10 * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus.
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282 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
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291 Copyright \copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
293 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
296 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
297 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
298 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
299 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
300 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
301 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
302 License'' in the Emacs manual.
304 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
305 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
306 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
308 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
309 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
310 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
311 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
319 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
321 Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
322 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
324 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
325 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
326 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
327 Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
328 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
329 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
330 License'' in the Emacs manual.
332 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
333 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
334 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
336 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
337 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
338 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
339 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
347 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
350 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
351 Copyright @copyright{} 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,
353 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
355 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
356 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
357 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
358 Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU
359 Manual'', and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the
360 license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
361 License'' in the Emacs manual.
363 (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
364 this GNU Manual, like GNU software. Copies published by the Free
365 Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
367 This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
368 Documentation License. If you want to distribute this document
369 separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
370 license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.
379 @top The Gnus Newsreader
383 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
384 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
385 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
388 This manual corresponds to Oort Gnus v0.13.
399 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
400 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
402 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
403 being accused of plagiarism:
405 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
406 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
407 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you
408 can even read news with it!
410 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
411 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
412 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
413 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
414 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
420 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
421 * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
422 * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
423 * Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
424 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
425 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
426 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
427 * Various:: General purpose settings.
428 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
429 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
430 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
431 * Key Index:: Key Index.
433 Other related manuals
435 * Message:(message). Composing messages.
436 * Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
437 * Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
438 * PGG:(pgg). PGP/MIME with Gnus.
441 --- The Detailed Node Listing ---
445 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
446 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
447 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
448 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
449 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
450 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
451 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
452 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
453 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
454 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
455 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
459 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
460 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
461 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
465 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
466 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
467 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
468 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
469 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
470 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
471 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
472 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
473 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
474 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
475 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
476 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
477 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
478 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
479 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
480 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
481 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
485 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
486 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
487 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
491 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
492 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
493 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
494 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
495 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
499 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
500 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
501 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
502 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
503 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
507 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
508 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
509 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
510 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
511 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
512 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
513 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
514 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
515 * Threading:: How threads are made.
516 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
517 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
518 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
519 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
520 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
521 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
522 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
523 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
524 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
525 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
526 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
527 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
528 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
529 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
530 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
531 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
532 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
533 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
534 or reselecting the current group.
535 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
536 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
537 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
538 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
540 Summary Buffer Format
542 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
543 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
544 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
545 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
549 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
550 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
552 Reply, Followup and Post
554 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
555 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
556 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
557 * Canceling and Superseding::
561 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
562 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
563 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
565 * Generic Marking Commands::
566 * Setting Process Marks::
570 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
571 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
572 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
576 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
577 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
579 Customizing Threading
581 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
582 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
583 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
584 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
588 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
589 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
590 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
591 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
592 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
593 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
597 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
598 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
599 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
603 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
604 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
605 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
606 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
607 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
608 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
609 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
610 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
611 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
612 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
614 Alternative Approaches
616 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
617 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
619 Various Summary Stuff
621 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
622 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
623 * Summary Generation Commands::
624 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
628 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
629 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
630 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
631 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
632 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
636 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
637 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
638 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
639 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
640 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
641 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
642 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
643 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
647 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
648 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
649 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
650 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
651 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
652 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
653 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
654 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
658 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
659 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
660 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
661 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
662 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
663 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
664 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
668 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
669 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
673 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
674 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
675 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
679 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
680 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
681 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
682 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
683 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
684 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
685 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
686 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
687 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
688 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
689 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
690 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
691 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
695 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
696 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
697 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
699 Choosing a Mail Back End
701 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
702 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
703 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
704 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
705 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
706 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
711 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
712 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
713 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
714 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
715 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
716 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
720 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
721 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
722 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
723 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
724 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
728 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
729 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
730 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
731 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
732 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
736 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
740 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
741 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
742 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
746 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
747 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
751 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
752 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
753 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
754 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
755 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
756 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
757 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
758 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
759 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
760 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
761 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
762 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
766 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
767 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
768 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
772 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
773 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
774 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
778 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
779 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
780 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
781 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
782 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
783 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
784 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
785 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
786 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
787 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
788 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
789 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
790 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
791 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
792 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
793 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
794 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
798 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
799 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
800 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
801 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
805 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
806 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
807 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
811 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
812 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
813 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
814 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
815 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
816 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
817 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
818 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
819 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
820 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
821 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
822 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
823 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
824 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
825 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
826 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
827 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
828 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
829 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
833 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
834 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
835 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
836 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
837 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
838 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
839 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
840 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
844 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
845 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
846 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
847 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
848 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
852 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
853 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
854 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
855 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
856 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
857 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
861 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
862 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
863 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
864 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
865 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
866 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
867 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
868 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
869 * Frequently Asked Questions::
873 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
874 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
875 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
876 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
877 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
878 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
879 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
880 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
881 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
885 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
886 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
887 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
888 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
889 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
893 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
894 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
895 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
896 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
900 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
901 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
902 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
903 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
904 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
905 * Group Info:: The group info format.
906 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
907 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
908 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
912 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
913 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
914 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
915 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
916 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
917 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
921 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
922 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
926 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
927 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
933 @chapter Starting Gnus
938 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
939 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
942 @findex gnus-other-frame
943 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
944 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
945 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
947 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
948 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
949 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
951 If you puzzle at any terms used in this manual, please refer to the
952 terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
955 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
956 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
957 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
958 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
959 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
960 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
961 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
962 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
963 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
964 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
965 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
969 @node Finding the News
970 @section Finding the News
973 @vindex gnus-select-method
975 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
976 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
977 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
978 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
981 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
982 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
985 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
988 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
991 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
994 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
995 certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
996 server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
998 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
1000 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
1001 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
1002 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
1003 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
1004 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
1005 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
1007 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1008 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
1009 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
1010 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
1012 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
1013 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
1014 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
1015 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
1016 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
1017 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
1018 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. (Note that this
1019 will set @code{gnus-nntp-server}, which means that if you then @kbd{M-x
1020 gnus} later in the same Emacs session, Gnus will contact the same
1023 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
1025 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
1026 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
1027 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
1028 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
1029 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
1030 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
1032 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
1034 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
1035 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
1036 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
1037 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
1038 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
1039 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
1042 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} back end to read your mail,
1043 you would typically set this variable to
1046 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
1050 @node The First Time
1051 @section The First Time
1052 @cindex first time usage
1054 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
1055 be subscribed by default.
1057 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
1058 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
1059 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
1060 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
1063 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
1064 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
1065 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
1067 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
1068 help you with most common problems.
1070 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
1071 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
1075 @node The Server is Down
1076 @section The Server is Down
1077 @cindex server errors
1079 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
1080 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
1081 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
1083 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
1084 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
1085 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
1086 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
1087 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
1088 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
1089 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
1091 @findex gnus-no-server
1092 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
1094 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
1095 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
1096 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
1097 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
1098 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
1099 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
1100 levels.) Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1104 @section Slave Gnusae
1107 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
1108 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
1109 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
1110 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
1112 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
1113 @code{.newsrc} file.
1115 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
1116 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
1117 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
1118 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
1119 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
1120 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
1121 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
1123 Anyway, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
1124 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
1125 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
1126 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
1127 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
1128 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
1129 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
1130 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
1132 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
1133 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
1135 If the @code{.newsrc*} files have not been saved in the master when the
1136 slave starts, you may be prompted as to whether to read an auto-save
1137 file. If you answer "yes", the unsaved changes to the master will be
1138 incorporated into the slave. If you answer "no", the slave may see some
1139 messages as unread that have been read in the master.
1141 @node Fetching a Group
1142 @section Fetching a Group
1143 @cindex fetching a group
1145 @findex gnus-fetch-group
1146 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
1147 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
1148 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
1149 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
1150 It takes the group name as a parameter.
1156 @cindex subscription
1158 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
1159 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
1160 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
1161 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
1162 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
1163 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
1164 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
1165 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the back ends for new groups even
1166 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1169 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
1170 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
1171 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
1175 @node Checking New Groups
1176 @subsection Checking New Groups
1178 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
1179 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
1180 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
1181 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
1182 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
1183 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
1184 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
1185 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
1186 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
1187 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
1189 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
1190 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
1191 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
1192 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
1193 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
1194 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
1195 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
1196 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
1197 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
1198 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
1199 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
1201 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
1202 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
1203 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
1204 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
1205 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
1206 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
1209 @node Subscription Methods
1210 @subsection Subscription Methods
1212 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
1213 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
1214 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
1216 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
1217 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
1219 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
1223 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
1224 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
1225 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
1226 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
1227 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
1229 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
1230 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
1231 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
1232 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the group buffer.
1234 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1235 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
1236 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
1238 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1239 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
1240 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
1241 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
1242 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
1243 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
1244 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
1245 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
1246 up. Or something like that.
1248 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
1249 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
1250 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
1251 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
1252 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
1254 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
1255 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
1256 Kill all new groups.
1258 @item gnus-subscribe-topics
1259 @vindex gnus-subscribe-topics
1260 Put the groups into the topic that has a matching @code{subscribe} topic
1261 parameter (@pxref{Topic Parameters}). For instance, a @code{subscribe}
1262 topic parameter that looks like
1268 will mean that all groups that match that regex will be subscribed under
1271 If no topics match the groups, the groups will be subscribed in the
1276 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
1277 A closely related variable is
1278 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
1279 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
1280 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
1281 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
1284 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
1285 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
1286 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
1287 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
1290 @node Filtering New Groups
1291 @subsection Filtering New Groups
1293 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
1294 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
1295 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
1298 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
1301 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
1302 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
1303 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
1304 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
1305 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
1306 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
1307 subscribing these groups.
1308 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
1309 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
1311 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
1312 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
1313 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
1314 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
1315 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
1316 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
1317 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
1318 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
1320 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
1321 Yet another variable that meddles here is
1322 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
1323 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
1324 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
1325 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
1326 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
1327 that come from mail back ends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
1328 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{nnmaildir})
1329 subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to
1332 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
1333 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
1336 @node Changing Servers
1337 @section Changing Servers
1338 @cindex changing servers
1340 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
1341 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
1342 very flaky and you want to use another.
1344 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
1345 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
1349 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
1350 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
1351 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
1352 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
1355 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
1356 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
1357 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
1358 functions more than absolutely necessary.
1360 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
1361 @findex gnus-change-server
1362 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
1363 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
1364 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
1365 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
1366 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
1368 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1369 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
1370 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
1371 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
1372 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
1374 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1375 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1376 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
1377 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
1378 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
1379 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
1381 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data
1382 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1383 Clear the data from the current group only---nix out marks and the
1384 list of read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1386 After changing servers, you @strong{must} move the cache hierarchy away,
1387 since the cached articles will have wrong article numbers, which will
1388 affect which articles Gnus thinks are read.
1389 @code{gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} will ask you if you want
1390 to have it done automatically; for @code{gnus-group-clear-data}, you
1391 can use @kbd{M-x gnus-cache-move-cache} (but beware, it will move the
1392 cache for all groups).
1396 @section Startup Files
1397 @cindex startup files
1402 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
1403 information is traditionally stored in this file.
1405 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
1406 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
1407 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
1408 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
1409 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
1410 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
1411 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
1413 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
1414 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
1415 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
1416 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file. You should
1417 never delete the @file{.newsrc.eld} file---it contains much information
1418 not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
1420 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
1421 @vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
1422 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
1423 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
1424 the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
1425 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
1426 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
1427 @code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
1428 @file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
1429 convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
1431 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
1432 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
1433 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
1434 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
1435 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
1436 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
1437 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
1438 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
1439 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
1440 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
1441 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
1442 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
1444 @vindex gnus-startup-file
1445 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
1446 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
1447 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
1449 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
1450 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
1451 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
1452 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
1453 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
1454 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
1455 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
1456 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
1457 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
1458 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
1461 (defun turn-off-backup ()
1462 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
1464 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1465 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
1468 @vindex gnus-init-file
1469 @vindex gnus-site-init-file
1470 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
1471 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
1472 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
1473 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
1474 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
1475 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
1476 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
1477 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
1478 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
1484 @cindex dribble file
1487 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
1488 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
1489 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
1490 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
1491 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
1494 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
1495 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
1498 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
1499 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
1500 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
1502 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
1503 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
1504 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
1505 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
1506 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
1507 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
1509 @vindex gnus-always-read-dribble-file
1510 If @code{gnus-always-read-dribble-file} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will
1511 read the dribble file on startup without querying the user.
1514 @node The Active File
1515 @section The Active File
1517 @cindex ignored groups
1519 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
1520 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
1521 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
1523 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
1524 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
1525 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
1526 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
1527 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
1528 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
1529 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
1532 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
1533 @c if you set it to anything else.
1535 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
1537 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
1538 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
1539 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
1541 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
1542 you actually subscribe to.
1544 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
1545 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
1546 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
1547 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
1549 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
1550 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
1551 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
1552 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
1553 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
1554 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
1556 Some news servers (old versions of Leafnode and old versions of INN, for
1557 instance) do not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these
1558 servers, @code{nil} is probably the most efficient value for this
1561 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
1562 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
1563 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
1564 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
1565 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
1566 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
1568 If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
1569 different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
1571 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
1572 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
1574 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
1575 secondary select methods.
1578 @node Startup Variables
1579 @section Startup Variables
1583 @item gnus-load-hook
1584 @vindex gnus-load-hook
1585 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
1586 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
1587 times you start Gnus.
1589 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
1590 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
1591 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
1593 @item gnus-startup-hook
1594 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
1595 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1597 @item gnus-started-hook
1598 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1599 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1602 @item gnus-setup-news-hook
1603 @vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
1604 A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
1605 generating the group buffer.
1607 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1608 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1609 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1610 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1611 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1612 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1613 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1614 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1616 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1617 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1618 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1619 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1620 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1621 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @file{.emacs} instead.
1623 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1624 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1625 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1627 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1628 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1629 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1631 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1632 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1633 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1634 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1640 @chapter Group Buffer
1641 @cindex group buffer
1643 @c Alex Schroeder suggests to rearrange this as follows:
1645 @c <kensanata> ok, just save it for reference. I'll go to bed in a minute.
1646 @c 1. Selecting a Group, 2. (new) Finding a Group, 3. Group Levels,
1647 @c 4. Subscription Commands, 5. Group Maneuvering, 6. Group Data,
1648 @c 7. Group Score, 8. Group Buffer Format
1649 @c <kensanata> Group Levels should have more information on levels 5 to 9. I
1650 @c suggest to split the 4th paragraph ("Gnus considers groups...") as follows:
1651 @c <kensanata> First, "Gnus considers groups... (default 9)."
1652 @c <kensanata> New, a table summarizing what levels 1 to 9 mean.
1653 @c <kensanata> Third, "Gnus treats subscribed ... reasons of efficiency"
1654 @c <kensanata> Then expand the next paragraph or add some more to it.
1655 @c This short one sentence explains levels 1 and 2, therefore I understand
1656 @c that I should keep important news at 3 and boring news at 4.
1657 @c Say so! Then go on to explain why I should bother with levels 6 to 9.
1658 @c Maybe keep those that you don't want to read temporarily at 6,
1659 @c those that you never want to read at 8, those that offend your
1660 @c human rights at 9...
1663 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1664 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1665 long as Gnus is active.
1669 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1670 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group,height=9cm}}
1671 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1672 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1673 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1674 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1675 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1676 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1682 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1683 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1684 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1685 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1686 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1687 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1688 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1689 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1690 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1691 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1692 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1693 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1694 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1695 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1696 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1697 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1698 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1702 @node Group Buffer Format
1703 @section Group Buffer Format
1706 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1707 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1708 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1712 @node Group Line Specification
1713 @subsection Group Line Specification
1714 @cindex group buffer format
1716 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1717 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1719 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1722 25: news.announce.newusers
1723 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1728 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1729 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1730 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1731 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1733 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1734 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1735 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1736 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1737 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1738 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1740 @samp{%M%S%5y:%B%(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1742 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1743 the colon after performing an operation. @xref{Positioning
1744 Point}. Nothing else is required---not even the group name. All
1745 displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus.
1746 Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties.
1748 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1749 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1750 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1752 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1757 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1760 Whether the group is subscribed.
1763 Level of subscribedness.
1766 Number of unread articles.
1769 Number of dormant articles.
1772 Number of ticked articles.
1775 Number of read articles.
1778 Number of unseen articles.
1781 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1782 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1784 Gnus uses this estimation because the @sc{nntp} protocol provides
1785 efficient access to @var{max-number} and @var{min-number} but getting
1786 the true unread message count is not possible efficiently. For
1787 hysterical raisins, even the mail back ends, where the true number of
1788 unread messages might be available efficiently, use the same limited
1789 interface. To remove this restriction from Gnus means that the back
1790 end interface has to be changed, which is not an easy job. If you
1791 want to work on this, please contact the Gnus mailing list.
1794 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1797 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1806 Group comment (@pxref{Group Parameters}) or group name if there is no
1807 comment element in the group parameters.
1810 Newsgroup description.
1813 @samp{m} if moderated.
1816 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1822 If the summary buffer for the group is open or not.
1828 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1832 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1835 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1836 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1837 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1838 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1839 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.e.gnus}.
1842 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1844 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1848 @samp{#} (@code{gnus-process-mark}) if the group is process marked.
1851 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1855 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1856 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1857 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1858 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1859 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1860 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1865 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1866 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1867 group, or a bogus native group.
1870 @node Group Modeline Specification
1871 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1872 @cindex group modeline
1874 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1875 The mode line can be changed by setting
1876 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
1877 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1881 The native news server.
1883 The native select method.
1887 @node Group Highlighting
1888 @subsection Group Highlighting
1889 @cindex highlighting
1890 @cindex group highlighting
1892 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1893 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1894 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1895 that look like @code{(@var{form} . @var{face})}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1896 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1898 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1902 (cond (window-system
1903 (setq custom-background-mode 'light)
1904 (defface my-group-face-1
1905 '((t (:foreground "Red" :bold t))) "First group face")
1906 (defface my-group-face-2
1907 '((t (:foreground "DarkSeaGreen4" :bold t))) "Second group face")
1908 (defface my-group-face-3
1909 '((t (:foreground "Green4" :bold t))) "Third group face")
1910 (defface my-group-face-4
1911 '((t (:foreground "SteelBlue" :bold t))) "Fourth group face")
1912 (defface my-group-face-5
1913 '((t (:foreground "Blue" :bold t))) "Fifth group face")))
1915 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1916 '(((> unread 200) . my-group-face-1)
1917 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . my-group-face-2)
1918 ((< level 3) . my-group-face-3)
1919 ((zerop unread) . my-group-face-4)
1920 (t . my-group-face-5)))
1923 Also @pxref{Faces and Fonts}.
1925 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1932 The number of unread articles in the group.
1936 Whether the group is a mail group.
1938 The level of the group.
1940 The score of the group.
1942 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1944 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1945 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1947 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1948 topic being inserted.
1951 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1952 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1953 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1955 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1956 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1957 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1958 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1959 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1962 @node Group Maneuvering
1963 @section Group Maneuvering
1964 @cindex group movement
1966 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1967 expected, hopefully.
1973 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1974 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1975 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1981 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1982 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1983 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1987 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1988 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1992 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1993 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1997 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1998 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1999 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
2003 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
2004 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
2005 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
2008 Three commands for jumping to groups:
2014 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
2015 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
2016 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
2021 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
2022 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
2023 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
2027 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
2028 Jump to the first group with unread articles
2029 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
2032 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
2033 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
2034 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
2035 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
2039 @node Selecting a Group
2040 @section Selecting a Group
2041 @cindex group selection
2046 @kindex SPACE (Group)
2047 @findex gnus-group-read-group
2048 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
2049 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
2050 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
2051 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
2052 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
2053 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
2054 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
2055 negative, Gnus fetches the @code{abs(@var{N})} oldest articles.
2057 Thus, @kbd{SPC} enters the group normally, @kbd{C-u SPC} offers old
2058 articles, @kbd{C-u 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 newest articles, and @kbd{C-u
2059 - 4 2 SPC} fetches the 42 oldest ones.
2061 When you are in the group (in the Summary buffer), you can type
2062 @kbd{M-g} to fetch new articles, or @kbd{C-u M-g} to also show the old
2067 @findex gnus-group-select-group
2068 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
2069 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
2070 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
2071 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
2075 @kindex M-RET (Group)
2076 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
2077 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
2078 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
2079 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
2080 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
2081 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
2082 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
2083 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
2084 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
2087 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
2088 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
2089 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
2090 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
2091 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
2094 @kindex C-M-RET (Group)
2095 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
2096 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
2097 doing any processing of its contents
2098 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
2099 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
2100 manner will have no permanent effects.
2104 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
2105 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
2106 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
2107 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
2108 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
2109 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
2110 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
2111 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
2114 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
2115 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
2116 @vindex gnus-auto-select-subject
2117 If @code{gnus-auto-select-first} is non-@code{nil}, select an article
2118 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
2119 Which article this is is controlled by the
2120 @code{gnus-auto-select-subject} variable. Valid values for this
2126 Place point on the subject line of the first unread article.
2129 Place point on the subject line of the first article.
2132 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article.
2134 @item unseen-or-unread
2135 Place point on the subject line of the first unseen article, and if
2136 there is no such article, place point on the subject line of the first
2140 Place point on the subject line of the highest-scored unread article.
2144 This variable can also be a function. In that case, that function
2145 will be called to place point on a subject line.
2147 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
2148 binary group with Huge articles) you can set the
2149 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} variable to @code{nil} in
2150 @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
2154 @node Subscription Commands
2155 @section Subscription Commands
2156 @cindex subscription
2164 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
2165 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
2166 Toggle subscription to the current group
2167 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2173 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
2174 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
2175 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
2176 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
2182 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
2183 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
2184 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
2190 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
2191 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
2194 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
2195 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
2196 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
2197 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
2198 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
2204 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
2205 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
2209 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
2210 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
2213 @kindex S C-k (Group)
2214 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
2215 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
2216 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
2217 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
2218 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
2219 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
2220 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
2221 @file{.newsrc} file.
2225 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
2235 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
2236 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
2237 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
2238 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
2239 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
2240 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
2245 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
2246 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
2247 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
2251 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
2252 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
2253 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
2255 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2256 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2257 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
2258 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
2259 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
2260 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
2267 @section Group Levels
2271 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
2272 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
2273 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
2274 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
2275 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
2277 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
2283 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
2284 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
2285 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
2286 prompted for a level.
2289 @vindex gnus-level-killed
2290 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
2291 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
2292 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
2293 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
2294 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
2295 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
2296 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
2297 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
2298 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
2299 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
2300 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
2301 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
2302 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
2303 reasons of efficiency.
2305 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
2306 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
2308 Maybe the following description of the default behavior of Gnus helps to
2309 understand what these levels are all about. By default, Gnus shows you
2310 subscribed nonempty groups, but by hitting @kbd{L} you can have it show
2311 empty subscribed groups and unsubscribed groups, too. Type @kbd{l} to
2312 go back to showing nonempty subscribed groups again. Thus, unsubscribed
2313 groups are hidden, in a way.
2315 Zombie and killed groups are similar to unsubscribed groups in that they
2316 are hidden by default. But they are different from subscribed and
2317 unsubscribed groups in that Gnus doesn't ask the news server for
2318 information (number of messages, number of unread messages) on zombie
2319 and killed groups. Normally, you use @kbd{C-k} to kill the groups you
2320 aren't interested in. If most groups are killed, Gnus is faster.
2322 Why does Gnus distinguish between zombie and killed groups? Well, when
2323 a new group arrives on the server, Gnus by default makes it a zombie
2324 group. This means that you are normally not bothered with new groups,
2325 but you can type @kbd{A z} to get a list of all new groups. Subscribe
2326 the ones you like and kill the ones you don't want. (@kbd{A k} shows a
2327 list of killed groups.)
2329 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
2330 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
2331 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
2333 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
2334 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
2335 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
2336 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
2337 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
2338 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
2339 relevant valid ranges.
2341 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
2342 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
2343 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
2344 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
2345 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
2346 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
2349 If this variable is @code{best}, Gnus will make the next newsgroup the
2350 one with the best level.
2352 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
2353 All groups with a level less than or equal to
2354 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
2357 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
2358 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
2359 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
2360 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
2363 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
2364 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
2365 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
2366 use this level as the ``work'' level.
2368 @vindex gnus-activate-level
2369 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
2370 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
2371 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
2372 to 5. The default is 6.
2376 @section Group Score
2381 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
2382 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
2383 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
2386 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
2387 to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
2388 the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
2389 score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
2390 called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
2391 a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
2392 of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
2393 least significant part.))
2395 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
2396 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
2397 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
2398 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
2399 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
2400 action after each summary exit, you can add
2401 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
2402 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
2403 slow things down somewhat.
2406 @node Marking Groups
2407 @section Marking Groups
2408 @cindex marking groups
2410 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
2411 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
2412 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
2413 bidding on those groups.
2415 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
2416 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
2417 with the process mark and then execute the command.
2425 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
2426 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
2432 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
2433 Remove the mark from the current group
2434 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
2438 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
2439 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
2443 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
2444 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
2448 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
2449 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
2453 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
2454 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
2455 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
2458 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
2460 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
2461 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
2462 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
2463 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
2464 the command to be executed.
2467 @node Foreign Groups
2468 @section Foreign Groups
2469 @cindex foreign groups
2471 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
2472 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
2473 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
2474 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
2481 @findex gnus-group-make-group
2482 @cindex making groups
2483 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
2484 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
2485 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
2489 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
2490 @cindex renaming groups
2491 Rename the current group to something else
2492 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
2493 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
2499 @findex gnus-group-customize
2500 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
2504 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
2505 @cindex renaming groups
2506 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
2507 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
2511 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
2512 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
2513 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
2517 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
2518 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
2519 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
2523 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
2525 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
2526 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
2531 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
2532 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
2536 @cindex (ding) archive
2537 @cindex archive group
2538 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
2539 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
2540 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
2541 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
2542 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
2543 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
2544 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
2548 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
2550 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
2551 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
2552 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
2553 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
2557 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
2559 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
2560 @code{nneething} back end (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
2561 @xref{Anything Groups}.
2565 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
2566 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
2568 Make a group based on some file or other
2569 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2570 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
2571 Currently supported types are @code{mbox}, @code{babyl},
2572 @code{digest}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward},
2573 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts},
2574 @code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs},
2575 @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook}, @code{oe-dbx}, and @code{mailman}. If
2576 you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
2577 type. @xref{Document Groups}.
2581 @vindex gnus-useful-groups
2582 @findex gnus-group-make-useful-group
2583 Create one of the groups mentioned in @code{gnus-useful-groups}
2584 (@code{gnus-group-make-useful-group}).
2588 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
2592 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
2593 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
2594 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
2595 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
2596 include @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}.
2597 @xref{Web Searches}.
2599 If you use the @code{google} search engine, you can limit the search
2600 to a particular group by using a match string like
2601 @samp{shaving group:alt.sysadmin.recovery}.
2604 @kindex G DEL (Group)
2605 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
2606 This function will delete the current group
2607 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
2608 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
2609 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
2610 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
2611 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
2615 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
2616 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
2617 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
2621 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
2622 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
2623 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
2626 @xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
2629 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
2630 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
2631 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
2632 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
2633 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers. Also @pxref{Group Levels};
2634 @code{gnus-activate-level} also affects activation of foreign
2638 @node Group Parameters
2639 @section Group Parameters
2640 @cindex group parameters
2642 The group parameters store information local to a particular group.
2643 Here's an example group parameter list:
2646 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2650 We see that each element consists of a "dotted pair"---the thing before
2651 the dot is the key, while the thing after the dot is the value. All the
2652 parameters have this form @emph{except} local variable specs, which are
2653 not dotted pairs, but proper lists.
2655 Some parameters have correspondant customizable variables, each of which
2656 is an alist of regexps and values.
2658 The following group parameters can be used:
2663 Address used by when doing followups and new posts.
2666 (to-address . "some@@where.com")
2669 This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing
2670 lists---mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to
2671 the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter
2672 ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means
2673 that members won't receive two copies of your followups.
2675 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
2676 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
2677 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
2678 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
2679 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
2680 list address instead.
2682 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-address-alist}.
2686 Address used when doing @kbd{a} in that group.
2689 (to-list . "some@@where.com")
2692 It is totally ignored
2693 when doing a followup---except that if it is present in a news group,
2694 you'll get mail group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
2696 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you have neither a
2697 @code{to-list} group parameter nor a @code{to-address} group parameter,
2698 then a @code{to-list} group parameter will be added automatically upon
2699 sending the message if @code{gnus-add-to-list} is set to @code{t}.
2700 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
2702 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
2703 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
2704 sending the message.
2706 @findex gnus-mailing-list-mode
2707 @cindex Mail List Groups
2708 If this variable is set, @code{gnus-mailing-list-mode} is turned on when
2709 entering summary buffer.
2711 See also @code{gnus-parameter-to-list-alist}.
2716 If this parameter is set to @code{t}, Gnus will consider the
2717 to-address and to-list parameters for this group as addresses of
2718 mailing lists you are subscribed to. Giving Gnus this information is
2719 (only) a first step in getting it to generate correct Mail-Followup-To
2720 headers for your posts to these lists. Look here @pxref{(message)Mailing
2721 Lists} for a complete treatment of available MFT support.
2723 See also @code{gnus-find-subscribed-addresses}, the function that
2724 directly uses this group parameter.
2728 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
2729 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
2730 of whether it has any unread articles.
2732 @item broken-reply-to
2733 @cindex broken-reply-to
2734 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
2735 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
2736 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
2737 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
2738 broken behavior. So there!
2742 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
2743 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
2747 If you have @code{(newsgroup . t)} in the group parameter list, Gnus
2748 will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles.
2749 This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a
2754 If @code{(gcc-self . t)} is present in the group parameter list, newly
2755 composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current group. If
2756 @code{(gcc-self . none)} is present, no @code{Gcc:} header will be
2757 generated, if @code{(gcc-self . "string")} is present, this string will
2758 be inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header. This parameter takes
2759 precedence over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later
2760 (@pxref{Archived Messages}). CAVEAT:: It yields an error putting
2761 @code{(gcc-self . t)} in groups of a @code{nntp} server or so, because
2762 a @code{nntp} server doesn't accept articles.
2766 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
2767 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
2768 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
2770 See also @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups}.
2773 @cindex total-expire
2774 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2775 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2776 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2777 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2780 See also @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups}.
2784 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2785 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
2786 @code{(expiry-wait . 10)}, this value will override any
2787 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function}
2788 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}) when expiring expirable messages. The value
2789 can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the
2790 symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2793 @cindex score file group parameter
2794 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2795 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. All
2796 interactive score entries will be put into this file.
2799 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2800 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2801 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2802 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2805 @cindex admin-address
2806 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2807 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2808 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2809 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2813 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2814 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2818 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2821 Display the last INTEGER articles in the group. This is the same as
2822 entering the group with C-u INTEGER.
2825 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2829 Display articles that satisfy a predicate.
2831 Here are some examples:
2835 Display only unread articles.
2838 Display everything except expirable articles.
2840 @item [and (not reply) (not expire)]
2841 Display everything except expirable and articles you've already
2845 The available operators are @code{not}, @code{and} and @code{or}.
2846 Predicates include @code{tick}, @code{unsend}, @code{undownload},
2847 @code{unread}, @code{dormant}, @code{expire}, @code{reply},
2848 @code{killed}, @code{bookmark}, @code{score}, @code{save},
2849 @code{cache}, @code{forward}, @code{unseen} and @code{recent}.
2853 The @code{display} parameter works by limiting the summary buffer to
2854 the subset specified. You can pop the limit by using the @kbd{/ w}
2855 command (@pxref{Limiting}).
2859 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")} are
2860 arbitrary comments on the group. You can display comments in the
2861 group line (@pxref{Group Line Specification}).
2865 Elements that look like @code{(charset . iso-8859-1)} will make
2866 @code{iso-8859-1} the default charset; that is, the charset that will be
2867 used for all articles that do not specify a charset.
2869 See also @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}.
2871 @item ignored-charsets
2872 @cindex ignored-charset
2873 Elements that look like @code{(ignored-charsets x-unknown iso-8859-1)}
2874 will make @code{iso-8859-1} and @code{x-unknown} ignored; that is, the
2875 default charset will be used for decoding articles.
2877 See also @code{gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist}.
2880 @cindex posting-style
2881 You can store additional posting style information for this group
2882 here (@pxref{Posting Styles}). The format is that of an entry in the
2883 @code{gnus-posting-styles} alist, except that there's no regexp matching
2884 the group name (of course). Style elements in this group parameter will
2885 take precedence over the ones found in @code{gnus-posting-styles}.
2887 For instance, if you want a funky name and signature in this group only,
2888 instead of hacking @code{gnus-posting-styles}, you could put something
2889 like this in the group parameters:
2894 ("X-My-Header" "Funky Value")
2895 (signature "Funky Signature"))
2900 If it is set, the value is used as the method for posting message
2901 instead of @code{gnus-post-method}.
2905 An item like @code{(banner . "regex")} causes any part of an article
2906 that matches the regular expression "regex" to be stripped. Instead of
2907 "regex", you can also use the symbol @code{signature} which strips the
2908 last signature or any of the elements of the alist
2909 @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}.
2913 This parameter contains a Sieve test that should match incoming mail
2914 that should be placed in this group. From this group parameter, a
2915 Sieve @samp{IF} control structure is generated, having the test as the
2916 condition and @samp{fileinto "group.name";} as the body.
2918 For example, if the INBOX.list.sieve group has the @code{(sieve
2919 address "sender" "sieve-admin@@extundo.com")} group parameter, when
2920 translating the group parameter into a Sieve script (@pxref{Sieve
2921 Commands}) the following Sieve code is generated:
2924 if address \"sender\" \"sieve-admin@@extundo.com\" @{
2925 fileinto \"INBOX.list.sieve\";
2929 The Sieve language is described in RFC 3028. @xref{Top, , Top, sieve,
2932 @item (@var{variable} @var{form})
2933 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2934 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2935 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2936 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2937 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2938 @code{eval}ed there.
2940 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
2941 A use for this feature, is to remove a mailing list identifier tag in
2942 the subject fields of articles. E.g. if the news group
2943 @samp{nntp+news.gnus.org:gmane.text.docbook.apps} has the tag
2944 @samp{DOC-BOOK-APPS:} in the subject of all articles, this tag can be
2945 removed from the article subjects in the summary buffer for the group by
2946 putting @code{(gnus-list-identifiers "DOCBOOK-APPS:")} into the group
2947 parameters for the group.
2950 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2951 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2952 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2953 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2954 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2958 Use the @kbd{G p} or the @kbd{G c} command to edit group parameters of a
2959 group. (@kbd{G p} presents you with a Lisp-based interface, @kbd{G c}
2960 presents you with a Customize-like interface. The latter helps avoid
2961 silly Lisp errors.) You might also be interested in reading about topic
2962 parameters (@pxref{Topic Parameters}).
2964 @vindex gnus-parameters
2965 Group parameters can be set via the @code{gnus-parameters} variable too.
2966 But some variables, such as @code{visible}, have no effect. For
2970 (setq gnus-parameters
2972 (gnus-show-threads nil)
2973 (gnus-use-scoring nil)
2974 (gnus-summary-line-format
2975 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%d:%ub%-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
2979 ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
2983 (gnus-use-scoring t))
2987 (broken-reply-to . t))))
2990 String value of parameters will be subjected to regexp substitution, as
2991 the @code{to-group} example shows.
2994 @node Listing Groups
2995 @section Listing Groups
2996 @cindex group listing
2998 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
3006 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
3007 List all groups that have unread articles
3008 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
3009 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
3010 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
3011 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
3018 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
3019 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
3020 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
3021 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
3022 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
3023 unsubscribed groups).
3027 @findex gnus-group-list-level
3028 List all unread groups on a specific level
3029 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
3030 with no unread articles.
3034 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
3035 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
3036 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
3037 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
3042 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
3043 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
3047 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
3048 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
3049 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
3053 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
3054 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
3058 @findex gnus-group-list-active
3059 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
3060 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
3061 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
3062 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
3063 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
3064 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
3065 Take the output with some grains of salt.
3069 @findex gnus-group-apropos
3070 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
3071 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
3075 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
3076 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
3077 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
3081 @findex gnus-group-list-cached
3082 List all groups with cached articles (@code{gnus-group-list-cached}).
3086 @findex gnus-group-list-dormant
3087 List all groups with dormant articles (@code{gnus-group-list-dormant}).
3091 @findex gnus-group-list-limit
3092 List groups limited within the current selection
3093 (@code{gnus-group-list-limit}).
3097 @findex gnus-group-list-flush
3098 Flush groups from the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-flush}).
3102 @findex gnus-group-list-plus
3103 List groups plus the current selection (@code{gnus-group-list-plus}).
3107 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
3108 @cindex visible group parameter
3109 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
3110 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
3111 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
3112 get the same effect.
3114 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
3115 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
3116 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
3117 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
3118 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
3121 @node Sorting Groups
3122 @section Sorting Groups
3123 @cindex sorting groups
3125 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
3126 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
3127 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
3128 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
3129 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
3130 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
3135 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3136 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
3137 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
3139 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3140 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
3141 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
3143 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
3144 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
3145 Sort by group level.
3147 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
3148 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
3149 Sort by group score. @xref{Group Score}.
3151 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3152 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
3153 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
3154 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}. @xref{Group Score}.
3156 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3157 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
3158 Sort by number of unread articles.
3160 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
3161 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
3162 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
3164 @item gnus-group-sort-by-server
3165 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-server
3166 Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.
3171 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
3172 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
3176 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
3177 some sorting criteria:
3181 @kindex G S a (Group)
3182 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3183 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
3184 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3187 @kindex G S u (Group)
3188 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
3189 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
3190 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3193 @kindex G S l (Group)
3194 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
3195 Sort the group buffer by group level
3196 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
3199 @kindex G S v (Group)
3200 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
3201 Sort the group buffer by group score
3202 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3205 @kindex G S r (Group)
3206 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
3207 Sort the group buffer by group rank
3208 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3211 @kindex G S m (Group)
3212 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
3213 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
3214 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
3217 @kindex G S n (Group)
3218 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name
3219 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3220 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name}).
3224 All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention
3225 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3227 When given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), all these
3228 commands will sort in reverse order.
3230 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
3234 @kindex G P a (Group)
3235 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
3236 Sort the groups alphabetically by group name
3237 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
3240 @kindex G P u (Group)
3241 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
3242 Sort the groups by the number of unread articles
3243 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
3246 @kindex G P l (Group)
3247 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
3248 Sort the groups by group level
3249 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
3252 @kindex G P v (Group)
3253 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
3254 Sort the groups by group score
3255 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3258 @kindex G P r (Group)
3259 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
3260 Sort the groups by group rank
3261 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3264 @kindex G P m (Group)
3265 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
3266 Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
3267 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
3270 @kindex G P n (Group)
3271 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name
3272 Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name
3273 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name}).
3276 @kindex G P s (Group)
3277 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups
3278 Sort the groups according to @code{gnus-group-sort-function}.
3282 And finally, note that you can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} to manually
3286 @node Group Maintenance
3287 @section Group Maintenance
3288 @cindex bogus groups
3293 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
3294 Find bogus groups and delete them
3295 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
3299 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
3300 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
3301 With 1 @kbd{C-u}, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
3302 for new groups. With 2 @kbd{C-u}'s, use most complete method possible
3303 to query the server for new groups, and subscribe the new groups as
3307 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
3308 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
3309 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
3310 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}). That is, delete
3311 all expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
3312 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3315 @kindex C-c C-M-x (Group)
3316 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
3317 Run all expirable articles in all groups through the expiry process
3318 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
3323 @node Browse Foreign Server
3324 @section Browse Foreign Server
3325 @cindex foreign servers
3326 @cindex browsing servers
3331 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
3332 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
3333 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
3334 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
3337 @findex gnus-browse-mode
3338 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
3339 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
3340 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
3342 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
3347 @findex gnus-group-next-group
3348 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
3352 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
3353 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
3356 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
3357 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
3358 Enter the current group and display the first article
3359 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
3362 @kindex RET (Browse)
3363 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
3364 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
3368 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
3369 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
3370 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
3376 @findex gnus-browse-exit
3377 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
3381 @findex gnus-browse-describe-group
3382 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-browse-describe-group}).
3386 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
3387 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
3388 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
3393 @section Exiting Gnus
3394 @cindex exiting Gnus
3396 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
3401 @findex gnus-group-suspend
3402 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
3403 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
3404 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
3408 @findex gnus-group-exit
3409 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
3410 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
3414 @findex gnus-group-quit
3415 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
3416 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
3419 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
3420 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
3421 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
3422 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
3423 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
3428 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
3429 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
3430 trying to customize meta-variables.
3435 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
3436 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
3437 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
3443 @section Group Topics
3446 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
3447 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
3448 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
3449 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
3450 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
3451 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
3455 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
3456 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=ps/group-topic,height=9cm}}
3467 2: alt.religion.emacs
3470 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3472 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3473 13: comp.sources.unix
3476 @findex gnus-topic-mode
3478 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
3479 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
3480 is a toggling command.)
3482 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
3483 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and
3484 now press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
3485 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
3488 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
3489 the hook for the group mode. Put the following line in your
3490 @file{~/.gnus} file:
3493 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
3497 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
3498 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
3499 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
3500 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
3501 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
3505 @node Topic Commands
3506 @subsection Topic Commands
3507 @cindex topic commands
3509 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
3510 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
3511 definitions slightly.
3513 In general, the following kinds of operations are possible on topics.
3514 First of all, you want to create topics. Secondly, you want to put
3515 groups in topics and to move them around until you have an order you
3516 like. The third kind of operation is to show/hide parts of the whole
3517 shebang. You might want to hide a topic including its subtopics and
3518 groups, to get a better overview of the other groups.
3520 Here is a list of the basic keys that you might need to set up topics
3527 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
3528 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
3529 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
3533 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
3535 @findex gnus-topic-indent
3536 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3537 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
3538 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
3541 @kindex M-TAB (Topic)
3542 @findex gnus-topic-unindent
3543 ``Un-indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
3544 parent of its current parent (@code{gnus-topic-unindent}).
3548 The following two keys can be used to move groups and topics around.
3549 They work like the well-known cut and paste. @kbd{C-k} is like cut and
3550 @kbd{C-y} is like paste. Of course, this being Emacs, we use the terms
3551 kill and yank rather than cut and paste.
3557 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
3558 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
3559 topic will be removed along with the topic.
3563 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
3564 Yank the previously killed group or topic
3565 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
3568 So, to move a topic to the beginning of the list of topics, just hit
3569 @kbd{C-k} on it. This is like the `cut' part of cut and paste. Then,
3570 move the cursor to the beginning of the buffer (just below the `Gnus'
3571 topic) and hit @kbd{C-y}. This is like the `paste' part of cut and
3572 paste. Like I said -- E-Z.
3574 You can use @kbd{C-k} and @kbd{C-y} on groups as well as on topics. So
3575 you can move topics around as well as groups.
3579 After setting up the topics the way you like them, you might wish to
3580 hide a topic, or to show it again. That's why we have the following
3587 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
3589 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
3590 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
3591 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
3592 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
3593 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
3594 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
3598 Now for a list of other commands, in no particular order.
3604 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
3605 Move the current group to some other topic
3606 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3607 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3611 @findex gnus-topic-jump-to-topic
3612 Go to a topic (@code{gnus-topic-jump-to-topic}).
3616 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
3617 Copy the current group to some other topic
3618 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
3619 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3623 @findex gnus-topic-hide-topic
3624 Hide the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-hide-topic}). If given
3625 a prefix, hide the topic permanently.
3629 @findex gnus-topic-show-topic
3630 Show the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-show-topic}). If given
3631 a prefix, show the topic permanently.
3635 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
3636 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
3637 This command is mainly useful if you have the same group in several
3638 topics and wish to remove it from one of the topics. You may also
3639 remove a group from all topics, but in that case, Gnus will add it to
3640 the root topic the next time you start Gnus. In fact, all new groups
3641 (which, naturally, don't belong to any topic) will show up in the root
3644 This command uses the process/prefix convention
3645 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3649 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
3650 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3651 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
3655 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
3656 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
3657 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
3661 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
3662 Toggle hiding empty topics
3663 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
3667 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
3668 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
3669 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
3672 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
3673 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
3674 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
3675 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
3678 @kindex C-c C-x (Topic)
3679 @findex gnus-topic-expire-articles
3680 Run all expirable articles in the current group or topic through the
3681 expiry process (if any)
3682 (@code{gnus-topic-expire-articles}). (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
3686 @findex gnus-topic-rename
3687 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
3690 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
3691 @findex gnus-topic-delete
3692 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
3696 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
3697 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
3698 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
3701 @kindex T M-n (Topic)
3702 @findex gnus-topic-goto-next-topic
3703 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-next-topic}).
3706 @kindex T M-p (Topic)
3707 @findex gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic
3708 Go to the next topic (@code{gnus-topic-goto-previous-topic}).
3712 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
3713 @cindex group parameters
3714 @cindex topic parameters
3716 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
3717 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
3722 @node Topic Variables
3723 @subsection Topic Variables
3724 @cindex topic variables
3726 The previous section told you how to tell Gnus which topics to display.
3727 This section explains how to tell Gnus what to display about each topic.
3729 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
3730 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
3731 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3744 Number of groups in the topic.
3746 Number of unread articles in the topic.
3748 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
3751 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
3752 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
3753 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
3756 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
3757 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
3759 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
3760 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
3761 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
3765 @subsection Topic Sorting
3766 @cindex topic sorting
3768 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
3774 @kindex T S a (Topic)
3775 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
3776 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
3777 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
3780 @kindex T S u (Topic)
3781 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
3782 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
3783 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
3786 @kindex T S l (Topic)
3787 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
3788 Sort the current topic by group level
3789 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
3792 @kindex T S v (Topic)
3793 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
3794 Sort the current topic by group score
3795 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}). @xref{Group Score}.
3798 @kindex T S r (Topic)
3799 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
3800 Sort the current topic by group rank
3801 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}). @xref{Group Score}.
3804 @kindex T S m (Topic)
3805 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
3806 Sort the current topic alphabetically by back end name
3807 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
3810 @kindex T S e (Topic)
3811 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server
3812 Sort the current topic alphabetically by server name
3813 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-server}).
3817 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups
3818 Sort the current topic according to the function(s) given by the
3819 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable
3820 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups}).
3824 When given a prefix argument, all these commands will sort in reverse
3825 order. @xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group
3829 @node Topic Topology
3830 @subsection Topic Topology
3831 @cindex topic topology
3834 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
3840 2: alt.religion.emacs
3843 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3845 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3846 13: comp.sources.unix
3849 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
3850 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
3851 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
3856 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
3857 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
3861 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
3862 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
3863 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
3864 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
3865 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
3866 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
3868 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
3869 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
3870 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
3873 @node Topic Parameters
3874 @subsection Topic Parameters
3875 @cindex topic parameters
3877 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
3878 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
3879 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
3881 In addition, the following parameters are only valid as topic
3886 When subscribing new groups by topic (@pxref{Subscription Methods}), the
3887 @code{subscribe} topic parameter says what groups go in what topic. Its
3888 value should be a regexp to match the groups that should go in that
3891 @item subscribe-level
3892 When subscribing new groups by topic (see the @code{subscribe} parameter),
3893 the group will be subscribed with the level specified in the
3894 @code{subscribe-level} instead of @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}.
3898 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
3899 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
3900 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
3901 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
3907 2: alt.religion.emacs
3911 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
3913 8: comp.binaries.fractals
3914 13: comp.sources.unix
3918 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
3919 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
3920 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
3921 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
3922 @* @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
3923 . "religion.SCORE")}.
3925 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
3926 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
3927 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
3928 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
3929 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
3931 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
3932 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
3933 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
3934 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
3935 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
3936 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
3937 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
3938 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
3941 @node Misc Group Stuff
3942 @section Misc Group Stuff
3945 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
3946 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
3947 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
3948 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
3949 * Sieve Commands:: Managing Sieve scripts.
3956 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
3957 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
3958 @xref{Server Buffer}.
3962 @findex gnus-group-post-news
3963 Start composing a message (a news by default)
3964 (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a prefix, post to the group
3965 under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
3966 Contrary to what the name of this function suggests, the prepared
3967 article might be a mail instead of a news, if a mail group is specified
3968 with the prefix argument. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3972 @findex gnus-group-mail
3973 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}). If given a prefix,
3974 use the posting style of the group under the point. If the prefix is 1,
3975 prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
3976 @xref{Composing Messages}.
3980 @findex gnus-group-news
3981 Start composing a news (@code{gnus-group-news}). If given a prefix,
3982 post to the group under the point. If the prefix is 1, prompt
3983 for group to post to. @xref{Composing Messages}.
3985 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
3986 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
3987 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
3988 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
3989 for this to work though.
3993 Variables for the group buffer:
3997 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
3998 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
3999 is called after the group buffer has been
4002 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
4003 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4004 is called after the group buffer is
4005 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
4008 @item gnus-group-prepared-hook
4009 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
4010 is called as the very last thing after the group buffer has been
4011 generated. It may be used to move point around, for instance.
4013 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4014 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
4015 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
4016 whether they are empty or not.
4018 @item gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4019 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4020 An alist of method and the charset for group names. It is used to show
4021 non-ASCII group names.
4025 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist
4026 '(((nntp "news.com.cn") . cn-gb-2312)))
4029 @item gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4030 @cindex UTF-8 group names
4031 @vindex gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4032 An alist of regexp of group name and the charset for group names. It
4033 is used to show non-ASCII group names. @code{((".*" utf-8))} is the
4034 default value if UTF-8 is supported, otherwise the default is
4039 (setq gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist
4040 '(("\\.com\\.cn:" . cn-gb-2312)))
4045 @node Scanning New Messages
4046 @subsection Scanning New Messages
4047 @cindex new messages
4048 @cindex scanning new news
4054 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
4055 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
4056 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
4057 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
4058 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
4059 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
4064 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
4065 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
4066 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
4067 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
4068 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
4069 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
4070 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
4072 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
4073 @cindex activating groups
4075 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
4076 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
4081 @findex gnus-group-restart
4082 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
4083 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
4084 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
4088 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
4089 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
4091 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
4092 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
4096 @node Group Information
4097 @subsection Group Information
4098 @cindex group information
4099 @cindex information on groups
4106 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
4107 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
4110 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
4111 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
4112 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
4113 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
4114 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
4115 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
4116 for fetching the file.
4118 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
4119 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
4123 @findex gnus-group-fetch-charter
4124 @vindex gnus-group-charter-alist
4126 Try to open the charter for the current group in a web browser
4127 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-charter}). Query for a group if given a
4130 Gnus will use @code{gnus-group-charter-alist} to find the location of
4131 the charter. If no location is known, Gnus will fetch the control
4132 messages for the group, which in some cases includes the charter.
4136 @findex gnus-group-fetch-control
4137 @vindex gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url
4138 @cindex control message
4139 Fetch the control messages for the group from the archive at
4140 @code{ftp.isc.org} (@code{gnus-group-fetch-control}). Query for a
4141 group if given a prefix argument.
4143 If @code{gnus-group-fetch-control-use-browse-url} is non-@code{nil},
4144 Gnus will open the control messages in a browser using
4145 @code{browse-url}. Otherwise they are fetched using @code{ange-ftp}
4146 and displayed in an ephemeral group.
4148 Note that the control messages are compressed. To use this command
4149 you need to turn on @code{auto-compression-mode}
4150 (@pxref{(emacs)Compressed Files}).
4154 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
4156 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
4157 @cindex describing groups
4158 @cindex group description
4159 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
4160 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
4161 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
4165 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
4166 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
4167 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
4174 @findex gnus-version
4175 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
4179 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
4180 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
4183 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
4186 @findex gnus-info-find-node
4187 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
4191 @node Group Timestamp
4192 @subsection Group Timestamp
4194 @cindex group timestamps
4196 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
4197 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
4198 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
4201 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
4204 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
4206 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
4207 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
4210 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4211 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
4214 This will result in lines looking like:
4217 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
4218 0: custom 19961002T012713
4221 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
4222 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
4226 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4227 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
4230 If you would like greater control of the time format, you can use a
4231 user-defined format spec. Something like the following should do the
4235 (setq gnus-group-line-format
4236 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %ud\n")
4237 (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
4238 (let ((time (gnus-group-timestamp gnus-tmp-group)))
4240 (format-time-string "%b %d %H:%M" time)
4246 @subsection File Commands
4247 @cindex file commands
4253 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
4254 @vindex gnus-init-file
4255 @cindex reading init file
4256 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
4257 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
4261 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
4262 @cindex saving .newsrc
4263 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
4264 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
4265 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
4268 @c @kindex Z (Group)
4269 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
4270 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
4275 @node Sieve Commands
4276 @subsection Sieve Commands
4277 @cindex group sieve commands
4279 Sieve is a server-side mail filtering language. In Gnus you can use
4280 the @code{sieve} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to specify
4281 sieve rules that should apply to each group. Gnus provides two
4282 commands to translate all these group parameters into a proper Sieve
4283 script that can be transfered to the server somehow.
4285 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4286 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-start
4287 @vindex gnus-sieve-region-end
4288 The generated Sieve script is placed in @code{gnus-sieve-file} (by
4289 default @file{~/.sieve}). The Sieve code that Gnus generate is placed
4290 between two delimiters, @code{gnus-sieve-region-start} and
4291 @code{gnus-sieve-region-end}, so you may write additional Sieve code
4292 outside these delimiters that will not be removed the next time you
4293 regenerate the Sieve script.
4295 @vindex gnus-sieve-crosspost
4296 The variable @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} controls how the Sieve script
4297 is generated. If it is non-@code{nil} (the default) articles is
4298 placed in all groups that have matching rules, otherwise the article
4299 is only placed in the group with the first matching rule. For
4300 example, the group parameter @samp{(sieve address "sender"
4301 "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu")} will generate the following piece of Sieve
4302 code if @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is @code{nil}. (When
4303 @code{gnus-sieve-crosspost} is non-@code{nil}, it looks the same
4304 except that the line containing the call to @code{stop} is removed.)
4307 if address "sender" "owner-ding@@hpc.uh.edu" @{
4308 fileinto "INBOX.ding";
4313 @xref{Top, ,Top, sieve, Emacs Sieve}.
4319 @findex gnus-sieve-generate
4320 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4321 @cindex generating sieve script
4322 Regenerate a Sieve script from the @code{sieve} group parameters and
4323 put you into the @code{gnus-sieve-file} without saving it.
4327 @findex gnus-sieve-update
4328 @vindex gnus-sieve-file
4329 @cindex updating sieve script
4330 Regenerates the Gnus managed part of @code{gnus-sieve-file} using the
4331 @code{sieve} group parameters, save the file and upload it to the
4332 server using the @code{sieveshell} program.
4337 @node Summary Buffer
4338 @chapter Summary Buffer
4339 @cindex summary buffer
4341 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
4342 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
4344 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
4345 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
4347 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
4350 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
4351 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
4352 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
4353 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
4354 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
4355 * Delayed Articles:: Send articles at a later time.
4356 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
4357 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
4358 * Threading:: How threads are made.
4359 * Sorting the Summary Buffer:: How articles and threads are sorted.
4360 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
4361 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
4362 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
4363 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
4364 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
4365 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
4366 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
4367 * MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
4368 * Charsets:: Character set issues.
4369 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
4370 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
4371 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
4372 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
4373 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
4374 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
4375 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
4376 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer,
4377 or reselecting the current group.
4378 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
4379 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
4380 * Security:: Decrypt and Verify.
4381 * Mailing List:: Mailing list minor mode.
4385 @node Summary Buffer Format
4386 @section Summary Buffer Format
4387 @cindex summary buffer format
4391 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
4392 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary,width=7.5cm}}
4393 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-article,width=7.5cm}}}
4399 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
4400 * To From Newsgroups:: How to not display your own name.
4401 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
4402 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
4405 @findex mail-extract-address-components
4406 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
4407 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
4408 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
4409 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
4410 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
4411 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
4412 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
4413 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
4414 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
4415 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead:
4418 (setq gnus-extract-address-components
4419 'mail-extract-address-components)
4422 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
4423 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
4424 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
4425 with those specs that require it. The default is @code{""}.
4428 @node Summary Buffer Lines
4429 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
4431 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4432 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
4433 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
4434 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
4435 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
4437 There should always be a colon or a point position marker on the line;
4438 the cursor always moves to the point position marker or the colon after
4439 performing an operation. (Of course, Gnus wouldn't be Gnus if it wasn't
4440 possible to change this. Just write a new function
4441 @code{gnus-goto-colon} which does whatever you like with the cursor.)
4442 @xref{Positioning Point}.
4444 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n}.
4446 The following format specification characters and extended format
4447 specification(s) are understood:
4453 Subject string. List identifiers stripped,
4454 @code{gnus-list-identifies}. @xref{Article Hiding}.
4456 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
4457 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
4458 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @code{""}.)
4460 Full @code{From} header.
4462 The name (from the @code{From} header).
4464 The name, @code{To} header or the @code{Newsgroups} header (@pxref{To
4467 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
4468 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
4469 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
4470 may be more thorough.
4472 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
4475 Number of lines in the article.
4477 Number of characters in the article. This specifier is not supported
4478 in some methods (like nnfolder).
4480 Pretty-printed version of the number of characters in the article;
4481 for example, @samp{1.2k} or @samp{0.4M}.
4483 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4485 A complex trn-style thread tree, showing response-connecting trace
4486 lines. A thread could be drawn like this:
4499 You can customize the appearance with the following options. Note
4500 that it is possible to make the thread display look really neat by
4501 replacing the default ASCII characters with graphic line-drawing
4504 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4505 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-root
4506 Used for the root of a thread. If @code{nil}, use subject
4507 instead. The default is @samp{> }.
4509 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4510 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-indent
4511 Used for a thread with just one message. If @code{nil}, use subject
4512 instead. The default is @samp{}.
4514 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4515 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-vertical
4516 Used for drawing a vertical line. The default is @samp{| }.
4518 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4519 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-indent
4520 Used for indenting. The default is @samp{ }.
4522 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4523 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-leaf-with-other
4524 Used for a leaf with brothers. The default is @samp{+-> }.
4526 @item gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4527 @vindex gnus-sum-thread-tree-single-leaf
4528 Used for a leaf without brothers. The default is @samp{\-> }
4533 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
4534 pushes everything after it off the screen).
4536 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
4537 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
4539 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
4540 for adopted articles.
4542 One space for each thread level.
4544 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
4546 Unread. @xref{Read Articles}.
4549 This misleadingly named specifier is the @dfn{secondary mark}. This
4550 mark will say whether the article has been replied to, has been cached,
4551 or has been saved. @xref{Other Marks}.
4554 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
4556 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
4557 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
4558 default level. If the difference between
4559 @code{gnus-summary-default-score} and the score is less than
4560 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
4568 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
4570 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
4576 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
4577 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
4579 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
4580 article has any children.
4586 Age sensitive date format. Various date format is defined in
4587 @code{gnus-user-date-format-alist}.
4589 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
4590 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
4591 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
4592 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
4593 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
4594 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
4597 Text between @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} will be highlighted with
4598 @code{gnus-mouse-face} when the mouse point is placed inside the area.
4599 There can only be one such area.
4601 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
4602 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
4603 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
4604 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
4605 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
4606 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
4608 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
4609 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
4611 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
4614 @node To From Newsgroups
4615 @subsection To From Newsgroups
4619 In some groups (particularly in archive groups), the @code{From} header
4620 isn't very interesting, since all the articles there are written by
4621 you. To display the information in the @code{To} or @code{Newsgroups}
4622 headers instead, you need to decide three things: What information to
4623 gather; where to display it; and when to display it.
4627 @vindex gnus-extra-headers
4628 The reading of extra header information is controlled by the
4629 @code{gnus-extra-headers}. This is a list of header symbols. For
4633 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4634 '(To Newsgroups X-Newsreader))
4637 This will result in Gnus trying to obtain these three headers, and
4638 storing it in header structures for later easy retrieval.
4641 @findex gnus-extra-header
4642 The value of these extra headers can be accessed via the
4643 @code{gnus-extra-header} function. Here's a format line spec that will
4644 access the @code{X-Newsreader} header:
4647 "%~(form (gnus-extra-header 'X-Newsreader))@@"
4651 @vindex gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4652 The @code{gnus-ignored-from-addresses} variable says when the @samp{%f}
4653 summary line spec returns the @code{To}, @code{Newsreader} or
4654 @code{From} header. If this regexp matches the contents of the
4655 @code{From} header, the value of the @code{To} or @code{Newsreader}
4656 headers are used instead.
4660 @vindex nnmail-extra-headers
4661 A related variable is @code{nnmail-extra-headers}, which controls when
4662 to include extra headers when generating overview (@sc{nov}) files. If
4663 you have old overview files, you should regenerate them after changing
4664 this variable, by entering the server buffer using `^', and then `g' on
4665 the appropriate mail server (e.g. nnml) to cause regeneration.
4667 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
4668 You also have to instruct Gnus to display the data by changing the
4669 @code{%n} spec to the @code{%f} spec in the
4670 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable.
4672 In summary, you'd typically put something like the following in
4676 (setq gnus-extra-headers
4678 (setq nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
4679 (setq gnus-summary-line-format
4680 "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%) %s\n")
4681 (setq gnus-ignored-from-addresses
4685 (The values listed above are the default values in Gnus. Alter them
4688 A note for news server administrators, or for users who wish to try to
4689 convince their news server administrator to provide some additional
4692 The above is mostly useful for mail groups, where you have control over
4693 the @sc{nov} files that are created. However, if you can persuade your
4694 nntp admin to add (in the usual implementation, notably INN):
4700 to the end of her @file{overview.fmt} file, then you can use that just
4701 as you would the extra headers from the mail groups.
4704 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
4705 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
4707 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
4708 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar (@pxref{Mode Line
4709 Formatting}). Set @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you
4710 like. The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
4712 Here are the elements you can play with:
4718 Unprefixed group name.
4720 Current article number.
4722 Current article score.
4726 Number of unread articles in this group.
4728 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
4731 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
4732 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
4733 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
4734 and no unselected ones.
4736 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
4737 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
4739 Subject of the current article.
4741 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
4743 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
4745 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4747 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
4749 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
4751 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
4755 @node Summary Highlighting
4756 @subsection Summary Highlighting
4760 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4761 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
4762 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
4763 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
4764 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4766 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
4767 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
4768 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
4769 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
4771 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
4772 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
4773 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
4774 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
4776 @item gnus-summary-highlight
4777 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
4778 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
4779 list where the elements are of the format @code{(@var{form}
4780 . @var{face})}. If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be
4781 italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable
4784 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
4785 ((> score default) . bold))
4787 As you may have guessed, if @var{form} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
4788 @var{face} will be applied to the line.
4792 @node Summary Maneuvering
4793 @section Summary Maneuvering
4794 @cindex summary movement
4796 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
4797 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
4799 None of these commands select articles.
4804 @kindex M-n (Summary)
4805 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
4806 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
4807 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
4808 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
4812 @kindex M-p (Summary)
4813 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
4814 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
4815 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
4816 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
4819 @kindex G g (Summary)
4820 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
4821 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
4822 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
4825 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
4826 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
4827 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
4828 to the group buffer.
4830 Variables related to summary movement:
4834 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
4835 @item gnus-auto-select-next
4836 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
4837 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
4838 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
4839 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
4840 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
4841 next group with unread articles. As a special case, if this variable
4842 is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the next group without asking for
4843 confirmation. If this variable is @code{almost-quietly}, the same
4844 will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group.
4845 Finally, if this variable is @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n}
4846 command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also
4847 @pxref{Group Levels}.
4849 @item gnus-auto-select-same
4850 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
4851 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
4852 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
4853 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
4854 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) If there are no more
4855 articles with the same subject, go to the first unread article.
4857 This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
4859 @item gnus-summary-check-current
4860 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
4861 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
4862 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
4863 Instead, they will choose the current article.
4865 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
4866 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
4867 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
4868 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
4869 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
4870 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
4871 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
4872 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
4875 This variable can also be a number. In that case, center the window at
4876 the given number of lines from the top.
4881 @node Choosing Articles
4882 @section Choosing Articles
4883 @cindex selecting articles
4886 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
4887 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
4891 @node Choosing Commands
4892 @subsection Choosing Commands
4894 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
4895 and they all select and display an article.
4897 If you want to fetch new articles or redisplay the group, see
4898 @ref{Exiting the Summary Buffer}.
4902 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
4903 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
4904 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
4905 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
4910 @kindex G n (Summary)
4911 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
4912 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
4913 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
4918 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
4919 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
4920 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
4925 @kindex G N (Summary)
4926 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
4927 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
4932 @kindex G P (Summary)
4933 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
4934 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
4937 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
4938 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
4939 Go to the next article with the same subject
4940 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
4943 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
4944 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
4945 Go to the previous article with the same subject
4946 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
4950 @kindex G f (Summary)
4952 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
4953 Go to the first unread article
4954 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
4958 @kindex G b (Summary)
4960 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
4961 Go to the unread article with the highest score
4962 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}). If given a prefix argument,
4963 go to the first unread article that has a score over the default score.
4968 @kindex G l (Summary)
4969 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
4970 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
4973 @kindex G o (Summary)
4974 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
4976 @cindex article history
4977 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
4978 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
4979 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
4980 history as you like, while @kbd{l} toggles the two last read articles.
4981 For a somewhat related issue (if you use these commands a lot),
4982 @pxref{Article Backlog}.
4987 @kindex G j (Summary)
4988 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
4989 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
4990 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
4995 @node Choosing Variables
4996 @subsection Choosing Variables
4998 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
5001 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5002 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
5003 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
5004 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
5005 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
5006 the server and display it in the article buffer.
5008 @item gnus-select-article-hook
5009 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
5010 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
5011 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. If you would
5012 like each article to be saved in the Agent as you read it, putting
5013 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} on this hook will do so.
5015 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
5016 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
5017 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
5018 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
5019 @findex gnus-unread-mark
5020 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
5021 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
5022 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
5023 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
5024 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
5025 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
5026 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
5027 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
5028 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
5033 @node Paging the Article
5034 @section Scrolling the Article
5035 @cindex article scrolling
5040 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
5041 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
5042 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
5043 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
5044 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
5047 @kindex DEL (Summary)
5048 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
5049 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
5052 @kindex RET (Summary)
5053 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
5054 Scroll the current article one line forward
5055 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
5058 @kindex M-RET (Summary)
5059 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-down
5060 Scroll the current article one line backward
5061 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-down}).
5065 @kindex A g (Summary)
5067 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
5068 @vindex gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5069 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
5070 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
5071 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
5072 the way it came from the server.
5074 If given a numerical prefix, you can do semi-manual charset stuff.
5075 @kbd{C-u 0 g cn-gb-2312 RET} will decode the message as if it were
5076 encoded in the @code{cn-gb-2312} charset. If you have
5079 (setq gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist
5084 then you can say @kbd{C-u 1 g} to get the same effect.
5089 @kindex A < (Summary)
5090 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
5091 Scroll to the beginning of the article
5092 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
5097 @kindex A > (Summary)
5098 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
5099 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
5103 @kindex A s (Summary)
5105 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
5106 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
5107 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
5111 @findex gnus-summary-select-article-buffer
5112 Select the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-select-article-buffer}).
5117 @node Reply Followup and Post
5118 @section Reply, Followup and Post
5121 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
5122 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
5123 * Summary Message Commands:: Other Message-related commands.
5124 * Canceling and Superseding::
5128 @node Summary Mail Commands
5129 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
5131 @cindex composing mail
5133 Commands for composing a mail message:
5139 @kindex S r (Summary)
5141 @findex gnus-summary-reply
5142 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
5143 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
5144 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
5145 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
5150 @kindex S R (Summary)
5151 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
5152 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
5153 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5154 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
5155 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5158 @kindex S w (Summary)
5159 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
5160 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
5161 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
5162 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5163 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
5166 @kindex S W (Summary)
5167 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
5168 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
5169 message (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original}). This command uses
5170 the process/prefix convention.
5173 @kindex S v (Summary)
5174 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
5175 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article
5176 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{very wide reply} is a reply
5177 that goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
5178 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers in all the process/prefixed
5179 articles. This command uses the process/prefix convention.
5182 @kindex S V (Summary)
5183 @findex gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
5184 Mail a very wide reply to the author of the current article and include the
5185 original message (@code{gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original}). This
5186 command uses the process/prefix convention.
5189 @kindex S B r (Summary)
5190 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
5191 Mail a reply to the author of the current article but ignore the
5192 @code{Reply-To} field (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to}).
5195 @kindex S B R (Summary)
5196 @findex gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
5197 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
5198 original message but ignore the @code{Reply-To} field
5199 (@code{gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original}).
5203 @kindex S o m (Summary)
5204 @kindex C-c C-f (Summary)
5205 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
5206 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
5207 Forward the current article to some other person
5208 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If no prefix is given, the message
5209 is forwarded according to the value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime})
5210 and (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5211 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5212 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5213 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5214 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5215 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5216 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime}
5222 @kindex S m (Summary)
5223 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
5224 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
5225 Prepare a mail (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}). By default, use
5226 the posting style of the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5227 If the prefix is 1, prompt for a group name to find the posting style.
5232 @kindex S i (Summary)
5233 @findex gnus-summary-news-other-window
5234 Prepare a news (@code{gnus-summary-news-other-window}). By default,
5235 post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that. If the
5236 prefix is 1, prompt for a group to post to.
5238 This function actually prepares a news even when using mail groups.
5239 This is useful for "posting" messages to mail groups without actually
5240 sending them over the network: they're just saved directly to the group
5241 in question. The corresponding back end must have a request-post method
5242 for this to work though.
5245 @kindex S D b (Summary)
5246 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
5247 @cindex bouncing mail
5248 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
5249 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
5250 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
5251 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
5252 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
5253 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
5254 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
5255 very well fail, though.
5258 @kindex S D r (Summary)
5259 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
5260 Not to be confused with the previous command,
5261 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
5262 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
5263 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
5264 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
5265 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
5266 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
5267 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
5269 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
5270 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
5271 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
5272 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
5273 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muss sein!
5275 This command understands the process/prefix convention
5276 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5279 @kindex S O m (Summary)
5280 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
5281 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
5282 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
5283 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5286 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
5287 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
5288 @cindex crossposting
5289 @cindex excessive crossposting
5290 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
5291 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
5293 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
5294 This command is provided as a way to fight back against the current
5295 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
5296 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
5297 command understands the process/prefix convention
5298 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
5302 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5303 Manual}, for more information.
5306 @node Summary Post Commands
5307 @subsection Summary Post Commands
5309 @cindex composing news
5311 Commands for posting a news article:
5317 @kindex S p (Summary)
5318 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
5319 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
5320 Prepare for posting an article (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}). By
5321 default, post to the current group. If given a prefix, disable that.
5322 If the prefix is 1, prompt for another group instead.
5327 @kindex S f (Summary)
5328 @findex gnus-summary-followup
5329 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
5330 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
5334 @kindex S F (Summary)
5336 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
5337 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
5338 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
5339 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
5340 process/prefix convention.
5343 @kindex S n (Summary)
5344 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
5345 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5346 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
5349 @kindex S N (Summary)
5350 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
5351 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
5352 message through mail and include the original message
5353 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
5354 the process/prefix convention.
5357 @kindex S o p (Summary)
5358 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
5359 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
5360 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}).
5361 If no prefix is given, the message is forwarded according to the value
5362 of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}) and
5363 (@code{message-forward-show-mml}); if the prefix is 1, decode the
5364 message and forward directly inline; if the prefix is 2, forward message
5365 as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 3, decode message and
5366 forward as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section; if the prefix is 4, forward message
5367 directly inline; otherwise, the message is forwarded as no prefix given
5368 but use the flipped value of (@code{message-forward-as-mime}). By
5369 default, the message is decoded and forwarded as an rfc822 @sc{mime} section.
5372 @kindex S O p (Summary)
5373 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
5375 @cindex making digests
5376 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
5377 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
5378 process/prefix convention.
5381 @kindex S u (Summary)
5382 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
5383 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
5384 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
5385 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
5388 Also @xref{Header Commands, ,Header Commands, message, The Message
5389 Manual}, for more information.
5392 @node Summary Message Commands
5393 @subsection Summary Message Commands
5397 @kindex S y (Summary)
5398 @findex gnus-summary-yank-message
5399 Yank the current article into an already existing Message composition
5400 buffer (@code{gnus-summary-yank-message}). This command prompts for
5401 what message buffer you want to yank into, and understands the
5402 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5407 @node Canceling and Superseding
5408 @subsection Canceling Articles
5409 @cindex canceling articles
5410 @cindex superseding articles
5412 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
5413 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
5415 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
5417 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
5419 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
5420 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
5421 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
5422 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
5423 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
5424 This command uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
5426 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
5427 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
5430 Gnus will use the ``current'' select method when canceling. If you
5431 want to use the standard posting method, use the @samp{a} symbolic
5432 prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}).
5434 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
5435 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
5436 your original article.
5438 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
5440 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
5441 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
5442 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
5445 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
5446 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
5447 have posted almost the same article twice.
5449 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
5450 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
5451 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
5452 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
5453 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
5454 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
5455 header by substituting one of those words for the word
5456 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
5457 you would do normally. The previous article will be
5458 canceled/superseded.
5460 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
5462 @node Delayed Articles
5463 @section Delayed Articles
5464 @cindex delayed sending
5465 @cindex send delayed
5467 Sometimes, you might wish to delay the sending of a message. For
5468 example, you might wish to arrange for a message to turn up just in time
5469 to remind your about the birthday of your Significant Other. For this,
5470 there is the @code{gnus-delay} package. Setup is simple:
5473 (gnus-delay-initialize)
5476 @findex gnus-delay-article
5477 Normally, to send a message you use the @kbd{C-c C-c} command from
5478 Message mode. To delay a message, use @kbd{C-c C-j}
5479 (@code{gnus-delay-article}) instead. This will ask you for how long the
5480 message should be delayed. Possible answers are:
5484 A time span. Consists of an integer and a letter. For example,
5485 @code{42d} means to delay for 42 days. Available letters are @code{m}
5486 (minutes), @code{h} (hours), @code{d} (days), @code{w} (weeks), @code{M}
5487 (months) and @code{Y} (years).
5490 A specific date. Looks like @code{YYYYY-MM-DD}. The message will be
5491 delayed until that day, at a specific time (eight o'clock by default).
5492 See also @code{gnus-delay-default-hour}.
5495 A specific time of day. Given in @code{hh:mm} format, 24h, no am/pm
5496 stuff. The deadline will be at that time today, except if that time has
5497 already passed, then it's at the given time tomorrow. So if it's ten
5498 o'clock in the morning and you specify @code{11:15}, then the deadline
5499 is one hour and fifteen minutes hence. But if you specify @code{9:20},
5500 that means a time tomorrow.
5503 The action of the @code{gnus-delay-article} command is influenced by a
5504 couple of variables:
5507 @item gnus-delay-default-hour
5508 @vindex gnus-delay-default-hour
5509 When you specify a specific date, the message will be due on that hour
5510 on the given date. Possible values are integers 0 through 23.
5512 @item gnus-delay-default-delay
5513 @vindex gnus-delay-default-delay
5514 This is a string and gives the default delay. It can be of any of the
5515 formats described above.
5517 @item gnus-delay-group
5518 @vindex gnus-delay-group
5519 Delayed articles will be kept in this group on the drafts server until
5520 they are due. You probably don't need to change this. The default
5521 value is @code{"delayed"}.
5523 @item gnus-delay-header
5524 @vindex gnus-delay-header
5525 The deadline for each article will be stored in a header. This variable
5526 is a string and gives the header name. You probably don't need to
5527 change this. The default value is @code{"X-Gnus-Delayed"}.
5530 The way delaying works is like this: when you use the
5531 @code{gnus-delay-article} command, you give a certain delay. Gnus
5532 calculates the deadline of the message and stores it in the
5533 @code{X-Gnus-Delayed} header and puts the message in the
5534 @code{nndraft:delayed} group.
5536 And whenever you get new news, Gnus looks through the group for articles
5537 which are due and sends them. It uses the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue}
5538 function for this. By default, this function is added to the hook
5539 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But of course, you can change this.
5540 Maybe you want to use the demon to send drafts? Just tell the demon to
5541 execute the @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} function.
5544 @item gnus-delay-initialize
5545 @findex gnus-delay-initialize
5546 By default, this function installs @code{gnus-delay-send-queue} in
5547 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook}. But it accepts the optional second
5548 argument @code{no-check}. If it is non-@code{nil},
5549 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is not changed. The optional first
5550 argument is ignored.
5552 For example, @code{(gnus-delay-initialize nil t)} means to do nothing.
5553 Presumably, you want to use the demon for sending due delayed articles.
5554 Just don't forget to set that up :-)
5558 @node Marking Articles
5559 @section Marking Articles
5560 @cindex article marking
5561 @cindex article ticking
5564 There are several marks you can set on an article.
5566 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
5567 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
5568 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
5570 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
5573 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
5574 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
5575 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
5579 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
5583 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
5584 * Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
5585 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
5589 @node Unread Articles
5590 @subsection Unread Articles
5592 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
5597 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
5598 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
5600 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
5601 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
5602 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
5603 tick it. However, articles can be expired (from news servers by the
5604 news server software, Gnus itself never expires ticked messages), so if
5605 you want to keep an article forever, you'll have to make it persistent
5606 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
5609 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
5610 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
5612 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
5613 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
5614 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
5615 Otherwise (except for the visibility issue), they are just like ticked
5619 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
5620 Marked as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
5622 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
5627 @subsection Read Articles
5628 @cindex expirable mark
5630 All the following marks mark articles as read.
5635 @vindex gnus-del-mark
5636 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
5637 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
5640 @vindex gnus-read-mark
5641 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
5644 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
5645 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
5646 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
5649 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
5650 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
5653 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
5654 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
5657 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
5658 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
5661 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
5662 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
5665 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
5666 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
5669 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
5670 @sc{soup}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
5673 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
5674 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
5678 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
5679 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
5680 (@code{gnus-duplicate-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
5684 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
5685 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
5687 One more special mark, though:
5691 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
5692 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
5694 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
5695 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
5696 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
5697 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
5703 @subsection Other Marks
5704 @cindex process mark
5707 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
5713 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
5714 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
5715 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
5716 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
5717 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}.
5720 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
5721 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
5722 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
5723 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
5726 @vindex gnus-forwarded-mark
5727 All articles that you have forwarded will be marked with an @samp{F} in
5728 the second column (@code{gnus-forwarded-mark}).
5731 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
5732 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
5733 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5736 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
5737 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
5738 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
5739 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
5742 @vindex gnus-recent-mark
5743 Articles that according to the server haven't been shown to the user
5744 before are marked with a @samp{N} in the second column
5745 (@code{gnus-recent-mark}). Note that not all servers support this
5746 mark, in which case it simply never appears. Compare with
5747 @code{gnus-unseen-mark}.
5750 @vindex gnus-unseen-mark
5751 Articles that haven't been seen before in Gnus by the user are marked
5752 with a @samp{.} in the second column (@code{gnus-unseen-mark}).
5753 Compare with @code{gnus-recent-mark}.
5756 @vindex gnus-downloaded-mark
5757 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, articles may be
5758 downloaded for unplugged (offline) viewing. If you are using the
5759 @samp{%O} spec, these articles get the @samp{+} mark in that spec.
5760 (The variable @code{gnus-downloaded-mark} controls which character to
5764 @vindex gnus-undownloaded-mark
5765 When using the Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics}, some articles might
5766 not have been downloaded. Such articles cannot be viewed while you
5767 are unplugged (offline). If you are using the @samp{%O} spec, these
5768 articles get the @samp{-} mark in that spec. (The variable
5769 @code{gnus-undownloaded-mark} controls which character to use.)
5772 @vindex gnus-downloadable-mark
5773 The Gnus agent @pxref{Agent Basics} downloads some articles
5774 automatically, but it is also possible to explicitly mark articles for
5775 download, even if they would not be downloaded automatically. Such
5776 explicitly-marked articles get the @samp{%} mark in the first column.
5777 (The variable @code{gnus-downloadable-mark} controls which character to
5781 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
5782 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
5783 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
5784 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
5785 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
5788 @vindex gnus-process-mark
5789 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
5790 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
5791 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
5792 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
5793 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
5797 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
5798 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
5799 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
5801 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
5802 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
5803 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
5807 @subsection Setting Marks
5808 @cindex setting marks
5810 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
5815 @kindex M c (Summary)
5816 @kindex M-u (Summary)
5817 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
5818 @cindex mark as unread
5819 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
5820 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
5826 @kindex M t (Summary)
5827 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
5828 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
5829 @xref{Article Caching}.
5834 @kindex M ? (Summary)
5835 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
5836 Mark the current article as dormant
5837 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}.
5841 @kindex M d (Summary)
5843 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
5844 Mark the current article as read
5845 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
5849 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
5850 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
5851 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
5856 @kindex M k (Summary)
5857 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
5858 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
5859 and then select the next unread article
5860 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
5864 @kindex M K (Summary)
5865 @kindex C-k (Summary)
5866 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
5867 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
5868 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
5871 @kindex M C (Summary)
5872 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
5873 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
5874 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
5877 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
5878 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
5879 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
5880 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
5883 @kindex M H (Summary)
5884 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
5885 Catchup the current group to point (before the point)
5886 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
5889 @kindex M h (Summary)
5890 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-from-here
5891 Catchup the current group from point (after the point)
5892 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-from-here}).
5895 @kindex C-w (Summary)
5896 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
5897 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
5898 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
5901 @kindex M V k (Summary)
5902 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
5903 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
5904 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
5908 @kindex M e (Summary)
5910 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
5911 Mark the current article as expirable
5912 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
5915 @kindex M b (Summary)
5916 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
5917 Set a bookmark in the current article
5918 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
5921 @kindex M B (Summary)
5922 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
5923 Remove the bookmark from the current article
5924 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
5927 @kindex M V c (Summary)
5928 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
5929 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
5930 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5933 @kindex M V u (Summary)
5934 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
5935 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
5936 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
5939 @kindex M V m (Summary)
5940 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
5941 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
5942 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
5943 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
5946 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
5947 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
5948 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
5949 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
5950 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
5951 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
5952 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
5953 The default is @code{t}.
5956 @node Generic Marking Commands
5957 @subsection Generic Marking Commands
5959 Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
5960 the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
5961 article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
5962 even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go to the
5963 previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
5966 Multiply these five behaviors with five different marking commands, and
5967 you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
5970 To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
5971 different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
5972 buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
5973 to list in this manual.
5975 While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
5976 altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
5977 @kbd{!} command to go to the next article instead of the next unread
5978 article, you could say something like:
5981 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
5982 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5983 (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
5989 (defun my-alter-summary-map ()
5990 (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
5994 @node Setting Process Marks
5995 @subsection Setting Process Marks
5996 @cindex setting process marks
5998 Process marks are displayed as @code{#} in the summary buffer, and are
5999 used for marking articles in such a way that other commands will
6000 process these articles. For instance, if you process mark four
6001 articles and then use the @kbd{*} command, Gnus will enter these four
6002 commands into the cache. For more information,
6003 @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
6010 @kindex M P p (Summary)
6011 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6012 Mark the current article with the process mark
6013 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
6014 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6018 @kindex M P u (Summary)
6019 @kindex M-# (Summary)
6020 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
6021 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6024 @kindex M P U (Summary)
6025 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6026 Remove the process mark from all articles
6027 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6030 @kindex M P i (Summary)
6031 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
6032 Invert the list of process marked articles
6033 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
6036 @kindex M P R (Summary)
6037 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6038 Mark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6039 expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6042 @kindex M P G (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6044 Unmark articles that have a @code{Subject} header that matches a regular
6045 expression (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6048 @kindex M P r (Summary)
6049 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6050 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6054 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6055 Unmark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6058 @kindex M P t (Summary)
6059 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6060 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6061 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6064 @kindex M P T (Summary)
6065 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6066 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
6067 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6070 @kindex M P v (Summary)
6071 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
6072 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
6073 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
6076 @kindex M P s (Summary)
6077 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
6078 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6081 @kindex M P S (Summary)
6082 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
6083 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
6084 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
6087 @kindex M P a (Summary)
6088 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
6089 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
6092 @kindex M P b (Summary)
6093 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6094 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
6095 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6098 @kindex M P k (Summary)
6099 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
6100 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
6101 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
6104 @kindex M P y (Summary)
6105 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
6106 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
6107 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
6110 @kindex M P w (Summary)
6111 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
6112 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
6113 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
6117 Also see the @kbd{&} command in @pxref{Searching for Articles} for how to
6118 set process marks based on article body contents.
6125 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
6126 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
6127 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
6130 All limiting commands work on subsets of the articles already fetched
6131 from the servers. None of these commands query the server for
6132 additional articles.
6138 @kindex / / (Summary)
6139 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
6140 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
6141 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}). If given a prefix, exclude
6145 @kindex / a (Summary)
6146 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
6147 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
6148 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}). If given a prefix, exclude
6152 @kindex / x (Summary)
6153 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
6154 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
6155 headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
6156 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-extra}). If given a prefix, exclude
6161 @kindex / u (Summary)
6163 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
6164 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
6165 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
6166 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
6167 dormant articles will also be excluded.
6170 @kindex / m (Summary)
6171 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
6172 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have been marked
6173 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
6176 @kindex / t (Summary)
6177 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
6178 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
6179 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-age}). If given a prefix, limit to
6180 articles younger than that number of days.
6183 @kindex / n (Summary)
6184 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
6185 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
6186 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
6187 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6190 @kindex / w (Summary)
6191 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
6192 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
6193 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
6197 @kindex / . (Summary)
6198 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen
6199 Limit the summary buffer to the unseen articles
6200 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unseen}).
6203 @kindex / v (Summary)
6204 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
6205 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
6206 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
6209 @kindex / p (Summary)
6210 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate
6211 Limit the summary buffer to articles that satisfy the @code{display}
6212 group parameter predicate
6213 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-display-predicate}). See @pxref{Group
6214 Parameters} for more on this predicate.
6218 @kindex M S (Summary)
6219 @kindex / E (Summary)
6220 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
6221 Include all expunged articles in the limit
6222 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
6225 @kindex / D (Summary)
6226 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
6227 Include all dormant articles in the limit
6228 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
6231 @kindex / * (Summary)
6232 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-cached
6233 Include all cached articles in the limit
6234 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-cached}).
6237 @kindex / d (Summary)
6238 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
6239 Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
6240 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
6243 @kindex / M (Summary)
6244 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
6245 Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
6248 @kindex / T (Summary)
6249 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
6250 Include all the articles in the current thread in the limit.
6253 @kindex / c (Summary)
6254 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
6255 Exclude all dormant articles that have no children from the limit
6256 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
6259 @kindex / C (Summary)
6260 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
6261 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
6262 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
6263 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
6266 @kindex / N (Summary)
6267 @findex gnus-summary-insert-new-articles
6268 Insert all new articles in the summary buffer. It scans for new emails
6269 if @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} is non-@code{nil}.
6272 @kindex / o (Summary)
6273 @findex gnus-summary-insert-old-articles
6274 Insert all old articles in the summary buffer. If given a numbered
6275 prefix, fetch this number of articles.
6283 @cindex article threading
6285 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
6286 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
6287 hierarchical fashion.
6289 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
6290 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
6291 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
6292 or simply missing. Weird news propagation exacerbates the problem,
6293 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
6294 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
6295 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
6297 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
6301 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
6304 A tree-like article structure.
6307 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
6310 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
6311 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
6312 summary buffer. We then typically have many sub-threads that really
6313 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
6314 called loose threads.
6316 @item thread gathering
6317 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
6319 @item sparse threads
6320 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
6321 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
6327 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
6328 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
6332 @node Customizing Threading
6333 @subsection Customizing Threading
6334 @cindex customizing threading
6337 * Loose Threads:: How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
6338 * Filling In Threads:: Making the threads displayed look fuller.
6339 * More Threading:: Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
6340 * Low-Level Threading:: You thought it was over... but you were wrong!
6345 @subsubsection Loose Threads
6348 @cindex loose threads
6351 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
6352 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
6353 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
6354 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
6355 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
6356 read or killed the root in a previous session.
6358 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
6359 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
6360 There are four possible values:
6364 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
6365 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-adopt,width=7.5cm}}
6366 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-empty,width=7.5cm}}}
6367 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-none,width=7.5cm}}}
6368 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=ps/summary-dummy,width=7.5cm}}}
6373 @cindex adopting articles
6378 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
6379 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
6380 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
6381 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
6384 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
6385 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root-always
6386 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
6387 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
6388 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
6389 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
6390 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
6391 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6392 If you want all threads to have a dummy root, even the non-gathered
6393 ones, set @code{gnus-summary-make-false-root-always} to @code{t}.
6396 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
6397 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
6398 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
6402 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
6403 display them after one another.
6406 Don't gather loose threads.
6409 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6410 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
6411 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
6412 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
6413 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
6414 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
6415 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
6416 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
6417 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
6418 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
6419 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
6421 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
6422 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
6423 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
6426 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6427 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
6428 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
6429 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
6430 simplification is used.
6432 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6433 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6434 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
6435 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
6437 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
6439 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
6445 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
6446 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
6447 "answer" "reference" "announce"
6448 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
6453 (mapconcat 'identity
6454 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
6456 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
6459 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
6462 @item gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6463 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-functions
6464 If non-@code{nil}, this variable overrides
6465 @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}. This variable should be a
6466 list of functions to apply to the @code{Subject} string iteratively to
6467 arrive at the simplified version of the string.
6469 Useful functions to put in this list include:
6472 @item gnus-simplify-subject-re
6473 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-re
6474 Strip the leading @samp{Re:}.
6476 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6477 @findex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy
6480 @item gnus-simplify-whitespace
6481 @findex gnus-simplify-whitespace
6482 Remove excessive whitespace.
6484 @item gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6485 @findex gnus-simplify-all-whitespace
6486 Remove all whitespace.
6489 You may also write your own functions, of course.
6492 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6493 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
6494 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
6495 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
6496 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
6497 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
6498 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
6499 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
6501 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6502 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6503 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
6504 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
6505 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
6506 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
6507 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
6508 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
6509 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
6513 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6514 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
6515 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
6516 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
6518 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6519 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
6520 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
6523 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
6527 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
6528 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
6534 @node Filling In Threads
6535 @subsubsection Filling In Threads
6538 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
6539 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
6540 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
6541 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
6542 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
6543 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
6544 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
6545 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
6546 fetching old headers only works if the back end you are using carries
6547 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool},
6548 @code{nnml}, and @code{nnmaildir}. Also remember that if the root of
6549 the thread has been expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do
6552 This variable can also be set to @code{invisible}. This won't have any
6553 visible effects, but is useful if you use the @kbd{A T} command a lot
6554 (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
6556 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
6557 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
6558 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
6559 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
6560 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
6561 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
6562 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
6563 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
6564 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
6565 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
6566 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
6567 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
6568 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
6569 @code{nil} by default.
6571 @item gnus-read-all-available-headers
6572 @vindex gnus-read-all-available-headers
6573 This is a rather obscure variable that few will find useful. It's
6574 intended for those non-news newsgroups where the back end has to fetch
6575 quite a lot to present the summary buffer, and where it's impossible to
6576 go back to parents of articles. This is mostly the case in the
6577 web-based groups, like the @code{nnultimate} groups.
6579 If you don't use those, then it's safe to leave this as the default
6580 @code{nil}. If you want to use this variable, it should be a regexp
6581 that matches the group name, or @code{t} for all groups.
6586 @node More Threading
6587 @subsubsection More Threading
6590 @item gnus-show-threads
6591 @vindex gnus-show-threads
6592 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
6593 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
6594 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
6595 slower and more awkward.
6597 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6598 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6599 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
6602 This can also be a predicate specifier (@pxref{Predicate Specifiers}).
6603 Available predicates are @code{gnus-article-unread-p} and
6604 @code{gnus-article-unseen-p}).
6609 (setq gnus-thread-hide-subtree
6610 '(or gnus-article-unread-p
6611 gnus-article-unseen-p))
6614 (It's a pretty nonsensical example, since all unseen articles are also
6615 unread, but you get my drift.)
6618 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
6619 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
6620 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
6621 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
6622 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
6623 threads are expunged.
6625 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
6626 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
6627 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
6630 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6631 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
6632 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
6633 this variable is non-@code{nil}, which is the default, the subject
6634 change is ignored. If it is @code{nil}, a change in the subject will
6635 result in a new thread.
6637 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
6638 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
6639 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
6642 @item gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6643 @vindex gnus-sort-gathered-threads-function
6644 Sometimes, particularly with mailing lists, the order in which mails
6645 arrive locally is not necessarily the same as the order in which they
6646 arrived on the mailing list. Consequently, when sorting sub-threads
6647 using the default @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number}, responses can end
6648 up appearing before the article to which they are responding to.
6649 Setting this variable to an alternate value
6650 (e.g. @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}), in a group's parameters or in an
6651 appropriate hook (e.g. @code{gnus-summary-generate-hook}) can produce a
6652 more logical sub-thread ordering in such instances.
6657 @node Low-Level Threading
6658 @subsubsection Low-Level Threading
6662 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
6663 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
6664 Hook run before parsing any headers.
6666 @item gnus-alter-header-function
6667 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
6668 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
6669 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
6670 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
6671 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
6672 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
6673 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
6674 meaningful. Here's one example:
6677 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
6679 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
6680 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
6682 "\\(<[^<>@@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@@\\([^<>@@]*>\\)" id)
6684 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@@" (match-string 2 id))
6691 @node Thread Commands
6692 @subsection Thread Commands
6693 @cindex thread commands
6699 @kindex T k (Summary)
6700 @kindex C-M-k (Summary)
6701 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
6702 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
6703 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
6704 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
6709 @kindex T l (Summary)
6710 @kindex C-M-l (Summary)
6711 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
6712 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
6713 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
6716 @kindex T i (Summary)
6717 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
6718 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
6719 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
6722 @kindex T # (Summary)
6723 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6724 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
6725 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6728 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
6729 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6730 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
6731 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6734 @kindex T T (Summary)
6735 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
6736 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
6739 @kindex T s (Summary)
6740 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
6741 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
6742 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
6745 @kindex T h (Summary)
6746 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
6747 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
6750 @kindex T S (Summary)
6751 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
6752 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
6755 @kindex T H (Summary)
6756 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
6757 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
6760 @kindex T t (Summary)
6761 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
6762 Re-thread the current article's thread
6763 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
6764 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
6767 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
6768 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
6769 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
6770 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
6774 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
6775 understand the numeric prefix.
6780 @kindex T n (Summary)
6782 @kindex C-M-n (Summary)
6784 @kindex M-down (Summary)
6785 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
6786 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
6789 @kindex T p (Summary)
6791 @kindex C-M-p (Summary)
6793 @kindex M-up (Summary)
6794 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
6795 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
6798 @kindex T d (Summary)
6799 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
6800 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
6803 @kindex T u (Summary)
6804 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
6805 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
6808 @kindex T o (Summary)
6809 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
6810 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
6813 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
6814 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
6815 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
6816 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
6817 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
6818 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
6819 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
6820 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
6821 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
6822 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
6823 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
6824 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
6828 @node Sorting the Summary Buffer
6829 @section Sorting the Summary Buffer
6831 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
6832 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
6833 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
6834 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6835 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
6836 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6837 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-random
6838 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
6839 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-thread
6840 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
6841 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which can be either a single
6842 function, a list of functions, or a list containing functions and
6843 @code{(not some-function)} elements.
6845 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
6846 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
6847 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
6848 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score},
6849 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number},
6850 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-date},
6851 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-random} and
6852 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
6854 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
6855 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
6856 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread.
6858 If you use more than one function, the primary sort key should be the
6859 last function in the list. You should probably always include
6860 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
6861 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
6862 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
6863 ascending article order.
6865 If you would like to sort by reverse score, then by subject, and finally
6866 by number, you could do something like:
6869 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6870 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
6871 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
6872 (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
6875 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
6876 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
6877 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
6878 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
6879 which the articles arrived.
6881 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
6885 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
6887 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
6888 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
6891 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
6892 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
6893 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
6894 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
6897 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
6898 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
6899 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
6900 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
6901 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
6902 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-random
6903 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
6904 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or
6905 other, you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions}
6906 variable. It is very similar to the
6907 @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that it uses slightly
6908 different functions for article comparison. Available sorting
6909 predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
6910 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author},
6911 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date},
6912 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-random}, and
6913 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
6915 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
6919 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
6920 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
6921 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
6926 @node Asynchronous Fetching
6927 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
6928 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
6929 @cindex article pre-fetch
6932 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
6933 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
6934 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
6935 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
6936 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
6938 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
6939 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
6941 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
6942 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
6943 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
6944 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
6945 connection is blocked.
6947 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
6948 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
6949 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
6950 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
6952 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
6953 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
6954 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
6955 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
6958 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
6961 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
6962 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
6963 happen automatically.
6965 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
6966 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
6967 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
6968 that when you read an article in the group, the back end will pre-fetch
6969 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the back end will
6970 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
6971 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
6973 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
6974 @findex gnus-async-read-p
6975 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
6976 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
6977 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
6978 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
6979 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
6980 data structure as the only parameter.
6982 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
6985 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
6986 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
6987 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
6988 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
6991 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
6994 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
6995 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
6996 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
6998 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
6999 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
7000 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
7001 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
7005 Remove articles when they are read.
7008 Remove articles when exiting the group.
7011 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
7013 @c @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
7014 @c If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
7015 @c from the next group.
7018 @node Article Caching
7019 @section Article Caching
7020 @cindex article caching
7023 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
7024 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
7025 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
7026 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
7027 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
7029 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
7031 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7032 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
7033 @vindex gnus-use-cache
7034 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
7035 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
7036 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
7037 cache is flat or hierarchical is controlled by the
7038 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
7040 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
7041 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
7042 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
7043 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
7044 as dormant, and don't worry.
7046 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
7048 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
7049 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
7050 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
7051 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
7052 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
7053 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
7054 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
7055 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
7056 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
7057 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
7059 @findex gnus-jog-cache
7060 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
7061 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
7062 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
7063 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
7064 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
7065 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
7066 Seriously. One way to cut down on the number of articles downloaded is
7067 to score unwanted articles down and have them marked as read. They will
7068 not then be downloaded by this command.
7070 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
7071 @vindex gnus-cacheable-groups
7072 It is likely that you do not want caching on all groups. For instance,
7073 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
7074 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
7075 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space.
7077 To limit the caching, you could set @code{gnus-cacheable-groups} to a
7078 regexp of groups to cache, @samp{^nntp} for instance, or set the
7079 @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to @samp{^nnml}, for instance.
7080 Both variables are @code{nil} by default. If a group matches both
7081 variables, the group is not cached.
7083 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
7084 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
7085 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
7086 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
7087 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
7088 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
7089 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
7090 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
7091 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
7094 @findex gnus-cache-move-cache
7095 @code{gnus-cache-move-cache} will move your whole
7096 @code{gnus-cache-directory} to some other location. You get asked to
7097 where, isn't that cool?
7099 @node Persistent Articles
7100 @section Persistent Articles
7101 @cindex persistent articles
7103 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
7104 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
7105 useful in my opinion.
7107 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
7108 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
7109 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
7110 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
7111 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
7112 the expiry going on at the news server.
7114 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
7115 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
7116 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
7122 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
7123 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
7126 @kindex M-* (Summary)
7127 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
7128 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
7129 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
7133 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
7135 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
7136 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
7137 interested in persistent articles:
7140 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
7144 @node Article Backlog
7145 @section Article Backlog
7147 @cindex article backlog
7149 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
7150 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
7151 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
7152 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
7153 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
7154 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
7155 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
7156 increase memory usage some.
7158 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
7159 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
7160 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
7161 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
7162 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
7163 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
7164 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
7166 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
7169 @node Saving Articles
7170 @section Saving Articles
7171 @cindex saving articles
7173 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
7174 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
7175 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
7176 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
7177 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
7179 For the commands listed here, the target is a file. If you want to
7180 save to a group, see the @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article})
7181 command (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
7183 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
7184 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
7185 unwanted headers before saving the article.
7187 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
7188 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
7189 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
7190 deleted before saving.
7196 @kindex O o (Summary)
7198 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
7199 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
7200 Save the current article using the default article saver
7201 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
7204 @kindex O m (Summary)
7205 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
7206 Save the current article in mail format
7207 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
7210 @kindex O r (Summary)
7211 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
7212 Save the current article in rmail format
7213 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
7216 @kindex O f (Summary)
7217 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
7218 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
7219 Save the current article in plain file format
7220 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
7223 @kindex O F (Summary)
7224 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
7225 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
7226 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
7229 @kindex O b (Summary)
7230 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
7231 Save the current article body in plain file format
7232 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
7235 @kindex O h (Summary)
7236 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
7237 Save the current article in mh folder format
7238 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
7241 @kindex O v (Summary)
7242 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
7243 Save the current article in a VM folder
7244 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
7248 @kindex O p (Summary)
7250 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
7251 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
7252 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
7253 If given a symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}), include the
7254 complete headers in the piped output.
7257 @kindex O P (Summary)
7258 @findex gnus-summary-muttprint
7259 @vindex gnus-summary-muttprint-program
7260 Save the current article into muttprint. That is, print it using the
7261 external program Muttprint (see
7262 @uref{http://muttprint.sourceforge.net/}). The program name and
7263 options to use is controlled by the variable
7264 @code{gnus-summary-muttprint-program}. (@code{gnus-summary-muttprint}).
7268 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
7269 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
7270 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
7271 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
7272 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
7273 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
7274 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
7275 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
7276 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
7277 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
7278 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
7279 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
7283 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
7284 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
7285 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the six ready-made
7286 functions below, or you can create your own.
7290 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7291 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
7292 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
7293 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7294 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
7295 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7296 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7298 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7299 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
7300 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
7301 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
7302 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7303 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
7305 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
7306 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
7307 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
7308 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7309 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
7310 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7311 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7313 @item gnus-summary-write-to-file
7314 @findex gnus-summary-write-to-file
7315 Write the article straight to an ordinary file. The file is
7316 overwritten if it exists. Uses the function in the
7317 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7318 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7320 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7321 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
7322 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
7323 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
7324 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
7326 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7327 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
7328 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
7329 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
7330 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
7333 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
7334 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
7335 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
7336 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
7337 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
7339 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7340 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
7341 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
7342 reader to use this setting.
7345 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
7346 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
7347 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
7348 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
7351 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
7352 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
7353 available functions that generate names:
7357 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
7358 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
7359 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7361 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
7362 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
7363 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
7365 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
7366 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
7367 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7369 @item gnus-plain-save-name
7370 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
7371 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
7373 @item gnus-sender-save-name
7374 @findex gnus-sender-save-name
7375 File names like @file{~/News/larsi}.
7378 @vindex gnus-split-methods
7379 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
7380 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
7381 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
7382 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
7386 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
7387 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
7388 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
7389 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
7392 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
7393 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
7394 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
7395 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
7396 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
7397 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
7398 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
7399 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
7400 called returns a string or a list of strings.
7402 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
7403 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
7404 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
7405 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
7407 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
7408 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
7409 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
7412 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
7413 lots of mail groups called things like
7414 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
7415 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
7416 following will do just that:
7419 (defun my-save-name (group)
7420 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
7421 (substring group (match-end 0))))
7423 (setq gnus-split-methods
7424 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
7429 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
7430 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
7431 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
7432 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
7433 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
7434 all the files in the top level directory
7435 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
7436 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
7437 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
7438 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
7440 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
7441 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
7442 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
7443 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
7444 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
7447 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
7451 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
7452 (setq gnus-default-article-saver
7453 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
7456 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
7457 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
7458 the top level directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
7459 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
7462 @node Decoding Articles
7463 @section Decoding Articles
7464 @cindex decoding articles
7466 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
7467 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
7470 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
7471 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
7472 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
7473 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
7474 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
7475 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
7479 @cindex article series
7480 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
7481 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
7482 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
7483 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
7484 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
7486 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
7487 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
7488 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
7490 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
7491 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
7492 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
7494 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
7495 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
7496 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
7499 @node Uuencoded Articles
7500 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
7502 @cindex uuencoded articles
7507 @kindex X u (Summary)
7508 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
7509 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
7510 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
7513 @kindex X U (Summary)
7514 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
7515 Uudecodes and saves the current series
7516 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7519 @kindex X v u (Summary)
7520 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
7521 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
7524 @kindex X v U (Summary)
7525 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
7526 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
7527 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
7531 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
7532 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
7533 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
7534 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
7535 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
7537 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
7538 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
7539 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
7540 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
7543 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
7544 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
7545 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
7546 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
7547 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
7548 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
7552 @node Shell Archives
7553 @subsection Shell Archives
7555 @cindex shell archives
7556 @cindex shared articles
7558 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
7559 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
7560 some commands to deal with these:
7565 @kindex X s (Summary)
7566 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
7567 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
7570 @kindex X S (Summary)
7571 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
7572 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
7575 @kindex X v s (Summary)
7576 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
7577 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
7580 @kindex X v S (Summary)
7581 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
7582 Unshars, views and saves the current series
7583 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
7587 @node PostScript Files
7588 @subsection PostScript Files
7594 @kindex X p (Summary)
7595 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
7596 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
7599 @kindex X P (Summary)
7600 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
7601 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
7602 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
7605 @kindex X v p (Summary)
7606 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
7607 View the current PostScript series
7608 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
7611 @kindex X v P (Summary)
7612 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
7613 View and save the current PostScript series
7614 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
7619 @subsection Other Files
7623 @kindex X o (Summary)
7624 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
7625 Save the current series
7626 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
7629 @kindex X b (Summary)
7630 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
7631 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
7632 doesn't really work yet.
7636 @node Decoding Variables
7637 @subsection Decoding Variables
7639 Adjective, not verb.
7642 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
7643 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
7644 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
7648 @node Rule Variables
7649 @subsubsection Rule Variables
7650 @cindex rule variables
7652 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
7653 variables are of the form
7656 (list '(regexp1 command2)
7663 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7664 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7666 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
7667 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
7670 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
7671 (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
7674 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7675 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
7676 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
7677 user and default view rules.
7679 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7680 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
7681 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
7686 @node Other Decode Variables
7687 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
7690 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7692 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
7693 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
7694 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
7695 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
7696 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
7700 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
7701 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
7704 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
7705 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
7706 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
7709 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7710 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
7711 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
7712 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
7713 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
7716 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7717 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
7718 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
7720 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7721 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
7722 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
7723 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
7724 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
7727 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7728 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
7729 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
7731 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7732 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
7733 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
7734 looking for files to display.
7736 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
7737 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
7738 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
7741 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7742 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
7743 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
7746 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7747 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
7748 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
7751 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7752 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
7753 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
7756 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7757 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
7758 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
7759 decoded articles as unread.
7761 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7762 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
7763 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
7764 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
7766 @item gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7767 @vindex gnus-uu-pre-uudecode-hook
7768 Hook run before sending a message to @code{uudecode}.
7770 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7771 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
7773 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
7774 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
7775 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
7776 @code{metamail} for viewing.
7778 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7779 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
7780 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
7781 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
7782 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
7783 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC 1153---no easy way
7784 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
7785 simply dropped them.
7790 @node Uuencoding and Posting
7791 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
7795 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7796 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
7797 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
7798 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
7799 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
7800 for you when you post the article.
7802 @item gnus-uu-post-length
7803 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
7804 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
7805 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
7807 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
7808 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
7809 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
7810 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
7811 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
7812 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
7813 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
7815 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7816 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
7817 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
7818 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
7819 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
7820 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
7821 Default is @code{t}.
7827 @subsection Viewing Files
7828 @cindex viewing files
7829 @cindex pseudo-articles
7831 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
7832 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
7833 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
7834 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
7835 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
7836 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
7837 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
7839 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
7840 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
7841 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
7842 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
7844 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
7845 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
7846 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
7848 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
7849 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
7850 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
7851 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
7852 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
7854 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
7855 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
7856 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
7857 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
7858 a list of parameters to that command.
7860 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
7861 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
7862 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
7864 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
7865 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
7866 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
7869 @node Article Treatment
7870 @section Article Treatment
7872 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
7873 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
7874 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
7875 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
7876 these articles easier.
7879 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
7880 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look nice.
7881 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
7882 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
7883 * Article Header:: Doing various header transformations.
7884 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
7885 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
7886 * Article Display:: Display various stuff---X-Face, Picons, Smileys
7887 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
7888 * Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
7892 @node Article Highlighting
7893 @subsection Article Highlighting
7894 @cindex highlighting
7896 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
7897 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
7902 @kindex W H a (Summary)
7903 @findex gnus-article-highlight
7904 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7905 Do much highlighting of the current article
7906 (@code{gnus-article-highlight}). This function highlights header, cited
7907 text, the signature, and adds buttons to the body and the head.
7910 @kindex W H h (Summary)
7911 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
7912 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
7913 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
7914 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
7915 variable, which is a list where each element has the form
7916 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{name} @var{content})}.
7917 @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
7918 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name
7919 (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}) and @var{content} is the face for highlighting
7920 the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that
7921 @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^} prepended---Gnus will add one.
7924 @kindex W H c (Summary)
7925 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
7926 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
7928 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
7931 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7933 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
7934 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
7935 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
7937 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
7938 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
7939 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
7941 @item gnus-cite-face-list
7942 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
7943 List of faces used for highlighting citations (@pxref{Faces and Fonts}).
7944 When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message,
7945 Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face.
7946 This should make it easier to see who wrote what.
7948 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
7949 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
7950 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
7952 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7953 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
7954 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
7956 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7957 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
7958 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
7959 that it's a citation.
7961 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7962 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
7963 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
7965 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7966 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
7967 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
7969 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
7970 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
7971 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
7972 cited text belonging to the attribution.
7978 @kindex W H s (Summary)
7979 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
7980 @vindex gnus-signature-face
7981 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
7982 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
7983 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
7984 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
7985 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
7990 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
7993 @node Article Fontisizing
7994 @subsection Article Fontisizing
7996 @cindex article emphasis
7998 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
7999 @kindex W e (Summary)
8000 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
8001 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*} or @samp{/this/}. Gnus can make
8002 this look nicer by running the article through the @kbd{W e}
8003 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
8005 @vindex gnus-emphasis-alist
8006 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
8007 @code{gnus-emphasis-alist} variable. This is an alist where the first
8008 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
8009 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
8010 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
8011 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
8012 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
8016 (setq gnus-emphasis-alist
8017 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
8018 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
8027 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
8028 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
8029 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
8030 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
8031 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
8032 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
8033 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
8034 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
8035 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
8036 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
8037 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
8038 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
8039 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
8041 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
8042 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
8043 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
8047 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
8050 @vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
8052 If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
8053 @code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
8054 syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
8055 parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
8057 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
8060 @node Article Hiding
8061 @subsection Article Hiding
8062 @cindex article hiding
8064 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
8065 too much cruft in most articles.
8070 @kindex W W a (Summary)
8071 @findex gnus-article-hide
8072 Do quite a lot of hiding on the article buffer
8073 (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}). In particular, this function will hide
8074 headers, PGP, cited text and the signature.
8077 @kindex W W h (Summary)
8078 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
8079 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
8083 @kindex W W b (Summary)
8084 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
8085 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
8086 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
8089 @kindex W W s (Summary)
8090 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
8091 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
8095 @kindex W W l (Summary)
8096 @findex gnus-article-hide-list-identifiers
8097 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8098 Strip list identifiers specified in @code{gnus-list-identifiers}. These
8099 are strings some mailing list servers add to the beginning of all
8100 @code{Subject} headers---for example, @samp{[zebra 4711]}. Any leading
8101 @samp{Re: } is skipped before stripping. @code{gnus-list-identifiers}
8102 may not contain @code{\\(..\\)}.
8106 @item gnus-list-identifiers
8107 @vindex gnus-list-identifiers
8108 A regular expression that matches list identifiers to be removed from
8109 subject. This can also be a list of regular expressions.
8114 @kindex W W P (Summary)
8115 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
8116 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
8117 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
8120 @kindex W W B (Summary)
8121 @findex gnus-article-strip-banner
8122 @vindex gnus-article-banner-alist
8123 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8126 @cindex stripping advertisements
8127 @cindex advertisements
8128 Strip the banner specified by the @code{banner} group parameter
8129 (@code{gnus-article-strip-banner}). This is mainly used to hide those
8130 annoying banners and/or signatures that some mailing lists and moderated
8131 groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
8132 the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
8133 group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
8134 which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
8135 removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
8136 signature should be removed, or other symbol, meaning that the
8137 corresponding regular expression in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist} is
8140 Regardless of a group, you can hide things like advertisements only when
8141 the sender of an article has a certain mail address specified in
8142 @code{gnus-article-address-banner-alist}.
8146 @item gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8147 @vindex gnus-article-address-banner-alist
8148 Alist of mail addresses and banners. Each element has the form
8149 @code{(ADDRESS . BANNER)}, where ADDRESS is a regexp matching a mail
8150 address in the From header, BANNER is one of a symbol @code{signature},
8151 an item in @code{gnus-article-banner-alist}, a regexp and @code{nil}.
8152 If ADDRESS matches author's mail address, it will remove things like
8153 advertisements. For example, if a sender has the mail address
8154 @samp{hail@@yoo-hoo.co.jp} and there is a banner something like
8155 @samp{Do You Yoo-hoo!?} in all articles he sends, you can use the
8156 following element to remove them:
8159 ("@@yoo-hoo\\.co\\.jp\\'" . "\n_+\nDo You Yoo-hoo!\\?\n.*\n.*\n")
8165 @kindex W W c (Summary)
8166 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
8167 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
8168 customizing the hiding:
8172 @item gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8173 @itemx gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8174 @vindex gnus-cited-closed-text-button-line-format
8175 @vindex gnus-cited-opened-text-button-line-format
8176 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
8177 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
8178 by these format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
8183 Starting point of the hidden text.
8185 Ending point of the hidden text.
8187 Number of characters in the hidden region.
8189 Number of lines of hidden text.
8192 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
8193 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
8194 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave
8195 shown. This can also be a cons cell with the number of lines at the top
8196 and bottom of the text, respectively, to remain visible.
8201 @kindex W W C-c (Summary)
8202 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe
8204 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-maybe}) depending on the
8205 following two variables:
8208 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8209 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
8210 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
8211 50), hide the cited text.
8213 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8214 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
8215 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
8220 @kindex W W C (Summary)
8221 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
8222 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
8223 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
8224 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
8225 have happen automatically (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
8229 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
8230 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
8231 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
8233 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
8234 citation customization.
8236 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
8240 @node Article Washing
8241 @subsection Article Washing
8243 @cindex article washing
8245 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
8246 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
8248 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
8249 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
8252 @xref{Customizing Articles}, if you want to change how Gnus displays
8253 articles by default.
8258 This is not really washing, it's sort of the opposite of washing. If
8259 you type this, you see the article exactly as it exists on disk or on
8263 @kindex W l (Summary)
8264 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
8265 Remove page breaks from the current article
8266 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
8270 @kindex W r (Summary)
8271 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
8272 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
8273 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
8274 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
8275 Unreadable articles that tell you to read them with Caesar rotate or rot13.
8276 (Typically offensive jokes and such.)
8278 It's commonly called ``rot13'' because each letter is rotated 13
8279 positions in the alphabet, e. g. @samp{B} (letter #2) -> @samp{O} (letter
8280 #15). It is sometimes referred to as ``Caesar rotate'' because Caesar
8281 is rumored to have employed this form of, uh, somewhat weak encryption.
8284 @kindex W m (Summary)
8285 @findex gnus-summary-morse-message
8286 @c @icon{gnus-summary-morse-message}
8287 Morse decode the article buffer (@code{gnus-summary-morse-message}).
8291 @kindex W t (Summary)
8293 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
8294 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
8295 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
8298 @kindex W v (Summary)
8299 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-headers
8300 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
8301 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-headers}).
8304 @kindex W o (Summary)
8305 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
8306 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
8309 @kindex W d (Summary)
8310 @findex gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes
8311 @vindex gnus-article-dumbquotes-map
8313 @cindex M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s
8315 Treat M****s*** sm*rtq**t*s according to
8316 @code{gnus-article-dumbquotes-map}
8317 (@code{gnus-article-treat-dumbquotes}). Note that this function guesses
8318 whether a character is a sm*rtq**t* or not, so it should only be used
8321 Sm*rtq**t*s are M****s***'s unilateral extension to the character map in
8322 an attempt to provide more quoting characters. If you see something
8323 like @code{\222} or @code{\264} where you're expecting some kind of
8324 apostrophe or quotation mark, then try this wash.
8327 @kindex W Y f (Summary)
8328 @findex gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article
8329 @cindex Outlook Express
8330 Full deuglify of broken Outlook (Express) articles: Treat dumbquotes,
8331 unwrap lines, repair attribution and rearrange citation.
8332 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8335 @kindex W Y u (Summary)
8336 @findex gnus-article-outlook-unwrap-lines
8337 Unwrap lines that appear to be wrapped citation lines. You can control
8338 what lines will be unwrapped by frobbing
8339 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-min} and
8340 @code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-unwrap-max}, indicating the miminum and
8341 maximum length of an unwrapped citation line.
8342 (@code{gnus-outlook-deuglify-article}).
8345 @kindex W Y a (Summary)
8346 @findex gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution
8347 Repair a broken attribution line.
8348 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-repair-attribution}).
8351 @kindex W Y c (Summary)
8352 @findex gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation
8353 Repair broken citations by rearranging the text.
8354 (@code{gnus-article-outlook-rearrange-citation}).
8357 @kindex W w (Summary)
8358 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
8359 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}).
8361 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
8365 @kindex W Q (Summary)
8366 @findex gnus-article-fill-long-lines
8367 Fill long lines (@code{gnus-article-fill-long-lines}).
8370 @kindex W C (Summary)
8371 @findex gnus-article-capitalize-sentences
8372 Capitalize the first word in each sentence
8373 (@code{gnus-article-capitalize-sentences}).
8376 @kindex W c (Summary)
8377 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
8378 Translate CRLF pairs (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines) into LF
8379 (this takes care of DOS line endings), and then translate any remaining
8380 CRs into LF (this takes care of Mac line endings)
8381 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
8384 @kindex W q (Summary)
8385 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
8386 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
8387 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
8388 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
8389 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
8390 readable to me. Note that this is usually done automatically by
8391 Gnus if the message in question has a @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding}
8392 header that says that this encoding has been done.
8393 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8396 @kindex W 6 (Summary)
8397 @findex gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable
8398 Treat base64 (@code{gnus-article-de-base64-unreadable}).
8399 Base64 is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending non-ASCII
8400 (i. e., 8-bit) articles. Note that this is usually done
8401 automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8402 @code{Content-Transfer-Encoding} header that says that this encoding has
8404 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8407 @kindex W Z (Summary)
8408 @findex gnus-article-decode-HZ
8409 Treat HZ or HZP (@code{gnus-article-decode-HZ}). HZ (or HZP) is one
8410 common encoding employed when sending Chinese articles. It typically
8411 makes strings look like @samp{~@{<:Ky2;S@{#,NpJ)l6HK!#~@}}.
8414 @kindex W u (Summary)
8415 @findex gnus-article-unsplit-urls
8416 Remove newlines from within URLs. Some mailers insert newlines into
8417 outgoing email messages to keep lines short. This reformatting can
8418 split long URLs onto multiple lines. Repair those URLs by removing
8419 the newlines (@code{gnus-article-unsplit-urls}).
8422 @kindex W h (Summary)
8423 @findex gnus-article-wash-html
8424 Treat @sc{html} (@code{gnus-article-wash-html}). Note that this is
8425 usually done automatically by Gnus if the message in question has a
8426 @code{Content-Type} header that says that the message is @sc{html}.
8428 If a prefix is given, a charset will be asked for.
8430 @vindex gnus-article-wash-function
8431 The default is to use the function specified by
8432 @code{mm-text-html-renderer} (@pxref{(emacs-mime)Display
8433 Customization}) to convert the @sc{html}, but this is controlled by
8434 the @code{gnus-article-wash-function} variable. Pre-defined functions
8435 you can use include:
8442 Use emacs-w3m (see @uref{http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/} for more
8446 Use Links (see @uref{http://artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz/~mikulas/links/}).
8449 Use Lynx (see @uref{http://lynx.browser.org/}).
8452 Use html2text -- a simple @sc{html} converter included with Gnus.
8457 @kindex W b (Summary)
8458 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
8459 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
8460 @xref{Article Buttons}.
8463 @kindex W B (Summary)
8464 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
8465 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
8466 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
8469 @kindex W p (Summary)
8470 @findex gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig
8471 Verify a signed control message (@code{gnus-article-verify-x-pgp-sig}).
8472 Control messages such as @code{newgroup} and @code{checkgroups} are
8473 usually signed by the hierarchy maintainer. You need to add the PGP
8474 public key of the maintainer to your keyring to verify the
8475 message.@footnote{PGP keys for many hierarchies are available at
8476 @uref{ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/pgpcontrol/README.html}}
8479 @kindex W s (Summary)
8480 @findex gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt
8481 Verify a signed (PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}) message
8482 (@code{gnus-summary-force-verify-and-decrypt}). @xref{Security}.
8485 @kindex W a (Summary)
8486 @findex gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body
8487 Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
8488 article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-in-body}).
8491 @kindex W E l (Summary)
8492 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
8493 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
8494 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
8497 @kindex W E m (Summary)
8498 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
8499 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
8500 lines with a single empty line.
8501 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
8504 @kindex W E t (Summary)
8505 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
8506 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
8507 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
8510 @kindex W E a (Summary)
8511 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
8512 Do all the three commands above
8513 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
8516 @kindex W E A (Summary)
8517 @findex gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines
8518 Remove all blank lines
8519 (@code{gnus-article-strip-all-blank-lines}).
8522 @kindex W E s (Summary)
8523 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
8524 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
8525 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
8528 @kindex W E e (Summary)
8529 @findex gnus-article-strip-trailing-space
8530 Remove all white space from the end of all lines of the article
8531 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-trailing-space}).
8535 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
8538 @node Article Header
8539 @subsection Article Header
8541 These commands perform various transformations of article header.
8546 @kindex W G u (Summary)
8547 @findex gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers
8548 Unfold folded header lines (@code{gnus-article-treat-unfold-headers}).
8551 @kindex W G n (Summary)
8552 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups
8553 Fold the @code{Newsgroups} and @code{Followup-To} headers
8554 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-newsgroups}).
8557 @kindex W G f (Summary)
8558 @findex gnus-article-treat-fold-headers
8559 Fold all the message headers
8560 (@code{gnus-article-treat-fold-headers}).
8564 @findex gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace
8565 Remove excessive whitespace from all headers
8566 (@code{gnus-article-remove-leading-whitespace}).
8571 @node Article Buttons
8572 @subsection Article Buttons
8575 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
8576 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
8577 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
8578 button on these references.
8580 @vindex gnus-button-man-handler
8581 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
8582 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info links and man pages.
8583 This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and
8584 one that handles article heads:
8588 @item gnus-button-alist
8589 @vindex gnus-button-alist
8590 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
8593 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8599 All text that match this regular expression (case insensitive) will be
8600 considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches
8601 embedded URLs: @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}. This can also be a
8602 variable containing a regexp, useful variables to use include
8603 @code{gnus-button-url-regexp}.
8606 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
8607 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
8608 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
8611 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
8612 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
8613 avoid false matches.
8616 This function will be called when you click on this button.
8619 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
8620 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
8624 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
8627 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
8630 @item gnus-header-button-alist
8631 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
8632 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
8633 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
8634 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
8637 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
8640 @var{header} is a regular expression.
8642 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
8643 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
8644 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
8645 default values of the variables above.
8647 @item gnus-article-button-face
8648 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
8649 Face used on buttons.
8651 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
8652 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
8653 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
8657 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
8661 @subsection Article Date
8663 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
8664 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
8665 when the article was sent.
8670 @kindex W T u (Summary)
8671 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
8672 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
8673 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
8676 @kindex W T i (Summary)
8677 @findex gnus-article-date-iso8601
8679 Display the date in international format, aka. ISO 8601
8680 (@code{gnus-article-date-iso8601}).
8683 @kindex W T l (Summary)
8684 @findex gnus-article-date-local
8685 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
8688 @kindex W T p (Summary)
8689 @findex gnus-article-date-english
8690 Display the date in a format that's easily pronounceable in English
8691 (@code{gnus-article-date-english}).
8694 @kindex W T s (Summary)
8695 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
8696 @findex gnus-article-date-user
8697 @findex format-time-string
8698 Display the date using a user-defined format
8699 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
8700 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
8701 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
8702 for a list of possible format specs.
8705 @kindex W T e (Summary)
8706 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
8707 @findex gnus-start-date-timer
8708 @findex gnus-stop-date-timer
8709 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
8710 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
8713 X-Sent: 6 weeks, 4 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes, 8 seconds ago
8716 The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
8717 whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
8720 An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
8721 into wonderful absurdities.
8723 If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
8726 (gnus-start-date-timer)
8729 in your @file{.gnus.el} file, or you can run it off of some hook. If
8730 you want to stop the timer, you can use the @code{gnus-stop-date-timer}
8734 @kindex W T o (Summary)
8735 @findex gnus-article-date-original
8736 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
8737 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
8738 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
8739 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
8740 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
8744 @xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
8745 preferred format automatically.
8748 @node Article Display
8749 @subsection Article Display
8754 These commands add various frivolous display gimmicks to the article
8755 buffer in Emacs versions that support them.
8757 @code{X-Face} headers are small black-and-white images supplied by the
8758 message headers (@pxref{X-Face}).
8760 Picons, on the other hand, reside on your own system, and Gnus will
8761 try to match the headers to what you have (@pxref{Picons}).
8763 Smileys are those little @samp{:-)} symbols that people like to litter
8764 their messages with (@pxref{Smileys}).
8766 All these functions are toggles--if the elements already exist,
8771 @kindex W D x (Summary)
8772 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
8773 Display an @code{X-Face} in the @code{From} header.
8774 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}).
8777 @kindex W D d (Summary)
8778 @findex gnus-article-display-face
8779 Display a @code{Face} in the @code{From} header.
8780 (@code{gnus-article-display-face}).
8783 @kindex W D s (Summary)
8784 @findex gnus-treat-smiley
8785 Display smileys (@code{gnus-treat-smiley}).
8788 @kindex W D f (Summary)
8789 @findex gnus-treat-from-picon
8790 Piconify the @code{From} header (@code{gnus-treat-from-picon}).
8793 @kindex W D m (Summary)
8794 @findex gnus-treat-mail-picon
8795 Piconify all mail headers (i. e., @code{Cc}, @code{To})
8796 (@code{gnus-treat-mail-picon}).
8799 @kindex W D n (Summary)
8800 @findex gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon
8801 Piconify all news headers (i. e., @code{Newsgroups} and
8802 @code{Followup-To}) (@code{gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon}).
8805 @kindex W D D (Summary)
8806 @findex gnus-article-remove-images
8807 Remove all images from the article buffer
8808 (@code{gnus-article-remove-images}).
8814 @node Article Signature
8815 @subsection Article Signature
8817 @cindex article signature
8819 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
8820 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
8821 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
8822 that says what is to be considered a signature is
8823 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
8824 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
8825 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
8826 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
8827 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
8830 (setq gnus-signature-separator
8831 '("^-- $" ; The standard
8832 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
8833 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
8834 ; line of dashes. Shame!
8835 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
8836 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
8837 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
8840 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
8843 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
8844 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
8845 signature when displaying articles.
8849 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
8852 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
8855 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
8856 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
8858 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
8859 in question is not a signature.
8862 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
8863 listed above. Here's an example:
8866 (setq gnus-signature-limit
8867 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
8870 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
8871 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
8872 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
8873 signature after all.
8876 @node Article Miscellania
8877 @subsection Article Miscellania
8881 @kindex A t (Summary)
8882 @findex gnus-article-babel
8883 Translate the article from one language to another
8884 (@code{gnus-article-babel}).
8890 @section MIME Commands
8891 @cindex MIME decoding
8893 @cindex viewing attachments
8895 The following commands all understand the numerical prefix. For
8896 instance, @kbd{3 b} means ``view the third @sc{mime} part''.
8902 @kindex K v (Summary)
8903 View the @sc{mime} part.
8906 @kindex K o (Summary)
8907 Save the @sc{mime} part.
8910 @kindex K c (Summary)
8911 Copy the @sc{mime} part.
8914 @kindex K e (Summary)
8915 View the @sc{mime} part externally.
8918 @kindex K i (Summary)
8919 View the @sc{mime} part internally.
8922 @kindex K | (Summary)
8923 Pipe the @sc{mime} part to an external command.
8926 The rest of these @sc{mime} commands do not use the numerical prefix in
8931 @kindex K b (Summary)
8932 Make all the @sc{mime} parts have buttons in front of them. This is
8933 mostly useful if you wish to save (or perform other actions) on inlined
8937 @kindex K m (Summary)
8938 @findex gnus-summary-repair-multipart
8939 Some multipart messages are transmitted with missing or faulty headers.
8940 This command will attempt to ``repair'' these messages so that they can
8941 be viewed in a more pleasant manner
8942 (@code{gnus-summary-repair-multipart}).
8945 @kindex X m (Summary)
8946 @findex gnus-summary-save-parts
8947 Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
8948 (@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
8949 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
8952 @kindex M-t (Summary)
8953 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized
8954 Toggle the buttonized display of the article buffer
8955 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-display-buttonized}).
8958 @kindex W M w (Summary)
8959 @findex gnus-article-decode-mime-words
8960 Decode RFC 2047-encoded words in the article headers
8961 (@code{gnus-article-decode-mime-words}).
8964 @kindex W M c (Summary)
8965 @findex gnus-article-decode-charset
8966 Decode encoded article bodies as well as charsets
8967 (@code{gnus-article-decode-charset}).
8969 This command looks in the @code{Content-Type} header to determine the
8970 charset. If there is no such header in the article, you can give it a
8971 prefix, which will prompt for the charset to decode as. In regional
8972 groups where people post using some common encoding (but do not
8973 include @sc{mime} headers), you can set the @code{charset} group/topic
8974 parameter to the required charset (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
8977 @kindex W M v (Summary)
8978 @findex gnus-mime-view-all-parts
8979 View all the @sc{mime} parts in the current article
8980 (@code{gnus-mime-view-all-parts}).
8987 @item gnus-ignored-mime-types
8988 @vindex gnus-ignored-mime-types
8989 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
8990 this list will be completely ignored by Gnus. The default value is
8993 To have all Vcards be ignored, you'd say something like this:
8996 (setq gnus-ignored-mime-types
9000 @item gnus-article-loose-mime
9001 @vindex gnus-article-loose-mime
9002 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus won't required the @samp{MIME-Version} header
9003 before interpreting the message as a @sc{mime} message. This helps
9004 when reading messages from certain broken mail user agents. The
9005 default is @code{nil}.
9007 @item gnus-article-emulate-mime
9008 @vindex gnus-article-emulate-mime
9009 There are other, non-@sc{mime} encoding methods used. The most common
9010 is @samp{uuencode}, but yEncode is also getting to be popular. If
9011 This variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will look in message bodies to
9012 see if it finds these encodings, and if so, it'll run them through the
9013 Gnus @sc{mime} machinery. The default is @code{t}.
9015 @item gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9016 @vindex gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types
9017 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9018 this list won't have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9019 displayed or this variable is overridden by
9020 @code{gnus-buttonized-mime-types}. The default value is
9021 @code{(".*/.*")}. This variable is only used when
9022 @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing} is nil.
9024 @item gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9025 @vindex gnus-buttonized-mime-types
9026 This is a list of regexps. @sc{mime} types that match a regexp from
9027 this list will have @sc{mime} buttons inserted unless they aren't
9028 displayed. This variable overrides
9029 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types}. The default value is @code{nil}.
9030 This variable is only used when @code{gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing}
9033 To see e.g. security buttons but no other buttons, you could set this
9034 variable to @code{("multipart/signed")} and leave
9035 @code{gnus-unbuttonized-mime-types} at the default value.
9037 @item gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9038 @vindex gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing
9039 If this is non-nil, then all @sc{mime} parts get buttons. The default
9040 value is @code{nil}.
9042 @item gnus-article-mime-part-function
9043 @vindex gnus-article-mime-part-function
9044 For each @sc{mime} part, this function will be called with the @sc{mime}
9045 handle as the parameter. The function is meant to be used to allow
9046 users to gather information from the article (e. g., add Vcard info to
9047 the bbdb database) or to do actions based on parts (e. g., automatically
9048 save all jpegs into some directory).
9050 Here's an example function the does the latter:
9053 (defun my-save-all-jpeg-parts (handle)
9054 (when (equal (car (mm-handle-type handle)) "image/jpeg")
9056 (insert (mm-get-part handle))
9057 (write-region (point-min) (point-max)
9058 (read-file-name "Save jpeg to: ")))))
9059 (setq gnus-article-mime-part-function
9060 'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
9063 @vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9064 @item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
9065 Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
9067 @vindex mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9068 @item mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9069 List of functions used for rewriting file names of @sc{mime} parts.
9070 Each function takes a file name as input and returns a file name.
9072 Ready-made functions include@*
9073 @code{mm-file-name-delete-whitespace},
9074 @code{mm-file-name-trim-whitespace},
9075 @code{mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace}, and
9076 @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace}. The later uses the value of
9077 the variable @code{mm-file-name-replace-whitespace} to replace each
9078 whitespace character in a file name with that string; default value
9079 is @code{"_"} (a single underscore).
9080 @findex mm-file-name-delete-whitespace
9081 @findex mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9082 @findex mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9083 @findex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9084 @vindex mm-file-name-replace-whitespace
9086 The standard functions @code{capitalize}, @code{downcase},
9087 @code{upcase}, and @code{upcase-initials} may be useful, too.
9089 Everybody knows that whitespace characters in file names are evil,
9090 except those who don't know. If you receive lots of attachments from
9091 such unenlightened users, you can make live easier by adding
9094 (setq mm-file-name-rewrite-functions
9095 '(mm-file-name-trim-whitespace
9096 mm-file-name-collapse-whitespace
9097 mm-file-name-replace-whitespace))
9101 to your @file{.gnus.el} file.
9110 People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
9111 charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
9112 newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
9113 just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
9114 help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
9115 what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
9116 hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
9118 @vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
9119 This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
9120 variable, which is an alist of regexps (use the first item to match full
9121 group names) and default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
9123 In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
9124 aren't. These blithely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1}
9125 even if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
9126 @code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
9127 charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be
9128 set on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
9129 Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit x-unknown)},
9130 which includes values some agents insist on having in there.
9132 @vindex gnus-group-posting-charset-alist
9133 When posting, @code{gnus-group-posting-charset-alist} is used to
9134 determine which charsets should not be encoded using the @sc{mime}
9135 encodings. For instance, some hierarchies discourage using
9136 quoted-printable header encoding.
9138 This variable is an alist of regexps and permitted unencoded charsets
9139 for posting. Each element of the alist has the form @code{(}@var{test
9140 header body-list}@code{)}, where:
9144 is either a regular expression matching the newsgroup header or a
9147 is the charset which may be left unencoded in the header (@code{nil}
9148 means encode all charsets),
9150 is a list of charsets which may be encoded using 8bit content-transfer
9151 encoding in the body, or one of the special values @code{nil} (always
9152 encode using quoted-printable) or @code{t} (always use 8bit).
9159 @cindex coding system aliases
9160 @cindex preferred charset
9162 Other charset tricks that may be useful, although not Gnus-specific:
9164 If there are several @sc{mime} charsets that encode the same Emacs
9165 charset, you can choose what charset to use by saying the following:
9168 (put-charset-property 'cyrillic-iso8859-5
9169 'preferred-coding-system 'koi8-r)
9172 This means that Russian will be encoded using @code{koi8-r} instead of
9173 the default @code{iso-8859-5} @sc{mime} charset.
9175 If you want to read messages in @code{koi8-u}, you can cheat and say
9178 (define-coding-system-alias 'koi8-u 'koi8-r)
9181 This will almost do the right thing.
9183 And finally, to read charsets like @code{windows-1251}, you can say
9187 (codepage-setup 1251)
9188 (define-coding-system-alias 'windows-1251 'cp1251)
9192 @node Article Commands
9193 @section Article Commands
9200 @kindex A P (Summary)
9201 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
9202 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
9203 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
9204 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will
9205 be run just before printing the buffer. An alternative way to print
9206 article is to use Muttprint (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
9211 @node Summary Sorting
9212 @section Summary Sorting
9213 @cindex summary sorting
9215 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
9216 can't really see why you'd want that.
9221 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
9222 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
9223 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
9226 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
9227 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
9228 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
9231 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
9232 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
9233 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
9236 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
9237 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
9238 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
9241 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
9242 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
9243 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
9246 @kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
9247 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
9248 Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
9251 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
9252 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
9253 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
9256 @kindex C-c C-s C-r (Summary)
9257 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-random
9258 Randomize (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-random}).
9261 @kindex C-c C-s C-o (Summary)
9262 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-original
9263 Sort using the default sorting method
9264 (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-original}).
9267 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
9268 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
9269 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
9270 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
9271 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
9275 @node Finding the Parent
9276 @section Finding the Parent
9277 @cindex parent articles
9278 @cindex referring articles
9283 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
9284 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
9285 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
9286 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
9287 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
9288 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
9289 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
9290 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
9291 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
9293 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
9294 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
9295 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
9296 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
9297 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
9301 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
9302 @kindex A R (Summary)
9303 Fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References} header of the
9304 article (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
9307 @findex gnus-summary-refer-thread
9308 @kindex A T (Summary)
9309 Display the full thread where the current article appears
9310 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-thread}). This command has to fetch all the
9311 headers in the current group to work, so it usually takes a while. If
9312 you do it often, you may consider setting @code{gnus-fetch-old-headers}
9313 to @code{invisible} (@pxref{Filling In Threads}). This won't have any
9314 visible effects normally, but it'll make this command work a whole lot
9315 faster. Of course, it'll make group entry somewhat slow.
9317 @vindex gnus-refer-thread-limit
9318 The @code{gnus-refer-thread-limit} variable says how many old (i. e.,
9319 articles before the first displayed in the current group) headers to
9320 fetch when doing this command. The default is 200. If @code{t}, all
9321 the available headers will be fetched. This variable can be overridden
9322 by giving the @kbd{A T} command a numerical prefix.
9325 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
9326 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
9328 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
9329 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
9330 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
9331 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
9332 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
9333 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
9334 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
9337 The current select method will be used when fetching by
9338 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
9339 by giving this command a prefix.
9341 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
9342 If the group you are reading is located on a back end that does not
9343 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
9344 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
9345 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
9346 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
9349 It can also be a list of select methods, as well as the special symbol
9350 @code{current}, which means to use the current select method. If it
9351 is a list, Gnus will try all the methods in the list until it finds a
9354 Here's an example setting that will first try the current method, and
9355 then ask Google if that fails:
9358 (setq gnus-refer-article-method
9360 (nnweb "google" (nnweb-type google))))
9363 Most of the mail back ends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but
9364 do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox},
9365 @code{nnbabyl}, and @code{nnmaildir} are able to locate articles from
9366 any groups, while @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and @code{nnimap} are
9367 only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group.
9368 (Anything else would be too time consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not
9369 support this at all.
9372 @node Alternative Approaches
9373 @section Alternative Approaches
9375 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
9376 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
9379 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
9380 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
9385 @subsection Pick and Read
9386 @cindex pick and read
9388 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
9389 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
9390 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
9391 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
9393 @findex gnus-pick-mode
9394 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
9395 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
9396 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
9397 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
9398 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
9400 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
9405 @findex gnus-pick-article-or-thread
9406 Pick the article or thread on the current line
9407 (@code{gnus-pick-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9408 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key selects the
9409 entire thread when used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise,
9410 it selects just the article. If given a numerical prefix, go to that
9411 thread or article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
9412 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
9415 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
9416 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
9417 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
9418 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
9422 @findex gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread.
9423 Unpick the thread or article
9424 (@code{gnus-pick-unmark-article-or-thread}). If the variable
9425 @code{gnus-thread-hide-subtree} is true, then this key unpicks the
9426 thread if used at the first article of the thread. Otherwise it unpicks
9427 just the article. You can give this key a numerical prefix to unpick
9428 the thread or article at that line.
9432 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
9433 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
9434 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
9435 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
9436 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
9437 will still be visible when you are reading.
9441 All the normal summary mode commands are still available in the
9442 pick-mode, with the exception of @kbd{u}. However @kbd{!} is available
9443 which is mapped to the same function
9444 @code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}.
9446 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
9449 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
9452 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
9453 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
9455 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
9456 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
9457 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
9459 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
9460 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
9461 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
9462 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
9463 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
9464 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
9465 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
9469 @subsection Binary Groups
9470 @cindex binary groups
9472 @findex gnus-binary-mode
9473 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
9474 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
9475 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
9476 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
9477 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
9478 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
9481 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
9482 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
9483 command, when you have turned on this mode
9484 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
9486 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
9487 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
9491 @section Tree Display
9494 @vindex gnus-use-trees
9495 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
9496 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
9497 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
9500 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
9503 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
9504 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
9505 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
9507 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9508 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
9509 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (@pxref{Mode
9510 Line Formatting}). The default is @samp{Gnus: %%b %S %Z}. For a list
9511 of valid specs, @pxref{Summary Buffer Mode Line}.
9513 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
9514 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
9515 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
9516 default is @code{modeline}.
9518 @item gnus-tree-line-format
9519 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
9520 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
9521 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
9522 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
9523 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
9524 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
9530 The name of the poster.
9532 The @code{From} header.
9534 The number of the article.
9536 The opening bracket.
9538 The closing bracket.
9543 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
9545 Variables related to the display are:
9548 @item gnus-tree-brackets
9549 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
9550 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
9551 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @code{((@var{real-open} . @var{real-close})
9552 (@var{sparse-open} . @var{sparse-close}) (@var{dummy-open} . @var{dummy-close}))}, and the
9553 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}) (?< . ?>))}.
9555 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9556 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
9557 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
9558 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
9562 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
9563 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
9564 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
9565 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
9566 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
9567 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
9568 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
9569 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
9570 other windows displayed next to it.
9572 You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window minimized
9576 (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
9577 'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
9580 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
9581 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
9582 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9583 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
9584 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
9585 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
9586 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
9590 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
9593 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
9603 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
9607 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
9608 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
9610 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
9612 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
9617 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
9618 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
9619 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
9622 (setq gnus-use-trees t
9623 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
9624 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
9625 (gnus-add-configuration
9629 (summary 0.75 point)
9634 @xref{Window Layout}.
9637 @node Mail Group Commands
9638 @section Mail Group Commands
9639 @cindex mail group commands
9641 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
9642 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
9644 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
9645 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9650 @kindex B e (Summary)
9651 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
9652 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
9653 process (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}). That is, delete all
9654 expirable articles in the group that have been around for a while.
9655 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
9658 @kindex B C-M-e (Summary)
9659 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
9660 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
9661 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
9662 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
9663 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
9666 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
9667 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
9668 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
9669 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
9670 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
9671 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
9674 @kindex B m (Summary)
9676 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
9677 @vindex gnus-preserve-marks
9678 Move the article from one mail group to another
9679 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9680 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9683 @kindex B c (Summary)
9685 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
9686 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
9687 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
9688 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}). Marks will be preserved if
9689 @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil} (which is the default).
9692 @kindex B B (Summary)
9693 @cindex crosspost mail
9694 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
9695 Crosspost the current article to some other group
9696 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
9697 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
9698 be properly updated.
9701 @kindex B i (Summary)
9702 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
9703 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
9704 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
9705 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9708 @kindex B I (Summary)
9709 @findex gnus-summary-create-article
9710 Create an empty article in the current mail newsgroups
9711 (@code{gnus-summary-create-article}). You will be prompted for a
9712 @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
9715 @kindex B r (Summary)
9716 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
9717 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-respool-article}).
9718 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
9719 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
9720 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
9721 Marks will be preserved if @code{gnus-preserve-marks} is non-@code{nil}
9722 (which is the default).
9726 @kindex B w (Summary)
9728 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
9729 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
9730 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article-done
9731 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
9732 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
9733 (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}). If you give a prefix to the
9734 @kbd{C-c C-c} command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.
9737 @kindex B q (Summary)
9738 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
9739 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
9740 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
9741 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
9744 @kindex B t (Summary)
9745 @findex gnus-summary-respool-trace
9746 Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns used
9747 when respooling, if any (@code{gnus-summary-respool-trace}).
9750 @kindex B p (Summary)
9751 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
9752 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
9753 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
9754 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
9755 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
9756 article from your news server (or rather, from
9757 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
9758 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
9759 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
9760 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
9761 just not have arrived yet.
9764 @kindex K E (Summary)
9765 @findex gnus-article-encrypt-body
9766 @vindex gnus-article-encrypt-protocol
9767 Encrypt the body of an article (@code{gnus-article-encrypt-body}).
9768 The body is encrypted with the encryption protocol specified by the
9769 variable @code{gnus-article-encrypt-protocol}.
9773 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
9774 @cindex moving articles
9775 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
9776 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
9777 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
9778 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
9779 suggestions you find reasonable. (Note that
9780 @code{gnus-move-split-methods} uses group names where
9781 @code{gnus-split-methods} uses file names.)
9784 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
9785 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
9786 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
9787 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
9791 @node Various Summary Stuff
9792 @section Various Summary Stuff
9795 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
9796 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
9797 * Summary Generation Commands::
9798 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
9802 @vindex gnus-summary-display-while-building
9803 @item gnus-summary-display-while-building
9804 If non-@code{nil}, show and update the summary buffer as it's being
9805 built. If @code{t}, update the buffer after every line is inserted.
9806 If the value is an integer, @var{n}, update the display every @var{n}
9807 lines. The default is @code{nil}.
9809 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
9810 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
9811 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
9813 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
9814 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
9815 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
9816 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
9817 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
9818 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
9821 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9822 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
9823 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
9824 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
9825 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
9827 @vindex gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9828 @item gnus-summary-prepared-hook
9829 A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has been
9832 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9833 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
9834 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
9835 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
9836 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
9837 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
9838 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
9839 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
9840 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
9841 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
9843 @vindex gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9844 @item gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function
9845 This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the list
9846 of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to alter the
9847 list of articles to be selected.
9849 For instance, the following function adds the list of cached articles to
9850 the list in one particular group:
9853 (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
9854 (if (string= group "some.group")
9855 (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
9859 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-variables
9860 @item gnus-newsgroup-variables
9861 A list of newsgroup (summary buffer) local variables, or cons of
9862 variables and their default values (when the default values are not
9863 nil), that should be made global while the summary buffer is active.
9864 These variables can be used to set variables in the group parameters
9865 while still allowing them to affect operations done in other
9866 buffers. For example:
9869 (setq gnus-newsgroup-variables
9870 '(message-use-followup-to
9871 (gnus-visible-headers .
9872 "^From:\\|^Newsgroups:\\|^Subject:\\|^Date:\\|^To:")))
9878 @node Summary Group Information
9879 @subsection Summary Group Information
9884 @kindex H f (Summary)
9885 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
9886 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
9887 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
9888 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
9889 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
9890 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
9891 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
9892 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
9893 be used for fetching the file.
9896 @kindex H d (Summary)
9897 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
9898 Give a brief description of the current group
9899 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
9900 rereading the description from the server.
9903 @kindex H h (Summary)
9904 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
9905 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
9906 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
9909 @kindex H i (Summary)
9910 @findex gnus-info-find-node
9911 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
9915 @node Searching for Articles
9916 @subsection Searching for Articles
9921 @kindex M-s (Summary)
9922 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
9923 Search through all subsequent (raw) articles for a regexp
9924 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
9927 @kindex M-r (Summary)
9928 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
9929 Search through all previous (raw) articles for a regexp
9930 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
9934 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
9935 This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to match
9936 on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
9937 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If the header is an empty
9938 string, the match is done on the entire article. If given a prefix,
9939 search backward instead.
9941 For instance, @kbd{& RET some.*string #} will put the process mark on
9942 all articles that have heads or bodies that match @samp{some.*string}.
9945 @kindex M-& (Summary)
9946 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
9947 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
9948 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
9951 @node Summary Generation Commands
9952 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
9957 @kindex Y g (Summary)
9958 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
9959 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
9962 @kindex Y c (Summary)
9963 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
9964 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9965 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
9968 @kindex Y d (Summary)
9969 @findex gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles
9970 Pull all dormant articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
9971 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-dormant-articles}).
9976 @node Really Various Summary Commands
9977 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
9983 @kindex C-d (Summary)
9984 @kindex A D (Summary)
9985 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
9986 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
9987 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
9988 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
9989 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
9990 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
9991 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
9992 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
9996 @kindex C-M-d (Summary)
9997 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
9998 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
9999 several documents into one biiig group
10000 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
10001 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
10002 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
10003 command understands the process/prefix convention
10004 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10007 @kindex C-t (Summary)
10008 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
10009 Toggle truncation of summary lines
10010 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
10011 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
10012 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
10015 @kindex = (Summary)
10016 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
10017 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
10018 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
10021 @kindex C-M-e (Summary)
10022 @findex gnus-summary-edit-parameters
10023 Edit the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10024 group (@code{gnus-summary-edit-parameters}).
10027 @kindex C-M-a (Summary)
10028 @findex gnus-summary-customize-parameters
10029 Customize the group parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}) of the current
10030 group (@code{gnus-summary-customize-parameters}).
10035 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
10036 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
10037 @cindex summary exit
10038 @cindex exiting groups
10040 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
10041 group and return you to the group buffer.
10047 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
10048 @kindex q (Summary)
10049 @findex gnus-summary-exit
10050 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
10051 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
10052 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
10053 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
10054 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
10055 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
10056 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
10057 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
10058 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
10059 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
10063 @kindex Z E (Summary)
10064 @kindex Q (Summary)
10065 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
10066 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
10067 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
10071 @kindex Z c (Summary)
10072 @kindex c (Summary)
10073 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
10074 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
10075 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
10076 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
10079 @kindex Z C (Summary)
10080 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
10081 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
10082 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
10085 @kindex Z n (Summary)
10086 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
10087 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
10088 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
10091 @kindex Z R (Summary)
10092 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
10093 Exit this group, and then enter it again
10094 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
10095 all articles, both read and unread.
10099 @kindex Z G (Summary)
10100 @kindex M-g (Summary)
10101 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
10102 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
10103 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
10104 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
10105 articles, both read and unread.
10108 @kindex Z N (Summary)
10109 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
10110 Exit the group and go to the next group
10111 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
10114 @kindex Z P (Summary)
10115 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
10116 Exit the group and go to the previous group
10117 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
10120 @kindex Z s (Summary)
10121 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
10122 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
10123 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
10124 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
10125 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
10128 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
10129 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current group
10130 with an ``updating'' exit. For instance @kbd{Q}
10131 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}) does not call this hook.
10133 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
10134 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
10135 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
10136 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
10137 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
10138 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
10139 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
10140 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
10141 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
10142 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
10143 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
10144 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
10146 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
10148 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
10149 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
10150 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
10151 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
10152 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
10153 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
10154 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
10155 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
10156 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
10159 @node Crosspost Handling
10160 @section Crosspost Handling
10164 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
10165 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
10166 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
10167 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
10168 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
10169 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
10172 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
10173 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
10174 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
10175 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
10176 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
10178 @cindex cross-posting
10181 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
10182 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
10183 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
10184 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
10185 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
10186 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
10187 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
10188 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
10189 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
10190 the cross reference mechanism.
10192 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
10193 @cindex overview.fmt
10194 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
10195 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
10196 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
10197 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
10198 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
10199 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
10202 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
10203 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
10204 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
10209 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
10212 @node Duplicate Suppression
10213 @section Duplicate Suppression
10215 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
10216 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
10217 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
10218 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
10223 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
10224 is evil and not very common.
10227 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
10228 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
10231 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
10232 different @sc{nntp} servers.
10235 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
10238 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
10239 well, but these four are the most common situations.
10241 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
10242 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
10243 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
10244 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
10245 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
10246 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
10247 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
10250 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
10251 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
10252 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
10253 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
10254 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
10255 saw the article in.
10258 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
10259 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
10260 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
10262 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
10263 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
10264 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
10265 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
10266 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
10267 session are suppressed.
10269 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
10270 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
10271 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
10272 suppression list. The default is 10000.
10274 @item gnus-duplicate-file
10275 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
10276 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
10277 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
10280 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
10281 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
10282 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
10283 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
10284 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
10285 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
10286 to you to figure out, I think.
10291 Gnus is able to verify signed messages or decrypt encrypted messages.
10292 The formats that are supported are PGP, @sc{pgp/mime} and @sc{s/mime},
10293 however you need some external programs to get things to work:
10297 To handle PGP and PGP/MIME messages, you have to install an OpenPGP
10298 implementation such as GnuPG. The lisp interface to GnuPG included
10299 with Gnus is called PGG (@pxref{Top, ,PGG, pgg, PGG Manual}), but
10300 Mailcrypt and gpg.el are also supported.
10303 To handle @sc{s/mime} message, you need to install OpenSSL. OpenSSL 0.9.6
10304 or newer is recommended.
10308 More information on how to set things up can be found in the message
10309 manual (@pxref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}).
10312 @item mm-verify-option
10313 @vindex mm-verify-option
10314 Option of verifying signed parts. @code{never}, not verify;
10315 @code{always}, always verify; @code{known}, only verify known
10316 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10318 @item mm-decrypt-option
10319 @vindex mm-decrypt-option
10320 Option of decrypting encrypted parts. @code{never}, no decryption;
10321 @code{always}, always decrypt; @code{known}, only decrypt known
10322 protocols. Otherwise, ask user.
10325 @vindex mml1991-use
10326 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for PGP
10327 messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt} and
10328 @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10331 @vindex mml2015-use
10332 Symbol indicating elisp interface to OpenPGP implementation for
10333 PGP/MIME messages. The default is @code{pgg}, but @code{mailcrypt}
10334 and @code{gpg} are also supported although deprecated.
10339 @section Mailing List
10341 @kindex A M (summary)
10342 @findex gnus-mailing-list-insinuate
10343 Gnus understands some mailing list fields of RFC 2369. To enable it,
10344 either add a `to-list' group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}),
10345 possibly using @kbd{A M} (@code{gnus-mailing-list-insinuate}) in the
10346 summary buffer, or say:
10349 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'turn-on-gnus-mailing-list-mode)
10352 That enables the following commands to the summary buffer:
10357 @kindex C-c C-n h (Summary)
10358 @findex gnus-mailing-list-help
10359 Send a message to fetch mailing list help, if List-Help field exists.
10362 @kindex C-c C-n s (Summary)
10363 @findex gnus-mailing-list-subscribe
10364 Send a message to subscribe the mailing list, if List-Subscribe field exists.
10367 @kindex C-c C-n u (Summary)
10368 @findex gnus-mailing-list-unsubscribe
10369 Send a message to unsubscribe the mailing list, if List-Unsubscribe
10373 @kindex C-c C-n p (Summary)
10374 @findex gnus-mailing-list-post
10375 Post to the mailing list, if List-Post field exists.
10378 @kindex C-c C-n o (Summary)
10379 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10380 Send a message to the mailing list owner, if List-Owner field exists.
10383 @kindex C-c C-n a (Summary)
10384 @findex gnus-mailing-list-owner
10385 Browse the mailing list archive, if List-Archive field exists.
10389 @node Article Buffer
10390 @chapter Article Buffer
10391 @cindex article buffer
10393 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
10394 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
10395 tell Gnus otherwise.
10398 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
10399 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
10400 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
10401 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
10402 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
10406 @node Hiding Headers
10407 @section Hiding Headers
10408 @cindex hiding headers
10409 @cindex deleting headers
10411 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
10412 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
10414 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
10415 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
10416 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
10417 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
10418 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
10419 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
10420 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
10421 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
10422 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
10424 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
10428 @item gnus-visible-headers
10429 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
10430 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
10431 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
10432 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
10434 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
10435 the article and the subject, you'd say:
10438 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
10441 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10444 @item gnus-ignored-headers
10445 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
10446 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
10447 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
10448 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
10449 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
10451 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
10452 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
10455 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
10458 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
10461 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
10462 variable will have no effect.
10466 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
10467 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
10468 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
10469 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
10470 the headers are to be displayed.
10472 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
10473 and then the subject, you might say something like:
10476 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
10479 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
10480 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
10482 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
10483 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
10484 You can hide further boring headers by setting
10485 @code{gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers} to @code{head}. What this function
10486 does depends on the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a
10487 list, but this list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is
10488 lists various @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove
10491 These conditions are:
10494 Remove all empty headers.
10496 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
10497 @code{Newsgroups} header.
10499 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
10500 @code{From} header.
10502 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
10505 Remove the @code{To} header if it only contains the address identical to
10506 the current groups's @code{to-address} parameter.
10508 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
10511 Remove the @code{To} header if it is very long.
10513 Remove all @code{To} headers if there are more than one.
10516 To include these three elements, you could say something like:
10519 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
10520 '(empty followup-to reply-to))
10523 This is also the default value for this variable.
10527 @section Using MIME
10530 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
10531 while people stand around yawning.
10533 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
10534 while all newsreaders die of fear.
10536 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
10537 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
10538 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
10540 @vindex gnus-display-mime-function
10541 @findex gnus-display-mime
10542 Gnus pushes @sc{mime} articles through @code{gnus-display-mime-function}
10543 to display the @sc{mime} parts. This is @code{gnus-display-mime} by
10544 default, which creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to
10545 display, save and manipulate the @sc{mime} objects.
10547 The following commands are available when you have placed point over a
10551 @findex gnus-article-press-button
10552 @item RET (Article)
10553 @kindex RET (Article)
10554 @itemx BUTTON-2 (Article)
10555 Toggle displaying of the @sc{mime} object
10556 (@code{gnus-article-press-button}). If builtin viewers can not display
10557 the object, Gnus resorts to external viewers in the @file{mailcap}
10558 files. If a viewer has the @samp{copiousoutput} specification, the
10559 object is displayed inline.
10561 @findex gnus-mime-view-part
10562 @item M-RET (Article)
10563 @kindex M-RET (Article)
10565 Prompt for a method, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10566 method (@code{gnus-mime-view-part}).
10568 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-type
10570 @kindex t (Article)
10571 View the @sc{mime} object as if it were a different @sc{mime} media type
10572 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-type}).
10574 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset
10576 @kindex C (Article)
10577 Prompt for a charset, and then view the @sc{mime} object using this
10578 charset (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-as-charset}).
10580 @findex gnus-mime-save-part
10582 @kindex o (Article)
10583 Prompt for a file name, and then save the @sc{mime} object
10584 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part}).
10586 @findex gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip
10587 @item C-o (Article)
10588 @kindex C-o (Article)
10589 Prompt for a file name, then save the @sc{mime} object and strip it from
10590 the article. Then proceed to article editing, where a reasonable
10591 suggestion is being made on how the altered article should look
10592 like. The stripped @sc{mime} object will be referred via the
10593 message/external-body @sc{mime} type.
10594 (@code{gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip}).
10596 @findex gnus-mime-copy-part
10598 @kindex c (Article)
10599 Copy the @sc{mime} object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
10600 (@code{gnus-mime-copy-part}). Compressed files like @file{.gz} and
10601 @file{.bz2} are automatically decompressed if
10602 @code{auto-compression-mode} is enabled (@pxref{Compressed Files,,
10603 Accessing Compressed Files, emacs, The Emacs Editor}).
10605 @findex gnus-mime-print-part
10607 @kindex p (Article)
10608 Print the @sc{mime} object (@code{gnus-mime-print-part}). This
10609 command respects the @samp{print=} specifications in the
10610 @file{.mailcap} file.
10612 @findex gnus-mime-inline-part
10614 @kindex i (Article)
10615 Insert the contents of the @sc{mime} object into the buffer
10616 (@code{gnus-mime-inline-part}) as text/plain. If given a prefix, insert
10617 the raw contents without decoding. If given a numerical prefix, you can
10618 do semi-manual charset stuff (see
10619 @code{gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist} in @pxref{Paging the
10622 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-internally
10624 @kindex E (Article)
10625 View the @sc{mime} object with an internal viewer. If no internal
10626 viewer is available, use an external viewer
10627 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-internally}).
10629 @findex gnus-mime-view-part-externally
10631 @kindex e (Article)
10632 View the @sc{mime} object with an external viewer.
10633 (@code{gnus-mime-view-part-externally}).
10635 @findex gnus-mime-pipe-part
10637 @kindex | (Article)
10638 Output the @sc{mime} object to a process (@code{gnus-mime-pipe-part}).
10640 @findex gnus-mime-action-on-part
10642 @kindex . (Article)
10643 Interactively run an action on the @sc{mime} object
10644 (@code{gnus-mime-action-on-part}).
10648 Gnus will display some @sc{mime} objects automatically. The way Gnus
10649 determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs
10652 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
10653 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
10654 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
10655 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
10656 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
10657 because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
10658 try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
10659 to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
10660 to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
10662 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
10664 Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
10667 @node Customizing Articles
10668 @section Customizing Articles
10669 @cindex article customization
10671 A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
10672 exist. You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
10673 called automatically when you select the articles.
10675 To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
10676 ``treatment'' variable. For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
10677 @code{gnus-treat-hide-headers}. Below is a list of variables that can
10678 be set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.
10680 Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense. Check the list below
10681 for sensible values.
10685 @code{nil}: Don't do this treatment.
10688 @code{t}: Do this treatment on all body parts.
10691 @code{head}: Do the treatment on the headers.
10694 @code{last}: Do this treatment on the last part.
10697 An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length less
10701 A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
10702 articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
10703 regexps in the list.
10706 A list where the first element is not a string:
10708 The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
10709 predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
10710 @code{and}, @code{not} and @code{typep}. Here's an example:
10714 (typep "text/x-vcard"))
10719 You may have noticed that the word @dfn{part} is used here. This refers
10720 to the fact that some messages are @sc{mime} multipart articles that may
10721 be divided into several parts. Articles that are not multiparts are
10722 considered to contain just a single part.
10724 @vindex gnus-article-treat-types
10725 Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts? Yes, if you
10726 want to, but by default, only @samp{text/plain} parts are given the
10727 treatment. This is controlled by the @code{gnus-article-treat-types}
10728 variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
10729 type of the part. This variable is ignored if the value of the
10730 controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.
10732 The following treatment options are available. The easiest way to
10733 customize this is to examine the @code{gnus-article-treat} customization
10734 group. Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values. Others are
10735 possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.
10738 @item gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)
10739 @item gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)
10741 @xref{Article Buttons}.
10743 @item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)
10744 @item gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)
10745 @item gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)
10746 @item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)
10747 @item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)
10748 @item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)
10749 @item gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)
10750 @item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)
10751 @item gnus-treat-unsplit-urls (t, integer)
10752 @item gnus-treat-wash-html (t, integer)
10754 @xref{Article Washing}.
10756 @item gnus-treat-date-english (head)
10757 @item gnus-treat-date-iso8601 (head)
10758 @item gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)
10759 @item gnus-treat-date-local (head)
10760 @item gnus-treat-date-original (head)
10761 @item gnus-treat-date-user-defined (head)
10762 @item gnus-treat-date-ut (head)
10764 @xref{Article Date}.
10766 @item gnus-treat-from-picon (head)
10767 @item gnus-treat-mail-picon (head)
10768 @item gnus-treat-newsgroups-picon (head)
10772 @item gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)
10774 @item gnus-treat-body-boundary (head)
10776 @vindex gnus-body-boundary-delimiter
10777 Adds a delimiter between header and body, the string used as delimiter
10778 is controlled by @code{gnus-body-boundary-delimiter}.
10782 @item gnus-treat-display-xface (head)
10786 @item gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)
10787 @item gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)
10788 @item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)
10789 @item gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)
10790 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)
10791 @item gnus-treat-hide-citation-maybe (t, integer)
10792 @item gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)
10793 @item gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)
10795 @xref{Article Hiding}.
10797 @item gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)
10798 @item gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)
10799 @item gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)
10801 @xref{Article Highlighting}.
10803 @item gnus-treat-play-sounds
10804 @item gnus-treat-translate
10805 @item gnus-treat-x-pgp-sig (head)
10807 @item gnus-treat-unfold-headers (head)
10808 @item gnus-treat-fold-headers (head)
10809 @item gnus-treat-fold-newsgroups (head)
10810 @item gnus-treat-leading-whitespace (head)
10812 @xref{Article Header}.
10817 @vindex gnus-part-display-hook
10818 You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
10819 @code{gnus-part-display-hook}. The functions are called narrowed to the
10820 part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much. There is no
10821 information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can change
10825 @node Article Keymap
10826 @section Article Keymap
10828 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
10829 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
10830 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
10831 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
10834 A few additional keystrokes are available:
10839 @kindex SPACE (Article)
10840 @findex gnus-article-next-page
10841 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
10844 @kindex DEL (Article)
10845 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
10846 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
10849 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
10850 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
10851 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
10852 @kbd{C-c ^}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
10853 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
10856 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
10857 @findex gnus-article-mail
10858 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
10859 given a prefix, include the mail.
10862 @kindex s (Article)
10863 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
10864 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
10865 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
10868 @kindex ? (Article)
10869 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
10870 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
10871 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
10874 @kindex TAB (Article)
10875 @findex gnus-article-next-button
10876 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
10877 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
10880 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
10881 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
10882 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
10885 @kindex R (Article)
10886 @findex gnus-article-reply-with-original
10887 Send a reply to the current article and yank the current article
10888 (@code{gnus-article-reply-with-original}). If given a prefix, make a
10889 wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10893 @kindex F (Article)
10894 @findex gnus-article-followup-with-original
10895 Send a followup to the current article and yank the current article
10896 (@code{gnus-article-followup-with-original}). If given a prefix, make
10897 a wide reply. If the region is active, only yank the text in the
10905 @section Misc Article
10909 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
10910 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
10911 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
10912 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
10915 @vindex gnus-article-decode-hook
10916 @item gnus-article-decode-hook
10918 Hook used to decode @sc{mime} articles. The default value is
10919 @code{(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)}
10921 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
10922 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
10923 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
10924 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
10925 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
10926 the contents of the article buffer.
10928 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
10929 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
10930 Hook called in article mode buffers.
10932 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10933 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
10934 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
10935 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
10937 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
10938 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
10939 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
10940 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}). It
10941 accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
10947 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
10948 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
10949 performed. The characters and their meaning:
10954 Displayed when cited text may be hidden in the article buffer.
10957 Displayed when headers are hidden in the article buffer.
10960 Displayed when article is digitally signed or encrypted, and Gnus has
10961 hidden the security headers. (N.B. does not tell anything about
10962 security status, i.e. good or bad signature.)
10965 Displayed when the signature has been hidden in the Article buffer.
10968 Displayed when Gnus has treated overstrike characters in the article buffer.
10971 Displayed when Gnus has treated emphasised strings in the article buffer.
10976 The number of @sc{mime} parts in the article.
10980 @vindex gnus-break-pages
10982 @item gnus-break-pages
10983 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
10984 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
10985 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
10986 paging will not be done.
10988 @item gnus-page-delimiter
10989 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
10990 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
10995 @node Composing Messages
10996 @chapter Composing Messages
10997 @cindex composing messages
11000 @cindex sending mail
11005 @cindex using s/mime
11006 @cindex using smime
11008 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
11009 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
11010 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
11011 article by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Overview, message,
11012 Message Manual}. Where the message will be posted/mailed to depends
11013 on your setup (@pxref{Posting Server}).
11016 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
11017 * Posting Server:: What server should you post and mail via?
11018 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
11019 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
11020 * Posting Styles:: An easier way to specify who you are.
11021 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
11022 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
11023 * Signing and encrypting:: How to compose secure messages.
11026 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
11027 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
11033 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
11036 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
11037 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
11038 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
11039 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched. If
11040 @code{nil} include all headers.
11042 @item gnus-add-to-list
11043 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
11044 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
11045 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
11047 @item gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11048 @vindex gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news
11049 This can also be a function receiving the group name as the only
11050 parameter which should return non-@code{nil} if a confirmation is
11051 needed, or a regular expression matching group names, where
11052 confirmation is should be asked for.
11054 If you find yourself never wanting to reply to mail, but occasionally
11055 press R anyway, this variable might be for you.
11057 @item gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11058 @vindex gnus-confirm-treat-mail-like-news
11059 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus also requests confirmation according to
11060 @code{gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news} when replying to mail. This is
11061 useful for treating mailing lists like newsgroups.
11066 @node Posting Server
11067 @section Posting Server
11069 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
11070 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
11072 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
11074 It can be quite complicated.
11076 @vindex gnus-post-method
11077 When posting news, Message usually invokes @code{message-send-news}
11078 (@pxref{News Variables, , News Variables, message, Message Manual}).
11079 Normally, Gnus will post using the same select method as you're
11080 reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
11081 groups from different private servers). However. If the server
11082 you're reading from doesn't allow posting, just reading, you probably
11083 want to use some other server to post your (extremely intelligent and
11084 fabulously interesting) articles. You can then set the
11085 @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
11088 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
11091 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
11092 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
11093 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
11094 the ``current'' server, to get back the default behavior, for posting.
11096 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
11097 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
11099 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
11100 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
11103 Finally, if you want to always post using the native select method,
11104 you can set this variable to @code{native}.
11106 When sending mail, Message invokes @code{message-send-mail-function}.
11107 The default function, @code{message-send-mail-with-sendmail}, pipes
11108 your article to the @code{sendmail} binary for further queuing and
11109 sending. When your local system is not configured for sending mail
11110 using @code{sendmail}, and you have access to a remote @sc{smtp}
11111 server, you can set @code{message-send-mail-function} to
11112 @code{smtpmail-send-it} and make sure to setup the @code{smtpmail}
11113 package correctly. An example:
11116 (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
11117 smtpmail-default-smtp-server "YOUR SMTP HOST")
11120 To the thing similar to this, there is @code{message-smtpmail-send-it}.
11121 It is useful if your ISP requires the POP-before-SMTP authentication.
11122 See the documentation for the function @code{mail-source-touch-pop}.
11124 Other possible choices for @code{message-send-mail-function} includes
11125 @code{message-send-mail-with-mh}, @code{message-send-mail-with-qmail},
11126 and @code{feedmail-send-it}.
11128 @node Mail and Post
11129 @section Mail and Post
11131 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
11135 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
11136 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
11137 @cindex mailing lists
11139 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
11140 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
11141 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
11142 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
11143 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
11144 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
11145 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
11146 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
11147 still a pain, though.
11151 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
11152 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
11153 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
11156 @findex ispell-message
11158 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
11161 If you want to change the @code{ispell} dictionary based on what group
11162 you're in, you could say something like the following:
11165 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
11169 "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
11170 (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
11172 (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
11175 Modify to suit your needs.
11178 @node Archived Messages
11179 @section Archived Messages
11180 @cindex archived messages
11181 @cindex sent messages
11183 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
11184 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
11185 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
11186 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
11189 For archiving interesting messages in a group you read, see the
11190 @kbd{B c} (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}) command (@pxref{Mail
11193 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
11194 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
11195 use to store sent messages. The default is:
11198 (nnfolder "archive"
11199 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive")
11200 (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
11201 (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
11202 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))
11205 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
11206 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likable select method
11207 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
11208 directory chosen, you could say something like:
11211 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
11212 '(nnfolder "archive"
11213 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
11214 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
11215 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
11218 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
11220 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
11221 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
11222 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
11224 This variable can be used to do the following:
11229 Messages will be saved in that group.
11231 Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then the
11232 message will not be stored in the select method given by
11233 @code{gnus-message-archive-method}, but in the select method specified
11234 by the group name, instead. Suppose @code{gnus-message-archive-method}
11235 has the default value shown above. Then setting
11236 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{"foo"} means that outgoing
11237 messages are stored in @samp{nnfolder+archive:foo}, but if you use the
11238 value @code{"nnml:foo"}, then outgoing messages will be stored in
11242 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
11244 an alist of regexps, functions and forms
11245 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
11248 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
11253 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
11255 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
11258 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
11260 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
11263 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
11265 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11266 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
11267 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
11268 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
11271 More complex stuff:
11273 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11274 '((if (message-news-p)
11279 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
11280 messages in one file per month:
11283 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
11284 '((if (message-news-p)
11286 (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))
11289 @c (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
11290 @c use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
11292 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
11293 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
11294 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
11295 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
11296 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
11297 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
11298 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
11299 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
11300 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
11301 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
11303 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
11304 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
11305 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
11306 this will disable archiving.
11309 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
11310 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
11311 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
11312 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
11313 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
11316 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
11317 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
11318 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
11321 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
11322 but the latter is the preferred method.
11324 @item gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11325 @vindex gnus-gcc-mark-as-read
11326 If non-@code{nil}, automatically mark @code{Gcc} articles as read.
11328 @item gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11329 @vindex gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments
11330 If @code{nil}, attach files as normal parts in Gcc copies; if a regexp
11331 and matches the Gcc group name, attach files as external parts; if it is
11332 @code{all}, attach local files as external parts; if it is other
11333 non-@code{nil}, the behavior is the same as @code{all}, but it may be
11334 changed in the future.
11339 @node Posting Styles
11340 @section Posting Styles
11341 @cindex posting styles
11344 All them variables, they make my head swim.
11346 So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
11347 on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
11348 and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
11351 @vindex gnus-posting-styles
11352 One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
11353 variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
11354 came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
11355 a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
11360 (signature "Peace and happiness")
11361 (organization "What me?"))
11363 (signature "Death to everybody"))
11364 ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
11365 (organization "Emacs is it")))
11368 As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
11369 @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
11370 ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
11371 over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
11372 applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
11373 the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
11374 @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
11375 signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
11377 The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
11378 string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
11379 If it is the form @code{(header MATCH REGEXP)}, then Gnus will look in
11380 the original article for a header whose name is MATCH and compare that
11381 REGEXP. MATCH and REGEXP are strings. (There original article is the
11382 one you are replying or following up to. If you are not composing a
11383 reply or a followup, then there is nothing to match against.) If the
11384 @code{match} is a function symbol, that function will be called with no
11385 arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
11386 referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
11387 any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
11390 Each style may contain an arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
11391 attribute consists of a @code{(@var{name} @var{value})} pair. The
11392 attribute name can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
11393 @code{x-face-file}, @code{address} (overriding
11394 @code{user-mail-address}), @code{name} (overriding
11395 @code{(user-full-name)}) or @code{body}. The attribute name can also
11396 be a string or a symbol. In that case, this will be used as a header
11397 name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the article; if
11398 the value is @code{nil}, the header name will be removed. If the
11399 attribute name is @code{eval}, the form is evaluated, and the result
11402 The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
11403 zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
11404 will be used) or a list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value
11405 will be used). The functions and sexps are called/@code{eval}ed in the
11406 message buffer that is being set up. The headers of the current article
11407 are available through the @code{message-reply-headers} variable, which
11408 is a vector of the following headers: number subject from date id
11409 references chars lines xref extra.
11411 @vindex message-reply-headers
11413 If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
11414 meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
11415 of the @code{message-news-p} and @code{message-mail-p} functions.
11417 @findex message-mail-p
11418 @findex message-news-p
11420 So here's a new example:
11423 (setq gnus-posting-styles
11425 (signature-file "~/.signature")
11427 ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
11428 (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
11430 (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
11431 ((equal (system-name) "gnarly") ;; A form
11432 (signature my-quote-randomizer))
11433 (message-news-p ;; A function symbol
11434 (signature my-news-signature))
11435 (window-system ;; A value symbol
11436 ("X-Window-System" (format "%s" window-system)))
11437 ;; If I'm replying to Larsi, set the Organization header.
11438 ((header "from" "larsi.*org")
11439 (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
11440 ((posting-from-work-p) ;; A user defined function
11441 (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
11442 (address "user@@bar.foo")
11443 (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
11444 (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
11446 (From (save-excursion
11447 (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
11448 (message-fetch-field "to"))))
11450 (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))
11453 The @samp{nnml:.*} rule means that you use the @code{To} address as the
11454 @code{From} address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy
11455 if you fill many roles.
11462 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
11463 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
11464 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
11465 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
11466 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
11468 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
11469 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
11470 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
11471 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
11472 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
11476 @vindex nndraft-directory
11477 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
11478 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
11479 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
11480 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
11481 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
11482 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
11484 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
11485 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
11488 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
11489 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
11490 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
11491 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
11492 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
11493 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
11494 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
11495 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
11496 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
11497 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
11498 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
11499 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
11500 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
11501 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
11503 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
11504 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
11505 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
11507 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
11508 @kindex D e (Draft)
11509 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
11510 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
11511 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
11513 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
11516 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
11517 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
11518 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
11519 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
11520 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
11521 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
11522 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
11525 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
11526 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
11527 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
11530 @node Rejected Articles
11531 @section Rejected Articles
11532 @cindex rejected articles
11534 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
11535 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
11536 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
11537 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
11539 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
11540 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
11541 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
11542 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
11543 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
11545 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
11546 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
11547 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
11549 @node Signing and encrypting
11550 @section Signing and encrypting
11552 @cindex using s/mime
11553 @cindex using smime
11555 Gnus can digitally sign and encrypt your messages, using vanilla PGP
11556 format or @sc{pgp/mime} or @sc{s/mime}. For decoding such messages,
11557 see the @code{mm-verify-option} and @code{mm-decrypt-option} options
11558 (@pxref{Security}).
11560 Often, you would like to sign replies to people who send you signed
11561 messages. Even more often, you might want to encrypt messages which
11562 are in reply to encrypted messages. Gnus offers
11563 @code{gnus-message-replysign} to enable the former, and
11564 @code{gnus-message-replyencrypt} for the latter. In addition, setting
11565 @code{gnus-message-replysignencrypted} (on by default) will sign
11566 automatically encrypted messages.
11568 Instructing MML to perform security operations on a @sc{mime} part is
11569 done using the @kbd{C-c C-m s} key map for signing and the @kbd{C-c
11570 C-m c} key map for encryption, as follows.
11575 @kindex C-c C-m s s
11576 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-smime
11578 Digitally sign current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11581 @kindex C-c C-m s o
11582 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11584 Digitally sign current message using PGP.
11587 @kindex C-c C-m s p
11588 @findex mml-secure-message-sign-pgp
11590 Digitally sign current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11593 @kindex C-c C-m c s
11594 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-smime
11596 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{s/mime}.
11599 @kindex C-c C-m c o
11600 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgp
11602 Digitally encrypt current message using PGP.
11605 @kindex C-c C-m c p
11606 @findex mml-secure-message-encrypt-pgpmime
11608 Digitally encrypt current message using @sc{pgp/mime}.
11611 @kindex C-c C-m C-n
11612 @findex mml-unsecure-message
11613 Remove security related MML tags from message.
11617 @xref{Security, ,Security, message, Message Manual}, for more information.
11619 @node Select Methods
11620 @chapter Select Methods
11621 @cindex foreign groups
11622 @cindex select methods
11624 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
11625 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
11626 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
11627 personal mail group.
11629 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
11630 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
11631 list where the first element says what back end to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
11632 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
11633 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
11634 value may have special meaning for the back end in question.
11636 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
11637 we do just that (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
11639 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the back end will recognize the
11642 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
11643 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
11644 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
11645 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
11646 back end just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
11648 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
11651 * Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
11652 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
11653 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
11654 * Browsing the Web:: Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
11655 * IMAP:: Using Gnus as a @sc{imap} client.
11656 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
11657 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
11658 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
11662 @node Server Buffer
11663 @section Server Buffer
11665 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
11666 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
11667 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
11668 one back end or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
11669 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
11670 back end represents a virtual server.
11672 For instance, the @code{nntp} back end may be used to connect to several
11673 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
11674 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which back end to
11675 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
11677 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
11678 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
11679 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
11680 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
11681 Anyway, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
11682 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
11683 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
11685 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
11686 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
11689 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
11690 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
11691 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
11692 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
11693 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
11694 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
11695 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
11698 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
11699 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
11702 @node Server Buffer Format
11703 @subsection Server Buffer Format
11704 @cindex server buffer format
11706 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
11707 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
11708 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
11709 variable, with some simple extensions:
11714 How the news is fetched---the back end name.
11717 The name of this server.
11720 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
11723 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
11726 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
11727 The mode line can also be customized by using the
11728 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable (@pxref{Mode Line
11729 Formatting}). The following specs are understood:
11739 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
11742 @node Server Commands
11743 @subsection Server Commands
11744 @cindex server commands
11750 @findex gnus-server-add-server
11751 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
11755 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
11756 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
11759 @kindex SPACE (Server)
11760 @findex gnus-server-read-server
11761 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
11765 @findex gnus-server-exit
11766 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
11770 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
11771 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
11775 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
11776 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
11780 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
11781 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
11785 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
11786 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
11790 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
11791 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
11792 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
11797 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
11798 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
11799 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
11800 a mail back end that has gotten out of sync.
11805 @node Example Methods
11806 @subsection Example Methods
11808 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
11811 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
11814 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
11820 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
11821 back end, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
11824 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
11825 @code{(@var{variable} @var{form})} pairs.
11827 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
11828 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
11832 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
11835 You should read the documentation to each back end to find out what
11836 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
11838 @code{nnmh} is a mail back end that reads a spool-like structure. Say
11839 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
11840 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
11844 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
11847 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
11850 Here's the method for a public spool:
11854 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
11855 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
11861 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
11862 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
11863 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
11864 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
11865 should probably look something like this:
11869 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet)
11870 (nntp-via-address "the.firewall.machine")
11871 (nntp-address "the.real.nntp.host")
11872 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11875 If you want to use the wonderful @code{ssh} program to provide a
11876 compressed connection over the modem line, you could add the following
11877 configuration to the example above:
11880 (nntp-via-rlogin-command "ssh")
11883 See also @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches}.
11885 If you're behind a firewall, but have direct access to the outside world
11886 through a wrapper command like "runsocks", you could open a socksified
11887 telnet connection to the news server as follows:
11891 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
11892 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-via-telnet)
11893 (nntp-address "the.news.server")
11894 (nntp-end-of-line "\n"))
11897 This means that you have to have set up @code{ssh-agent} correctly to
11898 provide automatic authorization, of course. And to get a compressed
11899 connection, you have to have the @samp{Compression} option in the
11900 @code{ssh} @file{config} file.
11903 @node Creating a Virtual Server
11904 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
11906 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
11907 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
11909 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
11910 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
11911 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
11913 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
11915 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
11916 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
11917 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
11918 will contain the following:
11928 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
11929 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
11930 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
11933 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
11934 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
11935 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
11938 @node Server Variables
11939 @subsection Server Variables
11941 One sticky point when defining variables (both on back ends and in Emacs
11942 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
11943 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
11944 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
11945 won't change the "derived" variables.
11947 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
11948 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
11949 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
11950 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
11951 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
11952 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
11953 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
11954 variables for each back end, see each back end's section later in this
11955 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
11959 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
11960 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
11961 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
11965 @node Servers and Methods
11966 @subsection Servers and Methods
11968 Wherever you would normally use a select method
11969 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
11970 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
11971 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
11975 @node Unavailable Servers
11976 @subsection Unavailable Servers
11978 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
11979 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
11980 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
11981 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
11982 actually the case or not.
11984 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
11985 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
11986 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
11987 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
11988 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
11989 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
11990 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
11991 it will regard that server as ``down''.
11993 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
11994 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
11996 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{Server Buffer}) and poke it
11997 with the following commands:
12003 @findex gnus-server-open-server
12004 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
12005 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
12009 @findex gnus-server-close-server
12010 Close the connection (if any) to the server
12011 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
12015 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
12016 Mark the current server as unreachable
12017 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
12020 @kindex M-o (Server)
12021 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
12022 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
12023 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
12026 @kindex M-c (Server)
12027 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
12028 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
12029 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
12033 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
12034 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
12035 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
12039 @findex gnus-server-offline-server
12040 Set server status to offline (@code{gnus-server-offline-server}).
12046 @section Getting News
12047 @cindex reading news
12048 @cindex news back ends
12050 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
12051 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
12052 or it can read from a local spool.
12055 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
12056 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
12064 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
12065 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
12066 server as the, uhm, address.
12068 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
12069 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
12070 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
12071 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
12073 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
12074 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
12075 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
12077 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
12082 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
12083 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
12084 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
12086 @cindex authentification
12087 @cindex nntp authentification
12088 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12089 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
12090 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
12091 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
12092 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
12093 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
12094 present in this hook.
12096 @item nntp-authinfo-function
12097 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
12098 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
12099 @vindex nntp-authinfo-file
12100 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
12101 server. The default function is @code{nntp-send-authinfo}, which looks
12102 through your @file{~/.authinfo} (or whatever you've set the
12103 @code{nntp-authinfo-file} variable to) for applicable entries. If none
12104 are found, it will prompt you for a login name and a password. The
12105 format of the @file{~/.authinfo} file is (almost) the same as the
12106 @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file, which is defined in the @code{ftp}
12107 manual page, but here are the salient facts:
12111 The file contains one or more line, each of which define one server.
12114 Each line may contain an arbitrary number of token/value pairs.
12116 The valid tokens include @samp{machine}, @samp{login}, @samp{password},
12117 @samp{default}. In addition Gnus introduces two new tokens, not present
12118 in the original @file{.netrc}/@code{ftp} syntax, namely @samp{port} and
12119 @samp{force}. (This is the only way the @file{.authinfo} file format
12120 deviates from the @file{.netrc} file format.) @samp{port} is used to
12121 indicate what port on the server the credentials apply to and
12122 @samp{force} is explained below.
12126 Here's an example file:
12129 machine news.uio.no login larsi password geheimnis
12130 machine nntp.ifi.uio.no login larsi force yes
12133 The token/value pairs may appear in any order; @samp{machine} doesn't
12134 have to be first, for instance.
12136 In this example, both login name and password have been supplied for the
12137 former server, while the latter has only the login name listed, and the
12138 user will be prompted for the password. The latter also has the
12139 @samp{force} tag, which means that the authinfo will be sent to the
12140 @var{nntp} server upon connection; the default (i.e., when there is not
12141 @samp{force} tag) is to not send authinfo to the @var{nntp} server
12142 until the @var{nntp} server asks for it.
12144 You can also add @samp{default} lines that will apply to all servers
12145 that don't have matching @samp{machine} lines.
12151 This will force sending @samp{AUTHINFO} commands to all servers not
12152 previously mentioned.
12154 Remember to not leave the @file{~/.authinfo} file world-readable.
12156 @item nntp-server-action-alist
12157 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
12158 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
12159 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
12160 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
12163 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
12164 '(("innd" (ding))))
12167 You probably don't want to do that, though.
12169 The default value is
12172 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
12173 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook
12174 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
12177 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
12178 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
12180 @item nntp-maximum-request
12181 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
12182 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this back end
12183 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
12184 speed things up, the back end sends lots of these commands without
12185 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
12186 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
12187 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
12189 @item nntp-connection-timeout
12190 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
12191 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
12192 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
12193 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
12194 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
12195 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
12196 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} back end should wait for a
12197 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
12198 no timeouts are done.
12200 @c @item nntp-command-timeout
12201 @c @vindex nntp-command-timeout
12202 @c @cindex PPP connections
12203 @c @cindex dynamic IP addresses
12204 @c If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
12205 @c address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
12206 @c changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
12207 @c waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
12208 @c unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
12209 @c then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
12210 @c number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
12211 @c the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
12212 @c likely number is 30 seconds.
12214 @c @item nntp-retry-on-break
12215 @c @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
12216 @c If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
12217 @c hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
12218 @c described above.
12220 @item nntp-server-hook
12221 @vindex nntp-server-hook
12222 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
12225 @item nntp-buggy-select
12226 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
12227 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
12229 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
12230 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
12231 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
12232 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
12235 @item nntp-xover-commands
12236 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
12239 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
12240 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
12244 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
12245 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
12246 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
12247 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
12248 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
12249 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
12250 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
12251 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
12252 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
12253 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
12254 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
12256 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
12257 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
12258 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
12260 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12261 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
12262 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
12263 server closes connection.
12265 @item nntp-record-commands
12266 @vindex nntp-record-commands
12267 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nntp} will log all commands it sends to the
12268 @sc{nntp} server (along with a timestamp) in the @samp{*nntp-log*}
12269 buffer. This is useful if you are debugging a Gnus/@sc{nntp} connection
12270 that doesn't seem to work.
12272 @item nntp-open-connection-function
12273 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
12274 It is possible to customize how the connection to the nntp server will
12275 be opened. If you specify an @code{nntp-open-connection-function}
12276 parameter, Gnus will use that function to establish the connection.
12277 Five pre-made functions are supplied. These functions can be grouped in
12278 two categories: direct connection functions (three pre-made), and
12279 indirect ones (two pre-made).
12281 @item nntp-prepare-post-hook
12282 @vindex nntp-prepare-post-hook
12283 A hook run just before posting an article. If there is no
12284 @code{Message-ID} header in the article and the news server provides the
12285 recommended ID, it will be added to the article before running this
12286 hook. It is useful to make @code{Cancel-Lock} headers even if you
12287 inhibit Gnus to add a @code{Message-ID} header, you could say:
12290 (add-hook 'nntp-prepare-post-hook 'canlock-insert-header)
12293 Note that not all servers support the recommended ID. This works for
12294 INN versions 2.3.0 and later, for instance.
12298 * Direct Functions:: Connecting directly to the server.
12299 * Indirect Functions:: Connecting indirectly to the server.
12300 * Common Variables:: Understood by several connection functions.
12304 @node Direct Functions
12305 @subsubsection Direct Functions
12306 @cindex direct connection functions
12308 These functions are called direct because they open a direct connection
12309 between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server. The behavior of these
12310 functions is also affected by commonly understood variables
12311 (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12314 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
12315 @item nntp-open-network-stream
12316 This is the default, and simply connects to some port or other on the
12319 @findex nntp-open-ssl-stream
12320 @item nntp-open-ssl-stream
12321 Opens a connection to a server over a @dfn{secure} channel. To use
12322 this you must have OpenSSL (@uref{http://www.openssl.org}) or SSLeay
12323 installed (@uref{ftp://ftp.psy.uq.oz.au/pub/Crypto/SSL}, and you also
12324 need @file{ssl.el} (from the W3 distribution, for instance). You then
12325 define a server as follows:
12328 ;; Type `C-c C-c' after you've finished editing.
12330 ;; "snews" is port 563 and is predefined in our /etc/services
12331 ;; however, openssl s_client -port doesn't like named ports
12333 (nntp "snews.bar.com"
12334 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-ssl-stream)
12335 (nntp-port-number 563)
12336 (nntp-address "snews.bar.com"))
12339 @findex nntp-open-telnet-stream
12340 @item nntp-open-telnet-stream
12341 Opens a connection to an @sc{nntp} server by simply @samp{telnet}'ing
12342 it. You might wonder why this function exists, since we have the
12343 default @code{nntp-open-network-stream} which would do the job. (One
12344 of) the reason(s) is that if you are behind a firewall but have direct
12345 connections to the outside world thanks to a command wrapper like
12346 @code{runsocks}, you can use it like this:
12350 (nntp-pre-command "runsocks")
12351 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-telnet-stream)
12352 (nntp-address "the.news.server"))
12355 With the default method, you would need to wrap your whole Emacs
12356 session, which is not a good idea.
12360 @node Indirect Functions
12361 @subsubsection Indirect Functions
12362 @cindex indirect connection functions
12364 These functions are called indirect because they connect to an
12365 intermediate host before actually connecting to the @sc{nntp} server.
12366 All of these functions and related variables are also said to belong to
12367 the "via" family of connection: they're all prefixed with "via" to make
12368 things cleaner. The behavior of these functions is also affected by
12369 commonly understood variables (@pxref{Common Variables}).
12372 @item nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12373 @findex nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet
12374 Does an @samp{rlogin} on a remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet}
12375 to the real @sc{nntp} server from there. This is useful for instance if
12376 you need to connect to a firewall machine first.
12378 @code{nntp-open-via-rlogin-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12381 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command
12382 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command
12383 Command used to log in on the intermediate host. The default is
12384 @samp{rsh}, but @samp{ssh} is a popular alternative.
12386 @item nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12387 @vindex nntp-via-rlogin-command-switches
12388 List of strings to be used as the switches to
12389 @code{nntp-via-rlogin-command}. The default is @code{nil}. If you use
12390 @samp{ssh} for `nntp-via-rlogin-command', you may set this to
12391 @samp{("-C")} in order to compress all data connections, otherwise set
12392 this to @samp{("-t")} or @samp{("-C" "-t")} if the telnet command
12393 requires a pseudo-tty allocation on an intermediate host.
12396 @item nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12397 @findex nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet
12398 Does essentially the same, but uses @samp{telnet} instead of
12399 @samp{rlogin} to connect to the intermediate host.
12401 @code{nntp-open-via-telnet-and-telnet}-specific variables:
12404 @item nntp-via-telnet-command
12405 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-command
12406 Command used to @code{telnet} the intermediate host. The default is
12409 @item nntp-via-telnet-switches
12410 @vindex nntp-via-telnet-switches
12411 List of strings to be used as the switches to the
12412 @code{nntp-via-telnet-command} command. The default is @samp{("-8")}.
12414 @item nntp-via-user-password
12415 @vindex nntp-via-user-password
12416 Password to use when logging in on the intermediate host.
12418 @item nntp-via-envuser
12419 @vindex nntp-via-envuser
12420 If non-@code{nil}, the intermediate @code{telnet} session (client and
12421 server both) will support the @code{ENVIRON} option and not prompt for
12422 login name. This works for Solaris @code{telnet}, for instance.
12424 @item nntp-via-shell-prompt
12425 @vindex nntp-via-shell-prompt
12426 Regexp matching the shell prompt on the intermediate host. The default
12427 is @samp{bash\\|\$ *\r?$\\|> *\r?}.
12434 Here are some additional variables that are understood by all the above
12439 @item nntp-via-user-name
12440 @vindex nntp-via-user-name
12441 User name to use when connecting to the intermediate host.
12443 @item nntp-via-address
12444 @vindex nntp-via-address
12445 Address of the intermediate host to connect to.
12450 @node Common Variables
12451 @subsubsection Common Variables
12453 The following variables affect the behavior of all, or several of the
12454 pre-made connection functions. When not specified, all functions are
12459 @item nntp-pre-command
12460 @vindex nntp-pre-command
12461 A command wrapper to use when connecting through a non native connection
12462 function (all except @code{nntp-open-network-stream} and
12463 @code{nntp-open-ssl-stream}. This is where you would put a @samp{SOCKS}
12464 wrapper for instance.
12467 @vindex nntp-address
12468 The address of the @sc{nntp} server.
12470 @item nntp-port-number
12471 @vindex nntp-port-number
12472 Port number to connect to the @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{nntp}.
12473 If you use @sc{nntp} over @sc{ssl}, you may want to use integer ports rather
12474 than named ports (i.e, use @samp{563} instead of @samp{snews}), because
12475 external SSL tools may not work with named ports.
12477 @item nntp-end-of-line
12478 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
12479 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
12480 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
12481 using a non native connection function.
12483 @item nntp-telnet-command
12484 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
12485 Command to use when connecting to the @sc{nntp} server through
12486 @samp{telnet}. This is NOT for an intermediate host. This is just for
12487 the real @sc{nntp} server. The default is @samp{telnet}.
12489 @item nntp-telnet-switches
12490 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
12491 A list of switches to pass to @code{nntp-telnet-command}. The default
12498 @subsection News Spool
12502 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
12503 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
12504 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
12507 Anyway, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @code{""} (or
12508 anything else) as the address.
12510 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
12511 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
12512 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
12513 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
12517 @item nnspool-inews-program
12518 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
12519 Program used to post an article.
12521 @item nnspool-inews-switches
12522 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
12523 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
12525 @item nnspool-spool-directory
12526 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
12527 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
12528 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
12530 @item nnspool-nov-directory
12531 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
12532 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
12533 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
12535 @item nnspool-lib-dir
12536 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
12537 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
12539 @item nnspool-active-file
12540 @vindex nnspool-active-file
12541 The name of the active file.
12543 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
12544 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
12545 The name of the group descriptions file.
12547 @item nnspool-history-file
12548 @vindex nnspool-history-file
12549 The name of the news history file.
12551 @item nnspool-active-times-file
12552 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
12553 The name of the active date file.
12555 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
12556 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
12557 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
12560 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12561 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
12563 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
12564 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
12565 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
12571 @section Getting Mail
12572 @cindex reading mail
12575 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
12579 * Mail in a Newsreader:: Important introductory notes.
12580 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
12581 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
12582 * Mail Sources:: How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
12583 * Mail Back End Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
12584 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
12585 * Group Mail Splitting:: Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
12586 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
12587 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
12588 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
12589 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
12590 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail back ends for reading other files.
12591 * Choosing a Mail Back End:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
12595 @node Mail in a Newsreader
12596 @subsection Mail in a Newsreader
12598 If you are used to traditional mail readers, but have decided to switch
12599 to reading mail with Gnus, you may find yourself experiencing something
12600 of a culture shock.
12602 Gnus does not behave like traditional mail readers. If you want to make
12603 it behave that way, you can, but it's an uphill battle.
12605 Gnus, by default, handles all its groups using the same approach. This
12606 approach is very newsreaderly---you enter a group, see the new/unread
12607 messages, and when you read the messages, they get marked as read, and
12608 you don't see them any more. (Unless you explicitly ask for them.)
12610 In particular, you do not do anything explicitly to delete messages.
12612 Does this mean that all the messages that have been marked as read are
12613 deleted? How awful!
12615 But, no, it means that old messages are @dfn{expired} according to some
12616 scheme or other. For news messages, the expire process is controlled by
12617 the news administrator; for mail, the expire process is controlled by
12618 you. The expire process for mail is covered in depth in @pxref{Expiring
12621 What many Gnus users find, after using it a while for both news and
12622 mail, is that the transport mechanism has very little to do with how
12623 they want to treat a message.
12625 Many people subscribe to several mailing lists. These are transported
12626 via @sc{smtp}, and are therefore mail. But we might go for weeks without
12627 answering, or even reading these messages very carefully. We may not
12628 need to save them because if we should need to read one again, they are
12629 archived somewhere else.
12631 Some people have local news groups which have only a handful of readers.
12632 These are transported via @sc{nntp}, and are therefore news. But we may need
12633 to read and answer a large fraction of the messages very carefully in
12634 order to do our work. And there may not be an archive, so we may need
12635 to save the interesting messages the same way we would personal mail.
12637 The important distinction turns out to be not the transport mechanism,
12638 but other factors such as how interested we are in the subject matter,
12639 or how easy it is to retrieve the message if we need to read it again.
12641 Gnus provides many options for sorting mail into ``groups'' which behave
12642 like newsgroups, and for treating each group (whether mail or news)
12645 Some users never get comfortable using the Gnus (ahem) paradigm and wish
12646 that Gnus should grow up and be a male, er, mail reader. It is possible
12647 to whip Gnus into a more mailreaderly being, but, as said before, it's
12648 not easy. People who prefer proper mail readers should try @sc{vm}
12649 instead, which is an excellent, and proper, mail reader.
12651 I don't mean to scare anybody off, but I want to make it clear that you
12652 may be required to learn a new way of thinking about messages. After
12653 you've been subjected to The Gnus Way, you will come to love it. I can
12654 guarantee it. (At least the guy who sold me the Emacs Subliminal
12655 Brain-Washing Functions that I've put into Gnus did guarantee it. You
12656 Will Be Assimilated. You Love Gnus. You Love The Gnus Mail Way.
12660 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
12661 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
12663 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
12664 mail back end of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
12665 and things will happen automatically.
12667 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
12668 mail" back end), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
12671 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
12674 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this back end will be queried for new
12675 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
12676 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
12677 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
12678 like any other group.
12680 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
12683 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12684 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12685 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12689 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
12690 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
12691 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
12694 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
12695 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
12696 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Back End} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
12699 @node Splitting Mail
12700 @subsection Splitting Mail
12701 @cindex splitting mail
12702 @cindex mail splitting
12704 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
12705 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
12706 to be split into groups.
12709 (setq nnmail-split-methods
12710 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12711 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
12712 ("mail.other" "")))
12715 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
12716 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
12717 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
12718 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
12719 determine if it belongs in this mail group. The first string may
12720 contain @samp{\\1} forms, like the ones used by @code{replace-match} to
12721 insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For instance:
12724 ("list.\\1" "From:.* \\(.*\\)-list@@majordomo.com")
12727 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
12728 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
12729 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
12730 mail belongs in that group.
12732 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
12733 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
12734 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
12735 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
12736 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
12737 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
12739 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
12740 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
12741 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
12742 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
12743 thinks should carry this mail message.
12745 Note that the mail back ends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
12746 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
12747 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
12748 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
12750 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
12751 The mail back ends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
12752 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
12753 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
12754 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
12756 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
12759 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
12760 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
12761 links. If that's the case for you, set
12762 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
12763 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
12765 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
12766 @kindex nnmail-split-history
12767 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
12768 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command. If you wish to see
12769 where re-spooling messages would put the messages, you can use
12770 @code{gnus-summary-respool-trace} and related commands (@pxref{Mail
12773 @vindex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
12774 Header lines longer than the value of
12775 @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} are excluded from the split
12778 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-charset
12779 @vindex nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes
12780 By default the splitting codes MIME decodes headers so you can match
12781 on non-ASCII strings. The @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-charset}
12782 variable specifies the default charset for decoding. The behaviour
12783 can be turned off completely by binding
12784 @code{nnmail-mail-splitting-decodes} to nil, which is useful if you
12785 want to match articles based on the raw header data.
12787 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12788 By default, splitting is performed on all incoming messages. If
12789 you specify a @code{directory} entry for the variable
12790 @code{mail-sources} @pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}, however, then
12791 splitting does @emph{not} happen by default. You can set the variable
12792 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to a non-nil value to make splitting
12793 happen even in this case. (This variable has no effect on other kinds
12796 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
12797 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
12798 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
12799 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
12800 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
12801 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
12802 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
12803 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
12804 month's rent money.
12808 @subsection Mail Sources
12810 Mail can be gotten from many different sources---the mail spool, from a
12811 POP mail server, from a procmail directory, or from a maildir, for
12815 * Mail Source Specifiers:: How to specify what a mail source is.
12816 * Mail Source Customization:: Some variables that influence things.
12817 * Fetching Mail:: Using the mail source specifiers.
12821 @node Mail Source Specifiers
12822 @subsubsection Mail Source Specifiers
12824 @cindex mail server
12827 @cindex mail source
12829 You tell Gnus how to fetch mail by setting @code{mail-sources}
12830 (@pxref{Fetching Mail}) to a @dfn{mail source specifier}.
12835 (pop :server "pop3.mailserver.com" :user "myname")
12838 As can be observed, a mail source specifier is a list where the first
12839 element is a @dfn{mail source type}, followed by an arbitrary number of
12840 @dfn{keywords}. Keywords that are not explicitly specified are given
12843 The following mail source types are available:
12847 Get mail from a single file; typically from the mail spool.
12853 The file name. Defaults to the value of the @code{MAIL}
12854 environment variable or the value of @code{rmail-spool-directory}
12855 (usually something like @file{/usr/mail/spool/user-name}).
12858 An example file mail source:
12861 (file :path "/usr/spool/mail/user-name")
12864 Or using the default file name:
12870 If the mail spool file is not located on the local machine, it's best to
12871 use POP or @sc{imap} or the like to fetch the mail. You can not use ange-ftp
12872 file names here---it has no way to lock the mail spool while moving the
12875 If it's impossible to set up a proper server, you can use ssh instead.
12879 '((file :prescript "ssh host bin/getmail >%t")))
12882 The @samp{getmail} script would look something like the following:
12886 # getmail - move mail from spool to stdout
12889 MOVEMAIL=/usr/lib/emacs/20.3/i386-redhat-linux/movemail
12891 rm -f $TMP; $MOVEMAIL $MAIL $TMP >/dev/null && cat $TMP
12894 Alter this script to fit find the @samp{movemail} you want to use.
12898 @vindex nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once
12899 Get mail from several files in a directory. This is typically used when
12900 you have procmail split the incoming mail into several files. That is,
12901 there is a one-to-one correspondence between files in that directory and
12902 groups, so that mail from the file @file{foo.bar.spool} will be put in
12903 the group @code{foo.bar}. (You can change the suffix to be used instead
12904 of @code{.spool}.) Setting
12905 @code{nnmail-scan-directory-mail-source-once} to non-nil forces Gnus to
12906 scan the mail source only once. This is particularly useful if you want
12907 to scan mail groups at a specified level.
12909 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
12910 There is also the variable @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming}, if you set
12911 that to a non-nil value, then the normal splitting process is applied
12912 to all the files from the directory, @ref{Splitting Mail}.
12918 The name of the directory where the files are. There is no default
12922 Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
12926 Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
12927 The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
12928 filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
12929 predicate are considered.
12933 Script run before/after fetching mail.
12937 An example directory mail source:
12940 (directory :path "/home/user-name/procmail-dir/"
12945 Get mail from a POP server.
12951 The name of the POP server. The default is taken from the
12952 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
12955 The port number of the POP server. This can be a number (eg,
12956 @samp{:port 1234}) or a string (eg, @samp{:port "pop3"}). If it is a
12957 string, it should be a service name as listed in @file{/etc/services} on
12958 Unix systems. The default is @samp{"pop3"}. On some systems you might
12959 need to specify it as @samp{"pop-3"} instead.
12962 The user name to give to the POP server. The default is the login
12966 The password to give to the POP server. If not specified, the user is
12970 The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This should be
12971 a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
12974 fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
12977 The valid format specifier characters are:
12981 The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
12982 included in this string.
12985 The name of the server.
12988 The port number of the server.
12991 The user name to use.
12994 The password to use.
12997 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
12998 corresponding keywords.
13001 A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13002 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13005 A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
13006 the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
13009 The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
13010 called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
13013 @item :authentication
13014 This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
13015 and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
13020 If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
13021 @code{pop3-movemail} will be used.
13023 Here are some examples. Fetch from the default POP server, using the
13024 default user name, and default fetcher:
13030 Fetch from a named server with a named user and password:
13033 (pop :server "my.pop.server"
13034 :user "user-name" :password "secret")
13037 Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
13040 (pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
13044 Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox that is supported by
13045 at least qmail and postfix, where each file in a special directory
13046 contains exactly one mail.
13052 The name of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
13053 taken from the @code{MAILDIR} environment variable or
13056 The subdirectories of the Maildir. The default is
13057 @samp{("new" "cur")}.
13059 @c If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
13060 @c them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
13061 @c @code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the first example
13064 You can also get mails from remote hosts (because maildirs don't suffer
13065 from locking problems).
13069 Two example maildir mail sources:
13072 (maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/"
13073 :subdirs ("cur" "new"))
13077 (maildir :path "/user@@remotehost.org:~/Maildir/"
13082 Get mail from a @sc{imap} server. If you don't want to use @sc{imap}
13083 as intended, as a network mail reading protocol (ie with nnimap), for
13084 some reason or other, Gnus let you treat it similar to a POP server
13085 and fetches articles from a given @sc{imap} mailbox. @xref{IMAP}, for
13088 Note that for the Kerberos, GSSAPI, SSL/TLS and STARTTLS support you
13089 may need external programs and libraries, @xref{IMAP}.
13095 The name of the @sc{imap} server. The default is taken from the
13096 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable.
13099 The port number of the @sc{imap} server. The default is @samp{143}, or
13100 @samp{993} for SSL/TLS connections.
13103 The user name to give to the @sc{imap} server. The default is the login
13107 The password to give to the @sc{imap} server. If not specified, the user is
13111 What stream to use for connecting to the server, this is one of the
13112 symbols in @code{imap-stream-alist}. Right now, this means
13113 @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{starttls}, @samp{ssl},
13114 @samp{shell} or the default @samp{network}.
13116 @item :authentication
13117 Which authenticator to use for authenticating to the server, this is
13118 one of the symbols in @code{imap-authenticator-alist}. Right now,
13119 this means @samp{gssapi}, @samp{kerberos4}, @samp{digest-md5},
13120 @samp{cram-md5}, @samp{anonymous} or the default @samp{login}.
13123 When using the `shell' :stream, the contents of this variable is
13124 mapped into the `imap-shell-program' variable. This should be a
13125 @code{format}-like string (or list of strings). Here's an example:
13131 The valid format specifier characters are:
13135 The name of the server.
13138 User name from `imap-default-user'.
13141 The port number of the server.
13144 The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
13145 corresponding keywords.
13148 The name of the mailbox to get mail from. The default is @samp{INBOX}
13149 which normally is the mailbox which receive incoming mail.
13152 The predicate used to find articles to fetch. The default, @samp{UNSEEN
13153 UNDELETED}, is probably the best choice for most people, but if you
13154 sometimes peek in your mailbox with a @sc{imap} client and mark some
13155 articles as read (or; SEEN) you might want to set this to @samp{1:*}.
13156 Then all articles in the mailbox is fetched, no matter what. For a
13157 complete list of predicates, see RFC 2060 section 6.4.4.
13160 How to flag fetched articles on the server, the default @samp{\Deleted}
13161 will mark them as deleted, an alternative would be @samp{\Seen} which
13162 would simply mark them as read. These are the two most likely choices,
13163 but more flags are defined in RFC 2060 section 2.3.2.
13166 If non-nil, don't remove all articles marked as deleted in the mailbox
13167 after finishing the fetch.
13171 An example @sc{imap} mail source:
13174 (imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
13176 :fetchflag "\\Seen")
13180 Get mail from a webmail server, such as @uref{www.hotmail.com},
13181 @uref{webmail.netscape.com}, @uref{www.netaddress.com},
13182 @uref{mail.yahoo..com}.
13184 NOTE: Webmail largely depends cookies. A "one-line-cookie" patch is
13185 required for url "4.0pre.46".
13187 WARNING: Mails may be lost. NO WARRANTY.
13193 The type of the webmail server. The default is @code{hotmail}. The
13194 alternatives are @code{netscape}, @code{netaddress}, @code{my-deja}.
13197 The user name to give to the webmail server. The default is the login
13201 The password to give to the webmail server. If not specified, the user is
13205 If non-nil, only fetch unread articles and don't move them to trash
13206 folder after finishing the fetch.
13210 An example webmail source:
13213 (webmail :subtype 'hotmail
13215 :password "secret")
13220 @item Common Keywords
13221 Common keywords can be used in any type of mail source.
13227 If non-nil, fetch the mail even when Gnus is unplugged. If you use
13228 directory source to get mail, you can specify it as in this example:
13232 '((directory :path "/home/pavel/.Spool/"
13237 Gnus will then fetch your mail even when you are unplugged. This is
13238 useful when you use local mail and news.
13243 @subsubsection Function Interface
13245 Some of the above keywords specify a Lisp function to be executed.
13246 For each keyword @code{:foo}, the Lisp variable @code{foo} is bound to
13247 the value of the keyword while the function is executing. For example,
13248 consider the following mail-source setting:
13251 (setq mail-sources '((pop :user "jrl"
13252 :server "pophost" :function fetchfunc)))
13255 While the function @code{fetchfunc} is executing, the symbol @code{user}
13256 is bound to @code{"jrl"}, and the symbol @code{server} is bound to
13257 @code{"pophost"}. The symbols @code{port}, @code{password},
13258 @code{program}, @code{prescript}, @code{postscript}, @code{function},
13259 and @code{authentication} are also bound (to their default values).
13261 See above for a list of keywords for each type of mail source.
13264 @node Mail Source Customization
13265 @subsubsection Mail Source Customization
13267 The following is a list of variables that influence how the mail is
13268 fetched. You would normally not need to set or change any of these
13272 @item mail-source-crash-box
13273 @vindex mail-source-crash-box
13274 File where mail will be stored while processing it. The default is
13275 @file{~/.emacs-mail-crash-box}.
13277 @item mail-source-delete-incoming
13278 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
13279 If non-@code{nil}, delete incoming files after handling them.
13281 @item mail-source-directory
13282 @vindex mail-source-directory
13283 Directory where files (if any) will be stored. The default is
13284 @file{~/Mail/}. At present, the only thing this is used for is to say
13285 where the incoming files will be stored if the previous variable is
13288 @item mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13289 @vindex mail-source-incoming-file-prefix
13290 Prefix for file name for storing incoming mail. The default is
13291 @file{Incoming}, in which case files will end up with names like
13292 @file{Incoming30630D_} or @file{Incoming298602ZD}. This is really only
13293 relevant if @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} is @code{nil}.
13295 @item mail-source-default-file-modes
13296 @vindex mail-source-default-file-modes
13297 All new mail files will get this file mode. The default is 384.
13299 @item mail-source-movemail-program
13300 @vindex mail-source-movemail-program
13301 If non-nil, name of program for fetching new mail. If nil,
13302 @code{movemail} in @var{exec-directory}.
13307 @node Fetching Mail
13308 @subsubsection Fetching Mail
13310 @vindex mail-sources
13311 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
13312 The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
13313 @code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
13314 (@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
13316 If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
13317 @code{nil}, the mail back ends will never attempt to fetch mail by
13320 If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
13321 mail server, you'd say something like:
13326 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13327 :password "secret")))
13330 Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
13334 '((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
13335 (pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
13338 :password "secret")))
13342 When you use a mail back end, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
13343 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
13344 mail if you're not using a mail back end---you have to do a lot of magic
13345 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
13346 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
13347 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
13351 @node Mail Back End Variables
13352 @subsection Mail Back End Variables
13354 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
13358 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13359 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
13360 The mail back ends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
13361 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
13363 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
13364 @item nnmail-split-hook
13365 @findex article-decode-encoded-words
13366 @findex RFC 1522 decoding
13367 @findex RFC 2047 decoding
13368 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
13369 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
13370 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
13371 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
13372 in the buffer will show up in any files.
13373 @code{gnus-article-decode-encoded-words} is one likely function to add
13376 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13377 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13378 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13379 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13380 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
13381 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
13382 starting to handle the new mail) and
13383 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
13384 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
13385 default file modes the new mail files get:
13388 (add-hook 'nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
13389 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
13391 (add-hook 'nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
13392 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
13395 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
13396 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
13397 If non-@code{nil}, the mail back ends will use long file and directory
13398 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
13399 (assuming use of @code{nnml} back end) or files (assuming use of
13400 @code{nnfolder} back end) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
13401 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
13403 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
13404 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
13405 @findex delete-file
13406 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
13408 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13409 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13410 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
13411 the back end (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
13412 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
13414 @item nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13415 @vindex nnmail-cache-ignore-groups
13416 This can be a regular expression or a list of regular expressions.
13417 Group names that match any of the regular expressions will never be
13418 recorded in the @code{Message-ID} cache.
13420 This can be useful, for example, when using Fancy Splitting
13421 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}) together with the function
13422 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent}.
13427 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
13428 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
13429 @cindex mail splitting
13430 @cindex fancy mail splitting
13432 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
13433 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
13434 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
13435 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
13436 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
13437 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
13439 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
13442 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
13443 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
13444 ;; from real errors.
13445 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
13447 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
13448 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
13449 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
13450 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
13451 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
13452 ;; Other mailing lists...
13453 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
13454 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
13455 ;; Both lists below have the same suffix, so prevent
13456 ;; cross-posting to mkpkg.list of messages posted only to
13457 ;; the bugs- list, but allow cross-posting when the
13458 ;; message was really cross-posted.
13459 (any "bugs-mypackage@@somewhere" "mypkg.bugs")
13460 (any "mypackage@@somewhere\" - "bugs-mypackage" "mypkg.list")
13462 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
13463 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
13467 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
13468 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
13469 the five possible split syntaxes:
13474 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group
13475 name. Normal regexp match expansion will be done. See below for
13479 @code{(@var{field} @var{value} @code{[-} @var{restrict}
13480 @code{[@dots{}]}@code{]} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, the
13481 first element of which is a string, then store the message as
13482 specified by @var{split}, if header @var{field} (a regexp) contains
13483 @var{value} (also a regexp). If @var{restrict} (yet another regexp)
13484 matches some string after @var{field} and before the end of the
13485 matched @var{value}, the @var{split} is ignored. If none of the
13486 @var{restrict} clauses match, @var{split} is processed.
13489 @code{(| @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13490 element is @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each @var{split} until
13491 one of them matches. A @var{split} is said to match if it will cause
13492 the mail message to be stored in one or more groups.
13495 @code{(& @var{split}@dots{})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13496 element is @code{&}, then process all @var{split}s in the list.
13499 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
13500 (i.e., delete) this message. Use with extreme caution.
13503 @code{(: @var{function} @var{arg1} @var{arg2} @dots{})}: If the split is
13504 a list, and the first element is @code{:}, then the second element will
13505 be called as a function with @var{args} given as arguments. The
13506 function should return a @var{split}.
13509 For instance, the following function could be used to split based on the
13510 body of the messages:
13513 (defun split-on-body ()
13515 (set-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
13516 (goto-char (point-min))
13517 (when (re-search-forward "Some.*string" nil t)
13521 The @samp{" *nnmail incoming*"} is narrowed to the message in question
13522 when the @code{:} function is run.
13525 @code{(! @var{func} @var{split})}: If the split is a list, and the first
13526 element is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be
13527 called as a function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should
13531 @code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
13535 In these splits, @var{field} must match a complete field name.
13536 @var{value} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
13537 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
13538 field names or words. In other words, all @var{value}'s are wrapped in
13539 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
13541 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
13542 @var{field} and @var{value} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
13543 are expanded as specified by the variable
13544 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
13545 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
13548 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
13549 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
13550 when all this splitting is performed.
13552 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
13553 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
13554 substitutions in the group names), you can say things like:
13557 (any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
13560 In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
13561 will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
13563 If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
13564 matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
13565 up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
13566 groupings 1 through 9.
13568 @findex nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent
13569 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} is a function which allows you to
13570 split followups into the same groups their parents are in. Sometimes
13571 you can't make splitting rules for all your mail. For example, your
13572 boss might send you personal mail regarding different projects you are
13573 working on, and as you can't tell your boss to put a distinguishing
13574 string into the subject line, you have to resort to manually moving the
13575 messages into the right group. With this function, you only have to do
13576 it once per thread.
13578 To use this feature, you have to set @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} and
13579 @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} to a non-nil value. And then
13580 you can include @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} using the colon
13583 (setq nnmail-treat-duplicates 'warn ; or 'delete
13584 nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids t
13586 '(| (: nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent)
13587 ;; other splits go here
13591 This feature works as follows: when @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} is
13592 non-nil, Gnus records the message id of every message it sees in the
13593 file specified by the variable @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file},
13594 together with the group it is in (the group is omitted for non-mail
13595 messages). When mail splitting is invoked, the function
13596 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent} then looks at the References (and
13597 In-Reply-To) header of each message to split and searches the file
13598 specified by @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file} for the message ids.
13599 When it has found a parent, it returns the corresponding group name
13600 unless the group name matches the regexp
13601 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-with-parent-ignore-groups}. It is recommended
13602 that you set @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length} to a somewhat higher
13603 number than the default so that the message ids are still in the cache.
13604 (A value of 5000 appears to create a file some 300 kBytes in size.)
13605 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
13606 When @code{nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus
13607 also records the message ids of moved articles, so that the followup
13608 messages goes into the new group.
13610 Also see the variable @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} if you don't
13611 want certain groups to be recorded in the cache. For example, if all
13612 outgoing messages are written to an `outgoing' group, you could set
13613 @code{nnmail-cache-ignore-groups} to match that group name.
13614 Otherwise, answers to all your messages would end up in the
13618 @node Group Mail Splitting
13619 @subsection Group Mail Splitting
13620 @cindex mail splitting
13621 @cindex group mail splitting
13623 @findex gnus-group-split
13624 If you subscribe to dozens of mailing lists but you don't want to
13625 maintain mail splitting rules manually, group mail splitting is for you.
13626 You just have to set @var{to-list} and/or @var{to-address} in group
13627 parameters or group customization and set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to
13628 @code{gnus-group-split}. This splitting function will scan all groups
13629 for those parameters and split mail accordingly, i.e., messages posted
13630 from or to the addresses specified in the parameters @var{to-list} or
13631 @var{to-address} of a mail group will be stored in that group.
13633 Sometimes, mailing lists have multiple addresses, and you may want mail
13634 splitting to recognize them all: just set the @var{extra-aliases} group
13635 parameter to the list of additional addresses and it's done. If you'd
13636 rather use a regular expression, set @var{split-regexp}.
13638 All these parameters in a group will be used to create an
13639 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split, in which the @var{field} is @samp{any},
13640 the @var{value} is a single regular expression that matches
13641 @var{to-list}, @var{to-address}, all of @var{extra-aliases} and all
13642 matches of @var{split-regexp}, and the @var{split} is the name of the
13643 group. @var{restrict}s are also supported: just set the
13644 @var{split-exclude} parameter to a list of regular expressions.
13646 If you can't get the right split to be generated using all these
13647 parameters, or you just need something fancier, you can set the
13648 parameter @var{split-spec} to an @code{nnmail-split-fancy} split. In
13649 this case, all other aforementioned parameters will be ignored by
13650 @code{gnus-group-split}. In particular, @var{split-spec} may be set to
13651 @code{nil}, in which case the group will be ignored by
13652 @code{gnus-group-split}.
13654 @vindex gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group
13655 @code{gnus-group-split} will do cross-posting on all groups that match,
13656 by defining a single @code{&} fancy split containing one split for each
13657 group. If a message doesn't match any split, it will be stored in the
13658 group named in @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}, unless
13659 some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all}, in which case
13660 that group is used as the catch-all group. Even though this variable is
13661 often used just to name a group, it may also be set to an arbitrarily
13662 complex fancy split (after all, a group name is a fancy split), and this
13663 may be useful to split mail that doesn't go to any mailing list to
13664 personal mail folders. Note that this fancy split is added as the last
13665 element of a @code{|} split list that also contains a @code{&} split
13666 with the rules extracted from group parameters.
13668 It's time for an example. Assume the following group parameters have
13673 ((to-address . "bar@@femail.com")
13674 (split-regexp . ".*@@femail\\.com"))
13676 ((to-list . "foo@@nowhere.gov")
13677 (extra-aliases "foo@@localhost" "foo-redist@@home")
13678 (split-exclude "bugs-foo" "rambling-foo")
13679 (admin-address . "foo-request@@nowhere.gov"))
13681 ((split-spec . catch-all))
13684 Setting @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{gnus-group-split} will
13685 behave as if @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been selected and variable
13686 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} had been set as follows:
13689 (| (& (any "\\(bar@@femail\\.com\\|.*@@femail\\.com\\)" "mail.bar")
13690 (any "\\(foo@@nowhere\\.gov\\|foo@@localhost\\|foo-redist@@home\\)"
13691 - "bugs-foo" - "rambling-foo" "mail.foo"))
13695 @findex gnus-group-split-fancy
13696 If you'd rather not use group splitting for all your mail groups, you
13697 may use it for only some of them, by using @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
13701 (: gnus-group-split-fancy GROUPS NO-CROSSPOST CATCH-ALL)
13704 @var{groups} may be a regular expression or a list of group names whose
13705 parameters will be scanned to generate the output split.
13706 @var{no-crosspost} can be used to disable cross-posting; in this case, a
13707 single @code{|} split will be output. @var{catch-all} is the fallback
13708 fancy split, used like @var{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group}.
13709 If @var{catch-all} is @code{nil}, or if @var{split-regexp} matches the
13710 empty string in any selected group, no catch-all split will be issued.
13711 Otherwise, if some group has @var{split-spec} set to @code{catch-all},
13712 this group will override the value of the @var{catch-all} argument.
13714 @findex gnus-group-split-setup
13715 Unfortunately, scanning all groups and their parameters can be quite
13716 slow, especially considering that it has to be done for every message.
13717 But don't despair! The function @code{gnus-group-split-setup} can be
13718 used to enable @code{gnus-group-split} in a much more efficient way. It
13719 sets @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy} and sets
13720 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} to the split produced by
13721 @code{gnus-group-split-fancy}. Thus, the group parameters are only
13722 scanned once, no matter how many messages are split.
13724 @findex gnus-group-split-update
13725 However, if you change group parameters, you'd have to update
13726 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} manually. You can do it by running
13727 @code{gnus-group-split-update}. If you'd rather have it updated
13728 automatically, just tell @code{gnus-group-split-setup} to do it for
13729 you. For example, add to your @file{.gnus.el}:
13732 (gnus-group-split-setup AUTO-UPDATE CATCH-ALL)
13735 If @var{auto-update} is non-@code{nil}, @code{gnus-group-split-update}
13736 will be added to @code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook}, so you won't ever
13737 have to worry about updating @code{nnmail-split-fancy} again. If you
13738 don't omit @var{catch-all} (it's optional, equivalent to @code{nil}),
13739 @code{gnus-group-split-default-catch-all-group} will be set to its
13742 @vindex gnus-group-split-updated-hook
13743 Because you may want to change @code{nnmail-split-fancy} after it is set
13744 by @code{gnus-group-split-update}, this function will run
13745 @code{gnus-group-split-updated-hook} just before finishing.
13747 @node Incorporating Old Mail
13748 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
13749 @cindex incorporating old mail
13750 @cindex import old mail
13752 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
13753 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
13754 back ends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
13757 Doing so can be quite easy.
13759 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
13760 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
13761 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
13762 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
13763 your @code{nnml} groups.
13769 Go to the group buffer.
13772 Type @kbd{G f} and give the file name to the mbox file when prompted to create an
13773 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
13776 Type @kbd{SPACE} to enter the newly created group.
13779 Type @kbd{M P b} to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
13780 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13783 Type @kbd{B r} to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
13784 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
13787 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
13788 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
13789 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
13790 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
13791 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
13793 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
13794 back end to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
13795 using the new mail back end.
13798 @node Expiring Mail
13799 @subsection Expiring Mail
13800 @cindex article expiry
13802 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
13803 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
13804 different approach to mail reading.
13806 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
13807 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
13808 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
13809 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
13810 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
13811 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
13814 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
13815 articles as @dfn{expirable}. (With the default keybindings, this means
13816 that you have to type @kbd{E}.) This does not mean that the articles
13817 will disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
13818 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
13819 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
13820 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
13821 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
13822 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
13824 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Gnus provides
13825 two features, called `auto-expire' and `total-expire', that can help you
13826 with this. In a nutshell, `auto-expire' means that Gnus hits @kbd{E}
13827 for you when you select an article. And `total-expire' means that Gnus
13828 considers all articles as expirable that are read. So, in addition to
13829 the articles marked @samp{E}, also the articles marked @samp{r},
13830 @samp{R}, @samp{O}, @samp{K}, @samp{Y} and so on are considered
13833 When should either auto-expire or total-expire be used? Most people
13834 who are subscribed to mailing lists split each list into its own group
13835 and then turn on auto-expire or total-expire for those groups.
13836 (@xref{Splitting Mail}, for more information on splitting each list
13837 into its own group.)
13839 Which one is better, auto-expire or total-expire? It's not easy to
13840 answer. Generally speaking, auto-expire is probably faster. Another
13841 advantage of auto-expire is that you get more marks to work with: for
13842 the articles that are supposed to stick around, you can still choose
13843 between tick and dormant and read marks. But with total-expire, you
13844 only have dormant and ticked to choose from. The advantage of
13845 total-expire is that it works well with adaptive scoring @pxref{Adaptive
13846 Scoring}. Auto-expire works with normal scoring but not with adaptive
13849 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13850 Groups that match the regular expression
13851 @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will have all articles that you
13852 read marked as expirable automatically. All articles marked as
13853 expirable have an @samp{E} in the first column in the summary buffer.
13855 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
13856 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
13857 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
13858 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
13859 @file{.gnus.el} file:
13861 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
13863 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
13864 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
13865 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
13868 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
13869 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
13870 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
13871 articles expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
13872 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
13874 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
13875 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
13878 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
13879 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
13882 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
13883 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
13885 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
13886 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
13887 don't really mix very well.
13889 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
13890 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
13891 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
13892 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
13895 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
13896 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
13897 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
13898 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
13901 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13903 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
13905 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
13907 ((string= group "mail.junk")
13909 ((string= group "important")
13915 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
13916 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
13918 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
13919 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
13920 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
13923 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
13924 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
13926 @vindex nnmail-expiry-target
13927 The normal action taken when expiring articles is to delete them.
13928 However, in some circumstances it might make more sense to move them
13929 to other groups instead of deleting them. The variable
13930 @code{nnmail-expiry-target} (and the @code{expiry-target} group
13931 parameter) controls this. The variable supplies a default value for
13932 all groups, which can be overridden for specific groups by the group
13933 parameter. default value is @code{delete}, but this can also be a
13934 string (which should be the name of the group the message should be
13935 moved to), or a function (which will be called in a buffer narrowed to
13936 the message in question, and with the name of the group being moved
13937 from as its parameter) which should return a target -- either a group
13938 name or @code{delete}.
13940 Here's an example for specifying a group name:
13942 (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
13945 @findex nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13946 @vindex nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13947 Gnus provides a function @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-target} which will
13948 expire mail to groups according to the variable
13949 @code{nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets}. Here's an example:
13952 (setq nnmail-expiry-target 'nnmail-fancy-expiry-target
13953 nnmail-fancy-expiry-targets
13954 '((to-from "boss" "nnfolder:Work")
13955 ("subject" "IMPORTANT" "nnfolder:IMPORTANT.%Y.%b")
13956 ("from" ".*" "nnfolder:Archive-%Y")))
13959 With this setup, any mail that has @code{IMPORTANT} in its Subject
13960 header and was sent in the year @code{YYYY} and month @code{MMM}, will
13961 get expired to the group @code{nnfolder:IMPORTANT.YYYY.MMM}. If its
13962 From or To header contains the string @code{boss}, it will get expired
13963 to @code{nnfolder:Work}. All other mail will get expired to
13964 @code{nnfolder:Archive-YYYY}.
13966 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
13967 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
13968 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
13969 easier for procmail users.
13971 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
13972 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
13973 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
13974 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
13975 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
13976 caution. Even more dangerous is the
13977 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
13978 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
13979 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
13980 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
13981 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
13982 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
13983 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
13986 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
13988 @vindex gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire
13989 If @code{gnus-inhibit-user-auto-expire} is non-@code{nil}, user marking
13990 commands will not mark an article as expirable, even if the group has
13991 auto-expire turned on.
13995 @subsection Washing Mail
13996 @cindex mail washing
13997 @cindex list server brain damage
13998 @cindex incoming mail treatment
14000 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
14001 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC 822 doesn't explicitly
14002 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
14003 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
14004 Yes, but RFC 822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
14005 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
14007 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
14008 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
14009 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
14012 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
14013 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
14014 storing the mail to disk. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
14015 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
14018 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14019 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
14020 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
14021 grand, sweeping gestures. It is called in a buffer that contains all
14022 the new, incoming mail. Functions to be used include:
14025 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14026 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
14027 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
14028 Emacs running on MS machines.
14032 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14033 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
14034 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
14035 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
14038 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14039 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
14040 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
14041 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
14043 (Note that this function works on both the header on the body of all
14044 messages, so it is a potentially dangerous function to use (if a body
14045 of a message contains something that looks like a header line). So
14046 rather than fix the bug, it is of course the right solution to make it
14047 into a feature by documenting it.)
14049 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14050 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
14051 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
14052 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
14053 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
14054 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
14055 also be a list of regexp. @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} may not contain
14058 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
14059 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
14062 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
14063 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
14066 This can also be done non-destructively with
14067 @code{gnus-list-identifiers}, @xref{Article Hiding}.
14069 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
14070 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
14071 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
14073 @item nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14074 @findex nnmail-fix-eudora-headers
14076 Eudora produces broken @code{References} headers, but OK
14077 @code{In-Reply-To} headers. This function will get rid of the
14078 @code{References} headers.
14082 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14083 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
14084 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
14088 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
14089 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
14090 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
14097 @subsection Duplicates
14099 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
14100 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
14101 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
14102 @cindex duplicate mails
14103 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
14104 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
14105 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
14106 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
14107 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
14108 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
14109 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
14110 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
14111 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
14112 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
14113 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
14114 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
14115 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
14117 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
14118 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
14119 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
14120 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
14122 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
14125 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
14126 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
14130 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
14131 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
14132 ("gnus-warning" "duplicat\\(e\\|ion\\) of message" "duplicate")
14133 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
14134 (any mail "mail.misc")
14141 (setq nnmail-split-methods
14142 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
14147 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
14148 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
14149 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
14150 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
14151 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
14154 @node Not Reading Mail
14155 @subsection Not Reading Mail
14157 If you start using any of the mail back ends, they have the annoying
14158 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
14159 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
14161 If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
14162 @code{nil}, none of the back ends will ever attempt to read incoming
14163 mail, which should help.
14165 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14166 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14167 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14168 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14169 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14170 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
14171 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
14172 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All back ends have
14173 variables called back-end-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
14174 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
14175 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
14177 All the mail back ends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
14178 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
14182 @node Choosing a Mail Back End
14183 @subsection Choosing a Mail Back End
14185 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
14186 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
14187 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
14189 There are six different mail back ends in the standard Gnus, and more
14190 back ends are available separately. The mail back end most people use
14191 (because it is possibly the fastest) is @code{nnml} (@pxref{Mail
14192 Spool}). You might notice that only five back ends are listed below;
14193 @code{nnmaildir}'s documentation has not yet been completely
14194 incorporated into this manual. Until it is, you can find it at
14195 @uref{http://multivac.cwru.edu./nnmaildir/}.
14198 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
14199 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
14200 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
14201 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like back end.
14202 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
14203 * Comparing Mail Back Ends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
14207 @node Unix Mail Box
14208 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
14210 @cindex unix mail box
14212 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14213 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14214 The @dfn{nnmbox} back end will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
14215 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
14216 which group it belongs in.
14218 Virtual server settings:
14221 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
14222 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
14223 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. Default is
14226 @item nnmbox-active-file
14227 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
14228 The name of the active file for the mail box. Default is
14229 @file{~/.mbox-active}.
14231 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
14232 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
14233 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
14234 into groups. Default is @code{t}.
14239 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
14243 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14244 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14245 The @dfn{nnbabyl} back end will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
14246 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each
14247 mail article to say which group it belongs in.
14249 Virtual server settings:
14252 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
14253 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
14254 The name of the rmail mbox file. The default is @file{~/RMAIL}
14256 @item nnbabyl-active-file
14257 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
14258 The name of the active file for the rmail box. The default is
14259 @file{~/.rmail-active}
14261 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14262 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
14263 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail. Default is
14269 @subsubsection Mail Spool
14271 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
14273 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
14274 format. It should be used with some caution.
14276 @vindex nnml-directory
14277 If you use this back end, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
14278 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
14279 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
14280 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
14282 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
14285 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
14286 in your account, you should not use this back end. As each mail gets its
14287 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
14288 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
14289 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
14290 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
14291 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
14292 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
14294 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest back end when it comes to article
14295 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
14296 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it possibly the
14297 fastest back end when it comes to reading mail.
14299 @cindex self contained nnml servers
14301 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnml}
14302 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14303 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14304 proper @code{nnml} server) and have all your marks be preserved. Marks
14305 for a group is usually stored in the @code{.marks} file (but see
14306 @code{nnml-marks-file-name}) within each @code{nnml} group's directory.
14307 Individual @code{nnml} groups are also possible to backup, use @kbd{G m}
14308 to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the nnml
14311 If for some reason you believe your @file{.marks} files are screwed
14312 up, you can just delete them all. Gnus will then correctly regenerate
14313 them next time it starts.
14315 Virtual server settings:
14318 @item nnml-directory
14319 @vindex nnml-directory
14320 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
14321 The default is the value of `message-directory' (whose default value is
14324 @item nnml-active-file
14325 @vindex nnml-active-file
14326 The active file for the @code{nnml} server. The default is
14327 @file{~/Mail/active"}.
14329 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
14330 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
14331 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14332 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}.
14334 @item nnml-get-new-mail
14335 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
14336 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail. The default is
14339 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
14340 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
14341 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14342 default is @code{nil}.
14344 @item nnml-nov-file-name
14345 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
14346 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
14348 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14349 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
14350 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
14352 @item nnml-marks-is-evil
14353 @vindex nnml-marks-is-evil
14354 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14355 default is @code{nil}.
14357 @item nnml-marks-file-name
14358 @vindex nnml-marks-file-name
14359 The name of the @dfn{marks} files. The default is @file{.marks}.
14361 @item nnml-use-compressed-files
14362 @vindex nnml-use-compressed-files
14363 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will allow using compressed message
14368 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
14369 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
14370 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
14371 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
14372 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
14373 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
14374 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
14379 @subsubsection MH Spool
14381 @cindex mh-e mail spool
14383 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
14384 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file or marks file.
14385 This makes @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower back end than @code{nnml},
14386 but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
14388 Virtual server settings:
14391 @item nnmh-directory
14392 @vindex nnmh-directory
14393 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory. The
14394 default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14397 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
14398 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
14399 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail. The default is
14403 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
14404 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
14405 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
14406 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
14407 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
14408 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
14409 to set this variable to @code{t}. The default is @code{nil}.
14414 @subsubsection Mail Folders
14416 @cindex mbox folders
14417 @cindex mail folders
14419 @code{nnfolder} is a back end for storing each mail group in a separate
14420 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
14421 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
14424 @cindex self contained nnfolder servers
14426 When the marks file is used (which it is by default), @code{nnfolder}
14427 servers have the property that you may backup them using @code{tar} or
14428 similar, and later be able to restore them into Gnus (by adding the
14429 proper @code{nnfolder} server) and have all your marks be preserved.
14430 Marks for a group is usually stored in a file named as the mbox file
14431 with @code{.mrk} concatenated to it (but see
14432 @code{nnfolder-marks-file-suffix}) within the @code{nnfolder} directory.
14433 Individual @code{nnfolder} groups are also possible to backup, use
14434 @kbd{G m} to restore the group (after restoring the backup into the
14435 @code{nnfolder} directory).
14437 Virtual server settings:
14440 @item nnfolder-directory
14441 @vindex nnfolder-directory
14442 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
14443 The default is the value of @code{message-directory} (whose default is
14446 @item nnfolder-active-file
14447 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
14448 The name of the active file. The default is @file{~/Mail/active}.
14450 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14451 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
14452 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
14453 Format}. The default is @file{~/Mail/newsgroups"}
14455 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
14456 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
14457 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail. The default
14460 @item nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14461 @vindex nnfolder-save-buffer-hook
14462 @cindex backup files
14463 Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal
14464 backup renaming of files even with the @code{nnfolder} buffers. If you
14465 wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in
14466 your @file{.emacs} file:
14469 (defun turn-off-backup ()
14470 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
14472 (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup)
14475 @item nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14476 @vindex nnfolder-delete-mail-hook
14477 Hook run in a buffer narrowed to the message that is to be deleted.
14478 This function can be used to copy the message to somewhere else, or to
14479 extract some information from it before removing it.
14481 @item nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14482 @vindex nnfolder-nov-is-evil
14483 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{nov} files. The
14484 default is @code{nil}.
14486 @item nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14487 @vindex nnfolder-nov-file-suffix
14488 The extension for @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.nov}.
14490 @item nnfolder-nov-directory
14491 @vindex nnfolder-nov-directory
14492 The directory where the @sc{nov} files should be stored. If nil,
14493 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14495 @item nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14496 @vindex nnfolder-marks-is-evil
14497 If non-@code{nil}, this back end will ignore any @sc{marks} files. The
14498 default is @code{nil}.
14500 @item nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14501 @vindex nnfolder-marks-file-suffix
14502 The extension for @sc{marks} files. The default is @file{.mrk}.
14504 @item nnfolder-marks-directory
14505 @vindex nnfolder-marks-directory
14506 The directory where the @sc{marks} files should be stored. If nil,
14507 @code{nnfolder-directory} is used.
14512 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
14513 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
14514 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
14515 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
14516 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
14517 @code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
14520 @node Comparing Mail Back Ends
14521 @subsubsection Comparing Mail Back Ends
14523 First, just for terminology, the @dfn{back end} is the common word for a
14524 low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
14525 is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
14526 and so selection of a suitable back end is required in order to get that
14527 mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
14529 The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
14530 typically done by @sc{nntp} these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
14531 in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
14532 articles lay (the machine which today we call an @sc{nntp} server), and
14533 access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
14534 area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
14535 @code{nnspool} back ends, to select between these methods, if one happens
14536 actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
14539 The goal in selecting a mail back end is to pick one which
14540 simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
14541 format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
14542 future. Here are some high and low points on each:
14547 UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
14548 defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
14549 they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
14550 @samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
14551 to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
14552 @samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
14553 historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
14554 mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
14555 this back end, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
14556 area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
14557 (appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
14558 to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
14559 fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
14564 Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
14565 systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
14566 reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
14567 was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
14568 format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
14569 spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
14570 headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
14571 RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
14572 and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
14573 to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
14574 VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
14575 perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
14576 headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
14577 course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
14579 Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
14580 file system, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
14585 @code{nnml} is the back end which smells the most as though you were
14586 actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
14587 fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
14588 lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
14589 and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
14590 Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
14591 CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
14592 or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
14593 @dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
14594 @sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
14595 due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
14596 file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
14597 extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
14598 provided by the active file and overviews.
14600 @code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
14601 resource which defines available places in the file system to put new
14602 files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
14603 tight, shared file systems. But if you live on a personal machine where
14604 the file system is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
14607 It is also problematic using this back end if you are living in a
14608 FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
14613 The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
14614 long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
14615 individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
14616 is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
14617 active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
14618 one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
14619 slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
14623 Basically the effect of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
14624 method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
14625 itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
14626 little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
14627 a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
14628 can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
14629 format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
14630 it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
14631 out how many messages there are in each separate group.
14633 If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
14634 messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
14635 only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
14636 friendly mail back end all over.
14640 @code{nnmaildir} is largely similar to @code{nnml}, with some notable
14641 differences. Each message is stored in a separate file, but the
14642 filename is unrelated to the article number in Gnus. @code{nnmaildir}
14643 also stores the equivalent of @code{nnml}'s overview files in one file
14644 per article, so it uses about twice as many inodes as @code{nnml}. (Use
14645 @code{df -i} to see how plentiful your inode supply is.) If this slows
14646 you down or takes up very much space, consider switching to ReiserFS
14647 (@uref{http://www.namesys.com/}) or another non-block-structured
14650 Since maildirs don't require locking for delivery, the maildirs you use
14651 as groups can also be the maildirs your mail is directly delivered to.
14652 This means you can skip Gnus's mail splitting if your mail is already
14653 organized into different mailboxes during delivery. A @code{directory}
14654 entry in @code{mail-sources} would have a similar effect, but would
14655 require one set of mailboxes for spooling deliveries (in mbox format,
14656 thus damaging message bodies), and another set to be used as groups (in
14657 whatever format you like). A maildir has a built-in spool, in the
14658 @code{new/} subdirectory. Beware that currently, mail moved from
14659 @code{new/} to @code{cur/} instead of via mail splitting will undergo
14660 treatment such as duplicate checking.
14662 An article will not necessarily keep the same number across Gnus
14663 sessions; articles are renumbered starting from 1 for each Gnus session
14664 (more precisely, each time you open the @code{nnmaildir} server). This
14665 way, you don't get gaps in your article number ranges, and when entering
14666 large groups, Gnus is likely to give a more accurate article count. The
14667 price is that @code{nnmaildir} doesn't work with the cache or agent.
14668 This will probably be changed in the future.
14670 @code{nnmaildir} stores article marks for a given group in the
14671 corresponding maildir, in a way designed so that it's easy to manipulate
14672 them from outside Gnus. You can tar up a maildir, unpack it somewhere
14673 else, and still have your marks. @code{nnml} also stores marks, but
14674 it's not as easy to work with them from outside Gnus as with
14677 For configuring expiry and other things, @code{nnmaildir} uses group
14678 parameters slightly different from those of other mail back ends.
14680 @code{nnmaildir} uses a significant amount of memory to speed things up.
14681 (It keeps in memory some of the things that @code{nnml} stores in files
14682 and that @code{nnmh} repeatedly parses out of message files.) If this
14683 is a problem for you, you can set the @code{nov-cache-size} group
14684 parameter to something small (0 would probably not work, but 1 probably
14685 would) to make it use less memory.
14687 Startup and shutdown are likely to be slower with @code{nnmaildir} than
14688 with other back ends. Everything in between is likely to be faster,
14689 depending in part on your file system.
14691 @code{nnmaildir} does not use @code{nnoo}, so you cannot use @code{nnoo}
14692 to write an @code{nnmaildir}-derived back end.
14697 @node Browsing the Web
14698 @section Browsing the Web
14700 @cindex browsing the web
14704 Web-based discussion forums are getting more and more popular. On many
14705 subjects, the web-based forums have become the most important forums,
14706 eclipsing the importance of mailing lists and news groups. The reason
14707 is easy to understand---they are friendly to new users; you just point
14708 and click, and there's the discussion. With mailing lists, you have to
14709 go through a cumbersome subscription procedure, and most people don't
14710 even know what a news group is.
14712 The problem with this scenario is that web browsers are not very good at
14713 being newsreaders. They do not keep track of what articles you've read;
14714 they do not allow you to score on subjects you're interested in; they do
14715 not allow off-line browsing; they require you to click around and drive
14716 you mad in the end.
14718 So---if web browsers suck at reading discussion forums, why not use Gnus
14721 Gnus has been getting a bit of a collection of back ends for providing
14722 interfaces to these sources.
14726 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
14727 * Slashdot:: Reading the Slashdot comments.
14728 * Ultimate:: The Ultimate Bulletin Board systems.
14729 * Web Archive:: Reading mailing list archived on web.
14730 * RSS:: Reading RDF site summary.
14731 * Customizing w3:: Doing stuff to Emacs/w3 from Gnus.
14734 All the web sources require Emacs/w3 and the url library to work.
14736 The main caveat with all these web sources is that they probably won't
14737 work for a very long time. Gleaning information from the @sc{html} data
14738 is guesswork at best, and when the layout is altered, the Gnus back end
14739 will fail. If you have reasonably new versions of these back ends,
14740 though, you should be ok.
14742 One thing all these Web methods have in common is that the Web sources
14743 are often down, unavailable or just plain too slow to be fun. In those
14744 cases, it makes a lot of sense to let the Gnus Agent (@pxref{Gnus
14745 Unplugged}) handle downloading articles, and then you can read them at
14746 leisure from your local disk. No more World Wide Wait for you.
14748 @node Archiving Mail
14749 @subsection Archiving Mail
14750 @cindex archiving mail
14751 @cindex backup of mail
14753 Some of the back ends, notably @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, and
14754 @code{nnmaildir}, now actually store the article marks with each group.
14755 For these servers, archiving and restoring a group while preserving
14756 marks is fairly simple.
14758 (Preserving the group level and group parameters as well still
14759 requires ritual dancing and sacrifices to the @file{.newsrc.eld} deity
14762 To archive an entire @code{nnml}, @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir}
14763 server, take a recursive copy of the server directory. There is no need
14764 to shut down Gnus, so archiving may be invoked by @code{cron} or
14765 similar. You restore the data by restoring the directory tree, and
14766 adding a server definition pointing to that directory in Gnus. The
14767 @ref{Article Backlog}, @ref{Asynchronous Fetching} and other things
14768 might interfere with overwriting data, so you may want to shut down Gnus
14769 before you restore the data.
14771 It is also possible to archive individual @code{nnml},
14772 @code{nnfolder}, or @code{nnmaildir} groups, while preserving marks.
14773 For @code{nnml} or @code{nnmaildir}, you copy all files in the group's
14774 directory. For @code{nnfolder} you need to copy both the base folder
14775 file itself (@file{FOO}, say), and the marks file (@file{FOO.mrk} in
14776 this example). Restoring the group is done with @kbd{G m} from the Group
14777 buffer. The last step makes Gnus notice the new directory.
14778 @code{nnmaildir} notices the new directory automatically, so @kbd{G m}
14779 is unnecessary in that case.
14782 @subsection Web Searches
14787 @cindex Usenet searches
14788 @cindex searching the Usenet
14790 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
14791 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
14792 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
14793 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
14794 searches without having to use a browser.
14796 The @code{nnweb} back end allows an easy interface to the mighty search
14797 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
14798 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
14799 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
14800 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
14802 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
14803 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
14804 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
14805 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
14806 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
14807 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
14808 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
14809 engines (Google, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
14810 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
14811 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
14814 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
14815 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
14816 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
14817 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
14818 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
14819 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
14821 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
14822 to use @code{nnweb}.
14824 Virtual server variables:
14829 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
14830 are @code{google}, @code{dejanews}, and @code{gmane}. Note that
14831 @code{dejanews} is an alias to @code{google}.
14834 @vindex nnweb-search
14835 The search string to feed to the search engine.
14837 @item nnweb-max-hits
14838 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
14839 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
14842 @item nnweb-type-definition
14843 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
14844 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
14845 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
14850 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
14854 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
14857 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
14860 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
14864 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
14871 @subsection Slashdot
14875 Slashdot (@uref{http://slashdot.org/}) is a popular news site, with
14876 lively discussion following the news articles. @code{nnslashdot} will
14877 let you read this forum in a convenient manner.
14879 The easiest way to read this source is to put something like the
14880 following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
14883 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
14884 '((nnslashdot "")))
14887 This will make Gnus query the @code{nnslashdot} back end for new comments
14888 and groups. The @kbd{F} command will subscribe each new news article as
14889 a new Gnus group, and you can read the comments by entering these
14890 groups. (Note that the default subscription method is to subscribe new
14891 groups as zombies. Other methods are available (@pxref{Subscription
14894 If you want to remove an old @code{nnslashdot} group, the @kbd{G DEL}
14895 command is the most handy tool (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
14897 When following up to @code{nnslashdot} comments (or posting new
14898 comments), some light @sc{html}izations will be performed. In
14899 particular, text quoted with @samp{> } will be quoted with
14900 @code{blockquote} instead, and signatures will have @code{br} added to
14901 the end of each line. Other than that, you can just write @sc{html}
14902 directly into the message buffer. Note that Slashdot filters out some
14905 The following variables can be altered to change its behavior:
14908 @item nnslashdot-threaded
14909 Whether @code{nnslashdot} should display threaded groups or not. The
14910 default is @code{t}. To be able to display threads, @code{nnslashdot}
14911 has to retrieve absolutely all comments in a group upon entry. If a
14912 threaded display is not required, @code{nnslashdot} will only retrieve
14913 the comments that are actually wanted by the user. Threading is nicer,
14914 but much, much slower than unthreaded.
14916 @item nnslashdot-login-name
14917 @vindex nnslashdot-login-name
14918 The login name to use when posting.
14920 @item nnslashdot-password
14921 @vindex nnslashdot-password
14922 The password to use when posting.
14924 @item nnslashdot-directory
14925 @vindex nnslashdot-directory
14926 Where @code{nnslashdot} will store its files. The default is
14927 @samp{~/News/slashdot/}.
14929 @item nnslashdot-active-url
14930 @vindex nnslashdot-active-url
14931 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the information on
14932 news articles and comments. The default is
14933 @samp{http://slashdot.org/search.pl?section=&min=%d}.
14935 @item nnslashdot-comments-url
14936 @vindex nnslashdot-comments-url
14937 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch comments. The
14939 @samp{http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=%s&threshold=%d&commentsort=%d&mode=flat&startat=%d}.
14941 @item nnslashdot-article-url
14942 @vindex nnslashdot-article-url
14943 The @sc{url} format string that will be used to fetch the news article. The
14945 @samp{http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=%s&mode=nocomment}.
14947 @item nnslashdot-threshold
14948 @vindex nnslashdot-threshold
14949 The score threshold. The default is -1.
14951 @item nnslashdot-group-number
14952 @vindex nnslashdot-group-number
14953 The number of old groups, in addition to the ten latest, to keep
14954 updated. The default is 0.
14961 @subsection Ultimate
14963 @cindex Ultimate Bulletin Board
14965 The Ultimate Bulletin Board (@uref{http://www.ultimatebb.com/}) is
14966 probably the most popular Web bulletin board system used. It has a
14967 quite regular and nice interface, and it's possible to get the
14968 information Gnus needs to keep groups updated.
14970 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnultimate} is to say
14971 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnultimate RET
14972 http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubbcgi/ RET}. (Substitute the @sc{url}
14973 (not including @samp{Ultimate.cgi} or the like at the end) for a forum
14974 you're interested in; there's quite a list of them on the Ultimate web
14975 site.) Then subscribe to the groups you're interested in from the
14976 server buffer, and read them from the group buffer.
14978 The following @code{nnultimate} variables can be altered:
14981 @item nnultimate-directory
14982 @vindex nnultimate-directory
14983 The directory where @code{nnultimate} stores its files. The default is
14984 @samp{~/News/ultimate/}.
14989 @subsection Web Archive
14991 @cindex Web Archive
14993 Some mailing lists only have archives on Web servers, such as
14994 @uref{http://www.egroups.com/} and
14995 @uref{http://www.mail-archive.com/}. It has a quite regular and nice
14996 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
14999 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnwarchive} is to say
15000 something like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{M-x
15001 gnus-group-make-warchive-group RET an_egroup RET egroups RET
15002 www.egroups.com RET your@@email.address RET}. (Substitute the
15003 @sc{an_egroup} with the mailing list you subscribed, the
15004 @sc{your@@email.address} with your email address.), or to browse the
15005 back end by @kbd{B nnwarchive RET mail-archive RET}.
15007 The following @code{nnwarchive} variables can be altered:
15010 @item nnwarchive-directory
15011 @vindex nnwarchive-directory
15012 The directory where @code{nnwarchive} stores its files. The default is
15013 @samp{~/News/warchive/}.
15015 @item nnwarchive-login
15016 @vindex nnwarchive-login
15017 The account name on the web server.
15019 @item nnwarchive-passwd
15020 @vindex nnwarchive-passwd
15021 The password for your account on the web server.
15029 Some sites have RDF site summary (RSS)
15030 @uref{http://purl.org/rss/1.0/spec}. It has a quite regular and nice
15031 interface, and it's possible to get the information Gnus needs to keep
15034 The easiest way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something
15035 like the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET}, then
15038 The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
15041 @item nnrss-directory
15042 @vindex nnrss-directory
15043 The directory where @code{nnrss} stores its files. The default is
15044 @samp{~/News/rss/}.
15048 The following code may be helpful, if you want to show the description in
15049 the summary buffer.
15052 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-description-field)
15053 (setq gnus-summary-line-format "%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-15,15f%]%) %s%uX\n")
15055 (defun gnus-user-format-function-X (header)
15057 (assq nnrss-description-field (mail-header-extra header))))
15058 (if descr (concat "\n\t" (cdr descr)) "")))
15061 The following code may be useful to open an nnrss url directly from the
15064 (require 'browse-url)
15066 (defun browse-nnrss-url( arg )
15068 (let ((url (assq nnrss-url-field
15071 (assq (gnus-summary-article-number)
15072 gnus-newsgroup-data))))))
15075 (browse-url (cdr url))
15076 (gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward 1))
15077 (gnus-summary-scroll-up arg))))
15079 (eval-after-load "gnus"
15080 #'(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map
15081 (kbd "<RET>") 'browse-nnrss-url))
15082 (add-to-list 'nnmail-extra-headers nnrss-url-field)
15085 @node Customizing w3
15086 @subsection Customizing w3
15092 Gnus uses the url library to fetch web pages and Emacs/w3 to display web
15093 pages. Emacs/w3 is documented in its own manual, but there are some
15094 things that may be more relevant for Gnus users.
15096 For instance, a common question is how to make Emacs/w3 follow links
15097 using the @code{browse-url} functions (which will call some external web
15098 browser like Netscape). Here's one way:
15101 (eval-after-load "w3"
15103 (fset 'w3-fetch-orig (symbol-function 'w3-fetch))
15104 (defun w3-fetch (&optional url target)
15105 (interactive (list (w3-read-url-with-default)))
15106 (if (eq major-mode 'gnus-article-mode)
15108 (w3-fetch-orig url target)))))
15111 Put that in your @file{.emacs} file, and hitting links in w3-rendered
15112 @sc{html} in the Gnus article buffers will use @code{browse-url} to
15121 @sc{imap} is a network protocol for reading mail (or news, or ...),
15122 think of it as a modernized @sc{nntp}. Connecting to a @sc{imap}
15123 server is much similar to connecting to a news server, you just
15124 specify the network address of the server.
15126 @sc{imap} has two properties. First, @sc{imap} can do everything that
15127 POP can, it can hence be viewed as a POP++. Secondly, @sc{imap} is a
15128 mail storage protocol, similar to @sc{nntp} being a news storage
15129 protocol -- however, @sc{imap} offers more features than @sc{nntp}
15130 because news is more or less read-only whereas mail is read-write.
15132 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a POP++, use an imap entry in
15133 @code{mail-sources}. With this, Gnus will fetch mails from the
15134 @sc{imap} server and store them on the local disk. This is not the
15135 usage described in this section--@xref{Mail Sources}.
15137 If you want to use @sc{imap} as a mail storage protocol, use an nnimap
15138 entry in @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods}. With this, Gnus will
15139 manipulate mails stored on the @sc{imap} server. This is the kind of
15140 usage explained in this section.
15142 A server configuration in @code{~/.gnus} with a few @sc{imap} servers
15143 might look something like the following. (Note that for SSL/TLS, you
15144 need external programs and libraries, see below.)
15147 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
15148 '((nnimap "simpleserver") ; no special configuration
15149 ; perhaps a ssh port forwarded server:
15151 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15152 (nnimap-server-port 1430))
15153 ; a UW server running on localhost
15155 (nnimap-server-port 143)
15156 (nnimap-address "localhost")
15157 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "mail/*")))
15158 ; anonymous public cyrus server:
15159 (nnimap "cyrus.andrew.cmu.edu"
15160 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous)
15161 (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")
15162 (nnimap-stream network))
15163 ; a ssl server on a non-standard port:
15165 (nnimap-address "vic20.somewhere.com")
15166 (nnimap-server-port 9930)
15167 (nnimap-stream ssl))))
15170 After defining the new server, you can subscribe to groups on the
15171 server using normal Gnus commands such as @kbd{U} in the Group Buffer
15172 (@pxref{Subscription Commands}) or via the Server Buffer
15173 (@pxref{Server Buffer}).
15175 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nnimap}
15180 @item nnimap-address
15181 @vindex nnimap-address
15183 The address of the remote @sc{imap} server. Defaults to the virtual
15184 server name if not specified.
15186 @item nnimap-server-port
15187 @vindex nnimap-server-port
15188 Port on server to contact. Defaults to port 143, or 993 for SSL.
15190 Note that this should be an integer, example server specification:
15193 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15194 (nnimap-server-port 4711))
15197 @item nnimap-list-pattern
15198 @vindex nnimap-list-pattern
15199 String or list of strings of mailboxes to limit available groups to.
15200 This is used when the server has very many mailboxes and you're only
15201 interested in a few -- some servers export your home directory via
15202 @sc{imap}, you'll probably want to limit the mailboxes to those in
15203 @file{~/Mail/*} then.
15205 The string can also be a cons of REFERENCE and the string as above, what
15206 REFERENCE is used for is server specific, but on the University of
15207 Washington server it's a directory that will be concatenated with the
15210 Example server specification:
15213 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15214 (nnimap-list-pattern ("INBOX" "Mail/*" "alt.sex.*"
15215 ("~friend/Mail/" . "list/*"))))
15218 @item nnimap-stream
15219 @vindex nnimap-stream
15220 The type of stream used to connect to your server. By default, nnimap
15221 will detect and automatically use all of the below, with the exception
15222 of SSL/TLS. (@sc{imap} over SSL/TLS is being replaced by STARTTLS, which
15223 can be automatically detected, but it's not widely deployed yet.)
15225 Example server specification:
15228 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15229 (nnimap-stream ssl))
15232 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-stream} is a symbol!
15236 @dfn{gssapi:} Connect with GSSAPI (usually Kerberos 5). Requires the
15237 @samp{imtest} program.
15239 @dfn{kerberos4:} Connect with Kerberos 4. Requires the @samp{imtest} program.
15241 @dfn{starttls:} Connect via the STARTTLS extension (similar to
15242 SSL). Requires the external library @samp{starttls.el} and program
15245 @dfn{ssl:} Connect through SSL. Requires OpenSSL (the program
15246 @samp{openssl}) or SSLeay (@samp{s_client}) as well as the external
15247 library @samp{ssl.el}.
15249 @dfn{shell:} Use a shell command to start @sc{imap} connection.
15251 @dfn{network:} Plain, TCP/IP network connection.
15254 @vindex imap-kerberos4-program
15255 The @samp{imtest} program is shipped with Cyrus IMAPD. If you're
15256 using @samp{imtest} from Cyrus IMAPD < 2.0.14 (which includes version
15257 1.5.x and 1.6.x) you need to frob @code{imap-process-connection-type}
15258 to make @code{imap.el} use a pty instead of a pipe when communicating
15259 with @samp{imtest}. You will then suffer from a line length
15260 restrictions on @sc{imap} commands, which might make Gnus seem to hang
15261 indefinitely if you have many articles in a mailbox. The variable
15262 @code{imap-kerberos4-program} contain parameters to pass to the imtest
15265 @vindex imap-ssl-program
15266 For SSL connections, the OpenSSL program is available from
15267 @uref{http://www.openssl.org/}. OpenSSL was formerly known as SSLeay,
15268 and nnimap support it too - although the most recent versions of
15269 SSLeay, 0.9.x, are known to have serious bugs making it
15270 useless. Earlier versions, especially 0.8.x, of SSLeay are known to
15271 work. The variable @code{imap-ssl-program} contain parameters to pass
15272 to OpenSSL/SSLeay. You also need @samp{ssl.el} (from the W3
15273 distribution, for instance).
15275 @vindex imap-shell-program
15276 @vindex imap-shell-host
15277 For @sc{imap} connections using the @code{shell} stream, the variable
15278 @code{imap-shell-program} specify what program to call.
15280 @item nnimap-authenticator
15281 @vindex nnimap-authenticator
15283 The authenticator used to connect to the server. By default, nnimap
15284 will use the most secure authenticator your server is capable of.
15286 Example server specification:
15289 (nnimap "mail.server.com"
15290 (nnimap-authenticator anonymous))
15293 Please note that the value of @code{nnimap-authenticator} is a symbol!
15297 @dfn{gssapi:} GSSAPI (usually kerberos 5) authentication. Requires
15298 external program @code{imtest}.
15300 @dfn{kerberos4:} Kerberos 4 authentication. Requires external program
15303 @dfn{digest-md5:} Encrypted username/password via DIGEST-MD5. Requires
15304 external library @code{digest-md5.el}.
15306 @dfn{cram-md5:} Encrypted username/password via CRAM-MD5.
15308 @dfn{login:} Plain-text username/password via LOGIN.
15310 @dfn{anonymous:} Login as `anonymous', supplying your email address as password.
15313 @item nnimap-expunge-on-close
15315 @vindex nnimap-expunge-on-close
15316 Unlike Parmenides the @sc{imap} designers has decided that things that
15317 doesn't exist actually does exist. More specifically, @sc{imap} has
15318 this concept of marking articles @code{Deleted} which doesn't actually
15319 delete them, and this (marking them @code{Deleted}, that is) is what
15320 nnimap does when you delete a article in Gnus (with @kbd{B DEL} or
15323 Since the articles aren't really removed when we mark them with the
15324 @code{Deleted} flag we'll need a way to actually delete them. Feel like
15325 running in circles yet?
15327 Traditionally, nnimap has removed all articles marked as @code{Deleted}
15328 when closing a mailbox but this is now configurable by this server
15331 The possible options are:
15336 The default behavior, delete all articles marked as "Deleted" when
15339 Never actually delete articles. Currently there is no way of showing
15340 the articles marked for deletion in nnimap, but other @sc{imap} clients
15341 may allow you to do this. If you ever want to run the EXPUNGE command
15342 manually, @xref{Expunging mailboxes}.
15344 When closing mailboxes, nnimap will ask if you wish to expunge deleted
15349 @item nnimap-importantize-dormant
15350 @vindex nnimap-importantize-dormant
15352 If non-nil (the default), marks dormant articles as ticked (as well),
15353 for other @sc{imap} clients. Within Gnus, dormant articles will
15354 naturally still (only) be marked as dormant. This is to make dormant
15355 articles stand out, just like ticked articles, in other @sc{imap}
15356 clients. (In other words, Gnus has two ``Tick'' marks and @sc{imap}
15359 Probably the only reason for frobing this would be if you're trying
15360 enable per-user persistant dormant flags, using something like:
15363 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-flag-alist)
15364 (format "gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15365 (setcdr (assq 'dormant nnimap-mark-to-predicate-alist)
15366 (format "KEYWORD gnus-dormant-%s" (user-login-name)))
15369 In this case, you would not want the per-user dormant flag showing up
15370 as ticked for other users.
15372 @item nnimap-expunge-search-string
15374 @vindex nnimap-expunge-search-string
15376 This variable contain the @sc{imap} search command sent to server when
15377 searching for articles eligible for expiring. The default is
15378 @code{"UID %s NOT SINCE %s"}, where the first @code{%s} is replaced by
15379 UID set and the second @code{%s} is replaced by a date.
15381 Probably the only useful value to change this to is
15382 @code{"UID %s NOT SENTSINCE %s"}, which makes nnimap use the Date: in
15383 messages instead of the internal article date. See section 6.4.4 of
15384 RFC 2060 for more information on valid strings.
15386 @item nnimap-authinfo-file
15387 @vindex nnimap-authinfo-file
15389 A file containing credentials used to log in on servers. The format is
15390 (almost) the same as the @code{ftp} @file{~/.netrc} file. See the
15391 variable @code{nntp-authinfo-file} for exact syntax; also see
15397 * Splitting in IMAP:: Splitting mail with nnimap.
15398 * Expiring in IMAP:: Expiring mail with nnimap.
15399 * Editing IMAP ACLs:: Limiting/enabling other users access to a mailbox.
15400 * Expunging mailboxes:: Equivalent of a "compress mailbox" button.
15401 * A note on namespaces:: How to (not) use IMAP namespace in Gnus.
15406 @node Splitting in IMAP
15407 @subsection Splitting in IMAP
15408 @cindex splitting imap mail
15410 Splitting is something Gnus users has loved and used for years, and now
15411 the rest of the world is catching up. Yeah, dream on, not many
15412 @sc{imap} server has server side splitting and those that have splitting
15413 seem to use some non-standard protocol. This means that @sc{imap}
15414 support for Gnus has to do it's own splitting.
15418 Here are the variables of interest:
15422 @item nnimap-split-crosspost
15423 @cindex splitting, crosspost
15425 @vindex nnimap-split-crosspost
15427 If non-nil, do crossposting if several split methods match the mail. If
15428 nil, the first match in @code{nnimap-split-rule} found will be used.
15430 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-crosspost}.
15432 @item nnimap-split-inbox
15433 @cindex splitting, inbox
15435 @vindex nnimap-split-inbox
15437 A string or a list of strings that gives the name(s) of @sc{imap}
15438 mailboxes to split from. Defaults to nil, which means that splitting is
15442 (setq nnimap-split-inbox
15443 '("INBOX" ("~/friend/Mail" . "lists/*") "lists.imap"))
15446 No nnmail equivalent.
15448 @item nnimap-split-rule
15449 @cindex Splitting, rules
15450 @vindex nnimap-split-rule
15452 New mail found in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be split according to
15455 This variable contains a list of lists, where the first element in the
15456 sublist gives the name of the @sc{imap} mailbox to move articles
15457 matching the regexp in the second element in the sublist. Got that?
15458 Neither did I, we need examples.
15461 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15463 "^Sender: owner-nnimap@@vic20.globalcom.se")
15464 ("INBOX.junk" "^Subject:.*MAKE MONEY")
15465 ("INBOX.private" "")))
15468 This will put all articles from the nnimap mailing list into mailbox
15469 INBOX.nnimap, all articles containing MAKE MONEY in the Subject: line
15470 into INBOX.junk and everything else in INBOX.private.
15472 The first string may contain `\\1' forms, like the ones used by
15473 replace-match to insert sub-expressions from the matched text. For
15477 ("INBOX.lists.\\1" "^Sender: owner-\\([a-z-]+\\)@@")
15480 The first element can also be the symbol @code{junk} to indicate that
15481 matching messages should simply be deleted. Use with care.
15483 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
15484 called with the first element of the rule as the argument, in a buffer
15485 containing the headers of the article. It should return a non-nil value
15486 if it thinks that the mail belongs in that group.
15488 Nnmail users might recollect that the last regexp had to be empty to
15489 match all articles (like in the example above). This is not required in
15490 nnimap. Articles not matching any of the regexps will not be moved out
15491 of your inbox. (This might affect performance if you keep lots of
15492 unread articles in your inbox, since the splitting code would go over
15493 them every time you fetch new mail.)
15495 These rules are processed from the beginning of the alist toward the
15496 end. The first rule to make a match will "win", unless you have
15497 crossposting enabled. In that case, all matching rules will "win".
15499 This variable can also have a function as its value, the function will
15500 be called with the headers narrowed and should return a group where it
15501 thinks the article should be split to. See @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15503 The splitting code tries to create mailboxes if it needs to.
15505 To allow for different split rules on different virtual servers, and
15506 even different split rules in different inboxes on the same server,
15507 the syntax of this variable have been extended along the lines of:
15510 (setq nnimap-split-rule
15511 '(("my1server" (".*" (("ding" "ding@@gnus.org")
15512 ("junk" "From:.*Simon")))
15513 ("my2server" ("INBOX" nnimap-split-fancy))
15514 ("my[34]server" (".*" (("private" "To:.*Simon")
15515 ("junk" my-junk-func)))))
15518 The virtual server name is in fact a regexp, so that the same rules
15519 may apply to several servers. In the example, the servers
15520 @code{my3server} and @code{my4server} both use the same rules.
15521 Similarly, the inbox string is also a regexp. The actual splitting
15522 rules are as before, either a function, or a list with group/regexp or
15523 group/function elements.
15525 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
15527 @item nnimap-split-predicate
15529 @vindex nnimap-split-predicate
15531 Mail matching this predicate in @code{nnimap-split-inbox} will be
15532 split, it is a string and the default is @samp{UNSEEN UNDELETED}.
15534 This might be useful if you use another @sc{imap} client to read mail in
15535 your inbox but would like Gnus to split all articles in the inbox
15536 regardless of readedness. Then you might change this to
15539 @item nnimap-split-fancy
15540 @cindex splitting, fancy
15541 @findex nnimap-split-fancy
15542 @vindex nnimap-split-fancy
15544 It's possible to set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15545 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} if you want to use fancy
15546 splitting. @xref{Fancy Mail Splitting}.
15548 However, to be able to have different fancy split rules for nnmail and
15549 nnimap back ends you can set @code{nnimap-split-rule} to
15550 @code{nnimap-split-fancy} and define the nnimap specific fancy split
15551 rule in @code{nnimap-split-fancy}.
15556 (setq nnimap-split-rule 'nnimap-split-fancy
15557 nnimap-split-fancy ...)
15560 Nnmail equivalent: @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
15562 @item nnimap-split-download-body
15563 @findex nnimap-split-download-body
15564 @vindex nnimap-split-download-body
15566 Set to non-nil to download entire articles during splitting. This is
15567 generally not required, and will slow things down considerably. You
15568 may need it if you want to use an advanced splitting function that
15569 analyses the body to split the article.
15573 @node Expiring in IMAP
15574 @subsection Expiring in IMAP
15575 @cindex expiring imap mail
15577 Even though @code{nnimap} is not a proper @code{nnmail} derived back
15578 end, it supports most features in regular expiring (@pxref{Expiring
15579 Mail}). Unlike splitting in IMAP (@pxref{Splitting in IMAP}) it do
15580 not clone the @code{nnmail} variables (i.e., creating
15581 @var{nnimap-expiry-wait}) but reuse the @code{nnmail} variables. What
15582 follows below are the variables used by the @code{nnimap} expiry
15585 A note on how the expire mark is stored on the @sc{imap} server is
15586 appropriate here as well. The expire mark is translated into a
15587 @code{imap} client specific mark, @code{gnus-expire}, and stored on the
15588 message. This means that likely only Gnus will understand and treat
15589 the @code{gnus-expire} mark properly, although other clients may allow
15590 you to view client specific flags on the message. It also means that
15591 your server must support permanent storage of client specific flags on
15592 messages. Most do, fortunately.
15596 @item nnmail-expiry-wait
15597 @item nnmail-expiry-wait-function
15599 These variables are fully supported. The expire value can be a
15600 number, the symbol @var{immediate} or @var{never}.
15602 @item nnmail-expiry-target
15604 This variable is supported, and internally implemented by calling the
15605 @code{nnmail} functions that handle this. It contains an optimization
15606 that if the destination is a IMAP group on the same server, the
15607 article is copied instead of appended (that is, uploaded again).
15611 @node Editing IMAP ACLs
15612 @subsection Editing IMAP ACLs
15613 @cindex editing imap acls
15614 @cindex Access Control Lists
15615 @cindex Editing @sc{imap} ACLs
15617 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-edit-acl
15619 ACL stands for Access Control List. ACLs are used in @sc{imap} for
15620 limiting (or enabling) other users access to your mail boxes. Not all
15621 @sc{imap} servers support this, this function will give an error if it
15624 To edit a ACL for a mailbox, type @kbd{G l}
15625 (@code{gnus-group-edit-nnimap-acl}) and you'll be presented with a ACL
15626 editing window with detailed instructions.
15628 Some possible uses:
15632 Giving "anyone" the "lrs" rights (lookup, read, keep seen/unseen flags)
15633 on your mailing list mailboxes enables other users on the same server to
15634 follow the list without subscribing to it.
15636 At least with the Cyrus server, you are required to give the user
15637 "anyone" posting ("p") capabilities to have "plussing" work (that is,
15638 mail sent to user+mailbox@@domain ending up in the @sc{imap} mailbox
15642 @node Expunging mailboxes
15643 @subsection Expunging mailboxes
15647 @cindex Manual expunging
15649 @findex gnus-group-nnimap-expunge
15651 If you're using the @code{never} setting of @code{nnimap-expunge-on-close},
15652 you may want the option of expunging all deleted articles in a mailbox
15653 manually. This is exactly what @kbd{G x} does.
15655 Currently there is no way of showing deleted articles, you can just
15658 @node A note on namespaces
15659 @subsection A note on namespaces
15660 @cindex IMAP namespace
15663 The IMAP protocol has a concept called namespaces, described by the
15664 following text in the RFC:
15667 5.1.2. Mailbox Namespace Naming Convention
15669 By convention, the first hierarchical element of any mailbox name
15670 which begins with "#" identifies the "namespace" of the remainder of
15671 the name. This makes it possible to disambiguate between different
15672 types of mailbox stores, each of which have their own namespaces.
15674 For example, implementations which offer access to USENET
15675 newsgroups MAY use the "#news" namespace to partition the USENET
15676 newsgroup namespace from that of other mailboxes. Thus, the
15677 comp.mail.misc newsgroup would have an mailbox name of
15678 "#news.comp.mail.misc", and the name "comp.mail.misc" could refer
15679 to a different object (e.g. a user's private mailbox).
15682 While there is nothing in this text that warrants concern for the IMAP
15683 implementation in Gnus, some servers use namespace prefixes in a way
15684 that does not work with how Gnus uses mailbox names.
15686 Specifically, University of Washington's IMAP server uses mailbox
15687 names like @code{#driver.mbx/read-mail} which are valid only in the
15688 @sc{create} and @sc{append} commands. After the mailbox is created
15689 (or a messages is appended to a mailbox), it must be accessed without
15690 the namespace prefix, i.e @code{read-mail}. Since Gnus do not make it
15691 possible for the user to guarantee that user entered mailbox names
15692 will only be used with the CREATE and APPEND commands, you should
15693 simply not use the namespace prefixed mailbox names in Gnus.
15695 See the UoW @sc{imapd} documentation for the @code{#driver.*/} prefix
15696 for more information on how to use the prefixes. They are a power
15697 tool and should be used only if you are sure what the effects are.
15699 @node Other Sources
15700 @section Other Sources
15702 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
15703 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
15707 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
15708 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
15709 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
15710 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{soup} packets ``offline''.
15711 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
15715 @node Directory Groups
15716 @subsection Directory Groups
15718 @cindex directory groups
15720 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
15721 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
15724 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
15725 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
15726 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
15727 back end to read directories. Big deal.
15729 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
15730 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
15731 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
15732 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
15733 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
15735 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
15737 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' back end---you can't delete or expire
15738 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
15739 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
15740 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
15743 @node Anything Groups
15744 @subsection Anything Groups
15747 From the @code{nndir} back end (which reads a single spool-like
15748 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
15749 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
15752 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
15753 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
15754 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
15755 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting.
15756 @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each
15757 file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first
15758 few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is
15759 just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file),
15760 @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use
15761 file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
15764 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
15765 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
15766 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
15767 in the article buffer, just as usual.
15769 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
15770 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
15771 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
15772 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
15774 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
15775 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
15776 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
15777 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
15778 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
15779 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
15780 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
15781 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
15786 @item nneething-map-file-directory
15787 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
15788 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
15789 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
15791 @item nneething-exclude-files
15792 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
15793 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
15794 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
15796 @item nneething-include-files
15797 @vindex nneething-include-files
15798 Regexp saying what files to include in the group. If this variable is
15799 non-@code{nil}, only files matching this regexp will be included.
15801 @item nneething-map-file
15802 @vindex nneething-map-file
15803 Name of the map files.
15807 @node Document Groups
15808 @subsection Document Groups
15810 @cindex documentation group
15813 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
15814 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
15821 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
15826 The standard Unix mbox file.
15828 @cindex MMDF mail box
15830 The MMDF mail box format.
15833 Several news articles appended into a file.
15836 @cindex rnews batch files
15837 The rnews batch transport format.
15838 @cindex forwarded messages
15841 Forwarded articles.
15844 Netscape mail boxes.
15847 @sc{mime} multipart messages.
15849 @item standard-digest
15850 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
15853 A @sc{mime} digest of messages.
15855 @item lanl-gov-announce
15856 Announcement messages from LANL Gov Announce.
15858 @item rfc822-forward
15859 A message forwarded according to RFC822.
15862 The Outlook mail box.
15865 The Outlook Express dbx mail box.
15868 A bounce message from the Exim MTA.
15871 A message forwarded according to informal rules.
15874 An RFC934-forwarded message.
15880 A digest of Clarinet brief news items.
15883 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
15889 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
15890 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
15891 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
15894 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
15895 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
15896 group. And that's it.
15898 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
15899 new & spiffy Gnus mail back end, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
15900 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
15901 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
15902 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
15903 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
15904 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
15905 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
15906 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
15907 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
15909 Virtual server variables:
15912 @item nndoc-article-type
15913 @vindex nndoc-article-type
15914 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
15915 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
15916 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
15917 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail}, @code{outlook},
15918 @code{oe-dbx}, @code{mailman}, and @code{mail-in-mail} or @code{guess}.
15920 @item nndoc-post-type
15921 @vindex nndoc-post-type
15922 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
15923 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
15928 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
15932 @node Document Server Internals
15933 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
15935 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
15936 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
15937 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
15938 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
15940 First, here's an example document type definition:
15944 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
15945 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
15948 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
15949 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
15950 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
15951 types can be defined with very few settings:
15954 @item first-article
15955 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
15956 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
15959 @item article-begin
15960 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
15961 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
15963 @item head-begin-function
15964 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
15967 @item nndoc-head-begin
15968 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
15971 @item nndoc-head-end
15972 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
15973 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
15975 @item body-begin-function
15976 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
15980 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
15983 @item body-end-function
15984 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
15988 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
15991 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
15992 regexp will be totally ignored.
15996 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
15997 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
15998 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
15999 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
16000 something that's palatable for Gnus:
16003 @item prepare-body-function
16004 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
16005 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
16006 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
16008 @item article-transform-function
16009 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
16010 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
16011 body of the article.
16013 @item generate-head-function
16014 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
16015 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
16016 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
16017 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
16021 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
16026 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16027 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
16028 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
16029 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
16030 (head-end . "^ ?$")
16031 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
16032 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
16033 (subtype digest guess))
16036 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
16037 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
16038 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
16039 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
16040 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
16042 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
16043 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
16044 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
16045 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
16046 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
16047 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
16048 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
16049 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
16050 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
16051 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
16059 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
16060 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
16061 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
16063 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
16064 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
16065 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
16068 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something that's a bit
16069 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
16070 that interested in doing things properly.
16072 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
16073 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
16076 First some terminology:
16081 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
16082 get news and/or mail from.
16085 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
16086 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
16089 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
16093 @item message packets
16094 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
16095 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
16096 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16098 @item response packets
16099 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
16100 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
16101 default, where @var{x} is a number.
16111 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
16112 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
16113 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
16114 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
16117 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
16120 You put the packet in your home directory.
16123 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} back end as
16124 the native or secondary server.
16127 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
16128 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
16131 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
16135 You transfer this packet to the server.
16138 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
16141 You then repeat until you die.
16145 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
16146 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
16149 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
16150 * SOUP Groups:: A back end for reading @sc{soup} packets.
16151 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
16155 @node SOUP Commands
16156 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
16158 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
16162 @kindex G s b (Group)
16163 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
16164 Pack all unread articles in the current group
16165 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
16166 process/prefix convention.
16169 @kindex G s w (Group)
16170 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
16171 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
16174 @kindex G s s (Group)
16175 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
16176 Send all replies from the replies packet
16177 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
16180 @kindex G s p (Group)
16181 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
16182 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
16185 @kindex G s r (Group)
16186 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
16187 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
16190 @kindex O s (Summary)
16191 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
16192 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
16193 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
16194 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
16199 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
16204 @item gnus-soup-directory
16205 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
16206 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
16207 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
16209 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
16210 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
16211 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
16212 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
16214 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
16215 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
16216 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
16217 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
16219 @item gnus-soup-packer
16220 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
16221 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16222 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
16224 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
16225 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
16226 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
16227 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16229 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
16230 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
16231 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
16233 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16234 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
16235 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
16236 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
16242 @subsubsection SOUP Groups
16245 @code{nnsoup} is the back end for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
16246 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
16247 you can read them at leisure.
16249 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
16253 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
16254 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
16255 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
16256 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
16258 @item nnsoup-directory
16259 @vindex nnsoup-directory
16260 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
16261 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
16263 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
16264 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
16265 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
16266 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
16268 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
16269 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
16270 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
16271 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
16272 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
16274 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
16275 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
16276 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
16277 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
16279 @item nnsoup-active-file
16280 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
16281 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
16282 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
16283 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
16284 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
16286 @item nnsoup-packer
16287 @vindex nnsoup-packer
16288 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
16289 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
16291 @item nnsoup-unpacker
16292 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
16293 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
16294 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
16296 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
16297 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
16298 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
16301 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
16302 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
16303 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
16306 @item nnsoup-always-save
16307 @vindex nnsoup-always-save
16308 If non-@code{nil}, save the replies buffer after each posted message.
16314 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
16316 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
16317 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
16318 more for that to happen.
16320 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
16321 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
16322 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
16325 In specific, this is what it does:
16328 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
16329 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
16332 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
16333 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
16334 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
16337 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
16338 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
16339 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
16342 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
16343 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
16344 The @code{nngateway} back end provides the interface.
16346 Note that you can't read anything from this back end---it can only be
16352 @item nngateway-address
16353 @vindex nngateway-address
16354 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
16356 @item nngateway-header-transformation
16357 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
16358 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
16359 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
16360 transformation should be called, and defaults to
16361 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
16362 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
16365 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
16366 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
16367 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
16370 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
16373 will get this @code{To} header inserted:
16376 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
16379 The following pre-defined functions exist:
16381 @findex nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16384 @item nngateway-simple-header-transformation
16385 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16386 @var{newsgroup}@@@code{nngateway-address}.
16388 @findex nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16390 @item nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation
16391 Creates a @code{To} header that looks like
16392 @code{nngateway-address}.
16397 (setq gnus-post-method
16399 "mail2news@@replay.com"
16400 (nngateway-header-transformation
16401 nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation)))
16409 So, to use this, simply say something like:
16412 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
16417 @node Combined Groups
16418 @section Combined Groups
16420 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
16424 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
16425 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
16429 @node Virtual Groups
16430 @subsection Virtual Groups
16432 @cindex virtual groups
16433 @cindex merging groups
16435 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
16438 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
16439 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
16440 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
16442 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
16443 regexp to match component groups.
16445 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
16446 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
16447 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it
16448 came. (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be
16449 shown in the virtual group.). To create an empty virtual group, run
16450 @kbd{G V} (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}) in the group buffer
16451 and edit the method regexp with @kbd{M-e}
16452 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method})
16454 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
16455 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
16458 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
16461 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
16462 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
16464 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
16465 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
16466 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
16467 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
16470 "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$"
16473 (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with @kbd{G m}, you
16474 shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote
16475 characters at the beginning and the end of the string.)
16477 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
16478 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
16479 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
16480 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
16481 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
16483 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
16484 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
16485 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
16487 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
16488 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
16489 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
16490 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
16491 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
16492 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
16493 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
16494 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
16495 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
16496 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
16497 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
16499 @code{nnvirtual} can have both mail and news groups as component groups.
16500 When responding to articles in @code{nnvirtual} groups, @code{nnvirtual}
16501 has to ask the back end of the component group the article comes from
16502 whether it is a news or mail back end. However, when you do a @kbd{^},
16503 there is typically no sure way for the component back end to know this,
16504 and in that case @code{nnvirtual} tells Gnus that the article came from a
16505 not-news back end. (Just to be on the safe side.)
16507 @kbd{C-c C-n} in the message buffer will insert the @code{Newsgroups}
16508 line from the article you respond to in these cases.
16510 @code{nnvirtual} groups do not inherit anything but articles and marks
16511 from component groups---group parameters, for instance, are not
16515 @node Kibozed Groups
16516 @subsection Kibozed Groups
16520 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
16521 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a back end that will do this for
16522 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
16523 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
16525 @kindex G k (Group)
16526 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
16529 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
16530 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
16531 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
16532 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
16534 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
16535 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
16536 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
16538 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
16539 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
16540 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
16541 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
16542 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
16543 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
16544 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
16545 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
16547 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
16548 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
16549 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
16550 Stranger things have happened.
16552 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
16553 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
16555 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
16556 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
16557 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
16558 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
16559 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
16560 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
16562 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
16563 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
16566 @node Gnus Unplugged
16567 @section Gnus Unplugged
16572 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
16574 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
16575 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
16576 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
16577 read news. Believe it or not.
16579 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
16580 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
16581 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
16582 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
16583 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
16585 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
16586 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
16587 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
16588 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
16589 reading news on a machine.
16591 Setting up Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple. In
16592 fact, you don't even have to configure anything.
16594 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
16597 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
16598 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
16599 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
16600 * Agent as Cache:: The Agent is a big cache too.
16601 * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away.
16602 * Agent Regeneration:: How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
16603 * Agent and IMAP:: How to use the Agent with IMAP.
16604 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
16605 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
16606 * Example Setup:: An example @file{.gnus.el} file for offline people.
16607 * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a @code{cron} job.
16608 * Agent Caveats:: What you think it'll do and what it does.
16613 @subsection Agent Basics
16615 First, let's get some terminology out of the way.
16617 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
16618 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
16619 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
16620 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
16622 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
16623 connected to the net continuously.
16625 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
16626 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
16628 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
16633 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
16634 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
16635 already fetched while in this mode.
16638 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
16639 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
16640 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged} and use @kbd{g} to check for new mail
16641 as usual. To check for new mail in unplugged mode, see (@pxref{Mail
16642 Source Specifiers}).
16645 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
16646 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{g}
16647 to check if there are any new news and then @kbd{J
16648 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
16649 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
16652 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
16653 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
16654 then you read the news offline.
16657 And then you go to step 2.
16660 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
16666 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
16667 back end, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
16668 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
16669 @kbd{J a} on the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
16670 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}), or @kbd{J r} on automatically
16671 added servers you do not wish to have covered by the Agent. By default,
16672 all @code{nntp} and @code{nnimap} groups in @code{gnus-select-method} and
16673 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} are agentized.
16676 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}.
16683 @node Agent Categories
16684 @subsection Agent Categories
16686 One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
16687 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
16688 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
16689 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
16690 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
16691 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
16692 you're interested in the articles anyway.
16694 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
16695 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
16696 Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
16697 @code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
16698 managing categories.
16701 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
16702 * Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
16703 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
16707 @node Category Syntax
16708 @subsubsection Category Syntax
16710 A category consists of two things.
16714 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
16715 are eligible for downloading; and
16718 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
16719 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
16720 score} is not necessarily related to normal scores.)
16723 A predicate in its simplest form can be a single predicate such as
16724 @code{true} or @code{false}. These two will download every available
16725 article or nothing respectively. In the case of these two special
16726 predicates an additional score rule is superfluous.
16728 Predicates of @code{high} or @code{low} download articles in respect of
16729 their scores in relationship to @code{gnus-agent-high-score} and
16730 @code{gnus-agent-low-score} as described below.
16732 To gain even finer control of what is to be regarded eligible for
16733 download a predicate can consist of a number of predicates with logical
16734 operators sprinkled in between.
16736 Perhaps some examples are in order.
16738 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
16739 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
16745 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
16746 short (for some value of ``short'').
16748 Here's a more complex predicate:
16757 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
16758 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
16761 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
16762 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
16763 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
16765 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
16766 you want to do, you can write your own.
16770 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
16771 lines; default 100.
16774 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
16775 lines; default 200.
16778 True iff the article has a download score less than
16779 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
16782 True iff the article has a download score greater than
16783 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
16786 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
16787 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
16788 checksum and sees whether articles match.
16797 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
16798 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
16799 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
16802 For example, you could decide that you don't want to download articles
16803 that were posted more than a certain number of days ago (e.g. posted
16804 more than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} ago) you might write a function
16805 something along the lines of the following:
16808 (defun my-article-old-p ()
16809 "Say whether an article is old."
16810 (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
16811 (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
16814 with the predicate then defined as:
16817 (not my-article-old-p)
16820 or you could append your predicate to the predefined
16821 @code{gnus-category-predicate-alist} in your @file{~/.gnus.el} or
16825 (require 'gnus-agent)
16826 (setq gnus-category-predicate-alist
16827 (append gnus-category-predicate-alist
16828 '((old . my-article-old-p))))
16831 and simply specify your predicate as:
16837 If/when using something like the above, be aware that there are many
16838 misconfigured systems/mailers out there and so an article's date is not
16839 always a reliable indication of when it was posted. Hell, some people
16840 just don't give a damn.
16842 The above predicates apply to *all* the groups which belong to the
16843 category. However, if you wish to have a specific predicate for an
16844 individual group within a category, or you're just too lazy to set up a
16845 new category, you can enter a group's individual predicate in it's group
16846 parameters like so:
16849 (agent-predicate . short)
16852 This is the group parameter equivalent of the agent category default.
16853 Note that when specifying a single word predicate like this, the
16854 @code{agent-predicate} specification must be in dotted pair notation.
16856 The equivalent of the longer example from above would be:
16859 (agent-predicate or high (and (not low) (not long)))
16862 The outer parenthesis required in the category specification are not
16863 entered here as, not being in dotted pair notation, the value of the
16864 predicate is assumed to be a list.
16867 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
16868 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
16869 seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the
16870 following headers can be scored on: @code{Subject}, @code{From},
16871 @code{Date}, @code{Message-ID}, @code{References}, @code{Chars},
16872 @code{Lines}, and @code{Xref}.
16874 As with predicates, the specification of the @code{download score rule}
16875 to use in respect of a group can be in either the category definition if
16876 it's to be applicable to all groups in therein, or a group's parameters
16877 if it's to be specific to that group.
16879 In both of these places the @code{download score rule} can take one of
16886 This has the same syntax as a normal gnus score file except only a
16887 subset of scoring keywords are available as mentioned above.
16893 Category specification
16897 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16903 Group Parameter specification
16906 (agent-score ("from"
16907 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" 1000000 nil s))
16912 Again, note the omission of the outermost parenthesis here.
16918 These score files must *only* contain the permitted scoring keywords
16925 Category specification
16928 ("~/News/agent.SCORE")
16934 ("~/News/agent.SCORE" "~/News/agent.group.SCORE")
16938 Group Parameter specification
16941 (agent-score "~/News/agent.SCORE")
16944 Additional score files can be specified as above. Need I say anything
16949 Use @code{normal} score files
16951 If you don't want to maintain two sets of scoring rules for a group, and
16952 your desired @code{downloading} criteria for a group are the same as your
16953 @code{reading} criteria then you can tell the agent to refer to your
16954 @code{normal} score files when deciding what to download.
16956 These directives in either the category definition or a group's
16957 parameters will cause the agent to read in all the applicable score
16958 files for a group, *filtering out* those sections that do not
16959 relate to one of the permitted subset of scoring keywords.
16963 Category Specification
16970 Group Parameter specification
16973 (agent-score . file)
16978 @node Category Buffer
16979 @subsubsection Category Buffer
16981 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
16982 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
16983 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
16985 The following commands are available in this buffer:
16989 @kindex q (Category)
16990 @findex gnus-category-exit
16991 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
16994 @kindex k (Category)
16995 @findex gnus-category-kill
16996 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
16999 @kindex c (Category)
17000 @findex gnus-category-copy
17001 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
17004 @kindex a (Category)
17005 @findex gnus-category-add
17006 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
17009 @kindex p (Category)
17010 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
17011 Edit the predicate of the current category
17012 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
17015 @kindex g (Category)
17016 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
17017 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
17018 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
17021 @kindex s (Category)
17022 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
17023 Edit the download score rule of the current category
17024 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
17027 @kindex l (Category)
17028 @findex gnus-category-list
17029 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
17033 @node Category Variables
17034 @subsubsection Category Variables
17037 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
17038 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
17039 Hook run in category buffers.
17041 @item gnus-category-line-format
17042 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
17043 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
17044 Variables}). Valid elements are:
17048 The name of the category.
17051 The number of groups in the category.
17054 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
17055 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
17056 Format of the category mode line (@pxref{Mode Line Formatting}).
17058 @item gnus-agent-short-article
17059 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
17060 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
17062 @item gnus-agent-long-article
17063 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
17064 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
17066 @item gnus-agent-low-score
17067 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
17068 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
17071 @item gnus-agent-high-score
17072 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
17073 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
17079 @node Agent Commands
17080 @subsection Agent Commands
17082 All the Gnus Agent commands are on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
17083 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged}) command works in all modes, and
17084 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
17088 * Group Agent Commands:: Configure groups and fetch their contents.
17089 * Summary Agent Commands:: Manually select then fetch specific articles.
17090 * Server Agent Commands:: Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
17096 @node Group Agent Commands
17097 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
17101 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
17102 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-groups
17103 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
17104 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-groups}).
17107 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
17108 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
17109 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
17112 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
17113 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
17114 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
17115 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
17118 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
17119 @findex gnus-group-send-queue
17120 Send all sendable messages in the queue group
17121 (@code{gnus-group-send-queue}). @xref{Drafts}.
17124 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
17125 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
17126 Add the current group to an Agent category
17127 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}). This command understands the
17128 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17131 @kindex J r (Agent Group)
17132 @findex gnus-agent-remove-group
17133 Remove the current group from its category, if any
17134 (@code{gnus-agent-remove-group}). This command understands the
17135 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
17138 @kindex J Y (Agent Group)
17139 @findex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17140 Synchronize flags changed while unplugged with remote server, if any.
17146 @node Summary Agent Commands
17147 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
17151 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
17152 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
17153 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
17156 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
17157 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
17158 Remove the downloading mark from the article
17159 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
17163 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
17164 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
17165 Toggle whether to download the article
17166 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}). The dowload mark is @samp{%} by
17170 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
17171 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
17172 Mark all articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}) that are neither cached, downloaded, nor downloadable.
17175 @kindex J S (Agent Summary)
17176 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
17177 Download all eligible (See @pxref{Agent Categories}) articles in this group.
17178 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
17181 @kindex J s (Agent Summary)
17182 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-series
17183 Download all processable articles in this group.
17184 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-series}).
17187 @kindex J u (Agent Summary)
17188 @findex gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group
17189 Download all downloadable articles in the current group
17190 (@code{gnus-agent-summary-fetch-group}).
17195 @node Server Agent Commands
17196 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
17200 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
17201 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
17202 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
17203 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
17206 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
17207 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
17208 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
17209 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
17214 @node Agent as Cache
17215 @subsection Agent as Cache
17217 When Gnus is plugged, it is not efficient to download headers or
17218 articles from the server again, if they are already stored in the
17219 Agent. So, Gnus normally only downloads headers once, and stores them
17220 in the Agent. These headers are later used when generating the summary
17221 buffer, regardless of whether you are plugged or unplugged. Articles
17222 are not cached in the Agent by default though (that would potentially
17223 consume lots of disk space), but if you have already downloaded an
17224 article into the Agent, Gnus will not download the article from the
17225 server again but use the locally stored copy instead.
17227 This behaviour can be controlled by @code{gnus-agent-cache}
17228 (@pxref{Agent Variables}).
17231 @subsection Agent Expiry
17233 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-days
17234 @findex gnus-agent-expire
17235 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-expire
17236 @cindex Agent expiry
17237 @cindex Gnus Agent expiry
17240 @code{nnagent} doesn't handle expiry. Instead, there's a special
17241 @code{gnus-agent-expire} command that will expire all read articles that
17242 are older than @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} days. It can be run
17243 whenever you feel that you're running out of space. It's not
17244 particularly fast or efficient, and it's not a particularly good idea to
17245 interrupt it (with @kbd{C-g} or anything else) once you've started it.
17247 Note that other functions, e.g. @code{gnus-request-expire-articles},
17248 might run @code{gnus-agent-expire} for you to keep the agent
17249 synchronized with the group.
17251 @code{gnus-agent-expire-days} can also be a list of regexp/day pairs.
17252 The regexps will be matched against group names to allow differing
17253 expiry in different groups.
17256 (setq gnus-agent-expire-days
17262 If you use the list form, the last element must always be the default
17263 method---it must always match all groups. Also, for a regexp to match,
17264 it must match from the beginning of the group's name.
17266 @vindex gnus-agent-expire-all
17267 If @code{gnus-agent-expire-all} is non-@code{nil}, this command will
17268 expire all articles---unread, read, ticked and dormant. If @code{nil}
17269 (which is the default), only read articles are eligible for expiry, and
17270 unread, ticked and dormant articles will be kept indefinitely.
17272 If you find that some articles eligible for expiry are never expired,
17273 perhaps some Gnus Agent files are corrupted. There's a special
17274 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} command to fix possible problems.
17276 @node Agent Regeneration
17277 @subsection Agent Regeneration
17279 @cindex Agent Regeneration
17280 @cindex Gnus Agent Regeneration
17281 @cindex regeneration
17283 The local data structures used by @code{nnagent} may become corrupted
17284 due to certain exceptional conditions. When this happens,
17285 @code{nnagent} functionality may degrade or even fail. The solution
17286 to this problem is to repair the local data structures by removing all
17287 internal inconsistencies.
17289 For example, if your connection to your server is lost while
17290 downloaded articles into the agent, the local data structures will not
17291 know about articles downloaded prior to the connection failure.
17292 Running @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} or
17293 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} will update the data structures
17294 such that you don't need to download these articles a second time.
17296 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate
17297 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate
17298 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} will perform
17299 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} on every agentized group. While
17300 you can run @code{gnus-agent-regenerate} in any buffer, it is strongly
17301 recommended that you first close all summary buffers.
17303 @findex gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17304 @kindex M-x gnus-agent-regenerate-group
17305 The command @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} uses the local copies
17306 of individual articles to repair the local NOV(header) database. It
17307 then updates the internal data structures that document which articles
17308 are stored locally. An optional argument will mark articles in the
17311 @node Agent and IMAP
17312 @subsection Agent and IMAP
17314 The Agent works with any Gnus back end, including nnimap. However,
17315 since there are some conceptual differences between @sc{nntp} and
17316 @sc{imap}, this section (should) provide you with some information to
17317 make Gnus Agent work smoother as a @sc{imap} Disconnected Mode client.
17319 The first thing to keep in mind is that all flags (read, ticked, etc)
17320 are kept on the @sc{imap} server, rather than in @code{.newsrc} as is the
17321 case for nntp. Thus Gnus need to remember flag changes when
17322 disconnected, and synchronize these flags when you plug back in.
17324 Gnus keeps track of flag changes when reading nnimap groups under the
17325 Agent. When you plug back in, Gnus will check if you have any changed
17326 any flags and ask if you wish to synchronize these with the server.
17327 The behavior is customizable by @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags}.
17329 @vindex gnus-agent-synchronize-flags
17330 If @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} is @code{nil}, the Agent will
17331 never automatically synchronize flags. If it is @code{ask}, which is
17332 the default, the Agent will check if you made any changes and if so
17333 ask if you wish to synchronize these when you re-connect. If it has
17334 any other value, all flags will be synchronized automatically.
17336 If you do not wish to synchronize flags automatically when you
17337 re-connect, you can do it manually with the
17338 @code{gnus-agent-synchronize-flags} command that is bound to @kbd{J Y}
17339 in the group buffer.
17341 Some things are currently not implemented in the Agent that you'd might
17342 expect from a disconnected @sc{imap} client, including:
17347 Copying/moving articles into nnimap groups when unplugged.
17350 Creating/deleting nnimap groups when unplugged.
17354 Technical note: the synchronization algorithm does not work by "pushing"
17355 all local flags to the server, but rather incrementally update the
17356 server view of flags by changing only those flags that were changed by
17357 the user. Thus, if you set one flag on a article, quit the group and
17358 re-select the group and remove the flag; the flag will be set and
17359 removed from the server when you "synchronize". The queued flag
17360 operations can be found in the per-server @code{flags} file in the Agent
17361 directory. It's emptied when you synchronize flags.
17364 @node Outgoing Messages
17365 @subsection Outgoing Messages
17367 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
17368 stored in the draft group ``queue'' (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view
17369 them there after posting, and edit them at will.
17371 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
17372 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
17373 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
17374 messages in the draft group.
17378 @node Agent Variables
17379 @subsection Agent Variables
17382 @item gnus-agent-directory
17383 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
17384 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
17385 @file{~/News/agent/}.
17387 @item gnus-agent-handle-level
17388 @vindex gnus-agent-handle-level
17389 Groups on levels (@pxref{Group Levels}) higher than this variable will
17390 be ignored by the Agent. The default is @code{gnus-level-subscribed},
17391 which means that only subscribed group will be considered by the Agent
17394 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17395 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
17396 Hook run when connecting to the network.
17398 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17399 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
17400 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
17402 @item gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17403 @vindex gnus-agent-fetched-hook
17404 Hook run when after finishing fetching articles.
17406 @item gnus-agent-cache
17407 @vindex gnus-agent-cache
17408 Variable to control whether use the locally stored @sc{nov} and
17409 articles when plugged, e.g. essentially using the Agent as a cache.
17410 The default is non-nil, which means to use the Agent as a cache.
17412 @item gnus-agent-go-online
17413 @vindex gnus-agent-go-online
17414 If @code{gnus-agent-go-online} is @code{nil}, the Agent will never
17415 automatically switch offline servers into online status. If it is
17416 @code{ask}, the default, the Agent will ask if you wish to switch
17417 offline servers into online status when you re-connect. If it has any
17418 other value, all offline servers will be automatically switched into
17421 @item gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
17422 @vindex gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded
17423 If @code{gnus-agent-mark-unread-after-downloaded} is non-@code{nil},
17424 mark articles as unread after downloading. The default is t.
17426 @item gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
17427 @vindex gnus-agent-consider-all-articles
17428 If @code{gnus-agent-consider-all-articles} is non-@code{nil}, the
17429 agent will fetch all missing headers. When @code{nil}, the agent will
17430 fetch only new headers. The default is @code{nil}.
17432 @item gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
17433 @vindex gnus-agent-max-fetch-size
17434 The agent fetches articles into a temporary buffer prior to parsing
17435 them into individual files. To avoid exceeding the max. buffer size,
17436 the agent alternates between fetching and parsing until all articles
17437 have been fetched. @code{gnus-agent-max-fetch-size} provides a size
17438 limit to control how often the cycling occurs. A large value improves
17439 performance. A small value minimizes the time lost should the
17440 connection be lost while fetching (You may need to run
17441 @code{gnus-agent-regenerate-group} to update the group's state.
17442 However, all articles parsed prior to loosing the connection will be
17443 available while unplugged).
17445 @item gnus-server-unopen-status
17446 @vindex gnus-server-unopen-status
17447 Perhaps not a Agent variable, but closely related to the Agent, this
17448 variable says what will happen if Gnus cannot open a server. If the
17449 Agent is enabled, the default, @code{nil}, makes Gnus ask the user
17450 whether to deny the server or whether to unplug the agent. If the
17451 Agent is disabled, Gnus always simply deny the server. Other choices
17452 for this variable include @code{denied} and @code{offline} the latter
17453 is only valid if the Agent is used.
17458 @node Example Setup
17459 @subsection Example Setup
17461 If you don't want to read this manual, and you have a fairly standard
17462 setup, you may be able to use something like the following as your
17463 @file{.gnus.el} file to get started.
17466 ;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over @sc{nntp}
17467 ;;; from your ISP's server.
17468 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
17470 ;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
17471 ;;; your ISP's POP server.
17472 (setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
17474 ;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
17475 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
17477 ;;; Make Gnus into an offline newsreader.
17478 ;;; (gnus-agentize) ; The obsolete setting.
17479 ;;; (setq gnus-agent t) ; Now the default.
17482 That should be it, basically. Put that in your @file{~/.gnus.el} file,
17483 edit to suit your needs, start up PPP (or whatever), and type @kbd{M-x
17486 If this is the first time you've run Gnus, you will be subscribed
17487 automatically to a few default newsgroups. You'll probably want to
17488 subscribe to more groups, and to do that, you have to query the
17489 @sc{nntp} server for a complete list of groups with the @kbd{A A}
17490 command. This usually takes quite a while, but you only have to do it
17493 After reading and parsing a while, you'll be presented with a list of
17494 groups. Subscribe to the ones you want to read with the @kbd{u}
17495 command. @kbd{l} to make all the killed groups disappear after you've
17496 subscribe to all the groups you want to read. (@kbd{A k} will bring
17497 back all the killed groups.)
17499 You can now read the groups at once, or you can download the articles
17500 with the @kbd{J s} command. And then read the rest of this manual to
17501 find out which of the other gazillion things you want to customize.
17504 @node Batching Agents
17505 @subsection Batching Agents
17507 Having the Gnus Agent fetch articles (and post whatever messages you've
17508 written) is quite easy once you've gotten things set up properly. The
17509 following shell script will do everything that is necessary:
17511 You can run a complete batch command from the command line with the
17512 following incantation:
17516 emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -f -l ~/.gnus.el gnus-agent-batch >/dev/null 2>&1
17520 @node Agent Caveats
17521 @subsection Agent Caveats
17523 The Gnus Agent doesn't seem to work like most other offline
17524 newsreaders. Here are some common questions that some imaginary people
17528 @item If I read an article while plugged, do they get entered into the Agent?
17530 @strong{No}. If you want this behaviour, add
17531 @code{gnus-agent-fetch-selected-article} to
17532 @code{gnus-select-article-hook}.
17534 @item If I read an article while plugged, and the article already exists in the Agent, will it get downloaded once more?
17536 @strong{No}, unless @code{gnus-agent-cache} is `nil'.
17540 In short, when Gnus is unplugged, it only looks into the locally stored
17541 articles; when it's plugged, it talks to your ISP and may also use the
17542 locally stored articles.
17549 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
17550 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
17551 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
17554 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
17555 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
17556 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
17557 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
17558 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
17560 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
17561 before generating the summary buffer.
17563 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
17564 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
17565 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
17567 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
17568 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
17569 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
17570 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
17573 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
17574 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
17575 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
17576 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
17577 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
17578 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
17579 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
17580 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
17581 * Scoring On Other Headers:: Scoring on non-standard headers.
17582 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
17583 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
17584 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
17585 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
17586 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
17587 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
17588 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
17589 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
17593 @node Summary Score Commands
17594 @section Summary Score Commands
17595 @cindex score commands
17597 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
17598 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
17599 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
17600 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
17601 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
17603 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
17604 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
17605 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
17606 score file the current one.
17608 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
17613 @kindex V s (Summary)
17614 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
17615 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
17618 @kindex V S (Summary)
17619 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
17620 Display the score of the current article
17621 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
17624 @kindex V t (Summary)
17625 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
17626 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
17627 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
17630 @kindex V w (Summary)
17631 @findex gnus-score-find-favourite-words
17632 List words used in scoring (@code{gnus-score-find-favourite-words}).
17635 @kindex V R (Summary)
17636 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
17637 Run the current summary through the scoring process
17638 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
17639 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
17640 effect you're having.
17643 @kindex V c (Summary)
17644 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
17645 Make a different score file the current
17646 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
17649 @kindex V e (Summary)
17650 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
17651 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
17652 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
17656 @kindex V f (Summary)
17657 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
17658 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
17659 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
17662 @kindex V F (Summary)
17663 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17664 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
17665 after editing score files.
17668 @kindex V C (Summary)
17669 @findex gnus-score-customize
17670 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
17671 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
17675 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
17680 @kindex V m (Summary)
17681 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
17682 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
17683 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
17686 @kindex V x (Summary)
17687 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
17688 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
17689 expunge all articles below this score
17690 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
17693 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
17694 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
17697 @findex gnus-summary-increase-score
17698 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
17702 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
17703 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
17705 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
17706 keys are available:
17710 Score on the author name.
17713 Score on the subject line.
17716 Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
17719 Score on the @code{References} line.
17725 Score on the number of lines.
17728 Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
17731 Score on an "extra" header, that is, one of those in gnus-extra-headers,
17732 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks additional header data in overviews.
17735 Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
17736 the followups to this author. (Using this key leads to the creation of
17737 @file{ADAPT} files.)
17746 Score on thread. (Using this key leads to the creation of @file{ADAPT}
17752 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
17753 what headers you are scoring on.
17765 Substring matching.
17768 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
17797 Greater than number.
17802 The fourth and usually final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e.,
17803 expiring) score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry,
17804 or whether it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score
17809 Temporary score entry.
17812 Permanent score entry.
17815 Immediately scoring.
17819 If you are scoring on `e' (extra) headers, you will then be prompted for
17820 the header name on which you wish to score. This must be a header named
17821 in gnus-extra-headers, and @samp{TAB} completion is available.
17825 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
17826 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
17827 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
17828 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
17830 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
17831 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
17832 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
17833 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
17834 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
17836 These functions take both the numerical prefix and the symbolic prefix
17837 (@pxref{Symbolic Prefixes}). A numerical prefix says how much to lower
17838 (or increase) the score of the article. A symbolic prefix of @code{a}
17839 says to use the @file{all.SCORE} file for the command instead of the
17840 current score file.
17842 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
17843 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
17844 pretend they are keymaps or not.
17847 @node Group Score Commands
17848 @section Group Score Commands
17849 @cindex group score commands
17851 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
17856 @kindex W f (Group)
17857 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
17858 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
17859 all the time. This command will flush the cache
17860 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
17864 You can do scoring from the command line by saying something like:
17866 @findex gnus-batch-score
17867 @cindex batch scoring
17869 $ emacs -batch -l ~/.emacs -l ~/.gnus.el -f gnus-batch-score
17873 @node Score Variables
17874 @section Score Variables
17875 @cindex score variables
17879 @item gnus-use-scoring
17880 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
17881 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
17882 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
17884 @item gnus-kill-killed
17885 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
17886 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
17887 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
17888 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
17889 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
17890 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
17891 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
17893 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
17894 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
17895 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
17896 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
17897 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
17899 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
17900 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
17901 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
17902 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
17904 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17905 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
17906 @cindex score cache
17907 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
17908 score files. However, if this might make your Emacs grow big and
17909 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
17910 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
17911 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
17912 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
17915 @item gnus-save-score
17916 @vindex gnus-save-score
17917 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
17918 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
17919 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
17921 If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
17922 with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
17923 across group visits.
17925 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17926 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
17927 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
17928 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
17929 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
17930 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
17931 manually entered data.
17933 @item gnus-summary-default-score
17934 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
17935 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
17937 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
17938 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
17939 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
17940 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
17941 articles will be hidden. This variable is local to the summary buffers,
17942 and has to be set from @code{gnus-summary-mode-hook}.
17944 @item gnus-score-over-mark
17945 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
17946 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
17947 default. Default is @samp{+}.
17949 @item gnus-score-below-mark
17950 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
17951 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
17952 default. Default is @samp{-}.
17954 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17955 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
17956 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
17957 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
17959 Predefined functions available are:
17962 @item gnus-score-find-single
17963 @findex gnus-score-find-single
17964 Only apply the group's own score file.
17966 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
17967 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
17968 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
17969 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
17970 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
17971 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
17972 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
17973 then a regexp match is done.
17975 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
17976 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
17978 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
17979 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
17980 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
17981 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
17983 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17984 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
17985 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
17986 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
17987 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE} for each
17991 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all
17992 these functions will be called with the group name as argument, and
17993 all the returned lists of score files will be applied. These
17994 functions can also return lists of lists of score alists directly. In
17995 that case, the functions that return these non-file score alists
17996 should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file functions, to
17997 ensure that the last score file returned is the local score file.
18000 For example, to do hierarchical scoring but use a non-server-specific
18001 overall score file, you could use the value
18003 (list (lambda (group) ("all.SCORE"))
18004 'gnus-score-find-hierarchical)
18007 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
18008 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
18009 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
18010 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
18011 are expired. It's 7 by default.
18013 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18014 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
18015 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, temporary score entries that have
18016 been triggered (matched) will have their dates updated. (This is how Gnus
18017 controls expiry---all non-matched-entries will become too old while
18018 matched entries will stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this
18019 variable to @code{nil}, even matched entries will grow old and will
18020 have to face that oh-so grim reaper.
18022 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18023 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
18024 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
18026 @item gnus-score-thread-simplify
18027 @vindex gnus-score-thread-simplify
18028 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, article subjects will be simplified
18029 for subject scoring purposes in the same manner as with
18030 threading---according to the current value of
18031 gnus-simplify-subject-functions. If the scoring entry uses
18032 @code{substring} or @code{exact} matching, the match will also be
18033 simplified in this manner.
18038 @node Score File Format
18039 @section Score File Format
18040 @cindex score file format
18042 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
18043 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
18044 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
18046 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
18050 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
18052 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
18054 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
18056 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
18061 (mark-and-expunge -10)
18065 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
18066 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
18067 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
18068 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
18072 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
18073 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
18075 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
18076 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
18077 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
18079 Six keys are supported by this alist:
18084 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
18085 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
18086 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
18087 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
18088 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
18089 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
18090 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
18091 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
18092 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
18093 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
18094 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
18095 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
18096 to articles that matches these score entries.
18098 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
18099 score entry has one to four elements.
18103 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
18104 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
18108 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
18109 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
18110 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
18111 is successful. If this element is not present, the
18112 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
18113 instead. This is 1000 by default.
18116 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
18117 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
18118 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
18119 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
18120 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
18123 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
18124 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
18125 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
18126 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
18129 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
18130 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
18131 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
18132 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
18133 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
18134 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
18135 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
18136 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
18137 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
18138 instead, if you feel like.
18141 Just as for the standard string overview headers, if you are using
18142 gnus-extra-headers, you can score on these headers' values. In this
18143 case, there is a 5th element in the score entry, being the name of the
18144 header to be scored. The following entry is useful in your
18145 @file{all.SCORE} file in case of spam attacks from a single origin host,
18146 if your @sc{nntp} server tracks NNTP-Posting-Host in overviews:
18149 ("111.222.333.444" -1000 nil s "NNTP-Posting-Host")
18153 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
18154 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}.
18156 These predicates are true if
18159 (PREDICATE HEADER MATCH)
18162 evaluates to non-@code{nil}. For instance, the advanced match
18163 @code{("lines" 4 <)} (@pxref{Advanced Scoring}) will result in the
18170 Or to put it another way: When using @code{<} on @code{Lines} with 4 as
18171 the match, we get the score added if the article has less than 4 lines.
18172 (It's easy to get confused and think it's the other way around. But
18173 it's not. I think.)
18175 When matching on @code{Lines}, be careful because some back ends (like
18176 @code{nndir}) do not generate @code{Lines} header, so every article ends
18177 up being marked as having 0 lines. This can lead to strange results if
18178 you happen to lower score of the articles with few lines.
18181 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
18182 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
18183 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
18184 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
18185 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
18186 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
18187 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
18191 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
18192 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
18193 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
18194 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
18195 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
18196 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
18197 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
18198 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
18201 @item Head, Body, All
18202 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
18206 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
18207 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
18208 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
18209 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
18210 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
18211 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
18212 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
18216 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
18217 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an
18218 article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{x}, then you add a @samp{thread}
18219 match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each article that
18220 has @var{x} in its @code{References} header. (These new @samp{thread}
18221 matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching articles.)
18222 This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an entire thread,
18223 even though some articles in the thread may not have complete
18224 @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
18225 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
18226 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
18230 @cindex Score File Atoms
18232 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18233 lower than this number will be marked as read.
18236 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18237 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
18239 @item mark-and-expunge
18240 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
18241 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
18244 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
18245 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
18246 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
18247 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
18248 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
18251 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
18252 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
18255 @item exclude-files
18256 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
18257 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
18261 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
18262 ignored when handling global score files.
18265 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
18266 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}). (Note:
18267 @dfn{Global} here really means @dfn{global}; not your personal
18268 apply-to-all-groups score files.)
18271 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
18272 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
18273 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
18274 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
18276 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
18280 (mark-and-expunge -100)
18283 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
18284 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
18285 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
18286 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
18287 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
18289 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where a few
18290 interesting threads which can't be found automatically by ordinary
18291 scoring rules exist.
18294 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
18295 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
18296 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
18297 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
18298 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
18299 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
18300 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18301 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
18302 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
18303 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
18304 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
18308 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
18309 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
18310 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
18311 file for a number of groups.
18314 @cindex local variables
18315 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
18316 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
18317 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
18318 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
18319 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
18323 @node Score File Editing
18324 @section Score File Editing
18326 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
18327 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
18328 with a mode for that.
18330 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
18331 additional commands:
18336 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
18337 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
18338 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
18339 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
18342 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
18343 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
18344 Insert the current date in numerical format
18345 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
18346 you were wondering.
18349 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
18350 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
18351 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
18352 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
18353 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
18358 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
18360 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
18361 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
18363 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
18364 e} to begin editing score files.
18367 @node Adaptive Scoring
18368 @section Adaptive Scoring
18369 @cindex adaptive scoring
18371 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
18372 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
18373 stupidity, to be precise.
18375 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
18376 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
18377 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
18378 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
18379 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
18380 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
18381 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
18382 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
18383 variable to @code{(word line)}.
18385 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18386 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
18387 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
18388 might look something like this:
18391 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
18392 '((gnus-unread-mark)
18393 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
18394 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
18395 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
18396 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
18397 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
18398 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
18399 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
18400 (gnus-ancient-mark)
18401 (gnus-low-score-mark)
18402 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
18405 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
18406 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
18407 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
18408 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
18409 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
18410 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
18413 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
18414 will be applied to each article.
18416 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
18417 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
18418 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
18419 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
18421 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
18422 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
18423 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
18424 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
18426 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
18427 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
18428 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
18429 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
18431 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
18432 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
18433 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
18434 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
18435 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
18436 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
18438 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
18439 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
18440 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
18442 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
18443 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
18444 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
18446 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
18447 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
18448 let you use different rules in different groups.
18450 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
18451 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
18452 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
18455 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
18456 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
18457 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
18458 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
18459 the length of the match is less than
18460 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
18461 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
18464 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18465 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
18466 headers. If you adapt on words, the
18467 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
18468 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
18471 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
18472 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
18473 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
18474 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
18475 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
18478 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
18479 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
18480 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
18481 score with 30 points.
18483 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
18484 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
18485 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
18486 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
18487 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
18489 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit
18490 Some may feel that short words shouldn't count when doing adaptive
18491 scoring. If so, you may set @code{gnus-adaptive-word-length-limit} to
18492 an integer. Words shorter than this number will be ignored. This
18493 variable defaults to @code{nil}.
18495 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
18496 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
18497 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
18498 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
18500 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-minimum
18501 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} is set to a number, the adaptive
18502 word scoring process will never bring down the score of an article to
18503 below this number. The default is @code{nil}.
18505 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words
18506 If @code{gnus-adaptive-word-no-group-words} is set to @code{t}, gnus
18507 won't adaptively word score any of the words in the group name. Useful
18508 for groups like @samp{comp.editors.emacs}, where most of the subject
18509 lines contain the word @samp{emacs}.
18511 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
18512 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
18513 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
18515 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
18516 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
18517 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
18518 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
18521 @node Home Score File
18522 @section Home Score File
18524 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
18525 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
18526 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
18527 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
18529 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
18530 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
18531 could perhaps use the same home score file.
18533 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
18534 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
18539 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
18543 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
18544 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
18548 A list. The elements in this list can be:
18552 @code{(@var{regexp} @var{file-name})}. If the @var{regexp} matches the
18553 group name, the @var{file-name} will be used as the home score file.
18556 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
18557 the home score file.
18560 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
18563 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
18568 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
18571 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18572 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
18575 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
18576 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
18578 @findex gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file
18580 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18581 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
18584 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
18585 Other functions include
18588 @item gnus-current-home-score-file
18589 @findex gnus-current-home-score-file
18590 Return the ``current'' regular score file. This will make scoring
18591 commands add entry to the ``innermost'' matching score file.
18595 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
18596 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
18597 their own home score files:
18600 (setq gnus-home-score-file
18601 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
18602 '(("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
18603 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
18604 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE")))
18607 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
18608 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
18609 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
18610 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
18611 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
18613 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
18614 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
18615 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
18616 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
18617 precedence over this variable.
18620 @node Followups To Yourself
18621 @section Followups To Yourself
18623 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
18624 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
18625 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
18626 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
18627 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
18628 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
18632 @item gnus-score-followup-article
18633 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
18634 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
18637 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
18638 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
18639 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
18643 @vindex message-sent-hook
18644 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
18645 @code{message-sent-hook}, like this:
18647 (add-hook 'message-sent-hook 'gnus-score-followup-thread)
18651 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
18652 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
18656 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18657 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
18660 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
18661 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
18666 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore\\.no>"
18670 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
18671 is system-dependent.
18674 @node Scoring On Other Headers
18675 @section Scoring On Other Headers
18676 @cindex scoring on other headers
18678 Gnus is quite fast when scoring the ``traditional''
18679 headers---@samp{From}, @samp{Subject} and so on. However, scoring
18680 other headers requires writing a @code{head} scoring rule, which means
18681 that Gnus has to request every single article from the back end to find
18682 matches. This takes a long time in big groups.
18684 Now, there's not much you can do about this for news groups, but for
18685 mail groups, you have greater control. In the @pxref{To From
18686 Newsgroups} section of the manual, it's explained in greater detail what
18687 this mechanism does, but here's a cookbook example for @code{nnml} on
18688 how to allow scoring on the @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} headers.
18690 Put the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
18693 (setq gnus-extra-headers '(To Cc Newsgroups Keywords)
18694 nnmail-extra-headers gnus-extra-headers)
18697 Restart Gnus and rebuild your @code{nnml} overview files with the
18698 @kbd{M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases} command. This will take a long
18699 time if you have much mail.
18701 Now you can score on @samp{To} and @samp{Cc} as ``extra headers'' like
18702 so: @kbd{I e s p To RET <your name> RET}.
18708 @section Scoring Tips
18709 @cindex scoring tips
18715 @cindex scoring crossposts
18716 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
18717 the @code{Xref} header.
18719 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
18722 @item Multiple crossposts
18723 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
18724 more than, say, 3 groups:
18727 ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+"
18731 @item Matching on the body
18732 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
18733 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
18734 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
18735 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
18736 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
18737 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
18738 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
18741 @item Marking as read
18742 You will probably want to mark articles that have scores below a certain
18743 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
18744 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
18748 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
18750 @item Negated character classes
18751 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
18752 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
18753 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
18757 @node Reverse Scoring
18758 @section Reverse Scoring
18759 @cindex reverse scoring
18761 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
18762 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
18763 like this in your score file:
18767 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
18772 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
18773 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
18776 @node Global Score Files
18777 @section Global Score Files
18778 @cindex global score files
18780 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
18781 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
18782 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
18784 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
18785 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
18786 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
18788 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
18789 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
18790 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
18791 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
18792 files are applicable to which group.
18794 To use the score file
18795 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
18796 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory,
18800 (setq gnus-global-score-files
18801 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
18802 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
18805 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
18807 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
18808 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
18809 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
18810 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
18812 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
18813 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
18815 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
18816 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
18817 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
18818 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
18819 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
18820 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
18822 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
18828 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
18830 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
18832 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
18834 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
18835 lowered out of existence.
18837 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
18838 articles completely.
18841 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
18842 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
18843 old articles for a long time.
18846 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
18847 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
18848 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
18849 holding our breath yet?
18853 @section Kill Files
18856 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
18857 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
18858 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
18860 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
18861 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
18862 files into score files.
18864 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
18865 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
18866 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
18867 that isn't a very good idea.
18869 Normal kill files look like this:
18872 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
18873 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
18877 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
18878 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
18880 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
18881 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
18884 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
18889 @kindex M-k (Summary)
18890 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
18891 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
18894 @kindex M-K (Summary)
18895 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
18896 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
18899 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
18904 @kindex M-k (Group)
18905 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
18906 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
18909 @kindex M-K (Group)
18910 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
18911 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
18914 Kill file variables:
18917 @item gnus-kill-file-name
18918 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
18919 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
18920 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
18921 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
18922 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
18923 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
18925 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18926 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
18927 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
18928 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
18931 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
18932 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
18933 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
18934 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
18935 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
18936 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
18937 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
18938 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
18939 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
18941 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18942 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
18943 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
18948 @node Converting Kill Files
18949 @section Converting Kill Files
18951 @cindex converting kill files
18953 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
18954 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
18955 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
18958 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
18959 You can fetch it from
18960 @uref{http://www.stud.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
18962 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
18963 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
18964 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
18972 GroupLens (@uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/}) is a
18973 collaborative filtering system that helps you work together with other
18974 people to find the quality news articles out of the huge volume of
18975 news articles generated every day.
18977 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
18978 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
18979 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
18980 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
18981 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
18982 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
18983 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
18984 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
18987 @sc{Note:} Unfortunately the GroupLens system seems to have shut down,
18988 so this section is mostly of historical interest.
18991 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
18992 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
18993 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
18994 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
18998 @node Using GroupLens
18999 @subsection Using GroupLens
19001 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
19003 @uref{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
19004 better bit in town at the moment.
19006 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
19010 @item gnus-use-grouplens
19011 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
19012 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
19013 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
19015 @item grouplens-pseudonym
19016 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
19017 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
19018 with the Better Bit Bureau.
19020 @item grouplens-newsgroups
19021 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
19022 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
19026 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
19027 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
19028 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
19029 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
19030 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
19031 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
19034 @node Rating Articles
19035 @subsection Rating Articles
19037 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
19038 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
19039 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
19040 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
19043 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
19048 @kindex r (GroupLens)
19049 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
19050 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
19053 @kindex k (GroupLens)
19054 @findex grouplens-score-thread
19055 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
19056 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
19057 threads in rec.humor.
19061 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
19062 the score of the article you're reading.
19067 @kindex n (GroupLens)
19068 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
19069 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
19072 @kindex , (GroupLens)
19073 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
19074 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
19078 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
19079 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
19082 @node Displaying Predictions
19083 @subsection Displaying Predictions
19085 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
19086 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
19087 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
19088 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
19089 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
19091 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
19092 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
19093 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
19094 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
19095 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
19096 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
19097 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
19098 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
19099 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
19100 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
19101 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
19102 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
19103 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
19105 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
19106 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
19107 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
19108 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
19110 The following are valid values for that variable.
19113 @item prediction-spot
19114 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
19117 @item confidence-interval
19118 A numeric confidence interval.
19120 @item prediction-bar
19121 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
19123 @item confidence-bar
19124 Numerical confidence.
19126 @item confidence-spot
19127 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
19129 @item prediction-num
19130 Plain-old numeric value.
19132 @item confidence-plus-minus
19133 Prediction +/- confidence.
19138 @node GroupLens Variables
19139 @subsection GroupLens Variables
19143 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
19144 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
19145 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
19146 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23n%]%)
19149 @item grouplens-bbb-host
19150 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
19153 @item grouplens-bbb-port
19154 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
19156 @item grouplens-score-offset
19157 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
19158 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
19161 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
19162 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
19163 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
19168 @node Advanced Scoring
19169 @section Advanced Scoring
19171 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
19172 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
19173 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
19174 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
19175 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
19177 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
19181 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
19182 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
19183 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
19187 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
19188 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
19190 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
19191 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
19192 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
19193 non-@code{nil} value.
19195 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
19196 operator, and various match operators.
19203 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19204 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
19205 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
19210 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
19211 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
19212 then this operator will return @code{false}.
19217 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
19218 logical negation of the value of its argument.
19222 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
19223 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
19224 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
19225 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
19226 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
19227 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
19228 the ancestry you want to go.
19230 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
19231 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
19232 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
19233 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
19234 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
19237 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
19238 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
19240 Please note that the following examples are score file rules. To
19241 make a complete score file from them, surround them with another pair
19244 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
19245 when he's talking about Gnus:
19249 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19250 ("subject" "Gnus"))
19256 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
19260 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19267 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
19268 really don't want to read what he's written:
19272 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
19273 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
19277 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
19278 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
19279 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
19286 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
19287 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
19288 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
19289 ("body" "white.*socks"))
19293 The possibilities are endless.
19296 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
19297 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
19299 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
19300 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
19301 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
19302 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
19303 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
19304 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
19305 @samp{subject}) first.
19307 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
19308 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
19319 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
19320 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
19326 ("subject" "Gnus")))
19333 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
19334 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
19339 @section Score Decays
19340 @cindex score decays
19343 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
19344 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
19345 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
19346 use them in any sensible way.
19348 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
19349 @findex gnus-decay-score
19350 @vindex gnus-decay-score-function
19351 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
19352 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
19353 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
19354 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
19355 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-decay-score-function}
19356 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
19357 definition of that function:
19360 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
19362 This is done according to `gnus-score-decay-constant'
19363 and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
19366 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
19368 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
19370 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
19373 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
19374 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
19375 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
19376 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
19380 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
19383 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
19386 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
19390 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
19391 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
19392 the new score, which should be an integer.
19394 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
19395 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
19400 @include message.texi
19401 @chapter Emacs MIME
19402 @include emacs-mime.texi
19404 @include sieve.texi
19414 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
19415 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
19416 * Symbolic Prefixes:: How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
19417 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
19418 * Window Layout:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
19419 * Faces and Fonts:: How to change how faces look.
19420 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
19421 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
19422 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
19423 * Buttons:: Get tendinitis in ten easy steps!
19424 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
19425 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
19426 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
19427 * Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
19428 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
19429 * Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
19430 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
19431 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
19432 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
19436 @node Process/Prefix
19437 @section Process/Prefix
19438 @cindex process/prefix convention
19440 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
19441 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
19443 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
19444 command to be performed on.
19448 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
19449 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
19450 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
19451 with the current one.
19453 @vindex transient-mark-mode
19454 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
19455 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
19457 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
19458 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
19461 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
19462 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
19464 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
19467 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
19468 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
19469 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
19470 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
19472 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
19473 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
19474 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
19475 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
19476 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
19477 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
19478 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
19479 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
19481 Many commands do not use the process/prefix convention. All commands
19482 that do explicitly say so in this manual. To apply the process/prefix
19483 convention to commands that do not use it, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
19484 command. For instance, to mark all the articles in the group as
19485 expirable, you could say `M P b M-& E'.
19489 @section Interactive
19490 @cindex interaction
19494 @item gnus-novice-user
19495 @vindex gnus-novice-user
19496 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
19497 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
19498 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
19499 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
19502 @item gnus-expert-user
19503 @vindex gnus-expert-user
19504 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will seldom be asked any
19505 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
19506 matter how strange.
19508 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
19509 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
19510 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
19511 is @code{t} by default.
19513 @item gnus-interactive-exit
19514 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
19515 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
19520 @node Symbolic Prefixes
19521 @section Symbolic Prefixes
19522 @cindex symbolic prefixes
19524 Quite a lot of Emacs commands react to the (numeric) prefix. For
19525 instance, @kbd{C-u 4 C-f} moves point four characters forward, and
19526 @kbd{C-u 9 0 0 I s s p} adds a permanent @code{Subject} substring score
19527 rule of 900 to the current article.
19529 This is all nice and well, but what if you want to give a command some
19530 additional information? Well, what most commands do is interpret the
19531 ``raw'' prefix in some special way. @kbd{C-u 0 C-x C-s} means that one
19532 doesn't want a backup file to be created when saving the current buffer,
19533 for instance. But what if you want to save without making a backup
19534 file, and you want Emacs to flash lights and play a nice tune at the
19535 same time? You can't, and you're probably perfectly happy that way.
19537 @kindex M-i (Summary)
19538 @findex gnus-symbolic-argument
19539 I'm not, so I've added a second prefix---the @dfn{symbolic prefix}. The
19540 prefix key is @kbd{M-i} (@code{gnus-symbolic-argument}), and the next
19541 character typed in is the value. You can stack as many @kbd{M-i}
19542 prefixes as you want. @kbd{M-i a C-M-u} means ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u}
19543 command the symbolic prefix @code{a}''. @kbd{M-i a M-i b C-M-u} means
19544 ``feed the @kbd{C-M-u} command the symbolic prefixes @code{a} and
19545 @code{b}''. You get the drift.
19547 Typing in symbolic prefixes to commands that don't accept them doesn't
19548 hurt, but it doesn't do any good either. Currently not many Gnus
19549 functions make use of the symbolic prefix.
19551 If you're interested in how Gnus implements this, @pxref{Extended
19555 @node Formatting Variables
19556 @section Formatting Variables
19557 @cindex formatting variables
19559 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called
19560 things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
19561 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
19562 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
19563 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
19566 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
19567 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
19568 lots of percentages everywhere.
19571 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
19572 * Mode Line Formatting:: Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
19573 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
19574 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
19575 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
19576 * Positioning Point:: Moving point to a position after an operation.
19577 * Tabulation:: Tabulating your output.
19578 * Wide Characters:: Dealing with wide characters.
19581 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
19582 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
19583 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
19584 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
19585 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
19586 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
19587 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
19588 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
19590 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
19591 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
19593 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
19594 @findex gnus-update-format
19595 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
19596 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
19597 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
19598 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
19602 @node Formatting Basics
19603 @subsection Formatting Basics
19605 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
19606 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
19607 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
19609 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
19610 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
19611 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
19612 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
19613 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
19616 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
19617 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
19618 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
19619 less than 4 characters wide.
19621 Also Gnus supports some extended format specifications, such as
19622 @samp{%&user-date;}.
19625 @node Mode Line Formatting
19626 @subsection Mode Line Formatting
19628 Mode line formatting variables (e.g.,
19629 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}) follow the same rules as other,
19630 buffer line oriented formatting variables (@pxref{Formatting Basics})
19631 with the following two differences:
19636 There must be no newline (@samp{\n}) at the end.
19639 The special @samp{%%b} spec can be used to display the buffer name.
19640 Well, it's no spec at all, really---@samp{%%} is just a way to quote
19641 @samp{%} to allow it to pass through the formatting machinery unmangled,
19642 so that Emacs receives @samp{%b}, which is something the Emacs mode line
19643 display interprets to mean ``show the buffer name''. For a full list of
19644 mode line specs Emacs understands, see the documentation of the
19645 @code{mode-line-format} variable.
19650 @node Advanced Formatting
19651 @subsection Advanced Formatting
19653 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
19654 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
19655 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
19656 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
19658 These are the valid modifiers:
19663 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
19667 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
19672 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
19675 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
19680 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
19683 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
19686 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
19689 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
19695 "~(form (current-time-string))@@"
19700 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
19701 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
19702 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
19703 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
19704 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
19705 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
19706 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
19708 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
19709 last operation, padding.
19711 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
19712 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
19713 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
19714 @xref{Compilation}.
19717 @node User-Defined Specs
19718 @subsection User-Defined Specs
19720 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
19721 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
19722 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
19723 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
19724 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
19725 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
19726 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
19727 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
19728 should protect against that.
19730 Also Gnus supports extended user-defined specs, such as @samp{%u&foo;}.
19731 Gnus will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{foo}.
19733 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
19734 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
19735 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
19736 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
19740 @node Formatting Fonts
19741 @subsection Formatting Fonts
19743 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
19744 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
19745 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
19746 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
19749 Text inside the @samp{%@{} and @samp{%@}} specifiers will have their
19750 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
19751 default. If you say @samp{%1@{}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
19752 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
19753 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
19754 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
19756 Text inside the @samp{%<<} and @samp{%>>} specifiers will get the
19757 special @code{balloon-help} property set to @code{gnus-balloon-face-0}.
19758 If you say @samp{%1<<}, you'll get @code{gnus-balloon-face-1} and so on.
19759 The @code{gnus-balloon-face-*} variables should be either strings or
19760 symbols naming functions that return a string. When the mouse passes
19761 over text with this property set, a balloon window will appear and
19762 display the string. Please refer to @ref{(emacs)Help Echo} (in GNU
19763 Emacs) or the doc string of @code{balloon-help-mode} (in XEmacs) for
19764 more information on this. (For technical reasons, the guillemets have
19765 been approximated as @samp{<<} and @samp{>>} in this paragraph.)
19767 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
19770 ;; Create three face types.
19771 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
19772 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
19774 ;; We want the article count to be in
19775 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
19776 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
19777 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
19779 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
19780 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
19782 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
19783 (setq gnus-group-line-format
19784 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
19787 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
19788 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
19790 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
19791 mode-line variables.
19793 @node Positioning Point
19794 @subsection Positioning Point
19796 Gnus usually moves point to a pre-defined place on each line in most
19797 buffers. By default, point move to the first colon character on the
19798 line. You can customize this behaviour in three different ways.
19800 You can move the colon character to somewhere else on the line.
19802 @findex gnus-goto-colon
19803 You can redefine the function that moves the point to the colon. The
19804 function is called @code{gnus-goto-colon}.
19806 But perhaps the most convenient way to deal with this, if you don't want
19807 to have a colon in your line, is to use the @samp{%*} specifier. If you
19808 put a @samp{%*} somewhere in your format line definition, Gnus will
19813 @subsection Tabulation
19815 You can usually line up your displays by padding and cutting your
19816 strings. However, when combining various strings of different size, it
19817 can often be more convenient to just output the strings, and then worry
19818 about lining up the following text afterwards.
19820 To do that, Gnus supplies tabulator specs--@samp{%=}. There are two
19821 different types---@dfn{hard tabulators} and @dfn{soft tabulators}.
19823 @samp{%50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19824 50. If the text is already past column 50, nothing will be inserted.
19825 This is the soft tabulator.
19827 @samp{%-50=} will insert space characters to pad the line up to column
19828 50. If the text is already past column 50, the excess text past column
19829 50 will be removed. This is the hard tabulator.
19832 @node Wide Characters
19833 @subsection Wide Characters
19835 Proportional fonts in most countries have characters of the same width.
19836 Some countries, however, use Latin characters mixed with wider
19837 characters---most notable East Asian countries.
19839 The problem is that when formatting, Gnus assumes that if a string is 10
19840 characters wide, it'll be 10 Latin characters wide on the screen. In
19841 these countries, that's not true.
19843 @vindex gnus-use-correct-string-widths
19844 To help fix this, you can set @code{gnus-use-correct-string-widths} to
19845 @code{t}. This makes buffer generation slower, but the results will be
19846 prettier. The default value under XEmacs is @code{t} but @code{nil}
19850 @node Window Layout
19851 @section Window Layout
19852 @cindex window layout
19854 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
19856 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
19857 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
19858 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
19859 @code{t} by default.
19861 Setting this variable to @code{nil} kinda works, but there are
19862 glitches. Use at your own peril.
19864 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
19865 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
19866 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
19869 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
19870 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
19871 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19875 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
19876 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
19877 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
19878 possible names is listed below.
19880 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
19881 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
19884 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
19888 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
19889 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
19890 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
19891 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
19892 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
19893 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
19894 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
19895 size spec per split.
19897 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
19898 @code{point}. In a @code{frame} split, the last subsplit having a leaf
19899 split where the tag @code{frame-focus} is a member (i.e. is the third or
19900 fourth element in the list, depending on whether the @code{point} tag is
19901 present) gets focus.
19903 Here's a more complicated example:
19906 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
19907 (summary 0.25 point)
19908 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
19912 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
19913 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
19914 occupy, not a percentage.
19916 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
19917 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
19918 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
19919 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
19920 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
19923 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
19926 (article (horizontal 1.0
19931 (summary 0.25 point)
19936 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
19937 @code{horizontal} thingie?
19939 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
19940 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
19941 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
19942 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
19943 the screen is to be given to this strip.
19945 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
19946 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
19947 lines from the splits.
19949 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
19953 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
19954 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
19955 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
19956 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
19957 buffer = "(" buf-name " " size *[ "point" ] *[ "frame-focus"] ")"
19958 size = number | frame-params
19959 buf-name = group | article | summary ...
19962 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
19963 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
19964 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
19965 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
19967 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
19968 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
19969 @cindex window height
19970 @cindex window width
19971 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
19972 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
19973 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
19974 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
19975 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
19976 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
19978 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
19979 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
19980 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
19981 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
19983 @findex gnus-configure-frame
19984 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
19985 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
19986 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
19987 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
19988 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
19989 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
19990 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
19991 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
19992 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
19993 configuration list.
19996 (gnus-configure-frame
20000 (article 0.3 point))
20008 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
20009 @code{frame} split:
20012 (gnus-configure-frame
20015 (summary 0.25 point frame-focus)
20017 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
20018 (user-position . t)
20019 (left . -1) (top . 1))
20024 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
20025 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
20026 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
20027 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
20028 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
20029 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
20030 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
20031 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
20033 The list of all possible keys for @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} can
20034 be found in its default value.
20036 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
20037 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
20038 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
20042 (message (horizontal 1.0
20043 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
20045 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
20050 One common desire for a multiple frame split is to have a separate frame
20051 for composing mail and news while leaving the original frame intact. To
20052 accomplish that, something like the following can be done:
20057 (if (not (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer))
20058 (car (cdr (assoc 'group gnus-buffer-configuration)))
20059 (car (cdr (assoc 'summary gnus-buffer-configuration))))
20060 (vertical ((user-position . t) (top . 1) (left . 1)
20061 (name . "Message"))
20062 (message 1.0 point))))
20065 @findex gnus-add-configuration
20066 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
20067 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
20068 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
20069 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
20072 (gnus-add-configuration
20073 '(article (vertical 1.0
20075 (summary .25 point)
20079 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
20080 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
20081 Gnus has been loaded.
20083 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
20084 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
20085 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
20086 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
20087 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
20089 If you're using tree displays (@pxref{Tree Display}), and the tree
20090 window is displayed vertically next to another window, you may also want
20091 to fiddle with @code{gnus-tree-minimize-window} to avoid having the
20094 @subsection Example Window Configurations
20098 Narrow left hand side occupied by group buffer. Right hand side split
20099 between summary buffer (top one-sixth) and article buffer (bottom).
20114 (gnus-add-configuration
20117 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20119 (summary 0.16 point)
20122 (gnus-add-configuration
20125 (vertical 25 (group 1.0))
20126 (vertical 1.0 (summary 1.0 point)))))
20132 @node Faces and Fonts
20133 @section Faces and Fonts
20138 Fiddling with fonts and faces used to be very difficult, but these days
20139 it is very simple. You simply say @kbd{M-x customize-face}, pick out
20140 the face you want to alter, and alter it via the standard Customize
20145 @section Compilation
20146 @cindex compilation
20147 @cindex byte-compilation
20149 @findex gnus-compile
20151 Remember all those line format specification variables?
20152 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
20153 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
20154 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
20155 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
20156 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
20159 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
20160 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
20161 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
20162 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
20163 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
20164 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
20165 them into the @file{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
20169 @section Mode Lines
20172 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
20173 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
20174 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
20175 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
20176 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
20177 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
20178 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
20181 @cindex display-time
20183 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
20184 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
20185 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
20186 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
20187 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
20188 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
20189 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
20190 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
20193 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
20195 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
20196 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
20198 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
20199 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
20200 (length display-time-string)))))
20203 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
20204 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
20205 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
20206 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
20207 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
20210 @node Highlighting and Menus
20211 @section Highlighting and Menus
20213 @cindex highlighting
20216 @vindex gnus-visual
20217 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
20218 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
20219 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
20222 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
20223 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
20226 @item group-highlight
20227 Do highlights in the group buffer.
20228 @item summary-highlight
20229 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
20230 @item article-highlight
20231 Do highlights in the article buffer.
20233 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
20235 Create menus in the group buffer.
20237 Create menus in the summary buffers.
20239 Create menus in the article buffer.
20241 Create menus in the browse buffer.
20243 Create menus in the server buffer.
20245 Create menus in the score buffers.
20247 Create menus in all buffers.
20250 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
20251 buffers, you could say something like:
20254 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
20257 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
20260 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
20263 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
20264 in all Gnus buffers.
20266 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
20269 @item gnus-mouse-face
20270 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
20271 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
20272 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
20276 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
20280 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
20281 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
20282 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
20284 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
20285 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
20286 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
20288 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
20289 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
20290 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
20292 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
20293 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
20294 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
20296 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
20297 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
20298 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
20300 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
20301 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
20302 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
20313 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
20314 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
20315 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
20316 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
20317 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
20321 @vindex gnus-carpal
20322 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
20323 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
20324 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
20329 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20330 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
20331 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
20333 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
20334 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
20335 Face used on buttons.
20337 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
20338 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
20339 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
20341 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20342 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
20343 Buttons in the group buffer.
20345 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20346 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
20347 Buttons in the summary buffer.
20349 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20350 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
20351 Buttons in the server buffer.
20353 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20354 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
20355 Buttons in the browse buffer.
20358 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
20359 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
20360 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
20368 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
20369 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
20370 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
20371 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
20372 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
20374 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
20375 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
20376 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
20378 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
20379 been idle for thirty minutes:
20382 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
20385 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
20389 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
20392 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
20393 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
20394 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20396 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
20397 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
20398 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
20399 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
20401 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
20402 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
20403 @var{idle} minutes.
20405 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
20406 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
20409 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
20410 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
20411 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
20413 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
20414 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
20415 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
20416 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
20418 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
20419 your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20421 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
20423 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
20426 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
20427 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
20428 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
20429 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
20430 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
20431 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
20432 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
20433 @code{gnus-demon-add-nntp-close-connection},
20434 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
20435 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
20436 @file{.gnus.el} if you want those abilities.
20438 @findex gnus-demon-init
20439 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
20440 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
20441 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
20442 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
20443 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
20445 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you over do it. Adding
20446 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
20447 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
20456 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
20457 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
20459 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
20460 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
20461 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
20462 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
20465 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
20466 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
20467 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
20468 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
20470 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
20471 this will make spam disappear.
20473 There are some variables to customize, of course:
20476 @item gnus-use-nocem
20477 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
20478 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
20481 @item gnus-nocem-groups
20482 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
20483 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
20484 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
20485 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
20487 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
20488 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
20489 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
20490 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
20491 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" "cosmo.roadkill" "SpamHippo"
20492 "hweede@@snafu.de")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
20494 Known despammers that you can put in this list are listed at
20495 @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~rosalind/nocemreg/nocemreg.html}.
20497 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
20498 ones you want to listen to. You also don't have to accept all NoCeM
20499 messages from the people you like. Each NoCeM message has a @dfn{type}
20500 header that gives the message a (more or less, usually less) rigorous
20501 definition. Common types are @samp{spam}, @samp{spew}, @samp{mmf},
20502 @samp{binary}, and @samp{troll}. To specify this, you have to use
20503 @code{(@var{issuer} @var{conditions} @dots{})} elements in the list.
20504 Each condition is either a string (which is a regexp that matches types
20505 you want to use) or a list on the form @code{(not @var{string})}, where
20506 @var{string} is a regexp that matches types you don't want to use.
20508 For instance, if you want all NoCeM messages from Chris Lewis except his
20509 @samp{troll} messages, you'd say:
20512 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" ".*" (not "troll"))
20515 On the other hand, if you just want nothing but his @samp{spam} and
20516 @samp{spew} messages, you'd say:
20519 ("clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca" (not ".*") "spew" "spam")
20522 The specs are applied left-to-right.
20525 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
20526 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
20528 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
20529 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
20530 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
20531 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
20533 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
20534 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
20537 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
20539 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
20547 This might be dangerous, though.
20549 @item gnus-nocem-directory
20550 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
20551 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
20552 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
20554 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20555 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
20556 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
20557 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
20558 might then see old spam.
20560 @item gnus-nocem-check-from
20561 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-from
20562 Non-@code{nil} means check for valid issuers in message bodies.
20563 Otherwise don't bother fetching articles unless their author matches a
20564 valid issuer; that is much faster if you are selective about the
20567 @item gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20568 @vindex gnus-nocem-check-article-limit
20569 If non-@code{nil}, the maximum number of articles to check in any NoCeM
20570 group. NoCeM groups can be huge and very slow to process.
20574 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
20575 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
20576 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
20577 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
20584 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
20585 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
20586 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
20588 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
20589 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
20590 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
20591 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
20592 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
20593 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
20594 @code{undo} function.
20596 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
20597 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
20598 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
20599 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
20600 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
20601 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
20602 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
20603 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
20604 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
20605 never be totally undoable.
20607 @findex gnus-undo-mode
20608 @vindex gnus-use-undo
20610 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
20611 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
20612 default. The @kbd{C-M-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo}
20613 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
20617 @node Predicate Specifiers
20618 @section Predicate Specifiers
20619 @cindex predicate specifiers
20621 Some Gnus variables are @dfn{predicate specifiers}. This is a special
20622 form that allows flexible specification of predicates without having
20623 to type all that much.
20625 These specifiers are lists consisting of functions, symbols and lists.
20630 (or gnus-article-unseen-p
20631 gnus-article-unread-p)
20634 The available symbols are @code{or}, @code{and} and @code{not}. The
20635 functions all take one parameter.
20637 @findex gnus-make-predicate
20638 Internally, Gnus calls @code{gnus-make-predicate} on these specifiers
20639 to create a function that can be called. This input parameter to this
20640 function will be passed along to all the functions in the predicate
20645 @section Moderation
20648 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
20649 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
20650 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
20653 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
20657 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
20660 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
20662 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
20667 You split your incoming mail by matching on
20668 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
20669 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
20672 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
20673 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
20676 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
20677 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
20681 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
20684 (setq gnus-moderated-list
20685 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
20689 @node Image Enhancements
20690 @section Image Enhancements
20692 XEmacs, as well as Emacs 21, is able to display pictures and stuff, so
20693 Gnus has taken advantage of that.
20696 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what you're reading.
20697 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
20698 * X-Face:: Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
20699 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
20700 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
20713 So@dots{} You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
20714 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
20715 over your shoulder as you read news.
20717 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
20726 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
20727 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
20728 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
20729 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
20730 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
20731 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
20732 @code{GIF} formats.
20735 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
20736 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases,
20737 point your Web browser at
20738 @uref{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
20740 If you are using Debian GNU/Linux, saying @samp{apt-get install
20741 picons.*} will install the picons where Gnus can find them.
20743 To enable displaying picons, simply make sure that
20744 @code{gnus-picon-databases} points to the directory containing the
20747 The following variables offer control over where things are located.
20751 @item gnus-picon-databases
20752 @vindex gnus-picon-databases
20753 The location of the picons database. This is a list of directories
20754 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
20755 subdirectories. Defaults to @code{("/usr/lib/picon"
20756 "/usr/local/faces")}.
20758 @item gnus-picon-news-directories
20759 @vindex gnus-picon-news-directories
20760 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
20761 newsgroups faces. @code{("news")} is the default.
20763 @item gnus-picon-user-directories
20764 @vindex gnus-picon-user-directories
20765 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for user
20766 faces. @code{("users" "usenix" "local" "misc")} is the default.
20768 @item gnus-picon-domain-directories
20769 @vindex gnus-picon-domain-directories
20770 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picon-databases} for
20771 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
20772 want to add @samp{"unknown"} to this list.
20774 @item gnus-picon-file-types
20775 @vindex gnus-picon-file-types
20776 Ordered list of suffixes on picon file names to try. Defaults to
20777 @code{("xpm" "gif" "xbm")} minus those not builtin your Emacs.
20782 @subsection Smileys
20787 \gnusfig{-3cm}{0.5cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/BigFace,height=20cm}}
20792 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
20793 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
20795 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
20796 @file{.gnus.el} file:
20799 (setq gnus-treat-display-smileys t)
20802 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
20803 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
20804 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
20805 text and maps that to file names.
20807 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
20808 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
20809 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
20810 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
20811 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
20812 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
20814 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
20815 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
20817 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
20818 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
20819 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
20821 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
20822 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
20826 @item smiley-data-directory
20827 @vindex smiley-data-directory
20828 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
20830 @item smiley-flesh-color
20831 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
20832 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
20834 @item smiley-features-color
20835 @vindex smiley-features-color
20836 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20838 @item smiley-tongue-color
20839 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
20840 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
20842 @item smiley-circle-color
20843 @vindex smiley-circle-color
20844 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
20846 @item smiley-mouse-face
20847 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
20848 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
20857 @code{X-Face} headers describe a 48x48 pixel black-and-white (1 bit
20858 depth) image that's supposed to represent the author of the message.
20859 It seems to be supported by an ever-growing number of mail and news
20863 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
20864 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
20865 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
20866 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
20874 Decoding an @code{X-Face} header either requires an Emacs that has
20875 @samp{compface} support (which most XEmacs versions has), or that you
20876 have @samp{compface} installed on your system. If either is true,
20877 Gnus will default to displaying @code{X-Face} headers.
20879 The variable that controls this is the
20880 @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable. If this variable is a
20881 string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a
20882 function, this function will be called with the face as the argument.
20883 If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which is a regexp) matches
20884 the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
20886 The default action under Emacs 20 is to fork off the @code{display}
20887 program@footnote{@code{display} is from the ImageMagick package. For
20888 the @code{uncompface} and @code{icontopbm} programs look for a package
20889 like @code{compface} or @code{faces-xface} on a GNU/Linux system.} to
20892 Under XEmacs or Emacs 21+ with suitable image support, the default
20893 action is to display the face before the @code{From} header. (It's
20894 nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with @code{X-Face} support---that
20895 will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native @code{X-Face}
20896 support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
20897 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and
20898 friends.@footnote{On a GNU/Linux system look for packages with names
20899 like @code{netpbm}, @code{libgr-progs} and @code{compface}.})
20901 (NOTE: @code{x-face} is used in the variable/function names, not
20904 Gnus provides a few convenience functions and variables to allow
20905 easier insertion of X-Face headers in outgoing messages.
20907 @findex gnus-random-x-face
20908 @code{gnus-random-x-face} goes through all the @samp{pbm} files in
20909 @code{gnus-x-face-directory} and picks one at random, and then
20910 converts it to the X-Face format by using the
20911 @code{gnus-convert-pbm-to-x-face-command} shell command. The
20912 @samp{pbm} files should be 48x48 pixels big. It returns the X-Face
20913 header data as a string.
20915 @findex gnus-insert-random-x-face-header
20916 @code{gnus-insert-random-x-face-header} calls
20917 @code{gnus-random-x-face} and inserts a @samp{X-Face} header with the
20918 randomly generated data.
20920 @findex gnus-x-face-from-file
20921 @code{gnus-x-face-from-file} takes a GIF file as the parameter, and then
20922 converts the file to X-Face format by using the
20923 @code{gnus-convert-image-to-x-face-command} shell command.
20925 Here's how you would typically use the first function. Put something
20926 like the following in your @file{.gnus.el} file:
20929 (setq message-required-news-headers
20930 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20931 (list '(X-Face . gnus-random-x-face))))
20934 Using the last function would be something like this:
20937 (setq message-required-news-headers
20938 (nconc message-required-news-headers
20939 (list '(X-Face . (lambda ()
20940 (gnus-x-face-from-file
20941 "~/My-face.gif"))))))
20946 @subsection Toolbar
20956 @item gnus-use-toolbar
20957 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
20958 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
20959 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
20960 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
20962 @item gnus-group-toolbar
20963 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
20964 The toolbar in the group buffer.
20966 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
20967 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
20968 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
20970 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20971 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
20972 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
20978 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
20981 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20982 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
20983 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
20984 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
20985 unusual directory structure.
20987 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20988 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
20989 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
20990 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
20992 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20993 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
20994 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
20995 Valid values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
20996 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
20997 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
20999 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21000 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
21001 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
21015 @node Fuzzy Matching
21016 @section Fuzzy Matching
21017 @cindex fuzzy matching
21019 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
21020 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
21022 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
21023 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
21024 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
21026 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
21027 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
21028 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
21029 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
21030 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
21033 @node Thwarting Email Spam
21034 @section Thwarting Email Spam
21038 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21040 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
21041 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
21042 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
21043 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
21044 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
21045 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
21046 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
21047 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
21050 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
21051 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
21052 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
21053 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
21054 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrous hair on your toes!'')
21055 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
21057 This is annoying. Here's what you can do about it.
21060 * The problem of spam:: Some background, and some solutions
21061 * Anti-Spam Basics:: Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
21062 * SpamAssassin:: How to use external anti-spam tools.
21063 * Hashcash:: Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
21064 * Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package::
21065 * Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat::
21068 @node The problem of spam
21069 @subsection The problem of spam
21071 @cindex spam filtering approaches
21072 @cindex filtering approaches, spam
21074 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21076 First, some background on spam.
21078 If you have access to e-mail, you are familiar with spam (technically
21079 termed @acronym{UCE}, Unsolicited Commercial E-mail). Simply put, it exists
21080 because e-mail delivery is very cheap compared to paper mail, so only
21081 a very small percentage of people need to respond to an UCE to make it
21082 worthwhile to the advertiser. Ironically, one of the most common
21083 spams is the one offering a database of e-mail addresses for further
21084 spamming. Senders of spam are usually called @emph{spammers}, but terms like
21085 @emph{vermin}, @emph{scum}, and @emph{morons} are in common use as well.
21087 Spam comes from a wide variety of sources. It is simply impossible to
21088 dispose of all spam without discarding useful messages. A good
21089 example is the TMDA system, which requires senders
21090 unknown to you to confirm themselves as legitimate senders before
21091 their e-mail can reach you. Without getting into the technical side
21092 of TMDA, a downside is clearly that e-mail from legitimate sources may
21093 be discarded if those sources can't or won't confirm themselves
21094 through the TMDA system. Another problem with TMDA is that it
21095 requires its users to have a basic understanding of e-mail delivery
21098 The simplest approach to filtering spam is filtering. If you get 200
21099 spam messages per day from @email{random-address@@vmadmin.com}, you
21100 block @samp{vmadmin.com}. If you get 200 messages about
21101 @samp{VIAGRA}, you discard all messages with @samp{VIAGRA} in the
21102 message. This, unfortunately, is a great way to discard legitimate
21103 e-mail. For instance, the very informative and useful RISKS digest
21104 has been blocked by overzealous mail filters because it
21105 @strong{contained} words that were common in spam messages.
21106 Nevertheless, in isolated cases, with great care, direct filtering of
21107 mail can be useful.
21109 Another approach to filtering e-mail is the distributed spam
21110 processing, for instance DCC implements such a system. In essence,
21111 @code{N} systems around the world agree that a machine @samp{X} in
21112 China, Ghana, or California is sending out spam e-mail, and these
21113 @code{N} systems enter @samp{X} or the spam e-mail from @samp{X} into
21114 a database. The criteria for spam detection vary - it may be the
21115 number of messages sent, the content of the messages, and so on. When
21116 a user of the distributed processing system wants to find out if a
21117 message is spam, he consults one of those @code{N} systems.
21119 Distributed spam processing works very well against spammers that send
21120 a large number of messages at once, but it requires the user to set up
21121 fairly complicated checks. There are commercial and free distributed
21122 spam processing systems. Distributed spam processing has its risks as
21123 well. For instance legitimate e-mail senders have been accused of
21124 sending spam, and their web sites have been shut down for some time
21125 because of the incident.
21127 The statistical approach to spam filtering is also popular. It is
21128 based on a statistical analysis of previous spam messages. Usually
21129 the analysis is a simple word frequency count, with perhaps pairs of
21130 words or 3-word combinations thrown into the mix. Statistical
21131 analysis of spam works very well in most of the cases, but it can
21132 classify legitimate e-mail as spam in some cases. It takes time to
21133 run the analysis, the full message must be analyzed, and the user has
21134 to store the database of spam analyses.
21136 @node Anti-Spam Basics
21137 @subsection Anti-Spam Basics
21141 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
21143 One way of dealing with spam is having Gnus split out all spam into a
21144 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
21146 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
21147 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
21148 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
21149 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
21150 sysadmin whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
21151 part of the mail address.)
21154 (setq message-default-news-headers
21155 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
21158 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
21159 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21164 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
21165 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
21166 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
21172 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
21173 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
21174 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
21175 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
21177 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @sc{smtp} server
21178 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
21179 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
21180 thwarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
21181 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
21182 your fancy split rule in this way:
21187 (to "larsi" "misc")
21191 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
21192 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
21193 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
21194 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
21195 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
21197 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
21198 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, available FOR FREE
21199 at @* @uref{http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html}.
21200 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
21201 cosmic balance somewhat.
21203 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
21204 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
21205 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
21206 to non-existent domains is yucky, in my opinion.
21211 @subsection SpamAssassin, Vipul's Razor, DCC, etc
21212 @cindex SpamAssassin
21213 @cindex Vipul's Razor
21216 The days where the hints in the previous section was sufficient in
21217 avoiding spam is coming to an end. There are many tools out there
21218 that claim to reduce the amount of spam you get. This section could
21219 easily become outdated fast, as new products replace old, but
21220 fortunately most of these tools seem to have similar interfaces. Even
21221 though this section will use SpamAssassin as an example, it should be
21222 easy to adapt it to most other tools.
21224 If the tool you are using is not installed on the mail server, you
21225 need to invoke it yourself. Ideas on how to use the
21226 @code{:postscript} mail source parameter (@pxref{Mail Source
21227 Specifiers}) follows.
21231 '((file :prescript "formail -bs spamassassin < /var/mail/%u")
21234 :postscript "mv %t /tmp/foo; formail -bs spamc < /tmp/foo > %t")))
21237 Once you managed to process your incoming spool somehow, thus making
21238 the mail contain e.g. a header indicating it is spam, you are ready to
21239 filter it out. Using normal split methods (@pxref{Splitting Mail}):
21242 (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("spam" "^X-Spam-Flag: YES")
21246 Or using fancy split methods (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
21249 (setq nnmail-split-methods 'nnmail-split-fancy
21250 nnmail-split-fancy '(| ("X-Spam-Flag" "YES" "spam")
21254 Some people might not like the idea of piping the mail through various
21255 programs using a @code{:prescript} (if some program is buggy, you
21256 might lose all mail). If you are one of them, another solution is to
21257 call the external tools during splitting. Example fancy split method:
21260 (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| (: kevin-spamassassin)
21262 (defun kevin-spamassassin ()
21264 (let ((buf (or (get-buffer " *nnmail incoming*")
21265 (get-buffer " *nnml move*"))))
21267 (progn (message "Oops, cannot find message buffer") nil)
21269 (if (eq 1 (call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
21270 "spamc" nil nil nil "-c"))
21274 That is about it. As some spam is likely to get through anyway, you
21275 might want to have a nifty function to call when you happen to read
21276 spam. And here is the nifty function:
21279 (defun my-gnus-raze-spam ()
21280 "Submit SPAM to Vipul's Razor, then mark it as expirable."
21282 (gnus-summary-show-raw-article)
21283 (gnus-summary-save-in-pipe "razor-report -f -d")
21284 (gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable 1))
21288 @subsection Hashcash
21291 A novel technique to fight spam is to require senders to do something
21292 costly for each message they send. This has the obvious drawback that
21293 you cannot rely on that everyone in the world uses this technique,
21294 since it is not part of the Internet standards, but it may be useful
21295 in smaller communities.
21297 While the tools in the previous section work well in practice, they
21298 work only because the tools are constantly maintained and updated as
21299 new form of spam appears. This means that a small percentage of spam
21300 will always get through. It also means that somewhere, someone needs
21301 to read lots of spam to update these tools. Hashcash avoids that, but
21302 instead requires that everyone you communicate with supports the
21303 scheme. You can view the two approaches as pragmatic vs dogmatic.
21304 The approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but as
21305 often in the real world, a combination of them is stronger than either
21306 one of them separately.
21309 The ``something costly'' is to burn CPU time, more specifically to
21310 compute a hash collision up to a certain number of bits. The
21311 resulting hashcash cookie is inserted in a @samp{X-Hashcash:}
21312 header. For more details, and for the external application
21313 @code{hashcash} you need to install to use this feature, see
21314 @uref{http://www.cypherspace.org/~adam/hashcash/}. Even more
21315 information can be found at @uref{http://www.camram.org/}.
21317 If you wish to call hashcash for each message you send, say something
21321 (require 'hashcash)
21322 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'mail-add-payment)
21325 The @code{hashcash.el} library can be found at
21326 @uref{http://users.actrix.gen.nz/mycroft/hashcash.el}, or in the Gnus
21327 development contrib directory.
21329 You will need to set up some additional variables as well:
21333 @item hashcash-default-payment
21334 @vindex hashcash-default-payment
21335 This variable indicates the default number of bits the hash collision
21336 should consist of. By default this is 0, meaning nothing will be
21337 done. Suggested useful values include 17 to 29.
21339 @item hashcash-payment-alist
21340 @vindex hashcash-payment-alist
21341 Some receivers may require you to spend burn more CPU time than the
21342 default. This variable contains a list of @samp{(ADDR AMOUNT)} cells,
21343 where ADDR is the receiver (email address or newsgroup) and AMOUNT is
21344 the number of bits in the collision that is needed. It can also
21345 contain @samp{(ADDR STRING AMOUNT)} cells, where the STRING is the
21346 string to use (normally the email address or newsgroup name is used).
21350 Where the @code{hashcash} binary is installed.
21354 Currently there is no built in functionality in Gnus to verify
21355 hashcash cookies, it is expected that this is performed by your hand
21356 customized mail filtering scripts. Improvements in this area would be
21357 a useful contribution, however.
21359 @node Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21360 @subsection Filtering Spam Using The Spam ELisp Package
21361 @cindex spam filtering
21364 The idea behind @code{spam.el} is to have a control center for spam detection
21365 and filtering in Gnus. To that end, @code{spam.el} does two things: it
21366 filters incoming mail, and it analyzes mail known to be spam or ham.
21367 @emph{Ham} is the name used throughout @code{spam.el} to indicate
21370 So, what happens when you load @code{spam.el}? First of all, you get
21371 the following keyboard commands:
21381 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-spam
21382 @code{gnus-summary-mark-as-spam}.
21384 Mark current article as spam, showing it with the @samp{H} mark.
21385 Whenever you see a spam article, make sure to mark its summary line
21386 with @kbd{M-d} before leaving the group. This is done automatically
21387 for unread articles in @emph{spam} groups.
21393 @findex spam-bogofilter-score
21394 @code{spam-bogofilter-score}.
21396 You must have Bogofilter installed for that command to work properly.
21402 Also, when you load @code{spam.el}, you will be able to customize its
21403 variables. Try @code{customize-group} on the @samp{spam} variable
21406 The concepts of ham processors and spam processors are very important.
21407 Ham processors and spam processors for a group can be set with the
21408 @code{spam-process} group parameter, or the
21409 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. Ham processors take
21410 mail known to be non-spam (@emph{ham}) and process it in some way so
21411 that later similar mail will also be considered non-spam. Spam
21412 processors take mail known to be spam and process it so similar spam
21413 will be detected later.
21415 Gnus learns from the spam you get. You have to collect your spam in
21416 one or more spam groups, and set or customize the variable
21417 @code{spam-junk-mailgroups} as appropriate. You can also declare
21418 groups to contain spam by setting their group parameter
21419 @code{spam-contents} to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-spam}, or
21420 by customizing the corresponding variable
21421 @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}. The @code{spam-contents} group
21422 parameter and the @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents} variable can
21423 also be used to declare groups as @emph{ham} groups if you set their
21424 classification to @code{gnus-group-spam-classification-ham}. If
21425 groups are not classified by means of @code{spam-junk-mailgroups},
21426 @code{spam-contents}, or @code{gnus-spam-newsgroup-contents}, they are
21427 considered @emph{unclassified}. All groups are unclassified by
21430 In spam groups, all messages are considered to be spam by default:
21431 they get the @samp{H} mark when you enter the group. You must review
21432 these messages from time to time and remove the @samp{H} mark for
21433 every message that is not spam after all. To remove the @samp{H}
21434 mark, you can use @kbd{M-u} to "unread" the article, or @kbd{d} for
21435 declaring it read the non-spam way. When you leave a group, all
21436 spam-marked (@samp{H}) articles are sent to a spam processor which
21437 will study them as spam samples.
21439 Messages may also be deleted in various other ways, and unless
21440 @code{spam-ham-marks} gets overridden below, marks @samp{R} and
21441 @samp{r} for default read or explicit delete, marks @samp{X} and
21442 @samp{K} for automatic or explicit kills, as well as mark @samp{Y} for
21443 low scores, are all considered to be associated with articles which
21444 are not spam. This assumption might be false, in particular if you
21445 use kill files or score files as means for detecting genuine spam, you
21446 should then adjust the @code{spam-ham-marks} variable.
21448 @defvar spam-ham-marks
21449 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21450 consider ham. By default, the list contains the deleted, read,
21451 killed, kill-filed, and low-score marks.
21454 @defvar spam-spam-marks
21455 You can customize this variable to be the list of marks you want to
21456 consider spam. By default, the list contains only the spam mark.
21459 When you leave @emph{any} group, regardless of its
21460 @code{spam-contents} classification, all spam-marked articles are sent
21461 to a spam processor, which will study these as spam samples. If you
21462 explicit kill a lot, you might sometimes end up with articles marked
21463 @samp{K} which you never saw, and which might accidentally contain
21464 spam. Best is to make sure that real spam is marked with @samp{H},
21467 When you leave a @emph{spam} group, all spam-marked articles are
21468 marked as expired after processing with the spam processor. This is
21469 not done for @emph{unclassified} or @emph{ham} groups. Also, any
21470 @strong{ham} articles in a spam group will be moved to a location
21471 determined by either the @code{ham-process-destination} group
21472 parameter or a match in the @code{gnus-ham-process-destinations}
21473 variable, which is a list of regular expressions matched with group
21474 names (it's easiest to customize this variable with
21475 @code{customize-variable gnus-ham-process-destinations}). The ultimate
21476 location is a group name. If the @code{ham-process-destination}
21477 parameter is not set, spam articles are only expired.
21479 When you leave a @emph{ham} group, all ham-marked articles are sent to
21480 a ham processor, which will study these as non-spam samples.
21482 When you leave a @emph{ham} or @emph{unclassified} group, all
21483 @strong{spam} articles are moved to a location determined by either
21484 the @code{spam-process-destination} group parameter or a match in the
21485 @code{gnus-spam-process-destinations} variable, which is a list of
21486 regular expressions matched with group names (it's easiest to
21487 customize this variable with @code{customize-variable
21488 gnus-spam-process-destinations}). The ultimate location is a group
21489 name. If the @code{spam-process-destination} parameter is not set,
21490 the spam articles are only expired.
21492 To use the @code{spam.el} facilities for incoming mail filtering, you
21493 must add the following to your fancy split list
21494 @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or @code{nnimap-split-fancy}:
21500 Note that the fancy split may be called @code{nnmail-split-fancy} or
21501 @code{nnimap-split-fancy}, depending on whether you use the nnmail or
21502 nnimap back ends to retrieve your mail.
21504 The @code{spam-split} function will process incoming mail and send the
21505 mail considered to be spam into the group name given by the variable
21506 @code{spam-split-group}. By default that group name is @samp{spam},
21507 but you can customize it.
21509 @emph{Note for IMAP users}
21511 The boolean variable @code{nnimap-split-download-body} needs to be
21512 set, if you want to split based on the whole message instead of just
21513 the headers. By default, the nnimap backend will only retrieve the
21514 message headers. If you use spam-check-bogofilter, spam-check-ifile,
21515 or spam-check-stat (the splitters that can benefit from the full
21516 message body), you should set this variable. It is not set by default
21517 because it will slow IMAP down.
21519 @xref{Splitting in IMAP}.
21521 @emph{TODO: Currently, spam.el only supports insertion of articles
21522 into a backend. There is no way to tell spam.el that an article is no
21523 longer spam or ham.}
21525 @emph{TODO: spam.el needs to provide a uniform way of training all the
21526 statistical databases. Some have that functionality built-in, others
21529 The following are the methods you can use to control the behavior of
21530 @code{spam-split} and their corresponding spam and ham processors:
21533 * Blacklists and Whitelists::
21534 * BBDB Whitelists::
21537 * ifile spam filtering::
21538 * spam-stat spam filtering::
21539 * Extending the spam elisp package::
21542 @node Blacklists and Whitelists
21543 @subsubsection Blacklists and Whitelists
21544 @cindex spam filtering
21545 @cindex whitelists, spam filtering
21546 @cindex blacklists, spam filtering
21549 @defvar spam-use-blacklist
21550 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use blacklists when
21551 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are in the blacklist
21552 will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an explicit
21553 filter, meaning that it acts only on mail senders @emph{declared} to
21557 @defvar spam-use-whitelist
21558 Set this variable to @code{t} if you want to use whitelists when
21559 splitting incoming mail. Messages whose senders are not in the
21560 whitelist will be sent to the @code{spam-split-group}. This is an
21561 implicit filter, meaning it believes everyone to be a spammer unless
21562 told otherwise. Use with care.
21565 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blacklist
21566 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21567 customizing the group parameters or the
21568 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21569 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21570 spam-marked articles will be added to the blacklist.
21573 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-whitelist
21574 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21575 customizing the group parameters or the
21576 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21577 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21578 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21579 whitelist. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21580 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21583 Blacklists are lists of regular expressions matching addresses you
21584 consider to be spam senders. For instance, to block mail from any
21585 sender at @samp{vmadmin.com}, you can put @samp{vmadmin.com} in your
21586 blacklist. You start out with an empty blacklist. Blacklist entries
21587 use the Emacs regular expression syntax.
21589 Conversely, whitelists tell Gnus what addresses are considered
21590 legitimate. All non-whitelisted addresses are considered spammers.
21591 This option is probably not useful for most Gnus users unless the
21592 whitelists is very comprehensive or permissive. Also see @ref{BBDB
21593 Whitelists}. Whitelist entries use the Emacs regular expression
21596 The blacklist and whitelist file locations can be customized with the
21597 @code{spam-directory} variable (@file{~/News/spam} by default), or
21598 the @code{spam-whitelist} and @code{spam-blacklist} variables
21599 directly. The whitelist and blacklist files will by default be in the
21600 @code{spam-directory} directory, named @file{whitelist} and
21601 @file{blacklist} respectively.
21603 @node BBDB Whitelists
21604 @subsubsection BBDB Whitelists
21605 @cindex spam filtering
21606 @cindex BBDB whitelists, spam filtering
21607 @cindex BBDB, spam filtering
21610 @defvar spam-use-BBDB
21612 Analogous to @code{spam-use-whitelist} (@pxref{Blacklists and
21613 Whitelists}), but uses the BBDB as the source of whitelisted addresses,
21614 without regular expressions. You must have the BBDB loaded for
21615 @code{spam-use-BBDB} to work properly. Only addresses in the BBDB
21616 will be allowed through; all others will be classified as spam.
21620 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-BBDB
21621 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21622 customizing the group parameters or the
21623 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21624 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the senders of
21625 ham-marked articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the
21626 BBDB. Note that this ham processor has no effect in @emph{spam}
21627 or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21631 @subsubsection Blackholes
21632 @cindex spam filtering
21633 @cindex blackholes, spam filtering
21636 @defvar spam-use-blackholes
21638 This option is disabled by default. You can let Gnus consult the
21639 blackhole-type distributed spam processing systems (DCC, for instance)
21640 when you set this option. The variable @code{spam-blackhole-servers}
21641 holds the list of blackhole servers Gnus will consult. The current
21642 list is fairly comprehensive, but make sure to let us know if it
21643 contains outdated servers.
21645 The blackhole check uses the @code{dig.el} package, but you can tell
21646 @code{spam.el} to use @code{dns.el} instead for better performance if
21647 you set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil. It is not recommended at this
21648 time to set @code{spam-use-dig} to nil despite the possible
21649 performance improvements, because some users may be unable to use it,
21650 but you can try it and see if it works for you.
21654 @defvar spam-blackhole-servers
21656 The list of servers to consult for blackhole checks.
21660 @defvar spam-use-dig
21662 Use the @code{dig.el} package instead of the @code{dns.el} package.
21663 The default setting of @code{t} is recommended.
21667 Blackhole checks are done only on incoming mail. There is no spam or
21668 ham processor for blackholes.
21671 @subsubsection Bogofilter
21672 @cindex spam filtering
21673 @cindex bogofilter, spam filtering
21676 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter
21678 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21681 With a minimum of care for associating the @samp{H} mark for spam
21682 articles only, Bogofilter training all gets fairly automatic. You
21683 should do this until you get a few hundreds of articles in each
21684 category, spam or not. The command @kbd{S t} in summary mode, either
21685 for debugging or for curiosity, shows the @emph{spamicity} score of
21686 the current article (between 0.0 and 1.0).
21688 Bogofilter determines if a message is spam based on an internal
21689 threshold, set at compilation time. That threshold can't be
21692 If the @code{bogofilter} executable is not in your path, Bogofilter
21693 processing will be turned off.
21695 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}.
21699 @defvar spam-use-bogofilter-headers
21701 Set this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use Eric Raymond's
21702 speedy Bogofilter, looking only at the message headers. It works
21703 similarly to @code{spam-use-bogofilter}, but the @code{X-Bogosity} header
21704 must be in the message already. Normally you would do this with a
21705 procmail recipe or something similar; consult the Bogofilter
21706 installation documents for details.
21708 You should not enable this if you use @code{spam-use-bogofilter}.
21712 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-bogofilter
21713 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21714 customizing the group parameters or the
21715 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21716 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, spam-marked articles
21717 will be added to the Bogofilter spam database.
21720 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-bogofilter
21721 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21722 customizing the group parameters or the
21723 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21724 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21725 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the Bogofilter database
21726 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21727 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21730 @defvar spam-bogofilter-database-directory
21732 This is the directory where Bogofilter will store its databases. It
21733 is not specified by default, so Bogofilter will use its own default
21734 database directory.
21738 The Bogofilter mail classifier is similar to ifile in intent and
21739 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21740 @code{spam-use-bogofilter} and @code{spam-use-bogofilter-headers}
21741 variables to indicate to spam-split that Bogofilter should either be
21742 used, or has already been used on the article. The 0.9.2.1 version of
21743 Bogofilter was used to test this functionality.
21745 @node ifile spam filtering
21746 @subsubsection ifile spam filtering
21747 @cindex spam filtering
21748 @cindex ifile, spam filtering
21751 @defvar spam-use-ifile
21753 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use ifile, a
21754 statistical analyzer similar to Bogofilter.
21758 @defvar spam-ifile-all-categories
21760 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-use-ifile} to give you all
21761 the ifile categories, not just spam/non-spam. If you use this, make
21762 sure you train ifile as described in its documentation.
21766 @defvar spam-ifile-spam-category
21768 This is the category of spam messages as far as ifile is concerned.
21769 The actual string used is irrelevant, but you probably want to leave
21770 the default value of @samp{spam}.
21773 @defvar spam-ifile-database-path
21775 This is the filename for the ifile database. It is not specified by
21776 default, so ifile will use its own default database name.
21780 The ifile mail classifier is similar to Bogofilter in intent and
21781 purpose. A ham and a spam processor are provided, plus the
21782 @code{spam-use-ifile} variable to indicate to spam-split that ifile
21783 should be used. The 1.2.1 version of ifile was used to test this
21786 @node spam-stat spam filtering
21787 @subsubsection spam-stat spam filtering
21788 @cindex spam filtering
21789 @cindex spam-stat, spam filtering
21793 @xref{Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat}.
21795 @defvar spam-use-stat
21797 Enable this variable if you want @code{spam-split} to use
21798 spam-stat.el, an Emacs Lisp statistical analyzer.
21802 @defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-stat
21803 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21804 customizing the group parameters or the
21805 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21806 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the spam-marked
21807 articles will be added to the spam-stat database of spam messages.
21810 @defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-stat
21811 Add this symbol to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter by
21812 customizing the group parameters or the
21813 @code{gnus-spam-process-newsgroups} variable. When this symbol is
21814 added to a group's @code{spam-process} parameter, the ham-marked
21815 articles in @emph{ham} groups will be added to the spam-stat database
21816 of non-spam messages. Note that this ham processor has no effect in
21817 @emph{spam} or @emph{unclassified} groups.
21820 This enables spam.el to cooperate with spam-stat.el. spam-stat.el
21821 provides an internal (Lisp-only) spam database, which unlike ifile or
21822 Bogofilter does not require external programs. A spam and a ham
21823 processor, and the @code{spam-use-stat} variable for @code{spam-split}
21826 @node Extending the spam elisp package
21827 @subsubsection Extending the spam elisp package
21828 @cindex spam filtering
21829 @cindex spam elisp package, extending
21830 @cindex extending the spam elisp package
21832 Say you want to add a new back end called blackbox. For filtering
21833 incoming mail, provide the following:
21841 (defvar spam-use-blackbox nil
21842 "True if blackbox should be used.")
21847 (spam-use-blackbox . spam-check-blackbox)
21849 to @code{spam-list-of-checks}.
21854 Write the @code{spam-check-blackbox} function. It should return
21855 @samp{nil} or @code{spam-split-group}. See the existing
21856 @code{spam-check-*} functions for examples of what you can do.
21859 For processing spam and ham messages, provide the following:
21866 Note you don't have to provide a spam or a ham processor. Only
21867 provide them if Blackbox supports spam or ham processing.
21870 (defvar gnus-group-spam-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21871 "The Blackbox summary exit spam processor.
21872 Only applicable to spam groups.")
21874 (defvar gnus-group-ham-exit-processor-blackbox "blackbox"
21875 "The whitelist summary exit ham processor.
21876 Only applicable to non-spam (unclassified and ham) groups.")
21884 (defun spam-blackbox-register-spam-routine ()
21885 (spam-generic-register-routine
21886 ;; the spam function
21888 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21889 (when (stringp from)
21890 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer from))))
21891 ;; the ham function
21894 (defun spam-blackbox-register-ham-routine ()
21895 (spam-generic-register-routine
21896 ;; the spam function
21898 ;; the ham function
21900 (let ((from (spam-fetch-field-from-fast article)))
21901 (when (stringp from)
21902 (blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender from))))))
21905 Write the @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-ham-sender} and
21906 @code{blackbox-do-something-with-this-spammer} functions. You can add
21907 more complex code than fetching the message sender, but keep in mind
21908 that retrieving the whole message takes significantly longer than the
21909 sender through @code{spam-fetch-field-from-fast}, because the message
21910 senders are kept in memory by Gnus.
21915 @node Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
21916 @subsection Filtering Spam Using Statistics with spam-stat
21917 @cindex Paul Graham
21918 @cindex Graham, Paul
21919 @cindex naive Bayesian spam filtering
21920 @cindex Bayesian spam filtering, naive
21921 @cindex spam filtering, naive Bayesian
21923 Paul Graham has written an excellent essay about spam filtering using
21924 statistics: @uref{http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html,A Plan for
21925 Spam}. In it he describes the inherent deficiency of rule-based
21926 filtering as used by SpamAssassin, for example: Somebody has to write
21927 the rules, and everybody else has to install these rules. You are
21928 always late. It would be much better, he argues, to filter mail based
21929 on whether it somehow resembles spam or non-spam. One way to measure
21930 this is word distribution. He then goes on to describe a solution
21931 that checks whether a new mail resembles any of your other spam mails
21934 The basic idea is this: Create a two collections of your mail, one
21935 with spam, one with non-spam. Count how often each word appears in
21936 either collection, weight this by the total number of mails in the
21937 collections, and store this information in a dictionary. For every
21938 word in a new mail, determine its probability to belong to a spam or a
21939 non-spam mail. Use the 15 most conspicuous words, compute the total
21940 probability of the mail being spam. If this probability is higher
21941 than a certain threshold, the mail is considered to be spam.
21943 Gnus supports this kind of filtering. But it needs some setting up.
21944 First, you need two collections of your mail, one with spam, one with
21945 non-spam. Then you need to create a dictionary using these two
21946 collections, and save it. And last but not least, you need to use
21947 this dictionary in your fancy mail splitting rules.
21950 * Creating a spam-stat dictionary::
21951 * Splitting mail using spam-stat::
21952 * Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary::
21955 @node Creating a spam-stat dictionary
21956 @subsubsection Creating a spam-stat dictionary
21958 Before you can begin to filter spam based on statistics, you must
21959 create these statistics based on two mail collections, one with spam,
21960 one with non-spam. These statistics are then stored in a dictionary
21961 for later use. In order for these statistics to be meaningful, you
21962 need several hundred emails in both collections.
21964 Gnus currently supports only the nnml back end for automated dictionary
21965 creation. The nnml back end stores all mails in a directory, one file
21966 per mail. Use the following:
21968 @defun spam-stat-process-spam-directory
21969 Create spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every file
21970 is treated as one spam mail.
21973 @defun spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory
21974 Create non-spam statistics for every file in this directory. Every
21975 file is treated as one non-spam mail.
21978 Usually you would call @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory} on a
21979 directory such as @file{~/Mail/mail/spam} (this usually corresponds
21980 the the group @samp{nnml:mail.spam}), and you would call
21981 @code{spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory} on a directory such as
21982 @file{~/Mail/mail/misc} (this usually corresponds the the group
21983 @samp{nnml:mail.misc}).
21985 When you are using IMAP, you won't have the mails available locally,
21986 so that will not work. One solution is to use the Gnus Agent to cache
21987 the articles. Then you can use directories such as
21988 @file{"~/News/agent/nnimap/mail.yourisp.com/personal_spam"} for
21989 @code{spam-stat-process-spam-directory}. @xref{Agent as Cache}.
21992 This variable holds the hash-table with all the statistics -- the
21993 dictionary we have been talking about. For every word in either
21994 collection, this hash-table stores a vector describing how often the
21995 word appeared in spam and often it appeared in non-spam mails.
21998 If you want to regenerate the statistics from scratch, you need to
21999 reset the dictionary.
22001 @defun spam-stat-reset
22002 Reset the @code{spam-stat} hash-table, deleting all the statistics.
22005 When you are done, you must save the dictionary. The dictionary may
22006 be rather large. If you will not update the dictionary incrementally
22007 (instead, you will recreate it once a month, for example), then you
22008 can reduce the size of the dictionary by deleting all words that did
22009 not appear often enough or that do not clearly belong to only spam or
22010 only non-spam mails.
22012 @defun spam-stat-reduce-size
22013 Reduce the size of the dictionary. Use this only if you do not want
22014 to update the dictionary incrementally.
22017 @defun spam-stat-save
22018 Save the dictionary.
22021 @defvar spam-stat-file
22022 The filename used to store the dictionary. This defaults to
22023 @file{~/.spam-stat.el}.
22026 @node Splitting mail using spam-stat
22027 @subsubsection Splitting mail using spam-stat
22029 In order to use @code{spam-stat} to split your mail, you need to add the
22030 following to your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22033 (require 'spam-stat)
22037 This will load the necessary Gnus code, and the dictionary you
22040 Next, you need to adapt your fancy splitting rules: You need to
22041 determine how to use @code{spam-stat}. The following examples are for
22042 the nnml back end. Using the nnimap back end works just as well. Just
22043 use @code{nnimap-split-fancy} instead of @code{nnmail-split-fancy}.
22045 In the simplest case, you only have two groups, @samp{mail.misc} and
22046 @samp{mail.spam}. The following expression says that mail is either
22047 spam or it should go into @samp{mail.misc}. If it is spam, then
22048 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will return @samp{mail.spam}.
22051 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22052 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22056 @defvar spam-stat-split-fancy-spam-group
22057 The group to use for spam. Default is @samp{mail.spam}.
22060 If you also filter mail with specific subjects into other groups, use
22061 the following expression. Only mails not matching the regular
22062 expression are considered potential spam.
22065 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22066 `(| ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22067 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22071 If you want to filter for spam first, then you must be careful when
22072 creating the dictionary. Note that @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} must
22073 consider both mails in @samp{mail.emacs} and in @samp{mail.misc} as
22074 non-spam, therefore both should be in your collection of non-spam
22075 mails, when creating the dictionary!
22078 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22079 `(| (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22080 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22084 You can combine this with traditional filtering. Here, we move all
22085 HTML-only mails into the @samp{mail.spam.filtered} group. Note that since
22086 @code{spam-stat-split-fancy} will never see them, the mails in
22087 @samp{mail.spam.filtered} should be neither in your collection of spam mails,
22088 nor in your collection of non-spam mails, when creating the
22092 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
22093 `(| ("Content-Type" "text/html" "mail.spam.filtered")
22094 (: spam-stat-split-fancy)
22095 ("Subject" "\\bspam-stat\\b" "mail.emacs")
22100 @node Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22101 @subsubsection Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
22103 The main interface to using @code{spam-stat}, are the following functions:
22105 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-spam
22106 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new spam mail.
22107 Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22110 @defun spam-stat-buffer-is-no-spam
22111 Called in a buffer, that buffer is considered to be a new non-spam
22112 mail. Use this for new mail that has not been processed before.
22115 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-spam
22116 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be normal
22117 mail but spam. Use this to change the status of a mail that has
22118 already been processed as non-spam.
22121 @defun spam-stat-buffer-change-to-non-spam
22122 Called in a buffer, that buffer is no longer considered to be spam but
22123 normal mail. Use this to change the status of a mail that has already
22124 been processed as spam.
22127 @defun spam-stat-save
22128 Save the hash table to the file. The filename used is stored in the
22129 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22132 @defun spam-stat-load
22133 Load the hash table from a file. The filename used is stored in the
22134 variable @code{spam-stat-file}.
22137 @defun spam-stat-score-word
22138 Return the spam score for a word.
22141 @defun spam-stat-score-buffer
22142 Return the spam score for a buffer.
22145 @defun spam-stat-split-fancy
22146 Use this function for fancy mail splitting. Add the rule @samp{(:
22147 spam-stat-split-fancy)} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
22150 Make sure you load the dictionary before using it. This requires the
22151 following in your @file{~/.gnus} file:
22154 (require 'spam-stat)
22158 Typical test will involve calls to the following functions:
22161 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22162 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22163 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22164 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22165 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22166 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22167 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22168 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22169 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22170 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22171 File size: (nth 7 (file-attributes spam-stat-file))
22172 Number of words: (hash-table-count spam-stat)
22173 Test spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22174 Test non-spam: (spam-stat-test-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22177 Here is how you would create your dictionary:
22180 Reset: (setq spam-stat (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
22181 Learn spam: (spam-stat-process-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/spam")
22182 Learn non-spam: (spam-stat-process-non-spam-directory "~/Mail/mail/misc")
22183 Repeat for any other non-spam group you need...
22184 Reduce table size: (spam-stat-reduce-size)
22185 Save table: (spam-stat-save)
22188 @node Various Various
22189 @section Various Various
22195 @item gnus-home-directory
22196 All Gnus file and directory variables will be initialized from this
22197 variable, which defaults to @file{~/}.
22199 @item gnus-directory
22200 @vindex gnus-directory
22201 Most Gnus storage file and directory variables will be initialized from
22202 this variable, which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment
22203 variable, or @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
22205 Note that Gnus is mostly loaded when the @file{.gnus.el} file is read.
22206 This means that other directory variables that are initialized from this
22207 variable won't be set properly if you set this variable in
22208 @file{.gnus.el}. Set this variable in @file{.emacs} instead.
22210 @item gnus-default-directory
22211 @vindex gnus-default-directory
22212 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
22213 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
22214 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
22215 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
22216 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
22217 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
22220 @vindex gnus-verbose
22221 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
22222 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
22223 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
22224 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
22225 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
22227 @item gnus-verbose-backends
22228 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
22229 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
22230 to the Gnus back ends instead of Gnus proper.
22232 @item nnheader-max-head-length
22233 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
22234 When the back ends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
22235 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
22236 the absolute max length the back ends will try to read before giving up
22237 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
22238 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
22239 @code{t}, the back ends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
22240 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
22241 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
22243 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
22244 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
22245 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
22246 read when doing the operation described above.
22248 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22249 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22251 @cindex invalid characters in file names
22252 @cindex characters in file names
22253 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
22254 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
22255 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
22258 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
22262 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
22263 Windows (phooey) systems.
22265 @item gnus-hidden-properties
22266 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
22267 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
22268 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
22269 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
22271 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
22272 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
22273 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
22274 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
22275 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
22277 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
22278 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
22279 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
22281 @item gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22282 @vindex gnus-invalid-group-regexp
22284 Regexp to match ``invalid'' group names when querying user for a group
22285 name. The default value catches some @strong{really} invalid group
22286 names who could possibly mess up Gnus internally (like allowing
22287 @samp{:} in a group name, which is normally used to delimit method and
22290 @sc{imap} users might want to allow @samp{/} in group names though.
22298 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
22299 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
22301 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
22303 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
22309 Not because of victories @*
22312 but for the common sunshine,@*
22314 the largess of the spring.
22318 but for the day's work done@*
22319 as well as I was able;@*
22320 not for a seat upon the dais@*
22321 but at the common table.@*
22326 @chapter Appendices
22329 * XEmacs:: Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
22330 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
22331 * On Writing Manuals:: Why this is not a beginner's guide.
22332 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
22333 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
22334 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
22335 * Gnus Reference Guide:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
22336 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
22337 * Frequently Asked Questions::
22344 @cindex Installing under XEmacs
22346 XEmacs is distributed as a collection of packages. You should install
22347 whatever packages the Gnus XEmacs package requires. The current
22348 requirements are @samp{gnus}, @samp{w3}, @samp{mh-e},
22349 @samp{mailcrypt}, @samp{rmail}, @samp{eterm}, @samp{mail-lib},
22350 @samp{xemacs-base}, @samp{sh-script} and @samp{fsf-compat}. The
22351 @samp{misc-games} package is required for Morse decoding.
22358 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
22359 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
22361 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
22362 you can point your (feh!) web browser to
22363 @uref{http://quimby.gnus.org/}. This is also the primary
22364 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is
22365 known as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
22367 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
22368 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
22369 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
22370 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
22371 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
22372 appropriate name, don't you think?)
22374 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
22375 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
22376 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
22377 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
22380 * Gnus Versions:: What Gnus versions have been released.
22381 * Other Gnus Versions:: Other Gnus versions that also have been released.
22382 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
22383 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
22384 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
22385 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
22386 * Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
22387 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
22388 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
22392 @node Gnus Versions
22393 @subsection Gnus Versions
22395 @cindex September Gnus
22397 @cindex Quassia Gnus
22398 @cindex Pterodactyl Gnus
22402 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
22403 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
22404 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
22406 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
22407 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
22409 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
22410 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4'' (67 releases).
22412 On September 13th 1997, Quassia Gnus was started and lasted 37 releases.
22413 If was released as ``Gnus 5.6'' on March 8th 1998 (46 releases).
22415 Gnus 5.6 begat Pterodactyl Gnus on August 29th 1998 and was released as
22416 ``Gnus 5.8'' (after 99 releases and a CVS repository) on December 3rd
22419 On the 26th of October 2000, Oort Gnus was begun.
22421 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
22422 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'',
22423 ``Pterodactyl Gnus'', ``Oort Gnus'' -- don't panic. Don't let it know
22424 that you're frightened. Back away. Slowly. Whatever you do, don't
22425 run. Walk away, calmly, until you're out of its reach. Find a proper
22426 released version of Gnus and snuggle up to that instead.
22429 @node Other Gnus Versions
22430 @subsection Other Gnus Versions
22433 In addition to the versions of Gnus which have had their releases
22434 coordinated by Lars, one major development has been Semi-gnus from
22435 Japan. It's based on a library called @sc{semi}, which provides
22436 @sc{mime} capabilities.
22438 These Gnusae are based mainly on Gnus 5.6 and Pterodactyl Gnus.
22439 Collectively, they are called ``Semi-gnus'', and different strains are
22440 called T-gnus, ET-gnus, Nana-gnus and Chaos. These provide powerful
22441 @sc{mime} and multilingualization things, especially important for
22448 What's the point of Gnus?
22450 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
22451 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
22452 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
22453 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
22454 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
22455 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
22456 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
22457 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
22458 keep track of millions of people who post?
22460 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
22461 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
22462 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
22463 to separate the newsreader from the back ends, Gnus now offers a simple
22464 interface for anybody who wants to write new back ends for fetching mail
22465 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
22466 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
22467 every one of you to explore and invent.
22469 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
22470 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
22473 @node Compatibility
22474 @subsection Compatibility
22476 @cindex compatibility
22477 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
22478 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
22479 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
22484 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
22488 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
22491 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
22494 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
22495 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
22496 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
22497 important variables have their values copied into their global
22498 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
22499 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
22501 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
22502 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
22503 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
22504 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
22505 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
22509 @cindex highlighting
22510 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
22511 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
22512 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
22513 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
22514 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
22515 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
22518 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
22519 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
22520 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
22521 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
22523 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
22524 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
22525 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
22526 to stop doing it the old way.
22528 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
22530 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
22532 @cindex reporting bugs
22534 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
22535 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
22536 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
22538 @vindex gnus-bug-create-help-buffer
22539 If you are in the habit of sending bug reports @emph{very} often, you
22540 may find the helpful help buffer annoying after a while. If so, set
22541 @code{gnus-bug-create-help-buffer} to @code{nil} to avoid having it pop
22546 @subsection Conformity
22548 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
22549 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
22557 There are no known breaches of this standard.
22561 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
22563 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
22564 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
22565 We do have some breaches to this one.
22571 These are considered to be ``vanity headers'', while I consider them
22572 to be consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted
22573 articles coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use
22574 either of those for posting articles. I would not have known that if
22575 it wasn't for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
22580 USEFOR is an IETF working group writing a successor to RFC 1036, based
22581 on Son-of-RFC 1036. They have produced a number of drafts proposing
22582 various changes to the format of news articles. The Gnus towers will
22583 look into implementing the changes when the draft is accepted as an RFC.
22585 @item MIME - RFC 2045-2049 etc
22587 All the various @sc{mime} RFCs are supported.
22589 @item Disposition Notifications - RFC 2298
22590 Message Mode is able to request notifications from the receiver.
22592 @item PGP - RFC 1991 and RFC 2440
22595 RFC 1991 is the original PGP message specification, published as a
22596 Information RFC. RFC 2440 was the follow-up, now called Open PGP, and
22597 put on the Standards Track. Both document a non-@sc{mime} aware PGP
22598 format. Gnus supports both encoding (signing and encryption) and
22599 decoding (verification and decryption).
22601 @item PGP/MIME - RFC 2015/3156
22602 RFC 2015 (superseded by 3156 which references RFC 2440 instead of RFC
22603 1991) describes the @sc{mime}-wrapping around the RF 1991/2440 format.
22604 Gnus supports both encoding and decoding.
22606 @item S/MIME - RFC 2633
22607 RFC 2633 describes the @sc{s/mime} format.
22609 @item IMAP - RFC 1730/2060, RFC 2195, RFC 2086, RFC 2359, RFC 2595, RFC 1731
22610 RFC 1730 is @sc{imap} version 4, updated somewhat by RFC 2060 (@sc{imap} 4
22611 revision 1). RFC 2195 describes CRAM-MD5 authentication for @sc{imap}. RFC
22612 2086 describes access control lists (ACLs) for @sc{imap}. RFC 2359
22613 describes a @sc{imap} protocol enhancement. RFC 2595 describes the proper
22614 TLS integration (STARTTLS) with @sc{imap}. RFC 1731 describes the
22615 GSSAPI/Kerberos4 mechanisms for @sc{imap}.
22619 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
22620 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
22625 @subsection Emacsen
22631 Gnus should work on :
22639 XEmacs 20.4 and up.
22643 This Gnus version will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than
22644 that. Not reliably, at least. Older versions of Gnus may work on older
22647 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
22648 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
22649 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
22653 @node Gnus Development
22654 @subsection Gnus Development
22656 Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
22657 discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
22658 propose changes and new features, post patches and new back ends. This
22659 phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
22660 phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
22661 circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
22662 unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
22663 have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
22665 After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
22666 @dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
22667 and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
22668 supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
22669 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
22672 @vindex mail-source-delete-incoming
22673 Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
22674 In particular, @code{mail-source-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
22675 alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
22676 lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
22678 The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
22679 newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
22680 having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
22681 can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
22682 importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
22683 introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
22684 introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
22685 either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
22686 usually keep up with these rapid changes, while people on the newsgroup
22687 can't be assumed to do so.
22692 @subsection Contributors
22693 @cindex contributors
22695 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
22696 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
22697 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
22698 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
22699 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
22700 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
22701 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
22702 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
22703 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
22704 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
22706 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
22712 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
22715 Shenghuo Zhu---uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
22716 nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with @sc{mime} and
22717 other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
22718 functionality and stuff.
22721 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
22722 well as numerous other things).
22725 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
22728 Joe Reiss---creator of the smiley faces.
22731 Justin Sheehy--the FAQ maintainer.
22734 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
22737 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
22738 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
22741 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
22744 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
22745 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
22748 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
22751 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
22754 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
22757 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
22760 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
22761 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
22764 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
22767 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
22770 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
22773 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
22777 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
22780 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
22783 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
22786 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports, as
22787 well as autoconf support.
22791 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
22792 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
22794 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
22803 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
22807 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
22817 Alexei V. Barantsev,
22832 Massimo Campostrini,
22837 Jae-you Chung, @c ?
22838 James H. Cloos, Jr.,
22842 Andrew J. Cosgriff,
22845 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
22851 Michael Welsh Duggan,
22856 Enami Tsugutomo, @c Enami
22860 Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira,
22868 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
22870 Michelangelo Grigni,
22874 Kenichi Handa, @c Handa
22876 Yoshiki Hayashi, @c ?
22878 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
22885 François Felix Ingrand,
22886 Tatsuya Ichikawa, @c ?
22887 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
22889 Iwamuro Motonori, @c Iwamuro
22900 Peter Skov Knudsen,
22901 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
22903 Koseki Yoshinori, @c Koseki
22904 Thor Kristoffersen,
22907 Seokchan Lee, @c Lee
22925 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
22926 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
22933 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
22938 Jens-Ulrik Holger Petersen,
22942 John McClary Prevost,
22948 Lars Balker Rasmussen,
22953 Christian von Roques,
22956 Wolfgang Rupprecht,
22963 Philippe Schnoebelen,
22965 Randal L. Schwartz,
22979 Kiyokazu Suto, @c Suto
22984 Tozawa Akihiko, @c Tozawa
23000 Katsumi Yamaoka @c Yamaoka
23005 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
23006 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
23007 (550kB and counting).
23009 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
23012 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
23013 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
23017 @subsection New Features
23018 @cindex new features
23021 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
23022 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
23023 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
23024 * Quassia Gnus:: Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
23025 * Pterodactyl Gnus:: Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
23028 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
23029 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
23030 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
23033 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
23035 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
23040 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
23041 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
23044 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
23045 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
23048 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
23051 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
23052 All the mail back ends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
23053 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
23056 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
23057 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
23058 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
23059 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23062 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
23063 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23066 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
23067 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
23068 (@pxref{The Active File}).
23071 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
23072 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
23075 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
23076 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
23077 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23080 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
23081 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
23082 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
23085 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus.el}) to avoid cluttering up
23086 the @file{.emacs} file.
23089 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
23090 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
23093 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
23094 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
23097 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
23098 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23101 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
23102 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
23105 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
23106 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23109 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
23112 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
23113 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
23116 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
23117 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
23120 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
23121 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
23124 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
23127 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
23128 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23131 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
23135 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
23139 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
23140 configuration (@pxref{Window Layout}).
23143 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
23149 @node September Gnus
23150 @subsubsection September Gnus
23154 \gnusfig{-28cm}{0cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/september,height=20cm}}
23158 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
23163 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
23164 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
23168 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
23169 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
23173 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
23177 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
23178 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
23181 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
23185 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
23188 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
23191 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
23194 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
23198 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
23199 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
23202 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
23206 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
23210 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
23214 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
23218 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
23221 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
23222 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
23225 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
23229 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
23230 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
23233 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
23236 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
23237 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
23238 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
23241 Gnus has a new back end (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
23245 The Gnus cache is much faster.
23248 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
23252 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
23253 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
23256 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
23257 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
23260 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
23261 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
23264 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
23265 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
23266 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
23269 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
23270 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
23273 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
23276 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23279 All mail back ends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
23282 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
23285 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
23286 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
23289 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Window
23293 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
23296 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fseptember,height=5cm}}
23301 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
23304 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
23308 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
23311 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
23315 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
23318 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
23321 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
23322 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
23325 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
23326 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
23330 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
23331 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
23334 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
23338 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
23339 buffer to allow easier treatment.
23342 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
23345 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
23349 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
23353 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
23354 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
23357 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
23361 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
23362 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
23365 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
23366 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23369 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
23373 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
23376 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
23379 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
23385 @subsubsection Red Gnus
23387 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
23391 \gnusfig{-5.5cm}{-4cm}{\epsfig{figure=ps/red,height=20cm}}
23398 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
23401 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
23402 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
23405 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
23406 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
23410 Article washing status can be displayed in the
23411 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
23414 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
23417 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
23418 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
23421 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
23425 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
23426 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
23430 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
23431 Server Internals}).
23434 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
23438 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
23441 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
23442 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
23445 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
23446 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
23447 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
23450 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
23451 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23454 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
23455 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
23458 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{C-M-_}
23462 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
23463 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23466 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
23467 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
23470 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
23474 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
23477 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
23481 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
23482 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
23485 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
23486 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
23489 A new command for reading collections of documents
23490 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{C-M-d}
23491 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
23494 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
23498 A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when the @sc{nntp}
23499 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
23502 A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
23503 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
23504 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
23507 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
23508 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
23512 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
23516 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
23520 \marginpar[\mbox{}\hfill\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}]{\epsfig{figure=ps/fred,width=3cm}}
23525 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
23529 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
23533 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
23534 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
23537 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
23543 @subsubsection Quassia Gnus
23545 New features in Gnus 5.6:
23550 New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
23551 added. A plethora of new commands and modes have been added. See
23552 @pxref{Gnus Unplugged} for the full story.
23555 The @code{nndraft} back end has returned, but works differently than
23556 before. All Message buffers are now also articles in the @code{nndraft}
23557 group, which is created automatically.
23560 @code{gnus-alter-header-function} can now be used to alter header
23564 @code{gnus-summary-goto-article} now accept Message-ID's.
23567 A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
23568 outside the region: @kbd{C-c C-v}.
23571 You can now post to component group in @code{nnvirtual} groups with
23575 @code{nntp-rlogin-program}---new variable to ease customization.
23578 @code{C-u C-c C-c} in @code{gnus-article-edit-mode} will now inhibit
23579 re-highlighting of the article buffer.
23582 New element in @code{gnus-boring-article-headers}---@code{long-to}.
23585 @kbd{M-i} symbolic prefix command. See the section "Symbolic
23586 Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.
23589 @kbd{L} and @kbd{I} in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
23590 @kbd{a} to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.
23593 @code{gnus-simplify-subject-functions} variable to allow greater
23594 control over simplification.
23597 @kbd{A T}---new command for fetching the current thread.
23600 @kbd{/ T}---new command for including the current thread in the
23604 @kbd{M-RET} is a new Message command for breaking cited text.
23607 @samp{\\1}-expressions are now valid in @code{nnmail-split-methods}.
23610 The @code{custom-face-lookup} function has been removed.
23611 If you used this function in your initialization files, you must
23612 rewrite them to use @code{face-spec-set} instead.
23615 Canceling now uses the current select method. Symbolic prefix
23616 @kbd{a} forces normal posting method.
23619 New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
23623 For easier debugging of @code{nntp}, you can set
23624 @code{nntp-record-commands} to a non-@code{nil} value.
23627 @code{nntp} now uses @file{~/.authinfo}, a @file{.netrc}-like file, for
23628 controlling where and how to send @sc{authinfo} to @sc{nntp} servers.
23631 A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
23635 A history of where mails have been split is available.
23638 A new article date command has been added---@code{article-date-iso8601}.
23641 Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
23642 @code{gnus-score-thread-simplify}.
23645 A new function for citing in Message has been
23646 added---@code{message-cite-original-without-signature}.
23649 @code{article-strip-all-blank-lines}---new article command.
23652 A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has
23656 A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
23657 @code{gnus-adaptive-word-minimum} variable.
23660 The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually
23661 updated by the @code{gnus-start-date-timer} command.
23664 Web listserv archives can be read with the @code{nnlistserv} back end.
23667 Old dejanews archives can now be read by @code{nnweb}.
23671 @node Pterodactyl Gnus
23672 @subsubsection Pterodactyl Gnus
23674 New features in Gnus 5.8:
23679 The mail-fetching functions have changed. See the manual for the
23680 many details. In particular, all procmail fetching variables are gone.
23682 If you used procmail like in
23685 (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
23686 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
23687 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
23688 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")
23691 this now has changed to
23695 '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
23699 More information is available in the info doc at Select Methods ->
23700 Getting Mail -> Mail Sources
23703 Gnus is now a @sc{mime}-capable reader. This affects many parts of
23704 Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands. See the manual for details.
23707 Gnus has also been multilingualized. This also affects too
23708 many parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.
23711 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} can now be a function to be
23712 called to position point.
23715 The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
23716 summary buffers and @sc{nov} files.
23719 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} has been removed. Instead, a number
23720 of variables starting with @code{gnus-treat-} have been added.
23723 The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
23724 subtly different manner.
23727 New web-based back ends have been added: @code{nnslashdot},
23728 @code{nnwarchive} and @code{nnultimate}. nnweb has been revamped,
23729 again, to keep up with ever-changing layouts.
23732 Gnus can now read @sc{imap} mail via @code{nnimap}.
23740 @section The Manual
23744 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
23745 either @code{texi2dvi}
23747 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
23748 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
23750 to get what you hold in your hands now.
23752 The following conventions have been used:
23757 This is a @samp{string}
23760 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
23763 This is a @file{file}
23766 This is a @code{symbol}
23770 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
23774 (setq flargnoze "yes")
23777 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
23780 (setq flumphel 'yes)
23783 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
23784 ever get them confused.
23788 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
23789 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
23790 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
23791 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
23792 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
23793 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
23794 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
23800 @node On Writing Manuals
23801 @section On Writing Manuals
23803 I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
23804 that's already there. This is not how this manual is written. When
23805 implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
23806 straight away. I then see that it's difficult to explain the
23807 functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
23808 implementation. Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
23811 This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow. It
23812 documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
23813 looking for it. It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
23816 That would be a totally different book, that should be written using the
23817 reference manual as source material. It would look quite differently.
23822 @section Terminology
23824 @cindex terminology
23829 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
23830 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
23831 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
23832 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
23833 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
23837 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
23838 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
23839 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
23840 not posting, and replying is not following up.
23844 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
23848 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
23853 Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really. The only
23854 difference is how to access the actual articles. News articles are
23855 commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail messages could be
23856 read from a file on the local disk. The internal architecture of Gnus
23857 thus comprises a `front end' and a number of `back ends'. Internally,
23858 when you enter a group (by hitting @key{RET}, say), you thereby invoke
23859 a function in the front end in Gnus. The front end then `talks' to a
23860 back end and says things like ``Give me the list of articles in the foo
23861 group'' or ``Show me article number 4711''.
23863 So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the @code{nntp} back end
23864 accesses news via NNTP, the @code{nnimap} back end accesses mail via
23865 IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the @code{nnspool} back end
23866 accesses news via the common `spool directory' format, the @code{nnml}
23867 back end access mail via a file format and directory layout that's
23870 Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this is all
23871 done by the back ends. A back end is a collection of functions to
23872 access the articles.
23874 However, sometimes the term `back end' is also used where `server'
23875 would have been more appropriate. And then there is the term `select
23876 method' which can mean either. The Gnus terminology can be quite
23881 Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the @dfn{native}, or
23882 default, way of getting news.
23886 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
23887 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends for getting
23892 Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
23893 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
23897 A message that has been posted as news.
23900 @cindex mail message
23901 A message that has been mailed.
23905 A mail message or news article
23909 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
23914 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
23919 A line from the head of an article.
23923 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
23924 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
23928 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of all
23929 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
23930 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
23931 normal @sc{head} format.
23935 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
23936 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
23937 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
23938 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
23939 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
23940 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
23942 @item killed groups
23943 @cindex killed groups
23944 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
23945 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
23947 @item zombie groups
23948 @cindex zombie groups
23949 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
23952 @cindex active file
23953 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
23954 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
23955 is rather large, as you might surmise.
23958 @cindex bogus groups
23959 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
23960 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
23961 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
23964 @cindex activating groups
23965 The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
23966 number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
23967 Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
23971 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
23973 @item select method
23974 @cindex select method
23975 A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
23978 @item virtual server
23979 @cindex virtual server
23980 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
23981 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
23982 whole is a virtual server.
23986 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
23987 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
23990 @item ephemeral groups
23991 @cindex ephemeral groups
23992 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
23993 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
23994 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
23997 @cindex solid groups
23998 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
23999 group buffer are solid groups.
24001 @item sparse articles
24002 @cindex sparse articles
24003 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
24004 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
24008 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
24009 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
24013 @cindex thread root
24014 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
24015 articles in the thread.
24019 An article that has responses.
24023 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
24027 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
24028 specified by RFC 1153.
24034 @node Customization
24035 @section Customization
24036 @cindex general customization
24038 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
24039 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
24040 for some quite common situations.
24043 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
24044 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
24045 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
24046 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
24050 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
24051 @subsection Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
24053 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
24054 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
24055 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
24059 @item gnus-read-active-file
24060 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
24061 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
24062 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24063 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
24064 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
24066 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
24067 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
24068 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
24069 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
24073 @node Slow Terminal Connection
24074 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
24076 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
24077 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
24078 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
24082 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
24083 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
24084 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
24085 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
24086 horizontal and vertical recentering.
24088 @item gnus-visible-headers
24089 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
24090 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
24091 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
24092 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
24094 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
24096 (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
24097 gnus-treat-hide-signature t
24098 gnus-treat-hide-citation t)
24101 @item gnus-use-full-window
24102 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
24103 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
24104 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
24105 want to read them anyway.
24107 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
24108 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
24112 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
24113 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
24114 lines, which might save some time.
24118 @node Little Disk Space
24119 @subsection Little Disk Space
24122 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
24123 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
24127 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
24128 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
24129 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24130 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24133 @item gnus-read-newsrc-file
24134 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
24135 only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
24136 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
24139 @item gnus-save-killed-list
24140 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
24141 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
24142 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
24143 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
24149 @subsection Slow Machine
24150 @cindex slow machine
24152 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
24153 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
24155 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
24156 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
24158 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
24159 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
24160 summary buffer faster.
24164 @node Troubleshooting
24165 @section Troubleshooting
24166 @cindex troubleshooting
24168 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
24176 Make sure your computer is switched on.
24179 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
24180 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
24184 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
24185 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
24186 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
24187 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
24190 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
24194 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
24195 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
24196 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
24197 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
24198 something like that.
24201 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
24204 @cindex reporting bugs
24206 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
24208 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
24209 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
24210 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
24211 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
24213 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
24214 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
24215 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
24216 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
24219 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
24220 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
24221 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
24222 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
24223 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
24224 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
24226 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
24227 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
24228 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
24232 If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
24233 improvements, please produce the patch using @samp{diff -u}.
24236 If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
24237 in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
24238 edebug. Debugging lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual
24239 (@pxref{Debugging, , Debugging Lisp Programs, elisp, The GNU Emacs
24240 Lisp Reference Manual}). To get you started with edebug, consider if
24241 you discover some weird behaviour when pressing @kbd{c}, the first
24242 step is to do @kbd{C-h k c} and click on the hyperlink (Emacs only) in
24243 the documentation buffer that leads you to the function definition,
24244 then press @kbd{M-x edebug-defun RET} with point inside that function,
24245 return to Gnus and press @kbd{c} to invoke the code. You will be
24246 placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using @kbd{SPC} and
24247 evaluate expressions using @kbd{M-:} or inspect variables using
24248 @kbd{C-h v}, abort execution with @kbd{q}, and resume execution with
24249 @kbd{c} or @kbd{g}.
24254 Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate a elisp error but
24255 manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow. In these cases, you
24256 can use @kbd{M-x toggle-debug-on-quit} and press C-j when things are
24257 slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
24258 helps isolating the real problem areas). A fancier approach is to use
24259 the elisp profiler, ELP. The profiler is (or should be) fully
24260 documented elsewhere, but to get you started there are a few steps
24261 that need to be followed. First, instrument the part of Gnus you are
24262 interested in for profiling, e.g. @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-package RET
24263 gnus} or @kbd{M-x elp-instrument-packagre RET message}. Then perform
24264 the operation that is slow and press @kbd{M-x elp-results}. You will
24265 then see which operations that takes time, and can debug them further.
24266 If the entire operation takes much longer than the time spent in the
24267 slowest function in the profiler output, you probably profiled the
24268 wrong part of Gnus. To reset profiling statistics, use @kbd{M-x
24269 elp-reset-all}. @kbd{M-x elp-restore-all} is supposed to remove
24270 profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code generation in
24271 Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.
24273 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
24274 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
24276 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
24277 @cindex ding mailing list
24278 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
24279 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
24283 @node Gnus Reference Guide
24284 @section Gnus Reference Guide
24286 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
24287 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
24288 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
24289 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
24292 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
24293 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
24294 back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
24295 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
24296 and general methods of operation.
24299 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
24300 * Back End Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
24301 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
24302 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
24303 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
24304 * Group Info:: The group info format.
24305 * Extended Interactive:: Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
24306 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
24307 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
24311 @node Gnus Utility Functions
24312 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
24313 @cindex Gnus utility functions
24314 @cindex utility functions
24316 @cindex internal variables
24318 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
24319 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
24320 Below is a list of the most common ones.
24324 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
24325 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
24326 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
24328 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
24329 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
24330 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
24332 @item gnus-group-real-name
24333 @findex gnus-group-real-name
24334 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
24337 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
24338 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
24339 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
24340 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
24342 @item gnus-get-info
24343 @findex gnus-get-info
24344 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
24346 @item gnus-group-unread
24347 @findex gnus-group-unread
24348 The number of unread articles in @var{group}, or @code{t} if that is
24352 @findex gnus-active
24353 The active entry for @var{group}.
24355 @item gnus-set-active
24356 @findex gnus-set-active
24357 Set the active entry for @var{group}.
24359 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24360 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
24361 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
24364 @item gnus-continuum-version
24365 @findex gnus-continuum-version
24366 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
24367 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
24370 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
24371 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
24372 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
24374 @item gnus-news-group-p
24375 @findex gnus-news-group-p
24376 Says whether @var{group} came from a news back end.
24378 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24379 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
24380 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
24382 @item gnus-server-to-method
24383 @findex gnus-server-to-method
24384 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
24386 @item gnus-server-equal
24387 @findex gnus-server-equal
24388 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
24390 @item gnus-group-native-p
24391 @findex gnus-group-native-p
24392 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
24394 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
24395 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
24396 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
24398 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
24399 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
24400 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
24402 @item group-group-find-parameter
24403 @findex group-group-find-parameter
24404 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
24405 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
24407 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
24408 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
24409 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
24411 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
24412 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
24413 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
24415 @item gnus-check-backend-function
24416 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
24417 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the back end
24418 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
24421 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
24425 @item gnus-read-method
24426 @findex gnus-read-method
24427 Prompts the user for a select method.
24432 @node Back End Interface
24433 @subsection Back End Interface
24435 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
24436 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
24437 server is a @dfn{back end} and some @dfn{back end variables}. As examples
24438 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
24439 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
24440 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
24442 When Gnus asks for information from a back end---say @code{nntp}---on
24443 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
24444 function parameters. (If not, the back end should use the ``current''
24445 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
24446 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
24447 been opened, the function should fail.
24449 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
24450 name. Take this example:
24454 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
24455 (nntp-port-number 4324))
24458 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
24459 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
24461 The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
24462 The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
24463 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
24465 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
24466 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
24467 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
24469 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
24470 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
24471 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
24472 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
24473 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
24474 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
24477 Some back ends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} back ends, and
24478 some might be said not to be. The latter are back ends that generally
24479 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
24480 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
24483 Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article number. A
24484 few remarks about these article numbers might be useful. First of all,
24485 the numbers are positive integers. Secondly, it is normally not
24486 possible for later articles to `re-use' older article numbers without
24487 confusing Gnus. That is, if a group has ever contained a message
24488 numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or Gnus will get
24489 mightily confused.@footnote{See the function
24490 @code{nnchoke-request-update-info}, @ref{Optional Back End Functions}.}
24491 Third, article numbers must be assigned in order of arrival in the
24492 group; this is not necessarily the same as the date of the message.
24494 The previous paragraph already mentions all the `hard' restrictions that
24495 article numbers must fulfill. But it seems that it might be useful to
24496 assign @emph{consecutive} article numbers, for Gnus gets quite confused
24497 if there are holes in the article numbering sequence. However, due to
24498 the `no-reuse' restriction, holes cannot be avoided altogether. It's
24499 also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to avoid running out
24500 of numbers as long as possible.
24502 Note that by convention, backends are named @code{nnsomething}, but
24503 Gnus also comes with some @code{nnnotbackends}, such as
24504 @file{nnheader.el}, @file{nnmail.el} and @file{nnoo.el}.
24506 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back end
24509 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
24512 * Required Back End Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
24513 * Optional Back End Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
24514 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
24515 * Writing New Back Ends:: Extending old back ends.
24516 * Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
24517 * Mail-like Back Ends:: Some tips on mail back ends.
24521 @node Required Back End Functions
24522 @subsubsection Required Back End Functions
24526 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
24528 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
24529 @code{Message-ID}s. Current back ends do not fully support either---only
24530 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not support
24531 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
24533 The result data should either be HEADs or @sc{nov} lines, and the result
24534 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
24535 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
24536 of HEADs and @sc{nov} lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
24538 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
24539 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
24540 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
24541 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
24542 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
24543 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
24544 number, do maximum fetches.
24546 Here's an example HEAD:
24549 221 1056 Article retrieved.
24550 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
24551 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
24552 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
24553 Subject: Re: Something very droll
24554 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
24555 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
24557 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
24558 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
24559 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
24563 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
24564 these in the data buffer.
24566 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
24570 head = error / valid-head
24571 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
24572 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
24573 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
24574 header = <text> eol
24577 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
24578 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
24582 nov-buffer = *nov-line
24583 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
24584 field = <text except TAB>
24587 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
24591 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
24593 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
24594 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
24596 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The back end
24597 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
24598 server. In fact, it should do so.
24600 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
24601 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
24604 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
24606 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
24607 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
24610 There should be no data returned.
24613 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
24615 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the back end
24616 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that back end
24617 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
24618 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
24620 There should be no data returned.
24623 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
24625 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
24626 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
24627 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
24628 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
24630 There should be no data returned.
24633 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
24635 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
24637 There should be no data returned.
24640 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
24642 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
24643 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
24644 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
24645 it would be nice if that were possible.
24647 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
24648 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
24649 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
24650 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
24651 into its article buffer.
24653 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
24654 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
24655 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
24656 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
24657 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
24658 on successful article retrieval.
24661 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
24663 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
24664 making @var{group} the current group.
24666 If @var{fast}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
24669 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
24672 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
24675 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
24676 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
24677 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
24678 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
24679 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
24680 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
24681 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
24682 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader. If the group contains no
24683 articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1 and the
24687 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
24688 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
24689 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
24693 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24695 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
24696 a no-op on most back ends.
24698 There should be no data returned.
24701 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
24703 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
24706 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
24709 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
24710 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
24713 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
24714 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag. If the group
24715 contains no articles, the lowest article number should be reported as 1
24716 and the highest as 0.
24719 active-file = *active-line
24720 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
24722 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
24725 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
24726 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
24727 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
24730 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
24732 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
24733 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
24734 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
24735 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
24736 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
24737 clear if the posting could not be completed.
24739 There should be no result data from this function.
24744 @node Optional Back End Functions
24745 @subsubsection Optional Back End Functions
24749 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
24751 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
24752 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
24753 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
24755 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
24756 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
24757 former is in the same format as the data from
24758 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
24759 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
24762 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
24766 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
24768 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the back end for
24769 alterations. This comes in handy if the back end really carries all the
24770 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
24771 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
24772 should return a non-nil value.
24774 There should be no result data from this function.
24777 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
24779 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
24780 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
24781 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
24782 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
24783 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
24784 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
24785 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
24786 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
24788 There should be no result data from this function.
24791 @item (nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)
24793 Set/remove/add marks on articles. Normally Gnus handles the article
24794 marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and store them in
24795 @code{~/.newsrc.eld}. Some back ends (such as @sc{imap}) however carry
24796 all information about the articles on the server, so Gnus need to
24797 propagate the mark information to the server.
24799 ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:
24802 (RANGE ACTION MARK)
24805 RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on. ACTION is
24806 @code{add} or @code{del}, used to add marks or remove marks
24807 (preserving all marks not mentioned). MARK is a list of marks; where
24808 each mark is a symbol. Currently used marks are @code{read},
24809 @code{tick}, @code{reply}, @code{expire}, @code{killed},
24810 @code{dormant}, @code{save}, @code{download}, @code{unsend},
24811 @code{forward} and @code{recent}, but your back end should, if
24812 possible, not limit itself to these.
24814 Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be the
24815 effective one. That is, if your action contains a request to add the
24816 @code{tick} mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request to
24817 remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be removed.
24819 An example action list:
24822 (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
24823 ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
24824 ((92 94) 'del '(read)))
24827 The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to set the
24828 mark on (currently not used for anything).
24830 There should be no result data from this function.
24832 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
24834 If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like, this
24835 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
24836 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
24837 @var{mark}. If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
24838 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
24840 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
24841 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
24842 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
24845 There should be no result data from this function.
24848 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
24850 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
24851 request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one way or
24852 another. A mail back end will typically read the spool file or query the
24853 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
24854 to be heeded---if the back end decides that it is too much work just
24855 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
24856 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
24858 There should be no result data from this function.
24861 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
24863 The result data from this function should be a description of
24867 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
24869 description = <text>
24872 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
24874 The result data from this function should be the description of all
24875 groups available on the server.
24878 description-buffer = *description-line
24882 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
24884 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
24885 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date format
24886 (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned by
24887 the function @code{message-make-date} by default). The data should be
24888 in the active buffer format.
24890 It is okay for this function to return `too many' groups; some back ends
24891 might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups, rather than
24892 just the new groups. But don't do this for back ends with many groups.
24893 Normally, if the user creates the groups herself, there won't be too
24894 many groups, so @code{nnml} and the like are probably safe. But for
24895 back ends like @code{nntp}, where the groups have been created by the
24896 server, it is quite likely that there can be many groups.
24899 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
24901 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
24903 There should be no return data.
24906 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
24908 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
24909 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
24910 numbers.) It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
24911 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
24912 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
24915 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
24918 There should be no result data returned.
24921 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
24924 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
24925 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
24927 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
24928 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
24929 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
24930 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
24931 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
24932 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
24934 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
24935 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
24938 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
24939 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
24941 There should be no data returned.
24944 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
24946 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
24947 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
24948 this function in short order.
24950 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
24951 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
24953 The group should exist before the backend is asked to accept the
24954 article for that group.
24956 There should be no data returned.
24959 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
24961 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
24962 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
24964 There should be no data returned.
24967 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
24969 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
24970 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
24971 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
24973 There should be no data returned.
24976 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
24978 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
24979 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
24981 There should be no data returned.
24986 @node Error Messaging
24987 @subsubsection Error Messaging
24989 @findex nnheader-report
24990 @findex nnheader-get-report
24991 The back ends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
24992 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
24993 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the back end
24994 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
24995 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
24996 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
24999 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
25001 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
25004 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
25005 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
25006 recently reported message for the back end in question. This function
25007 takes one argument---the server symbol.
25009 Internally, these functions access @var{back-end}@code{-status-string},
25010 so the @code{nnchoke} back end will have its error message stored in
25011 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
25014 @node Writing New Back Ends
25015 @subsubsection Writing New Back Ends
25017 Many back ends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
25018 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
25019 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
25020 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
25021 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
25024 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
25025 back ends when writing new back ends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
25026 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
25028 All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by using a
25029 package called @code{nnoo}.
25031 To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends to
25032 inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
25038 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
25039 parameters. For instance:
25042 (nnoo-declare nndir
25046 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
25047 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
25050 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
25051 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
25052 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
25054 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
25055 variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when executing
25056 a function in those back ends.
25059 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25060 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25061 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25064 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
25065 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
25066 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
25068 @item nnoo-define-basics
25069 This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends should
25073 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25077 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
25078 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
25079 function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.
25081 @item nnoo-map-functions
25082 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
25083 functions from the parent back ends.
25086 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25087 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25088 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
25091 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
25092 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
25093 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
25094 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
25097 This macro allows importing functions from back ends. It should be the
25098 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
25099 haven't already been defined.
25105 nnmh-request-newgroups)
25109 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
25110 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
25111 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
25116 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} back end.
25119 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
25120 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
25124 (require 'nnheader)
25128 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
25130 (nnoo-declare nndir
25133 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
25134 "Where nndir will look for groups."
25135 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
25137 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
25138 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
25141 (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
25143 nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
25144 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
25145 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
25147 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
25148 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
25150 ;;; Interface functions.
25152 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
25154 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
25155 (setq nndir-directory
25156 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
25158 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
25159 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
25160 (push `(nndir-current-group
25161 ,(file-name-nondirectory
25162 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25164 (push `(nndir-top-directory
25165 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
25167 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
25169 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
25170 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25171 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
25172 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
25173 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
25177 nnmh-status-message
25179 nnmh-request-newgroups))
25185 @node Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25186 @subsubsection Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
25188 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
25189 @findex gnus-declare-backend
25190 Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy---you just
25191 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
25192 enter the back end into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
25194 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the back end name and
25195 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
25200 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
25203 The above line would then go in the @file{nnchoke.el} file.
25205 The abilities can be:
25209 This is a mailish back end---followups should (probably) go via mail.
25211 This is a newsish back end---followups should (probably) go via news.
25213 This back end supports both mail and news.
25215 This is neither a post nor mail back end---it's something completely
25218 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
25219 articles and groups.
25221 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
25222 true for almost all back ends.
25223 @item prompt-address
25224 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
25225 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for back ends like
25226 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
25230 @node Mail-like Back Ends
25231 @subsubsection Mail-like Back Ends
25233 One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
25234 back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
25235 common functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the
25236 definition of @code{nnml-request-scan}:
25239 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
25240 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
25241 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
25244 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
25245 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
25248 This function takes four parameters.
25252 This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible for
25255 @item exit-function
25256 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
25258 @item temp-directory
25259 Where the temporary files should be stored.
25262 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
25263 performed for one group only.
25266 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{back-end}@code{-save-mail} to
25267 save each article. @var{back-end}@code{-active-number} will be called to
25268 find the article number assigned to this article.
25270 The function also uses the following variables:
25271 @var{back-end}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
25272 this back end); and @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} and
25273 @var{back-end}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
25274 @var{back-end}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
25278 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
25279 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
25283 @node Score File Syntax
25284 @subsection Score File Syntax
25286 Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
25287 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
25288 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
25290 Here's a typical score file:
25294 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
25301 BNF definition of a score file:
25304 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
25305 element = rule / atom
25306 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
25307 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
25308 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
25309 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
25311 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
25312 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
25313 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
25314 date-header = "date"
25315 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25316 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25317 score = "nil" / <integer>
25318 date = "nil" / <natural number>
25319 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
25320 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
25321 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
25322 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
25323 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25324 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25325 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
25326 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
25327 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
25328 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
25329 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
25330 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
25331 exclude-files / read-only / touched
25332 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
25333 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
25334 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
25335 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
25336 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
25337 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
25338 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
25339 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
25340 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
25341 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
25342 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
25343 eval = "eval" space <form>
25344 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
25347 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
25350 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
25351 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
25352 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
25353 one looong line, then that's ok.
25355 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
25356 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
25360 @subsection Headers
25362 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
25363 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
25364 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
25365 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
25367 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
25368 RFC 1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
25369 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
25370 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
25371 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
25372 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
25373 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
25375 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
25376 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
25377 @code{xref}, and @code{extra}. There are macros for accessing and
25378 setting these slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
25379 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
25381 All these slots contain strings, except the @code{extra} slot, which
25382 contains an alist of header/value pairs (@pxref{To From Newsgroups}).
25388 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
25389 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
25391 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
25392 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
25393 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
25394 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
25396 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
25400 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
25403 is transformed into
25406 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
25409 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
25410 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
25413 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
25416 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
25417 is slightly tricky:
25420 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
25426 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
25429 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
25435 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
25442 and is equal to the previous range.
25444 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
25445 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
25446 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
25450 range = simple-range / normal-range
25451 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
25452 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
25453 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
25454 number *[ " " contents ]
25457 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
25458 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
25459 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
25460 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
25461 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
25466 @subsection Group Info
25468 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
25469 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
25470 describes the group.
25472 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
25473 second is a more complex one:
25476 ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))
25478 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
25479 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
25481 ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")))
25484 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
25485 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
25486 normally is a small integer. (It can also be the @dfn{rank}, which is a
25487 cons cell where the @code{car} is the level and the @code{cdr} is the
25488 score.) The third element is a list of ranges of read articles. The
25489 fourth element is a list of lists of article marks of various kinds.
25490 The fifth element is the select method (or virtual server, if you like).
25491 The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group parameters}, which is what
25492 this section is about.
25494 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
25495 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
25496 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
25498 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
25501 info = "(" group space ralevel space read
25502 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
25503 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
25504 group = quote <string> quote
25505 ralevel = rank / level
25506 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25507 rank = "(" level "." score ")"
25508 score = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
25510 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
25511 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
25512 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
25513 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
25516 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
25517 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
25520 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
25521 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
25524 @item gnus-info-group
25525 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
25526 @findex gnus-info-group
25527 @findex gnus-info-set-group
25528 Get/set the group name.
25530 @item gnus-info-rank
25531 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
25532 @findex gnus-info-rank
25533 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
25534 Get/set the group rank (@pxref{Group Score}).
25536 @item gnus-info-level
25537 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
25538 @findex gnus-info-level
25539 @findex gnus-info-set-level
25540 Get/set the group level.
25542 @item gnus-info-score
25543 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
25544 @findex gnus-info-score
25545 @findex gnus-info-set-score
25546 Get/set the group score (@pxref{Group Score}).
25548 @item gnus-info-read
25549 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
25550 @findex gnus-info-read
25551 @findex gnus-info-set-read
25552 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
25554 @item gnus-info-marks
25555 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
25556 @findex gnus-info-marks
25557 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
25558 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
25560 @item gnus-info-method
25561 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
25562 @findex gnus-info-method
25563 @findex gnus-info-set-method
25564 Get/set the group select method.
25566 @item gnus-info-params
25567 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
25568 @findex gnus-info-params
25569 @findex gnus-info-set-params
25570 Get/set the group parameters.
25573 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
25574 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
25576 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
25577 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
25578 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
25579 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
25582 @node Extended Interactive
25583 @subsection Extended Interactive
25584 @cindex interactive
25585 @findex gnus-interactive
25587 Gnus extends the standard Emacs @code{interactive} specification
25588 slightly to allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (@pxref{Symbolic
25589 Prefixes}). Here's an example of how this is used:
25592 (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
25593 (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
25598 The best thing to do would have been to implement
25599 @code{gnus-interactive} as a macro which would have returned an
25600 @code{interactive} form, but this isn't possible since Emacs checks
25601 whether a function is interactive or not by simply doing an @code{assq}
25602 on the lambda form. So, instead we have @code{gnus-interactive}
25603 function that takes a string and returns values that are usable to
25604 @code{interactive}.
25606 This function accepts (almost) all normal @code{interactive} specs, but
25611 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbol
25612 The current symbolic prefix---the @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol}
25616 @vindex gnus-current-prefix-symbols
25617 A list of the current symbolic prefixes---the
25618 @code{gnus-current-prefix-symbol} variable.
25621 The current article number---the @code{gnus-summary-article-number}
25625 The current article header---the @code{gnus-summary-article-header}
25629 The current group name---the @code{gnus-group-group-name}
25635 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
25636 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
25640 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
25641 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
25642 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
25644 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
25645 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
25646 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
25647 Gnus, that's very useful.
25649 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
25650 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
25651 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
25652 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
25653 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
25654 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
25655 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
25656 following function:
25659 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
25663 (,function ,@@args))
25667 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
25668 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
25669 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
25672 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
25673 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
25674 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
25676 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
25677 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
25678 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
25681 @node Various File Formats
25682 @subsection Various File Formats
25685 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
25686 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
25690 @node Active File Format
25691 @subsubsection Active File Format
25693 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
25694 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
25697 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
25700 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
25701 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
25702 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
25703 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
25704 no.general 1000 900 y
25707 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
25710 active = *group-line
25711 group-line = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
25712 group = <non-white-space string>
25714 high-number = <non-negative integer>
25715 low-number = <positive integer>
25716 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
25719 For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
25720 @samp{innd}, in particular @samp{active(5)}.
25723 @node Newsgroups File Format
25724 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
25726 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
25727 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
25728 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
25731 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
25732 Here's the definition:
25736 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
25737 group = <non-white-space string>
25739 description = <string>
25744 @node Emacs for Heathens
25745 @section Emacs for Heathens
25747 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
25748 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
25749 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{C-M-a}'', ``kill the
25750 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
25751 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
25752 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
25753 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
25757 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
25758 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
25763 @subsection Keystrokes
25767 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
25770 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
25773 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
25774 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
25775 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
25776 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
25777 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
25778 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
25780 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
25781 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
25782 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
25783 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
25784 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
25785 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
25786 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
25788 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
25789 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{C-M-m}
25790 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
25791 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
25792 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
25793 ``Press @kbd{C-M-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
25794 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
25796 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
25797 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
25798 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
25799 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
25800 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
25806 @subsection Emacs Lisp
25808 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
25809 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
25810 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
25811 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
25813 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
25814 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
25815 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
25816 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
25817 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
25818 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
25819 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
25822 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
25823 write the following:
25826 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
25829 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
25830 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
25831 you can go and fill your @file{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
25834 If you have put that thing in your @file{.emacs} file, it will be read
25835 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
25836 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
25837 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
25838 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
25840 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
25841 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
25842 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
25846 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
25850 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
25853 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
25854 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
25857 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
25860 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
25861 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
25864 @include gnus-faq.texi
25884 @c Local Variables:
25886 @c coding: iso-8859-1
25888 % LocalWords: BNF mucho detailmenu cindex kindex kbd
25889 % LocalWords: findex Gnusae vindex dfn dfn samp nntp setq nnspool nntpserver
25890 % LocalWords: nnmbox newusers Blllrph NEWGROUPS dingnusdingnusdingnus
25891 % LocalWords: pre fab rec comp nnslashdot regex ga ga sci nnml nnbabyl nnmh
25892 % LocalWords: nnfolder emph looong eld newsreaders defun init elc pxref