
10292 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
10293 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
10294 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
10295 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
10296 the thread or article at that line.
10300 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
10301 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
10302 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
10303 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
10304 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
10305 will still be visible when you are reading.
10309 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
10310 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
10311 which is mapped to the same function
10312 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
10314 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
10317 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
10320 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
10321 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
10323 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
10324 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
10325 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
10327 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
10328 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
10329 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
10330 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
10331 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
10332 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
10333 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
10336 @node Binary Groups
10337 @subsection Binary Groups
10338 @cindex binary groups
10340 @findex gnus-binary-mode
10341 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
10342 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
10343 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
10344 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
10345 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
10346 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
10349 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
10350 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
10351 command, when you have turned on this mode
10352 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
10354 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
10355 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
10359 @section Tree Display
10362 @vindex gnus-use-trees
10363 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
10364 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
10365 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
10366 in the tree buffer.
10368 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
10371 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
10372 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
10373 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
10375 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10376 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
10377 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
10378 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
10379 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
10381 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
10382 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
10383 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
10384 default is @code{modeline}.
10386 @item gnus-tree-line-format
10387 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
10388 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
10389 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
10390 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
10391 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
10392 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
10398 The name of the poster.
10400 The @code{From} header.
10402 The number of the article.
10404 The opening bracket.
10406 The closing bracket.
10411 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
10413 Variables related to the display are:
10416 @item gnus-tree-brackets
10417 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
10418 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
10419 ``sparse'' articles. The format is
10421 ((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
10422 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close})
10423 (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))
10425 and the default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
10427 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10428 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
10429 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
10430 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
10434 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
10435 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
10436 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
10437 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
10438 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
10439 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
10440 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
10441 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
10442 other windows displayed next to it.
10444 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
10448 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
10449 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
10452 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
10453 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
10454 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10455 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
10456 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
10457 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
10458 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
10462 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
10465 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
10475 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
10480 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
10481 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
10483 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
10485 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
10491 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
10492 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
10493 following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
10496 (setq gnus-use-trees t
10497 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
10498 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
10499 (gnus-add-configuration
10503 (summary 0.75 point)
10508 @xref{Window Layout}.
10511 @node Mail Group Commands
10512 @section Mail Group Commands
10513 @cindex mail group commands
10515 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
10516 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
10518 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
10519 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10524 @kindex B e (Summary)
10525 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
10526 @cindex expiring mail
10527 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
10528 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
10529 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
10530 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
10533 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
10534 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
10535 @cindex expiring mail
10536 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
10537 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
10538 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
10539 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
10542 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
10543 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
10544 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
10545 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
10546 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
10547 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
10550 @kindex B m (Summary)
10552 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
10553 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
10554 Move the article from one mail group to another
10555 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10556 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10559 @kindex B c (Summary)
10561 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
10562 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
10563 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
10564 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
10565 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
10568 @kindex B B (Summary)
10569 @cindex crosspost mail
10570 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
10571 Crosspost the current article to some other group
10572 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
10573 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
10574 be properly updated.
10577 @kindex B i (Summary)
10578 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
10579 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
10580 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
10581 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10584 @kindex B I (Summary)
10585 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
10586 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
10587 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
10588 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
10591 @kindex B r (Summary)
10592 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
10593 @vindex gnus-summary-respool-default-method
10594 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
10595 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
10596 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
10597 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
10598 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
10599 (which is the default).
10603 @kindex B w (Summary)
10604 @kindex e (Summary)
10605 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
10606 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
10607 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
10608 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
10609 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
10610 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
10611 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
10614 @kindex B q (Summary)
10615 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
10616 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
10617 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
10618 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
10621 @kindex B t (Summary)
10622 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
10623 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
10624 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
10627 @kindex B p (Summary)
10628 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
10629 Some people have a tendency to send you ``courtesy'' copies when they
10630 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
10631 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
10632 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
10633 article from your news server (or rather, from
10634 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
10635 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
10636 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
10637 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
10638 just not have arrived yet.
10641 @kindex K E (Summary)
10642 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
10643 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
10644 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
10645 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
10646 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
10650 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
10651 @cindex moving articles
10652 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
10653 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
10654 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
10655 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
10656 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
10657 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
10658 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
10661 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
10662 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
10663 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
10664 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
10668 @node Various Summary Stuff
10669 @section Various Summary Stuff
10672 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
10673 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
10674 * Summary Generation Commands::
10675 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
10679 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
10680 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
10681 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
10682 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
10683 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
10684 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
10686 @vindex gnus-summary-display-arrow
10687 @item gnus-summary-display-arrow
10688 If non-@code{nil}, display an arrow in the fringe to indicate the
10691 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
10692 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
10693 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
10695 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
10696 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
10697 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
10698 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
10699 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
10700 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
10703 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10704 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
10705 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
10706 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
10707 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
10709 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10710 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
10711 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
10714 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10715 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
10716 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
10717 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
10718 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
10719 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
10720 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
10721 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
10722 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
10723 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
10725 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10726 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
10727 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
10728 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
10729 list of articles to be selected.
10731 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
10732 the list in one particular group:
10735 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
10736 (if (string= group "some.group")
10737 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
10741 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
10742 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
10743 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
10744 variables and their default expressions to be evalled (when the default
10745 values are not @code{nil}), that should be made global while the summary
10748 Note: The default expressions will be evaluated (using function
10749 @code{eval}) before assignment to the local variable rather than just
10750 assigned to it. If the default expression is the symbol @code{global},
10751 that symbol will not be evaluated but the global value of the local
10752 variable will be used instead.
10754 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
10755 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
10756 buffers. For example:
10759 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
10760 '(message-use-followup-to
10761 (gnus-visible-headers .
10762 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
10765 Also @pxref{Group Parameters}.
10769 @node Summary Group Information
10770 @subsection Summary Group Information
10775 @kindex H f (Summary)
10776 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
10777 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
10778 Try to fetch the @acronym{FAQ} (list of frequently asked questions)
10779 for the current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try
10780 to get the @acronym{FAQ} from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which
10781 is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be
10782 a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command
10783 will allow you to choose between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp}
10784 or @code{efs} will probably be used for fetching the file.
10787 @kindex H d (Summary)
10788 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
10789 Give a brief description of the current group
10790 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
10791 rereading the description from the server.
10794 @kindex H h (Summary)
10795 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
10796 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
10797 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
10800 @kindex H i (Summary)
10801 @findex gnus-info-find-node
10802 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
10806 @node Searching for Articles
10807 @subsection Searching for Articles
10812 @kindex M-s (Summary)
10813 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
10814 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
10815 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
10818 @kindex M-r (Summary)
10819 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
10820 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
10821 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
10824 @kindex M-S (Summary)
10825 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward
10826 Repeat the previous search forwards
10827 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-forward}).
10830 @kindex M-R (Summary)
10831 @findex gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward
10832 Repeat the previous search backwards
10833 (@code{gnus-summary-repeat-search-article-backward}).
10836 @kindex & (Summary)
10837 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
10838 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
10839 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
10840 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
10841 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
10842 search backward instead.
10844 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string RET #} will put the process mark on
10845 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
10848 @kindex M-& (Summary)
10849 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
10850 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
10851 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
10854 @node Summary Generation Commands
10855 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
10860 @kindex Y g (Summary)
10861 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
10862 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
10865 @kindex Y c (Summary)
10866 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
10867 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10868 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
10871 @kindex Y d (Summary)
10872 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
10873 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10874 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
10877 @kindex Y t (Summary)
10878 @findex gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles
10879 Pull all ticked articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
10880 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles}).
10885 @node Really Various Summary Commands
10886 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
10892 @kindex C-d (Summary)
10893 @kindex A D (Summary)
10894 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
10895 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
10896 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
10897 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
10898 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
10899 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
10900 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
10901 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
10904 @vindex gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit
10905 The variable @code{gnus-auto-select-on-ephemeral-exit} controls what
10906 article should be selected after exiting a digest group. Valid values
10911 Select the next article.
10914 Select the next unread article.
10916 @item next-noselect
10917 Move the cursor to the next article. This is the default.
10919 @item next-unread-noselect
10920 Move the cursor to the next unread article.
10923 If it has any other value or there is no next (unread) article, the
10924 article selected before entering to the digest group will appear.
10927 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
10928 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
10929 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
10930 several documents into one biiig group
10931 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10932 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10933 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10934 command understands the process/prefix convention
10935 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10938 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10939 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10940 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10941 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10942 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10943 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10946 @kindex = (Summary)
10947 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10948 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10949 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10952 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10953 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10954 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10955 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10958 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10959 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10960 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10961 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10966 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10967 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10968 @cindex summary exit
10969 @cindex exiting groups
10971 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10972 group and return you to the group buffer.
10979 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10980 @kindex Z Q (Summary)
10981 @kindex q (Summary)
10982 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10983 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10984 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10985 @vindex gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook
10986 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10987 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10988 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10989 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10990 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10991 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10992 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10993 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10997 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10998 @kindex Q (Summary)
10999 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
11000 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
11001 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
11005 @kindex Z c (Summary)
11006 @kindex c (Summary)
11007 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
11008 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
11009 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
11010 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
11013 @kindex Z C (Summary)
11014 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
11015 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
11016 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
11019 @kindex Z n (Summary)
11020 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
11021 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
11022 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
11025 @kindex Z p (Summary)
11026 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group
11027 Mark all articles as read and go to the previous group
11028 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-prev-group}).
11032 @kindex Z R (Summary)
11033 @kindex C-x C-s (Summary)
11034 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
11035 Exit this group, and then enter it again
11036 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
11037 all articles, both read and unread.
11041 @kindex Z G (Summary)
11042 @kindex M-g (Summary)
11043 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
11044 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
11045 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
11046 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
11047 articles, both read and unread.
11050 @kindex Z N (Summary)
11051 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
11052 Exit the group and go to the next group
11053 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
11056 @kindex Z P (Summary)
11057 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
11058 Exit the group and go to the previous group
11059 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
11062 @kindex Z s (Summary)
11063 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
11064 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
11065 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
11066 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
11067 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
11070 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
11071 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
11072 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
11073 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
11075 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
11076 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
11077 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
11078 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
11079 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
11080 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
11081 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
11082 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
11083 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
11084 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
11085 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
11086 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
11088 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
11090 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
11091 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
11092 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
11093 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
11094 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
11095 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
11096 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
11097 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
11098 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
11101 @node Crosspost Handling
11102 @section Crosspost Handling
11106 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
11107 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
11108 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
11109 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
11110 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
11111 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
11114 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
11115 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
11116 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
11117 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
11118 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
11120 @cindex cross-posting
11122 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
11123 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
11124 correctly is if you use an @acronym{NNTP} server that supports @sc{xover}
11125 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
11126 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @acronym{NOV} lines. This is
11127 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
11128 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
11129 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
11130 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
11131 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
11132 the cross reference mechanism.
11134 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
11135 @cindex overview.fmt
11136 To check whether your @acronym{NNTP} server includes the @code{Xref} header
11137 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
11138 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
11139 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
11140 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
11141 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
11144 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
11145 set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
11146 considerably. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
11150 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
11153 @node Duplicate Suppression
11154 @section Duplicate Suppression
11156 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
11157 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
11158 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
11159 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
11164 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
11165 is evil and not very common.
11168 The @acronym{NNTP} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
11169 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
11172 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
11173 different @acronym{NNTP} servers.
11176 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
11179 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
11180 well, but these four are the most common situations.
11182 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
11183 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
11184 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
11185 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
11186 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
11187 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
11188 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
11191 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
11192 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
11193 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
11194 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
11195 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
11196 saw the article in.
11199 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
11200 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
11201 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
11203 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
11204 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
11205 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
11206 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
11207 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
11208 session are suppressed.
11210 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
11211 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
11212 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
11213 suppression list. The default is 10000.
11215 @item gnus-duplicate-file
11216 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
11217 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
11218 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
11221 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
11222 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
11223 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
11224 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
11225 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
11226 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
11227 to you to figure out, I think.
11232 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
11233 The formats that are supported are @acronym{PGP}, @acronym{PGP/MIME}
11234 and @acronym{S/MIME}, however you need some external programs to get
11239 To handle @acronym{PGP} and @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages, you have to
11240 install an OpenPGP implementation such as GnuPG. The Lisp interface
11241 to GnuPG included with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG
11242 Manual}), but Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
11245 To handle @acronym{S/MIME} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
11246 or newer is recommended.
11250 The variables that control security functionality on reading messages
11254 @item mm-verify-option
11255 @vindex mm-verify-option
11256 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
11257 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
11258 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11260 @item mm-decrypt-option
11261 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
11262 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
11263 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
11264 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
11267 @vindex mml1991-use
11268 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11269 @acronym{PGP} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
11270 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
11274 @vindex mml2015-use
11275 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
11276 @acronym{PGP/MIME} messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but
11277 @code{mailcrypt} and @code{gpg} are also supported although
11282 By default the buttons that display security information are not
11283 shown, because they clutter reading the actual e-mail. You can type
11284 @kbd{K b} manually to display the information. Use the
11285 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types} and
11286 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} variables to control this
11287 permanently. @ref{MIME Commands} for further details, and hints on
11288 how to customize these variables to always display security
11291 @cindex snarfing keys
11292 @cindex importing PGP keys
11293 @cindex PGP key ring import
11294 Snarfing OpenPGP keys (i.e., importing keys from articles into your
11295 key ring) is not supported explicitly through a menu item or command,
11296 rather Gnus do detect and label keys as @samp{application/pgp-keys},
11297 allowing you to specify whatever action you think is appropriate
11298 through the usual @acronym{MIME} infrastructure. You can use a
11299 @file{~/.mailcap} entry (@pxref{mailcap, , mailcap, emacs-mime, The
11300 Emacs MIME Manual}) such as the following to import keys using GNU
11301 Privacy Guard when you click on the @acronym{MIME} button
11302 (@pxref{Using MIME}).
11305 application/pgp-keys; gpg --import --interactive --verbose; needsterminal
11308 This happens to also be the default action defined in
11309 @code{mailcap-mime-data}.
11311 More information on how to set things for sending outgoing signed and
11312 encrypted messages up can be found in the message manual
11313 (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
11316 @section Mailing List
11317 @cindex mailing list
11320 @kindex A M (summary)
11321 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
11322 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
11323 add a @code{to-list} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
11324 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
11327 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
11332 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
11333 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
11334 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
11337 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
11338 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
11339 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
11342 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
11343 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
11344 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
11348 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
11349 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
11350 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
11353 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
11354 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
11355 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
11358 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
11359 @findex gnus-mailing-list-archive
11360 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
11365 @node Article Buffer
11366 @chapter Article Buffer
11367 @cindex article buffer
11369 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
11370 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
11371 tell Gnus otherwise.
11374 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
11375 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @acronym{MIME} before reading them.
11376 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
11377 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
11378 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
11382 @node Hiding Headers
11383 @section Hiding Headers
11384 @cindex hiding headers
11385 @cindex deleting headers
11387 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
11388 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
11390 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
11391 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
11392 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
11393 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
11394 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
11395 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
11396 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseam---and you'll probably want to get rid
11397 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
11398 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
11400 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
11404 @item gnus-visible-headers
11405 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
11406 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
11407 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
11408 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
11410 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
11411 the article and the subject, you'd say:
11414 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
11417 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11420 @item gnus-ignored-headers
11421 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
11422 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
11423 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
11424 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
11425 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
11427 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
11428 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
11431 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
11434 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
11437 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
11438 variable will have no effect.
11442 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
11443 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
11444 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
11445 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
11446 the headers are to be displayed.
11448 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
11449 and then the subject, you might say something like:
11452 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
11455 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
11456 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
11458 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
11459 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
11460 You can hide further boring headers by setting
11461 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
11462 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
11463 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead it
11464 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
11467 These conditions are:
11470 Remove all empty headers.
11472 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
11473 @code{Newsgroups} header.
11475 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same addresses as
11476 the @code{From} header, or if the @code{broken-reply-to} group
11479 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
11482 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11483 the current group's @code{to-address} parameter.
11485 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
11486 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11488 Remove the @code{Cc} header if it only contains the address identical to
11489 the current group's @code{to-list} parameter.
11491 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
11494 Remove the @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} header if it is very long.
11496 Remove all @code{To} and/or @code{Cc} headers if there are more than one.
11499 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
11502 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
11503 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
11506 This is also the default value for this variable.
11510 @section Using MIME
11511 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
11513 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
11514 while people stand around yawning.
11516 @acronym{MIME}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
11517 while all newsreaders die of fear.
11519 @acronym{MIME} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
11520 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
11521 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
11523 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
11524 @findex gnus-display-mime
11525 Gnus pushes @acronym{MIME} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
11526 to display the @acronym{MIME} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
11527 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
11528 display, save and manipulate the @acronym{MIME} objects.
11530 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
11531 @acronym{MIME} button:
11534 @findex gnus-article-press-button
11535 @item RET (Article)
11536 @kindex RET (Article)
11537 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
11538 Toggle displaying of the @acronym{MIME} object
11539 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If built-in viewers can not display
11540 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
11541 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
11542 object is displayed inline.
11544 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
11545 @item M-RET (Article)
11546 @kindex M-RET (Article)
11548 Prompt for a method, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11549 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
11551 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
11553 @kindex t (Article)
11554 View the @acronym{MIME} object as if it were a different @acronym{MIME} media type
11555 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
11557 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
11559 @kindex C (Article)
11560 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @acronym{MIME} object using this
11561 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
11563 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
11565 @kindex o (Article)
11566 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @acronym{MIME} object
11567 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
11569 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
11570 @item C-o (Article)
11571 @kindex C-o (Article)
11572 Prompt for a file name, then save the @acronym{MIME} object and strip it from
11573 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
11574 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
11575 like. The stripped @acronym{MIME} object will be referred via the
11576 message/external-body @acronym{MIME} type.
11577 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
11579 @findex gnus-mime-replace-part
11581 @kindex r (Article)
11582 Prompt for a file name, replace the @acronym{MIME} object with an
11583 external body refering to the file via the message/external-body
11584 @acronym{MIME} type. (@code{gnus-mime-replace-part}).
11586 @findex gnus-mime-delete-part
11588 @kindex d (Article)
11589 Delete the @acronym{MIME} object from the article and replace it with some
11590 information about the removed @acronym{MIME} object
11591 (@code{gnus-mime-delete-part}).
11593 @c FIXME: gnus-auto-select-part should be documented here
11595 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
11597 @kindex c (Article)
11598 Copy the @acronym{MIME} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
11599 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). If given a prefix, copy the raw contents
11600 without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual
11601 charset stuff (see @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in
11602 @ref{Paging the Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
11603 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
11604 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
11605 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11607 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
11609 @kindex p (Article)
11610 Print the @acronym{MIME} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
11611 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
11612 @file{.mailcap} file.
11614 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
11616 @kindex i (Article)
11617 Insert the contents of the @acronym{MIME} object into the buffer
11618 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as @samp{text/plain}. If given a prefix, insert
11619 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
11620 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
11621 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @ref{Paging the
11622 Article}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and @file{.bz2} are
11623 automatically decompressed depending on @code{jka-compr} regardless of
11624 @code{auto-compression-mode} (@pxref{Compressed Files,, Accessing
11625 Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
11627 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
11629 @kindex E (Article)
11630 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
11631 viewer is available, use an external viewer
11632 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
11634 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
11636 @kindex e (Article)
11637 View the @acronym{MIME} object with an external viewer.
11638 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
11640 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
11642 @kindex | (Article)
11643 Output the @acronym{MIME} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
11645 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
11647 @kindex . (Article)
11648 Interactively run an action on the @acronym{MIME} object
11649 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
11653 Gnus will display some @acronym{MIME} objects automatically. The way Gnus
11654 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
11655 @acronym{MIME} manual.
11657 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
11658 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
11659 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @acronym{MIME} has
11660 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
11661 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
11662 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
11663 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
11664 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
11665 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
11667 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
11669 Also @pxref{MIME Commands}.
11672 @node Customizing Articles
11673 @section Customizing Articles
11674 @cindex article customization
11676 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
11677 exist. You can call these functions interactively
11678 (@pxref{Article Washing}), or you can have them
11679 called automatically when you select the articles.
11681 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
11682 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
11683 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
11684 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
11686 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
11687 for sensible values.
11691 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
11694 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
11697 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
11700 @code{first}: Do this treatment on the first body part.
11703 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last body part.
11706 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
11710 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
11711 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
11712 regexps in the list.
11715 A list where the first element is not a string:
11717 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
11718 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
11719 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
11723 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
11728 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
11729 to the fact that some messages are @acronym{MIME} multipart articles that may
11730 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
11731 considered to contain just a single part.
11733 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
11734 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
11735 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
11736 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
11737 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
11738 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
11739 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
11742 @c Avoid sort of redundant entries in the same section for the printed
11743 @c manual, but add them in info to allow `i gnus-treat-foo-bar RET' or
11745 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize
11746 @vindex gnus-treat-buttonize-head
11747 @vindex gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
11748 @vindex gnus-treat-overstrike
11749 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-cr
11750 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
11751 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
11752 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
11753 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-pem
11754 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
11755 @vindex gnus-treat-unsplit-urls
11756 @vindex gnus-treat-wash-html
11757 @vindex gnus-treat-date-english
11758 @vindex gnus-treat-date-iso8601
11759 @vindex gnus-treat-date-lapsed
11760 @vindex gnus-treat-date-local
11761 @vindex gnus-treat-date-original
11762 @vindex gnus-treat-date-user-defined
11763 @vindex gnus-treat-date-ut
11764 @vindex gnus-treat-from-picon
11765 @vindex gnus-treat-mail-picon
11766 @vindex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
11767 @vindex gnus-treat-display-smileys
11768 @vindex gnus-treat-body-boundary
11769 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11770 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11771 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11772 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
11773 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
11774 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
11775 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
11776 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
11777 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
11778 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
11779 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
11780 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
11781 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
11782 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
11783 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
11784 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
11785 @vindex gnus-treat-translate
11786 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
11787 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
11788 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
11789 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
11790 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
11793 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
11794 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
11795 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
11796 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
11799 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
11800 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
11802 @xref{Article Buttons}.
11804 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
11805 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
11806 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
11807 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
11808 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, first, integer)
11809 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
11810 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
11811 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
11812 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
11813 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
11815 @xref{Article Washing}.
11817 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
11818 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
11819 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
11820 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
11821 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
11822 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
11823 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
11825 @xref{Article Date}.
11827 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
11828 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
11829 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
11833 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
11835 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
11837 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
11838 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
11839 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
11843 @vindex gnus-treat-display-x-face
11844 @item gnus-treat-display-x-face (head)
11848 @vindex gnus-treat-display-face
11849 @item gnus-treat-display-face (head)
11853 @vindex gnus-treat-emphasize
11854 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
11855 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-article
11856 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
11857 @vindex gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
11858 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
11859 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers
11860 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
11861 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation
11862 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
11863 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe
11864 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
11865 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-headers
11866 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
11867 @vindex gnus-treat-hide-signature
11868 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
11869 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-banner
11870 @item gnus-treat-strip-banner (t, last)
11871 @vindex gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers
11872 @item gnus-treat-strip-list-identifiers (head)
11874 @xref{Article Hiding}.
11876 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-citation
11877 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
11878 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-headers
11879 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
11880 @vindex gnus-treat-highlight-signature
11881 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
11883 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
11885 @vindex gnus-treat-play-sounds
11886 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
11887 @vindex gnus-treat-translate
11888 @item gnus-treat-translate
11889 @item gnus-treat-ansi-sequences (t)
11890 @vindex gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig
11891 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
11893 @vindex gnus-treat-unfold-headers
11894 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
11895 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-headers
11896 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
11897 @vindex gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups
11898 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
11899 @vindex gnus-treat-leading-whitespace
11900 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
11902 @xref{Article Header}.
11907 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
11908 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
11909 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
11910 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
11911 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
11915 @node Article Keymap
11916 @section Article Keymap
11918 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
11919 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
11920 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
11921 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
11924 @kindex v (Article)
11925 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Article)
11926 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
11927 command or better use it as a prefix key.
11929 A few additional keystrokes are available:
11934 @kindex SPACE (Article)
11935 @findex gnus-article-next-page
11936 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
11937 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h SPACE h}.
11940 @kindex DEL (Article)
11941 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
11942 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
11943 This is exactly the same as @kbd{h DEL h}.
11946 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
11947 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
11948 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
11949 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
11950 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
11953 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
11954 @findex gnus-article-mail
11955 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
11956 given a prefix, include the mail.
11959 @kindex s (Article)
11960 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
11961 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
11962 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
11965 @kindex ? (Article)
11966 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
11967 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
11968 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
11971 @kindex TAB (Article)
11972 @findex gnus-article-next-button
11973 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
11974 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
11977 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
11978 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
11979 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
11982 @kindex R (Article)
11983 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
11984 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
11985 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If the region is active,
11986 only yank the text in the region.
11989 @kindex S W (Article)
11990 @findex gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original
11991 Send a wide reply to the current article and yank the current article
11992 (@code{gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original}). If the region is
11993 active, only yank the text in the region.
11996 @kindex F (Article)
11997 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
11998 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
11999 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If the region is active,
12000 only yank the text in the region.
12007 @section Misc Article
12011 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
12012 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
12013 @cindex article buffers, several
12014 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
12015 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
12018 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
12019 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
12020 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
12021 Hook used to decode @acronym{MIME} articles. The default value is
12022 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
12024 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
12025 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
12026 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
12027 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
12028 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
12029 the contents of the article buffer.
12031 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
12032 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
12033 Hook called in article mode buffers.
12035 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12036 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
12037 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
12038 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
12040 @vindex gnus-article-over-scroll
12041 @item gnus-article-over-scroll
12042 If non-@code{nil}, allow scrolling the article buffer even when there
12043 no more new text to scroll in. The default is @code{nil}.
12045 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
12046 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
12047 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
12048 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Summary Buffer Mode
12049 Line}). It accepts the same format specifications as that variable,
12050 with two extensions:
12055 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
12056 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
12057 performed. The characters and their meaning:
12062 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
12065 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
12068 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
12069 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
12070 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
12073 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
12076 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
12079 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
12084 The number of @acronym{MIME} parts in the article.
12088 @vindex gnus-break-pages
12090 @item gnus-break-pages
12091 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
12092 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
12093 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
12094 paging will not be done.
12096 @item gnus-page-delimiter
12097 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
12098 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
12102 @cindex internationalized domain names
12103 @vindex gnus-use-idna
12104 @item gnus-use-idna
12105 This variable controls whether Gnus performs IDNA decoding of
12106 internationalized domain names inside @samp{From}, @samp{To} and
12107 @samp{Cc} headers. @xref{IDNA, ,IDNA,message, The Message Manual},
12108 for how to compose such messages. This requires
12109 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/, GNU Libidn}, and this
12110 variable is only enabled if you have installed it.
12115 @node Composing Messages
12116 @chapter Composing Messages
12117 @cindex composing messages
12120 @cindex sending mail
12125 @cindex using s/mime
12126 @cindex using smime
12128 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
12129 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
12130 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
12131 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
12132 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
12133 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
12136 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
12137 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
12138 * POP before SMTP:: You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
12139 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
12140 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
12141 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
12142 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
12143 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
12144 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
12147 Also @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
12148 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
12154 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
12157 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
12158 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
12159 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
12160 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
12161 @code{nil} include all headers.
12163 @item gnus-add-to-list
12164 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
12165 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
12166 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
12168 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12169 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
12170 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you for a confirmation when you are
12171 about to reply to news articles by mail. If it is @code{nil}, nothing
12172 interferes in what you want to do. This can also be a function
12173 receiving the group name as the only parameter which should return
12174 non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is needed, or a regular expression
12175 matching group names, where confirmation should be asked for.
12177 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
12178 press @kbd{R} anyway, this variable might be for you.
12180 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12181 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
12182 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
12183 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
12184 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
12189 @node Posting Server
12190 @section Posting Server
12192 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
12193 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
12195 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
12197 It can be quite complicated.
12199 @vindex gnus-post-method
12200 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
12201 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
12202 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
12203 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
12204 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
12205 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
12206 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
12207 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
12208 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
12211 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
12214 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
12215 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
12216 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
12217 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
12219 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
12220 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
12222 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
12223 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
12226 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
12227 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
12229 @vindex message-send-mail-function
12230 When sending mail, Message invokes the function specified by the
12231 variable @code{message-send-mail-function}. Gnus tries to set it to a
12232 value suitable for your system.
12233 @xref{Mail Variables, ,Mail Variables,message,Message manual}, for more
12236 @node POP before SMTP
12237 @section POP before SMTP
12238 @cindex pop before smtp
12239 @findex message-smtpmail-send-it
12240 @findex mail-source-touch-pop
12242 Does your @acronym{ISP} require the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP}
12243 authentication? It is whether you need to connect to the @acronym{POP}
12244 mail server within a certain time before sending mails. If so, there is
12245 a convenient way. To do that, put the following lines in your
12246 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
12249 (setq message-send-mail-function 'message-smtpmail-send-it)
12250 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook 'mail-source-touch-pop)
12254 It means to let Gnus connect to the @acronym{POP} mail server in advance
12255 whenever you send a mail. The @code{mail-source-touch-pop} function
12256 does only a @acronym{POP} authentication according to the value of
12257 @code{mail-sources} without fetching mails, just before sending a mail.
12258 Note that you have to use @code{message-smtpmail-send-it} which runs
12259 @code{message-send-mail-hook} rather than @code{smtpmail-send-it} and
12260 set the value of @code{mail-sources} for a @acronym{POP} connection
12261 correctly. @xref{Mail Sources}.
12263 If you have two or more @acronym{POP} mail servers set in
12264 @code{mail-sources}, you may want to specify one of them to
12265 @code{mail-source-primary-source} as the @acronym{POP} mail server to be
12266 used for the @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication. If it
12267 is your primary @acronym{POP} mail server (i.e., you are fetching mails
12268 mainly from that server), you can set it permanently as follows:
12271 (setq mail-source-primary-source
12272 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12273 :password "secret"))
12277 Otherwise, bind it dynamically only when performing the
12278 @acronym{POP}-before-@acronym{SMTP} authentication as follows:
12281 (add-hook 'message-send-mail-hook
12283 (let ((mail-source-primary-source
12284 '(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
12285 :password "secret")))
12286 (mail-source-touch-pop))))
12289 @node Mail and Post
12290 @section Mail and Post
12292 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
12296 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
12297 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
12298 @cindex mailing lists
12300 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
12301 gatewayed to the @acronym{NNTP} server, you can read those groups without
12302 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
12303 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
12304 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
12305 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
12306 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
12307 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
12308 still a pain, though.
12310 @item gnus-user-agent
12311 @vindex gnus-user-agent
12314 This variable controls which information should be exposed in the
12315 User-Agent header. It can be a list of symbols or a string. Valid
12316 symbols are @code{gnus} (show Gnus version) and @code{emacs} (show Emacs
12317 version). In addition to the Emacs version, you can add @code{codename}
12318 (show (S)XEmacs codename) or either @code{config} (show system
12319 configuration) or @code{type} (show system type). If you set it to a
12320 string, be sure to use a valid format, see RFC 2616.
12324 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
12325 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
12326 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
12329 @findex ispell-message
12331 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
12334 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
12335 you're in, you could say something like the following:
12338 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
12342 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
12343 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
12345 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
12348 Modify to suit your needs.
12350 @vindex gnus-message-highlight-citation
12351 If @code{gnus-message-highlight-citation} is t, different levels of
12352 citations are highlighted like in Gnus article buffers also in message
12355 @node Archived Messages
12356 @section Archived Messages
12357 @cindex archived messages
12358 @cindex sent messages
12360 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
12361 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
12362 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
12363 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
12366 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
12367 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
12370 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
12371 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
12372 use to store sent messages. The default is @code{"archive"}, and when
12373 actually being used it is expanded into:
12376 (nnfolder "archive"
12377 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
12378 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
12379 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
12380 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
12384 @vindex gnus-update-message-archive-method
12385 Note: a server like this is saved in the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file first
12386 so that it may be used as a real method of the server which is named
12387 @code{"archive"} (that is, for the case where
12388 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} is set to @code{"archive"}) ever
12389 since. If it once has been saved, it will never be updated by default
12390 even if you change the value of @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12391 afterward. Therefore, the server @code{"archive"} doesn't necessarily
12392 mean the @code{nnfolder} server like this at all times. If you want the
12393 saved method to reflect always the value of
12394 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, set the
12395 @code{gnus-update-message-archive-method} variable to a non-@code{nil}
12396 value. The default value of this variable is @code{nil}.
12399 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
12400 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
12401 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
12402 directory chosen, you could say something like:
12405 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
12406 '(nnfolder "archive"
12407 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
12408 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
12409 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
12412 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
12414 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
12415 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
12416 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
12418 This variable can be used to do the following:
12422 Messages will be saved in that group.
12424 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
12425 message will not be stored in the select method given by
12426 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
12427 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
12428 has the default value shown above. Then setting
12429 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
12430 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
12431 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
12434 @item a list of strings
12435 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
12437 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
12438 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
12441 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
12446 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
12448 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
12451 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
12453 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
12456 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
12458 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12459 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
12460 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
12461 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
12464 More complex stuff:
12466 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12467 '((if (message-news-p)
12472 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
12473 messages in one file per month:
12476 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
12477 '((if (message-news-p)
12479 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
12482 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
12483 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
12485 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
12486 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
12487 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
12488 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
12489 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
12490 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
12491 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
12492 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
12493 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
12494 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
12496 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
12497 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
12498 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
12499 this will disable archiving.
12502 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
12503 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
12504 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
12505 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
12506 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
12509 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
12510 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
12511 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
12514 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
12515 but the latter is the preferred method.
12517 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12518 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
12519 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
12521 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12522 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
12523 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
12524 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
12525 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
12526 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
12527 changed in the future.
12532 @node Posting Styles
12533 @section Posting Styles
12534 @cindex posting styles
12537 All them variables, they make my head swim.
12539 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
12540 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
12541 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
12544 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
12545 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
12546 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
12547 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
12548 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
12553 (signature "Peace and happiness")
12554 (organization "What me?"))
12556 (signature "Death to everybody"))
12557 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
12558 (organization "Emacs is it")))
12561 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
12562 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
12563 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
12564 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
12565 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
12566 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
12567 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
12568 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
12570 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
12571 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
12572 If it is the form @code{(header @var{match} @var{regexp})}, then Gnus
12573 will look in the original article for a header whose name is
12574 @var{match} and compare that @var{regexp}. @var{match} and
12575 @var{regexp} are strings. (The original article is the one you are
12576 replying or following up to. If you are not composing a reply or a
12577 followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
12578 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with
12579 no arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
12580 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
12581 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is
12582 said to @dfn{match}.
12584 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
12585 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. In
12586 addition, you can also use the @code{(@var{name} :file @var{value})}
12587 form or the @code{(@var{name} :value @var{value})} form. Where
12588 @code{:file} signifies @var{value} represents a file name and its
12589 contents should be used as the attribute value, @code{:value} signifies
12590 @var{value} does not represent a file name explicitly. The attribute
12591 name can be one of:
12594 @item @code{signature}
12595 @item @code{signature-file}
12596 @item @code{x-face-file}
12597 @item @code{address}, overriding @code{user-mail-address}
12598 @item @code{name}, overriding @code{(user-full-name)}
12602 Note that the @code{signature-file} attribute honors the variable
12603 @code{message-signature-directory}.
12605 The attribute name can also be a string or a symbol. In that case,
12606 this will be used as a header name, and the value will be inserted in
12607 the headers of the article; if the value is @code{nil}, the header
12608 name will be removed. If the attribute name is @code{eval}, the form
12609 is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.
12611 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
12612 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
12613 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
12614 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
12615 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
12616 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
12617 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
12618 references chars lines xref extra.
12620 @vindex message-reply-headers
12622 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
12623 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
12624 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
12626 @findex message-mail-p
12627 @findex message-news-p
12629 So here's a new example:
12632 (setq gnus-posting-styles
12634 (signature-file "~/.signature")
12636 (x-face-file "~/.xface")
12637 (x-url (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
12638 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
12640 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
12641 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; @r{A form}
12642 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
12643 (message-news-p ;; @r{A function symbol}
12644 (signature my-news-signature))
12645 (window-system ;; @r{A value symbol}
12646 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
12647 ;; @r{If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.}
12648 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
12649 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
12650 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; @r{A user defined function}
12651 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
12652 (address "user@@bar.foo")
12653 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
12654 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
12656 (From (save-excursion
12657 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
12658 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
12660 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
12663 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
12664 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
12665 if you fill many roles.
12666 You may also use @code{message-alternative-emails} instead.
12667 @xref{Message Headers, ,Message Headers, message, Message Manual}.
12673 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
12674 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
12675 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
12676 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
12677 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
12679 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
12680 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
12681 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
12682 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
12683 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
12687 @vindex nndraft-directory
12688 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
12689 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
12690 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
12691 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
12692 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
12693 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
12695 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
12696 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
12697 unsubscribe it. The special properties of the draft group comes from
12698 a group property (@pxref{Group Parameters}), and if lost the group
12699 behaves like any other group. This means the commands below will not
12700 be available. To restore the special properties of the group, the
12701 simplest way is to kill the group, using @kbd{C-k}, and restart
12702 Gnus. The group is automatically created again with the
12703 correct parameters. The content of the group is not lost.
12705 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
12706 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
12707 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
12708 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
12709 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
12710 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
12711 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
12712 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
12713 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
12714 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
12715 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
12716 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
12717 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
12718 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
12720 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
12721 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
12722 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
12724 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
12725 @kindex D e (Draft)
12726 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
12727 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
12728 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
12730 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
12733 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
12734 @kindex D s (Draft)
12735 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
12736 @kindex D S (Draft)
12737 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
12738 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
12739 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
12740 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
12741 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
12744 @findex gnus-draft-toggle-sending
12745 @kindex D t (Draft)
12746 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
12747 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
12748 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
12751 @node Rejected Articles
12752 @section Rejected Articles
12753 @cindex rejected articles
12755 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
12756 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
12757 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
12758 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
12760 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
12761 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
12762 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
12763 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
12764 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
12766 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
12767 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
12768 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
12770 @node Signing and encrypting
12771 @section Signing and encrypting
12773 @cindex using s/mime
12774 @cindex using smime
12776 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla
12777 @acronym{PGP} format or @acronym{PGP/MIME} or @acronym{S/MIME}. For
12778 decoding such messages, see the @code{mm-verify-option} and
12779 @code{mm-decrypt-option} options (@pxref{Security}).
12781 @vindex gnus-message-replysign
12782 @vindex gnus-message-replyencrypt
12783 @vindex gnus-message-replysignencrypted
12784 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
12785 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
12786 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
12787 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
12788 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
12789 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
12790 automatically encrypted messages.
12792 Instructing @acronym{MML} to perform security operations on a
12793 @acronym{MIME} part is done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for
12794 signing and the @kbd{C-c C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
12799 @kindex C-c C-m s s (Message)
12800 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
12802 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12805 @kindex C-c C-m s o (Message)
12806 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12808 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12811 @kindex C-c C-m s p (Message)
12812 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
12814 Digitally sign current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12817 @kindex C-c C-m c s (Message)
12818 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
12820 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{S/MIME}.
12823 @kindex C-c C-m c o (Message)
12824 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
12826 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP}.
12829 @kindex C-c C-m c p (Message)
12830 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
12832 Digitally encrypt current message using @acronym{PGP/MIME}.
12835 @kindex C-c C-m C-n (Message)
12836 @findex mml-unsecure-message
12837 Remove security related @acronym{MML} tags from message.
12841 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
12843 @node Select Methods
12844 @chapter Select Methods
12845 @cindex foreign groups
12846 @cindex select methods
12848 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
12849 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
12850 @acronym{NNTP} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
12851 personal mail group.
12853 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
12854 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
12855 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
12856 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
12857 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
12858 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
12860 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
12861 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
12863 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
12866 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @acronym{NNTP} server
12867 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
12868 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
12869 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
12870 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
12872 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
12875 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
12876 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
12877 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
12878 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
12879 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @acronym{IMAP} client.
12880 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
12881 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
12882 * Email Based Diary:: Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
12883 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
12887 @node Server Buffer
12888 @section Server Buffer
12890 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
12891 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
12892 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
12893 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
12894 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
12895 back end represents a virtual server.
12897 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
12898 different actual @acronym{NNTP} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
12899 on the same actual @acronym{NNTP} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
12900 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
12902 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
12903 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
12904 @acronym{NNTP} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
12905 hangs if queried for @acronym{NOV} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
12906 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
12907 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
12908 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
12910 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
12911 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
12914 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
12915 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
12916 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
12917 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
12918 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
12919 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
12920 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
12923 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
12924 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
12927 @node Server Buffer Format
12928 @subsection Server Buffer Format
12929 @cindex server buffer format
12931 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
12932 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
12933 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
12934 variable, with some simple extensions:
12939 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
12942 The name of this server.
12945 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
12948 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
12951 Whether this server is agentized.
12954 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
12955 The mode line can also be customized by using the
12956 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
12957 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
12967 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
12970 @node Server Commands
12971 @subsection Server Commands
12972 @cindex server commands
12978 @cindex keys, reserved for users (Server)
12979 The key @kbd{v} is reserved for users. You can bind it to some
12980 command or better use it as a prefix key.
12984 @findex gnus-server-add-server
12985 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
12989 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
12990 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
12993 @kindex SPACE (Server)
12994 @findex gnus-server-read-server
12995 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
12999 @findex gnus-server-exit
13000 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
13004 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
13005 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
13009 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
13010 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
13014 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
13015 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
13019 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
13020 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
13024 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
13025 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
13026 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
13031 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
13032 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
13033 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
13034 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
13038 @findex gnus-server-compact-server
13040 Compact all groups in the server under point
13041 (@code{gnus-server-compact-server}). Currently implemented only in
13042 nnml (@pxref{Mail Spool}). This removes gaps between article numbers,
13043 hence getting a correct total article count.
13048 @node Example Methods
13049 @subsection Example Methods
13051 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
13054 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
13057 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
13063 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
13064 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
13067 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
13068 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
13070 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
13071 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
13075 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
13078 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
13079 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
13081 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
13082 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
13083 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
13087 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
13090 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
13093 Here's the method for a public spool:
13097 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
13098 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
13104 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @acronym{NNTP}
13105 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
13106 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13107 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
13108 should probably look something like this:
13112 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
13113 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
13114 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
13115 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
13118 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
13119 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
13120 configuration to the example above:
13123 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13126 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}. Here's an example for
13127 an indirect connection:
13129 (setq gnus-select-method
13131 (nntp-address "news.server.example")
13132 (nntp-via-user-name "intermediate_user_name")
13133 (nntp-via-address "intermediate.host.example")
13134 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
13135 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
13136 (nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches ("-C" "-t" "-e" "none"))
13137 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)))
13140 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
13141 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
13142 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
13146 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13147 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
13148 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
13149 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
13152 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
13153 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
13154 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
13155 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
13158 @node Creating a Virtual Server
13159 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
13161 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
13162 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
13164 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
13165 would probably be best to use @code{nnml} to read the cache. You
13166 could also use @code{nnspool} or @code{nnmh}, though.
13168 Type @kbd{a nnml RET cache RET}.
13170 You should now have a brand new @code{nnml} virtual server called
13171 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
13172 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
13173 will contain the following:
13183 (nnml-directory "~/News/cache/")
13184 (nnml-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
13187 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
13188 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
13189 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
13192 @node Server Variables
13193 @subsection Server Variables
13194 @cindex server variables
13195 @cindex server parameters
13197 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
13198 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
13199 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
13200 change the ``base'' variable after the variables have been loaded, you
13201 won't change the ``derived'' variables.
13203 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
13204 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
13205 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
13206 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
13207 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
13208 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
13209 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
13210 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
13211 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
13215 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
13216 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
13217 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
13220 Server variables are often called @dfn{server parameters}.
13222 @node Servers and Methods
13223 @subsection Servers and Methods
13225 Wherever you would normally use a select method
13226 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
13227 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
13228 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
13232 @node Unavailable Servers
13233 @subsection Unavailable Servers
13235 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
13236 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
13237 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
13238 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
13239 actually the case or not.
13241 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
13242 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
13243 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
13244 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
13245 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
13246 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
13247 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
13248 it will regard that server as ``down''.
13250 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
13251 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
13253 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
13254 with the following commands:
13260 @findex gnus-server-open-server
13261 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
13262 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
13266 @findex gnus-server-close-server
13267 Close the connection (if any) to the server
13268 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
13272 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
13273 Mark the current server as unreachable
13274 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
13277 @kindex M-o (Server)
13278 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
13279 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
13280 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
13283 @kindex M-c (Server)
13284 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
13285 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
13286 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
13290 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
13291 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
13292 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
13296 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
13297 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
13303 @section Getting News
13304 @cindex reading news
13305 @cindex news back ends
13307 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
13308 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @acronym{NNTP} server,
13309 or it can read from a local spool.
13312 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13313 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
13321 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @acronym{NNTP} server is rather easy.
13322 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @acronym{NNTP}
13323 server as the, uhm, address.
13325 If the @acronym{NNTP} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
13326 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
13327 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
13328 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13330 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
13331 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
13332 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
13334 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
13339 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
13340 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
13341 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
13343 @cindex authentication
13344 @cindex nntp authentication
13345 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13346 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
13347 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
13348 commands to the @acronym{NNTP} server after it has been contacted. By
13349 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
13350 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
13351 present in this hook.
13353 @item nntp-authinfo-function
13354 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
13355 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
13356 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
13357 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @acronym{NNTP}
13358 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
13359 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
13360 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
13361 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
13362 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
13363 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
13364 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
13368 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
13371 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
13373 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
13374 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
13375 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
13376 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
13377 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
13378 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
13379 @samp{force} is explained below.
13383 Here's an example file:
13386 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
13387 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
13390 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
13391 have to be first, for instance.
13393 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
13394 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
13395 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
13396 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
13397 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
13398 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
13399 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
13401 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
13402 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
13408 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
13409 previously mentioned.
13411 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
13413 @item nntp-server-action-alist
13414 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
13415 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
13416 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
13417 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
13420 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
13421 '(("innd" (ding))))
13424 You probably don't want to do that, though.
13426 The default value is
13429 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
13430 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
13431 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
13434 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
13435 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
13437 @item nntp-maximum-request
13438 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
13439 If the @acronym{NNTP} server doesn't support @acronym{NOV} headers, this back end
13440 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
13441 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
13442 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
13443 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
13444 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
13446 @item nntp-connection-timeout
13447 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
13448 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
13449 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @acronym{NNTP} servers not
13450 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
13451 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
13452 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
13453 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
13454 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
13455 no timeouts are done.
13457 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
13458 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
13459 If the @acronym{NNTP} server does not support @acronym{NOV}, you could set this
13460 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @acronym{NOV}
13463 @item nntp-xover-commands
13464 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
13465 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
13467 List of strings used as commands to fetch @acronym{NOV} lines from a
13468 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
13472 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
13473 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @acronym{NOV} lines to
13474 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
13475 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
13476 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @acronym{NOV}
13477 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
13478 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
13479 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
13480 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
13481 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
13482 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
13484 @item nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13485 @vindex nntp-xref-number-is-evil
13486 When Gnus refers to an article having the @code{Message-ID} that a user
13487 specifies or having the @code{Message-ID} of the parent article of the
13488 current one (@pxref{Finding the Parent}), Gnus sends a @code{HEAD}
13489 command to the @acronym{NNTP} server to know where it is, and the server
13490 returns the data containing the pairs of a group and an article number
13491 in the @code{Xref} header. Gnus normally uses the article number to
13492 refer to the article if the data shows that that article is in the
13493 current group, while it uses the @code{Message-ID} otherwise. However,
13494 some news servers, e.g., ones running Diablo, run multiple engines
13495 having the same articles but article numbers are not kept synchronized
13496 between them. In that case, the article number that appears in the
13497 @code{Xref} header varies by which engine is chosen, so you cannot refer
13498 to the parent article that is in the current group, for instance. If
13499 you connect to such a server, set this variable to a non-@code{nil}
13500 value, and Gnus never uses article numbers. For example:
13503 (setq gnus-select-method
13505 (nntp-address "newszilla.example.com")
13506 (nntp-xref-number-is-evil t)
13510 The default value of this server variable is @code{nil}.
13512 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
13513 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
13514 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @acronym{NNTP} server.
13516 @item nntp-record-commands
13517 @vindex nntp-record-commands
13518 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
13519 @acronym{NNTP} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
13520 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@acronym{NNTP} connection
13521 that doesn't seem to work.
13523 @item nntp-open-connection-function
13524 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
13525 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
13526 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
13527 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
13528 Seven pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped
13529 in two categories: direct connection functions (four pre-made), and
13530 indirect ones (three pre-made).
13532 @item nntp-never-echoes-commands
13533 @vindex nntp-never-echoes-commands
13534 Non-@code{nil} means the nntp server never echoes commands. It is
13535 reported that some nntps server doesn't echo commands. So, you may want
13536 to set this to non-@code{nil} in the method for such a server setting
13537 @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream} for
13538 example. The default value is @code{nil}. Note that the
13539 @code{nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands} variable
13540 overrides the @code{nil} value of this variable.
13542 @item nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13543 @vindex nntp-open-connection-functions-never-echo-commands
13544 List of functions that never echo commands. Add or set a function which
13545 you set to @code{nntp-open-connection-function} to this list if it does
13546 not echo commands. Note that a non-@code{nil} value of the
13547 @code{nntp-never-echoes-commands} variable overrides this variable. The
13548 default value is @code{(nntp-open-network-stream)}.
13550 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
13551 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
13552 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
13553 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
13554 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
13555 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
13556 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
13559 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
13562 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
13563 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
13568 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
13569 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
13570 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
13571 * NNTP marks:: Storing marks for @acronym{NNTP} servers.
13575 @node Direct Functions
13576 @subsubsection Direct Functions
13577 @cindex direct connection functions
13579 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
13580 between your machine and the @acronym{NNTP} server. The behavior of these
13581 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
13582 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13585 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
13586 @item nntp-open-network-stream
13587 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
13590 @findex nntp-open-tls-stream
13591 @item nntp-open-tls-stream
13592 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13593 this you must have @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/, GNUTLS}
13594 installed. You then define a server as follows:
13597 ;; @r{"nntps" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13598 ;; @r{however, @samp{gnutls-cli -p} doesn't like named ports.}
13600 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13601 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-tls-stream)
13602 (nntp-port-number )
13603 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13606 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
13607 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
13608 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
13609 this you must have @uref{http://www.openssl.org, OpenSSL} or
13610 @uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL, SSLeay} installed. You
13611 then define a server as follows:
13614 ;; @r{"snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our @file{/etc/services}}
13615 ;; @r{however, @samp{openssl s_client -port} doesn't like named ports.}
13617 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
13618 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
13619 (nntp-port-number 563)
13620 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
13623 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
13624 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
13625 Opens a connection to an @acronym{NNTP} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
13626 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
13627 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
13628 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
13629 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
13630 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
13634 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
13635 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
13636 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
13639 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
13640 session, which is not a good idea.
13644 @node Indirect Functions
13645 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
13646 @cindex indirect connection functions
13648 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
13649 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13650 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
13651 the ``via'' family of connection: they're all prefixed with ``via'' to make
13652 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
13653 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13656 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13657 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
13658 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
13659 to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from there. This is useful for instance if
13660 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
13662 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13665 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13666 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13667 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13668 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13670 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13671 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13672 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13673 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
13674 @samp{ssh} for @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}, you may set this to
13675 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
13676 this to @samp{("-t" "-e" "none")} or @samp{("-C" "-t" "-e" "none")} if
13677 the telnet command requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate
13681 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13682 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13684 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13685 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat
13686 Does essentially the same, but uses
13687 @uref{http://netcat.sourceforge.net/, netcat} instead of @samp{telnet}
13688 to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the intermediate host.
13690 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-netcat}-specific variables:
13693 @item nntp-via-netcat-command
13694 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-command
13695 Command used to connect to the real @acronym{NNTP} server from the
13696 intermediate host. The default is @samp{nc}. You can also use other
13697 programs like @uref{http://www.imasy.or.jp/~gotoh/ssh/connect.html,
13700 @item nntp-via-netcat-switches
13701 @vindex nntp-via-netcat-switches
13702 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13703 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @code{nil}.
13705 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
13706 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
13707 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
13708 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
13710 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13711 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
13712 List of strings to be used as the switches to
13713 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}.
13716 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13717 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
13718 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
13719 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
13721 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
13724 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
13725 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
13726 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
13729 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
13730 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
13731 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
13732 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
13734 @item nntp-via-user-password
13735 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
13736 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
13738 @item nntp-via-envuser
13739 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
13740 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
13741 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
13742 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
13744 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
13745 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
13746 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
13747 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
13751 Note that you may want to change the value for @code{nntp-end-of-line}
13752 to @samp{\n} (@pxref{Common Variables}).
13756 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
13761 @item nntp-via-user-name
13762 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
13763 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
13765 @item nntp-via-address
13766 @vindex nntp-via-address
13767 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
13772 @node Common Variables
13773 @subsubsection Common Variables
13775 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
13776 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
13777 affected (the values of the following variables will be used as the
13778 default if each virtual @code{nntp} server doesn't specify those server
13779 variables individually).
13783 @item nntp-pre-command
13784 @vindex nntp-pre-command
13785 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native
13786 connection function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream},
13787 @code{nntp-open-tls-stream}, and @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}). This is
13788 where you would put a @samp{SOCKS} wrapper for instance.
13791 @vindex nntp-address
13792 The address of the @acronym{NNTP} server.
13794 @item nntp-port-number
13795 @vindex nntp-port-number
13796 Port number to connect to the @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13797 @samp{nntp}. If you use @acronym{NNTP} over
13798 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you may want to use integer ports rather
13799 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews} or
13800 @samp{nntps}), because external @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} tools may
13801 not work with named ports.
13803 @item nntp-end-of-line
13804 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
13805 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @acronym{NNTP}
13806 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
13807 using a non native telnet connection function.
13809 @item nntp-telnet-command
13810 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
13811 Command to use when connecting to the @acronym{NNTP} server through
13812 @samp{telnet}. This is @emph{not} for an intermediate host. This is
13813 just for the real @acronym{NNTP} server. The default is
13816 @item nntp-telnet-switches
13817 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
13818 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
13824 @subsubsection NNTP marks
13825 @cindex storing NNTP marks
13827 Gnus stores marks (@pxref{Marking Articles}) for @acronym{NNTP}
13828 servers in marks files. A marks file records what marks you have set
13829 in a group and each file is specific to the corresponding server.
13830 Marks files are stored in @file{~/News/marks}
13831 (@code{nntp-marks-directory}) under a classic hierarchy resembling
13832 that of a news server, for example marks for the group
13833 @samp{gmane.discuss} on the news.gmane.org server will be stored in
13834 the file @file{~/News/marks/news.gmane.org/gmane/discuss/.marks}.
13836 Marks files are useful because you can copy the @file{~/News/marks}
13837 directory (using rsync, scp or whatever) to another Gnus installation,
13838 and it will realize what articles you have read and marked. The data
13839 in @file{~/News/marks} has priority over the same data in
13840 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
13842 Note that marks files are very much server-specific: Gnus remembers
13843 the article numbers so if you don't use the same servers on both
13844 installations things are most likely to break (most @acronym{NNTP}
13845 servers do not use the same article numbers as any other server).
13846 However, if you use servers A, B, C on one installation and servers A,
13847 D, E on the other, you can sync the marks files for A and then you'll
13848 get synchronization for that server between the two installations.
13850 Using @acronym{NNTP} marks can possibly incur a performance penalty so
13851 if Gnus feels sluggish, try setting the @code{nntp-marks-is-evil}
13852 variable to @code{t}. Marks will then be stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
13858 @item nntp-marks-is-evil
13859 @vindex nntp-marks-is-evil
13860 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any marks files. The
13861 default is @code{nil}.
13863 @item nntp-marks-directory
13864 @vindex nntp-marks-directory
13865 The directory where marks for nntp groups will be stored.
13871 @subsection News Spool
13875 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
13876 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
13877 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
13880 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
13881 anything else) as the address.
13883 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
13884 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
13885 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
13886 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
13890 @item nnspool-inews-program
13891 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
13892 Program used to post an article.
13894 @item nnspool-inews-switches
13895 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
13896 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
13898 @item nnspool-spool-directory
13899 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
13900 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
13901 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
13903 @item nnspool-nov-directory
13904 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
13905 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @acronym{NOV} files. This is normally@*
13906 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
13908 @item nnspool-lib-dir
13909 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
13910 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
13912 @item nnspool-active-file
13913 @vindex nnspool-active-file
13914 The name of the active file.
13916 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
13917 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
13918 The name of the group descriptions file.
13920 @item nnspool-history-file
13921 @vindex nnspool-history-file
13922 The name of the news history file.
13924 @item nnspool-active-times-file
13925 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
13926 The name of the active date file.
13928 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
13929 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
13930 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @acronym{NOV} files
13933 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13934 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
13936 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
13937 relevant portion from the overview file. If @code{nil},
13938 @code{nnspool} will load the entire file into a buffer and process it
13945 @section Getting Mail
13946 @cindex reading mail
13949 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
13953 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
13954 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
13955 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
13956 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
13957 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
13958 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
13959 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
13960 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
13961 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
13962 * Washing Mail:: Removing cruft from the mail you get.
13963 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
13964 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
13965 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
13969 @node Mail in a Newsreader
13970 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
13972 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
13973 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
13974 of a culture shock.
13976 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
13977 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
13979 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
13980 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
13981 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
13982 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
13984 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
13986 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
13987 deleted? How awful!
13989 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
13990 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
13991 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
13992 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @ref{Expiring
13995 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
13996 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
13997 they want to treat a message.
13999 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
14000 via @acronym{SMTP}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
14001 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
14002 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
14003 archived somewhere else.
14005 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
14006 These are transported via @acronym{NNTP}, and are therefore news. But we may need
14007 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
14008 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
14009 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
14011 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
14012 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
14013 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
14015 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
14016 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
14019 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
14020 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
14021 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
14022 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
14023 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
14025 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
14026 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
14027 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
14028 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
14029 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
14030 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
14034 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
14035 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
14037 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
14038 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
14039 and things will happen automatically.
14041 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a ``one file per
14042 mail'' back end), you could put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
14045 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
14048 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
14049 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
14050 directory, which is @file{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
14051 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
14052 like any other group.
14054 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
14057 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14058 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14059 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14063 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
14064 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
14065 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
14068 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
14069 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
14070 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
14073 @node Splitting Mail
14074 @subsection Splitting Mail
14075 @cindex splitting mail
14076 @cindex mail splitting
14077 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
14079 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
14080 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
14081 to be split into groups.
14084 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14085 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
14086 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
14087 ("mail.other" "")))
14090 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
14091 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
14092 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
14093 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
14094 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
14095 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
14096 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
14099 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
14103 In that case, @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether
14104 the inserted text should be made lowercase. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
14106 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
14107 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
14108 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
14109 mail belongs in that group.
14111 @cindex @samp{bogus} group
14112 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
14113 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{""} so that it matches any mails
14114 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
14115 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first rule
14116 to make a match will ``win'', unless you have crossposting enabled. In
14117 that case, all matching rules will ``win''.) If no rule matched, the mail
14118 will end up in the @samp{bogus} group. When new groups are created by
14119 splitting mail, you may want to run @code{gnus-group-find-new-groups} to
14120 see the new groups. This also applies to the @samp{bogus} group.
14122 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
14123 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
14124 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
14125 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
14126 thinks should carry this mail message.
14128 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
14129 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
14130 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
14131 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
14133 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
14134 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
14135 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
14136 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
14137 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{""}) group.
14139 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
14142 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
14143 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
14144 links. If that's the case for you, set
14145 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
14146 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
14148 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
14149 @findex nnmail-split-history
14150 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
14151 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
14152 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
14153 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
14156 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
14157 Header lines longer than the value of
14158 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
14161 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
14162 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
14163 By default, splitting does not decode headers, so you can not match on
14164 non-@acronym{ASCII} strings. But it is useful if you want to match
14165 articles based on the raw header data. To enable it, set the
14166 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} variable to a non-@code{nil} value.
14167 In addition, the value of the @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
14168 variable is used for decoding non-@acronym{MIME} encoded string when
14169 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} is non-@code{nil}. The default
14170 value is @code{nil} which means not to decode non-@acronym{MIME} encoded
14171 string. A suitable value for you will be @code{undecided} or be the
14172 charset used normally in mails you are interested in.
14174 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14175 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If you
14176 specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable @code{mail-sources}
14177 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}), however, then splitting does
14178 @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
14179 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-@code{nil} value to make
14180 splitting happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on
14181 other kinds of entries.)
14183 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
14184 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
14185 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
14186 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
14187 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
14188 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
14189 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
14190 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
14191 month's rent money.
14195 @subsection Mail Sources
14197 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from
14198 a @acronym{POP} mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a
14199 maildir, for instance.
14202 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
14203 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
14204 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
14208 @node Mail Source Specifiers
14209 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
14211 @cindex mail server
14214 @cindex mail source
14216 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
14217 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
14222 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
14225 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
14226 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
14227 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
14230 The @code{mail-sources} is global for all mail groups. You can specify
14231 an additional mail source for a particular group by including the
14232 @code{group} mail specifier in @code{mail-sources}, and setting a
14233 @code{mail-source} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) specifying
14234 a single mail source. When this is used, @code{mail-sources} is
14235 typically just @code{(group)}; the @code{mail-source} parameter for a
14236 group might look like this:
14239 (mail-source . (file :path "home/user/spools/foo.spool"))
14242 This means that the group's (and only this group's) messages will be
14243 fetched from the spool file @samp{/user/spools/foo.spool}.
14245 The following mail source types are available:
14249 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
14255 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @env{MAIL}
14256 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
14257 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
14261 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14264 An example file mail source:
14267 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
14270 Or using the default file name:
14276 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best
14277 to use @acronym{POP} or @acronym{IMAP} or the like to fetch the mail.
14278 You can not use ange-ftp file names here---it has no way to lock the
14279 mail spool while moving the mail.
14281 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
14285 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
14288 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
14292 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
14295 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
14297 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
14300 Alter this script to fit the @samp{movemail} and temporary
14301 file you want to use.
14305 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
14306 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used
14307 when you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files.
14308 That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that
14309 directory and groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool}
14310 will be put in the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix
14311 to be used instead of @code{.spool}.) Setting
14312 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-@code{nil} forces
14313 Gnus to scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful
14314 if you want to scan mail groups at a specified level.
14316 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
14317 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
14318 that to a non-@code{nil} value, then the normal splitting process is
14319 applied to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
14325 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
14329 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
14333 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
14334 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
14335 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
14336 predicate are considered.
14340 Script run before/after fetching mail.
14344 An example directory mail source:
14347 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
14352 Get mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14358 The name of the @acronym{POP} server. The default is taken from the
14359 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14362 The port number of the @acronym{POP} server. This can be a number (eg,
14363 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
14364 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
14365 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
14366 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
14369 The user name to give to the @acronym{POP} server. The default is the login
14373 The password to give to the @acronym{POP} server. If not specified,
14374 the user is prompted.
14377 The program to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. This
14378 should be a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
14381 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
14384 The valid format specifier characters are:
14388 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
14389 included in this string.
14392 The name of the server.
14395 The port number of the server.
14398 The user name to use.
14401 The password to use.
14404 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14405 corresponding keywords.
14408 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14409 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14412 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
14413 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
14416 The function to use to fetch mail from the @acronym{POP} server. The
14417 function is called with one parameter---the name of the file where the
14418 mail should be moved to.
14420 @item :authentication
14421 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
14422 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
14427 @vindex pop3-movemail
14428 @vindex pop3-leave-mail-on-server
14429 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
14430 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used. If @code{pop3-leave-mail-on-server}
14431 is non-@code{nil} the mail is to be left on the @acronym{POP} server
14432 after fetching when using @code{pop3-movemail}. Note that POP servers
14433 maintain no state information between sessions, so what the client
14434 believes is there and what is actually there may not match up. If they
14435 do not, then you may get duplicate mails or the whole thing can fall
14436 apart and leave you with a corrupt mailbox.
14438 Here are some examples for getting mail from a @acronym{POP} server.
14439 Fetch from the default @acronym{POP} server, using the default user
14440 name, and default fetcher:
14446 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
14449 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
14450 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
14453 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
14456 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
14460 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
14461 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
14462 contains exactly one mail.
14468 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
14469 taken from the @env{MAILDIR} environment variable or
14472 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
14473 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
14475 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
14476 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
14477 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
14480 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
14481 from locking problems).
14485 Two example maildir mail sources:
14488 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
14489 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
14493 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
14498 Get mail from a @acronym{IMAP} server. If you don't want to use
14499 @acronym{IMAP} as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie
14500 with nnimap), for some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar
14501 to a @acronym{POP} server and fetches articles from a given
14502 @acronym{IMAP} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for more information.
14504 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} and STARTTLS support you
14505 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
14511 The name of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is taken from the
14512 @env{MAILHOST} environment variable.
14515 The port number of the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
14516 @samp{993} for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} connections.
14519 The user name to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. The default is the login
14523 The password to give to the @acronym{IMAP} server. If not specified, the user is
14527 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
14528 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
14529 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{tls},
14530 @samp{ssl}, @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
14532 @item :authentication
14533 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
14534 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
14535 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
14536 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
14539 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
14540 mapped into the @code{imap-shell-program} variable. This should be a
14541 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
14547 Make sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g.,
14548 don't forget to redirect the error output to the void. The valid format
14549 specifier characters are:
14553 The name of the server.
14556 User name from @code{imap-default-user}.
14559 The port number of the server.
14562 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
14563 corresponding keywords.
14566 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
14567 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
14570 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
14571 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
14572 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @acronym{IMAP} client and mark some
14573 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
14574 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
14575 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
14578 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
14579 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
14580 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
14581 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
14584 If non-@code{nil}, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the
14585 mailbox after finishing the fetch.
14589 An example @acronym{IMAP} mail source:
14592 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
14594 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
14598 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{http://www.hotmail.com/},
14599 @uref{http://webmail.netscape.com/}, @uref{http://www.netaddress.com/},
14600 @uref{http://mail.yahoo.com/}.
14602 NOTE: Webmail largely depends on cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
14603 required for url "4.0pre.46".
14605 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
14611 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
14612 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
14615 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
14619 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
14623 If non-@code{nil}, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to
14624 trash folder after finishing the fetch.
14628 An example webmail source:
14631 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
14633 :password "secret")
14637 Get the actual mail source from the @code{mail-source} group parameter,
14638 @xref{Group Parameters}.
14643 @item Common Keywords
14644 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
14650 If non-@code{nil}, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you
14651 use directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this
14656 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
14661 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
14662 useful when you use local mail and news.
14667 @subsubsection Function Interface
14669 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
14670 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
14671 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
14672 consider the following mail-source setting:
14675 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
14676 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
14679 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
14680 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
14681 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
14682 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
14683 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
14685 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
14688 @node Mail Source Customization
14689 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
14691 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
14692 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
14696 @item mail-source-crash-box
14697 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
14698 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is@*
14699 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
14702 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
14703 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
14704 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them. If
14705 @code{t}, delete the files immediately, if @code{nil}, never delete any
14706 files. If a positive number, delete files older than number of days
14707 (the deletion will only happen when receiving new mail). You may also
14708 set @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} to @code{nil} and call
14709 @code{mail-source-delete-old-incoming} from a hook or interactively.
14710 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{2} in alpha Gnusae
14711 and @code{10} in released Gnusae. @xref{Gnus Development}.
14713 @item mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14714 @vindex mail-source-delete-old-incoming-confirm
14715 If non-@code{nil}, ask for confirmation before deleting old incoming
14716 files. This variable only applies when
14717 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is a positive number.
14719 @item mail-source-ignore-errors
14720 @vindex mail-source-ignore-errors
14721 If non-@code{nil}, ignore errors when reading mail from a mail source.
14723 @item mail-source-directory
14724 @vindex mail-source-directory
14725 Directory where incoming mail source files (if any) will be stored. The
14726 default is @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for
14727 is to say where the incoming files will be stored if the variable
14728 @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a number.
14730 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
14731 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
14732 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
14733 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
14734 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
14735 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil} or a
14738 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
14739 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
14740 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
14742 @item mail-source-movemail-program
14743 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
14744 If non-@code{nil}, name of program for fetching new mail. If
14745 @code{nil}, @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
14750 @node Fetching Mail
14751 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
14753 @vindex mail-sources
14754 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
14755 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
14756 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
14758 If this variable is @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to
14759 fetch mail by themselves.
14761 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a
14762 @acronym{POP} mail server, you'd say something like:
14767 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
14768 :password "secret")))
14771 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
14775 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
14776 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
14779 :password "secret")))
14783 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
14784 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
14785 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
14786 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
14787 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
14788 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
14792 @node Mail Back End Variables
14793 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
14795 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
14799 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
14800 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
14801 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
14802 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
14804 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
14805 @item nnmail-split-hook
14806 @findex gnus-article-decode-encoded-words
14807 @cindex RFC 1522 decoding
14808 @cindex RFC 2047 decoding
14809 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
14810 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
14811 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
14812 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
14813 in the buffer will show up in any files.
14814 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
14817 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14818 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14819 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14820 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14821 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
14822 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
14823 starting to handle the new mail) and
14824 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
14825 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
14826 default file modes the new mail files get:
14829 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
14830 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
14832 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
14833 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
14836 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
14837 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
14838 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
14839 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
14840 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
14841 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
14842 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
14844 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
14845 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
14846 @findex delete-file
14847 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
14849 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14850 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
14851 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
14852 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
14853 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
14855 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
14856 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
14857 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
14858 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
14859 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
14861 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
14862 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
14863 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
14868 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
14869 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
14870 @cindex mail splitting
14871 @cindex fancy mail splitting
14873 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
14874 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
14875 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
14876 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
14877 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
14878 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
14880 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
14883 ;; @r{Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of}
14884 ;; @r{the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group}
14885 ;; @r{from real errors.}
14886 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
14888 ;; @r{Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant}
14889 ;; @r{groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the}
14890 ;; @r{(ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.}
14891 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
14892 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
14893 ;; @r{Other mailing lists@dots{}}
14894 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
14895 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
14896 ;; @r{Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent}
14897 ;; @r{cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to}
14898 ;; @r{the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the}
14899 ;; @r{message was really cross-posted.}
14900 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
14901 (any "mypackage@@somewhere" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
14902 ;; @r{People@dots{}}
14903 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
14904 ;; @r{Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.}
14908 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a
14909 (possibly) recursive structure where each split may contain other
14910 splits. Here are the possible split syntaxes:
14915 If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name. Normal
14916 regexp match expansion will be done. See below for examples.
14918 @c Don't fold this line.
14919 @item (@var{field} @var{value} [- @var{restrict} [@dots{}] ] @var{split} [@var{invert-partial}])
14920 The split can be a list containing at least three elements. If the
14921 first element @var{field} (a regexp matching a header) contains
14922 @var{value} (also a regexp) then store the message as specified by
14925 If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp) matches some string after
14926 @var{field} and before the end of the matched @var{value}, the
14927 @var{split} is ignored. If none of the @var{restrict} clauses match,
14928 @var{split} is processed.
14930 The last element @var{invert-partial} is optional. If it is
14931 non-@code{nil}, the match-partial-words behavior controlled by the
14932 variable @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} (see below) is
14933 be inverted. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
14935 @item (| @var{split} @dots{})
14936 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{|} (vertical
14937 bar), then process each @var{split} until one of them matches. A
14938 @var{split} is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be
14939 stored in one or more groups.
14941 @item (& @var{split} @dots{})
14942 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{&}, then
14943 process all @var{split}s in the list.
14946 If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save (i.e., delete)
14947 this message. Use with extreme caution.
14949 @item (: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})
14950 If the split is a list, and the first element is @samp{:}, then the
14951 second element will be called as a function with @var{args} given as
14952 arguments. The function should return a @var{split}.
14955 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
14956 body of the messages:
14959 (defun split-on-body ()
14963 (goto-char (point-min))
14964 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
14968 The buffer is narrowed to the header of the message in question when
14969 @var{function} is run. That's why @code{(widen)} needs to be called
14970 after @code{save-excursion} and @code{save-restriction} in the example
14971 above. Also note that with the nnimap backend, message bodies will
14972 not be downloaded by default. You need to set
14973 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
14974 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
14976 @item (! @var{func} @var{split})
14977 If the split is a list, and the first element is @code{!}, then
14978 @var{split} will be processed, and @var{func} will be called as a
14979 function with the result of @var{split} as argument. @var{func}
14980 should return a split.
14983 If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
14987 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
14989 Normally, @var{value} in these splits must match a complete @emph{word}
14990 according to the fundamental mode syntax table. In other words, all
14991 @var{value}'s will be implicitly surrounded by @code{\<...\>} markers,
14992 which are word delimiters. Therefore, if you use the following split,
14996 (any "joe" "joemail")
15000 messages sent from @samp{joedavis@@foo.org} will normally not be filed
15001 in @samp{joemail}. If you want to alter this behavior, you can use any
15002 of the following three ways:
15006 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words
15007 You can set the @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} variable
15008 to non-@code{nil} in order to ignore word boundaries and instead the
15009 match becomes more like a grep. This variable controls whether partial
15010 words are matched during fancy splitting. The default value is
15013 Note that it influences all @var{value}'s in your split rules.
15016 @var{value} beginning with @code{.*} ignores word boundaries in front of
15017 a word. Similarly, if @var{value} ends with @code{.*}, word boundaries
15018 in the rear of a word will be ignored. For example, the @var{value}
15019 @code{"@@example\\.com"} does not match @samp{foo@@example.com} but
15020 @code{".*@@example\\.com"} does.
15023 You can set the @var{invert-partial} flag in your split rules of the
15024 @samp{(@var{field} @var{value} @dots{})} types, aforementioned in this
15025 section. If the flag is set, word boundaries on both sides of a word
15026 are ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15027 @code{nil}. Contrarily, if the flag is set, word boundaries are not
15028 ignored even if @code{nnmail-split-fancy-match-partial-words} is
15029 non-@code{nil}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
15032 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
15033 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be Lisp symbols, in that case
15034 they are expanded as specified by the variable
15035 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells,
15036 where the @sc{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @sc{cdr}
15037 contains the associated value. Predefined entries in
15038 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist} include:
15042 Matches the @samp{From}, @samp{Sender} and @samp{Resent-From} fields.
15044 Matches the @samp{To}, @samp{Cc}, @samp{Apparently-To},
15045 @samp{Resent-To} and @samp{Resent-Cc} fields.
15047 Is the union of the @code{from} and @code{to} entries.
15050 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
15051 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
15052 when all this splitting is performed.
15054 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
15055 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
15056 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
15059 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
15062 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
15063 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
15065 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
15066 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
15067 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
15068 groupings 1 through 9.
15070 @vindex nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded
15071 Where @code{nnmail-split-lowercase-expanded} controls whether the
15072 lowercase of the matched string should be used for the substitution.
15073 Setting it as non-@code{nil} is useful to avoid the creation of multiple
15074 groups when users send to an address using different case
15075 (i.e. mailing-list@@domain vs Mailing-List@@Domain). The default value
15078 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
15079 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
15080 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
15081 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
15082 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
15083 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
15084 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
15085 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
15086 it once per thread.
15088 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates}
15089 and @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-@code{nil}
15090 value. And then you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}
15091 using the colon feature, like so:
15093 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; @r{or @code{delete}}
15094 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
15096 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
15097 ;; @r{other splits go here}
15101 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
15102 non-@code{nil}, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees
15103 in the file specified by the variable
15104 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, together with the group it is in
15105 (the group is omitted for non-mail messages). When mail splitting is
15106 invoked, the function @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks
15107 at the References (and In-Reply-To) header of each message to split
15108 and searches the file specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}
15109 for the message ids. When it has found a parent, it returns the
15110 corresponding group name unless the group name matches the regexp
15111 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is
15112 recommended that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a
15113 somewhat higher number than the default so that the message ids are
15114 still in the cache. (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some
15115 300 kBytes in size.)
15116 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
15117 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
15118 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
15119 messages goes into the new group.
15121 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
15122 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
15123 outgoing messages are written to an ``outgoing'' group, you could set
15124 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
15125 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
15126 ``outgoing'' group.
15129 @node Group Mail Splitting
15130 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
15131 @cindex mail splitting
15132 @cindex group mail splitting
15134 @findex gnus-group-split
15135 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
15136 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
15137 You just have to set @code{to-list} and/or @code{to-address} in group
15138 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
15139 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
15140 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
15141 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @code{to-list} or
15142 @code{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
15144 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
15145 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @code{extra-aliases} group
15146 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
15147 rather use a regular expression, set @code{split-regexp}.
15149 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
15150 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
15151 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
15152 @code{to-list}, @code{to-address}, all of @code{extra-aliases} and all
15153 matches of @code{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
15154 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
15155 @code{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
15157 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
15158 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
15159 parameter @code{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
15160 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
15161 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @code{split-spec} may be set to
15162 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
15163 @code{gnus-group-split}.
15165 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
15166 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
15167 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
15168 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
15169 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
15170 some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
15171 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
15172 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
15173 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
15174 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
15175 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
15176 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
15177 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
15179 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
15184 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
15185 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
15187 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
15188 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
15189 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
15190 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
15192 ((split-spec . catch-all))
15195 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
15196 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
15197 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
15200 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
15201 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
15202 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
15206 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
15207 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
15208 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
15212 (: gnus-group-split-fancy @var{groups} @var{no-crosspost} @var{catch-all})
15215 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
15216 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
15217 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
15218 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fall back
15219 fancy split, used like @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
15220 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @code{split-regexp} matches the
15221 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
15222 Otherwise, if some group has @code{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
15223 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
15225 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
15226 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
15227 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
15228 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
15229 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
15230 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
15231 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
15232 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
15233 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
15235 @findex gnus-group-split-update
15236 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
15237 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
15238 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
15239 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
15240 you. For example, add to your @file{~/.gnus.el}:
15243 (gnus-group-split-setup @var{auto-update} @var{catch-all})
15246 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
15247 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
15248 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
15249 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
15250 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
15253 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
15254 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
15255 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
15256 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
15258 @node Incorporating Old Mail
15259 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
15260 @cindex incorporating old mail
15261 @cindex import old mail
15263 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
15264 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
15265 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
15268 Doing so can be quite easy.
15270 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
15271 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
15272 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
15273 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
15274 your @code{nnml} groups.
15280 Go to the group buffer.
15283 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
15284 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
15287 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
15290 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
15291 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15294 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
15295 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
15298 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
15299 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
15300 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
15301 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
15302 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
15304 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
15305 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
15306 using the new mail back end.
15309 @node Expiring Mail
15310 @subsection Expiring Mail
15311 @cindex article expiry
15312 @cindex expiring mail
15314 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
15315 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
15316 different approach to mail reading.
15318 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
15319 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
15320 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
15321 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
15322 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
15323 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
15326 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
15327 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default key bindings, this means
15328 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
15329 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
15330 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
15331 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
15332 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
15333 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
15334 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
15336 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
15337 two features, called ``auto-expire'' and ``total-expire'', that can help you
15338 with this. In a nutshell, ``auto-expire'' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
15339 for you when you select an article. And ``total-expire'' means that Gnus
15340 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
15341 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
15342 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
15345 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
15346 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
15347 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
15348 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
15349 into its own group.)
15351 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
15352 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
15353 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
15354 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
15355 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
15356 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
15357 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive
15358 Scoring}). Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
15361 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15362 Groups that match the regular expression
15363 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
15364 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
15365 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
15367 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
15368 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
15369 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
15370 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
15371 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
15373 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
15375 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
15376 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
15377 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
15380 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
15381 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
15382 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
15383 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
15384 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
15386 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
15387 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
15390 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
15391 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
15394 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
15395 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
15397 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
15398 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
15399 don't really mix very well.
15401 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
15402 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
15403 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
15404 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
15407 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
15408 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
15409 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
15410 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
15413 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15415 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15417 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
15419 ((string= group "mail.junk")
15421 ((string= group "important")
15427 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
15428 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
15430 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
15431 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
15432 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
15435 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
15436 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
15438 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
15439 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
15440 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
15441 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
15442 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
15443 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
15444 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
15445 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
15446 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
15447 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
15448 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
15449 from as its parameter) which should return a target---either a group
15450 name or @code{delete}.
15452 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
15454 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
15457 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15458 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15459 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
15460 expire mail to groups according to the variable
15461 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
15464 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
15465 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
15466 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
15467 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
15468 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
15471 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
15472 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
15473 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
15474 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
15475 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
15476 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
15478 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
15479 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
15480 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
15481 easier for procmail users.
15483 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
15484 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
15485 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
15486 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
15487 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
15488 caution. Even more dangerous is the
15489 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
15490 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
15491 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
15492 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
15493 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
15494 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
15495 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
15498 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
15500 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
15501 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
15502 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
15503 auto-expire turned on.
15507 @subsection Washing Mail
15508 @cindex mail washing
15509 @cindex list server brain damage
15510 @cindex incoming mail treatment
15512 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
15513 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
15514 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
15515 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
15516 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
15517 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
15519 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
15520 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
15521 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
15524 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
15525 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
15526 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
15527 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
15530 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15531 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
15532 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
15533 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
15534 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
15537 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15538 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
15539 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
15540 Emacs running on MS machines.
15544 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15545 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
15546 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
15547 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
15550 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15551 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
15552 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
15553 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
15555 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
15556 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
15557 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
15558 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
15559 into a feature by documenting it.)
15561 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15562 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
15563 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
15564 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
15565 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
15566 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
15567 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
15570 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
15571 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
15574 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
15575 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
15578 This can also be done non-destructively with
15579 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
15581 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
15582 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
15583 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
15585 @item nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15586 @findex nnmail-ignore-broken-references
15587 @c @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
15590 Some mail user agents (e.g. Eudora and Pegasus) produce broken
15591 @code{References} headers, but correct @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This
15592 function will get rid of the @code{References} header if the headers
15593 contain a line matching the regular expression
15594 @code{nnmail-broken-references-mailers}.
15598 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15599 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
15600 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
15604 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
15605 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
15606 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
15613 @subsection Duplicates
15615 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
15616 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
15617 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
15618 @cindex duplicate mails
15619 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
15620 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
15621 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
15622 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
15623 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
15624 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
15625 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
15626 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
15627 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
15628 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
15629 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
15630 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
15631 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
15633 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
15634 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
15635 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
15636 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
15638 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
15641 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
15642 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
15646 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
15647 '(| ;; @r{Messages duplicates go to a separate group.}
15648 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
15649 ;; @r{Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.}
15650 (any mail "mail.misc")
15651 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15657 (setq nnmail-split-methods
15658 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
15659 ;; @r{Other rules.}
15663 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
15664 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
15665 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
15666 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
15667 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
15670 @node Not Reading Mail
15671 @subsection Not Reading Mail
15673 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
15674 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
15675 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
15677 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
15678 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
15679 mail, which should help.
15681 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15682 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15683 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15684 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15685 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
15686 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
15687 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old Rmail
15688 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
15689 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
15690 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
15691 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
15693 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
15694 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
15698 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
15699 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
15701 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
15702 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
15703 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
15705 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
15706 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
15707 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
15711 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
15712 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the Rmail Babyl format.
15713 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
15714 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
15715 * Maildir:: Another one-file-per-message format.
15716 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
15717 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
15721 @node Unix Mail Box
15722 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
15724 @cindex unix mail box
15726 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
15727 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
15728 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
15729 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
15730 which group it belongs in.
15732 Virtual server settings:
15735 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
15736 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
15737 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
15740 @item nnmbox-active-file
15741 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
15742 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
15743 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
15745 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
15746 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
15747 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
15748 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
15753 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
15757 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
15758 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
15759 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a Babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{Rmail
15760 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
15761 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
15763 Virtual server settings:
15766 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
15767 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
15768 The name of the Rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
15770 @item nnbabyl-active-file
15771 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
15772 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
15773 @file{~/.rmail-active}
15775 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15776 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
15777 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
15783 @subsubsection Mail Spool
15785 @cindex mail @acronym{NOV} spool
15787 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
15788 format. It should be used with some caution.
15790 @vindex nnml-directory
15791 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
15792 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
15793 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
15794 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
15796 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
15799 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
15800 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
15801 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
15802 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
15803 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
15804 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
15805 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
15806 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
15808 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
15809 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
15810 @acronym{NOV} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
15811 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
15813 @cindex self contained nnml servers
15815 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
15816 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
15817 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
15818 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
15819 for a group are usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
15820 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
15821 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
15822 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
15825 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
15826 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
15827 them next time it starts.
15829 Virtual server settings:
15832 @item nnml-directory
15833 @vindex nnml-directory
15834 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory. The
15835 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default value
15838 @item nnml-active-file
15839 @vindex nnml-active-file
15840 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
15841 @file{~/Mail/active}.
15843 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
15844 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
15845 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
15846 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}.
15848 @item nnml-get-new-mail
15849 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
15850 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
15853 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
15854 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
15855 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
15856 default is @code{nil}.
15858 @item nnml-nov-file-name
15859 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
15860 The name of the @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
15862 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
15863 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
15864 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
15866 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
15867 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
15868 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
15869 default is @code{nil}.
15871 @item nnml-marks-file-name
15872 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
15873 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
15875 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
15876 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
15877 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
15878 files. This requires @code{auto-compression-mode} to be enabled
15879 (@pxref{Compressed Files, ,Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Manual}).
15880 If the value of @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is a string, it is used
15881 as the file extension specifying the compression program. You can set it
15882 to @samp{.bz2} if your Emacs supports it. A value of @code{t} is
15883 equivalent to @samp{.gz}.
15885 @item nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
15886 @vindex nnml-compressed-files-size-threshold
15887 Default size threshold for compressed message files. Message files with
15888 bodies larger than that many characters will be automatically compressed
15889 if @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil}.
15893 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
15894 If your @code{nnml} groups and @acronym{NOV} files get totally out of
15895 whack, you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
15896 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
15897 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
15898 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
15899 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
15904 @subsubsection MH Spool
15906 @cindex mh-e mail spool
15908 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
15909 @acronym{NOV} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks
15910 file. This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than
15911 @code{nnml}, but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts
15914 Virtual server settings:
15917 @item nnmh-directory
15918 @vindex nnmh-directory
15919 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
15920 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
15923 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
15924 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
15925 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
15929 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
15930 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
15931 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks
15932 they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
15933 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
15934 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not
15935 have to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
15940 @subsubsection Maildir
15944 @code{nnmaildir} stores mail in the maildir format, with each maildir
15945 corresponding to a group in Gnus. This format is documented here:
15946 @uref{http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html} and here:
15947 @uref{http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/maildir.html}. @code{nnmaildir}
15948 also stores extra information in the @file{.nnmaildir/} directory
15951 Maildir format was designed to allow concurrent deliveries and
15952 reading, without needing locks. With other back ends, you would have
15953 your mail delivered to a spool of some kind, and then you would
15954 configure Gnus to split mail from that spool into your groups. You
15955 can still do that with @code{nnmaildir}, but the more common
15956 configuration is to have your mail delivered directly to the maildirs
15957 that appear as group in Gnus.
15959 @code{nnmaildir} is designed to be perfectly reliable: @kbd{C-g} will
15960 never corrupt its data in memory, and @code{SIGKILL} will never
15961 corrupt its data in the filesystem.
15963 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks and @acronym{NOV} data in each
15964 maildir. So you can copy a whole maildir from one Gnus setup to
15965 another, and you will keep your marks.
15967 Virtual server settings:
15971 For each of your @code{nnmaildir} servers (it's very unlikely that
15972 you'd need more than one), you need to create a directory and populate
15973 it with maildirs or symlinks to maildirs (and nothing else; do not
15974 choose a directory already used for other purposes). Each maildir
15975 will be represented in Gnus as a newsgroup on that server; the
15976 filename of the symlink will be the name of the group. Any filenames
15977 in the directory starting with @samp{.} are ignored. The directory is
15978 scanned when you first start Gnus, and each time you type @kbd{g} in
15979 the group buffer; if any maildirs have been removed or added,
15980 @code{nnmaildir} notices at these times.
15982 The value of the @code{directory} parameter should be a Lisp form
15983 which is processed by @code{eval} and @code{expand-file-name} to get
15984 the path of the directory for this server. The form is @code{eval}ed
15985 only when the server is opened; the resulting string is used until the
15986 server is closed. (If you don't know about forms and @code{eval},
15987 don't worry---a simple string will work.) This parameter is not
15988 optional; you must specify it. I don't recommend using
15989 @code{"~/Mail"} or a subdirectory of it; several other parts of Gnus
15990 use that directory by default for various things, and may get confused
15991 if @code{nnmaildir} uses it too. @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} is a typical
15994 @item target-prefix
15995 This should be a Lisp form which is processed by @code{eval} and
15996 @code{expand-file-name}. The form is @code{eval}ed only when the
15997 server is opened; the resulting string is used until the server is
16000 When you create a group on an @code{nnmaildir} server, the maildir is
16001 created with @code{target-prefix} prepended to its name, and a symlink
16002 pointing to that maildir is created, named with the plain group name.
16003 So if @code{directory} is @code{"~/.nnmaildir"} and
16004 @code{target-prefix} is @code{"../maildirs/"}, then when you create
16005 the group @code{foo}, @code{nnmaildir} will create
16006 @file{~/.nnmaildir/../maildirs/foo} as a maildir, and will create
16007 @file{~/.nnmaildir/foo} as a symlink pointing to
16008 @file{../maildirs/foo}.
16010 You can set @code{target-prefix} to a string without any slashes to
16011 create both maildirs and symlinks in the same @code{directory}; in
16012 this case, any maildirs found in @code{directory} whose names start
16013 with @code{target-prefix} will not be listed as groups (but the
16014 symlinks pointing to them will be).
16016 As a special case, if @code{target-prefix} is @code{""} (the default),
16017 then when you create a group, the maildir will be created in
16018 @code{directory} without a corresponding symlink. Beware that you
16019 cannot use @code{gnus-group-delete-group} on such groups without the
16020 @code{force} argument.
16022 @item directory-files
16023 This should be a function with the same interface as
16024 @code{directory-files} (such as @code{directory-files} itself). It is
16025 used to scan the server's @code{directory} for maildirs. This
16026 parameter is optional; the default is
16027 @code{nnheader-directory-files-safe} if
16028 @code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is @code{nil}, and
16029 @code{directory-files} otherwise.
16030 (@code{nnheader-directory-files-is-safe} is checked only once when the
16031 server is opened; if you want to check it each time the directory is
16032 scanned, you'll have to provide your own function that does that.)
16035 If non-@code{nil}, then after scanning for new mail in the group
16036 maildirs themselves as usual, this server will also incorporate mail
16037 the conventional Gnus way, from @code{mail-sources} according to
16038 @code{nnmail-split-methods} or @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. The default
16039 value is @code{nil}.
16041 Do @emph{not} use the same maildir both in @code{mail-sources} and as
16042 an @code{nnmaildir} group. The results might happen to be useful, but
16043 that would be by chance, not by design, and the results might be
16044 different in the future. If your split rules create new groups,
16045 remember to supply a @code{create-directory} server parameter.
16048 @subsubsection Group parameters
16050 @code{nnmaildir} uses several group parameters. It's safe to ignore
16051 all this; the default behavior for @code{nnmaildir} is the same as the
16052 default behavior for other mail back ends: articles are deleted after
16053 one week, etc. Except for the expiry parameters, all this
16054 functionality is unique to @code{nnmaildir}, so you can ignore it if
16055 you're just trying to duplicate the behavior you already have with
16058 If the value of any of these parameters is a vector, the first element
16059 is evaluated as a Lisp form and the result is used, rather than the
16060 original value. If the value is not a vector, the value itself is
16061 evaluated as a Lisp form. (This is why these parameters use names
16062 different from those of other, similar parameters supported by other
16063 back ends: they have different, though similar, meanings.) (For
16064 numbers, strings, @code{nil}, and @code{t}, you can ignore the
16065 @code{eval} business again; for other values, remember to use an extra
16066 quote and wrap the value in a vector when appropriate.)
16070 An integer specifying the minimum age, in seconds, of an article
16071 before it will be expired, or the symbol @code{never} to specify that
16072 articles should never be expired. If this parameter is not set,
16073 @code{nnmaildir} falls back to the usual
16074 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}(@code{-function}) variables (the
16075 @code{expiry-wait} group parameter overrides @code{nnmail-expiry-wait}
16076 and makes @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} ineffective). If you
16077 wanted a value of 3 days, you could use something like @code{[(* 3 24
16078 60 60)]}; @code{nnmaildir} will evaluate the form and use the result.
16079 An article's age is measured starting from the article file's
16080 modification time. Normally, this is the same as the article's
16081 delivery time, but editing an article makes it younger. Moving an
16082 article (other than via expiry) may also make an article younger.
16085 If this is set to a string such as a full Gnus group name, like
16087 "backend+server.address.string:group.name"
16089 and if it is not the name of the same group that the parameter belongs
16090 to, then articles will be moved to the specified group during expiry
16091 before being deleted. @emph{If this is set to an @code{nnmaildir}
16092 group, the article will be just as old in the destination group as it
16093 was in the source group.} So be careful with @code{expire-age} in the
16094 destination group. If this is set to the name of the same group that
16095 the parameter belongs to, then the article is not expired at all. If
16096 you use the vector form, the first element is evaluated once for each
16097 article. So that form can refer to
16098 @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name}, etc., to decide where to put the
16099 article. @emph{Even if this parameter is not set, @code{nnmaildir}
16100 does not fall back to the @code{expiry-target} group parameter or the
16101 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} variable.}
16104 If this is set to @code{t}, @code{nnmaildir} will treat the articles
16105 in this maildir as read-only. This means: articles are not renamed
16106 from @file{new/} into @file{cur/}; articles are only found in
16107 @file{new/}, not @file{cur/}; articles are never deleted; articles
16108 cannot be edited. @file{new/} is expected to be a symlink to the
16109 @file{new/} directory of another maildir---e.g., a system-wide mailbox
16110 containing a mailing list of common interest. Everything in the
16111 maildir outside @file{new/} is @emph{not} treated as read-only, so for
16112 a shared mailbox, you do still need to set up your own maildir (or
16113 have write permission to the shared mailbox); your maildir just won't
16114 contain extra copies of the articles.
16116 @item directory-files
16117 A function with the same interface as @code{directory-files}. It is
16118 used to scan the directories in the maildir corresponding to this
16119 group to find articles. The default is the function specified by the
16120 server's @code{directory-files} parameter.
16122 @item distrust-Lines:
16123 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmaildir} will always count the lines of an
16124 article, rather than use the @code{Lines:} header field. If
16125 @code{nil}, the header field will be used if present.
16128 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(read expire)]}. Whenever
16129 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16130 say that all articles have these marks, regardless of whether the
16131 marks stored in the filesystem say so. This is a proof-of-concept
16132 feature that will probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done
16133 in Gnus proper, or abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16136 A list of mark symbols, such as @code{['(tick expire)]}. Whenever
16137 Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for article marks, @code{nnmaildir} will
16138 say that no articles have these marks, regardless of whether the marks
16139 stored in the filesystem say so. @code{never-marks} overrides
16140 @code{always-marks}. This is a proof-of-concept feature that will
16141 probably be removed eventually; it ought to be done in Gnus proper, or
16142 abandoned if it's not worthwhile.
16144 @item nov-cache-size
16145 An integer specifying the size of the @acronym{NOV} memory cache. To
16146 speed things up, @code{nnmaildir} keeps @acronym{NOV} data in memory
16147 for a limited number of articles in each group. (This is probably not
16148 worthwhile, and will probably be removed in the future.) This
16149 parameter's value is noticed only the first time a group is seen after
16150 the server is opened---i.e., when you first start Gnus, typically.
16151 The @acronym{NOV} cache is never resized until the server is closed
16152 and reopened. The default is an estimate of the number of articles
16153 that would be displayed in the summary buffer: a count of articles
16154 that are either marked with @code{tick} or not marked with
16155 @code{read}, plus a little extra.
16158 @subsubsection Article identification
16159 Articles are stored in the @file{cur/} subdirectory of each maildir.
16160 Each article file is named like @code{uniq:info}, where @code{uniq}
16161 contains no colons. @code{nnmaildir} ignores, but preserves, the
16162 @code{:info} part. (Other maildir readers typically use this part of
16163 the filename to store marks.) The @code{uniq} part uniquely
16164 identifies the article, and is used in various places in the
16165 @file{.nnmaildir/} subdirectory of the maildir to store information
16166 about the corresponding article. The full pathname of an article is
16167 available in the variable @code{nnmaildir-article-file-name} after you
16168 request the article in the summary buffer.
16170 @subsubsection NOV data
16171 An article identified by @code{uniq} has its @acronym{NOV} data (used
16172 to generate lines in the summary buffer) stored in
16173 @code{.nnmaildir/nov/uniq}. There is no
16174 @code{nnmaildir-generate-nov-databases} function. (There isn't much
16175 need for it---an article's @acronym{NOV} data is updated automatically
16176 when the article or @code{nnmail-extra-headers} has changed.) You can
16177 force @code{nnmaildir} to regenerate the @acronym{NOV} data for a
16178 single article simply by deleting the corresponding @acronym{NOV}
16179 file, but @emph{beware}: this will also cause @code{nnmaildir} to
16180 assign a new article number for this article, which may cause trouble
16181 with @code{seen} marks, the Agent, and the cache.
16183 @subsubsection Article marks
16184 An article identified by @code{uniq} is considered to have the mark
16185 @code{flag} when the file @file{.nnmaildir/marks/flag/uniq} exists.
16186 When Gnus asks @code{nnmaildir} for a group's marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16187 looks for such files and reports the set of marks it finds. When Gnus
16188 asks @code{nnmaildir} to store a new set of marks, @code{nnmaildir}
16189 creates and deletes the corresponding files as needed. (Actually,
16190 rather than create a new file for each mark, it just creates hard
16191 links to @file{.nnmaildir/markfile}, to save inodes.)
16193 You can invent new marks by creating a new directory in
16194 @file{.nnmaildir/marks/}. You can tar up a maildir and remove it from
16195 your server, untar it later, and keep your marks. You can add and
16196 remove marks yourself by creating and deleting mark files. If you do
16197 this while Gnus is running and your @code{nnmaildir} server is open,
16198 it's best to exit all summary buffers for @code{nnmaildir} groups and
16199 type @kbd{s} in the group buffer first, and to type @kbd{g} or
16200 @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer afterwards. Otherwise, Gnus might not
16201 pick up the changes, and might undo them.
16205 @subsubsection Mail Folders
16207 @cindex mbox folders
16208 @cindex mail folders
16210 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a
16211 separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.
16212 @code{nnfolder} will add extra headers to keep track of article
16213 numbers and arrival dates.
16215 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
16217 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
16218 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
16219 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
16220 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
16221 Marks for a group are usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
16222 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
16223 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder}
16224 directory. Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to
16225 backup, use @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup
16226 into the @code{nnfolder} directory).
16228 Virtual server settings:
16231 @item nnfolder-directory
16232 @vindex nnfolder-directory
16233 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this
16234 directory. The default is the value of @code{message-directory}
16235 (whose default is @file{~/Mail})
16237 @item nnfolder-active-file
16238 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
16239 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
16241 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16242 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
16243 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
16244 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups}
16246 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
16247 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
16248 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The
16249 default is @code{t}
16251 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16252 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
16253 @cindex backup files
16254 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
16255 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If
16256 you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the
16257 following in your @file{.emacs} file:
16260 (defun turn-off-backup ()
16261 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
16263 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
16266 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16267 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
16268 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
16269 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
16270 extract some information from it before removing it.
16272 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16273 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
16274 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @acronym{NOV} files. The
16275 default is @code{nil}.
16277 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16278 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
16279 The extension for @acronym{NOV} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
16281 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
16282 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
16283 The directory where the @acronym{NOV} files should be stored. If
16284 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16286 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16287 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
16288 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
16289 default is @code{nil}.
16291 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16292 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
16293 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
16295 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
16296 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
16297 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If
16298 @code{nil}, @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
16303 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
16304 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
16305 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
16306 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
16307 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
16308 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
16311 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
16312 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
16314 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
16315 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
16316 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
16317 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
16318 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
16320 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
16321 typically done by @acronym{NNTP} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
16322 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
16323 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @acronym{NNTP} server), and
16324 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
16325 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
16326 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
16327 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
16330 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
16331 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
16332 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
16333 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
16338 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
16339 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
16340 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
16341 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
16342 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
16343 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
16344 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
16345 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
16346 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
16347 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
16348 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
16349 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
16350 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
16355 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
16356 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
16357 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
16358 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
16359 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
16360 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
16361 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
16362 Rmail was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
16363 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote Rmail
16364 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
16365 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
16366 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
16367 headers/status bits stuff. Rmail itself still exists as well, of
16368 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
16370 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
16371 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
16376 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
16377 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
16378 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
16379 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
16380 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
16381 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
16382 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
16383 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
16384 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
16385 @acronym{NNTP} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
16386 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
16387 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
16388 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
16389 provided by the active file and overviews.
16391 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
16392 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
16393 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
16394 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
16395 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
16398 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
16399 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
16404 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
16405 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
16406 individual files, but with little or no indexing support---@code{nnmh}
16407 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
16408 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
16409 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
16410 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
16414 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
16415 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
16416 itself puts @emph{all} one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
16417 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
16418 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
16419 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
16420 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
16421 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
16422 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
16424 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
16425 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
16426 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
16427 friendly mail back end all over.
16431 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses
16432 incompatible group parameters, slightly different from those of other
16435 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
16436 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
16437 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
16438 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
16439 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
16440 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
16441 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to
16442 @uref{http://www.namesys.com/, ReiserFS} or another non-block-structured
16445 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
16446 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
16447 This means you can skip Gnus' mail splitting if your mail is already
16448 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
16449 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
16450 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
16451 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
16452 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
16453 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
16454 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will not
16455 undergo treatment such as duplicate checking.
16457 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
16458 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
16459 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
16460 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
16461 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
16464 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
16465 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
16466 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
16467 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
16468 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
16469 would) to make it use less memory. This caching will probably be
16470 removed in the future.
16472 Startup is likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than with other
16473 back ends. Everything else is likely to be faster, depending in part
16474 on your file system.
16476 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
16477 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
16482 @node Browsing the Web
16483 @section Browsing the Web
16485 @cindex browsing the web
16489 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
16490 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
16491 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
16492 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
16493 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
16494 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
16495 even know what a news group is.
16497 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
16498 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
16499 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
16500 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
16501 you mad in the end.
16503 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
16506 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
16507 interfaces to these sources.
16511 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
16512 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
16513 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
16514 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
16515 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
16516 * Customizing W3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/W3 from Gnus.
16519 All the web sources require Emacs/W3 and the url library or those
16520 alternatives to work.
16522 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
16523 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @acronym{HTML} data
16524 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
16525 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
16526 though, you should be ok.
16528 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
16529 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
16530 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
16531 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
16532 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
16534 @node Archiving Mail
16535 @subsection Archiving Mail
16536 @cindex archiving mail
16537 @cindex backup of mail
16539 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
16540 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
16541 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
16542 marks is fairly simple.
16544 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
16545 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
16548 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
16549 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
16550 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
16551 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
16552 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
16553 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
16554 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
16555 before you restore the data.
16557 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
16558 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
16559 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
16560 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
16561 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
16562 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
16563 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
16564 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
16565 is unnecessary in that case.
16568 @subsection Web Searches
16573 @cindex Usenet searches
16574 @cindex searching the Usenet
16576 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
16577 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
16578 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
16579 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
16580 searches without having to use a browser.
16582 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
16583 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
16584 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
16585 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
16586 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
16588 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
16589 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
16590 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
16591 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
16592 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
16593 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
16594 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
16595 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
16596 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
16597 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
16600 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
16601 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
16602 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'@^etre} is to
16603 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
16604 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
16605 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
16607 You must have the @code{url} and @code{W3} package or those alternatives
16608 (try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{mm-url} variable group)
16609 installed to be able to use @code{nnweb}.
16611 Virtual server variables:
16616 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
16617 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
16618 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
16621 @vindex nnweb-search
16622 The search string to feed to the search engine.
16624 @item nnweb-max-hits
16625 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
16626 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
16629 @item nnweb-type-definition
16630 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
16631 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
16632 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
16637 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
16641 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
16644 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
16647 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
16651 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
16658 @subsection Slashdot
16662 @uref{http://slashdot.org/, Slashdot} is a popular news site, with
16663 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
16664 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
16666 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
16667 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
16670 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
16671 '((nnslashdot "")))
16674 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
16675 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
16676 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
16677 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
16678 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
16681 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
16682 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
16684 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
16685 comments), some light @acronym{HTML}izations will be performed. In
16686 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
16687 @samp{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @samp{br} added to
16688 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @acronym{HTML}
16689 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
16690 @acronym{HTML} forms.
16692 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
16695 @item nnslashdot-threaded
16696 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
16697 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
16698 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
16699 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
16700 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
16701 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
16703 @item nnslashdot-login-name
16704 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
16705 The login name to use when posting.
16707 @item nnslashdot-password
16708 @vindex nnslashdot-password
16709 The password to use when posting.
16711 @item nnslashdot-directory
16712 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
16713 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
16714 @file{~/News/slashdot/}.
16716 @item nnslashdot-active-url
16717 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
16718 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the
16719 information on news articles and comments. The default is@*
16720 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
16722 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
16723 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
16724 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch comments.
16726 @item nnslashdot-article-url
16727 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
16728 The @acronym{URL} format string that will be used to fetch the news
16729 article. The default is
16730 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
16732 @item nnslashdot-threshold
16733 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
16734 The score threshold. The default is -1.
16736 @item nnslashdot-group-number
16737 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
16738 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
16739 updated. The default is 0.
16746 @subsection Ultimate
16748 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
16750 @uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/, The Ultimate Bulletin Board} is
16751 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
16752 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
16753 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16755 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
16756 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
16757 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @acronym{URL}
16758 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
16759 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
16760 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
16761 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
16763 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
16766 @item nnultimate-directory
16767 @vindex nnultimate-directory
16768 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is@*
16769 @file{~/News/ultimate/}.
16774 @subsection Web Archive
16776 @cindex Web Archive
16778 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
16779 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
16780 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
16781 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
16784 @findex gnus-group-make-warchive-group
16785 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
16786 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
16787 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET @var{an_egroup} RET egroups RET
16788 www.egroups.com RET @var{your@@email.address} RET}. (Substitute the
16789 @var{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
16790 @var{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
16791 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
16793 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
16796 @item nnwarchive-directory
16797 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
16798 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is@*
16799 @file{~/News/warchive/}.
16801 @item nnwarchive-login
16802 @vindex nnwarchive-login
16803 The account name on the web server.
16805 @item nnwarchive-passwd
16806 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
16807 The password for your account on the web server.
16815 Some web sites have an RDF Site Summary (@acronym{RSS}).
16816 @acronym{RSS} is a format for summarizing headlines from news related
16817 sites (such as BBC or CNN). But basically anything list-like can be
16818 presented as an @acronym{RSS} feed: weblogs, changelogs or recent
16819 changes to a wiki (e.g. @url{http://cliki.net/recent-changes.rdf}).
16821 @acronym{RSS} has a quite regular and nice interface, and it's
16822 possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
16824 Note: you had better use Emacs which supports the @code{utf-8} coding
16825 system because @acronym{RSS} uses UTF-8 for encoding non-@acronym{ASCII}
16826 text by default. It is also used by default for non-@acronym{ASCII}
16829 @kindex G R (Group)
16830 Use @kbd{G R} from the group buffer to subscribe to a feed---you will be
16831 prompted for the location, the title and the description of the feed.
16832 The title, which allows any characters, will be used for the group name
16833 and the name of the group data file. The description can be omitted.
16835 An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
16836 the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
16837 subscribe to groups.
16839 The @code{nnrss} back end saves the group data file in
16840 @code{nnrss-directory} (see below) for each @code{nnrss} group. File
16841 names containing non-@acronym{ASCII} characters will be encoded by the
16842 coding system specified with the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system}
16843 variable. If it is @code{nil}, in Emacs the coding system defaults to
16844 the value of @code{default-file-name-coding-system}. If you are using
16845 XEmacs and want to use non-@acronym{ASCII} group names, you should set
16846 the value for the @code{nnmail-pathname-coding-system} variable properly.
16848 The @code{nnrss} back end generates @samp{multipart/alternative}
16849 @acronym{MIME} articles in which each contains a @samp{text/plain} part
16850 and a @samp{text/html} part.
16853 You can also use the following commands to import and export your
16854 subscriptions from a file in @acronym{OPML} format (Outline Processor
16857 @defun nnrss-opml-import file
16858 Prompt for an @acronym{OPML} file, and subscribe to each feed in the
16862 @defun nnrss-opml-export
16863 Write your current @acronym{RSS} subscriptions to a buffer in
16864 @acronym{OPML} format.
16867 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
16870 @item nnrss-directory
16871 @vindex nnrss-directory
16872 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
16873 @file{~/News/rss/}.
16875 @item nnrss-file-coding-system
16876 @vindex nnrss-file-coding-system
16877 The coding system used when reading and writing the @code{nnrss} groups
16878 data files. The default is the value of
16879 @code{mm-universal-coding-system} (which defaults to @code{emacs-mule}
16880 in Emacs or @code{escape-quoted} in XEmacs).
16882 @item nnrss-ignore-article-fields
16883 @vindex nnrss-ignore-article-fields
16884 Some feeds update constantly article fields during their publications,
16885 e.g. to indicate the number of comments. However, if there is
16886 a difference between the local article and the distant one, the latter
16887 is considered to be new. To avoid this and discard some fields, set this
16888 variable to the list of fields to be ignored. The default is
16889 @code{'(slash:comments)}.
16891 @item nnrss-use-local
16892 @vindex nnrss-use-local
16893 @findex nnrss-generate-download-script
16894 If you set @code{nnrss-use-local} to @code{t}, @code{nnrss} will read
16895 the feeds from local files in @code{nnrss-directory}. You can use
16896 the command @code{nnrss-generate-download-script} to generate a
16897 download script using @command{wget}.
16899 @item nnrss-wash-html-in-text-plain-parts
16900 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{nnrss} renders text in @samp{text/plain}
16901 parts as @acronym{HTML}. The function specified by the
16902 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} variable (@pxref{Display Customization,
16903 ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}) will be used
16904 to render text. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default, text will
16905 simply be folded. Leave it @code{nil} if you prefer to see
16906 @samp{text/html} parts.
16909 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
16910 the summary buffer.
16913 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
16914 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
16916 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
16918 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
16919 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
16922 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
16926 (require 'browse-url)
16928 (defun browse-nnrss-url (arg)
16930 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
16933 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
16934 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
16937 (browse-url (cdr url))
16938 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
16939 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
16941 (eval-after-load "gnus"
16942 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
16943 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
16944 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
16947 Even if you have added @samp{text/html} to the
16948 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} variable (@pxref{Display
16949 Customization, ,Display Customization, emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME
16950 Manual}) since you don't want to see @acronym{HTML} parts, it might be
16951 more useful especially in @code{nnrss} groups to display
16952 @samp{text/html} parts. Here's an example of setting
16953 @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives} as a group parameter (@pxref{Group
16954 Parameters}) in order to display @samp{text/html} parts only in
16955 @code{nnrss} groups:
16958 ;; @r{Set the default value of @code{mm-discouraged-alternatives}.}
16959 (eval-after-load "gnus-sum"
16961 'gnus-newsgroup-variables
16962 '(mm-discouraged-alternatives
16963 . '("text/html" "image/.*"))))
16965 ;; @r{Display @samp{text/html} parts in @code{nnrss} groups.}
16968 '("\\`nnrss:" (mm-discouraged-alternatives nil)))
16972 @node Customizing W3
16973 @subsection Customizing W3
16979 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/W3 (or those
16980 alternatives) to display web pages. Emacs/W3 is documented in its own
16981 manual, but there are some things that may be more relevant for Gnus
16984 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/W3 follow links
16985 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
16986 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
16989 (eval-after-load "w3"
16991 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
16992 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
16993 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
16994 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
16996 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
16999 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in W3-rendered
17000 @acronym{HTML} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
17007 @cindex @acronym{IMAP}
17009 @acronym{IMAP} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or @dots{}),
17010 think of it as a modernized @acronym{NNTP}. Connecting to a @acronym{IMAP}
17011 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
17012 specify the network address of the server.
17014 @acronym{IMAP} has two properties. First, @acronym{IMAP} can do
17015 everything that @acronym{POP} can, it can hence be viewed as a
17016 @acronym{POP++}. Secondly, @acronym{IMAP} is a mail storage protocol,
17017 similar to @acronym{NNTP} being a news storage protocol---however,
17018 @acronym{IMAP} offers more features than @acronym{NNTP} because news
17019 is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
17021 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a @acronym{POP++}, use an imap
17022 entry in @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from
17023 the @acronym{IMAP} server and store them on the local disk. This is
17024 not the usage described in this section---@xref{Mail Sources}.
17026 If you want to use @acronym{IMAP} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
17027 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
17028 manipulate mails stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server. This is the kind of
17029 usage explained in this section.
17031 A server configuration in @file{~/.gnus.el} with a few @acronym{IMAP}
17032 servers might look something like the following. (Note that for
17033 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}, you need external programs and libraries,
17037 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
17038 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; @r{no special configuration}
17039 ; @r{perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:}
17041 (nnimap-address "localhost")
17042 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
17043 ; @r{a UW server running on localhost}
17045 (nnimap-server-port 143)
17046 (nnimap-address "localhost")
17047 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
17048 ; @r{anonymous public cyrus server:}
17049 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
17050 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
17051 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
17052 (nnimap-stream network))
17053 ; @r{a ssl server on a non-standard port:}
17055 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
17056 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
17057 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
17060 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
17061 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
17062 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
17063 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
17065 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
17070 @item nnimap-address
17071 @vindex nnimap-address
17073 The address of the remote @acronym{IMAP} server. Defaults to the virtual
17074 server name if not specified.
17076 @item nnimap-server-port
17077 @vindex nnimap-server-port
17078 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}.
17080 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
17083 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17084 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
17087 @item nnimap-list-pattern
17088 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
17089 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
17090 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
17091 interested in a few---some servers export your home directory via
17092 @acronym{IMAP}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
17093 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
17095 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
17096 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
17097 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
17100 Example server specification:
17103 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17104 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
17105 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
17108 @item nnimap-stream
17109 @vindex nnimap-stream
17110 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
17111 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
17112 of @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}. (@acronym{IMAP} over
17113 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is being replaced by STARTTLS, which can
17114 be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
17116 Example server specification:
17119 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17120 (nnimap-stream ssl))
17123 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
17127 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
17128 @samp{gsasl} or @samp{imtest} program.
17130 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
17132 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
17133 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL}). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
17136 @dfn{tls:} Connect through @acronym{TLS}. Requires GNUTLS (the program
17137 @samp{gnutls-cli}).
17139 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through @acronym{SSL}. Requires OpenSSL (the program
17140 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}).
17142 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @acronym{IMAP} connection.
17144 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
17147 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
17148 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
17149 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
17150 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
17151 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
17152 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
17153 restrictions on @acronym{IMAP} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
17154 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
17155 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
17158 For @acronym{TLS} connection, the @code{gnutls-cli} program from GNUTLS is
17159 needed. It is available from
17160 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/}.
17162 @vindex imap-gssapi-program
17163 This parameter specifies a list of command lines that invoke a GSSAPI
17164 authenticated @acronym{IMAP} stream in a subshell. They are tried
17165 sequentially until a connection is made, or the list has been
17166 exhausted. By default, @samp{gsasl} from GNU SASL, available from
17167 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gsasl/}, and the @samp{imtest}
17168 program from Cyrus IMAPD (see @code{imap-kerberos4-program}), are
17171 @vindex imap-ssl-program
17172 For @acronym{SSL} connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
17173 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
17174 and nnimap support it too---although the most recent versions of
17175 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
17176 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
17177 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
17180 @vindex imap-shell-program
17181 @vindex imap-shell-host
17182 For @acronym{IMAP} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the
17183 variable @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call. Make
17184 sure nothing is interfering with the output of the program, e.g., don't
17185 forget to redirect the error output to the void.
17187 @item nnimap-authenticator
17188 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
17190 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
17191 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
17193 Example server specification:
17196 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17197 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
17200 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
17204 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
17205 external program @code{gsasl} or @code{imtest}.
17207 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
17210 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
17211 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
17213 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
17215 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
17217 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as ``anonymous'', supplying your email address as password.
17220 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
17222 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
17223 Unlike Parmenides the @acronym{IMAP} designers have decided things that
17224 don't exist actually do exist. More specifically, @acronym{IMAP} has
17225 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
17226 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
17227 nnimap does when you delete an article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
17230 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
17231 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
17232 running in circles yet?
17234 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
17235 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
17238 The possible options are:
17243 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as ``Deleted'' when
17246 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
17247 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @acronym{IMAP} clients
17248 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
17249 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
17251 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
17256 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
17257 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
17259 If non-@code{nil} (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as
17260 well), for other @acronym{IMAP} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
17261 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
17262 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @acronym{IMAP}
17263 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @acronym{IMAP}
17266 Probably the only reason for frobbing this would be if you're trying
17267 enable per-user persistent dormant flags, using something like:
17270 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
17271 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
17272 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
17273 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
17276 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
17277 as ticked for other users.
17279 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
17281 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
17282 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17284 This variable contain the @acronym{IMAP} search command sent to server when
17285 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
17286 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
17287 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
17289 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
17290 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
17291 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
17292 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
17294 However, if @code{nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil}
17295 is true, this variable has no effect since the search logic
17296 is reversed, as described below.
17298 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
17299 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
17301 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
17302 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
17303 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
17304 @ref{NNTP}. An example of an .authinfo line for an IMAP server, is:
17307 machine students.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis port imap
17310 Note that it should be @code{port imap}, or @code{port 143}, if you
17311 use a @code{nnimap-stream} of @code{tls} or @code{ssl}, even if the
17312 actual port number used is port 993 for secured IMAP. For
17313 convenience, Gnus will accept @code{port imaps} as a synonym of
17316 @item nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
17317 @vindex nnimap-need-unselect-to-notice-new-mail
17319 Unselect mailboxes before looking for new mail in them. Some servers
17320 seem to need this under some circumstances; it was reported that
17323 @item nnimap-nov-is-evil
17324 @vindex nnimap-nov-is-evil
17325 @cindex Courier @acronym{IMAP} server
17326 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
17328 Never generate or use a local @acronym{NOV} database. Defaults to the
17329 value of @code{gnus-agent}.
17331 Using a @acronym{NOV} database usually makes header fetching much
17332 faster, but it uses the @code{UID SEARCH UID} command, which is very
17333 slow on some servers (notably some versions of Courier). Since the Gnus
17334 Agent caches the information in the @acronym{NOV} database without using
17335 the slow command, this variable defaults to true if the Agent is in use,
17336 and false otherwise.
17338 @item nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil
17339 @vindex nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil
17340 @cindex Courier @acronym{IMAP} server
17341 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17343 Avoid the @code{UID SEARCH UID @var{message numbers} NOT SINCE
17344 @var{date}} command, which is slow on some @acronym{IMAP} servers
17345 (notably, some versions of Courier). Instead, use @code{UID SEARCH SINCE
17346 @var{date}} and prune the list of expirable articles within Gnus.
17348 When Gnus expires your mail (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), it starts with a
17349 list of expirable articles and asks the IMAP server questions like ``Of
17350 these articles, which ones are older than a week?'' While this seems
17351 like a perfectly reasonable question, some IMAP servers take a long time
17352 to answer it, since they seemingly go looking into every old article to
17353 see if it is one of the expirable ones. Curiously, the question ``Of
17354 @emph{all} articles, which ones are newer than a week?'' seems to be
17355 much faster to answer, so setting this variable causes Gnus to ask this
17356 question and figure out the answer to the real question itself.
17358 This problem can really sneak up on you: when you first configure Gnus,
17359 everything works fine, but once you accumulate a couple thousand
17360 messages, you start cursing Gnus for being so slow. On the other hand,
17361 if you get a lot of email within a week, setting this variable will
17362 cause a lot of network traffic between Gnus and the IMAP server.
17364 @item nnimap-logout-timeout
17365 @vindex nnimap-logout-timeout
17367 There is a case where a connection to a @acronym{IMAP} server is unable
17368 to close, when connecting to the server via a certain kind of network,
17369 e.g. @acronym{VPN}. In that case, it will be observed that a connection
17370 between Emacs and the local network looks alive even if the server has
17371 closed a connection for some reason (typically, a timeout).
17372 Consequently, Emacs continues waiting for a response from the server for
17373 the @code{LOGOUT} command that Emacs sent, or hangs in other words. If
17374 you are in such a network, setting this variable to a number of seconds
17375 will be helpful. If it is set, a hung connection will be closed
17376 forcibly, after this number of seconds from the time Emacs sends the
17377 @code{LOGOUT} command. It should not be too small value but too large
17378 value will be inconvenient too. Perhaps the value 1.0 will be a good
17379 candidate but it might be worth trying some other values.
17381 Example server specification:
17384 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
17385 (nnimap-logout-timeout 1.0))
17391 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
17392 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
17393 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
17394 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a ``compress mailbox'' button.
17395 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use @acronym{IMAP} namespace in Gnus.
17396 * Debugging IMAP:: What to do when things don't work.
17401 @node Splitting in IMAP
17402 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
17403 @cindex splitting imap mail
17405 Splitting is something Gnus users have loved and used for years, and now
17406 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
17407 @acronym{IMAP} servers have server side splitting and those that have
17408 splitting seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that
17409 @acronym{IMAP} support for Gnus has to do its own splitting.
17413 (Incidentally, people seem to have been dreaming on, and Sieve has
17414 gaining a market share and is supported by several IMAP servers.
17415 Fortunately, Gnus support it too, @xref{Sieve Commands}.)
17417 Here are the variables of interest:
17421 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
17422 @cindex splitting, crosspost
17424 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
17426 If non-@code{nil}, do crossposting if several split methods match the
17427 mail. If @code{nil}, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule}
17428 found will be used.
17430 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
17432 @item nnimap-split-inbox
17433 @cindex splitting, inbox
17435 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
17437 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @acronym{IMAP}
17438 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to @code{nil}, which means that
17439 splitting is disabled!
17442 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
17443 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
17446 No nnmail equivalent.
17448 @item nnimap-split-rule
17449 @cindex splitting, rules
17450 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
17452 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
17455 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
17456 sublist gives the name of the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox to move articles
17457 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
17458 Neither did I, we need examples.
17461 (setq nnimap-split-rule
17463 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
17464 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
17465 ("INBOX.private" "")))
17468 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
17469 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
17470 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
17472 The first string may contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by
17473 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
17477 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
17480 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
17481 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
17483 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
17484 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
17485 containing the headers of the article. It should return a
17486 non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
17488 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
17489 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
17490 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
17491 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
17492 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
17493 them every time you fetch new mail.)
17495 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
17496 end. The first rule to make a match will ``win'', unless you have
17497 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will ``win''.
17499 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
17500 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
17501 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
17503 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
17505 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
17506 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
17507 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
17510 (setq nnimap-split-rule
17511 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
17512 ("junk" "From:.*Simon"))))
17513 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
17514 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
17515 ("junk" my-junk-func))))))
17518 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
17519 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
17520 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
17521 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
17522 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
17523 group/function elements.
17525 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
17527 @item nnimap-split-predicate
17529 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
17531 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
17532 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
17534 This might be useful if you use another @acronym{IMAP} client to read mail in
17535 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
17536 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
17539 @item nnimap-split-fancy
17540 @cindex splitting, fancy
17541 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
17542 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
17544 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
17545 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
17546 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
17548 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
17549 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
17550 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
17551 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
17556 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
17557 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
17560 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
17562 @item nnimap-split-download-body
17563 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
17564 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
17566 Set to non-@code{nil} to download entire articles during splitting.
17567 This is generally not required, and will slow things down
17568 considerably. You may need it if you want to use an advanced
17569 splitting function that analyzes the body to split the article.
17573 @node Expiring in IMAP
17574 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
17575 @cindex expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail
17577 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
17578 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
17579 Mail}). Unlike splitting in @acronym{IMAP} (@pxref{Splitting in
17580 IMAP}) it does not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
17581 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
17582 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
17585 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @acronym{IMAP} server is
17586 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
17587 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
17588 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
17589 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
17590 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
17591 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
17592 messages. Most do, fortunately.
17594 If expiring @acronym{IMAP} mail seems very slow, try setting the server
17595 variable @code{nnimap-search-uids-not-since-is-evil}.
17599 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
17600 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
17602 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
17603 number, the symbol @code{immediate} or @code{never}.
17605 @item nnmail-expiry-target
17607 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
17608 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
17609 that if the destination is a @acronym{IMAP} group on the same server, the
17610 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
17614 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
17615 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
17616 @cindex editing imap acls
17617 @cindex Access Control Lists
17618 @cindex Editing @acronym{IMAP} ACLs
17619 @kindex G l (Group)
17620 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
17622 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @acronym{IMAP} for
17623 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
17624 @acronym{IMAP} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
17627 To edit an ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
17628 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with an ACL
17629 editing window with detailed instructions.
17631 Some possible uses:
17635 Giving ``anyone'' the ``lrs'' rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
17636 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
17637 follow the list without subscribing to it.
17639 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
17640 ``anyone'' posting ("p") capabilities to have ``plussing'' work (that is,
17641 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @acronym{IMAP} mailbox
17645 @node Expunging mailboxes
17646 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
17650 @cindex manual expunging
17651 @kindex G x (Group)
17652 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
17654 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
17655 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
17656 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
17658 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
17661 @node A note on namespaces
17662 @subsection A note on namespaces
17663 @cindex IMAP namespace
17666 The @acronym{IMAP} protocol has a concept called namespaces, described
17667 by the following text in the RFC2060:
17670 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
17672 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
17673 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
17674 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
17675 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
17677 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
17678 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
17679 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
17680 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
17681 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
17682 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
17685 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the
17686 @acronym{IMAP} implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace
17687 prefixes in a way that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
17689 Specifically, University of Washington's @acronym{IMAP} server uses
17690 mailbox names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only
17691 in the @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is
17692 created (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed
17693 without the namespace prefix, i.e. @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do
17694 not make it possible for the user to guarantee that user entered
17695 mailbox names will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands,
17696 you should simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in
17699 See the UoW IMAPD documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
17700 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
17701 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
17703 @node Debugging IMAP
17704 @subsection Debugging IMAP
17705 @cindex IMAP debugging
17706 @cindex protocol dump (IMAP)
17708 @acronym{IMAP} is a complex protocol, more so than @acronym{NNTP} or
17709 @acronym{POP3}. Implementation bugs are not unlikely, and we do our
17710 best to fix them right away. If you encounter odd behavior, chances
17711 are that either the server or Gnus is buggy.
17713 If you are familiar with network protocols in general, you will
17714 probably be able to extract some clues from the protocol dump of the
17715 exchanges between Gnus and the server. Even if you are not familiar
17716 with network protocols, when you include the protocol dump in
17717 @acronym{IMAP}-related bug reports you are helping us with data
17718 critical to solving the problem. Therefore, we strongly encourage you
17719 to include the protocol dump when reporting IMAP bugs in Gnus.
17723 Because the protocol dump, when enabled, generates lots of data, it is
17724 disabled by default. You can enable it by setting @code{imap-log} as
17731 This instructs the @code{imap.el} package to log any exchanges with
17732 the server. The log is stored in the buffer @samp{*imap-log*}. Look
17733 for error messages, which sometimes are tagged with the keyword
17734 @code{BAD}---but when submitting a bug, make sure to include all the
17737 @node Other Sources
17738 @section Other Sources
17740 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
17741 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
17745 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
17746 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
17747 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
17748 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
17749 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
17753 @node Directory Groups
17754 @subsection Directory Groups
17756 @cindex directory groups
17758 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
17759 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
17762 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
17763 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
17764 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
17765 back end to read directories. Big deal.
17767 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
17768 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
17769 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
17770 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
17771 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
17773 @code{nndir} will use @acronym{NOV} files if they are present.
17775 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
17776 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
17777 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
17778 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
17781 @node Anything Groups
17782 @subsection Anything Groups
17785 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
17786 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
17787 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
17790 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
17791 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
17792 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
17793 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
17794 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
17795 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
17796 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
17797 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
17798 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
17799 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
17802 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
17803 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
17804 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
17805 in the article buffer, just as usual.
17807 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
17808 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
17809 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
17810 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
17812 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
17813 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
17814 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
17815 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
17816 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
17817 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
17818 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
17819 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
17824 @item nneething-map-file-directory
17825 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
17826 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
17827 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
17829 @item nneething-exclude-files
17830 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
17831 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
17832 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
17834 @item nneething-include-files
17835 @vindex nneething-include-files
17836 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
17837 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
17839 @item nneething-map-file
17840 @vindex nneething-map-file
17841 Name of the map files.
17845 @node Document Groups
17846 @subsection Document Groups
17848 @cindex documentation group
17851 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
17852 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
17858 The Babyl (Rmail) mail box.
17863 The standard Unix mbox file.
17865 @cindex MMDF mail box
17867 The MMDF mail box format.
17870 Several news articles appended into a file.
17872 @cindex rnews batch files
17874 The rnews batch transport format.
17877 Netscape mail boxes.
17880 @acronym{MIME} multipart messages.
17882 @item standard-digest
17883 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
17886 A @acronym{MIME} digest of messages.
17888 @item lanl-gov-announce
17889 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
17891 @cindex forwarded messages
17892 @item rfc822-forward
17893 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
17896 The Outlook mail box.
17899 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
17902 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
17905 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
17908 An RFC934-forwarded message.
17914 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
17917 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
17923 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
17924 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
17925 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
17928 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
17929 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
17930 group. And that's it.
17932 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
17933 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
17934 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
17935 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
17936 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
17937 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
17938 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
17939 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
17940 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
17941 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
17943 Virtual server variables:
17946 @item nndoc-article-type
17947 @vindex nndoc-article-type
17948 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
17949 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
17950 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
17951 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
17952 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
17954 @item nndoc-post-type
17955 @vindex nndoc-post-type
17956 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
17957 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
17962 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
17966 @node Document Server Internals
17967 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
17969 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
17970 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
17971 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
17972 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
17974 First, here's an example document type definition:
17978 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
17979 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
17982 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
17983 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
17984 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
17985 types can be defined with very few settings:
17988 @item first-article
17989 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
17990 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
17993 @item article-begin
17994 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
17995 says what the beginning of each article looks like. To do more
17996 complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you can
17997 use @code{article-begin-function} instead of this.
17999 @item article-begin-function
18000 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the beginning
18001 of each article. This setting overrides @code{article-begin}.
18004 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
18005 article. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a
18006 simple regexp, you can use @code{head-begin-function} instead of this.
18008 @item head-begin-function
18009 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
18010 the article. This setting overrides @code{head-begin}.
18013 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
18014 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
18017 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
18018 to @samp{^\n}. To do more complicated things that cannot be dealt with
18019 a simple regexp, you can use @code{body-begin-function} instead of this.
18021 @item body-begin-function
18022 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
18023 of the article. This setting overrides @code{body-begin}.
18026 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. To do
18027 more complicated things that cannot be dealt with a simple regexp, you
18028 can use @code{body-end-function} instead of this.
18030 @item body-end-function
18031 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
18032 the article. This setting overrides @code{body-end}.
18035 If present, this should match the beginning of the file. All text
18036 before this regexp will be totally ignored.
18039 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
18040 regexp will be totally ignored.
18044 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
18045 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
18046 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
18047 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
18048 something that's palatable for Gnus:
18051 @item prepare-body-function
18052 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
18053 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
18054 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
18056 @item article-transform-function
18057 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
18058 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
18059 body of the article.
18061 @item generate-head-function
18062 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
18063 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
18064 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
18065 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
18067 @item generate-article-function
18068 If present, this function is called to generate an entire article that
18069 Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a
18070 parameter when requesting all articles.
18072 @item dissection-function
18073 If present, this function is called to dissect a document by itself,
18074 overriding @code{first-article}, @code{article-begin},
18075 @code{article-begin-function}, @code{head-begin},
18076 @code{head-begin-function}, @code{head-end}, @code{body-begin},
18077 @code{body-begin-function}, @code{body-end}, @code{body-end-function},
18078 @code{file-begin}, and @code{file-end}.
18082 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
18087 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
18088 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
18089 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
18090 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
18091 (head-end . "^ ?$")
18092 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
18093 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
18094 (subtype digest guess))
18097 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
18098 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
18099 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
18100 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
18101 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
18103 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
18104 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first
18105 is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says
18106 where in the document type definition alist to put this definition.
18107 The alist is traversed sequentially, and
18108 @code{nndoc-@var{type}-type-p} is called for a given type @var{type}.
18109 So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document is of
18110 @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
18111 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it
18112 is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
18113 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number
18114 means low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
18122 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
18123 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
18124 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
18126 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
18127 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
18128 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
18131 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
18132 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
18133 that interested in doing things properly.
18135 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
18136 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
18139 First some terminology:
18144 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
18145 get news and/or mail from.
18148 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
18149 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
18152 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
18156 @item message packets
18157 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
18158 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
18159 default, where @var{x} is a number.
18161 @item response packets
18162 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
18163 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
18164 default, where @var{x} is a number.
18174 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
18175 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
18176 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
18177 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
18180 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
18183 You put the packet in your home directory.
18186 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
18187 the native or secondary server.
18190 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
18191 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
18194 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
18198 You transfer this packet to the server.
18201 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
18204 You then repeat until you die.
18208 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
18209 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
18212 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
18213 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
18214 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
18218 @node SOUP Commands
18219 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
18221 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
18225 @kindex G s b (Group)
18226 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
18227 Pack all unread articles in the current group
18228 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
18229 process/prefix convention.
18232 @kindex G s w (Group)
18233 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
18234 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
18237 @kindex G s s (Group)
18238 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
18239 Send all replies from the replies packet
18240 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
18243 @kindex G s p (Group)
18244 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
18245 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
18248 @kindex G s r (Group)
18249 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
18250 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
18253 @kindex O s (Summary)
18254 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
18255 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
18256 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
18257 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
18262 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
18267 @item gnus-soup-directory
18268 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
18269 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
18270 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
18272 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
18273 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
18274 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
18275 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
18277 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
18278 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
18279 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
18280 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
18282 @item gnus-soup-packer
18283 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
18284 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
18285 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
18287 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
18288 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
18289 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
18290 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
18292 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
18293 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
18294 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
18296 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
18297 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
18298 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
18299 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
18305 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
18308 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
18309 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
18310 you can read them at leisure.
18312 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
18316 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
18317 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
18318 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
18319 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
18321 @item nnsoup-directory
18322 @vindex nnsoup-directory
18323 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
18324 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
18326 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
18327 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
18328 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
18329 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/}.
18331 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
18332 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
18333 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
18334 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
18335 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
18337 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
18338 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
18339 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
18340 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
18342 @item nnsoup-active-file
18343 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
18344 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
18345 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
18346 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
18347 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
18349 @item nnsoup-packer
18350 @vindex nnsoup-packer
18351 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
18352 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
18354 @item nnsoup-unpacker
18355 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
18356 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
18357 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
18359 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
18360 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
18361 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
18364 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
18365 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
18366 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
18369 @item nnsoup-always-save
18370 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
18371 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
18377 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
18379 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
18380 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
18381 more for that to happen.
18383 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
18384 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
18385 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
18388 In specific, this is what it does:
18391 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
18392 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
18395 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
18396 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
18397 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
18400 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
18401 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
18402 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
18405 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
18406 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
18407 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
18409 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
18415 @item nngateway-address
18416 @vindex nngateway-address
18417 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
18419 @item nngateway-header-transformation
18420 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
18421 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
18422 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
18423 transformation should be called, and defaults to
18424 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
18425 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
18428 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
18429 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
18430 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
18433 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
18436 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
18439 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
18442 The following pre-defined functions exist:
18444 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
18447 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
18448 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
18449 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
18451 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
18453 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
18454 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
18455 @code{nngateway-address}.
18463 (setq gnus-post-method
18465 "mail2news@@replay.com"
18466 (nngateway-header-transformation
18467 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
18470 So, to use this, simply say something like:
18473 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
18478 @node Combined Groups
18479 @section Combined Groups
18481 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
18485 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
18486 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
18490 @node Virtual Groups
18491 @subsection Virtual Groups
18493 @cindex virtual groups
18494 @cindex merging groups
18496 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
18499 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
18500 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
18501 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
18503 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
18504 regexp to match component groups.
18506 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
18507 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
18508 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
18509 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
18510 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
18511 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
18512 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
18513 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
18515 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
18516 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
18519 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
18522 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
18523 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
18525 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
18526 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
18527 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
18528 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
18531 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
18534 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
18535 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
18536 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
18538 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
18539 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
18540 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
18541 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
18542 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
18544 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
18545 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
18546 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
18548 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
18549 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} variable is non-@code{nil} (which
18550 is the default), @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread
18551 articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil}
18552 and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has
18553 been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up
18554 when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you
18555 have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If
18556 that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}. Or you can
18557 just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before you enter
18558 it---it'll have much the same effect.
18560 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
18561 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
18562 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
18563 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
18564 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
18565 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
18566 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
18568 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
18569 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
18571 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
18572 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
18576 @node Kibozed Groups
18577 @subsection Kibozed Groups
18581 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by the @acronym{OED} as ``grepping through
18582 (parts of) the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will
18583 do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @acronym{NNTP} server
18584 down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness!
18586 @kindex G k (Group)
18587 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
18590 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
18591 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
18592 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between
18593 @code{nnkiboze} and @code{nnvirtual} end.
18595 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an
18596 @code{nnkiboze} group must have a score file to say what articles are
18597 to be included in the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
18599 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
18600 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
18601 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
18602 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time.
18603 Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the
18604 headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them
18605 through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in
18606 the groups that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
18608 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
18609 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
18610 @acronym{NNTP} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
18611 Stranger things have happened.
18613 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
18614 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
18616 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
18617 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
18618 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/kiboze/} by default.
18619 One contains the @acronym{NOV} header lines for all the articles in
18620 the group, and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store
18621 information on what groups have been searched through to find
18622 component articles.
18624 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
18625 their @acronym{NOV} lines removed from the @acronym{NOV} file.
18628 @node Email Based Diary
18629 @section Email Based Diary
18631 @cindex email based diary
18634 This section describes a special mail back end called @code{nndiary},
18635 and its companion library @code{gnus-diary}. It is ``special'' in the
18636 sense that it is not meant to be one of the standard alternatives for
18637 reading mail with Gnus. See @ref{Choosing a Mail Back End} for that.
18638 Instead, it is used to treat @emph{some} of your mails in a special way,
18639 namely, as event reminders.
18641 Here is a typical scenario:
18645 You've got a date with Andy Mc Dowell or Bruce Willis (select according
18646 to your sexual preference) in one month. You don't want to forget it.
18648 So you send a ``reminder'' message (actually, a diary one) to yourself.
18650 You forget all about it and keep on getting and reading new mail, as usual.
18652 From time to time, as you type `g' in the group buffer and as the date
18653 is getting closer, the message will pop up again to remind you of your
18654 appointment, just as if it were new and unread.
18656 Read your ``new'' messages, this one included, and start dreaming again
18657 of the night you're gonna have.
18659 Once the date is over (you actually fell asleep just after dinner), the
18660 message will be automatically deleted if it is marked as expirable.
18663 The Gnus Diary back end has the ability to handle regular appointments
18664 (that wouldn't ever be deleted) as well as punctual ones, operates as a
18665 real mail back end and is configurable in many ways. All of this is
18666 explained in the sections below.
18669 * The NNDiary Back End:: Basic setup and usage.
18670 * The Gnus Diary Library:: Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
18671 * Sending or Not Sending:: A final note on sending diary messages.
18675 @node The NNDiary Back End
18676 @subsection The NNDiary Back End
18678 @cindex the nndiary back end
18680 @code{nndiary} is a back end very similar to @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
18681 Spool}). Actually, it could appear as a mix of @code{nnml} and
18682 @code{nndraft}. If you know @code{nnml}, you're already familiar with
18683 the message storing scheme of @code{nndiary}: one file per message, one
18684 directory per group.
18686 Before anything, there is one requirement to be able to run
18687 @code{nndiary} properly: you @emph{must} use the group timestamp feature
18688 of Gnus. This adds a timestamp to each group's parameters. @ref{Group
18689 Timestamp} to see how it's done.
18692 * Diary Messages:: What makes a message valid for nndiary.
18693 * Running NNDiary:: NNDiary has two modes of operation.
18694 * Customizing NNDiary:: Bells and whistles.
18697 @node Diary Messages
18698 @subsubsection Diary Messages
18699 @cindex nndiary messages
18700 @cindex nndiary mails
18702 @code{nndiary} messages are just normal ones, except for the mandatory
18703 presence of 7 special headers. These headers are of the form
18704 @code{X-Diary-<something>}, @code{<something>} being one of
18705 @code{Minute}, @code{Hour}, @code{Dom}, @code{Month}, @code{Year},
18706 @code{Time-Zone} and @code{Dow}. @code{Dom} means ``Day of Month'', and
18707 @code{dow} means ``Day of Week''. These headers actually behave like
18708 crontab specifications and define the event date(s):
18712 For all headers except the @code{Time-Zone} one, a header value is
18713 either a star (meaning all possible values), or a list of fields
18714 (separated by a comma).
18716 A field is either an integer, or a range.
18718 A range is two integers separated by a dash.
18720 Possible integer values are 0--59 for @code{Minute}, 0--23 for
18721 @code{Hour}, 1--31 for @code{Dom}, 1--12 for @code{Month}, above 1971
18722 for @code{Year} and 0--6 for @code{Dow} (0 meaning Sunday).
18724 As a special case, a star in either @code{Dom} or @code{Dow} doesn't
18725 mean ``all possible values'', but ``use only the other field''. Note
18726 that if both are star'ed, the use of either one gives the same result.
18728 The @code{Time-Zone} header is special in that it can only have one
18729 value (@code{GMT}, for instance). A star doesn't mean ``all possible
18730 values'' (because it makes no sense), but ``the current local time
18731 zone''. Most of the time, you'll be using a star here. However, for a
18732 list of available time zone values, see the variable
18733 @code{nndiary-headers}.
18736 As a concrete example, here are the diary headers to add to your message
18737 for specifying ``Each Monday and each 1st of month, at 12:00, 20:00,
18738 21:00, 22:00, 23:00 and 24:00, from 1999 to 2010'' (I'll let you find
18743 X-Diary-Hour: 12, 20-24
18746 X-Diary-Year: 1999-2010
18748 X-Diary-Time-Zone: *
18751 @node Running NNDiary
18752 @subsubsection Running NNDiary
18753 @cindex running nndiary
18754 @cindex nndiary operation modes
18756 @code{nndiary} has two modes of operation: ``traditional'' (the default)
18757 and ``autonomous''. In traditional mode, @code{nndiary} does not get new
18758 mail by itself. You have to move (@kbd{B m}) or copy (@kbd{B c}) mails
18759 from your primary mail back end to nndiary groups in order to handle them
18760 as diary messages. In autonomous mode, @code{nndiary} retrieves its own
18761 mail and handles it independently from your primary mail back end.
18763 One should note that Gnus is not inherently designed to allow several
18764 ``master'' mail back ends at the same time. However, this does make
18765 sense with @code{nndiary}: you really want to send and receive diary
18766 messages to your diary groups directly. So, @code{nndiary} supports
18767 being sort of a ``second primary mail back end'' (to my knowledge, it is
18768 the only back end offering this feature). However, there is a limitation
18769 (which I hope to fix some day): respooling doesn't work in autonomous
18772 In order to use @code{nndiary} in autonomous mode, you have several
18777 Allow @code{nndiary} to retrieve new mail by itself. Put the following
18778 line in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
18781 (setq nndiary-get-new-mail t)
18784 You must arrange for diary messages (those containing @code{X-Diary-*}
18785 headers) to be split in a private folder @emph{before} Gnus treat them.
18786 Again, this is needed because Gnus cannot (yet ?) properly handle
18787 multiple primary mail back ends. Getting those messages from a separate
18788 source will compensate this misfeature to some extent.
18790 As an example, here's my procmailrc entry to store diary files in
18791 @file{~/.nndiary} (the default @code{nndiary} mail source file):
18800 Once this is done, you might want to customize the following two options
18801 that affect the diary mail retrieval and splitting processes:
18803 @defvar nndiary-mail-sources
18804 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
18805 @code{mail-sources} variable. It obeys the same syntax, and defaults to
18806 @code{(file :path "~/.nndiary")}.
18809 @defvar nndiary-split-methods
18810 This is the diary-specific replacement for the standard
18811 @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable. It obeys the same syntax.
18814 Finally, you may add a permanent @code{nndiary} virtual server
18815 (something like @code{(nndiary "diary")} should do) to your
18816 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}.
18818 Hopefully, almost everything (see the TODO section in
18819 @file{nndiary.el}) will work as expected when you restart Gnus: in
18820 autonomous mode, typing @kbd{g} and @kbd{M-g} in the group buffer, will
18821 also get your new diary mails and split them according to your
18822 diary-specific rules, @kbd{F} will find your new diary groups etc.
18824 @node Customizing NNDiary
18825 @subsubsection Customizing NNDiary
18826 @cindex customizing nndiary
18827 @cindex nndiary customization
18829 Now that @code{nndiary} is up and running, it's time to customize it.
18830 The custom group is called @code{nndiary} (no, really ?!). You should
18831 browse it to figure out which options you'd like to tweak. The following
18832 two variables are probably the only ones you will want to change:
18834 @defvar nndiary-reminders
18835 This is the list of times when you want to be reminded of your
18836 appointments (e.g. 3 weeks before, then 2 days before, then 1 hour
18837 before and that's it). Remember that ``being reminded'' means that the
18838 diary message will pop up as brand new and unread again when you get new
18842 @defvar nndiary-week-starts-on-monday
18843 Rather self-explanatory. Otherwise, Sunday is assumed (this is the
18848 @node The Gnus Diary Library
18849 @subsection The Gnus Diary Library
18851 @cindex the gnus diary library
18853 Using @code{nndiary} manually (I mean, writing the headers by hand and
18854 so on) would be rather boring. Fortunately, there is a library called
18855 @code{gnus-diary} written on top of @code{nndiary}, that does many
18856 useful things for you.
18858 In order to use it, add the following line to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
18861 (require 'gnus-diary)
18864 Also, you shouldn't use any @code{gnus-user-format-function-[d|D]}
18865 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} provides both of these
18866 (sorry if you used them before).
18870 * Diary Summary Line Format:: A nicer summary buffer line format.
18871 * Diary Articles Sorting:: A nicer way to sort messages.
18872 * Diary Headers Generation:: Not doing it manually.
18873 * Diary Group Parameters:: Not handling them manually.
18876 @node Diary Summary Line Format
18877 @subsubsection Diary Summary Line Format
18878 @cindex diary summary buffer line
18879 @cindex diary summary line format
18881 Displaying diary messages in standard summary line format (usually
18882 something like @samp{From Joe: Subject}) is pretty useless. Most of
18883 the time, you're the one who wrote the message, and you mostly want to
18884 see the event's date.
18886 @code{gnus-diary} provides two supplemental user formats to be used in
18887 summary line formats. @code{D} corresponds to a formatted time string
18888 for the next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00''),
18889 while @code{d} corresponds to an approximative remaining time until the
18890 next occurrence of the event (e.g. ``in 6 months, 1 week'').
18892 For example, here's how Joe's birthday is displayed in my
18893 @code{nndiary+diary:birthdays} summary buffer (note that the message is
18894 expirable, but will never be deleted, as it specifies a periodic event):
18897 E Sat, Sep 22 01, 12:00: Joe's birthday (in 6 months, 1 week)
18900 In order to get something like the above, you would normally add the
18901 following line to your diary groups'parameters:
18904 (gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z %uD: %(%s%) (%ud)\n")
18907 However, @code{gnus-diary} does it automatically (@pxref{Diary Group
18908 Parameters}). You can however customize the provided summary line format
18909 with the following user options:
18911 @defvar gnus-diary-summary-line-format
18912 Defines the summary line format used for diary groups (@pxref{Summary
18913 Buffer Lines}). @code{gnus-diary} uses it to automatically update the
18914 diary groups'parameters.
18917 @defvar gnus-diary-time-format
18918 Defines the format to display dates in diary summary buffers. This is
18919 used by the @code{D} user format. See the docstring for details.
18922 @defvar gnus-diary-delay-format-function
18923 Defines the format function to use for displaying delays (remaining
18924 times) in diary summary buffers. This is used by the @code{d} user
18925 format. There are currently built-in functions for English and French;
18926 you can also define your own. See the docstring for details.
18929 @node Diary Articles Sorting
18930 @subsubsection Diary Articles Sorting
18931 @cindex diary articles sorting
18932 @cindex diary summary lines sorting
18933 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule
18934 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule
18935 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-schedule
18937 @code{gnus-diary} provides new sorting functions (@pxref{Sorting the
18938 Summary Buffer} ) called @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule},
18939 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-schedule} and
18940 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-schedule}. These functions let you organize
18941 your diary summary buffers from the closest event to the farthest one.
18943 @code{gnus-diary} automatically installs
18944 @code{gnus-summary-sort-by-schedule} as a menu item in the summary
18945 buffer's ``sort'' menu, and the two others as the primary (hence
18946 default) sorting functions in the group parameters (@pxref{Diary Group
18949 @node Diary Headers Generation
18950 @subsubsection Diary Headers Generation
18951 @cindex diary headers generation
18952 @findex gnus-diary-check-message
18954 @code{gnus-diary} provides a function called
18955 @code{gnus-diary-check-message} to help you handle the @code{X-Diary-*}
18956 headers. This function ensures that the current message contains all the
18957 required diary headers, and prompts you for values or corrections if
18960 This function is hooked into the @code{nndiary} back end, so that
18961 moving or copying an article to a diary group will trigger it
18962 automatically. It is also bound to @kbd{C-c D c} in @code{message-mode}
18963 and @code{article-edit-mode} in order to ease the process of converting
18964 a usual mail to a diary one.
18966 This function takes a prefix argument which will force prompting of
18967 all diary headers, regardless of their presence or validity. That way,
18968 you can very easily reschedule an already valid diary message, for
18971 @node Diary Group Parameters
18972 @subsubsection Diary Group Parameters
18973 @cindex diary group parameters
18975 When you create a new diary group, or visit one, @code{gnus-diary}
18976 automatically checks your group parameters and if needed, sets the
18977 summary line format to the diary-specific value, installs the
18978 diary-specific sorting functions, and also adds the different
18979 @code{X-Diary-*} headers to the group's posting-style. It is then easier
18980 to send a diary message, because if you use @kbd{C-u a} or @kbd{C-u m}
18981 on a diary group to prepare a message, these headers will be inserted
18982 automatically (although not filled with proper values yet).
18984 @node Sending or Not Sending
18985 @subsection Sending or Not Sending
18987 Well, assuming you've read all of the above, here are two final notes on
18988 mail sending with @code{nndiary}:
18992 @code{nndiary} is a @emph{real} mail back end. You really send real diary
18993 messsages for real. This means for instance that you can give
18994 appointments to anybody (provided they use Gnus and @code{nndiary}) by
18995 sending the diary message to them as well.
18997 However, since @code{nndiary} also has a @code{request-post} method, you
18998 can also use @kbd{C-u a} instead of @kbd{C-u m} on a diary group and the
18999 message won't actually be sent; just stored locally in the group. This
19000 comes in very handy for private appointments.
19003 @node Gnus Unplugged
19004 @section Gnus Unplugged
19009 @cindex Gnus unplugged
19011 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
19012 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
19013 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
19014 read news. Believe it or not.
19016 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
19017 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
19018 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
19019 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
19020 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
19022 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
19023 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
19024 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
19025 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
19026 reading news on a machine.
19028 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
19029 fact, you don't have to configure anything as the agent is now enabled
19030 by default (@pxref{Agent Variables, gnus-agent}).
19032 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
19035 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
19036 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
19037 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
19038 * Agent Visuals:: Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
19039 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
19040 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
19041 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
19042 * Agent and flags:: How the Agent maintains flags.
19043 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with @acronym{IMAP}.
19044 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
19045 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
19046 * Example Setup:: An example @file{~/.gnus.el} file for offline people.
19047 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
19048 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
19053 @subsection Agent Basics
19055 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
19057 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
19058 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
19059 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
19060 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
19062 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
19063 connected to the net continuously.
19065 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
19066 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
19068 You know that Gnus gives you all the opportunity you'd ever want for
19069 shooting yourself in the foot. Some people call it flexibility. Gnus
19070 is also customizable to a great extent, which means that the user has a
19071 say on how Gnus behaves. Other newsreaders might unconditionally shoot
19072 you in your foot, but with Gnus, you have a choice!
19074 Gnus is never really in plugged or unplugged state. Rather, it applies
19075 that state to each server individually. This means that some servers
19076 can be plugged while others can be unplugged. Additionally, some
19077 servers can be ignored by the Agent altogether (which means that
19078 they're kinda like plugged always).
19080 So when you unplug the Agent and then wonder why is Gnus opening a
19081 connection to the Net, the next step to do is to look whether all
19082 servers are agentized. If there is an unagentized server, you found
19085 Another thing is the @dfn{offline} state. Sometimes, servers aren't
19086 reachable. When Gnus notices this, it asks you whether you want the
19087 server to be switched to offline state. If you say yes, then the
19088 server will behave somewhat as if it was unplugged, except that Gnus
19089 will ask you whether you want to switch it back online again.
19091 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
19096 @findex gnus-unplugged
19097 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
19098 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
19099 already fetched while in this mode.
19102 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
19103 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
19104 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
19105 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode (@pxref{Mail
19106 Source Specifiers}).
19109 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the
19110 news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press
19111 @kbd{g} to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J s} to fetch
19112 all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which
19113 articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}).
19116 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
19117 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
19118 then you read the news offline.
19121 And then you go to step 2.
19124 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
19130 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
19131 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
19132 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
19133 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
19134 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
19135 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
19136 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} servers in @code{gnus-select-method} and
19137 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
19140 Decide on download policy. It's fairly simple once you decide whether
19141 you are going to use agent categories, topic parameters, and/or group
19142 parameters to implement your policy. If you're new to gnus, it
19143 is probably best to start with a category, @xref{Agent Categories}.
19145 Both topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) and agent categories
19146 (@pxref{Agent Categories}) provide for setting a policy that applies
19147 to multiple groups. Which you use is entirely up to you. Topic
19148 parameters do override categories so, if you mix the two, you'll have
19149 to take that into account. If you have a few groups that deviate from
19150 your policy, you can use group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to
19154 Uhm@dots{} that's it.
19158 @node Agent Categories
19159 @subsection Agent Categories
19161 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
19162 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
19163 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
19164 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
19165 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
19166 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
19167 you're interested in the articles anyway.
19169 One of the more effective methods for controlling what is to be
19170 downloaded is to create a @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all)
19171 groups to this category. Groups that do not belong in any other
19172 category belong to the @code{default} category. Gnus has its own
19173 buffer for creating and managing categories.
19175 If you prefer, you can also use group parameters (@pxref{Group
19176 Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}) for an
19177 alternative approach to controlling the agent. The only real
19178 difference is that categories are specific to the agent (so there is
19179 less to learn) while group and topic parameters include the kitchen
19182 Since you can set agent parameters in several different places we have
19183 a rule to decide which source to believe. This rule specifies that
19184 the parameter sources are checked in the following order: group
19185 parameters, topic parameters, agent category, and finally customizable
19186 variables. So you can mix all of these sources to produce a wide range
19187 of behavior, just don't blame me if you don't remember where you put
19191 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
19192 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
19193 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
19197 @node Category Syntax
19198 @subsubsection Category Syntax
19200 A category consists of a name, the list of groups belonging to the
19201 category, and a number of optional parameters that override the
19202 customizable variables. The complete list of agent parameters are
19205 @cindex Agent Parameters
19208 The list of groups that are in this category.
19210 @item agent-predicate
19211 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
19212 are eligible for downloading; and
19215 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
19216 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
19217 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
19219 @item agent-enable-expiration
19220 a boolean indicating whether the agent should expire old articles in
19221 this group. Most groups should be expired to conserve disk space. In
19222 fact, its probably safe to say that the gnus.* hierarchy contains the
19223 only groups that should not be expired.
19225 @item agent-days-until-old
19226 an integer indicating the number of days that the agent should wait
19227 before deciding that a read article is safe to expire.
19229 @item agent-low-score
19230 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-low-score}.
19232 @item agent-high-score
19233 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-high-score}.
19235 @item agent-short-article
19236 an integer that overrides the value of
19237 @code{gnus-agent-short-article}.
19239 @item agent-long-article
19240 an integer that overrides the value of @code{gnus-agent-long-article}.
19242 @item agent-enable-undownloaded-faces
19243 a symbol indicating whether the summary buffer should display
19244 undownloaded articles using the @code{gnus-summary-*-undownloaded-face}
19245 faces. Any symbol other than @code{nil} will enable the use of
19246 undownloaded faces.
19249 The name of a category can not be changed once the category has been
19252 Each category maintains a list of groups that are exclusive members of
19253 that category. The exclusivity rule is automatically enforced, add a
19254 group to a new category and it is automatically removed from its old
19257 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
19258 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
19259 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
19260 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
19262 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
19263 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
19264 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
19266 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
19267 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
19268 operators sprinkled in between.
19270 Perhaps some examples are in order.
19272 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
19273 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
19279 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
19280 short (for some value of ``short'').
19282 Here's a more complex predicate:
19291 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
19292 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
19295 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
19296 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
19297 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
19299 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
19300 you want to do, you can write your own.
19302 When evaluating each of these predicates, the named constant will be
19303 bound to the value determined by calling
19304 @code{gnus-agent-find-parameter} on the appropriate parameter. For
19305 example, gnus-agent-short-article will be bound to
19306 @code{(gnus-agent-find-parameter group 'agent-short-article)}. This
19307 means that you can specify a predicate in your category then tune that
19308 predicate to individual groups.
19312 True if the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
19313 lines; default 100.
19316 True if the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
19317 lines; default 200.
19320 True if the article has a download score less than
19321 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
19324 True if the article has a download score greater than
19325 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
19328 True if the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
19329 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
19330 checksum and sees whether articles match.
19339 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
19340 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
19341 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
19344 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
19345 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
19346 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
19347 something along the lines of the following:
19350 (defun my-article-old-p ()
19351 "Say whether an article is old."
19352 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
19353 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
19356 with the predicate then defined as:
19359 (not my-article-old-p)
19362 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
19363 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
19367 (require 'gnus-agent)
19368 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
19369 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
19370 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
19373 and simply specify your predicate as:
19379 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
19380 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
19381 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
19382 just don't give a damn.
19384 The above predicates apply to @emph{all} the groups which belong to the
19385 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
19386 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
19387 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in its group
19388 parameters like so:
19391 (agent-predicate . short)
19394 This is the group/topic parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
19395 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
19396 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
19398 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
19401 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
19404 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
19405 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
19406 predicate is assumed to be a list.
19409 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
19410 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
19411 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
19412 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
19413 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
19414 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
19416 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
19417 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
19418 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
19419 if it's to be specific to that group.
19421 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
19428 This has the same syntax as a normal Gnus score file except only a
19429 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
19435 Category specification
19439 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
19445 Group/Topic Parameter specification
19448 (agent-score ("from"
19449 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
19454 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
19460 These score files must @emph{only} contain the permitted scoring
19461 keywords stated above.
19467 Category specification
19470 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
19476 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
19480 Group Parameter specification
19483 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
19486 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
19491 Use @code{normal} score files
19493 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
19494 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
19495 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
19496 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
19498 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
19499 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
19500 files for a group, @emph{filtering out} those sections that do not
19501 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
19505 Category Specification
19512 Group Parameter specification
19515 (agent-score . file)
19520 @node Category Buffer
19521 @subsubsection Category Buffer
19523 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
19524 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
19525 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
19527 The following commands are available in this buffer:
19531 @kindex q (Category)
19532 @findex gnus-category-exit
19533 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
19536 @kindex e (Category)
19537 @findex gnus-category-customize-category
19538 Use a customization buffer to set all of the selected category's
19539 parameters at one time (@code{gnus-category-customize-category}).
19542 @kindex k (Category)
19543 @findex gnus-category-kill
19544 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
19547 @kindex c (Category)
19548 @findex gnus-category-copy
19549 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
19552 @kindex a (Category)
19553 @findex gnus-category-add
19554 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
19557 @kindex p (Category)
19558 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
19559 Edit the predicate of the current category
19560 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
19563 @kindex g (Category)
19564 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
19565 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
19566 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
19569 @kindex s (Category)
19570 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
19571 Edit the download score rule of the current category
19572 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
19575 @kindex l (Category)
19576 @findex gnus-category-list
19577 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
19581 @node Category Variables
19582 @subsubsection Category Variables
19585 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
19586 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
19587 Hook run in category buffers.
19589 @item gnus-category-line-format
19590 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
19591 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
19592 Variables}). Valid elements are:
19596 The name of the category.
19599 The number of groups in the category.
19602 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
19603 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
19604 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
19606 @item gnus-agent-short-article
19607 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
19608 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
19610 @item gnus-agent-long-article
19611 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
19612 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
19614 @item gnus-agent-low-score
19615 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
19616 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
19619 @item gnus-agent-high-score
19620 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
19621 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
19624 @item gnus-agent-expire-days
19625 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
19626 The number of days that a @samp{read} article must stay in the agent's
19627 local disk before becoming eligible for expiration (While the name is
19628 the same, this doesn't mean expiring the article on the server. It
19629 just means deleting the local copy of the article). What is also
19630 important to understand is that the counter starts with the time the
19631 article was written to the local disk and not the time the article was
19635 @item gnus-agent-enable-expiration
19636 @vindex gnus-agent-enable-expiration
19637 Determines whether articles in a group are, by default, expired or
19638 retained indefinitely. The default is @code{ENABLE} which means that
19639 you'll have to disable expiration when desired. On the other hand,
19640 you could set this to @code{DISABLE}. In that case, you would then
19641 have to enable expiration in selected groups.
19646 @node Agent Commands
19647 @subsection Agent Commands
19648 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-plugged
19649 @kindex J j (Agent)
19651 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
19652 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
19653 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
19657 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
19658 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
19659 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
19665 @node Group Agent Commands
19666 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
19670 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
19671 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
19672 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
19673 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
19676 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
19677 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
19678 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
19681 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
19682 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
19683 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
19684 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
19687 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
19688 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
19689 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
19690 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
19693 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
19694 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
19695 Add the current group to an Agent category
19696 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
19697 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19700 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
19701 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
19702 Remove the current group from its category, if any
19703 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
19704 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
19707 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
19708 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19709 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
19715 @node Summary Agent Commands
19716 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
19720 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
19721 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
19722 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
19725 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
19726 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
19727 Remove the downloading mark from the article
19728 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
19732 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
19733 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
19734 Toggle whether to download the article
19735 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The download mark is @samp{%} by
19739 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
19740 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
19741 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
19744 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
19745 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
19746 Download all eligible (@pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
19747 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
19750 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
19751 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series
19752 Download all processable articles in this group.
19753 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-series}).
19756 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
19757 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
19758 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
19759 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
19764 @node Server Agent Commands
19765 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
19769 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
19770 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
19771 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
19772 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
19775 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
19776 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
19777 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
19778 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
19783 @node Agent Visuals
19784 @subsection Agent Visuals
19786 If you open a summary while unplugged and, Gnus knows from the group's
19787 active range that there are more articles than the headers currently
19788 stored in the Agent, you may see some articles whose subject looks
19789 something like @samp{[Undownloaded article #####]}. These are
19790 placeholders for the missing headers. Aside from setting a mark,
19791 there is not much that can be done with one of these placeholders.
19792 When Gnus finally gets a chance to fetch the group's headers, the
19793 placeholders will automatically be replaced by the actual headers.
19794 You can configure the summary buffer's maneuvering to skip over the
19795 placeholders if you care (See @code{gnus-auto-goto-ignores}).
19797 While it may be obvious to all, the only headers and articles
19798 available while unplugged are those headers and articles that were
19799 fetched into the Agent while previously plugged. To put it another
19800 way, ``If you forget to fetch something while plugged, you might have a
19801 less than satisfying unplugged session''. For this reason, the Agent
19802 adds two visual effects to your summary buffer. These effects display
19803 the download status of each article so that you always know which
19804 articles will be available when unplugged.
19806 The first visual effect is the @samp{%O} spec. If you customize
19807 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} to include this specifier, you will add
19808 a single character field that indicates an article's download status.
19809 Articles that have been fetched into either the Agent or the Cache,
19810 will display @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} (defaults to @samp{+}). All
19811 other articles will display @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} (defaults to
19812 @samp{-}). If you open a group that has not been agentized, a space
19813 (@samp{ }) will be displayed.
19815 The second visual effect are the undownloaded faces. The faces, there
19816 are three indicating the article's score (low, normal, high), seem to
19817 result in a love/hate response from many Gnus users. The problem is
19818 that the face selection is controlled by a list of condition tests and
19819 face names (See @code{gnus-summary-highlight}). Each condition is
19820 tested in the order in which it appears in the list so early
19821 conditions have precedence over later conditions. All of this means
19822 that, if you tick an undownloaded article, the article will continue
19823 to be displayed in the undownloaded face rather than the ticked face.
19825 If you use the Agent as a cache (to avoid downloading the same article
19826 each time you visit it or to minimize your connection time), the
19827 undownloaded face will probably seem like a good idea. The reason
19828 being that you do all of our work (marking, reading, deleting) with
19829 downloaded articles so the normal faces always appear. For those
19830 users using the agent to improve online performance by caching the NOV
19831 database (most users since 5.10.2), the undownloaded faces may appear
19832 to be an absolutely horrible idea. The issue being that, since none
19833 of their articles have been fetched into the Agent, all of the
19834 normal faces will be obscured by the undownloaded faces.
19836 If you would like to use the undownloaded faces, you must enable the
19837 undownloaded faces by setting the @code{agent-enable-undownloaded-faces}
19838 group parameter to @code{t}. This parameter, like all other agent
19839 parameters, may be set on an Agent Category (@pxref{Agent Categories}),
19840 a Group Topic (@pxref{Topic Parameters}), or an individual group
19841 (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
19843 The one problem common to all users using the agent is how quickly it
19844 can consume disk space. If you using the agent on many groups, it is
19845 even more difficult to effectively recover disk space. One solution
19846 is the @samp{%F} format available in @code{gnus-group-line-format}.
19847 This format will display the actual disk space used by articles
19848 fetched into both the agent and cache. By knowing which groups use
19849 the most space, users know where to focus their efforts when ``agent
19850 expiring'' articles.
19852 @node Agent as Cache
19853 @subsection Agent as Cache
19855 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
19856 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
19857 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
19858 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
19859 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
19860 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
19861 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
19862 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
19863 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
19865 If you so desire, you can configure the agent (see @code{gnus-agent-cache}
19866 @pxref{Agent Variables}) to always download headers and articles while
19867 plugged. Gnus will almost certainly be slower, but it will be kept
19868 synchronized with the server. That last point probably won't make any
19869 sense if you are using a nntp or nnimap back end.
19872 @subsection Agent Expiry
19874 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
19875 @findex gnus-agent-expire
19876 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
19877 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire-group
19878 @findex gnus-agent-expire-group
19879 @cindex agent expiry
19880 @cindex Gnus agent expiry
19881 @cindex expiry, in Gnus agent
19883 The Agent back end, @code{nnagent}, doesn't handle expiry. Well, at
19884 least it doesn't handle it like other back ends. Instead, there are
19885 special @code{gnus-agent-expire} and @code{gnus-agent-expire-group}
19886 commands that will expire all read articles that are older than
19887 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. They can be run whenever you feel
19888 that you're running out of space. Neither are particularly fast or
19889 efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to interrupt them (with
19890 @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started one of them.
19892 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
19893 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
19894 synchronized with the group.
19896 The agent parameter @code{agent-enable-expiration} may be used to
19897 prevent expiration in selected groups.
19899 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
19900 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, the agent
19901 expiration commands will expire all articles---unread, read, ticked
19902 and dormant. If @code{nil} (which is the default), only read articles
19903 are eligible for expiry, and unread, ticked and dormant articles will
19904 be kept indefinitely.
19906 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
19907 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's are special
19908 commands, @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} and
19909 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group}, to fix possible problems.
19911 @node Agent Regeneration
19912 @subsection Agent Regeneration
19914 @cindex agent regeneration
19915 @cindex Gnus agent regeneration
19916 @cindex regeneration
19918 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
19919 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
19920 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
19921 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
19922 internal inconsistencies.
19924 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
19925 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
19926 know about articles successfully downloaded prior to the connection
19927 failure. Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
19928 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
19929 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
19931 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
19932 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
19933 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
19934 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
19935 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
19936 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
19938 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19939 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
19940 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
19941 of individual articles to repair the local @acronym{NOV}(header) database. It
19942 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
19943 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
19946 @node Agent and flags
19947 @subsection Agent and flags
19949 The Agent works with any Gnus back end including those, such as
19950 nnimap, that store flags (read, ticked, etc) on the server. Sadly,
19951 the Agent does not actually know which backends keep their flags in
19952 the backend server rather than in @file{.newsrc}. This means that the
19953 Agent, while unplugged or disconnected, will always record all changes
19954 to the flags in its own files.
19956 When you plug back in, Gnus will then check to see if you have any
19957 changed any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the
19958 server. This behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
19960 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
19961 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
19962 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
19963 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
19964 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
19965 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
19967 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
19968 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
19969 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
19970 in the group buffer.
19972 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by ``pushing''
19973 all local flags to the server, but rather by incrementally updated the
19974 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
19975 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on an article, quit the group then
19976 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
19977 removed from the server when you ``synchronize''. The queued flag
19978 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
19979 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
19981 @node Agent and IMAP
19982 @subsection Agent and IMAP
19984 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
19985 since there are some conceptual differences between @acronym{NNTP} and
19986 @acronym{IMAP}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
19987 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @acronym{IMAP} Disconnected Mode client.
19989 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
19990 expect from a disconnected @acronym{IMAP} client, including:
19995 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
19998 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
20002 @node Outgoing Messages
20003 @subsection Outgoing Messages
20005 By default, when Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail
20006 and news) are stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}).
20007 You can view them there after posting, and edit them at will.
20009 You can control the circumstances under which outgoing mail is queued
20010 (see @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail}, @pxref{Agent Variables}). Outgoing
20011 news is always queued when Gnus is unplugged, and never otherwise.
20013 You can send the messages either from the draft group with the special
20014 commands available there, or you can use the @kbd{J S} command in the
20015 group buffer to send all the sendable messages in the draft group.
20016 Posting news will only work when Gnus is plugged, but you can send
20019 If sending mail while unplugged does not work for you and you worry
20020 about hitting @kbd{J S} by accident when unplugged, you can have Gnus
20021 ask you to confirm your action (see
20022 @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue}, @pxref{Agent Variables}).
20024 @node Agent Variables
20025 @subsection Agent Variables
20030 Is the agent enabled? The default is @code{t}. When first enabled,
20031 the agent will use @code{gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods} to
20032 automatically mark some back ends as agentized. You may change which
20033 back ends are agentized using the agent commands in the server buffer.
20035 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
20036 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
20039 @item gnus-agent-directory
20040 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
20041 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
20042 @file{~/News/agent/}.
20044 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
20045 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
20046 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
20047 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
20048 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
20051 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
20052 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
20053 Hook run when connecting to the network.
20055 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
20056 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
20057 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
20059 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
20060 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
20061 Hook run when finished fetching articles.
20063 @item gnus-agent-cache
20064 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
20065 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @acronym{NOV} and
20066 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
20067 The default is non-@code{nil}, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
20069 @item gnus-agent-go-online
20070 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
20071 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
20072 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
20073 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
20074 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
20075 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
20078 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
20079 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
20080 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
20081 mark articles as unread after downloading. This is usually a safe
20082 thing to do as the newly downloaded article has obviously not been
20083 read. The default is @code{t}.
20085 @item gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20086 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
20087 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
20088 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
20089 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
20090 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
20091 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
20093 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
20094 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
20095 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
20096 agent will let the agent predicate decide whether articles need to be
20097 downloaded or not, for all articles. When @code{nil}, the default,
20098 the agent will only let the predicate decide whether unread articles
20099 are downloaded or not. If you enable this, you may also want to look
20100 into the agent expiry settings (@pxref{Category Variables}), so that
20101 the agent doesn't download articles which the agent will later expire,
20102 over and over again.
20104 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
20105 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
20106 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
20107 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
20108 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
20109 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
20110 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
20111 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
20112 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
20113 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
20114 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
20115 available while unplugged). The default is 10M so it is unusual to
20118 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
20119 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
20120 Perhaps not an Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
20121 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
20122 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
20123 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
20124 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
20125 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
20126 is only valid if the Agent is used.
20128 @item gnus-auto-goto-ignores
20129 @vindex gnus-auto-goto-ignores
20130 Another variable that isn't an Agent variable, yet so closely related
20131 that most will look for it here, this variable tells the summary
20132 buffer how to maneuver around undownloaded (only headers stored in the
20133 agent) and unfetched (neither article nor headers stored) articles.
20135 The valid values are @code{nil} (maneuver to any article),
20136 @code{undownloaded} (maneuvering while unplugged ignores articles that
20137 have not been fetched), @code{always-undownloaded} (maneuvering always
20138 ignores articles that have not been fetched), @code{unfetched}
20139 (maneuvering ignores articles whose headers have not been fetched).
20141 @item gnus-agent-queue-mail
20142 @vindex gnus-agent-queue-mail
20143 When @code{gnus-agent-queue-mail} is @code{always}, Gnus will always
20144 queue mail rather than sending it straight away. When @code{t}, Gnus
20145 will queue mail when unplugged only. When @code{nil}, never queue
20146 mail. The default is @code{t}.
20148 @item gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
20149 @vindex gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue
20150 When @code{gnus-agent-prompt-send-queue} is non-@code{nil} Gnus will
20151 prompt you to confirm that you really wish to proceed if you hit
20152 @kbd{J S} while unplugged. The default is @code{nil}.
20154 @item gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
20155 @vindex gnus-agent-auto-agentize-methods
20156 If you have never used the Agent before (or more technically, if
20157 @file{~/News/agent/lib/servers} does not exist), Gnus will
20158 automatically agentize a few servers for you. This variable control
20159 which back ends should be auto-agentized. It is typically only useful
20160 to agentize remote back ends. The auto-agentizing has the same effect
20161 as running @kbd{J a} on the servers (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}).
20162 If the file exist, you must manage the servers manually by adding or
20163 removing them, this variable is only applicable the first time you
20164 start Gnus. The default is @samp{(nntp nnimap)}.
20169 @node Example Setup
20170 @subsection Example Setup
20172 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
20173 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
20174 @file{~/.gnus.el} file to get started.
20177 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @acronym{NNTP}}
20178 ;; @r{from your ISP's server.}
20179 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
20181 ;; @r{Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from}
20182 ;; @r{your ISP's @acronym{POP} server.}
20183 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
20185 ;; @r{Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.}
20186 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
20188 ;; @r{Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.}
20189 ;; (gnus-agentize) ; @r{The obsolete setting.}
20190 ;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; @r{Now the default.}
20193 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
20194 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
20197 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
20198 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
20199 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
20200 @acronym{NNTP} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
20201 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
20204 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
20205 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
20206 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
20207 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
20208 back all the killed groups.)
20210 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
20211 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
20212 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
20215 @node Batching Agents
20216 @subsection Batching Agents
20217 @findex gnus-agent-batch
20219 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
20220 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
20221 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
20223 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
20224 following incantation:
20228 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
20232 @node Agent Caveats
20233 @subsection Agent Caveats
20235 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
20236 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
20240 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
20242 @strong{No}. If you want this behavior, add
20243 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
20244 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
20246 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in
20247 the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
20249 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is @code{nil}.
20253 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
20254 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
20255 locally stored articles.
20262 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
20263 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
20264 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
20267 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
20268 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
20269 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
20270 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
20271 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
20273 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
20274 before generating the summary buffer.
20276 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
20277 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
20278 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
20280 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
20281 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
20282 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
20283 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
20286 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
20287 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
20288 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
20289 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
20290 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
20291 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
20292 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
20293 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
20294 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
20295 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
20296 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
20297 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
20298 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
20299 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
20300 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
20301 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
20305 @node Summary Score Commands
20306 @section Summary Score Commands
20307 @cindex score commands
20309 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
20310 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
20311 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
20312 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
20313 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
20315 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
20316 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
20317 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
20318 score file the current one.
20320 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
20325 @kindex V s (Summary)
20326 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
20327 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
20330 @kindex V S (Summary)
20331 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
20332 Display the score of the current article
20333 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
20336 @kindex V t (Summary)
20337 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
20338 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
20339 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}). In the @code{*Score Trace*} buffer, you
20340 may type @kbd{e} to edit score file corresponding to the score rule on
20341 current line and @kbd{f} to format (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) the
20342 score file and edit it.
20345 @kindex V w (Summary)
20346 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
20347 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
20350 @kindex V R (Summary)
20351 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
20352 Run the current summary through the scoring process
20353 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
20354 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
20355 effect you're having.
20358 @kindex V c (Summary)
20359 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
20360 Make a different score file the current
20361 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
20364 @kindex V e (Summary)
20365 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
20366 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
20367 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
20371 @kindex V f (Summary)
20372 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
20373 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
20374 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
20377 @kindex V F (Summary)
20378 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
20379 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
20380 after editing score files.
20383 @kindex V C (Summary)
20384 @findex gnus-score-customize
20385 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
20386 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
20390 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
20395 @kindex V m (Summary)
20396 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
20397 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
20398 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
20401 @kindex V x (Summary)
20402 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
20403 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
20404 expunge all articles below this score
20405 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
20408 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
20409 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
20412 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
20413 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
20417 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
20418 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
20420 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
20421 keys are available:
20425 Score on the author name.
20428 Score on the subject line.
20431 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
20434 Score on the @code{References} line.
20440 Score on the number of lines.
20443 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
20446 Score on an ``extra'' header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
20447 if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
20450 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
20451 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
20452 @file{ADAPT} files.)
20461 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
20467 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
20468 what headers you are scoring on.
20480 Substring matching.
20483 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
20512 Greater than number.
20517 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
20518 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
20519 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
20524 Temporary score entry.
20527 Permanent score entry.
20530 Immediately scoring.
20534 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
20535 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
20536 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
20540 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
20541 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
20542 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
20543 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
20545 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
20546 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
20547 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
20548 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
20549 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
20551 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
20552 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
20553 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
20554 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
20555 current score file.
20557 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
20558 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
20559 pretend they are keymaps or not.
20562 @node Group Score Commands
20563 @section Group Score Commands
20564 @cindex group score commands
20566 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
20571 @kindex W e (Group)
20572 @findex gnus-score-edit-all-score
20573 Edit the apply-to-all-groups all.SCORE file. You will be popped into
20574 a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score File Editing}).
20577 @kindex W f (Group)
20578 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
20579 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
20580 all the time. This command will flush the cache
20581 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
20585 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
20587 @findex gnus-batch-score
20588 @cindex batch scoring
20590 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
20594 @node Score Variables
20595 @section Score Variables
20596 @cindex score variables
20600 @item gnus-use-scoring
20601 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
20602 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
20603 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
20605 @item gnus-kill-killed
20606 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
20607 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
20608 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
20609 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
20610 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
20611 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
20612 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
20614 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
20615 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
20616 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
20617 initialized from the @env{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
20618 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
20620 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
20621 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
20622 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
20623 (@file{SCORE} by default.)
20625 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
20626 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
20627 @cindex score cache
20628 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
20629 score files. However, this might make your Emacs grow big and
20630 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely
20631 to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
20632 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
20633 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
20634 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
20637 @item gnus-save-score
20638 @vindex gnus-save-score
20639 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
20640 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
20641 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
20643 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
20644 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
20645 across group visits.
20647 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
20648 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
20649 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
20650 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
20651 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
20652 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
20653 manually entered data.
20655 @item gnus-summary-default-score
20656 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
20657 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
20659 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
20660 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
20661 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
20662 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
20663 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
20664 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
20666 @item gnus-score-over-mark
20667 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
20668 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
20669 default. Default is @samp{+}.
20671 @item gnus-score-below-mark
20672 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
20673 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
20674 default. Default is @samp{-}.
20676 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
20677 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
20678 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
20679 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
20681 Predefined functions available are:
20684 @item gnus-score-find-single
20685 @findex gnus-score-find-single
20686 Only apply the group's own score file.
20688 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
20689 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
20690 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
20691 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
20692 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
20693 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
20694 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
20695 then a regexp match is done.
20697 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
20698 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
20700 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
20701 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
20702 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
20703 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
20705 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
20706 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
20707 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
20708 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
20709 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
20713 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
20714 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
20715 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
20716 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
20717 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
20718 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
20719 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
20722 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
20723 overall score file, you could use the value
20725 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
20726 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
20729 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
20730 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
20731 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
20732 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
20733 are expired. It's 7 by default.
20735 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
20736 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
20737 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
20738 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
20739 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
20740 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
20741 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
20742 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
20744 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
20745 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
20746 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
20748 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
20749 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
20750 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be
20751 simplified for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
20752 threading---according to the current value of
20753 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions}. If the scoring entry uses
20754 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
20755 simplified in this manner.
20760 @node Score File Format
20761 @section Score File Format
20762 @cindex score file format
20764 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
20765 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
20766 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
20768 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
20772 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
20774 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
20776 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
20778 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
20783 (mark-and-expunge -10)
20787 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
20788 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
20789 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
20790 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
20794 This example demonstrates most score file elements. @xref{Advanced
20795 Scoring}, for a different approach.
20797 Even though this looks much like Lisp code, nothing here is actually
20798 @code{eval}ed. The Lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
20799 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
20801 Six keys are supported by this alist:
20806 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
20807 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
20808 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
20809 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
20810 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
20811 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
20812 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
20813 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
20814 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
20815 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
20816 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
20817 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
20818 to articles that matches these score entries.
20820 Following this key is an arbitrary number of score entries, where each
20821 score entry has one to four elements.
20825 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
20826 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
20830 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
20831 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
20832 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
20833 is successful. If this element is not present, the
20834 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
20835 instead. This is 1000 by default.
20838 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
20839 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
20840 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
20841 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
20842 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
20845 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
20846 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
20847 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
20848 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
20851 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
20852 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
20853 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
20854 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
20855 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
20856 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
20857 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
20858 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
20859 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
20860 instead, if you feel like.
20863 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
20864 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
20865 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
20866 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
20867 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin
20868 host, if your @acronym{NNTP} server tracks @samp{NNTP-Posting-Host} in
20872 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s
20873 "NNTP-Posting-Host")
20877 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
20878 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
20880 These predicates are true if
20883 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
20886 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
20887 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
20894 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
20895 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
20896 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
20897 it's not. I think.)
20899 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
20900 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
20901 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
20902 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
20905 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
20906 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
20907 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
20908 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
20909 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
20910 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
20911 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
20915 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
20916 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
20917 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
20918 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
20919 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
20920 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
20921 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
20922 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
20925 @item Head, Body, All
20926 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
20930 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
20931 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
20932 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
20933 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
20934 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
20935 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
20936 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
20940 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
20941 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
20942 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
20943 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
20944 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
20945 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
20946 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
20947 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
20948 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
20949 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
20950 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
20954 @cindex score file atoms
20956 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20957 lower than this number will be marked as read.
20960 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20961 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
20963 @item mark-and-expunge
20964 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
20965 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
20968 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
20969 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
20970 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
20971 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
20972 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
20975 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
20976 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
20979 @item exclude-files
20980 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
20981 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
20985 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
20986 ignored when handling global score files.
20989 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
20990 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
20991 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
20992 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
20995 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
20996 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
20997 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
20998 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
21000 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
21004 (mark-and-expunge -100)
21007 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
21008 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
21009 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
21010 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
21011 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
21013 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
21014 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
21015 scoring rules exist.
21018 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
21019 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
21020 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
21021 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
21022 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
21023 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
21024 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
21025 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
21026 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
21027 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
21028 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
21032 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
21033 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
21034 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
21035 file for a number of groups.
21038 @cindex local variables
21039 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(@var{var}
21040 @var{value})} pairs. Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the
21041 current summary buffer, and set to the value specified. This is a
21042 convenient, if somewhat strange, way of setting variables in some
21043 groups if you don't like hooks much. Note that the @var{value} won't
21048 @node Score File Editing
21049 @section Score File Editing
21051 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
21052 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
21053 with a mode for that.
21055 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
21056 additional commands:
21061 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
21062 @findex gnus-score-edit-exit
21063 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
21064 (@code{gnus-score-edit-exit}).
21067 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
21068 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
21069 Insert the current date in numerical format
21070 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
21071 you were wondering.
21074 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
21075 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
21076 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
21077 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
21078 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
21083 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
21085 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
21086 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
21088 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f}, @kbd{V e} and
21089 @kbd{V t} to begin editing score files.
21092 @node Adaptive Scoring
21093 @section Adaptive Scoring
21094 @cindex adaptive scoring
21096 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
21097 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
21098 stupidity, to be precise.
21100 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
21101 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
21102 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
21103 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
21104 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
21105 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
21106 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
21107 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
21108 variable to @code{(word line)}.
21110 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
21111 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
21112 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
21113 might look something like this:
21116 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
21117 '((gnus-unread-mark)
21118 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
21119 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
21120 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
21121 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
21122 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
21123 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
21124 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
21125 (gnus-ancient-mark)
21126 (gnus-low-score-mark)
21127 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
21130 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
21131 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
21132 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
21133 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
21134 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
21135 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
21138 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
21139 will be applied to each article.
21141 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
21142 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{e}) will have a
21143 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
21144 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
21146 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
21147 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
21148 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
21149 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
21151 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
21152 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
21153 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
21154 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
21156 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
21157 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
21158 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
21159 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
21160 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
21161 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
21163 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
21164 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
21165 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
21167 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
21168 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
21169 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
21171 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
21172 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
21173 let you use different rules in different groups.
21175 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
21176 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
21177 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
21180 @vindex gnus-adaptive-pretty-print
21181 Adaptive score files can get huge and are not meant to be edited by
21182 human hands. If @code{gnus-adaptive-pretty-print} is @code{nil} (the
21183 deafult) those files will not be written in a human readable way.
21185 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
21186 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
21187 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
21188 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
21189 the length of the match is less than
21190 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
21191 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
21194 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
21195 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
21196 headers. If you adapt on words, the
21197 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
21198 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
21201 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
21202 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
21203 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
21204 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
21205 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
21208 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
21209 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
21210 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
21211 score with 30 points.
21213 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
21214 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
21215 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
21216 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
21217 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
21219 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
21220 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
21221 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
21222 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
21223 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
21225 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
21226 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
21227 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
21228 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
21230 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
21231 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
21232 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
21233 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
21235 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
21236 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
21237 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
21238 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
21239 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
21241 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
21242 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
21243 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
21245 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
21246 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
21247 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
21248 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
21251 @node Home Score File
21252 @section Home Score File
21254 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
21255 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
21256 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
21257 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
21259 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
21260 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
21261 could perhaps use the same home score file.
21263 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
21264 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
21269 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
21273 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
21274 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
21278 A list. The elements in this list can be:
21282 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
21283 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
21286 A function. If the function returns non-@code{nil}, the result will
21287 be used as the home score file. The function will be called with the
21288 name of the group as the parameter.
21291 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
21294 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
21299 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
21302 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21303 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
21306 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
21307 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
21309 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
21311 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21312 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
21315 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
21316 Other functions include
21319 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
21320 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
21321 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
21322 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
21326 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
21327 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
21328 their own home score files:
21331 (setq gnus-home-score-file
21332 ;; @r{All groups that match the regexp @code{"\\.emacs"}}
21333 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
21334 ;; @r{All the comp groups in one score file}
21335 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
21338 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
21339 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
21340 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
21341 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
21342 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
21344 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
21345 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
21346 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
21347 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
21348 precedence over this variable.
21351 @node Followups To Yourself
21352 @section Followups To Yourself
21354 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
21355 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
21356 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
21357 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
21358 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
21359 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
21363 @item gnus-score-followup-article
21364 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
21365 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
21368 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
21369 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
21370 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
21374 @vindex message-sent-hook
21375 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
21376 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
21378 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
21382 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
21383 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
21387 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
21388 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
21391 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
21392 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
21397 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
21401 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
21402 is system-dependent.
21405 @node Scoring On Other Headers
21406 @section Scoring On Other Headers
21407 @cindex scoring on other headers
21409 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
21410 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
21411 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
21412 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
21413 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
21415 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
21416 mail groups, you have greater control. In @ref{To From Newsgroups},
21417 it's explained in greater detail what this mechanism does, but here's
21418 a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on how to allow scoring on the
21419 @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
21421 Put the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
21424 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
21425 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
21428 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
21429 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
21430 time if you have much mail.
21432 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
21433 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
21437 @vindex gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring
21438 You can inhibit scoring the slow scoring on headers or body by setting
21439 the variable @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring}. If
21440 @code{gnus-inhibit-slow-scoring} is regexp, slow scoring is inhibited if
21441 the group matches the regexp. If it is t, slow scoring on it is
21442 inhibited for all groups.
21446 @section Scoring Tips
21447 @cindex scoring tips
21453 @cindex scoring crossposts
21454 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
21455 the @code{Xref} header.
21457 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
21460 @item Multiple crossposts
21461 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
21462 more than, say, 3 groups:
21465 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
21469 @item Matching on the body
21470 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
21471 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
21472 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
21473 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
21474 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
21475 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
21476 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
21479 @item Marking as read
21480 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
21481 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
21482 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
21486 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
21488 @item Negated character classes
21489 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
21490 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
21491 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
21495 @node Reverse Scoring
21496 @section Reverse Scoring
21497 @cindex reverse scoring
21499 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
21500 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
21501 like this in your score file:
21505 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
21510 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
21511 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
21514 @node Global Score Files
21515 @section Global Score Files
21516 @cindex global score files
21518 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
21519 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
21520 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
21522 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
21523 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
21524 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
21526 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
21527 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
21528 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
21529 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
21530 files are applicable to which group.
21532 To use the score file
21533 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
21534 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
21538 (setq gnus-global-score-files
21539 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
21540 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
21543 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
21545 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
21546 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
21547 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
21548 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
21550 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
21551 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
21553 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
21554 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
21555 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
21556 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
21557 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
21558 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
21560 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
21566 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
21568 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
21570 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
21572 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
21573 lowered out of existence.
21575 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
21576 articles completely.
21579 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
21580 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
21581 old articles for a long time.
21584 @dots{} I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
21585 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
21586 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
21587 holding our breath yet?
21591 @section Kill Files
21594 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
21595 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
21596 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
21598 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
21599 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
21600 files into score files.
21602 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
21603 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
21604 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
21605 that isn't a very good idea.
21607 Normal kill files look like this:
21610 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21611 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
21615 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
21616 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
21618 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
21619 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
21622 Two summary functions for editing a @sc{gnus} kill file:
21627 @kindex M-k (Summary)
21628 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
21629 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
21632 @kindex M-K (Summary)
21633 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
21634 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
21637 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
21642 @kindex M-k (Group)
21643 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
21644 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
21647 @kindex M-K (Group)
21648 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
21649 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
21652 Kill file variables:
21655 @item gnus-kill-file-name
21656 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
21657 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
21658 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
21659 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
21660 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
21661 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
21663 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
21664 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
21665 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
21666 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
21669 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
21670 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
21671 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
21672 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
21673 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
21674 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
21675 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
21676 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
21677 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
21679 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
21680 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
21681 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
21686 @node Converting Kill Files
21687 @section Converting Kill Files
21689 @cindex converting kill files
21691 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
21692 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
21693 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
21696 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
21697 You can fetch it from
21698 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
21700 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
21701 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
21702 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
21706 @node Advanced Scoring
21707 @section Advanced Scoring
21709 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
21710 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
21711 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
21712 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
21713 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
21715 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
21719 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
21720 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
21721 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
21725 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
21726 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
21728 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
21729 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
21730 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
21731 non-@code{nil} value.
21733 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
21734 operator, and various match operators.
21741 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
21742 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
21743 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
21748 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
21749 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
21750 then this operator will return @code{false}.
21755 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
21756 logical negation of the value of its argument.
21760 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
21761 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
21762 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
21763 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
21764 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
21765 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
21766 the ancestry you want to go.
21768 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
21769 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
21770 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
21771 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
21772 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
21775 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
21776 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
21778 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
21779 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
21782 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
21783 when he's talking about Gnus:
21788 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21789 ("subject" "Gnus"))
21796 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
21800 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21807 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
21808 really don't want to read what he's written:
21812 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
21813 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigil Logge")))
21817 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
21818 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
21819 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
21826 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
21827 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
21828 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
21829 ("body" "white.*socks"))
21833 Suppose you're reading a high volume group and you're only interested
21834 in replies. The plan is to score down all articles that don't have
21835 subject that begin with "Re:", "Fw:" or "Fwd:" and then score up all
21836 parents of articles that have subjects that begin with reply marks.
21839 ((! ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
21841 ((1- ("subject" "re:\\|fwd?:" r))
21845 The possibilities are endless.
21847 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
21848 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
21850 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
21851 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
21852 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
21853 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
21854 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
21855 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
21856 @samp{subject}) first.
21858 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
21859 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
21870 Then that means ``score on the from header of the grandparent of the
21871 current article''. An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
21877 ("subject" "Gnus")))
21884 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
21885 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
21890 @section Score Decays
21891 @cindex score decays
21894 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
21895 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
21896 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
21897 use them in any sensible way.
21899 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
21900 @findex gnus-decay-score
21901 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
21902 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
21903 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
21904 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
21905 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
21906 If @code{gnus-decay-scores} is a regexp, only score files matching this
21907 regexp are treated. E.g. you may set it to @samp{\\.ADAPT\\'} if only
21908 @emph{adaptive} score files should be decayed. The decay itself if
21909 performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function} function, which is
21910 @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the definition of that
21914 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
21915 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
21916 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
21918 (* (if (< score 0) -1 1)
21920 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
21922 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
21923 (if (and (featurep 'xemacs)
21924 ;; XEmacs' floor can handle only the floating point
21925 ;; number below the half of the maximum integer.
21926 (> (abs n) (lsh -1 -2)))
21928 (car (split-string (number-to-string n) "\\.")))
21932 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
21933 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
21934 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
21935 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
21939 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
21942 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
21945 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
21949 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
21950 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
21951 the new score, which should be an integer.
21953 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
21954 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
21959 @include message.texi
21960 @chapter Emacs MIME
21961 @include emacs-mime.texi
21963 @include sieve.texi
21975 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
21976 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
21977 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
21978 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
21979 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
21980 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
21981 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
21982 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
21983 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
21984 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
21985 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
21986 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
21987 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
21988 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
21989 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
21990 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
21991 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
21992 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
21993 * Thwarting Email Spam:: Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
21994 * Spam Package:: A package for filtering and processing spam.
21995 * Other modes:: Interaction with other modes.
21996 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
22000 @node Process/Prefix
22001 @section Process/Prefix
22002 @cindex process/prefix convention
22004 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
22005 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
22007 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
22008 command to be performed on.
22012 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
22013 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
22014 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
22015 with the current one.
22017 @vindex transient-mark-mode
22018 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
22019 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
22021 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
22022 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
22025 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
22026 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
22028 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
22031 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
22032 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
22033 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
22034 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
22036 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
22037 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
22038 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
22039 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
22040 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
22041 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
22042 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
22043 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
22045 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
22046 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
22047 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
22048 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
22049 expirable, you could say @kbd{M P b M-& E}.
22053 @section Interactive
22054 @cindex interaction
22058 @item gnus-novice-user
22059 @vindex gnus-novice-user
22060 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
22061 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
22062 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
22063 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
22066 @item gnus-expert-user
22067 @vindex gnus-expert-user
22068 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
22069 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
22070 matter how strange.
22072 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
22073 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
22074 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
22075 is @code{t} by default.
22077 @item gnus-interactive-exit
22078 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
22079 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
22084 @node Symbolic Prefixes
22085 @section Symbolic Prefixes
22086 @cindex symbolic prefixes
22088 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
22089 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
22090 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
22091 rule of 900 to the current article.
22093 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
22094 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
22095 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
22096 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
22097 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
22098 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
22099 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
22101 @kindex M-i (Summary)
22102 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
22103 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
22104 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
22105 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
22106 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
22107 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
22108 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
22109 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
22111 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
22112 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
22113 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
22115 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
22119 @node Formatting Variables
22120 @section Formatting Variables
22121 @cindex formatting variables
22123 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
22124 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
22125 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
22126 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
22127 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
22130 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
22131 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
22132 lots of percentages everywhere.
22135 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
22136 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
22137 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
22138 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
22139 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
22140 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
22141 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
22142 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
22145 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
22146 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
22147 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
22148 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
22149 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
22150 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
22151 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
22152 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
22154 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
22155 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
22157 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
22158 @findex gnus-update-format
22159 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
22160 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
22161 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
22162 examine the resulting Lisp code to be run to generate the line.
22166 @node Formatting Basics
22167 @subsection Formatting Basics
22169 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
22170 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
22171 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
22173 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
22174 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
22175 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
22176 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
22177 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
22180 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
22181 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
22182 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
22183 less than 4 characters wide.
22185 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
22186 @samp{%&user-date;}.
22189 @node Mode Line Formatting
22190 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
22192 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
22193 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
22194 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
22195 with the following two differences:
22200 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
22203 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
22204 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
22205 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
22206 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
22207 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
22208 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
22209 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
22214 @node Advanced Formatting
22215 @subsection Advanced Formatting
22217 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
22218 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
22219 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
22220 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
22222 These are the valid modifiers:
22227 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
22231 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
22236 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
22239 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
22244 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
22247 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
22250 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
22253 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
22259 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
22264 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
22265 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
22266 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
22267 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
22268 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
22269 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
22270 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
22272 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
22273 last operation, padding.
22275 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
22276 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
22277 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
22278 @xref{Compilation}.
22281 @node User-Defined Specs
22282 @subsection User-Defined Specs
22284 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
22285 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
22286 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
22287 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
22288 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
22289 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
22290 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
22291 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
22292 should protect against that.
22294 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
22295 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
22297 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
22298 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
22299 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
22300 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
22304 @node Formatting Fonts
22305 @subsection Formatting Fonts
22308 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22309 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
22310 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
22311 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
22312 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
22316 @vindex gnus-face-0
22317 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
22318 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
22319 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
22320 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
22321 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
22322 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
22324 @cindex %<<, %>>, guillemets
22325 @c @cindex %<<, %>>, %«, %», guillemets
22326 @vindex gnus-balloon-face-0
22327 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
22328 special @code{balloon-help} property set to
22329 @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}. If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get
22330 @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on. The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*}
22331 variables should be either strings or symbols naming functions that
22332 return a string. When the mouse passes over text with this property
22333 set, a balloon window will appear and display the string. Please
22334 refer to @ref{Tooltips, ,Tooltips, emacs, The Emacs Manual},
22335 (in GNU Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in
22336 XEmacs) for more information on this. (For technical reasons, the
22337 guillemets have been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this
22340 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
22343 ;; @r{Create three face types.}
22344 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
22345 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
22347 ;; @r{We want the article count to be in}
22348 ;; @r{a bold and green face. So we create}
22349 ;; @r{a new face called @code{my-green-bold}.}
22350 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
22351 ;; @r{Set the color.}
22352 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
22353 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
22355 ;; @r{Set the new & fancy format.}
22356 (setq gnus-group-line-format
22357 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
22360 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
22361 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
22363 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
22364 mode-line variables.
22366 @node Positioning Point
22367 @subsection Positioning Point
22369 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
22370 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
22371 line. You can customize this behavior in three different ways.
22373 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
22375 @findex gnus-goto-colon
22376 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
22377 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
22379 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
22380 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
22381 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
22386 @subsection Tabulation
22388 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
22389 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
22390 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
22391 about lining up the following text afterwards.
22393 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs---@samp{%=}. There are two
22394 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
22396 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22397 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
22398 This is the soft tabulator.
22400 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
22401 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
22402 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
22405 @node Wide Characters
22406 @subsection Wide Characters
22408 Fixed width fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
22409 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
22410 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
22412 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
22413 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
22414 these countries, that's not true.
22416 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
22417 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
22418 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
22419 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
22423 @node Window Layout
22424 @section Window Layout
22425 @cindex window layout
22427 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
22429 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
22430 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
22431 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
22432 @code{t} by default.
22434 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
22435 glitches. Use at your own peril.
22437 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
22438 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
22439 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
22442 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
22443 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
22444 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22448 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
22449 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
22450 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
22451 possible names is listed below.
22453 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
22454 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
22457 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
22461 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
22462 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
22463 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
22464 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
22465 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
22466 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
22467 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
22468 size spec per split.
22470 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
22471 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
22472 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
22473 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
22474 present) gets focus.
22476 Here's a more complicated example:
22479 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
22480 (summary 0.25 point)
22481 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
22485 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
22486 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
22487 occupy, not a percentage.
22489 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
22490 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
22491 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
22492 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
22493 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
22496 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
22499 (article (horizontal 1.0
22504 (summary 0.25 point)
22509 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
22510 @code{horizontal} thingie?
22512 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
22513 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
22514 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
22515 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
22516 the screen is to be given to this strip.
22518 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
22519 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
22520 lines from the splits.
22522 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
22527 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
22528 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
22529 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
22530 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
22531 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
22532 size = number | frame-params
22533 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
22537 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
22538 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
22539 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
22540 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
22542 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
22543 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
22544 @cindex window height
22545 @cindex window width
22546 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
22547 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
22548 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
22549 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
22550 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
22551 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
22553 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
22554 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
22555 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
22556 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
22558 @findex gnus-configure-frame
22559 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
22560 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
22561 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
22562 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
22563 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
22564 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
22565 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
22566 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
22567 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
22568 configuration list.
22571 (gnus-configure-frame
22575 (article 0.3 point))
22583 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
22584 @code{frame} split:
22587 (gnus-configure-frame
22590 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
22592 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
22593 (user-position . t)
22594 (left . -1) (top . 1))
22599 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
22600 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
22601 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
22602 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
22603 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
22604 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
22605 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
22606 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
22608 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
22609 be found in its default value.
22611 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
22612 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
22613 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
22617 (message (horizontal 1.0
22618 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
22620 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
22625 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
22626 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
22627 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
22632 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
22633 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
22634 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
22635 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
22636 (name . "Message"))
22637 (message 1.0 point))))
22640 @findex gnus-add-configuration
22641 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
22642 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
22643 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
22644 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
22647 (gnus-add-configuration
22648 '(article (vertical 1.0
22650 (summary .25 point)
22654 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
22655 @file{~/.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
22656 Gnus has been loaded.
22658 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
22659 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
22660 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
22661 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
22662 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
22664 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
22665 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
22666 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
22669 @subsection Example Window Configurations
22673 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
22674 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
22689 (gnus-add-configuration
22692 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22694 (summary 0.16 point)
22697 (gnus-add-configuration
22700 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
22701 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
22707 @node Faces and Fonts
22708 @section Faces and Fonts
22713 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
22714 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
22715 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
22720 @section Compilation
22721 @cindex compilation
22722 @cindex byte-compilation
22724 @findex gnus-compile
22726 Remember all those line format specification variables?
22727 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
22728 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
22729 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
22730 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
22731 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
22734 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
22735 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
22736 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
22737 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
22738 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
22739 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
22740 them into the @file{~/.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
22744 @section Mode Lines
22747 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
22748 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
22749 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
22750 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
22751 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
22752 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
22753 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
22756 @cindex display-time
22758 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
22759 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
22760 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
22761 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
22762 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
22763 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
22764 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
22765 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
22768 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
22770 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
22771 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
22773 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
22774 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
22775 (length display-time-string)))))
22778 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
22779 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
22780 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
22781 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
22782 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
22785 @node Highlighting and Menus
22786 @section Highlighting and Menus
22788 @cindex highlighting
22791 @vindex gnus-visual
22792 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
22793 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
22794 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
22797 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
22798 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
22801 @item group-highlight
22802 Do highlights in the group buffer.
22803 @item summary-highlight
22804 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
22805 @item article-highlight
22806 Do highlights in the article buffer.
22808 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
22810 Create menus in the group buffer.
22812 Create menus in the summary buffers.
22814 Create menus in the article buffer.
22816 Create menus in the browse buffer.
22818 Create menus in the server buffer.
22820 Create menus in the score buffers.
22822 Create menus in all buffers.
22825 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
22826 buffers, you could say something like:
22829 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
22832 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
22835 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
22838 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
22839 in all Gnus buffers.
22841 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
22844 @item gnus-mouse-face
22845 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
22846 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
22847 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
22851 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
22855 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
22856 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
22857 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
22859 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
22860 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
22861 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
22863 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
22864 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
22865 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
22867 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
22868 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
22869 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
22871 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
22872 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
22873 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
22875 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
22876 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
22877 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
22888 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
22889 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
22890 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
22891 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
22892 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
22896 @vindex gnus-carpal
22897 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
22898 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
22899 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
22904 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
22905 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
22906 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
22908 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
22909 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
22910 Face used on buttons.
22912 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
22913 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
22914 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
22916 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
22917 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
22918 Buttons in the group buffer.
22920 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
22921 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
22922 Buttons in the summary buffer.
22924 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
22925 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
22926 Buttons in the server buffer.
22928 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
22929 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
22930 Buttons in the browse buffer.
22933 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
22934 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
22935 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
22943 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
22944 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
22945 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
22946 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
22947 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
22949 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
22950 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
22951 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
22953 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
22954 been idle for thirty minutes:
22957 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
22960 Here's a handler that scans for @acronym{PGP} headers every hour when
22964 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
22967 This @var{time} parameter and that @var{idle} parameter work together
22968 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
22969 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
22971 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
22972 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
22973 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
22974 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
22976 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
22977 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
22978 @var{idle} minutes.
22980 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
22981 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
22984 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
22985 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
22986 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
22988 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
22989 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
22990 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
22991 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
22993 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
22994 your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
22996 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
22998 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
23001 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
23002 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
23003 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
23004 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
23005 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
23006 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
23007 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
23008 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
23009 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
23010 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
23011 @file{~/.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
23013 @findex gnus-demon-init
23014 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
23015 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
23016 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
23017 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
23018 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
23020 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
23021 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
23022 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
23031 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
23032 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
23034 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
23035 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
23036 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
23037 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
23040 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
23041 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
23042 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
23043 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
23045 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
23046 this will make spam disappear.
23048 There are some variables to customize, of course:
23051 @item gnus-use-nocem
23052 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
23053 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
23056 You can also set this variable to a positive number as a group level.
23057 In that case, Gnus scans NoCeM messages when checking new news if this
23058 value is not exceeding a group level that you specify as the prefix
23059 argument to some commands, e.g. @code{gnus},
23060 @code{gnus-group-get-new-news}, etc. Otherwise, Gnus does not scan
23061 NoCeM messages if you specify a group level to those commands. For
23062 example, if you use 1 or 2 on the mail groups and the levels on the news
23063 groups remain the default, 3 is the best choice.
23065 @item gnus-nocem-groups
23066 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
23067 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
23070 ("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
23071 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")
23074 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
23075 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
23076 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
23077 people you want to listen to. The default is
23079 ("Automoose-1" "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca"
23080 "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo" "hweede@@snafu.de")
23082 fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
23084 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at@*
23085 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
23087 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
23088 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
23089 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
23090 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
23091 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
23092 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
23093 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
23094 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
23095 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
23096 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
23098 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
23099 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
23102 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
23105 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
23106 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
23109 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
23112 The specs are applied left-to-right.
23115 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
23116 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
23118 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
23119 says she is. The default is @code{pgg-verify}, which returns
23120 non-@code{nil} if the verification is successful, otherwise (including
23121 the case the NoCeM message was not signed) returns @code{nil}. If this
23122 is too slow and you don't care for verification (which may be dangerous),
23123 you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
23125 Formerly the default was @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
23126 function. While you can still use it, you can change it into
23127 @code{pgg-verify} running with GnuPG if you are willing to add the
23128 @acronym{PGP} public keys to GnuPG's keyring.
23130 @item gnus-nocem-directory
23131 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
23132 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is@*
23133 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
23135 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
23136 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
23137 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
23138 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
23139 might then see old spam.
23141 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
23142 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
23143 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
23144 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
23145 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
23148 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
23149 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
23150 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
23151 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
23155 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
23156 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
23157 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
23158 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
23165 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
23166 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
23167 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
23169 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
23170 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
23171 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
23172 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
23173 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
23174 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
23175 @code{undo} function.
23177 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
23178 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
23179 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
23180 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
23181 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
23182 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
23183 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
23184 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
23185 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
23186 never be totally undoable.
23188 @findex gnus-undo-mode
23189 @vindex gnus-use-undo
23191 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
23192 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
23193 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
23194 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
23198 @node Predicate Specifiers
23199 @section Predicate Specifiers
23200 @cindex predicate specifiers
23202 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
23203 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
23204 to type all that much.
23206 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
23211 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
23212 gnus-article-unread-p)
23215 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
23216 functions all take one parameter.
23218 @findex gnus-make-predicate
23219 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
23220 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
23221 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
23226 @section Moderation
23229 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
23230 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
23231 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
23234 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
23238 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
23241 in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file.
23243 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
23248 You split your incoming mail by matching on
23249 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
23250 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
23253 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
23254 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
23257 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
23258 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
23262 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
23265 (setq gnus-moderated-list
23266 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
23270 @node Fetching a Group
23271 @section Fetching a Group
23272 @cindex fetching a group
23274 @findex gnus-fetch-group
23275 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
23276 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
23277 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
23278 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
23279 It takes the group name as a parameter.
23282 @node Image Enhancements
23283 @section Image Enhancements
23285 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21@footnote{Emacs 21 on MS Windows doesn't
23286 support images, Emacs 22 does.} and up, are able to display pictures and
23287 stuff, so Gnus has taken advantage of that.
23290 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
23291 * Face:: Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
23292 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
23293 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
23294 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
23302 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
23303 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
23304 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
23308 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
23309 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
23310 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
23318 Viewing an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
23319 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions have), or that you
23320 have suitable conversion or display programs installed. If your Emacs
23321 has image support the default action is to display the face before the
23322 @code{From} header. If there's no native @code{X-Face} support, Gnus
23323 will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using external programs
23324 from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends, see below. For XEmacs it's
23325 faster if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support. The
23326 default action under Emacs without image support is to fork off the
23327 @code{display} program.
23329 On a GNU/Linux system, the @code{display} program is included in the
23330 ImageMagick package. For external conversion programs look for packages
23331 with names like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.
23332 On Windows, you may use the packages @code{netpbm} and @code{compface}
23333 from @url{http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net}. You need to add the
23334 @code{bin} directory to your @code{PATH} environment variable.
23335 @c In fact only the following DLLs and binaries seem to be required:
23336 @c compface1.dll uncompface.exe libnetpbm10.dll icontopbm.exe
23338 The variable @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} controls which programs
23339 are used to display the @code{X-Face} header. If this variable is a
23340 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
23341 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
23342 If @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches the
23343 @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
23345 (Note: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
23353 @vindex gnus-x-face
23354 Face to show X-Face. The colors from this face are used as the
23355 foreground and background colors of the displayed X-Faces. The
23356 default colors are black and white.
23358 @item gnus-face-properties-alist
23359 @vindex gnus-face-properties-alist
23360 Alist of image types and properties applied to Face (@pxref{Face}) and
23361 X-Face images. The default value is @code{((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face))
23362 (png . nil))} for Emacs or @code{((xface . (:face gnus-x-face)))} for
23363 XEmacs. Here are examples:
23366 ;; Specify the altitude of Face and X-Face images in the From header.
23367 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23368 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :ascent 80))
23369 (png . (:ascent 80))))
23371 ;; Show Face and X-Face images as pressed buttons.
23372 (setq gnus-face-properties-alist
23373 '((pbm . (:face gnus-x-face :relief -2))
23374 (png . (:relief -2))))
23377 @pxref{Image Descriptors, ,Image Descriptors, elisp, The Emacs Lisp
23378 Reference Manual} for the valid properties for various image types.
23379 Currently, @code{pbm} is used for X-Face images and @code{png} is used
23380 for Face images in Emacs. Only the @code{:face} property is effective
23381 on the @code{xface} image type in XEmacs if it is built with the
23382 @samp{libcompface} library.
23385 If you use posting styles, you can use an @code{x-face-file} entry in
23386 @code{gnus-posting-styles}, @xref{Posting Styles}. If you don't, Gnus
23387 provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow easier
23388 insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages. You also need the
23389 above mentioned ImageMagick, netpbm or other image conversion packages
23390 (depending the values of the variables below) for these functions.
23392 @findex gnus-random-x-face
23393 @vindex gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command
23394 @vindex gnus-x-face-directory
23395 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
23396 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
23397 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
23398 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
23399 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
23400 header data as a string.
23402 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
23403 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
23404 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
23405 randomly generated data.
23407 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
23408 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command
23409 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
23410 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
23411 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
23413 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
23414 like the following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23417 (setq message-required-news-headers
23418 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23419 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
23422 Using the last function would be something like this:
23425 (setq message-required-news-headers
23426 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23427 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
23428 (gnus-x-face-from-file
23429 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
23437 @c #### FIXME: faces and x-faces' implementations should really be harmonized.
23439 @code{Face} headers are essentially a funkier version of @code{X-Face}
23440 ones. They describe a 48x48 pixel colored image that's supposed to
23441 represent the author of the message.
23444 @findex gnus-article-display-face
23445 The contents of a @code{Face} header must be a base64 encoded PNG image.
23446 See @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/circus/face/} for the precise
23449 The @code{gnus-face-properties-alist} variable affects the appearance of
23450 displayed Face images. @xref{X-Face}.
23452 Viewing an @code{Face} header requires an Emacs that is able to display
23455 @c (if (featurep 'xemacs)
23457 @c (image-type-available-p 'png))
23459 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
23460 easier insertion of Face headers in outgoing messages.
23462 @findex gnus-convert-png-to-face
23463 @code{gnus-convert-png-to-face} takes a 48x48 PNG image, no longer than
23464 726 bytes long, and converts it to a face.
23466 @findex gnus-face-from-file
23467 @vindex gnus-convert-image-to-face-command
23468 @code{gnus-face-from-file} takes a JPEG file as the parameter, and then
23469 converts the file to Face format by using the
23470 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-face-command} shell command.
23472 Here's how you would typically use this function. Put something like the
23473 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23476 (setq message-required-news-headers
23477 (nconc message-required-news-headers
23478 (list '(Face . (lambda ()
23479 (gnus-face-from-file "~/face.jpg"))))))
23484 @subsection Smileys
23489 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
23494 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
23495 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
23497 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
23498 @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
23501 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
23504 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{8-)}, @samp{:-(} and
23505 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
23506 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
23507 text and maps that to file names.
23509 @vindex smiley-regexp-alist
23510 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist}
23511 variable. The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched;
23512 the second element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by
23513 the picture; and the third element is the name of the file to be
23516 The following variables customize the appearance of the smileys:
23521 @vindex smiley-style
23522 Specifies the smiley style. Predefined smiley styles include
23523 @code{low-color} (small 13x14 pixel, three-color images), @code{medium}
23524 (more colorful images, 16x16 pixel), and @code{grayscale} (grayscale
23525 images, 14x14 pixel). The default depends on the height of the default
23528 @item smiley-data-directory
23529 @vindex smiley-data-directory
23530 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files. You shouldn't set this
23531 variable anymore. Customize @code{smiley-style} instead.
23533 @item gnus-smiley-file-types
23534 @vindex gnus-smiley-file-types
23535 List of suffixes on smiley file names to try.
23549 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
23550 good way to do so. It's also a great way to impress people staring
23551 over your shoulder as you read news.
23553 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
23562 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
23563 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
23564 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
23565 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
23566 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
23567 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
23568 @code{GIF} formats.
23571 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23572 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
23573 point your Web browser at
23574 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
23576 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
23577 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
23579 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
23580 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
23583 @vindex gnus-picon-style
23584 The variable @code{gnus-picon-style} controls how picons are displayed.
23585 If @code{inline}, the textual representation is replaced. If
23586 @code{right}, picons are added right to the textual representation.
23588 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
23592 @item gnus-picon-databases
23593 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
23594 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
23595 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
23596 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
23597 "/usr/local/faces")}.
23599 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
23600 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
23601 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23602 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
23604 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
23605 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
23606 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
23607 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
23609 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
23610 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
23611 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
23612 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
23613 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
23615 @item gnus-picon-file-types
23616 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
23617 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
23618 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not built-in your Emacs.
23624 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
23627 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23628 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
23629 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
23630 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
23631 unusual directory structure.
23633 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23634 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
23635 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
23640 @subsubsection Toolbar
23644 @item gnus-use-toolbar
23645 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
23646 This variable specifies the position to display the toolbar. If
23647 @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If it is non-@code{nil}, it should
23648 be one of the symbols @code{default}, @code{top}, @code{bottom},
23649 @code{right}, and @code{left}. @code{default} means to use the default
23650 toolbar, the rest mean to display the toolbar on the place which those
23651 names show. The default is @code{default}.
23653 @item gnus-toolbar-thickness
23654 @vindex gnus-toolbar-thickness
23655 Cons of the height and the width specifying the thickness of a toolbar.
23656 The height is used for the toolbar displayed on the top or the bottom,
23657 the width is used for the toolbar displayed on the right or the left.
23658 The default is that of the default toolbar.
23660 @item gnus-group-toolbar
23661 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
23662 The toolbar in the group buffer.
23664 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
23665 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
23666 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
23668 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23669 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
23670 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
23681 @node Fuzzy Matching
23682 @section Fuzzy Matching
23683 @cindex fuzzy matching
23685 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
23686 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
23688 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
23689 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
23690 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
23692 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
23693 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
23694 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
23695 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
23696 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
23699 @node Thwarting Email Spam
23700 @section Thwarting Email Spam
23704 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23706 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
23707 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
23708 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
23709 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
23710 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
23711 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
23712 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
23713 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
23716 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
23717 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
23718 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
23719 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
23720 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
23721 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
23723 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
23726 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
23727 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
23728 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
23729 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
23732 @node The problem of spam
23733 @subsection The problem of spam
23735 @cindex spam filtering approaches
23736 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
23738 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23740 First, some background on spam.
23742 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
23743 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it
23744 exists because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail,
23745 so only a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to
23746 make it worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most
23747 common spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for
23748 further spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers},
23749 but terms like @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, @emph{sociopaths}, and
23750 @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
23752 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
23753 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
23754 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
23755 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
23756 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
23757 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
23758 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
23759 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
23760 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
23763 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering, at the mail
23764 server or when you sort through incoming mail. If you get 200 spam
23765 messages per day from @samp{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you block
23766 @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about @samp{VIAGRA}, you
23767 discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the message. If you get
23768 lots of spam from Bulgaria, for example, you try to filter all mail
23769 from Bulgarian IPs.
23771 This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate e-mail. The
23772 risks of blocking a whole country (Bulgaria, Norway, Nigeria, China,
23773 etc.) or even a continent (Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.) from contacting
23774 you should be obvious, so don't do it if you have the choice.
23776 In another instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest has
23777 been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it @strong{contained}
23778 words that were common in spam messages. Nevertheless, in isolated
23779 cases, with great care, direct filtering of mail can be useful.
23781 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
23782 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
23783 @var{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @var{X} in
23784 Ghana, Estonia, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
23785 @var{N} systems enter @var{X} or the spam e-mail from @var{X} into a
23786 database. The criteria for spam detection vary---it may be the number
23787 of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When a user
23788 of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a message is
23789 spam, he consults one of those @var{N} systems.
23791 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
23792 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
23793 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
23794 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
23795 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
23796 sending spam, and their web sites and mailing lists have been shut
23797 down for some time because of the incident.
23799 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
23800 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
23801 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
23802 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
23803 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
23804 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
23805 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
23806 to store the database of spam analysis. Statistical analysis on the
23807 server is gaining popularity. This has the advantage of letting the
23808 user Just Read Mail, but has the disadvantage that it's harder to tell
23809 the server that it has misclassified mail.
23811 Fighting spam is not easy, no matter what anyone says. There is no
23812 magic switch that will distinguish Viagra ads from Mom's e-mails.
23813 Even people are having a hard time telling spam apart from non-spam,
23814 because spammers are actively looking to fool us into thinking they
23815 are Mom, essentially. Spamming is irritating, irresponsible, and
23816 idiotic behavior from a bunch of people who think the world owes them
23817 a favor. We hope the following sections will help you in fighting the
23820 @node Anti-Spam Basics
23821 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
23825 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
23827 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
23828 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
23830 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
23831 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
23832 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
23833 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
23834 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
23835 part of the mail address.)
23838 (setq message-default-news-headers
23839 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
23842 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
23843 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23847 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
23848 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
23849 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
23854 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
23855 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
23856 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
23857 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
23859 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @acronym{SMTP} server
23860 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
23861 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
23862 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
23863 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
23864 your fancy split rule in this way:
23869 (to "larsi" "misc")
23873 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
23874 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
23875 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
23876 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
23877 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
23879 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
23880 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
23881 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
23882 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
23884 Be careful with this approach. Spammers are wise to it.
23888 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
23889 @cindex SpamAssassin
23890 @cindex Vipul's Razor
23893 The days where the hints in the previous section were sufficient in
23894 avoiding spam are coming to an end. There are many tools out there
23895 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
23896 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
23897 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
23898 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
23899 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
23901 Note that this section does not involve the @code{spam.el} package,
23902 which is discussed in the next section. If you don't care for all
23903 the features of @code{spam.el}, you can make do with these simple
23906 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
23907 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
23908 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
23909 Specifiers}) follow.
23913 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
23917 "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
23920 Once you manage to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
23921 the mail contain e.g.@: a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
23922 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
23925 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
23929 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
23932 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
23933 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
23937 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
23938 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
23939 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
23940 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
23943 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
23945 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
23949 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
23950 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
23954 Note that with the nnimap back end, message bodies will not be
23955 downloaded by default. You need to set
23956 @code{nnimap-split-download-body} to @code{t} to do that
23957 (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}).
23959 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
23960 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
23961 spam. And here is the nifty function:
23964 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
23965 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
23967 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
23968 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
23969 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
23973 @subsection Hashcash
23976 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
23977 costly and demonstrably unique for each message they send. This has
23978 the obvious drawback that you cannot rely on everyone in the world
23979 using this technique, since it is not part of the Internet standards,
23980 but it may be useful in smaller communities.
23982 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
23983 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
23984 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
23985 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
23986 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
23987 instead prefers that everyone you contact through e-mail supports the
23988 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
23989 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
23990 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
23991 one of them separately.
23994 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
23995 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
23996 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:} header.
23997 For more details, and for the external application @code{hashcash} you
23998 need to install to use this feature, see
23999 @uref{http://www.hashcash.org/}. Even more information can be found
24000 at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
24002 If you wish to generate hashcash for each message you send, you can
24003 customize @code{message-generate-hashcash} (@pxref{Mail Headers, ,Mail
24004 Headers,message, The Message Manual}), as in:
24007 (setq message-generate-hashcash t)
24010 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
24014 @item hashcash-default-payment
24015 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
24016 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
24017 should consist of. By default this is 20. Suggested useful values
24020 @item hashcash-payment-alist
24021 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
24022 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
24023 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(@var{addr}
24024 @var{amount})} cells, where @var{addr} is the receiver (email address
24025 or newsgroup) and @var{amount} is the number of bits in the collision
24026 that is needed. It can also contain @samp{(@var{addr} @var{string}
24027 @var{amount})} cells, where the @var{string} is the string to use
24028 (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
24030 @item hashcash-path
24031 @vindex hashcash-path
24032 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed. This variable should
24033 be automatically set by @code{executable-find}, but if it's @code{nil}
24034 (usually because the @code{hashcash} binary is not in your path)
24035 you'll get a warning when you check hashcash payments and an error
24036 when you generate hashcash payments.
24040 Gnus can verify hashcash cookies, although this can also be done by
24041 hand customized mail filtering scripts. To verify a hashcash cookie
24042 in a message, use the @code{mail-check-payment} function in the
24043 @code{hashcash.el} library. You can also use the @code{spam.el}
24044 package with the @code{spam-use-hashcash} back end to validate hashcash
24045 cookies in incoming mail and filter mail accordingly (@pxref{Anti-spam
24046 Hashcash Payments}).
24049 @section Spam Package
24050 @cindex spam filtering
24053 The Spam package provides Gnus with a centralized mechanism for
24054 detecting and filtering spam. It filters new mail, and processes
24055 messages according to whether they are spam or ham. (@dfn{Ham} is the
24056 name used throughout this manual to indicate non-spam messages.)
24059 * Spam Package Introduction::
24060 * Filtering Incoming Mail::
24061 * Detecting Spam in Groups::
24062 * Spam and Ham Processors::
24063 * Spam Package Configuration Examples::
24065 * Extending the Spam package::
24066 * Spam Statistics Package::
24069 @node Spam Package Introduction
24070 @subsection Spam Package Introduction
24071 @cindex spam filtering
24072 @cindex spam filtering sequence of events
24075 You must read this section to understand how the Spam package works.
24076 Do not skip, speed-read, or glance through this section.
24078 Make sure you read the section on the @code{spam.el} sequence of
24079 events. See @xref{Extending the Spam package}.
24081 @cindex spam-initialize
24082 @vindex spam-use-stat
24083 To use the Spam package, you @strong{must} first run the function
24084 @code{spam-initialize}:
24090 This autoloads @code{spam.el} and installs the various hooks necessary
24091 to let the Spam package do its job. In order to make use of the Spam
24092 package, you have to set up certain group parameters and variables,
24093 which we will describe below. All of the variables controlling the
24094 Spam package can be found in the @samp{spam} customization group.
24096 There are two ``contact points'' between the Spam package and the rest
24097 of Gnus: checking new mail for spam, and leaving a group.
24099 Checking new mail for spam is done in one of two ways: while splitting
24100 incoming mail, or when you enter a group.
24102 The first way, checking for spam while splitting incoming mail, is
24103 suited to mail back ends such as @code{nnml} or @code{nnimap}, where
24104 new mail appears in a single spool file. The Spam package processes
24105 incoming mail, and sends mail considered to be spam to a designated
24106 ``spam'' group. @xref{Filtering Incoming Mail}.
24108 The second way is suited to back ends such as @code{nntp}, which have
24109 no incoming mail spool, or back ends where the server is in charge of
24110 splitting incoming mail. In this case, when you enter a Gnus group,
24111 the unseen or unread messages in that group are checked for spam.
24112 Detected spam messages are marked as spam. @xref{Detecting Spam in
24115 @cindex spam back ends
24116 In either case, you have to tell the Spam package what method to use
24117 to detect spam messages. There are several methods, or @dfn{spam back
24118 ends} (not to be confused with Gnus back ends!) to choose from: spam
24119 ``blacklists'' and ``whitelists'', dictionary-based filters, and so
24120 forth. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24122 In the Gnus summary buffer, messages that have been identified as spam
24123 always appear with a @samp{$} symbol.
24125 The Spam package divides Gnus groups into three categories: ham
24126 groups, spam groups, and unclassified groups. You should mark each of
24127 the groups you subscribe to as either a ham group or a spam group,
24128 using the @code{spam-contents} group parameter (@pxref{Group
24129 Parameters}). Spam groups have a special property: when you enter a
24130 spam group, all unseen articles are marked as spam. Thus, mail split
24131 into a spam group is automatically marked as spam.
24133 Identifying spam messages is only half of the Spam package's job. The
24134 second half comes into play whenever you exit a group buffer. At this
24135 point, the Spam package does several things:
24137 First, it calls @dfn{spam and ham processors} to process the articles
24138 according to whether they are spam or ham. There is a pair of spam
24139 and ham processors associated with each spam back end, and what the
24140 processors do depends on the back end. At present, the main role of
24141 spam and ham processors is for dictionary-based spam filters: they add
24142 the contents of the messages in the group to the filter's dictionary,
24143 to improve its ability to detect future spam. The @code{spam-process}
24144 group parameter specifies what spam processors to use. @xref{Spam and
24147 If the spam filter failed to mark a spam message, you can mark it
24148 yourself, so that the message is processed as spam when you exit the
24158 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24159 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
24160 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{$} mark
24161 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}).
24165 Similarly, you can unmark an article if it has been erroneously marked
24166 as spam. @xref{Setting Marks}.
24168 Normally, a ham message found in a non-ham group is not processed as
24169 ham---the rationale is that it should be moved into a ham group for
24170 further processing (see below). However, you can force these articles
24171 to be processed as ham by setting
24172 @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} and
24173 @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups}.
24175 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24176 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24177 The second thing that the Spam package does when you exit a group is
24178 to move ham articles out of spam groups, and spam articles out of ham
24179 groups. Ham in a spam group is moved to the group specified by the
24180 variable @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}, or the group parameter
24181 @code{ham-process-destination}. Spam in a ham group is moved to the
24182 group specified by the variable @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations},
24183 or the group parameter @code{spam-process-destination}. If these
24184 variables are not set, the articles are left in their current group.
24185 If an article cannot be moved (e.g., with a read-only backend such
24186 as @acronym{NNTP}), it is copied.
24188 If an article is moved to another group, it is processed again when
24189 you visit the new group. Normally, this is not a problem, but if you
24190 want each article to be processed only once, load the
24191 @code{gnus-registry.el} package and set the variable
24192 @code{spam-log-to-registry} to @code{t}. @xref{Spam Package
24193 Configuration Examples}.
24195 Normally, spam groups ignore @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations}.
24196 However, if you set @code{spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only} to
24197 @code{nil}, spam will also be moved out of spam groups, depending on
24198 the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter.
24200 The final thing the Spam package does is to mark spam articles as
24201 expired, which is usually the right thing to do.
24203 If all this seems confusing, don't worry. Soon it will be as natural
24204 as typing Lisp one-liners on a neural interface@dots{} err, sorry, that's
24205 50 years in the future yet. Just trust us, it's not so bad.
24207 @node Filtering Incoming Mail
24208 @subsection Filtering Incoming Mail
24209 @cindex spam filtering
24210 @cindex spam filtering incoming mail
24213 To use the Spam package to filter incoming mail, you must first set up
24214 fancy mail splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}. The Spam package
24215 defines a special splitting function that you can add to your fancy
24216 split variable (either @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
24217 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on your mail back end):
24223 @vindex spam-split-group
24225 The @code{spam-split} function scans incoming mail according to your
24226 chosen spam back end(s), and sends messages identified as spam to a
24227 spam group. By default, the spam group is a group named @samp{spam},
24228 but you can change this by customizing @code{spam-split-group}. Make
24229 sure the contents of @code{spam-split-group} are an unqualified group
24230 name. For instance, in an @code{nnimap} server @samp{your-server},
24231 the value @samp{spam} means @samp{nnimap+your-server:spam}. The value
24232 @samp{nnimap+server:spam} is therefore wrong---it gives the group
24233 @samp{nnimap+your-server:nnimap+server:spam}.
24235 @code{spam-split} does not modify the contents of messages in any way.
24237 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
24238 Note for IMAP users: if you use the @code{spam-check-bogofilter},
24239 @code{spam-check-ifile}, and @code{spam-check-stat} spam back ends,
24240 you should also set set the variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body}
24241 to @code{t}. These spam back ends are most useful when they can
24242 ``scan'' the full message body. By default, the nnimap back end only
24243 retrieves the message headers; @code{nnimap-split-download-body} tells
24244 it to retrieve the message bodies as well. We don't set this by
24245 default because it will slow @acronym{IMAP} down, and that is not an
24246 appropriate decision to make on behalf of the user. @xref{Splitting
24249 You have to specify one or more spam back ends for @code{spam-split}
24250 to use, by setting the @code{spam-use-*} variables. @xref{Spam Back
24251 Ends}. Normally, @code{spam-split} simply uses all the spam back ends
24252 you enabled in this way. However, you can tell @code{spam-split} to
24253 use only some of them. Why this is useful? Suppose you are using the
24254 @code{spam-use-regex-headers} and @code{spam-use-blackholes} spam back
24255 ends, and the following split rule:
24258 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24259 (any "ding" "ding")
24261 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24266 The problem is that you want all ding messages to make it to the ding
24267 folder. But that will let obvious spam (for example, spam detected by
24268 SpamAssassin, and @code{spam-use-regex-headers}) through, when it's
24269 sent to the ding list. On the other hand, some messages to the ding
24270 list are from a mail server in the blackhole list, so the invocation
24271 of @code{spam-split} can't be before the ding rule.
24273 The solution is to let SpamAssassin headers supersede ding rules, and
24274 perform the other @code{spam-split} rules (including a second
24275 invocation of the regex-headers check) after the ding rule. This is
24276 done by passing a parameter to @code{spam-split}:
24281 ;; @r{spam detected by @code{spam-use-regex-headers} goes to @samp{regex-spam}}
24282 (: spam-split "regex-spam" 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24283 (any "ding" "ding")
24284 ;; @r{all other spam detected by spam-split goes to @code{spam-split-group}}
24286 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24291 This lets you invoke specific @code{spam-split} checks depending on
24292 your particular needs, and target the results of those checks to a
24293 particular spam group. You don't have to throw all mail into all the
24294 spam tests. Another reason why this is nice is that messages to
24295 mailing lists you have rules for don't have to have resource-intensive
24296 blackhole checks performed on them. You could also specify different
24297 spam checks for your nnmail split vs. your nnimap split. Go crazy.
24299 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24300 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24301 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24302 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set. @xref{Spam Back Ends}.
24304 @c @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
24305 @c statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
24308 @node Detecting Spam in Groups
24309 @subsection Detecting Spam in Groups
24311 To detect spam when visiting a group, set the group's
24312 @code{spam-autodetect} and @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group
24313 parameters. These are accessible with @kbd{G c} or @kbd{G p}, as
24314 usual (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
24316 You should set the @code{spam-use-*} variables for whatever spam back
24317 ends you intend to use. The reason is that when loading
24318 @file{spam.el}, some conditional loading is done depending on what
24319 @code{spam-use-xyz} variables you have set.
24321 By default, only unseen articles are processed for spam. You can
24322 force Gnus to recheck all messages in the group by setting the
24323 variable @code{spam-autodetect-recheck-messages} to @code{t}.
24325 If you use the @code{spam-autodetect} method of checking for spam, you
24326 can specify different spam detection methods for different groups.
24327 For instance, the @samp{ding} group may have @code{spam-use-BBDB} as
24328 the autodetection method, while the @samp{suspect} group may have the
24329 @code{spam-use-blacklist} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter} methods
24330 enabled. Unlike with @code{spam-split}, you don't have any control
24331 over the @emph{sequence} of checks, but this is probably unimportant.
24333 @node Spam and Ham Processors
24334 @subsection Spam and Ham Processors
24335 @cindex spam filtering
24336 @cindex spam filtering variables
24337 @cindex spam variables
24340 @vindex gnus-spam-process-newsgroups
24341 Spam and ham processors specify special actions to take when you exit
24342 a group buffer. Spam processors act on spam messages, and ham
24343 processors on ham messages. At present, the main role of these
24344 processors is to update the dictionaries of dictionary-based spam back
24345 ends such as Bogofilter (@pxref{Bogofilter}) and the Spam Statistics
24346 package (@pxref{Spam Statistics Filtering}).
24348 The spam and ham processors that apply to each group are determined by
24349 the group's@code{spam-process} group parameter. If this group
24350 parameter is not defined, they are determined by the variable
24351 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups}.
24353 @vindex gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24354 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
24355 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
24356 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
24357 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
24358 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
24359 by customizing the corresponding variable
24360 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
24361 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
24362 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
24363 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
24364 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
24365 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
24366 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
24369 @vindex gnus-spam-mark
24371 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
24372 they get the @samp{$} mark (@code{gnus-spam-mark}) when you enter the
24373 group. If you have seen a message, had it marked as spam, then
24374 unmarked it, it won't be marked as spam when you enter the group
24375 thereafter. You can disable that behavior, so all unread messages
24376 will get the @samp{$} mark, if you set the
24377 @code{spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam} parameter to @code{nil}. You
24378 should remove the @samp{$} mark when you are in the group summary
24379 buffer for every message that is not spam after all. To remove the
24380 @samp{$} mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to ``unread'' the article, or
24381 @kbd{d} for declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a
24382 group, all spam-marked (@samp{$}) articles are sent to a spam
24383 processor which will study them as spam samples.
24385 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
24386 @code{ham-marks} group parameter gets overridden below, marks @samp{R}
24387 and @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
24388 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
24389 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
24390 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
24391 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
24392 should then adjust the @code{ham-marks} group parameter.
24395 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24396 marks you want to consider ham. By default, the list contains the
24397 deleted, read, killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks (the idea is
24398 that these articles have been read, but are not spam). It can be
24399 useful to also include the tick mark in the ham marks. It is not
24400 recommended to make the unread mark a ham mark, because it normally
24401 indicates a lack of classification. But you can do it, and we'll be
24406 You can customize this group or topic parameter to be the list of
24407 marks you want to consider spam. By default, the list contains only
24408 the spam mark. It is not recommended to change that, but you can if
24409 you really want to.
24412 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
24413 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
24414 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
24415 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
24416 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
24417 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{$},
24420 @vindex gnus-ham-process-destinations
24421 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
24422 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
24423 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
24424 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
24425 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
24426 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
24427 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
24428 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with @kbd{M-x
24429 customize-variable @key{RET} gnus-ham-process-destinations}). Each
24430 group name list is a standard Lisp list, if you prefer to customize
24431 the variable manually. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
24432 parameter is not set, ham articles are left in place. If the
24433 @code{spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group} parameter is
24434 set, the ham articles are marked as unread before being moved.
24436 If ham can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24437 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24439 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24440 expression! This enables you to send your ham to a regular mail
24441 group and to a @emph{ham training} group.
24443 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
24444 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
24446 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups
24447 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-spam-groups} is
24448 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in spam groups
24449 to be processed. Normally this is not done, you are expected instead
24450 to send your ham to a ham group and process it there.
24452 @vindex spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups
24453 By default the variable @code{spam-process-ham-in-nonham-groups} is
24454 @code{nil}. Set it to @code{t} if you want ham found in non-ham (spam
24455 or unclassified) groups to be processed. Normally this is not done,
24456 you are expected instead to send your ham to a ham group and process
24459 @vindex gnus-spam-process-destinations
24460 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
24461 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
24462 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
24463 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
24464 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
24465 customize this variable with @kbd{M-x customize-variable @key{RET}
24466 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). Each group name list is a standard
24467 Lisp list, if you prefer to customize the variable manually. If the
24468 @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set, the spam
24469 articles are only expired. The group name is fully qualified, meaning
24470 that if you see @samp{nntp:servername} before the group name in the
24471 group buffer then you need it here as well.
24473 If spam can not be moved---because of a read-only back end such as
24474 @acronym{NNTP}, for example, it will be copied.
24476 Note that you can use multiples destinations per group or regular
24477 expression! This enables you to send your spam to multiple @emph{spam
24480 @vindex spam-log-to-registry
24481 The problem with processing ham and spam is that Gnus doesn't track
24482 this processing by default. Enable the @code{spam-log-to-registry}
24483 variable so @code{spam.el} will use @code{gnus-registry.el} to track
24484 what articles have been processed, and avoid processing articles
24485 multiple times. Keep in mind that if you limit the number of registry
24486 entries, this won't work as well as it does without a limit.
24488 @vindex spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam
24489 Set this variable if you want only unseen articles in spam groups to
24490 be marked as spam. By default, it is set. If you set it to
24491 @code{nil}, unread articles will also be marked as spam.
24493 @vindex spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group
24494 Set this variable if you want ham to be unmarked before it is moved
24495 out of the spam group. This is very useful when you use something
24496 like the tick mark @samp{!} to mark ham---the article will be placed
24497 in your @code{ham-process-destination}, unmarked as if it came fresh
24498 from the mail server.
24500 @vindex spam-autodetect-recheck-messages
24501 When autodetecting spam, this variable tells @code{spam.el} whether
24502 only unseen articles or all unread articles should be checked for
24503 spam. It is recommended that you leave it off.
24505 @node Spam Package Configuration Examples
24506 @subsection Spam Package Configuration Examples
24507 @cindex spam filtering
24508 @cindex spam filtering configuration examples
24509 @cindex spam configuration examples
24512 @subsubheading Ted's setup
24514 From Ted Zlatanov <tzz@@lifelogs.com>.
24516 ;; @r{for @code{gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent} and spam autodetection}
24517 ;; @r{see @file{gnus-registry.el} for more information}
24518 (gnus-registry-initialize)
24522 spam-log-to-registry t ; @r{for spam autodetection}
24524 spam-use-regex-headers t ; @r{catch X-Spam-Flag (SpamAssassin)}
24525 ;; @r{all groups with @samp{spam} in the name contain spam}
24526 gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents
24527 '(("spam" gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24528 ;; @r{see documentation for these}
24529 spam-move-spam-nonspam-groups-only nil
24530 spam-mark-only-unseen-as-spam t
24531 spam-mark-ham-unread-before-move-from-spam-group t
24532 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
24533 ;; @r{understand what this does before you copy it to your own setup!}
24534 nnimap-split-fancy '(|
24535 ;; @r{trace references to parents and put in their group}
24536 (: gnus-registry-split-fancy-with-parent)
24537 ;; @r{this will catch server-side SpamAssassin tags}
24538 (: spam-split 'spam-use-regex-headers)
24539 (any "ding" "ding")
24540 ;; @r{note that spam by default will go to @samp{spam}}
24542 ;; @r{default mailbox}
24545 ;; @r{my parameters, set with @kbd{G p}}
24547 ;; @r{all nnml groups, and all nnimap groups except}
24548 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} and}
24549 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam}: any spam goes to nnimap training,}
24550 ;; @r{because it must have been detected manually}
24552 ((spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24554 ;; @r{all @acronym{NNTP} groups}
24555 ;; @r{autodetect spam with the blacklist and ham with the BBDB}
24556 ((spam-autodetect-methods spam-use-blacklist spam-use-BBDB)
24557 ;; @r{send all spam to the training group}
24558 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train"))
24560 ;; @r{only some @acronym{NNTP} groups, where I want to autodetect spam}
24561 ((spam-autodetect . t))
24563 ;; @r{my nnimap @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:spam} group}
24565 ;; @r{this is a spam group}
24566 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam)
24568 ;; @r{any spam (which happens when I enter for all unseen messages,}
24569 ;; @r{because of the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} setting above), goes to}
24570 ;; @r{@samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train} unless I mark it as ham}
24572 (spam-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:train")
24574 ;; @r{any ham goes to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail} folder, but}
24575 ;; @r{also to my @samp{nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham} folder for training}
24577 (ham-process-destination "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:mail"
24578 "nnimap+mail.lifelogs.com:trainham")
24579 ;; @r{in this group, only @samp{!} marks are ham}
24581 (gnus-ticked-mark))
24582 ;; @r{remembers senders in the blacklist on the way out---this is}
24583 ;; @r{definitely not needed, it just makes me feel better}
24584 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist)))
24586 ;; @r{Later, on the @acronym{IMAP} server I use the @samp{train} group for training}
24587 ;; @r{SpamAssassin to recognize spam, and the @samp{trainham} group fora}
24588 ;; @r{recognizing ham---but Gnus has nothing to do with it.}
24592 @subsubheading Using @code{spam.el} on an IMAP server with a statistical filter on the server
24593 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24595 My provider has set up bogofilter (in combination with @acronym{DCC}) on
24596 the mail server (@acronym{IMAP}). Recognized spam goes to
24597 @samp{spam.detected}, the rest goes through the normal filter rules,
24598 i.e. to @samp{some.folder} or to @samp{INBOX}. Training on false
24599 positives or negatives is done by copying or moving the article to
24600 @samp{training.ham} or @samp{training.spam} respectively. A cron job on
24601 the server feeds those to bogofilter with the suitable ham or spam
24602 options and deletes them from the @samp{training.ham} and
24603 @samp{training.spam} folders.
24605 With the following entries in @code{gnus-parameters}, @code{spam.el}
24606 does most of the job for me:
24609 ("nnimap:spam\\.detected"
24610 (gnus-article-sort-functions '(gnus-article-sort-by-chars))
24611 (ham-process-destination "nnimap:INBOX" "nnimap:training.ham")
24612 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-spam))
24613 ("nnimap:\\(INBOX\\|other-folders\\)"
24614 (spam-process-destination . "nnimap:training.spam")
24615 (spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham))
24620 @item @b{The Spam folder:}
24622 In the folder @samp{spam.detected}, I have to check for false positives
24623 (i.e. legitimate mails, that were wrongly judged as spam by
24624 bogofilter or DCC).
24626 Because of the @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam} entry, all
24627 messages are marked as spam (with @code{$}). When I find a false
24628 positive, I mark the message with some other ham mark
24629 (@code{ham-marks}, @ref{Spam and Ham Processors}). On group exit,
24630 those messages are copied to both groups, @samp{INBOX} (where I want
24631 to have the article) and @samp{training.ham} (for training bogofilter)
24632 and deleted from the @samp{spam.detected} folder.
24634 The @code{gnus-article-sort-by-chars} entry simplifies detection of
24635 false positives for me. I receive lots of worms (sweN, @dots{}), that all
24636 have a similar size. Grouping them by size (i.e. chars) makes finding
24637 other false positives easier. (Of course worms aren't @i{spam}
24638 (@acronym{UCE}, @acronym{UBE}) strictly speaking. Anyhow, bogofilter is
24639 an excellent tool for filtering those unwanted mails for me.)
24641 @item @b{Ham folders:}
24643 In my ham folders, I just hit @kbd{S x}
24644 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) whenever I see an unrecognized spam
24645 mail (false negative). On group exit, those messages are moved to
24646 @samp{training.spam}.
24649 @subsubheading Reporting spam articles in Gmane groups with @code{spam-report.el}
24651 From Reiner Steib <reiner.steib@@gmx.de>.
24653 With following entry in @code{gnus-parameters}, @kbd{S x}
24654 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}) marks articles in @code{gmane.*}
24655 groups as spam and reports the to Gmane at group exit:
24659 (spam-process (gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane)))
24662 Additionally, I use @code{(setq spam-report-gmane-use-article-number nil)}
24663 because I don't read the groups directly from news.gmane.org, but
24664 through my local news server (leafnode). I.e. the article numbers are
24665 not the same as on news.gmane.org, thus @code{spam-report.el} has to check
24666 the @code{X-Report-Spam} header to find the correct number.
24668 @node Spam Back Ends
24669 @subsection Spam Back Ends
24670 @cindex spam back ends
24672 The spam package offers a variety of back ends for detecting spam.
24673 Each back end defines a set of methods for detecting spam
24674 (@pxref{Filtering Incoming Mail}, @pxref{Detecting Spam in Groups}),
24675 and a pair of spam and ham processors (@pxref{Spam and Ham
24679 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
24680 * BBDB Whitelists::
24681 * Gmane Spam Reporting::
24682 * Anti-spam Hashcash Payments::
24684 * Regular Expressions Header Matching::
24686 * SpamAssassin back end::
24687 * ifile spam filtering::
24688 * Spam Statistics Filtering::
24692 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
24693 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
24694 @cindex spam filtering
24695 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
24696 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
24699 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
24701 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
24702 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
24703 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
24704 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
24709 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
24711 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
24712 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
24713 whitelist will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24714 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the whitelist, their
24715 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24719 @defvar spam-use-whitelist-exclusive
24721 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists as an
24722 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24723 unless the sender is in the whitelist. Use with care.
24727 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
24729 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24730 customizing the group parameters or the
24731 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24732 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24733 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
24737 Instead of the obsolete
24738 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist}, it is recommended
24739 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-blacklist)}. Everything will work
24740 the same way, we promise.
24744 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
24746 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24747 customizing the group parameters or the
24748 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24749 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24750 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24755 Instead of the obsolete
24756 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist}, it is recommended
24757 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-whitelist)}. Everything will work
24758 the same way, we promise.
24762 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
24763 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
24764 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
24765 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
24766 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
24768 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
24769 legitimate. All messages from whitelisted addresses are considered
24770 non-spam. Also see @ref{BBDB Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the
24771 Emacs regular expression syntax.
24773 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
24774 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
24775 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
24776 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
24777 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
24778 @file{blacklist} respectively.
24780 @node BBDB Whitelists
24781 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
24782 @cindex spam filtering
24783 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
24784 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
24787 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
24789 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24790 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted
24791 addresses, without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded
24792 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Messages whose senders are
24793 not in the BBDB will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an
24794 explicit filter, meaning that unless someone is in the BBDB, their
24795 messages are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24799 @defvar spam-use-BBDB-exclusive
24801 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use the BBDB as an
24802 implicit filter, meaning that every message will be considered spam
24803 unless the sender is in the BBDB. Use with care. Only sender
24804 addresses in the BBDB will be allowed through; all others will be
24805 classified as spammers.
24807 While @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} @emph{can} be used as an alias
24808 for @code{spam-use-BBDB} as far as @code{spam.el} is concerned, it is
24809 @emph{not} a separate back end. If you set
24810 @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} to t, @emph{all} your BBDB splitting
24815 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
24817 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24818 customizing the group parameters or the
24819 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24820 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
24821 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
24826 Instead of the obsolete
24827 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB}, it is recommended
24828 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-BBDB)}. Everything will work
24829 the same way, we promise.
24833 @node Gmane Spam Reporting
24834 @subsubsection Gmane Spam Reporting
24835 @cindex spam reporting
24836 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24837 @cindex Gmane, spam reporting
24840 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane
24842 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
24843 customizing the group parameters or the
24844 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
24845 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
24846 articles groups will be reported to the Gmane administrators via a
24849 Gmane can be found at @uref{http://gmane.org}.
24853 Instead of the obsolete
24854 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-report-gmane}, it is recommended
24855 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-gmane)}. Everything will work the
24856 same way, we promise.
24860 @defvar spam-report-gmane-use-article-number
24862 This variable is @code{t} by default. Set it to @code{nil} if you are
24863 running your own news server, for instance, and the local article
24864 numbers don't correspond to the Gmane article numbers. When
24865 @code{spam-report-gmane-use-article-number} is @code{nil},
24866 @code{spam-report.el} will fetch the number from the article headers.
24870 @defvar spam-report-user-mail-address
24872 Mail address exposed in the User-Agent spam reports to Gmane. It allows
24873 the Gmane administrators to contact you in case of misreports. The
24874 default is @code{user-mail-address}.
24878 @node Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24879 @subsubsection Anti-spam Hashcash Payments
24880 @cindex spam filtering
24881 @cindex hashcash, spam filtering
24884 @defvar spam-use-hashcash
24886 Similar to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
24887 Whitelists}), but uses hashcash tokens for whitelisting messages
24888 instead of the sender address. Messages without a hashcash payment
24889 token will be sent to the next spam-split rule. This is an explicit
24890 filter, meaning that unless a hashcash token is found, the messages
24891 are not assumed to be spam or ham.
24896 @subsubsection Blackholes
24897 @cindex spam filtering
24898 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
24901 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
24903 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
24904 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
24905 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
24906 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
24907 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
24908 contains outdated servers.
24910 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
24911 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
24912 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil}. It is not recommended at
24913 this time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to @code{nil} despite the
24914 possible performance improvements, because some users may be unable to
24915 use it, but you can try it and see if it works for you.
24919 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
24921 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
24925 @defvar spam-blackhole-good-server-regex
24927 A regular expression for IPs that should not be checked against the
24928 blackhole server list. When set to @code{nil}, it has no effect.
24932 @defvar spam-use-dig
24934 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
24935 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
24939 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
24940 ham processor for blackholes.
24942 @node Regular Expressions Header Matching
24943 @subsubsection Regular Expressions Header Matching
24944 @cindex spam filtering
24945 @cindex regular expressions header matching, spam filtering
24948 @defvar spam-use-regex-headers
24950 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus check the
24951 message headers against lists of regular expressions when you set this
24952 option. The variables @code{spam-regex-headers-spam} and
24953 @code{spam-regex-headers-ham} hold the list of regular expressions.
24954 Gnus will check against the message headers to determine if the
24955 message is spam or ham, respectively.
24959 @defvar spam-regex-headers-spam
24961 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24962 the message, positively identify it as spam.
24966 @defvar spam-regex-headers-ham
24968 The list of regular expressions that, when matched in the headers of
24969 the message, positively identify it as ham.
24973 Regular expression header checks are done only on incoming mail.
24974 There is no specific spam or ham processor for regular expressions.
24977 @subsubsection Bogofilter
24978 @cindex spam filtering
24979 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
24982 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
24984 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
24987 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{$} mark for spam
24988 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
24989 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
24990 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
24991 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
24992 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
24994 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on a specific
24995 threshold. That threshold can be customized, consult the Bogofilter
24998 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
24999 processing will be turned off.
25001 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
25010 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
25011 Get the Bogofilter spamicity score (@code{spam-bogofilter-score}).
25014 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
25016 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
25017 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
25018 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
25019 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
25020 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
25021 installation documents for details.
25023 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
25027 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
25028 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25029 customizing the group parameters or the
25030 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25031 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
25032 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
25036 Instead of the obsolete
25037 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25038 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25039 the same way, we promise.
25042 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
25043 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25044 customizing the group parameters or the
25045 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25046 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25047 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
25048 of non-spam messages.
25052 Instead of the obsolete
25053 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter}, it is recommended
25054 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-bogofilter)}. Everything will work
25055 the same way, we promise.
25058 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
25060 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
25061 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
25062 database directory.
25066 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to @command{ifile} in intent and
25067 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25068 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
25069 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
25070 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
25071 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
25073 @node SpamAssassin back end
25074 @subsubsection SpamAssassin back end
25075 @cindex spam filtering
25076 @cindex spamassassin, spam filtering
25079 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin
25081 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use SpamAssassin.
25083 SpamAssassin assigns a score to each article based on a set of rules
25084 and tests, including a Bayesian filter. The Bayesian filter can be
25085 trained by associating the @samp{$} mark for spam articles. The
25086 spam score can be viewed by using the command @kbd{S t} in summary
25089 If you set this variable, each article will be processed by
25090 SpamAssassin when @code{spam-split} is called. If your mail is
25091 preprocessed by SpamAssassin, and you want to just use the
25092 SpamAssassin headers, set @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}
25095 You should not enable this if you use
25096 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers}.
25100 @defvar spam-use-spamassassin-headers
25102 Set this variable if your mail is preprocessed by SpamAssassin and
25103 want @code{spam-split} to split based on the SpamAssassin headers.
25105 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-spamassassin}.
25109 @defvar spam-spamassassin-program
25111 This variable points to the SpamAssassin executable. If you have
25112 @code{spamd} running, you can set this variable to the @code{spamc}
25113 executable for faster processing. See the SpamAssassin documentation
25114 for more information on @code{spamd}/@code{spamc}.
25118 SpamAssassin is a powerful and flexible spam filter that uses a wide
25119 variety of tests to identify spam. A ham and a spam processors are
25120 provided, plus the @code{spam-use-spamassassin} and
25121 @code{spam-use-spamassassin-headers} variables to indicate to
25122 spam-split that SpamAssassin should be either used, or has already
25123 been used on the article. The 2.63 version of SpamAssassin was used
25124 to test this functionality.
25126 @node ifile spam filtering
25127 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
25128 @cindex spam filtering
25129 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
25132 @defvar spam-use-ifile
25134 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use @command{ifile}, a
25135 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
25139 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
25141 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
25142 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
25143 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
25147 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
25149 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
25150 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
25151 the default value of @samp{spam}.
25154 @defvar spam-ifile-database
25156 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
25157 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
25161 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
25162 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
25163 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
25164 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
25167 @node Spam Statistics Filtering
25168 @subsubsection Spam Statistics Filtering
25169 @cindex spam filtering
25170 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
25174 This back end uses the Spam Statistics Emacs Lisp package to perform
25175 statistics-based filtering (@pxref{Spam Statistics Package}). Before
25176 using this, you may want to perform some additional steps to
25177 initialize your Spam Statistics dictionary. @xref{Creating a
25178 spam-stat dictionary}.
25180 @defvar spam-use-stat
25184 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
25185 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25186 customizing the group parameters or the
25187 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25188 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
25189 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
25193 Instead of the obsolete
25194 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25195 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25196 the same way, we promise.
25199 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
25200 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25201 customizing the group parameters or the
25202 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
25203 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
25204 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
25205 of non-spam messages.
25209 Instead of the obsolete
25210 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat}, it is recommended
25211 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-stat)}. Everything will work
25212 the same way, we promise.
25215 This enables @code{spam.el} to cooperate with @file{spam-stat.el}.
25216 @file{spam-stat.el} provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database,
25217 which unlike ifile or Bogofilter does not require external programs.
25218 A spam and a ham processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for
25219 @code{spam-split} are provided.
25222 @subsubsection Using SpamOracle with Gnus
25223 @cindex spam filtering
25227 An easy way to filter out spam is to use SpamOracle. SpamOracle is an
25228 statistical mail filtering tool written by Xavier Leroy and needs to be
25229 installed separately.
25231 There are several ways to use SpamOracle with Gnus. In all cases, your
25232 mail is piped through SpamOracle in its @emph{mark} mode. SpamOracle will
25233 then enter an @samp{X-Spam} header indicating whether it regards the
25234 mail as a spam mail or not.
25236 One possibility is to run SpamOracle as a @code{:prescript} from the
25237 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}, (@pxref{SpamAssassin}). This method has
25238 the advantage that the user can see the @emph{X-Spam} headers.
25240 The easiest method is to make @file{spam.el} (@pxref{Spam Package})
25243 @vindex spam-use-spamoracle
25244 To enable SpamOracle usage by @code{spam.el}, set the variable
25245 @code{spam-use-spamoracle} to @code{t} and configure the
25246 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}. @xref{Spam
25247 Package}. In this example the @samp{INBOX} of an nnimap server is
25248 filtered using SpamOracle. Mails recognized as spam mails will be
25249 moved to @code{spam-split-group}, @samp{Junk} in this case. Ham
25250 messages stay in @samp{INBOX}:
25253 (setq spam-use-spamoracle t
25254 spam-split-group "Junk"
25255 nnimap-split-inbox '("INBOX")
25256 nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
25257 nnimap-split-fancy '(| (: spam-split) "INBOX"))
25260 @defvar spam-use-spamoracle
25261 Set to @code{t} if you want Gnus to enable spam filtering using
25265 @defvar spam-spamoracle-binary
25266 Gnus uses the SpamOracle binary called @file{spamoracle} found in the
25267 user's PATH. Using the variable @code{spam-spamoracle-binary}, this
25271 @defvar spam-spamoracle-database
25272 By default, SpamOracle uses the file @file{~/.spamoracle.db} as a database to
25273 store its analysis. This is controlled by the variable
25274 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} which defaults to @code{nil}. That means
25275 the default SpamOracle database will be used. In case you want your
25276 database to live somewhere special, set
25277 @code{spam-spamoracle-database} to this path.
25280 SpamOracle employs a statistical algorithm to determine whether a
25281 message is spam or ham. In order to get good results, meaning few
25282 false hits or misses, SpamOracle needs training. SpamOracle learns
25283 the characteristics of your spam mails. Using the @emph{add} mode
25284 (training mode) one has to feed good (ham) and spam mails to
25285 SpamOracle. This can be done by pressing @kbd{|} in the Summary
25286 buffer and pipe the mail to a SpamOracle process or using
25287 @file{spam.el}'s spam- and ham-processors, which is much more
25288 convenient. For a detailed description of spam- and ham-processors,
25289 @xref{Spam Package}.
25291 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle
25292 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25293 customizing the group parameter or the
25294 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25295 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles will be
25296 sent to SpamOracle as spam samples.
25300 Instead of the obsolete
25301 @code{gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25302 that you use @code{(spam spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25303 the same way, we promise.
25306 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle
25307 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
25308 customizing the group parameter or the
25309 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is added
25310 to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked articles in
25311 @emph{ham} groups will be sent to the SpamOracle as samples of ham
25316 Instead of the obsolete
25317 @code{gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-spamoracle}, it is recommended
25318 that you use @code{(ham spam-use-spamoracle)}. Everything will work
25319 the same way, we promise.
25322 @emph{Example:} These are the Group Parameters of a group that has been
25323 classified as a ham group, meaning that it should only contain ham
25326 ((spam-contents gnus-group-spam-classification-ham)
25327 (spam-process ((ham spam-use-spamoracle)
25328 (spam spam-use-spamoracle))))
25330 For this group the @code{spam-use-spamoracle} is installed for both
25331 ham and spam processing. If the group contains spam message
25332 (e.g. because SpamOracle has not had enough sample messages yet) and
25333 the user marks some messages as spam messages, these messages will be
25334 processed by SpamOracle. The processor sends the messages to
25335 SpamOracle as new samples for spam.
25337 @node Extending the Spam package
25338 @subsection Extending the Spam package
25339 @cindex spam filtering
25340 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
25341 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
25343 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
25344 incoming mail, provide the following:
25352 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
25353 "True if blackbox should be used.")
25356 Write @code{spam-check-blackbox} if Blackbox can check incoming mail.
25358 Write @code{spam-blackbox-register-routine} and
25359 @code{spam-blackbox-unregister-routine} using the bogofilter
25360 register/unregister routines as a start, or other restister/unregister
25361 routines more appropriate to Blackbox, if Blackbox can
25362 register/unregister spam and ham.
25367 The @code{spam-check-blackbox} function should return @samp{nil} or
25368 @code{spam-split-group}, observing the other conventions. See the
25369 existing @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can
25370 do, and stick to the template unless you fully understand the reasons
25375 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
25382 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
25383 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
25385 Also, ham and spam processors are being phased out as single
25386 variables. Instead the form @code{(spam spam-use-blackbox)} or
25387 @code{(ham spam-use-blackbox)} is favored. For now, spam/ham
25388 processor variables are still around but they won't be for long.
25391 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-spam"
25392 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
25393 Only applicable to spam groups.")
25395 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox-ham"
25396 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
25397 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
25406 (const :tag "Spam: Blackbox" (spam spam-use-blackbox))
25407 (const :tag "Ham: Blackbox" (ham spam-use-blackbox))
25409 to the @code{spam-process} group parameter in @code{gnus.el}. Make
25410 sure you do it twice, once for the parameter and once for the
25411 variable customization.
25415 (variable-item spam-use-blackbox)
25417 to the @code{spam-autodetect-methods} group parameter in
25418 @code{gnus.el} if Blackbox can check incoming mail for spam contents.
25420 Finally, use the appropriate @code{spam-install-*-backend} function in
25421 @code{spam.el}. Here are the available functions.
25427 @code{spam-install-backend-alias}
25429 This function will simply install an alias for a back end that does
25430 everything like the original back end. It is currently only used to
25431 make @code{spam-use-BBDB-exclusive} act like @code{spam-use-BBDB}.
25434 @code{spam-install-nocheck-backend}
25436 This function installs a back end that has no check function, but can
25437 register/unregister ham or spam. The @code{spam-use-gmane} back end is
25441 @code{spam-install-checkonly-backend}
25443 This function will install a back end that can only check incoming mail
25444 for spam contents. It can't register or unregister messages.
25445 @code{spam-use-blackholes} and @code{spam-use-hashcash} are such
25449 @code{spam-install-statistical-checkonly-backend}
25451 This function installs a statistical back end (one which requires the
25452 full body of a message to check it) that can only check incoming mail
25453 for contents. @code{spam-use-regex-body} is such a filter.
25456 @code{spam-install-statistical-backend}
25458 This function install a statistical back end with incoming checks and
25459 registration/unregistration routines. @code{spam-use-bogofilter} is
25463 @code{spam-install-backend}
25465 This is the most normal back end installation, where a back end that can
25466 check and register/unregister messages is set up without statistical
25467 abilities. The @code{spam-use-BBDB} is such a back end.
25470 @code{spam-install-mover-backend}
25472 Mover back ends are internal to @code{spam.el} and specifically move
25473 articles around when the summary is exited. You will very probably
25474 never install such a back end.
25479 @node Spam Statistics Package
25480 @subsection Spam Statistics Package
25481 @cindex Paul Graham
25482 @cindex Graham, Paul
25483 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
25484 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
25485 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
25487 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
25488 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
25489 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
25490 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
25491 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
25492 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
25493 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
25494 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
25495 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
25498 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
25499 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
25500 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
25501 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
25502 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
25503 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
25504 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
25505 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
25507 The Spam Statistics package adds support to Gnus for this kind of
25508 filtering. It can be used as one of the back ends of the Spam package
25509 (@pxref{Spam Package}), or by itself.
25511 Before using the Spam Statistics package, you need to set it up.
25512 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
25513 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
25514 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
25515 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
25518 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
25519 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
25520 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
25523 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25524 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
25526 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
25527 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
25528 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
25529 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
25530 need several hundred emails in both collections.
25532 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
25533 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
25534 per mail. Use the following:
25536 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
25537 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
25538 is treated as one spam mail.
25541 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
25542 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
25543 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
25546 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
25547 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds to
25548 the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
25549 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
25550 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds to the group
25551 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
25553 When you are using @acronym{IMAP}, you won't have the mails available
25554 locally, so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent
25555 to cache the articles. Then you can use directories such as
25556 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
25557 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
25560 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics---the
25561 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
25562 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
25563 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
25566 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
25567 reset the dictionary.
25569 @defun spam-stat-reset
25570 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
25573 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
25574 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
25575 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
25576 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
25577 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
25578 only non-spam mails.
25580 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
25581 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
25582 to update the dictionary incrementally.
25585 @defun spam-stat-save
25586 Save the dictionary.
25589 @defvar spam-stat-file
25590 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
25591 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
25594 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
25595 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
25597 This section describes how to use the Spam statistics
25598 @emph{independently} of the @xref{Spam Package}.
25600 First, add the following to your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25603 (require 'spam-stat)
25607 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
25610 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
25611 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
25612 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
25613 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
25615 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
25616 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
25617 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
25618 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
25621 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25622 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25626 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
25627 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
25630 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
25631 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
25632 expression are considered potential spam.
25635 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25636 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25637 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25641 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
25642 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
25643 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
25644 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
25645 mails, when creating the dictionary!
25648 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25649 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25650 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25654 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
25655 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
25656 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
25657 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
25658 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
25662 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
25663 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
25664 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
25665 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
25670 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25671 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
25673 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
25675 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
25676 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
25677 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25680 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
25681 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
25682 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
25685 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
25686 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
25687 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
25688 already been processed as non-spam.
25691 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
25692 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
25693 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
25694 been processed as spam.
25697 @defun spam-stat-save
25698 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
25699 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25702 @defun spam-stat-load
25703 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
25704 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
25707 @defun spam-stat-score-word
25708 Return the spam score for a word.
25711 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
25712 Return the spam score for a buffer.
25715 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
25716 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
25717 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
25720 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
25721 following in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file:
25724 (require 'spam-stat)
25728 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
25731 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25732 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25733 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25734 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25735 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25736 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25737 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25738 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25739 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25740 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25741 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
25742 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
25743 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25744 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25747 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
25750 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
25751 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
25752 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
25753 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
25754 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
25755 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
25759 @section Interaction with other modes
25764 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} provides some useful functions for dired
25765 buffers. It is enabled with
25767 (add-hook 'dired-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-dired-mode)
25772 @findex gnus-dired-attach
25773 @cindex attachments, selection via dired
25774 Send dired's marked files as an attachment (@code{gnus-dired-attach}).
25775 You will be prompted for a message buffer.
25778 @findex gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap
25779 Visit a file according to the appropriate mailcap entry
25780 (@code{gnus-dired-find-file-mailcap}). With prefix, open file in a new
25784 @findex gnus-dired-print
25785 Print file according to the mailcap entry (@code{gnus-dired-print}). If
25786 there is no print command, print in a PostScript image.
25789 @node Various Various
25790 @section Various Various
25796 @item gnus-home-directory
25797 @vindex gnus-home-directory
25798 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
25799 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
25801 @item gnus-directory
25802 @vindex gnus-directory
25803 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
25804 this variable, which defaults to the @env{SAVEDIR} environment
25805 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
25807 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{~/.gnus.el} file is read.
25808 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
25809 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
25810 @file{~/.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
25812 @item gnus-default-directory
25813 @vindex gnus-default-directory
25814 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
25815 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
25816 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
25817 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
25818 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
25819 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
25822 @vindex gnus-verbose
25823 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
25824 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
25825 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
25826 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
25827 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
25829 @item gnus-verbose-backends
25830 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
25831 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
25832 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
25834 @item gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
25835 @vindex gnus-add-timestamp-to-message
25836 This variable controls whether to add timestamps to messages that are
25837 controlled by @code{gnus-verbose} and @code{gnus-verbose-backends} and
25838 are issued. The default value is @code{nil} which means never to add
25839 timestamp. If it is @code{log}, add timestamps to only the messages
25840 that go into the @samp{*Messages*} buffer (in XEmacs, it is the
25841 @w{@samp{ *Message-Log*}} buffer). If it is neither @code{nil} nor
25842 @code{log}, add timestamps not only to log messages but also to the ones
25843 displayed in the echo area.
25845 @item nnheader-max-head-length
25846 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
25847 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
25848 as little as possible. This variable (default 8192) specifies
25849 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
25850 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
25851 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
25852 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
25853 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
25854 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
25856 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
25857 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
25858 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
25859 read when doing the operation described above.
25861 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25862 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25864 @cindex invalid characters in file names
25865 @cindex characters in file names
25866 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
25867 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
25868 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
25872 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
25877 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
25878 Windows (phooey) systems.
25880 @item gnus-hidden-properties
25881 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
25882 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
25883 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
25884 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
25886 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
25887 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
25888 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
25889 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
25890 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
25892 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
25893 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
25894 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
25896 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
25897 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
25899 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
25900 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
25901 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
25902 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
25905 @acronym{IMAP} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
25913 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
25914 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
25916 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
25918 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
25924 Not because of victories @*
25927 but for the common sunshine,@*
25929 the largess of the spring.
25933 but for the day's work done@*
25934 as well as I was able;@*
25935 not for a seat upon the dais@*
25936 but at the common table.@*
25941 @chapter Appendices
25944 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
25945 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
25946 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
25947 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
25948 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
25949 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
25950 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
25951 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
25952 * Frequently Asked Questions:: The Gnus FAQ
25959 @cindex installing under XEmacs
25961 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
25962 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
25963 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{mail-lib}, @samp{xemacs-base},
25964 @samp{eterm}, @samp{sh-script}, @samp{net-utils}, @samp{os-utils},
25965 @samp{dired}, @samp{mh-e}, @samp{sieve}, @samp{ps-print}, @samp{W3},
25966 @samp{pgg}, @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{ecrypto}, and @samp{sasl}.
25973 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
25974 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
25976 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
25977 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
25978 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
25979 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
25980 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
25982 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
25983 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
25984 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
25985 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
25986 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
25987 appropriate name, don't you think?)
25989 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
25990 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
25991 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
25992 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
25995 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
25996 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
25997 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
25998 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
25999 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
26000 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
26001 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
26002 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
26003 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
26007 @node Gnus Versions
26008 @subsection Gnus Versions
26010 @cindex September Gnus
26012 @cindex Quassia Gnus
26013 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
26016 @cindex Gnus versions
26018 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
26019 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
26020 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
26022 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
26023 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
26025 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
26026 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
26028 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
26029 It was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
26031 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
26032 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
26035 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun and was released as
26036 Gnus 5.10 on May 1st 2003 (24 releases).
26038 On the January 4th 2004, No Gnus was begun.
26040 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
26041 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
26042 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'', ``No Gnus'' -- don't panic.
26043 Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever
26044 you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach.
26045 Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
26048 @node Other Gnus Versions
26049 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
26052 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
26053 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
26054 Japan. It's based on a library called @acronym{SEMI}, which provides
26055 @acronym{MIME} capabilities.
26057 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
26058 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
26059 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
26060 @acronym{MIME} and multilingualization things, especially important for
26067 What's the point of Gnus?
26069 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
26070 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
26071 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
26072 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
26073 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
26074 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
26075 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
26076 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
26077 keep track of millions of people who post?
26079 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
26080 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
26081 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
26082 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
26083 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
26084 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
26085 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
26086 every one of you to explore and invent.
26088 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
26089 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
26092 @node Compatibility
26093 @subsection Compatibility
26095 @cindex compatibility
26096 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
26097 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
26098 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
26103 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
26107 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
26110 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
26113 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
26114 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
26115 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
26116 important variables have their values copied into their global
26117 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
26118 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
26120 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
26121 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
26122 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
26123 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
26124 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
26128 @cindex highlighting
26129 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
26130 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
26131 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
26132 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
26133 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
26134 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
26137 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
26138 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
26139 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
26140 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
26142 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
26143 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
26144 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
26145 to stop doing it the old way.
26147 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
26149 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
26151 @cindex reporting bugs
26153 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
26154 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
26155 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
26157 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
26158 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
26159 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
26160 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
26165 @subsection Conformity
26167 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
26168 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
26176 There are no known breaches of this standard.
26180 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
26182 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
26183 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
26184 We do have some breaches to this one.
26190 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
26191 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
26192 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
26193 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
26194 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
26199 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
26200 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
26201 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
26202 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
26204 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
26205 @cindex @acronym{MIME}
26206 All the various @acronym{MIME} RFCs are supported.
26208 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
26209 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
26211 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
26214 RFC 1991 is the original @acronym{PGP} message specification,
26215 published as an informational RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now
26216 called Open PGP, and put on the Standards Track. Both document a
26217 non-@acronym{MIME} aware @acronym{PGP} format. Gnus supports both
26218 encoding (signing and encryption) and decoding (verification and
26221 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
26222 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
26223 1991) describes the @acronym{MIME}-wrapping around the RFC 1991/2440 format.
26224 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
26226 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
26227 RFC 2633 describes the @acronym{S/MIME} format.
26229 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
26230 RFC 1730 is @acronym{IMAP} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060
26231 (@acronym{IMAP} 4 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5
26232 authentication for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2086 describes access control
26233 lists (ACLs) for @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 2359 describes a @acronym{IMAP}
26234 protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper @acronym{TLS}
26235 integration (STARTTLS) with @acronym{IMAP}. RFC 1731 describes the
26236 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @acronym{IMAP}.
26240 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
26241 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
26246 @subsection Emacsen
26252 This version of Gnus should work on:
26260 XEmacs 21.4 and up.
26264 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
26265 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
26266 Emacs versions. Particularly, Gnus 5.10.8 should also work on Emacs
26267 20.7 and XEmacs 21.1.
26269 @c No-merge comment: The paragraph added in v5-10 here must not be
26272 @node Gnus Development
26273 @subsection Gnus Development
26275 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
26276 discussion on the development mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}, where people
26277 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
26278 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
26279 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
26280 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
26281 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
26282 have names like ``Oort Gnus'' and ``No Gnus''. @xref{Gnus Versions}.
26284 After futzing around for 10-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
26285 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
26286 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.10.1'' instead. Normal people are
26287 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
26288 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup. This newgroup is mirrored to the
26289 mailing list @samp{info-gnus-english@@gnu.org} which is carried on Gmane
26290 as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.user}. These releases are finally integrated
26294 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26295 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26296 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26297 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26298 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26300 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
26301 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
26302 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
26303 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
26304 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
26305 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
26306 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
26307 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
26308 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
26309 can't be assumed to do so.
26311 So if you have problems with or questions about the alpha versions,
26312 direct those to the ding mailing list @samp{ding@@gnus.org}. This list
26313 is also available on Gmane as @samp{gmane.emacs.gnus.general}.
26316 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
26317 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae,
26318 in particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming}. This is to prevent
26319 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
26320 @xref{Mail Source Customization}.
26323 @subsection Contributors
26324 @cindex contributors
26326 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
26327 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
26328 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
26329 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
26330 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
26331 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
26332 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
26333 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
26334 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
26335 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
26337 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for@dots{} oops,
26343 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
26346 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
26347 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @acronym{MIME} and
26348 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
26349 functionality and stuff.
26352 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
26353 well as numerous other things).
26356 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
26359 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
26362 Justin Sheehy---the @acronym{FAQ} maintainer.
26365 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
26368 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
26369 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
26372 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
26375 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section.
26378 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
26381 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
26384 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
26387 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
26390 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
26391 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
26394 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
26397 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
26400 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
26403 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
26407 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
26410 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
26413 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
26416 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
26417 well as autoconf support.
26421 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
26422 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
26424 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
26439 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
26441 Katsumi Yamaoka, @c Yamaoka
26445 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
26455 Alexei V. Barantsev,
26470 Massimo Campostrini,
26475 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
26476 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
26480 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
26483 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
26489 Michael Welsh Duggan,
26494 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
26498 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
26506 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
26508 Michelangelo Grigni,
26512 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
26514 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c Hayashi
26516 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
26524 Fran@,{c}ois Felix Ingrand,
26525 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c Ichikawa
26526 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
26528 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
26538 Peter Skov Knudsen,
26539 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
26541 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
26542 Thor Kristoffersen,
26545 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
26563 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
26564 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
26571 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
26576 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
26580 John McClary Prevost,
26586 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
26591 Christian von Roques,
26594 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
26601 Philippe Schnoebelen,
26603 Randal L. Schwartz,
26617 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
26622 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
26642 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
26643 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
26644 (550kB and counting).
26646 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
26649 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
26650 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
26654 @subsection New Features
26655 @cindex new features
26658 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
26659 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
26660 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
26661 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
26662 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
26663 * Oort Gnus:: It's big. It's far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
26664 * No Gnus:: Very punny.
26667 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
26668 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
26669 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
26672 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
26674 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
26679 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
26680 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
26683 Local spool and several @acronym{NNTP} servers can be used at once
26684 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
26687 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
26690 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
26691 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
26692 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
26695 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
26696 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
26697 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
26698 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26701 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
26702 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26705 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
26706 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
26707 (@pxref{The Active File}).
26710 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
26711 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
26714 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
26715 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
26716 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
26719 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
26720 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
26721 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
26724 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{~/.gnus.el}) to avoid
26725 cluttering up the @file{.emacs} file.
26728 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
26729 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
26732 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
26733 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
26736 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
26737 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26740 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
26741 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
26744 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
26745 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
26748 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
26751 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
26752 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
26755 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
26756 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
26759 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
26760 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
26763 Gnus can fetch @acronym{FAQ}s and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
26766 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
26767 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
26770 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
26774 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
26778 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
26779 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
26782 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
26788 @node September Gnus
26789 @subsubsection September Gnus
26793 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
26797 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
26802 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
26803 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
26807 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
26808 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
26812 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
26816 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
26817 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
26820 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
26824 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.
26827 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
26830 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
26833 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
26837 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
26838 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
26841 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
26845 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
26849 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
26853 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
26857 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
26860 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
26861 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
26864 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
26868 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
26869 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
26872 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
26875 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
26876 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
26877 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
26880 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
26884 The Gnus cache is much faster.
26887 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
26891 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
26892 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
26895 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
26896 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
26899 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
26900 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
26903 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
26904 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
26905 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
26908 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
26909 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
26912 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
26915 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
26918 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
26921 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
26924 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
26925 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
26928 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
26932 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
26935 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
26940 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
26943 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
26947 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
26950 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
26954 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
26957 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
26960 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
26961 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
26964 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
26965 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
26969 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
26970 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
26973 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
26977 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
26978 buffer to allow easier treatment.
26981 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
26984 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
26988 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
26992 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
26993 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
26996 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
27000 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
27001 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
27004 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
27005 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27008 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
27012 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
27015 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
27018 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
27024 @subsubsection Red Gnus
27026 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
27030 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
27037 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
27040 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
27041 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
27044 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
27045 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
27049 Article washing status can be displayed in the
27050 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
27053 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
27056 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
27057 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
27060 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
27064 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
27065 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
27069 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
27070 Server Internals}).
27073 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
27077 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
27080 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
27081 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
27084 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
27085 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
27086 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
27089 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
27090 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27093 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
27094 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
27097 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
27101 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
27102 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27105 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
27106 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
27109 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
27113 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
27116 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
27120 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
27121 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
27124 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
27125 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
27128 A new command for reading collections of documents
27129 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
27130 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
27133 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
27137 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @acronym{NNTP}
27138 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
27141 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
27142 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
27143 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
27146 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
27147 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
27151 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
27155 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
27159 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
27164 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
27168 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
27172 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
27173 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
27176 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
27182 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
27184 New features in Gnus 5.6:
27189 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
27190 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
27191 @xref{Gnus Unplugged}, for the full story.
27194 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
27195 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
27196 group, which is created automatically.
27199 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
27203 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
27206 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
27207 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
27210 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
27214 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
27217 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
27218 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
27221 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
27224 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. @xref{Symbolic Prefixes}, for
27228 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
27229 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the @file{all.SCORE} file.
27232 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
27233 control over simplification.
27236 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
27239 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
27243 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
27246 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
27249 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
27250 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
27251 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
27254 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
27255 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
27258 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
27262 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
27263 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
27266 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
27267 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @acronym{NNTP} servers.
27270 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
27274 A history of where mails have been split is available.
27277 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
27280 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
27281 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
27284 A new function for citing in Message has been
27285 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
27288 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
27291 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
27295 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
27296 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
27299 The ``lapsed date'' article header can be kept continually
27300 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
27303 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
27306 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
27310 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
27311 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
27313 New features in Gnus 5.8:
27318 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
27319 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
27321 If you used procmail like in
27324 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
27325 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
27326 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
27327 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
27330 this now has changed to
27334 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
27338 @xref{Mail Source Specifiers}.
27341 Gnus is now a @acronym{MIME}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
27342 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
27345 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
27346 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
27349 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
27350 called to position point.
27353 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
27354 summary buffers and @acronym{NOV} files.
27357 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
27358 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
27361 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
27362 subtly different manner.
27365 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
27366 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
27367 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
27370 Gnus can now read @acronym{IMAP} mail via @code{nnimap}.
27375 @subsubsection Oort Gnus
27378 New features in Gnus 5.10:
27382 @item Installation changes
27383 @c ***********************
27387 Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used Oort.
27389 If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to this
27390 release) but went back to a stable version, be careful when upgrading to
27391 this version. In particular, you will probably want to remove all
27392 @file{.marks} (nnml) and @file{.mrk} (nnfolder) files, so that flags are
27393 read from your @file{.newsrc.eld} instead of from the
27394 @file{.marks}/@file{.mrk} file where this release store flags. See a
27395 later entry for more information about marks. Note that downgrading
27396 isn't save in general.
27399 Lisp files are now installed in @file{.../site-lisp/gnus/} by default.
27400 It defaulted to @file{.../site-lisp/} formerly. In addition to this,
27401 the new installer issues a warning if other Gnus installations which
27402 will shadow the latest one are detected. You can then remove those
27403 shadows manually or remove them using @code{make
27404 remove-installed-shadows}.
27407 New @file{make.bat} for compiling and installing Gnus under MS Windows
27409 Use @file{make.bat} if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows, the
27410 first argument to the batch-program should be the directory where
27411 @file{xemacs.exe} respectively @file{emacs.exe} is located, if you want
27412 to install Gnus after compiling it, give @file{make.bat} @code{/copy} as
27413 the second parameter.
27415 @file{make.bat} has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
27416 automatic recognition of XEmacs and GNU Emacs, generates
27417 @file{gnus-load.el}, checks if errors occur while compilation and
27418 generation of info files and reports them at the end of the build
27419 process. It now uses @code{makeinfo} if it is available and falls
27420 back to @file{infohack.el} otherwise. @file{make.bat} should now
27421 install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be generally a
27422 complete replacement for the @code{configure; make; make install}
27423 cycle used under Unix systems.
27425 The new @file{make.bat} makes @file{make-x.bat} and @file{xemacs.mak}
27426 superfluous, so they have been removed.
27429 @file{~/News/overview/} not used.
27431 As a result of the following change, the @file{~/News/overview/}
27432 directory is not used any more. You can safely delete the entire
27435 @c FIXME: `gnus-load' is mentioned in README, which is not included in
27436 @c CVS. We should find a better place for this item.
27438 @code{(require 'gnus-load)}
27440 If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
27441 @code{(require 'gnus-load)} into your @file{~/.emacs} after adding the Gnus
27442 lisp directory into load-path.
27444 File @file{gnus-load.el} contains autoload commands, functions and variables,
27445 some of which may not be included in distributions of Emacsen.
27449 @item New packages and libraries within Gnus
27450 @c *****************************************
27455 The revised Gnus @acronym{FAQ} is included in the manual,
27456 @xref{Frequently Asked Questions}.
27459 @acronym{TLS} wrapper shipped with Gnus
27461 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} is now supported in @acronym{IMAP} and
27462 @acronym{NNTP} via @file{tls.el} and GNUTLS. The old
27463 @acronym{TLS}/@acronym{SSL} support via (external third party)
27464 @file{ssl.el} and OpenSSL still works.
27467 Improved anti-spam features.
27469 Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news streams
27470 using a wide variety of programs and filter rules. Among the supported
27471 methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter and white/blacklists. Hooks
27472 for easy use of external packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash
27473 are also new. @ref{Thwarting Email Spam} and @ref{Spam Package}.
27474 @c FIXME: @xref{Spam Package}?. Should this be under Misc?
27477 Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.
27479 Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and the
27480 complete Sieve script is generated using @kbd{D g} from the Group
27481 buffer, and then uploaded to the server using @kbd{C-c C-l} in the
27482 generated Sieve buffer. @xref{Sieve Commands}, and the new Sieve
27483 manual @ref{Top, , Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
27487 @item Changes in group mode
27488 @c ************************
27493 @code{gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group} can be called interactively,
27497 Retrieval of charters and control messages
27499 There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (@kbd{H c}) and
27500 control messages (@kbd{H C}).
27503 The new variable @code{gnus-parameters} can be used to set group parameters.
27505 Earlier this was done only via @kbd{G p} (or @kbd{G c}), which stored
27506 the parameters in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, but via this variable you can
27507 enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups since you set the
27508 variable in @file{~/.gnus.el} instead of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. The
27509 variable maps regular expressions matching group names to group
27512 (setq gnus-parameters
27514 (gnus-show-threads nil)
27515 (gnus-use-scoring nil))
27516 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
27517 (to-group . "\\1"))))
27521 Unread count correct in nnimap groups.
27523 The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer should now
27524 be correct for nnimap groups. This is achieved by calling
27525 @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} from the
27526 @code{gnus-setup-news-hook} (called on startup) and
27527 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook}. (called after getting new
27528 mail). If you have modified those variables from the default, you may
27529 want to add @code{nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news} again. If
27530 you were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal) time
27531 when getting new mail, remove the function.
27534 Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.
27536 This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to. See
27537 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist} and
27538 @code{gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist} for customization.
27541 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} and
27542 @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
27544 The regexps in these variables are compared with full group names
27545 instead of real group names in 5.8. Users who customize these
27546 variables should change those regexps accordingly. For example:
27548 ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)
27552 Old intermediate incoming mail files (@file{Incoming*}) are deleted
27553 after a couple of days, not immediately. @xref{Mail Source
27554 Customization}. (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / Emacs 22.2)
27558 @item Changes in summary and article mode
27559 @c **************************************
27564 @kbd{F} (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}) and @kbd{R}
27565 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}) only yank the text in the
27566 region if the region is active.
27569 In draft groups, @kbd{e} is now bound to @code{gnus-draft-edit-message}.
27570 Use @kbd{B w} for @code{gnus-summary-edit-article} instead.
27575 More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links, man
27576 pages and Emacs or Gnus related references. @xref{Article Buttons}. The
27577 variables @code{gnus-button-@var{*}-level} can be used to control the
27578 appearance of all article buttons. @xref{Article Button Levels}.
27581 Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.
27586 The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU Emacs---some of
27587 the previous options have been removed or renamed.
27589 Picons are small ``personal icons'' representing users, domain and
27590 newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
27594 If the new option @code{gnus-treat-body-boundary} is non-@code{nil}, a
27595 boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.
27598 Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with @kbd{W p}.
27601 The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate the current
27602 article. Use @code{(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow nil)} to disable it.
27605 Warn about email replies to news
27607 Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by mistake? Then
27608 the new option @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} is just the thing for
27612 If the new option @code{gnus-summary-display-while-building} is
27613 non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's being
27617 The new @code{recent} mark @samp{.} indicates newly arrived messages (as
27618 opposed to old but unread messages).
27621 Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a number of
27622 related commands in mailing list groups. @xref{Mailing List}.
27625 The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read aloud
27626 in English. @xref{Article Date}.
27629 diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
27630 @code{mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp}
27633 Better handling of Microsoft citation styles
27635 Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that some Microsoft
27636 mailers use to indicate that the rest of the message is a citation, even
27637 though it is not quoted in any way. The variable
27638 @code{gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp} matches the start of these
27641 The new command @kbd{W Y f}
27642 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}) allows deuglifying broken
27643 Outlook (Express) articles.
27646 @code{gnus-article-skip-boring}
27648 If you set @code{gnus-article-skip-boring} to @code{t}, then Gnus will
27649 not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring text,
27650 which by default means cited text and signature. You can customize
27651 what is skippable using @code{gnus-article-boring-faces}.
27653 This feature is especially useful if you read many articles that
27654 consist of a little new content at the top with a long, untrimmed
27655 message cited below.
27658 Smileys (@samp{:-)}, @samp{;-)} etc) are now displayed graphically in
27661 Put @code{(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)} in @file{~/.gnus.el} to
27665 Face headers handling. @xref{Face}.
27668 In the summary buffer, the new command @kbd{/ N} inserts new messages
27669 and @kbd{/ o} inserts old messages.
27672 Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press @kbd{W m}.
27675 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}
27677 The default value changed to @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
27678 %s\n}. Moreover @code{gnus-extra-headers},
27679 @code{nnmail-extra-headers} and @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses}
27680 changed their default so that the users name will be replaced by the
27681 recipient's name or the group name posting to for @acronym{NNTP}
27685 Deleting of attachments.
27687 The command @code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip} (bound to @kbd{C-o}
27688 on @acronym{MIME} buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
27689 external one. @code{gnus-mime-delete-part} (bound to @kbd{d} on
27690 @acronym{MIME} buttons) removes a part. It works only on back ends
27691 that support editing.
27694 @code{gnus-default-charset}
27696 The default value is determined from the
27697 @code{current-language-environment} variable, instead of
27698 @code{iso-8859-1}. Also the @samp{.*} item in
27699 @code{gnus-group-charset-alist} is removed.
27702 Printing capabilities are enhanced.
27704 Gnus supports Muttprint natively with @kbd{O P} from the Summary and
27705 Article buffers. Also, each individual @acronym{MIME} part can be
27706 printed using @kbd{p} on the @acronym{MIME} button.
27709 Extended format specs.
27711 Format spec @samp{%&user-date;} is added into
27712 @code{gnus-summary-line-format-alist}. Also, user defined extended
27713 format specs are supported. The extended format specs look like
27714 @samp{%u&foo;}, which invokes function
27715 @code{gnus-user-format-function-@var{foo}}. Because @samp{&} is used as the
27716 escape character, old user defined format @samp{%u&} is no longer supported.
27719 @kbd{/ *} (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}) is rewritten.
27720 @c FIXME: Was this a user-visible change?
27722 It was aliased to @kbd{Y c}
27723 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}). The new function filters
27724 out other articles.
27727 Some limiting commands accept a @kbd{C-u} prefix to negate the match.
27729 If @kbd{C-u} is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., @kbd{/
27730 s}, @kbd{/ a}, and @kbd{/ x}
27731 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-@{subject,author,extra@}}) respectively, the
27732 result will be to display all articles that do not match the expression.
27735 Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).
27739 @item Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features
27740 @c ****************************************************
27747 You can delay the sending of a message with @kbd{C-c C-j} in the Message
27748 buffer. The messages are delivered at specified time. This is useful
27749 for sending yourself reminders. @xref{Delayed Articles}.
27752 If the new option @code{nnml-use-compressed-files} is non-@code{nil},
27753 the nnml back end allows compressed message files.
27756 The new option @code{gnus-gcc-mark-as-read} automatically marks
27757 Gcc articles as read.
27760 Externalizing of attachments
27762 If @code{gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments} or
27763 @code{message-fcc-externalize-attachments} is non-@code{nil}, attach
27764 local files as external parts.
27767 The envelope sender address can be customized when using Sendmail.
27768 @xref{Mail Variables, Mail Variables,, message, Message Manual}.
27771 Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.
27773 Earlier it was generated when the user configurable email address was
27774 different from the Gnus guessed default user address. As the guessing
27775 algorithm is rarely correct these days, and (more controversially) the
27776 only use of the Sender: header was to check if you are entitled to
27777 cancel/supersede news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead,
27778 see another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
27779 default. See the variables @code{message-required-headers},
27780 @code{message-required-news-headers}, and
27781 @code{message-required-mail-headers}.
27784 Features from third party @file{message-utils.el} added to @file{message.el}.
27786 Message now asks if you wish to remove @samp{(was: <old subject>)} from
27787 subject lines (see @code{message-subject-trailing-was-query}). @kbd{C-c
27788 M-m} and @kbd{C-c M-f} inserts markers indicating included text.
27789 @kbd{C-c C-f a} adds a X-No-Archive: header. @kbd{C-c C-f x} inserts
27790 appropriate headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
27791 followups (see the variables @code{message-cross-post-@var{*}}).
27794 References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated when you
27795 start composing messages and @code{message-generate-headers-first} is
27799 Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers. @xref{X-Face}.
27802 Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting
27804 To support groups that contains SPC and other weird characters, groups
27805 are quoted before they are placed in the Gcc: header. This means
27806 variables such as @code{gnus-message-archive-group} should no longer
27807 contain quote characters to make groups containing SPC work. Also, if
27808 you are using the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar} (indicating Gcc
27809 into two groups) you must change it to return the list
27810 @code{("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")}, otherwise the Gcc: line will be quoted
27811 incorrectly. Note that returning the string @samp{nnml:foo, nnml:bar}
27812 was incorrect earlier, it just didn't generate any problems since it
27813 was inserted directly.
27816 @code{message-insinuate-rmail}
27818 Adding @code{(message-insinuate-rmail)} and @code{(setq
27819 mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent)} in @file{.emacs} convinces Rmail to
27820 compose, reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
27821 enjoy the power of @acronym{MML}.
27824 @code{message-minibuffer-local-map}
27826 The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
27828 (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
27829 'bbdb-complete-name)
27833 @code{gnus-posting-styles}
27835 Add a new format of match like
27837 ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
27838 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
27840 The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still accepted.
27842 (header "to" "larsi.*org"
27843 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
27847 @code{message-ignored-news-headers} and @code{message-ignored-mail-headers}
27849 @samp{X-Draft-From} and @samp{X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information} have been
27850 added into these two variables. If you customized those, perhaps you
27851 need add those two headers too.
27854 Gnus supports the ``format=flowed'' (RFC 2646) parameter. On
27855 composing messages, it is enabled by @code{use-hard-newlines}.
27856 Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in earlier
27860 The option @code{mm-fill-flowed} can be used to disable treatment of
27861 ``format=flowed'' messages. Also, flowed text is disabled when sending
27862 inline PGP signed messages. @xref{Flowed text, , Flowed text,
27863 emacs-mime, The Emacs MIME Manual}. (New in Gnus 5.10.7)
27864 @c This entry is also present in the node "No Gnus".
27867 Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition Notification requests.
27869 This is invoked with the @kbd{C-c M-n} key binding from message mode.
27872 Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.
27874 In the message buffer, @kbd{C-c C-f C-i} or @kbd{C-c C-u} cycles through
27878 Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.
27880 This means a header @samp{Cancel-Lock} is inserted in news posting. It is
27881 used to determine if you wrote an article or not (for canceling and
27882 superseding). Gnus generates a random password string the first time
27883 you post a message, and saves it in your @file{~/.emacs} using the Custom
27884 system. While the variable is called @code{canlock-password}, it is not
27885 security sensitive data. Publishing your canlock string on the web
27886 will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not already do.
27887 The behavior can be changed by customizing @code{message-insert-canlock}.
27890 Gnus supports @acronym{PGP} (RFC 1991/2440), @acronym{PGP/MIME} (RFC
27891 2015/3156) and @acronym{S/MIME} (RFC 2630-2633).
27893 It needs an external @acronym{S/MIME} and OpenPGP implementation, but no
27894 additional Lisp libraries. This add several menu items to the
27895 Attachments menu, and @kbd{C-c RET} key bindings, when composing
27896 messages. This also obsoletes @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook}.
27899 @acronym{MML} (Mime compose) prefix changed from @kbd{M-m} to @kbd{C-c
27902 This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard binding of
27903 @code{back-to-indentation}, which is also useful in message mode.
27906 The default for @code{message-forward-show-mml} changed to the symbol
27909 The behavior for the @code{best} value is to show @acronym{MML} (i.e.,
27910 convert to @acronym{MIME}) when appropriate. @acronym{MML} will not be
27911 used when forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
27912 invalidate the digital signature.
27915 If @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled, attachments are automatically
27916 decompressed when activated.
27917 @c FIXME: Does this affect article or message mode?
27920 Support for non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names
27922 Message supports non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To: and
27923 Cc: and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
27924 send a message. The variable @code{message-use-idna} controls this.
27925 Gnus will also decode non-@acronym{ASCII} domain names in From:, To:
27926 and Cc: when you view a message. The variable @code{gnus-use-idna}
27929 @item You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
27930 See @code{mml-dnd-protocol-alist} and @code{mml-dnd-attach-options}.
27931 @xref{MIME, ,MIME, message, Message Manual}.
27932 @c New in 5.10.9 / 5.11
27936 @item Changes in back ends
27937 @c ***********************
27941 Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup. @xref{RSS}.
27944 The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim bounces.
27947 Gnus supports Maildir groups.
27949 Gnus includes a new back end @file{nnmaildir.el}. @xref{Maildir}.
27952 The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.
27954 This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder servers/groups
27955 separately of @file{~/.newsrc.eld}, while preserving marks. It also
27956 makes it possible to share articles and marks between users (without
27957 sharing the @file{~/.newsrc.eld} file) within e.g. a department. It
27958 works by storing the marks stored in @file{~/.newsrc.eld} in a per-group
27959 file @file{.marks} (for nnml) and @file{@var{groupname}.mrk} (for
27960 nnfolder, named @var{groupname}). If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to
27961 another machine, Gnus will automatically use the @file{.marks} or
27962 @file{.mrk} file instead of the information in @file{~/.newsrc.eld}.
27963 The new server variables @code{nnml-marks-is-evil} and
27964 @code{nnfolder-marks-is-evil} can be used to disable this feature.
27974 The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named ``Misc'' has
27975 been renamed to ``Gnus''.
27978 The menu bar item (in Message mode) named ``@acronym{MML}'' has been
27979 renamed to ``Attachments''. Note that this menu also contains security
27980 related stuff, like signing and encryption (@pxref{Security, Security,,
27981 message, Message Manual}).
27984 The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group, Summary and
27985 Message mode. You can also customize the tool bars. This is a new
27986 feature in Gnus 5.10.9. (Only for Emacs, not in XEmacs.)
27988 @item The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly
27989 in the group buffer, see the variable @code{gnus-group-update-tool-bar}.
27990 Its default value depends on your Emacs version. This is a new feature
27995 @item Miscellaneous changes
27996 @c ************************
28003 The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by default,
28004 and all nntp and nnimap servers from @code{gnus-select-method} and
28005 @code{gnus-secondary-select-method} are agentized by default. Earlier
28006 only the server in @code{gnus-select-method} was agentized by the
28007 default, and the agent was disabled by default. When the agent is
28008 enabled, headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
28009 of the back ends when possible. Earlier this only happened in the
28010 unplugged state. You can enroll or remove servers with @kbd{J a} and
28011 @kbd{J r} in the server buffer. Gnus will not download articles into
28012 the Agent cache, unless you instruct it to do so, though, by using
28013 @kbd{J u} or @kbd{J s} from the Group buffer. You revert to the old
28014 behavior of having the Agent disabled with @code{(setq gnus-agent
28015 nil)}. Note that putting @code{(gnus-agentize)} in @file{~/.gnus.el}
28016 is not needed any more.
28019 Gnus reads the @acronym{NOV} and articles in the Agent if plugged.
28021 If one reads an article while plugged, and the article already exists
28022 in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once more. @code{(setq
28023 gnus-agent-cache nil)} reverts to the old behavior.
28028 @code{gnus-dired-minor-mode} (see @ref{Other modes}) installs key
28029 bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment, open a file
28030 using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a file using the mailcap
28034 The format spec @code{%C} for positioning point has changed to @code{%*}.
28037 @code{gnus-slave-unplugged}
28039 A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.
28046 @subsubsection No Gnus
28049 New features in No Gnus:
28050 @c FIXME: Gnus 5.12?
28052 @include gnus-news.texi
28058 @section The Manual
28062 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
28063 either @code{texi2dvi}
28065 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
28066 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
28068 to get what you hold in your hands now.
28070 The following conventions have been used:
28075 This is a @samp{string}
28078 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
28081 This is a @file{file}
28084 This is a @code{symbol}
28088 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
28092 (setq flargnoze "yes")
28095 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
28098 (setq flumphel 'yes)
28101 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
28102 ever get them confused.
28106 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
28107 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
28108 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
28109 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
28110 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
28111 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
28112 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
28118 @node On Writing Manuals
28119 @section On Writing Manuals
28121 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
28122 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
28123 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
28124 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
28125 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
28126 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code go hand
28129 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
28130 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
28131 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
28134 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
28135 reference manual as source material. It would look quite different.
28140 @section Terminology
28142 @cindex terminology
28147 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
28148 News is generally fetched from a nearby @acronym{NNTP} server, and is
28149 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
28150 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
28151 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
28155 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
28156 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
28157 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
28158 not posting, and replying is not following up.
28162 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
28166 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
28171 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
28172 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
28173 commonly fetched via the protocol @acronym{NNTP}, whereas mail
28174 messages could be read from a file on the local disk. The internal
28175 architecture of Gnus thus comprises a ``front end'' and a number of
28176 ``back ends''. Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
28177 @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
28178 Gnus. The front end then ``talks'' to a back end and says things like
28179 ``Give me the list of articles in the foo group'' or ``Show me article
28182 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back
28183 end accesses news via @acronym{NNTP}, the @code{nnimap} back end
28184 accesses mail via @acronym{IMAP}) or a file format and directory
28185 layout (the @code{nnspool} back end accesses news via the common
28186 ``spool directory'' format, the @code{nnml} back end access mail via a
28187 file format and directory layout that's quite similar).
28189 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
28190 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
28191 access the articles.
28193 However, sometimes the term ``back end'' is also used where ``server''
28194 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term ``select
28195 method'' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
28200 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
28201 default, way of getting news.
28205 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
28206 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
28211 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
28212 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
28216 A message that has been posted as news.
28219 @cindex mail message
28220 A message that has been mailed.
28224 A mail message or news article
28228 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
28233 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
28238 A line from the head of an article.
28242 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
28243 collection of @acronym{NOV} lines.
28245 @item @acronym{NOV}
28246 @cindex @acronym{NOV}
28247 @acronym{NOV} stands for News OverView, which is a type of news server
28248 header which provide datas containing the condensed header information
28249 of articles. They are produced by the server itself; in the @code{nntp}
28250 back end Gnus uses the ones that the @acronym{NNTP} server makes, but
28251 Gnus makes them by itself for some backends (in particular, @code{nnml}).
28253 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
28254 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
28255 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
28256 normal @sc{head} format.
28258 The @acronym{NOV} data consist of one or more text lines (@pxref{Text
28259 Lines, ,Motion by Text Lines, elisp, The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual})
28260 where each line has the header information of one article. The header
28261 information is a tab-separated series of the header's contents including
28262 an article number, a subject, an author, a date, a message-id,
28265 Those data enable Gnus to generate summary lines quickly. However, if
28266 the server does not support @acronym{NOV} or you disable it purposely or
28267 for some reason, Gnus will try to generate the header information by
28268 parsing each article's headers one by one. It will take time.
28269 Therefore, it is not usually a good idea to set nn*-nov-is-evil
28270 (@pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}) to a non-@code{nil} value unless you
28271 know that the server makes wrong @acronym{NOV} data.
28275 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
28276 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
28277 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
28278 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
28279 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
28280 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
28282 @item killed groups
28283 @cindex killed groups
28284 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
28285 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
28287 @item zombie groups
28288 @cindex zombie groups
28289 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
28292 @cindex active file
28293 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
28294 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
28295 is rather large, as you might surmise.
28298 @cindex bogus groups
28299 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
28300 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
28301 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
28304 @cindex activating groups
28305 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
28306 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
28307 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
28311 News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
28312 One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
28313 article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
28317 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
28319 @item select method
28320 @cindex select method
28321 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
28324 @item virtual server
28325 @cindex virtual server
28326 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
28327 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
28328 whole is a virtual server.
28332 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
28333 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
28336 @item ephemeral groups
28337 @cindex ephemeral groups
28338 @cindex temporary groups
28339 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
28340 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
28341 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
28344 @cindex solid groups
28345 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
28346 group buffer are solid groups.
28348 @item sparse articles
28349 @cindex sparse articles
28350 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
28351 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
28355 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
28356 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
28360 @cindex thread root
28361 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
28362 articles in the thread.
28366 An article that has responses.
28370 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
28374 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
28375 specified by RFC 1153.
28378 @cindex splitting, terminology
28379 @cindex mail sorting
28380 @cindex mail filtering (splitting)
28381 The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules. Sometimes
28382 incorrectly called mail filtering.
28388 @node Customization
28389 @section Customization
28390 @cindex general customization
28392 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
28393 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
28394 for some quite common situations.
28397 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
28398 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
28399 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
28400 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
28404 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
28405 @subsection Slow/Expensive Connection
28407 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
28408 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
28409 Gnus has to get from the server.
28413 @item gnus-read-active-file
28414 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
28415 entire active file from the server. This file is often very large. You
28416 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28417 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
28418 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
28420 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
28421 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
28422 Usually this one must @emph{always} be @code{nil} (which is the
28423 default). If, for example, you wish to not use @acronym{NOV}
28424 (@pxref{Terminology}) with the @code{nntp} back end (@pxref{Crosspost
28425 Handling}), set @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} to a non-@code{nil} value
28426 instead of setting this. But you normally do not need to set
28427 @code{nntp-nov-is-evil} since Gnus by itself will detect whether the
28428 @acronym{NNTP} server supports @acronym{NOV}. Anyway, grabbing article
28429 headers from the @acronym{NNTP} server will not be very fast if you tell
28430 Gnus not to use @acronym{NOV}.
28432 As the variables for the other back ends, there are
28433 @code{nndiary-nov-is-evil}, @code{nndir-nov-is-evil},
28434 @code{nnfolder-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnimap-nov-is-evil},
28435 @code{nnml-nov-is-evil}, @code{nnspool-nov-is-evil}, and
28436 @code{nnwarchive-nov-is-evil}. Note that a non-@code{nil} value for
28437 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} overrides all those variables.@footnote{Although
28438 the back ends @code{nnkiboze}, @code{nnslashdot}, @code{nnultimate}, and
28439 @code{nnwfm} don't have their own nn*-nov-is-evil.}
28443 @node Slow Terminal Connection
28444 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
28446 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
28447 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
28448 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
28452 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
28453 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
28454 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
28455 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
28456 horizontal and vertical recentering.
28458 @item gnus-visible-headers
28459 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
28460 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
28461 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
28462 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
28464 Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
28466 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
28467 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
28468 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
28471 @item gnus-use-full-window
28472 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
28473 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
28474 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
28475 want to read them anyway.
28477 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
28478 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
28482 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
28483 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
28484 lines, which might save some time.
28488 @node Little Disk Space
28489 @subsection Little Disk Space
28492 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
28493 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
28497 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
28498 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
28499 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28500 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28503 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
28504 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
28505 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
28506 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
28509 @item gnus-save-killed-list
28510 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
28511 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
28512 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
28513 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
28519 @subsection Slow Machine
28520 @cindex slow machine
28522 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
28523 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
28525 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
28526 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
28528 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
28529 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
28530 summary buffer faster. Also @pxref{Slow/Expensive Connection}.
28534 @node Troubleshooting
28535 @section Troubleshooting
28536 @cindex troubleshooting
28538 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
28546 Make sure your computer is switched on.
28549 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
28550 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
28554 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
28556 @samp{No Gnus v0.7} @c Adjust ../Makefile.in if you change this line!
28558 you have the right files loaded. Otherwise you have some old @file{.el}
28559 files lying around. Delete these.
28562 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a
28563 @acronym{FAQ} and a how-to.
28566 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
28567 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
28568 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
28569 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
28570 something like that.
28573 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
28576 @cindex reporting bugs
28578 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
28580 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
28581 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
28582 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
28583 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
28585 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
28586 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
28587 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
28588 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
28591 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
28592 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
28593 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
28594 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
28595 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
28596 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
28598 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
28599 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
28600 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
28604 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
28605 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
28608 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
28609 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
28610 edebug. Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
28611 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
28612 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
28613 you discover some weird behavior when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
28614 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
28615 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
28616 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
28617 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
28618 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
28619 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
28620 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
28621 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
28626 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
28627 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
28628 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press @kbd{C-g} when things are
28629 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
28630 helps isolating the real problem areas).
28632 A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is
28633 (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
28634 there are a few steps that need to be followed. First, instrument the
28635 part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x
28636 elp-instrument-package RET gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package
28637 RET message}. Then perform the operation that is slow and press
28638 @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will then see which operations that takes
28639 time, and can debug them further. If the entire operation takes much
28640 longer than the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler
28641 output, you probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus. To reset
28642 profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x
28643 elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove profiling, but given the
28644 complexities and dynamic code generation in Gnus, it might not always
28647 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
28648 @cindex ding mailing list
28649 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
28650 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful. You can also ask on
28651 @email{ding@@gnus.org, the ding mailing list}. Write to
28652 @email{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
28656 @node Gnus Reference Guide
28657 @section Gnus Reference Guide
28659 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
28660 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
28661 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
28662 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
28665 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
28666 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
28667 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
28668 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
28669 and general methods of operation.
28672 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
28673 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
28674 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
28675 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
28676 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
28677 * Group Info:: The group info format.
28678 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
28679 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
28680 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
28684 @node Gnus Utility Functions
28685 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
28686 @cindex Gnus utility functions
28687 @cindex utility functions
28689 @cindex internal variables
28691 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
28692 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
28693 Below is a list of the most common ones.
28697 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
28698 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
28699 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
28701 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
28702 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
28703 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
28705 @item gnus-group-real-name
28706 @findex gnus-group-real-name
28707 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
28710 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
28711 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
28712 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
28713 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
28715 @item gnus-get-info
28716 @findex gnus-get-info
28717 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
28719 @item gnus-group-unread
28720 @findex gnus-group-unread
28721 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
28725 @findex gnus-active
28726 The active entry for @var{group}.
28728 @item gnus-set-active
28729 @findex gnus-set-active
28730 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
28732 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
28733 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
28734 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
28737 @item gnus-continuum-version
28738 @findex gnus-continuum-version
28739 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
28740 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
28743 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
28744 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
28745 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
28747 @item gnus-news-group-p
28748 @findex gnus-news-group-p
28749 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
28751 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
28752 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
28753 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
28755 @item gnus-server-to-method
28756 @findex gnus-server-to-method
28757 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
28759 @item gnus-server-equal
28760 @findex gnus-server-equal
28761 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
28763 @item gnus-group-native-p
28764 @findex gnus-group-native-p
28765 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
28767 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
28768 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
28769 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
28771 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
28772 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
28773 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
28775 @item gnus-group-find-parameter
28776 @findex gnus-group-find-parameter
28777 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
28778 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
28780 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
28781 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
28782 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
28784 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
28785 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
28786 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
28788 @item gnus-check-backend-function
28789 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
28790 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
28791 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
28794 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
28798 @item gnus-read-method
28799 @findex gnus-read-method
28800 Prompts the user for a select method.
28805 @node Back End Interface
28806 @subsection Back End Interface
28808 Gnus doesn't know anything about @acronym{NNTP}, spools, mail or virtual
28809 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
28810 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
28811 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
28812 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
28813 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
28815 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
28816 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
28817 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
28818 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
28819 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
28820 been opened, the function should fail.
28822 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
28823 name. Take this example:
28827 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
28828 (nntp-port-number 4324))
28831 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
28832 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
28834 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
28835 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
28836 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
28838 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
28839 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
28840 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
28842 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
28843 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
28844 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
28845 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
28846 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
28847 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
28850 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
28851 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
28852 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
28853 ---they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
28856 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
28857 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
28858 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
28859 possible for later articles to ``re-use'' older article numbers without
28860 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
28861 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
28862 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
28863 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
28864 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
28865 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
28867 The previous paragraph already mentions all the ``hard'' restrictions that
28868 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
28869 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
28870 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
28871 the ``no-reuse'' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
28872 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
28873 of numbers as long as possible.
28875 Note that by convention, back ends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
28876 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
28877 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
28879 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
28882 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
28885 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
28886 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
28887 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
28888 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
28889 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
28890 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
28894 @node Required Back End Functions
28895 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
28899 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
28901 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
28902 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
28903 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
28904 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
28906 The result data should either be HEADs or @acronym{NOV} lines, and the result
28907 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
28908 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
28909 of HEADs and @acronym{NOV} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
28911 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching ``extra
28912 headers'', in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
28913 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
28914 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
28915 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
28916 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
28917 number, do maximum fetches.
28919 Here's an example HEAD:
28922 221 1056 Article retrieved.
28923 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
28924 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
28925 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
28926 Subject: Re: Something very droll
28927 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
28928 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
28930 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
28931 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
28932 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
28936 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
28937 these in the data buffer.
28939 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
28943 head = error / valid-head
28944 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
28945 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
28946 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
28947 header = <text> eol
28951 (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)
28953 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
28954 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
28958 nov-buffer = *nov-line
28959 nov-line = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
28960 field = <text except TAB>
28963 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
28967 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
28969 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
28970 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
28972 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
28973 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
28974 server. In fact, it should do so.
28976 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
28977 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
28980 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
28982 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
28983 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
28986 There should be no data returned.
28989 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
28991 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
28992 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
28993 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
28994 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
28996 There should be no data returned.
28999 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
29001 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
29002 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
29003 non-@code{nil} value. This function should under no circumstances
29004 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
29006 There should be no data returned.
29009 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
29011 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
29013 There should be no data returned.
29016 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
29018 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
29019 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
29020 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
29021 it would be nice if that were possible.
29023 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
29024 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
29025 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
29026 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
29027 into its article buffer.
29029 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
29030 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
29031 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
29032 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
29033 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
29034 on successful article retrieval.
29037 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
29039 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
29040 making @var{group} the current group.
29042 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
29045 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
29048 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
29051 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
29052 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
29053 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
29054 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
29055 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
29056 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
29057 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
29058 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
29059 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
29063 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
29064 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
29065 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
29069 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29071 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
29072 a no-op on most back ends.
29074 There should be no data returned.
29077 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
29079 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
29082 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
29085 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
29086 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
29089 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
29090 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
29091 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
29092 and the highest as 0.
29095 active-file = *active-line
29096 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
29098 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
29101 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
29102 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
29103 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
29106 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
29108 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
29109 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
29110 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
29111 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
29112 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
29113 clear if the posting could not be completed.
29115 There should be no result data from this function.
29120 @node Optional Back End Functions
29121 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
29125 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
29127 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
29128 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
29129 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
29131 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
29132 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
29133 former is in the same format as the data from
29134 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
29135 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
29138 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
29142 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
29144 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
29145 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all
29146 the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
29147 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
29148 should return a non-@code{nil} value (exceptionally,
29149 @code{nntp-request-update-info} always returns @code{nil} not to waste
29150 the network resources).
29152 There should be no result data from this function.
29155 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
29157 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
29158 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
29159 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
29160 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
29161 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
29162 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
29163 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
29164 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
29166 There should be no result data from this function.
29169 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
29171 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
29172 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
29173 @file{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @acronym{IMAP}) however carry
29174 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
29175 propagate the mark information to the server.
29177 @var{action} is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
29180 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
29183 @var{range} is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.
29184 @var{action} is @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove
29185 marks (preserving all marks not mentioned). @var{mark} is a list of
29186 marks; where each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are
29187 @code{read}, @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
29188 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
29189 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
29190 possible, not limit itself to these.
29192 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
29193 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
29194 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
29195 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
29197 An example action list:
29200 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
29201 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
29202 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
29205 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
29206 mark on (currently not used for anything).
29208 There should be no result data from this function.
29210 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
29212 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
29213 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
29214 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
29215 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
29216 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
29218 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
29219 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
29220 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
29223 There should be no result data from this function.
29226 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
29228 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
29229 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
29230 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query
29231 the @acronym{POP} server when this function is invoked. The
29232 @var{group} doesn't have to be heeded---if the back end decides that
29233 it is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
29234 total scan of all groups. It would be nice, however, to keep things
29235 local if that's practical.
29237 There should be no result data from this function.
29240 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
29242 The result data from this function should be a description of
29246 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
29248 description = <text>
29251 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
29253 The result data from this function should be the description of all
29254 groups available on the server.
29257 description-buffer = *description-line
29261 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
29263 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
29264 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
29265 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
29266 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
29267 in the active buffer format.
29269 It is okay for this function to return ``too many'' groups; some back ends
29270 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
29271 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
29272 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
29273 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
29274 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
29275 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
29278 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
29280 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
29282 There should be no return data.
29285 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
29287 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
29288 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
29289 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
29290 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
29291 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
29294 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
29297 There should be no result data returned.
29300 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)
29302 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
29303 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
29305 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
29306 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
29307 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
29308 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
29309 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
29310 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
29312 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
29313 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
29316 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29317 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29319 There should be no data returned.
29322 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
29324 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
29325 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
29326 this function in short order.
29328 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
29329 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
29331 The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
29332 article for that group.
29334 There should be no data returned.
29337 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
29339 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
29340 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
29342 There should be no data returned.
29345 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
29347 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
29348 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
29349 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
29351 There should be no data returned.
29354 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
29356 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
29357 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
29359 There should be no data returned.
29364 @node Error Messaging
29365 @subsubsection Error Messaging
29367 @findex nnheader-report
29368 @findex nnheader-get-report
29369 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
29370 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
29371 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
29372 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
29373 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
29374 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
29377 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
29379 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
29382 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
29383 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
29384 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
29385 takes one argument---the server symbol.
29387 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
29388 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
29389 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
29392 @node Writing New Back Ends
29393 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
29395 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
29396 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
29397 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
29398 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
29399 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
29402 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
29403 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
29404 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
29406 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
29407 package called @code{nnoo}.
29409 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
29410 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
29416 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
29417 parameters. For instance:
29420 (nnoo-declare nndir
29424 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
29425 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
29428 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
29429 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
29430 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
29432 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
29433 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
29434 a function in those back ends.
29437 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29438 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29439 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29442 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
29443 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
29444 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
29446 @item nnoo-define-basics
29447 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
29451 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29455 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
29456 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
29457 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
29459 @item nnoo-map-functions
29460 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
29461 functions from the parent back ends.
29464 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29465 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29466 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
29469 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
29470 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
29471 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
29472 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
29475 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
29476 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
29477 haven't already been defined.
29483 nnmh-request-newgroups)
29487 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
29488 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
29489 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
29494 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
29497 ;;; @r{nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus}
29498 ;; @r{Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.}
29502 (require 'nnheader)
29506 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
29508 (nnoo-declare nndir
29511 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
29512 "Where nndir will look for groups."
29513 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
29515 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
29516 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
29519 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
29521 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
29522 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
29523 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
29525 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
29526 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
29528 ;;; @r{Interface functions.}
29530 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
29532 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
29533 (setq nndir-directory
29534 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
29536 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
29537 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
29538 (push `(nndir-current-group
29539 ,(file-name-nondirectory
29540 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29542 (push `(nndir-top-directory
29543 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
29545 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
29547 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
29548 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29549 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
29550 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
29551 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
29555 nnmh-status-message
29557 nnmh-request-newgroups))
29563 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29564 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
29566 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
29567 @findex gnus-declare-backend
29568 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
29569 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
29570 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
29572 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
29573 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
29578 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
29581 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
29583 The abilities can be:
29587 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
29589 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
29591 This back end supports both mail and news.
29593 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
29596 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
29597 articles and groups.
29599 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
29600 true for almost all back ends.
29601 @item prompt-address
29602 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
29603 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
29604 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
29608 @node Mail-like Back Ends
29609 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
29611 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
29612 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
29613 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
29614 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
29617 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
29618 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
29619 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
29622 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
29623 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
29626 This function takes four parameters.
29630 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
29633 @item exit-function
29634 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
29636 @item temp-directory
29637 Where the temporary files should be stored.
29640 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
29641 performed for one group only.
29644 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
29645 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
29646 find the article number assigned to this article.
29648 The function also uses the following variables:
29649 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
29650 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
29651 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
29652 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
29656 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
29657 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
29661 @node Score File Syntax
29662 @subsection Score File Syntax
29664 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
29665 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
29666 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
29668 Here's a typical score file:
29672 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
29679 BNF definition of a score file:
29682 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
29683 element = rule / atom
29684 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
29685 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
29686 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
29687 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
29689 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
29690 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
29691 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
29692 date-header = "date"
29693 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29694 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29695 score = "nil" / <integer>
29696 date = "nil" / <natural number>
29697 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
29698 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
29699 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
29700 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
29701 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29702 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29703 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
29704 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
29705 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
29706 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
29707 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
29708 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
29709 exclude-files / read-only / touched
29710 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
29711 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
29712 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
29713 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
29714 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
29715 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
29716 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
29717 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
29718 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
29719 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
29720 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
29721 eval = "eval" space <form>
29722 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
29725 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
29728 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
29729 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
29730 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
29731 one looong line, then that's ok.
29733 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
29734 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
29738 @subsection Headers
29740 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
29741 corresponds to the @acronym{NOV} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
29742 almost suspect that the author looked at the @acronym{NOV} specification and
29743 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
29745 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
29746 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
29747 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
29748 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
29749 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
29750 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
29751 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
29753 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
29754 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
29755 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
29756 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
29757 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
29759 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
29760 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
29766 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
29767 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
29769 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
29770 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
29771 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
29772 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
29774 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
29778 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
29781 is transformed into
29784 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
29787 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
29788 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
29791 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
29794 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
29795 is slightly tricky:
29798 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
29804 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
29807 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
29813 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
29820 and is equal to the previous range.
29822 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
29823 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
29824 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
29828 range = simple-range / normal-range
29829 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
29830 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
29831 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
29832 number *[ " " contents ]
29835 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
29836 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
29837 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
29838 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
29839 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
29844 @subsection Group Info
29846 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
29847 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
29848 describes the group.
29850 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
29851 second is a more complex one:
29854 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
29856 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
29857 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
29859 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
29862 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
29863 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
29864 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
29865 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
29866 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
29867 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
29868 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
29869 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
29870 this section is about.
29872 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
29873 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
29874 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
29876 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
29879 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
29880 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
29881 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
29882 group = quote <string> quote
29883 ralevel = rank / level
29884 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
29885 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
29886 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
29888 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
29889 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
29890 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
29891 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
29894 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
29895 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
29898 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
29899 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
29902 @item gnus-info-group
29903 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
29904 @findex gnus-info-group
29905 @findex gnus-info-set-group
29906 Get/set the group name.
29908 @item gnus-info-rank
29909 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
29910 @findex gnus-info-rank
29911 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
29912 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
29914 @item gnus-info-level
29915 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
29916 @findex gnus-info-level
29917 @findex gnus-info-set-level
29918 Get/set the group level.
29920 @item gnus-info-score
29921 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
29922 @findex gnus-info-score
29923 @findex gnus-info-set-score
29924 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
29926 @item gnus-info-read
29927 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
29928 @findex gnus-info-read
29929 @findex gnus-info-set-read
29930 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
29932 @item gnus-info-marks
29933 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
29934 @findex gnus-info-marks
29935 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
29936 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
29938 @item gnus-info-method
29939 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
29940 @findex gnus-info-method
29941 @findex gnus-info-set-method
29942 Get/set the group select method.
29944 @item gnus-info-params
29945 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
29946 @findex gnus-info-params
29947 @findex gnus-info-set-params
29948 Get/set the group parameters.
29951 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
29952 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
29954 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
29955 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
29956 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
29957 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
29960 @node Extended Interactive
29961 @subsection Extended Interactive
29962 @cindex interactive
29963 @findex gnus-interactive
29965 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
29966 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
29967 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
29970 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
29971 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
29976 The best thing to do would have been to implement
29977 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
29978 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
29979 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
29980 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
29981 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
29982 @code{interactive}.
29984 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
29989 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
29990 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
29994 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
29995 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
29996 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
29999 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
30003 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
30007 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
30013 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
30014 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
30018 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
30019 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
30020 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
30022 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
30023 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
30024 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
30025 Gnus, that's very useful.
30027 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
30028 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
30029 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
30030 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
30031 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
30032 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
30033 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
30034 following function:
30037 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
30041 (,function ,@@args))
30045 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
30046 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
30047 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
30050 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
30051 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
30052 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
30054 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
30055 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
30056 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
30059 @node Various File Formats
30060 @subsection Various File Formats
30063 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
30064 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
30068 @node Active File Format
30069 @subsubsection Active File Format
30071 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
30072 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
30075 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
30078 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
30079 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
30080 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
30081 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
30082 no.general 1000 900 y
30085 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
30088 active = *group-line
30089 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
30090 group = <non-white-space string>
30092 high-number = <non-negative integer>
30093 low-number = <positive integer>
30094 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
30097 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
30098 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
30101 @node Newsgroups File Format
30102 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
30104 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
30105 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
30106 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
30109 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
30110 Here's the definition:
30114 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
30115 group = <non-white-space string>
30117 description = <string>
30122 @node Emacs for Heathens
30123 @section Emacs for Heathens
30125 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
30126 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
30127 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
30128 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
30129 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
30130 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
30131 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
30135 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
30136 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
30141 @subsection Keystrokes
30145 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
30148 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
30151 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
30152 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
30153 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
30154 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
30155 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
30156 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
30158 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
30159 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
30160 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
30161 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
30162 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
30163 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
30164 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
30166 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
30167 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
30168 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
30169 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
30170 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
30171 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
30172 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
30174 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
30175 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
30176 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
30177 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
30178 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
30184 @subsection Emacs Lisp
30186 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
30187 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
30188 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
30189 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
30191 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
30192 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
30193 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
30194 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
30195 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
30196 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
30197 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{~/.gnus.el}
30198 file to customize Gnus. (You can also use the @file{~/.emacs} file, but
30199 in order to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the
30200 @file{~/.gnus.el} file, @xref{Startup Files}.)
30202 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
30203 write the following:
30206 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
30209 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
30210 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
30211 you can go and fill your @file{~/.gnus.el} file with lots of these to
30212 change how Gnus works.
30214 If you have put that thing in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file, it will be
30215 read and @code{eval}ed (which is Lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
30216 start Gnus. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
30217 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
30218 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
30220 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
30221 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
30222 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
30226 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
30230 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
30233 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
30234 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
30237 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
30240 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
30241 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
30244 @include gnus-faq.texi
30246 @node GNU Free Documentation License
30247 @chapter GNU Free Documentation License
30248 @include doclicense.texi
30268 @c Local Variables:
30270 @c coding: iso-8859-1
30274 arch-tag: c9fa47e7-78ca-4681-bda9-9fef45d1c819