-\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
+@c \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
@setfilename gnus
-@settitle Pterodactyl Gnus 0.75 Manual
+@settitle Pterodactyl Gnus 0.86 Manual
@synindex fn cp
@synindex vr cp
@synindex pg cp
\newcommand{\gnussc}[1]{\textsc{#1}}
\newcommand{\gnustitle}[1]{{\huge\textbf{#1}}}
\newcommand{\gnusauthor}[1]{{\large\textbf{#1}}}
+\newcommand{\gnusresult}[1]{\gnustt{=> #1}}
\newcommand{\gnusbullet}{{${\bullet}$}}
\newcommand{\gnusdollar}{\$}
@tex
@titlepage
-@title Pterodactyl Gnus 0.75 Manual
+@title Pterodactyl Gnus 0.86 Manual
@author by Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
@page
spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your
luck.
-This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus 0.75.
+This manual corresponds to Pterodactyl Gnus 0.86.
@end ifinfo
Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. The difference between this
function and @code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} is slight.
@code{gnus-subscribe-alphabetically} will subscribe new groups in a strictly
-alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into it's
+alphabetical fashion, while this function will enter groups into its
hierarchy. So if you want to have the @samp{rec} hierarchy before the
@samp{comp} hierarchy, this function will not mess that configuration
up. Or something like that.
not stored in the @file{.newsrc} file.
@vindex gnus-save-newsrc-file
+@vindex gnus-read-newsrc-file
You can turn off writing the @file{.newsrc} file by setting
@code{gnus-save-newsrc-file} to @code{nil}, which means you can delete
the file and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.
However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
-Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right?
+Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
+@code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
+@file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
+convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
@vindex gnus-save-killed-list
If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
at all. In any case, @code{some} should be faster than @code{nil}, and
is certainly faster than @code{t} over slow lines.
+Some news servers (Leafnode and old versions of INN, for instance) do
+not support the @code{LIST ACTIVE group}. For these servers, @code{nil}
+is probably the most effficient value for this variable.
+
If this variable is @code{nil}, Gnus will ask for group info in total
lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is @code{some} and you use an
@sc{nntp} server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and
performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned
@code{LIST ACTIVE group} command, this isn't very nice to the server.
+If you think that starting up Gnus takes too long, try all the three
+different values for this variable and see what works best for you.
+
In any case, if you use @code{some} or @code{nil}, you should definitely
kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up.
A hook that is run as the very last thing after starting up Gnus
successfully.
-@item gnus-started-hook
-@vindex gnus-started-hook
+@item gnus-setup-news-hook
+@vindex gnus-setup-news-hook
A hook that is run after reading the @file{.newsrc} file(s), but before
generating the group buffer.
group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within
reason?
-This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can assign a score to each
-group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score.
-Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together,
-the level and the score is called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group
-that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group
-on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant
-part and the score is the least significant part.))
+This is what @dfn{group score} is for. You can have Gnus assign a score
+to each group through the mechanism described below. You can then sort
+the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on
+score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is
+called the @dfn{rank} of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has
+a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score
+of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the
+least significant part.))
@findex gnus-summary-bubble-group
If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you
command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type.
Currently supported types are @code{babyl}, @code{mbox}, @code{digest},
@code{mmdf}, @code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{clari-briefs},
-@code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, and @code{forward}. If you run
-this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type.
-@xref{Document Groups}.
+@code{rfc934}, @code{rfc822-forward}, @code{nsmail} and @code{forward}.
+If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file
+type. @xref{Document Groups}.
@item G u
@kindex G u (Group)
(@code{gnus-group-add-to-virtual}). Uses the process/prefix convention.
@end table
-@xref{Select Methods} for more information on the various select
+@xref{Select Methods}, for more information on the various select
methods.
@vindex gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups
@end table
-@xref{Sorting Groups} for more information about group sorting.
+@xref{Sorting Groups}, for more information about group sorting.
@node Topic Topology
* Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
* Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will.
* MIME Commands:: Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
+* Charsets:: Character set issues.
* Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer.
* Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
* Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent.
@end ifinfo
@menu
-* Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
-* Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
+* Setting Marks:: How to set and remove marks.
+* Generic Marking Commands:: How to customize the marking.
+* Setting Process Marks:: How to mark articles for later processing.
@end menu
The default is @code{t}.
+@node Generic Marking Commands
+@subsection Generic Marking Commands
+
+Some people would like the command that ticks an article (@kbd{!}) go to
+the next article. Others would like it to go to the next unread
+article. Yet others would like it to stay on the current article. And
+even though I haven't heard of anybody wanting it to go the the
+previous (unread) article, I'm sure there are people that want that as
+well.
+
+Multiply these five behaviours with five different marking commands, and
+you get a potentially complex set of variable to control what each
+command should do.
+
+To sidestep that mess, Gnus provides commands that do all these
+different things. They can be found on the @kbd{M M} map in the summary
+buffer. Type @kbd{M M C-h} to see them all---there are too many of them
+to list in this manual.
+
+While you can use these commands directly, most users would prefer
+altering the summary mode keymap. For instance, if you would like the
+@kbd{!} command to go the the next article instead of the next unread
+article, you could say something like:
+
+@lisp
+(add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'my-alter-summary-map)
+(defun my-alter-summary-map ()
+ (local-set-key "!" 'gnus-summary-put-mark-as-ticked-next))
+@end lisp
+
+or
+
+@lisp
+(defun my-alter-summary-map ()
+ (local-set-key "!" "MM!n"))
+@end lisp
+
+
@node Setting Process Marks
@subsection Setting Process Marks
@cindex setting process marks
Limit the summary buffer to articles that match some author
(@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
+@item / x
+@kindex / x (Summary)
+@findex gnus-summary-limit-to-extra
+Limit the summary buffer to articles that match one of the ``extra''
+headers (@pxref{To From Newsgroups})
+(@code{gnus-summary-limit-to-author}).
+
@item / u
@itemx x
@kindex / u (Summary)
Exclude all dormant articles from the limit
(@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-dormant}).
+@item / M
+@kindex / M (Summary)
+@findex gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks
+Exclude all marked articles (@code{gnus-summary-limit-exclude-marks}).
+
@item / T
@kindex / T (Summary)
@findex gnus-summary-limit-include-thread
(setq gnus-thread-sort-functions
'(gnus-thread-sort-by-number
gnus-thread-sort-by-subject
- (reverse gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
+ (not gnus-thread-sort-by-total-score)))
@end lisp
The threads that have highest score will be displayed first in the
say something like:
@lisp
(setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules
- (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\")))
+ (list '("\\\\.au$" "sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio")))
@end lisp
@item gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end
* Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
* Article Date:: Grumble, UT!
* Article Signature:: What is a signature?
+* Article Miscellania:: Various other stuff.
@end menu
@end table
-@xref{Customizing Articles} for how to highlight articles automatically.
+@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to highlight articles automatically.
@node Article Fontisizing
(copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)
@end lisp
-@xref{Customizing Articles} for how to fontize articles automatically.
+@vindex gnus-group-highlight-words-alist
+
+If you want to highlight arbitrary words, you can use the
+@code{gnus-group-highlight-words-alist} variable, which uses the same
+syntax as @code{gnus-emphasis-alist}. The @code{highlight-words} group
+parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) can also be used.
+
+@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to fontize articles automatically.
@node Article Hiding
groups adds to all the messages. The way to use this function is to add
the @code{banner} group parameter (@pxref{Group Parameters}) to the
group you want banners stripped from. The parameter either be a string,
-which will be interpreted as a regulax expression matching text to be
+which will be interpreted as a regular expression matching text to be
removed, or the symbol @code{signature}, meaning that the (last)
signature should be removed.
Also @pxref{Article Highlighting} for further variables for
citation customization.
-@xref{Customizing Articles} for how to hide article elements
+@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to hide article elements
automatically.
@kindex W l (Summary)
@findex gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking
Remove page breaks from the current article
-(@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article} for page
+(@code{gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking}). @xref{Misc Article}, for page
delimiters.
@item W r
Add clickable buttons to the article headers
(@code{gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head}).
+@item W W H
+@kindex W W H (Summary)
+@findex gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body
+Strip headers like the @code{X-No-Archive} header from the beginning of
+article bodies (@code{gnus-article-strip-headers-from-body}).
+
@item W E l
@kindex W E l (Summary)
@findex gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines
@end table
-@xref{Customizing Articles} for how to wash articles automatically.
+@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to wash articles automatically.
@node Article Buttons
@end table
-@xref{Customizing Articles} for how to buttonize articles automatically.
+@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to buttonize articles automatically.
@node Article Date
@findex gnus-start-date-timer
@findex gnus-stop-date-timer
Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now
-(@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). If you want to have this line
-updated continually, you can put
+(@code{gnus-article-date-lapsed}). It looks something like:
+
+@example
+X-Sent: 9 years, 6 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes, 28 seconds ago
+@end example
+
+The value of @code{gnus-article-date-lapsed-new-header} determines
+whether this header will just be added below the old Date one, or will
+replace it.
+
+An advantage of using Gnus to read mail is that it converts simple bugs
+into wonderful absurdities.
+
+If you want to have this line updated continually, you can put
@lisp
(gnus-start-date-timer)
@end table
-@xref{Customizing Articles} for how to display the date in your
+@xref{Customizing Articles}, for how to display the date in your
preferred format automatically.
signature after all.
+@node Article Miscellania
+@subsection Article Miscellania
+
+@table @kbd
+@item A t
+@kindex A t (Summary)
+@findex gnus-article-babel
+Translate the article from one language to another
+(@code{gnus-article-babel}).
+
+@end table
+
+
@node MIME Commands
-@section MIME Commands
+@section @sc{mime} Commands
@cindex MIME decoding
@table @kbd
+@item X m
+@kindex X m (Summary)
+@findex gnus-summary-save-parts
+Save all parts matching a @sc{mime} type to a directory
+(@code{gnus-summary-save-parts}). Understands the process/prefix
+convention (@pxref{Process/Prefix}).
+
@item M-t
@kindex M-t (Summary)
@findex gnus-summary-display-buttonized
'my-save-all-jpeg-parts)
@end lisp
+@vindex gnus-mime-multipart-functions
+@item gnus-mime-multipart-functions
+Alist of @sc{mime} multipart types and functions to handle them.
+
@end table
+@node Charsets
+@section Charsets
+@cindex charsets
+
+People use different charsets, and we have @sc{mime} to let us know what
+charsets they use. Or rather, we wish we had. Many people use
+newsreaders and mailers that do not understand or use @sc{mime}, and
+just send out messages without saying what character sets they use. To
+help a bit with this, some local news hierarchies have policies that say
+what character set is the default. For instance, the @samp{fj}
+hierarchy uses @code{iso-2022-jp-2}.
+
+@vindex gnus-group-charset-alist
+This knowledge is encoded in the @code{gnus-group-charset-alist}
+variable, which is an alist of regexps (to match group names) and
+default charsets to be used when reading these groups.
+
+In addition, some people do use soi-disant @sc{mime}-aware agents that
+aren't. These blitely mark messages as being in @code{iso-8859-1} even
+if they really are in @code{koi-8}. To help here, the
+@code{gnus-newsgroup-ignored-charsets} variable can be used. The
+charsets that are listed here will be ignored. The variable can be set
+on a group-by-group basis using the group parameters (@pxref{Group
+Parameters}). The default value is @code{(unknown-8bit)}, which is
+something some agents insist on having in there.
+
+
@node Article Commands
@section Article Commands
@findex gnus-summary-sort-by-lines
Sort by lines (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-lines}).
+@item C-c C-s C-c
+@kindex C-c C-s C-c (Summary)
+@findex gnus-summary-sort-by-chars
+Sort by article length (@code{gnus-summary-sort-by-chars}).
+
@item C-c C-s C-i
@kindex C-c C-s C-i (Summary)
@findex gnus-summary-sort-by-score
@table @kbd
-@item C-d
+@item A D
+@itemx C-d
@kindex C-d (Summary)
+@kindex A D (Summary)
@findex gnus-summary-enter-digest-group
If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance,
a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that
Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental. Ahem.
+Also see @pxref{MIME Commands}.
+
@node Customizing Articles
@section Customizing Articles
than this number.
@item
-A list:
+A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
+articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of the
+regexps in the list.
+
+@item
+A list where the first element is not a string:
The list is evaluated recursively. The first element of the list is a
predicate. The following predicates are recognized: @code{or},
@item gnus-treat-date-local
@item gnus-treat-date-lapsed
@item gnus-treat-date-original
+@item gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body
@item gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines
@item gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines
@item gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines
@item gnus-treat-display-xface
@item gnus-treat-display-smileys
@item gnus-treat-display-picons
+@item gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences
+@item gnus-treat-fill-long-lines
+@item gnus-treat-play-sounds
+@item gnus-treat-translate
@end table
@vindex gnus-part-display-hook
to @dfn{match}.
Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of @dfn{attributes}. Each
-attribute consists of a @var{(name . value)} pair. The attribute name
+attribute consists of a @var{(name value)} pair. The attribute name
can be one of @code{signature}, @code{signature-file},
@code{organization}, @code{address}, @code{name} or @code{body}. The
attribute name can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
@code{nnmail-crosspost-link-function} to @code{copy-file}. (This
variable is @code{add-name-to-file} by default.)
-@findex nnmail-split-header-length-limit
-Header lines may be arbitrarily long. However, the longer a line is,
-the longer it takes to match them. Very long lines may lead to Gnus
-taking forever to split the mail, so Gnus excludes lines that are longer
-than @code{nnmail-split-header-length-limit} (which defaults to 1024).
-
@kindex M-x nnmail-split-history
@kindex nnmail-split-history
If you wish to see where the previous mail split put the messages, you
@item :suffix
Only files ending with this suffix are used. The default is
@samp{.spool}.
+
+@item :predicate
+Only files that have this predicate return non-@code{nil} are returned.
+The default is @code{identity}. This is used as an additional
+filter---only files that have the right suffix @emph{and} satisfy this
+predicate are considered.
+
+@item :prescript
+@itemx :postscript
+Script run before/after fetching mail.
+
@end table
An example directory mail source:
prompted.
@item :program
-The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server.
+The program to use to fetch mail from the POP server. This is should be
+a @code{format}-like string. Here's an example:
+
+@example
+fetchmail %u@@%s -P %p %t
+@end example
+
+The valid format specifier characters are:
+
+@table @samp
+@item t
+The name of the file the mail is to be moved to. This must always be
+included in this string.
-@item :args
-The arguments to give to the program. If this is a string, it is used
-as such. If this is a list, it is @code{eval}ed first, and the result
-is used.
+@item s
+The name of the server.
+
+@item P
+The port number of the server.
+
+@item u
+The user name to use.
+
+@item p
+The password to use.
+@end table
+
+The values used for these specs are taken from the values you give the
+corresponding keywords.
+
+@item :prescript
+A script to be run before fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
+the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
+
+@item :postscript
+A script to be run after fetching the mail. The syntax is the same as
+the @code{:program} keyword. This can also be a function to be run.
@item :function
The function to use to fetch mail from the POP server. The function is
called with one parameter---the name of the file where the mail should
be moved to.
+
+@item :authentication
+This can be either the symbol @code{password} or the symbol @code{apop}
+and says what authentication scheme to use. The default is
+@code{password}.
+
@end table
If the @code{:program} and @code{:function} keywords aren't specified,
Use @samp{movemail} to move the mail:
@lisp
-(pop :program "movemail"
- :args (format "po:%s %s %s" user mail-source-crash-box password))
+(pop :program "movemail po:%u %t %p")
+@end lisp
+
+@item maildir
+Get mail from a maildir. This is a type of mailbox currently only
+supported by qmail, where each file in a special directory contains
+exactly one mail.
+
+Keywords:
+
+@table @code
+@item :path
+The path of the directory where the mails are stored. The default is
+@samp{~/Maildir/new}.
+
+If you sometimes look at your mail through a pop3 daemon before fetching
+them with Gnus, you may also have to fetch your mails from the
+@code{cur} directory inside the maildir, like in the following example.
+
+@end table
+
+An example maildir mail source:
+
+@lisp
+(maildir :path "/home/user-name/Maildir/cur")
@end lisp
@end table
@node Fetching Mail
@subsubsection Fetching Mail
+@vindex mail-sources
+@vindex nnmail-spool-file
The way to actually tell Gnus where to get new mail from is to set
-@code{nnmail-spool-file} to a list of mail source specifiers
+@code{mail-sources} to a list of mail source specifiers
(@pxref{Mail Source Specifiers}).
-If this variable is @code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to
-fetch mail by themselves.
+If this variable (and the obsolescent @code{nnmail-spool-file}) is
+@code{nil}, the mail backends will never attempt to fetch mail by
+themselves.
If you want to fetch mail both from your local spool as well as a POP
mail server, you'd say something like:
@lisp
-(setq mail-spool-file
+(setq mail-sources
'((file)
(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
:password "secret")))
Or, if you don't want to use any of the keyword defaults:
@lisp
-(setq mail-spool-file
+(setq mail-sources
'((file :path "/var/spool/mail/user-name")
(pop :server "pop3.mail.server"
:user "user-name"
function with @var{args} given as arguments. The function should return
a SPLIT.
+@item
+@var{(! FUNC SPLIT)}: If the split is a list, and the first element
+is @code{!}, then SPLIT will be processed, and FUNC will be called as a
+function with the result of SPLIT as argument. FUNC should return a split.
+
@item
@code{nil}: If the split is @code{nil}, it is ignored.
(any "debian-\\b\\(\\w+\\)@@lists.debian.org" "mail.debian.\\1")
@end example
+In this example, messages sent to @samp{debian-foo@@lists.debian.org}
+will be filed in @samp{mail.debian.foo}.
+
If the string contains the element @samp{\&}, then the previously
matched string will be substituted. Similarly, the elements @samp{\\1}
up to @samp{\\9} will be substituted with the text matched by the
habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not
be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.
-If you set @code{nnmail-spool-file} to @code{nil}, none of the backends
-will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.
+If you set @code{mail-sources} and @code{nnmail-spool-file} to
+@code{nil}, none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming
+mail, which should help.
@vindex nnbabyl-get-new-mail
@vindex nnmbox-get-new-mail
file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that
depends on what format you want to store your mail in.
+There are five different mail backends in the standard Gnus, and more
+backends are available separately. The mail backend most people use
+(because it is the fastest and most flexible) is @code{nnml}
+(@pxref{Mail Spool}).
+
@menu
* Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
* Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
* Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool?
* MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend.
* Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.
+* Comparing Mail Backends:: An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
@end menu
If you have lots of @code{nnfolder}-like files you'd like to read with
@code{nnfolder}, you can use the @kbd{M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file}
command to make @code{nnfolder} aware of all likely files in
-@code{nnfolder-directory}.
+@code{nnfolder-directory}. This only works if you use long file names,
+though.
+
+@node Comparing Mail Backends
+@subsubsection Comparing Mail Backends
+
+First, just for terminology, the @dfn{backend} is the common word for a
+low-level access method---a transport, if you will, by which something
+is acquired. The sense is that one's mail has to come from somewhere,
+and so selection of a suitable backend is required in order to get that
+mail within spitting distance of Gnus.
+
+The same concept exists for Usenet itself: Though access to articles is
+typically done by NNTP these days, once upon a midnight dreary, everyone
+in the world got at Usenet by running a reader on the machine where the
+articles lay (the machine which today we call an NNTP server), and
+access was by the reader stepping into the articles' directory spool
+area directly. One can still select between either the @code{nntp} or
+@code{nnspool} backends, to select between these methods, if one happens
+actually to live on the server (or can see its spool directly, anyway,
+via NFS).
+
+The goal in selecting a mail backend is to pick one which
+simultaneously represents a suitable way of dealing with the original
+format plus leaving mail in a form that is convenient to use in the
+future. Here are some high and low points on each:
+
+@table @code
+@item nnmbox
+
+UNIX systems have historically had a single, very common, and well-
+defined format. All messages arrive in a single @dfn{spool file}, and
+they are delineated by a line whose regular expression matches
+@samp{^From_}. (My notational use of @samp{_} is to indicate a space,
+to make it clear in this instance that this is not the RFC-specified
+@samp{From:} header.) Because Emacs and therefore Gnus emanate
+historically from the Unix environment, it is simplest if one does not
+mess a great deal with the original mailbox format, so if one chooses
+this backend, Gnus' primary activity in getting mail from the real spool
+area to Gnus' preferred directory is simply to copy it, with no
+(appreciable) format change in the process. It is the ``dumbest'' way
+to move mail into availability in the Gnus environment. This makes it
+fast to move into place, but slow to parse, when Gnus has to look at
+what's where.
+
+@item nnbabyl
+
+Once upon a time, there was the DEC-10 and DEC-20, running operating
+systems called TOPS and related things, and the usual (only?) mail
+reading environment was a thing called Babyl. I don't know what format
+was used for mail landing on the system, but Babyl had its own internal
+format to which mail was converted, primarily involving creating a
+spool-file-like entity with a scheme for inserting Babyl-specific
+headers and status bits above the top of each message in the file.
+RMAIL was Emacs' first mail reader, it was written by Richard Stallman,
+and Stallman came out of that TOPS/Babyl environment, so he wrote RMAIL
+to understand the mail files folks already had in existence. Gnus (and
+VM, for that matter) continue to support this format because it's
+perceived as having some good qualities in those mailer-specific
+headers/status bits stuff. RMAIL itself still exists as well, of
+course, and is still maintained by Stallman.
+
+Both of the above forms leave your mail in a single file on your
+filesystem, and they must parse that entire file each time you take a
+look at your mail.
+
+@item nnml
+
+@code{nnml} is the backend which smells the most as though you were
+actually operating with an @code{nnspool}-accessed Usenet system. (In
+fact, I believe @code{nnml} actually derived from @code{nnspool} code,
+lo these years ago.) One's mail is taken from the original spool file,
+and is then cut up into individual message files, 1:1. It maintains a
+Usenet-style active file (analogous to what one finds in an INN- or
+CNews-based news system in (for instance) @file{/var/lib/news/active},
+or what is returned via the @samp{NNTP LIST} verb) and also creates
+@dfn{overview} files for efficient group entry, as has been defined for
+@sc{nntp} servers for some years now. It is slower in mail-splitting,
+due to the creation of lots of files, updates to the @code{nnml} active
+file, and additions to overview files on a per-message basis, but it is
+extremely fast on access because of what amounts to the indexing support
+provided by the active file and overviews.
+
+@code{nnml} costs @dfn{inodes} in a big way; that is, it soaks up the
+resource which defines available places in the filesystem to put new
+files. Sysadmins take a dim view of heavy inode occupation within
+tight, shared filesystems. But if you live on a personal machine where
+the filesystem is your own and space is not at a premium, @code{nnml}
+wins big.
+
+It is also problematic using this backend if you are living in a
+FAT16-based Windows world, since much space will be wasted on all these
+tiny files.
+
+@item nnmh
+
+The Rand MH mail-reading system has been around UNIX systems for a very
+long time; it operates by splitting one's spool file of messages into
+individual files, but with little or no indexing support -- @code{nnmh}
+is considered to be semantically equivalent to ``@code{nnml} without
+active file or overviews''. This is arguably the worst choice, because
+one gets the slowness of individual file creation married to the
+slowness of access parsing when learning what's new in one's groups.
+
+@item nnfolder
+
+Basically the effetc of @code{nnfolder} is @code{nnmbox} (the first
+method described above) on a per-group basis. That is, @code{nnmbox}
+itself puts *all* one's mail in one file; @code{nnfolder} provides a
+little bit of optimization to this so that each of one's mail groups has
+a Unix mail box file. It's faster than @code{nnmbox} because each group
+can be parsed separately, and still provides the simple Unix mail box
+format requiring minimal effort in moving the mail around. In addition,
+it maintains an ``active'' file making it much faster for Gnus to figure
+out how many messages there are in each separate group.
+
+If you have groups that are expected to have a massive amount of
+messages, @code{nnfolder} is not the best choice, but if you receive
+only a moderate amount of mail, @code{nnfolder} is probably the most
+friendly mail backend all over.
+
+@end table
+
@node Other Sources
@item forward
Forwarded articles.
-@item mime-parts
-MIME multipart messages, besides digests.
+@item nsmail
+Netscape mail boxes.
-@item mime-digest
-@cindex digest
-@cindex MIME digest
-@cindex 1153 digest
-@cindex RFC 1153 digest
-@cindex RFC 341 digest
-MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.
+@item mime-parts
+MIME multipart messages.
@item standard-digest
The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.
@vindex nndoc-article-type
This should be one of @code{mbox}, @code{babyl}, @code{digest},
@code{news}, @code{rnews}, @code{mmdf}, @code{forward}, @code{rfc934},
-@code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{mime-digest},
-@code{standard-digest}, @code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs} or
-@code{guess}.
+@code{rfc822-forward}, @code{mime-parts}, @code{standard-digest},
+@code{slack-digest}, @code{clari-briefs}, @code{nsmail} or @code{guess}.
@item nndoc-post-type
@vindex nndoc-post-type
The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a
@dfn{category} and then assign some (or all) groups to this category.
-Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories.
+Groups that do not belong in any other category belong to the
+@code{default} category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and
+managing categories.
@menu
* Category Syntax:: What a category looks like.
@lisp
(defun my-article-old-p ()
"Say whether an article is old."
- (< (time-to-day (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
- (- (time-to-day (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
+ (< (time-to-days (date-to-time (mail-header-date gnus-headers)))
+ (- (time-to-days (current-time)) gnus-agent-expire-days)))
@end lisp
with the predicate then defined as:
@lisp
;;; Define how Gnus is to fetch news. We do this over NNTP
;;; from your ISP's server.
-(setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "nntp.your-isp.com"))
+(setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.your-isp.com"))
;;; Define how Gnus is to read your mail. We read mail from
;;; your ISP's POP server.
-(setenv "MAILHOST" "pop.your-isp.com")
-(setq nnmail-spool-file "po:username")
+(setq mail-sources '((pop :server "pop.your-isp.com")))
;;; Say how Gnus is to store the mail. We use nnml groups.
(setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnml "")))
Score on the subject line.
@item x
-Score on the Xref line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
+Score on the @code{Xref} line---i.e., the cross-posting line.
@item r
-Score on the References line.
+Score on the @code{References} line.
@item d
Score on the date.
Score on the number of lines.
@item i
-Score on the Message-ID.
+Score on the @code{Message-ID} header.
@item f
-Score on followups.
+Score on followups---this matches the author name, and adds scores to
+the followups to this author.
@item b
Score on the body.
Score on the head.
@item t
-Score on thead.
+Score on thread.
@end table
scoring, then you might set this variable to @code{t}. This will make
Gnus save the scores into the @file{.newsrc.eld} file.
+If you do not set this to @code{t}, then manual scores (like those set
+with @kbd{V s} (@code{gnus-summary-set-score})) will not be preserved
+across group visits.
+
@item gnus-score-interactive-default-score
@vindex gnus-score-interactive-default-score
Score used by all the interactive raise/lower commands to raise/lower
* Compatibility:: Just how compatible is Gnus with @sc{gnus}?
* Conformity:: Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
* Emacsen:: Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
+* Gnus Development:: How Gnus is developed.
* Contributors:: Oodles of people.
* New Features:: Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
* Newest Features:: Features so new that they haven't been written yet.
Emacsen.
+@node Gnus Development
+@subsection Gnus Development
+
+Gnus is developed in a two-phased cycle. The first phase involves much
+discussion on the @samp{ding@@gnus.org} mailing list, where people
+propose changes and new features, post patches and new backends. This
+phase is called the @dfn{alpha} phase, since the Gnusae released in this
+phase are @dfn{alpha releases}, or (perhaps more commonly in other
+circles) @dfn{snapshots}. During this phase, Gnus is assumed to be
+unstable and should not be used by casual users. Gnus alpha releases
+have names like ``Red Gnus'' and ``Quassia Gnus''.
+
+After futzing around for 50-100 alpha releases, Gnus is declared
+@dfn{frozen}, and only bug fixes are applied. Gnus loses the prefix,
+and is called things like ``Gnus 5.6.32'' instead. Normal people are
+supposed to be able to use these, and these are mostly discussed on the
+@samp{gnu.emacs.gnus} newsgroup.
+
+@cindex Incoming*
+@vindex nnmail-delete-incoming
+Some variable defaults differ between alpha Gnusae and released Gnusae.
+In particular, @code{nnmail-delete-incoming} defaults to @code{nil} in
+alpha Gnusae and @code{t} in released Gnusae. This is to prevent
+lossage of mail if an alpha release hiccups while handling the mail.
+
+The division of discussion between the ding mailing list and the Gnus
+newsgroup is not purely based on publicity concerns. It's true that
+having people write about the horrible things that an alpha Gnus release
+can do (sometimes) in a public forum may scare people off, but more
+importantly, talking about new experimental features that have been
+introduced may confuse casual users. New features are frequently
+introduced, fiddled with, and judged to be found wanting, and then
+either discarded or totally rewritten. People reading the mailing list
+usually keep up with these rapid changes, whille people on the newsgroup
+can't be assumed to do so.
+
+
+
@node Contributors
@subsection Contributors
@cindex contributors
If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.
-@item
-The documentation should mention pop3.el, fetchmail, smtpmail and why
-po:username often fails.
-
@item
Fetch by Message-ID from dejanews.
Some nntp servers never respond when posting, so there should be a
timeout for all commands.
+@item
+When stading on a topic line and `t'-ing, point goes to the last line.
+It should go somewhere else.
+
+@item
+I'm having trouble accessing a newsgroup with a "+" in its name with
+Gnus. There is a new newsgroup on msnews.microsoft.com named
+"microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time" that I'm trying to
+access as
+"nntp+msnews.microsoft.com:microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time"
+but it gives an error that it cant access the group.
+
+Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names? Is there any way in
+Gnus to work around this? (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)
+
+@item
+
+When `#F', do:
+
+@example
+Subject: Answer to your mails 01.01.1999-01.05.1999
+ --text follows this line--
+Sorry I killfiled you...
+
+Under the subject "foo", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
+> bar
+Under the subject "foo1", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
+> bar 1
+@end example
+
@item
Solve the halting problem.
use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
default.
+@item gnus-read-newsrc-file
+If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will never read @file{.newsrc}---it will
+only read @file{.newsrc.eld}. This means that you will not be able to
+use any other newsreaders than Gnus. This variable is @code{t} by
+default.
+
@item gnus-save-killed-list
If this is @code{nil}, Gnus will not save the list of dead groups. You
should also set @code{gnus-check-new-newsgroups} to @code{ask-server}
projects / gnus / blobdiff