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4 @settitle Red Gnus 0.75 Manual
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233 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
240 \thispagestyle{empty}
242 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
244 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
245 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
246 are preserved on all copies.
248 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
249 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
250 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
251 permission notice identical to this one.
253 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
254 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
263 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
265 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
267 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
268 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
269 are preserved on all copies.
272 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
273 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
274 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
275 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
278 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
279 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
280 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
281 permission notice identical to this one.
283 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
284 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
290 @title Red Gnus 0.75 Manual
292 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
295 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
296 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
298 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
299 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
300 are preserved on all copies.
302 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
303 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
304 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
305 permission notice identical to this one.
307 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
308 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
317 @top The Red Gnus Newsreader
321 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
322 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
323 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
326 This manual corresponds to Red Gnus 0.75
337 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
338 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
340 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
341 being accused of plagiarism:
343 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
344 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
345 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
346 even read news with it!
348 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
349 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
350 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
351 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
352 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
359 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
360 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
361 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
362 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
363 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
364 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
365 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
366 * Various:: General purpose settings.
367 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
368 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
369 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
370 * Key Index:: Key Index.
374 @chapter Starting Gnus
379 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
380 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
383 @findex gnus-other-frame
384 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
385 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
386 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
388 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
392 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
393 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
394 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
395 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
396 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
397 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
398 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
399 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
400 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
401 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
402 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
406 @node Finding the News
407 @section Finding the News
410 @vindex gnus-select-method
412 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
413 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
414 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
415 native method. All groups that are not fetched with this method are
418 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
419 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
422 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
425 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
428 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
431 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
432 certainly be much faster.
434 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
436 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
437 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
438 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
439 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
440 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
441 that fails as well, Gnus will will try to use the machine that is
442 running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
444 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
445 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
446 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
447 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
449 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
450 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
451 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
452 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
453 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
454 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
456 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
458 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
459 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
460 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
461 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
462 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
463 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
465 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
467 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
468 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
469 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
470 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
471 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
472 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
475 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
476 would typically set this variable to
479 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
484 @section The First Time
485 @cindex first time usage
487 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
488 be subscribed by default.
490 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
491 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
492 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
493 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
496 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
497 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is here
498 defined as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
500 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
501 help you with most common problems.
503 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
504 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
508 @node The Server is Down
509 @section The Server is Down
510 @cindex server errors
512 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
513 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
514 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
516 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
517 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
518 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
519 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
520 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
521 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
522 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
524 @findex gnus-no-server
525 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
527 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
528 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
529 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
530 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
531 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
532 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
537 @section Slave Gnusae
540 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
541 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
542 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
543 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
545 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
548 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
549 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
550 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
551 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
552 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
553 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
554 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
556 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
557 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
558 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
559 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
560 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
561 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
562 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
563 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
565 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
566 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
569 @node Fetching a Group
570 @section Fetching a Group
571 @cindex fetching a group
573 @findex gnus-fetch-group
574 It it sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
575 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
576 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
577 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
578 It takes the group name as a parameter.
586 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
587 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
588 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
589 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
590 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
591 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
592 is @code{t} by default. If you set this variable to @code{always}, then
593 Gnus will query the backends for new groups even when you do the @kbd{g}
594 command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
597 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
598 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
599 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
603 @node Checking New Groups
604 @subsection Checking New Groups
606 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
607 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
608 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
609 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
610 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
611 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
612 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
613 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
614 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
615 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
617 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
618 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
619 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
620 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
621 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
622 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
623 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
624 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
625 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
626 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
627 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
629 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
630 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
631 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
632 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
633 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
634 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
637 @node Subscription Methods
638 @subsection Subscription Methods
640 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
641 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
642 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
644 This variable should contain a function. Some handy pre-fab values
649 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
650 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
651 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
652 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
653 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
655 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
656 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
657 Subscribe all new groups randomly.
659 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
660 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
661 Subscribe all new groups alphabetically.
663 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
664 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
665 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
666 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
667 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
668 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
669 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
670 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
671 up. Or something like that.
673 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
674 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
675 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
676 you about @strong{all} new groups.
678 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
679 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
684 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
685 A closely related variable is
686 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
687 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
688 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
689 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
692 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above to
693 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
694 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
697 @node Filtering New Groups
698 @subsection Filtering New Groups
700 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
701 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
702 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
705 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
708 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
709 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
710 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
711 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
712 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
713 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
714 subscribing these groups.
715 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
716 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
718 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
719 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
720 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
721 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
722 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
723 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
724 and if the the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
725 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
727 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
728 Yet another variable that meddles here is
729 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
730 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
731 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
732 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
733 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
734 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
735 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
736 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
738 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
739 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
742 @node Changing Servers
743 @section Changing Servers
744 @cindex changing servers
746 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
747 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
748 very flaky and you want to use another.
750 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
751 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
755 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
756 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
757 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
758 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
761 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
762 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
763 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
764 functions more than absolutely necessary.
766 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
767 @findex gnus-change-server
768 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
769 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
770 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
771 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
772 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
774 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
775 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
776 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
777 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
778 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
780 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
781 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
782 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
783 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
784 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
785 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
789 @section Startup Files
790 @cindex startup files
795 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
796 information is traditionally stored in this file.
798 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
799 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
800 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
801 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
802 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
803 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
804 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
806 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
807 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
808 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
809 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file.
811 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
812 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
813 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
814 the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster.
815 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
816 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
818 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
819 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
820 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
821 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
822 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
823 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
824 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
825 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
826 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
827 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
828 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
829 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
831 @vindex gnus-startup-file
832 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
833 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
834 file being whatever that one is with a @samp{.eld} appended.
836 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
837 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
838 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
839 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
840 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
841 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
842 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
843 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
844 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
845 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
848 (defun turn-off-backup ()
849 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
851 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
852 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
855 @vindex gnus-init-file
856 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
857 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus.el} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
858 (@file{~/.gnus.el} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
859 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{.emacs} and
860 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff.
868 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
869 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
870 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
871 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
872 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
875 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
876 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
879 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
880 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
881 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
883 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
884 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
885 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
886 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
887 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
888 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
891 @node The Active File
892 @section The Active File
894 @cindex ignored groups
896 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
897 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
898 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
900 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
901 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
902 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
903 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
904 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
905 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
906 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
909 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
910 @c if you set it to anything else.
912 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
914 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
915 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
916 reading the active file. This variable is @code{t} by default.
918 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
919 you actually subscribe to.
921 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
922 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
923 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
924 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
926 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
927 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
928 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
929 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
930 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
931 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
933 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
934 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
935 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
936 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
937 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
938 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
940 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
941 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
944 @node Startup Variables
945 @section Startup Variables
950 @vindex gnus-load-hook
951 A hook that is run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
952 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
953 times you start Gnus.
955 @item gnus-startup-hook
956 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
957 A hook that is run after starting up Gnus successfully.
959 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
960 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
961 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
962 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
963 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
964 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
965 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
966 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
968 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
969 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
970 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
971 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
972 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
973 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
975 @item gnus-no-groups-message
976 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
977 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
979 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
980 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
981 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
983 @item gnus-startup-jingle
984 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
985 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
986 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
991 @node The Group Buffer
992 @chapter The Group Buffer
995 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
996 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
997 long as Gnus is active.
1000 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1001 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1002 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1003 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1004 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1005 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1006 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1007 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1008 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1009 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1010 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1011 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1012 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1013 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1014 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1015 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1016 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1020 @node Group Buffer Format
1021 @section Group Buffer Format
1024 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1025 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1026 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1030 @node Group Line Specification
1031 @subsection Group Line Specification
1032 @cindex group buffer format
1034 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1035 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1037 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1040 25: news.announce.newusers
1041 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1046 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1047 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1048 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1049 asterisk at the beginning of the line?)
1051 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1052 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1053 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1054 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1055 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1056 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1058 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1060 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1061 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1062 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1063 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1066 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1067 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1068 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1070 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1075 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1078 Whether the group is subscribed.
1081 Level of subscribedness.
1084 Number of unread articles.
1087 Number of dormant articles.
1090 Number of ticked articles.
1093 Number of read articles.
1096 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1097 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1100 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1103 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1112 Newsgroup description.
1115 @samp{m} if moderated.
1118 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1127 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1131 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1134 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1135 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1136 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1137 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1138 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1141 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1143 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1147 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1151 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1152 be a letter. @sc{gnus} will call the function
1153 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1154 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1155 paratere as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1156 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1161 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1162 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1163 group, or a bogus native group.
1166 @node Group Modeline Specification
1167 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1168 @cindex group modeline
1170 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1171 The mode line can be changed by setting
1172 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). It
1173 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1177 The native news server.
1179 The native select method.
1183 @node Group Highlighting
1184 @subsection Group Highlighting
1185 @cindex highlighting
1186 @cindex group highlighting
1188 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1189 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1190 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1191 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1192 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1194 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1198 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1200 ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil))
1201 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) .
1202 ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1204 ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1206 ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1208 ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil))))
1211 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1218 The number of unread articles in the group.
1222 Whether the group is a mail group.
1224 The level of the group.
1226 The score of the group.
1228 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1230 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1233 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1234 topic being inserted.
1237 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1238 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1239 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1241 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1242 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1243 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1244 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1245 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1248 @node Group Maneuvering
1249 @section Group Maneuvering
1250 @cindex group movement
1252 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1253 expected, hopefully.
1259 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1260 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1261 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1267 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1268 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1269 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1273 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1274 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1278 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1279 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1283 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1284 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1285 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1289 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1290 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1291 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1294 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1300 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1301 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1302 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1307 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1308 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1309 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1313 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1314 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1315 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1318 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1319 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1320 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1321 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1325 @node Selecting a Group
1326 @section Selecting a Group
1327 @cindex group selection
1332 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1333 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1334 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1335 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1336 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1337 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1338 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1339 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1340 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1341 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1345 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1346 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1347 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1348 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1349 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1353 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1354 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1355 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1356 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1357 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1358 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1359 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1360 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer.
1361 This might be useful if you want to toggle threading before entering the
1365 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1366 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1367 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1368 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1369 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1372 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1373 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1374 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1375 doing any processing of its contents
1376 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1377 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1378 manner will have no permanent effects.
1382 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1383 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1384 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1385 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1386 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1387 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1388 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1389 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1392 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1393 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1394 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1395 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1400 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1401 full summary buffer.
1404 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1407 Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the
1411 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1412 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1413 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1417 @node Subscription Commands
1418 @section Subscription Commands
1419 @cindex subscription
1427 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1428 Toggle subscription to the current group
1429 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1435 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1436 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1437 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1438 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1444 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1445 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1451 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1452 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1455 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1456 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1457 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1458 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1459 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1465 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1466 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1470 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1471 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1474 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1475 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1476 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1477 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1478 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1479 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1480 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1481 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1482 @file{.newsrc} file.
1486 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1496 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1497 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1498 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1499 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1500 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1505 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1506 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1507 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1511 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1512 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1513 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1515 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1516 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1517 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1518 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1519 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1520 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1527 @section Group Levels
1531 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1532 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1533 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1534 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1535 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1537 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1543 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1544 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1545 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1546 prompted for a level.
1549 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1550 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1551 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1552 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1553 Gnus considers groups on between levels 1 and
1554 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1555 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1556 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1557 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1558 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (default 9),
1559 completely dead. Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly
1560 the same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what
1561 articles you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and
1562 living groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely
1563 for reasons of efficiency.
1565 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1566 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1568 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1569 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1570 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1572 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1573 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1574 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1575 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1576 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1577 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1578 relevant legal ranges.
1580 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1581 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1582 will only move to groups that are of the same level (or lower). In
1583 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1584 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1585 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1588 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1589 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1590 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1593 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1594 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1595 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1596 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1599 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1600 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1601 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1602 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1604 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1605 Gnus will normally just activate groups that are on level
1606 @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to activate
1607 unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable to
1608 5. The default is 6.
1612 @section Group Score
1615 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1616 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1617 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1620 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1621 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1622 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1623 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1624 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1625 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1626 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1628 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1629 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1630 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1631 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1632 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1633 action after each summary exit, you can add
1634 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1635 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1636 slow things down somewhat.
1639 @node Marking Groups
1640 @section Marking Groups
1641 @cindex marking groups
1643 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1644 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1645 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1646 bidding on those groups.
1648 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1649 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1650 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1658 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1659 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1665 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1666 Remove the mark from the current group
1667 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1671 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1672 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1676 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1677 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1681 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1682 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1686 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1687 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1688 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1691 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1693 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1694 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1695 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1696 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1697 the command to be executed.
1700 @node Foreign Groups
1701 @section Foreign Groups
1702 @cindex foreign groups
1704 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1705 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1706 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1707 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1714 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1715 @cindex making groups
1716 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1717 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1718 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1722 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1723 @cindex renaming groups
1724 Rename the current group to something else
1725 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is legal only on some
1726 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1732 @findex gnus-group-customize
1733 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1737 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1738 @cindex renaming groups
1739 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1740 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1744 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1745 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1746 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1750 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1751 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1752 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1756 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1758 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1759 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1764 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1765 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1769 @cindex (ding) archive
1770 @cindex archive group
1771 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1772 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1773 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1774 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1775 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1776 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1777 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1781 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1783 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1784 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1785 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1786 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1790 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1792 Read an arbitrary directory as if with were a newsgroup with the
1793 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1794 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1798 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1799 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1801 Make a group based on some file or other
1802 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1803 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1804 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1805 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs}, and
1806 @code{forward}. If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will
1807 guess at the file type. @xref{Document Groups}.
1811 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1816 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1817 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1818 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1819 search engine type and the search string. Legal search engine types
1820 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1821 @xref{Web Searches}.
1824 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1825 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1826 This function will delete the current group
1827 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1828 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1829 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1830 absolutely sure of what you are doing.
1834 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1835 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1836 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1840 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1841 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1842 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1845 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1848 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1849 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1850 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1851 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1852 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers.
1855 @node Group Parameters
1856 @section Group Parameters
1857 @cindex group parameters
1859 The group parameters store information local to a particular group:
1864 If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like
1865 @code{(to-address . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used by
1866 the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in
1867 mail groups that represent closed mailing lists---mailing lists where
1868 it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is
1869 subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only
1870 goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two
1871 copies of your followups.
1873 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1874 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1875 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1876 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1877 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1878 list address instead.
1882 If the group parameter list has an element that looks like
1883 @code{(to-list . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used when
1884 doing a @kbd{a} in any group. It is totally ignored when doing a
1885 followup---except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail
1886 group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1888 @item broken-reply-to
1889 @cindex broken-reply-to
1890 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1891 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1892 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1893 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1894 broken behavior. So there!
1898 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
1899 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
1903 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, Gnus will treat
1904 all responses as if they were responses to news articles. This can be
1905 useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a news group.
1909 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list and set to
1910 @code{t}, new composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current
1911 group. If it is present and set to @code{none}, no @code{Gcc:} header
1912 will be generated, if it is present and a string, this string will be
1913 inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header (this symbol takes precedence over
1914 any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later).
1918 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
1919 . t)}, , all articles that are read will be marked as expirable. For an
1920 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
1923 @cindex total-expire
1924 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
1925 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
1926 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
1931 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
1932 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
1933 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
1934 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
1935 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
1936 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
1939 @cindex score file group parameter
1940 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
1941 @file{file} into the current score file for the group in question. This
1942 means that all score commands you issue will end up in that file.
1945 @cindex adapt file group parameter
1946 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
1947 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
1948 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
1951 When unsubscribing to a mailing list you should never send the
1952 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
1953 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
1954 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
1957 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} says which articles to
1958 display on entering the group. Legal values are:
1962 Display all articles, both read and unread.
1965 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
1970 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
1971 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
1972 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
1975 @item @var{(variable form)}
1976 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
1977 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
1978 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
1979 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
1980 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
1981 @code{eval}ed there.
1983 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
1984 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
1985 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
1986 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
1987 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
1991 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group.
1993 Also @pxref{Topic Parameters}.
1996 @node Listing Groups
1997 @section Listing Groups
1998 @cindex group listing
2000 These commands all list various slices of the groups that are available.
2008 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2009 List all groups that have unread articles
2010 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2011 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2012 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2013 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2020 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2021 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2022 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2023 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2024 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2025 unsubscribed groups).
2029 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2030 List all unread groups on a specific level
2031 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2032 with no unread articles.
2036 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2037 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2038 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2039 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2044 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2045 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2049 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2050 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2051 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2055 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2056 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2060 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2061 List absolutely all groups that are in the active file(s) of the
2062 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2063 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2064 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2065 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list group that
2066 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they are killed groups.
2067 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2071 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2072 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2073 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2077 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2078 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2079 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2083 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2084 @cindex visible group parameter
2085 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2086 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2087 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2088 get the same effect.
2090 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2091 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2092 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2093 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2094 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2097 @node Sorting Groups
2098 @section Sorting Groups
2099 @cindex sorting groups
2101 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2102 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2103 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2104 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2105 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2106 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2111 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2112 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2113 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2115 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2116 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2117 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2119 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2120 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2121 Sort by group level.
2123 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2124 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2125 Sort by group score.
2127 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2128 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2129 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2130 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}.
2132 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2133 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2134 Sort by number of unread articles.
2136 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2137 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2138 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2143 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2144 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2148 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2149 some sorting criteria:
2153 @kindex G S a (Group)
2154 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2155 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2156 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2159 @kindex G S u (Group)
2160 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2161 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2162 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2165 @kindex G S l (Group)
2166 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2167 Sort the group buffer by group level
2168 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2171 @kindex G S v (Group)
2172 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2173 Sort the group buffer by group score
2174 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}).
2177 @kindex G S r (Group)
2178 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2179 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2180 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2183 @kindex G S m (Group)
2184 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2185 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2186 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2190 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2192 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2196 @kindex G P a (Group)
2197 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2198 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2199 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2202 @kindex G P u (Group)
2203 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2204 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2205 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2208 @kindex G P l (Group)
2209 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2210 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2211 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2214 @kindex G P v (Group)
2215 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2216 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2217 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}).
2220 @kindex G P r (Group)
2221 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2222 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2223 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}).
2226 @kindex G P m (Group)
2227 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2228 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2229 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2235 @node Group Maintenance
2236 @section Group Maintenance
2237 @cindex bogus groups
2242 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2243 Find bogus groups and delete them
2244 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2248 @findex gnus-find-new-newsgroups
2249 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-find-new-newsgroups}). If
2250 given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server for
2254 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2255 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2256 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2257 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2260 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2261 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2262 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2263 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2268 @node Browse Foreign Server
2269 @section Browse Foreign Server
2270 @cindex foreign servers
2271 @cindex browsing servers
2276 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2277 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2278 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2279 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2282 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2283 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2284 will be use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2285 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2287 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2292 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2293 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2297 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2298 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2301 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2302 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2303 Enter the current group and display the first article
2304 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2307 @kindex RET (Browse)
2308 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2309 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2313 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2314 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2315 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2321 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2322 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2326 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2327 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2328 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2333 @section Exiting Gnus
2334 @cindex exiting Gnus
2336 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2341 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2342 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2343 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2344 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2348 @findex gnus-group-exit
2349 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2353 @findex gnus-group-quit
2354 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2355 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2358 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2359 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2360 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2361 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2362 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2367 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2368 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2369 trying to customize meta-variables.
2374 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2375 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2376 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2382 @section Group Topics
2385 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2386 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2387 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2388 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2389 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2390 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2398 2: alt.religion.emacs
2401 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2403 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2404 13: comp.sources.unix
2407 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2409 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2410 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2411 is a toggling command.)
2413 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2414 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2415 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2416 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2419 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2420 the hook for the group mode:
2423 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2427 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2428 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2429 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2430 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2431 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2435 @node Topic Variables
2436 @subsection Topic Variables
2437 @cindex topic variables
2439 Now, if you select a topic, if will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2440 really neat, I think.
2442 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2443 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2444 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2457 Number of groups in the topic.
2459 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2461 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2464 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2465 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2466 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2469 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2470 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2472 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2473 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2474 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2477 @node Topic Commands
2478 @subsection Topic Commands
2479 @cindex topic commands
2481 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2482 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2483 definitions slightly.
2489 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2490 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2491 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2495 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2496 Move the current group to some other topic
2497 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2498 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2502 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2503 Copy the current group to some other topic
2504 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2505 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2509 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2510 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2511 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2512 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2516 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2517 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2518 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2522 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2523 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2524 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2528 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2529 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2530 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2533 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2534 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2535 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2536 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2540 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2542 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2543 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2544 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2545 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2546 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2547 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2550 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2551 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2552 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2553 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2554 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2558 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2559 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2560 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2564 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2565 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2566 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2571 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2572 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2575 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2576 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2577 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2581 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2582 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2583 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2587 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2588 @cindex group parameters
2589 @cindex topic parameters
2591 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2592 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2598 @subsection Topic Sorting
2599 @cindex topic sorting
2601 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2607 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2608 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2609 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2610 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2613 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2614 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2615 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2616 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2619 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2620 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2621 Sort the current topic by group level
2622 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2625 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2626 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2627 Sort the current topic by group score
2628 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}).
2631 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2632 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2633 Sort the current topic by group rank
2634 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2637 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2638 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2639 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2640 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2644 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2647 @node Topic Topology
2648 @subsection Topic Topology
2649 @cindex topic topology
2652 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2658 2: alt.religion.emacs
2661 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2663 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2664 13: comp.sources.unix
2667 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2668 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2669 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2674 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2675 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2679 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2680 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2681 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2682 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2683 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2684 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2686 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2687 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2688 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2691 @node Topic Parameters
2692 @subsection Topic Parameters
2693 @cindex topic parameters
2695 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2696 ancestor) topic parameters. All legal group parameters are legal topic
2697 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2699 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2700 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2701 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2702 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2708 2: alt.religion.emacs
2712 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2714 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2715 13: comp.sources.unix
2719 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2720 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2721 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2722 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2723 @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2724 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2726 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2727 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2728 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2729 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2730 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2732 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2733 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2734 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2735 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2736 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2737 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2738 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2739 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2742 @node Misc Group Stuff
2743 @section Misc Group Stuff
2746 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2747 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2748 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2749 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2756 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2757 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2758 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2762 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2763 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). The current
2764 group name will be used as the default.
2768 @findex gnus-group-mail
2769 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2773 Variables for the group buffer:
2777 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2778 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2779 @code{gnus-group-mode-hook} is called after the group buffer has been
2782 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2783 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2784 @code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} is called after the group buffer is
2785 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2788 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2789 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2790 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2791 whether they are empty or not.
2796 @node Scanning New Messages
2797 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2798 @cindex new messages
2799 @cindex scanning new news
2805 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2806 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2807 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2808 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2809 command will force a total rereading of the active file(s) from the
2814 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2815 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2816 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2817 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2818 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
2819 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
2821 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2822 @cindex activating groups
2824 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2825 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2830 @findex gnus-group-restart
2831 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
2832 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
2833 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
2837 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2838 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2840 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
2841 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
2845 @node Group Information
2846 @subsection Group Information
2847 @cindex group information
2848 @cindex information on groups
2856 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2857 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
2860 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2861 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2862 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2863 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
2864 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
2865 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
2866 for fetching the file.
2868 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
2869 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
2874 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
2875 @cindex describing groups
2876 @cindex group description
2877 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
2878 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
2879 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
2883 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
2884 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
2885 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
2890 @findex gnus-version
2891 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
2895 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
2896 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
2899 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
2902 @findex gnus-info-find-node
2903 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
2907 @node Group Timestamp
2908 @subsection Group Timestamp
2910 @cindex group timestamps
2912 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
2913 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
2914 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
2917 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
2920 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
2922 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
2923 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
2926 (setq gnus-group-line-format
2927 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
2930 This will result in lines looking like:
2933 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
2934 0: custom 19961002T012713
2937 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
2938 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
2942 (setq gnus-group-line-format
2943 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
2948 @subsection File Commands
2949 @cindex file commands
2955 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
2956 @vindex gnus-init-file
2957 @cindex reading init file
2958 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
2959 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
2963 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
2964 @cindex saving .newsrc
2965 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
2966 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
2967 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
2970 @c @kindex Z (Group)
2971 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
2972 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
2977 @node The Summary Buffer
2978 @chapter The Summary Buffer
2979 @cindex summary buffer
2981 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
2982 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
2984 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
2985 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
2987 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
2990 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
2991 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
2992 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
2993 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
2994 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
2995 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
2996 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
2997 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
2998 * Threading:: How threads are made.
2999 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3000 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3001 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3002 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3003 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3004 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3005 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3006 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3007 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3008 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3009 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3010 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3011 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3012 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3013 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3014 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3015 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3016 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3020 @node Summary Buffer Format
3021 @section Summary Buffer Format
3022 @cindex summary buffer format
3025 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3026 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3027 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3030 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3031 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3032 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3033 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3034 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3035 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined function exist:
3036 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3037 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3038 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3039 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3040 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
3042 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3043 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3044 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3045 with those specs that require it. The default is @samp{}.
3048 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3049 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3051 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3052 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3053 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3054 lines a a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3055 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3057 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3059 The following format specification characters are understood:
3067 Subject if the article is the root or the previous article had a
3068 different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3069 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @samp{}.)
3071 Full @code{From} header.
3073 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3075 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3076 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3077 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3078 may be more thorough.
3080 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3083 Number of lines in the article.
3085 Number of characters in the article.
3087 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3089 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3090 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3092 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3093 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3095 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3096 for adopted articles.
3098 One space for each thread level.
3100 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3108 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3109 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3110 default level. If the difference between
3111 @code{gnus-summary-default-level} and the score is less than
3112 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3120 The @code{Date} in @code{YY-MMM} format.
3122 The @code{Date} in @code{YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS} format.
3128 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3129 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3131 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3132 article has any children.
3136 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3137 be a letter. @sc{gnus} will call the function
3138 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3139 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3140 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3141 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3144 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3145 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3146 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3147 that. This means that it is illegal to have these specs after a
3148 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3149 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3151 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3152 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3154 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3157 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3158 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3160 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3161 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set
3162 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you like. The default
3163 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3165 Here are the elements you can play with:
3171 Unprefixed group name.
3173 Current article number.
3177 Number of unread articles in this group.
3179 Number of unselected articles in this group.
3181 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3182 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3183 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3184 and no unselected ones.
3186 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3187 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3189 Subject of the current article.
3193 Name of the current score file.
3195 Number of dormant articles.
3197 Number of ticked articles.
3199 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3201 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3205 @node Summary Highlighting
3206 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3210 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3211 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3212 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3213 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3214 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3216 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3217 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3218 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3219 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3221 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3222 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3223 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) that is used to
3224 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3226 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3227 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3228 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3229 list where the elements are on the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3230 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3231 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3233 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3234 ((> score default) . bold))
3236 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3237 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3241 @node Summary Maneuvering
3242 @section Summary Maneuvering
3243 @cindex summary movement
3245 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3246 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3248 None of these commands select articles.
3253 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3254 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3255 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3256 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3257 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3261 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3262 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3263 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3264 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3265 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3270 @kindex G j (Summary)
3271 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3272 Ask for an article number and then go to that article
3273 (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3276 @kindex G g (Summary)
3277 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3278 Ask for an article number and then go the summary line of that article
3279 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3282 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3283 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3284 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3285 to the group buffer.
3287 Variables related to summary movement:
3291 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3292 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3293 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3294 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3295 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3296 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3297 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3298 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3299 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3300 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3301 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3302 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3303 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3304 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3306 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3307 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3308 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3309 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3310 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3311 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) This variable is not
3312 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3314 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3315 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3316 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3317 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3318 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3320 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3321 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3322 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3323 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3324 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3325 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3326 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3327 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3333 @node Choosing Articles
3334 @section Choosing Articles
3335 @cindex selecting articles
3338 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3339 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3343 @node Choosing Commands
3344 @subsection Choosing Commands
3346 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3347 and they all select and display an article.
3351 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3352 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3353 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3354 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3359 @kindex G n (Summary)
3360 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3361 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3366 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3367 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3372 @kindex G N (Summary)
3373 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3374 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3379 @kindex G P (Summary)
3380 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3381 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3384 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3385 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3386 Go to the next article with the same subject
3387 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3390 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3391 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3392 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3393 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3397 @kindex G f (Summary)
3399 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3400 Go to the first unread article
3401 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3405 @kindex G b (Summary)
3407 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3408 Go to the article with the highest score
3409 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3414 @kindex G l (Summary)
3415 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3416 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3419 @kindex G p (Summary)
3420 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3421 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3422 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3423 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3424 history as you like.
3428 @node Choosing Variables
3429 @subsection Choosing Variables
3431 Some variables that are relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3434 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3435 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3436 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3437 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3438 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3439 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3441 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3442 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3443 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3444 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3446 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3447 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3448 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3449 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3450 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3451 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3452 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3453 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3454 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3455 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3456 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3457 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3458 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3459 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3464 @node Paging the Article
3465 @section Scrolling the Article
3466 @cindex article scrolling
3471 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3472 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3473 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3474 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3475 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3478 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3479 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3480 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3483 @kindex RET (Summary)
3484 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3485 Scroll the current article one line forward
3486 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3490 @kindex A g (Summary)
3492 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3493 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3494 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3495 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3496 the way it came from the server.
3501 @kindex A < (Summary)
3502 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3503 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3504 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3509 @kindex A > (Summary)
3510 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3511 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3515 @kindex A s (Summary)
3517 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3518 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3519 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3524 @node Reply Followup and Post
3525 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3528 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3529 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3533 @node Summary Mail Commands
3534 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3536 @cindex composing mail
3538 Commands for composing a mail message:
3544 @kindex S r (Summary)
3546 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3547 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3548 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3553 @kindex S R (Summary)
3554 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3555 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3556 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3557 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3560 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3561 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3562 Forward the current article to some other person
3563 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3564 headers of the forwarded article.
3569 @kindex S m (Summary)
3570 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3571 Send a mail to some other person
3572 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3575 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3576 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3577 @cindex bouncing mail
3578 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3579 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3580 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3581 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3582 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3583 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3584 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3585 very well fail, though.
3588 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3589 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3590 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3591 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3592 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3593 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3594 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3595 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3596 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3597 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3599 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3600 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3601 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3602 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3603 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3606 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3607 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3608 Digest the current series and forward the result using mail
3609 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3610 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3613 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3614 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3615 @cindex crossposting
3616 @cindex excessive crossposting
3617 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3618 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3620 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3621 This command is provided as a way to fight back agains the current
3622 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3623 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3624 command understands the process/prefix convention
3625 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3630 @node Summary Post Commands
3631 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3633 @cindex composing news
3635 Commands for posting a news article:
3641 @kindex S p (Summary)
3642 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3643 Post an article to the current group
3644 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3649 @kindex S f (Summary)
3650 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3651 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3655 @kindex S F (Summary)
3657 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3658 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3659 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3660 process/prefix convention.
3663 @kindex S n (Summary)
3664 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3665 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3666 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3669 @kindex S n (Summary)
3670 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3671 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3672 message through mail and include the original message
3673 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3674 the process/prefix convention.
3677 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3678 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3679 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3680 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3681 headers of the forwarded article.
3684 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3685 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3686 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3687 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}).
3690 @kindex S u (Summary)
3691 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3692 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3693 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3697 @node Canceling and Superseding
3698 @section Canceling Articles
3699 @cindex canceling articles
3700 @cindex superseding articles
3702 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3703 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3705 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3707 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3709 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3710 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3711 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3712 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3714 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3715 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3718 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3719 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3720 your original article.
3722 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3724 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3725 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3726 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3729 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3730 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3731 have posted almost the same article twice.
3733 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3734 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3735 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3736 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3737 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3738 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3739 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3740 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3741 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3742 canceled/superseded.
3744 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3747 @node Marking Articles
3748 @section Marking Articles
3749 @cindex article marking
3750 @cindex article ticking
3753 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3755 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
3756 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3757 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3759 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3762 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3763 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3764 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3768 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3772 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3773 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3777 @node Unread Articles
3778 @subsection Unread Articles
3780 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
3785 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3786 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
3788 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3789 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3790 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3791 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3792 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
3796 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3797 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
3799 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
3800 are followups to it.
3803 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3804 Markes as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
3806 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
3811 @subsection Read Articles
3812 @cindex expirable mark
3814 All the following marks mark articles as read.
3819 @vindex gnus-del-mark
3820 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
3821 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
3824 @vindex gnus-read-mark
3825 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
3828 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
3829 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
3830 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
3833 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
3834 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
3837 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
3838 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
3841 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
3842 Marked as read by having a too low score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
3845 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
3846 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
3849 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
3850 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
3853 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
3854 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
3857 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
3858 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
3862 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
3863 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
3864 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
3868 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
3869 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
3871 One more special mark, though:
3875 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
3876 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
3878 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
3879 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
3880 control the expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
3881 articles that are marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
3887 @subsection Other Marks
3888 @cindex process mark
3891 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
3897 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
3898 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
3899 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
3900 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
3901 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
3904 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
3905 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
3906 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
3907 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
3910 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
3911 Articles that are stored in the article cache will be marked with an
3912 @samp{*} in the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}).
3915 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
3916 Articles that are ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
3917 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
3918 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}.
3921 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
3922 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
3923 It the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
3924 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
3925 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
3928 @vindex gnus-process-mark
3929 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}. A
3930 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
3931 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
3932 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
3933 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
3937 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
3938 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
3939 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
3941 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
3942 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
3943 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
3947 @subsection Setting Marks
3948 @cindex setting marks
3950 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
3956 @kindex M t (Summary)
3957 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
3958 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
3963 @kindex M ? (Summary)
3964 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
3965 Mark the current article as dormant
3966 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}).
3970 @kindex M d (Summary)
3972 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
3973 Mark the current article as read
3974 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
3978 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
3979 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
3980 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
3985 @kindex M k (Summary)
3986 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
3987 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
3988 and then select the next unread article
3989 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
3993 @kindex M K (Summary)
3994 @kindex C-k (Summary)
3995 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
3996 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
3997 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4000 @kindex M C (Summary)
4001 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4002 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4005 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4006 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4007 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4008 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4011 @kindex M H (Summary)
4012 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4013 Catchup the current group to point
4014 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4017 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4018 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4019 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4020 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4023 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4024 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4025 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4026 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4030 @kindex M c (Summary)
4031 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4032 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4033 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4034 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}).
4038 @kindex M e (Summary)
4040 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4041 Mark the current article as expirable
4042 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4045 @kindex M b (Summary)
4046 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4047 Set a bookmark in the current article
4048 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4051 @kindex M B (Summary)
4052 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4053 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4054 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4057 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4058 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4059 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4060 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4063 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4064 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4065 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4066 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4069 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4070 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4071 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4072 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4073 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4076 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4077 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4078 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4079 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4080 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4081 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4082 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4083 The default is @code{t}.
4086 @node Setting Process Marks
4087 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4088 @cindex setting process marks
4095 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4096 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4097 Mark the current article with the process mark
4098 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4099 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4103 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4104 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4105 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4106 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4109 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4110 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4111 Remove the process mark from all articles
4112 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4115 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4116 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4117 Invert the list of process marked articles
4118 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4121 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4122 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4123 Mark articles by a regular expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4126 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4127 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4128 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4131 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4132 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4133 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4134 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4137 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4138 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4139 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4140 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4143 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4144 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4145 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4146 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4149 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4150 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4151 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4154 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4155 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4156 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4157 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4160 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4161 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4162 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4165 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4166 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4167 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4168 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4171 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4172 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4173 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4174 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4177 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4178 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4179 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4180 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4183 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4184 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4185 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4186 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4195 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4196 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4197 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4204 @kindex / / (Summary)
4205 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4206 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4207 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4210 @kindex / a (Summary)
4211 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4212 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4213 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4217 @kindex / u (Summary)
4219 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4220 Limit the summary buffer to articles that are not marked as read
4221 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4222 buffer to articles that are strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4223 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4226 @kindex / m (Summary)
4227 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4228 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have not been marked
4229 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4232 @kindex / t (Summary)
4233 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4234 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles that are
4235 older than (or equal to) that number of days
4236 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4237 articles that are younger than that number of days.
4240 @kindex / n (Summary)
4241 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4242 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4243 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4244 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4247 @kindex / w (Summary)
4248 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4249 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4250 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4254 @kindex / v (Summary)
4255 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4256 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4257 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4261 @kindex M S (Summary)
4262 @kindex / E (Summary)
4263 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4264 Display all expunged articles
4265 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4268 @kindex / D (Summary)
4269 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4270 Display all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4273 @kindex / d (Summary)
4274 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4275 Hide all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4278 @kindex / c (Summary)
4279 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4280 Hide all dormant articles that have no children
4281 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4284 @kindex / C (Summary)
4285 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4286 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4287 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4288 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4296 @cindex article threading
4298 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put replies to
4299 articles directly after the articles they reply to---in a hierarchical
4303 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4304 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4308 @node Customizing Threading
4309 @subsection Customizing Threading
4310 @cindex customizing threading
4316 @item gnus-show-threads
4317 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4318 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4319 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4320 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4321 slower and more awkward.
4323 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4324 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4325 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4326 more old headers---headers to articles that are marked as read. If you
4327 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4328 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4329 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4330 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4331 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4332 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4333 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4334 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4336 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4337 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4338 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4339 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4340 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4341 articles that belong in the same thread together. This will leave
4342 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4343 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4344 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4345 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4346 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4347 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4348 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4349 @code{nil} by default.
4351 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4352 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4353 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4354 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4355 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4356 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4357 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subjects lines. If
4358 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4359 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4360 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4361 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4363 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4364 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4365 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects.
4367 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4368 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4369 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4370 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4371 simplification is used.
4373 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4374 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4375 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4376 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4378 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4380 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4386 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4387 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4388 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4389 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4394 (mapconcat 'identity
4395 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4397 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4400 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4403 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4404 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4405 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4406 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4407 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4408 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4409 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process. The
4410 default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4412 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4413 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4414 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4415 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4416 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4417 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4418 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever includes unrelated
4419 articles, but it's also means that people who have posted with broken
4420 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4424 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4425 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4426 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4427 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4429 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4430 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4431 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4434 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4438 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4439 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4442 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4443 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4444 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4445 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4446 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4447 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4449 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4450 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4451 There are four possible values:
4453 @cindex adopting articles
4458 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4459 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4460 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4461 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4464 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4465 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4466 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4467 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4468 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4469 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4470 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4473 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4474 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4475 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4479 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4480 display them after one another.
4483 Don't gather loose threads.
4486 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4487 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4488 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4491 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4492 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4493 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4496 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4497 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4498 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4499 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4500 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4503 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4504 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4505 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4510 @node Thread Commands
4511 @subsection Thread Commands
4512 @cindex thread commands
4518 @kindex T k (Summary)
4519 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4520 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4521 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4522 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4523 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4528 @kindex T l (Summary)
4529 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4530 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4531 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4532 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4535 @kindex T i (Summary)
4536 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4537 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4538 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4541 @kindex T # (Summary)
4542 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4543 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4544 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4547 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4548 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4549 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4550 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4553 @kindex T T (Summary)
4554 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4555 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4558 @kindex T s (Summary)
4559 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4560 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4561 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4564 @kindex T h (Summary)
4565 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4566 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4569 @kindex T S (Summary)
4570 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4571 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4574 @kindex T H (Summary)
4575 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
4576 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
4579 @kindex T t (Summary)
4580 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
4581 Re-thread the thread the current article is part of
4582 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
4583 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
4586 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
4587 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
4588 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
4589 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}.
4593 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
4594 understand the numeric prefix.
4599 @kindex T n (Summary)
4600 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
4601 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
4604 @kindex T p (Summary)
4605 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
4606 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
4609 @kindex T d (Summary)
4610 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
4611 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
4614 @kindex T u (Summary)
4615 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
4616 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
4619 @kindex T o (Summary)
4620 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
4621 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
4624 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
4625 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
4626 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
4627 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
4628 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
4629 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
4630 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If is
4631 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
4632 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
4633 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
4634 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
4635 that have subjects that are fuzzily equal will be included.
4641 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
4642 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
4643 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
4644 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4645 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
4646 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4647 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
4648 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
4649 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
4650 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
4651 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
4652 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
4653 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
4654 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
4656 Each function takes two threads and return non-@code{nil} if the first
4657 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
4658 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
4659 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
4660 in the list. You should probably always include
4661 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
4662 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
4663 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
4664 ascending article order.
4666 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
4667 number, you could do something like:
4670 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4671 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4672 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4673 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
4676 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
4677 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
4678 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
4679 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
4680 which the articles arrived.
4682 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
4686 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4688 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t1 t2)))
4689 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
4692 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
4693 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
4694 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
4695 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
4698 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
4699 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
4700 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
4701 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
4702 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
4703 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
4704 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
4705 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
4706 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
4707 is uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
4708 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
4709 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
4710 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
4712 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
4716 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
4717 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
4718 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
4723 @node Asynchronous Fetching
4724 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
4725 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
4726 @cindex article pre-fetch
4729 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
4730 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
4731 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
4732 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
4733 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
4735 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
4736 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
4738 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
4739 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
4740 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
4741 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
4742 connection is blocked.
4744 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
4745 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
4746 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
4747 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
4749 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
4750 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
4751 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
4752 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
4755 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
4758 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
4759 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
4760 happen automatically.
4762 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
4763 You can control how many articles that are to be pre-fetched by setting
4764 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
4765 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
4766 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
4767 pre-fetch all the articles that it can without bound. If it is
4768 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be made.
4770 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
4771 @findex gnus-async-read-p
4772 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
4773 articles, for instance. Which articles to pre-fetch is controlled by
4774 the @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable. This function should
4775 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
4776 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
4777 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
4778 data structure as the only parameter.
4780 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles that are
4781 shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
4784 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
4785 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
4786 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
4787 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
4790 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
4793 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
4794 preferrably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
4795 It's also probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
4797 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
4798 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
4799 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
4800 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
4804 Remove articles when they are read.
4807 Remove articles when exiting the group.
4810 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
4812 @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
4813 If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
4814 from the next group.
4817 @node Article Caching
4818 @section Article Caching
4819 @cindex article caching
4822 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
4823 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
4824 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
4825 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
4826 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
4828 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
4830 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
4831 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
4832 @vindex gnus-use-cache
4833 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
4834 all articles that are ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
4835 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
4836 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
4837 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
4839 When re-select a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
4840 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
4841 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
4842 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
4843 as dormant, and don't worry.
4845 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
4847 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
4848 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
4849 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
4850 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
4851 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
4852 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
4853 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
4854 articles that are marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
4855 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
4856 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
4858 @findex gnus-jog-cache
4859 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
4860 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
4861 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, and store them in
4862 the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this command if 1)
4863 your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really, really slow
4864 and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk. Seriously.
4866 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
4867 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
4868 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
4869 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
4870 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
4871 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
4872 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
4875 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
4876 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
4877 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
4878 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
4879 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
4880 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
4881 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
4882 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
4883 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
4887 @node Persistent Articles
4888 @section Persistent Articles
4889 @cindex persistent articles
4891 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
4892 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
4893 useful in my opinion.
4895 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
4896 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
4897 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
4898 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
4899 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
4900 the expiry going on at the news server.
4902 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
4903 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
4904 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
4910 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
4911 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
4914 @kindex M-* (Summary)
4915 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
4916 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
4917 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
4921 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
4923 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
4924 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
4925 interested in persistent articles:
4928 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
4932 @node Article Backlog
4933 @section Article Backlog
4935 @cindex article backlog
4937 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
4938 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
4939 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
4940 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
4941 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
4942 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
4943 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
4944 increase memory usage some.
4946 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
4947 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
4948 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
4949 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
4950 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
4951 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
4952 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
4954 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
4957 @node Saving Articles
4958 @section Saving Articles
4959 @cindex saving articles
4961 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
4962 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
4963 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
4964 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
4965 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
4967 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
4968 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
4969 unwanted headers before saving the article.
4971 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
4972 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
4973 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
4974 deleted before saving.
4980 @kindex O o (Summary)
4982 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
4983 Save the current article using the default article saver
4984 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
4987 @kindex O m (Summary)
4988 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
4989 Save the current article in mail format
4990 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
4993 @kindex O r (Summary)
4994 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
4995 Save the current article in rmail format
4996 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
4999 @kindex O f (Summary)
5000 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5001 Save the current article in plain file format
5002 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5005 @kindex O F (Summary)
5006 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5007 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5008 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5011 @kindex O b (Summary)
5012 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5013 Save the current article body in plain file format
5014 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5017 @kindex O h (Summary)
5018 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5019 Save the current article in mh folder format
5020 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5023 @kindex O v (Summary)
5024 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5025 Save the current article in a VM folder
5026 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5029 @kindex O p (Summary)
5030 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5031 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5032 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5035 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5036 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5037 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5038 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5039 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5040 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5041 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5042 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5043 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5044 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5045 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5046 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5050 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5051 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5052 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5053 functions below, or you can create your own.
5057 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5058 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5059 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5060 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5061 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5062 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5063 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5065 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5066 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5067 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5068 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5069 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5070 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5072 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5073 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5074 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5075 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5076 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5077 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5078 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5080 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5081 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5082 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5083 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5084 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5086 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5087 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5088 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5089 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5090 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5093 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5094 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5095 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5096 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5097 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}. The former creates capitalized names, and
5098 the latter does not.
5100 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5101 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5102 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5103 reader to use this setting.
5106 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5107 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5108 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5109 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5112 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5113 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5114 available functions that generate names:
5118 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5119 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5120 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5122 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5123 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5124 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5126 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5127 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5128 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5130 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5131 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5132 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5135 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5136 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5137 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5138 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5139 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5143 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5144 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5145 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5146 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5149 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5150 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5151 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5152 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5153 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5154 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5155 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5156 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5157 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5159 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5160 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5161 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5162 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5164 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5165 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5166 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5169 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5170 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5171 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5172 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5173 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5174 all the files in the toplevel directory
5175 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5176 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5177 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5178 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5180 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5181 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5182 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5183 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5184 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5187 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5191 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5192 (setq gnus-default-article-save 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5195 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5196 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5197 the toplevel directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5198 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5201 @node Decoding Articles
5202 @section Decoding Articles
5203 @cindex decoding articles
5205 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5206 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5209 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5210 * Shared Articles:: Unshar articles.
5211 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5212 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5213 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5216 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5217 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5218 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5219 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5220 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5222 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5223 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5224 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5226 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5227 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5228 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5230 Subjects that are nonstandard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5231 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5232 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5235 @node Uuencoded Articles
5236 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5238 @cindex uuencoded articles
5243 @kindex X u (Summary)
5244 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5245 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5248 @kindex X U (Summary)
5249 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5250 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5251 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5254 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5255 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5256 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5259 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5260 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5261 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5262 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5265 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5266 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5267 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5268 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5269 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5271 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5272 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5273 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5274 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5277 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5278 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5279 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5280 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5281 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5282 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5286 @node Shared Articles
5287 @subsection Shared Articles
5289 @cindex shared articles
5294 @kindex X s (Summary)
5295 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5296 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5299 @kindex X S (Summary)
5300 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5301 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5304 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5305 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5306 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5309 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5310 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5311 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5312 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5316 @node PostScript Files
5317 @subsection PostScript Files
5323 @kindex X p (Summary)
5324 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5325 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5328 @kindex X P (Summary)
5329 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5330 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5331 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5334 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5335 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5336 View the current PostScript series
5337 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5340 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5341 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5342 View and save the current PostScript series
5343 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5347 @node Decoding Variables
5348 @subsection Decoding Variables
5350 Adjective, not verb.
5353 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5354 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5355 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5359 @node Rule Variables
5360 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5361 @cindex rule variables
5363 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5364 variables are on the form
5367 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5374 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5375 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5377 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5378 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5381 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5382 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5385 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5386 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5387 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5388 user and default view rules.
5390 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5391 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5392 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5397 @node Other Decode Variables
5398 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5401 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5403 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5404 All functions in this list will be called right each file has been
5405 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5406 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5407 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5411 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5412 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5415 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5416 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5417 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5420 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5421 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5422 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5423 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5424 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5427 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5428 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5429 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5431 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5432 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5433 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5434 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5435 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5438 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5439 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5440 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5442 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5443 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5444 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5445 looking for files to display.
5447 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5448 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5449 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5452 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5453 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5454 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5457 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5458 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5459 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5462 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5463 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5464 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5467 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5468 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5469 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark articles that were
5470 unsuccessfully decoded as unread.
5472 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5473 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5474 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5475 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5477 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5478 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5480 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5481 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5482 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5483 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5485 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5486 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5487 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5488 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5489 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5490 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5491 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5492 simply dropped them.
5497 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5498 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5502 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5503 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5504 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5505 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5506 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5507 for you when you post the article.
5509 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5510 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5511 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5512 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5514 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5515 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5516 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5517 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen are able
5518 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5519 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5520 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5522 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5523 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5524 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
5525 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
5526 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
5527 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
5528 Default is @code{t}.
5534 @subsection Viewing Files
5535 @cindex viewing files
5536 @cindex pseudo-articles
5538 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
5539 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
5540 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
5541 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
5542 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
5543 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
5544 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
5546 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
5547 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
5548 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
5549 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
5551 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
5552 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
5553 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
5555 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
5556 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
5557 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
5558 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
5559 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
5561 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
5562 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
5563 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
5564 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
5565 a list of parameters to that command.
5567 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
5568 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
5569 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
5571 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
5572 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
5573 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
5576 @node Article Treatment
5577 @section Article Treatment
5579 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
5580 object of newsreaders are to actually, like, read what people have
5581 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
5582 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
5583 these articles easier.
5586 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
5587 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look niced.
5588 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
5589 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
5590 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
5591 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
5592 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
5596 @node Article Highlighting
5597 @subsection Article Highlighting
5600 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
5601 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
5606 @kindex W H a (Summary)
5607 @findex gnus-article-highlight
5608 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
5611 @kindex W H h (Summary)
5612 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
5613 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
5614 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
5615 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
5616 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
5617 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
5618 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name and
5619 @var{content} is the face for highlighting the header value. The first
5620 match made will be used. Note that @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^}
5621 prepended---Gnus will add one.
5624 @kindex W H c (Summary)
5625 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
5626 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
5628 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
5631 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
5633 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
5634 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
5635 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
5637 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
5638 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
5639 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
5641 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
5642 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
5643 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
5645 @item gnus-cite-face-list
5646 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
5647 List of faces used for highlighting citations. When there are citations
5648 from multiple articles in the same message, Gnus will try to give each
5649 citation from each article its own face. This should make it easier to
5652 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
5653 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
5654 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
5656 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
5657 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
5658 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
5660 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
5661 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
5662 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
5663 that it's a citation.
5665 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
5666 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
5667 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
5669 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
5670 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
5671 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
5673 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
5674 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
5675 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
5676 cited text belonging to the attribution.
5682 @kindex W H s (Summary)
5683 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
5684 @vindex gnus-signature-face
5685 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
5686 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
5687 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
5688 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
5689 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
5695 @node Article Fontisizing
5696 @subsection Article Fontisizing
5698 @cindex article emphasis
5700 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
5701 @kindex W e (Summary)
5702 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
5703 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
5704 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
5705 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
5707 @vindex gnus-article-emphasis
5708 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
5709 @code{gnus-article-emphasis} variable. This is an alist where the first
5710 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
5711 that says what regular expression grouping used to find the entire
5712 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
5713 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
5714 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
5718 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
5719 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
5720 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
5723 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
5724 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
5725 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
5726 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
5727 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
5728 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
5729 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
5730 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
5731 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
5732 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
5733 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
5734 @code{gnus-emphasis-undeline-bold}, and
5735 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
5737 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
5738 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
5739 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
5743 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
5747 @node Article Hiding
5748 @subsection Article Hiding
5749 @cindex article hiding
5751 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
5752 too much cruft in most articles.
5757 @kindex W W a (Summary)
5758 @findex gnus-article-hide
5759 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
5762 @kindex W W h (Summary)
5763 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
5764 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
5768 @kindex W W b (Summary)
5769 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
5770 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
5771 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
5774 @kindex W W s (Summary)
5775 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
5776 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
5780 @kindex W W p (Summary)
5781 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
5782 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}).
5785 @kindex W W P (Summary)
5786 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
5787 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) gruft
5788 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
5791 @kindex W W c (Summary)
5792 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
5793 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
5794 customizing the hiding:
5798 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
5799 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
5800 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
5801 50), hide the cited text.
5803 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
5804 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
5805 The cited text must be have at least this length (default 10) before it
5808 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
5809 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
5810 Gnus adds buttons show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
5811 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
5812 by this format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
5817 Start point of the hidden text.
5819 End point of the hidden text.
5821 Length of the hidden text.
5824 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
5825 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
5826 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
5831 @kindex W W C (Summary)
5832 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
5833 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
5834 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
5835 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
5836 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
5840 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
5841 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
5842 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
5844 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
5845 citation customization.
5848 @node Article Washing
5849 @subsection Article Washing
5851 @cindex article washing
5853 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
5854 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
5856 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
5857 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
5863 @kindex W l (Summary)
5864 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
5865 Remove page breaks from the current article
5866 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}).
5869 @kindex W r (Summary)
5870 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
5871 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
5872 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
5875 @kindex W t (Summary)
5876 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
5877 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
5878 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
5881 @kindex W v (Summary)
5882 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
5883 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
5884 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
5887 @kindex W m (Summary)
5888 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
5889 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
5890 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
5893 @kindex W o (Summary)
5894 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
5895 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
5898 @kindex W w (Summary)
5899 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
5900 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
5901 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
5902 late and certainly after any highlighting.
5905 @kindex W c (Summary)
5906 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
5907 Remove CR (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
5910 @kindex W q (Summary)
5911 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
5912 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
5915 @kindex W f (Summary)
5917 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
5918 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
5919 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
5920 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
5921 Look for and display any X-Face headers
5922 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
5923 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
5924 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
5925 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
5926 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
5927 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
5928 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
5929 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
5930 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
5931 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
5932 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
5933 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
5934 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
5938 @kindex W b (Summary)
5939 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
5940 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
5943 @kindex W B (Summary)
5944 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
5945 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
5946 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
5949 @kindex W E l (Summary)
5950 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
5951 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
5952 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
5955 @kindex W E m (Summary)
5956 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
5957 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
5958 lines with a single empty line.
5959 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
5962 @kindex W E t (Summary)
5963 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
5964 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
5965 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
5968 @kindex W E a (Summary)
5969 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
5970 Do all the three commands above
5971 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
5976 @node Article Buttons
5977 @subsection Article Buttons
5980 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
5981 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
5982 with the minimum of fuzz.
5984 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
5985 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
5986 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
5991 @item gnus-button-alist
5992 @vindex gnus-button-alist
5993 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
5996 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6002 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6003 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that match embedded URLs:
6004 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6007 Gnus has to know which parts of the match is to be highlighted. This is
6008 a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp that is to be
6009 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6012 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6013 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6014 avoid false matches.
6017 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6020 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6021 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6025 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6028 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6031 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6032 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6033 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6034 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6035 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6038 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6041 @var{header} is a regular expression.
6043 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6044 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6045 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6046 default values of the variables above.
6048 @item gnus-article-button-face
6049 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6050 Face used on buttons.
6052 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6053 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6054 Face is used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6060 @subsection Article Date
6062 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6063 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6064 when the article was sent.
6069 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6070 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6071 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6072 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6075 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6076 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6077 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6080 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6081 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6082 Say how much time has (e)lapsed between the article was posted and now
6083 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}).
6086 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6087 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6088 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6089 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and is
6090 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6091 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6092 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6097 @node Article Signature
6098 @subsection Article Signature
6100 @cindex article signature
6102 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6103 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6104 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6105 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6106 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6107 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6108 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6109 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6110 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6113 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6114 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6115 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6116 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6117 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6118 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6119 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6120 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6123 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6126 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6127 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6132 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6135 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6138 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6139 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6141 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6142 in question is not a signature.
6145 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6149 @node Article Commands
6150 @section Article Commands
6157 @kindex A P (Summary)
6158 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6159 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6160 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}).
6165 @node Summary Sorting
6166 @section Summary Sorting
6167 @cindex summary sorting
6169 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6170 can't really see why you'd want that.
6175 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6176 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6177 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6180 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6181 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6182 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6185 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6186 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6187 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6190 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6191 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6192 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6195 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6196 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6197 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6200 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6201 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6202 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6205 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6206 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6207 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6208 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6209 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6213 @node Finding the Parent
6214 @section Finding the Parent
6215 @cindex parent articles
6216 @cindex referring articles
6218 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6220 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6221 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6222 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6223 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6224 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6225 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6226 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6227 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6229 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6230 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6231 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
6232 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6233 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6236 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6237 @kindex A R (Summary)
6238 You can have Gnus fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References}
6239 header of the article by pushing @kbd{A R}
6240 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6242 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6243 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6245 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6246 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6247 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6248 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6249 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6250 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6251 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6253 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6254 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6255 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6256 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6257 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the same
6258 as the one that keeps the spool you are reading from updated, but that's
6259 not really necessary.
6261 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6262 not do a particularly excellent job of it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6263 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6264 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6265 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6266 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6269 @node Alternative Approaches
6270 @section Alternative Approaches
6272 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6273 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6276 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6277 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6282 @subsection Pick and Read
6283 @cindex pick and read
6285 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{nn}) use a two-phased
6286 reading interface. The user first marks the articles she wants to read
6287 from a summary buffer. Then she starts reading the articles with just
6288 an article buffer displayed.
6290 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6291 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6292 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6293 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6294 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6295 it makes one additional command for switching to the summary buffer
6298 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6303 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6304 Pick the article on the current line
6305 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}). If given a numerical prefix,
6306 go to the article on that line and pick that article. (The line number
6307 is normally displayed on the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6310 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6311 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6312 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6313 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6317 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6318 Unpick the article (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6322 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6323 Unpick all articles (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6327 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6328 Pick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6332 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6333 Unpick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6337 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6338 Pick the region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6342 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6343 Unpick the region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6347 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6348 Pick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6352 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6353 Unpick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6357 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6358 Pick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6362 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-buffer
6363 Unpick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-buffer}).
6367 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6368 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6369 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6370 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6371 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6372 will still be visible when you are reading.
6376 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6379 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6382 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6383 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6385 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6386 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6387 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6389 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6390 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different than the
6391 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
6392 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
6393 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
6394 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
6395 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
6399 @subsection Binary Groups
6400 @cindex binary groups
6402 @findex gnus-binary-mode
6403 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
6404 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
6405 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
6406 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
6407 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
6408 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
6411 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
6412 In fact, the only way to see the actual articles if you have turned this
6413 mode on is the @kbd{g} command (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
6415 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
6416 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
6420 @section Tree Display
6423 @vindex gnus-use-trees
6424 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
6425 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
6426 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
6429 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
6432 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
6433 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
6434 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
6436 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6437 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6438 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default
6439 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}. For a list of legal specs, @pxref{Summary
6442 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
6443 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
6444 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
6445 default is @code{modeline}.
6447 @item gnus-tree-line-format
6448 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
6449 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
6450 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
6451 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
6452 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
6453 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
6459 The name of the poster.
6461 The @code{From} header.
6463 The number of the article.
6465 The opening bracket.
6467 The closing bracket.
6472 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6474 Variables related to the display are:
6477 @item gnus-tree-brackets
6478 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
6479 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
6480 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
6481 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
6482 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}))}.
6484 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6485 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6486 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
6487 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
6491 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
6492 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
6493 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
6494 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
6495 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
6496 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}.
6498 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
6499 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
6500 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
6501 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
6502 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
6503 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
6504 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
6508 Here's and example from a horizontal tree buffer:
6511 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
6521 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
6525 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
6526 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
6528 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
6530 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
6536 @node Mail Group Commands
6537 @section Mail Group Commands
6538 @cindex mail group commands
6540 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
6541 illegal in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
6543 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
6544 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6549 @kindex B e (Summary)
6550 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
6551 Expire all expirable articles in the group
6552 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
6555 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
6556 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
6557 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
6558 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
6559 articles that are eligible for expiry in the current group will
6560 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
6563 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
6564 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
6565 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
6566 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
6567 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
6570 @kindex B m (Summary)
6572 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
6573 Move the article from one mail group to another
6574 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
6577 @kindex B c (Summary)
6579 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
6580 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
6581 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
6584 @kindex B C (Summary)
6585 @cindex crosspost mail
6586 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
6587 Crosspost the current article to some other group
6588 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
6589 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
6590 be properly updated.
6593 @kindex B i (Summary)
6594 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
6595 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
6596 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
6597 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
6600 @kindex B r (Summary)
6601 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
6602 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
6606 @kindex B w (Summary)
6608 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
6609 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
6610 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
6611 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
6612 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}).
6615 @kindex B q (Summary)
6616 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
6617 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
6618 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
6619 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
6622 @kindex B p (Summary)
6623 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
6624 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
6625 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
6626 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
6627 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
6628 article from your news server (or rather, from
6629 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
6630 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
6631 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
6632 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
6633 just not have arrived yet.
6637 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
6638 @cindex moving articles
6639 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
6640 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
6641 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
6642 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
6643 suggestions you find reasonable.
6646 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
6647 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
6648 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
6649 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
6653 @node Various Summary Stuff
6654 @section Various Summary Stuff
6657 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
6658 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
6659 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
6660 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
6664 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
6665 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
6666 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
6668 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
6669 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
6670 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
6671 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
6672 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
6673 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
6676 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
6677 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
6678 Is is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
6679 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
6680 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
6685 @node Summary Group Information
6686 @subsection Summary Group Information
6691 @kindex H f (Summary)
6692 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
6693 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
6694 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
6695 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
6696 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
6697 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
6698 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
6699 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} probably will be used for
6703 @kindex H d (Summary)
6704 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
6705 Give a brief description of the current group
6706 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
6707 rereading the description from the server.
6710 @kindex H h (Summary)
6711 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
6712 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
6713 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
6716 @kindex H i (Summary)
6717 @findex gnus-info-find-node
6718 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
6722 @node Searching for Articles
6723 @subsection Searching for Articles
6728 @kindex M-s (Summary)
6729 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
6730 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
6731 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
6734 @kindex M-r (Summary)
6735 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
6736 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
6737 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
6741 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
6742 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
6743 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
6744 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}).
6747 @kindex M-& (Summary)
6748 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
6749 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
6750 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
6753 @node Summary Generation Commands
6754 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
6759 @kindex Y g (Summary)
6760 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
6761 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
6764 @kindex Y c (Summary)
6765 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
6766 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
6767 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
6772 @node Really Various Summary Commands
6773 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
6778 @kindex C-d (Summary)
6779 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
6780 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
6781 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
6782 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
6783 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
6784 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
6785 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages on
6786 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
6790 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
6791 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
6792 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
6793 several documents into one biiig group
6794 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
6795 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
6796 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
6797 command understands the process/prefix convention
6798 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6801 @kindex C-t (Summary)
6802 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
6803 Toggle truncation of summary lines
6804 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
6805 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
6806 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
6810 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
6811 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
6812 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
6817 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
6818 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
6819 @cindex summary exit
6820 @cindex exiting groups
6822 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
6823 group and return you to the group buffer.
6829 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
6831 @findex gnus-summary-exit
6832 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
6833 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
6834 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
6835 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
6836 called before doing much of the exiting, and calls
6837 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
6838 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exiting
6843 @kindex Z E (Summary)
6845 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
6846 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
6847 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
6851 @kindex Z c (Summary)
6853 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
6854 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
6855 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
6858 @kindex Z C (Summary)
6859 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
6860 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
6861 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
6864 @kindex Z n (Summary)
6865 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
6866 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
6867 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
6870 @kindex Z R (Summary)
6871 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
6872 Exit this group, and then enter it again
6873 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
6874 all articles, both read and unread.
6878 @kindex Z G (Summary)
6879 @kindex M-g (Summary)
6880 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
6881 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
6882 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
6883 articles, both read and unread.
6886 @kindex Z N (Summary)
6887 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
6888 Exit the group and go to the next group
6889 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
6892 @kindex Z P (Summary)
6893 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
6894 Exit the group and go to the previous group
6895 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
6898 @kindex Z s (Summary)
6899 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
6900 Save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). The current number of read/marked
6901 articles in the summary buffer will also be saved. This will make exit
6902 without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
6905 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
6906 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
6909 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
6910 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
6911 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
6912 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
6913 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
6914 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
6915 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
6916 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
6917 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
6918 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
6919 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
6920 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
6922 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
6924 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
6925 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
6926 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
6927 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
6928 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
6929 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
6930 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
6931 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
6932 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
6935 @node Crosspost Handling
6936 @section Crosspost Handling
6940 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
6941 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
6942 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
6943 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
6944 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
6945 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
6948 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
6949 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
6950 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
6951 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
6952 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
6954 @cindex cross-posting
6957 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
6958 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
6959 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
6960 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
6961 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
6962 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
6963 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
6964 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
6965 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
6966 the cross reference mechanism.
6968 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
6969 @cindex overview.fmt
6970 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
6971 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
6972 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
6973 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
6974 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
6975 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
6978 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
6979 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
6980 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
6985 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
6988 @node Duplicate Suppression
6989 @section Duplicate Suppression
6991 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
6992 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
6993 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
6994 approach may not work satisfactorily for some users for various
6999 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7000 is evil and not very common.
7003 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7004 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7007 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7008 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7011 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7014 I'm sure there are other situations that @code{Xref} handling fails as
7015 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7017 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7018 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7019 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7020 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7021 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7022 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7023 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7026 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7027 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7028 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7029 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7030 article as read the the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7034 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7035 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7036 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7038 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7039 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7040 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7041 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7042 However, this means that only duplicate articles that is read in a
7043 single Gnus session are suppressed.
7045 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7046 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7047 This variables says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7048 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7050 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7051 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7052 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list. The
7053 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7056 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7057 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7058 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7059 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7060 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7061 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7062 to you to figure out, I think.
7065 @node The Article Buffer
7066 @chapter The Article Buffer
7067 @cindex article buffer
7069 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7070 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7071 tell Gnus otherwise.
7074 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7075 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7076 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7077 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7078 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7082 @node Hiding Headers
7083 @section Hiding Headers
7084 @cindex hiding headers
7085 @cindex deleting headers
7087 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7088 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7090 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7091 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7092 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7093 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7094 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7095 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7096 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7097 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7098 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7100 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7104 @item gnus-visible-headers
7105 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7106 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7107 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7108 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7110 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7111 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7114 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7117 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers that are to
7120 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7121 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7122 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7123 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7124 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7125 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7127 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
7128 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
7131 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7134 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers that are to
7137 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7138 variable will have no effect.
7142 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7143 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7144 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7145 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7146 the headers are to be displayed.
7148 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7149 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7152 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7155 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7156 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers that
7157 are listed in this variable.
7159 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7160 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7161 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7162 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7163 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7164 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7165 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7166 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7167 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
7169 These conditions are:
7172 Remove all empty headers.
7174 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7177 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7178 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7180 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7183 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7187 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
7190 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7191 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
7194 This is also the default value for this variable.
7198 @section Using @sc{mime}
7201 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7202 while people stand around yawning.
7204 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7205 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7207 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7208 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7209 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7211 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7212 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
7213 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7214 @findex metamail-buffer
7215 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7216 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
7217 default. Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7218 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7219 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7220 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7221 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7222 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7224 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
7225 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
7226 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
7227 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
7228 comes streaming out out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
7229 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
7230 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
7231 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
7232 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
7234 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7237 @node Customizing Articles
7238 @section Customizing Articles
7239 @cindex article customization
7241 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7242 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7243 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7244 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7246 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7247 By default this hook just contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
7248 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
7249 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
7250 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7251 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7252 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7253 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7254 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7256 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7257 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7258 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7259 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7260 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7263 @node Article Keymap
7264 @section Article Keymap
7266 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7267 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7268 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7269 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7272 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7277 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7278 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7279 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7282 @kindex DEL (Article)
7283 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7284 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7287 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7288 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7289 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7290 @kbd{r}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
7291 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7294 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7295 @findex gnus-article-mail
7296 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7297 given a prefix, include the mail.
7301 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7302 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7303 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7307 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7308 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7309 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7312 @kindex TAB (Article)
7313 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7314 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}. This
7315 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
7318 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
7319 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
7320 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}.
7326 @section Misc Article
7330 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
7331 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
7332 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
7333 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
7336 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
7337 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
7338 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
7339 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
7340 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
7341 the contents of the article buffer.
7343 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7344 @item gnus-article-display-hook
7345 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
7346 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
7347 hiding headers, and the like.
7349 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
7350 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
7351 Hook called in article mode buffers.
7353 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7354 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7355 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
7356 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
7358 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
7359 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
7360 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
7361 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. It accepts the same
7362 format specifications as that variable, with one extension:
7366 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
7367 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
7371 @vindex gnus-break-pages
7373 @item gnus-break-pages
7374 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
7375 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
7376 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
7377 paging will not be done.
7379 @item gnus-page-delimiter
7380 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
7381 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
7386 @node Composing Messages
7387 @chapter Composing Messages
7392 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
7393 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
7394 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
7395 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
7396 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
7397 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
7398 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
7401 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
7402 * Post:: Posting and following up.
7403 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
7404 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
7405 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
7406 @c * Posting Styles:: An easier way to configure some key elements.
7407 @c * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
7408 @c * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
7411 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
7412 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
7418 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
7421 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
7422 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
7423 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
7424 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
7432 Variables for composing news articles:
7435 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7436 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7437 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
7438 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
7439 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
7440 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to sent the
7441 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
7442 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
7443 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
7446 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7447 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7448 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
7449 file. It is 1000 by default.
7454 @node Posting Server
7455 @section Posting Server
7457 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
7458 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
7460 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
7462 @vindex gnus-post-method
7464 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
7465 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
7466 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
7467 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
7468 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
7471 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
7474 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
7475 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
7476 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
7477 the ``current'' server for posting.
7479 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
7480 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
7482 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
7483 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
7488 @section Mail and Post
7490 Here's a list of variables that are relevant to both mailing and
7494 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
7495 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
7496 @cindex mailing lists
7498 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists that are
7499 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
7500 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
7501 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
7502 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
7503 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that match the groups that
7504 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
7505 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
7506 still a pain, though.
7510 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
7511 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
7512 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
7515 @findex ispell-message
7517 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
7521 @node Archived Messages
7522 @section Archived Messages
7523 @cindex archived messages
7524 @cindex sent messages
7526 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail you send.
7527 The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to store
7528 the mail. If you want to disable this completely, you should set
7529 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil}.
7531 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
7532 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
7533 use to store sent messages. The default is:
7537 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive/"))
7540 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
7541 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
7542 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
7543 directory chosen, you could say something like:
7546 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
7547 '(nnfolder "archive"
7548 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
7549 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
7550 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
7553 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
7555 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
7556 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
7557 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
7559 This variable can be:
7563 Messages will be saved in that group.
7564 @item a list of strings
7565 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
7566 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
7567 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
7569 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
7574 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
7576 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
7579 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
7581 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
7584 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
7586 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7587 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
7588 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
7589 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
7594 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7595 '((if (message-news-p)
7600 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
7601 messages in one file per month:
7604 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7605 '((if (message-news-p)
7607 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
7608 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
7611 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
7612 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
7613 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
7614 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
7615 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
7616 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
7617 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
7618 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
7619 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
7620 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
7622 That's the default method of archiving sent mail. Gnus also a different
7623 way for the people who don't like the default method. In that case you
7624 should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil}; this will
7627 XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
7628 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.
7631 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
7632 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
7633 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
7634 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
7635 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
7638 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
7639 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
7640 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
7645 @c @node Posting Styles
7646 @c @section Posting Styles
7647 @c @cindex posting styles
7650 @c All them variables, they make my head swim.
7652 @c So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
7653 @c on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
7654 @c and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
7657 @c @vindex gnus-posting-styles
7658 @c One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
7659 @c variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
7660 @c came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
7661 @c a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
7666 @c (signature . "Peace and happiness")
7667 @c (organization . "What me?"))
7669 @c (signature . "Death to everybody"))
7670 @c ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
7671 @c (organization . "Emacs is it")))
7674 @c As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
7675 @c @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
7676 @c ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
7677 @c over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
7678 @c applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
7679 @c the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
7680 @c @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
7681 @c signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
7683 @c The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
7684 @c string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
7685 @c If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
7686 @c arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
7687 @c referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
7688 @c any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
7691 @c Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
7692 @c attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
7693 @c can be one of @code{signature}, @code{organization} or @code{from}. The
7694 @c attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
7695 @c a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
7698 @c The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
7699 @c return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
7700 @c list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
7702 @c So here's a new example:
7705 @c (setq gnus-posting-styles
7707 @c (signature . "~/.signature")
7708 @c (from . "user@@foo (user)")
7709 @c ("X-Home-Page" . (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
7710 @c (organization . "People's Front Against MWM"))
7712 @c (signature . my-funny-signature-randomizer))
7713 @c ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
7714 @c (signature . my-quote-randomizer))
7715 @c (posting-from-work-p
7716 @c (signature . "~/.work-signature")
7717 @c (from . "user@@bar.foo (user)")
7718 @c (organization . "Important Work, Inc"))
7720 @c (signature . "~/.mail-signature"))))
7727 @c If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
7728 @c you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
7729 @c craazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save the
7730 @c message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some other
7731 @c day, and send it when you feel its finished.
7733 @c Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
7734 @c some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
7735 @c automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
7736 @c If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
7737 @c article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
7741 @c @vindex gnus-draft-group-directory
7742 @c The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
7743 @c @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
7744 @c @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{gnus-draft-group-directory}
7745 @c controls both the name of the group and the location---the leaf element
7746 @c in the path will be used as the name of the group. What makes this
7747 @c group special is that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any
7748 @c articles as read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
7750 @c If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
7753 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
7754 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
7755 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
7756 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
7757 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
7758 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
7759 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
7760 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
7761 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
7762 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
7763 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
7764 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
7765 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
7766 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
7768 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
7769 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
7770 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
7772 @c @findex gnus-summary-send-draft
7773 @c @kindex S D c (Summary)
7774 @c When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
7775 @c draft group and push @kbd{S D c} (@code{gnus-summary-send-draft}) to do
7776 @c that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
7778 @c Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
7781 @c @findex gnus-summary-send-all-drafts
7782 @c If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
7783 @c doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{S D a} command
7784 @c (@code{gnus-summary-send-all-drafts}). This command understands the
7785 @c process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7788 @c @node Rejected Articles
7789 @c @section Rejected Articles
7790 @c @cindex rejected articles
7792 @c Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
7793 @c doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
7794 @c @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
7795 @c Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
7797 @c These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
7798 @c (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
7799 @c fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
7800 @c you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
7801 @c articles until some later time when the server feels better.
7803 @c The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
7804 @c (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
7805 @c typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
7808 @node Select Methods
7809 @chapter Select Methods
7810 @cindex foreign groups
7811 @cindex select methods
7813 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group that is not read by the usual (or
7814 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
7815 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
7816 personal mail group.
7818 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
7819 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
7820 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
7821 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
7822 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
7823 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
7825 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
7826 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
7828 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
7831 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
7832 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
7833 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
7834 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
7835 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
7837 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
7840 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
7841 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
7842 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
7843 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
7844 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
7848 @node The Server Buffer
7849 @section The Server Buffer
7851 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
7852 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
7853 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
7854 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
7855 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
7856 backend represents a virtual server.
7858 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
7859 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
7860 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
7861 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
7863 These select methods specifications can sometimes become quite
7864 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
7865 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
7866 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
7867 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
7868 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
7869 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
7871 To enter the server buffer, user the @kbd{^}
7872 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
7875 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
7876 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
7877 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
7878 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
7879 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
7880 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
7883 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
7884 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
7887 @node Server Buffer Format
7888 @subsection Server Buffer Format
7889 @cindex server buffer format
7891 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
7892 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
7893 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
7894 variable, with some simple extensions:
7899 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
7902 The name of this server.
7905 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
7908 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
7911 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
7912 The mode line can also be customized by using the
7913 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable. The following specs are
7924 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
7927 @node Server Commands
7928 @subsection Server Commands
7929 @cindex server commands
7935 @findex gnus-server-add-server
7936 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
7940 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
7941 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
7944 @kindex SPACE (Server)
7945 @findex gnus-server-read-server
7946 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
7950 @findex gnus-server-exit
7951 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
7955 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
7956 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
7960 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
7961 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
7965 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
7966 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
7970 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
7971 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
7975 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
7976 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
7977 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
7982 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
7983 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
7984 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
7985 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
7990 @node Example Methods
7991 @subsection Example Methods
7993 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
7996 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
7999 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8005 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8006 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8009 After these two elements, there may be a arbitrary number of
8010 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8012 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8013 port 15 from that machine. This is what the select method should
8017 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8020 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8021 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example.
8023 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8024 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8025 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8029 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8032 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8035 Here's the method for a public spool:
8039 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8040 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8043 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8044 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8045 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8046 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8047 should probably look something like this:
8051 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8052 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8053 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8054 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8055 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8060 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8061 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8063 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8064 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8066 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8067 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8068 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8070 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8072 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8073 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8074 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8075 will contain the following:
8085 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8086 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8087 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8090 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8091 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8092 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8095 @node Servers and Methods
8096 @subsection Servers and Methods
8098 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8099 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8100 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8101 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8105 @node Unavailable Servers
8106 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8108 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8109 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8110 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8111 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8112 actually the case or not.
8114 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8115 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to the server
8116 @samp{nepholococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8117 away from you, the machine is quite, so it takes 1 minute just to find
8118 out that it refuses connection from you today. If Gnus were to attempt
8119 to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't attempt to do
8120 that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'', it will
8121 regard that server as ``down''.
8123 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8124 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8126 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8127 with the following commands:
8133 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8134 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8135 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8139 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8140 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8141 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8145 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8146 Mark the current server as unreachable
8147 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8150 @kindex M-o (Server)
8151 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8152 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8153 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8156 @kindex M-c (Server)
8157 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8158 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8159 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8163 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8164 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from all servers
8165 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8171 @section Getting News
8172 @cindex reading news
8173 @cindex news backends
8175 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8176 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8177 or it can read from a local spool.
8180 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8181 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8186 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8189 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8190 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8191 server as the, uhm, address.
8193 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8194 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8195 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8196 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8198 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8199 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8200 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8202 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8207 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8208 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8209 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8211 @cindex authentification
8212 @cindex nntp authentification
8213 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8214 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8215 @code{nntp-server-opened-hook} is run after a connection has been made.
8216 It can be used to send commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has
8217 been contacted. By default is sends the command @code{MODE READER} to
8218 the server with the @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function.
8220 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8221 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8222 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8223 server. Available functions include:
8226 @item nntp-send-authinfo
8227 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8228 This function will used you current login name as the user name and will
8229 prompt you for the password. This is the default.
8231 @item nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8232 @findex nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8233 This function will prompt you for both user name and password.
8235 @item nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8236 @findex nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8237 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8238 read the @sc{nntp} password from @file{~/.nntp-authinfo}.
8241 @item nntp-server-action-alist
8242 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
8243 This is an list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
8244 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
8245 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
8248 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
8252 You probably don't want to do that, though.
8254 The default value is
8257 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
8258 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook nntp-send-mode-reader)))
8261 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
8262 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
8264 @item nntp-maximum-request
8265 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
8266 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
8267 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
8268 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
8269 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
8270 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
8271 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
8273 @item nntp-connection-timeout
8274 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
8275 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
8276 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
8277 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
8278 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
8279 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
8280 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
8281 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
8282 no timeouts are done.
8284 @item nntp-command-timeout
8285 @vindex nntp-command-timeout
8286 @cindex PPP connections
8287 @cindex dynamic IP addresses
8288 If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
8289 address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
8290 changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
8291 waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
8292 unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
8293 then, if it sits waiting longer than that number of seconds for a reply
8294 from the server, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
8295 the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
8296 likely number is 30 seconds.
8298 @item nntp-retry-on-break
8299 @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
8300 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
8301 hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
8304 @item nntp-server-hook
8305 @vindex nntp-server-hook
8306 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
8309 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
8310 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
8311 @item nntp-open-connection-function
8312 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
8313 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Two pre-made
8314 functions are @code{nntp-open-network-stream}, which is the default, and
8315 simply connects to some port or other on the remote system. The other
8316 is @code{nntp-open-rlogin}, which does an rlogin on the remote system,
8317 and then does a telnet to the @sc{nntp} server available there.
8319 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
8320 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
8321 If you use @code{nntp-open-rlogin} as the
8322 @code{nntp-open-connection-function}, this list will be used as the
8323 parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
8325 @item nntp-end-of-line
8326 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
8327 String to use as end-of-line markers when talking to the @sc{nntp}
8328 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
8329 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
8331 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8332 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8333 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
8337 @vindex nntp-address
8338 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
8340 @item nntp-port-number
8341 @vindex nntp-port-number
8342 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
8345 @item nntp-buggy-select
8346 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
8347 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
8349 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
8350 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
8351 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
8352 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks whether @sc{nov}
8353 can be used automatically.
8355 @item nntp-xover-commands
8356 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
8359 List of strings that are used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
8360 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
8364 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
8365 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
8366 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
8367 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
8368 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
8369 lines that you do not want, and will not use. This variable says how
8370 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
8371 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
8372 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
8373 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
8374 @code{nntp} will never split requests.
8376 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
8377 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
8378 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
8380 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
8381 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
8382 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
8383 server closes connection.
8389 @subsection News Spool
8393 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
8394 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
8395 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
8398 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @samp{} (or
8399 anything else) as the address.
8401 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
8402 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
8403 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
8404 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
8408 @item nnspool-inews-program
8409 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
8410 Program used to post an article.
8412 @item nnspool-inews-switches
8413 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
8414 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
8416 @item nnspool-spool-directory
8417 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
8418 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
8419 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
8421 @item nnspool-nov-directory
8422 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
8423 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
8424 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
8426 @item nnspool-lib-dir
8427 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
8428 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
8430 @item nnspool-active-file
8431 @vindex nnspool-active-file
8432 The path of the active file.
8434 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
8435 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
8436 The path of the group descriptions file.
8438 @item nnspool-history-file
8439 @vindex nnspool-history-file
8440 The path of the news history file.
8442 @item nnspool-active-times-file
8443 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
8444 The path of the active date file.
8446 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
8447 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
8448 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
8451 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
8452 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
8454 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
8455 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
8456 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
8462 @section Getting Mail
8463 @cindex reading mail
8466 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
8470 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
8471 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
8472 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
8473 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
8474 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
8475 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
8476 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
8477 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
8478 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
8479 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
8480 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
8484 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
8485 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
8487 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
8488 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
8489 and things will happen automatically.
8491 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a one file per
8492 mail backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
8495 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
8496 '((nnml "private")))
8499 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
8500 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
8501 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
8502 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
8503 like any other group.
8505 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
8508 (setq nnmail-split-methods
8509 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
8510 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
8514 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
8515 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
8516 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
8519 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
8520 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though,
8521 especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
8524 @node Splitting Mail
8525 @subsection Splitting Mail
8526 @cindex splitting mail
8527 @cindex mail splitting
8529 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
8530 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
8531 to be split into groups.
8534 (setq nnmail-split-methods
8535 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
8536 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
8540 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
8541 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
8542 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
8543 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
8544 determine if it belongs in this mail group.
8546 If the first element is the special symbol @code{junk}, then messages
8547 that match the regexp will disappear into the aether. Use with
8550 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
8551 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
8552 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
8553 mail belongs in that group.
8555 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
8556 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any
8557 mails that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps.
8559 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
8560 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
8561 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
8562 message. The function should return a list of groups names that it
8563 thinks should carry this mail message.
8565 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent
8566 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
8567 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
8568 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
8570 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
8571 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
8572 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
8573 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
8574 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
8576 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
8579 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
8580 the crossposted articles. However, not all files systems support hard
8581 links. If that's the case for you, set
8582 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
8583 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
8585 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
8586 @kindex nnmail-split-history
8587 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
8588 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
8590 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
8591 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
8592 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
8593 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
8594 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
8595 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
8596 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
8597 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
8601 @node Mail Backend Variables
8602 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
8604 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
8608 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
8609 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
8610 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
8611 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
8613 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
8614 @item nnmail-spool-file
8618 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
8619 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
8620 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
8621 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
8622 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
8623 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
8624 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
8625 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
8626 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
8627 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
8628 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
8629 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
8630 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
8631 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
8632 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
8634 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
8635 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
8638 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
8639 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
8640 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
8641 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
8642 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
8643 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
8645 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
8646 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
8647 @item nnmail-use-procmail
8648 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
8649 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
8650 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
8651 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
8654 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
8655 @item nnmail-crash-box
8656 When the mail backends read a spool file, it is first moved to this
8657 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
8658 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
8661 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
8662 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
8663 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
8664 used for, well, anything, really.
8666 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
8667 @item nnmail-split-hook
8668 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
8669 @findex RFC1522 decoding
8670 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
8671 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
8672 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
8673 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
8674 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{article-decode-rfc1522}
8675 is one likely function to add to this hook.
8677 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
8678 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
8679 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
8680 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
8681 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
8682 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
8683 starting to handle the new mail) and
8684 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
8685 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
8686 default file modes the new mail files get:
8689 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
8690 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
8692 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
8693 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
8696 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
8697 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
8698 This variable says where to move the incoming mail to while processing
8699 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
8700 inhabits (i.e., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
8701 it will be used instead.
8703 @item nnmail-movemail-program
8704 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
8705 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
8706 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
8708 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
8709 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
8712 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
8713 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
8714 @cindex incoming mail files
8715 @cindex deleting incoming files
8716 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
8717 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{nil} by
8718 default for reasons of security.
8720 Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
8721 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
8722 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point.) By not deleting the
8723 Incoming* files, one can be sure to not lose mail -- if Gnus totally
8724 whacks out, one can always recover what was lost.
8726 Delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
8728 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
8729 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
8730 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
8731 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories like
8732 @file{mail.misc/}. If it is @code{nil}, the same group will end up in
8735 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
8736 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
8738 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
8743 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
8744 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
8745 @cindex mail splitting
8746 @cindex fancy mail splitting
8748 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
8749 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
8750 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
8751 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
8752 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
8753 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
8755 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
8758 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
8759 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
8760 ;; from real errors.
8761 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
8763 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
8764 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
8765 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
8766 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
8767 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
8768 ;; Other mailing lists...
8769 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
8770 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
8772 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen"))
8773 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
8777 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
8778 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
8779 the five possible split syntaxes:
8784 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.
8787 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, and the first
8788 element is a string, then that means that if header FIELD (a regexp)
8789 contains VALUE (also a regexp), then store the message as specified by
8793 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
8794 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
8795 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
8796 be stored in one or more groups.
8799 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
8800 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
8803 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
8804 this message anywhere.
8807 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
8808 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
8809 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
8814 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
8815 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
8816 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
8817 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
8818 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
8820 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
8821 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
8822 are expanded as specified by the variable
8823 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
8824 the car of the cells contains the key, and the cdr contains a string.
8826 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
8827 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
8828 when all this splitting is performed.
8830 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
8831 information in the headers, you can say things like:
8834 (any "debian-\(\\w*\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
8837 That is, do @code{replace-match}-like substitions in the group names.
8840 @node Mail and Procmail
8841 @subsection Mail and Procmail
8846 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
8847 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
8848 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
8849 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
8850 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
8852 This also means that you probably don't want to set
8853 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
8856 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
8857 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
8858 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends (except
8859 @code{nnmh}) actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
8860 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
8861 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
8863 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) what groups
8866 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example.
8868 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
8869 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
8871 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
8872 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
8873 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
8874 to include all your mail groups.
8876 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
8877 method will be created automatically.
8879 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
8880 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
8881 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
8882 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
8883 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
8884 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
8885 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
8886 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
8888 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
8889 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
8890 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
8891 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
8892 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
8894 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
8895 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directory into an @code{nnmh}
8896 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
8897 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
8898 ever expiring the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is quite,
8901 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
8902 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i. e., the incoming
8903 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
8904 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
8905 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
8908 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
8909 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
8910 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
8911 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
8912 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
8916 @node Incorporating Old Mail
8917 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
8919 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
8920 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
8921 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
8924 Doing so can be quite easy.
8926 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
8927 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
8928 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
8929 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
8930 your @code{nnml} groups.
8936 Go to the group buffer.
8939 Type `G f' and give the path of the mbox file when prompted to create an
8940 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8943 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
8946 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group (@pxref{Setting
8950 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
8951 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
8954 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
8955 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
8956 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
8957 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
8958 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
8960 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
8961 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
8962 using the new mail backend.
8966 @subsection Expiring Mail
8967 @cindex article expiry
8969 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
8970 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
8971 different approach to mail reading.
8973 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
8974 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
8975 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
8976 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
8977 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
8978 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
8981 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
8982 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
8983 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
8984 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
8985 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
8986 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
8987 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
8988 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
8990 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
8991 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
8992 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
8993 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
8994 articles that are marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
8995 column in the summary buffer.
8997 Note that making a group auto-expirable don't mean that all read
8998 articles are expired---only the articles that are marked as expirable
8999 will be expired. Also note the using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9000 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9001 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9003 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9004 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9007 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9008 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9011 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9012 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9014 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9015 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9016 doesn't really mix very well.
9018 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9019 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9020 expirable article has to live. The default is seven days.
9022 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9023 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9024 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9025 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9028 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9030 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9032 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9034 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9036 ((string= group "important")
9042 The group names that this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9043 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9045 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9046 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can be either a number (not
9047 necessarily an integer) or the symbols @code{immediate} or
9050 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
9051 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9053 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9054 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
9055 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
9056 easier for procmail users.
9058 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
9059 By the way, that line up there about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
9060 articles is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
9061 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
9062 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
9063 caution. Even more dangerous is the
9064 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
9065 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
9066 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
9067 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
9068 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
9069 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
9070 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
9073 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
9077 @subsection Washing Mail
9078 @cindex mail washing
9079 @cindex list server brain damage
9080 @cindex incoming mail treatment
9082 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
9083 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
9084 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
9085 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
9086 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
9087 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
9089 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
9090 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
9091 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
9094 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
9095 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
9096 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
9097 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
9100 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9101 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9102 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
9103 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
9106 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9107 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9108 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
9109 Emacs running on MS machines.
9113 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9114 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9115 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
9116 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
9119 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9120 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9121 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
9122 headers too make them look nice. Aaah.
9124 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9125 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9126 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
9127 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
9128 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
9129 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
9130 also be a list of regexp.
9132 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
9133 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
9136 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
9137 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
9140 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
9141 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
9142 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
9146 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9147 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9148 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
9152 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
9153 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
9154 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
9161 @subsection Duplicates
9163 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
9164 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
9165 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
9166 @cindex duplicate mails
9167 If you are a member of a couple of mailing list, you will sometime
9168 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
9169 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
9170 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
9171 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
9172 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
9173 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
9174 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
9175 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
9176 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
9177 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
9178 will generate a brand new @code{Message-ID} for the mail and insert a
9179 warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks that this is a
9180 duplicate of a different message.
9182 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
9183 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
9184 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
9185 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
9187 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
9190 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
9191 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
9195 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
9196 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
9197 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
9198 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
9199 (any mail "mail.misc")
9206 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9207 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
9212 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
9213 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
9214 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
9215 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
9216 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
9219 @node Not Reading Mail
9220 @subsection Not Reading Mail
9222 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
9223 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
9224 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
9226 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
9227 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
9229 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9230 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9231 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9232 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9233 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9234 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
9235 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
9236 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
9237 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
9238 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
9239 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
9241 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
9242 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
9246 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
9247 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
9249 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
9250 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
9251 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
9254 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
9255 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
9256 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
9257 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
9258 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
9263 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
9265 @cindex unix mail box
9267 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9268 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9269 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
9270 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
9271 which group it belongs in.
9273 Virtual server settings:
9276 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
9277 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9278 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
9280 @item nnmbox-active-file
9281 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9282 The name of the active file for the mail box.
9284 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
9285 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9286 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
9292 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
9296 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9297 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9298 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
9299 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
9300 article to say which group it belongs in.
9302 Virtual server settings:
9305 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
9306 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9307 The name of the rmail mbox file.
9309 @item nnbabyl-active-file
9310 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9311 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
9313 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9314 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9315 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
9320 @subsubsection Mail Spool
9322 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
9324 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
9325 format. It should be used with some caution.
9327 @vindex nnml-directory
9328 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files;
9329 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the correct
9330 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
9331 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
9333 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
9336 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
9337 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
9338 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
9339 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
9340 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
9341 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
9342 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
9343 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
9345 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
9346 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
9347 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes is the fastest
9348 backend when it comes to reading mail.
9350 Virtual server settings:
9353 @item nnml-directory
9354 @vindex nnml-directory
9355 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
9357 @item nnml-active-file
9358 @vindex nnml-active-file
9359 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
9361 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
9362 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
9363 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
9366 @item nnml-get-new-mail
9367 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9368 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
9370 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
9371 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
9372 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
9374 @item nnml-nov-file-name
9375 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
9376 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
9378 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
9379 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
9380 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
9384 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
9385 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
9386 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
9387 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
9388 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
9389 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
9390 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
9395 @subsubsection MH Spool
9397 @cindex mh-e mail spool
9399 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
9400 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
9401 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
9402 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
9404 Virtual server settings:
9407 @item nnmh-directory
9408 @vindex nnmh-directory
9409 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
9411 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
9412 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9413 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
9416 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
9417 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
9418 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
9419 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
9420 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
9421 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
9422 to set this variable to @code{t}.
9427 @subsubsection Mail Folders
9429 @cindex mbox folders
9430 @cindex mail folders
9432 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
9433 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
9434 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
9437 Virtual server settings:
9440 @item nnfolder-directory
9441 @vindex nnfolder-directory
9442 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
9444 @item nnfolder-active-file
9445 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
9446 The name of the active file.
9448 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
9449 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
9450 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
9452 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
9453 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9454 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
9457 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
9458 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
9459 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
9460 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
9461 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
9462 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
9466 @section Other Sources
9468 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
9469 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
9473 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
9474 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
9475 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
9476 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
9477 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
9478 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
9482 @node Directory Groups
9483 @subsection Directory Groups
9485 @cindex directory groups
9487 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
9488 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
9491 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp}, that most
9492 wonderful of all wonderful Emacs packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I
9493 didn't think much about it---a backend to read directories. Big deal.
9495 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
9496 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
9497 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the the directory name,
9498 @code{ange-ftp} will actually allow you to read this directory over at
9499 @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
9501 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
9503 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
9504 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
9505 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
9506 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
9509 @node Anything Groups
9510 @subsection Anything Groups
9513 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
9514 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
9515 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
9518 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
9519 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
9520 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
9521 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
9522 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
9523 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
9524 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
9525 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
9526 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
9527 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
9530 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
9531 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
9532 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
9533 in the article buffer, just as usual.
9535 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
9536 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
9537 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
9538 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
9540 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
9541 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
9542 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
9543 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
9544 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
9545 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
9546 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
9547 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
9552 @item nneething-map-file-directory
9553 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
9554 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
9555 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
9557 @item nneething-exclude-files
9558 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
9559 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
9560 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
9562 @item nneething-map-file
9563 @vindex nneething-map-file
9564 Name of the map files.
9568 @node Document Groups
9569 @subsection Document Groups
9571 @cindex documentation group
9574 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
9575 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
9582 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
9587 The standard Unix mbox file.
9589 @cindex MMDF mail box
9591 The MMDF mail box format.
9594 Several news articles appended into a file.
9597 @cindex rnews batch files
9598 The rnews batch transport format.
9599 @cindex forwarded messages
9608 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
9609 @cindex RFC 341 digest
9610 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
9612 @item standard-digest
9613 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
9616 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
9619 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
9620 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
9621 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
9624 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
9625 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
9626 group. And that's it.
9628 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
9629 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
9630 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
9631 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
9632 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
9633 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
9634 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
9635 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
9636 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
9637 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
9639 Virtual server variables:
9642 @item nndoc-article-type
9643 @vindex nndoc-article-type
9644 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
9645 @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{news}, @code{rnews},
9646 @code{mime-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, or @code{guess}.
9648 @item nndoc-post-type
9649 @vindex nndoc-post-type
9650 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
9651 a mail group. There are two legal values: @code{mail} (the default)
9656 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
9660 @node Document Server Internals
9661 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
9663 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
9664 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
9665 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
9666 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
9668 First, here's an example document type definition:
9672 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
9673 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
9676 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
9677 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
9678 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
9679 types can be defined with very few settings:
9683 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
9684 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
9688 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
9689 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
9691 @item head-begin-function
9692 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
9695 @item nndoc-head-begin
9696 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
9699 @item nndoc-head-end
9700 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
9701 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
9703 @item body-begin-function
9704 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
9708 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
9711 @item body-end-function
9712 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
9716 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
9718 @item nndoc-file-end
9719 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
9720 regexp will be totally ignored.
9724 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
9725 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
9726 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
9727 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
9728 something that's palatable for Gnus:
9731 @item prepare-body-function
9732 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
9733 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
9734 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
9736 @item article-transform-function
9737 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
9738 meant to be used how more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
9739 body of the article.
9741 @item generate-head-function
9742 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
9743 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
9744 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
9745 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
9749 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
9754 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
9755 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
9756 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
9757 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
9759 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
9760 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
9761 (subtype digest guess))
9764 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
9765 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
9766 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
9767 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
9768 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
9770 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
9771 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
9772 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
9773 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
9774 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for each
9775 type. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
9776 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
9777 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
9778 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
9779 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
9780 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest legal number.
9788 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
9789 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
9790 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
9792 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
9793 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
9794 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
9797 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
9798 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
9799 that interested in doing things properly.
9801 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
9802 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
9805 First some terminology:
9810 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
9811 get news and/or mail from.
9814 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
9815 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
9818 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
9822 @item message packets
9823 These are packets made at the server, and typically contains lots of
9824 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
9825 default, where @var{X} is a number.
9827 @item response packets
9828 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
9829 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
9830 default, where @var{X} is a number.
9840 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
9841 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
9842 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
9843 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
9846 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
9849 You put the packet in your home directory.
9852 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
9853 the native or secondary server.
9856 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
9857 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
9860 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
9864 You transfer this packet to the server.
9867 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
9870 You then repeat until you die.
9874 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
9875 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
9878 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
9879 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
9880 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
9885 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
9887 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
9891 @kindex G s b (Group)
9892 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
9893 Pack all unread articles in the current group
9894 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
9895 process/prefix convention.
9898 @kindex G s w (Group)
9899 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
9900 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
9903 @kindex G s s (Group)
9904 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
9905 Send all replies from the replies packet
9906 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
9909 @kindex G s p (Group)
9910 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
9911 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
9914 @kindex G s r (Group)
9915 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
9916 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
9919 @kindex O s (Summary)
9920 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
9921 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
9922 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
9923 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
9928 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
9933 @item gnus-soup-directory
9934 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
9935 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
9936 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
9938 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
9939 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
9940 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
9941 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
9943 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
9944 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
9945 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
9948 @item gnus-soup-packer
9949 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
9950 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
9951 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
9953 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
9954 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
9955 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
9956 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
9958 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
9959 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
9960 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
9962 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
9963 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
9964 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
9965 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
9971 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
9974 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
9975 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
9976 you can read them at leisure.
9978 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
9982 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
9983 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
9984 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
9985 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
9987 @item nnsoup-directory
9988 @vindex nnsoup-directory
9989 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
9990 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
9992 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
9993 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
9994 All replies will stored in this directory before being packed into a
9995 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
9997 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
9998 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
9999 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10000 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10001 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10003 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10004 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10005 The index type of the replies packet. The is @samp{?n}, which means
10006 ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10008 @item nnsoup-active-file
10009 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10010 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10011 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10012 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10013 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10015 @item nnsoup-packer
10016 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10017 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10018 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10020 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10021 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10022 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10023 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10025 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10026 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
10027 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
10030 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
10031 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
10032 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
10039 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
10041 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
10042 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
10043 more for that to happen.
10045 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
10046 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
10047 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
10050 In specific, this is what it does:
10053 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
10054 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
10057 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
10058 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
10059 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
10063 @subsection Web Searches
10067 @cindex InReference
10068 @cindex Usenet searches
10069 @cindex searching the Usenet
10071 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
10072 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
10073 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
10074 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
10075 searches without having to use a browser.
10077 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
10078 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
10079 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
10080 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
10081 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
10083 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
10084 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
10085 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
10086 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
10087 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@code{Duplicate
10088 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
10089 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
10090 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
10091 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
10092 header---mark all articles that were posted before the last date you
10093 read the group as read.
10095 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
10096 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
10097 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
10098 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
10099 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
10100 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
10102 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
10103 to use @code{nnweb}.
10105 Virtual server variables:
10110 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
10111 are @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
10114 @vindex nnweb-search
10115 The search string to feed to the search engine.
10117 @item nnweb-max-hits
10118 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
10119 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
10122 @item nnweb-type-definition
10123 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
10124 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
10125 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
10130 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
10134 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
10137 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
10140 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
10144 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
10151 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
10152 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
10153 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
10156 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
10157 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
10158 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
10160 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
10166 @item nngateway-address
10167 @vindex nngateway-address
10168 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
10170 @item nngateway-header-transformation
10171 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
10172 News headers have often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
10173 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
10174 transformation should be called, and defaults to
10175 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
10176 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
10179 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
10180 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address---an article with this
10181 @code{Newsgroups} header:
10184 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
10187 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
10190 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
10195 So, to use this, simply say something like:
10198 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
10202 @node Combined Groups
10203 @section Combined Groups
10205 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
10209 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
10210 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
10214 @node Virtual Groups
10215 @subsection Virtual Groups
10217 @cindex virtual groups
10219 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
10222 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small group, you can
10223 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
10224 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
10226 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
10227 regexp to match component groups.
10229 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
10230 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
10231 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
10232 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
10233 the virtual group.)
10235 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
10236 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
10239 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
10242 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
10243 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
10245 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
10246 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
10247 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
10248 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
10251 "^nntp+some.server.jp:soc.motss$\\|^nntp+some.server.no:soc.motss$"
10254 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
10255 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
10256 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
10257 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
10258 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}.
10260 One limitation, however---all groups that are included in a virtual
10261 group has to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
10262 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
10264 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
10265 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
10266 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
10267 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
10268 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
10269 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
10270 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
10271 effect if you have two virtual groups that contain the same component
10272 group. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
10273 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
10274 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
10277 @node Kibozed Groups
10278 @subsection Kibozed Groups
10282 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
10283 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
10284 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
10285 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
10287 @kindex G k (Group)
10288 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
10291 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
10292 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
10293 @code{nnkiboze} group. There most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
10294 and @code{nnvirtual} ends.
10296 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
10297 must have a score file to say what articles that are to be included in
10298 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
10300 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
10301 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
10302 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
10303 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
10304 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
10305 all the articles in all the components groups and run them through the
10306 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
10307 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
10309 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
10310 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
10311 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
10312 Stranger things have happened.
10314 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
10315 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
10317 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
10318 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
10319 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
10320 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
10321 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
10322 on what groups that have been searched through to find component
10325 Articles that are marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have their
10326 @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
10333 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
10334 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
10335 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
10338 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
10339 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
10340 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
10341 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
10342 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
10344 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
10345 before generating the summary buffer.
10347 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
10348 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
10349 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
10351 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
10352 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
10353 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
10354 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
10357 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
10358 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
10359 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
10360 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
10361 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
10362 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
10363 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
10364 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
10365 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
10366 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
10367 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
10368 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
10369 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
10370 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
10371 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
10372 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
10376 @node Summary Score Commands
10377 @section Summary Score Commands
10378 @cindex score commands
10380 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
10381 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
10382 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
10383 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
10384 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
10386 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
10387 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
10388 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
10389 score file the current one.
10391 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
10396 @kindex V s (Summary)
10397 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
10398 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
10401 @kindex V S (Summary)
10402 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
10403 Display the score of the current article
10404 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
10407 @kindex V t (Summary)
10408 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
10409 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
10410 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
10413 @kindex V R (Summary)
10414 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
10415 Run the current summary through the scoring process
10416 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
10417 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
10418 effect you're having.
10421 @kindex V a (Summary)
10422 @findex gnus-summary-score-entry
10423 Add a new score entry, and allow specifying all elements
10424 (@code{gnus-summary-score-entry}).
10427 @kindex V c (Summary)
10428 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
10429 Make a different score file the current
10430 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
10433 @kindex V e (Summary)
10434 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
10435 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
10436 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
10440 @kindex V f (Summary)
10441 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
10442 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
10443 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
10446 @kindex V F (Summary)
10447 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
10448 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
10449 after editing score files.
10452 @kindex V C (Summary)
10453 @findex gnus-score-customize
10454 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
10455 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
10458 @kindex I C-i (Summary)
10459 @findex gnus-summary-raise-score
10460 Increase the score of the current article
10461 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-score}).
10464 @kindex L C-l (Summary)
10465 @findex gnus-summary-lower-score
10466 Lower the score of the current article
10467 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-score}).
10470 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
10475 @kindex V m (Summary)
10476 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
10477 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
10478 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
10481 @kindex V x (Summary)
10482 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
10483 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
10484 expunge all articles below this score
10485 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
10488 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
10489 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
10494 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
10495 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
10497 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
10498 keys are available:
10502 Score on the author name.
10505 Score on the subject line.
10508 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
10511 Score on thread---the References line.
10517 Score on the number of lines.
10520 Score on the Message-ID.
10523 Score on followups.
10533 The third key is the match type. Which match types are legal depends on
10534 what headers you are scoring on.
10546 Substring matching.
10578 Greater than number.
10583 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
10584 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
10585 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
10589 Temporary score entry.
10592 Permanent score entry.
10595 Immediately scoring.
10600 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
10601 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
10602 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
10603 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
10605 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
10606 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
10607 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
10608 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
10609 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
10611 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
10612 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
10613 pretend they are keymaps or not.
10616 @node Group Score Commands
10617 @section Group Score Commands
10618 @cindex group score commands
10620 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
10625 @kindex W f (Group)
10626 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
10627 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
10628 all the time. This command will flush the cache
10629 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
10634 @node Score Variables
10635 @section Score Variables
10636 @cindex score variables
10640 @item gnus-use-scoring
10641 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
10642 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
10643 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
10645 @item gnus-kill-killed
10646 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
10647 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
10648 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
10649 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
10650 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
10651 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
10652 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
10654 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
10655 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
10656 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
10657 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
10658 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
10660 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
10661 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
10662 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
10663 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
10665 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
10666 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
10667 @cindex score cache
10668 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
10669 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
10670 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files that are
10671 unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
10672 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
10673 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
10674 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
10677 @item gnus-save-score
10678 @vindex gnus-save-score
10679 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
10680 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
10681 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
10683 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
10684 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
10685 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
10686 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
10687 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
10688 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
10689 manually entered data.
10691 @item gnus-summary-default-score
10692 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
10693 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
10695 @item gnus-score-over-mark
10696 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
10697 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
10698 default. Default is @samp{+}.
10700 @item gnus-score-below-mark
10701 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
10702 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
10703 default. Default is @samp{-}.
10705 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
10706 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
10707 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
10708 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
10710 Predefined functions available are:
10713 @item gnus-score-find-single
10714 @findex gnus-score-find-single
10715 Only apply the group's own score file.
10717 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
10718 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
10719 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
10720 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
10721 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
10722 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
10723 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
10724 then a regexp match is done.
10726 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
10727 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
10729 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
10730 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
10731 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
10732 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
10734 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
10735 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
10736 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
10737 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
10738 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
10741 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
10742 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
10743 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
10744 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
10745 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
10746 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
10749 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
10750 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
10751 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
10752 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
10753 are expired. It's 7 by default.
10755 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
10756 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
10757 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
10758 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
10759 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
10760 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
10761 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
10764 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
10765 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
10766 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
10771 @node Score File Format
10772 @section Score File Format
10773 @cindex score file format
10775 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
10776 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
10777 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
10779 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
10783 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
10785 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
10787 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
10789 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
10794 (mark-and-expunge -10)
10798 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
10799 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
10800 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
10801 (gnus-summary-make-false-root 'empty))
10805 This example demonstrates absolutely everything about a score file.
10807 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
10808 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
10809 has to be legal syntactically, if not semantically.
10811 Six keys are supported by this alist:
10816 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
10817 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
10818 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
10819 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
10820 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
10821 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
10822 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
10823 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
10824 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
10825 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
10826 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
10827 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
10828 to articles that matches these score entries.
10830 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
10831 score entry has one to four elements.
10835 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
10836 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
10840 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
10841 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
10842 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
10843 is successful. If this element is not present, the
10844 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
10845 instead. This is 1000 by default.
10848 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
10849 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
10850 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
10851 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
10852 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 ce.
10855 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
10856 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
10857 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
10858 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
10861 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
10862 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
10863 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
10864 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
10865 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
10866 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
10867 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
10868 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
10869 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
10870 instead, if you feel like.
10873 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
10874 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}. When matching on @code{Lines}, be
10875 careful because some backends (like @code{nndir}) do not generate
10876 @code{Lines} header, so every article ends up being marked as having 0
10877 lines. This can lead to strange results if you happen to lower score of
10878 the articles with few lines.
10881 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
10882 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
10883 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
10884 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
10885 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
10886 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
10887 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
10891 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
10892 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
10893 ISO8601 compact format first---@samp{YYYYMMDDTHHMMSS}. If you want to
10894 match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in every year, you
10895 could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string, for instance.
10896 (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so this will
10897 match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where the article
10898 was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the whole
10901 @item Head, Body, All
10902 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
10906 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
10907 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
10908 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
10909 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
10910 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
10911 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
10915 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
10916 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread that is
10917 started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
10918 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
10919 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
10920 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
10921 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
10922 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
10923 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
10924 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread.
10929 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
10930 lower than this number will be marked as read.
10933 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
10934 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
10936 @item mark-and-expunge
10937 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
10938 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
10941 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
10942 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
10943 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
10944 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
10945 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
10948 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
10949 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
10952 @item exclude-files
10953 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
10954 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
10958 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
10959 ignored when handling global score files.
10962 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
10963 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}).
10966 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
10967 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
10968 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
10969 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
10971 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
10975 (mark-and-expunge -100)
10978 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
10979 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
10980 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
10981 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
10982 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
10984 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
10985 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
10986 ordinary scoring rules.
10989 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
10990 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
10991 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
10992 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
10993 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
10994 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
10995 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
10996 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
10997 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
10998 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
10999 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
11003 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
11004 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
11005 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
11006 file for a number of groups.
11009 @cindex local variables
11010 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
11011 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
11012 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
11013 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
11018 @node Score File Editing
11019 @section Score File Editing
11021 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
11022 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
11023 with a mode for that.
11025 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
11026 additional commands:
11031 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
11032 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
11033 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
11034 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
11037 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
11038 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
11039 Insert the current date in numerical format
11040 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
11041 you were wondering.
11044 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
11045 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
11046 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
11047 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
11048 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
11053 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
11055 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
11056 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
11058 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
11059 e} to begin editing score files.
11062 @node Adaptive Scoring
11063 @section Adaptive Scoring
11064 @cindex adaptive scoring
11066 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
11067 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
11068 stupidity, to be precise.
11070 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
11071 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
11072 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
11073 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
11074 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
11075 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
11076 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
11077 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
11078 variable to @code{(word line)}.
11080 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
11081 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
11082 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
11083 might look something like this:
11086 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
11087 '((gnus-unread-mark)
11088 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
11089 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
11090 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
11091 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
11092 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
11093 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
11094 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
11095 (gnus-ancient-mark)
11096 (gnus-low-score-mark)
11097 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
11100 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
11101 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
11102 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
11103 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
11104 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
11105 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
11108 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
11109 will be applied to each article.
11111 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
11112 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
11113 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
11114 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
11116 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
11117 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
11118 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
11119 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
11121 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
11122 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
11123 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
11124 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
11126 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
11127 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
11128 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
11129 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
11130 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
11131 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
11133 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
11134 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
11135 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
11136 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
11137 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
11138 aspirins afterwards.)
11140 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
11141 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
11142 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
11144 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
11145 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
11146 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
11148 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
11149 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
11150 let you use different rules in different groups.
11152 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
11153 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
11154 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
11157 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
11158 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
11159 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
11160 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
11161 the length of the match is less than
11162 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
11163 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
11166 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
11167 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
11168 headers. If you adapt on words, the
11169 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
11170 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
11173 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
11174 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
11175 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
11176 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
11177 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
11180 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
11181 word that appears in subjects of articles that are marked with
11182 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
11183 score with 30 points.
11185 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
11186 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
11187 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
11188 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
11189 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
11191 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
11192 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
11193 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
11194 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
11196 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
11197 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
11198 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
11200 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
11201 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
11202 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
11203 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
11206 @node Home Score File
11207 @section Home Score File
11209 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
11210 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
11211 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
11212 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
11214 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
11215 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
11216 could perhaps use the same home score file.
11218 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
11219 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
11224 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
11228 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
11229 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
11233 A list. The elements in this list can be:
11237 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
11238 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
11241 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
11242 the home score file.
11245 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
11248 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
11253 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
11256 (setq gnus-home-score-file
11257 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
11260 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
11261 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
11264 (setq gnus-home-score-file
11265 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
11268 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
11270 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
11271 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
11272 their own home score files:
11275 (setq gnus-home-score-file
11276 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
11277 '("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
11278 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
11279 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE"))
11282 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
11283 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
11284 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
11285 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
11286 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
11288 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
11289 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
11290 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
11291 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
11292 precedence over this variable.
11295 @node Followups To Yourself
11296 @section Followups To Yourself
11298 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
11299 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
11300 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
11301 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
11302 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
11303 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
11307 @item gnus-score-followup-article
11308 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
11309 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
11312 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
11313 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
11314 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
11318 @vindex message-sent-hook
11319 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
11320 @code{message-sent-hook}.
11322 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
11323 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
11327 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
11328 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
11331 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
11332 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
11337 "<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf@@.*eyesore.no>" 1000 nil r)
11340 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
11341 is system-dependent.
11345 @section Scoring Tips
11346 @cindex scoring tips
11352 @cindex scoring crossposts
11353 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
11354 the @code{Xref} header.
11356 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
11359 @item Multiple crossposts
11360 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
11361 more than, say, 3 groups:
11363 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
11366 @item Matching on the body
11367 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
11368 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
11369 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
11370 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
11371 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
11372 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
11373 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
11376 @item Marking as read
11377 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
11378 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
11379 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
11383 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
11385 @item Negated character classes
11386 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
11387 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
11388 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
11392 @node Reverse Scoring
11393 @section Reverse Scoring
11394 @cindex reverse scoring
11396 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
11397 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
11398 like this in your score file:
11402 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
11407 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
11408 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
11411 @node Global Score Files
11412 @section Global Score Files
11413 @cindex global score files
11415 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
11416 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
11417 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
11419 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
11420 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
11421 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
11423 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
11424 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
11425 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
11426 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
11427 files are applicable to which group.
11429 Say you want to use the score file
11430 @file{/ftp@@ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
11431 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
11434 (setq gnus-global-score-files
11435 '("/ftp@@ftp.ifi.uio.no:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
11436 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
11439 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
11440 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
11441 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
11442 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
11443 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
11445 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
11446 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
11448 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
11449 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
11450 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
11451 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
11452 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
11453 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
11455 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
11461 Articles that are heavily crossposted are probably junk.
11463 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
11465 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
11467 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
11468 lowered out of existence.
11470 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
11471 articles completely.
11474 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
11475 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
11476 old articles for a long time.
11479 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
11480 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
11481 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
11482 holding our breath yet?
11486 @section Kill Files
11489 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
11490 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
11491 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
11493 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
11494 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
11495 files into score files.
11497 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
11498 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
11499 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
11500 that isn't a very good idea.
11502 Normal kill files look like this:
11505 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11506 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
11510 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove them from
11511 the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
11513 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
11514 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
11517 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
11522 @kindex M-k (Summary)
11523 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
11524 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
11527 @kindex M-K (Summary)
11528 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
11529 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
11532 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
11537 @kindex M-k (Group)
11538 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
11539 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
11542 @kindex M-K (Group)
11543 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
11544 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
11547 Kill file variables:
11550 @item gnus-kill-file-name
11551 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
11552 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
11553 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
11554 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
11555 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
11556 course) is called just @file{KILL}.
11558 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
11559 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
11560 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
11561 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
11564 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
11565 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
11566 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
11567 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
11568 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
11569 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
11570 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
11571 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
11572 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
11574 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
11575 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
11576 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
11581 @node Converting Kill Files
11582 @section Converting Kill Files
11584 @cindex converting kill files
11586 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
11587 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
11588 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
11591 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
11592 You can fetch it from
11593 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
11595 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
11596 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
11597 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
11605 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
11606 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
11607 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
11609 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
11610 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
11611 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
11612 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
11613 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
11614 Once it has found for you some people you agree with it tells you, in
11615 the form of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use
11616 this prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
11620 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
11621 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
11622 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
11623 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
11627 @node Using GroupLens
11628 @subsection Using GroupLens
11630 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
11632 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
11633 better bit in town is at the moment.
11635 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
11639 @item gnus-use-grouplens
11640 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
11641 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
11642 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
11644 @item grouplens-pseudonym
11645 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
11646 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
11647 with the Better Bit Bureau.
11649 @item grouplens-newsgroups
11650 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
11651 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
11655 Thats the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
11656 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
11657 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
11658 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
11659 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
11660 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
11663 @node Rating Articles
11664 @subsection Rating Articles
11666 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
11667 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
11668 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
11669 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
11672 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
11677 @kindex r (GroupLens)
11678 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
11679 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
11682 @kindex k (GroupLens)
11683 @findex grouplens-score-thread
11684 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
11685 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
11686 threads in rec.humor.
11690 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
11691 the score of the article you're reading.
11696 @kindex n (GroupLens)
11697 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
11698 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
11701 @kindex , (GroupLens)
11702 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
11703 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
11707 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
11708 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
11711 @node Displaying Predictions
11712 @subsection Displaying Predictions
11714 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
11715 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
11716 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
11717 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
11718 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
11720 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
11721 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
11722 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
11723 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
11724 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
11725 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
11726 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
11727 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
11728 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
11729 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
11730 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
11731 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
11732 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
11734 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
11735 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
11736 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
11737 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
11739 The following are legal values for that variable.
11742 @item prediction-spot
11743 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
11746 @item confidence-interval
11747 A numeric confidence interval.
11749 @item prediction-bar
11750 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
11752 @item confidence-bar
11753 Numerical confidence.
11755 @item confidence-spot
11756 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
11758 @item prediction-num
11759 Plain-old numeric value.
11761 @item confidence-plus-minus
11762 Prediction +/i confidence.
11767 @node GroupLens Variables
11768 @subsection GroupLens Variables
11772 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
11773 The summary line format used in summary buffers that are GroupLens
11774 enhanced. It accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format
11775 (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}). The default is
11776 @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
11778 @item grouplens-bbb-host
11779 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
11782 @item grouplens-bbb-port
11783 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
11785 @item grouplens-score-offset
11786 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
11787 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
11790 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
11791 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
11792 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
11797 @node Advanced Scoring
11798 @section Advanced Scoring
11800 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
11801 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
11802 about a particular subject? Or what about if you really don't want to
11803 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
11804 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
11806 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
11810 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
11811 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
11812 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
11816 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
11817 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
11819 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
11820 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
11821 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
11822 non-@code{nil} value.
11824 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
11825 operator, and various match operators.
11832 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
11833 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
11834 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
11839 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
11840 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
11841 then this operator will return @code{false}.
11846 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
11847 inverse of the value of its argument.
11851 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
11852 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
11853 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
11854 current article. @code{2-} will make score fules apply to the
11855 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
11856 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) say how far back into
11857 the ancestry you want to go.
11859 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
11860 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
11861 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
11862 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
11863 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
11866 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
11867 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
11869 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
11870 when he's talking about Gnus:
11874 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11875 ("subject" "Gnus"))
11881 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
11885 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11892 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
11893 really don't want to read what he's written:
11897 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
11898 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
11902 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
11903 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
11904 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
11911 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
11912 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
11913 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
11914 ("body" "white.*socks"))
11918 The possibilities are endless.
11921 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
11922 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
11924 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
11925 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
11926 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
11927 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
11928 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
11929 (@samp{body}, @code{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
11930 @samp{subject}) first.
11932 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
11933 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
11944 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
11945 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
11951 ("subject" "Gnus")))
11958 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
11959 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
11964 @section Score Decays
11965 @cindex score decays
11968 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
11969 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
11970 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
11971 use them in any sensible way.
11973 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
11974 @findex gnus-decay-score
11975 @vindex gnus-score-decay-function
11976 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
11977 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
11978 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
11979 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
11980 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-score-decay-function}
11981 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
11982 definition of that function:
11985 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
11988 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
11990 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
11992 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
11995 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
11996 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
11997 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
11998 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
12002 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
12005 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
12008 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
12012 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
12013 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
12014 the new score, which should be an integer.
12016 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
12017 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
12024 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
12025 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
12026 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
12027 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
12028 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
12029 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
12030 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
12031 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
12032 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
12033 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
12034 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
12035 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
12036 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
12037 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
12038 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
12042 @node Process/Prefix
12043 @section Process/Prefix
12044 @cindex process/prefix convention
12046 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
12047 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
12049 This is a method for figuring out what articles that the user wants the
12050 command to be performed on.
12054 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
12055 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
12056 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
12057 with the current one.
12059 @vindex transient-mark-mode
12060 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
12061 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
12063 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
12064 process mark, perform the operation on the articles that are marked with
12067 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
12068 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
12070 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
12073 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
12074 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
12075 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
12076 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
12078 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
12079 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
12080 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
12081 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
12082 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
12083 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
12084 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
12085 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
12089 @section Interactive
12090 @cindex interaction
12094 @item gnus-novice-user
12095 @vindex gnus-novice-user
12096 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
12097 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
12098 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
12099 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
12102 @item gnus-expert-user
12103 @vindex gnus-expert-user
12104 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will never ever be asked any
12105 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
12106 matter how strange.
12108 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
12109 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
12110 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
12111 is @code{t} by default.
12113 @item gnus-interactive-exit
12114 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
12115 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
12120 @node Formatting Variables
12121 @section Formatting Variables
12122 @cindex formatting variables
12124 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables that
12125 are called things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
12126 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
12127 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
12128 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
12131 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
12132 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
12133 lots of percentages everywhere.
12136 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
12137 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
12138 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
12139 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
12142 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
12143 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
12144 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
12145 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
12146 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
12147 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
12148 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
12149 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
12151 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
12152 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
12154 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
12155 @findex gnus-update-format
12156 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
12157 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
12158 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
12159 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
12163 @node Formatting Basics
12164 @subsection Formatting Basics
12166 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
12167 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
12168 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
12170 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
12171 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
12172 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
12173 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
12174 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
12177 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
12178 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
12179 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
12180 less than 4 characters wide.
12183 @node Advanced Formatting
12184 @subsection Advanced Formatting
12186 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
12187 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
12188 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
12189 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
12191 These are the legal modifiers:
12196 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
12200 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
12205 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
12208 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
12213 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
12216 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
12219 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
12222 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
12226 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
12227 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
12228 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
12229 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
12230 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
12231 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
12232 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
12234 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
12235 last operation, padding.
12237 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
12238 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
12239 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
12240 @xref{Compilation}.
12243 @node User-Defined Specs
12244 @subsection User-Defined Specs
12246 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
12247 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
12248 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
12249 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
12250 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
12251 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
12252 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
12253 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
12254 should protect against that.
12256 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
12257 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
12258 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
12259 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
12263 @node Formatting Fonts
12264 @subsection Formatting Fonts
12266 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
12267 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
12268 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
12269 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
12272 Text inside the @samp{%[} and @samp{%]} specifiers will have their
12273 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
12274 default. If you say @samp{%1[} instead, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1}
12275 instead, and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes
12276 for the @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
12277 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
12279 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
12282 ;; Create three face types.
12283 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
12284 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
12286 ;; We want the article count to be in
12287 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
12288 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
12289 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
12291 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
12292 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
12294 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
12295 (setq gnus-group-line-format
12296 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
12299 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
12300 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
12302 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
12303 mode-line variables.
12306 @node Windows Configuration
12307 @section Windows Configuration
12308 @cindex windows configuration
12310 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
12312 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
12313 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
12314 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
12315 @code{t} by default.
12317 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
12318 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
12319 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
12322 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
12323 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
12324 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
12328 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
12329 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
12330 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
12331 possible names is listed below.
12333 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
12334 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
12337 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
12341 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
12342 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
12343 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
12344 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
12345 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
12346 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
12347 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
12348 size spec per split.
12350 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
12353 Here's a more complicated example:
12356 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
12357 (summary 0.25 point)
12358 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
12362 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
12363 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
12364 occupy, not a percentage.
12366 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
12367 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
12368 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
12369 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
12370 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
12373 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
12376 (article (horizontal 1.0
12381 (summary 0.25 point)
12386 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
12387 @code{horizontal} thingie?
12389 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
12390 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
12391 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
12392 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
12393 the screen is to be given to this strip.
12395 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
12396 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
12397 lines from the splits.
12399 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a legal split
12403 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
12404 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
12405 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
12406 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
12407 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
12408 size = number | frame-params
12409 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
12412 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
12413 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
12414 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
12415 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
12417 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
12418 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
12419 @cindex window height
12420 @cindex window width
12421 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
12422 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
12423 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
12424 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
12425 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
12426 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
12428 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
12429 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
12430 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
12431 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
12433 @findex gnus-configure-frame
12434 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
12435 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
12436 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
12437 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
12438 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
12439 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
12440 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
12441 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
12442 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
12443 configuration list.
12446 (gnus-configure-frame
12450 (article 0.3 point))
12458 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
12459 @code{frame} split:
12462 (gnus-configure-frame
12465 (summary 0.25 point)
12467 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
12468 (user-position . t)
12469 (left . -1) (top . 1))
12474 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
12475 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
12476 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
12477 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
12478 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
12479 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
12482 Here's a list of all possible keys for
12483 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
12485 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
12486 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
12487 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
12488 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
12489 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft},
12490 @code{pipe}, @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}.
12492 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
12493 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
12494 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
12498 (message (horizontal 1.0
12499 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
12501 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
12506 @findex gnus-add-configuration
12507 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
12508 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
12509 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
12510 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
12513 (gnus-add-configuration
12514 '(article (vertical 1.0
12516 (summary .25 point)
12520 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
12521 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
12522 Gnus has been loaded.
12524 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
12525 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
12526 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
12527 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
12528 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
12532 @section Compilation
12533 @cindex compilation
12534 @cindex byte-compilation
12536 @findex gnus-compile
12538 Remember all those line format specification variables?
12539 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
12540 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
12541 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
12542 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
12543 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
12546 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
12547 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
12548 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
12549 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
12550 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
12551 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
12552 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
12556 @section Mode Lines
12559 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
12560 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
12561 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
12562 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
12563 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
12564 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
12565 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
12568 @cindex display-time
12570 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
12571 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
12572 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
12573 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
12574 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
12575 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
12576 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
12577 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
12580 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
12582 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
12583 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
12585 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
12586 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
12587 (length display-time-string)))))
12590 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
12591 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either.
12594 @node Highlighting and Menus
12595 @section Highlighting and Menus
12597 @cindex highlighting
12600 @vindex gnus-visual
12601 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the prettifying Gnus
12602 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
12603 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
12606 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
12607 following elements are legal, and are all included by default:
12610 @item group-highlight
12611 Do highlights in the group buffer.
12612 @item summary-highlight
12613 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
12614 @item article-highlight
12615 Do highlights in the article buffer.
12617 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
12619 Create menus in the group buffer.
12621 Create menus in the summary buffers.
12623 Create menus in the article buffer.
12625 Create menus in the browse buffer.
12627 Create menus in the server buffer.
12629 Create menus in the score buffers.
12631 Create menus in all buffers.
12634 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
12635 buffers, you could say something like:
12638 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
12641 If you want only highlighting and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
12644 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
12647 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
12648 in all Gnus buffers.
12650 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
12653 @item gnus-mouse-face
12654 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
12655 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
12656 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
12658 @item gnus-display-type
12659 @vindex gnus-display-type
12660 This variable is symbol indicating the display type Emacs is running
12661 under. The symbol should be one of @code{color}, @code{grayscale} or
12662 @code{mono}. If Gnus guesses this display attribute wrongly, either set
12663 this variable in your @file{~/.emacs} or set the resource
12664 @code{Emacs.displayType} in your @file{~/.Xdefaults}.
12666 @item gnus-background-mode
12667 @vindex gnus-background-mode
12668 This is a symbol indicating the Emacs background brightness. The symbol
12669 should be one of @code{light} or @code{dark}. If Gnus guesses this
12670 frame attribute wrongly, either set this variable in your @file{~/.emacs} or
12671 set the resource @code{Emacs.backgroundMode} in your @file{~/.Xdefaults}.
12672 `gnus-display-type'.
12675 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
12679 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
12680 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
12681 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
12683 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
12684 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
12685 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
12687 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
12688 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
12689 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
12691 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
12692 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
12693 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
12695 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
12696 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
12697 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
12699 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
12700 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
12701 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
12712 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
12713 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
12714 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
12715 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
12716 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
12720 @vindex gnus-carpal
12721 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
12722 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
12723 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
12728 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
12729 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
12730 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
12732 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
12733 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
12734 Face used on buttons.
12736 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
12737 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
12738 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
12740 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
12741 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
12742 Buttons in the group buffer.
12744 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
12745 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
12746 Buttons in the summary buffer.
12748 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
12749 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
12750 Buttons in the server buffer.
12752 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
12753 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
12754 Buttons in the browse buffer.
12757 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
12758 is either a cons cell where the car contains a text to be displayed and
12759 the cdr contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
12767 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
12768 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
12769 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
12770 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
12771 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
12773 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
12774 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
12775 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
12777 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
12778 been idle for thirty minutes:
12781 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
12784 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
12788 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
12791 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter works together
12792 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
12793 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
12795 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
12796 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
12797 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
12798 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
12800 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
12801 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
12802 @var{idle} minutes.
12804 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
12805 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
12808 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
12809 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
12810 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
12812 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
12813 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
12814 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
12815 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
12817 @vindex gnus-use-demon
12818 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
12819 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
12821 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
12822 your @file{.gnus} file:
12824 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
12826 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
12829 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
12830 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
12831 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
12832 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
12833 Some ready-made functions to do this has been created:
12834 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
12835 @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just
12836 put those functions in your @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
12838 @findex gnus-demon-init
12839 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
12840 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
12841 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
12842 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
12843 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
12845 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it. Adding
12846 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
12847 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
12856 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
12857 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
12859 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
12860 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
12861 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
12862 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
12865 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
12866 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
12867 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
12868 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
12870 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
12871 this will make spam disappear.
12873 There are some variables to customize, of course:
12876 @item gnus-use-nocem
12877 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
12878 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
12881 @item gnus-nocem-groups
12882 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
12883 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
12884 default is @code{("alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
12886 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
12887 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
12888 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
12889 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
12890 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;" "jem@@xpat.com;" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
12891 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
12893 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
12896 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
12897 @cindex Chris Lewis
12898 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
12899 usenet abuse than anybody else.
12902 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
12903 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
12904 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
12906 @item jem@@xpat.com;
12908 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
12911 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
12912 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
12913 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
12916 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
12917 ones you want to listen to.
12919 @item gnus-nocem-directory
12920 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
12921 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
12922 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
12924 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
12925 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
12926 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
12927 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
12928 might then see old spam.
12936 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
12937 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
12938 over your shoulder as you read news.
12941 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
12942 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
12943 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
12944 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
12945 * Picon Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
12950 @subsection Picon Basics
12952 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
12955 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
12956 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
12957 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
12958 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
12959 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
12960 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
12961 @code{GIF} formats.
12964 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases, point
12965 your Web browser at
12966 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
12968 @vindex gnus-picons-database
12969 Gnus expects picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
12970 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
12973 @node Picon Requirements
12974 @subsection Picon Requirements
12976 To use have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
12977 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
12980 Additionally, you must have @code{xpm} support compiled into XEmacs.
12982 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
12983 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you must have
12984 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
12985 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
12989 @subsection Easy Picons
12991 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
12992 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
12995 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
12996 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
12997 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-prepare-hook 'gnus-group-display-picons t)
12998 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
13003 @subsection Hard Picons
13005 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
13006 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
13007 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
13008 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
13009 feature, you need to first decide where to display them.
13013 @item gnus-picons-display-where
13014 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
13015 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
13016 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
13017 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
13018 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
13019 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
13020 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
13024 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
13025 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
13027 Now that you've made that decision, you need to add the following
13028 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get
13029 displayed at the right time.
13031 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
13032 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
13034 @item gnus-article-display-picons
13035 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
13036 Looks up and display the picons for the author and the author's domain
13037 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to
13038 the @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
13040 @item gnus-group-display-picons
13041 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
13042 Displays picons representing the current group. This function should
13043 be added to the @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook} or to the
13044 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} if @code{gnus-picons-display-where}
13045 is set to @code{article}.
13047 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
13048 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
13049 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
13050 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
13054 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
13055 to the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
13058 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
13062 @node Picon Configuration
13063 @subsection Picon Configuration
13065 The following variables offer further control over how things are
13066 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
13067 don't need to worry about.
13070 @item gnus-picons-database
13071 @vindex gnus-picons-database
13072 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
13073 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
13074 subdirectories. Defaults to @file{/usr/local/faces}.
13076 @item gnus-picons-news-directory
13077 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directory
13078 Sub-directory of the faces database containing the icons for
13081 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
13082 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
13083 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
13084 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc/MISC")} is the default.
13086 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
13087 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
13088 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
13089 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
13090 want to add @samp{unknown} to this list.
13092 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
13093 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
13094 The command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
13095 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
13096 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
13097 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
13099 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
13100 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
13101 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
13102 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
13104 @item gnus-picons-buffer
13105 @vindex gnus-picons-buffer
13106 The name of the buffer that @code{picons} points to. Defaults to
13107 @samp{*Icon Buffer*}.
13116 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
13117 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
13118 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
13120 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
13121 Gnus---it's all just data that is designed to look nice to the user.
13122 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
13123 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
13124 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
13125 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
13126 @code{undo} function.
13128 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
13129 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
13130 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
13131 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
13132 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
13133 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
13134 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
13135 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
13136 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
13137 never be totally undoable.
13139 @findex gnus-undo-mode
13140 @vindex gnus-use-undo
13142 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
13143 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
13144 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
13145 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
13150 @section Moderation
13153 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
13154 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
13155 @samp{larsi@@ifi.uio.no} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
13158 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
13162 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
13165 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
13167 If you are the moderation of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
13172 You split your incoming mail by matching on
13173 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
13174 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
13177 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
13178 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
13181 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
13182 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
13186 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
13189 (setq gnus-moderated-list
13190 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
13194 @node XEmacs Enhancements
13195 @section XEmacs Enhancements
13198 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
13199 advantage of that. Relevant variables include:
13202 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
13203 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
13204 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
13205 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
13206 unusual directory structure.
13208 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
13209 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
13210 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
13211 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
13213 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
13214 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
13215 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
13216 Legal values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
13217 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
13218 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
13220 @item gnus-use-toolbar
13221 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
13222 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
13223 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
13224 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
13226 @item gnus-group-toolbar
13227 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
13228 The toolbar in the group buffer.
13230 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
13231 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
13232 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
13234 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
13235 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
13236 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
13238 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
13239 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
13240 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
13246 @node Various Various
13247 @section Various Various
13253 @item gnus-directory
13254 @vindex gnus-directory
13255 All Gnus directories will be initialized from this variable, which
13256 defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or @file{~/News/}
13257 if that variable isn't set.
13259 @item gnus-default-directory
13260 @vindex gnus-default-directory
13261 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
13262 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
13263 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
13264 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
13265 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
13266 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
13269 @vindex gnus-verbose
13270 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
13271 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
13272 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
13273 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
13274 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
13276 @item gnus-verbose-backends
13277 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
13278 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
13279 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
13281 @item nnheader-max-head-length
13282 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
13283 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
13284 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
13285 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
13286 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
13287 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
13288 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
13289 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
13292 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
13293 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
13294 This variable says how big a piece of each article to read when doing
13295 the operation described above.
13297 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
13298 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
13300 @cindex illegal characters in file names
13301 @cindex characters in file names
13302 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
13303 For instance, if @samp{:} is illegal as a file character in file names
13304 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
13307 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
13311 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
13312 Windows (phooey) systems.
13314 @item gnus-hidden-properties
13315 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
13316 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
13317 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
13318 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
13320 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
13321 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
13322 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
13323 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
13324 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
13326 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
13327 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
13328 String used to separate to shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
13337 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
13338 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
13340 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
13342 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
13348 Not because of victories @*
13351 but for the common sunshine,@*
13353 the largess of the spring.
13357 but for the day's work done@*
13358 as well as I was able;@*
13359 not for a seat upon the dais@*
13360 but at the common table.@*
13365 @chapter Appendices
13368 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
13369 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
13370 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
13371 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
13372 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
13373 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
13374 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
13382 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
13383 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
13385 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
13386 can point your (feh!) web browser to
13387 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
13388 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
13389 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
13391 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
13392 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
13393 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
13394 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
13395 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
13396 appropriate name, don't you think?)
13398 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
13399 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
13400 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
13401 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
13403 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
13404 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution.
13406 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'') was
13407 released under the name ``Gnus 5.2''.
13409 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun.
13411 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a name that is prefixed --
13412 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Mamey Sapote Gnus''
13413 -- don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
13414 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
13415 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
13419 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
13420 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
13421 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
13422 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
13423 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
13424 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
13425 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
13432 What's the point of Gnus?
13434 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
13435 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
13436 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
13437 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
13438 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
13439 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
13440 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
13441 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
13442 keep track of millions of people who post?
13444 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
13445 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
13446 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
13447 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
13448 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
13449 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
13450 everywhere I could imagine useful. By doing so, I'm inviting every one
13451 of you to explore and invent.
13453 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x hail-emacs}.
13456 @node Compatibility
13457 @subsection Compatibility
13459 @cindex compatibility
13460 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
13461 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
13462 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
13467 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
13471 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
13474 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @pxref{Decoding
13477 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
13478 buffers. All variables that are relevant while reading a group are
13479 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
13480 important variables have their values copied into their global
13481 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
13482 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
13484 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
13485 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
13486 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
13487 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
13488 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
13492 @cindex highlighting
13493 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
13494 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
13495 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
13496 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
13497 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
13498 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
13501 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
13502 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
13503 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
13504 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
13506 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
13507 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
13508 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
13509 to stop doing it the old way.
13511 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
13513 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
13515 @cindex reporting bugs
13517 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
13518 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
13519 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
13523 @subsection Conformity
13525 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
13526 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
13533 There are no known breaches of this standard.
13537 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
13539 @item Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
13540 @cindex Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
13541 Gnus has been through the Seal process and failed. I think it'll pass
13542 the next inspection.
13544 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
13545 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
13546 We do have some breaches to this one.
13551 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
13552 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
13555 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
13556 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
13557 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
13558 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
13559 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
13562 Gnus does line breaking on this header. I infer from RFC1036 that being
13563 conservative in what you output is not creating 5000-character lines, so
13564 it seems like a good idea to me. However, this standard-to-be says that
13565 whitespace in the @code{References} header is to be preserved, so... It
13566 doesn't matter one way or the other to Gnus, so if somebody tells me
13567 what The Way is, I'll change it. Or not.
13572 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliantly with regards to the texts
13573 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
13578 @subsection Emacsen
13584 Gnus should work on :
13589 Emacs 19.32 and up.
13592 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
13595 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
13599 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
13600 reliably, at least.
13602 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
13603 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
13604 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
13609 @subsection Contributors
13610 @cindex contributors
13612 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
13613 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
13614 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
13615 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
13616 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
13617 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
13618 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
13619 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
13620 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
13621 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
13623 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
13629 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
13632 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
13633 well as numerous other things).
13636 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
13639 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
13642 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
13643 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
13646 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
13647 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
13650 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
13653 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
13656 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
13659 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
13662 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinsky---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
13663 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
13666 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
13669 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
13672 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
13675 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
13679 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
13682 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
13685 Ricardo Nassif, Mark Borges, and Jost Krieger---proof-reading.
13688 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
13691 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports.
13695 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
13704 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
13708 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
13719 Massimo Campostrini,
13723 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
13738 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
13739 Francois Felix Ingrand,
13743 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
13744 Thor Kristoffersen,
13756 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
13762 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
13771 Randal L. Schwartz,
13788 Katsumi Yamaoka. @c Yamaoka
13791 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
13794 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
13795 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
13799 @subsection New Features
13800 @cindex new features
13803 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
13804 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
13805 * Red Gnus:: The future---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
13808 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
13809 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
13810 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
13814 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
13816 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
13821 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
13822 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
13825 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
13826 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
13829 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
13832 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
13833 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
13834 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
13837 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
13838 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
13839 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
13840 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
13843 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
13844 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
13847 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
13848 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
13849 (@pxref{The Active File}).
13852 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
13853 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
13856 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
13857 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
13858 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
13861 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
13862 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
13863 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
13866 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
13867 the @file{.emacs} file.
13870 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
13871 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
13874 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
13875 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
13878 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
13879 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
13882 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
13883 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
13886 Gnus can fetch articles asynchronously on a second connection to the
13887 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
13890 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
13893 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
13894 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
13897 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
13898 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
13901 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
13902 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
13905 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
13908 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
13909 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
13912 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
13916 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
13920 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
13921 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
13924 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
13930 @node September Gnus
13931 @subsubsection September Gnus
13933 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
13938 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
13939 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
13943 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
13944 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
13948 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
13952 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
13953 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
13956 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
13960 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
13963 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
13966 A @code{trn}-line tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
13969 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
13973 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
13974 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
13977 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
13981 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
13985 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
13989 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
13993 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
13996 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
13997 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
14000 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
14004 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
14005 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
14008 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
14011 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
14012 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
14013 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
14016 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
14020 The Gnus cache is much faster.
14023 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
14027 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-address and
14028 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
14031 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
14032 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
14035 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
14036 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
14039 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
14040 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
14041 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
14044 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
14045 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
14048 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
14051 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
14054 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14055 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
14059 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
14062 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
14065 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
14066 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
14069 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
14073 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
14076 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
14079 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
14083 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
14086 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
14090 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
14093 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
14096 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
14097 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
14100 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
14101 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
14105 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
14106 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
14109 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
14113 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
14114 buffer to allow easier treatment.
14117 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
14120 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
14124 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
14128 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
14129 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
14132 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
14136 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
14137 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
14140 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
14141 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
14144 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
14148 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
14151 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
14152 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
14156 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
14159 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
14165 @subsubsection Red Gnus
14167 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
14172 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
14175 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
14176 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
14179 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
14180 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
14184 Article washing status can be displayed in the
14185 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
14188 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
14191 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
14192 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
14195 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
14199 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
14200 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}).
14203 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
14204 Server Internals}).
14207 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
14211 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
14214 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
14215 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
14218 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
14219 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
14220 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
14223 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
14224 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
14227 A way to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed when
14228 generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
14231 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
14235 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
14236 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
14239 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
14240 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
14243 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
14247 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
14250 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
14254 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
14255 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
14258 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
14259 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
14262 A new command for reading collections of documents
14263 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
14264 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
14267 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
14271 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
14272 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
14275 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
14276 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
14277 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
14280 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
14281 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
14285 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
14289 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
14293 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
14297 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
14301 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
14302 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
14305 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
14308 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-emphasize)
14314 @node Newest Features
14315 @subsection Newest Features
14318 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
14321 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
14325 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
14327 Really do unbinhexing.
14330 And much, much, much more. There is more to come than has already been
14331 implemented. (But that's always true, isn't it?)
14333 @file{<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/rgnus/todo>} is where the actual
14334 up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
14335 could point your Web browser over that-a-way.
14340 @section The Manual
14344 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
14345 either @code{texi2dvi}
14347 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
14348 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
14350 to get what you hold in your hands now.
14352 The following conventions have been used:
14357 This is a @samp{string}
14360 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
14363 This is a @file{file}
14366 This is a @code{symbol}
14370 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
14374 (setq flargnoze "yes")
14377 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
14380 (setq flumphel 'yes)
14383 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
14384 ever get them confused.
14388 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
14389 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
14390 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
14391 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
14392 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
14393 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
14394 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
14401 @section Terminology
14403 @cindex terminology
14408 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
14409 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
14410 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
14411 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
14412 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
14416 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
14417 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
14418 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
14419 not posting, and replying is not following up.
14423 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
14427 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
14432 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
14433 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
14434 is all done by the backends.
14438 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
14439 default, way of getting news.
14443 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
14444 These are groups that use different backends for getting news.
14448 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
14449 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
14453 A message that has been posted as news.
14456 @cindex mail message
14457 A message that has been mailed.
14461 A mail message or news article
14465 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
14470 The rest of an article. Everything that is not in the head is in the
14475 A line from the head of an article.
14479 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
14480 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
14484 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
14485 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
14486 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
14487 normal @sc{head} format.
14491 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
14492 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
14493 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
14494 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
14495 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
14496 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
14498 @item killed groups
14499 @cindex killed groups
14500 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
14501 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
14503 @item zombie groups
14504 @cindex zombie groups
14505 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
14508 @cindex active file
14509 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
14510 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
14511 is rather large, as you might surmise.
14514 @cindex bogus groups
14515 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
14516 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
14517 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
14521 A machine than one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
14523 @item select method
14524 @cindex select method
14525 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
14528 @item virtual server
14529 @cindex virtual server
14530 A named select method. Since a select methods defines all there is to
14531 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the things as a
14532 whole is a virtual server.
14536 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
14537 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
14540 @item ephemeral groups
14541 @cindex ephemeral groups
14542 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
14543 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
14544 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
14547 @cindex solid groups
14548 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
14549 group buffer are solid groups.
14551 @item sparse articles
14552 @cindex sparse articles
14553 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
14554 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
14559 @node Customization
14560 @section Customization
14561 @cindex general customization
14563 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
14564 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
14565 for some quite common situations.
14568 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
14569 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
14570 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
14571 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
14575 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
14576 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
14578 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
14579 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
14580 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
14584 @item gnus-read-active-file
14585 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
14586 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
14587 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
14588 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
14589 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
14591 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
14592 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
14593 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
14594 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
14598 @node Slow Terminal Connection
14599 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
14601 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that
14602 runs Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce the
14603 amount of data that is sent over the wires as much as possible.
14607 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
14608 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
14609 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
14610 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
14611 horizontal and vertical recentering.
14613 @item gnus-visible-headers
14614 Cut down on the headers that are included in the articles to the
14615 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
14616 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
14617 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
14619 @item gnus-article-display-hook
14620 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
14622 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
14623 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
14624 gnus-article-hide-citation))
14627 @item gnus-use-full-window
14628 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
14629 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
14630 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
14631 want to read them anyway.
14633 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
14634 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
14637 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
14638 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
14639 lines, which might save some time.
14643 @node Little Disk Space
14644 @subsection Little Disk Space
14647 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
14648 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
14652 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
14653 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
14654 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
14655 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
14658 @item gnus-save-killed-list
14659 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
14660 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
14661 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
14662 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
14668 @subsection Slow Machine
14669 @cindex slow machine
14671 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
14672 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
14674 Set@code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
14675 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
14677 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
14678 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
14679 summary buffer faster.
14681 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
14682 processing a bit faster.
14685 @node Troubleshooting
14686 @section Troubleshooting
14687 @cindex troubleshooting
14689 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
14697 Make sure your computer is switched on.
14700 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
14701 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
14705 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
14706 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
14707 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
14708 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
14711 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
14715 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
14716 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
14717 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
14718 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
14719 something like that.
14722 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
14725 @cindex reporting bugs
14727 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
14729 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
14730 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
14731 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
14732 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
14734 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
14735 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
14736 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
14737 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
14740 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
14741 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you send back
14742 just ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
14743 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
14744 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
14745 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
14747 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
14748 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
14749 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
14752 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
14753 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
14755 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
14756 @cindex ding mailing list
14757 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@ifi.uio.no}.
14758 Write to @samp{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} to subscribe.
14761 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
14762 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
14764 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
14765 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
14766 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
14767 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
14770 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
14771 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
14772 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
14773 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
14774 and general method of operations.
14777 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
14778 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
14779 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
14780 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
14781 * Group Info:: The group info format.
14782 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
14783 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
14787 @node Backend Interface
14788 @subsection Backend Interface
14790 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
14791 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
14792 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
14793 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
14794 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
14795 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
14797 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
14798 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
14799 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
14800 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
14801 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
14802 been opened, the function should fail.
14804 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
14805 name. Take this example:
14809 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
14810 (nntp-port-number 4324))
14813 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
14814 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
14816 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
14817 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
14818 server environments that it pulls down/pushes up when needed.
14820 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
14821 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
14822 always check whether are present before attempting to call.
14824 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
14825 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
14826 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
14827 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
14828 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
14829 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
14832 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
14833 some might be said to not be. The latter are backends that generally
14834 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
14835 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
14838 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
14841 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
14844 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
14845 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
14846 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
14847 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
14848 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
14849 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
14853 @node Required Backend Functions
14854 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
14858 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
14860 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
14861 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
14862 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
14863 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
14865 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
14866 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
14867 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
14868 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
14870 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try to fetch "extra
14871 headers, in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
14872 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
14873 article number in @code{articles}, and fill in the gaps as well. The
14874 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
14875 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
14876 number, do maximum fetches.
14878 Here's an example HEAD:
14881 221 1056 Article retrieved.
14882 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
14883 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
14884 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
14885 Subject: Re: Something very droll
14886 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
14887 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
14889 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
14890 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
14891 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
14895 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
14896 these in the data buffer.
14898 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
14902 head = error / valid-head
14903 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
14904 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
14905 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
14906 header = <text> eol
14909 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
14910 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
14914 nov-buffer = *nov-line
14915 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
14916 field = <text except TAB>
14919 For a closer explanation what should be in those fields,
14923 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
14925 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
14926 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that defines this virtual server.
14928 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
14929 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
14930 server. In fact, it should do so.
14932 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
14933 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
14936 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
14938 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
14939 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
14942 There should be no data returned.
14945 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
14947 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
14948 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
14949 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
14950 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
14952 There should be no data returned.
14955 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
14957 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
14958 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
14959 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
14960 attempt to reconnect to a server that is has lost connection to.
14962 There should be no data returned.
14965 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
14967 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
14969 There should be no data returned.
14972 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
14974 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
14975 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
14976 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
14977 it would be nice if that were possible.
14979 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
14980 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
14981 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
14982 another, and Gnus mainly request articles to be inserted directly into
14983 its article buffer.
14985 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
14986 the car is the group name the article was fetched from, and the cdr is
14987 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
14988 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
14989 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
14990 on successful article retrievement.
14993 @item (nnchoke-open-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
14995 Make @var{group} the current group.
14997 There should be no data returned by this function.
15000 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
15002 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
15003 making @var{group} the current group.
15005 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
15008 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
15011 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
15014 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
15015 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
15016 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
15017 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
15018 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
15019 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
15020 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
15021 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
15024 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
15025 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
15026 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
15030 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
15032 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
15033 a no-op on most backends.
15035 There should be no data returned.
15038 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
15040 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
15043 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
15046 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
15047 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
15050 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
15051 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
15054 active-file = *active-line
15055 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
15057 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
15060 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
15061 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
15062 (@samp{=other-group} or none of the above (@samp{y}).
15065 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
15067 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
15068 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
15069 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
15070 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
15071 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
15072 clear if the posting could not be completed.
15074 There should be no result data from this function.
15079 @node Optional Backend Functions
15080 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
15084 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
15086 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
15087 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
15088 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
15090 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
15091 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
15092 former is in the same format as the data from
15093 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
15094 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
15097 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
15101 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
15103 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
15104 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
15105 information (as is the case with virtual an imap groups). This function
15106 may alter the info in any manner it sees fit, and should return the
15107 (altered) group info. This function may alter the group info
15108 destructively, so no copying is needed before boogeying.
15110 There should be no result data from this function.
15113 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
15115 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
15116 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
15117 user is following up is news or mail. This function should return
15118 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
15119 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
15120 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
15121 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
15122 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
15124 There should be no result data from this function.
15127 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
15129 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
15130 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
15131 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
15132 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
15133 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
15135 The only use for this that I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
15136 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
15137 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
15140 There should be no result data from this function.
15143 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
15145 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
15146 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
15147 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
15148 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
15149 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
15150 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
15151 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
15153 There should be no result data from this function.
15156 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
15158 The result data from this function should be a description of
15162 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
15164 description = <text>
15167 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
15169 The result data from this function should be the description of all
15170 groups available on the server.
15173 description-buffer = *description-line
15177 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
15179 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
15180 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
15181 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
15184 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
15186 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
15188 There should be no return data.
15191 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
15193 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
15194 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
15195 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
15196 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
15197 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
15200 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
15203 There should be no result data returned.
15206 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
15209 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
15210 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
15212 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
15213 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
15214 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
15215 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
15216 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
15217 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
15219 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
15220 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
15223 The function should return a cons where the car is the group name and
15224 the cdr is the article number that the article was entered as.
15226 There should be no data returned.
15229 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
15231 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
15232 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
15233 this function in short order.
15235 The function should return a cons where the car is the group name and
15236 the cdr is the article number that the article was entered as.
15238 There should be no data returned.
15241 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
15243 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
15244 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
15246 There should be no data returned.
15249 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
15251 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
15252 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
15253 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
15255 There should be no data returned.
15258 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
15260 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
15261 articles that are in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
15263 There should be no data returned.
15268 @node Error Messaging
15269 @subsubsection Error Messaging
15271 @findex nnheader-report
15272 @findex nnheader-get-report
15273 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
15274 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
15275 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
15276 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
15277 there are many of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
15278 This function always returns @code{nil}.
15281 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
15283 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
15286 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
15287 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
15288 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
15289 takes one argument---the server symbol.
15291 Internally, these function access @var{backend}@code{-status-string}, so
15292 the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
15293 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
15296 @node Writing New Backends
15297 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
15299 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
15300 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
15301 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
15302 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
15303 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
15306 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
15307 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
15308 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
15310 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
15311 package called @code{nnoo}.
15313 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
15314 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
15321 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
15322 parameters. For instance:
15325 (nnoo-declare nndir
15329 @code{nndir} has here declared that it intends to inherit functions from
15330 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
15333 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
15334 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
15335 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
15337 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
15338 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
15339 a function in those backends.
15342 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
15343 "Where nndir will look for groups."
15344 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
15347 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
15348 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
15349 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
15351 @item nnoo-define-basics
15352 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
15356 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
15360 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
15361 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
15362 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
15364 @item nnoo-map-functions
15365 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
15366 functions from the parent backends.
15369 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
15370 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
15371 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
15374 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
15375 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
15376 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
15377 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
15380 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
15381 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
15382 haven't already been defined.
15388 nnmh-request-newgroups)
15392 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
15393 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
15394 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
15399 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
15402 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
15403 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
15407 (require 'nnheader)
15411 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
15413 (nnoo-declare nndir
15416 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
15417 "Where nndir will look for groups."
15418 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
15420 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
15421 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
15424 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
15425 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
15426 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
15428 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
15429 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
15431 ;;; Interface functions.
15433 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
15435 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
15436 (setq nndir-directory
15437 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
15439 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
15440 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
15441 (push `(nndir-current-group
15442 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
15444 (push `(nndir-top-directory
15445 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
15447 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
15449 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
15450 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
15451 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
15452 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
15453 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
15457 nnmh-status-message
15459 nnmh-request-newgroups))
15465 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
15466 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
15468 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
15469 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
15470 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
15471 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
15473 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
15474 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
15479 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
15482 The abilities can be:
15486 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
15488 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
15490 This backend supports both mail and news.
15492 This is neither a post or mail backend---it's something completely
15495 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
15496 articles and groups.
15498 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
15499 true for almost all backends.
15500 @item prompt-address
15501 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
15502 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
15503 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
15507 @node Mail-like Backends
15508 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
15510 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
15511 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
15512 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
15513 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
15516 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
15517 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
15518 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
15521 It simply just calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will a few parameters,
15522 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
15525 This function takes four parameters.
15529 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
15532 @item exit-function
15533 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
15535 @item temp-directory
15536 Where the temporary files should be stored.
15539 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
15540 performed for one group only.
15543 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
15544 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
15545 find the article number assigned to this article.
15547 The function also uses the following variables:
15548 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
15549 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
15550 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
15551 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
15555 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
15556 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
15560 @node Score File Syntax
15561 @subsection Score File Syntax
15563 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
15564 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
15565 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
15567 Here's a typical score file:
15571 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
15578 BNF definition of a score file:
15581 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
15582 element = rule / atom
15583 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
15584 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
15585 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
15586 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
15588 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
15589 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
15590 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
15591 date-header = "date"
15592 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
15593 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
15594 score = "nil" / <integer>
15595 date = "nil" / <natural number>
15596 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
15597 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
15598 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
15599 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
15600 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
15601 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
15602 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
15603 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
15604 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
15605 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
15606 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
15607 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
15608 exclude-files / read-only / touched
15609 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
15610 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
15611 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
15612 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
15613 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
15614 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
15615 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
15616 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
15617 adapt = "adapt" [ space "nil" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
15618 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
15619 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
15620 eval = "eval" space <form>
15621 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
15624 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
15627 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
15628 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
15629 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
15630 one looong line, then that's ok.
15632 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
15637 @subsection Headers
15639 Gnus uses internally a format for storing article headers that
15640 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
15641 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
15642 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
15644 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
15645 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
15646 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
15647 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
15648 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
15649 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
15650 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
15652 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
15653 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
15654 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
15655 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
15656 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
15658 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
15665 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
15666 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
15668 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
15669 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
15670 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
15671 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
15673 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
15677 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
15680 is transformed into
15683 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
15686 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
15687 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
15690 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
15693 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
15694 is slightly tricky:
15697 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
15703 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
15706 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
15712 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
15719 and is equal to the previous range.
15721 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
15722 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
15723 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
15727 range = simple-range / normal-range
15728 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
15729 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
15730 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
15731 number *[ " " contents ]
15734 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
15735 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
15736 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
15737 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
15738 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
15743 @subsection Group Info
15745 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
15746 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
15747 describes the group.
15749 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
15750 second is a more complex one:
15753 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
15755 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
15756 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
15758 (auto-expire (to-address "ding@@ifi.uio.no")))
15761 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
15762 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
15763 normally is a small integer. The third element is a list of ranges of
15764 read articles. The fourth element is a list of lists of article marks
15765 of various kinds. The fifth element is the select method (or virtual
15766 server, if you like). The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group
15767 parameters}, which is what this section is about.
15769 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
15770 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
15771 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
15773 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
15776 info = "(" group space level space read
15777 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
15778 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
15779 group = quote <string> quote
15780 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
15782 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
15783 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
15784 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
15785 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
15788 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
15789 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
15793 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
15794 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
15798 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
15799 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
15800 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
15802 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
15803 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
15804 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
15805 Gnus, that's very useful.
15807 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
15808 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
15809 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
15810 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
15811 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
15812 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
15813 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
15814 following function:
15817 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
15821 (,function ,@@args))
15825 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
15826 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
15827 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
15830 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
15831 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
15832 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
15835 @node Various File Formats
15836 @subsection Various File Formats
15839 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
15840 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
15844 @node Active File Format
15845 @subsubsection Active File Format
15847 The active file lists all groups that are available on the server in
15848 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
15851 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
15854 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
15855 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
15856 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
15857 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
15858 no.general 1000 900 y
15861 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
15864 active = *group-line
15865 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
15866 group = <non-white-space string>
15868 high-number = <non-negative integer>
15869 low-number = <positive integer>
15870 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
15874 @node Newsgroups File Format
15875 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
15877 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
15878 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
15879 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
15882 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
15883 Here's the definition:
15887 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
15888 group = <non-white-space string>
15890 description = <string>
15894 @node Emacs for Heathens
15895 @section Emacs for Heathens
15897 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
15898 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
15899 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
15900 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
15901 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
15902 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
15903 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
15907 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
15908 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
15913 @subsection Keystrokes
15917 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
15920 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
15923 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
15924 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
15925 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
15926 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
15927 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
15928 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
15930 The shift key is normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
15931 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
15932 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
15933 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
15934 keyboards. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
15935 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
15936 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
15938 Now, us Emacs people doesn't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
15939 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
15940 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
15941 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
15942 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
15943 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
15944 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
15946 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
15947 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
15948 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
15949 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
15950 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
15956 @subsection Emacs Lisp
15958 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
15959 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
15960 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
15961 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
15963 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
15964 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
15965 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
15966 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
15967 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
15968 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
15969 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
15972 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
15973 write the following:
15976 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
15979 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
15980 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
15981 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
15984 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
15985 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
15986 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
15987 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
15988 previous ``form'', which here is a simple @code{setq} statement.
15990 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
15991 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
15992 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
15996 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
16000 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
16003 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
16004 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
16007 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
16010 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
16011 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
16014 @include gnus-faq.texi