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4 @settitle Quassia Gnus 0.5 Manual
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255 \gnusauthor{by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen}
262 \thispagestyle{empty}
264 Copyright \copyright{} 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
266 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
267 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
268 are preserved on all copies.
270 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
271 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
272 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
273 permission notice identical to this one.
275 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
276 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
285 This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.
287 Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
289 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
290 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
291 are preserved on all copies.
294 Permission is granted to process this file through Tex and print the
295 results, provided the printed document carries copying permission
296 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
297 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
300 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
301 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the
302 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
303 permission notice identical to this one.
305 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
306 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
312 @title Quassia Gnus 0.5 Manual
314 @author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
317 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
318 Copyright @copyright{} 1995,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
320 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
321 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
322 are preserved on all copies.
324 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
325 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
326 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
327 permission notice identical to this one.
329 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual
330 into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.
339 @top The Gnus Newsreader
343 You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news
344 can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of---@sc{nntp}, local
345 spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
348 This manual corresponds to Quassia Gnus 0.5.
359 Gnus is the advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
360 unreal-time newsreader for GNU Emacs.
362 Oops. That sounds oddly familiar, so let's start over again to avoid
363 being accused of plagiarism:
365 Gnus is a message-reading laboratory. It will let you look at just
366 about anything as if it were a newsgroup. You can read mail with it,
367 you can browse directories with it, you can @code{ftp} with it---you can
368 even read news with it!
370 Gnus tries to empower people who read news the same way Emacs empowers
371 people who edit text. Gnus sets no limits to what the user should be
372 allowed to do. Users are encouraged to extend Gnus to make it behave
373 like they want it to behave. A program should not control people;
374 people should be empowered to do what they want by using (or abusing)
381 * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
382 * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
383 * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
384 * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
385 * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
386 * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
387 * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
388 * Various:: General purpose settings.
389 * The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
390 * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
391 * Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
392 * Key Index:: Key Index.
396 @chapter Starting Gnus
401 If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus
402 and reading news is extremely easy---you just type @kbd{M-x gnus} in
405 @findex gnus-other-frame
406 @kindex M-x gnus-other-frame
407 If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command
408 @kbd{M-x gnus-other-frame} instead.
410 If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some
411 variables in your @file{~/.gnus} file. This file is similar to
412 @file{~/.emacs}, but is read when gnus starts.
415 * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
416 * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
417 * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
418 * Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
419 * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
420 * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
421 * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
422 * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
423 * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
424 * Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
425 * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
429 @node Finding the News
430 @section Finding the News
433 @vindex gnus-select-method
435 The @code{gnus-select-method} variable says where Gnus should look for
436 news. This variable should be a list where the first element says
437 @dfn{how} and the second element says @dfn{where}. This method is your
438 native method. All groups not fetched with this method are
441 For instance, if the @samp{news.somewhere.edu} @sc{nntp} server is where
442 you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say:
445 (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu"))
448 If you want to read directly from the local spool, say:
451 (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
454 If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
455 certainly be much faster.
457 @vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
459 @cindex @sc{nntp} server
460 If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the
461 @code{NNTPSERVER} environment variable. If that variable isn't set,
462 Gnus will see whether @code{gnus-nntpserver-file}
463 (@file{/etc/nntpserver} by default) has any opinions on the matter. If
464 that fails as well, Gnus will try to use the machine running Emacs as an @sc{nntp} server. That's a long shot, though.
466 @vindex gnus-nntp-server
467 If @code{gnus-nntp-server} is set, this variable will override
468 @code{gnus-select-method}. You should therefore set
469 @code{gnus-nntp-server} to @code{nil}, which is what it is by default.
471 @vindex gnus-secondary-servers
472 You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an
473 @sc{nntp} server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to @code{gnus}
474 (i.e., @kbd{C-u M-x gnus}), Gnus will let you choose between the servers
475 in the @code{gnus-secondary-servers} list (if any). You can also just
476 type in the name of any server you feel like visiting.
478 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
480 However, if you use one @sc{nntp} server regularly and are just
481 interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be
482 better served by using the @kbd{B} command in the group buffer. It will
483 let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe
484 to any of the groups you want to. This also makes @file{.newsrc}
485 maintenance much tidier. @xref{Foreign Groups}.
487 @vindex gnus-secondary-select-methods
489 A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the
490 @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} variable. The select methods
491 listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the
492 @code{gnus-select-method} server. They will also be queried for active
493 files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that
494 appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native
497 For instance, if you use the @code{nnmbox} backend to read your mail, you
498 would typically set this variable to
501 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox "")))
506 @section The First Time
507 @cindex first time usage
509 If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
510 be subscribed by default.
512 @vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
513 If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
514 will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest
515 killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to
518 Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily
519 picked groups (i.e., @samp{*.newusers}). (@dfn{Arbitrary} is defined
520 here as @dfn{whatever Lars thinks you should read}.)
522 You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should
523 help you with most common problems.
525 If @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is @code{t}, Gnus will just
526 use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything
530 @node The Server is Down
531 @section The Server is Down
532 @cindex server errors
534 If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some
535 problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to
536 the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway.
538 Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed
539 without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This
540 will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have
541 given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill
542 for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign
543 groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group
544 buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph!
546 @findex gnus-no-server
547 @kindex M-x gnus-no-server
549 If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read
550 your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the
551 @code{gnus-no-server} command to start Gnus. That might come in handy
552 if you're in a hurry as well. This command will not attempt to contact
553 your primary server---instead, it will just activate all groups on level
554 1 and 2. (You should preferably keep no native groups on those two
559 @section Slave Gnusae
562 You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the
563 same time. If you are using different @file{.newsrc} files (e.g., if you
564 are using the two different Gnusae to read from two different servers),
565 that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it.
567 The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusae that use the same
570 To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus
571 Towers have come up with a new concept: @dfn{Masters} and
572 @dfn{slaves}. (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have
573 taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in
574 conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to
575 me. Usage of the patent (@dfn{Master/Slave Relationships In Computer
576 Applications}) will be much more expensive, of course.)
578 Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with @kbd{M-x gnus} (or
579 however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusae should be started with
580 @kbd{M-x gnus-slave}. These slaves won't save normal @file{.newsrc}
581 files, but instead save @dfn{slave files} that contain information only
582 on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus
583 starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all
584 information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence
585 they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.)
587 Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the
588 information in the normal (i.e., master) @code{.newsrc} file.
591 @node Fetching a Group
592 @section Fetching a Group
593 @cindex fetching a group
595 @findex gnus-fetch-group
596 It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
597 group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
598 perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
599 command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
600 It takes the group name as a parameter.
608 @vindex gnus-check-new-newsgroups
609 If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups,
610 you can set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil}. This will
611 also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is
612 @code{nil}, you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing
613 @kbd{U} in the group buffer (@pxref{Group Maintenance}). This variable
614 is @code{ask-server} by default. If you set this variable to
615 @code{always}, then Gnus will query the backends for new groups even
616 when you do the @kbd{g} command (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
619 * Checking New Groups:: Determining what groups are new.
620 * Subscription Methods:: What Gnus should do with new groups.
621 * Filtering New Groups:: Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
625 @node Checking New Groups
626 @subsection Checking New Groups
628 Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the
629 list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and
630 dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If
631 @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} is @code{ask-server}, Gnus will ask the
632 server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster and
633 cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed
634 groups altogether, so you may set @code{gnus-save-killed-list} to
635 @code{nil}, which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.
636 Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then?
637 Unfortunately, not all servers support this command.
639 I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
640 server supports @code{ask-server}? No? Good, because I don't have a
641 fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to
642 @code{ask-server} and see whether any new groups appear within the next
643 few days. If any do, then it works. If none do, then it doesn't
644 work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server
645 supports @code{ask-server}, but it would just be a guess. So I won't.
646 You could @code{telnet} to the server and say @code{HELP} and see
647 whether it lists @samp{NEWGROUPS} among the commands it understands. If
648 it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists
649 @samp{NEWGROUPS} without supporting the function properly.)
651 This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will
652 issue an @code{ask-server} command to each of the select methods, and
653 subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy
654 if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is
655 that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
656 Use the mantra ``dingnusdingnusdingnus'' to achieve permanent bliss.
659 @node Subscription Methods
660 @subsection Subscription Methods
662 @vindex gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
663 What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
664 @code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} variable.
666 This variable should contain a function. This function will be called
667 with the name of the new group as the only parameter.
669 Some handy pre-fab functions are:
673 @item gnus-subscribe-zombies
674 @vindex gnus-subscribe-zombies
675 Make all new groups zombies. This is the default. You can browse the
676 zombies later (with @kbd{A z}) and either kill them all off properly
677 (with @kbd{S z}), or subscribe to them (with @kbd{u}).
679 @item gnus-subscribe-randomly
680 @vindex gnus-subscribe-randomly
681 Subscribe all new groups in arbitrary order. This really means that all
682 new groups will be added at ``the top'' of the grop buffer.
684 @item gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
685 @vindex gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
686 Subscribe all new groups in alphabetical order.
688 @item gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
689 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
690 Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
691 function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
692 @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
693 alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
694 hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
695 @samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
696 up. Or something like that.
698 @item gnus-subscribe-interactively
699 @vindex gnus-subscribe-interactively
700 Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask
701 you about @strong{all} new groups. The groups you choose to subscribe
702 to will be subscribed hierarchically.
704 @item gnus-subscribe-killed
705 @vindex gnus-subscribe-killed
710 @vindex gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive
711 A closely related variable is
712 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. (That's quite a
713 mouthful.) If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will ask you in a
714 hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus
715 will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the
718 One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above
719 (@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method}) to
720 @code{gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive}. This is an error. This
721 will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it.
724 @node Filtering New Groups
725 @subsection Filtering New Groups
727 A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
728 subscribed (or ignored) is to put an @dfn{options} line at the start of
729 the @file{.newsrc} file. Here's an example:
732 options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all
735 @vindex gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method
736 This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific
737 person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all
738 groups that have names beginning with @samp{alt} and @samp{rec} should
739 be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with @samp{sci} should
740 be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
741 subscribing these groups.
742 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method} is used instead. This
743 variable defaults to @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically}.
745 @vindex gnus-options-not-subscribe
746 @vindex gnus-options-subscribe
747 If you don't want to mess with your @file{.newsrc} file, you can just
748 set the two variables @code{gnus-options-subscribe} and
749 @code{gnus-options-not-subscribe}. These two variables do exactly the
750 same as the @file{.newsrc} @samp{options -n} trick. Both are regexps,
751 and if the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally
752 subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.
754 @vindex gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
755 Yet another variable that meddles here is
756 @code{gnus-auto-subscribed-groups}. It works exactly like
757 @code{gnus-options-subscribe}, and is therefore really superfluous, but I
758 thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more
759 meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
760 more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups
761 that come from mail backends (@code{nnml}, @code{nnbabyl},
762 @code{nnfolder}, @code{nnmbox}, and @code{nnmh}) subscribed. If you
763 don't like that, just set this variable to @code{nil}.
765 New groups that match this regexp are subscribed using
766 @code{gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method}.
769 @node Changing Servers
770 @section Changing Servers
771 @cindex changing servers
773 Sometimes it is necessary to move from one @sc{nntp} server to another.
774 This happens very rarely, but perhaps you change jobs, or one server is
775 very flaky and you want to use another.
777 Changing the server is pretty easy, right? You just change
778 @code{gnus-select-method} to point to the new server?
782 Article numbers are not (in any way) kept synchronized between different
783 @sc{nntp} servers, and the only way Gnus keeps track of what articles
784 you have read is by keeping track of article numbers. So when you
785 change @code{gnus-select-method}, your @file{.newsrc} file becomes
788 Gnus provides a few functions to attempt to translate a @file{.newsrc}
789 file from one server to another. They all have one thing in
790 common---they take a looong time to run. You don't want to use these
791 functions more than absolutely necessary.
793 @kindex M-x gnus-change-server
794 @findex gnus-change-server
795 If you have access to both servers, Gnus can request the headers for all
796 the articles you have read and compare @code{Message-ID}s and map the
797 article numbers of the read articles and article marks. The @kbd{M-x
798 gnus-change-server} command will do this for all your native groups. It
799 will prompt for the method you want to move to.
801 @kindex M-x gnus-group-move-group-to-server
802 @findex gnus-group-move-group-to-server
803 You can also move individual groups with the @kbd{M-x
804 gnus-group-move-group-to-server} command. This is useful if you want to
805 move a (foreign) group from one server to another.
807 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
808 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
809 If you don't have access to both the old and new server, all your marks
810 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use the @kbd{M-x
811 gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups} command to clear out all data
812 that you have on your native groups. Use with caution.
816 @section Startup Files
817 @cindex startup files
822 Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
823 information is traditionally stored in this file.
825 Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
826 keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
827 @file{.newsrc.el} for storing all the information that didn't fit into
828 the @file{.newsrc} file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in
829 the @file{.newsrc} file.) @sc{gnus} would read whichever one of these
830 files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between
831 @sc{gnus} and other newsreaders.
833 That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
834 @file{.newsrc} and @file{.newsrc.el} files, Gnus also has a file called
835 @file{.newsrc.eld}. It will read whichever of these files that are most
836 recent, but it will never write a @file{.newsrc.el} file.
838 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
839 You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
840 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
841 the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster.
842 However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
843 Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
845 @vindex gnus-save-killed-list
846 If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
847 will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will
848 save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It
849 will also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old,
850 so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.
851 You should always set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{nil} or
852 @code{ask-server} if you set this variable to @code{nil} (@pxref{New
853 Groups}). This variable can also be a regular expression. If that's
854 the case, remove all groups that do not match this regexp before
855 saving. This can be useful in certain obscure situations that involve
856 several servers where not all servers support @code{ask-server}.
858 @vindex gnus-startup-file
859 The @code{gnus-startup-file} variable says where the startup files are.
860 The default value is @file{~/.newsrc}, with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup
861 file being whatever that one is, with a @samp{.eld} appended.
863 @vindex gnus-save-newsrc-hook
864 @vindex gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook
865 @vindex gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook
866 @code{gnus-save-newsrc-hook} is called before saving any of the newsrc
867 files, while @code{gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook} is called just before
868 saving the @file{.newsrc.eld} file, and
869 @code{gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook} is called just before saving the
870 @file{.newsrc} file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version
871 control on or off. Version control is on by default when saving the
872 startup files. If you want to turn backup creation off, say something like:
875 (defun turn-off-backup ()
876 (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
878 (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
879 (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
882 @vindex gnus-init-file
883 When Gnus starts, it will read the @code{gnus-site-init-file}
884 (@file{.../site-lisp/gnus} by default) and @code{gnus-init-file}
885 (@file{~/.gnus} by default) files. These are normal Emacs Lisp files
886 and can be used to avoid cluttering your @file{~/.emacs} and
887 @file{site-init} files with Gnus stuff. Gnus will also check for files
888 with the same names as these, but with @file{.elc} and @file{.el}
889 suffixes. In other words, if you have set @code{gnus-init-file} to
890 @file{~/.gnus}, it will look for @file{~/.gnus.elc}, @file{~/.gnus.el},
891 and finally @file{~/.gnus} (in this order).
900 Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles,
901 catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a
902 special @dfn{dribble buffer}. This buffer is auto-saved the normal
903 Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the
904 @file{.newsrc} files, all changes you have made can be recovered from
907 If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to
908 read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is
911 @vindex gnus-use-dribble-file
912 If @code{gnus-use-dribble-file} is @code{nil}, Gnus won't create and
913 maintain a dribble buffer. The default is @code{t}.
915 @vindex gnus-dribble-directory
916 Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in @code{gnus-dribble-directory}. If
917 this variable is @code{nil}, which it is by default, Gnus will dribble
918 into the directory where the @file{.newsrc} file is located. (This is
919 normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same
920 file permissions as the @code{.newsrc} file.
923 @node The Active File
924 @section The Active File
926 @cindex ignored groups
928 When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new
929 articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large
930 file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server.
932 @vindex gnus-ignored-newsgroups
933 Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the
934 regexp @code{gnus-ignored-newsgroups}. This is done primarily to reject
935 any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus
936 ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not
937 recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, @pxref{New
938 Groups} for an overview of other variables that can be used instead.
941 @c @code{nil} by default, and will slow down active file handling somewhat
942 @c if you set it to anything else.
944 @vindex gnus-read-active-file
946 The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you
947 can set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
948 reading the active file. This variable is @code{some} by default.
950 Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that
951 you actually subscribe to.
953 Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this
954 variable to @code{nil} will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At
955 present, having this variable @code{nil} will slow Gnus down
956 considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem.
958 This variable can also have the value @code{some}. Gnus will then
959 attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some
960 servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that
961 support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command), on others this isn't fast
962 at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
963 is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
965 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
966 lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
967 @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
968 read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better
969 performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
970 @code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
972 In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
973 kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
975 Note that this variable also affects active file retrieval from
976 secondary select methods.
979 @node Startup Variables
980 @section Startup Variables
985 @vindex gnus-load-hook
986 A hook run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will
987 normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many
988 times you start Gnus.
990 @item gnus-before-startup-hook
991 @vindex gnus-before-startup-hook
992 A hook run after starting up Gnus successfully.
994 @item gnus-startup-hook
995 @vindex gnus-startup-hook
996 A hook run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
998 @item gnus-started-hook
999 @vindex gnus-started-hook
1000 A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
1003 @item gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1004 @vindex gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups
1005 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at
1006 startup. A @dfn{bogus group} is a group that you have in your
1007 @file{.newsrc} file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for
1008 bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's
1009 best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once
1010 in a while from the group buffer instead (@pxref{Group Maintenance}).
1012 @item gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1013 @vindex gnus-inhibit-startup-message
1014 If non-@code{nil}, the startup message won't be displayed. That way,
1015 your boss might not notice as easily that you are reading news instead
1016 of doing your job. Note that this variable is used before
1017 @file{.gnus.el} is loaded, so it should be set in @code{.emacs} instead.
1019 @item gnus-no-groups-message
1020 @vindex gnus-no-groups-message
1021 Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available.
1023 @item gnus-play-startup-jingle
1024 @vindex gnus-play-startup-jingle
1025 If non-@code{nil}, play the Gnus jingle at startup.
1027 @item gnus-startup-jingle
1028 @vindex gnus-startup-jingle
1029 Jingle to be played if the above variable is non-@code{nil}. The
1030 default is @samp{Tuxedomoon.Jingle4.au}.
1035 @node The Group Buffer
1036 @chapter The Group Buffer
1037 @cindex group buffer
1039 The @dfn{group buffer} lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It
1040 is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as
1041 long as Gnus is active.
1045 \gnusfigure{The Group Buffer}{320}{
1046 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group.ps,height=9cm}}
1047 \put(120,37){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Buffer name}}
1048 \put(120,38){\vector(1,2){10}}
1049 \put(40,60){\makebox(0,0)[r]{Mode line}}
1050 \put(40,58){\vector(1,0){30}}
1051 \put(200,28){\makebox(0,0)[t]{Native select method}}
1052 \put(200,26){\vector(-1,2){15}}
1058 * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it.
1059 * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer.
1060 * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news.
1061 * Group Data:: Changing the info for a group.
1062 * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
1063 * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then?
1064 * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
1065 * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing.
1066 * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups.
1067 * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set.
1068 * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
1069 * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order.
1070 * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy @file{.newsrc} file.
1071 * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
1072 * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done.
1073 * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics.
1074 * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do.
1078 @node Group Buffer Format
1079 @section Group Buffer Format
1082 * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
1083 * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline.
1084 * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer.
1088 @node Group Line Specification
1089 @subsection Group Line Specification
1090 @cindex group buffer format
1092 The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can
1093 make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like.
1095 Here's a couple of example group lines:
1098 25: news.announce.newusers
1099 * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin
1104 You can see that there are 25 unread articles in
1105 @samp{news.announce.newusers}. There are no unread articles, but some
1106 ticked articles, in @samp{alt.fan.andrea-dworkin} (see that little
1107 asterisk at the beginning of the line?).
1109 @vindex gnus-group-line-format
1110 You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the
1111 @code{gnus-group-line-format} variable. This variable works along the
1112 lines of a @code{format} specification, which is pretty much the same as
1113 a @code{printf} specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C.
1114 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
1116 @samp{%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n} is the value that produced those lines above.
1118 There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to
1119 the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required---not
1120 even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is
1121 never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using
1124 (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like
1125 layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting
1126 instead of wasting time reading news.)
1128 Here's a list of all available format characters:
1133 An asterisk if the group only has marked articles.
1136 Whether the group is subscribed.
1139 Level of subscribedness.
1142 Number of unread articles.
1145 Number of dormant articles.
1148 Number of ticked articles.
1151 Number of read articles.
1154 Estimated total number of articles. (This is really @var{max-number}
1155 minus @var{min-number} plus 1.)
1158 Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles.
1161 Number of ticked and dormant articles.
1170 Newsgroup description.
1173 @samp{m} if moderated.
1176 @samp{(m)} if moderated.
1185 A string that looks like @samp{<%s:%n>} if a foreign select method is
1189 Indentation based on the level of the topic (@pxref{Group Topics}).
1192 @vindex gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels
1193 Short (collapsed) group name. The @code{gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels}
1194 variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name.
1195 The default is 1---this will mean that group names like
1196 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} will be shortened to @samp{g.emacs.gnus}.
1199 @vindex gnus-new-mail-mark
1201 @samp{%} (@code{gnus-new-mail-mark}) if there has arrived new mail to
1205 A string that says when you last read the group (@pxref{Group
1209 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
1210 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
1211 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
1212 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed a single dummy
1213 parameter as argument. The function should return a string, which will
1214 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
1219 All the ``number-of'' specs will be filled with an asterisk (@samp{*})
1220 if no info is available---for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign
1221 group, or a bogus native group.
1224 @node Group Modeline Specification
1225 @subsection Group Modeline Specification
1226 @cindex group modeline
1228 @vindex gnus-group-mode-line-format
1229 The mode line can be changed by setting
1230 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format} (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). It
1231 doesn't understand that many format specifiers:
1235 The native news server.
1237 The native select method.
1241 @node Group Highlighting
1242 @subsection Group Highlighting
1243 @cindex highlighting
1244 @cindex group highlighting
1246 @vindex gnus-group-highlight
1247 Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the
1248 @code{gnus-group-highlight} variable. This is an alist with elements
1249 that look like @var{(form . face)}. If @var{form} evaluates to
1250 something non-@code{nil}, the @var{face} will be used on the line.
1252 Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the
1256 (setq gnus-group-highlight
1258 ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil))
1259 ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) .
1260 ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1262 ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil))
1264 ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil))
1266 ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil))))
1269 Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated
1276 The number of unread articles in the group.
1280 Whether the group is a mail group.
1282 The level of the group.
1284 The score of the group.
1286 The number of ticked articles in the group.
1288 The total number of articles in the group. Or rather, MAX-NUMBER minus
1289 MIN-NUMBER plus one.
1291 When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current
1292 topic being inserted.
1295 When the forms are @code{eval}ed, point is at the beginning of the line
1296 of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus
1297 functions for snarfing info on the group.
1299 @vindex gnus-group-update-hook
1300 @findex gnus-group-highlight-line
1301 @code{gnus-group-update-hook} is called when a group line is changed.
1302 It will not be called when @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}. This hook
1303 calls @code{gnus-group-highlight-line} by default.
1306 @node Group Maneuvering
1307 @section Group Maneuvering
1308 @cindex group movement
1310 All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as
1311 expected, hopefully.
1317 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group
1318 Go to the next group that has unread articles
1319 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group}).
1325 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group
1326 Go to the previous group that has unread articles
1327 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group}).
1331 @findex gnus-group-next-group
1332 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
1336 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
1337 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
1341 @findex gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level
1342 Go to the next unread group on the same (or lower) level
1343 (@code{gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level}).
1347 @findex gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level
1348 Go to the previous unread group on the same (or lower) level
1349 (@code{gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level}).
1352 Three commands for jumping to groups:
1358 @findex gnus-group-jump-to-group
1359 Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already)
1360 (@code{gnus-group-jump-to-group}). Killed groups can be jumped to, just
1365 @findex gnus-group-best-unread-group
1366 Jump to the unread group with the lowest level
1367 (@code{gnus-group-best-unread-group}).
1371 @findex gnus-group-first-unread-group
1372 Jump to the first group with unread articles
1373 (@code{gnus-group-first-unread-group}).
1376 @vindex gnus-group-goto-unread
1377 If @code{gnus-group-goto-unread} is @code{nil}, all the movement
1378 commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even
1379 the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default
1383 @node Selecting a Group
1384 @section Selecting a Group
1385 @cindex group selection
1390 @kindex SPACE (Group)
1391 @findex gnus-group-read-group
1392 Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the
1393 first unread article (@code{gnus-group-read-group}). If there are no
1394 unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to
1395 this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this
1396 group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix @var{N}, @var{N}
1397 determines the number of articles Gnus will fetch. If @var{N} is
1398 positive, Gnus fetches the @var{N} newest articles, if @var{N} is
1399 negative, Gnus fetches the @var{abs(N)} oldest articles.
1403 @findex gnus-group-select-group
1404 Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer
1405 (@code{gnus-group-select-group}). Takes the same arguments as
1406 @code{gnus-group-read-group}---the only difference is that this command
1407 does not display the first unread article automatically upon group
1411 @kindex M-RET (Group)
1412 @findex gnus-group-quick-select-group
1413 This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the
1414 minimum amount of fuzz (@code{gnus-group-quick-select-group}). No
1415 scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no
1416 expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to
1417 enter some humongous group. If you give a 0 prefix to this command
1418 (i.e., @kbd{0 M-RET}), Gnus won't even generate the summary buffer,
1419 which is useful if you want to toggle threading before generating the
1420 summary buffer (@pxref{Summary Generation Commands}).
1423 @kindex M-SPACE (Group)
1424 @findex gnus-group-visible-select-group
1425 This is yet one more command that does the same as the @kbd{RET}
1426 command, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants
1427 (@code{gnus-group-visible-select-group}).
1430 @kindex M-C-RET (Group)
1431 @findex gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally
1432 Finally, this command selects the current group ephemerally without
1433 doing any processing of its contents
1434 (@code{gnus-group-select-group-ephemerally}). Even threading has been
1435 turned off. Everything you do in the group after selecting it in this
1436 manner will have no permanent effects.
1440 @vindex gnus-large-newsgroup
1441 The @code{gnus-large-newsgroup} variable says what Gnus should consider
1442 to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more
1443 (unread and/or ticked) articles than this, Gnus will query the user
1444 before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles
1445 should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative
1446 number (@code{-n}), the @code{n} oldest articles will be fetched. If it
1447 is positive, the @code{n} articles that have arrived most recently will
1450 @vindex gnus-select-group-hook
1451 @vindex gnus-auto-select-first
1452 @code{gnus-auto-select-first} control whether any articles are selected
1453 automatically when entering a group with the @kbd{SPACE} command.
1458 Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the
1459 full summary buffer.
1462 Select the first unread article when entering the group.
1465 Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the
1469 If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a
1470 binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to @code{nil}
1471 in @code{gnus-select-group-hook}, which is called when a group is
1475 @node Subscription Commands
1476 @section Subscription Commands
1477 @cindex subscription
1485 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group
1486 @c @icon{gnus-group-unsubscribe}
1487 Toggle subscription to the current group
1488 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group}).
1494 @findex gnus-group-unsubscribe-group
1495 Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was
1496 subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead
1497 (@code{gnus-group-unsubscribe-group}).
1503 @findex gnus-group-kill-group
1504 @c @icon{gnus-group-kill-group}
1505 Kill the current group (@code{gnus-group-kill-group}).
1511 @findex gnus-group-yank-group
1512 Yank the last killed group (@code{gnus-group-yank-group}).
1515 @kindex C-x C-t (Group)
1516 @findex gnus-group-transpose-groups
1517 Transpose two groups (@code{gnus-group-transpose-groups}). This isn't
1518 really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a
1519 kill-and-yank sequence sometimes.
1525 @findex gnus-group-kill-region
1526 Kill all groups in the region (@code{gnus-group-kill-region}).
1530 @findex gnus-group-kill-all-zombies
1531 Kill all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-kill-all-zombies}).
1534 @kindex S C-k (Group)
1535 @findex gnus-group-kill-level
1536 Kill all groups on a certain level (@code{gnus-group-kill-level}).
1537 These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should
1538 be used with some caution. The only time where this command comes in
1539 really handy is when you have a @file{.newsrc} with lots of unsubscribed
1540 groups that you want to get rid off. @kbd{S C-k} on level 7 will
1541 kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the
1542 @file{.newsrc} file.
1546 Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
1556 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current
1557 @vindex gnus-group-catchup-group-hook
1558 @c @icon{gnus-group-catchup-current}
1559 Mark all unticked articles in this group as read
1560 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current}).
1561 @code{gnus-group-catchup-group-hook} is called when catching up a group from
1566 @findex gnus-group-catchup-current-all
1567 Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read
1568 (@code{gnus-group-catchup-current-all}).
1572 @findex gnus-group-clear-data
1573 Clear the data from the current group---nix out marks and the list of
1574 read articles (@code{gnus-group-clear-data}).
1576 @item M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1577 @kindex M-x gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1578 @findex gnus-group-clear-data-on-native-groups
1579 If you have switched from one @sc{nntp} server to another, all your marks
1580 and read ranges have become worthless. You can use this command to
1581 clear out all data that you have on your native groups. Use with
1588 @section Group Levels
1592 All groups have a level of @dfn{subscribedness}. For instance, if a
1593 group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You
1594 can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower
1595 (@pxref{Listing Groups}), or to just check for new articles in groups on
1596 a given level or lower (@pxref{Scanning New Messages}).
1598 Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is.
1604 @findex gnus-group-set-current-level
1605 Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the
1606 next @var{n} groups will have their levels set. The user will be
1607 prompted for a level.
1610 @vindex gnus-level-killed
1611 @vindex gnus-level-zombie
1612 @vindex gnus-level-unsubscribed
1613 @vindex gnus-level-subscribed
1614 Gnus considers groups from levels 1 to
1615 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed,
1616 @code{gnus-level-subscribed} (exclusive) and
1617 @code{gnus-level-unsubscribed} (inclusive) (default 7) to be
1618 unsubscribed, @code{gnus-level-zombie} to be zombies (walking dead)
1619 (default 8) and @code{gnus-level-killed} to be killed (completely dead)
1620 (default 9). Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the
1621 same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles
1622 you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living
1623 groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for
1624 reasons of efficiency.
1626 It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite
1627 low levels (e.g. 1 or 2).
1629 If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care.
1630 Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch
1631 them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing.
1633 @vindex gnus-level-default-unsubscribed
1634 @vindex gnus-level-default-subscribed
1635 Two closely related variables are @code{gnus-level-default-subscribed}
1636 (default 3) and @code{gnus-level-default-unsubscribed} (default 6),
1637 which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are
1638 (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the
1639 relevant valid ranges.
1641 @vindex gnus-keep-same-level
1642 If @code{gnus-keep-same-level} is non-@code{nil}, some movement commands
1643 will only move to groups of the same level (or lower). In
1644 particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group
1645 will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be
1646 handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the
1649 @vindex gnus-group-default-list-level
1650 All groups with a level less than or equal to
1651 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level} will be listed in the group buffer
1654 @vindex gnus-group-list-inactive-groups
1655 If @code{gnus-group-list-inactive-groups} is non-@code{nil}, non-active
1656 groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is
1657 @code{t} by default. If it is @code{nil}, inactive groups won't be
1660 @vindex gnus-group-use-permanent-levels
1661 If @code{gnus-group-use-permanent-levels} is non-@code{nil}, once you
1662 give a level prefix to @kbd{g} or @kbd{l}, all subsequent commands will
1663 use this level as the ``work'' level.
1665 @vindex gnus-activate-level
1666 Gnus will normally just activate (i. e., query the server about) groups
1667 on level @code{gnus-activate-level} or less. If you don't want to
1668 activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable
1669 to 5. The default is 6.
1673 @section Group Score
1676 You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme
1677 is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the
1678 group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
1681 This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
1682 group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
1683 Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
1684 the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
1685 that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
1686 on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
1687 part and the score is the least significant part.))
1689 @findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
1690 If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
1691 read seldom you can add the @code{gnus-summary-bubble-group} function to
1692 the @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} hook. This will result (after
1693 sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in
1694 action after each summary exit, you can add
1695 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank} or
1696 @code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score} to the same hook, but that will
1697 slow things down somewhat.
1700 @node Marking Groups
1701 @section Marking Groups
1702 @cindex marking groups
1704 If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear
1705 subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a
1706 numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your
1707 bidding on those groups.
1709 However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still
1710 perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first
1711 with the process mark and then execute the command.
1719 @findex gnus-group-mark-group
1720 Set the mark on the current group (@code{gnus-group-mark-group}).
1726 @findex gnus-group-unmark-group
1727 Remove the mark from the current group
1728 (@code{gnus-group-unmark-group}).
1732 @findex gnus-group-unmark-all-groups
1733 Remove the mark from all groups (@code{gnus-group-unmark-all-groups}).
1737 @findex gnus-group-mark-region
1738 Mark all groups between point and mark (@code{gnus-group-mark-region}).
1742 @findex gnus-group-mark-buffer
1743 Mark all groups in the buffer (@code{gnus-group-mark-buffer}).
1747 @findex gnus-group-mark-regexp
1748 Mark all groups that match some regular expression
1749 (@code{gnus-group-mark-regexp}).
1752 Also @pxref{Process/Prefix}.
1754 @findex gnus-group-universal-argument
1755 If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked
1756 with the process mark, you can use the @kbd{M-&}
1757 (@code{gnus-group-universal-argument}) command. It will prompt you for
1758 the command to be executed.
1761 @node Foreign Groups
1762 @section Foreign Groups
1763 @cindex foreign groups
1765 Below are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign
1766 groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few
1767 special-purpose groups. All these commands insert the newly created
1768 groups under point---@code{gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method} is not
1775 @findex gnus-group-make-group
1776 @cindex making groups
1777 Make a new group (@code{gnus-group-make-group}). Gnus will prompt you
1778 for a name, a method and possibly an @dfn{address}. For an easier way
1779 to subscribe to @sc{nntp} groups, @pxref{Browse Foreign Server}.
1783 @findex gnus-group-rename-group
1784 @cindex renaming groups
1785 Rename the current group to something else
1786 (@code{gnus-group-rename-group}). This is valid only on some
1787 groups---mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow
1793 @findex gnus-group-customize
1794 Customize the group parameters (@code{gnus-group-customize}).
1798 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-method
1799 @cindex renaming groups
1800 Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current
1801 group (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-method}).
1805 @findex gnus-group-edit-group-parameters
1806 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters
1807 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group-parameters}).
1811 @findex gnus-group-edit-group
1812 Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info
1813 (@code{gnus-group-edit-group}).
1817 @findex gnus-group-make-directory-group
1819 Make a directory group (@pxref{Directory Groups}). You will be prompted
1820 for a directory name (@code{gnus-group-make-directory-group}).
1825 @findex gnus-group-make-help-group
1826 Make the Gnus help group (@code{gnus-group-make-help-group}).
1830 @cindex (ding) archive
1831 @cindex archive group
1832 @findex gnus-group-make-archive-group
1833 @vindex gnus-group-archive-directory
1834 @vindex gnus-group-recent-archive-directory
1835 Make a Gnus archive group (@code{gnus-group-make-archive-group}). By
1836 default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created
1837 (@code{gnus-group-recent-archive-directory}), but given a prefix, a full
1838 group will be created from @code{gnus-group-archive-directory}.
1842 @findex gnus-group-make-kiboze-group
1844 Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to
1845 match groups to be ``included'' in the kiboze group, and a series of
1846 strings to match on headers (@code{gnus-group-make-kiboze-group}).
1847 @xref{Kibozed Groups}.
1851 @findex gnus-group-enter-directory
1853 Read an arbitrary directory as if it were a newsgroup with the
1854 @code{nneething} backend (@code{gnus-group-enter-directory}).
1855 @xref{Anything Groups}.
1859 @findex gnus-group-make-doc-group
1860 @cindex ClariNet Briefs
1862 Make a group based on some file or other
1863 (@code{gnus-group-make-doc-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1864 command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
1865 Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
1866 @code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
1867 @code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
1868 this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
1869 @xref{Document Groups}.
1873 @findex gnus-group-make-web-group
1878 Make an ephemeral group based on a web search
1879 (@code{gnus-group-make-web-group}). If you give a prefix to this
1880 command, make a solid group instead. You will be prompted for the
1881 search engine type and the search string. Valid search engine types
1882 include @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
1883 @xref{Web Searches}.
1886 @kindex G DEL (Group)
1887 @findex gnus-group-delete-group
1888 This function will delete the current group
1889 (@code{gnus-group-delete-group}). If given a prefix, this function will
1890 actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the
1891 group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are
1892 absolutely sure of what you are doing. This command can't be used on
1893 read-only groups (like @code{nntp} group), though.
1897 @findex gnus-group-make-empty-virtual
1898 Make a new, fresh, empty @code{nnvirtual} group
1899 (@code{gnus-group-make-empty-virtual}). @xref{Virtual Groups}.
1903 @findex gnus-group-add-to-virtual
1904 Add the current group to an @code{nnvirtual} group
1905 (@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
1908 @xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
1911 @vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
1912 If @code{gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups} is a positive number,
1913 Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup.
1914 This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of
1915 groups from different @sc{nntp} servers.
1918 @node Group Parameters
1919 @section Group Parameters
1920 @cindex group parameters
1922 The group parameters store information local to a particular group:
1927 If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like
1928 @code{(to-address . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used by
1929 the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in
1930 mail groups that represent closed mailing lists---mailing lists where
1931 it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is
1932 subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only
1933 goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two
1934 copies of your followups.
1936 Using @code{to-address} will actually work whether the group is foreign
1937 or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called
1938 @samp{fa.4ad-l}. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten
1939 the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this
1940 group is therefore impossible---you have to send mail to the mailing
1941 list address instead.
1945 If the group parameter list has an element that looks like
1946 @code{(to-list . "some@@where.com")}, that address will be used when
1947 doing a @kbd{a} in that group. It is totally ignored when doing a
1948 followup---except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail
1949 group semantics when doing @kbd{f}.
1951 If you do an @kbd{a} command in a mail group and you don't have a
1952 @code{to-list} group parameter, one will be added automatically upon
1953 sending the message.
1957 If the group parameter list has the element @code{(visible . t)},
1958 that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless
1959 of whether it has any unread articles.
1961 @item broken-reply-to
1962 @cindex broken-reply-to
1963 Elements like @code{(broken-reply-to . t)} signals that @code{Reply-To}
1964 headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're
1965 reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted
1966 @code{Reply-To} headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is
1967 broken behavior. So there!
1971 Elements like @code{(to-group . "some.group.name")} means that all
1972 posts in that group will be sent to @code{some.group.name}.
1976 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, Gnus will treat
1977 all responses as if they were responses to news articles. This can be
1978 useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a news group.
1982 If this symbol is present in the group parameter list and set to
1983 @code{t}, newly composed messages will be @code{Gcc}'d to the current
1984 group. If it is present and set to @code{none}, no @code{Gcc:} header
1985 will be generated, if it is present and a string, this string will be
1986 inserted literally as a @code{gcc} header (this symbol takes precedence
1987 over any default @code{Gcc} rules as described later). @xref{Archived
1992 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(auto-expire
1993 . t)}, all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an
1994 alternative approach, @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
1997 @cindex total-expire
1998 If the group parameter has an element that looks like
1999 @code{(total-expire . t)}, all read articles will be put through the
2000 expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with
2001 caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for
2006 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
2007 If the group parameter has an element that looks like @code{(expiry-wait
2008 . 10)}, this value will override any @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} and
2009 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} when expiring expirable messages.
2010 The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or
2011 the symbols @code{never} or @code{immediate}.
2014 @cindex score file group parameter
2015 Elements that look like @code{(score-file . "file")} will make
2016 @file{file} into the current adaptive score file for the group in
2017 question. All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2020 @cindex adapt file group parameter
2021 Elements that look like @code{(adapt-file . "file")} will make
2022 @file{file} into the current adaptive file for the group in question.
2023 All adaptive score entries will be put into this file.
2026 When unsubscribing from a mailing list you should never send the
2027 unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send
2028 messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to
2029 put the admin address somewhere convenient.
2032 Elements that look like @code{(display . MODE)} say which articles to
2033 display on entering the group. Valid values are:
2037 Display all articles, both read and unread.
2040 Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and
2045 Elements that look like @code{(comment . "This is a comment")}
2046 are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by
2047 Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular
2050 @item @var{(variable form)}
2051 You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you
2052 are entering. If you want to turn threading off in @samp{news.answers},
2053 you could put @code{(gnus-show-threads nil)} in the group parameters of
2054 that group. @code{gnus-show-threads} will be made into a local variable
2055 in the summary buffer you enter, and the form @code{nil} will be
2056 @code{eval}ed there.
2058 This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like.
2059 If you want to hear a beep when you enter a group, you could put
2060 something like @code{(dummy-variable (ding))} in the parameters of that
2061 group. @code{dummy-variable} will be set to the result of the
2062 @code{(ding)} form, but who cares?
2066 Use the @kbd{G p} command to edit group parameters of a group.
2068 @pxref{Topic Parameters}.
2070 Here's an example group parameter list:
2073 ((to-address . "ding@@gnus.org")
2078 @node Listing Groups
2079 @section Listing Groups
2080 @cindex group listing
2082 These commands all list various slices of the groups available.
2090 @findex gnus-group-list-groups
2091 List all groups that have unread articles
2092 (@code{gnus-group-list-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used, this
2093 command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it
2094 only lists groups of level five (i. e.,
2095 @code{gnus-group-default-list-level}) or lower (i.e., just subscribed
2102 @findex gnus-group-list-all-groups
2103 List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not
2104 (@code{gnus-group-list-all-groups}). If the numeric prefix is used,
2105 this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default,
2106 it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and
2107 unsubscribed groups).
2111 @findex gnus-group-list-level
2112 List all unread groups on a specific level
2113 (@code{gnus-group-list-level}). If given a prefix, also list the groups
2114 with no unread articles.
2118 @findex gnus-group-list-killed
2119 List all killed groups (@code{gnus-group-list-killed}). If given a
2120 prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't
2121 currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file
2126 @findex gnus-group-list-zombies
2127 List all zombie groups (@code{gnus-group-list-zombies}).
2131 @findex gnus-group-list-matching
2132 List all unread, subscribed groups with names that match a regexp
2133 (@code{gnus-group-list-matching}).
2137 @findex gnus-group-list-all-matching
2138 List groups that match a regexp (@code{gnus-group-list-all-matching}).
2142 @findex gnus-group-list-active
2143 List absolutely all groups in the active file(s) of the
2144 server(s) you are connected to (@code{gnus-group-list-active}). This
2145 might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea
2146 to do a @kbd{A M} to list all matching, and just give @samp{.} as the
2147 thing to match on. Also note that this command may list groups that
2148 don't exist (yet)---these will be listed as if they were killed groups.
2149 Take the output with some grains of salt.
2153 @findex gnus-group-apropos
2154 List all groups that have names that match a regexp
2155 (@code{gnus-group-apropos}).
2159 @findex gnus-group-description-apropos
2160 List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp
2161 (@code{gnus-group-description-apropos}).
2165 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2166 @cindex visible group parameter
2167 Groups that match the @code{gnus-permanently-visible-groups} regexp will
2168 always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also
2169 add the @code{visible} element to the group parameters in question to
2170 get the same effect.
2172 @vindex gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles
2173 Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the
2174 group buffer. If @code{gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles} is
2175 @code{nil}, these groups will be treated just like totally empty
2176 groups. It is @code{t} by default.
2179 @node Sorting Groups
2180 @section Sorting Groups
2181 @cindex sorting groups
2183 @kindex C-c C-s (Group)
2184 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups
2185 @vindex gnus-group-sort-function
2186 The @kbd{C-c C-s} (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups}) command sorts the
2187 group buffer according to the function(s) given by the
2188 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} variable. Available sorting functions
2193 @item gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2194 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet
2195 Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.
2197 @item gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2198 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-real-name
2199 Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.
2201 @item gnus-group-sort-by-level
2202 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-level
2203 Sort by group level.
2205 @item gnus-group-sort-by-score
2206 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-score
2207 Sort by group score.
2209 @item gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2210 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-rank
2211 Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score
2212 are, when taken together, the group's @dfn{rank}.
2214 @item gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2215 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-unread
2216 Sort by number of unread articles.
2218 @item gnus-group-sort-by-method
2219 @findex gnus-group-sort-by-method
2220 Sort alphabetically on the select method.
2225 @code{gnus-group-sort-function} can also be a list of sorting
2226 functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be
2230 There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to
2231 some sorting criteria:
2235 @kindex G S a (Group)
2236 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2237 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name
2238 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2241 @kindex G S u (Group)
2242 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread
2243 Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles
2244 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2247 @kindex G S l (Group)
2248 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level
2249 Sort the group buffer by group level
2250 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level}).
2253 @kindex G S v (Group)
2254 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score
2255 Sort the group buffer by group score
2256 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score}).
2259 @kindex G S r (Group)
2260 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank
2261 Sort the group buffer by group rank
2262 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2265 @kindex G S m (Group)
2266 @findex gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method
2267 Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name
2268 (@code{gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method}).
2272 When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order.
2274 You can also sort a subset of the groups:
2278 @kindex G P a (Group)
2279 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet
2280 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2281 group name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet}).
2284 @kindex G P u (Group)
2285 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread
2286 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of
2287 unread articles (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread}).
2290 @kindex G P l (Group)
2291 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level
2292 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level
2293 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level}).
2296 @kindex G P v (Group)
2297 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score
2298 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score
2299 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score}).
2302 @kindex G P r (Group)
2303 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank
2304 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank
2305 (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank}).
2308 @kindex G P m (Group)
2309 @findex gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method
2310 Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by
2311 backend name (@code{gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method}).
2317 @node Group Maintenance
2318 @section Group Maintenance
2319 @cindex bogus groups
2324 @findex gnus-group-check-bogus-groups
2325 Find bogus groups and delete them
2326 (@code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups}).
2330 @findex gnus-group-find-new-groups
2331 Find new groups and process them (@code{gnus-group-find-new-groups}).
2332 If given a prefix, use the @code{ask-server} method to query the server
2336 @kindex C-c C-x (Group)
2337 @findex gnus-group-expire-articles
2338 Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry
2339 process (if any) (@code{gnus-group-expire-articles}).
2342 @kindex C-c M-C-x (Group)
2343 @findex gnus-group-expire-all-groups
2344 Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process
2345 (@code{gnus-group-expire-all-groups}).
2350 @node Browse Foreign Server
2351 @section Browse Foreign Server
2352 @cindex foreign servers
2353 @cindex browsing servers
2358 @findex gnus-group-browse-foreign-server
2359 You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will
2360 then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there
2361 (@code{gnus-group-browse-foreign-server}).
2364 @findex gnus-browse-mode
2365 A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer
2366 will use the @code{gnus-browse-mode}. This buffer looks a bit (well,
2367 a lot) like a normal group buffer.
2369 Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode:
2374 @findex gnus-group-next-group
2375 Go to the next group (@code{gnus-group-next-group}).
2379 @findex gnus-group-prev-group
2380 Go to the previous group (@code{gnus-group-prev-group}).
2383 @kindex SPACE (Browse)
2384 @findex gnus-browse-read-group
2385 Enter the current group and display the first article
2386 (@code{gnus-browse-read-group}).
2389 @kindex RET (Browse)
2390 @findex gnus-browse-select-group
2391 Enter the current group (@code{gnus-browse-select-group}).
2395 @findex gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group
2396 Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here,
2397 subscribe to it (@code{gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group}).
2403 @findex gnus-browse-exit
2404 Exit browse mode (@code{gnus-browse-exit}).
2408 @findex gnus-browse-describe-briefly
2409 Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is
2410 there) (@code{gnus-browse-describe-briefly}).
2415 @section Exiting Gnus
2416 @cindex exiting Gnus
2418 Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting.
2423 @findex gnus-group-suspend
2424 Suspend Gnus (@code{gnus-group-suspend}). This doesn't really exit Gnus,
2425 but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this
2426 is a gain, but then who am I to judge?
2430 @findex gnus-group-exit
2431 @c @icon{gnus-group-exit}
2432 Quit Gnus (@code{gnus-group-exit}).
2436 @findex gnus-group-quit
2437 Quit Gnus without saving the @file{.newsrc} files (@code{gnus-group-quit}).
2438 The dribble file will be saved, though (@pxref{Auto Save}).
2441 @vindex gnus-exit-gnus-hook
2442 @vindex gnus-suspend-gnus-hook
2443 @code{gnus-suspend-gnus-hook} is called when you suspend Gnus and
2444 @code{gnus-exit-gnus-hook} is called when you quit Gnus, while
2445 @code{gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook} is called as the final item when
2450 If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use
2451 the @code{gnus-unload} command. This command is also very handy when
2452 trying to customize meta-variables.
2457 Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go
2458 numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting
2459 behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her
2465 @section Group Topics
2468 If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group
2469 them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over
2470 here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?)
2471 you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can
2472 even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs
2473 groups or the sex groups---or both! Go wild!
2477 \gnusfigure{Group Topics}{400}{
2478 \put(75,50){\epsfig{figure=tmp/group-topic.ps,height=9cm}}
2489 2: alt.religion.emacs
2492 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2494 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2495 13: comp.sources.unix
2498 @findex gnus-topic-mode
2500 To get this @emph{fab} functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the
2501 @code{gnus-topic} minor mode---type @kbd{t} in the group buffer. (This
2502 is a toggling command.)
2504 Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de
2505 dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now
2506 press @kbd{l}. There. All your groups are now listed under
2507 @samp{misc}. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and
2510 If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to
2511 the hook for the group mode:
2514 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
2518 * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2519 * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands.
2520 * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually.
2521 * Topic Topology:: A map of the world.
2522 * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
2526 @node Topic Variables
2527 @subsection Topic Variables
2528 @cindex topic variables
2530 Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is
2531 really neat, I think.
2533 @vindex gnus-topic-line-format
2534 The topic lines themselves are created according to the
2535 @code{gnus-topic-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
2548 Number of groups in the topic.
2550 Number of unread articles in the topic.
2552 Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics.
2555 @vindex gnus-topic-indent-level
2556 Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with
2557 @code{gnus-topic-indent-level} times the topic level number of spaces.
2560 @vindex gnus-topic-mode-hook
2561 @code{gnus-topic-mode-hook} is called in topic minor mode buffers.
2563 @vindex gnus-topic-display-empty-topics
2564 The @code{gnus-topic-display-empty-topics} says whether to display even
2565 topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is @code{t}.
2568 @node Topic Commands
2569 @subsection Topic Commands
2570 @cindex topic commands
2572 When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new @kbd{T} submap will be
2573 available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their
2574 definitions slightly.
2580 @findex gnus-topic-create-topic
2581 Prompt for a new topic name and create it
2582 (@code{gnus-topic-create-topic}).
2586 @findex gnus-topic-move-group
2587 Move the current group to some other topic
2588 (@code{gnus-topic-move-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2589 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2593 @findex gnus-topic-copy-group
2594 Copy the current group to some other topic
2595 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-group}). This command uses the process/prefix
2596 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2600 @findex gnus-topic-remove-group
2601 Remove a group from the current topic (@code{gnus-topic-remove-group}).
2602 This command uses the process/prefix convention
2603 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
2607 @findex gnus-topic-move-matching
2608 Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2609 (@code{gnus-topic-move-matching}).
2613 @findex gnus-topic-copy-matching
2614 Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic
2615 (@code{gnus-topic-copy-matching}).
2619 @findex gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics
2620 Toggle hiding empty topics
2621 (@code{gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics}).
2625 @findex gnus-topic-mark-topic
2626 Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark
2627 (@code{gnus-topic-mark-topic}).
2630 @kindex T M-# (Topic)
2631 @findex gnus-topic-unmark-topic
2632 Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic
2633 (@code{gnus-topic-unmark-topic}).
2637 @findex gnus-topic-select-group
2639 Either select a group or fold a topic (@code{gnus-topic-select-group}).
2640 When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as
2641 usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was
2642 visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a
2643 toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical
2644 prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed.
2647 @kindex T TAB (Topic)
2648 @findex gnus-topic-indent
2649 ``Indent'' the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the
2650 previous topic (@code{gnus-topic-indent}). If given a prefix,
2651 ``un-indent'' the topic instead.
2655 @findex gnus-topic-kill-group
2656 Kill a group or topic (@code{gnus-topic-kill-group}). All groups in the
2657 topic will be removed along with the topic.
2661 @findex gnus-topic-yank-group
2662 Yank the previously killed group or topic
2663 (@code{gnus-topic-yank-group}). Note that all topics will be yanked
2668 @findex gnus-topic-rename
2669 Rename a topic (@code{gnus-topic-rename}).
2672 @kindex T DEL (Topic)
2673 @findex gnus-topic-delete
2674 Delete an empty topic (@code{gnus-topic-delete}).
2678 @findex gnus-topic-list-active
2679 List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way
2680 (@code{gnus-topic-list-active}).
2684 @findex gnus-topic-edit-parameters
2685 @cindex group parameters
2686 @cindex topic parameters
2688 Edit the topic parameters (@code{gnus-topic-edit-parameters}).
2689 @xref{Topic Parameters}.
2695 @subsection Topic Sorting
2696 @cindex topic sorting
2698 You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following
2704 @kindex T S a (Topic)
2705 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet
2706 Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name
2707 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet}).
2710 @kindex T S u (Topic)
2711 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread
2712 Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles
2713 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread}).
2716 @kindex T S l (Topic)
2717 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level
2718 Sort the current topic by group level
2719 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level}).
2722 @kindex T S v (Topic)
2723 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score
2724 Sort the current topic by group score
2725 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score}).
2728 @kindex T S r (Topic)
2729 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank
2730 Sort the current topic by group rank
2731 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank}).
2734 @kindex T S m (Topic)
2735 @findex gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method
2736 Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name
2737 (@code{gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method}).
2741 @xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
2744 @node Topic Topology
2745 @subsection Topic Topology
2746 @cindex topic topology
2749 So, let's have a look at an example group buffer:
2755 2: alt.religion.emacs
2758 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2760 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2761 13: comp.sources.unix
2764 So, here we have one top-level topic (@samp{Gnus}), two topics under
2765 that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always
2766 just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as
2771 (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible)
2772 (("Naughty Emacs" visible)))
2776 @vindex gnus-topic-topology
2777 This is in fact how the variable @code{gnus-topic-topology} would look
2778 for the display above. That variable is saved in the @file{.newsrc.eld}
2779 file, and shouldn't be messed with manually---unless you really want
2780 to. Since this variable is read from the @file{.newsrc.eld} file,
2781 setting it in any other startup files will have no effect.
2783 This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right),
2784 and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently
2785 allowed---@code{visible} and @code{invisible}.
2788 @node Topic Parameters
2789 @subsection Topic Parameters
2790 @cindex topic parameters
2792 All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and
2793 ancestor) topic parameters. All valid group parameters are valid topic
2794 parameters (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
2796 Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic
2797 parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You
2798 know. Normal inheritance rules. (@dfn{Rules} is here a noun, not a
2799 verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.)
2805 2: alt.religion.emacs
2809 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery
2811 8: comp.binaries.fractals
2812 13: comp.sources.unix
2816 The @samp{Emacs} topic has the topic parameter @code{(score-file
2817 . "emacs.SCORE")}; the @samp{Relief} topic has the topic parameter
2818 @code{(score-file . "relief.SCORE")}; and the @samp{Misc} topic has the
2819 topic parameter @code{(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")}. In addition,
2820 @samp{alt.religion.emacs} has the group parameter @code{(score-file
2821 . "religion.SCORE")}.
2823 Now, when you enter @samp{alt.sex.emacs} in the @samp{Relief} topic, you
2824 will get the @file{relief.SCORE} home score file. If you enter the same
2825 group in the @samp{Emacs} topic, you'll get the @file{emacs.SCORE} home
2826 score file. If you enter the group @samp{alt.religion.emacs}, you'll
2827 get the @file{religion.SCORE} home score file.
2829 This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But
2830 there are some problems, especially with the @code{total-expiry}
2831 parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with
2832 @code{total-expiry} and one without. What happens when you do @kbd{M-x
2833 gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups}? Gnus has no way of telling which one
2834 of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may
2835 happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is @dfn{undefined} what
2836 happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.
2839 @node Misc Group Stuff
2840 @section Misc Group Stuff
2843 * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2844 * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2845 * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2846 * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2853 @findex gnus-group-enter-server-mode
2854 Enter the server buffer (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}).
2855 @xref{The Server Buffer}.
2859 @findex gnus-group-post-news
2860 Post an article to a group (@code{gnus-group-post-news}). If given a
2861 prefix, the current group name will be used as the default.
2865 @findex gnus-group-mail
2866 Mail a message somewhere (@code{gnus-group-mail}).
2870 Variables for the group buffer:
2874 @item gnus-group-mode-hook
2875 @vindex gnus-group-mode-hook
2876 is called after the group buffer has been
2879 @item gnus-group-prepare-hook
2880 @vindex gnus-group-prepare-hook
2881 is called after the group buffer is
2882 generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange,
2885 @item gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2886 @vindex gnus-permanently-visible-groups
2887 Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer,
2888 whether they are empty or not.
2893 @node Scanning New Messages
2894 @subsection Scanning New Messages
2895 @cindex new messages
2896 @cindex scanning new news
2902 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news
2903 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news}
2904 Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used,
2905 this command will check only groups of level @var{arg} and lower
2906 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news}). If given a non-numerical prefix, this
2907 command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the
2912 @findex gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group
2913 @vindex gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating
2914 @c @icon{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}
2915 Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group
2916 (@code{gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group}).
2917 @code{gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating} says whether this command is
2918 to move point to the next group or not. It is @code{t} by default.
2920 @findex gnus-activate-all-groups
2921 @cindex activating groups
2923 @kindex C-c M-g (Group)
2924 Activate absolutely all groups (@code{gnus-activate-all-groups}).
2929 @findex gnus-group-restart
2930 Restart Gnus (@code{gnus-group-restart}). This saves the @file{.newsrc}
2931 file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time
2932 Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again.
2936 @vindex gnus-get-new-news-hook
2937 @code{gnus-get-new-news-hook} is run just before checking for new news.
2939 @vindex gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook
2940 @code{gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook} is run after checking for new
2944 @node Group Information
2945 @subsection Group Information
2946 @cindex group information
2947 @cindex information on groups
2954 @findex gnus-group-fetch-faq
2955 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
2958 Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group
2959 (@code{gnus-group-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from
2960 @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory on a
2961 remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In
2962 that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
2963 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} (or @code{efs}) will be used
2964 for fetching the file.
2966 If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go
2967 through @code{gnus-group-faq-directory} and try to open them one by one.
2971 @c @icon{gnus-group-describe-group}
2973 @kindex C-c C-d (Group)
2974 @cindex describing groups
2975 @cindex group description
2976 @findex gnus-group-describe-group
2977 Describe the current group (@code{gnus-group-describe-group}). If given
2978 a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server.
2982 @findex gnus-group-describe-all-groups
2983 Describe all groups (@code{gnus-group-describe-all-groups}). If given a
2984 prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server.
2991 @findex gnus-version
2992 Display current Gnus version numbers (@code{gnus-version}).
2996 @findex gnus-group-describe-briefly
2997 Give a very short help message (@code{gnus-group-describe-briefly}).
3000 @kindex C-c C-i (Group)
3003 @findex gnus-info-find-node
3004 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
3008 @node Group Timestamp
3009 @subsection Group Timestamp
3011 @cindex group timestamps
3013 It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a
3014 group. To set the ball rolling, you should add
3015 @code{gnus-group-set-timestamp} to @code{gnus-select-group-hook}:
3018 (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp)
3021 After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded.
3023 This information can be displayed in various ways---the easiest is to
3024 use the @samp{%d} spec in the group line format:
3027 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3028 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n")
3031 This will result in lines looking like:
3034 * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943
3035 0: custom 19961002T012713
3038 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This
3039 may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say
3043 (setq gnus-group-line-format
3044 "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")
3049 @subsection File Commands
3050 @cindex file commands
3056 @findex gnus-group-read-init-file
3057 @vindex gnus-init-file
3058 @cindex reading init file
3059 Re-read the init file (@code{gnus-init-file}, which defaults to
3060 @file{~/.gnus}) (@code{gnus-group-read-init-file}).
3064 @findex gnus-group-save-newsrc
3065 @cindex saving .newsrc
3066 Save the @file{.newsrc.eld} file (and @file{.newsrc} if wanted)
3067 (@code{gnus-group-save-newsrc}). If given a prefix, force saving the
3068 file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.
3071 @c @kindex Z (Group)
3072 @c @findex gnus-group-clear-dribble
3073 @c Clear the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-group-clear-dribble}).
3078 @node The Summary Buffer
3079 @chapter The Summary Buffer
3080 @cindex summary buffer
3082 A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can
3083 move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles.
3085 The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the
3086 group buffer (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
3088 You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish.
3091 * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3092 * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer.
3093 * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles.
3094 * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article.
3095 * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles.
3096 * Canceling and Superseding:: ``Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that.''
3097 * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3098 * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer.
3099 * Threading:: How threads are made.
3100 * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted.
3101 * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3102 * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache.
3103 * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant.
3104 * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around.
3105 * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving.
3106 * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3107 * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3108 * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
3109 * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3110 * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
3111 * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries.
3112 * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads.
3113 * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3114 * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else.
3115 * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer.
3116 * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3117 * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3121 @node Summary Buffer Format
3122 @section Summary Buffer Format
3123 @cindex summary buffer format
3127 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{180}{
3128 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary.ps,width=7.5cm}}
3129 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-article.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
3135 * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look.
3136 * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look.
3137 * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
3140 @findex mail-extract-address-components
3141 @findex gnus-extract-address-components
3142 @vindex gnus-extract-address-components
3143 Gnus will use the value of the @code{gnus-extract-address-components}
3144 variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a
3145 @code{From} header. Two pre-defined functions exist:
3146 @code{gnus-extract-address-components}, which is the default, quite
3147 fast, and too simplistic solution; and
3148 @code{mail-extract-address-components}, which works very nicely, but is
3149 slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the
3150 cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead.
3152 @vindex gnus-summary-same-subject
3153 @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} is a string indicating that the current
3154 article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used
3155 with those specs that require it. The default is @samp{}.
3158 @node Summary Buffer Lines
3159 @subsection Summary Buffer Lines
3161 @vindex gnus-summary-line-format
3162 You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing
3163 the @code{gnus-summary-line-format} variable. It works along the same
3164 lines as a normal @code{format} string, with some extensions
3165 (@pxref{Formatting Variables}).
3167 The default string is @samp{%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n}.
3169 The following format specification characters are understood:
3177 Subject if the article is the root of the thread or the previous article
3178 had a different subject, @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} otherwise.
3179 (@code{gnus-summary-same-subject} defaults to @samp{}.)
3181 Full @code{From} header.
3183 The name (from the @code{From} header).
3185 The name (from the @code{From} header). This differs from the @code{n}
3186 spec in that it uses the function designated by the
3187 @code{gnus-extract-address-components} variable, which is slower, but
3188 may be more thorough.
3190 The address (from the @code{From} header). This works the same way as
3193 Number of lines in the article.
3195 Number of characters in the article.
3197 Indentation based on thread level (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3199 Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it
3200 pushes everything after it off the screen).
3202 Opening bracket, which is normally @samp{[}, but can also be @samp{<}
3203 for adopted articles (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
3205 Closing bracket, which is normally @samp{]}, but can also be @samp{>}
3206 for adopted articles.
3208 One space for each thread level.
3210 Twenty minus thread level spaces.
3216 Score as a number (@pxref{Scoring}).
3218 @vindex gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz
3219 Zcore, @samp{+} if above the default level and @samp{-} if below the
3220 default level. If the difference between
3221 @code{gnus-summary-default-level} and the score is less than
3222 @code{gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz}, this spec will not be used.
3230 The @code{Date} in @code{DD-MMM} format.
3232 The @code{Date} in @var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS} format.
3238 Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow
3239 down summary buffer generation somewhat.
3241 An @samp{=} (@code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark}) will be displayed if the
3242 article has any children.
3248 User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should
3249 be a letter. Gnus will call the function
3250 @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where @samp{X} is the letter
3251 following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed the current header as
3252 argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted
3253 into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
3256 The @samp{%U} (status), @samp{%R} (replied) and @samp{%z} (zcore) specs
3257 have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will
3258 compute what column these characters will end up in, and ``hard-code''
3259 that. This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
3260 variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary
3261 buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
3263 The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible.
3264 (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.)
3266 This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
3269 @node Summary Buffer Mode Line
3270 @subsection Summary Buffer Mode Line
3272 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-line-format
3273 You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set
3274 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format} to whatever you like. The default
3275 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}.
3277 Here are the elements you can play with:
3283 Unprefixed group name.
3285 Current article number.
3289 Number of unread articles in this group.
3291 Number of unread articles in this group that aren't displayed in the
3294 A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented
3295 either as @samp{<%U(+%e) more>} if there are both unread and unselected
3296 articles, and just as @samp{<%U more>} if there are just unread articles
3297 and no unselected ones.
3299 Shortish group name. For instance, @samp{rec.arts.anime} will be
3300 shortened to @samp{r.a.anime}.
3302 Subject of the current article.
3304 User-defined spec (@pxref{User-Defined Specs}).
3306 Name of the current score file (@pxref{Scoring}).
3308 Number of dormant articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3310 Number of ticked articles (@pxref{Unread Articles}).
3312 Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session.
3314 Number of articles expunged by the score files.
3318 @node Summary Highlighting
3319 @subsection Summary Highlighting
3323 @item gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3324 @vindex gnus-visual-mark-article-hook
3325 This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for
3326 highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if
3327 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3329 @item gnus-summary-update-hook
3330 @vindex gnus-summary-update-hook
3331 This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if
3332 @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
3334 @item gnus-summary-selected-face
3335 @vindex gnus-summary-selected-face
3336 This is the face (or @dfn{font} as some people call it) used to
3337 highlight the current article in the summary buffer.
3339 @item gnus-summary-highlight
3340 @vindex gnus-summary-highlight
3341 Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a
3342 list where the elements are of the format @var{(FORM . FACE)}. If you
3343 would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored
3344 articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like
3346 (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic)
3347 ((> score default) . bold))
3349 As you may have guessed, if @var{FORM} returns a non-@code{nil} value,
3350 @var{FACE} will be applied to the line.
3354 @node Summary Maneuvering
3355 @section Summary Maneuvering
3356 @cindex summary movement
3358 All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and
3359 behave pretty much as you'd expect.
3361 None of these commands select articles.
3366 @kindex M-n (Summary)
3367 @kindex G M-n (Summary)
3368 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-subject
3369 Go to the next summary line of an unread article
3370 (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-subject}).
3374 @kindex M-p (Summary)
3375 @kindex G M-p (Summary)
3376 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject
3377 Go to the previous summary line of an unread article
3378 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject}).
3383 @kindex G j (Summary)
3384 @findex gnus-summary-goto-article
3385 Ask for an article number or @code{Message-ID}, and then go to that
3386 article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-article}).
3389 @kindex G g (Summary)
3390 @findex gnus-summary-goto-subject
3391 Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article
3392 without displaying the article (@code{gnus-summary-goto-subject}).
3395 If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you
3396 can use the @kbd{C-n} and @kbd{C-p} keys to move around the group
3397 buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning
3398 to the group buffer.
3400 Variables related to summary movement:
3404 @vindex gnus-auto-select-next
3405 @item gnus-auto-select-next
3406 If you issue one of the movement commands (like @kbd{n}) and there are
3407 no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to
3408 the next group. If this variable is @code{t} and the next group is
3409 empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If
3410 this variable is neither @code{t} nor @code{nil}, Gnus will select the
3411 next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a
3412 special case, if this variable is @code{quietly}, Gnus will select the
3413 next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is
3414 @code{almost-quietly}, the same will happen only if you are located on
3415 the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is
3416 @code{slightly-quietly}, the @kbd{Z n} command will go to the next group
3417 without confirmation. Also @pxref{Group Levels}.
3419 @item gnus-auto-select-same
3420 @vindex gnus-auto-select-same
3421 If non-@code{nil}, all the movement commands will try to go to the next
3422 article with the same subject as the current. (@dfn{Same} here might
3423 mean @dfn{roughly equal}. See @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit}
3424 for details (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).) This variable is not
3425 particularly useful if you use a threaded display.
3427 @item gnus-summary-check-current
3428 @vindex gnus-summary-check-current
3429 If non-@code{nil}, all the ``unread'' movement commands will not proceed
3430 to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread.
3431 Instead, they will choose the current article.
3433 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
3434 @vindex gnus-auto-center-summary
3435 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer
3436 centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a
3437 slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can
3438 set this variable to @code{nil} to get the normal Emacs scrolling
3439 action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary
3440 buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long
3446 @node Choosing Articles
3447 @section Choosing Articles
3448 @cindex selecting articles
3451 * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles.
3452 * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.
3456 @node Choosing Commands
3457 @subsection Choosing Commands
3459 None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix,
3460 and they all select and display an article.
3464 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3465 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3466 Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next
3467 unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3472 @kindex G n (Summary)
3473 @findex gnus-summary-next-unread-article
3474 @c @icon{gnus-summary-next-unread}
3475 Go to next unread article (@code{gnus-summary-next-unread-article}).
3480 @findex gnus-summary-prev-unread-article
3481 @c @icon{gnus-summary-prev-unread}
3482 Go to previous unread article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-unread-article}).
3487 @kindex G N (Summary)
3488 @findex gnus-summary-next-article
3489 Go to the next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-article}).
3494 @kindex G P (Summary)
3495 @findex gnus-summary-prev-article
3496 Go to the previous article (@code{gnus-summary-prev-article}).
3499 @kindex G C-n (Summary)
3500 @findex gnus-summary-next-same-subject
3501 Go to the next article with the same subject
3502 (@code{gnus-summary-next-same-subject}).
3505 @kindex G C-p (Summary)
3506 @findex gnus-summary-prev-same-subject
3507 Go to the previous article with the same subject
3508 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-same-subject}).
3512 @kindex G f (Summary)
3514 @findex gnus-summary-first-unread-article
3515 Go to the first unread article
3516 (@code{gnus-summary-first-unread-article}).
3520 @kindex G b (Summary)
3522 @findex gnus-summary-best-unread-article
3523 Go to the article with the highest score
3524 (@code{gnus-summary-best-unread-article}).
3529 @kindex G l (Summary)
3530 @findex gnus-summary-goto-last-article
3531 Go to the previous article read (@code{gnus-summary-goto-last-article}).
3534 @kindex G o (Summary)
3535 @findex gnus-summary-pop-article
3537 @cindex article history
3538 Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article
3539 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-article}). This command differs from the
3540 command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the
3541 history as you like. For a somewhat related issue (if you use this
3542 command a lot), @pxref{Article Backlog}.
3546 @node Choosing Variables
3547 @subsection Choosing Variables
3549 Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles:
3552 @item gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3553 @vindex gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
3554 All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next)
3555 article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if
3556 this variable is non-@code{nil}. Gnus will then fetch the article from
3557 the server and display it in the article buffer.
3559 @item gnus-select-article-hook
3560 @vindex gnus-select-article-hook
3561 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it
3562 exposes any threads hidden under the selected article.
3564 @item gnus-mark-article-hook
3565 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
3566 @findex gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read
3567 @findex gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read
3568 @findex gnus-unread-mark
3569 This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to
3570 be used for marking articles as read. The default value is
3571 @code{gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read}, and will change the
3572 mark of almost any article you read to @code{gnus-unread-mark}. The
3573 only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and
3574 expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles
3575 marked as read, you can use @code{gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read}
3576 instead. It will leave marks like @code{gnus-low-score-mark},
3577 @code{gnus-del-mark} (and so on) alone.
3582 @node Paging the Article
3583 @section Scrolling the Article
3584 @cindex article scrolling
3589 @kindex SPACE (Summary)
3590 @findex gnus-summary-next-page
3591 Pressing @kbd{SPACE} will scroll the current article forward one page,
3592 or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the
3593 next article (@code{gnus-summary-next-page}).
3596 @kindex DEL (Summary)
3597 @findex gnus-summary-prev-page
3598 Scroll the current article back one page (@code{gnus-summary-prev-page}).
3601 @kindex RET (Summary)
3602 @findex gnus-summary-scroll-up
3603 Scroll the current article one line forward
3604 (@code{gnus-summary-scroll-up}).
3608 @kindex A g (Summary)
3610 @findex gnus-summary-show-article
3611 (Re)fetch the current article (@code{gnus-summary-show-article}). If
3612 given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the
3613 article treatment functions. This will give you a ``raw'' article, just
3614 the way it came from the server.
3619 @kindex A < (Summary)
3620 @findex gnus-summary-beginning-of-article
3621 Scroll to the beginning of the article
3622 (@code{gnus-summary-beginning-of-article}).
3627 @kindex A > (Summary)
3628 @findex gnus-summary-end-of-article
3629 Scroll to the end of the article (@code{gnus-summary-end-of-article}).
3633 @kindex A s (Summary)
3635 @findex gnus-summary-isearch-article
3636 Perform an isearch in the article buffer
3637 (@code{gnus-summary-isearch-article}).
3642 @node Reply Followup and Post
3643 @section Reply, Followup and Post
3646 * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail.
3647 * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.
3651 @node Summary Mail Commands
3652 @subsection Summary Mail Commands
3654 @cindex composing mail
3656 Commands for composing a mail message:
3662 @kindex S r (Summary)
3664 @findex gnus-summary-reply
3665 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-reply}
3666 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply}
3667 Mail a reply to the author of the current article
3668 (@code{gnus-summary-reply}).
3673 @kindex S R (Summary)
3674 @findex gnus-summary-reply-with-original
3675 @c @icon{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}
3676 Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the
3677 original message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This
3678 command uses the process/prefix convention.
3681 @kindex S w (Summary)
3682 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply
3683 Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article
3684 (@code{gnus-summary-wide-reply}). A @dfn{wide reply} is a reply that
3685 goes out to all people listed in the @code{To}, @code{From} (or
3686 @code{Reply-to}) and @code{Cc} headers.
3689 @kindex S W (Summary)
3690 @findex gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
3691 Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original
3692 message (@code{gnus-summary-reply-with-original}). This command uses
3693 the process/prefix convention.
3696 @kindex S o m (Summary)
3697 @findex gnus-summary-mail-forward
3698 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-forward}
3699 Forward the current article to some other person
3700 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3701 headers of the forwarded article.
3706 @kindex S m (Summary)
3707 @findex gnus-summary-mail-other-window
3708 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-originate}
3709 Send a mail to some other person
3710 (@code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}).
3713 @kindex S D b (Summary)
3714 @findex gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail
3715 @cindex bouncing mail
3716 If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some
3717 reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to
3718 resend that bounced mail (@code{gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail}). You
3719 will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before
3720 sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and
3721 the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch
3722 that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might
3723 very well fail, though.
3726 @kindex S D r (Summary)
3727 @findex gnus-summary-resend-message
3728 Not to be confused with the previous command,
3729 @code{gnus-summary-resend-message} will prompt you for an address to
3730 send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The
3731 headers of the message won't be altered---but lots of headers that say
3732 @code{Resent-To}, @code{Resent-From} and so on will be added. This
3733 means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a @code{To}
3734 header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people.
3735 So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl.
3737 This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to
3738 ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both
3739 @code{root} and @code{postmaster} and get a mail for @code{postmaster}
3740 to the @code{root} account, you may want to resend it to
3741 @code{postmaster}. Ordnung muß sein!
3743 This command understands the process/prefix convention
3744 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3747 @kindex S O m (Summary)
3748 @findex gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward
3749 Digest the current series (@pxref{Decoding Articles}) and forward the
3750 result using mail (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command
3751 uses the process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
3754 @kindex S M-c (Summary)
3755 @findex gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint
3756 @cindex crossposting
3757 @cindex excessive crossposting
3758 Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the
3759 current article (@code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint}).
3761 @findex gnus-crosspost-complaint
3762 This command is provided as a way to fight back agains the current
3763 crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply
3764 using the @code{gnus-crosspost-complaint} variable as a preamble. This
3765 command understands the process/prefix convention
3766 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) and will prompt you before sending each mail.
3771 @node Summary Post Commands
3772 @subsection Summary Post Commands
3774 @cindex composing news
3776 Commands for posting a news article:
3782 @kindex S p (Summary)
3783 @findex gnus-summary-post-news
3784 @c @icon{gnus-summary-post-news}
3785 Post an article to the current group
3786 (@code{gnus-summary-post-news}).
3791 @kindex S f (Summary)
3792 @findex gnus-summary-followup
3793 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup}
3794 Post a followup to the current article (@code{gnus-summary-followup}).
3798 @kindex S F (Summary)
3800 @c @icon{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}
3801 @findex gnus-summary-followup-with-original
3802 Post a followup to the current article and include the original message
3803 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-with-original}). This command uses the
3804 process/prefix convention.
3807 @kindex S n (Summary)
3808 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3809 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3810 message through mail (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail}).
3813 @kindex S n (Summary)
3814 @findex gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
3815 Post a followup to the current article via news, even if you got the
3816 message through mail and include the original message
3817 (@code{gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original}). This command uses
3818 the process/prefix convention.
3821 @kindex S o p (Summary)
3822 @findex gnus-summary-post-forward
3823 Forward the current article to a newsgroup
3824 (@code{gnus-summary-post-forward}). If given a prefix, include the full
3825 headers of the forwarded article.
3828 @kindex S O p (Summary)
3829 @findex gnus-uu-digest-post-forward
3831 @cindex making digests
3832 Digest the current series and forward the result to a newsgroup
3833 (@code{gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward}). This command uses the
3834 process/prefix convention.
3837 @kindex S u (Summary)
3838 @findex gnus-uu-post-news
3839 @c @icon{gnus-uu-post-news}
3840 Uuencode a file, split it into parts, and post it as a series
3841 (@code{gnus-uu-post-news}). (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
3845 @node Canceling and Superseding
3846 @section Canceling Articles
3847 @cindex canceling articles
3848 @cindex superseding articles
3850 Have you ever written something, and then decided that you really,
3851 really, really wish you hadn't posted that?
3853 Well, you can't cancel mail, but you can cancel posts.
3855 @findex gnus-summary-cancel-article
3857 @c @icon{gnus-summary-cancel-article}
3858 Find the article you wish to cancel (you can only cancel your own
3859 articles, so don't try any funny stuff). Then press @kbd{C} or @kbd{S
3860 c} (@code{gnus-summary-cancel-article}). Your article will be
3861 canceled---machines all over the world will be deleting your article.
3863 Be aware, however, that not all sites honor cancels, so your article may
3864 live on here and there, while most sites will delete the article in
3867 If you discover that you have made some mistakes and want to do some
3868 corrections, you can post a @dfn{superseding} article that will replace
3869 your original article.
3871 @findex gnus-summary-supersede-article
3873 Go to the original article and press @kbd{S s}
3874 (@code{gnus-summary-supersede-article}). You will be put in a buffer
3875 where you can edit the article all you want before sending it off the
3878 The same goes for superseding as for canceling, only more so: Some
3879 sites do not honor superseding. On those sites, it will appear that you
3880 have posted almost the same article twice.
3882 If you have just posted the article, and change your mind right away,
3883 there is a trick you can use to cancel/supersede the article without
3884 waiting for the article to appear on your site first. You simply return
3885 to the post buffer (which is called @code{*sent ...*}). There you will
3886 find the article you just posted, with all the headers intact. Change
3887 the @code{Message-ID} header to a @code{Cancel} or @code{Supersedes}
3888 header by substituting one of those words for the word
3889 @code{Message-ID}. Then just press @kbd{C-c C-c} to send the article as
3890 you would do normally. The previous article will be
3891 canceled/superseded.
3893 Just remember, kids: There is no 'c' in 'supersede'.
3896 @node Marking Articles
3897 @section Marking Articles
3898 @cindex article marking
3899 @cindex article ticking
3902 There are several marks you can set on an article.
3904 You have marks that decide the @dfn{readedness} (whoo, neato-keano
3905 neologism ohoy!) of the article. Alphabetic marks generally mean
3906 @dfn{read}, while non-alphabetic characters generally mean @dfn{unread}.
3908 In addition, you also have marks that do not affect readedness.
3911 * Unread Articles:: Marks for unread articles.
3912 * Read Articles:: Marks for read articles.
3913 * Other Marks:: Marks that do not affect readedness.
3917 There's a plethora of commands for manipulating these marks:
3921 * Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
3922 * Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
3926 @node Unread Articles
3927 @subsection Unread Articles
3929 The following marks mark articles as (kinda) unread, in one form or
3934 @vindex gnus-ticked-mark
3935 Marked as ticked (@code{gnus-ticked-mark}).
3937 @dfn{Ticked articles} are articles that will remain visible always. If
3938 you see an article that you find interesting, or you want to put off
3939 reading it, or replying to it, until sometime later, you'd typically
3940 tick it. However, articles can be expired, so if you want to keep an
3941 article forever, you'll have to make it persistent (@pxref{Persistent
3945 @vindex gnus-dormant-mark
3946 Marked as dormant (@code{gnus-dormant-mark}).
3948 @dfn{Dormant articles} will only appear in the summary buffer if there
3949 are followups to it. If you want to see them even if they don't have
3950 followups, you can use the @kbd{/ D} command (@pxref{Limiting}).
3953 @vindex gnus-unread-mark
3954 Markes as unread (@code{gnus-unread-mark}).
3956 @dfn{Unread articles} are articles that haven't been read at all yet.
3961 @subsection Read Articles
3962 @cindex expirable mark
3964 All the following marks mark articles as read.
3969 @vindex gnus-del-mark
3970 These are articles that the user has marked as read with the @kbd{d}
3971 command manually, more or less (@code{gnus-del-mark}).
3974 @vindex gnus-read-mark
3975 Articles that have actually been read (@code{gnus-read-mark}).
3978 @vindex gnus-ancient-mark
3979 Articles that were marked as read in previous sessions and are now
3980 @dfn{old} (@code{gnus-ancient-mark}).
3983 @vindex gnus-killed-mark
3984 Marked as killed (@code{gnus-killed-mark}).
3987 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mark
3988 Marked as killed by kill files (@code{gnus-kill-file-mark}).
3991 @vindex gnus-low-score-mark
3992 Marked as read by having too low a score (@code{gnus-low-score-mark}).
3995 @vindex gnus-catchup-mark
3996 Marked as read by a catchup (@code{gnus-catchup-mark}).
3999 @vindex gnus-canceled-mark
4000 Canceled article (@code{gnus-canceled-mark})
4003 @vindex gnus-souped-mark
4004 @sc{SOUP}ed article (@code{gnus-souped-mark}). @xref{SOUP}.
4007 @vindex gnus-sparse-mark
4008 Sparsely reffed article (@code{gnus-sparse-mark}). @xref{Customizing
4012 @vindex gnus-duplicate-mark
4013 Article marked as read by duplicate suppression
4014 (@code{gnus-duplicated-mark}). @xref{Duplicate Suppression}.
4018 All these marks just mean that the article is marked as read, really.
4019 They are interpreted differently when doing adaptive scoring, though.
4021 One more special mark, though:
4025 @vindex gnus-expirable-mark
4026 Marked as expirable (@code{gnus-expirable-mark}).
4028 Marking articles as @dfn{expirable} (or have them marked as such
4029 automatically) doesn't make much sense in normal groups---a user doesn't
4030 control expiring of news articles, but in mail groups, for instance,
4031 articles marked as @dfn{expirable} can be deleted by Gnus at
4037 @subsection Other Marks
4038 @cindex process mark
4041 There are some marks that have nothing to do with whether the article is
4047 You can set a bookmark in the current article. Say you are reading a
4048 long thesis on cats' urinary tracts, and have to go home for dinner
4049 before you've finished reading the thesis. You can then set a bookmark
4050 in the article, and Gnus will jump to this bookmark the next time it
4051 encounters the article. @xref{Setting Marks}
4054 @vindex gnus-replied-mark
4055 All articles that you have replied to or made a followup to (i.e., have
4056 answered) will be marked with an @samp{A} in the second column
4057 (@code{gnus-replied-mark}).
4060 @vindex gnus-cached-mark
4061 Articles stored in the article cache will be marked with an @samp{*} in
4062 the second column (@code{gnus-cached-mark}). @xref{Article Caching}
4065 @vindex gnus-saved-mark
4066 Articles ``saved'' (in some manner or other; not necessarily
4067 religiously) are marked with an @samp{S} in the second column
4068 (@code{gnus-saved-mark}).
4071 @vindex gnus-not-empty-thread-mark
4072 @vindex gnus-empty-thread-mark
4073 If the @samp{%e} spec is used, the presence of threads or not will be
4074 marked with @code{gnus-not-empty-thread-mark} and
4075 @code{gnus-empty-thread-mark} in the third column, respectively.
4078 @vindex gnus-process-mark
4079 Finally we have the @dfn{process mark} (@code{gnus-process-mark}). A
4080 variety of commands react to the presence of the process mark. For
4081 instance, @kbd{X u} (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}) will uudecode and view
4082 all articles that have been marked with the process mark. Articles
4083 marked with the process mark have a @samp{#} in the second column.
4087 You might have noticed that most of these ``non-readedness'' marks
4088 appear in the second column by default. So if you have a cached, saved,
4089 replied article that you have process-marked, what will that look like?
4091 Nothing much. The precedence rules go as follows: process -> cache ->
4092 replied -> saved. So if the article is in the cache and is replied,
4093 you'll only see the cache mark and not the replied mark.
4097 @subsection Setting Marks
4098 @cindex setting marks
4100 All the marking commands understand the numeric prefix.
4105 @kindex M c (Summary)
4106 @kindex M-u (Summary)
4107 @findex gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward
4108 @cindex mark as unread
4109 Clear all readedness-marks from the current article
4110 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-mark-forward}). In other words, mark the
4116 @kindex M t (Summary)
4117 @findex gnus-summary-tick-article-forward
4118 Tick the current article (@code{gnus-summary-tick-article-forward}).
4119 @xref{Article Caching}
4124 @kindex M ? (Summary)
4125 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant
4126 Mark the current article as dormant
4127 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-dormant}). @xref{Article Caching}
4131 @kindex M d (Summary)
4133 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward
4134 Mark the current article as read
4135 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-forward}).
4139 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward
4140 Mark the current article as read and move point to the previous line
4141 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-read-backward}).
4146 @kindex M k (Summary)
4147 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select
4148 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read,
4149 and then select the next unread article
4150 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject-and-select}).
4154 @kindex M K (Summary)
4155 @kindex C-k (Summary)
4156 @findex gnus-summary-kill-same-subject
4157 Mark all articles that have the same subject as the current one as read
4158 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-same-subject}).
4161 @kindex M C (Summary)
4162 @findex gnus-summary-catchup
4163 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup}
4164 Mark all unread articles as read (@code{gnus-summary-catchup}).
4167 @kindex M C-c (Summary)
4168 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all
4169 Mark all articles in the group as read---even the ticked and dormant
4170 articles (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all}).
4173 @kindex M H (Summary)
4174 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-to-here
4175 Catchup the current group to point
4176 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-to-here}).
4179 @kindex C-w (Summary)
4180 @findex gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read
4181 Mark all articles between point and mark as read
4182 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-region-as-read}).
4185 @kindex M V k (Summary)
4186 @findex gnus-summary-kill-below
4187 Kill all articles with scores below the default score (or below the
4188 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-kill-below}).
4192 @kindex M e (Summary)
4194 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable
4195 Mark the current article as expirable
4196 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-expirable}).
4199 @kindex M b (Summary)
4200 @findex gnus-summary-set-bookmark
4201 Set a bookmark in the current article
4202 (@code{gnus-summary-set-bookmark}).
4205 @kindex M B (Summary)
4206 @findex gnus-summary-remove-bookmark
4207 Remove the bookmark from the current article
4208 (@code{gnus-summary-remove-bookmark}).
4211 @kindex M V c (Summary)
4212 @findex gnus-summary-clear-above
4213 Clear all marks from articles with scores over the default score (or
4214 over the numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4217 @kindex M V u (Summary)
4218 @findex gnus-summary-tick-above
4219 Tick all articles with scores over the default score (or over the
4220 numeric prefix) (@code{gnus-summary-tick-above}).
4223 @kindex M V m (Summary)
4224 @findex gnus-summary-mark-above
4225 Prompt for a mark, and mark all articles with scores over the default
4226 score (or over the numeric prefix) with this mark
4227 (@code{gnus-summary-clear-above}).
4230 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
4231 The @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} variable controls what action should
4232 be taken after setting a mark. If non-@code{nil}, point will move to
4233 the next/previous unread article. If @code{nil}, point will just move
4234 one line up or down. As a special case, if this variable is
4235 @code{never}, all the marking commands as well as other commands (like
4236 @kbd{SPACE}) will move to the next article, whether it is unread or not.
4237 The default is @code{t}.
4240 @node Setting Process Marks
4241 @subsection Setting Process Marks
4242 @cindex setting process marks
4249 @kindex M P p (Summary)
4250 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
4251 Mark the current article with the process mark
4252 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}).
4253 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
4257 @kindex M P u (Summary)
4258 @kindex M-# (Summary)
4259 Remove the process mark, if any, from the current article
4260 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
4263 @kindex M P U (Summary)
4264 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
4265 Remove the process mark from all articles
4266 (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
4269 @kindex M P i (Summary)
4270 @findex gnus-uu-invert-processable
4271 Invert the list of process marked articles
4272 (@code{gnus-uu-invert-processable}).
4275 @kindex M P R (Summary)
4276 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
4277 Mark articles by a regular expression (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
4280 @kindex M P r (Summary)
4281 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
4282 Mark articles in region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
4285 @kindex M P t (Summary)
4286 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4287 Mark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4288 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4291 @kindex M P T (Summary)
4292 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4293 Unmark all articles in the current (sub)thread
4294 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4297 @kindex M P v (Summary)
4298 @findex gnus-uu-mark-over
4299 Mark all articles that have a score above the prefix argument
4300 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-over}).
4303 @kindex M P s (Summary)
4304 @findex gnus-uu-mark-series
4305 Mark all articles in the current series (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4308 @kindex M P S (Summary)
4309 @findex gnus-uu-mark-sparse
4310 Mark all series that have already had some articles marked
4311 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-sparse}).
4314 @kindex M P a (Summary)
4315 @findex gnus-uu-mark-all
4316 Mark all articles in series order (@code{gnus-uu-mark-series}).
4319 @kindex M P b (Summary)
4320 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
4321 Mark all articles in the buffer in the order they appear
4322 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
4325 @kindex M P k (Summary)
4326 @findex gnus-summary-kill-process-mark
4327 Push the current process mark set onto the stack and unmark all articles
4328 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-process-mark}).
4331 @kindex M P y (Summary)
4332 @findex gnus-summary-yank-process-mark
4333 Pop the previous process mark set from the stack and restore it
4334 (@code{gnus-summary-yank-process-mark}).
4337 @kindex M P w (Summary)
4338 @findex gnus-summary-save-process-mark
4339 Push the current process mark set onto the stack
4340 (@code{gnus-summary-save-process-mark}).
4349 It can be convenient to limit the summary buffer to just show some
4350 subset of the articles currently in the group. The effect most limit
4351 commands have is to remove a few (or many) articles from the summary
4358 @kindex / / (Summary)
4359 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-subject
4360 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some subject
4361 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-subject}).
4364 @kindex / a (Summary)
4365 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-author
4366 Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
4367 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
4371 @kindex / u (Summary)
4373 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-unread
4374 Limit the summary buffer to articles not marked as read
4375 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-unread}). If given a prefix, limit the
4376 buffer to articles strictly unread. This means that ticked and
4377 dormant articles will also be excluded.
4380 @kindex / m (Summary)
4381 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-marks
4382 Ask for a mark and then limit to all articles that have not been marked
4383 with that mark (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}).
4386 @kindex / t (Summary)
4387 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-age
4388 Ask for a number and then limit the summary buffer to articles older than (or equal to) that number of days
4389 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-marks}). If given a prefix, limit to
4390 articles younger than that number of days.
4393 @kindex / n (Summary)
4394 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-articles
4395 Limit the summary buffer to the current article
4396 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-articles}). Uses the process/prefix
4397 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
4400 @kindex / w (Summary)
4401 @findex gnus-summary-pop-limit
4402 Pop the previous limit off the stack and restore it
4403 (@code{gnus-summary-pop-limit}). If given a prefix, pop all limits off
4407 @kindex / v (Summary)
4408 @findex gnus-summary-limit-to-score
4409 Limit the summary buffer to articles that have a score at or above some
4410 score (@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-score}).
4414 @kindex M S (Summary)
4415 @kindex / E (Summary)
4416 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged
4417 Display all expunged articles
4418 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-expunged}).
4421 @kindex / D (Summary)
4422 @findex gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant
4423 Display all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-include-dormant}).
4426 @kindex / d (Summary)
4427 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant
4428 Hide all dormant articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
4431 @kindex / c (Summary)
4432 @findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant
4433 Hide all dormant articles that have no children
4434 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-childless-dormant}).
4437 @kindex / C (Summary)
4438 @findex gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read
4439 Mark all excluded unread articles as read
4440 (@code{gnus-summary-limit-mark-excluded-as-read}). If given a prefix,
4441 also mark excluded ticked and dormant articles as read.
4449 @cindex article threading
4451 Gnus threads articles by default. @dfn{To thread} is to put responses
4452 to articles directly after the articles they respond to---in a
4453 hierarchical fashion.
4455 Threading is done by looking at the @code{References} headers of the
4456 articles. In a perfect world, this would be enough to build pretty
4457 trees, but unfortunately, the @code{References} header is often broken
4458 or simply missing. Weird news propagration excarcerbates the problem,
4459 so one has to employ other heuristics to get pleasing results. A
4460 plethora of approaches exists, as detailed in horrible detail in
4461 @pxref{Customizing Threading}.
4463 First, a quick overview of the concepts:
4467 The top-most article in a thread; the first article in the thread.
4470 A tree-like article structure.
4473 A small(er) section of this tree-like structure.
4476 Threads often lose their roots due to article expiry, or due to the root
4477 already having been read in a previous session, and not displayed in the
4478 summary buffer. We then typicall have many sub-threads that really
4479 belong to one thread, but are without connecting roots. These are
4480 called loose threads.
4482 @item thread gathering
4483 An attempt to gather loose threads into bigger threads.
4485 @item sparse threads
4486 A thread where the missing articles have been ``guessed'' at, and are
4487 displayed as empty lines in the summary buffer.
4493 * Customizing Threading:: Variables you can change to affect the threading.
4494 * Thread Commands:: Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
4498 @node Customizing Threading
4499 @subsection Customizing Threading
4500 @cindex customizing threading
4506 @item gnus-show-threads
4507 @vindex gnus-show-threads
4508 If this variable is @code{nil}, no threading will be done, and all of
4509 the rest of the variables here will have no effect. Turning threading
4510 off will speed group selection up a bit, but it is sure to make reading
4511 slower and more awkward.
4513 @item gnus-fetch-old-headers
4514 @vindex gnus-fetch-old-headers
4515 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will attempt to build old threads by fetching
4516 more old headers---headers to articles marked as read. If you
4517 would like to display as few summary lines as possible, but still
4518 connect as many loose threads as possible, you should set this variable
4519 to @code{some} or a number. If you set it to a number, no more than
4520 that number of extra old headers will be fetched. In either case,
4521 fetching old headers only works if the backend you are using carries
4522 overview files---this would normally be @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and
4523 @code{nnml}. Also remember that if the root of the thread has been
4524 expired by the server, there's not much Gnus can do about that.
4526 @item gnus-build-sparse-threads
4527 @vindex gnus-build-sparse-threads
4528 Fetching old headers can be slow. A low-rent similar effect can be
4529 gotten by setting this variable to @code{some}. Gnus will then look at
4530 the complete @code{References} headers of all articles and try to string
4531 together articles that belong in the same thread. This will leave
4532 @dfn{gaps} in the threading display where Gnus guesses that an article
4533 is missing from the thread. (These gaps appear like normal summary
4534 lines. If you select a gap, Gnus will try to fetch the article in
4535 question.) If this variable is @code{t}, Gnus will display all these
4536 ``gaps'' without regard for whether they are useful for completing the
4537 thread or not. Finally, if this variable is @code{more}, Gnus won't cut
4538 off sparse leaf nodes that don't lead anywhere. This variable is
4539 @code{nil} by default.
4541 @item gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4542 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit
4543 Loose threads are gathered by comparing subjects of articles. If this
4544 variable is @code{nil}, Gnus requires an exact match between the
4545 subjects of the loose threads before gathering them into one big
4546 super-thread. This might be too strict a requirement, what with the
4547 presence of stupid newsreaders that chop off long subject lines. If
4548 you think so, set this variable to, say, 20 to require that only the
4549 first 20 characters of the subjects have to match. If you set this
4550 variable to a really low number, you'll find that Gnus will gather
4551 everything in sight into one thread, which isn't very helpful.
4553 @cindex fuzzy article gathering
4554 If you set this variable to the special value @code{fuzzy}, Gnus will
4555 use a fuzzy string comparison algorithm on the subjects (@pxref{Fuzzy
4558 @item gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4559 @vindex gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy-regexp
4560 This can either be a regular expression or list of regular expressions
4561 that match strings that will be removed from subjects if fuzzy subject
4562 simplification is used.
4564 @item gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4565 @vindex gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4566 If you set @code{gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit} to something as low
4567 as 10, you might consider setting this variable to something sensible:
4569 @c Written by Michael Ernst <mernst@cs.rice.edu>
4571 (setq gnus-simplify-ignored-prefixes
4577 "wanted" "followup" "summary\\( of\\)?"
4578 "help" "query" "problem" "question"
4579 "answer" "reference" "announce"
4580 "How can I" "How to" "Comparison of"
4585 (mapconcat 'identity
4586 '("for" "for reference" "with" "about")
4588 "\\)?\\]?:?[ \t]*"))
4591 All words that match this regexp will be removed before comparing two
4594 @item gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4595 @vindex gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject
4596 Since loose thread gathering is done on subjects only, that might lead
4597 to many false hits, especially with certain common subjects like
4598 @samp{} and @samp{(none)}. To make the situation slightly better,
4599 you can use the regexp @code{gnus-summary-gather-exclude-subject} to say
4600 what subjects should be excluded from the gathering process.@*
4601 The default is @samp{^ *$\\|^(none)$}.
4603 @item gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4604 @vindex gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4605 Gnus gathers threads by looking at @code{Subject} headers. This means
4606 that totally unrelated articles may end up in the same ``thread'', which
4607 is confusing. An alternate approach is to look at all the
4608 @code{Message-ID}s in all the @code{References} headers to find matches.
4609 This will ensure that no gathered threads ever include unrelated
4610 articles, but it also means that people who have posted with broken
4611 newsreaders won't be gathered properly. The choice is yours---plague or
4615 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4616 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-subject
4617 This function is the default gathering function and looks at
4618 @code{Subject}s exclusively.
4620 @item gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4621 @findex gnus-gather-threads-by-references
4622 This function looks at @code{References} headers exclusively.
4625 If you want to test gathering by @code{References}, you could say
4629 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
4630 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
4633 @item gnus-summary-make-false-root
4634 @vindex gnus-summary-make-false-root
4635 If non-@code{nil}, Gnus will gather all loose subtrees into one big tree
4636 and create a dummy root at the top. (Wait a minute. Root at the top?
4637 Yup.) Loose subtrees occur when the real root has expired, or you've
4638 read or killed the root in a previous session.
4640 When there is no real root of a thread, Gnus will have to fudge
4641 something. This variable says what fudging method Gnus should use.
4642 There are four possible values:
4646 \gnusfigure{The Summary Buffer}{390}{
4647 \put(0,0){\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-adopt.ps,width=7.5cm}}
4648 \put(445,0){\makebox(0,0)[br]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-empty.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4649 \put(0,400){\makebox(0,0)[tl]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-none.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4650 \put(445,400){\makebox(0,0)[tr]{\epsfig{figure=tmp/summary-dummy.ps,width=7.5cm}}}
4655 @cindex adopting articles
4660 Gnus will make the first of the orphaned articles the parent. This
4661 parent will adopt all the other articles. The adopted articles will be
4662 marked as such by pointy brackets (@samp{<>}) instead of the standard
4663 square brackets (@samp{[]}). This is the default method.
4666 @vindex gnus-summary-dummy-line-format
4667 Gnus will create a dummy summary line that will pretend to be the
4668 parent. This dummy line does not correspond to any real article, so
4669 selecting it will just select the first real article after the dummy
4670 article. @code{gnus-summary-dummy-line-format} is used to specify the
4671 format of the dummy roots. It accepts only one format spec: @samp{S},
4672 which is the subject of the article. @xref{Formatting Variables}.
4675 Gnus won't actually make any article the parent, but simply leave the
4676 subject field of all orphans except the first empty. (Actually, it will
4677 use @code{gnus-summary-same-subject} as the subject (@pxref{Summary
4681 Don't make any article parent at all. Just gather the threads and
4682 display them after one another.
4685 Don't gather loose threads.
4688 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4689 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-subtree
4690 If non-@code{nil}, all threads will be hidden when the summary buffer is
4693 @item gnus-thread-expunge-below
4694 @vindex gnus-thread-expunge-below
4695 All threads that have a total score (as defined by
4696 @code{gnus-thread-score-function}) less than this number will be
4697 expunged. This variable is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
4698 threads are expunged.
4700 @item gnus-thread-hide-killed
4701 @vindex gnus-thread-hide-killed
4702 if you kill a thread and this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subtree
4705 @item gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4706 @vindex gnus-thread-ignore-subject
4707 Sometimes somebody changes the subject in the middle of a thread. If
4708 this variable is non-@code{nil}, the subject change is ignored. If it
4709 is @code{nil}, which is the default, a change in the subject will result
4712 @item gnus-thread-indent-level
4713 @vindex gnus-thread-indent-level
4714 This is a number that says how much each sub-thread should be indented.
4717 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
4718 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
4719 Hook run before parsing any headers. The default value is
4720 @code{(gnus-decode-rfc1522)}, which means that QPized headers will be
4721 slightly decoded in a hackish way. This is likely to change in the
4722 future when Gnus becomes @sc{MIME}ified.
4724 @item gnus-alter-header-function
4725 @vindex gnus-alter-header-function
4726 If non-@code{nil}, this function will be called to allow alteration of
4727 article header structures. The function is called with one parameter,
4728 the article header vector, which it may alter in any way. For instance,
4729 if you have a mail-to-news gateway which alters the @code{Message-ID}s
4730 in systematic ways (by adding prefixes and such), you can use this
4731 variable to un-scramble the @code{Message-ID}s so that they are more
4732 meaningful. Here's one example:
4735 (setq gnus-alter-header-function 'my-alter-message-id)
4737 (defun my-alter-message-id (header)
4738 (let ((id (mail-header-id header)))
4740 "\\(<[^<>@]*\\)\\.?cygnus\\..*@\\([^<>@]*>\\)" id)
4742 (concat (match-string 1 id) "@" (match-string 2 id))
4749 @node Thread Commands
4750 @subsection Thread Commands
4751 @cindex thread commands
4757 @kindex T k (Summary)
4758 @kindex M-C-k (Summary)
4759 @findex gnus-summary-kill-thread
4760 Mark all articles in the current (sub-)thread as read
4761 (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}). If the prefix argument is positive,
4762 remove all marks instead. If the prefix argument is negative, tick
4767 @kindex T l (Summary)
4768 @kindex M-C-l (Summary)
4769 @findex gnus-summary-lower-thread
4770 Lower the score of the current (sub-)thread
4771 (@code{gnus-summary-lower-thread}).
4774 @kindex T i (Summary)
4775 @findex gnus-summary-raise-thread
4776 Increase the score of the current (sub-)thread
4777 (@code{gnus-summary-raise-thread}).
4780 @kindex T # (Summary)
4781 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
4782 Set the process mark on the current (sub-)thread
4783 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
4786 @kindex T M-# (Summary)
4787 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
4788 Remove the process mark from the current (sub-)thread
4789 (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
4792 @kindex T T (Summary)
4793 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-threads
4794 Toggle threading (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-threads}).
4797 @kindex T s (Summary)
4798 @findex gnus-summary-show-thread
4799 Expose the (sub-)thread hidden under the current article, if any
4800 (@code{gnus-summary-show-thread}).
4803 @kindex T h (Summary)
4804 @findex gnus-summary-hide-thread
4805 Hide the current (sub-)thread (@code{gnus-summary-hide-thread}).
4808 @kindex T S (Summary)
4809 @findex gnus-summary-show-all-threads
4810 Expose all hidden threads (@code{gnus-summary-show-all-threads}).
4813 @kindex T H (Summary)
4814 @findex gnus-summary-hide-all-threads
4815 Hide all threads (@code{gnus-summary-hide-all-threads}).
4818 @kindex T t (Summary)
4819 @findex gnus-summary-rethread-current
4820 Re-thread the current article's thread
4821 (@code{gnus-summary-rethread-current}). This works even when the
4822 summary buffer is otherwise unthreaded.
4825 @kindex T ^ (Summary)
4826 @findex gnus-summary-reparent-thread
4827 Make the current article the child of the marked (or previous) article
4828 (@code{gnus-summary-reparent-thread}).
4832 The following commands are thread movement commands. They all
4833 understand the numeric prefix.
4838 @kindex T n (Summary)
4839 @findex gnus-summary-next-thread
4840 Go to the next thread (@code{gnus-summary-next-thread}).
4843 @kindex T p (Summary)
4844 @findex gnus-summary-prev-thread
4845 Go to the previous thread (@code{gnus-summary-prev-thread}).
4848 @kindex T d (Summary)
4849 @findex gnus-summary-down-thread
4850 Descend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-down-thread}).
4853 @kindex T u (Summary)
4854 @findex gnus-summary-up-thread
4855 Ascend the thread (@code{gnus-summary-up-thread}).
4858 @kindex T o (Summary)
4859 @findex gnus-summary-top-thread
4860 Go to the top of the thread (@code{gnus-summary-top-thread}).
4863 @vindex gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject
4864 If you ignore subject while threading, you'll naturally end up with
4865 threads that have several different subjects in them. If you then issue
4866 a command like `T k' (@code{gnus-summary-kill-thread}) you might not
4867 wish to kill the entire thread, but just those parts of the thread that
4868 have the same subject as the current article. If you like this idea,
4869 you can fiddle with @code{gnus-thread-operation-ignore-subject}. If it
4870 is non-@code{nil} (which it is by default), subjects will be ignored
4871 when doing thread commands. If this variable is @code{nil}, articles in
4872 the same thread with different subjects will not be included in the
4873 operation in question. If this variable is @code{fuzzy}, only articles
4874 that have subjects fuzzily equal will be included (@pxref{Fuzzy
4881 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score
4882 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-date
4883 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-score
4884 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4885 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-author
4886 @findex gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4887 @vindex gnus-thread-sort-functions
4888 If you are using a threaded summary display, you can sort the threads by
4889 setting @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, which is a list of functions.
4890 By default, sorting is done on article numbers. Ready-made sorting
4891 predicate functions include @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number},
4892 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-subject},
4893 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-date}, @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-score}, and
4894 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score}.
4896 Each function takes two threads and returns non-@code{nil} if the first
4897 thread should be sorted before the other. Note that sorting really is
4898 normally done by looking only at the roots of each thread. If you use
4899 more than one function, the primary sort key should be the last function
4900 in the list. You should probably always include
4901 @code{gnus-thread-sort-by-number} in the list of sorting
4902 functions---preferably first. This will ensure that threads that are
4903 equal with respect to the other sort criteria will be displayed in
4904 ascending article order.
4906 If you would like to sort by score, then by subject, and finally by
4907 number, you could do something like:
4910 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4911 '(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
4912 gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
4913 gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score))
4916 The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
4917 summary buffer. When threads have the same score, they will be sorted
4918 alphabetically. The threads that have the same score and the same
4919 subject will be sorted by number, which is (normally) the sequence in
4920 which the articles arrived.
4922 If you want to sort by score and then reverse arrival order, you could
4926 (setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
4928 (not (gnus-thread-sort-by-number t2 t1)))
4929 gnus-thread-sort-by-score))
4932 @vindex gnus-thread-score-function
4933 The function in the @code{gnus-thread-score-function} variable (default
4934 @code{+}) is used for calculating the total score of a thread. Useful
4935 functions might be @code{max}, @code{min}, or squared means, or whatever
4938 @findex gnus-article-sort-functions
4939 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-date
4940 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-score
4941 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-subject
4942 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-author
4943 @findex gnus-article-sort-by-number
4944 If you are using an unthreaded display for some strange reason or other,
4945 you have to fiddle with the @code{gnus-article-sort-functions} variable.
4946 It is very similar to the @code{gnus-thread-sort-functions}, except that
4947 it uses slightly different functions for article comparison. Available
4948 sorting predicate functions are @code{gnus-article-sort-by-number},
4949 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-author}, @code{gnus-article-sort-by-subject},
4950 @code{gnus-article-sort-by-date}, and @code{gnus-article-sort-by-score}.
4952 If you want to sort an unthreaded summary display by subject, you could
4956 (setq gnus-article-sort-functions
4957 '(gnus-article-sort-by-number
4958 gnus-article-sort-by-subject))
4963 @node Asynchronous Fetching
4964 @section Asynchronous Article Fetching
4965 @cindex asynchronous article fetching
4966 @cindex article pre-fetch
4969 If you read your news from an @sc{nntp} server that's far away, the
4970 network latencies may make reading articles a chore. You have to wait
4971 for a while after pressing @kbd{n} to go to the next article before the
4972 article appears. Why can't Gnus just go ahead and fetch the article
4973 while you are reading the previous one? Why not, indeed.
4975 First, some caveats. There are some pitfalls to using asynchronous
4976 article fetching, especially the way Gnus does it.
4978 Let's say you are reading article 1, which is short, and article 2 is
4979 quite long, and you are not interested in reading that. Gnus does not
4980 know this, so it goes ahead and fetches article 2. You decide to read
4981 article 3, but since Gnus is in the process of fetching article 2, the
4982 connection is blocked.
4984 To avoid these situations, Gnus will open two (count 'em two)
4985 connections to the server. Some people may think this isn't a very nice
4986 thing to do, but I don't see any real alternatives. Setting up that
4987 extra connection takes some time, so Gnus startup will be slower.
4989 Gnus will fetch more articles than you will read. This will mean that
4990 the link between your machine and the @sc{nntp} server will become more
4991 loaded than if you didn't use article pre-fetch. The server itself will
4992 also become more loaded---both with the extra article requests, and the
4995 Ok, so now you know that you shouldn't really use this thing... unless
4998 @vindex gnus-asynchronous
4999 Here's how: Set @code{gnus-asynchronous} to @code{t}. The rest should
5000 happen automatically.
5002 @vindex gnus-use-article-prefetch
5003 You can control how many articles are to be pre-fetched by setting
5004 @code{gnus-use-article-prefetch}. This is 30 by default, which means
5005 that when you read an article in the group, the backend will pre-fetch
5006 the next 30 articles. If this variable is @code{t}, the backend will
5007 pre-fetch all the articles it can without bound. If it is
5008 @code{nil}, no pre-fetching will be done.
5010 @vindex gnus-async-prefetch-article-p
5011 @findex gnus-async-read-p
5012 There are probably some articles that you don't want to pre-fetch---read
5013 articles, for instance. The @code{gnus-async-prefetch-article-p} variable controls whether an article is to be pre-fetched. This function should
5014 return non-@code{nil} when the article in question is to be
5015 pre-fetched. The default is @code{gnus-async-read-p}, which returns
5016 @code{nil} on read articles. The function is called with an article
5017 data structure as the only parameter.
5019 If, for instance, you wish to pre-fetch only unread articles shorter than 100 lines, you could say something like:
5022 (defun my-async-short-unread-p (data)
5023 "Return non-nil for short, unread articles."
5024 (and (gnus-data-unread-p data)
5025 (< (mail-header-lines (gnus-data-header data))
5028 (setq gnus-async-prefetch-article-p 'my-async-short-unread-p)
5031 These functions will be called many, many times, so they should
5032 preferably be short and sweet to avoid slowing down Gnus too much.
5033 It's probably a good idea to byte-compile things like this.
5035 @vindex gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy
5036 Articles have to be removed from the asynch buffer sooner or later. The
5037 @code{gnus-prefetched-article-deletion-strategy} says when to remove
5038 articles. This is a list that may contain the following elements:
5042 Remove articles when they are read.
5045 Remove articles when exiting the group.
5048 The default value is @code{(read exit)}.
5050 @vindex gnus-use-header-prefetch
5051 If @code{gnus-use-header-prefetch} is non-@code{nil}, prefetch articles
5052 from the next group.
5055 @node Article Caching
5056 @section Article Caching
5057 @cindex article caching
5060 If you have an @emph{extremely} slow @sc{nntp} connection, you may
5061 consider turning article caching on. Each article will then be stored
5062 locally under your home directory. As you may surmise, this could
5063 potentially use @emph{huge} amounts of disk space, as well as eat up all
5064 your inodes so fast it will make your head swim. In vodka.
5066 Used carefully, though, it could be just an easier way to save articles.
5068 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5069 @vindex gnus-cache-directory
5070 @vindex gnus-use-cache
5071 To turn caching on, set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{t}. By default,
5072 all articles ticked or marked as dormant will then be copied
5073 over to your local cache (@code{gnus-cache-directory}). Whether this
5074 cache is flat or hierarchal is controlled by the
5075 @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable, as usual.
5077 When re-selecting a ticked or dormant article, it will be fetched from the
5078 cache instead of from the server. As articles in your cache will never
5079 expire, this might serve as a method of saving articles while still
5080 keeping them where they belong. Just mark all articles you want to save
5081 as dormant, and don't worry.
5083 When an article is marked as read, is it removed from the cache.
5085 @vindex gnus-cache-remove-articles
5086 @vindex gnus-cache-enter-articles
5087 The entering/removal of articles from the cache is controlled by the
5088 @code{gnus-cache-enter-articles} and @code{gnus-cache-remove-articles}
5089 variables. Both are lists of symbols. The first is @code{(ticked
5090 dormant)} by default, meaning that ticked and dormant articles will be
5091 put in the cache. The latter is @code{(read)} by default, meaning that
5092 articles marked as read are removed from the cache. Possibly
5093 symbols in these two lists are @code{ticked}, @code{dormant},
5094 @code{unread} and @code{read}.
5096 @findex gnus-jog-cache
5097 So where does the massive article-fetching and storing come into the
5098 picture? The @code{gnus-jog-cache} command will go through all
5099 subscribed newsgroups, request all unread articles, score them, and
5100 store them in the cache. You should only ever, ever ever ever, use this
5101 command if 1) your connection to the @sc{nntp} server is really, really,
5102 really slow and 2) you have a really, really, really huge disk.
5105 @vindex gnus-uncacheable-groups
5106 It is likely that you do not want caching on some groups. For instance,
5107 if your @code{nnml} mail is located under your home directory, it makes no
5108 sense to cache it somewhere else under your home directory. Unless you
5109 feel that it's neat to use twice as much space. To limit the caching,
5110 you could set the @code{gnus-uncacheable-groups} regexp to
5111 @samp{^nnml}, for instance. This variable is @code{nil} by
5114 @findex gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases
5115 @findex gnus-cache-generate-active
5116 @vindex gnus-cache-active-file
5117 The cache stores information on what articles it contains in its active
5118 file (@code{gnus-cache-active-file}). If this file (or any other parts
5119 of the cache) becomes all messed up for some reason or other, Gnus
5120 offers two functions that will try to set things right. @kbd{M-x
5121 gnus-cache-generate-nov-databases} will (re)build all the @sc{nov}
5122 files, and @kbd{gnus-cache-generate-active} will (re)generate the active
5126 @node Persistent Articles
5127 @section Persistent Articles
5128 @cindex persistent articles
5130 Closely related to article caching, we have @dfn{persistent articles}.
5131 In fact, it's just a different way of looking at caching, and much more
5132 useful in my opinion.
5134 Say you're reading a newsgroup, and you happen on to some valuable gem
5135 that you want to keep and treasure forever. You'd normally just save it
5136 (using one of the many saving commands) in some file. The problem with
5137 that is that it's just, well, yucky. Ideally you'd prefer just having
5138 the article remain in the group where you found it forever; untouched by
5139 the expiry going on at the news server.
5141 This is what a @dfn{persistent article} is---an article that just won't
5142 be deleted. It's implemented using the normal cache functions, but
5143 you use two explicit commands for managing persistent articles:
5149 @findex gnus-cache-enter-article
5150 Make the current article persistent (@code{gnus-cache-enter-article}).
5153 @kindex M-* (Summary)
5154 @findex gnus-cache-remove-article
5155 Remove the current article from the persistent articles
5156 (@code{gnus-cache-remove-article}). This will normally delete the
5160 Both these commands understand the process/prefix convention.
5162 To avoid having all ticked articles (and stuff) entered into the cache,
5163 you should set @code{gnus-use-cache} to @code{passive} if you're just
5164 interested in persistent articles:
5167 (setq gnus-use-cache 'passive)
5171 @node Article Backlog
5172 @section Article Backlog
5174 @cindex article backlog
5176 If you have a slow connection, but the idea of using caching seems
5177 unappealing to you (and it is, really), you can help the situation some
5178 by switching on the @dfn{backlog}. This is where Gnus will buffer
5179 already read articles so that it doesn't have to re-fetch articles
5180 you've already read. This only helps if you are in the habit of
5181 re-selecting articles you've recently read, of course. If you never do
5182 that, turning the backlog on will slow Gnus down a little bit, and
5183 increase memory usage some.
5185 @vindex gnus-keep-backlog
5186 If you set @code{gnus-keep-backlog} to a number @var{n}, Gnus will store
5187 at most @var{n} old articles in a buffer for later re-fetching. If this
5188 variable is non-@code{nil} and is not a number, Gnus will store
5189 @emph{all} read articles, which means that your Emacs will grow without
5190 bound before exploding and taking your machine down with you. I put
5191 that in there just to keep y'all on your toes.
5193 This variable is @code{nil} by default.
5196 @node Saving Articles
5197 @section Saving Articles
5198 @cindex saving articles
5200 Gnus can save articles in a number of ways. Below is the documentation
5201 for saving articles in a fairly straight-forward fashion (i.e., little
5202 processing of the article is done before it is saved). For a different
5203 approach (uudecoding, unsharing) you should use @code{gnus-uu}
5204 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
5206 @vindex gnus-save-all-headers
5207 If @code{gnus-save-all-headers} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will not delete
5208 unwanted headers before saving the article.
5210 @vindex gnus-saved-headers
5211 If the preceding variable is @code{nil}, all headers that match the
5212 @code{gnus-saved-headers} regexp will be kept, while the rest will be
5213 deleted before saving.
5219 @kindex O o (Summary)
5221 @findex gnus-summary-save-article
5222 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article}
5223 Save the current article using the default article saver
5224 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article}).
5227 @kindex O m (Summary)
5228 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-mail
5229 Save the current article in mail format
5230 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-mail}).
5233 @kindex O r (Summary)
5234 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-rmail
5235 Save the current article in rmail format
5236 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-rmail}).
5239 @kindex O f (Summary)
5240 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-file
5241 @c @icon{gnus-summary-save-article-file}
5242 Save the current article in plain file format
5243 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-file}).
5246 @kindex O F (Summary)
5247 @findex gnus-summary-write-article-file
5248 Write the current article in plain file format, overwriting any previous
5249 file contents (@code{gnus-summary-write-article-file}).
5252 @kindex O b (Summary)
5253 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-body-file
5254 Save the current article body in plain file format
5255 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-body-file}).
5258 @kindex O h (Summary)
5259 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-folder
5260 Save the current article in mh folder format
5261 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-folder}).
5264 @kindex O v (Summary)
5265 @findex gnus-summary-save-article-vm
5266 Save the current article in a VM folder
5267 (@code{gnus-summary-save-article-vm}).
5270 @kindex O p (Summary)
5271 @findex gnus-summary-pipe-output
5272 Save the current article in a pipe. Uhm, like, what I mean is---Pipe
5273 the current article to a process (@code{gnus-summary-pipe-output}).
5276 @vindex gnus-prompt-before-saving
5277 All these commands use the process/prefix convention
5278 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). If you save bunches of articles using these
5279 functions, you might get tired of being prompted for files to save each
5280 and every article in. The prompting action is controlled by
5281 the @code{gnus-prompt-before-saving} variable, which is @code{always} by
5282 default, giving you that excessive prompting action you know and
5283 loathe. If you set this variable to @code{t} instead, you'll be prompted
5284 just once for each series of articles you save. If you like to really
5285 have Gnus do all your thinking for you, you can even set this variable
5286 to @code{nil}, which means that you will never be prompted for files to
5287 save articles in. Gnus will simply save all the articles in the default
5291 @vindex gnus-default-article-saver
5292 You can customize the @code{gnus-default-article-saver} variable to make
5293 Gnus do what you want it to. You can use any of the four ready-made
5294 functions below, or you can create your own.
5298 @item gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5299 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-rmail
5300 @vindex gnus-rmail-save-name
5301 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5302 This is the default format, @dfn{babyl}. Uses the function in the
5303 @code{gnus-rmail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5304 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5306 @item gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5307 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-mail
5308 @vindex gnus-mail-save-name
5309 Save in a Unix mail (mbox) file. Uses the function in the
5310 @code{gnus-mail-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5311 article in. The default is @code{gnus-plain-save-name}.
5313 @item gnus-summary-save-in-file
5314 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-file
5315 @vindex gnus-file-save-name
5316 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5317 Append the article straight to an ordinary file. Uses the function in
5318 the @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5319 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5321 @item gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5322 @findex gnus-summary-save-body-in-file
5323 Append the article body to an ordinary file. Uses the function in the
5324 @code{gnus-file-save-name} variable to get a file name to save the
5325 article in. The default is @code{gnus-numeric-save-name}.
5327 @item gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5328 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-folder
5329 @findex gnus-folder-save-name
5330 @findex gnus-Folder-save-name
5331 @vindex gnus-folder-save-name
5334 Save the article to an MH folder using @code{rcvstore} from the MH
5335 library. Uses the function in the @code{gnus-folder-save-name} variable
5336 to get a file name to save the article in. The default is
5337 @code{gnus-folder-save-name}, but you can also use
5338 @code{gnus-Folder-save-name}, which creates capitalized names.
5340 @item gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5341 @findex gnus-summary-save-in-vm
5342 Save the article in a VM folder. You have to have the VM mail
5343 reader to use this setting.
5346 @vindex gnus-article-save-directory
5347 All of these functions, except for the last one, will save the article
5348 in the @code{gnus-article-save-directory}, which is initialized from the
5349 @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable. This is @file{~/News/} by
5352 As you can see above, the functions use different functions to find a
5353 suitable name of a file to save the article in. Below is a list of
5354 available functions that generate names:
5358 @item gnus-Numeric-save-name
5359 @findex gnus-Numeric-save-name
5360 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5362 @item gnus-numeric-save-name
5363 @findex gnus-numeric-save-name
5364 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin/45}.
5366 @item gnus-Plain-save-name
5367 @findex gnus-Plain-save-name
5368 File names like @file{~/News/Alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5370 @item gnus-plain-save-name
5371 @findex gnus-plain-save-name
5372 File names like @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.
5375 @vindex gnus-split-methods
5376 You can have Gnus suggest where to save articles by plonking a regexp into
5377 the @code{gnus-split-methods} alist. For instance, if you would like to
5378 save articles related to Gnus in the file @file{gnus-stuff}, and articles
5379 related to VM in @code{vm-stuff}, you could set this variable to something
5383 (("^Subject:.*gnus\\|^Newsgroups:.*gnus" "gnus-stuff")
5384 ("^Subject:.*vm\\|^Xref:.*vm" "vm-stuff")
5385 (my-choosing-function "../other-dir/my-stuff")
5386 ((equal gnus-newsgroup-name "mail.misc") "mail-stuff"))
5389 We see that this is a list where each element is a list that has two
5390 elements---the @dfn{match} and the @dfn{file}. The match can either be
5391 a string (in which case it is used as a regexp to match on the article
5392 head); it can be a symbol (which will be called as a function with the
5393 group name as a parameter); or it can be a list (which will be
5394 @code{eval}ed). If any of these actions have a non-@code{nil} result,
5395 the @dfn{file} will be used as a default prompt. In addition, the
5396 result of the operation itself will be used if the function or form
5397 called returns a string or a list of strings.
5399 You basically end up with a list of file names that might be used when
5400 saving the current article. (All ``matches'' will be used.) You will
5401 then be prompted for what you really want to use as a name, with file
5402 name completion over the results from applying this variable.
5404 This variable is @code{((gnus-article-archive-name))} by default, which
5405 means that Gnus will look at the articles it saves for an
5406 @code{Archive-name} line and use that as a suggestion for the file
5409 Here's an example function to clean up file names somewhat. If you have
5410 lots of mail groups called things like
5411 @samp{nnml:mail.whatever}, you may want to chop off the beginning of
5412 these group names before creating the file name to save to. The
5413 following will do just that:
5416 (defun my-save-name (group)
5417 (when (string-match "^nnml:mail." group)
5418 (substring group (match-end 0))))
5420 (setq gnus-split-methods
5421 '((gnus-article-archive-name)
5426 @vindex gnus-use-long-file-name
5427 Finally, you have the @code{gnus-use-long-file-name} variable. If it is
5428 @code{nil}, all the preceding functions will replace all periods
5429 (@samp{.}) in the group names with slashes (@samp{/})---which means that
5430 the functions will generate hierarchies of directories instead of having
5431 all the files in the toplevel directory
5432 (@file{~/News/alt/andrea-dworkin} instead of
5433 @file{~/News/alt.andrea-dworkin}.) This variable is @code{t} by default
5434 on most systems. However, for historical reasons, this is @code{nil} on
5435 Xenix and usg-unix-v machines by default.
5437 This function also affects kill and score file names. If this variable
5438 is a list, and the list contains the element @code{not-score}, long file
5439 names will not be used for score files, if it contains the element
5440 @code{not-save}, long file names will not be used for saving, and if it
5441 contains the element @code{not-kill}, long file names will not be used
5444 If you'd like to save articles in a hierarchy that looks something like
5448 (setq gnus-use-long-file-name '(not-save)) ; to get a hierarchy
5449 (setq gnus-default-article-saver 'gnus-summary-save-in-file) ; no encoding
5452 Then just save with @kbd{o}. You'd then read this hierarchy with
5453 ephemeral @code{nneething} groups---@kbd{G D} in the group buffer, and
5454 the toplevel directory as the argument (@file{~/News/}). Then just walk
5455 around to the groups/directories with @code{nneething}.
5458 @node Decoding Articles
5459 @section Decoding Articles
5460 @cindex decoding articles
5462 Sometime users post articles (or series of articles) that have been
5463 encoded in some way or other. Gnus can decode them for you.
5466 * Uuencoded Articles:: Uudecode articles.
5467 * Shell Archives:: Unshar articles.
5468 * PostScript Files:: Split PostScript.
5469 * Other Files:: Plain save and binhex.
5470 * Decoding Variables:: Variables for a happy decoding.
5471 * Viewing Files:: You want to look at the result of the decoding?
5475 @cindex article series
5476 All these functions use the process/prefix convention
5477 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}) for finding out what articles to work on, with
5478 the extension that a ``single article'' means ``a single series''. Gnus
5479 can find out by itself what articles belong to a series, decode all the
5480 articles and unpack/view/save the resulting file(s).
5482 Gnus guesses what articles are in the series according to the following
5483 simplish rule: The subjects must be (nearly) identical, except for the
5484 last two numbers of the line. (Spaces are largely ignored, however.)
5486 For example: If you choose a subject called @samp{cat.gif (2/3)}, Gnus
5487 will find all the articles that match the regexp @samp{^cat.gif
5488 ([0-9]+/[0-9]+).*$}.
5490 Subjects that are non-standard, like @samp{cat.gif (2/3) Part 6 of a
5491 series}, will not be properly recognized by any of the automatic viewing
5492 commands, and you have to mark the articles manually with @kbd{#}.
5495 @node Uuencoded Articles
5496 @subsection Uuencoded Articles
5498 @cindex uuencoded articles
5503 @kindex X u (Summary)
5504 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu
5505 @c @icon{gnus-uu-decode-uu}
5506 Uudecodes the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu}).
5509 @kindex X U (Summary)
5510 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save
5511 Uudecodes and saves the current series
5512 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5515 @kindex X v u (Summary)
5516 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-view
5517 Uudecodes and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-view}).
5520 @kindex X v U (Summary)
5521 @findex gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view
5522 Uudecodes, views and saves the current series
5523 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save-view}).
5527 Remember that these all react to the presence of articles marked with
5528 the process mark. If, for instance, you'd like to decode and save an
5529 entire newsgroup, you'd typically do @kbd{M P a}
5530 (@code{gnus-uu-mark-all}) and then @kbd{X U}
5531 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-uu-and-save}).
5533 All this is very much different from how @code{gnus-uu} worked with
5534 @sc{gnus 4.1}, where you had explicit keystrokes for everything under
5535 the sun. This version of @code{gnus-uu} generally assumes that you mark
5536 articles in some way (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}) and then press
5539 @vindex gnus-uu-notify-files
5540 Note: When trying to decode articles that have names matching
5541 @code{gnus-uu-notify-files}, which is hard-coded to
5542 @samp{[Cc][Ii][Nn][Dd][Yy][0-9]+.\\(gif\\|jpg\\)}, @code{gnus-uu} will
5543 automatically post an article on @samp{comp.unix.wizards} saying that
5544 you have just viewed the file in question. This feature can't be turned
5548 @node Shell Archives
5549 @subsection Shell Archives
5551 @cindex shell archives
5552 @cindex shared articles
5554 Shell archives (``shar files'') used to be a popular way to distribute
5555 sources, but it isn't used all that much today. In any case, we have
5556 some commands to deal with these:
5561 @kindex X s (Summary)
5562 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar
5563 Unshars the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar}).
5566 @kindex X S (Summary)
5567 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save
5568 Unshars and saves the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save}).
5571 @kindex X v s (Summary)
5572 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view
5573 Unshars and views the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view}).
5576 @kindex X v S (Summary)
5577 @findex gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view
5578 Unshars, views and saves the current series
5579 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view}).
5583 @node PostScript Files
5584 @subsection PostScript Files
5590 @kindex X p (Summary)
5591 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript
5592 Unpack the current PostScript series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript}).
5595 @kindex X P (Summary)
5596 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save
5597 Unpack and save the current PostScript series
5598 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save}).
5601 @kindex X v p (Summary)
5602 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view
5603 View the current PostScript series
5604 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view}).
5607 @kindex X v P (Summary)
5608 @findex gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view
5609 View and save the current PostScript series
5610 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view}).
5615 @subsection Other Files
5619 @kindex X o (Summary)
5620 @findex gnus-uu-decode-save
5621 Save the current series
5622 (@code{gnus-uu-decode-save}).
5625 @kindex X b (Summary)
5626 @findex gnus-uu-decode-binhex
5627 Unbinhex the current series (@code{gnus-uu-decode-binhex}). This
5628 doesn't really work yet.
5632 @node Decoding Variables
5633 @subsection Decoding Variables
5635 Adjective, not verb.
5638 * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
5639 * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables.
5640 * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.
5644 @node Rule Variables
5645 @subsubsection Rule Variables
5646 @cindex rule variables
5648 Gnus uses @dfn{rule variables} to decide how to view a file. All these
5649 variables are of the form
5652 (list '(regexp1 command2)
5659 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5660 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5662 This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use,
5663 for instance, @code{sox} to convert an @samp{.au} sound file, you could
5666 (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
5667 (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
5670 @item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5671 @vindex gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
5672 This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the
5673 user and default view rules.
5675 @item gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5676 @vindex gnus-uu-user-archive-rules
5677 This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack
5682 @node Other Decode Variables
5683 @subsubsection Other Decode Variables
5686 @vindex gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5688 @item gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions
5689 All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been
5690 successfully decoded---so that you can move or view files right away,
5691 and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do
5692 anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are:
5696 @item gnus-uu-grab-view
5697 @findex gnus-uu-grab-view
5700 @item gnus-uu-grab-move
5701 @findex gnus-uu-grab-move
5702 Move the file (if you're using a saving function.)
5705 @item gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5706 @vindex gnus-uu-be-dangerous
5707 Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If
5708 @code{nil}, be as conservative as possible. If @code{t}, ignore things
5709 that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each
5712 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5713 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name
5714 Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed.
5716 @item gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5717 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type
5718 Files with a @sc{mime} type matching this variable won't be viewed.
5719 Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name.
5720 @code{gnus-uu} is not a @sc{mime} package (yet), so this is slightly
5723 @item gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5724 @vindex gnus-uu-tmp-dir
5725 Where @code{gnus-uu} does its work.
5727 @item gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5728 @vindex gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives
5729 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} won't peek inside archives
5730 looking for files to display.
5732 @item gnus-uu-view-and-save
5733 @vindex gnus-uu-view-and-save
5734 Non-@code{nil} means that the user will always be asked to save a file
5737 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5738 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules
5739 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default viewing
5742 @item gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5743 @vindex gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules
5744 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the default archive
5747 @item gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5748 @vindex gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return
5749 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will strip all carriage returns
5752 @item gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5753 @vindex gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded
5754 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will mark unsuccessfully
5755 decoded articles as unread.
5757 @item gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5758 @vindex gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode
5759 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will @emph{try} to fix
5760 uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted.
5762 @item gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5763 @vindex gnus-uu-view-with-metamail
5765 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ignore the viewing
5766 commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a @sc{mime}
5767 content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to
5768 @code{metamail} for viewing.
5770 @item gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5771 @vindex gnus-uu-save-in-digest
5772 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu}, when asked to save without
5773 decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is @code{nil},
5774 @code{gnus-uu} will just save everything in a file without any
5775 embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153---no easy way
5776 to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I
5777 simply dropped them.
5782 @node Uuencoding and Posting
5783 @subsubsection Uuencoding and Posting
5787 @item gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5788 @vindex gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing
5789 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will ask for a file to encode
5790 before you compose the article. If this variable is @code{t}, you can
5791 either include an encoded file with @kbd{C-c C-i} or have one included
5792 for you when you post the article.
5794 @item gnus-uu-post-length
5795 @vindex gnus-uu-post-length
5796 Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how
5797 many articles it takes to post the entire file.
5799 @item gnus-uu-post-threaded
5800 @vindex gnus-uu-post-threaded
5801 Non-@code{nil} means that @code{gnus-uu} will post the encoded file in a
5802 thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able
5803 to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have
5804 seen one package that does that---@code{gnus-uu}, but somehow, I don't
5805 think that counts...) Default is @code{nil}.
5807 @item gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5808 @vindex gnus-uu-post-separate-description
5809 Non-@code{nil} means that the description will be posted in a separate
5810 article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this
5811 variable is @code{nil}, the description the user enters will be included
5812 at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x).
5813 Default is @code{t}.
5819 @subsection Viewing Files
5820 @cindex viewing files
5821 @cindex pseudo-articles
5823 After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt
5824 to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be
5825 viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file @file{pics.tar.gz}
5826 containing the files @file{pic1.jpg} and @file{pic2.gif}, Gnus will
5827 uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures.
5828 This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives
5829 of archives, it'll all be unpacked.
5831 Finally, Gnus will normally insert a @dfn{pseudo-article} for each
5832 extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these
5833 ``articles'', you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus
5834 will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run.
5836 @vindex gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously
5837 If @code{gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously} is @code{nil}, Emacs will wait
5838 until the viewing is done before proceeding.
5840 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos
5841 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos} is @code{automatic}, Gnus will not insert
5842 the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them
5843 immediately. If this variable is @code{not-confirm}, the user won't even
5844 be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done.
5846 @vindex gnus-view-pseudos-separately
5847 If @code{gnus-view-pseudos-separately} is non-@code{nil}, one
5848 pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If
5849 @code{nil}, all files that use the same viewing command will be given as
5850 a list of parameters to that command.
5852 @vindex gnus-insert-pseudo-articles
5853 If @code{gnus-insert-pseudo-articles} is non-@code{nil}, insert
5854 pseudo-articles when decoding. It is @code{t} by default.
5856 So; there you are, reading your @emph{pseudo-articles} in your
5857 @emph{virtual newsgroup} from the @emph{virtual server}; and you think:
5858 Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?
5861 @node Article Treatment
5862 @section Article Treatment
5864 Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the
5865 object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have
5866 written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at
5867 writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading
5868 these articles easier.
5871 * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
5872 * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look niced.
5873 * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away.
5874 * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
5875 * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
5876 * Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
5877 * Article Signature:: What is a signature?
5881 @node Article Highlighting
5882 @subsection Article Highlighting
5885 Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but
5886 you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad.
5891 @kindex W H a (Summary)
5892 @findex gnus-article-highlight
5893 Highlight the current article (@code{gnus-article-highlight}).
5896 @kindex W H h (Summary)
5897 @findex gnus-article-highlight-headers
5898 @vindex gnus-header-face-alist
5899 Highlight the headers (@code{gnus-article-highlight-headers}). The
5900 highlighting will be done according to the @code{gnus-header-face-alist}
5901 variable, which is a list where each element has the form @var{(regexp
5902 name content)}. @var{regexp} is a regular expression for matching the
5903 header, @var{name} is the face used for highlighting the header name and
5904 @var{content} is the face for highlighting the header value. The first
5905 match made will be used. Note that @var{regexp} shouldn't have @samp{^}
5906 prepended---Gnus will add one.
5909 @kindex W H c (Summary)
5910 @findex gnus-article-highlight-citation
5911 Highlight cited text (@code{gnus-article-highlight-citation}).
5913 Some variables to customize the citation highlights:
5916 @vindex gnus-cite-parse-max-size
5918 @item gnus-cite-parse-max-size
5919 If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by
5920 default), no citation highlighting will be performed.
5922 @item gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
5923 @vindex gnus-cite-prefix-regexp
5924 Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line.
5926 @item gnus-cite-max-prefix
5927 @vindex gnus-cite-max-prefix
5928 Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20).
5930 @item gnus-cite-face-list
5931 @vindex gnus-cite-face-list
5932 List of faces used for highlighting citations. When there are citations
5933 from multiple articles in the same message, Gnus will try to give each
5934 citation from each article its own face. This should make it easier to
5937 @item gnus-supercite-regexp
5938 @vindex gnus-supercite-regexp
5939 Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines.
5941 @item gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
5942 @vindex gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp
5943 Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines.
5945 @item gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
5946 @vindex gnus-cite-minimum-match-count
5947 Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe
5948 that it's a citation.
5950 @item gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
5951 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-prefix
5952 Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line.
5954 @item gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
5955 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-suffix
5956 Regexp matching the end of an attribution line.
5958 @item gnus-cite-attribution-face
5959 @vindex gnus-cite-attribution-face
5960 Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the
5961 cited text belonging to the attribution.
5967 @kindex W H s (Summary)
5968 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
5969 @vindex gnus-signature-face
5970 @findex gnus-article-highlight-signature
5971 Highlight the signature (@code{gnus-article-highlight-signature}).
5972 Everything after @code{gnus-signature-separator} (@pxref{Article
5973 Signature}) in an article will be considered a signature and will be
5974 highlighted with @code{gnus-signature-face}, which is @code{italic} by
5980 @node Article Fontisizing
5981 @subsection Article Fontisizing
5983 @cindex article emphasis
5985 @findex gnus-article-emphasize
5986 @kindex W e (Summary)
5987 People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things
5988 like @samp{_this_} or @samp{*this*}. Gnus can make this look nicer by
5989 running the article through the @kbd{W e}
5990 (@code{gnus-article-emphasize}) command.
5992 @vindex gnus-article-emphasis
5993 How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the
5994 @code{gnus-article-emphasis} variable. This is an alist where the first
5995 element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number
5996 that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire
5997 emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping
5998 should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two
5999 groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for
6003 (setq gnus-article-emphasis
6004 '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline)
6005 ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold)))
6008 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline
6009 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold
6010 @vindex gnus-emphasis-italic
6011 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold
6012 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-italic
6013 @vindex gnus-emphasis-bold-italic
6014 @vindex gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic
6015 By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces:
6016 @code{gnus-emphasis-bold}, @code{gnus-emphasis-italic},
6017 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline}, @code{gnus-emphasis-bold-italic},
6018 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-italic},
6019 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold}, and
6020 @code{gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic}.
6022 If you want to change these faces, you can either use @kbd{M-x
6023 customize}, or you can use @code{copy-face}. For instance, if you want
6024 to make @code{gnus-emphasis-italic} use a red face instead, you could
6028 (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
6032 @node Article Hiding
6033 @subsection Article Hiding
6034 @cindex article hiding
6036 Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much
6037 too much cruft in most articles.
6042 @kindex W W a (Summary)
6043 @findex gnus-article-hide
6044 Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (@kbd{gnus-article-hide}).
6047 @kindex W W h (Summary)
6048 @findex gnus-article-hide-headers
6049 Hide headers (@code{gnus-article-hide-headers}). @xref{Hiding
6053 @kindex W W b (Summary)
6054 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
6055 Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting
6056 (@code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers}). @xref{Hiding Headers}.
6059 @kindex W W s (Summary)
6060 @findex gnus-article-hide-signature
6061 Hide signature (@code{gnus-article-hide-signature}). @xref{Article
6065 @kindex W W p (Summary)
6066 @findex gnus-article-hide-pgp
6067 @vindex gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook
6068 Hide @sc{pgp} signatures (@code{gnus-article-hide-pgp}). The
6069 @code{gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook} hook will be run after a @sc{pgp}
6070 signature has been hidden.
6073 @kindex W W P (Summary)
6074 @findex gnus-article-hide-pem
6075 Hide @sc{pem} (privacy enhanced messages) cruft
6076 (@code{gnus-article-hide-pem}).
6079 @kindex W W c (Summary)
6080 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation
6081 Hide citation (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation}). Some variables for
6082 customizing the hiding:
6086 @item gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6087 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-percentage
6088 If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default
6089 50), hide the cited text.
6091 @item gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6092 @vindex gnus-cite-hide-absolute
6093 The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it
6096 @item gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6097 @vindex gnus-cited-text-button-line-format
6098 Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to
6099 allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified
6100 by this format-like variable (@pxref{Formatting Variables}). These
6105 Start point of the hidden text.
6107 End point of the hidden text.
6109 Length of the hidden text.
6112 @item gnus-cited-lines-visible
6113 @vindex gnus-cited-lines-visible
6114 The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown.
6119 @kindex W W C (Summary)
6120 @findex gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups
6121 Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots
6122 (@code{gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups}). This isn't very
6123 useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick
6124 in @code{gnus-article-display-hook} (@pxref{Customizing Articles}).
6128 All these ``hiding'' commands are toggles, but if you give a negative
6129 prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously
6130 hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide.
6132 Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
6133 citation customization.
6136 @node Article Washing
6137 @subsection Article Washing
6139 @cindex article washing
6141 We call this ``article washing'' for a really good reason. Namely, the
6142 @kbd{A} key was taken, so we had to use the @kbd{W} key instead.
6144 @dfn{Washing} is defined by us as ``changing something from something to
6145 something else'', but normally results in something looking better.
6151 @kindex W l (Summary)
6152 @findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
6153 Remove page breaks from the current article
6154 (@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}).
6157 @kindex W r (Summary)
6158 @findex gnus-summary-caesar-message
6159 @c @icon{gnus-summary-caesar-message}
6160 Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer
6161 (@code{gnus-summary-caesar-message}).
6164 @kindex W t (Summary)
6165 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-header
6166 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer
6167 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-header}).
6170 @kindex W v (Summary)
6171 @findex gnus-summary-verbose-header
6172 Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently
6173 (@code{gnus-summary-verbose-header}).
6176 @kindex W m (Summary)
6177 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-mime
6178 Toggle whether to run the article through @sc{mime} before displaying
6179 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-mime}).
6182 @kindex W o (Summary)
6183 @findex gnus-article-treat-overstrike
6184 Treat overstrike (@code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}).
6187 @kindex W w (Summary)
6188 @findex gnus-article-fill-cited-article
6189 Do word wrap (@code{gnus-article-fill-cited-article}). If you use this
6190 function in @code{gnus-article-display-hook}, it should be run fairly
6191 late and certainly after any highlighting.
6193 You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use
6197 @kindex W c (Summary)
6198 @findex gnus-article-remove-cr
6199 Remove CR (i. e., @samp{^M}s on the end of the lines)
6200 (@code{gnus-article-remove-cr}).
6203 @kindex W q (Summary)
6204 @findex gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable
6205 Treat quoted-printable (@code{gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable}).
6206 Quoted-Printable is one common @sc{mime} encoding employed when sending
6207 non-ASCII (i. e., 8-bit) articles. It typically makes strings like
6208 @samp{déjà vu} look like @samp{d=E9j=E0 vu}, which doesn't look very
6212 @kindex W f (Summary)
6214 @findex gnus-article-display-x-face
6215 @findex gnus-article-x-face-command
6216 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-command
6217 @vindex gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly
6220 \gnusxface{tmp/xface-karlheg.ps}
6221 \gnusxface{tmp/xface-kyle.ps}
6222 \gnusxface{tmp/xface-smb.ps}
6225 Look for and display any X-Face headers
6226 (@code{gnus-article-display-x-face}). The command executed by this
6227 function is given by the @code{gnus-article-x-face-command} variable.
6228 If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a
6229 sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the
6230 face as the argument. If the @code{gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly} (which
6231 is a regexp) matches the @code{From} header, the face will not be shown.
6232 The default action under Emacs is to fork off an @code{xv} to view the
6233 face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the
6234 @code{From} header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face
6235 support---that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native
6236 X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the @code{X-Face} header using
6237 external programs from the @code{pbmplus} package and friends.) If you
6238 want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come
6242 @kindex W b (Summary)
6243 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons
6244 Add clickable buttons to the article (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons}).
6245 @xref{Article Buttons}
6248 @kindex W B (Summary)
6249 @findex gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head
6250 Add clickable buttons to the article headers
6251 (@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
6254 @kindex W E l (Summary)
6255 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
6256 Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article
6257 (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines}).
6260 @kindex W E m (Summary)
6261 @findex gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines
6262 Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty
6263 lines with a single empty line.
6264 (@code{gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines}).
6267 @kindex W E t (Summary)
6268 @findex gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines
6269 Remove all blank lines at the end of the article
6270 (@code{gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines}).
6273 @kindex W E a (Summary)
6274 @findex gnus-article-strip-blank-lines
6275 Do all the three commands above
6276 (@code{gnus-article-strip-blank-lines}).
6279 @kindex W E s (Summary)
6280 @findex gnus-article-strip-leading-space
6281 Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article
6282 body (@code{gnus-article-strip-leading-space}).
6287 @node Article Buttons
6288 @subsection Article Buttons
6291 People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would
6292 be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about
6293 with the minimum of fuzz when you hit @kbd{RET} or use the middle mouse
6294 button on these references.
6296 Gnus adds @dfn{buttons} to certain standard references by default:
6297 Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by
6298 two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles
6303 @item gnus-button-alist
6304 @vindex gnus-button-alist
6305 This is an alist where each entry has this form:
6308 (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6314 All text that match this regular expression will be considered an
6315 external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs:
6316 @samp{<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>}.
6319 Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This
6320 is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be
6321 highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here.
6324 This form will be @code{eval}ed, and if the result is non-@code{nil},
6325 this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to
6326 avoid false matches.
6329 This function will be called when you click on this button.
6332 As with @var{button-par}, this is a sub-expression number, but this one
6333 says which part of the match is to be sent as data to @var{function}.
6337 So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then
6340 ("<URL:\\([^\n\r>]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1)
6343 @item gnus-header-button-alist
6344 @vindex gnus-header-button-alist
6345 This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the
6346 article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is
6347 used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to:
6350 (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR)
6353 @var{HEADER} is a regular expression.
6355 @item gnus-button-url-regexp
6356 @vindex gnus-button-url-regexp
6357 A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the
6358 default values of the variables above.
6360 @item gnus-article-button-face
6361 @vindex gnus-article-button-face
6362 Face used on buttons.
6364 @item gnus-article-mouse-face
6365 @vindex gnus-article-mouse-face
6366 Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.
6372 @subsection Article Date
6374 The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never
6375 heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was
6376 when the article was sent.
6381 @kindex W T u (Summary)
6382 @findex gnus-article-date-ut
6383 Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU)
6384 (@code{gnus-article-date-ut}).
6387 @kindex W T l (Summary)
6388 @findex gnus-article-date-local
6389 Display the date in the local timezone (@code{gnus-article-date-local}).
6392 @kindex W T s (Summary)
6393 @vindex gnus-article-time-format
6394 @findex gnus-article-date-user
6395 @findex format-time-string
6396 Display the date using a user-defined format
6397 (@code{gnus-article-date-user}). The format is specified by the
6398 @code{gnus-article-time-format} variable, and is a string that's passed
6399 to @code{format-time-string}. See the documentation of that variable
6400 for a list of possible format specs.
6403 @kindex W T e (Summary)
6404 @findex gnus-article-date-lapsed
6405 Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
6406 (@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}).
6409 @kindex W T o (Summary)
6410 @findex gnus-article-date-original
6411 Display the original date (@code{gnus-article-date-original}). This can
6412 be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are
6413 worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming
6414 that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is
6415 @emph{totally} impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*
6420 @node Article Signature
6421 @subsection Article Signature
6423 @cindex article signature
6425 @vindex gnus-signature-separator
6426 Each article is divided into two parts---the head and the body. The
6427 body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable
6428 that says what is to be considered a signature is
6429 @code{gnus-signature-separator}. This is normally the standard
6430 @samp{^-- $} as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use
6431 non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list
6432 of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done
6433 from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is:
6436 (setq gnus-signature-separator
6437 '("^-- $" ; The standard
6438 "^-- *$" ; A common mangling
6439 "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong
6440 ; line of dashes. Shame!
6441 "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame!
6442 "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular
6443 "^========*$")) ; Pervert!
6446 The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false
6449 @vindex gnus-signature-limit
6450 @code{gnus-signature-limit} provides a limit to what is considered a
6455 If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than
6458 If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines)
6461 If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters,
6462 and if it returns @code{nil}, there is no signature in the buffer.
6464 If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text
6465 in question is not a signature.
6468 This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types
6469 listed above. Here's an example:
6472 (setq gnus-signature-limit
6473 '(200.0 "^---*Forwarded article"))
6476 This means that if there are more than 200 lines after the signature
6477 separator, or the text after the signature separator is matched by
6478 the regular expression @samp{^---*Forwarded article}, then it isn't a
6479 signature after all.
6482 @node Article Commands
6483 @section Article Commands
6490 @kindex A P (Summary)
6491 @vindex gnus-ps-print-hook
6492 @findex gnus-summary-print-article
6493 Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer
6494 (@code{gnus-summary-print-article}). @code{gnus-ps-print-hook} will be
6495 run just before printing the buffer.
6500 @node Summary Sorting
6501 @section Summary Sorting
6502 @cindex summary sorting
6504 You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I
6505 can't really see why you'd want that.
6510 @kindex C-c C-s C-n (Summary)
6511 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-number
6512 Sort by article number (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-number}).
6515 @kindex C-c C-s C-a (Summary)
6516 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-author
6517 Sort by author (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-author}).
6520 @kindex C-c C-s C-s (Summary)
6521 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-subject
6522 Sort by subject (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-subject}).
6525 @kindex C-c C-s C-d (Summary)
6526 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-date
6527 Sort by date (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-date}).
6530 @kindex C-c C-s C-l (Summary)
6531 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
6532 Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
6535 @kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
6536 @findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
6537 Sort by score (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-score}).
6540 These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't
6541 use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted,
6542 line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a
6543 root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To
6544 toggle whether to use threading, type @kbd{T T} (@pxref{Thread
6548 @node Finding the Parent
6549 @section Finding the Parent
6550 @cindex parent articles
6551 @cindex referring articles
6553 @findex gnus-summary-refer-parent-article
6555 If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not
6556 displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is,
6557 if the current group is fetched by @sc{nntp}, the parent hasn't expired
6558 and the @code{References} in the current article are not mangled, you
6559 can just press @kbd{^} or @kbd{A r}
6560 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-parent-article}). If everything goes well,
6561 you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the
6562 summary buffer, point will just move to this article.
6564 If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into
6565 the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that
6566 ancestor. So if you say @kbd{3 ^}, Gnus will fetch the parent, the
6567 grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say
6568 @kbd{-3 ^}, Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current
6571 @findex gnus-summary-refer-references
6572 @kindex A R (Summary)
6573 You can have Gnus fetch all articles mentioned in the @code{References}
6574 header of the article by pushing @kbd{A R}
6575 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-references}).
6577 @findex gnus-summary-refer-article
6578 @kindex M-^ (Summary)
6580 @cindex fetching by Message-ID
6581 You can also ask the @sc{nntp} server for an arbitrary article, no
6582 matter what group it belongs to. @kbd{M-^}
6583 (@code{gnus-summary-refer-article}) will ask you for a
6584 @code{Message-ID}, which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies
6585 that look something like @samp{<38o6up$6f2@@hymir.ifi.uio.no>}. You
6586 have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid.
6588 The current select method will be used when fetching by
6589 @code{Message-ID} from non-news select method, but you can override this
6590 by giving this command a prefix.
6592 @vindex gnus-refer-article-method
6593 If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not
6594 support fetching by @code{Message-ID} very well (like @code{nnspool}),
6595 you can set @code{gnus-refer-article-method} to an @sc{nntp} method. It
6596 would, perhaps, be best if the @sc{nntp} server you consult is the one
6597 updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really
6600 Most of the mail backends support fetching by @code{Message-ID}, but do
6601 not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, @code{nnmbox} and
6602 @code{nnbabyl} are able to locate articles from any groups, while
6603 @code{nnml} and @code{nnfolder} are only able to locate articles that
6604 have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time
6605 consuming.) @code{nnmh} does not support this at all.
6608 @node Alternative Approaches
6609 @section Alternative Approaches
6611 Different people like to read news using different methods. This being
6612 Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers.
6615 * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them.
6616 * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.
6621 @subsection Pick and Read
6622 @cindex pick and read
6624 Some newsreaders (like @code{nn} and, uhm, @code{Netnews} on VM/CMS) use
6625 a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary
6626 buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the
6627 articles with just an article buffer displayed.
6629 @findex gnus-pick-mode
6630 @kindex M-x gnus-pick-mode
6631 Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows
6632 this---@code{gnus-pick-mode}. This basically means that a few process
6633 mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and
6634 it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer.
6636 Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode:
6641 @findex gnus-summary-mark-as-processable
6642 Pick the article on the current line
6643 (@code{gnus-summary-mark-as-processable}). If given a numerical prefix,
6644 go to that article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed
6645 at the beginning of the summary pick lines.)
6648 @kindex SPACE (Pick)
6649 @findex gnus-pick-next-page
6650 Scroll the summary buffer up one page (@code{gnus-pick-next-page}). If
6651 at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles.
6655 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable
6656 Unpick the article (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable}).
6660 @findex gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable
6661 Unpick all articles (@code{gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable}).
6665 @findex gnus-uu-mark-thread
6666 Pick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-mark-thread}).
6670 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-thread
6671 Unpick the thread (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-thread}).
6675 @findex gnus-uu-mark-region
6676 Pick the region (@code{gnus-uu-mark-region}).
6680 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-region
6681 Unpick the region (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-region}).
6685 @findex gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp
6686 Pick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp}).
6690 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp
6691 Unpick articles that match a regexp (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp}).
6695 @findex gnus-uu-mark-buffer
6696 Pick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-mark-buffer}).
6700 @findex gnus-uu-unmark-buffer
6701 Unpick the buffer (@code{gnus-uu-unmark-buffer}).
6705 @findex gnus-pick-start-reading
6706 @vindex gnus-pick-display-summary
6707 Start reading the picked articles (@code{gnus-pick-start-reading}). If
6708 given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If
6709 @code{gnus-pick-display-summary} is non-@code{nil}, the summary buffer
6710 will still be visible when you are reading.
6714 If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say:
6717 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
6720 @vindex gnus-pick-mode-hook
6721 @code{gnus-pick-mode-hook} is run in pick minor mode buffers.
6723 @vindex gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read
6724 If @code{gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read} is non-@code{nil}, mark
6725 all unpicked articles as read. The default is @code{nil}.
6727 @vindex gnus-summary-pick-line-format
6728 The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the
6729 standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is
6730 displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the
6731 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format} variable (@pxref{Formatting
6732 Variables}). It accepts the same format specs that
6733 @code{gnus-summary-line-format} does (@pxref{Summary Buffer Lines}).
6737 @subsection Binary Groups
6738 @cindex binary groups
6740 @findex gnus-binary-mode
6741 @kindex M-x gnus-binary-mode
6742 If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting
6743 @kbd{X u}, @kbd{n}, @kbd{RET} all the time. @kbd{M-x gnus-binary-mode}
6744 is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article
6745 selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result
6746 instead of just displaying the articles the normal way.
6749 @findex gnus-binary-show-article
6750 The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the @kbd{g}
6751 command, when you have turned on this mode
6752 (@code{gnus-binary-show-article}).
6754 @vindex gnus-binary-mode-hook
6755 @code{gnus-binary-mode-hook} is called in binary minor mode buffers.
6759 @section Tree Display
6762 @vindex gnus-use-trees
6763 If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
6764 @code{gnus-use-trees} to @code{t}. This will create (by default) an
6765 additional @dfn{tree buffer}. You can execute all summary mode commands
6768 There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
6771 @item gnus-tree-mode-hook
6772 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-hook
6773 A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
6775 @item gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6776 @vindex gnus-tree-mode-line-format
6777 A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default
6778 is @samp{Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z}. For a list of valid specs, @pxref{Summary
6781 @item gnus-selected-tree-face
6782 @vindex gnus-selected-tree-face
6783 Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The
6784 default is @code{modeline}.
6786 @item gnus-tree-line-format
6787 @vindex gnus-tree-line-format
6788 A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
6789 though---it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value
6790 is @samp{%(%[%3,3n%]%)}, which displays the first three characters of
6791 the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same
6792 length, so you @emph{must} use @samp{%4,4n}-like specifiers.
6798 The name of the poster.
6800 The @code{From} header.
6802 The number of the article.
6804 The opening bracket.
6806 The closing bracket.
6811 @xref{Formatting Variables}.
6813 Variables related to the display are:
6816 @item gnus-tree-brackets
6817 @vindex gnus-tree-brackets
6818 This is used for differentiating between ``real'' articles and
6819 ``sparse'' articles. The format is @var{((real-open . real-close)
6820 (sparse-open . sparse-close) (dummy-open . dummy-close))}, and the
6821 default is @code{((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?@{ . ?@}))}.
6823 @item gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6824 @vindex gnus-tree-parent-child-edges
6825 This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent
6826 nodes to their children. The default is @code{(?- ?\\ ?|)}.
6830 @item gnus-tree-minimize-window
6831 @vindex gnus-tree-minimize-window
6832 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will try to keep the tree
6833 buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
6834 windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be
6835 higher than that number. The default is @code{t}. Note that if you
6836 have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
6837 buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all
6838 other windows displayed next to it.
6840 @item gnus-generate-tree-function
6841 @vindex gnus-generate-tree-function
6842 @findex gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
6843 @findex gnus-generate-vertical-tree
6844 The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined
6845 functions are available: @code{gnus-generate-horizontal-tree} and
6846 @code{gnus-generate-vertical-tree} (which is the default).
6850 Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
6853 @{***@}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
6863 Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
6867 |--------------------------\-----\-----\
6868 (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
6870 [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor]
6872 [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
6877 If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees
6878 side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the
6879 following to your @file{.gnus.el} file:
6882 (setq gnus-use-trees t
6883 gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
6884 gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
6885 (gnus-add-configuration
6889 (summary 0.75 point)
6894 @xref{Windows Configuration}.
6897 @node Mail Group Commands
6898 @section Mail Group Commands
6899 @cindex mail group commands
6901 Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are
6902 invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.
6904 All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
6905 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
6910 @kindex B e (Summary)
6911 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles
6912 Expire all expirable articles in the group
6913 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles}).
6916 @kindex B M-C-e (Summary)
6917 @findex gnus-summary-expire-articles-now
6918 Delete all the expirable articles in the group
6919 (@code{gnus-summary-expire-articles-now}). This means that @strong{all}
6920 articles eligible for expiry in the current group will
6921 disappear forever into that big @file{/dev/null} in the sky.
6924 @kindex B DEL (Summary)
6925 @findex gnus-summary-delete-article
6926 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-delete}
6927 Delete the mail article. This is ``delete'' as in ``delete it from your
6928 disk forever and ever, never to return again.'' Use with caution.
6929 (@code{gnus-summary-delete-article}).
6932 @kindex B m (Summary)
6934 @findex gnus-summary-move-article
6935 Move the article from one mail group to another
6936 (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
6939 @kindex B c (Summary)
6941 @findex gnus-summary-copy-article
6942 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-copy}
6943 Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
6944 (@code{gnus-summary-copy-article}).
6947 @kindex B C (Summary)
6948 @cindex crosspost mail
6949 @findex gnus-summary-crosspost-article
6950 Crosspost the current article to some other group
6951 (@code{gnus-summary-crosspost-article}). This will create a new copy of
6952 the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will
6953 be properly updated.
6956 @kindex B i (Summary)
6957 @findex gnus-summary-import-article
6958 Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
6959 (@code{gnus-summary-import-article}). You will be prompted for a file
6960 name, a @code{From} header and a @code{Subject} header.
6963 @kindex B r (Summary)
6964 @findex gnus-summary-respool-article
6965 Respool the mail article (@code{gnus-summary-move-article}).
6966 @code{gnus-summary-respool-default-method} will be used as the default
6967 select method when respooling. This variable is @code{nil} by default,
6968 which means that the current group select method will be used instead.
6972 @kindex B w (Summary)
6974 @findex gnus-summary-edit-article
6975 @kindex C-c C-c (Article)
6976 Edit the current article (@code{gnus-summary-edit-article}). To finish
6977 editing and make the changes permanent, type @kbd{C-c C-c}
6978 (@kbd{gnus-summary-edit-article-done}).
6981 @kindex B q (Summary)
6982 @findex gnus-summary-respool-query
6983 If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group
6984 the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command
6985 will tell you (@code{gnus-summary-respool-query}).
6988 @kindex B p (Summary)
6989 @findex gnus-summary-article-posted-p
6990 Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
6991 follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a
6992 @code{Newsgroups} header in them, but not always. This command
6993 (@code{gnus-summary-article-posted-p}) will try to fetch the current
6994 article from your news server (or rather, from
6995 @code{gnus-refer-article-method} or @code{gnus-select-method}) and will
6996 report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that
6997 it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway---mail
6998 propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may
6999 just not have arrived yet.
7003 @vindex gnus-move-split-methods
7004 @cindex moving articles
7005 If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
7006 suggest where to put the articles. @code{gnus-move-split-methods} is a
7007 variable that uses the same syntax as @code{gnus-split-methods}
7008 (@pxref{Saving Articles}). You may customize that variable to create
7009 suggestions you find reasonable.
7012 (setq gnus-move-split-methods
7013 '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
7014 ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
7015 (".*" "nnml:misc")))
7019 @node Various Summary Stuff
7020 @section Various Summary Stuff
7023 * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands.
7024 * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands.
7025 * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer.
7026 * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands.
7030 @vindex gnus-summary-mode-hook
7031 @item gnus-summary-mode-hook
7032 This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.
7034 @vindex gnus-summary-generate-hook
7035 @item gnus-summary-generate-hook
7036 This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
7037 generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing
7038 the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook
7039 is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables
7042 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7043 @item gnus-summary-prepare-hook
7044 It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use
7045 it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in
7046 some other ungodly manner. I don't care.
7048 @vindex gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7049 @item gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates
7050 When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same @code{Message-ID},
7051 it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the
7052 same @code{Message-ID}, but this may happen when reading mail from some
7053 sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable.
7054 If it is @code{nil} (which is the default), Gnus will rename the
7055 @code{Message-ID} (for display purposes only) and display the article as
7056 any other article. If this variable is @code{t}, it won't display the
7057 article---it'll be as if it never existed.
7062 @node Summary Group Information
7063 @subsection Summary Group Information
7068 @kindex H f (Summary)
7069 @findex gnus-summary-fetch-faq
7070 @vindex gnus-group-faq-directory
7071 Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
7072 current group (@code{gnus-summary-fetch-faq}). Gnus will try to get the
7073 FAQ from @code{gnus-group-faq-directory}, which is usually a directory
7074 on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories.
7075 In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose
7076 between the various sites. @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will probably
7077 be used for fetching the file.
7080 @kindex H d (Summary)
7081 @findex gnus-summary-describe-group
7082 Give a brief description of the current group
7083 (@code{gnus-summary-describe-group}). If given a prefix, force
7084 rereading the description from the server.
7087 @kindex H h (Summary)
7088 @findex gnus-summary-describe-briefly
7089 Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
7090 keystrokes (@code{gnus-summary-describe-briefly}).
7093 @kindex H i (Summary)
7094 @findex gnus-info-find-node
7095 Go to the Gnus info node (@code{gnus-info-find-node}).
7099 @node Searching for Articles
7100 @subsection Searching for Articles
7105 @kindex M-s (Summary)
7106 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-forward
7107 Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
7108 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-forward}).
7111 @kindex M-r (Summary)
7112 @findex gnus-summary-search-article-backward
7113 Search through all previous articles for a regexp
7114 (@code{gnus-summary-search-article-backward}).
7118 @findex gnus-summary-execute-command
7119 This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to
7120 match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made
7121 (@code{gnus-summary-execute-command}). If given a prefix, search
7125 @kindex M-& (Summary)
7126 @findex gnus-summary-universal-argument
7127 Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
7128 the process mark (@code{gnus-summary-universal-argument}).
7131 @node Summary Generation Commands
7132 @subsection Summary Generation Commands
7137 @kindex Y g (Summary)
7138 @findex gnus-summary-prepare
7139 Regenerate the current summary buffer (@code{gnus-summary-prepare}).
7142 @kindex Y c (Summary)
7143 @findex gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles
7144 Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer
7145 (@code{gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles}).
7150 @node Really Various Summary Commands
7151 @subsection Really Various Summary Commands
7156 @kindex C-d (Summary)
7157 @findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
7158 If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
7159 a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
7160 article (@code{gnus-summary-enter-digest-group}). Gnus will try to
7161 guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix
7162 to this command, which forces a ``digest'' interpretation. Basically,
7163 whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of
7164 some format, you @kbd{C-d} and read these messages in a more convenient
7168 @kindex M-C-d (Summary)
7169 @findex gnus-summary-read-document
7170 This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
7171 several documents into one biiig group
7172 (@code{gnus-summary-read-document}). It does this by opening several
7173 @code{nndoc} groups for each document, and then opening an
7174 @code{nnvirtual} group on top of these @code{nndoc} groups. This
7175 command understands the process/prefix convention
7176 (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
7179 @kindex C-t (Summary)
7180 @findex gnus-summary-toggle-truncation
7181 Toggle truncation of summary lines
7182 (@code{gnus-summary-toggle-truncation}). This will probably confuse the
7183 line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea
7184 to have truncation switched off while reading articles.
7188 @findex gnus-summary-expand-window
7189 Expand the summary buffer window (@code{gnus-summary-expand-window}).
7190 If given a prefix, force an @code{article} window configuration.
7195 @node Exiting the Summary Buffer
7196 @section Exiting the Summary Buffer
7197 @cindex summary exit
7198 @cindex exiting groups
7200 Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
7201 group and return you to the group buffer.
7207 @kindex Z Z (Summary)
7209 @findex gnus-summary-exit
7210 @vindex gnus-summary-exit-hook
7211 @vindex gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook
7212 @c @icon{gnus-summary-exit}
7213 Exit the current group and update all information on the group
7214 (@code{gnus-summary-exit}). @code{gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook} is
7215 called before doing much of the exiting, which calls
7216 @code{gnus-summary-expire-articles} by default.
7217 @code{gnus-summary-exit-hook} is called after finishing the exit
7218 process. @code{gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook} is run when returning to
7219 group mode having no more (unread) groups.
7223 @kindex Z E (Summary)
7225 @findex gnus-summary-exit-no-update
7226 Exit the current group without updating any information on the group
7227 (@code{gnus-summary-exit-no-update}).
7231 @kindex Z c (Summary)
7233 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit
7234 @c @icon{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}
7235 Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
7236 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit}).
7239 @kindex Z C (Summary)
7240 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit
7241 Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
7242 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit}).
7245 @kindex Z n (Summary)
7246 @findex gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group
7247 Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
7248 (@code{gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group}).
7251 @kindex Z R (Summary)
7252 @findex gnus-summary-reselect-current-group
7253 Exit this group, and then enter it again
7254 (@code{gnus-summary-reselect-current-group}). If given a prefix, select
7255 all articles, both read and unread.
7259 @kindex Z G (Summary)
7260 @kindex M-g (Summary)
7261 @findex gnus-summary-rescan-group
7262 @c @icon{gnus-summary-mail-get}
7263 Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
7264 group (@code{gnus-summary-rescan-group}). If given a prefix, select all
7265 articles, both read and unread.
7268 @kindex Z N (Summary)
7269 @findex gnus-summary-next-group
7270 Exit the group and go to the next group
7271 (@code{gnus-summary-next-group}).
7274 @kindex Z P (Summary)
7275 @findex gnus-summary-prev-group
7276 Exit the group and go to the previous group
7277 (@code{gnus-summary-prev-group}).
7280 @kindex Z s (Summary)
7281 @findex gnus-summary-save-newsrc
7282 Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer
7283 and then save the dribble buffer (@code{gnus-summary-save-newsrc}). If
7284 given a prefix, also save the @file{.newsrc} file(s). Using this
7285 command will make exit without updating (the @kbd{Q} command) worthless.
7288 @vindex gnus-exit-group-hook
7289 @code{gnus-exit-group-hook} is called when you exit the current
7292 @findex gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead
7293 @findex gnus-dead-summary-mode
7294 @vindex gnus-kill-summary-on-exit
7295 If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
7296 about it, you might set @code{gnus-kill-summary-on-exit} to @code{nil}.
7297 If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.
7298 (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to
7299 something like @samp{*Dead Summary ... *} and install a minor mode
7300 called @code{gnus-dead-summary-mode}. Now, if you switch back to this
7301 buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
7302 @code{gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead}. So tapping any keys in a dead
7303 summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.
7305 There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time.
7307 @vindex gnus-use-cross-reference
7308 The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have
7309 read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
7310 summary buffer. If the @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} variable is
7311 @code{t} (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to
7312 this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the
7313 other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is
7314 neither @code{nil} nor @code{t}, the article will be marked as read in
7315 both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}).
7318 @node Crosspost Handling
7319 @section Crosspost Handling
7323 Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have to
7324 read the same article more than once. Unless, of course, somebody has
7325 posted it to several groups separately. Posting the same article to
7326 several groups (not cross-posting) is called @dfn{spamming}, and you are
7327 by law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
7328 heinous crime. You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
7331 Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
7332 separately to several groups is not. Massive cross-posting (aka.
7333 @dfn{velveeta}) is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
7334 @code{gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint} command to complain about
7335 excessive crossposting (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
7337 @cindex cross-posting
7340 One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
7341 correctly is if you use an @sc{nntp} server that supports @sc{xover}
7342 (which is very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which
7343 does not include the @code{Xref} header in its @sc{nov} lines. This is
7344 Evil, but all too common, alas, alack. Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing
7345 even with @sc{xover} by registering the @code{Xref} lines of all
7346 articles you actually read, but if you kill the articles, or just mark
7347 them as read without reading them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop
7348 the @code{Xref} lines out of these articles, and will be unable to use
7349 the cross reference mechanism.
7351 @cindex LIST overview.fmt
7352 @cindex overview.fmt
7353 To check whether your @sc{nntp} server includes the @code{Xref} header
7354 in its overview files, try @samp{telnet your.nntp.server nntp},
7355 @samp{MODE READER} on @code{inn} servers, and then say @samp{LIST
7356 overview.fmt}. This may not work, but if it does, and the last line you
7357 get does not read @samp{Xref:full}, then you should shout and whine at
7358 your news admin until she includes the @code{Xref} header in the
7361 @vindex gnus-nov-is-evil
7362 If you want Gnus to get the @code{Xref}s right all the time, you have to
7363 set @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{t}, which slows things down
7368 For an alternative approach, @pxref{Duplicate Suppression}.
7371 @node Duplicate Suppression
7372 @section Duplicate Suppression
7374 By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the same
7375 article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
7376 (@pxref{Crosspost Handling}). However, that simple and efficient
7377 approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various
7382 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to generate the @code{Xref} header. This
7383 is evil and not very common.
7386 The @sc{nntp} server may fail to include the @code{Xref} header in the
7387 @file{.overview} data bases. This is evil and all too common, alas.
7390 You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
7391 different @sc{nntp} servers.
7394 You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.
7397 I'm sure there are other situations where @code{Xref} handling fails as
7398 well, but these four are the most common situations.
7400 If, and only if, @code{Xref} handling fails for you, then you may
7401 consider switching on @dfn{duplicate suppression}. If you do so, Gnus
7402 will remember the @code{Message-ID}s of all articles you have read or
7403 otherwise marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read
7404 all subsequent times you see them---in @emph{all} groups. Using this
7405 mechanism is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly
7406 so. It's certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than
7409 Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument. It's more like a
7410 sledge hammer than anything else. It works in a very simple
7411 fashion---if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
7412 to a cache. The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
7413 article as read with the @samp{M} mark. It doesn't care what group it
7417 @item gnus-suppress-duplicates
7418 @vindex gnus-suppress-duplicates
7419 If non-@code{nil}, suppress duplicates.
7421 @item gnus-save-duplicate-list
7422 @vindex gnus-save-duplicate-list
7423 If non-@code{nil}, save the list of duplicates to a file. This will
7424 make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is @code{nil}.
7425 However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single Gnus
7426 session are suppressed.
7428 @item gnus-duplicate-list-length
7429 @vindex gnus-duplicate-list-length
7430 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the duplicate
7431 suppression list. The default is 10000.
7433 @item gnus-duplicate-file
7434 @vindex gnus-duplicate-file
7435 The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in. The
7436 default is @file{~/News/suppression}.
7439 If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
7440 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{t} is probably a good idea. If
7441 you leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it @code{nil}. On
7442 the other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower,
7443 so that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
7444 @code{gnus-save-duplicate-list} to @code{nil}. Uhm. I'll leave this up
7445 to you to figure out, I think.
7448 @node The Article Buffer
7449 @chapter The Article Buffer
7450 @cindex article buffer
7452 The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is only
7453 one. All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless you
7454 tell Gnus otherwise.
7457 * Hiding Headers:: Deciding what headers should be displayed.
7458 * Using MIME:: Pushing articles through @sc{mime} before reading them.
7459 * Customizing Articles:: Tailoring the look of the articles.
7460 * Article Keymap:: Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
7461 * Misc Article:: Other stuff.
7465 @node Hiding Headers
7466 @section Hiding Headers
7467 @cindex hiding headers
7468 @cindex deleting headers
7470 The top section of each article is the @dfn{head}. (The rest is the
7471 @dfn{body}, but you may have guessed that already.)
7473 @vindex gnus-show-all-headers
7474 There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the person
7475 who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject of the
7476 article. That's well and nice, but there's also lots of information
7477 most people do not want to see---what systems the article has passed
7478 through before reaching you, the @code{Message-ID}, the
7479 @code{References}, etc. ad nauseum---and you'll probably want to get rid
7480 of some of those lines. If you want to keep all those lines in the
7481 article buffer, you can set @code{gnus-show-all-headers} to @code{t}.
7483 Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:
7487 @item gnus-visible-headers
7488 @vindex gnus-visible-headers
7489 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, it should be a regular expression
7490 that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer. All
7491 headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.
7493 For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who wrote
7494 the article and the subject, you'd say:
7497 (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")
7500 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7503 @item gnus-ignored-headers
7504 @vindex gnus-ignored-headers
7505 This variable is the reverse of @code{gnus-visible-headers}. If this
7506 variable is set (and @code{gnus-visible-headers} is @code{nil}), it
7507 should be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
7508 hide. All lines that do not match this variable will remain visible.
7510 For instance, if you just want to get rid of the @code{References} line
7511 and the @code{Xref} line, you might say:
7514 (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")
7517 This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
7520 Note that if @code{gnus-visible-headers} is non-@code{nil}, this
7521 variable will have no effect.
7525 @vindex gnus-sorted-header-list
7526 Gnus can also sort the headers for you. (It does this by default.) You
7527 can control the sorting by setting the @code{gnus-sorted-header-list}
7528 variable. It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
7529 the headers are to be displayed.
7531 For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article first,
7532 and then the subject, you might say something like:
7535 (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))
7538 Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
7539 variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers listed in this variable.
7541 @findex gnus-article-hide-boring-headers
7542 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7543 @vindex gnus-boring-article-headers
7544 You can hide further boring headers by entering
7545 @code{gnus-article-hide-boring-headers} into
7546 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}. What this function does depends on
7547 the @code{gnus-boring-article-headers} variable. It's a list, but this
7548 list doesn't actually contain header names. Instead is lists various
7549 @dfn{boring conditions} that Gnus can check and remove from sight.
7551 These conditions are:
7554 Remove all empty headers.
7556 Remove the @code{Newsgroups} header if it only contains the current group
7559 Remove the @code{Followup-To} header if it is identical to the
7560 @code{Newsgroups} header.
7562 Remove the @code{Reply-To} header if it lists the same address as the
7565 Remove the @code{Date} header if the article is less than three days
7569 To include the four first elements, you could say something like;
7572 (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
7573 '(empty newsgroups followup-to reply-to))
7576 This is also the default value for this variable.
7580 @section Using @sc{mime}
7583 Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
7584 while people stand around yawning.
7586 @sc{mime}, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
7587 while all newsreaders die of fear.
7589 @sc{mime} may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
7590 of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
7591 other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.
7593 @vindex gnus-show-mime
7594 @vindex gnus-show-mime-method
7595 @vindex gnus-strict-mime
7596 @findex metamail-buffer
7597 Gnus handles @sc{mime} by pushing the articles through
7598 @code{gnus-show-mime-method}, which is @code{metamail-buffer} by
7599 default. Set @code{gnus-show-mime} to @code{t} if you want to use
7600 @sc{mime} all the time. However, if @code{gnus-strict-mime} is
7601 non-@code{nil}, the @sc{mime} method will only be used if there are
7602 @sc{mime} headers in the article. If you have @code{gnus-show-mime}
7603 set, then you'll see some unfortunate display glitches in the article
7604 buffer. These can't be avoided.
7606 It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the summary
7607 buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises. (For instance, you enter the
7608 group @samp{alt.sing-a-long} and, before you know it, @sc{mime} has
7609 decoded the sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song
7610 comes screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume
7611 button, because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you,
7612 and you try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the
7613 program to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly
7614 decides to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)
7616 Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
7619 @node Customizing Articles
7620 @section Customizing Articles
7621 @cindex article customization
7623 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7624 The @code{gnus-article-display-hook} is called after the article has
7625 been inserted into the article buffer. It is meant to handle all
7626 treatment of the article before it is displayed.
7628 @findex gnus-article-maybe-highlight
7629 By default this hook just contains @code{gnus-article-hide-headers},
7630 @code{gnus-article-treat-overstrike}, and
7631 @code{gnus-article-maybe-highlight}, but there are thousands, nay
7632 millions, of functions you can put in this hook. For an overview of
7633 functions @pxref{Article Highlighting}, @pxref{Article Hiding},
7634 @pxref{Article Washing}, @pxref{Article Buttons} and @pxref{Article
7635 Date}. Note that the order of functions in this hook might affect
7636 things, so you may have to fiddle a bit to get the desired results.
7638 You can, of course, write your own functions. The functions are called
7639 from the article buffer, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.
7640 There is no information that you have to keep in the buffer---you can
7641 change everything. However, you shouldn't delete any headers. Instead
7642 make them invisible if you want to make them go away.
7645 @node Article Keymap
7646 @section Article Keymap
7648 Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
7649 article buffer. They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
7650 buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
7651 buffer displayed while reading. You can do it all from the article
7654 A few additional keystrokes are available:
7659 @kindex SPACE (Article)
7660 @findex gnus-article-next-page
7661 Scroll forwards one page (@code{gnus-article-next-page}).
7664 @kindex DEL (Article)
7665 @findex gnus-article-prev-page
7666 Scroll backwards one page (@code{gnus-article-prev-page}).
7669 @kindex C-c ^ (Article)
7670 @findex gnus-article-refer-article
7671 If point is in the neighborhood of a @code{Message-ID} and you press
7672 @kbd{r}, Gnus will try to get that article from the server
7673 (@code{gnus-article-refer-article}).
7676 @kindex C-c C-m (Article)
7677 @findex gnus-article-mail
7678 Send a reply to the address near point (@code{gnus-article-mail}). If
7679 given a prefix, include the mail.
7683 @findex gnus-article-show-summary
7684 Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
7685 (@code{gnus-article-show-summary}).
7689 @findex gnus-article-describe-briefly
7690 Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
7691 (@code{gnus-article-describe-briefly}).
7694 @kindex TAB (Article)
7695 @findex gnus-article-next-button
7696 Go to the next button, if any (@code{gnus-article-next-button}). This
7697 only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.
7700 @kindex M-TAB (Article)
7701 @findex gnus-article-prev-button
7702 Go to the previous button, if any (@code{gnus-article-prev-button}).
7708 @section Misc Article
7712 @item gnus-single-article-buffer
7713 @vindex gnus-single-article-buffer
7714 If non-@code{nil}, use the same article buffer for all the groups.
7715 (This is the default.) If @code{nil}, each group will have its own
7718 @vindex gnus-article-prepare-hook
7719 @item gnus-article-prepare-hook
7720 This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into the
7721 article buffer. It is mainly intended for functions that do something
7722 depending on the contents; it should probably not be used for changing
7723 the contents of the article buffer.
7725 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
7726 @item gnus-article-display-hook
7727 This hook is called as the last thing when displaying an article, and is
7728 intended for modifying the contents of the buffer, doing highlights,
7729 hiding headers, and the like.
7731 @item gnus-article-mode-hook
7732 @vindex gnus-article-mode-hook
7733 Hook called in article mode buffers.
7735 @item gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7736 @vindex gnus-article-mode-syntax-table
7737 Syntax table used in article buffers. It is initialized from
7738 @code{text-mode-syntax-table}.
7740 @vindex gnus-article-mode-line-format
7741 @item gnus-article-mode-line-format
7742 This variable is a format string along the same lines as
7743 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. It accepts the same
7744 format specifications as that variable, with one extension:
7748 The @dfn{wash status} of the article. This is a short string with one
7749 character for each possible article wash operation that may have been
7753 @vindex gnus-break-pages
7755 @item gnus-break-pages
7756 Controls whether @dfn{page breaking} is to take place. If this variable
7757 is non-@code{nil}, the articles will be divided into pages whenever a
7758 page delimiter appears in the article. If this variable is @code{nil},
7759 paging will not be done.
7761 @item gnus-page-delimiter
7762 @vindex gnus-page-delimiter
7763 This is the delimiter mentioned above. By default, it is @samp{^L}
7768 @node Composing Messages
7769 @chapter Composing Messages
7774 @kindex C-c C-c (Post)
7775 All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
7776 where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the article
7777 by pressing @kbd{C-c C-c}. @xref{Top, , Top, message, The Message
7778 Manual}. If you are in a foreign news group, and you wish to post the
7779 article using the foreign server, you can give a prefix to @kbd{C-c C-c}
7780 to make Gnus try to post using the foreign server.
7783 * Mail:: Mailing and replying.
7784 * Post:: Posting and following up.
7785 * Posting Server:: What server should you post via?
7786 * Mail and Post:: Mailing and posting at the same time.
7787 * Archived Messages:: Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
7788 * Drafts:: Postponing messages and rejected messages.
7789 * Rejected Articles:: What happens if the server doesn't like your article?
7792 Also see @pxref{Canceling and Superseding} for information on how to
7793 remove articles you shouldn't have posted.
7799 Variables for customizing outgoing mail:
7802 @item gnus-uu-digest-headers
7803 @vindex gnus-uu-digest-headers
7804 List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages. The
7805 headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.
7807 @item gnus-add-to-list
7808 @vindex gnus-add-to-list
7809 If non-@code{nil}, add a @code{to-list} group parameter to mail groups
7810 that have none when you do a @kbd{a}.
7818 Variables for composing news articles:
7821 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7822 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-file
7823 Gnus will keep a @code{Message-ID} history file of all the mails it has
7824 sent. If it discovers that it has already sent a mail, it will ask the
7825 user whether to re-send the mail. (This is primarily useful when
7826 dealing with @sc{soup} packets and the like where one is apt to send the
7827 same packet multiple times.) This variable says what the name of this
7828 history file is. It is @file{~/News/Sent-Message-IDs} by default. Set
7829 this variable to @code{nil} if you don't want Gnus to keep a history
7832 @item gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7833 @vindex gnus-sent-message-ids-length
7834 This variable says how many @code{Message-ID}s to keep in the history
7835 file. It is 1000 by default.
7840 @node Posting Server
7841 @section Posting Server
7843 When you press those magical @kbd{C-c C-c} keys to ship off your latest
7844 (extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?
7846 Thank you for asking. I hate you.
7848 @vindex gnus-post-method
7850 It can be quite complicated. Normally, Gnus will use the same native
7851 server. However. If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
7852 reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
7853 (extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles. You can
7854 then set the @code{gnus-post-method} to some other method:
7857 (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))
7860 Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article, or
7861 this server is down, what do you do then? To override this variable you
7862 can use a non-zero prefix to the @kbd{C-c C-c} command to force using
7863 the ``current'' server for posting.
7865 If you give a zero prefix (i.e., @kbd{C-u 0 C-c C-c}) to that command,
7866 Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.
7868 You can also set @code{gnus-post-method} to a list of select methods.
7869 If that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use
7874 @section Mail and Post
7876 Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and
7880 @item gnus-mailing-list-groups
7881 @findex gnus-mailing-list-groups
7882 @cindex mailing lists
7884 If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
7885 gatewayed to the @sc{nntp} server, you can read those groups without
7886 problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some difficulty.
7887 One solution is to add a @code{to-address} to the group parameters
7888 (@pxref{Group Parameters}). An easier thing to do is set the
7889 @code{gnus-mailing-list-groups} to a regexp that matches the groups that
7890 really are mailing lists. Then, at least, followups to the mailing
7891 lists will work most of the time. Posting to these groups (@kbd{a}) is
7892 still a pain, though.
7896 You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out. Or, if
7897 you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
7898 spell-checking via the @code{ispell} package:
7901 @findex ispell-message
7903 (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
7907 @node Archived Messages
7908 @section Archived Messages
7909 @cindex archived messages
7910 @cindex sent messages
7912 Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news you
7913 send. The default method is to use the @dfn{archive virtual server} to
7914 store the messages. If you want to disable this completely, the
7915 @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable should be @code{nil}, which
7918 @vindex gnus-message-archive-method
7919 @code{gnus-message-archive-method} says what virtual server Gnus is to
7920 use to store sent messages. The default is:
7924 (nnfolder-directory "~/Mail/archive/"))
7927 You can, however, use any mail select method (@code{nnml},
7928 @code{nnmbox}, etc.). @code{nnfolder} is a quite likeable select method
7929 for doing this sort of thing, though. If you don't like the default
7930 directory chosen, you could say something like:
7933 (setq gnus-message-archive-method
7934 '(nnfolder "archive"
7935 (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
7936 (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
7937 (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))
7940 @vindex gnus-message-archive-group
7942 Gnus will insert @code{Gcc} headers in all outgoing messages that point
7943 to one or more group(s) on that server. Which group to use is
7944 determined by the @code{gnus-message-archive-group} variable.
7946 This variable can be used to do the following:
7950 Messages will be saved in that group.
7951 @item a list of strings
7952 Messages will be saved in all those groups.
7953 @item an alist of regexps, functions and forms
7954 When a key ``matches'', the result is used.
7956 No message archiving will take place. This is the default.
7961 Just saving to a single group called @samp{MisK}:
7963 (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")
7966 Saving to two groups, @samp{MisK} and @samp{safe}:
7968 (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))
7971 Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
7973 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7974 '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
7975 ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
7976 (".*" "sent-to-misc")))
7981 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7982 '((if (message-news-p)
7987 How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
7988 messages in one file per month:
7991 (setq gnus-message-archive-group
7992 '((if (message-news-p)
7994 (concat "mail." (format-time-string
7995 "%Y-%m" (current-time))))))
7998 (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have @code{format-time-string}, so you'll have to
7999 use a different value for @code{gnus-message-archive-group} there.)
8001 Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the appropriate
8002 group. (If you want to disable storing for just one particular message,
8003 you can just remove the @code{Gcc} header that has been inserted.) The
8004 archive group will appear in the group buffer the next time you start
8005 Gnus, or the next time you press @kbd{F} in the group buffer. You can
8006 enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd read any other
8007 group. If the group gets really big and annoying, you can simply rename
8008 if (using @kbd{G r} in the group buffer) to something
8009 nice---@samp{misc-mail-september-1995}, or whatever. New messages will
8010 continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.
8012 That's the default method of archiving sent messages. Gnus offers a
8013 different way for the people who don't like the default method. In that
8014 case you should set @code{gnus-message-archive-group} to @code{nil};
8015 this will disable archiving.
8018 @item gnus-outgoing-message-group
8019 @vindex gnus-outgoing-message-group
8020 All outgoing messages will be put in this group. If you want to store
8021 all your outgoing mail and articles in the group @samp{nnml:archive},
8022 you set this variable to that value. This variable can also be a list of
8025 If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
8026 message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
8027 current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or list
8030 This variable can be used instead of @code{gnus-message-archive-group},
8031 but the latter is the preferred method.
8035 @c @node Posting Styles
8036 @c @section Posting Styles
8037 @c @cindex posting styles
8040 @c All them variables, they make my head swim.
8042 @c So what if you want a different @code{Organization} and signature based
8043 @c on what groups you post to? And you post both from your home machine
8044 @c and your work machine, and you want different @code{From} lines, and so
8047 @c @vindex gnus-posting-styles
8048 @c One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change the
8049 @c variables you need to have changed. That's a bit boring, so somebody
8050 @c came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these things in
8051 @c a handy alist. Here's an example of a @code{gnus-posting-styles}
8056 @c (signature . "Peace and happiness")
8057 @c (organization . "What me?"))
8059 @c (signature . "Death to everybody"))
8060 @c ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
8061 @c (organization . "Emacs is it")))
8064 @c As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of several
8065 @c @dfn{styles}. Each style will be applicable if the first element
8066 @c ``matches'', in some form or other. The entire alist will be iterated
8067 @c over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
8068 @c applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
8069 @c the same attributes in earlier matching styles. So
8070 @c @samp{comp.programming.literate} will have the @samp{Death to everybody}
8071 @c signature and the @samp{What me?} @code{Organization} header.
8073 @c The first element in each style is called the @code{match}. If it's a
8074 @c string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
8075 @c If it's a function symbol, that function will be called with no
8076 @c arguments. If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
8077 @c referenced. If it's a list, then that list will be @code{eval}ed. In
8078 @c any case, if this returns a non-@code{nil} value, then the style is said
8081 @c Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
8082 @c attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
8083 @c can be one of @code{signature}, @code{organization} or @code{from}. The
8084 @c attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
8085 @c a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
8088 @c The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function (the
8089 @c return value will be used), a variable (its value will be used) or a
8090 @c list (it will be @code{eval}ed and the return value will be used).
8092 @c So here's a new example:
8095 @c (setq gnus-posting-styles
8097 @c (signature . "~/.signature")
8098 @c (from . "user@@foo (user)")
8099 @c ("X-Home-Page" . (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
8100 @c (organization . "People's Front Against MWM"))
8102 @c (signature . my-funny-signature-randomizer))
8103 @c ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
8104 @c (signature . my-quote-randomizer))
8105 @c (posting-from-work-p
8106 @c (signature . "~/.work-signature")
8107 @c (from . "user@@bar.foo (user)")
8108 @c (organization . "Important Work, Inc"))
8110 @c (signature . "~/.mail-signature"))))
8117 If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember that
8118 you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor, you
8119 craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to save
8120 the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it some
8121 other day, and send it when you feel its finished.
8123 Well, don't worry about it. Whenever you start composing a message of
8124 some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get will
8125 automatically associate to an article in a special @dfn{draft} group.
8126 If you save the buffer the normal way (@kbd{C-x C-s}, for instance), the
8127 article will be saved there. (Auto-save files also go to the draft
8131 @vindex nndraft-directory
8132 The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
8133 @code{nndraft} group, if you absolutely have to know) called
8134 @samp{nndraft:drafts}. The variable @code{nndraft-directory} says where
8135 @code{nndraft} is to store its files. What makes this group special is
8136 that you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as
8137 read---all articles in the group are permanently unread.
8139 If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be subscribed
8140 to it. The only way to make it disappear from the Group buffer is to
8143 @c @findex gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft
8144 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Mail)
8145 @c @kindex C-c M-d (Post)
8146 @c @findex gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft
8147 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Mail)
8148 @c @kindex C-c C-d (Post)
8149 @c If you're writing some super-secret message that you later want to
8150 @c encode with PGP before sending, you may wish to turn the auto-saving
8151 @c (and association with the draft group) off. You never know who might be
8152 @c interested in reading all your extremely valuable and terribly horrible
8153 @c and interesting secrets. The @kbd{C-c M-d}
8154 @c (@code{gnus-dissociate-buffer-from-draft}) command does that for you.
8155 @c If you change your mind and want to turn the auto-saving back on again,
8156 @c @kbd{C-c C-d} (@code{gnus-associate-buffer-with-draft} does that.
8158 @c @vindex gnus-use-draft
8159 @c To leave association with the draft group off by default, set
8160 @c @code{gnus-use-draft} to @code{nil}. It is @code{t} by default.
8162 @findex gnus-draft-edit-message
8164 When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
8165 draft group and push @kbd{D e} (@code{gnus-draft-edit-message}) to do
8166 that. You will be placed in a buffer where you left off.
8168 Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (@pxref{Rejected
8171 @findex gnus-draft-send-all-messages
8172 @findex gnus-draft-send-message
8173 If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail) without
8174 doing further editing, you can use the @kbd{D s} command
8175 (@code{gnus-draft-send-message}). This command understands the
8176 process/prefix convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}). The @kbd{D S}
8177 command (@code{gnus-draft-send-all-messages}) will ship off all messages
8180 If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
8181 @kbd{D t} (@code{gnus-draft-toggle-sending}) command to mark the message
8182 as unsendable. This is a toggling command.
8185 @node Rejected Articles
8186 @section Rejected Articles
8187 @cindex rejected articles
8189 Sometimes a news server will reject an article. Perhaps the server
8190 doesn't like your face. Perhaps it just feels miserable. Perhaps
8191 @emph{there be demons}. Perhaps you have included too much cited text.
8192 Perhaps the disk is full. Perhaps the server is down.
8194 These situations are, of course, totally beyond the control of Gnus.
8195 (Gnus, of course, loves the way you look, always feels great, has angels
8196 fluttering around inside of it, doesn't care about how much cited text
8197 you include, never runs full and never goes down.) So Gnus saves these
8198 articles until some later time when the server feels better.
8200 The rejected articles will automatically be put in a special draft group
8201 (@pxref{Drafts}). When the server comes back up again, you'd then
8202 typically enter that group and send all the articles off.
8205 @node Select Methods
8206 @chapter Select Methods
8207 @cindex foreign groups
8208 @cindex select methods
8210 A @dfn{foreign group} is a group not read by the usual (or
8211 default) means. It could be, for instance, a group from a different
8212 @sc{nntp} server, it could be a virtual group, or it could be your own
8213 personal mail group.
8215 A foreign group (or any group, really) is specified by a @dfn{name} and
8216 a @dfn{select method}. To take the latter first, a select method is a
8217 list where the first element says what backend to use (e.g. @code{nntp},
8218 @code{nnspool}, @code{nnml}) and the second element is the @dfn{server
8219 name}. There may be additional elements in the select method, where the
8220 value may have special meaning for the backend in question.
8222 One could say that a select method defines a @dfn{virtual server}---so
8223 we do just that (@pxref{The Server Buffer}).
8225 The @dfn{name} of the group is the name the backend will recognize the
8228 For instance, the group @samp{soc.motss} on the @sc{nntp} server
8229 @samp{some.where.edu} will have the name @samp{soc.motss} and select
8230 method @code{(nntp "some.where.edu")}. Gnus will call this group
8231 @samp{nntp+some.where.edu:soc.motss}, even though the @code{nntp}
8232 backend just knows this group as @samp{soc.motss}.
8234 The different methods all have their peculiarities, of course.
8237 * The Server Buffer:: Making and editing virtual servers.
8238 * Getting News:: Reading USENET news with Gnus.
8239 * Getting Mail:: Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
8240 * Other Sources:: Reading directories, files, SOUP packets.
8241 * Combined Groups:: Combining groups into one group.
8242 * Gnus Unplugged:: Reading news and mail offline.
8246 @node The Server Buffer
8247 @section The Server Buffer
8249 Traditionally, a @dfn{server} is a machine or a piece of software that
8250 one connects to, and then requests information from. Gnus does not
8251 connect directly to any real servers, but does all transactions through
8252 one backend or other. But that's just putting one layer more between
8253 the actual media and Gnus, so we might just as well say that each
8254 backend represents a virtual server.
8256 For instance, the @code{nntp} backend may be used to connect to several
8257 different actual @sc{nntp} servers, or, perhaps, to many different ports
8258 on the same actual @sc{nntp} server. You tell Gnus which backend to
8259 use, and what parameters to set by specifying a @dfn{select method}.
8261 These select method specifications can sometimes become quite
8262 complicated---say, for instance, that you want to read from the
8263 @sc{nntp} server @samp{news.funet.fi} on port number 13, which
8264 hangs if queried for @sc{nov} headers and has a buggy select. Ahem.
8265 Anyways, if you had to specify that for each group that used this
8266 server, that would be too much work, so Gnus offers a way of naming
8267 select methods, which is what you do in the server buffer.
8269 To enter the server buffer, use the @kbd{^}
8270 (@code{gnus-group-enter-server-mode}) command in the group buffer.
8273 * Server Buffer Format:: You can customize the look of this buffer.
8274 * Server Commands:: Commands to manipulate servers.
8275 * Example Methods:: Examples server specifications.
8276 * Creating a Virtual Server:: An example session.
8277 * Server Variables:: Which variables to set.
8278 * Servers and Methods:: You can use server names as select methods.
8279 * Unavailable Servers:: Some servers you try to contact may be down.
8282 @vindex gnus-server-mode-hook
8283 @code{gnus-server-mode-hook} is run when creating the server buffer.
8286 @node Server Buffer Format
8287 @subsection Server Buffer Format
8288 @cindex server buffer format
8290 @vindex gnus-server-line-format
8291 You can change the look of the server buffer lines by changing the
8292 @code{gnus-server-line-format} variable. This is a @code{format}-like
8293 variable, with some simple extensions:
8298 How the news is fetched---the backend name.
8301 The name of this server.
8304 Where the news is to be fetched from---the address.
8307 The opened/closed/denied status of the server.
8310 @vindex gnus-server-mode-line-format
8311 The mode line can also be customized by using the
8312 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format} variable. The following specs are
8323 Also @pxref{Formatting Variables}.
8326 @node Server Commands
8327 @subsection Server Commands
8328 @cindex server commands
8334 @findex gnus-server-add-server
8335 Add a new server (@code{gnus-server-add-server}).
8339 @findex gnus-server-edit-server
8340 Edit a server (@code{gnus-server-edit-server}).
8343 @kindex SPACE (Server)
8344 @findex gnus-server-read-server
8345 Browse the current server (@code{gnus-server-read-server}).
8349 @findex gnus-server-exit
8350 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-server-exit}).
8354 @findex gnus-server-kill-server
8355 Kill the current server (@code{gnus-server-kill-server}).
8359 @findex gnus-server-yank-server
8360 Yank the previously killed server (@code{gnus-server-yank-server}).
8364 @findex gnus-server-copy-server
8365 Copy the current server (@code{gnus-server-copy-server}).
8369 @findex gnus-server-list-servers
8370 List all servers (@code{gnus-server-list-servers}).
8374 @findex gnus-server-scan-server
8375 Request that the server scan its sources for new articles
8376 (@code{gnus-server-scan-server}). This is mainly sensible with mail
8381 @findex gnus-server-regenerate-server
8382 Request that the server regenerate all its data structures
8383 (@code{gnus-server-regenerate-server}). This can be useful if you have
8384 a mail backend that has gotten out of synch.
8389 @node Example Methods
8390 @subsection Example Methods
8392 Most select methods are pretty simple and self-explanatory:
8395 (nntp "news.funet.fi")
8398 Reading directly from the spool is even simpler:
8404 As you can see, the first element in a select method is the name of the
8405 backend, and the second is the @dfn{address}, or @dfn{name}, if you
8408 After these two elements, there may be an arbitrary number of
8409 @var{(variable form)} pairs.
8411 To go back to the first example---imagine that you want to read from
8412 port 15 on that machine. This is what the select method should
8416 (nntp "news.funet.fi" (nntp-port-number 15))
8419 You should read the documentation to each backend to find out what
8420 variables are relevant, but here's an @code{nnmh} example:
8422 @code{nnmh} is a mail backend that reads a spool-like structure. Say
8423 you have two structures that you wish to access: One is your private
8424 mail spool, and the other is a public one. Here's the possible spec for
8428 (nnmh "private" (nnmh-directory "~/private/mail/"))
8431 (This server is then called @samp{private}, but you may have guessed
8434 Here's the method for a public spool:
8438 (nnmh-directory "/usr/information/spool/")
8439 (nnmh-get-new-mail nil))
8442 If you are behind a firewall and only have access to the @sc{nntp}
8443 server from the firewall machine, you can instruct Gnus to @code{rlogin}
8444 on the firewall machine and telnet from there to the @sc{nntp} server.
8445 Doing this can be rather fiddly, but your virtual server definition
8446 should probably look something like this:
8450 (nntp-address "the.firewall.machine")
8451 (nntp-open-connection-function nntp-open-rlogin)
8452 (nntp-end-of-line "\n")
8453 (nntp-rlogin-parameters
8454 ("telnet" "the.real.nntp.host" "nntp")))
8459 @node Creating a Virtual Server
8460 @subsection Creating a Virtual Server
8462 If you're saving lots of articles in the cache by using persistent
8463 articles, you may want to create a virtual server to read the cache.
8465 First you need to add a new server. The @kbd{a} command does that. It
8466 would probably be best to use @code{nnspool} to read the cache. You
8467 could also use @code{nnml} or @code{nnmh}, though.
8469 Type @kbd{a nnspool RET cache RET}.
8471 You should now have a brand new @code{nnspool} virtual server called
8472 @samp{cache}. You now need to edit it to have the right definitions.
8473 Type @kbd{e} to edit the server. You'll be entered into a buffer that
8474 will contain the following:
8484 (nnspool-spool-directory "~/News/cache/")
8485 (nnspool-nov-directory "~/News/cache/")
8486 (nnspool-active-file "~/News/cache/active"))
8489 Type @kbd{C-c C-c} to return to the server buffer. If you now press
8490 @kbd{RET} over this virtual server, you should be entered into a browse
8491 buffer, and you should be able to enter any of the groups displayed.
8494 @node Server Variables
8495 @subsection Server Variables
8497 One sticky point when defining variables (both on backends and in Emacs
8498 in general) is that some variables are typically initialized from other
8499 variables when the definition of the variables is being loaded. If you
8500 change the "base" variable after the variables have been loaded, you
8501 won't change the "derived" variables.
8503 This typically affects directory and file variables. For instance,
8504 @code{nnml-directory} is @file{~/Mail/} by default, and all @code{nnml}
8505 directory variables are initialized from that variable, so
8506 @code{nnml-active-file} will be @file{~/Mail/active}. If you define a
8507 new virtual @code{nnml} server, it will @emph{not} suffice to set just
8508 @code{nnml-directory}---you have to explicitly set all the file
8509 variables to be what you want them to be. For a complete list of
8510 variables for each backend, see each backend's section later in this
8511 manual, but here's an example @code{nnml} definition:
8515 (nnml-directory "~/my-mail/")
8516 (nnml-active-file "~/my-mail/active")
8517 (nnml-newsgroups-file "~/my-mail/newsgroups"))
8521 @node Servers and Methods
8522 @subsection Servers and Methods
8524 Wherever you would normally use a select method
8525 (e.g. @code{gnus-secondary-select-method}, in the group select method,
8526 when browsing a foreign server) you can use a virtual server name
8527 instead. This could potentially save lots of typing. And it's nice all
8531 @node Unavailable Servers
8532 @subsection Unavailable Servers
8534 If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
8535 @code{denied}. That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact
8536 with that server will just be ignored. ``It can't be opened,'' Gnus
8537 will tell you, without making the least effort to see whether that is
8538 actually the case or not.
8540 That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the time.
8541 Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to on server
8542 @samp{nephelococcygia.com}. This server is located somewhere quite far
8543 away from you and the machine is quite slow, so it takes 1 minute just
8544 to find out that it refuses connection to you today. If Gnus were to
8545 attempt to do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't
8546 attempt to do that. Once it has gotten a single ``connection refused'',
8547 it will regard that server as ``down''.
8549 So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
8550 How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?
8552 You jump to the server buffer (@pxref{The Server Buffer}) and poke it
8553 with the following commands:
8559 @findex gnus-server-open-server
8560 Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
8561 (@code{gnus-server-open-server}).
8565 @findex gnus-server-close-server
8566 Close the connection (if any) to the server
8567 (@code{gnus-server-close-server}).
8571 @findex gnus-server-deny-server
8572 Mark the current server as unreachable
8573 (@code{gnus-server-deny-server}).
8576 @kindex M-o (Server)
8577 @findex gnus-server-open-all-servers
8578 Open the connections to all servers in the buffer
8579 (@code{gnus-server-open-all-servers}).
8582 @kindex M-c (Server)
8583 @findex gnus-server-close-all-servers
8584 Close the connections to all servers in the buffer
8585 (@code{gnus-server-close-all-servers}).
8589 @findex gnus-server-remove-denials
8590 Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from any servers
8591 (@code{gnus-server-remove-denials}).
8597 @section Getting News
8598 @cindex reading news
8599 @cindex news backends
8601 A newsreader is normally used for reading news. Gnus currently provides
8602 only two methods of getting news---it can read from an @sc{nntp} server,
8603 or it can read from a local spool.
8606 * NNTP:: Reading news from an @sc{nntp} server.
8607 * News Spool:: Reading news from the local spool.
8612 @subsection @sc{nntp}
8615 Subscribing to a foreign group from an @sc{nntp} server is rather easy.
8616 You just specify @code{nntp} as method and the address of the @sc{nntp}
8617 server as the, uhm, address.
8619 If the @sc{nntp} server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
8620 third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
8621 to connect to the right port. You'll have to edit the group info for
8622 that (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
8624 The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group. In
8625 fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
8626 you feel like. There will be no name collisions.
8628 The following variables can be used to create a virtual @code{nntp}
8633 @item nntp-server-opened-hook
8634 @vindex nntp-server-opened-hook
8635 @cindex @sc{mode reader}
8637 @cindex authentification
8638 @cindex nntp authentification
8639 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8640 @findex nntp-send-mode-reader
8641 is run after a connection has been made. It can be used to send
8642 commands to the @sc{nntp} server after it has been contacted. By
8643 default it sends the command @code{MODE READER} to the server with the
8644 @code{nntp-send-mode-reader} function. This function should always be
8645 present in this hook.
8647 @item nntp-authinfo-function
8648 @vindex nntp-authinfo-function
8649 This function will be used to send @samp{AUTHINFO} to the @sc{nntp}
8650 server. Available functions include:
8653 @item nntp-send-authinfo
8654 @findex nntp-send-authinfo
8655 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8656 prompt you for the password. This is the default.
8658 @item nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8659 @findex nntp-send-nosy-authinfo
8660 This function will prompt you for both user name and password.
8662 @item nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8663 @findex nntp-send-authinfo-from-file
8664 This function will use your current login name as the user name and will
8665 read the @sc{nntp} password from @file{~/.nntp-authinfo}.
8668 @item nntp-server-action-alist
8669 @vindex nntp-server-action-alist
8670 This is a list of regexps to match on server types and actions to be
8671 taken when matches are made. For instance, if you want Gnus to beep
8672 every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:
8675 (setq nntp-server-action-alist
8679 You probably don't want to do that, though.
8681 The default value is
8684 '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
8685 (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-mode-reader)))
8688 This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the @code{MODE READER} command to
8689 nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been told.
8691 @item nntp-maximum-request
8692 @vindex nntp-maximum-request
8693 If the @sc{nntp} server doesn't support @sc{nov} headers, this backend
8694 will collect headers by sending a series of @code{head} commands. To
8695 speed things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
8696 waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies. This is controlled
8697 by the @code{nntp-maximum-request} variable, and is 400 by default. If
8698 your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.
8700 @item nntp-connection-timeout
8701 @vindex nntp-connection-timeout
8702 If you have lots of foreign @code{nntp} groups that you connect to
8703 regularly, you're sure to have problems with @sc{nntp} servers not
8704 responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
8705 time. This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
8706 somewhat by setting @code{nntp-connection-timeout}. This is an integer
8707 that says how many seconds the @code{nntp} backend should wait for a
8708 connection before giving up. If it is @code{nil}, which is the default,
8709 no timeouts are done.
8711 @item nntp-command-timeout
8712 @vindex nntp-command-timeout
8713 @cindex PPP connections
8714 @cindex dynamic IP addresses
8715 If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
8716 address, Gnus may become confused. If the address of your machine
8717 changes after connecting to the @sc{nntp} server, Gnus will simply sit
8718 waiting forever for replies from the server. To help with this
8719 unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number. Gnus will
8720 then, if it sits waiting for a reply from the server longer than that
8721 number of seconds, shut down the connection, start a new one, and resend
8722 the command. This should hopefully be transparent to the user. A
8723 likely number is 30 seconds.
8725 @item nntp-retry-on-break
8726 @vindex nntp-retry-on-break
8727 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you can also @kbd{C-g} if Gnus
8728 hangs. This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
8731 @item nntp-server-hook
8732 @vindex nntp-server-hook
8733 This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an @sc{nntp}
8736 @findex nntp-open-rlogin
8737 @findex nntp-open-telnet
8738 @findex nntp-open-network-stream
8739 @item nntp-open-connection-function
8740 @vindex nntp-open-connection-function
8741 This function is used to connect to the remote system. Three pre-made
8742 functions are @code{nntp-open-network-stream}, which is the default, and
8743 simply connects to some port or other on the remote system. The other
8744 two are @code{nntp-open-rlogin}, which does an @samp{rlogin} on the
8745 remote system, and then does a @samp{telnet} to the @sc{nntp} server
8746 available there, and @code{nntp-open-telnet}, which does a @samp{telnet}
8747 to the remote system and then another @samp{telnet} to get to the
8750 @code{nntp-open-rlogin}-related variables:
8754 @item nntp-rlogin-parameters
8755 @vindex nntp-rlogin-parameters
8756 This list will be used as the parameter list given to @code{rsh}.
8758 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8759 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8760 User name on the remote system.
8764 @code{nntp-open-telnet}-related variables:
8767 @item nntp-telnet-command
8768 @vindex nntp-telnet-command
8769 Command used to start @code{telnet}.
8771 @item nntp-telnet-switches
8772 @vindex nntp-telnet-switches
8773 List of strings to be used as the switches to the @code{telnet} command.
8775 @item nntp-telnet-user-name
8776 @vindex nntp-telnet-user-name
8777 User name for log in on the remote system.
8779 @item nntp-telnet-passwd
8780 @vindex nntp-telnet-passwd
8781 Password to use when logging in.
8783 @item nntp-telnet-parameters
8784 @vindex nntp-telnet-parameters
8785 A list of strings executed as a command after logging in
8790 @item nntp-end-of-line
8791 @vindex nntp-end-of-line
8792 String to use as end-of-line marker when talking to the @sc{nntp}
8793 server. This is @samp{\r\n} by default, but should be @samp{\n} when
8794 using @code{rlogin} to talk to the server.
8796 @item nntp-rlogin-user-name
8797 @vindex nntp-rlogin-user-name
8798 User name on the remote system when using the @code{rlogin} connect
8802 @vindex nntp-address
8803 The address of the remote system running the @sc{nntp} server.
8805 @item nntp-port-number
8806 @vindex nntp-port-number
8807 Port number to connect to when using the @code{nntp-open-network-stream}
8810 @item nntp-buggy-select
8811 @vindex nntp-buggy-select
8812 Set this to non-@code{nil} if your select routine is buggy.
8814 @item nntp-nov-is-evil
8815 @vindex nntp-nov-is-evil
8816 If the @sc{nntp} server does not support @sc{nov}, you could set this
8817 variable to @code{t}, but @code{nntp} usually checks automatically whether @sc{nov}
8820 @item nntp-xover-commands
8821 @vindex nntp-xover-commands
8824 List of strings used as commands to fetch @sc{nov} lines from a
8825 server. The default value of this variable is @code{("XOVER"
8829 @vindex nntp-nov-gap
8830 @code{nntp} normally sends just one big request for @sc{nov} lines to
8831 the server. The server responds with one huge list of lines. However,
8832 if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to read
8833 article 1 and 5001, that means that @code{nntp} will fetch 4999 @sc{nov}
8834 lines that you will not need. This variable says how
8835 big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be before the
8836 @code{XOVER} request is split into several request. Note that if your
8837 network is fast, setting this variable to a really small number means
8838 that fetching will probably be slower. If this variable is @code{nil},
8839 @code{nntp} will never split requests. The default is 5.
8841 @item nntp-prepare-server-hook
8842 @vindex nntp-prepare-server-hook
8843 A hook run before attempting to connect to an @sc{nntp} server.
8845 @item nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
8846 @vindex nntp-warn-about-losing-connection
8847 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, some noise will be made when a
8848 server closes connection.
8854 @subsection News Spool
8858 Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely easy,
8859 and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups that
8860 contain very big articles---@samp{alt.binaries.pictures.furniture}, for
8863 Anyways, you just specify @code{nnspool} as the method and @samp{} (or
8864 anything else) as the address.
8866 If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as the
8867 native select method (@pxref{Finding the News}). It is normally faster
8868 than using an @code{nntp} select method, but might not be. It depends.
8869 You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.
8873 @item nnspool-inews-program
8874 @vindex nnspool-inews-program
8875 Program used to post an article.
8877 @item nnspool-inews-switches
8878 @vindex nnspool-inews-switches
8879 Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.
8881 @item nnspool-spool-directory
8882 @vindex nnspool-spool-directory
8883 Where @code{nnspool} looks for the articles. This is normally
8884 @file{/usr/spool/news/}.
8886 @item nnspool-nov-directory
8887 @vindex nnspool-nov-directory
8888 Where @code{nnspool} will look for @sc{nov} files. This is normally
8889 @file{/usr/spool/news/over.view/}.
8891 @item nnspool-lib-dir
8892 @vindex nnspool-lib-dir
8893 Where the news lib dir is (@file{/usr/lib/news/} by default).
8895 @item nnspool-active-file
8896 @vindex nnspool-active-file
8897 The path to the active file.
8899 @item nnspool-newsgroups-file
8900 @vindex nnspool-newsgroups-file
8901 The path to the group descriptions file.
8903 @item nnspool-history-file
8904 @vindex nnspool-history-file
8905 The path to the news history file.
8907 @item nnspool-active-times-file
8908 @vindex nnspool-active-times-file
8909 The path to the active date file.
8911 @item nnspool-nov-is-evil
8912 @vindex nnspool-nov-is-evil
8913 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnspool} won't try to use any @sc{nov} files
8916 @item nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
8917 @vindex nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed
8919 If non-@code{nil}, which is the default, use @code{sed} to get the
8920 relevant portion from the overview file. If nil, @code{nnspool} will
8921 load the entire file into a buffer and process it there.
8927 @section Getting Mail
8928 @cindex reading mail
8931 Reading mail with a newsreader---isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
8935 * Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
8936 * Splitting Mail:: How to create mail groups.
8937 * Mail Backend Variables:: Variables for customizing mail handling.
8938 * Fancy Mail Splitting:: Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
8939 * Mail and Procmail:: Reading mail groups that procmail create.
8940 * Incorporating Old Mail:: What about the old mail you have?
8941 * Expiring Mail:: Getting rid of unwanted mail.
8942 * Washing Mail:: Removing gruft from the mail you get.
8943 * Duplicates:: Dealing with duplicated mail.
8944 * Not Reading Mail:: Using mail backends for reading other files.
8945 * Choosing a Mail Backend:: Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
8949 @node Getting Started Reading Mail
8950 @subsection Getting Started Reading Mail
8952 It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail. You just plonk the
8953 mail backend of your choice into @code{gnus-secondary-select-methods},
8954 and things will happen automatically.
8956 For instance, if you want to use @code{nnml} (which is a "one file per
8957 mail" backend), you could put the following in your @file{.gnus} file:
8960 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
8961 '((nnml "private")))
8964 Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for new
8965 articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to its
8966 directory, which is @code{~/Mail/} by default. The new group that will
8967 be created (@samp{mail.misc}) will be subscribed, and you can read it
8968 like any other group.
8970 You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:
8973 (setq nnmail-split-methods
8974 '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
8975 ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
8979 This will result in three new @code{nnml} mail groups being created:
8980 @samp{nnml:junk}, @samp{nnml:crazy}, and @samp{nnml:other}. All the
8981 mail that doesn't fit into the first two groups will be placed in the
8984 This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus. You might want to
8985 give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal, though.
8986 Especially @pxref{Choosing a Mail Backend} and @pxref{Expiring Mail}.
8989 @node Splitting Mail
8990 @subsection Splitting Mail
8991 @cindex splitting mail
8992 @cindex mail splitting
8994 @vindex nnmail-split-methods
8995 The @code{nnmail-split-methods} variable says how the incoming mail is
8996 to be split into groups.
8999 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9000 '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
9001 ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
9005 This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
9006 these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
9007 something beginning with @samp{mail}, by the way), and the second
9008 element is a regular expression used on the header of each mail to
9009 determine if it belongs in this mail group.
9011 If the first element is the special symbol @code{junk}, then messages
9012 that match the regexp will disappear into the aether. Use with
9015 The second element can also be a function. In that case, it will be
9016 called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
9017 argument. It should return a non-@code{nil} value if it thinks that the
9018 mail belongs in that group.
9020 The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the regular
9021 expression should @emph{always} be @samp{} so that it matches any mails
9022 that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps. (These rules are
9023 processed from the beginning of the alist toward the end. The first
9024 rule to make a match will "win", unless you have crossposting enabled.
9025 In that case, all matching rules will "win".)
9027 If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable to a
9028 function of your choice. This function will be called without any
9029 arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
9030 message. The function should return a list of group names that it
9031 thinks should carry this mail message.
9033 Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent,
9034 incoming headers all they want to. They all add @code{Lines} headers;
9035 some add @code{X-Gnus-Group} headers; most rename the Unix mbox
9036 @code{From<SPACE>} line to something else.
9038 @vindex nnmail-crosspost
9039 The mail backends all support cross-posting. If several regexps match,
9040 the mail will be ``cross-posted'' to all those groups.
9041 @code{nnmail-crosspost} says whether to use this mechanism or not. Note
9042 that no articles are crossposted to the general (@samp{}) group.
9044 @vindex nnmail-crosspost-link-function
9047 @code{nnmh} and @code{nnml} makes crossposts by creating hard links to
9048 the crossposted articles. However, not all file systems support hard
9049 links. If that's the case for you, set
9050 @code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
9051 variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
9053 @kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
9054 @kindex nnmail-split-history
9055 If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
9056 can use the @kbd{M-x nnmail-split-history} command.
9058 Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for shooting
9059 yourself in the foot. Let's say you create a group that will contain
9060 all the mail you get from your boss. And then you accidentally
9061 unsubscribe from the group. Gnus will still put all the mail from your
9062 boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you ``Have
9063 that report ready by Monday or you're fired!'', you'll never see it and,
9064 come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
9065 you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
9069 @node Mail Backend Variables
9070 @subsection Mail Backend Variables
9072 These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
9076 @vindex nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9077 @item nnmail-read-incoming-hook
9078 The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail. You can
9079 use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want to.
9081 @vindex nnmail-spool-file
9082 @item nnmail-spool-file
9086 @vindex nnmail-pop-password
9087 @vindex nnmail-pop-password-required
9088 The backends will look for new mail in this file. If this variable is
9089 @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
9090 themselves. If you are using a POP mail server and your name is
9091 @samp{larsi}, you should set this variable to @samp{po:larsi}. If
9092 your name is not @samp{larsi}, you should probably modify that
9093 slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart & handsome
9094 devil! You can also set this variable to @code{pop}, and Gnus will try
9095 to figure out the POP mail string by itself. In any case, Gnus will
9096 call @code{movemail} which will contact the POP server named in the
9097 @code{MAILHOST} environment variable. If the POP server needs a
9098 password, you can either set @code{nnmail-pop-password-required} to
9099 @code{t} and be prompted for the password, or set
9100 @code{nnmail-pop-password} to the password itself.
9102 @code{nnmail-spool-file} can also be a list of mailboxes.
9104 Your Emacs has to have been configured with @samp{--with-pop} before
9105 compilation. This is the default, but some installations have it
9108 When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from your
9109 inbox and plonk it down in your home directory. Gnus doesn't move any
9110 mail if you're not using a mail backend---you have to do a lot of magic
9111 invocations first. At the time when you have finished drawing the
9112 pentagram, lightened the candles, and sacrificed the goat, you really
9113 shouldn't be too surprised when Gnus moves your mail.
9115 @vindex nnmail-use-procmail
9116 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9117 @item nnmail-use-procmail
9118 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will look in
9119 @code{nnmail-procmail-directory} for incoming mail. All the files in
9120 that directory that have names ending in @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix}
9121 will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
9124 @vindex nnmail-crash-box
9125 @item nnmail-crash-box
9126 When a mail backend reads a spool file, mail is first moved to this
9127 file, which is @file{~/.gnus-crash-box} by default. If this file
9128 already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before any
9131 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9132 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9133 This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and can be
9134 used for, well, anything, really.
9136 @vindex nnmail-split-hook
9137 @item nnmail-split-hook
9138 @findex article-decode-rfc1522
9139 @findex RFC1522 decoding
9140 Hook run in the buffer where the mail headers of each message is kept
9141 just before the splitting based on these headers is done. The hook is
9142 free to modify the buffer contents in any way it sees fit---the buffer
9143 is discarded after the splitting has been done, and no changes performed
9144 in the buffer will show up in any files. @code{gnus-article-decode-rfc1522}
9145 is one likely function to add to this hook.
9147 @vindex nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9148 @vindex nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9149 @item nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9150 @itemx nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook
9151 These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
9152 mail---@code{nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook} (is called just before
9153 starting to handle the new mail) and
9154 @code{nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook} (is called when the mail handling
9155 is done). Here's and example of using these two hooks to change the
9156 default file modes the new mail files get:
9159 (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
9160 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
9162 (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
9163 (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))
9166 @item nnmail-tmp-directory
9167 @vindex nnmail-tmp-directory
9168 This variable says where to move incoming mail to -- while processing
9169 it. This is usually done in the same directory that the mail backend
9170 inhabits (e.g., @file{~/Mail/}), but if this variable is non-@code{nil},
9171 it will be used instead.
9173 @item nnmail-movemail-program
9174 @vindex nnmail-movemail-program
9175 This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her home
9176 directory. The default is @samp{movemail}.
9178 This can also be a function. In that case, the function will be called
9179 with two parameters -- the name of the inbox, and the file to be moved
9182 @item nnmail-delete-incoming
9183 @vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
9184 @cindex incoming mail files
9185 @cindex deleting incoming files
9186 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
9187 file after splitting mail into the proper groups. This is @code{t} by
9190 @c This is @code{nil} by
9191 @c default for reasons of security.
9193 @c Since Red Gnus is an alpha release, it is to be expected to lose mail.
9194 (No Gnus release since (ding) Gnus 0.10 (or something like that) have
9195 lost mail, I think, but that's not the point. (Except certain versions
9196 of Red Gnus.)) By not deleting the Incoming* files, one can be sure not
9197 to lose mail -- if Gnus totally whacks out, one can always recover what
9200 You may delete the @file{Incoming*} files at will.
9202 @item nnmail-use-long-file-names
9203 @vindex nnmail-use-long-file-names
9204 If non-@code{nil}, the mail backends will use long file and directory
9205 names. Groups like @samp{mail.misc} will end up in directories
9206 (assuming use of @code{nnml} backend) or files (assuming use of
9207 @code{nnfolder} backend) like @file{mail.misc}. If it is @code{nil},
9208 the same group will end up in @file{mail/misc}.
9210 @item nnmail-delete-file-function
9211 @vindex nnmail-delete-file-function
9213 Function called to delete files. It is @code{delete-file} by default.
9215 @item nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9216 @vindex nnmail-cache-accepted-message-ids
9217 If non-@code{nil}, put the @code{Message-ID}s of articles imported into
9218 the backend (via @code{Gcc}, for instance) into the mail duplication
9219 discovery cache. The default is @code{nil}.
9224 @node Fancy Mail Splitting
9225 @subsection Fancy Mail Splitting
9226 @cindex mail splitting
9227 @cindex fancy mail splitting
9229 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy
9230 @findex nnmail-split-fancy
9231 If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split mail
9232 doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
9233 @code{nnmail-split-methods} to @code{nnmail-split-fancy}. Then you can
9234 play with the @code{nnmail-split-fancy} variable.
9236 Let's look at an example value of this variable first:
9239 ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
9240 ;; the ordinary groups. Warnings are put in a separate group
9241 ;; from real errors.
9242 (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
9244 ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
9245 ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
9246 ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
9247 (& (| (any "ding@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
9248 ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
9249 ;; Other mailing lists...
9250 (any "procmail@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
9251 (any "SmartList@@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
9253 (any "larsi@@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars_Magne_Ingebrigtsen"))
9254 ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
9258 This variable has the format of a @dfn{split}. A split is a (possibly)
9259 recursive structure where each split may contain other splits. Here are
9260 the five possible split syntaxes:
9265 @samp{group}: If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.
9268 @var{(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, the first element of
9269 which is a string, then store the message as specified by SPLIT, if
9270 header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a regexp).
9273 @var{(| SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9274 @code{|} (vertical bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them
9275 matches. A SPLIT is said to match if it will cause the mail message to
9276 be stored in one or more groups.
9279 @var{(& SPLIT...)}: If the split is a list, and the first element is
9280 @code{&}, then process all SPLITs in the list.
9283 @code{junk}: If the split is the symbol @code{junk}, then don't save
9284 this message anywhere.
9287 @var{(: function arg1 arg2 ...)}: If the split is a list, and the first
9288 element is @code{:}, then the second element will be called as a
9289 function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
9294 In these splits, @var{FIELD} must match a complete field name.
9295 @var{VALUE} must match a complete word according to the fundamental mode
9296 syntax table. You can use @code{.*} in the regexps to match partial
9297 field names or words. In other words, all @var{VALUE}'s are wrapped in
9298 @samp{\<} and @samp{\>} pairs.
9300 @vindex nnmail-split-abbrev-alist
9301 @var{FIELD} and @var{VALUE} can also be lisp symbols, in that case they
9302 are expanded as specified by the variable
9303 @code{nnmail-split-abbrev-alist}. This is an alist of cons cells, where
9304 the @code{car} of a cell contains the key, and the @code{cdr} contains the associated
9307 @vindex nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table
9308 @code{nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table} is the syntax table in effect
9309 when all this splitting is performed.
9311 If you want to have Gnus create groups dynamically based on some
9312 information in the headers (i.e., do @code{replace-match}-like
9313 substitions in the group names), you can say things like:
9316 (any "debian-\(\\w*\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
9319 @node Mail and Procmail
9320 @subsection Mail and Procmail
9325 Many people use @code{procmail} (or some other mail filter program or
9326 external delivery agent---@code{slocal}, @code{elm}, etc) to split
9327 incoming mail into groups. If you do that, you should set
9328 @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{procmail} to ensure that the mail
9329 backends never ever try to fetch mail by themselves.
9331 This also means that you probably don't want to set
9332 @code{nnmail-split-methods} either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected
9335 When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
9336 with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
9337 out that it carries by other means. None of the backends, except
9338 @code{nnmh}, actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
9339 exist. (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
9340 a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)
9342 This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) by hand what
9345 Let's take the @code{nnmh} backend as an example:
9347 The folders are located in @code{nnmh-directory}, say, @file{~/Mail/}.
9348 There are three folders, @file{foo}, @file{bar} and @file{mail.baz}.
9350 Go to the group buffer and type @kbd{G m}. When prompted, answer
9351 @samp{foo} for the name and @samp{nnmh} for the method. Repeat
9352 twice for the two other groups, @samp{bar} and @samp{mail.baz}. Be sure
9353 to include all your mail groups.
9355 That's it. You are now set to read your mail. An active file for this
9356 method will be created automatically.
9358 @vindex nnmail-procmail-suffix
9359 @vindex nnmail-procmail-directory
9360 If you use @code{nnfolder} or any other backend that store more than a
9361 single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
9362 the file that Gnus sees. Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
9363 in @code{nnmail-procmail-directory}. To arrive at the file name to put
9364 the incoming mail in, append @code{nnmail-procmail-suffix} to the group
9365 name. The mail backends will read the mail from these files.
9367 @vindex nnmail-resplit-incoming
9368 When Gnus reads a file called @file{mail.misc.spool}, this mail will be
9369 put in the @code{mail.misc}, as one would expect. However, if you want
9370 Gnus to split the mail the normal way, you could set
9371 @code{nnmail-resplit-incoming} to @code{t}.
9373 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9374 If you use @code{procmail} to split things directly into an @code{nnmh}
9375 directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
9376 @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} to non-@code{nil} to prevent Gnus from
9377 ever expiring the final article (i.e., the article with the highest
9378 article number) in a mail newsgroup. This is quite, quite important.
9380 Here's an example setup: The incoming spools are located in
9381 @file{~/incoming/} and have @samp{""} as suffixes (i.e., the incoming
9382 spool files have the same names as the equivalent groups). The
9383 @code{nnfolder} backend is to be used as the mail interface, and the
9384 @code{nnfolder} directory is @file{~/fMail/}.
9387 (setq nnfolder-directory "~/fMail/")
9388 (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
9389 (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/incoming/")
9390 (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnfolder "")))
9391 (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "")
9395 @node Incorporating Old Mail
9396 @subsection Incorporating Old Mail
9398 Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats. If
9399 you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
9400 backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
9403 Doing so can be quite easy.
9405 To take an example: You're reading mail using @code{nnml}
9406 (@pxref{Mail Spool}), and have set @code{nnmail-split-methods} to a
9407 satisfactory value (@pxref{Splitting Mail}). You have an old Unix mbox
9408 file filled with important, but old, mail. You want to move it into
9409 your @code{nnml} groups.
9415 Go to the group buffer.
9418 Type `G f' and give the path to the mbox file when prompted to create an
9419 @code{nndoc} group from the mbox file (@pxref{Foreign Groups}).
9422 Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.
9425 Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group's buffer
9426 (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
9429 Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
9430 @samp{nnml} when prompted (@pxref{Mail Group Commands}).
9433 All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out over
9434 all your @code{nnml} groups. Try entering them and check whether things
9435 have gone without a glitch. If things look ok, you may consider
9436 deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
9437 sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.
9439 Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one mail
9440 backend to another. Just respool all the mail in the old mail groups
9441 using the new mail backend.
9445 @subsection Expiring Mail
9446 @cindex article expiry
9448 Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
9449 you mark them as read, in some way. Gnus takes a fundamentally
9450 different approach to mail reading.
9452 Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received in
9453 a rather peculiar manner. It does not think that it has the power to
9454 actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages. If you enter a
9455 mail group, and mark articles as ``read'', or kill them in some other
9456 fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system. I repeat:
9457 Gnus will not delete your old, read mail. Unless you ask it to, of
9460 To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
9461 articles as @dfn{expirable}. This does not mean that the articles will
9462 disappear right away, however. In general, a mail article will be
9463 deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
9464 more than one week old. If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
9465 will remain on your system until hell freezes over. This bears
9466 repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
9467 NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.
9469 @vindex gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9470 You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand. Groups that
9471 match the regular expression @code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} will
9472 have all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically. All
9473 articles marked as expirable have an @samp{E} in the first
9474 column in the summary buffer.
9476 By default, if you have auto expiry switched on, Gnus will mark all the
9477 articles you read as expirable, no matter if they were read or unread
9478 before. To avoid having articles marked as read marked as expirable
9479 automatically, you can put something like the following in your
9482 @vindex gnus-mark-article-hook
9484 (remove-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook
9485 'gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read)
9486 (add-hook 'gnus-mark-article-hook 'gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read)
9489 Note that making a group auto-expirable doesn't mean that all read
9490 articles are expired---only the articles marked as expirable
9491 will be expired. Also note that using the @kbd{d} command won't make
9492 groups expirable---only semi-automatic marking of articles as read will
9493 mark the articles as expirable in auto-expirable groups.
9495 Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want the
9496 articles you have read to disappear after a while:
9499 (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
9500 "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")
9503 Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
9504 @code{auto-expire} in the group parameters of the group.
9506 If you use adaptive scoring (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}) and
9507 auto-expiring, you'll have problems. Auto-expiring and adaptive scoring
9508 don't really mix very well.
9510 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait
9511 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable supplies the default time an
9512 expirable article has to live. Gnus starts counting days from when the
9513 message @emph{arrived}, not from when it was sent. The default is seven
9516 Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long articles
9517 are to live, based on what group they are in. Let's say you want to
9518 have one month expiry period in the @samp{mail.private} group, a one day
9519 expiry period in the @samp{mail.junk} group, and a six day expiry period
9522 @vindex nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9524 (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
9526 (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
9528 ((string= group "mail.junk")
9530 ((string= group "important")
9536 The group names this function is fed are ``unadorned'' group
9537 names---no @samp{nnml:} prefixes and the like.
9539 The @code{nnmail-expiry-wait} variable and
9540 @code{nnmail-expiry-wait-function} function can either be a number (not
9541 necessarily an integer) or one of the symbols @code{immediate} or
9544 You can also use the @code{expiry-wait} group parameter to selectively
9545 change the expiry period (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
9547 @vindex nnmail-keep-last-article
9548 If @code{nnmail-keep-last-article} is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will never
9549 expire the final article in a mail newsgroup. This is to make life
9550 easier for procmail users.
9552 @vindex gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups
9553 By the way: That line up there, about Gnus never expiring non-expirable
9554 articles, is a lie. If you put @code{total-expire} in the group
9555 parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
9556 articles will be put through the expiry process. Use with extreme
9557 caution. Even more dangerous is the
9558 @code{gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups} variable. All groups that match
9559 this regexp will have all read articles put through the expiry process,
9560 which means that @emph{all} old mail articles in the groups in question
9561 will be deleted after a while. Use with extreme caution, and don't come
9562 crying to me when you discover that the regexp you used matched the
9563 wrong group and all your important mail has disappeared. Be a
9564 @emph{man}! Or a @emph{woman}! Whatever you feel more comfortable
9567 Most people make most of their mail groups total-expirable, though.
9571 @subsection Washing Mail
9572 @cindex mail washing
9573 @cindex list server brain damage
9574 @cindex incoming mail treatment
9576 Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really,
9577 really stupid things with mail. ``Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly
9578 prohibit us from adding the string @code{wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!} to the
9579 end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!''
9580 Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were
9581 considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are.
9583 Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds @samp{AW:
9584 } to the subjects of replies instead of @samp{Re: }. I could pretend to
9585 be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to
9588 Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while
9589 displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before
9590 storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and
9591 various functions that can be put in these hooks.
9594 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9595 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook
9596 This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for
9597 grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include:
9600 @item nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9601 @findex nnheader-ms-strip-cr
9602 Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on
9603 Emacs running on MS machines.
9607 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9608 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook
9609 This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when
9610 cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include:
9613 @item nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9614 @findex nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace
9615 Clear leading white space that ``helpful'' listservs have added to the
9616 headers to make them look nice. Aaah.
9618 @item nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9619 @findex nnmail-remove-list-identifiers
9620 Some list servers add an identifier---for example, @samp{(idm)}---to the
9621 beginning of all @code{Subject} headers. I'm sure that's nice for
9622 people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove
9623 strings that match the @code{nnmail-list-identifiers} regexp, which can
9624 also be a list of regexp.
9626 For instance, if you want to remove the @samp{(idm)} and the
9627 @samp{nagnagnag} identifiers:
9630 (setq nnmail-list-identifiers
9631 '("(idm)" "nagnagnag"))
9634 @item nnmail-remove-tabs
9635 @findex nnmail-remove-tabs
9636 Translate all @samp{TAB} characters into @samp{SPACE} characters.
9640 @item nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9641 @vindex nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook
9642 This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used
9646 @item article-de-quoted-unreadable
9647 @findex article-de-quoted-unreadable
9648 Decode Quoted Readable encoding.
9655 @subsection Duplicates
9657 @vindex nnmail-treat-duplicates
9658 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-length
9659 @vindex nnmail-message-id-cache-file
9660 @cindex duplicate mails
9661 If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes
9662 receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so
9663 @code{nnmail} checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do
9664 this, it keeps a cache of old @code{Message-ID}s---
9665 @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-file}, which is @file{~/.nnmail-cache} by
9666 default. The approximate maximum number of @code{Message-ID}s stored
9667 there is controlled by the @code{nnmail-message-id-cache-length}
9668 variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 @code{Message-ID}s will be
9669 stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set
9670 @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} to @code{warn} (which is what it is by
9671 default), and @code{nnmail} won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it
9672 will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
9673 that this is a duplicate of a different message.
9675 This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function
9676 will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with
9677 the @code{Message-ID} as a parameter. The function must return either
9678 @code{nil}, @code{warn}, or @code{delete}.
9680 You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
9683 If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
9684 @dfn{duplicates} group, you could do that using the normal mail split
9688 (setq nnmail-split-fancy
9689 '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
9690 ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
9691 ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
9692 (any mail "mail.misc")
9699 (setq nnmail-split-methods
9700 '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
9705 Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
9706 with Gnus, and that she has @code{nnmail-treat-duplicates} set to
9707 @code{delete}, you can send her as many insults as you like, just by
9708 using a @code{Message-ID} of a mail that you know that she's already
9709 received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!
9712 @node Not Reading Mail
9713 @subsection Not Reading Mail
9715 If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
9716 habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
9717 be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
9719 If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
9720 will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
9722 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9723 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9724 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9725 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9726 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9727 This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
9728 happily with @code{nnml} and just want to peek at some old @sc{rmail}
9729 file you have stashed away with @code{nnbabyl}. All backends have
9730 variables called backend-@code{get-new-mail}. If you want to disable
9731 the @code{nnbabyl} mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the
9732 group to have a setting where @code{nnbabyl-get-new-mail} to @code{nil}.
9734 All the mail backends will call @code{nn}*@code{-prepare-save-mail-hook}
9735 narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
9739 @node Choosing a Mail Backend
9740 @subsection Choosing a Mail Backend
9742 Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail
9743 file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
9744 depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
9747 * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
9748 * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
9749 * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
9750 * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
9751 * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
9756 @subsubsection Unix Mail Box
9758 @cindex unix mail box
9760 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9761 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9762 The @dfn{nnmbox} backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
9763 mail. @code{nnmbox} will add extra headers to each mail article to say
9764 which group it belongs in.
9766 Virtual server settings:
9769 @item nnmbox-mbox-file
9770 @vindex nnmbox-mbox-file
9771 The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.
9773 @item nnmbox-active-file
9774 @vindex nnmbox-active-file
9775 The name of the active file for the mail box.
9777 @item nnmbox-get-new-mail
9778 @vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
9779 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmbox} will read incoming mail and split it
9785 @subsubsection Rmail Babyl
9789 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9790 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9791 The @dfn{nnbabyl} backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. @dfn{rmail
9792 mbox}) to store mail. @code{nnbabyl} will add extra headers to each mail
9793 article to say which group it belongs in.
9795 Virtual server settings:
9798 @item nnbabyl-mbox-file
9799 @vindex nnbabyl-mbox-file
9800 The name of the rmail mbox file.
9802 @item nnbabyl-active-file
9803 @vindex nnbabyl-active-file
9804 The name of the active file for the rmail box.
9806 @item nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9807 @vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
9808 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnbabyl} will read incoming mail.
9813 @subsubsection Mail Spool
9815 @cindex mail @sc{nov} spool
9817 The @dfn{nnml} spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
9818 format. It should be used with some caution.
9820 @vindex nnml-directory
9821 If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files,
9822 one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding
9823 directories under the directory specified by the @code{nnml-directory}
9824 variable. The default value is @file{~/Mail/}.
9826 You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
9829 If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store
9830 in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its
9831 own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few
9832 weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you
9833 having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly,
9834 shouting ``Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!'', then you should
9835 know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have
9836 to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail.
9838 @code{nnml} is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
9839 splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates
9840 @sc{nov} databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest
9841 backend when it comes to reading mail.
9843 Virtual server settings:
9846 @item nnml-directory
9847 @vindex nnml-directory
9848 All @code{nnml} directories will be placed under this directory.
9850 @item nnml-active-file
9851 @vindex nnml-active-file
9852 The active file for the @code{nnml} server.
9854 @item nnml-newsgroups-file
9855 @vindex nnml-newsgroups-file
9856 The @code{nnml} group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File
9859 @item nnml-get-new-mail
9860 @vindex nnml-get-new-mail
9861 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnml} will read incoming mail.
9863 @item nnml-nov-is-evil
9864 @vindex nnml-nov-is-evil
9865 If non-@code{nil}, this backend will ignore any @sc{nov} files.
9867 @item nnml-nov-file-name
9868 @vindex nnml-nov-file-name
9869 The name of the @sc{nov} files. The default is @file{.overview}.
9871 @item nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
9872 @vindex nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook
9873 Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.
9877 @findex nnml-generate-nov-databases
9878 If your @code{nnml} groups and @sc{nov} files get totally out of whack,
9879 you can do a complete update by typing @kbd{M-x
9880 nnml-generate-nov-databases}. This command will trawl through the
9881 entire @code{nnml} hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it
9882 might take a while to complete. A better interface to this
9883 functionality can be found in the server buffer (@pxref{Server
9888 @subsubsection MH Spool
9890 @cindex mh-e mail spool
9892 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, except that is doesn't generate
9893 @sc{nov} databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes
9894 @code{nnmh} a @emph{much} slower backend than @code{nnml}, but it also
9895 makes it easier to write procmail scripts for.
9897 Virtual server settings:
9900 @item nnmh-directory
9901 @vindex nnmh-directory
9902 All @code{nnmh} directories will be located under this directory.
9904 @item nnmh-get-new-mail
9905 @vindex nnmh-get-new-mail
9906 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will read incoming mail.
9909 @vindex nnmh-be-safe
9910 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnmh} will go to ridiculous lengths to make
9911 sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
9912 are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
9913 setting this to @code{t} will mean a serious slow-down. If you never
9914 use anything but Gnus to read the @code{nnmh} articles, you do not have
9915 to set this variable to @code{t}.
9920 @subsubsection Mail Folders
9922 @cindex mbox folders
9923 @cindex mail folders
9925 @code{nnfolder} is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
9926 file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. @code{nnfolder}
9927 will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival
9930 Virtual server settings:
9933 @item nnfolder-directory
9934 @vindex nnfolder-directory
9935 All the @code{nnfolder} mail boxes will be stored under this directory.
9937 @item nnfolder-active-file
9938 @vindex nnfolder-active-file
9939 The name of the active file.
9941 @item nnfolder-newsgroups-file
9942 @vindex nnfolder-newsgroups-file
9943 The name of the group descriptions file. @xref{Newsgroups File Format}.
9945 @item nnfolder-get-new-mail
9946 @vindex nnfolder-get-new-mail
9947 If non-@code{nil}, @code{nnfolder} will read incoming mail.
9950 @findex nnfolder-generate-active-file
9951 @kindex M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file
9952 If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
9953 @code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
9954 command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
9955 @code{nnfolder-directory}.
9959 @section Other Sources
9961 Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described
9962 below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
9966 * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
9967 * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired?
9968 * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group.
9969 * SOUP:: Reading @sc{SOUP} packets ``offline''.
9970 * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string.
9971 * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
9975 @node Directory Groups
9976 @subsection Directory Groups
9978 @cindex directory groups
9980 If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in
9981 it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical
9984 This might be an opportune moment to mention @code{ange-ftp} (and its
9985 successor @code{efs}), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs
9986 packages. When I wrote @code{nndir}, I didn't think much about it---a
9987 backend to read directories. Big deal.
9989 @code{ange-ftp} changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you
9990 enter the @code{ange-ftp} file name
9991 @file{/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/} as the directory name,
9992 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs} will actually allow you to read this
9993 directory over at @samp{sina} as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy!
9995 @code{nndir} will use @sc{nov} files if they are present.
9997 @code{nndir} is a ``read-only'' backend---you can't delete or expire
9998 articles with this method. You can use @code{nnmh} or @code{nnml} for
9999 whatever you use @code{nndir} for, so you could switch to any of those
10000 methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only @code{nndir}.
10003 @node Anything Groups
10004 @subsection Anything Groups
10007 From the @code{nndir} backend (which reads a single spool-like
10008 directory), it's just a hop and a skip to @code{nneething}, which
10009 pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but
10012 When @code{nneething} is presented with a directory, it will scan this
10013 directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such
10014 a group, @code{nneething} must create ``headers'' that Gnus can use.
10015 After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're
10016 forgetting. @code{nneething} does this in a two-step process. First, it
10017 snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e.,
10018 the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head.
10019 If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source
10020 file), @code{nneething} will cobble up a header out of thin air. It
10021 will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these
10024 All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented
10025 with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a
10026 newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed
10027 in the article buffer, just as usual.
10029 If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into
10030 a new summary buffer for this @code{nneething} group. And so on. You can
10031 traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that
10032 Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.
10034 There are two overall modes to this action---ephemeral or solid. When
10035 doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., @kbd{G D} from the group buffer), Gnus
10036 will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
10037 are new, and so on. If you create a solid @code{nneething} group the
10038 normal way with @kbd{G m}, Gnus will store a mapping table between
10039 article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any
10040 other groups. When you activate a solid @code{nneething} group, you will
10041 be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc.
10046 @item nneething-map-file-directory
10047 @vindex nneething-map-file-directory
10048 All the mapping files for solid @code{nneething} groups will be stored
10049 in this directory, which defaults to @file{~/.nneething/}.
10051 @item nneething-exclude-files
10052 @vindex nneething-exclude-files
10053 All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude
10054 auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default.
10056 @item nneething-map-file
10057 @vindex nneething-map-file
10058 Name of the map files.
10062 @node Document Groups
10063 @subsection Document Groups
10065 @cindex documentation group
10068 @code{nndoc} is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
10069 as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported:
10076 The babyl (rmail) mail box.
10081 The standard Unix mbox file.
10083 @cindex MMDF mail box
10085 The MMDF mail box format.
10088 Several news articles appended into a file.
10091 @cindex rnews batch files
10092 The rnews batch transport format.
10093 @cindex forwarded messages
10096 Forwarded articles.
10100 @cindex MIME digest
10101 @cindex 1153 digest
10102 @cindex RFC 1153 digest
10103 @cindex RFC 341 digest
10104 MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
10106 @item standard-digest
10107 The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
10110 Non-standard digest format---matches most things, but does it badly.
10113 You can also use the special ``file type'' @code{guess}, which means
10114 that @code{nndoc} will try to guess what file type it is looking at.
10115 @code{digest} means that @code{nndoc} should guess what digest type the
10118 @code{nndoc} will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into
10119 it---it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
10120 group. And that's it.
10122 If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your
10123 new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, @code{nndoc} can probably help you with
10124 that. Say you have an old @file{RMAIL} file with mail that you now want
10125 to split into your new @code{nnml} groups. You look at that file using
10126 @code{nndoc} (using the @kbd{G f} command in the group buffer
10127 (@pxref{Foreign Groups})), set the process mark on all the articles in
10128 the buffer (@kbd{M P b}, for instance), and then re-spool (@kbd{B r})
10129 using @code{nnml}. If all goes well, all the mail in the @file{RMAIL}
10130 file is now also stored in lots of @code{nnml} directories, and you can
10131 delete that pesky @file{RMAIL} file. If you have the guts!
10133 Virtual server variables:
10136 @item nndoc-article-type
10137 @vindex nndoc-article-type
10138 This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
10139 @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
10140 @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-digest}, @code{standard-digest},
10141 @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or @code{guess}.
10143 @item nndoc-post-type
10144 @vindex nndoc-post-type
10145 This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or
10146 a mail group. There are two valid values: @code{mail} (the default)
10151 * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.
10155 @node Document Server Internals
10156 @subsubsection Document Server Internals
10158 Adding new document types to be recognized by @code{nndoc} isn't
10159 difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document
10160 looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type,
10161 and then hook into @code{nndoc}.
10163 First, here's an example document type definition:
10167 (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")
10168 (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n"))
10171 The definition is simply a unique @dfn{name} followed by a series of
10172 regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible
10173 variables---don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document
10174 types can be defined with very few settings:
10177 @item first-article
10178 If present, @code{nndoc} will skip past all text until it finds
10179 something that match this regexp. All text before this will be
10182 @item article-begin
10183 This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It
10184 says what the beginning of each article looks like.
10186 @item head-begin-function
10187 If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of
10190 @item nndoc-head-begin
10191 If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the
10194 @item nndoc-head-end
10195 This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to
10196 @samp{^$}---the empty line.
10198 @item body-begin-function
10199 If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body
10203 This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults
10206 @item body-end-function
10207 If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of
10211 If present, this should match the end of the body of the article.
10214 If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this
10215 regexp will be totally ignored.
10219 So, using these variables @code{nndoc} is able to dissect a document
10220 file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a
10221 few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that
10222 news-like---variables needed to transform the head or the body into
10223 something that's palatable for Gnus:
10226 @item prepare-body-function
10227 If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It
10228 will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the
10229 document has encoded some parts of its contents.
10231 @item article-transform-function
10232 If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's
10233 meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and
10234 body of the article.
10236 @item generate-head-function
10237 If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can
10238 understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is
10239 expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is
10240 called when requesting the headers of all articles.
10244 Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with---standard
10249 (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10250 (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+"))
10251 (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes)
10252 (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end)
10253 (head-end . "^ ?$")
10254 (body-begin . "^ ?\n")
10255 (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$")
10256 (subtype digest guess))
10259 We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all
10260 text after a line that starts with that @samp{^End of} is also ignored;
10261 each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating
10262 the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is
10263 run through @code{nndoc-unquote-dashes} before being delivered.
10265 To hook your own document definition into @code{nndoc}, use the
10266 @code{nndoc-add-type} function. It takes two parameters---the first is
10267 the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in
10268 the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is
10269 traversed sequentially, and @code{nndoc-TYPE-type-p} is called for a given type @code{TYPE}. So @code{nndoc-mmdf-type-p} is called to see whether a document
10270 is of @code{mmdf} type, and so on. These type predicates should return
10271 @code{nil} if the document is not of the correct type; @code{t} if it is
10272 of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the
10273 correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means
10274 low probability with @samp{0} being the lowest valid number.
10282 In the PC world people often talk about ``offline'' newsreaders. These
10283 are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
10284 With built-in modem programs. Yecchh!
10286 Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
10287 @code{uucp} and, like, @code{nntpd} and set up proper news and mail
10288 transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal
10291 However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit
10292 easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really
10293 that interested in doing things properly.
10295 A file format called @sc{soup} has been developed for transporting news
10296 and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit
10299 First some terminology:
10304 This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you
10305 get news and/or mail from.
10308 This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding
10309 on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way.
10312 Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds
10316 @item message packets
10317 These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of
10318 messages for you to read. These are called @file{SoupoutX.tgz} by
10319 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10321 @item response packets
10322 These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains
10323 replies that you've written. These are called @file{SoupinX.tgz} by
10324 default, where @var{X} is a number.
10334 You log in on the server and create a @sc{soup} packet. You can either
10335 use a dedicated @sc{soup} thingie (like the @code{awk} program), or you
10336 can use Gnus to create the packet with its @sc{soup} commands (@kbd{O
10337 s} and/or @kbd{G s b}; and then @kbd{G s p}) (@pxref{SOUP Commands}).
10340 You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine.
10343 You put the packet in your home directory.
10346 You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the @code{nnsoup} backend as
10347 the native or secondary server.
10350 You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you
10351 want (@pxref{SOUP Replies}).
10354 You do the @kbd{G s r} command to pack these replies into a @sc{soup}
10358 You transfer this packet to the server.
10361 You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the @kbd{G s s} command.
10364 You then repeat until you die.
10368 So you basically have a bipartite system---you use @code{nnsoup} for
10369 reading and Gnus for packing/sending these @sc{soup} packets.
10372 * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending @sc{soup} packets
10373 * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading @sc{soup} packets.
10374 * SOUP Replies:: How to enable @code{nnsoup} to take over mail and news.
10378 @node SOUP Commands
10379 @subsubsection SOUP Commands
10381 These are commands for creating and manipulating @sc{soup} packets.
10385 @kindex G s b (Group)
10386 @findex gnus-group-brew-soup
10387 Pack all unread articles in the current group
10388 (@code{gnus-group-brew-soup}). This command understands the
10389 process/prefix convention.
10392 @kindex G s w (Group)
10393 @findex gnus-soup-save-areas
10394 Save all @sc{soup} data files (@code{gnus-soup-save-areas}).
10397 @kindex G s s (Group)
10398 @findex gnus-soup-send-replies
10399 Send all replies from the replies packet
10400 (@code{gnus-soup-send-replies}).
10403 @kindex G s p (Group)
10404 @findex gnus-soup-pack-packet
10405 Pack all files into a @sc{soup} packet (@code{gnus-soup-pack-packet}).
10408 @kindex G s r (Group)
10409 @findex nnsoup-pack-replies
10410 Pack all replies into a replies packet (@code{nnsoup-pack-replies}).
10413 @kindex O s (Summary)
10414 @findex gnus-soup-add-article
10415 This summary-mode command adds the current article to a @sc{soup} packet
10416 (@code{gnus-soup-add-article}). It understands the process/prefix
10417 convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
10422 There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
10427 @item gnus-soup-directory
10428 @vindex gnus-soup-directory
10429 Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
10430 @sc{soup} packets. The default is @file{~/SoupBrew/}.
10432 @item gnus-soup-replies-directory
10433 @vindex gnus-soup-replies-directory
10434 This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our
10435 reply packets. @file{~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/} is the default.
10437 @item gnus-soup-prefix-file
10438 @vindex gnus-soup-prefix-file
10439 Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is
10440 @samp{gnus-prefix}.
10442 @item gnus-soup-packer
10443 @vindex gnus-soup-packer
10444 A format string command for packing a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10445 @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz}.
10447 @item gnus-soup-unpacker
10448 @vindex gnus-soup-unpacker
10449 Format string command for unpacking a @sc{soup} packet. The default is
10450 @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10452 @item gnus-soup-packet-directory
10453 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-directory
10454 Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is @file{~/}.
10456 @item gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10457 @vindex gnus-soup-packet-regexp
10458 Regular expression matching @sc{soup} reply packets in
10459 @code{gnus-soup-packet-directory}.
10465 @subsubsection @sc{soup} Groups
10468 @code{nnsoup} is the backend for reading @sc{soup} packets. It will
10469 read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where
10470 you can read them at leisure.
10472 These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior:
10476 @item nnsoup-tmp-directory
10477 @vindex nnsoup-tmp-directory
10478 When @code{nnsoup} unpacks a @sc{soup} packet, it does it in this
10479 directory. (@file{/tmp/} by default.)
10481 @item nnsoup-directory
10482 @vindex nnsoup-directory
10483 @code{nnsoup} then moves each message and index file to this directory.
10484 The default is @file{~/SOUP/}.
10486 @item nnsoup-replies-directory
10487 @vindex nnsoup-replies-directory
10488 All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a
10489 reply packet. The default is @file{~/SOUP/replies/"}.
10491 @item nnsoup-replies-format-type
10492 @vindex nnsoup-replies-format-type
10493 The @sc{soup} format of the replies packets. The default is @samp{?n}
10494 (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably
10495 shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late!
10497 @item nnsoup-replies-index-type
10498 @vindex nnsoup-replies-index-type
10499 The index type of the replies packet. The default is @samp{?n}, which
10500 means ``none''. Don't fiddle with this one either!
10502 @item nnsoup-active-file
10503 @vindex nnsoup-active-file
10504 Where @code{nnsoup} stores lots of information. This is not an ``active
10505 file'' in the @code{nntp} sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose
10506 this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is
10507 @file{~/SOUP/active}.
10509 @item nnsoup-packer
10510 @vindex nnsoup-packer
10511 Format string command for packing a reply @sc{soup} packet. The default
10512 is @samp{tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz}.
10514 @item nnsoup-unpacker
10515 @vindex nnsoup-unpacker
10516 Format string command for unpacking incoming @sc{soup} packets. The
10517 default is @samp{gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -}.
10519 @item nnsoup-packet-directory
10520 @vindex nnsoup-packet-directory
10521 Where @code{nnsoup} will look for incoming packets. The default is
10524 @item nnsoup-packet-regexp
10525 @vindex nnsoup-packet-regexp
10526 Regular expression matching incoming @sc{soup} packets. The default is
10533 @subsubsection SOUP Replies
10535 Just using @code{nnsoup} won't mean that your postings and mailings end
10536 up in @sc{soup} reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit
10537 more for that to happen.
10539 @findex nnsoup-set-variables
10540 The @code{nnsoup-set-variables} command will set the appropriate
10541 variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the
10544 In specific, this is what it does:
10547 (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post)
10548 (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail)
10551 And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the @sc{soup}
10552 system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be
10553 @sc{soup}ed you use the second.
10557 @subsection Web Searches
10561 @cindex InReference
10562 @cindex Usenet searches
10563 @cindex searching the Usenet
10565 It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a
10566 string, but it, like, totally @emph{sucks}, like, totally, to use one of
10567 those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at
10568 the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do @emph{rad}, rilly,
10569 searches without having to use a browser.
10571 The @code{nnweb} backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search
10572 engine. You create an @code{nnweb} group, enter a search pattern, and
10573 then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal
10574 group. The @kbd{G w} command in the group buffer (@pxref{Foreign
10575 Groups}) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion.
10577 @code{nnweb} groups don't really lend themselves to being solid
10578 groups---they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact,
10579 each time you enter an @code{nnweb} group (not even changing the search
10580 pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different
10581 manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (@pxref{Duplicate
10582 Suppression}) will help, since @code{nnweb} doesn't even know the
10583 @code{Message-ID} of the articles before reading them using some search
10584 engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track
10585 of which articles you've read is by scoring on the @code{Date}
10586 header---mark all articles posted before the last date you read the
10589 If the search engine changes its output substantially, @code{nnweb}
10590 won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web
10591 providers if they were to do this---their @emph{raison d'être} is to
10592 make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the
10593 community. Since @code{nnweb} washes the ads off all the articles, one
10594 might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see.
10596 You must have the @code{url} and @code{w3} package installed to be able
10597 to use @code{nnweb}.
10599 Virtual server variables:
10604 What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types
10605 are @code{dejanews}, @code{altavista} and @code{reference}.
10608 @vindex nnweb-search
10609 The search string to feed to the search engine.
10611 @item nnweb-max-hits
10612 @vindex nnweb-max-hits
10613 Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is
10616 @item nnweb-type-definition
10617 @vindex nnweb-type-definition
10618 Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what @code{nnweb} should do
10619 with the various search engine types. The following elements must be
10624 Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus
10628 Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist.
10631 Function to send the search string to the search engine.
10634 The address the aforementioned function should send the search string
10638 Format string URL to fetch an article by @code{Message-ID}.
10645 @node Mail-To-News Gateways
10646 @subsection Mail-To-News Gateways
10647 @cindex mail-to-news gateways
10650 If your local @code{nntp} server doesn't allow posting, for some reason
10651 or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways.
10652 The @code{nngateway} backend provides the interface.
10654 Note that you can't read anything from this backend---it can only be
10660 @item nngateway-address
10661 @vindex nngateway-address
10662 This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway.
10664 @item nngateway-header-transformation
10665 @vindex nngateway-header-transformation
10666 News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other
10667 for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what
10668 transformation should be called, and defaults to
10669 @code{nngateway-simple-header-transformation}. The function is called
10670 narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter---the
10673 This default function just inserts a new @code{To} header based on the
10674 @code{Newsgroups} header and the gateway address.
10675 For instance, an article with this @code{Newsgroups} header:
10678 Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs
10681 will get this @code{From} header inserted:
10684 To: alt-religion-emacs@@GATEWAY
10689 So, to use this, simply say something like:
10692 (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))
10696 @node Combined Groups
10697 @section Combined Groups
10699 Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger
10703 * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups.
10704 * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.
10708 @node Virtual Groups
10709 @subsection Virtual Groups
10711 @cindex virtual groups
10713 An @dfn{nnvirtual group} is really nothing more than a collection of
10716 For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can
10717 put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one
10718 big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing!
10720 You specify @code{nnvirtual} as the method. The address should be a
10721 regexp to match component groups.
10723 All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the
10724 component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the
10725 article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came.
10726 (And vice versa---marks from the component groups will also be shown in
10727 the virtual group.)
10729 Here's an example @code{nnvirtual} method that collects all Andrea Dworkin
10730 newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup:
10733 (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*")
10736 The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work
10737 smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault.
10739 Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good
10740 idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution.
10741 If you would like to read @samp{soc.motss} both from a server in Japan
10742 and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp:
10745 "^nntp+some.server.jp:soc.motss$\\|^nntp+some.server.no:soc.motss$"
10748 This should work kinda smoothly---all articles from both groups should
10749 end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and
10750 the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the
10751 sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here
10752 (@pxref{Selecting a Group}).
10754 One limitation, however---all groups included in a virtual
10755 group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or
10756 zombie groups can't be component groups for @code{nnvirtual} groups.
10758 @vindex nnvirtual-always-rescan
10759 If the @code{nnvirtual-always-rescan} is non-@code{nil},
10760 @code{nnvirtual} will always scan groups for unread articles when
10761 entering a virtual group. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
10762 default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual
10763 group has been activated, the read articles from the component group
10764 will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this
10765 effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in
10766 common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to @code{t}.
10767 Or you can just tap @code{M-g} on the virtual group every time before
10768 you enter it---it'll have much the same effect.
10771 @node Kibozed Groups
10772 @subsection Kibozed Groups
10776 @dfn{Kibozing} is defined by @sc{oed} as ``grepping through (parts of)
10777 the news feed''. @code{nnkiboze} is a backend that will do this for
10778 you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any @sc{nntp} server down to a halt
10779 with useless requests! Oh happiness!
10781 @kindex G k (Group)
10782 To create a kibozed group, use the @kbd{G k} command in the group
10785 The address field of the @code{nnkiboze} method is, as with
10786 @code{nnvirtual}, a regexp to match groups to be ``included'' in the
10787 @code{nnkiboze} group. That's where most similarities between @code{nnkiboze}
10788 and @code{nnvirtual} end.
10790 In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an @code{nnkiboze} group
10791 must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in
10792 the group (@pxref{Scoring}).
10794 @kindex M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups
10795 @findex nnkiboze-generate-groups
10796 You must run @kbd{M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups} after creating the
10797 @code{nnkiboze} groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of
10798 time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from
10799 all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the
10800 scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups
10801 that are to be part of the @code{nnkiboze} groups.
10803 Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive
10804 regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the
10805 @sc{nntp} site may throw you off and never let you back in again.
10806 Stranger things have happened.
10808 @code{nnkiboze} component groups do not have to be alive---they can be dead,
10809 and they can be foreign. No restrictions.
10811 @vindex nnkiboze-directory
10812 The generation of an @code{nnkiboze} group means writing two files in
10813 @code{nnkiboze-directory}, which is @file{~/News/} by default. One
10814 contains the @sc{nov} header lines for all the articles in the group,
10815 and the other is an additional @file{.newsrc} file to store information
10816 on what groups have been searched through to find component articles.
10818 Articles marked as read in the @code{nnkiboze} group will have
10819 their @sc{nov} lines removed from the @sc{nov} file.
10822 @node Gnus Unplugged
10823 @section Gnus Unplugged
10828 @cindex Gnus Unplugged
10830 In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders
10831 on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport
10832 was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to
10833 read news. Believe it or not.
10835 Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of
10836 modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it
10837 would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up
10838 the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you
10839 have to make. And then you repeat the procedure.
10841 Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used
10842 @code{inn} together with @code{slurp}, @code{pop} and @code{sendmail}
10843 for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server
10844 functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person
10845 reading news on a machine.
10847 Using Gnus as an ``offline'' newsreader is quite simple.
10851 First, set ut Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine
10852 that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting
10856 Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your
10857 @file{.gnus.el} file:
10864 That's it. Gnus is now an ``offline'' newsreader.
10866 Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands.
10869 * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work.
10870 * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
10871 * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers.
10872 * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something?
10873 * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun.
10878 @subsection Agent Basics
10880 First, let's get some terminilogy out of the way.
10882 The Gnus Agent is said to be @dfn{unplugged} when you have severed the
10883 connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case).
10884 When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the
10885 Agent is @dfn{plugged}.
10887 The @dfn{local} machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't
10888 connected to the net continously.
10890 @dfn{Downloading} means fetching things from the net to your local
10891 machine. @dfn{Uploading} is doing the opposite.
10893 Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent.
10898 You start Gnus with @code{gnus-unplugged}. This brings up the Gnus
10899 Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have
10900 already fetched while in this mode.
10903 You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect
10904 your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit @kbd{J j}
10905 to make Gnus become @dfn{plugged}.
10908 You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news
10909 onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press @kbd{J
10910 s} to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus
10911 know which articles you want to download, @pxref{Agent Categories}.)
10914 After fetching the articles, you press @kbd{J j} to make Gnus become
10915 unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And
10916 then you read the news offline.
10919 And then you go to step 2.
10922 Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use
10928 Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail
10929 backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the
10930 Agent. Go to the server buffer (@kbd{^} in the group buffer) and press
10931 @kbd{J a} the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the
10932 Agent (@pxref{Server Agent Commands}). This will typically be only the
10933 primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer.
10936 Decide on download policy. @xref{Agent Categories}
10943 @node Agent Categories
10944 @subsection Agent Categories
10946 On of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the
10947 newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download.
10948 There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to
10949 find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better
10950 to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then
10951 mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that
10952 you're interested in the articles anyway.
10954 The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
10955 @dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
10956 Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
10959 * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
10960 * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories.
10961 * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.
10965 @node Category Syntax
10966 @subsubsection Category Syntax
10968 A category consists of two things.
10972 A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles
10973 are eligible for downloading; and
10976 a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when
10977 deciding what articles to download. (Note that this @dfn{download
10978 score} is wholly unrelated to normal scores.)
10981 A predicate consists of predicates with logical operators sprinkled in
10984 Perhaps some examples are in order.
10986 Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used
10987 for all groups that don't belong to any other category.)
10993 Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is
10994 short (for some value of ``short'').
10996 Here's a more complex predicate:
11005 This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score,
11006 or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the
11009 The available logical operators are @code{or}, @code{and} and
11010 @code{not}. (If you prefer, you can use the more ``C''-ish operators
11011 @samp{|}, @code{&} and @code{!} instead.)
11013 The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what
11014 you want to do, you can write your own.
11018 True iff the article is shorter than @code{gnus-agent-short-article}
11019 lines; default 100.
11022 True iff the article is longer than @code{gnus-agent-long-article}
11023 lines; default 200.
11026 True iff the article has a download score less than
11027 @code{gnus-agent-low-score}; default 0.
11030 True iff the article has a download score greater than
11031 @code{gnus-agent-high-score}; default 0.
11034 True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The
11035 heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a
11036 checksum and see whether articles match.
11045 If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have
11046 to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the
11047 @code{gnus-headers} and @code{gnus-score} dynamic variables are bound to
11050 Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of
11051 normal score files, except that all elements that require actually
11052 seeing the article itself is verboten. This means that only the
11053 following headers can be scored on: @code{From}, @code{Subject},
11054 @code{Date}, @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars}, @code{Message-ID},
11055 and @code{References}.
11058 @node The Category Buffer
11059 @subsubsection The Category Buffer
11061 You'd normally do all category maintenance from the category buffer.
11062 When you enter it for the first time (with the @kbd{J c} command from
11063 the group buffer), you'll only see the @code{default} category.
11065 The following commands are available in this buffer:
11069 @kindex q (Category)
11070 @findex gnus-category-exit
11071 Return to the group buffer (@code{gnus-category-exit}).
11074 @kindex k (Category)
11075 @findex gnus-category-kill
11076 Kill the current category (@code{gnus-category-kill}).
11079 @kindex c (Category)
11080 @findex gnus-category-copy
11081 Copy the current category (@code{gnus-category-copy}).
11084 @kindex a (Category)
11085 @findex gnus-category-add
11086 Add a new category (@code{gnus-category-add}).
11089 @kindex p (Category)
11090 @findex gnus-category-edit-predicate
11091 Edit the predicate of the current category
11092 (@code{gnus-category-edit-predicate}).
11095 @kindex g (Category)
11096 @findex gnus-category-edit-groups
11097 Edit the list of groups belonging to the current category
11098 (@code{gnus-category-edit-groups}).
11101 @kindex s (Category)
11102 @findex gnus-category-edit-score
11103 Edit the download score rule of the current category
11104 (@code{gnus-category-edit-score}).
11107 @kindex l (Category)
11108 @findex gnus-category-list
11109 List all the categories (@code{gnus-category-list}).
11113 @node Category Variables
11114 @subsubsection Category Variables
11117 @item gnus-category-mode-hook
11118 @vindex gnus-category-mode-hook
11119 Hook run in category buffers.
11121 @item gnus-category-line-format
11122 @vindex gnus-category-line-format
11123 Format of the lines in the category buffer (@pxref{Formatting
11124 Variables}). Legal elements are:
11128 The name of the category.
11131 The number of groups in the category.
11134 @item gnus-category-mode-line-format
11135 @vindex gnus-category-mode-line-format
11136 Format of the category mode line.
11138 @item gnus-agent-short-article
11139 @vindex gnus-agent-short-article
11140 Articles that have fewer lines than this are short. Default 100.
11142 @item gnus-agent-long-article
11143 @vindex gnus-agent-long-article
11144 Articles that have more lines than this are long. Default 200.
11146 @item gnus-agent-low-score
11147 @vindex gnus-agent-low-score
11148 Articles that have a score lower than this have a low score. Default
11151 @item gnus-agent-high-score
11152 @vindex gnus-agent-high-score
11153 Articles that have a score higher than this have a high score. Default
11159 @node Agent Commands
11160 @subsection Agent Commands
11162 All the Gnus Agent commands is on the @kbd{J} submap. The @kbd{J j}
11163 (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-plugged} command works in all modes, and
11164 toggles the plugged/unplugged state of the Gnus Agent.
11168 * Group Agent Commands::
11169 * Summary Agent Commands::
11170 * Server Agent Commands::
11174 @node Group Agent Commands
11175 @subsubsection Group Agent Commands
11179 @kindex J u (Agent Group)
11180 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-group
11181 Fetch all eligible articles in the current group
11182 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-group}).
11185 @kindex J c (Agent Group)
11186 @findex gnus-enter-category-buffer
11187 Enter the Agent category buffer (@code{gnus-enter-category-buffer}).
11190 @kindex J s (Agent Group)
11191 @findex gnus-agent-fetch-session
11192 Fetch all eligible articles in all groups
11193 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}).
11196 @kindex J S (Agent Group)
11197 @findex gnus-group-send-drafts
11198 Send all sendable messages in the draft group
11199 (@code{gnus-agent-fetch-session}). @xref{Drafts}
11202 @kindex J a (Agent Group)
11203 @findex gnus-agent-add-group
11204 Add the current group to an Agent category
11205 (@code{gnus-agent-add-group}).
11210 @node Summary Agent Commands
11211 @subsubsection Summary Agent Commands
11215 @kindex J # (Agent Summary)
11216 @findex gnus-agent-mark-article
11217 Mark the article for downloading (@code{gnus-agent-mark-article}).
11220 @kindex J M-# (Agent Summary)
11221 @findex gnus-agent-unmark-article
11222 Remove the downloading mark from the article
11223 (@code{gnus-agent-unmark-article}).
11226 @kindex @@ (Agent Summary)
11227 @findex gnus-agent-toggle-mark
11228 Toggle whether to download the article (@code{gnus-agent-toggle-mark}).
11231 @kindex J c (Agent Summary)
11232 @findex gnus-agent-catchup
11233 Mark all undownloaded articles as read (@code{gnus-agent-catchup}).
11238 @node Server Agent Commands
11239 @subsubsection Server Agent Commands
11243 @kindex J a (Agent Server)
11244 @findex gnus-agent-add-server
11245 Add the current server to the list of servers covered by the Gnus Agent
11246 (@code{gnus-agent-add-server}).
11249 @kindex J r (Agent Server)
11250 @findex gnus-agent-remove-server
11251 Remove the current server from the list of servers covered by the Gnus
11252 Agent (@code{gnus-agent-remove-server}).
11257 @node Outgoing Messages
11258 @subsection Outgoing Messages
11260 When Gnus is unplugged, all outgoing messages (both mail and news) are
11261 stored in the draft groups (@pxref{Drafts}). You can view them there
11262 after posting, and edit them at will.
11264 When Gnus is plugged again, you can send the messages either from the
11265 draft group with the special commands available there, or you can use
11266 the @kbd{J S} command in the group buffer to send all the sendable
11267 messages in the draft group.
11271 @node Agent Variables
11272 @subsection Agent Variables
11275 @item gnus-agent-directory
11276 @vindex gnus-agent-directory
11277 Where the Gnus Agent will store its files. The default is
11278 @file{~/News/agent/}.
11280 @item gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11281 @vindex gnus-agent-plugged-hook
11282 Hook run when connecting to the network.
11284 @item gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11285 @vindex gnus-agent-unplugged-hook
11286 Hook run when disconnecting from the network.
11295 Other people use @dfn{kill files}, but we here at Gnus Towers like
11296 scoring better than killing, so we'd rather switch than fight. They do
11297 something completely different as well, so sit up straight and pay
11300 @vindex gnus-summary-mark-below
11301 All articles have a default score (@code{gnus-summary-default-score}),
11302 which is 0 by default. This score may be raised or lowered either
11303 interactively or by score files. Articles that have a score lower than
11304 @code{gnus-summary-mark-below} are marked as read.
11306 Gnus will read any @dfn{score files} that apply to the current group
11307 before generating the summary buffer.
11309 There are several commands in the summary buffer that insert score
11310 entries based on the current article. You can, for instance, ask Gnus to
11311 lower or increase the score of all articles with a certain subject.
11313 There are two sorts of scoring entries: Permanent and temporary.
11314 Temporary score entries are self-expiring entries. Any entries that are
11315 temporary and have not been used for, say, a week, will be removed
11316 silently to help keep the sizes of the score files down.
11319 * Summary Score Commands:: Adding score entries for the current group.
11320 * Group Score Commands:: General score commands.
11321 * Score Variables:: Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
11322 * Score File Format:: What a score file may contain.
11323 * Score File Editing:: You can edit score files by hand as well.
11324 * Adaptive Scoring:: Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
11325 * Home Score File:: How to say where new score entries are to go.
11326 * Followups To Yourself:: Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
11327 * Scoring Tips:: How to score effectively.
11328 * Reverse Scoring:: That problem child of old is not problem.
11329 * Global Score Files:: Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
11330 * Kill Files:: They are still here, but they can be ignored.
11331 * Converting Kill Files:: Translating kill files to score files.
11332 * GroupLens:: Getting predictions on what you like to read.
11333 * Advanced Scoring:: Using logical expressions to build score rules.
11334 * Score Decays:: It can be useful to let scores wither away.
11338 @node Summary Score Commands
11339 @section Summary Score Commands
11340 @cindex score commands
11342 The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify real
11343 score files. That would be too inefficient. Gnus maintains a cache of
11344 previously loaded score files, one of which is considered the
11345 @dfn{current score file alist}. The score commands simply insert
11346 entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
11348 The current score file is by default the group's local score file, even
11349 if no such score file actually exists. To insert score commands into
11350 some other score file (e.g. @file{all.SCORE}), you must first make this
11351 score file the current one.
11353 General score commands that don't actually change the score file:
11358 @kindex V s (Summary)
11359 @findex gnus-summary-set-score
11360 Set the score of the current article (@code{gnus-summary-set-score}).
11363 @kindex V S (Summary)
11364 @findex gnus-summary-current-score
11365 Display the score of the current article
11366 (@code{gnus-summary-current-score}).
11369 @kindex V t (Summary)
11370 @findex gnus-score-find-trace
11371 Display all score rules that have been used on the current article
11372 (@code{gnus-score-find-trace}).
11375 @kindex V R (Summary)
11376 @findex gnus-summary-rescore
11377 Run the current summary through the scoring process
11378 (@code{gnus-summary-rescore}). This might be useful if you're playing
11379 around with your score files behind Gnus' back and want to see the
11380 effect you're having.
11383 @kindex V a (Summary)
11384 @findex gnus-summary-score-entry
11385 Add a new score entry, and allow specifying all elements
11386 (@code{gnus-summary-score-entry}).
11389 @kindex V c (Summary)
11390 @findex gnus-score-change-score-file
11391 Make a different score file the current
11392 (@code{gnus-score-change-score-file}).
11395 @kindex V e (Summary)
11396 @findex gnus-score-edit-current-scores
11397 Edit the current score file (@code{gnus-score-edit-current-scores}).
11398 You will be popped into a @code{gnus-score-mode} buffer (@pxref{Score
11402 @kindex V f (Summary)
11403 @findex gnus-score-edit-file
11404 Edit a score file and make this score file the current one
11405 (@code{gnus-score-edit-file}).
11408 @kindex V F (Summary)
11409 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11410 Flush the score cache (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}). This is useful
11411 after editing score files.
11414 @kindex V C (Summary)
11415 @findex gnus-score-customize
11416 Customize a score file in a visually pleasing manner
11417 (@code{gnus-score-customize}).
11421 The rest of these commands modify the local score file.
11426 @kindex V m (Summary)
11427 @findex gnus-score-set-mark-below
11428 Prompt for a score, and mark all articles with a score below this as
11429 read (@code{gnus-score-set-mark-below}).
11432 @kindex V x (Summary)
11433 @findex gnus-score-set-expunge-below
11434 Prompt for a score, and add a score rule to the current score file to
11435 expunge all articles below this score
11436 (@code{gnus-score-set-expunge-below}).
11439 The keystrokes for actually making score entries follow a very regular
11440 pattern, so there's no need to list all the commands. (Hundreds of
11445 The first key is either @kbd{I} (upper case i) for increasing the score
11446 or @kbd{L} for lowering the score.
11448 The second key says what header you want to score on. The following
11449 keys are available:
11453 Score on the author name.
11456 Score on the subject line.
11459 Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
11462 Score on thread---the References line.
11468 Score on the number of lines.
11471 Score on the Message-ID.
11474 Score on followups.
11484 The third key is the match type. Which match types are valid depends on
11485 what headers you are scoring on.
11497 Substring matching.
11500 Fuzzy matching (@pxref{Fuzzy Matching}).
11529 Greater than number.
11534 The fourth and final key says whether this is a temporary (i.e., expiring)
11535 score entry, or a permanent (i.e., non-expiring) score entry, or whether
11536 it is to be done immediately, without adding to the score file.
11540 Temporary score entry.
11543 Permanent score entry.
11546 Immediately scoring.
11551 So, let's say you want to increase the score on the current author with
11552 exact matching permanently: @kbd{I a e p}. If you want to lower the
11553 score based on the subject line, using substring matching, and make a
11554 temporary score entry: @kbd{L s s t}. Pretty easy.
11556 To make things a bit more complicated, there are shortcuts. If you use
11557 a capital letter on either the second or third keys, Gnus will use
11558 defaults for the remaining one or two keystrokes. The defaults are
11559 ``substring'' and ``temporary''. So @kbd{I A} is the same as @kbd{I a s
11560 t}, and @kbd{I a R} is the same as @kbd{I a r t}.
11562 @vindex gnus-score-mimic-keymap
11563 The @code{gnus-score-mimic-keymap} says whether these commands will
11564 pretend they are keymaps or not.
11567 @node Group Score Commands
11568 @section Group Score Commands
11569 @cindex group score commands
11571 There aren't many of these as yet, I'm afraid.
11576 @kindex W f (Group)
11577 @findex gnus-score-flush-cache
11578 Gnus maintains a cache of score alists to avoid having to reload them
11579 all the time. This command will flush the cache
11580 (@code{gnus-score-flush-cache}).
11585 @node Score Variables
11586 @section Score Variables
11587 @cindex score variables
11591 @item gnus-use-scoring
11592 @vindex gnus-use-scoring
11593 If @code{nil}, Gnus will not check for score files, and will not, in
11594 general, do any score-related work. This is @code{t} by default.
11596 @item gnus-kill-killed
11597 @vindex gnus-kill-killed
11598 If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will never apply score files to
11599 articles that have already been through the kill process. While this
11600 may save you lots of time, it also means that if you apply a kill file
11601 to a group, and then change the kill file and want to run it over you
11602 group again to kill more articles, it won't work. You have to set this
11603 variable to @code{t} to do that. (It is @code{t} by default.)
11605 @item gnus-kill-files-directory
11606 @vindex gnus-kill-files-directory
11607 All kill and score files will be stored in this directory, which is
11608 initialized from the @code{SAVEDIR} environment variable by default.
11609 This is @file{~/News/} by default.
11611 @item gnus-score-file-suffix
11612 @vindex gnus-score-file-suffix
11613 Suffix to add to the group name to arrive at the score file name
11614 (@samp{SCORE} by default.)
11616 @item gnus-score-uncacheable-files
11617 @vindex gnus-score-uncacheable-files
11618 @cindex score cache
11619 All score files are normally cached to avoid excessive re-loading of
11620 score files. However, if this might make you Emacs grow big and
11621 bloated, so this regexp can be used to weed out score files unlikely to be needed again. It would be a bad idea to deny caching of
11622 @file{all.SCORE}, while it might be a good idea to not cache
11623 @file{comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc.ADAPT}. In fact, this
11624 variable is @samp{ADAPT$} by default, so no adaptive score files will
11627 @item gnus-save-score
11628 @vindex gnus-save-score
11629 If you have really complicated score files, and do lots of batch
11630 scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
11631 Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
11633 @item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
11634 @vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
11635 Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
11636 score with. Default is 1000, which may seem excessive, but this is to
11637 ensure that the adaptive scoring scheme gets enough room to play with.
11638 We don't want the small changes from the adaptive scoring to overwrite
11639 manually entered data.
11641 @item gnus-summary-default-score
11642 @vindex gnus-summary-default-score
11643 Default score of an article, which is 0 by default.
11645 @item gnus-summary-expunge-below
11646 @vindex gnus-summary-expunge-below
11647 Don't display the summary lines of articles that have scores lower than
11648 this variable. This is @code{nil} by default, which means that no
11649 articles will be hidden.
11651 @item gnus-score-over-mark
11652 @vindex gnus-score-over-mark
11653 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score over the
11654 default. Default is @samp{+}.
11656 @item gnus-score-below-mark
11657 @vindex gnus-score-below-mark
11658 Mark (in the third column) used for articles with a score below the
11659 default. Default is @samp{-}.
11661 @item gnus-score-find-score-files-function
11662 @vindex gnus-score-find-score-files-function
11663 Function used to find score files for the current group. This function
11664 is called with the name of the group as the argument.
11666 Predefined functions available are:
11669 @item gnus-score-find-single
11670 @findex gnus-score-find-single
11671 Only apply the group's own score file.
11673 @item gnus-score-find-bnews
11674 @findex gnus-score-find-bnews
11675 Apply all score files that match, using bnews syntax. This is the
11676 default. If the current group is @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}, for instance,
11677 @file{all.emacs.all.SCORE}, @file{not.alt.all.SCORE} and
11678 @file{gnu.all.SCORE} would all apply. In short, the instances of
11679 @samp{all} in the score file names are translated into @samp{.*}, and
11680 then a regexp match is done.
11682 This means that if you have some score entries that you want to apply to
11683 all groups, then you put those entries in the @file{all.SCORE} file.
11685 The score files are applied in a semi-random order, although Gnus will
11686 try to apply the more general score files before the more specific score
11687 files. It does this by looking at the number of elements in the score
11688 file names---discarding the @samp{all} elements.
11690 @item gnus-score-find-hierarchical
11691 @findex gnus-score-find-hierarchical
11692 Apply all score files from all the parent groups. This means that you
11693 can't have score files like @file{all.SCORE}, but you can have
11694 @file{SCORE}, @file{comp.SCORE} and @file{comp.emacs.SCORE}.
11697 This variable can also be a list of functions. In that case, all these
11698 functions will be called, and all the returned lists of score files will
11699 be applied. These functions can also return lists of score alists
11700 directly. In that case, the functions that return these non-file score
11701 alists should probably be placed before the ``real'' score file
11702 functions, to ensure that the last score file returned is the local
11705 @item gnus-score-expiry-days
11706 @vindex gnus-score-expiry-days
11707 This variable says how many days should pass before an unused score file
11708 entry is expired. If this variable is @code{nil}, no score file entries
11709 are expired. It's 7 by default.
11711 @item gnus-update-score-entry-dates
11712 @vindex gnus-update-score-entry-dates
11713 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, matching score entries will have
11714 their dates updated. (This is how Gnus controls expiry---all
11715 non-matching entries will become too old while matching entries will
11716 stay fresh and young.) However, if you set this variable to @code{nil},
11717 even matching entries will grow old and will have to face that oh-so
11720 @item gnus-score-after-write-file-function
11721 @vindex gnus-score-after-write-file-function
11722 Function called with the name of the score file just written.
11727 @node Score File Format
11728 @section Score File Format
11729 @cindex score file format
11731 A score file is an @code{emacs-lisp} file that normally contains just a
11732 single form. Casual users are not expected to edit these files;
11733 everything can be changed from the summary buffer.
11735 Anyway, if you'd like to dig into it yourself, here's an example:
11739 ("Lars Ingebrigtsen" -10000)
11741 ("larsi\\|lmi" -50000 nil R))
11743 ("Ding is Badd" nil 728373))
11745 ("alt.politics" -1000 728372 s))
11750 (mark-and-expunge -10)
11754 (files "/hom/larsi/News/gnu.SCORE")
11755 (exclude-files "all.SCORE")
11756 (local (gnus-newsgroup-auto-expire t)
11757 (gnus-summary-make-false-root empty))
11761 This example demonstrates most score file elements. For a different
11762 approach, see @pxref{Advanced Scoring}.
11764 Even though this looks much like lisp code, nothing here is actually
11765 @code{eval}ed. The lisp reader is used to read this form, though, so it
11766 has to be valid syntactically, if not semantically.
11768 Six keys are supported by this alist:
11773 If the key is a string, it is the name of the header to perform the
11774 match on. Scoring can only be performed on these eight headers:
11775 @code{From}, @code{Subject}, @code{References}, @code{Message-ID},
11776 @code{Xref}, @code{Lines}, @code{Chars} and @code{Date}. In addition to
11777 these headers, there are three strings to tell Gnus to fetch the entire
11778 article and do the match on larger parts of the article: @code{Body}
11779 will perform the match on the body of the article, @code{Head} will
11780 perform the match on the head of the article, and @code{All} will
11781 perform the match on the entire article. Note that using any of these
11782 last three keys will slow down group entry @emph{considerably}. The
11783 final ``header'' you can score on is @code{Followup}. These score
11784 entries will result in new score entries being added for all follow-ups
11785 to articles that matches these score entries.
11787 Following this key is a arbitrary number of score entries, where each
11788 score entry has one to four elements.
11792 The first element is the @dfn{match element}. On most headers this will
11793 be a string, but on the Lines and Chars headers, this must be an
11797 If the second element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{score
11798 element}. This number should be an integer in the neginf to posinf
11799 interval. This number is added to the score of the article if the match
11800 is successful. If this element is not present, the
11801 @code{gnus-score-interactive-default-score} number will be used
11802 instead. This is 1000 by default.
11805 If the third element is present, it should be a number---the @dfn{date
11806 element}. This date says when the last time this score entry matched,
11807 which provides a mechanism for expiring the score entries. It this
11808 element is not present, the score entry is permanent. The date is
11809 represented by the number of days since December 31, 1 BCE.
11812 If the fourth element is present, it should be a symbol---the @dfn{type
11813 element}. This element specifies what function should be used to see
11814 whether this score entry matches the article. What match types that can
11815 be used depends on what header you wish to perform the match on.
11818 @item From, Subject, References, Xref, Message-ID
11819 For most header types, there are the @code{r} and @code{R} (regexp), as
11820 well as @code{s} and @code{S} (substring) types, and @code{e} and
11821 @code{E} (exact match), and @code{w} (word match) types. If this
11822 element is not present, Gnus will assume that substring matching should
11823 be used. @code{R}, @code{S}, and @code{E} differ from the others in
11824 that the matches will be done in a case-sensitive manner. All these
11825 one-letter types are really just abbreviations for the @code{regexp},
11826 @code{string}, @code{exact}, and @code{word} types, which you can use
11827 instead, if you feel like.
11830 These two headers use different match types: @code{<}, @code{>},
11831 @code{=}, @code{>=} and @code{<=}. When matching on @code{Lines}, be
11832 careful because some backends (like @code{nndir}) do not generate
11833 @code{Lines} header, so every article ends up being marked as having 0
11834 lines. This can lead to strange results if you happen to lower score of
11835 the articles with few lines.
11838 For the Date header we have three kinda silly match types:
11839 @code{before}, @code{at} and @code{after}. I can't really imagine this
11840 ever being useful, but, like, it would feel kinda silly not to provide
11841 this function. Just in case. You never know. Better safe than sorry.
11842 Once burnt, twice shy. Don't judge a book by its cover. Never not have
11843 sex on a first date. (I have been told that at least one person, and I
11844 quote, ``found this function indispensable'', however.)
11848 A more useful match type is @code{regexp}. With it, you can match the
11849 date string using a regular expression. The date is normalized to
11850 ISO8601 compact format first---@var{YYYYMMDD}@code{T}@var{HHMMSS}. If
11851 you want to match all articles that have been posted on April 1st in
11852 every year, you could use @samp{....0401.........} as a match string,
11853 for instance. (Note that the date is kept in its original time zone, so
11854 this will match articles that were posted when it was April 1st where
11855 the article was posted from. Time zones are such wholesome fun for the
11858 @item Head, Body, All
11859 These three match keys use the same match types as the @code{From} (etc)
11863 This match key is somewhat special, in that it will match the
11864 @code{From} header, and affect the score of not only the matching
11865 articles, but also all followups to the matching articles. This allows
11866 you e.g. increase the score of followups to your own articles, or
11867 decrease the score of followups to the articles of some known
11868 trouble-maker. Uses the same match types as the @code{From} header
11869 uses. (Using this match key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT}
11873 This match key works along the same lines as the @code{Followup} match
11874 key. If you say that you want to score on a (sub-)thread started by an article with a @code{Message-ID} @var{X}, then you add a
11875 @samp{thread} match. This will add a new @samp{thread} match for each
11876 article that has @var{X} in its @code{References} header. (These new
11877 @samp{thread} matches will use the @code{Message-ID}s of these matching
11878 articles.) This will ensure that you can raise/lower the score of an
11879 entire thread, even though some articles in the thread may not have
11880 complete @code{References} headers. Note that using this may lead to
11881 undeterministic scores of the articles in the thread. (Using this match
11882 key will lead to creation of @file{ADAPT} files.)
11886 @cindex Score File Atoms
11888 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
11889 lower than this number will be marked as read.
11892 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
11893 lower than this number will be removed from the summary buffer.
11895 @item mark-and-expunge
11896 The value of this entry should be a number. Any articles with a score
11897 lower than this number will be marked as read and removed from the
11900 @item thread-mark-and-expunge
11901 The value of this entry should be a number. All articles that belong to
11902 a thread that has a total score below this number will be marked as read
11903 and removed from the summary buffer. @code{gnus-thread-score-function}
11904 says how to compute the total score for a thread.
11907 The value of this entry should be any number of file names. These files
11908 are assumed to be score files as well, and will be loaded the same way
11911 @item exclude-files
11912 The clue of this entry should be any number of files. These files will
11913 not be loaded, even though they would normally be so, for some reason or
11917 The value of this entry will be @code{eval}el. This element will be
11918 ignored when handling global score files.
11921 Read-only score files will not be updated or saved. Global score files
11922 should feature this atom (@pxref{Global Score Files}).
11925 The value of this entry should be a number. Articles that do not have
11926 parents will get this number added to their scores. Imagine you follow
11927 some high-volume newsgroup, like @samp{comp.lang.c}. Most likely you
11928 will only follow a few of the threads, also want to see any new threads.
11930 You can do this with the following two score file entries:
11934 (mark-and-expunge -100)
11937 When you enter the group the first time, you will only see the new
11938 threads. You then raise the score of the threads that you find
11939 interesting (with @kbd{I T} or @kbd{I S}), and ignore (@kbd{C y}) the
11940 rest. Next time you enter the group, you will see new articles in the
11941 interesting threads, plus any new threads.
11943 I.e.---the orphan score atom is for high-volume groups where there
11944 exist a few interesting threads which can't be found automatically by
11945 ordinary scoring rules.
11948 This entry controls the adaptive scoring. If it is @code{t}, the
11949 default adaptive scoring rules will be used. If it is @code{ignore}, no
11950 adaptive scoring will be performed on this group. If it is a list, this
11951 list will be used as the adaptive scoring rules. If it isn't present,
11952 or is something other than @code{t} or @code{ignore}, the default
11953 adaptive scoring rules will be used. If you want to use adaptive
11954 scoring on most groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
11955 @code{t}, and insert an @code{(adapt ignore)} in the groups where you do
11956 not want adaptive scoring. If you only want adaptive scoring in a few
11957 groups, you'd set @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to @code{nil}, and
11958 insert @code{(adapt t)} in the score files of the groups where you want
11962 All adaptive score entries will go to the file named by this entry. It
11963 will also be applied when entering the group. This atom might be handy
11964 if you want to adapt on several groups at once, using the same adaptive
11965 file for a number of groups.
11968 @cindex local variables
11969 The value of this entry should be a list of @code{(VAR VALUE)} pairs.
11970 Each @var{var} will be made buffer-local to the current summary buffer,
11971 and set to the value specified. This is a convenient, if somewhat
11972 strange, way of setting variables in some groups if you don't like hooks
11973 much. Note that the @var{value} won't be evaluated.
11977 @node Score File Editing
11978 @section Score File Editing
11980 You normally enter all scoring commands from the summary buffer, but you
11981 might feel the urge to edit them by hand as well, so we've supplied you
11982 with a mode for that.
11984 It's simply a slightly customized @code{emacs-lisp} mode, with these
11985 additional commands:
11990 @kindex C-c C-c (Score)
11991 @findex gnus-score-edit-done
11992 Save the changes you have made and return to the summary buffer
11993 (@code{gnus-score-edit-done}).
11996 @kindex C-c C-d (Score)
11997 @findex gnus-score-edit-insert-date
11998 Insert the current date in numerical format
11999 (@code{gnus-score-edit-insert-date}). This is really the day number, if
12000 you were wondering.
12003 @kindex C-c C-p (Score)
12004 @findex gnus-score-pretty-print
12005 The adaptive score files are saved in an unformatted fashion. If you
12006 intend to read one of these files, you want to @dfn{pretty print} it
12007 first. This command (@code{gnus-score-pretty-print}) does that for
12012 Type @kbd{M-x gnus-score-mode} to use this mode.
12014 @vindex gnus-score-mode-hook
12015 @code{gnus-score-menu-hook} is run in score mode buffers.
12017 In the summary buffer you can use commands like @kbd{V f} and @kbd{V
12018 e} to begin editing score files.
12021 @node Adaptive Scoring
12022 @section Adaptive Scoring
12023 @cindex adaptive scoring
12025 If all this scoring is getting you down, Gnus has a way of making it all
12026 happen automatically---as if by magic. Or rather, as if by artificial
12027 stupidity, to be precise.
12029 @vindex gnus-use-adaptive-scoring
12030 When you read an article, or mark an article as read, or kill an
12031 article, you leave marks behind. On exit from the group, Gnus can sniff
12032 these marks and add score elements depending on what marks it finds.
12033 You turn on this ability by setting @code{gnus-use-adaptive-scoring} to
12034 @code{t} or @code{(line)}. If you want score adaptively on separate
12035 words appearing in the subjects, you should set this variable to
12036 @code{(word)}. If you want to use both adaptive methods, set this
12037 variable to @code{(word line)}.
12039 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12040 To give you complete control over the scoring process, you can customize
12041 the @code{gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist} variable. For instance, it
12042 might look something like this:
12045 (defvar gnus-default-adaptive-score-alist
12046 '((gnus-unread-mark)
12047 (gnus-ticked-mark (from 4))
12048 (gnus-dormant-mark (from 5))
12049 (gnus-del-mark (from -4) (subject -1))
12050 (gnus-read-mark (from 4) (subject 2))
12051 (gnus-expirable-mark (from -1) (subject -1))
12052 (gnus-killed-mark (from -1) (subject -3))
12053 (gnus-kill-file-mark)
12054 (gnus-ancient-mark)
12055 (gnus-low-score-mark)
12056 (gnus-catchup-mark (from -1) (subject -1))))
12059 As you see, each element in this alist has a mark as a key (either a
12060 variable name or a ``real'' mark---a character). Following this key is
12061 a arbitrary number of header/score pairs. If there are no header/score
12062 pairs following the key, no adaptive scoring will be done on articles
12063 that have that key as the article mark. For instance, articles with
12064 @code{gnus-unread-mark} in the example above will not get adaptive score
12067 Each article can have only one mark, so just a single of these rules
12068 will be applied to each article.
12070 To take @code{gnus-del-mark} as an example---this alist says that all
12071 articles that have that mark (i.e., are marked with @samp{D}) will have a
12072 score entry added to lower based on the @code{From} header by -4, and
12073 lowered by @code{Subject} by -1. Change this to fit your prejudices.
12075 If you have marked 10 articles with the same subject with
12076 @code{gnus-del-mark}, the rule for that mark will be applied ten times.
12077 That means that that subject will get a score of ten times -1, which
12078 should be, unless I'm much mistaken, -10.
12080 If you have auto-expirable (mail) groups (@pxref{Expiring Mail}), all
12081 the read articles will be marked with the @samp{E} mark. This'll
12082 probably make adaptive scoring slightly impossible, so auto-expiring and
12083 adaptive scoring doesn't really mix very well.
12085 The headers you can score on are @code{from}, @code{subject},
12086 @code{message-id}, @code{references}, @code{xref}, @code{lines},
12087 @code{chars} and @code{date}. In addition, you can score on
12088 @code{followup}, which will create an adaptive score entry that matches
12089 on the @code{References} header using the @code{Message-ID} of the
12090 current article, thereby matching the following thread.
12092 You can also score on @code{thread}, which will try to score all
12093 articles that appear in a thread. @code{thread} matches uses a
12094 @code{Message-ID} to match on the @code{References} header of the
12095 article. If the match is made, the @code{Message-ID} of the article is
12096 added to the @code{thread} rule. (Think about it. I'd recommend two
12097 aspirins afterwards.)
12099 If you use this scheme, you should set the score file atom @code{mark}
12100 to something small---like -300, perhaps, to avoid having small random
12101 changes result in articles getting marked as read.
12103 After using adaptive scoring for a week or so, Gnus should start to
12104 become properly trained and enhance the authors you like best, and kill
12105 the authors you like least, without you having to say so explicitly.
12107 You can control what groups the adaptive scoring is to be performed on
12108 by using the score files (@pxref{Score File Format}). This will also
12109 let you use different rules in different groups.
12111 @vindex gnus-adaptive-file-suffix
12112 The adaptive score entries will be put into a file where the name is the
12113 group name with @code{gnus-adaptive-file-suffix} appended. The default
12116 @vindex gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit
12117 When doing adaptive scoring, substring or fuzzy matching would probably
12118 give you the best results in most cases. However, if the header one
12119 matches is short, the possibility for false positives is great, so if
12120 the length of the match is less than
12121 @code{gnus-score-exact-adapt-limit}, exact matching will be used. If
12122 this variable is @code{nil}, exact matching will always be used to avoid
12125 @vindex gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12126 As mentioned above, you can adapt either on individual words or entire
12127 headers. If you adapt on words, the
12128 @code{gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist} variable says what score
12129 each instance of a word should add given a mark.
12132 (setq gnus-default-adaptive-word-score-alist
12133 `((,gnus-read-mark . 30)
12134 (,gnus-catchup-mark . -10)
12135 (,gnus-killed-mark . -20)
12136 (,gnus-del-mark . -15)))
12139 This is the default value. If you have adaption on words enabled, every
12140 word that appears in subjects of articles marked with
12141 @code{gnus-read-mark} will result in a score rule that increase the
12142 score with 30 points.
12144 @vindex gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words
12145 @vindex gnus-ignored-adaptive-words
12146 Words that appear in the @code{gnus-default-ignored-adaptive-words} list
12147 will be ignored. If you wish to add more words to be ignored, use the
12148 @code{gnus-ignored-adaptive-words} list instead.
12150 @vindex gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table
12151 When the scoring is done, @code{gnus-adaptive-word-syntax-table} is the
12152 syntax table in effect. It is similar to the standard syntax table, but
12153 it considers numbers to be non-word-constituent characters.
12155 After using this scheme for a while, it might be nice to write a
12156 @code{gnus-psychoanalyze-user} command to go through the rules and see
12157 what words you like and what words you don't like. Or perhaps not.
12159 Note that the adaptive word scoring thing is highly experimental and is
12160 likely to change in the future. Initial impressions seem to indicate
12161 that it's totally useless as it stands. Some more work (involving more
12162 rigorous statistical methods) will have to be done to make this useful.
12165 @node Home Score File
12166 @section Home Score File
12168 The score file where new score file entries will go is called the
12169 @dfn{home score file}. This is normally (and by default) the score file
12170 for the group itself. For instance, the home score file for
12171 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} is @file{gnu.emacs.gnus.SCORE}.
12173 However, this may not be what you want. It is often convenient to share
12174 a common home score file among many groups---all @samp{emacs} groups
12175 could perhaps use the same home score file.
12177 @vindex gnus-home-score-file
12178 The variable that controls this is @code{gnus-home-score-file}. It can
12183 A string. Then this file will be used as the home score file for all
12187 A function. The result of this function will be used as the home score
12188 file. The function will be called with the name of the group as the
12192 A list. The elements in this list can be:
12196 @var{(regexp file-name)}. If the @var{regexp} matches the group name,
12197 the @var{file-name} will will be used as the home score file.
12200 A function. If the function returns non-nil, the result will be used as
12201 the home score file.
12204 A string. Use the string as the home score file.
12207 The list will be traversed from the beginning towards the end looking
12212 So, if you want to use just a single score file, you could say:
12215 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12216 "my-total-score-file.SCORE")
12219 If you want to use @file{gnu.SCORE} for all @samp{gnu} groups and
12220 @file{rec.SCORE} for all @samp{rec} groups (and so on), you can say:
12223 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12224 'gnus-hierarchial-home-score-file)
12227 This is a ready-made function provided for your convenience.
12229 If you want to have one score file for the @samp{emacs} groups and
12230 another for the @samp{comp} groups, while letting all other groups use
12231 their own home score files:
12234 (setq gnus-home-score-file
12235 ;; All groups that match the regexp "\\.emacs"
12236 '("\\.emacs" "emacs.SCORE")
12237 ;; All the comp groups in one score file
12238 ("^comp" "comp.SCORE"))
12241 @vindex gnus-home-adapt-file
12242 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file} works exactly the same way as
12243 @code{gnus-home-score-file}, but says what the home adaptive score file
12244 is instead. All new adaptive file entries will go into the file
12245 specified by this variable, and the same syntax is allowed.
12247 In addition to using @code{gnus-home-score-file} and
12248 @code{gnus-home-adapt-file}, you can also use group parameters
12249 (@pxref{Group Parameters}) and topic parameters (@pxref{Topic
12250 Parameters}) to achieve much the same. Group and topic parameters take
12251 precedence over this variable.
12254 @node Followups To Yourself
12255 @section Followups To Yourself
12257 Gnus offers two commands for picking out the @code{Message-ID} header in
12258 the current buffer. Gnus will then add a score rule that scores using
12259 this @code{Message-ID} on the @code{References} header of other
12260 articles. This will, in effect, increase the score of all articles that
12261 respond to the article in the current buffer. Quite useful if you want
12262 to easily note when people answer what you've said.
12266 @item gnus-score-followup-article
12267 @findex gnus-score-followup-article
12268 This will add a score to articles that directly follow up your own
12271 @item gnus-score-followup-thread
12272 @findex gnus-score-followup-thread
12273 This will add a score to all articles that appear in a thread ``below''
12277 @vindex message-sent-hook
12278 These two functions are both primarily meant to be used in hooks like
12279 @code{message-sent-hook}.
12281 If you look closely at your own @code{Message-ID}, you'll notice that
12282 the first two or three characters are always the same. Here's two of
12286 <x6u3u47icf.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12287 <x6sp9o7ibw.fsf@@eyesore.no>
12290 So ``my'' ident on this machine is @samp{x6}. This can be
12291 exploited---the following rule will raise the score on all followups to
12296 ("<x6[0-9a-z]+\\.fsf\\(_-_\\)?@@.*eyesore.no>"
12300 Whether it's the first two or first three characters that are ``yours''
12301 is system-dependent.
12305 @section Scoring Tips
12306 @cindex scoring tips
12312 @cindex scoring crossposts
12313 If you want to lower the score of crossposts, the line to match on is
12314 the @code{Xref} header.
12316 ("xref" (" talk.politics.misc:" -1000))
12319 @item Multiple crossposts
12320 If you want to lower the score of articles that have been crossposted to
12321 more than, say, 3 groups:
12323 ("xref" ("[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+ +[^:\n]+:[0-9]+" -1000 nil r))
12326 @item Matching on the body
12327 This is generally not a very good idea---it takes a very long time.
12328 Gnus actually has to fetch each individual article from the server. But
12329 you might want to anyway, I guess. Even though there are three match
12330 keys (@code{Head}, @code{Body} and @code{All}), you should choose one
12331 and stick with it in each score file. If you use any two, each article
12332 will be fetched @emph{twice}. If you want to match a bit on the
12333 @code{Head} and a bit on the @code{Body}, just use @code{All} for all
12336 @item Marking as read
12337 You will probably want to mark articles that has a score below a certain
12338 number as read. This is most easily achieved by putting the following
12339 in your @file{all.SCORE} file:
12343 You may also consider doing something similar with @code{expunge}.
12345 @item Negated character classes
12346 If you say stuff like @code{[^abcd]*}, you may get unexpected results.
12347 That will match newlines, which might lead to, well, The Unknown. Say
12348 @code{[^abcd\n]*} instead.
12352 @node Reverse Scoring
12353 @section Reverse Scoring
12354 @cindex reverse scoring
12356 If you want to keep just articles that have @samp{Sex with Emacs} in the
12357 subject header, and expunge all other articles, you could put something
12358 like this in your score file:
12362 ("Sex with Emacs" 2))
12367 So, you raise all articles that match @samp{Sex with Emacs} and mark the
12368 rest as read, and expunge them to boot.
12371 @node Global Score Files
12372 @section Global Score Files
12373 @cindex global score files
12375 Sure, other newsreaders have ``global kill files''. These are usually
12376 nothing more than a single kill file that applies to all groups, stored
12377 in the user's home directory. Bah! Puny, weak newsreaders!
12379 What I'm talking about here are Global Score Files. Score files from
12380 all over the world, from users everywhere, uniting all nations in one
12381 big, happy score file union! Ange-score! New and untested!
12383 @vindex gnus-global-score-files
12384 All you have to do to use other people's score files is to set the
12385 @code{gnus-global-score-files} variable. One entry for each score file,
12386 or each score file directory. Gnus will decide by itself what score
12387 files are applicable to which group.
12389 Say you want to use the score file
12390 @file{/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE} and
12391 all score files in the @file{/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score} directory:
12394 (setq gnus-global-score-files
12395 '("/ftp@@ftp.gnus.org:/pub/larsi/ding/score/soc.motss.SCORE"
12396 "/ftp@@ftp.some-where:/pub/score/"))
12399 @findex gnus-score-search-global-directories
12400 Simple, eh? Directory names must end with a @samp{/}. These
12401 directories are typically scanned only once during each Gnus session.
12402 If you feel the need to manually re-scan the remote directories, you can
12403 use the @code{gnus-score-search-global-directories} command.
12405 Note that, at present, using this option will slow down group entry
12406 somewhat. (That is---a lot.)
12408 If you want to start maintaining score files for other people to use,
12409 just put your score file up for anonymous ftp and announce it to the
12410 world. Become a retro-moderator! Participate in the retro-moderator
12411 wars sure to ensue, where retro-moderators battle it out for the
12412 sympathy of the people, luring them to use their score files on false
12413 premises! Yay! The net is saved!
12415 Here are some tips for the would-be retro-moderator, off the top of my
12421 Articles heavily crossposted are probably junk.
12423 To lower a single inappropriate article, lower by @code{Message-ID}.
12425 Particularly brilliant authors can be raised on a permanent basis.
12427 Authors that repeatedly post off-charter for the group can safely be
12428 lowered out of existence.
12430 Set the @code{mark} and @code{expunge} atoms to obliterate the nastiest
12431 articles completely.
12434 Use expiring score entries to keep the size of the file down. You
12435 should probably have a long expiry period, though, as some sites keep
12436 old articles for a long time.
12439 ... I wonder whether other newsreaders will support global score files
12440 in the future. @emph{Snicker}. Yup, any day now, newsreaders like Blue
12441 Wave, xrn and 1stReader are bound to implement scoring. Should we start
12442 holding our breath yet?
12446 @section Kill Files
12449 Gnus still supports those pesky old kill files. In fact, the kill file
12450 entries can now be expiring, which is something I wrote before Daniel
12451 Quinlan thought of doing score files, so I've left the code in there.
12453 In short, kill processing is a lot slower (and I do mean @emph{a lot})
12454 than score processing, so it might be a good idea to rewrite your kill
12455 files into score files.
12457 Anyway, a kill file is a normal @code{emacs-lisp} file. You can put any
12458 forms into this file, which means that you can use kill files as some
12459 sort of primitive hook function to be run on group entry, even though
12460 that isn't a very good idea.
12462 Normal kill files look like this:
12465 (gnus-kill "From" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12466 (gnus-kill "Subject" "ding")
12470 This will mark every article written by me as read, and remove the
12471 marked articles from the summary buffer. Very useful, you'll agree.
12473 Other programs use a totally different kill file syntax. If Gnus
12474 encounters what looks like a @code{rn} kill file, it will take a stab at
12477 Two summary functions for editing a GNUS kill file:
12482 @kindex M-k (Summary)
12483 @findex gnus-summary-edit-local-kill
12484 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-local-kill}).
12487 @kindex M-K (Summary)
12488 @findex gnus-summary-edit-global-kill
12489 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-summary-edit-global-kill}).
12492 Two group mode functions for editing the kill files:
12497 @kindex M-k (Group)
12498 @findex gnus-group-edit-local-kill
12499 Edit this group's kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-local-kill}).
12502 @kindex M-K (Group)
12503 @findex gnus-group-edit-global-kill
12504 Edit the general kill file (@code{gnus-group-edit-global-kill}).
12507 Kill file variables:
12510 @item gnus-kill-file-name
12511 @vindex gnus-kill-file-name
12512 A kill file for the group @samp{soc.motss} is normally called
12513 @file{soc.motss.KILL}. The suffix appended to the group name to get
12514 this file name is detailed by the @code{gnus-kill-file-name} variable.
12515 The ``global'' kill file (not in the score file sense of ``global'', of
12516 course) is just called @file{KILL}.
12518 @vindex gnus-kill-save-kill-file
12519 @item gnus-kill-save-kill-file
12520 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, Gnus will save the
12521 kill file after processing, which is necessary if you use expiring
12524 @item gnus-apply-kill-hook
12525 @vindex gnus-apply-kill-hook
12526 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored
12527 @findex gnus-apply-kill-file
12528 A hook called to apply kill files to a group. It is
12529 @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file)} by default. If you want to ignore the
12530 kill file if you have a score file for the same group, you can set this
12531 hook to @code{(gnus-apply-kill-file-unless-scored)}. If you don't want
12532 kill files to be processed, you should set this variable to @code{nil}.
12534 @item gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
12535 @vindex gnus-kill-file-mode-hook
12536 A hook called in kill-file mode buffers.
12541 @node Converting Kill Files
12542 @section Converting Kill Files
12544 @cindex converting kill files
12546 If you have loads of old kill files, you may want to convert them into
12547 score files. If they are ``regular'', you can use
12548 the @file{gnus-kill-to-score.el} package; if not, you'll have to do it
12551 The kill to score conversion package isn't included in Gnus by default.
12552 You can fetch it from
12553 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-other/gnus-kill-to-score}.
12555 If your old kill files are very complex---if they contain more
12556 non-@code{gnus-kill} forms than not, you'll have to convert them by
12557 hand. Or just let them be as they are. Gnus will still use them as
12565 GroupLens is a collaborative filtering system that helps you work
12566 together with other people to find the quality news articles out of the
12567 huge volume of news articles generated every day.
12569 To accomplish this the GroupLens system combines your opinions about
12570 articles you have already read with the opinions of others who have done
12571 likewise and gives you a personalized prediction for each unread news
12572 article. Think of GroupLens as a matchmaker. GroupLens watches how you
12573 rate articles, and finds other people that rate articles the same way.
12574 Once it has found some people you agree with it tells you, in the form
12575 of a prediction, what they thought of the article. You can use this
12576 prediction to help you decide whether or not you want to read the
12580 * Using GroupLens:: How to make Gnus use GroupLens.
12581 * Rating Articles:: Letting GroupLens know how you rate articles.
12582 * Displaying Predictions:: Displaying predictions given by GroupLens.
12583 * GroupLens Variables:: Customizing GroupLens.
12587 @node Using GroupLens
12588 @subsection Using GroupLens
12590 To use GroupLens you must register a pseudonym with your local Better
12592 @samp{http://www.cs.umn.edu/Research/GroupLens/bbb.html} is the only
12593 better bit in town at the moment.
12595 Once you have registered you'll need to set a couple of variables.
12599 @item gnus-use-grouplens
12600 @vindex gnus-use-grouplens
12601 Setting this variable to a non-@code{nil} value will make Gnus hook into
12602 all the relevant GroupLens functions.
12604 @item grouplens-pseudonym
12605 @vindex grouplens-pseudonym
12606 This variable should be set to the pseudonym you got when registering
12607 with the Better Bit Bureau.
12609 @item grouplens-newsgroups
12610 @vindex grouplens-newsgroups
12611 A list of groups that you want to get GroupLens predictions for.
12615 That's the minimum of what you need to get up and running with GroupLens.
12616 Once you've registered, GroupLens will start giving you scores for
12617 articles based on the average of what other people think. But, to get
12618 the real benefit of GroupLens you need to start rating articles
12619 yourself. Then the scores GroupLens gives you will be personalized for
12620 you, based on how the people you usually agree with have already rated.
12623 @node Rating Articles
12624 @subsection Rating Articles
12626 In GroupLens, an article is rated on a scale from 1 to 5, inclusive.
12627 Where 1 means something like this article is a waste of bandwidth and 5
12628 means that the article was really good. The basic question to ask
12629 yourself is, "on a scale from 1 to 5 would I like to see more articles
12632 There are four ways to enter a rating for an article in GroupLens.
12637 @kindex r (GroupLens)
12638 @findex bbb-summary-rate-article
12639 This function will prompt you for a rating on a scale of one to five.
12642 @kindex k (GroupLens)
12643 @findex grouplens-score-thread
12644 This function will prompt you for a rating, and rate all the articles in
12645 the thread. This is really useful for some of those long running giant
12646 threads in rec.humor.
12650 The next two commands, @kbd{n} and @kbd{,} take a numerical prefix to be
12651 the score of the article you're reading.
12656 @kindex n (GroupLens)
12657 @findex grouplens-next-unread-article
12658 Rate the article and go to the next unread article.
12661 @kindex , (GroupLens)
12662 @findex grouplens-best-unread-article
12663 Rate the article and go to the next unread article with the highest score.
12667 If you want to give the current article a score of 4 and then go to the
12668 next article, just type @kbd{4 n}.
12671 @node Displaying Predictions
12672 @subsection Displaying Predictions
12674 GroupLens makes a prediction for you about how much you will like a
12675 news article. The predictions from GroupLens are on a scale from 1 to
12676 5, where 1 is the worst and 5 is the best. You can use the predictions
12677 from GroupLens in one of three ways controlled by the variable
12678 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring}.
12680 @vindex gnus-grouplens-override-scoring
12681 There are three ways to display predictions in grouplens. You may
12682 choose to have the GroupLens scores contribute to, or override the
12683 regular gnus scoring mechanism. override is the default; however, some
12684 people prefer to see the Gnus scores plus the grouplens scores. To get
12685 the separate scoring behavior you need to set
12686 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'separate}. To have the
12687 GroupLens predictions combined with the grouplens scores set it to
12688 @code{'override} and to combine the scores set
12689 @code{gnus-grouplens-override-scoring} to @code{'combine}. When you use
12690 the combine option you will also want to set the values for
12691 @code{grouplens-prediction-offset} and
12692 @code{grouplens-score-scale-factor}.
12694 @vindex grouplens-prediction-display
12695 In either case, GroupLens gives you a few choices for how you would like
12696 to see your predictions displayed. The display of predictions is
12697 controlled by the @code{grouplens-prediction-display} variable.
12699 The following are valid values for that variable.
12702 @item prediction-spot
12703 The higher the prediction, the further to the right an @samp{*} is
12706 @item confidence-interval
12707 A numeric confidence interval.
12709 @item prediction-bar
12710 The higher the prediction, the longer the bar.
12712 @item confidence-bar
12713 Numerical confidence.
12715 @item confidence-spot
12716 The spot gets bigger with more confidence.
12718 @item prediction-num
12719 Plain-old numeric value.
12721 @item confidence-plus-minus
12722 Prediction +/- confidence.
12727 @node GroupLens Variables
12728 @subsection GroupLens Variables
12732 @item gnus-summary-grouplens-line-format
12733 The summary line format used in GroupLens-enhanced summary buffers. It
12734 accepts the same specs as the normal summary line format (@pxref{Summary
12735 Buffer Lines}). The default is @samp{%U%R%z%l%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%)
12738 @item grouplens-bbb-host
12739 Host running the bbbd server. @samp{grouplens.cs.umn.edu} is the
12742 @item grouplens-bbb-port
12743 Port of the host running the bbbd server. The default is 9000.
12745 @item grouplens-score-offset
12746 Offset the prediction by this value. In other words, subtract the
12747 prediction value by this number to arrive at the effective score. The
12750 @item grouplens-score-scale-factor
12751 This variable allows the user to magnify the effect of GroupLens scores.
12752 The scale factor is applied after the offset. The default is 1.
12757 @node Advanced Scoring
12758 @section Advanced Scoring
12760 Scoring on Subjects and From headers is nice enough, but what if you're
12761 really interested in what a person has to say only when she's talking
12762 about a particular subject? Or what if you really don't want to
12763 read what person A has to say when she's following up to person B, but
12764 want to read what she says when she's following up to person C?
12766 By using advanced scoring rules you may create arbitrarily complex
12770 * Advanced Scoring Syntax:: A definition.
12771 * Advanced Scoring Examples:: What they look like.
12772 * Advanced Scoring Tips:: Getting the most out of it.
12776 @node Advanced Scoring Syntax
12777 @subsection Advanced Scoring Syntax
12779 Ordinary scoring rules have a string as the first element in the rule.
12780 Advanced scoring rules have a list as the first element. The second
12781 element is the score to be applied if the first element evaluated to a
12782 non-@code{nil} value.
12784 These lists may consist of three logical operators, one redirection
12785 operator, and various match operators.
12792 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
12793 one that evaluates to @code{false}, and then it'll stop. If all arguments
12794 evaluate to @code{true} values, then this operator will return
12799 This logical operator will evaluate each of its arguments until it finds
12800 one that evaluates to @code{true}. If no arguments are @code{true},
12801 then this operator will return @code{false}.
12806 This logical operator only takes a single argument. It returns the
12807 logical negation of the value of its argument.
12811 There is an @dfn{indirection operator} that will make its arguments
12812 apply to the ancestors of the current article being scored. For
12813 instance, @code{1-} will make score rules apply to the parent of the
12814 current article. @code{2-} will make score rules apply to the
12815 grandparent of the current article. Alternatively, you can write
12816 @code{^^}, where the number of @code{^}s (carets) says how far back into
12817 the ancestry you want to go.
12819 Finally, we have the match operators. These are the ones that do the
12820 real work. Match operators are header name strings followed by a match
12821 and a match type. A typical match operator looks like @samp{("from"
12822 "Lars Ingebrigtsen" s)}. The header names are the same as when using
12823 simple scoring, and the match types are also the same.
12826 @node Advanced Scoring Examples
12827 @subsection Advanced Scoring Examples
12829 Let's say you want to increase the score of articles written by Lars
12830 when he's talking about Gnus:
12834 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12835 ("subject" "Gnus"))
12841 When he writes long articles, he sometimes has something nice to say:
12845 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12852 However, when he responds to things written by Reig Eigil Logge, you
12853 really don't want to read what he's written:
12857 ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen")
12858 (1- ("from" "Reig Eigir Logge")))
12862 Everybody that follows up Redmondo when he writes about disappearing
12863 socks should have their scores raised, but only when they talk about
12864 white socks. However, when Lars talks about socks, it's usually not
12871 ("from" "redmondo@@.*no" r)
12872 ("body" "disappearing.*socks" t)))
12873 (! ("from" "Lars Ingebrigtsen"))
12874 ("body" "white.*socks"))
12878 The possibilities are endless.
12881 @node Advanced Scoring Tips
12882 @subsection Advanced Scoring Tips
12884 The @code{&} and @code{|} logical operators do short-circuit logic.
12885 That is, they stop processing their arguments when it's clear what the
12886 result of the operation will be. For instance, if one of the arguments
12887 of an @code{&} evaluates to @code{false}, there's no point in evaluating
12888 the rest of the arguments. This means that you should put slow matches
12889 (@samp{body}, @samp{header}) last and quick matches (@samp{from},
12890 @samp{subject}) first.
12892 The indirection arguments (@code{1-} and so on) will make their
12893 arguments work on previous generations of the thread. If you say
12904 Then that means "score on the from header of the grandparent of the
12905 current article". An indirection is quite fast, but it's better to say:
12911 ("subject" "Gnus")))
12918 (1- ("from" "Lars"))
12919 (1- ("subject" "Gnus")))
12924 @section Score Decays
12925 @cindex score decays
12928 You may find that your scores have a tendency to grow without
12929 bounds, especially if you're using adaptive scoring. If scores get too
12930 big, they lose all meaning---they simply max out and it's difficult to
12931 use them in any sensible way.
12933 @vindex gnus-decay-scores
12934 @findex gnus-decay-score
12935 @vindex gnus-score-decay-function
12936 Gnus provides a mechanism for decaying scores to help with this problem.
12937 When score files are loaded and @code{gnus-decay-scores} is
12938 non-@code{nil}, Gnus will run the score files through the decaying
12939 mechanism thereby lowering the scores of all non-permanent score rules.
12940 The decay itself if performed by the @code{gnus-score-decay-function}
12941 function, which is @code{gnus-decay-score} by default. Here's the
12942 definition of that function:
12945 (defun gnus-decay-score (score)
12946 "Decay SCORE according to `gnus-score-decay-constant' and `gnus-score-decay-scale'."
12949 (* (if (< score 0) 1 -1)
12951 (max gnus-score-decay-constant
12953 gnus-score-decay-scale)))))))
12956 @vindex gnus-score-decay-scale
12957 @vindex gnus-score-decay-constant
12958 @code{gnus-score-decay-constant} is 3 by default and
12959 @code{gnus-score-decay-scale} is 0.05. This should cause the following:
12963 Scores between -3 and 3 will be set to 0 when this function is called.
12966 Scores with magnitudes between 3 and 60 will be shrunk by 3.
12969 Scores with magnitudes greater than 60 will be shrunk by 5% of the
12973 If you don't like this decay function, write your own. It is called
12974 with the score to be decayed as its only parameter, and it should return
12975 the new score, which should be an integer.
12977 Gnus will try to decay scores once a day. If you haven't run Gnus for
12978 four days, Gnus will decay the scores four times, for instance.
12985 * Process/Prefix:: A convention used by many treatment commands.
12986 * Interactive:: Making Gnus ask you many questions.
12987 * Formatting Variables:: You can specify what buffers should look like.
12988 * Windows Configuration:: Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
12989 * Compilation:: How to speed Gnus up.
12990 * Mode Lines:: Displaying information in the mode lines.
12991 * Highlighting and Menus:: Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
12992 * Buttons:: Get tendonitis in ten easy steps!
12993 * Daemons:: Gnus can do things behind your back.
12994 * NoCeM:: How to avoid spam and other fatty foods.
12995 * Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
12996 * Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
12997 * XEmacs Enhancements:: There are more pictures and stuff under XEmacs.
12998 * Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
12999 * Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolited commercial email.
13000 * Various Various:: Things that are really various.
13004 @node Process/Prefix
13005 @section Process/Prefix
13006 @cindex process/prefix convention
13008 Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
13009 articles, use what is known as the @dfn{Process/Prefix convention}.
13011 This is a method for figuring out what articles the user wants the
13012 command to be performed on.
13016 If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
13017 articles, starting with the current one. If the numeric prefix is
13018 negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
13019 with the current one.
13021 @vindex transient-mark-mode
13022 If @code{transient-mark-mode} in non-@code{nil} and the region is
13023 active, all articles in the region will be worked upon.
13025 If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
13026 process mark, perform the operation on the articles marked with
13029 If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
13030 process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.
13032 Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
13035 Commands that react to the process mark will push the current list of
13036 process marked articles onto a stack and will then clear all process
13037 marked articles. You can restore the previous configuration with the
13038 @kbd{M P y} command (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
13040 @vindex gnus-summary-goto-unread
13041 One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
13042 instance, @kbd{3 d} does exactly the same as @kbd{d} @kbd{d} @kbd{d}.
13043 Since each @kbd{d} (which marks the current article as read) by default
13044 goes to the next unread article after marking, this means that @kbd{3 d}
13045 will mark the next three unread articles as read, no matter what the
13046 summary buffer looks like. Set @code{gnus-summary-goto-unread} to
13047 @code{nil} for a more straightforward action.
13051 @section Interactive
13052 @cindex interaction
13056 @item gnus-novice-user
13057 @vindex gnus-novice-user
13058 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you are either a newcomer to the
13059 World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing to be,
13060 really. You will be given questions of the type ``Are you sure you want
13061 to do this?'' before doing anything dangerous. This is @code{t} by
13064 @item gnus-expert-user
13065 @vindex gnus-expert-user
13066 If this variable is non-@code{nil}, you will never ever be asked any
13067 questions by Gnus. It will simply assume you know what you're doing, no
13068 matter how strange.
13070 @item gnus-interactive-catchup
13071 @vindex gnus-interactive-catchup
13072 Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-@code{nil}. It
13073 is @code{t} by default.
13075 @item gnus-interactive-exit
13076 @vindex gnus-interactive-exit
13077 Require confirmation before exiting Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
13082 @node Formatting Variables
13083 @section Formatting Variables
13084 @cindex formatting variables
13086 Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables called things like @code{gnus-group-line-format} and
13087 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format}. These control how Gnus is to
13088 output lines in the various buffers. There's quite a lot of them.
13089 Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
13092 Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): @samp{%M%S%5y:
13093 %(%g%)\n}. We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
13094 lots of percentages everywhere.
13097 * Formatting Basics:: A formatting variable is basically a format string.
13098 * Advanced Formatting:: Modifying output in various ways.
13099 * User-Defined Specs:: Having Gnus call your own functions.
13100 * Formatting Fonts:: Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
13103 Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
13104 @code{gnus-group-line-format}, @code{gnus-summary-line-format},
13105 @code{gnus-server-line-format}, @code{gnus-topic-line-format},
13106 @code{gnus-group-mode-line-format},
13107 @code{gnus-summary-mode-line-format},
13108 @code{gnus-article-mode-line-format},
13109 @code{gnus-server-mode-line-format}, and
13110 @code{gnus-summary-pick-line-format}.
13112 All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms. In that
13113 case, they will be @code{eval}ed to insert the required lines.
13115 @kindex M-x gnus-update-format
13116 @findex gnus-update-format
13117 Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
13118 specs. @kbd{M-x gnus-update-format} will @code{eval} the current form,
13119 update the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can
13120 examine the resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.
13124 @node Formatting Basics
13125 @subsection Formatting Basics
13127 Each @samp{%} element will be replaced by some string or other when the
13128 buffer in question is generated. @samp{%5y} means ``insert the @samp{y}
13129 spec, and pad with spaces to get a 5-character field''.
13131 As with normal C and Emacs Lisp formatting strings, the numerical
13132 modifier between the @samp{%} and the formatting type character will
13133 @dfn{pad} the output so that it is always at least that long.
13134 @samp{%5y} will make the field always (at least) five characters wide by
13135 padding with spaces to the left. If you say @samp{%-5y}, it will pad to
13138 You may also wish to limit the length of the field to protect against
13139 particularly wide values. For that you can say @samp{%4,6y}, which
13140 means that the field will never be more than 6 characters wide and never
13141 less than 4 characters wide.
13144 @node Advanced Formatting
13145 @subsection Advanced Formatting
13147 It is frequently useful to post-process the fields in some way.
13148 Padding, limiting, cutting off parts and suppressing certain values can
13149 be achieved by using @dfn{tilde modifiers}. A typical tilde spec might
13150 look like @samp{%~(cut 3)~(ignore "0")y}.
13152 These are the valid modifiers:
13157 Pad the field to the left with spaces until it reaches the required
13161 Pad the field to the right with spaces until it reaches the required
13166 Cut off characters from the left until it reaches the specified length.
13169 Cut off characters from the right until it reaches the specified
13174 Cut off the specified number of characters from the left.
13177 Cut off the specified number of characters from the right.
13180 Return an empty string if the field is equal to the specified value.
13183 Use the specified form as the field value when the @samp{@@} spec is
13187 Let's take an example. The @samp{%o} spec in the summary mode lines
13188 will return a date in compact ISO8601 format---@samp{19960809T230410}.
13189 This is quite a mouthful, so we want to shave off the century number and
13190 the time, leaving us with a six-character date. That would be
13191 @samp{%~(cut-left 2)~(max-right 6)~(pad 6)o}. (Cutting is done before
13192 maxing, and we need the padding to ensure that the date is never less
13193 than 6 characters to make it look nice in columns.)
13195 Ignoring is done first; then cutting; then maxing; and then as the very
13196 last operation, padding.
13198 If you use lots of these advanced thingies, you'll find that Gnus gets
13199 quite slow. This can be helped enormously by running @kbd{M-x
13200 gnus-compile} when you are satisfied with the look of your lines.
13201 @xref{Compilation}.
13204 @node User-Defined Specs
13205 @subsection User-Defined Specs
13207 All the specs allow for inserting user defined specifiers---@samp{u}.
13208 The next character in the format string should be a letter. Gnus
13209 will call the function @code{gnus-user-format-function-}@samp{X}, where
13210 @samp{X} is the letter following @samp{%u}. The function will be passed
13211 a single parameter---what the parameter means depends on what buffer
13212 it's being called from. The function should return a string, which will
13213 be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other
13214 specifier. This function may also be called with dummy values, so it
13215 should protect against that.
13217 You can also use tilde modifiers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting} to achieve
13218 much the same without defining new functions. Here's an example:
13219 @samp{%~(form (count-lines (point-min) (point)))@@}. The form
13220 given here will be evaluated to yield the current line number, and then
13224 @node Formatting Fonts
13225 @subsection Formatting Fonts
13227 There are specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all the format
13228 variables. Text inside the @samp{%(} and @samp{%)} specifiers will get
13229 the special @code{mouse-face} property set, which means that it will be
13230 highlighted (with @code{gnus-mouse-face}) when you put the mouse pointer
13233 Text inside the @samp{%[} and @samp{%]} specifiers will have their
13234 normal faces set using @code{gnus-face-0}, which is @code{bold} by
13235 default. If you say @samp{%1[}, you'll get @code{gnus-face-1} instead,
13236 and so on. Create as many faces as you wish. The same goes for the
13237 @code{mouse-face} specs---you can say @samp{%3(hello%)} to have
13238 @samp{hello} mouse-highlighted with @code{gnus-mouse-face-3}.
13240 Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:
13243 ;; Create three face types.
13244 (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
13245 (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
13247 ;; We want the article count to be in
13248 ;; a bold and green face. So we create
13249 ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
13250 (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
13252 (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
13253 (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
13255 ;; Set the new & fancy format.
13256 (setq gnus-group-line-format
13257 "%M%S%3@{%5y%@}%2[:%] %(%1@{%g%@}%)\n")
13260 I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally unreadable
13261 and extremely vulgar displays. Have fun!
13263 Note that the @samp{%(} specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
13264 mode-line variables.
13267 @node Windows Configuration
13268 @section Windows Configuration
13269 @cindex windows configuration
13271 No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.
13273 @vindex gnus-use-full-window
13274 If @code{gnus-use-full-window} non-@code{nil}, Gnus will delete all
13275 other windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself. It is
13276 @code{t} by default.
13278 @vindex gnus-buffer-configuration
13279 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} describes how much space each Gnus
13280 buffer should be given. Here's an excerpt of this variable:
13283 ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
13284 (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
13285 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13289 This is an alist. The @dfn{key} is a symbol that names some action or
13290 other. For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
13291 configuration function will use @code{group} as the key. A full list of
13292 possible names is listed below.
13294 The @dfn{value} (i.e., the @dfn{split}) says how much space each buffer
13295 should occupy. To take the @code{article} split as an example -
13298 (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
13302 This @dfn{split} says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
13303 half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer. As
13304 you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
13305 reaching for that calculator there). However, the special number
13306 @code{1.0} is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the
13307 rest of the space available after the rest of the buffers have taken
13308 whatever they need. There should be only one buffer with the @code{1.0}
13309 size spec per split.
13311 Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
13314 Here's a more complicated example:
13317 (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
13318 (summary 0.25 point)
13319 (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
13323 If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
13324 then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
13325 occupy, not a percentage.
13327 If the @dfn{split} looks like something that can be @code{eval}ed (to be
13328 precise---if the @code{car} of the split is a function or a subr), this
13329 split will be @code{eval}ed. If the result is non-@code{nil}, it will
13330 be used as a split. This means that there will be three buffers if
13331 @code{gnus-carpal} is @code{nil}, and four buffers if @code{gnus-carpal}
13334 Not complicated enough for you? Well, try this on for size:
13337 (article (horizontal 1.0
13342 (summary 0.25 point)
13347 Whoops. Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag. And what's that
13348 @code{horizontal} thingie?
13350 If the first element in one of the split is @code{horizontal}, Gnus will
13351 split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
13352 Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
13353 fashion. The number following @code{horizontal} says what percentage of
13354 the screen is to be given to this strip.
13356 For each split, there @emph{must} be one element that has the 100% tag.
13357 The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
13358 lines from the splits.
13360 To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a valid split
13364 split = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
13365 frame = "(frame " size *split ")"
13366 horizontal = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
13367 vertical = "(vertical " size *split ")"
13368 buffer = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
13369 size = number | frame-params
13370 buffer-name = group | article | summary ...
13373 The limitations are that the @code{frame} split can only appear as the
13374 top-level split. @var{form} should be an Emacs Lisp form that should
13375 return a valid split. We see that each split is fully recursive, and
13376 may contain any number of @code{vertical} and @code{horizontal} splits.
13378 @vindex gnus-window-min-width
13379 @vindex gnus-window-min-height
13380 @cindex window height
13381 @cindex window width
13382 Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated. No window may be less
13383 than @code{gnus-window-min-height} (default 1) characters high, and all
13384 windows must be at least @code{gnus-window-min-width} (default 1)
13385 characters wide. Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the
13386 splits. If you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit,
13387 you can just set these two variables to @code{nil}.
13389 If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, @code{horizontal} and
13390 @code{vertical} splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
13391 Windows inside a @code{horizontal} split are shown side-by-side, and
13392 windows within a @code{vertical} split are shown above each other.
13394 @findex gnus-configure-frame
13395 If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to call
13396 @code{gnus-configure-frame} directly with a split. This is the function
13397 that does all the real work when splitting buffers. Below is a pretty
13398 nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
13399 three for the article buffer. (I said it was nonsensical.) If you
13400 @code{eval} the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would
13401 look straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.
13402 Play with it until you're satisfied, and then use
13403 @code{gnus-add-configuration} to add your new creation to the buffer
13404 configuration list.
13407 (gnus-configure-frame
13411 (article 0.3 point))
13419 You might want to have several frames as well. No prob---just use the
13420 @code{frame} split:
13423 (gnus-configure-frame
13426 (summary 0.25 point)
13428 (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
13429 (user-position . t)
13430 (left . -1) (top . 1))
13435 This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
13436 configuration in the first (or ``main'') frame, while a small additional
13437 frame will be created where picons will be shown. As you can see,
13438 instead of the normal @code{1.0} top-level spec, each additional split
13439 should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.
13440 @xref{Frame Parameters, , Frame Parameters, elisp, The GNU Emacs Lisp
13441 Reference Manual}. Under XEmacs, a frame property list will be
13442 accepted, too---for instance, @code{(height 5 width 15 left -1 top 1)}
13445 Here's a list of all possible keys for
13446 @code{gnus-buffer-configuration}:
13448 @code{group}, @code{summary}, @code{article}, @code{server},
13449 @code{browse}, @code{message}, @code{pick}, @code{info},
13450 @code{summary-faq}, @code{edit-group}, @code{edit-server},
13451 @code{edit-score}, @code{post}, @code{reply}, @code{forward},
13452 @code{reply-yank}, @code{mail-bounce}, @code{draft}, @code{pipe},
13453 @code{bug}, @code{compose-bounce}, and @code{score-trace}.
13455 Note that the @code{message} key is used for both
13456 @code{gnus-group-mail} and @code{gnus-summary-mail-other-window}. If
13457 it is desirable to distinguish between the two, something like this
13461 (message (horizontal 1.0
13462 (vertical 1.0 (message 1.0 point))
13464 (if (buffer-live-p gnus-summary-buffer)
13469 @findex gnus-add-configuration
13470 Since the @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} variable is so long and
13471 complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
13472 of a single setting: @code{gnus-add-configuration}. If, for instance,
13473 you want to change the @code{article} setting, you could say:
13476 (gnus-add-configuration
13477 '(article (vertical 1.0
13479 (summary .25 point)
13483 You'd typically stick these @code{gnus-add-configuration} calls in your
13484 @file{.gnus.el} file or in some startup hook---they should be run after
13485 Gnus has been loaded.
13487 @vindex gnus-always-force-window-configuration
13488 If all windows mentioned in the configuration are already visible, Gnus
13489 won't change the window configuration. If you always want to force the
13490 ``right'' window configuration, you can set
13491 @code{gnus-always-force-window-configuration} to non-@code{nil}.
13495 @section Compilation
13496 @cindex compilation
13497 @cindex byte-compilation
13499 @findex gnus-compile
13501 Remember all those line format specification variables?
13502 @code{gnus-summary-line-format}, @code{gnus-group-line-format}, and so
13503 on. Now, Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
13504 unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
13505 (The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
13506 associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
13509 To help with this, you can run @kbd{M-x gnus-compile} after you've
13510 fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
13511 satisfied. This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
13512 you'll get top speed again. Gnus will save these compiled specs in the
13513 @file{.newsrc.eld} file. (User-defined functions aren't compiled by
13514 this function, though---you should compile them yourself by sticking
13515 them into the @code{.gnus.el} file and byte-compiling that file.)
13519 @section Mode Lines
13522 @vindex gnus-updated-mode-lines
13523 @code{gnus-updated-mode-lines} says what buffers should keep their mode
13524 lines updated. It is a list of symbols. Supported symbols include
13525 @code{group}, @code{article}, @code{summary}, @code{server},
13526 @code{browse}, and @code{tree}. If the corresponding symbol is present,
13527 Gnus will keep that mode line updated with information that may be
13528 pertinent. If this variable is @code{nil}, screen refresh may be
13531 @cindex display-time
13533 @vindex gnus-mode-non-string-length
13534 By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the mode
13535 lines of the summary and article buffers. The information Gnus wishes
13536 to display (e.g. the subject of the article) is often longer than the
13537 mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point. The
13538 @code{gnus-mode-non-string-length} variable says how long the other
13539 elements on the line is (i.e., the non-info part). If you put
13540 additional elements on the mode line (e.g. a clock), you should modify
13543 @c Hook written by Francesco Potorti` <pot@cnuce.cnr.it>
13545 (add-hook 'display-time-hook
13546 (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
13548 (if line-number-mode 5 0)
13549 (if column-number-mode 4 0)
13550 (length display-time-string)))))
13553 If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the default), the mode line
13554 strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either. Note
13555 that the default is unlikely to be desirable, as even the percentage
13556 complete in the buffer may be crowded off the mode line; the user should
13557 configure this variable appropriately for her configuration.
13560 @node Highlighting and Menus
13561 @section Highlighting and Menus
13563 @cindex highlighting
13566 @vindex gnus-visual
13567 The @code{gnus-visual} variable controls most of the Gnus-prettifying
13568 aspects. If @code{nil}, Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
13569 colors or fonts. This will also inhibit loading the @file{gnus-vis.el}
13572 This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled. The
13573 following elements are valid, and are all included by default:
13576 @item group-highlight
13577 Do highlights in the group buffer.
13578 @item summary-highlight
13579 Do highlights in the summary buffer.
13580 @item article-highlight
13581 Do highlights in the article buffer.
13583 Turn on highlighting in all buffers.
13585 Create menus in the group buffer.
13587 Create menus in the summary buffers.
13589 Create menus in the article buffer.
13591 Create menus in the browse buffer.
13593 Create menus in the server buffer.
13595 Create menus in the score buffers.
13597 Create menus in all buffers.
13600 So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in all
13601 buffers, you could say something like:
13604 (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))
13607 If you want highlighting only and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:
13610 (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))
13613 If @code{gnus-visual} is @code{t}, highlighting and menus will be used
13614 in all Gnus buffers.
13616 Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers include:
13619 @item gnus-mouse-face
13620 @vindex gnus-mouse-face
13621 This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus. No
13622 mouse highlights will be done if @code{gnus-visual} is @code{nil}.
13626 There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different menus:
13630 @item gnus-article-menu-hook
13631 @vindex gnus-article-menu-hook
13632 Hook called after creating the article mode menu.
13634 @item gnus-group-menu-hook
13635 @vindex gnus-group-menu-hook
13636 Hook called after creating the group mode menu.
13638 @item gnus-summary-menu-hook
13639 @vindex gnus-summary-menu-hook
13640 Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.
13642 @item gnus-server-menu-hook
13643 @vindex gnus-server-menu-hook
13644 Hook called after creating the server mode menu.
13646 @item gnus-browse-menu-hook
13647 @vindex gnus-browse-menu-hook
13648 Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.
13650 @item gnus-score-menu-hook
13651 @vindex gnus-score-menu-hook
13652 Hook called after creating the score mode menu.
13663 Those new-fangled @dfn{mouse} contraptions is very popular with the
13664 young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
13665 these days. Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
13666 using Emacs on a Tops 20 system. Three hundred users on one single
13667 machine, and every user was running Simula compilers. Bah!
13671 @vindex gnus-carpal
13672 Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click to
13673 do anything by setting @code{gnus-carpal} to @code{t}. Pretty simple,
13674 really. Tell the chiropractor I sent you.
13679 @item gnus-carpal-mode-hook
13680 @vindex gnus-carpal-mode-hook
13681 Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.
13683 @item gnus-carpal-button-face
13684 @vindex gnus-carpal-button-face
13685 Face used on buttons.
13687 @item gnus-carpal-header-face
13688 @vindex gnus-carpal-header-face
13689 Face used on carpal buffer headers.
13691 @item gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
13692 @vindex gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons
13693 Buttons in the group buffer.
13695 @item gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
13696 @vindex gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons
13697 Buttons in the summary buffer.
13699 @item gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
13700 @vindex gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons
13701 Buttons in the server buffer.
13703 @item gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
13704 @vindex gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons
13705 Buttons in the browse buffer.
13708 All the @code{buttons} variables are lists. The elements in these list
13709 are either cons cells where the @code{car} contains a text to be displayed and
13710 the @code{cdr} contains a function symbol, or a simple string.
13718 Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does lots
13719 of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
13720 present. For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
13721 while. Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
13722 when you leave Emacs idle. And stuff like that.
13724 Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various
13725 @dfn{handlers}. Each handler consists of three elements: A
13726 @var{function}, a @var{time}, and an @var{idle} parameter.
13728 Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
13729 been idle for thirty minutes:
13732 (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)
13735 Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
13739 (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)
13742 This @var{time} parameter and than @var{idle} parameter work together
13743 in a strange, but wonderful fashion. Basically, if @var{idle} is
13744 @code{nil}, then the function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
13746 If @var{idle} is @code{t}, then the function will be called after
13747 @var{time} minutes only if Emacs is idle. So if Emacs is never idle,
13748 the function will never be called. But once Emacs goes idle, the
13749 function will be called every @var{time} minutes.
13751 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is a number, the function will
13752 be called every @var{time} minutes only when Emacs has been idle for
13753 @var{idle} minutes.
13755 If @var{idle} is a number and @var{time} is @code{nil}, the function
13756 will be called once every time Emacs has been idle for @var{idle}
13759 And if @var{time} is a string, it should look like @samp{07:31}, and
13760 the function will then be called once every day somewhere near that
13761 time. Modified by the @var{idle} parameter, of course.
13763 @vindex gnus-demon-timestep
13764 (When I say ``minute'' here, I really mean @code{gnus-demon-timestep}
13765 seconds. This is 60 by default. If you change that variable,
13766 all the timings in the handlers will be affected.)
13768 @vindex gnus-use-demon
13769 To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
13770 @code{gnus-use-demon} to @code{t}.
13772 So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this in
13773 your @file{.gnus} file:
13775 @findex gnus-demon-add-handler
13777 (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections 30 t)
13780 @findex gnus-demon-add-nocem
13781 @findex gnus-demon-add-scanmail
13782 @findex gnus-demon-add-rescan
13783 @findex gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps
13784 @findex gnus-demon-add-disconnection
13785 Some ready-made functions to do this have been created:
13786 @code{gnus-demon-add-nocem}, @code{gnus-demon-add-disconnection},
13787 @code{gnus-demon-add-scan-timestamps}, @code{gnus-demon-add-rescan}, and
13788 @code{gnus-demon-add-scanmail}. Just put those functions in your
13789 @file{.gnus} if you want those abilities.
13791 @findex gnus-demon-init
13792 @findex gnus-demon-cancel
13793 @vindex gnus-demon-handlers
13794 If you add handlers to @code{gnus-demon-handlers} directly, you should
13795 run @code{gnus-demon-init} to make the changes take hold. To cancel all
13796 daemons, you can use the @code{gnus-demon-cancel} function.
13798 Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it. Adding
13799 functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two seconds
13800 is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable system. So
13809 @dfn{Spamming} is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
13810 Spamming is bad. Spamming is evil.
13812 Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various anti-spamming
13813 agencies. These agencies usually also send out @dfn{NoCeM} messages.
13814 NoCeM is pronounced ``no see-'em'', and means what the name
13815 implies---these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
13818 What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled anyway?
13819 Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just honor cancels
13820 from a select few people. Then you may wish to make use of the NoCeM
13821 messages, which are distributed in the @samp{alt.nocem.misc} newsgroup.
13823 Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
13824 this will make spam disappear.
13826 There are some variables to customize, of course:
13829 @item gnus-use-nocem
13830 @vindex gnus-use-nocem
13831 Set this variable to @code{t} to set the ball rolling. It is @code{nil}
13834 @item gnus-nocem-groups
13835 @vindex gnus-nocem-groups
13836 Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list. The
13837 default is @code{("news.lists.filters" "news.admin.net-abuse.bulletins"
13838 "alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")}.
13840 @item gnus-nocem-issuers
13841 @vindex gnus-nocem-issuers
13842 There are many people issuing NoCeM messages. This list says what
13843 people you want to listen to. The default is @code{("Automoose-1"
13844 "clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;" "jem@@xpat.com;" "red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us
13845 (Richard E. Depew)")}; fine, upstanding citizens all of them.
13847 Known despammers that you can put in this list include:
13850 @item clewis@@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;
13851 @cindex Chris Lewis
13852 Chris Lewis---Major Canadian despammer who has probably canceled more
13853 usenet abuse than anybody else.
13856 @cindex CancelMoose[tm]
13857 The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot. The CancelMoose[tm] is reputed to be
13858 Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented NoCeM.
13860 @item jem@@xpat.com;
13862 John Milburn---despammer located in Korea who is getting very busy these
13865 @item red@@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)
13866 Richard E. Depew---lone American despammer. He mostly cancels binary
13867 postings to non-binary groups and removes spews (regurgitated articles).
13870 You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people---just the
13871 ones you want to listen to.
13873 @item gnus-nocem-verifyer
13874 @vindex gnus-nocem-verifyer
13876 This should be a function for verifying that the NoCeM issuer is who she
13877 says she is. The default is @code{mc-verify}, which is a Mailcrypt
13878 function. If this is too slow and you don't care for verification
13879 (which may be dangerous), you can set this variable to @code{nil}.
13881 If you want signed NoCeM messages to be verified and unsigned messages
13882 not to be verified (but used anyway), you could do something like:
13885 (setq gnus-nocem-verifyer 'my-gnus-mc-verify)
13887 (defun my-gnus-mc-verify ()
13895 This might be dangerous, though.
13897 @item gnus-nocem-directory
13898 @vindex gnus-nocem-directory
13899 This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files. The default is
13900 @file{~/News/NoCeM/}.
13902 @item gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
13903 @vindex gnus-nocem-expiry-wait
13904 The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the cache.
13905 The default is 15. If you make it shorter Gnus will be faster, but you
13906 might then see old spam.
13910 Using NoCeM could potentially be a memory hog. If you have many living
13911 (i. e., subscribed or unsubscribed groups), your Emacs process will grow
13912 big. If this is a problem, you should kill off all (or most) of your
13913 unsubscribed groups (@pxref{Subscription Commands}).
13920 It is very useful to be able to undo actions one has done. In normal
13921 Emacs buffers, it's easy enough---you just push the @code{undo} button.
13922 In Gnus buffers, however, it isn't that simple.
13924 The things Gnus displays in its buffer is of no value whatsoever to
13925 Gnus---it's all just data designed to look nice to the user.
13926 Killing a group in the group buffer with @kbd{C-k} makes the line
13927 disappear, but that's just a side-effect of the real action---the
13928 removal of the group in question from the internal Gnus structures.
13929 Undoing something like that can't be done by the normal Emacs
13930 @code{undo} function.
13932 Gnus tries to remedy this somewhat by keeping track of what the user
13933 does and coming up with actions that would reverse the actions the user
13934 takes. When the user then presses the @code{undo} key, Gnus will run
13935 the code to reverse the previous action, or the previous actions.
13936 However, not all actions are easily reversible, so Gnus currently offers
13937 a few key functions to be undoable. These include killing groups,
13938 yanking groups, and changing the list of read articles of groups.
13939 That's it, really. More functions may be added in the future, but each
13940 added function means an increase in data to be stored, so Gnus will
13941 never be totally undoable.
13943 @findex gnus-undo-mode
13944 @vindex gnus-use-undo
13946 The undoability is provided by the @code{gnus-undo-mode} minor mode. It
13947 is used if @code{gnus-use-undo} is non-@code{nil}, which is the
13948 default. The @kbd{M-C-_} key performs the @code{gnus-undo} command
13949 command, which should feel kinda like the normal Emacs @code{undo}
13954 @section Moderation
13957 If you are a moderator, you can use the @file{gnus-mdrtn.el} package.
13958 It is not included in the standard Gnus package. Write a mail to
13959 @samp{larsi@@gnus.org} and state what group you moderate, and you'll
13962 The moderation package is implemented as a minor mode for summary
13966 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-moderate)
13969 in your @file{.gnus.el} file.
13971 If you are the moderator of @samp{rec.zoofle}, this is how it's
13976 You split your incoming mail by matching on
13977 @samp{Newsgroups:.*rec.zoofle}, which will put all the to-be-posted
13978 articles in some mail group---for instance, @samp{nnml:rec.zoofle}.
13981 You enter that group once in a while and post articles using the @kbd{e}
13982 (edit-and-post) or @kbd{s} (just send unedited) commands.
13985 If, while reading the @samp{rec.zoofle} newsgroup, you happen upon some
13986 articles that weren't approved by you, you can cancel them with the
13990 To use moderation mode in these two groups, say:
13993 (setq gnus-moderated-list
13994 "^nnml:rec.zoofle$\\|^rec.zoofle$")
13998 @node XEmacs Enhancements
13999 @section XEmacs Enhancements
14002 XEmacs is able to display pictures and stuff, so Gnus has taken
14006 * Picons:: How to display pictures of what your reading.
14007 * Smileys:: Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
14008 * Toolbar:: Click'n'drool.
14009 * XVarious:: Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
14018 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-att.ps}
14019 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-berkeley.ps}
14020 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-caltech.ps}
14021 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-canada.ps}
14022 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-cr.ps}
14023 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-cygnus.ps}
14024 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-gov.ps}
14025 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-mit.ps}
14026 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-nasa.ps}
14027 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-qmw.ps}
14028 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-rms.ps}
14029 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-ruu.ps}
14033 So... You want to slow down your news reader even more! This is a
14034 good way to do so. Its also a great way to impress people staring
14035 over your shoulder as you read news.
14038 * Picon Basics:: What are picons and How do I get them.
14039 * Picon Requirements:: Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
14040 * Easy Picons:: Displaying Picons---the easy way.
14041 * Hard Picons:: The way you should do it. You'll learn something.
14042 * Picon Configuration:: Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.
14047 @subsubsection Picon Basics
14049 What are Picons? To quote directly from the Picons Web site:
14052 @dfn{Picons} is short for ``personal icons''. They're small,
14053 constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
14054 organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
14055 e-mail address can be found. Besides users and domains, there are picon
14056 databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts. The picons are
14057 in either monochrome @code{XBM} format or color @code{XPM} and
14058 @code{GIF} formats.
14061 For instructions on obtaining and installing the picons databases, point
14062 your Web browser at
14063 @file{http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html}.
14065 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14066 Gnus expects picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
14067 @code{gnus-picons-database}.
14070 @node Picon Requirements
14071 @subsubsection Picon Requirements
14073 To have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
14074 19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
14077 Additionally, you must have @code{xpm} support compiled into XEmacs.
14079 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14080 If you want to display faces from @code{X-Face} headers, you must have
14081 the @code{netpbm} utilities installed, or munge the
14082 @code{gnus-picons-convert-x-face} variable to use something else.
14086 @subsubsection Easy Picons
14088 To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
14089 @file{~/.gnus} file and start Gnus.
14092 (setq gnus-use-picons t)
14093 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14094 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-prepare-hook 'gnus-group-display-picons t)
14095 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)
14100 @subsubsection Hard Picons
14102 Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
14103 articles. It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
14104 database. Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
14105 author's face picture(s), and the authors domain. To enable this
14106 feature, you need to first decide where to display them.
14110 @item gnus-picons-display-where
14111 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14112 Where the picon images should be displayed. It is @code{picons} by
14113 default (which by default maps to the buffer @samp{*Picons*}). Other
14114 valid places could be @code{article}, @code{summary}, or
14115 @samp{*scratch*} for all I care. Just make sure that you've made the
14116 buffer visible using the standard Gnus window configuration
14117 routines---@pxref{Windows Configuration}.
14123 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-seuu.ps}
14124 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-stanford.ps}
14125 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-sun.ps}
14126 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-ubc.ps}
14127 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-ufl.ps}
14128 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-uio.ps}
14129 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-unit.ps}
14130 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-upenn.ps}
14131 \gnuspicon{tmp/picons-wesleyan.ps}
14135 Note: If you set @code{gnus-use-picons} to @code{t}, it will set up your
14136 window configuration for you to include the @code{picons} buffer.
14138 Now that you've made that decision, you need to add the following
14139 functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get
14140 displayed at the right time.
14142 @vindex gnus-article-display-hook
14143 @vindex gnus-picons-display-where
14145 @item gnus-article-display-picons
14146 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14147 Looks up and displays the picons for the author and the author's domain
14148 in the @code{gnus-picons-display-where} buffer. Should be added to the
14149 @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14151 @item gnus-group-display-picons
14152 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14153 Displays picons representing the current group. This function should
14154 be added to the @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook} or to the
14155 @code{gnus-article-display-hook} if @code{gnus-picons-display-where}
14156 is set to @code{article}.
14158 @item gnus-picons-article-display-x-face
14159 @findex gnus-article-display-picons
14160 Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present. This function
14161 should be added to @code{gnus-article-display-hook}.
14165 Note: You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
14166 for the append flag of @code{add-hook}:
14169 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
14173 @node Picon Configuration
14174 @subsubsection Picon Configuration
14176 The following variables offer further control over how things are
14177 done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
14178 don't need to worry about.
14181 @item gnus-picons-database
14182 @vindex gnus-picons-database
14183 The location of the picons database. Should point to a directory
14184 containing the @file{news}, @file{domains}, @file{users} (and so on)
14185 subdirectories. Defaults to @file{/usr/local/faces}.
14187 @item gnus-picons-news-directory
14188 @vindex gnus-picons-news-directory
14189 Sub-directory of the faces database containing the icons for
14192 @item gnus-picons-user-directories
14193 @vindex gnus-picons-user-directories
14194 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for user
14195 faces. @code{("local" "users" "usenix" "misc")} is the default.
14197 @item gnus-picons-domain-directories
14198 @vindex gnus-picons-domain-directories
14199 List of subdirectories to search in @code{gnus-picons-database} for
14200 domain name faces. Defaults to @code{("domains")}. Some people may
14201 want to add @samp{unknown} to this list.
14203 @item gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14204 @vindex gnus-picons-convert-x-face
14205 The command to use to convert the @code{X-Face} header to an X bitmap
14206 (@code{xbm}). Defaults to @code{(format "@{ echo '/* Width=48,
14207 Height=48 */'; uncompface; @} | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
14208 gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)}
14210 @item gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14211 @vindex gnus-picons-x-face-file-name
14212 Names a temporary file to store the @code{X-Face} bitmap in. Defaults
14213 to @code{(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))}.
14215 @item gnus-picons-buffer
14216 @vindex gnus-picons-buffer
14217 The name of the buffer that @code{picons} points to. Defaults to
14218 @samp{*Icon Buffer*}.
14223 @subsection Smileys
14226 @dfn{Smiley} is a package separate from Gnus, but since Gnus is
14227 currently the only package that uses Smiley, it is documented here.
14229 In short---to use Smiley in Gnus, put the following in your
14230 @file{.gnus.el} file:
14233 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-smiley-display t)
14236 Smiley maps text smiley faces---@samp{:-)}, @samp{:-=}, @samp{:-(} and
14237 the like---to pictures and displays those instead of the text smiley
14238 faces. The conversion is controlled by a list of regexps that matches
14239 text and maps that to file names.
14241 @vindex smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
14242 @vindex smiley-deformed-regexp-alist
14243 Smiley supplies two example conversion alists by default:
14244 @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist} (which matches @samp{:)}, @samp{:(}
14245 and so on), and @code{smiley-nosey-regexp-alist} (which matches
14246 @samp{:-)}, @samp{:-(} and so on).
14248 The alist used is specified by the @code{smiley-regexp-alist} variable,
14249 which defaults to the value of @code{smiley-deformed-regexp-alist}.
14251 Here's the default value of @code{smiley-smiley-regexp-alist}:
14254 (setq smiley-nosey-regexp-alist
14255 '(("\\(:-+[<«]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceAngry.xpm")
14256 ("\\(:-+\\]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceGoofy.xpm")
14257 ("\\(:-+D\\)\\W" 1 "FaceGrinning.xpm")
14258 ("\\(:-+[@}»]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceHappy.xpm")
14259 ("\\(:-*)+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceHappy.xpm")
14260 ("\\(:-+[/\\\"]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceIronic.xpm")
14261 ("\\([8|]-+[|Oo%]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceKOed.xpm")
14262 ("\\([:|]-+#+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceNyah.xpm")
14263 ("\\(:-+[(@{]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceSad.xpm")
14264 ("\\(:-+[Oo\*]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceStartled.xpm")
14265 ("\\(:-+|\\)\\W" 1 "FaceStraight.xpm")
14266 ("\\(:-+p\\)\\W" 1 "FaceTalking.xpm")
14267 ("\\(:-+d\\)\\W" 1 "FaceTasty.xpm")
14268 ("\\(;-+[>)@}»]+\\)\\W" 1 "FaceWinking.xpm")
14269 ("\\(:-+[Vvµ]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceWry.xpm")
14270 ("\\(][:8B]-[)>]\\)\\W" 1 "FaceDevilish.xpm")
14271 ("\\([:|]-+P\\)\\W" 1 "FaceYukky.xpm")))
14274 The first item in each element is the regexp to be matched; the second
14275 element is the regexp match group that is to be replaced by the picture;
14276 and the third element is the name of the file to be displayed.
14278 The following variables customize where Smiley will look for these
14279 files, as well as the color to be used and stuff:
14283 @item smiley-data-directory
14284 @vindex smiley-data-directory
14285 Where Smiley will look for smiley faces files.
14287 @item smiley-flesh-color
14288 @vindex smiley-flesh-color
14289 Skin color. The default is @samp{yellow}, which is really racist.
14291 @item smiley-features-color
14292 @vindex smiley-features-color
14293 Color of the features of the face. The default is @samp{black}.
14295 @item smiley-tongue-color
14296 @vindex smiley-tongue-color
14297 Color of the tongue. The default is @samp{red}.
14299 @item smiley-circle-color
14300 @vindex smiley-circle-color
14301 Color of the circle around the face. The default is @samp{black}.
14303 @item smiley-mouse-face
14304 @vindex smiley-mouse-face
14305 Face used for mouse highlighting over the smiley face.
14311 @subsection Toolbar
14315 @item gnus-use-toolbar
14316 @vindex gnus-use-toolbar
14317 If @code{nil}, don't display toolbars. If non-@code{nil}, it should be
14318 one of @code{default-toolbar}, @code{top-toolbar}, @code{bottom-toolbar},
14319 @code{right-toolbar}, or @code{left-toolbar}.
14321 @item gnus-group-toolbar
14322 @vindex gnus-group-toolbar
14323 The toolbar in the group buffer.
14325 @item gnus-summary-toolbar
14326 @vindex gnus-summary-toolbar
14327 The toolbar in the summary buffer.
14329 @item gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
14330 @vindex gnus-summary-mail-toolbar
14331 The toolbar in the summary buffer of mail groups.
14337 @subsection Various XEmacs Variables
14340 @item gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
14341 @vindex gnus-xmas-glyph-directory
14342 This is where Gnus will look for pictures. Gnus will normally
14343 auto-detect this directory, but you may set it manually if you have an
14344 unusual directory structure.
14346 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
14347 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-alist
14348 This is an alist where the key is a type symbol and the values are the
14349 foreground and background color of the splash page glyph.
14351 @item gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
14352 @vindex gnus-xmas-logo-color-style
14353 This is the key used to look up the color in the alist described above.
14354 Legal values include @code{flame}, @code{pine}, @code{moss},
14355 @code{irish}, @code{sky}, @code{tin}, @code{velvet}, @code{grape},
14356 @code{labia}, @code{berry}, @code{neutral}, and @code{september}.
14358 @item gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
14359 @vindex gnus-xmas-modeline-glyph
14360 A glyph displayed in all Gnus mode lines. It is a tiny gnu head by
14368 @node Fuzzy Matching
14369 @section Fuzzy Matching
14370 @cindex fuzzy matching
14372 Gnus provides @dfn{fuzzy matching} of @code{Subject} lines when doing
14373 things like scoring, thread gathering and thread comparison.
14375 As opposed to regular expression matching, fuzzy matching is very fuzzy.
14376 It's so fuzzy that there's not even a definition of what @dfn{fuzziness}
14377 means, and the implementation has changed over time.
14379 Basically, it tries to remove all noise from lines before comparing.
14380 @samp{Re: }, parenthetical remarks, white space, and so on, are filtered
14381 out of the strings before comparing the results. This often leads to
14382 adequate results---even when faced with strings generated by text
14383 manglers masquerading as newsreaders.
14386 @node Thwarting Email Spam
14387 @section Thwarting Email Spam
14391 @cindex unsolicited commercial email
14393 In these last days of the Usenet, commercial vultures are hanging about
14394 and grepping through news like crazy to find email addresses they can
14395 foist off their scams and products to. As a reaction to this, many
14396 people have started putting nonsense addresses into their @code{From}
14397 lines. I think this is counterproductive---it makes it difficult for
14398 people to send you legitimate mail in response to things you write, as
14399 well as making it difficult to see who wrote what. This rewriting may
14400 perhaps be a bigger menace than the unsolicited commercial email itself
14403 The biggest problem I have with email spam is that it comes in under
14404 false pretenses. I press @kbd{g} and Gnus merrily informs me that I
14405 have 10 new emails. I say ``Golly gee! Happy is me!'' and select the
14406 mail group, only to find two pyramid schemes, seven advertisements
14407 (``New! Miracle tonic for growing full, lustrouos hair on your toes!'')
14408 and one mail asking me to repent and find some god.
14412 The way to deal with this is having Gnus split out all spam into a
14413 @samp{spam} mail group (@pxref{Splitting Mail}).
14415 First, pick one (1) valid mail address that you can be reached at, and
14416 put it in your @code{From} header of all your news articles. (I've
14417 chosen @samp{larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no}, but for many addresses on the form
14418 @samp{larsi+usenet@@ifi.uio.no} will be a better choice. Ask your
14419 sysadm whether your sendmail installation accepts keywords in the local
14420 part of the mail address.)
14423 (setq message-default-news-headers
14424 "From: Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no>\n")
14427 Then put the following split rule in @code{nnmail-split-fancy}
14428 (@pxref{Fancy Mail Splitting}):
14433 (to "larsi@@trym.ifi.uio.no"
14434 (| ("subject" "re:.*" "misc")
14435 ("references" ".*@@.*" "misc")
14441 This says that all mail to this address is suspect, but if it has a
14442 @code{Subject} that starts with a @samp{Re:} or has a @code{References}
14443 header, it's probably ok. All the rest goes to the @samp{spam} group.
14444 (This idea probably comes from Tim Pierce.)
14446 In addition, many mail spammers talk directly to your @code{smtp} server
14447 and do not include your email address explicitly in the @code{To}
14448 header. Why they do this is unknown---perhaps it's to thwart this
14449 twarting scheme? In any case, this is trivial to deal with---you just
14450 put anything not addressed to you in the @samp{spam} group by ending
14451 your fancy split rule in this way:
14456 (to "larsi" "misc")
14460 In my experience, this will sort virtually everything into the right
14461 group. You still have to check the @samp{spam} group from time to time to
14462 check for legitimate mail, though. If you feel like being a good net
14463 citizen, you can even send off complaints to the proper authorities on
14464 each unsolicited commercial email---at your leisure.
14466 If you are also a lazy net citizen, you will probably prefer complaining
14467 automatically with the @file{gnus-junk.el} package, availiable FOR FREE
14468 at @file{<URL:http://stud2.tuwien.ac.at/~e9426626/gnus-junk.html>}.
14469 Since most e-mail spam is sent automatically, this may reconcile the
14470 cosmic balance somewhat.
14472 This works for me. It allows people an easy way to contact me (they can
14473 just press @kbd{r} in the usual way), and I'm not bothered at all with
14474 spam. It's a win-win situation. Forging @code{From} headers to point
14475 to non-existant domains is yucky, in my opinion.
14478 @node Various Various
14479 @section Various Various
14485 @item gnus-home-directory
14486 All Gnus path variables will be initialized from this variable, which
14487 defaults to @file{~/}.
14489 @item gnus-directory
14490 @vindex gnus-directory
14491 Most Gnus storage path variables will be initialized from this variable,
14492 which defaults to the @samp{SAVEDIR} environment variable, or
14493 @file{~/News/} if that variable isn't set.
14495 @item gnus-default-directory
14496 @vindex gnus-default-directory
14497 Not related to the above variable at all---this variable says what the
14498 default directory of all Gnus buffers should be. If you issue commands
14499 like @kbd{C-x C-f}, the prompt you'll get starts in the current buffer's
14500 default directory. If this variable is @code{nil} (which is the
14501 default), the default directory will be the default directory of the
14502 buffer you were in when you started Gnus.
14505 @vindex gnus-verbose
14506 This variable is an integer between zero and ten. The higher the value,
14507 the more messages will be displayed. If this variable is zero, Gnus
14508 will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is the default),
14509 most important messages will be shown, and if it is ten, Gnus won't ever
14510 shut up, but will flash so many messages it will make your head swim.
14512 @item gnus-verbose-backends
14513 @vindex gnus-verbose-backends
14514 This variable works the same way as @code{gnus-verbose}, but it applies
14515 to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.
14517 @item nnheader-max-head-length
14518 @vindex nnheader-max-head-length
14519 When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to read
14520 as little as possible. This variable (default 4096) specifies
14521 the absolute max length the backends will try to read before giving up
14522 on finding a separator line between the head and the body. If this
14523 variable is @code{nil}, there is no upper read bound. If it is
14524 @code{t}, the backends won't try to read the articles piece by piece,
14525 but read the entire articles. This makes sense with some versions of
14526 @code{ange-ftp} or @code{efs}.
14528 @item nnheader-head-chop-length
14529 @vindex nnheader-head-chop-length
14530 This variable (default 2048) says how big a piece of each article to
14531 read when doing the operation described above.
14533 @item nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
14534 @vindex nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
14536 @cindex invalid characters in file names
14537 @cindex characters in file names
14538 This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file names.
14539 For instance, if @samp{:} is invalid as a file character in file names
14540 on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say something like:
14543 (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
14547 In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
14548 Windows (phooey) systems.
14550 @item gnus-hidden-properties
14551 @vindex gnus-hidden-properties
14552 This is a list of properties to use to hide ``invisible'' text. It is
14553 @code{(invisible t intangible t)} by default on most systems, which
14554 makes invisible text invisible and intangible.
14556 @item gnus-parse-headers-hook
14557 @vindex gnus-parse-headers-hook
14558 A hook called before parsing headers. It can be used, for instance, to
14559 gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps you'd like to prune
14560 some headers. I don't see why you'd want that, though.
14562 @item gnus-shell-command-separator
14563 @vindex gnus-shell-command-separator
14564 String used to separate two shell commands. The default is @samp{;}.
14573 Well, that's the manual---you can get on with your life now. Keep in
14574 touch. Say hello to your cats from me.
14576 My @strong{ghod}---I just can't stand goodbyes. Sniffle.
14578 Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to him:
14584 Not because of victories @*
14587 but for the common sunshine,@*
14589 the largess of the spring.
14593 but for the day's work done@*
14594 as well as I was able;@*
14595 not for a seat upon the dais@*
14596 but at the common table.@*
14601 @chapter Appendices
14604 * History:: How Gnus got where it is today.
14605 * Terminology:: We use really difficult, like, words here.
14606 * Customization:: Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
14607 * Troubleshooting:: What you might try if things do not work.
14608 * A Programmers Guide to Gnus:: Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
14609 * Emacs for Heathens:: A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
14610 * Frequently Asked Questions:: A question-and-answer session.
14618 @sc{gnus} was written by Masanobu @sc{Umeda}. When autumn crept up in
14619 '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.
14621 If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage, you
14622 can point your (feh!) web browser to
14623 @file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/}. This is also the primary
14624 distribution point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known
14625 as The Site That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.
14627 During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus was
14628 called ``(ding) Gnus''. @dfn{(ding)} is, of course, short for
14629 @dfn{ding is not Gnus}, which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?
14630 (Besides, the ``Gnus'' in this abbreviation should probably be
14631 pronounced ``news'' as @sc{Umeda} intended, which makes it a more
14632 appropriate name, don't you think?)
14634 In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new and
14635 spunky name, we decided that the name was @emph{too} spunky, so we
14636 renamed it back again to ``Gnus''. But in mixed case. ``Gnus'' vs.
14637 ``@sc{gnus}''. New vs. old.
14639 The first ``proper'' release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when it
14640 was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution (132 (ding) Gnus releases
14641 plus 15 Gnus 5.0 releases).
14643 In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka. ``September Gnus'' (after 99
14644 releases)) was released under the name ``Gnus 5.2'' (40 releases).
14646 On July 28th 1996 work on Red Gnus was begun, and it was released on
14647 January 25th 1997 (after 84 releases) as ``Gnus 5.4''.
14649 If you happen upon a version of Gnus that has a prefixed name --
14650 ``(ding) Gnus'', ``September Gnus'', ``Red Gnus'', ``Quassia Gnus'' --
14651 don't panic. Don't let it know that you're frightened. Back away.
14652 Slowly. Whatever you do, don't run. Walk away, calmly, until you're
14653 out of its reach. Find a proper released version of Gnus and snuggle up
14657 * Why?:: What's the point of Gnus?
14658 * Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
14659 * Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
14660 * Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
14661 * Contributors:: Oodles of people.
14662 * New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
14663 * Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
14670 What's the point of Gnus?
14672 I want to provide a ``rad'', ``happening'', ``way cool'' and ``hep''
14673 newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of. That was my
14674 original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
14675 me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
14676 Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net. If the
14677 volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
14678 newsreaders will be pretty much useless. How do you deal with
14679 newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day? How do you
14680 keep track of millions of people who post?
14682 Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very much
14683 like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
14684 reading and fetching news. Expanding on @sc{Umeda}-san's wise decision
14685 to separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
14686 interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
14687 and news from different sources. I have added hooks for customizations
14688 everywhere I could imagine it being useful. By doing so, I'm inviting
14689 every one of you to explore and invent.
14691 May Gnus never be complete. @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-emacs} and
14692 @kbd{C-u 100 M-x all-hail-xemacs}.
14695 @node Compatibility
14696 @subsection Compatibility
14698 @cindex compatibility
14699 Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with @sc{gnus}. Almost all key
14700 bindings have been kept. More key bindings have been added, of course,
14701 but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.
14706 @center In a cloud bones of steel.
14710 All commands have kept their names. Some internal functions have changed
14713 The @code{gnus-uu} package has changed drastically. @xref{Decoding
14716 One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
14717 buffers. All variables relevant while reading a group are
14718 buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in. Although many
14719 important variables have their values copied into their global
14720 counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
14721 change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.
14723 All code that relies on knowledge of @sc{gnus} internals will probably
14724 fail. To take two examples: Sorting @code{gnus-newsrc-alist} (or
14725 changing it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten. Gnus
14726 maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
14727 speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
14731 @cindex highlighting
14732 Old hilit19 code does not work at all. In fact, you should probably
14733 remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks
14734 (@code{gnus-group-prepare-hook} and @code{gnus-summary-prepare-hook}).
14735 Gnus provides various integrated functions for highlighting. These are
14736 faster and more accurate. To make life easier for everybody, Gnus will
14737 by default remove all hilit calls from all hilit hooks. Uncleanliness!
14740 Packages like @code{expire-kill} will no longer work. As a matter of
14741 fact, you should probably remove all old @sc{gnus} packages (and other
14742 code) when you start using Gnus. More likely than not, Gnus already
14743 does what you have written code to make @sc{gnus} do. (Snicker.)
14745 Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
14746 new methods are documented in this manual. If you detect a new method of
14747 doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you have
14748 to stop doing it the old way.
14750 Gnus understands all @sc{gnus} startup files.
14752 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
14754 @cindex reporting bugs
14756 Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
14757 @sc{gnus} internals should suffer no problems. If problems occur,
14758 please let me know by issuing that magic command @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}.
14762 @subsection Conformity
14764 No rebels without a clue here, ma'am. We conform to all standards known
14765 to (wo)man. Except for those standards and/or conventions we disagree
14772 There are no known breaches of this standard.
14776 There are no known breaches of this standard, either.
14778 @item Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
14779 @cindex Good Net-Keeping Seal of Approval
14780 Gnus has been through the Seal process and failed. I think it'll pass
14781 the next inspection.
14783 @item Son-of-RFC 1036
14784 @cindex Son-of-RFC 1036
14785 We do have some breaches to this one.
14790 Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to think that
14791 MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage here.
14794 This is considered to be a ``vanity header'', while I consider it to be
14795 consumer information. After seeing so many badly formatted articles
14796 coming from @code{tin} and @code{Netscape} I know not to use either of
14797 those for posting articles. I would not have known that if it wasn't
14798 for the @code{X-Newsreader} header.
14803 If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliant with regards to the texts
14804 mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and let us
14809 @subsection Emacsen
14815 Gnus should work on :
14820 Emacs 19.32 and up.
14823 XEmacs 19.14 and up.
14826 Mule versions based on Emacs 19.32 and up.
14830 Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that. Not
14831 reliably, at least.
14833 There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
14834 platforms---XEmacs features more graphics (a logo and a toolbar)---but
14835 other than that, things should look pretty much the same under all
14840 @subsection Contributors
14841 @cindex contributors
14843 The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all the
14844 people on the (ding) mailing list. Every day for over a year I have
14845 gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
14846 every single one of them. Smooches. The people on the list have been
14847 tried beyond endurance, what with my ``oh, that's a neat idea <type
14848 type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
14849 work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
14850 off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work'' policy for releases.
14851 Micro$oft---bah. Amateurs. I'm @emph{much} worse. (Or is that
14852 ``worser''? ``much worser''? ``worsest''?)
14854 I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for... oops,
14860 Masanobu @sc{Umeda}---the writer of the original @sc{gnus}.
14863 Per Abrahamsen---custom, scoring, highlighting and @sc{soup} code (as
14864 well as numerous other things).
14867 Luis Fernandes---design and graphics.
14870 Erik Naggum---help, ideas, support, code and stuff.
14873 Wes Hardaker---@file{gnus-picon.el} and the manual section on
14874 @dfn{picons} (@pxref{Picons}).
14877 Kim-Minh Kaplan---further work on the picon code.
14880 Brad Miller---@file{gnus-gl.el} and the GroupLens manual section
14881 (@pxref{GroupLens}).
14884 Sudish Joseph---innumerable bug fixes.
14887 Ilja Weis---@file{gnus-topic.el}.
14890 Steven L. Baur---lots and lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.
14893 Vladimir Alexiev---the refcard and reference booklets.
14896 Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinsky---I stole some pieces from the XGnus
14897 distribution by Felix Lee and JWZ.
14900 Scott Byer---@file{nnfolder.el} enhancements & rewrite.
14903 Peter Mutsaers---orphan article scoring code.
14906 Ken Raeburn---POP mail support.
14909 Hallvard B Furuseth---various bits and pieces, especially dealing with
14913 Brian Edmonds---@file{gnus-bbdb.el}.
14916 David Moore---rewrite of @file{nnvirtual.el} and many other things.
14919 Kevin Davidson---came up with the name @dfn{ding}, so blame him.
14922 François Pinard---many, many interesting and thorough bug reports.
14926 This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif, Mark
14927 Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.
14929 The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:
14938 Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
14942 Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:
14957 Massimo Campostrini,
14962 Geoffrey T. Dairiki,
14967 Michael Welsh Duggan,
14974 Arne Georg Gleditsch,
14979 Hisashige Kenji, @c Hisashige
14983 François Felix Ingrand,
14984 Ishikawa Ichiro, @c Ishikawa
14991 Peter Skov Knudsen,
14992 Shuhei Kobayashi, @c Kobayashi
14993 Thor Kristoffersen,
15008 Morioka Tomohiko, @c Morioka
15009 Erik Toubro Nielsen,
15015 Masaharu Onishi, @c Onishi
15020 John McClary Prevost,
15028 Philippe Schnoebelen,
15029 Randal L. Schwartz,
15050 Katsumi Yamaoka. @c Yamaoka
15052 For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
15053 included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
15054 (550kB and counting).
15056 Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many, I'm
15059 Gee, that's quite a list of people. I guess that must mean that there
15060 actually are people who are using Gnus. Who'd'a thunk it!
15064 @subsection New Features
15065 @cindex new features
15068 * ding Gnus:: New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
15069 * September Gnus:: The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
15070 * Red Gnus:: Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
15073 These lists are, of course, just @emph{short} overviews of the
15074 @emph{most} important new features. No, really. There are tons more.
15075 Yes, we have feeping creaturism in full effect.
15079 @subsubsection (ding) Gnus
15081 New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:
15086 The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like variables
15087 (@pxref{Group Buffer Format} and @pxref{Summary Buffer Format}).
15090 Local spool and several @sc{nntp} servers can be used at once
15091 (@pxref{Select Methods}).
15094 You can combine groups into virtual groups (@pxref{Virtual Groups}).
15097 You can read a number of different mail formats (@pxref{Getting Mail}).
15098 All the mail backends implement a convenient mail expiry scheme
15099 (@pxref{Expiring Mail}).
15102 Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have lost
15103 their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one thread) or it
15104 can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a complete thread
15105 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
15108 Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can read
15109 them as well (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15112 Gnus can do partial group updates---you do not have to retrieve the
15113 entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
15114 (@pxref{The Active File}).
15117 Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups
15118 (@pxref{Group Levels}).
15121 You can score articles according to any number of criteria
15122 (@pxref{Scoring}). You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
15123 articles for you (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
15126 Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
15127 manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you have
15128 read if your machine should go down (@pxref{Auto Save}).
15131 Gnus now has its own startup file (@file{.gnus}) to avoid cluttering up
15132 the @file{.emacs} file.
15135 You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and perform
15136 operations on all the marked items (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
15139 You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
15140 results (@pxref{Kibozed Groups}).
15143 You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything
15144 (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15147 You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
15148 servers (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}).
15151 Gnus can fetch articles, asynchronously, on a second connection to the
15152 server (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
15155 You can cache articles locally (@pxref{Article Caching}).
15158 The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized
15159 (@pxref{Decoding Articles}).
15162 You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known feature
15163 of @sc{gnus}' past (@pxref{Uuencoding and Posting}).
15166 Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
15167 glitches (@pxref{Finding the Parent}).
15170 Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (@pxref{Group Information}).
15173 Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
15174 (@pxref{Document Groups}).
15177 Articles can be highlighted and customized (@pxref{Customizing
15181 URLs and other external references can be buttonized (@pxref{Article
15185 You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
15186 configuration (@pxref{Windows Configuration}).
15189 You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard
15195 @node September Gnus
15196 @subsubsection September Gnus
15198 New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:
15203 A new message composition mode is used. All old customization variables
15204 for @code{mail-mode}, @code{rnews-reply-mode} and @code{gnus-msg} are
15208 Gnus is now able to generate @dfn{sparse} threads---threads where
15209 missing articles are represented by empty nodes (@pxref{Customizing
15213 (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)
15217 Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server
15218 (@pxref{Archived Messages}).
15221 Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are
15225 Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (@pxref{GroupLens}).
15228 Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (@pxref{Picons}).
15231 A @code{trn}-like tree buffer can be displayed (@pxref{Tree Display}).
15234 (setq gnus-use-trees t)
15238 An @code{nn}-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
15239 buffers (@pxref{Pick and Read}).
15242 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)
15246 In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (@pxref{Binary
15250 Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (@pxref{Group
15254 (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)
15258 Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (@pxref{Summary Mail Commands}).
15261 Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
15262 is possible (@pxref{Group Score}).
15265 (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)
15269 Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
15270 groups of groups (@pxref{Marking Groups}).
15273 Caching is possible in virtual groups.
15276 @code{nndoc} now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
15277 news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about everything
15278 else (@pxref{Document Groups}).
15281 Gnus has a new backend (@code{nnsoup}) to create/read SOUP packets
15285 The Gnus cache is much faster.
15288 Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (@pxref{Sorting
15292 New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
15293 expiry times (@pxref{Group Parameters}).
15296 All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used
15297 (@pxref{Formatting Fonts}).
15300 There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on process
15301 marked articles on the @kbd{M P} submap (@pxref{Setting Process Marks}).
15304 The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
15305 articles based on a wide range of criteria. These commands have been
15306 bound to keys on the @kbd{/} submap (@pxref{Limiting}).
15309 Articles can be made persistent with the @kbd{*} command
15310 (@pxref{Persistent Articles}).
15313 All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.
15316 Article headers can be buttonized (@pxref{Article Washing}).
15319 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15320 'gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head)
15324 All mail backends support fetching articles by @code{Message-ID}.
15327 Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (@pxref{Duplicates}).
15330 All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
15331 buffer (@pxref{Article Keymap}).
15334 Frames can be part of @code{gnus-buffer-configuration} (@pxref{Windows
15338 Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (@pxref{Daemons}).
15341 Gnus can make use of NoCeM files to weed out spam (@pxref{NoCeM}).
15344 (setq gnus-use-nocem t)
15348 Groups can be made permanently visible (@pxref{Listing Groups}).
15351 (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")
15355 Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.
15358 Gnus respects the @code{Mail-Copies-To} header.
15361 Threads can be gathered by looking at the @code{References} header
15362 (@pxref{Customizing Threading}).
15365 (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
15366 'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)
15370 Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
15371 refetching (@pxref{Article Backlog}).
15374 (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)
15378 A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
15379 buffer to allow easier treatment.
15382 Gnus can suggest where to save articles (@pxref{Saving Articles}).
15385 Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (@pxref{Saving
15389 (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)
15393 @code{gnus-uu} can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
15394 articles (@pxref{Other Decode Variables}).
15397 (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)
15401 Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
15402 (@pxref{Article Washing}).
15405 Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
15406 cited text to hide is now customizable (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
15409 (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)
15413 Boring headers can be hidden (@pxref{Article Hiding}).
15416 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook
15417 'gnus-article-hide-boring-headers t)
15421 Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.
15424 Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.
15430 @subsubsection Red Gnus
15432 New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:
15437 @file{nntp.el} has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.
15440 Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into
15441 Gnus (@pxref{Asynchronous Fetching}).
15444 Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like @code{and},
15445 @code{or}, @code{not}, and parent redirection (@pxref{Advanced
15449 Article washing status can be displayed in the
15450 article mode line (@pxref{Misc Article}).
15453 @file{gnus.el} has been split into many smaller files.
15456 Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
15457 (@pxref{Duplicate Suppression}).
15460 (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)
15464 New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
15465 considered home score and adapt files (@pxref{Home Score File}) have
15469 @code{nndoc} was rewritten to be easily extendable (@pxref{Document
15470 Server Internals}).
15473 Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (@pxref{Topic
15477 Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.
15480 Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions
15481 (@pxref{Article Signature}).
15484 Summary pick mode has been made to look more @code{nn}-like. Line
15485 numbers are displayed and the @kbd{.} command can be used to pick
15486 articles (@code{Pick and Read}).
15489 Commands for moving the @file{.newsrc.eld} from one server to
15490 another have been added (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
15493 There's a way now to specify that ``uninteresting'' fields be suppressed
15494 when generating lines in buffers (@pxref{Advanced Formatting}).
15497 Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with @kbd{M-C-_}
15501 Scoring can be done on words using the new score type @code{w}
15502 (@pxref{Score File Format}).
15505 Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
15506 (@pxref{Adaptive Scoring}).
15509 (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))
15513 Scores can be decayed (@pxref{Score Decays}).
15516 (setq gnus-decay-scores t)
15520 Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header. The Date is
15521 normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (@pxref{Score File Format}).
15524 A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
15525 the native server (@pxref{Changing Servers}).
15528 A new command for reading collections of documents
15529 (@code{nndoc} with @code{nnvirtual} on top) has been added---@kbd{M-C-d}
15530 (@pxref{Really Various Summary Commands}).
15533 Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (@pxref{Setting Process
15537 A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the NNTP
15538 server doesn't allow posting (@pxref{Mail-To-News Gateways}).
15541 A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
15542 (@dfn{DejaNews}, @dfn{Alta Vista}, @dfn{InReference}) has been added
15543 (@pxref{Web Searches}).
15546 Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
15547 functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (@pxref{Topic
15551 Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (@code{Sorting
15555 Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (@pxref{Summary Generation
15559 Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (@pxref{Score
15563 Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (@pxref{Splitting
15567 More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from incoming
15568 mail before saving the mail (@pxref{Washing Mail}).
15571 Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:
15574 (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-emphasize)
15580 @node Newest Features
15581 @subsection Newest Features
15584 Also known as the @dfn{todo list}. Sure to be implemented before the
15587 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
15591 Native @sc{mime} support is something that should be done.
15593 Really do unbinhexing.
15596 And much, much, much more. There is more to come than has already been
15597 implemented. (But that's always true, isn't it?)
15599 @file{<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/rgnus/todo>} is where the actual
15600 up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
15601 could point your Web browser over that-a-way.
15606 @section The Manual
15610 This manual was generated from a TeXinfo file and then run through
15611 either @code{texi2dvi}
15613 or my own home-brewed TeXinfo to \LaTeX\ transformer,
15614 and then run through @code{latex} and @code{dvips}
15616 to get what you hold in your hands now.
15618 The following conventions have been used:
15623 This is a @samp{string}
15626 This is a @kbd{keystroke}
15629 This is a @file{file}
15632 This is a @code{symbol}
15636 So if I were to say ``set @code{flargnoze} to @samp{yes}'', that would
15640 (setq flargnoze "yes")
15643 If I say ``set @code{flumphel} to @code{yes}'', that would mean:
15646 (setq flumphel 'yes)
15649 @samp{yes} and @code{yes} are two @emph{very} different things---don't
15650 ever get them confused.
15654 Of course, everything in this manual is of vital interest, so you should
15655 read it all. Several times. However, if you feel like skimming the
15656 manual, look for that gnu head you should see in the margin over
15657 there---it means that what's being discussed is of more importance than
15658 the rest of the stuff. (On the other hand, if everything is infinitely
15659 important, how can anything be more important than that? Just one more
15660 of the mysteries of this world, I guess.)
15667 @section Terminology
15669 @cindex terminology
15674 This is what you are supposed to use this thing for---reading news.
15675 News is generally fetched from a nearby @sc{nntp} server, and is
15676 generally publicly available to everybody. If you post news, the entire
15677 world is likely to read just what you have written, and they'll all
15678 snigger mischievously. Behind your back.
15682 Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail. Some news/mail
15683 readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail and news, but
15684 there is a difference. Mail is private. News is public. Mailing is
15685 not posting, and replying is not following up.
15689 Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.
15693 Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article you
15698 Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and mail
15699 backends. Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak---this
15700 is all done by the backends.
15704 Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the @dfn{native}, or
15705 default, way of getting news.
15709 You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same time.
15710 These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends for getting
15715 Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and being
15716 foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.
15720 A message that has been posted as news.
15723 @cindex mail message
15724 A message that has been mailed.
15728 A mail message or news article
15732 The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.) is
15737 The rest of an article. Everything not in the head is in the
15742 A line from the head of an article.
15746 A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads. Or even a
15747 collection of @sc{nov} lines.
15751 When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of all
15752 unread articles in the group. Most servers support the News OverView
15753 format, which is more compact and much faster to read and parse than the
15754 normal @sc{head} format.
15758 Each group is subscribed at some @dfn{level} or other (1-9). The ones
15759 that have a lower level are ``more'' subscribed than the groups with a
15760 higher level. In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
15761 @dfn{subscribed}; 6-7 are @dfn{unsubscribed}; 8 are @dfn{zombies}; and 9
15762 are @dfn{killed}. Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
15763 articles will all use the numeric prefix as @dfn{working level}.
15765 @item killed groups
15766 @cindex killed groups
15767 No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes killed
15768 groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.
15770 @item zombie groups
15771 @cindex zombie groups
15772 Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.
15775 @cindex active file
15776 The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and what
15777 groups exist. All this information in stored in the active file, which
15778 is rather large, as you might surmise.
15781 @cindex bogus groups
15782 A group that exists in the @file{.newsrc} file, but isn't known to the
15783 server (i.e., it isn't in the active file), is a @emph{bogus group}.
15784 This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).
15788 A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.
15790 @item select method
15791 @cindex select method
15792 A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
15795 @item virtual server
15796 @cindex virtual server
15797 A named select method. Since a select method defines all there is to
15798 know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing as a
15799 whole is a virtual server.
15803 Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort. The
15804 result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing than the
15807 @item ephemeral groups
15808 @cindex ephemeral groups
15809 Most groups store data on what articles you have read. @dfn{Ephemeral}
15810 groups are groups that will have no data stored---when you exit the
15811 group, it'll disappear into the aether.
15814 @cindex solid groups
15815 This is the opposite of ephemeral groups. All groups listed in the
15816 group buffer are solid groups.
15818 @item sparse articles
15819 @cindex sparse articles
15820 These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
15821 @code{gnus-build-sparse-threads} has been switched on.
15825 To put responses to articles directly after the articles they respond
15826 to---in a hierarchical fashion.
15830 @cindex thread root
15831 The first article in a thread is the root. It is the ancestor of all
15832 articles in the thread.
15836 An article that has responses.
15840 An article that responds to a different article---its parent.
15844 A collection of messages in one file. The most common digest format is
15845 specified by RFC1153.
15850 @node Customization
15851 @section Customization
15852 @cindex general customization
15854 All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual. This
15855 section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
15856 for some quite common situations.
15859 * Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
15860 * Slow Terminal Connection:: You run a remote Emacs.
15861 * Little Disk Space:: You feel that having large setup files is icky.
15862 * Slow Machine:: You feel like buying a faster machine.
15866 @node Slow/Expensive Connection
15867 @subsection Slow/Expensive @sc{nntp} Connection
15869 If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
15870 over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
15871 Gnus has to get from the @sc{nntp} server.
15875 @item gnus-read-active-file
15876 Set this to @code{nil}, which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
15877 entire active file from the server. This file is often v. large. You
15878 also have to set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
15879 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make sure that Gnus
15880 doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.
15882 @item gnus-nov-is-evil
15883 This one has to be @code{nil}. If not, grabbing article headers from
15884 the @sc{nntp} server will not be very fast. Not all @sc{nntp} servers
15885 support @sc{xover}; Gnus will detect this by itself.
15889 @node Slow Terminal Connection
15890 @subsection Slow Terminal Connection
15892 Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
15893 Emacs and Gnus. If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
15894 possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.
15898 @item gnus-auto-center-summary
15899 Set this to @code{nil} to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
15900 buffer all the time. If it is @code{vertical}, do only vertical
15901 re-centering. If it is neither @code{nil} nor @code{vertical}, do both
15902 horizontal and vertical recentering.
15904 @item gnus-visible-headers
15905 Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the
15906 minimum. You can, in fact, make do without them altogether---most of the
15907 useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway. Set this variable to
15908 @samp{^NEVVVVER} or @samp{From:}, or whatever you feel you need.
15910 @item gnus-article-display-hook
15911 Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
15913 (setq gnus-article-display-hook
15914 '(gnus-article-hide-headers gnus-article-hide-signature
15915 gnus-article-hide-citation))
15918 @item gnus-use-full-window
15919 By setting this to @code{nil}, you can make all the windows smaller.
15920 While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that you
15921 have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that you didn't
15922 want to read them anyway.
15924 @item gnus-thread-hide-subtree
15925 If this is non-@code{nil}, all threads in the summary buffer will be
15928 @item gnus-updated-mode-lines
15929 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
15930 lines, which might save some time.
15934 @node Little Disk Space
15935 @subsection Little Disk Space
15938 The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
15939 sizes a bit if you are running out of space.
15943 @item gnus-save-newsrc-file
15944 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never save @file{.newsrc}---it will
15945 only save @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
15946 use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
15949 @item gnus-save-killed-list
15950 If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
15951 should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
15952 and @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} if you set this
15953 variable to @code{nil}. This variable is @code{t} by default.
15959 @subsection Slow Machine
15960 @cindex slow machine
15962 If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
15963 few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.
15965 Set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} and
15966 @code{gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups} to @code{nil} to make startup faster.
15968 Set @code{gnus-show-threads}, @code{gnus-use-cross-reference} and
15969 @code{gnus-nov-is-evil} to @code{nil} to make entering and exiting the
15970 summary buffer faster.
15972 Set @code{gnus-article-display-hook} to @code{nil} to make article
15973 processing a bit faster.
15976 @node Troubleshooting
15977 @section Troubleshooting
15978 @cindex troubleshooting
15980 Gnus works @emph{so} well straight out of the box---I can't imagine any
15988 Make sure your computer is switched on.
15991 Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version. If you have
15992 been running @sc{gnus}, you need to exit Emacs and start it up again before
15996 Try doing an @kbd{M-x gnus-version}. If you get something that looks
15997 like @samp{Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0} you have the right files loaded. If,
15998 on the other hand, you get something like @samp{NNTP 3.x} or @samp{nntp
15999 flee}, you have some old @file{.el} files lying around. Delete these.
16002 Read the help group (@kbd{G h} in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
16006 @vindex max-lisp-eval-depth
16007 Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and very
16008 rare) cases Gnus may recurse down ``too deeply'' and Emacs will beep at
16009 you. If this happens to you, set @code{max-lisp-eval-depth} to 500 or
16010 something like that.
16013 If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.
16016 @cindex reporting bugs
16018 @kindex M-x gnus-bug
16020 If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the @kbd{M-x gnus-bug}
16021 command. @kbd{M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET}, and send
16022 me the backtrace. I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send
16023 me a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.
16025 You really can never be too detailed in a bug report. Always use the
16026 @kbd{M-x gnus-bug} command when you make bug reports, even if it creates
16027 a 10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
16028 environment 500 times before. I don't care. I want the full info each
16031 It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever. If
16032 you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
16033 back ``No, it's not! Moron!'', I will have no idea what you are
16034 insulting me about. Always over-explain everything. It's much easier
16035 for all of us---if I don't have all the information I need, I will just
16036 mail you and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.
16038 If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite explain
16039 it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with @code{xwd}, for instance), put
16040 it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture in
16043 If you just need help, you are better off asking on
16044 @samp{gnu.emacs.gnus}. I'm not very helpful.
16046 @cindex gnu.emacs.gnus
16047 @cindex ding mailing list
16048 You can also ask on the ding mailing list---@samp{ding@@gnus.org}.
16049 Write to @samp{ding-request@@gnus.org} to subscribe.
16052 @node A Programmers Guide to Gnus
16053 @section A Programmer@'s Guide to Gnus
16055 It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
16056 can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well. To
16057 facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
16058 workings of Gnus. And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
16061 You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
16062 will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
16063 backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
16064 (ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
16065 and general methods of operation.
16068 * Gnus Utility Functions:: Common functions and variable to use.
16069 * Backend Interface:: How Gnus communicates with the servers.
16070 * Score File Syntax:: A BNF definition of the score file standard.
16071 * Headers:: How Gnus stores headers internally.
16072 * Ranges:: A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
16073 * Group Info:: The group info format.
16074 * Emacs/XEmacs Code:: Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
16075 * Various File Formats:: Formats of files that Gnus use.
16079 @node Gnus Utility Functions
16080 @subsection Gnus Utility Functions
16081 @cindex Gnus utility functions
16082 @cindex utility functions
16084 @cindex internal variables
16086 When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
16087 vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
16088 Below is a list of the most common ones.
16092 @item gnus-newsgroup-name
16093 @vindex gnus-newsgroup-name
16094 This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.
16096 @item gnus-find-method-for-group
16097 @findex gnus-find-method-for-group
16098 A function that returns the select method for @var{group}.
16100 @item gnus-group-real-name
16101 @findex gnus-group-real-name
16102 Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
16105 @item gnus-group-prefixed-name
16106 @findex gnus-group-prefixed-name
16107 Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns the full
16108 (prefixed) Gnus group name.
16110 @item gnus-get-info
16111 @findex gnus-get-info
16112 Returns the group info list for @var{group}.
16114 @item gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
16115 @findex gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list
16116 Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
16119 @item gnus-continuum-version
16120 @findex gnus-continuum-version
16121 Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating point
16122 number. Earlier versions will always get a lower number than later
16125 @item gnus-group-read-only-p
16126 @findex gnus-group-read-only-p
16127 Says whether @var{group} is read-only or not.
16129 @item gnus-news-group-p
16130 @findex gnus-news-group-p
16131 Says whether @var{group} came from a news backend.
16133 @item gnus-ephemeral-group-p
16134 @findex gnus-ephemeral-group-p
16135 Says whether @var{group} is ephemeral or not.
16137 @item gnus-server-to-method
16138 @findex gnus-server-to-method
16139 Returns the select method corresponding to @var{server}.
16141 @item gnus-server-equal
16142 @findex gnus-server-equal
16143 Says whether two virtual servers are equal.
16145 @item gnus-group-native-p
16146 @findex gnus-group-native-p
16147 Says whether @var{group} is native or not.
16149 @item gnus-group-secondary-p
16150 @findex gnus-group-secondary-p
16151 Says whether @var{group} is secondary or not.
16153 @item gnus-group-foreign-p
16154 @findex gnus-group-foreign-p
16155 Says whether @var{group} is foreign or not.
16157 @item group-group-find-parameter
16158 @findex group-group-find-parameter
16159 Returns the parameter list of @var{group}. If given a second parameter,
16160 returns the value of that parameter for @var{group}.
16162 @item gnus-group-set-parameter
16163 @findex gnus-group-set-parameter
16164 Takes three parameters; @var{group}, @var{parameter} and @var{value}.
16166 @item gnus-narrow-to-body
16167 @findex gnus-narrow-to-body
16168 Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.
16170 @item gnus-check-backend-function
16171 @findex gnus-check-backend-function
16172 Takes two parameters, @var{function} and @var{group}. If the backend
16173 @var{group} comes from supports @var{function}, return non-@code{nil}.
16176 (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
16180 @item gnus-read-method
16181 @findex gnus-read-method
16182 Prompts the user for a select method.
16187 @node Backend Interface
16188 @subsection Backend Interface
16190 Gnus doesn't know anything about @sc{nntp}, spools, mail or virtual
16191 groups. It only knows how to talk to @dfn{virtual servers}. A virtual
16192 server is a @dfn{backend} and some @dfn{backend variables}. As examples
16193 of the first, we have @code{nntp}, @code{nnspool} and @code{nnmbox}. As
16194 examples of the latter we have @code{nntp-port-number} and
16195 @code{nnmbox-directory}.
16197 When Gnus asks for information from a backend---say @code{nntp}---on
16198 something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
16199 function parameters. (If not, the backend should use the ``current''
16200 virtual server.) For instance, @code{nntp-request-list} takes a virtual
16201 server as its only (optional) parameter. If this virtual server hasn't
16202 been opened, the function should fail.
16204 Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical server
16205 name. Take this example:
16209 (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
16210 (nntp-port-number 4324))
16213 Here the virtual server name is @samp{odd-one} while the name of
16214 the physical server is @samp{ifi.uio.no}.
16216 The backends should be able to switch between several virtual servers.
16217 The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of virtual
16218 server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.
16220 There are two groups of interface functions: @dfn{required functions},
16221 which must be present, and @dfn{optional functions}, which Gnus will
16222 always check for presence before attempting to call 'em.
16224 All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
16225 @code{nntp-server-buffer} (@samp{ *nntpd*}), which is somewhat
16226 unfortunately named, but we'll have to live with it. When I talk about
16227 @dfn{resulting data}, I always refer to the data in that buffer. When I
16228 talk about @dfn{return value}, I talk about the function value returned by
16229 the function call. Functions that fail should return @code{nil} as the
16232 Some backends could be said to be @dfn{server-forming} backends, and
16233 some might be said not to be. The latter are backends that generally
16234 only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of ``server''
16235 -- they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
16238 In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
16241 @cindex @code{nnchoke}
16244 * Required Backend Functions:: Functions that must be implemented.
16245 * Optional Backend Functions:: Functions that need not be implemented.
16246 * Error Messaging:: How to get messages and report errors.
16247 * Writing New Backends:: Extending old backends.
16248 * Hooking New Backends Into Gnus:: What has to be done on the Gnus end.
16249 * Mail-like Backends:: Some tips on mail backends.
16253 @node Required Backend Functions
16254 @subsubsection Required Backend Functions
16258 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)
16260 @var{articles} is either a range of article numbers or a list of
16261 @code{Message-ID}s. Current backends do not fully support either---only
16262 sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not support
16263 retrieval of @code{Message-ID}s. But they should try for both.
16265 The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
16266 value should either be @code{headers} or @code{nov} to reflect this.
16267 This might later be expanded to @code{various}, which will be a mixture
16268 of HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.
16270 If @var{fetch-old} is non-@code{nil} it says to try fetching "extra
16271 headers", in some meaning of the word. This is generally done by
16272 fetching (at most) @var{fetch-old} extra headers less than the smallest
16273 article number in @code{articles}, and filling the gaps as well. The
16274 presence of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
16275 cumbersome to follow the request. If this is non-@code{nil} and not a
16276 number, do maximum fetches.
16278 Here's an example HEAD:
16281 221 1056 Article retrieved.
16282 Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
16283 From: sturles@@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
16284 Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
16285 Subject: Re: Something very droll
16286 Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
16287 Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
16289 Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
16290 References: <38jdmq$4qu@@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
16291 NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
16295 So a @code{headers} return value would imply that there's a number of
16296 these in the data buffer.
16298 Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:
16302 head = error / valid-head
16303 error-message = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
16304 valid-head = valid-message *header "." eol
16305 valid-message = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
16306 header = <text> eol
16309 If the return value is @code{nov}, the data buffer should contain
16310 @dfn{network overview database} lines. These are basically fields
16314 nov-buffer = *nov-line
16315 nov-line = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
16316 field = <text except TAB>
16319 For a closer look at what should be in those fields,
16323 @item (nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)
16325 @var{server} is here the virtual server name. @var{definitions} is a
16326 list of @code{(VARIABLE VALUE)} pairs that define this virtual server.
16328 If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled. The backend
16329 may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting to this
16330 server. In fact, it should do so.
16332 If the server is opened already, this function should return a
16333 non-@code{nil} value. There should be no data returned.
16336 @item (nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)
16338 Close connection to @var{server} and free all resources connected
16339 to it. Return @code{nil} if the server couldn't be closed for some
16342 There should be no data returned.
16345 @item (nnchoke-request-close)
16347 Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the backend
16348 have reserved. All buffers that have been created by that backend
16349 should be killed. (Not the @code{nntp-server-buffer}, though.) This
16350 function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.
16352 There should be no data returned.
16355 @item (nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)
16357 If @var{server} is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
16358 physical server is alive, then this function should return a
16359 non-@code{nil} vlue. This function should under no circumstances
16360 attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.
16362 There should be no data returned.
16365 @item (nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)
16367 This function should return the last error message from @var{server}.
16369 There should be no data returned.
16372 @item (nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)
16374 The result data from this function should be the article specified by
16375 @var{article}. This might either be a @code{Message-ID} or a number.
16376 It is optional whether to implement retrieval by @code{Message-ID}, but
16377 it would be nice if that were possible.
16379 If @var{to-buffer} is non-@code{nil}, the result data should be returned
16380 in this buffer instead of the normal data buffer. This is to make it
16381 possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
16382 another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted directly
16383 into its article buffer.
16385 If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell where
16386 the @code{car} is the group name the article was fetched from, and the @code{cdr} is
16387 the article number. This will enable Gnus to find out what the real
16388 group and article numbers are when fetching articles by
16389 @code{Message-ID}. If this isn't possible, @code{t} should be returned
16390 on successful article retrieval.
16393 @item (nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)
16395 Get data on @var{group}. This function also has the side effect of
16396 making @var{group} the current group.
16398 If @var{FAST}, don't bother to return useful data, just make @var{group}
16401 Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:
16404 211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion
16407 The first number is the status, which should be 211. Next is the
16408 total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number, the
16409 highest article number, and finally the group name. Note that the total
16410 number of articles may be less than one might think while just
16411 considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but some articles
16412 may have been canceled. Gnus just discards the total-number, so
16413 whether one should take the bother to generate it properly (if that is a
16414 problem) is left as an exercise to the reader.
16417 group-status = [ error / info ] eol
16418 error = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
16419 info = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>
16423 @item (nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
16425 Close @var{group} and free any resources connected to it. This will be
16426 a no-op on most backends.
16428 There should be no data returned.
16431 @item (nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)
16433 Return a list of all groups available on @var{server}. And that means
16436 Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:
16439 ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
16440 ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n
16443 On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number in
16444 that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.
16447 active-file = *active-line
16448 active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
16450 flags = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name
16453 The flag says whether the group is read-only (@samp{n}), is moderated
16454 (@samp{m}), is dead (@samp{x}), is aliased to some other group
16455 (@samp{=other-group}) or none of the above (@samp{y}).
16458 @item (nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)
16460 This function should post the current buffer. It might return whether
16461 the posting was successful or not, but that's not required. If, for
16462 instance, the posting is done asynchronously, it has generally not been
16463 completed by the time this function concludes. In that case, this
16464 function should set up some kind of sentinel to beep the user loud and
16465 clear if the posting could not be completed.
16467 There should be no result data from this function.
16472 @node Optional Backend Functions
16473 @subsubsection Optional Backend Functions
16477 @item (nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)
16479 @var{groups} is a list of groups, and this function should request data
16480 on all those groups. How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but it
16481 should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.
16483 The return value of this function can be either @code{active} or
16484 @code{group}, which says what the format of the result data is. The
16485 former is in the same format as the data from
16486 @code{nnchoke-request-list}, while the latter is a buffer full of lines
16487 in the same format as @code{nnchoke-request-group} gives.
16490 group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status
16494 @item (nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)
16496 A Gnus group info (@pxref{Group Info}) is handed to the backend for
16497 alterations. This comes in handy if the backend really carries all the
16498 information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups). This
16499 function should destructively alter the info to suit its needs, and
16500 should return the (altered) group info.
16502 There should be no result data from this function.
16505 @item (nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)
16507 When the user issues commands for ``sending news'' (@kbd{F} in the
16508 summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the article the
16509 user is following up on is news or mail. This function should return
16510 @code{news} if @var{article} in @var{group} is news, @code{mail} if it
16511 is mail and @code{unknown} if the type can't be decided. (The
16512 @var{article} parameter is necessary in @code{nnvirtual} groups which
16513 might very well combine mail groups and news groups.) Both @var{group}
16514 and @var{article} may be @code{nil}.
16516 There should be no result data from this function.
16519 @item (nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)
16521 If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
16522 function may change the mark. Gnus will use whatever this function
16523 returns as the mark for @var{article} instead of the original
16524 @var{mark}. If the backend doesn't care, it must return the original
16525 @var{mark}, and not @code{nil} or any other type of garbage.
16527 The only use for this I can see is what @code{nnvirtual} does with
16528 it---if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as read
16529 in the virtual group should result in the article being marked as
16532 There should be no result data from this function.
16535 @item (nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)
16537 This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else) to
16538 request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one way or
16539 another. A mail backend will typically read the spool file or query the
16540 POP server when this function is invoked. The @var{group} doesn't have
16541 to be heeded---if the backend decides that it is too much work just
16542 scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan of all groups. It
16543 would be nice, however, to keep things local if that's practical.
16545 There should be no result data from this function.
16548 @item (nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)
16550 The result data from this function should be a description of
16554 description-line = name <TAB> description eol
16556 description = <text>
16559 @item (nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)
16561 The result data from this function should be the description of all
16562 groups available on the server.
16565 description-buffer = *description-line
16569 @item (nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)
16571 The result data from this function should be all groups that were
16572 created after @samp{date}, which is in normal human-readable date
16573 format. The data should be in the active buffer format.
16576 @item (nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)
16578 This function should create an empty group with name @var{group}.
16580 There should be no return data.
16583 @item (nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)
16585 This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
16586 @var{articles} range (which is currently a simple list of article
16587 numbers.) It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
16588 should be before they are removed by this function. If @var{force} is
16589 non-@code{nil}, all @var{articles} should be deleted, no matter how new
16592 This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was not
16595 There should be no result data returned.
16598 @item (nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM
16601 This function should move @var{article} (which is a number) from
16602 @var{group} by calling @var{accept-form}.
16604 This function should ready the article in question for moving by
16605 removing any header lines it has added to the article, and generally
16606 should ``tidy up'' the article. Then it should @code{eval}
16607 @var{accept-form} in the buffer where the ``tidy'' article is. This
16608 will do the actual copying. If this @code{eval} returns a
16609 non-@code{nil} value, the article should be removed.
16611 If @var{last} is @code{nil}, that means that there is a high likelihood
16612 that there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
16615 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
16616 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
16618 There should be no data returned.
16621 @item (nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)
16623 This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into @var{group}.
16624 If @var{last} in @code{nil}, that means that there will be more calls to
16625 this function in short order.
16627 The function should return a cons where the @code{car} is the group name and
16628 the @code{cdr} is the article number that the article was entered as.
16630 There should be no data returned.
16633 @item (nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)
16635 This function should remove @var{article} (which is a number) from
16636 @var{group} and insert @var{buffer} there instead.
16638 There should be no data returned.
16641 @item (nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)
16643 This function should delete @var{group}. If @var{force}, it should
16644 really delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
16645 itself. (If there is such a thing as ``the group itself''.)
16647 There should be no data returned.
16650 @item (nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)
16652 This function should rename @var{group} into @var{new-name}. All
16653 articles in @var{group} should move to @var{new-name}.
16655 There should be no data returned.
16660 @node Error Messaging
16661 @subsubsection Error Messaging
16663 @findex nnheader-report
16664 @findex nnheader-get-report
16665 The backends should use the function @code{nnheader-report} to report
16666 error conditions---they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
16667 perform a request. The first argument to this function is the backend
16668 symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to @code{format} if
16669 there are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.
16670 This function must always returns @code{nil}.
16673 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")
16675 (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)
16678 Gnus, in turn, will call @code{nnheader-get-report} when it gets a
16679 @code{nil} back from a server, and this function returns the most
16680 recently reported message for the backend in question. This function
16681 takes one argument---the server symbol.
16683 Internally, these functions access @var{backend}@code{-status-string},
16684 so the @code{nnchoke} backend will have its error message stored in
16685 @code{nnchoke-status-string}.
16688 @node Writing New Backends
16689 @subsubsection Writing New Backends
16691 Many backends are quite similar. @code{nnml} is just like
16692 @code{nnspool}, but it allows you to edit the articles on the server.
16693 @code{nnmh} is just like @code{nnml}, but it doesn't use an active file,
16694 and it doesn't maintain overview databases. @code{nndir} is just like
16695 @code{nnml}, but it has no concept of ``groups'', and it doesn't allow
16698 It would make sense if it were possible to ``inherit'' functions from
16699 backends when writing new backends. And, indeed, you can do that if you
16700 want to. (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)
16702 All the backends declare their public variables and functions by using a
16703 package called @code{nnoo}.
16705 To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
16706 inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
16712 This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the subsequent
16713 parameters. For instance:
16716 (nnoo-declare nndir
16720 @code{nndir} has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
16721 both @code{nnml} and @code{nnmh}.
16724 This macro is equivalent to @code{defvar}, but registers the variable as
16725 a public server variable. Most state-oriented variables should be
16726 declared with @code{defvoo} instead of @code{defvar}.
16728 In addition to the normal @code{defvar} parameters, it takes a list of
16729 variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when executing
16730 a function in those backends.
16733 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
16734 "Where nndir will look for groups."
16735 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
16738 This means that @code{nnml-current-directory} will be set to
16739 @code{nndir-directory} when an @code{nnml} function is called on behalf
16740 of @code{nndir}. (The same with @code{nnmh}.)
16742 @item nnoo-define-basics
16743 This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends should
16747 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
16751 This macro is just like @code{defun} and takes the same parameters. In
16752 addition to doing the normal @code{defun} things, it registers the
16753 function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.
16755 @item nnoo-map-functions
16756 This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
16757 functions from the parent backends.
16760 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
16761 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
16762 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))
16765 This means that when @code{nndir-retrieve-headers} is called, the first,
16766 third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
16767 @code{nnml-retrieve-headers}, while the second parameter is set to the
16768 value of @code{nndir-current-group}.
16771 This macro allows importing functions from backends. It should be the
16772 last thing in the source file, since it will only define functions that
16773 haven't already been defined.
16779 nnmh-request-newgroups)
16783 This means that calls to @code{nndir-request-list} should just be passed
16784 on to @code{nnmh-request-list}, while all public functions from
16785 @code{nnml} that haven't been defined in @code{nndir} yet should be
16790 Below is a slightly shortened version of the @code{nndir} backend.
16793 ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
16794 ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
16798 (require 'nnheader)
16802 (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))
16804 (nnoo-declare nndir
16807 (defvoo nndir-directory nil
16808 "Where nndir will look for groups."
16809 nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)
16811 (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
16812 "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
16815 (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
16816 (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
16817 (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)
16819 (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
16820 (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")
16822 ;;; Interface functions.
16824 (nnoo-define-basics nndir)
16826 (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
16827 (setq nndir-directory
16828 (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
16830 (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
16831 (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
16832 (push `(nndir-current-group
16833 ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
16835 (push `(nndir-top-directory
16836 ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
16838 (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))
16840 (nnoo-map-functions nndir
16841 (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
16842 (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
16843 (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
16844 (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))
16848 nnmh-status-message
16850 nnmh-request-newgroups))
16856 @node Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
16857 @subsubsection Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
16859 @vindex gnus-valid-select-methods
16860 Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy---you just
16861 declare it with the @code{gnus-declare-backend} functions. This will
16862 enter the backend into the @code{gnus-valid-select-methods} variable.
16864 @code{gnus-declare-backend} takes two parameters---the backend name and
16865 an arbitrary number of @dfn{abilities}.
16870 (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)
16873 The abilities can be:
16877 This is a mailish backend---followups should (probably) go via mail.
16879 This is a newsish backend---followups should (probably) go via news.
16881 This backend supports both mail and news.
16883 This is neither a post nor mail backend---it's something completely
16886 It supports respooling---or rather, it is able to modify its source
16887 articles and groups.
16889 The name of the server should be in the virtual server name. This is
16890 true for almost all backends.
16891 @item prompt-address
16892 The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
16893 @kbd{B} in the group buffer. This is true for backends like
16894 @code{nntp}, but not @code{nnmbox}, for instance.
16898 @node Mail-like Backends
16899 @subsubsection Mail-like Backends
16901 One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
16902 backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
16903 functions in @file{nnmail.el}. For instance, here's the definition of
16904 @code{nnml-request-scan}:
16907 (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
16908 (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
16909 (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))
16912 It simply calls @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} with a few parameters,
16913 and @code{nnmail} takes care of all the moving and splitting of the
16916 This function takes four parameters.
16920 This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible for
16923 @item exit-function
16924 This function should be called after the splitting has been performed.
16926 @item temp-directory
16927 Where the temporary files should be stored.
16930 This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is to be
16931 performed for one group only.
16934 @code{nnmail-get-new-mail} will call @var{backend}@code{-save-mail} to
16935 save each article. @var{backend}@code{-active-number} will be called to
16936 find the article number assigned to this article.
16938 The function also uses the following variables:
16939 @var{backend}@code{-get-new-mail} (to see whether to get new mail for
16940 this backend); and @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} and
16941 @var{backend}@code{-active-file} to generate the new active file.
16942 @var{backend}@code{-group-alist} should be a group-active alist, like
16946 (("a-group" (1 . 10))
16947 ("some-group" (34 . 39)))
16951 @node Score File Syntax
16952 @subsection Score File Syntax
16954 Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
16955 mallable. It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
16956 as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.
16958 Here's a typical score file:
16962 ("win95" -10000 nil s)
16969 BNF definition of a score file:
16972 score-file = "" / "(" *element ")"
16973 element = rule / atom
16974 rule = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
16975 string-rule = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
16976 number-rule = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
16977 date-rule = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
16979 string-header = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
16980 "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
16981 number-header = "lines" / "chars"
16982 date-header = "date"
16983 string-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
16984 space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
16985 score = "nil" / <integer>
16986 date = "nil" / <natural number>
16987 string-match-t = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
16988 "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
16989 "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
16990 "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
16991 number-match = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
16992 space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
16993 number-match-t = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
16994 date-match = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
16995 space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
16996 date-match-t = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
16997 atom = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
16998 required-atom = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
16999 exclude-files / read-only / touched
17000 optional-atom = adapt / local / eval
17001 mark = "mark" space nil-or-number
17002 nil-or-number = "nil" / <integer>
17003 expunge = "expunge" space nil-or-number
17004 mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
17005 files = "files" *[ space <string> ]
17006 exclude-files = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
17007 read-only = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
17008 adapt = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
17009 adapt-rule = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
17010 local = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
17011 eval = "eval" space <form>
17012 space = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]
17015 Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
17018 As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of white
17019 space is irrelevant. This means that formatting of the score file is
17020 left up to the programmer---if it's simpler to just spew it all out on
17021 one looong line, then that's ok.
17023 The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
17024 manual (@pxref{Score File Format}).
17028 @subsection Headers
17030 Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
17031 corresponds to the @sc{nov} format in a mysterious fashion. One could
17032 almost suspect that the author looked at the @sc{nov} specification and
17033 just shamelessly @emph{stole} the entire thing, and one would be right.
17035 @dfn{Header} is a severely overloaded term. ``Header'' is used in
17036 RFC1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g.,
17037 @code{From}). It is used by many people as a synonym for
17038 ``head''---``the header and the body''. (That should be avoided, in my
17039 opinion.) And Gnus uses a format internally that it calls ``header'',
17040 which is what I'm talking about here. This is a 9-element vector,
17041 basically, with each header (ouch) having one slot.
17043 These slots are, in order: @code{number}, @code{subject}, @code{from},
17044 @code{date}, @code{id}, @code{references}, @code{chars}, @code{lines},
17045 @code{xref}. There are macros for accessing and setting these
17046 slots---they all have predictable names beginning with
17047 @code{mail-header-} and @code{mail-header-set-}, respectively.
17049 The @code{xref} slot is really a @code{misc} slot. Any extra info will
17056 @sc{gnus} introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
17057 using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.
17059 The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that are
17060 identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a @emph{wild} example)
17061 that you want to qualify as being ``included'', a normal sequence isn't
17062 very useful. (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)
17064 The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
17068 (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)
17071 is transformed into
17074 ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))
17077 To avoid having those nasty @samp{(13 . 13)} elements to denote a
17078 lonesome object, a @samp{13} is a valid element:
17081 ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))
17084 This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are equal
17085 is slightly tricky:
17088 ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))
17094 ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))
17097 are equal. In fact, any non-descending list is a range:
17103 is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one. This is
17110 and is equal to the previous range.
17112 Here's a BNF definition of ranges. Of course, one must remember the
17113 semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending. (Any number
17114 of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
17118 range = simple-range / normal-range
17119 simple-range = "(" number " . " number ")"
17120 normal-range = "(" start-contents ")"
17121 contents = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
17122 number *[ " " contents ]
17125 Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
17126 marks. I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
17127 Powers That Be are willing to let me. (I haven't asked yet, because I
17128 need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
17129 totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
17134 @subsection Group Info
17136 Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a @dfn{group info} list.
17137 This list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
17138 describes the group.
17140 Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while the
17141 second is a more complex one:
17144 ("no.group" 5 (1 . 54324))
17146 ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
17147 ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
17149 (auto-expire (to-address "ding@@gnus.org")))
17152 The first element is the @dfn{group name}---as Gnus knows the group,
17153 anyway. The second element is the @dfn{subscription level}, which
17154 normally is a small integer. The third element is a list of ranges of
17155 read articles. The fourth element is a list of lists of article marks
17156 of various kinds. The fifth element is the select method (or virtual
17157 server, if you like). The sixth element is a list of @dfn{group
17158 parameters}, which is what this section is about.
17160 Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not required.
17161 In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have the first
17162 three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.
17164 Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:
17167 info = "(" group space level space read
17168 [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
17169 space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
17170 group = quote <string> quote
17171 level = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
17173 marks-lists = nil / "(" *marks ")"
17174 marks = "(" <string> range ")"
17175 method = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
17176 parameters = "(" *elisp-forms ")"
17179 Actually that @samp{marks} rule is a fib. A @samp{marks} is a
17180 @samp{<string>} consed on to a @samp{range}, but that's a bitch to say
17183 If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers a
17184 series of macros for getting/setting these elements.
17187 @item gnus-info-group
17188 @itemx gnus-info-set-group
17189 @findex gnus-info-group
17190 @findex gnus-info-set-group
17191 Get/set the group name.
17193 @item gnus-info-rank
17194 @itemx gnus-info-set-rank
17195 @findex gnus-info-rank
17196 @findex gnus-info-set-rank
17197 Get/set the group rank.
17199 @item gnus-info-level
17200 @itemx gnus-info-set-level
17201 @findex gnus-info-level
17202 @findex gnus-info-set-level
17203 Get/set the group level.
17205 @item gnus-info-score
17206 @itemx gnus-info-set-score
17207 @findex gnus-info-score
17208 @findex gnus-info-set-score
17209 Get/set the group score.
17211 @item gnus-info-read
17212 @itemx gnus-info-set-read
17213 @findex gnus-info-read
17214 @findex gnus-info-set-read
17215 Get/set the ranges of read articles.
17217 @item gnus-info-marks
17218 @itemx gnus-info-set-marks
17219 @findex gnus-info-marks
17220 @findex gnus-info-set-marks
17221 Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.
17223 @item gnus-info-method
17224 @itemx gnus-info-set-method
17225 @findex gnus-info-method
17226 @findex gnus-info-set-method
17227 Get/set the group select method.
17229 @item gnus-info-params
17230 @itemx gnus-info-set-params
17231 @findex gnus-info-params
17232 @findex gnus-info-set-params
17233 Get/set the group parameters.
17236 All the getter functions take one parameter---the info list. The setter
17237 functions take two parameters---the info list and the new value.
17239 The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it may be
17240 necessary to extend the group info before setting the element. If this
17241 is necessary, you can just pass on a non-@code{nil} third parameter to
17242 the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.
17245 @node Emacs/XEmacs Code
17246 @subsection Emacs/XEmacs Code
17250 While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
17251 platforms must be the primary one. I chose Emacs. Not because I don't
17252 like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.
17254 This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a warning,
17255 while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while byte-compiling.
17256 As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out trivial errors in
17257 Gnus, that's very useful.
17259 I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
17260 Gnusey aliases for the functions. To take an example: Emacs defines a
17261 @code{run-at-time} function while XEmacs defines a @code{start-itimer}
17262 function. I then define a function called @code{gnus-run-at-time} that
17263 takes the same parameters as the Emacs @code{run-at-time}. When running
17264 Gnus under Emacs, the former function is just an alias for the latter.
17265 However, when running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the
17266 following function:
17269 (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
17273 (,function ,@@args))
17277 This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions. Gnus does
17278 not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs---it
17279 does this @code{defalias} thing with Gnus equivalents instead. Cleaner
17282 In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously cleaner,
17283 I used it instead. For example @code{gnus-region-active-p} is an alias
17284 for @code{region-active-p} in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a function.
17286 Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
17287 mapping functions the other way around. But I didn't. The performance
17288 hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.
17291 @node Various File Formats
17292 @subsection Various File Formats
17295 * Active File Format:: Information on articles and groups available.
17296 * Newsgroups File Format:: Group descriptions.
17300 @node Active File Format
17301 @subsubsection Active File Format
17303 The active file lists all groups available on the server in
17304 question. It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers
17307 Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:
17310 soc.motss 296030 293865 y
17311 alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
17312 comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
17313 comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
17314 no.general 1000 900 y
17317 Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:
17320 active = *group-line
17321 group-line = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
17322 group = <non-white-space string>
17324 high-number = <non-negative integer>
17325 low-number = <positive integer>
17326 flag = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group
17330 @node Newsgroups File Format
17331 @subsubsection Newsgroups File Format
17333 The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions. Not all
17334 groups on the server have to be listed, and not all groups in the file
17335 have to exist on the server. The file is meant purely as information to
17338 The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
17339 Here's the definition:
17343 line = group tab description <NEWLINE>
17344 group = <non-white-space string>
17346 description = <string>
17350 @node Emacs for Heathens
17351 @section Emacs for Heathens
17353 Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
17354 Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
17355 If you are one of those unfortunates whom ``@kbd{M-C-a}'', ``kill the
17356 region'', and ``set @code{gnus-flargblossen} to an alist where the key
17357 is a regexp that is used for matching on the group name'' are magical
17358 phrases with little or no meaning, then this appendix is for you. If
17359 you are already familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your
17363 * Keystrokes:: Entering text and executing commands.
17364 * Emacs Lisp:: The built-in Emacs programming language.
17369 @subsection Keystrokes
17373 Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?
17376 A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.
17379 Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift
17380 key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people
17381 (notably @code{vi}le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out
17382 of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for
17383 ``Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift'', and not ``Editing Macros'', as you
17384 may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
17386 The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
17387 normally used to get capital letters and stuff. You probably use it all
17388 the time. The control key is normally marked ``CTRL'' or something like
17389 that. The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
17390 keyboard. The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked ``Alt'',
17391 which is the meta key on this keyboard. It's usually located somewhere
17392 to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.
17394 Now, us Emacs people don't say ``press the meta-control-m key'',
17395 because that's just too inconvenient. We say ``press the @kbd{M-C-m}
17396 key''. @kbd{M-} is the prefix that means ``meta'' and ``C-'' is the
17397 prefix that means ``control''. So ``press @kbd{C-k}'' means ``press
17398 down the control key, and hold it down while you press @kbd{k}''.
17399 ``Press @kbd{M-C-k}'' means ``press down and hold down the meta key and
17400 the control key and then press @kbd{k}''. Simple, ay?
17402 This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have a
17403 meta key. In that case you can use the ``escape'' key. Then @kbd{M-k}
17404 means ``press escape, release escape, press @kbd{k}''. That's much more
17405 work than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
17406 suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key. You can't live without
17412 @subsection Emacs Lisp
17414 Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
17415 Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
17416 Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
17417 any key to run any arbitrary code. You just, like, do it.
17419 Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
17420 functions. (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
17421 interpreted.) If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
17422 certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
17423 (Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.) However, that's
17424 beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
17425 some common constructs that you normally use in your @file{.emacs} file
17428 If you want to set the variable @code{gnus-florgbnize} to four (4), you
17429 write the following:
17432 (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)
17435 This function (really ``special form'') @code{setq} is the one that can
17436 set a variable to some value. This is really all you need to know. Now
17437 you can go and fill your @code{.emacs} file with lots of these to change
17440 If you have put that thing in your @code{.emacs} file, it will be read
17441 and @code{eval}ed (which is lisp-ese for ``run'') the next time you
17442 start Emacs. If you want to change the variable right away, simply say
17443 @kbd{C-x C-e} after the closing parenthesis. That will @code{eval} the
17444 previous ``form'', which is a simple @code{setq} statement here.
17446 Go ahead---just try it, if you're located at your Emacs. After you
17447 @kbd{C-x C-e}, you will see @samp{4} appear in the echo area, which
17448 is the return value of the form you @code{eval}ed.
17452 If the manual says ``set @code{gnus-read-active-file} to @code{some}'',
17456 (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)
17459 On the other hand, if the manual says ``set @code{gnus-nntp-server} to
17460 @samp{nntp.ifi.uio.no}'', that means:
17463 (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")
17466 So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
17467 former). The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.
17470 @include gnus-faq.texi