emacs/info/gnus-4

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INFO-DIR-SECTION Emacs network features
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Gnus: (gnus).                 The newsreader Gnus.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY


File: gnus,  Node: September Gnus,  Next: Red Gnus,  Prev: ding Gnus,  Up: New Features

11.2.8.2 September Gnus
.......................

New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:

   * A new message composition mode is used.  All old customization
     variables for `mail-mode', `rnews-reply-mode' and `gnus-msg' are
     now obsolete.

   * Gnus is now able to generate "sparse" threads--threads where
     missing articles are represented by empty nodes (*note Customizing
     Threading::).

          (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)

   * Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server (*note
     Archived Messages::).

   * Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are referred.

   * Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions.

   * Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (*note
     Picons::).

   * A `trn'-like tree buffer can be displayed (*note Tree Display::).

          (setq gnus-use-trees t)

   * An `nn'-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
     buffers (*note Pick and Read::).

          (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)

   * In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (*note
     Binary Groups::).

   * Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (*note Group
     Topics::).

          (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)

   * Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (*note Summary Mail Commands::).

   * Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
     is possible (*note Group Score::).

          (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)

   * Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
     groups of groups (*note Marking Groups::).

   * Caching is possible in virtual groups.

   * `nndoc' now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
     news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about
     everything else (*note Document Groups::).

   * Gnus has a new back end (`nnsoup') to create/read SOUP packets.

   * The Gnus cache is much faster.

   * Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (*note Sorting
     Groups::).

   * New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
     expiry times (*note Group Parameters::).

   * All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used (*note
     Formatting Fonts::).

   * There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on
     process marked articles on the `M P' submap (*note Setting Process
     Marks::).

   * The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
     articles based on a wide range of criteria.  These commands have
     been bound to keys on the `/' submap (*note Limiting::).

   * Articles can be made persistent with the `*' command (*note
     Persistent Articles::).

   * All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.

   * Article headers can be buttonized (*note Article Washing::).

   * All mail back ends support fetching articles by `Message-ID'.

   * Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (*note Duplicates::).

   * All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
     buffer (*note Article Keymap::).

   * Frames can be part of `gnus-buffer-configuration' (*note Window
     Layout::).

   * Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (*note Daemons::).

   * Groups can be made permanently visible (*note Listing Groups::).

          (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")

   * Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.

   * Gnus respects the `Mail-Copies-To' header.

   * Threads can be gathered by looking at the `References' header
     (*note Customizing Threading::).

          (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
                'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)

   * Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
     refetching (*note Article Backlog::).

          (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)

   * A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
     buffer to allow easier treatment.

   * Gnus can suggest where to save articles (*note Saving Articles::).

   * Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (*note
     Saving Articles::).

          (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)

   * `gnus-uu' can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
     articles (*note Other Decode Variables::).

          (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)

   * Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
     (*note Article Washing::).

   * Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
     cited text to hide is now customizable (*note Article Hiding::).

          (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)

   * Boring headers can be hidden (*note Article Hiding::).

   * Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.

   * Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.



File: gnus,  Node: Red Gnus,  Next: Quassia Gnus,  Prev: September Gnus,  Up: New Features

11.2.8.3 Red Gnus
.................

New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:

   * `nntp.el' has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.

   * Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into Gnus
     (*note Asynchronous Fetching::).

   * Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like `and',
     `or', `not', and parent redirection (*note Advanced Scoring::).

   * Article washing status can be displayed in the article mode line
     (*note Misc Article::).

   * `gnus.el' has been split into many smaller files.

   * Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
     (*note Duplicate Suppression::).

          (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)

   * New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
     considered home score and adapt files (*note Home Score File::)
     have been added.

   * `nndoc' was rewritten to be easily extensible (*note Document
     Server Internals::).

   * Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (*note
     Topic Parameters::).

   * Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.

   * Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions (*note
     Article Signature::).

   * Summary pick mode has been made to look more `nn'-like.  Line
     numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be used to pick
     articles (`Pick and Read').

   * Commands for moving the `.newsrc.eld' from one server to another
     have been added (*note Changing Servers::).

   * There's a way now to specify that "uninteresting" fields be
     suppressed when generating lines in buffers (*note Advanced
     Formatting::).

   * Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with `C-M-_'
     (*note Undo::).

   * Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w' (*note
     Score File Format::).

   * Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
     (*note Adaptive Scoring::).

          (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))

   * Scores can be decayed (*note Score Decays::).

          (setq gnus-decay-scores t)

   * Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header.  The
     Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (*note Score
     File Format::).

   * A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
     the native server (*note Changing Servers::).

   * A new command for reading collections of documents (`nndoc' with
     `nnvirtual' on top) has been added--`C-M-d' (*note Really Various
     Summary Commands::).

   * Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (*note Setting Process
     Marks::).

   * A new mail-to-news back end makes it possible to post even when
     the NNTP server doesn't allow posting (*note Mail-To-News
     Gateways::).

   * A new back end for reading searches from Web search engines
     ("DejaNews", "Alta Vista", "InReference") has been added (*note
     Web Searches::).

   * Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
     functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (*note Topic
     Sorting::).

   * Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (`Sorting
     Groups').

   * Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (*note Summary
     Generation Commands::).

   * Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (*note Score
     Variables::).

   * Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (*note
     Splitting Mail::).

   * More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from
     incoming mail before saving the mail (*note Washing Mail::).

   * Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:



File: gnus,  Node: Quassia Gnus,  Next: Pterodactyl Gnus,  Prev: Red Gnus,  Up: New Features

11.2.8.4 Quassia Gnus
.....................

New features in Gnus 5.6:

   * New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
     added.  A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.
     *Note Gnus Unplugged::, for the full story.

   * The `nndraft' back end has returned, but works differently than
     before.  All Message buffers are now also articles in the `nndraft'
     group, which is created automatically.

   * `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
     values.

   * `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.

   * A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
     outside the region: `C-c C-v'.

   * You can now post to component group in `nnvirtual' groups with
     `C-u C-c C-c'.

   *  `nntp-rlogin-program'--new variable to ease customization.

   * `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
     re-highlighting of the article buffer.

   * New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers'--`long-to'.

   * `M-i' symbolic prefix command.  *Note Symbolic Prefixes::, for
     details.

   * `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix `a'
     to add the score rule to the `all.SCORE' file.

   * `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
     control over simplification.

   * `A T'--new command for fetching the current thread.

   * `/ T'--new command for including the current thread in the limit.

   * `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.

   * `\\1'-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.

   * The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.  If you used
     this function in your initialization files, you must rewrite them
     to use `face-spec-set' instead.

   * Canceling now uses the current select method.  Symbolic prefix `a'
     forces normal posting method.

   * New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
     text--`W d'.

   * For easier debugging of `nntp', you can set `nntp-record-commands'
     to a non-`nil' value.

   * `nntp' now uses `~/.authinfo', a `.netrc'-like file, for
     controlling where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.

   * A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer has
     been added.

   * A history of where mails have been split is available.

   * A new article date command has been added--`article-date-iso8601'.

   * Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
     `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.

   * A new function for citing in Message has been
     added--`message-cite-original-without-signature'.

   * `article-strip-all-blank-lines'--new article command.

   * A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has been
     added.

   * A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
     `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.

   * The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually updated
     by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.

   * Web listserv archives can be read with the `nnlistserv' back end.

   * Old dejanews archives can now be read by `nnweb'.



File: gnus,  Node: Pterodactyl Gnus,  Next: Oort Gnus,  Prev: Quassia Gnus,  Up: New Features

11.2.8.5 Pterodactyl Gnus
.........................

New features in Gnus 5.8:

   * The mail-fetching functions have changed.  See the manual for the
     many details.  In particular, all procmail fetching variables are
     gone.

     If you used procmail like in

          (setq nnmail-use-procmail t)
          (setq nnmail-spool-file 'procmail)
          (setq nnmail-procmail-directory "~/mail/incoming/")
          (setq nnmail-procmail-suffix "\\.in")

     this now has changed to

          (setq mail-sources
                '((directory :path "~/mail/incoming/"
                             :suffix ".in")))

     *Note Mail Source Specifiers::.

   * Gnus is now a MIME-capable reader.  This affects many parts of
     Gnus, and adds a slew of new commands.  See the manual for details.

   * Gnus has also been multilingualized.  This also affects too many
     parts of Gnus to summarize here, and adds many new variables.

   * `gnus-auto-select-first' can now be a function to be called to
     position point.

   * The user can now decide which extra headers should be included in
     summary buffers and NOV files.

   * `gnus-article-display-hook' has been removed.  Instead, a number
     of variables starting with `gnus-treat-' have been added.

   * The Gnus posting styles have been redone again and now works in a
     subtly different manner.

   * New web-based back ends have been added: `nnslashdot',
     `nnwarchive' and `nnultimate'.  nnweb has been revamped, again, to
     keep up with ever-changing layouts.

   * Gnus can now read IMAP mail via `nnimap'.



File: gnus,  Node: Oort Gnus,  Next: No Gnus,  Prev: Pterodactyl Gnus,  Up: New Features

11.2.8.6 Oort Gnus
..................

New features in Gnus 5.10:

   * Installation changes

        * Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used
          Oort.

          If you have tried Oort (the unstable Gnus branch leading to
          this release) but went back to a stable version, be careful
          when upgrading to this version.  In particular, you will
          probably want to remove all `.marks' (nnml) and `.mrk'
          (nnfolder) files, so that flags are read from your
          `.newsrc.eld' instead of from the `.marks'/`.mrk' file where
          this release store flags.  See a later entry for more
          information about marks.  Note that downgrading isn't save in
          general.

        * Lisp files are now installed in `.../site-lisp/gnus/' by
          default.  It defaulted to `.../site-lisp/' formerly.  In
          addition to this, the new installer issues a warning if other
          Gnus installations which will shadow the latest one are
          detected.  You can then remove those shadows manually or
          remove them using `make remove-installed-shadows'.

        * New `make.bat' for compiling and installing Gnus under MS
          Windows

          Use `make.bat' if you want to install Gnus under MS Windows,
          the first argument to the batch-program should be the
          directory where `xemacs.exe' respectively `emacs.exe' is
          located, if you want to install Gnus after compiling it, give
          `make.bat' `/copy' as the second parameter.

          `make.bat' has been rewritten from scratch, it now features
          automatic recognition of XEmacs and Emacs, generates
          `gnus-load.el', checks if errors occur while compilation and
          generation of info files and reports them at the end of the
          build process.  It now uses `makeinfo' if it is available and
          falls back to `infohack.el' otherwise.  `make.bat' should now
          install all files which are necessary to run Gnus and be
          generally a complete replacement for the `configure; make;
          make install' cycle used under Unix systems.

          The new `make.bat' makes `make-x.bat' and `xemacs.mak'
          superfluous, so they have been removed.

        * `~/News/overview/' not used.

          As a result of the following change, the `~/News/overview/'
          directory is not used any more.  You can safely delete the
          entire hierarchy.

        * `(require 'gnus-load)'

          If you use a stand-alone Gnus distribution, you'd better add
          `(require 'gnus-load)' into your `~/.emacs' after adding the
          Gnus lisp directory into load-path.

          File `gnus-load.el' contains autoload commands, functions and
          variables, some of which may not be included in distributions
          of Emacsen.


   * New packages and libraries within Gnus

        * The revised Gnus FAQ is included in the manual, *Note
          Frequently Asked Questions::.

        * TLS wrapper shipped with Gnus

          TLS/SSL is now supported in IMAP and NNTP via `tls.el' and
          GnuTLS.

        * Improved anti-spam features.

          Gnus is now able to take out spam from your mail and news
          streams using a wide variety of programs and filter rules.
          Among the supported methods are RBL blocklists, bogofilter
          and white/blacklists.  Hooks for easy use of external
          packages such as SpamAssassin and Hashcash are also new.
          *note Thwarting Email Spam:: and *note Spam Package::.

        * Gnus supports server-side mail filtering using Sieve.

          Sieve rules can be added as Group Parameters for groups, and
          the complete Sieve script is generated using `D g' from the
          Group buffer, and then uploaded to the server using `C-c C-l'
          in the generated Sieve buffer.  *Note Sieve Commands::, and
          the new Sieve manual *note Top: (sieve)Top.


   * Changes in group mode

        * `gnus-group-read-ephemeral-group' can be called interactively,
          using `G M'.

        * Retrieval of charters and control messages

          There are new commands for fetching newsgroup charters (`H
          c') and control messages (`H C').

        * The new variable `gnus-parameters' can be used to set group
          parameters.

          Earlier this was done only via `G p' (or `G c'), which stored
          the parameters in `~/.newsrc.eld', but via this variable you
          can enjoy the powers of customize, and simplified backups
          since you set the variable in `~/.gnus.el' instead of
          `~/.newsrc.eld'.  The variable maps regular expressions
          matching group names to group parameters, a'la:
               (setq gnus-parameters
                     '(("mail\\..*"
                        (gnus-show-threads nil)
                        (gnus-use-scoring nil))
                       ("^nnimap:\\(foo.bar\\)$"
                        (to-group . "\\1"))))

        * Unread count correct in nnimap groups.

          The estimated number of unread articles in the group buffer
          should now be correct for nnimap groups.  This is achieved by
          calling `nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news' from the
          `gnus-setup-news-hook' (called on startup) and
          `gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook'. (called after getting new
          mail).  If you have modified those variables from the
          default, you may want to add
          `nnimap-fixup-unread-after-getting-new-news' again.  If you
          were happy with the estimate and want to save some (minimal)
          time when getting new mail, remove the function.

        * Group names are treated as UTF-8 by default.

          This is supposedly what USEFOR wanted to migrate to.  See
          `gnus-group-name-charset-group-alist' and
          `gnus-group-name-charset-method-alist' for customization.

        * `gnus-group-charset-alist' and
          `gnus-group-ignored-charsets-alist'.

          The regexps in these variables are compared with full group
          names instead of real group names in 5.8.  Users who
          customize these variables should change those regexps
          accordingly.  For example:
               ("^han\\>" euc-kr) -> ("\\(^\\|:\\)han\\>" euc-kr)

        * Old intermediate incoming mail files (`Incoming*') are deleted
          after a couple of days, not immediately.  *Note Mail Source
          Customization::.  (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / Emacs 22.2)


   * Changes in summary and article mode

        * `F' (`gnus-article-followup-with-original') and `R'
          (`gnus-article-reply-with-original') only yank the text in the
          region if the region is active.

        * In draft groups, `e' is now bound to
          `gnus-draft-edit-message'.  Use `B w' for
          `gnus-summary-edit-article' instead.

        * Article Buttons

          More buttons for URLs, mail addresses, Message-IDs, Info
          links, man pages and Emacs or Gnus related references.  *Note
          Article Buttons::.  The variables `gnus-button-*-level' can
          be used to control the appearance of all article buttons.
          *Note Article Button Levels::.

        * Single-part yenc encoded attachments can be decoded.

        * Picons

          The picons code has been reimplemented to work in GNU
          Emacs--some of the previous options have been removed or
          renamed.

          Picons are small "personal icons" representing users, domain
          and newsgroups, which can be displayed in the Article buffer.
          *Note Picons::.

        * If the new option `gnus-treat-body-boundary' is non-`nil', a
          boundary line is drawn at the end of the headers.

        * Signed article headers (X-PGP-Sig) can be verified with `W p'.

        * The Summary Buffer uses an arrow in the fringe to indicate
          the current article.  Use `(setq gnus-summary-display-arrow
          nil)' to disable it.

        * Warn about email replies to news

          Do you often find yourself replying to news by email by
          mistake?  Then the new option
          `gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news' is just the thing for you.

        * If the new option `gnus-summary-display-while-building' is
          non-`nil', the summary buffer is shown and updated as it's
          being built.

        * Gnus supports RFC 2369 mailing list headers, and adds a
          number of related commands in mailing list groups.  *Note
          Mailing List::.

        * The Date header can be displayed in a format that can be read
          aloud in English.  *Note Article Date::.

        * diffs are automatically highlighted in groups matching
          `mm-uu-diff-groups-regexp'

        * Better handling of Microsoft citation styles

          Gnus now tries to recognize the mangled header block that
          some Microsoft mailers use to indicate that the rest of the
          message is a citation, even though it is not quoted in any
          way.  The variable `gnus-cite-unsightly-citation-regexp'
          matches the start of these citations.

          The new command `W Y f'
          (`gnus-article-outlook-deuglify-article') allows deuglifying
          broken Outlook (Express) articles.

        * `gnus-article-skip-boring'

          If you set `gnus-article-skip-boring' to `t', then Gnus will
          not scroll down to show you a page that contains only boring
          text, which by default means cited text and signature.  You
          can customize what is skippable using
          `gnus-article-boring-faces'.

          This feature is especially useful if you read many articles
          that consist of a little new content at the top with a long,
          untrimmed message cited below.

        * Smileys (`:-)', `;-)' etc) are now displayed graphically in
          Emacs too.

          Put `(setq gnus-treat-display-smileys nil)' in `~/.gnus.el' to
          disable it.

        * Face headers handling.  *Note Face::.

        * In the summary buffer, the new command `/ N' inserts new
          messages and `/ o' inserts old messages.

        * Gnus decodes morse encoded messages if you press `W m'.

        * `gnus-summary-line-format'

          The default value changed to `%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-23,23f%]%)
          %s\n'.  Moreover `gnus-extra-headers', `nnmail-extra-headers'
          and `gnus-ignored-from-addresses' changed their default so
          that the users name will be replaced by the recipient's name
          or the group name posting to for NNTP groups.

        * Deleting of attachments.

          The command `gnus-mime-save-part-and-strip' (bound to `C-o'
          on MIME buttons) saves a part and replaces the part with an
          external one.  `gnus-mime-delete-part' (bound to `d' on MIME
          buttons) removes a part.  It works only on back ends that
          support editing.

        * `gnus-default-charset'

          The default value is determined from the
          `current-language-environment' variable, instead of
          `iso-8859-1'.  Also the `.*' item in
          `gnus-group-charset-alist' is removed.

        * Printing capabilities are enhanced.

          Gnus supports Muttprint natively with `O P' from the Summary
          and Article buffers.  Also, each individual MIME part can be
          printed using `p' on the MIME button.

        * Extended format specs.

          Format spec `%&user-date;' is added into
          `gnus-summary-line-format-alist'.  Also, user defined extended
          format specs are supported.  The extended format specs look
          like `%u&foo;', which invokes function
          `gnus-user-format-function-FOO'.  Because `&' is used as the
          escape character, old user defined format `%u&' is no longer
          supported.

        * `/ *' (`gnus-summary-limit-include-cached') is rewritten.

          It was aliased to `Y c'
          (`gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles').  The new function
          filters out other articles.

        * Some limiting commands accept a `C-u' prefix to negate the
          match.

          If `C-u' is used on subject, author or extra headers, i.e., `/
          s', `/ a', and `/ x'
          (`gnus-summary-limit-to-{subject,author,extra}')
          respectively, the result will be to display all articles that
          do not match the expression.

        * Gnus inlines external parts (message/external).


   * Changes in Message mode and related Gnus features

        * Delayed articles

          You can delay the sending of a message with `C-c C-j' in the
          Message buffer.  The messages are delivered at specified
          time.  This is useful for sending yourself reminders.  *Note
          Delayed Articles::.

        * If the new option `nnml-use-compressed-files' is non-`nil',
          the nnml back end allows compressed message files.

        * The new option `gnus-gcc-mark-as-read' automatically marks
          Gcc articles as read.

        * Externalizing of attachments

          If `gnus-gcc-externalize-attachments' or
          `message-fcc-externalize-attachments' is non-`nil', attach
          local files as external parts.

        * The envelope sender address can be customized when using
          Sendmail.  *Note Mail Variables: (message)Mail Variables.

        * Gnus no longer generate the Sender: header automatically.

          Earlier it was generated when the user configurable email
          address was different from the Gnus guessed default user
          address.  As the guessing algorithm is rarely correct these
          days, and (more controversially) the only use of the Sender:
          header was to check if you are entitled to cancel/supersede
          news (which is now solved by Cancel Locks instead, see
          another entry), generation of the header has been disabled by
          default.  See the variables `message-required-headers',
          `message-required-news-headers', and
          `message-required-mail-headers'.

        * Features from third party `message-utils.el' added to
          `message.el'.

          Message now asks if you wish to remove `(was: <old subject>)'
          from subject lines (see
          `message-subject-trailing-was-query').  `C-c M-m' and `C-c
          M-f' inserts markers indicating included text.  `C-c C-f a'
          adds a X-No-Archive: header.  `C-c C-f x' inserts appropriate
          headers and a note in the body for cross-postings and
          followups (see the variables `message-cross-post-*').

        * References and X-Draft-From headers are no longer generated
          when you start composing messages and
          `message-generate-headers-first' is `nil'.

        * Easy inclusion of X-Faces headers.  *Note X-Face::.

        * Group Carbon Copy (GCC) quoting

          To support groups that contains SPC and other weird
          characters, groups are quoted before they are placed in the
          Gcc: header.  This means variables such as
          `gnus-message-archive-group' should no longer contain quote
          characters to make groups containing SPC work.  Also, if you
          are using the string `nnml:foo, nnml:bar' (indicating Gcc
          into two groups) you must change it to return the list
          `("nnml:foo" "nnml:bar")', otherwise the Gcc: line will be
          quoted incorrectly.  Note that returning the string
          `nnml:foo, nnml:bar' was incorrect earlier, it just didn't
          generate any problems since it was inserted directly.

        * `message-insinuate-rmail'

          Adding `(message-insinuate-rmail)' and `(setq mail-user-agent
          'gnus-user-agent)' in `.emacs' convinces Rmail to compose,
          reply and forward messages in message-mode, where you can
          enjoy the power of MML.

        * `message-minibuffer-local-map'

          The line below enables BBDB in resending a message:
               (define-key message-minibuffer-local-map [(tab)]
                 'bbdb-complete-name)

        * `gnus-posting-styles'

          Add a new format of match like
               ((header "to" "larsi.*org")
                (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
          The old format like the lines below is obsolete, but still
          accepted.
               (header "to" "larsi.*org"
                       (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))

        * `message-ignored-news-headers' and
          `message-ignored-mail-headers'

          `X-Draft-From' and `X-Gnus-Agent-Meta-Information' have been
          added into these two variables.  If you customized those,
          perhaps you need add those two headers too.

        * Gnus supports the "format=flowed" (RFC 2646) parameter.  On
          composing messages, it is enabled by `use-hard-newlines'.
          Decoding format=flowed was present but not documented in
          earlier versions.

        * The option `mm-fill-flowed' can be used to disable treatment
          of "format=flowed" messages.  Also, flowed text is disabled
          when sending inline PGP signed messages.  *Note Flowed text:
          (emacs-mime)Flowed text.  (New in Gnus 5.10.7)

        * Gnus supports the generation of RFC 2298 Disposition
          Notification requests.

          This is invoked with the `C-c M-n' key binding from message
          mode.

        * Message supports the Importance: (RFC 2156) header.

          In the message buffer, `C-c C-f C-i' or `C-c C-u' cycles
          through the valid values.

        * Gnus supports Cancel Locks in News.

          This means a header `Cancel-Lock' is inserted in news
          posting.  It is used to determine if you wrote an article or
          not (for canceling and superseding).  Gnus generates a random
          password string the first time you post a message, and saves
          it in your `~/.emacs' using the Custom system.  While the
          variable is called `canlock-password', it is not security
          sensitive data.  Publishing your canlock string on the web
          will not allow anyone to be able to anything she could not
          already do.  The behavior can be changed by customizing
          `message-insert-canlock'.

        * Gnus supports PGP (RFC 1991/2440), PGP/MIME (RFC 2015/3156)
          and S/MIME (RFC 2630-2633).

          It needs an external S/MIME and OpenPGP implementation, but no
          additional Lisp libraries.  This add several menu items to the
          Attachments menu, and `C-c RET' key bindings, when composing
          messages.  This also obsoletes `gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook'.

        * MML (Mime compose) prefix changed from `M-m' to `C-c C-m'.

          This change was made to avoid conflict with the standard
          binding of `back-to-indentation', which is also useful in
          message mode.

        * The default for `message-forward-show-mml' changed to the
          symbol `best'.

          The behavior for the `best' value is to show MML (i.e.,
          convert to MIME) when appropriate.  MML will not be used when
          forwarding signed or encrypted messages, as the conversion
          invalidate the digital signature.

        * If `auto-compression-mode' is enabled, attachments are
          automatically decompressed when activated.

        * Support for non-ASCII domain names

          Message supports non-ASCII domain names in From:, To: and Cc:
          and will query you whether to perform encoding when you try to
          send a message.  The variable `message-use-idna' controls
          this.  Gnus will also decode non-ASCII domain names in From:,
          To: and Cc: when you view a message.  The variable
          `gnus-use-idna' controls this.

        * You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
          See `mml-dnd-protocol-alist' and `mml-dnd-attach-options'.
          *Note MIME: (message)MIME.

        * `auto-fill-mode' is enabled by default in Message mode.  See
          `message-fill-column'.  *Note Message Headers:
          (message)Various Message Variables.


   * Changes in back ends

        * Gnus can display RSS newsfeeds as a newsgroup.  *Note RSS::.

        * The nndoc back end now supports mailman digests and exim
          bounces.

        * Gnus supports Maildir groups.

          Gnus includes a new back end `nnmaildir.el'.  *Note Maildir::.

        * The nnml and nnfolder back ends store marks for each groups.

          This makes it possible to take backup of nnml/nnfolder
          servers/groups separately of `~/.newsrc.eld', while
          preserving marks.  It also makes it possible to share
          articles and marks between users (without sharing the
          `~/.newsrc.eld' file) within e.g. a department.  It works by
          storing the marks stored in `~/.newsrc.eld' in a per-group
          file `.marks' (for nnml) and `GROUPNAME.mrk' (for nnfolder,
          named GROUPNAME).  If the nnml/nnfolder is moved to another
          machine, Gnus will automatically use the `.marks' or `.mrk'
          file instead of the information in `~/.newsrc.eld'.  The new
          server variables `nnml-marks-is-evil' and
          `nnfolder-marks-is-evil' can be used to disable this feature.


   * Appearance

        * The menu bar item (in Group and Summary buffer) named "Misc"
          has been renamed to "Gnus".

        * The menu bar item (in Message mode) named "MML" has been
          renamed to "Attachments".  Note that this menu also contains
          security related stuff, like signing and encryption (*note
          Security: (message)Security.).

        * The tool bars have been updated to use GNOME icons in Group,
          Summary and Message mode.  You can also customize the tool
          bars: `M-x customize-apropos RET -tool-bar$' should get you
          started.  This is a new feature in Gnus 5.10.10.  (Only for
          Emacs, not in XEmacs.)

        * The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly in the
          group buffer, see the variable `gnus-group-update-tool-bar'.
          Its default value depends on your Emacs version.  This is a
          new feature in Gnus 5.10.9.

   * Miscellaneous changes

        * `gnus-agent'

          The Gnus Agent has seen a major updated and is now enabled by
          default, and all nntp and nnimap servers from
          `gnus-select-method' and `gnus-secondary-select-method' are
          agentized by default.  Earlier only the server in
          `gnus-select-method' was agentized by the default, and the
          agent was disabled by default.  When the agent is enabled,
          headers are now also retrieved from the Agent cache instead
          of the back ends when possible.  Earlier this only happened
          in the unplugged state.  You can enroll or remove servers
          with `J a' and `J r' in the server buffer.  Gnus will not
          download articles into the Agent cache, unless you instruct
          it to do so, though, by using `J u' or `J s' from the Group
          buffer.  You revert to the old behavior of having the Agent
          disabled with `(setq gnus-agent nil)'.  Note that putting
          `(gnus-agentize)' in `~/.gnus.el' is not needed any more.

        * Gnus reads the NOV and articles in the Agent if plugged.

          If one reads an article while plugged, and the article
          already exists in the Agent, it won't get downloaded once
          more.  `(setq gnus-agent-cache nil)' reverts to the old
          behavior.

        * Dired integration

          `gnus-dired-minor-mode' (see *note Other modes::) installs key
          bindings in dired buffers to send a file as an attachment,
          open a file using the appropriate mailcap entry, and print a
          file using the mailcap entry.

        * The format spec `%C' for positioning point has changed to
          `%*'.

        * `gnus-slave-unplugged'

          A new command which starts Gnus offline in slave mode.




File: gnus,  Node: No Gnus,  Prev: Oort Gnus,  Up: New Features

11.2.8.7 No Gnus
................

New features in No Gnus:

   * Supported Emacs versions The following Emacs versions are
     supported by No Gnus:
        * Emacs 22 and up

        * XEmacs 21.4

        * XEmacs 21.5

        * SXEmacs


   * Installation changes

        * Upgrading from previous (stable) version if you have used No
          Gnus.

          If you have tried No Gnus (the unstable Gnus branch leading
          to this release) but went back to a stable version, be
          careful when upgrading to this version.  In particular, you
          will probably want to remove the `~/News/marks' directory
          (perhaps selectively), so that flags are read from your
          `~/.newsrc.eld' instead of from the stale marks file, where
          this release will store flags for nntp.  See a later entry
          for more information about nntp marks.  Note that downgrading
          isn't safe in general.

        * Incompatibility when switching from Emacs 23 to Emacs 22 In
          Emacs 23, Gnus uses Emacs's new internal coding system
          `utf-8-emacs' for saving articles drafts and `~/.newsrc.eld'.
          These files may not be read correctly in Emacs 22 and below.
          If you want to use Gnus across different Emacs versions, you
          may set `mm-auto-save-coding-system' to `emacs-mule'.

        * Lisp files are now installed in `.../site-lisp/gnus/' by
          default.  It defaulted to `.../site-lisp/' formerly.  In
          addition to this, the new installer issues a warning if other
          Gnus installations which will shadow the latest one are
          detected.  You can then remove those shadows manually or
          remove them using `make remove-installed-shadows'.

        * The installation directory name is allowed to have spaces
          and/or tabs.

   * New packages and libraries within Gnus

        * New version of `nnimap'

          `nnimap' has been reimplemented in a mostly-compatible way.
          See the Gnus manual for a description of the new interface.
          In particular, `nnimap-inbox' and the client side split
          method has changed.

        * Gnus includes the Emacs Lisp SASL library.

          This provides a clean API to SASL mechanisms from within
          Emacs.  The user visible aspects of this, compared to the
          earlier situation, include support for DIGEST-MD5 and NTLM.
          *Note Emacs SASL: (sasl)Top.

        * ManageSieve connections uses the SASL library by default.

          The primary change this brings is support for DIGEST-MD5 and
          NTLM, when the server supports it.

        * Gnus includes a password cache mechanism in password.el.

          It is enabled by default (see `password-cache'), with a short
          timeout of 16 seconds (see `password-cache-expiry').  If PGG
          is used as the PGP back end, the PGP passphrase is managed by
          this mechanism.  Passwords for ManageSieve connections are
          managed by this mechanism, after querying the user about
          whether to do so.

        * Using EasyPG with Gnus When EasyPG, is available, Gnus will
          use it instead of PGG.  EasyPG is an Emacs user interface to
          GNU Privacy Guard.  *Note EasyPG Assistant user's manual:
          (epa)Top.  EasyPG is included in Emacs 23 and available
          separately as well.

   * Changes in group mode

        * Symbols like `gcc-self' now have the same precedence rules in
          `gnus-parameters' as other "real" variables: The last match
          wins instead of the first match.

        * Old intermediate incoming mail files (`Incoming*') are deleted
          after a couple of days, not immediately.  *Note Mail Source
          Customization::.  (New in Gnus 5.10.10 / No Gnus 0.8)


   * Changes in summary and article mode

        * There's now only one variable that determines how HTML is
          rendered: `mm-text-html-renderer'.

        * Gnus now supports sticky article buffers.  Those are article
          buffers that are not reused when you select another article.
          *Note Sticky Articles::.

        * Gnus can selectively display `text/html' articles with a WWW
          browser with `K H'.  *Note MIME Commands::.

        * International host names (IDNA) can now be decoded inside
          article bodies using `W i' (`gnus-summary-idna-message').
          This requires that GNU Libidn
          (`http://www.gnu.org/software/libidn/') has been installed.

        * The non-ASCII group names handling has been much improved.
          The back ends that fully support non-ASCII group names are
          now `nntp', `nnml', and `nnrss'.  Also the agent, the cache,
          and the marks features work with those back ends.  *Note
          Non-ASCII Group Names::.

        * Gnus now displays DNS master files sent as text/dns using
          dns-mode.

        * Gnus supports new limiting commands in the Summary buffer: `/
          r' (`gnus-summary-limit-to-replied') and `/ R'
          (`gnus-summary-limit-to-recipient').  *Note Limiting::.

        * You can now fetch all ticked articles from the server using
          `Y t' (`gnus-summary-insert-ticked-articles').  *Note Summary
          Generation Commands::.

        * Gnus supports a new sort command in the Summary buffer: `C-c
          C-s C-t' (`gnus-summary-sort-by-recipient').  *Note Summary
          Sorting::.

        * S/MIME now features LDAP user certificate searches.  You need
          to configure the server in `smime-ldap-host-list'.

        * URLs inside OpenPGP headers are retrieved and imported to
          your PGP key ring when you click on them.

        * Picons can be displayed right from the textual address, see
          `gnus-picon-style'.  *Note Picons::.

        * ANSI SGR control sequences can be transformed using `W A'.

          ANSI sequences are used in some Chinese hierarchies for
          highlighting articles (`gnus-article-treat-ansi-sequences').

        * Gnus now MIME decodes articles even when they lack
          "MIME-Version" header.  This changes the default of
          `gnus-article-loose-mime'.

        * `gnus-decay-scores' can be a regexp matching score files.
          For example, set it to `\\.ADAPT\\'' and only adaptive score
          files will be decayed.  *Note Score Decays::.

        * Strings prefixing to the `To' and `Newsgroup' headers in
          summary lines when using `gnus-ignored-from-addresses' can be
          customized with `gnus-summary-to-prefix' and
          `gnus-summary-newsgroup-prefix'.  *Note To From Newsgroups::.

        * You can replace MIME parts with external bodies.  See
          `gnus-mime-replace-part' and `gnus-article-replace-part'.
          *Note MIME Commands::, *note Using MIME::.

        * The option `mm-fill-flowed' can be used to disable treatment
          of format=flowed messages.  Also, flowed text is disabled
          when sending inline PGP signed messages.  *Note Flowed text:
          (emacs-mime)Flowed text.  (New in Gnus 5.10.7)

        * Now the new command `S W'
          (`gnus-article-wide-reply-with-original') for a wide reply in
          the article buffer yanks a text that is in the active region,
          if it is set, as well as the `R'
          (`gnus-article-reply-with-original') command.  Note that the
          `R' command in the article buffer no longer accepts a prefix
          argument, which was used to make it do a wide reply.  *Note
          Article Keymap::.

        * The new command `C-h b' (`gnus-article-describe-bindings')
          used in the article buffer now shows not only the article
          commands but also the real summary commands that are
          accessible from the article buffer.


   * Changes in Message mode

        * Gnus now defaults to saving all outgoing messages in per-month
          nnfolder archives.

        * Gnus now supports the "hashcash" client puzzle anti-spam
          mechanism.  Use `(setq message-generate-hashcash t)' to
          enable.  *Note Hashcash::.

        * You can now drag and drop attachments to the Message buffer.
          See `mml-dnd-protocol-alist' and `mml-dnd-attach-options'.
          *Note MIME: (message)MIME.

        * The option `message-yank-empty-prefix' now controls how empty
          lines are prefixed in cited text.  *Note Insertion Variables:
          (message)Insertion Variables.

        * Gnus uses narrowing to hide headers in Message buffers.  The
          `References' header is hidden by default.  To make all
          headers visible, use `(setq message-hidden-headers nil)'.
          *Note Message Headers: (message)Message Headers.

        * You can highlight different levels of citations like in the
          article buffer.  See `gnus-message-highlight-citation'.

        * `auto-fill-mode' is enabled by default in Message mode.  See
          `message-fill-column'.  *Note Message Headers:
          (message)Various Message Variables.

        * You can now store signature files in a special directory
          named `message-signature-directory'.

        * The option `message-citation-line-format' controls the format
          of the "Whomever writes:" line.  You need to set
          `message-citation-line-function' to
          `message-insert-formatted-citation-line' as well.

   * Changes in Browse Server mode

        * Gnus' sophisticated subscription methods are now available in
          Browse Server buffers as well using the variable
          `gnus-browse-subscribe-newsgroup-method'.


   * Changes in back ends

        * The nntp back end stores article marks in `~/News/marks'.

          The directory can be changed using the (customizable) variable
          `nntp-marks-directory', and marks can be disabled using the
          (back end) variable `nntp-marks-is-evil'.  The advantage of
          this is that you can copy `~/News/marks' (using rsync, scp or
          whatever) to another Gnus installation, and it will realize
          what articles you have read and marked.  The data in
          `~/News/marks' has priority over the same data in
          `~/.newsrc.eld'.

        * You can import and export your RSS subscriptions from OPML
          files.  *Note RSS::.

        * IMAP identity (RFC 2971) is supported.

          By default, Gnus does not send any information about itself,
          but you can customize it using the variable `nnimap-id'.

        * The `nnrss' back end now supports multilingual text.
          Non-ASCII group names for the `nnrss' groups are also
          supported.  *Note RSS::.

        * Retrieving mail with POP3 is supported over SSL/TLS and with
          StartTLS.

        * The nnml back end allows other compression programs beside
          `gzip' for compressed message files.  *Note Mail Spool::.

        * The nnml back end supports group compaction.

          This feature, accessible via the functions
          `gnus-group-compact-group' (`G z' in the group buffer) and
          `gnus-server-compact-server' (`z' in the server buffer)
          renumbers all articles in a group, starting from 1 and
          removing gaps.  As a consequence, you get a correct total
          article count (until messages are deleted again).


   * Appearance

        * The tool bar has been updated to use GNOME icons.  You can
          also customize the tool bars: `M-x customize-apropos RET
          -tool-bar$' should get you started.  (Only for Emacs, not in
          XEmacs.)

        * The tool bar icons are now (de)activated correctly in the
          group buffer, see the variable `gnus-group-update-tool-bar'.
          Its default value depends on your Emacs version.

        * You can change the location of XEmacs's toolbars in Gnus
          buffers.  See `gnus-use-toolbar' and `message-use-toolbar'.


   * Miscellaneous changes

        * Having edited the select-method for the foreign server in the
          server buffer is immediately reflected to the subscription of
          the groups which use the server in question.  For instance,
          if you change `nntp-via-address' into `bar.example.com' from
          `foo.example.com', Gnus will connect to the news host by way
          of the intermediate host `bar.example.com' from next time.

        * The `all.SCORE' file can be edited from the group buffer
          using `W e'.

        * You can set `gnus-mark-copied-or-moved-articles-as-expirable'
          to a non-`nil' value so that articles that have been read may
          be marked as expirable automatically when copying or moving
          them to a group that has auto-expire turned on.  The default
          is `nil' and copying and moving of articles behave as before;
          i.e., the expirable marks will be unchanged except that the
          marks will be removed when copying or moving articles to a
          group that has not turned auto-expire on.  *Note Expiring
          Mail::.

        * NoCeM support has been removed.

        * Carpal mode has been removed.




File: gnus,  Node: On Writing Manuals,  Next: Terminology,  Prev: History,  Up: Appendices

11.3 On Writing Manuals
=======================

I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
that's already there.  This is not how this manual is written.  When
implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
straight away.  I then see that it's difficult to explain the
functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
implementation.  Writing the documentation and writing the code go hand
in hand.

   This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow.  It
documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
looking for it.  It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
started with Gnus.

   That would be a totally different book, that should be written using
the reference manual as source material.  It would look quite different.


File: gnus,  Node: Terminology,  Next: Customization,  Prev: On Writing Manuals,  Up: Appendices

11.4 Terminology
================

"news"
     This is what you are supposed to use this thing for--reading news.
     News is generally fetched from a nearby NNTP server, and is
     generally publicly available to everybody.  If you post news, the
     entire world is likely to read just what you have written, and
     they'll all snigger mischievously.  Behind your back.

"mail"
     Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail.  Some
     news/mail readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail
     and news, but there is a difference.  Mail is private.  News is
     public.  Mailing is not posting, and replying is not following up.

"reply"
     Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.

"follow up"
     Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article
     you are reading.

"back end"
     Gnus considers mail and news to be mostly the same, really.  The
     only difference is how to access the actual articles.  News
     articles are commonly fetched via the protocol NNTP, whereas mail
     messages could be read from a file on the local disk.  The internal
     architecture of Gnus thus comprises a "front end" and a number of
     "back ends".  Internally, when you enter a group (by hitting
     <RET>, say), you thereby invoke a function in the front end in
     Gnus.  The front end then "talks" to a back end and says things
     like "Give me the list of articles in the foo group" or "Show me
     article number 4711".

     So a back end mainly defines either a protocol (the `nntp' back
     end accesses news via NNTP, the `nnimap' back end accesses mail
     via IMAP) or a file format and directory layout (the `nnspool'
     back end accesses news via the common "spool directory" format,
     the `nnml' back end access mail via a file format and directory
     layout that's quite similar).

     Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to speak--this is all
     done by the back ends.  A back end is a collection of functions to
     access the articles.

     However, sometimes the term "back end" is also used where "server"
     would have been more appropriate.  And then there is the term
     "select method" which can mean either.  The Gnus terminology can
     be quite confusing.

"native"
     Gnus will always use one method (and back end) as the "native", or
     default, way of getting news.  Groups from the native select method
     have names like `gnu.emacs.gnus'.

"foreign"
     You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same
     time.  These are groups that use non-native non-secondary back ends
     for getting news.  Foreign groups have names like
     `nntp+news.gmane.org:gmane.emacs.gnus.devel'.

"secondary"
     Secondary back ends are somewhere half-way between being native and
     being foreign, but they mostly act like they are native, but they,
     too have names like `nntp+news.gmane.org:gmane.emacs.gnus.devel'.

"article"
     A message that has been posted as news.

"mail message"
     A message that has been mailed.

"message"
     A mail message or news article

"head"
     The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.)
     is put.

"body"
     The rest of an article.  Everything not in the head is in the body.

"header"
     A line from the head of an article.

"headers"
     A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads.  Or even a
     collection of NOV lines.

"NOV"
     NOV stands for News OverView, which is a type of news server
     header which provide datas containing the condensed header
     information of articles.  They are produced by the server itself;
     in the `nntp' back end Gnus uses the ones that the NNTP server
     makes, but Gnus makes them by itself for some backends (in
     particular, `nnml').

     When Gnus enters a group, it asks the back end for the headers of
     all unread articles in the group.  Most servers support the News
     OverView format, which is more compact and much faster to read and
     parse than the normal HEAD format.

     The NOV data consist of one or more text lines (*note Motion by
     Text Lines: (elisp)Text Lines.)  where each line has the header
     information of one article.  The header information is a
     tab-separated series of the header's contents including an article
     number, a subject, an author, a date, a message-id, references,
     etc.

     Those data enable Gnus to generate summary lines quickly.
     However, if the server does not support NOV or you disable it
     purposely or for some reason, Gnus will try to generate the header
     information by parsing each article's headers one by one.  It will
     take time.  Therefore, it is not usually a good idea to set
     nn*-nov-is-evil (*note Slow/Expensive Connection::) to a non-`nil'
     value unless you know that the server makes wrong NOV data.

"level"
     Each group is subscribed at some "level" or other (1-9).  The ones
     that have a lower level are "more" subscribed than the groups with
     a higher level.  In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
     "subscribed"; 6-7 are "unsubscribed"; 8 are "zombies"; and 9 are
     "killed".  Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
     articles will all use the numeric prefix as "working level".

"killed groups"
     No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes
     killed groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.

"zombie groups"
     Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.

"active file"
     The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and
     what groups exist.  All this information in stored in the active
     file, which is rather large, as you might surmise.

"bogus groups"
     A group that exists in the `.newsrc' file, but isn't known to the
     server (i.e.,  it isn't in the active file), is a _bogus group_.
     This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).

"activating"
     The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
     number of unread articles is called "activating the group".
     Un-activated groups are listed with `*' in the group buffer.

"spool"
     News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
     One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
     article.  That's called a "traditional spool".

"server"
     A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.

"select method"
     A structure that specifies the back end, the server and the virtual
     server settings.

"virtual server"
     A named select method.  Since a select method defines all there is
     to know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing
     as a whole is a virtual server.

"washing"
     Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort.  The
     result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing
     than the original.

"ephemeral groups"
     Most groups store data on what articles you have read.  "Ephemeral"
     groups are groups that will have no data stored--when you exit the
     group, it'll disappear into the aether.

"solid groups"
     This is the opposite of ephemeral groups.  All groups listed in the
     group buffer are solid groups.

"sparse articles"
     These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
     `gnus-build-sparse-threads' has been switched on.

"threading"
     To put responses to articles directly after the articles they
     respond to--in a hierarchical fashion.

"root"
     The first article in a thread is the root.  It is the ancestor of
     all articles in the thread.

"parent"
     An article that has responses.

"child"
     An article that responds to a different article--its parent.

"digest"
     A collection of messages in one file.  The most common digest
     format is specified by RFC 1153.

"splitting"
     The action of sorting your emails according to certain rules.
     Sometimes incorrectly called mail filtering.



File: gnus,  Node: Customization,  Next: Troubleshooting,  Prev: Terminology,  Up: Appendices

11.5 Customization
==================

All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual.  This
section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
for some quite common situations.

* Menu:

* Slow/Expensive Connection::   You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
* Slow Terminal Connection::    You run a remote Emacs.
* Little Disk Space::           You feel that having large setup files is icky.
* Slow Machine::                You feel like buying a faster machine.


File: gnus,  Node: Slow/Expensive Connection,  Next: Slow Terminal Connection,  Up: Customization

11.5.1 Slow/Expensive Connection
--------------------------------

If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
Gnus has to get from the server.

`gnus-read-active-file'
     Set this to `nil', which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
     entire active file from the server.  This file is often very
     large.  You also have to set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' and
     `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' to `nil' to make sure that Gnus
     doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.

`gnus-nov-is-evil'
     Usually this one must _always_ be `nil' (which is the default).
     If, for example, you wish to not use NOV (*note Terminology::)
     with the `nntp' back end (*note Crosspost Handling::), set
     `nntp-nov-is-evil' to a non-`nil' value instead of setting this.
     But you normally do not need to set `nntp-nov-is-evil' since Gnus
     by itself will detect whether the NNTP server supports NOV.
     Anyway, grabbing article headers from the NNTP server will not be
     very fast if you tell Gnus not to use NOV.

     As the variables for the other back ends, there are
     `nndiary-nov-is-evil', `nndir-nov-is-evil',
     `nnfolder-nov-is-evil', `nnimap-nov-is-evil', `nnml-nov-is-evil',
     and `nnspool-nov-is-evil'.  Note that a non-`nil' value for
     `gnus-nov-is-evil' overrides all those variables.


File: gnus,  Node: Slow Terminal Connection,  Next: Little Disk Space,  Prev: Slow/Expensive Connection,  Up: Customization

11.5.2 Slow Terminal Connection
-------------------------------

Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
Emacs and Gnus.  If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.

`gnus-auto-center-summary'
     Set this to `nil' to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
     buffer all the time.  If it is `vertical', do only vertical
     re-centering.  If it is neither `nil' nor `vertical', do both
     horizontal and vertical recentering.

`gnus-visible-headers'
     Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the minimum.
     You can, in fact, make do without them altogether--most of the
     useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway.  Set this variable to
     `^NEVVVVER' or `From:', or whatever you feel you need.

     Use the following to enable all the available hiding features:
          (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
                gnus-treat-hide-signature t
                gnus-treat-hide-citation t)

`gnus-use-full-window'
     By setting this to `nil', you can make all the windows smaller.
     While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that
     you have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that
     you didn't want to read them anyway.

`gnus-thread-hide-subtree'
     If this is non-`nil', all threads in the summary buffer will be
     hidden initially.

`gnus-updated-mode-lines'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
     lines, which might save some time.


File: gnus,  Node: Little Disk Space,  Next: Slow Machine,  Prev: Slow Terminal Connection,  Up: Customization

11.5.3 Little Disk Space
------------------------

The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
sizes a bit if you are running out of space.

`gnus-save-newsrc-file'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will never save `.newsrc'--it will only
     save `.newsrc.eld'.  This means that you will not be able to use
     any other newsreaders than Gnus.  This variable is `t' by default.

`gnus-read-newsrc-file'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will never read `.newsrc'--it will only
     read `.newsrc.eld'.  This means that you will not be able to use
     any other newsreaders than Gnus.  This variable is `t' by default.

`gnus-save-killed-list'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will not save the list of dead groups.  You
     should also set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' to `ask-server' and
     `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' to `nil' if you set this variable to
     `nil'.  This variable is `t' by default.



File: gnus,  Node: Slow Machine,  Prev: Little Disk Space,  Up: Customization

11.5.4 Slow Machine
-------------------

If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.

   Set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' and `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' to
`nil' to make startup faster.

   Set `gnus-show-threads', `gnus-use-cross-reference' and
`gnus-nov-is-evil' to `nil' to make entering and exiting the summary
buffer faster.  Also *note Slow/Expensive Connection::.


File: gnus,  Node: Troubleshooting,  Next: Gnus Reference Guide,  Prev: Customization,  Up: Appendices

11.6 Troubleshooting
====================

Gnus works _so_ well straight out of the box--I can't imagine any
problems, really.

   Ahem.

  1. Make sure your computer is switched on.

  2. Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version.  If you
     have been running GNUS, you need to exit Emacs and start it up
     again before Gnus will work.

  3. Try doing an `M-x gnus-version'.  If you get something that looks
     like `Gnus v5.13' you have the right files loaded.  Otherwise you
     have some old `.el' files lying around.  Delete these.

  4. Read the help group (`G h' in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
     how-to.

  5. Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and
     very rare) cases Gnus may recurse down "too deeply" and Emacs will
     beep at you.  If this happens to you, set `max-lisp-eval-depth' to
     500 or something like that.

   If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.

   If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the `M-x gnus-bug'
command.  `M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET', and send me
the backtrace.  I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send me
a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.

   You really can never be too detailed in a bug report.  Always use the
`M-x gnus-bug' command when you make bug reports, even if it creates a
10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
environment 500 times before.  I don't care.  I want the full info each
time.

   It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever.
If you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
back "No, it's not! Moron!", I will have no idea what you are insulting
me about.  Always over-explain everything.  It's much easier for all of
us--if I don't have all the information I need, I will just mail you
and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.

   If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite
explain it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with `xwd', for instance),
put it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture
in the bug report.

   If you would like to contribute a patch to fix bugs or make
improvements, please produce the patch using `diff -u'.

   If you want to debug your problem further before reporting, possibly
in order to solve the problem yourself and send a patch, you can use
edebug.  Debugging Lisp code is documented in the Elisp manual (*note
Debugging Lisp Programs: (elisp)Debugging.).  To get you started with
edebug, consider if you discover some weird behavior when pressing `c',
the first step is to do `C-h k c' and click on the hyperlink (Emacs
only) in the documentation buffer that leads you to the function
definition, then press `M-x edebug-defun RET' with point inside that
function, return to Gnus and press `c' to invoke the code.  You will be
placed in the lisp buffer and can single step using `SPC' and evaluate
expressions using `M-:' or inspect variables using `C-h v', abort
execution with `q', and resume execution with `c' or `g'.

   Sometimes, a problem do not directly generate an elisp error but
manifests itself by causing Gnus to be very slow.  In these cases, you
can use `M-x toggle-debug-on-quit' and press `C-g' when things are
slow, and then try to analyze the backtrace (repeating the procedure
helps isolating the real problem areas).

   A fancier approach is to use the elisp profiler, ELP.  The profiler
is (or should be) fully documented elsewhere, but to get you started
there are a few steps that need to be followed.  First, instrument the
part of Gnus you are interested in for profiling, e.g. `M-x
elp-instrument-package RET gnus' or `M-x elp-instrument-package RET
message'.  Then perform the operation that is slow and press `M-x
elp-results'.  You will then see which operations that takes time, and
can debug them further.  If the entire operation takes much longer than
the time spent in the slowest function in the profiler output, you
probably profiled the wrong part of Gnus.  To reset profiling
statistics, use `M-x elp-reset-all'.  `M-x elp-restore-all' is supposed
to remove profiling, but given the complexities and dynamic code
generation in Gnus, it might not always work perfectly.

   If you just need help, you are better off asking on
`gnu.emacs.gnus'.  I'm not very helpful.  You can also ask on the ding
mailing list <ding@gnus.org>.  Write to <ding-request@gnus.org> to
subscribe.


File: gnus,  Node: Gnus Reference Guide,  Next: Emacs for Heathens,  Prev: Troubleshooting,  Up: Appendices

11.7 Gnus Reference Guide
=========================

It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well.  To
facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
workings of Gnus.  And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
it.

   You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
back ends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
(ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
and general methods of operation.

* Menu:

* Gnus Utility Functions::      Common functions and variable to use.
* Back End Interface::          How Gnus communicates with the servers.
* Score File Syntax::           A BNF definition of the score file standard.
* Headers::                     How Gnus stores headers internally.
* Ranges::                      A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
* Group Info::                  The group info format.
* Extended Interactive::        Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
* Emacs/XEmacs Code::           Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
* Various File Formats::        Formats of files that Gnus use.


File: gnus,  Node: Gnus Utility Functions,  Next: Back End Interface,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.1 Gnus Utility Functions
-----------------------------

When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
Below is a list of the most common ones.

`gnus-newsgroup-name'
     This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.

`gnus-find-method-for-group'
     A function that returns the select method for GROUP.

`gnus-group-real-name'
     Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
     name.

`gnus-group-prefixed-name'
     Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns
     the full (prefixed) Gnus group name.

`gnus-get-info'
     Returns the group info list for GROUP (*note Group Info::).

`gnus-group-unread'
     The number of unread articles in GROUP, or `t' if that is unknown.

`gnus-active'
     The active entry (i.e., a cons cell containing the lowest and
     highest article numbers) for GROUP.

`gnus-set-active'
     Set the active entry for GROUP.

`gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list'
     Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
     exit.

`gnus-continuum-version'
     Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating
     point number.  Earlier versions will always get a lower number
     than later versions.

`gnus-group-read-only-p'
     Says whether GROUP is read-only or not.

`gnus-news-group-p'
     Says whether GROUP came from a news back end.

`gnus-ephemeral-group-p'
     Says whether GROUP is ephemeral or not.

`gnus-server-to-method'
     Returns the select method corresponding to SERVER.

`gnus-server-equal'
     Says whether two virtual servers are essentially equal.  For
     instance, two virtual servers may have server parameters in
     different order, but this function will consider them equal.

`gnus-group-native-p'
     Says whether GROUP is native or not.

`gnus-group-secondary-p'
     Says whether GROUP is secondary or not.

`gnus-group-foreign-p'
     Says whether GROUP is foreign or not.

`gnus-group-find-parameter'
     Returns the parameter list of GROUP (*note Group Parameters::).
     If given a second parameter, returns the value of that parameter
     for GROUP.

`gnus-group-set-parameter'
     Takes three parameters; GROUP, PARAMETER and VALUE.

`gnus-narrow-to-body'
     Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.

`gnus-check-backend-function'
     Takes two parameters, FUNCTION and GROUP.  If the back end GROUP
     comes from supports FUNCTION, return non-`nil'.

          (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
          => t

`gnus-read-method'
     Prompts the user for a select method.



File: gnus,  Node: Back End Interface,  Next: Score File Syntax,  Prev: Gnus Utility Functions,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.2 Back End Interface
-------------------------

Gnus doesn't know anything about NNTP, spools, mail or virtual groups.
It only knows how to talk to "virtual servers".  A virtual server is a
"back end" and some "back end variables".  As examples of the first, we
have `nntp', `nnspool' and `nnmbox'.  As examples of the latter we have
`nntp-port-number' and `nnmbox-directory'.

   When Gnus asks for information from a back end--say `nntp'--on
something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
function parameters.  (If not, the back end should use the "current"
virtual server.)  For instance, `nntp-request-list' takes a virtual
server as its only (optional) parameter.  If this virtual server hasn't
been opened, the function should fail.

   Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical
server name.  Take this example:

     (nntp "odd-one"
           (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
           (nntp-port-number 4324))

   Here the virtual server name is `odd-one' while the name of the
physical server is `ifi.uio.no'.

   The back ends should be able to switch between several virtual
servers.  The standard back ends implement this by keeping an alist of
virtual server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.

   There are two groups of interface functions: "required functions",
which must be present, and "optional functions", which Gnus will always
check for presence before attempting to call 'em.

   All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
`nntp-server-buffer' (` *nntpd*'), which is somewhat unfortunately
named, but we'll have to live with it.  When I talk about "resulting
data", I always refer to the data in that buffer.  When I talk about
"return value", I talk about the function value returned by the
function call.  Functions that fail should return `nil' as the return
value.

   Some back ends could be said to be "server-forming" back ends, and
some might be said not to be.  The latter are back ends that generally
only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of "server"
--they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing
more.

   Gnus identifies each message by way of group name and article
number.  A few remarks about these article numbers might be useful.
First of all, the numbers are positive integers.  Secondly, it is
normally not possible for later articles to "re-use" older article
numbers without confusing Gnus.  That is, if a group has ever contained
a message numbered 42, then no other message may get that number, or
Gnus will get mightily confused.(1) Third, article numbers must be
assigned in order of arrival in the group; this is not necessarily the
same as the date of the message.

   The previous paragraph already mentions all the "hard" restrictions
that article numbers must fulfill.  But it seems that it might be
useful to assign _consecutive_ article numbers, for Gnus gets quite
confused if there are holes in the article numbering sequence.
However, due to the "no-reuse" restriction, holes cannot be avoided
altogether.  It's also useful for the article numbers to start at 1 to
avoid running out of numbers as long as possible.

   Note that by convention, back ends are named `nnsomething', but Gnus
also comes with some `nnnotbackends', such as `nnheader.el',
`nnmail.el' and `nnoo.el'.

   In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary back
end `nnchoke'.

* Menu:

* Required Back End Functions::  Functions that must be implemented.
* Optional Back End Functions::  Functions that need not be implemented.
* Error Messaging::             How to get messages and report errors.
* Writing New Back Ends::       Extending old back ends.
* Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus::  What has to be done on the Gnus end.
* Mail-like Back Ends::         Some tips on mail back ends.

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1) See the function `nnchoke-request-update-info', *note Optional
Back End Functions::.


File: gnus,  Node: Required Back End Functions,  Next: Optional Back End Functions,  Up: Back End Interface

11.7.2.1 Required Back End Functions
....................................

`(nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)'
     ARTICLES is either a range of article numbers or a list of
     `Message-ID's.  Current back ends do not fully support either--only
     sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most back ends do not
     support retrieval of `Message-ID's.  But they should try for both.

     The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
     value should either be `headers' or `nov' to reflect this.  This
     might later be expanded to `various', which will be a mixture of
     HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.

     If FETCH-OLD is non-`nil' it says to try fetching "extra headers",
     in some meaning of the word.  This is generally done by fetching
     (at most) FETCH-OLD extra headers less than the smallest article
     number in `articles', and filling the gaps as well.  The presence
     of this parameter can be ignored if the back end finds it
     cumbersome to follow the request.  If this is non-`nil' and not a
     number, do maximum fetches.

     Here's an example HEAD:

          221 1056 Article retrieved.
          Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
          From: sturles@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
          Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
          Subject: Re: Something very droll
          Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
          Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
          Lines: 26
          Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
          References: <38jdmq$4qu@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
          NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
          .

     So a `headers' return value would imply that there's a number of
     these in the data buffer.

     Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:

          headers        = *head
          head           = error / valid-head
          error-message  = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
          valid-head     = valid-message *header "." eol
          valid-message  = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
          header         = <text> eol

     (The version of BNF used here is the one used in RFC822.)

     If the return value is `nov', the data buffer should contain
     "network overview database" lines.  These are basically fields
     separated by tabs.

          nov-buffer = *nov-line
          nov-line   = field 7*8[ <TAB> field ] eol
          field      = <text except TAB>

     For a closer look at what should be in those fields, *note
     Headers::.

`(nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)'
     SERVER is here the virtual server name.  DEFINITIONS is a list of
     `(VARIABLE VALUE)' pairs that define this virtual server.

     If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled.  The
     back end may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting
     to this server.  In fact, it should do so.

     If the server is opened already, this function should return a
     non-`nil' value.  There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)'
     Close connection to SERVER and free all resources connected to it.
     Return `nil' if the server couldn't be closed for some reason.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-close)'
     Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the
     back end have reserved.  All buffers that have been created by
     that back end should be killed.  (Not the `nntp-server-buffer',
     though.)  This function is generally only called when Gnus is
     shutting down.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)'
     If SERVER is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
     physical server is alive, then this function should return a
     non-`nil' value.  This function should under no circumstances
     attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)'
     This function should return the last error message from SERVER.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)'
     The result data from this function should be the article specified
     by ARTICLE.  This might either be a `Message-ID' or a number.  It
     is optional whether to implement retrieval by `Message-ID', but it
     would be nice if that were possible.

     If TO-BUFFER is non-`nil', the result data should be returned in
     this buffer instead of the normal data buffer.  This is to make it
     possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
     another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted
     directly into its article buffer.

     If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell
     where the `car' is the group name the article was fetched from,
     and the `cdr' is the article number.  This will enable Gnus to
     find out what the real group and article numbers are when fetching
     articles by `Message-ID'.  If this isn't possible, `t' should be
     returned on successful article retrieval.

`(nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST INFO)'
     Get data on GROUP.  This function also has the side effect of
     making GROUP the current group.

     If FAST, don't bother to return useful data, just make GROUP the
     current group.

     If INFO, it allows the backend to update the group info structure.

     Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:

          211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion

     The first number is the status, which should be 211.  Next is the
     total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number,
     the highest article number, and finally the group name.  Note that
     the total number of articles may be less than one might think
     while just considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but
     some articles may have been canceled.  Gnus just discards the
     total-number, so whether one should take the bother to generate it
     properly (if that is a problem) is left as an exercise to the
     reader.  If the group contains no articles, the lowest article
     number should be reported as 1 and the highest as 0.

          group-status = [ error / info ] eol
          error        = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
          info         = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>

`(nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)'
     Close GROUP and free any resources connected to it.  This will be
     a no-op on most back ends.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)'
     Return a list of all groups available on SERVER.  And that means
     _all_.

     Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:

          ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
          ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n

     On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number
     in that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.  If
     the group contains no articles, the lowest article number should
     be reported as 1 and the highest as 0.

          active-file = *active-line
          active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
          name        = <string>
          flags       = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name

     The flag says whether the group is read-only (`n'), is moderated
     (`m'), is dead (`x'), is aliased to some other group
     (`=other-group') or none of the above (`y').

`(nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)'
     This function should post the current buffer.  It might return
     whether the posting was successful or not, but that's not
     required.  If, for instance, the posting is done asynchronously,
     it has generally not been completed by the time this function
     concludes.  In that case, this function should set up some kind of
     sentinel to beep the user loud and clear if the posting could not
     be completed.

     There should be no result data from this function.



File: gnus,  Node: Optional Back End Functions,  Next: Error Messaging,  Prev: Required Back End Functions,  Up: Back End Interface

11.7.2.2 Optional Back End Functions
....................................

`(nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)'
     GROUPS is a list of groups, and this function should request data
     on all those groups.  How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but
     it should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.

     The return value of this function can be either `active' or
     `group', which says what the format of the result data is.  The
     former is in the same format as the data from
     `nnchoke-request-list', while the latter is a buffer full of lines
     in the same format as `nnchoke-request-group' gives.

          group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status

`(nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)'
     A Gnus group info (*note Group Info::) is handed to the back end
     for alterations.  This comes in handy if the back end really
     carries all the information (as is the case with virtual and imap
     groups).  This function should destructively alter the info to
     suit its needs, and should return a non-`nil' value (exceptionally,
     `nntp-request-update-info' always returns `nil' not to waste the
     network resources).

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)'
     When the user issues commands for "sending news" (`F' in the
     summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the
     article the user is following up on is news or mail.  This
     function should return `news' if ARTICLE in GROUP is news, `mail'
     if it is mail and `unknown' if the type can't be decided.  (The
     ARTICLE parameter is necessary in `nnvirtual' groups which might
     very well combine mail groups and news groups.)  Both GROUP and
     ARTICLE may be `nil'.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)'
     Set/remove/add marks on articles.  Normally Gnus handles the
     article marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and
     store them in `~/.newsrc.eld'.  Some back ends (such as IMAP)
     however carry all information about the articles on the server, so
     Gnus need to propagate the mark information to the server.

     ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:

          (RANGE ACTION MARK)

     RANGE is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.  ACTION
     is `add' or `del', used to add marks or remove marks (preserving
     all marks not mentioned).  MARK is a list of marks; where each
     mark is a symbol.  Currently used marks are `read', `tick',
     `reply', `expire', `killed', `dormant', `save', `download',
     `unsend', and `forward', but your back end should, if possible,
     not limit itself to these.

     Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be
     the effective one.  That is, if your action contains a request to
     add the `tick' mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request
     to remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be
     removed.

     An example action list:

          (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
           ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
           ((92 94) 'del '(read)))

     The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to
     set the mark on (currently not used for anything).

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)'
     If the user tries to set a mark that the back end doesn't like,
     this function may change the mark.  Gnus will use whatever this
     function returns as the mark for ARTICLE instead of the original
     MARK.  If the back end doesn't care, it must return the original
     MARK, and not `nil' or any other type of garbage.

     The only use for this I can see is what `nnvirtual' does with
     it--if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as
     read in the virtual group should result in the article being
     marked as expirable.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)'
     This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else)
     to request that the back end check for incoming articles, in one
     way or another.  A mail back end will typically read the spool
     file or query the POP server when this function is invoked.  The
     GROUP doesn't have to be heeded--if the back end decides that it
     is too much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a
     total scan of all groups.  It would be nice, however, to keep
     things local if that's practical.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)'
     The result data from this function should be a description of
     GROUP.

          description-line = name <TAB> description eol
          name             = <string>
          description      = <text>

`(nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)'
     The result data from this function should be the description of all
     groups available on the server.

          description-buffer = *description-line

`(nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)'
     The result data from this function should be all groups that were
     created after `date', which is in normal human-readable date format
     (i.e., the date format used in mail and news headers, and returned
     by the function `message-make-date' by default).  The data should
     be in the active buffer format.

     It is okay for this function to return "too many" groups; some
     back ends might find it cheaper to return the full list of groups,
     rather than just the new groups.  But don't do this for back ends
     with many groups.  Normally, if the user creates the groups
     herself, there won't be too many groups, so `nnml' and the like
     are probably safe.  But for back ends like `nntp', where the
     groups have been created by the server, it is quite likely that
     there can be many groups.

`(nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)'
     This function should create an empty group with name GROUP.

     There should be no return data.

`(nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)'
     This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
     ARTICLES range (which is currently a simple list of article
     numbers.)  It is left up to the back end to decide how old articles
     should be before they are removed by this function.  If FORCE is
     non-`nil', all ARTICLES should be deleted, no matter how new they
     are.

     This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was
     not able to delete.

     There should be no result data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM &optional LAST)'
     This function should move ARTICLE (which is a number) from GROUP
     by calling ACCEPT-FORM.

     This function should ready the article in question for moving by
     removing any header lines it has added to the article, and
     generally should "tidy up" the article.  Then it should `eval'
     ACCEPT-FORM in the buffer where the "tidy" article is.  This will
     do the actual copying.  If this `eval' returns a non-`nil' value,
     the article should be removed.

     If LAST is `nil', that means that there is a high likelihood that
     there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
     optimizations.

     The function should return a cons where the `car' is the group
     name and the `cdr' is the article number that the article was
     entered as.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)'
     This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into GROUP.
     If LAST in `nil', that means that there will be more calls to this
     function in short order.

     The function should return a cons where the `car' is the group
     name and the `cdr' is the article number that the article was
     entered as.

     The group should exist before the back end is asked to accept the
     article for that group.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)'
     This function should remove ARTICLE (which is a number) from GROUP
     and insert BUFFER there instead.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)'
     This function should delete GROUP.  If FORCE, it should really
     delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
     itself.  (If there is such a thing as "the group itself".)

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)'
     This function should rename GROUP into NEW-NAME.  All articles in
     GROUP should move to NEW-NAME.

     There should be no data returned.



File: gnus,  Node: Error Messaging,  Next: Writing New Back Ends,  Prev: Optional Back End Functions,  Up: Back End Interface

11.7.2.3 Error Messaging
........................

The back ends should use the function `nnheader-report' to report error
conditions--they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
perform a request.  The first argument to this function is the back end
symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to `format' if there
are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.  This
function must always returns `nil'.

     (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")

     (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)

   Gnus, in turn, will call `nnheader-get-report' when it gets a `nil'
back from a server, and this function returns the most recently
reported message for the back end in question.  This function takes one
argument--the server symbol.

   Internally, these functions access BACK-END`-status-string', so the
`nnchoke' back end will have its error message stored in
`nnchoke-status-string'.


File: gnus,  Node: Writing New Back Ends,  Next: Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus,  Prev: Error Messaging,  Up: Back End Interface

11.7.2.4 Writing New Back Ends
..............................

Many back ends are quite similar.  `nnml' is just like `nnspool', but
it allows you to edit the articles on the server.  `nnmh' is just like
`nnml', but it doesn't use an active file, and it doesn't maintain
overview databases.  `nndir' is just like `nnml', but it has no concept
of "groups", and it doesn't allow editing articles.

   It would make sense if it were possible to "inherit" functions from
back ends when writing new back ends.  And, indeed, you can do that if
you want to.  (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)

   All the back ends declare their public variables and functions by
using a package called `nnoo'.

   To inherit functions from other back ends (and allow other back ends
to inherit functions from the current back end), you should use the
following macros:

`nnoo-declare'
     This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the
     subsequent parameters.  For instance:

          (nnoo-declare nndir
            nnml nnmh)

     `nndir' has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
     both `nnml' and `nnmh'.

`defvoo'
     This macro is equivalent to `defvar', but registers the variable as
     a public server variable.  Most state-oriented variables should be
     declared with `defvoo' instead of `defvar'.

     In addition to the normal `defvar' parameters, it takes a list of
     variables in the parent back ends to map the variable to when
     executing a function in those back ends.

          (defvoo nndir-directory nil
            "Where nndir will look for groups."
            nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)

     This means that `nnml-current-directory' will be set to
     `nndir-directory' when an `nnml' function is called on behalf of
     `nndir'.  (The same with `nnmh'.)

`nnoo-define-basics'
     This macro defines some common functions that almost all back ends
     should have.

          (nnoo-define-basics nndir)

`deffoo'
     This macro is just like `defun' and takes the same parameters.  In
     addition to doing the normal `defun' things, it registers the
     function as being public so that other back ends can inherit it.

`nnoo-map-functions'
     This macro allows mapping of functions from the current back end to
     functions from the parent back ends.

          (nnoo-map-functions nndir
            (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
            (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))

     This means that when `nndir-retrieve-headers' is called, the first,
     third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
     `nnml-retrieve-headers', while the second parameter is set to the
     value of `nndir-current-group'.

`nnoo-import'
     This macro allows importing functions from back ends.  It should
     be the last thing in the source file, since it will only define
     functions that haven't already been defined.

          (nnoo-import nndir
            (nnmh
             nnmh-request-list
             nnmh-request-newgroups)
            (nnml))

     This means that calls to `nndir-request-list' should just be passed
     on to `nnmh-request-list', while all public functions from `nnml'
     that haven't been defined in `nndir' yet should be defined now.


   Below is a slightly shortened version of the `nndir' back end.

     ;;; nndir.el -- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
     ;; Copyright (C) 1995,1996 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

     ;;; Code:

     (require 'nnheader)
     (require 'nnmh)
     (require 'nnml)
     (require 'nnoo)
     (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))

     (nnoo-declare nndir
       nnml nnmh)

     (defvoo nndir-directory nil
       "Where nndir will look for groups."
       nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)

     (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
       "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
       nnml-nov-is-evil)

     (defvoo nndir-current-group ""
       nil
       nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
     (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
     (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)

     (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
     (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")

     ;;; Interface functions.

     (nnoo-define-basics nndir)

     (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
       (setq nndir-directory
             (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
                 server))
       (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
         (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
       (push `(nndir-current-group
               ,(file-name-nondirectory
                 (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
             defs)
       (push `(nndir-top-directory
               ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
             defs)
       (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))

     (nnoo-map-functions nndir
       (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
       (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
       (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
       (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))

     (nnoo-import nndir
       (nnmh
        nnmh-status-message
        nnmh-request-list
        nnmh-request-newgroups))

     (provide 'nndir)


File: gnus,  Node: Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus,  Next: Mail-like Back Ends,  Prev: Writing New Back Ends,  Up: Back End Interface

11.7.2.5 Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus
........................................

Having Gnus start using your new back end is rather easy--you just
declare it with the `gnus-declare-backend' functions.  This will enter
the back end into the `gnus-valid-select-methods' variable.

   `gnus-declare-backend' takes two parameters--the back end name and
an arbitrary number of "abilities".

   Here's an example:

     (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)

   The above line would then go in the `nnchoke.el' file.

   The abilities can be:

`mail'
     This is a mailish back end--followups should (probably) go via
     mail.

`post'
     This is a newsish back end--followups should (probably) go via
     news.

`post-mail'
     This back end supports both mail and news.

`none'
     This is neither a post nor mail back end--it's something completely
     different.

`respool'
     It supports respooling--or rather, it is able to modify its source
     articles and groups.

`address'
     The name of the server should be in the virtual server name.  This
     is true for almost all back ends.

`prompt-address'
     The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
     `B' in the group buffer.  This is true for back ends like `nntp',
     but not `nnmbox', for instance.


File: gnus,  Node: Mail-like Back Ends,  Prev: Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus,  Up: Back End Interface

11.7.2.6 Mail-like Back Ends
............................

One of the things that separate the mail back ends from the rest of the
back ends is the heavy dependence by most of the mail back ends on
common functions in `nnmail.el'.  For instance, here's the definition
of `nnml-request-scan':

     (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
       (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
       (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))

   It simply calls `nnmail-get-new-mail' with a few parameters, and
`nnmail' takes care of all the moving and splitting of the mail.

   This function takes four parameters.

METHOD
     This should be a symbol to designate which back end is responsible
     for the call.

EXIT-FUNCTION
     This function should be called after the splitting has been
     performed.

TEMP-DIRECTORY
     Where the temporary files should be stored.

GROUP
     This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is
     to be performed for one group only.

   `nnmail-get-new-mail' will call BACK-END`-save-mail' to save each
article.  BACK-END`-active-number' will be called to find the article
number assigned to this article.

   The function also uses the following variables:
BACK-END`-get-new-mail' (to see whether to get new mail for this back
end); and BACK-END`-group-alist' and BACK-END`-active-file' to generate
the new active file.  BACK-END`-group-alist' should be a group-active
alist, like this:

     (("a-group" (1 . 10))
      ("some-group" (34 . 39)))


File: gnus,  Node: Score File Syntax,  Next: Headers,  Prev: Back End Interface,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.3 Score File Syntax
------------------------

Score files are meant to be easily parsable, but yet extremely
malleable.  It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.

   Here's a typical score file:

     (("summary"
       ("win95" -10000 nil s)
       ("Gnus"))
      ("from"
       ("Lars" -1000))
      (mark -100))

   BNF definition of a score file:

     score-file      = "" / "(" *element ")"
     element         = rule / atom
     rule            = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
     string-rule     = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
     number-rule     = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
     date-rule       = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
     quote           = <ascii 34>
     string-header   = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
                       "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
     number-header   = "lines" / "chars"
     date-header     = "date"
     string-match    = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
                       space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
     score           = "nil" / <integer>
     date            = "nil" / <natural number>
     string-match-t  = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
                       "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
                       "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
                       "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
     number-match    = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
                       space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
     number-match-t  = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
     date-match      = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
                       space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
     date-match-t    = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
     atom            = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
     required-atom   = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
                       exclude-files / read-only / touched
     optional-atom   = adapt / local / eval
     mark            = "mark" space nil-or-number
     nil-or-number   = "nil" / <integer>
     expunge         = "expunge" space nil-or-number
     mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
     files           = "files" *[ space <string> ]
     exclude-files   = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
     read-only       = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
     adapt        = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
     adapt-rule      = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
     local           = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
     eval            = "eval" space <form>
     space           = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]

   Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
discarded.

   As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of
white space is irrelevant.  This means that formatting of the score
file is left up to the programmer--if it's simpler to just spew it all
out on one looong line, then that's ok.

   The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
manual (*note Score File Format::).


File: gnus,  Node: Headers,  Next: Ranges,  Prev: Score File Syntax,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.4 Headers
--------------

Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
corresponds to the NOV format in a mysterious fashion.  One could
almost suspect that the author looked at the NOV specification and just
shamelessly _stole_ the entire thing, and one would be right.

   "Header" is a severely overloaded term.  "Header" is used in RFC
1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g., `From').  It
is used by many people as a synonym for "head"--"the header and the
body".  (That should be avoided, in my opinion.)  And Gnus uses a
format internally that it calls "header", which is what I'm talking
about here.  This is a 9-element vector, basically, with each header
(ouch) having one slot.

   These slots are, in order: `number', `subject', `from', `date',
`id', `references', `chars', `lines', `xref', and `extra'.  There are
macros for accessing and setting these slots--they all have predictable
names beginning with `mail-header-' and `mail-header-set-',
respectively.

   All these slots contain strings, except the `extra' slot, which
contains an alist of header/value pairs (*note To From Newsgroups::).


File: gnus,  Node: Ranges,  Next: Group Info,  Prev: Headers,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.5 Ranges
-------------

GNUS introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.

   The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that
are identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a _wild_ example)
that you want to qualify as being "included", a normal sequence isn't
very useful.  (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)

   The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
sequence.

     (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)

   is transformed into

     ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))

   To avoid having those nasty `(13 . 13)' elements to denote a
lonesome object, a `13' is a valid element:

     ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))

   This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are
equal is slightly tricky:

     ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))

   and

     ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))

   are equal.  In fact, any non-descending list is a range:

     (1 2 3 4 5)

   is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one.  This
is also valid:

     (1 . 5)

   and is equal to the previous range.

   Here's a BNF definition of ranges.  Of course, one must remember the
semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending.  (Any number
of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
range handling.)

     range           = simple-range / normal-range
     simple-range    = "(" number " . " number ")"
     normal-range    = "(" start-contents ")"
     contents        = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
                       number *[ " " contents ]

   Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
marks.  I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
Powers That Be are willing to let me.  (I haven't asked yet, because I
need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
sequences.)


File: gnus,  Node: Group Info,  Next: Extended Interactive,  Prev: Ranges,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.6 Group Info
-----------------

Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a "group info" list.  This
list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
describes the group.

   Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while
the second is a more complex one:

     ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))

     ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
                     ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
                     (nnml "")
                     ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@gnus.org")))

   The first element is the "group name"--as Gnus knows the group,
anyway.  The second element is the "subscription level", which normally
is a small integer.  (It can also be the "rank", which is a cons cell
where the `car' is the level and the `cdr' is the score.)  The third
element is a list of ranges of read articles.  The fourth element is a
list of lists of article marks of various kinds.  The fifth element is
the select method (or virtual server, if you like).  The sixth element
is a list of "group parameters", which is what this section is about.

   Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not
required.  In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have
the first three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.

   Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:

     info          = "(" group space ralevel space read
                     [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
                     space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
     group         = quote <string> quote
     ralevel       = rank / level
     level         = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
     rank          = "(" level "." score ")"
     score         = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
     read          = range
     marks-lists   = nil / "(" *marks ")"
     marks         = "(" <string> range ")"
     method        = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
     parameters    = "(" *elisp-forms ")"

   Actually that `marks' rule is a fib.  A `marks' is a `<string>'
consed on to a `range', but that's a bitch to say in pseudo-BNF.

   If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers
a series of macros for getting/setting these elements.

`gnus-info-group'
`gnus-info-set-group'
     Get/set the group name.

`gnus-info-rank'
`gnus-info-set-rank'
     Get/set the group rank (*note Group Score::).

`gnus-info-level'
`gnus-info-set-level'
     Get/set the group level.

`gnus-info-score'
`gnus-info-set-score'
     Get/set the group score (*note Group Score::).

`gnus-info-read'
`gnus-info-set-read'
     Get/set the ranges of read articles.

`gnus-info-marks'
`gnus-info-set-marks'
     Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.

`gnus-info-method'
`gnus-info-set-method'
     Get/set the group select method.

`gnus-info-params'
`gnus-info-set-params'
     Get/set the group parameters.

   All the getter functions take one parameter--the info list.  The
setter functions take two parameters--the info list and the new value.

   The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it
may be necessary to extend the group info before setting the element.
If this is necessary, you can just pass on a non-`nil' third parameter
to the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.


File: gnus,  Node: Extended Interactive,  Next: Emacs/XEmacs Code,  Prev: Group Info,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.7 Extended Interactive
---------------------------

Gnus extends the standard Emacs `interactive' specification slightly to
allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (*note Symbolic Prefixes::).
Here's an example of how this is used:

     (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
       (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
       ...
       )

   The best thing to do would have been to implement `gnus-interactive'
as a macro which would have returned an `interactive' form, but this
isn't possible since Emacs checks whether a function is interactive or
not by simply doing an `assq' on the lambda form.  So, instead we have
`gnus-interactive' function that takes a string and returns values that
are usable to `interactive'.

   This function accepts (almost) all normal `interactive' specs, but
adds a few more.

`y'
     The current symbolic prefix--the `gnus-current-prefix-symbol'
     variable.

`Y'
     A list of the current symbolic prefixes--the
     `gnus-current-prefix-symbol' variable.

`A'
     The current article number--the `gnus-summary-article-number'
     function.

`H'
     The current article header--the `gnus-summary-article-header'
     function.

`g'
     The current group name--the `gnus-group-group-name' function.



File: gnus,  Node: Emacs/XEmacs Code,  Next: Various File Formats,  Prev: Extended Interactive,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.8 Emacs/XEmacs Code
------------------------

While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
platforms must be the primary one.  I chose Emacs.  Not because I don't
like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.

   This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a
warning, while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while
byte-compiling.  As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out
trivial errors in Gnus, that's very useful.

   I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
Gnusey aliases for the functions.  To take an example:  Emacs defines a
`run-at-time' function while XEmacs defines a `start-itimer' function.
I then define a function called `gnus-run-at-time' that takes the same
parameters as the Emacs `run-at-time'.  When running Gnus under Emacs,
the former function is just an alias for the latter.  However, when
running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the following function:

     (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
       (start-itimer
        "gnus-run-at-time"
        `(lambda ()
           (,function ,@args))
        time repeat))

   This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions.  Gnus does
not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs--it
does this `defalias' thing with Gnus equivalents instead.  Cleaner all
over.

   In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously
cleaner, I used it instead.  For example `gnus-region-active-p' is an
alias for `region-active-p' in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a
function.

   Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
mapping functions the other way around.  But I didn't.  The performance
hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.


File: gnus,  Node: Various File Formats,  Prev: Emacs/XEmacs Code,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

11.7.9 Various File Formats
---------------------------

* Menu:

* Active File Format::          Information on articles and groups available.
* Newsgroups File Format::      Group descriptions.


File: gnus,  Node: Active File Format,  Next: Newsgroups File Format,  Up: Various File Formats

11.7.9.1 Active File Format
...........................

The active file lists all groups available on the server in question.
It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers in each
group.

   Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:

     soc.motss 296030 293865 y
     alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
     comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
     comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
     no.general 1000 900 y

   Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:

     active      = *group-line
     group-line  = group spc high-number spc low-number spc flag <NEWLINE>
     group       = <non-white-space string>
     spc         = " "
     high-number = <non-negative integer>
     low-number  = <positive integer>
     flag        = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group

   For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
`innd', in particular `active(5)'.


File: gnus,  Node: Newsgroups File Format,  Prev: Active File Format,  Up: Various File Formats

11.7.9.2 Newsgroups File Format
...............................

The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions.  Not all
groups on the server have to be listed,  and not all groups in the file
have to exist on the server.  The file is meant purely as information to
the user.

   The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
Here's the definition:

     newsgroups    = *line
     line          = group tab description <NEWLINE>
     group         = <non-white-space string>
     tab           = <TAB>
     description   = <string>


File: gnus,  Node: Emacs for Heathens,  Next: Frequently Asked Questions,  Prev: Gnus Reference Guide,  Up: Appendices

11.8 Emacs for Heathens
=======================

Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
If you are one of those unfortunates whom "`C-M-a'", "kill the region",
and "set `gnus-flargblossen' to an alist where the key is a regexp that
is used for matching on the group name" are magical phrases with little
or no meaning, then this appendix is for you.  If you are already
familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your cat instead.

* Menu:

* Keystrokes::                  Entering text and executing commands.
* Emacs Lisp::                  The built-in Emacs programming language.


File: gnus,  Node: Keystrokes,  Next: Emacs Lisp,  Up: Emacs for Heathens

11.8.1 Keystrokes
-----------------

   * Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?

   * A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.

   Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the
shift key and the meta key a lot.  This is very annoying to some people
(notably `vi'le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out of
it.  Just give up and submit.  Emacs really does stand for
"Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift", and not "Editing Macros", as you may
have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).

   The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
normally used to get capital letters and stuff.  You probably use it all
the time.  The control key is normally marked "CTRL" or something like
that.  The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
keyboard.  The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked "Alt",
which is the meta key on this keyboard.  It's usually located somewhere
to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.

   Now, us Emacs people don't say "press the meta-control-m key",
because that's just too inconvenient.  We say "press the `C-M-m' key".
`M-' is the prefix that means "meta" and "C-" is the prefix that means
"control".  So "press `C-k'" means "press down the control key, and
hold it down while you press `k'".  "Press `C-M-k'" means "press down
and hold down the meta key and the control key and then press `k'".
Simple, ay?

   This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have
a meta key.  In that case you can use the "escape" key.  Then `M-k'
means "press escape, release escape, press `k'".  That's much more work
than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key.  You can't live without
it.


File: gnus,  Node: Emacs Lisp,  Prev: Keystrokes,  Up: Emacs for Heathens

11.8.2 Emacs Lisp
-----------------

Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
any key to run any arbitrary code.  You just, like, do it.

   Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
functions.  (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
interpreted.)  If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
(Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.)  However, that's
beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
some common constructs that you normally use in your `~/.gnus.el' file
to customize Gnus.  (You can also use the `~/.emacs' file, but in order
to set things of Gnus up, it is much better to use the `~/.gnus.el'
file, *Note Startup Files::.)

   If you want to set the variable `gnus-florgbnize' to four (4), you
write the following:

     (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)

   This function (really "special form") `setq' is the one that can set
a variable to some value.  This is really all you need to know.  Now
you can go and fill your `~/.gnus.el' file with lots of these to change
how Gnus works.

   If you have put that thing in your `~/.gnus.el' file, it will be
read and `eval'ed (which is Lisp-ese for "run") the next time you start
Gnus.  If you want to change the variable right away, simply say `C-x
C-e' after the closing parenthesis.  That will `eval' the previous
"form", which is a simple `setq' statement here.

   Go ahead--just try it, if you're located at your Emacs.  After you
`C-x C-e', you will see `4' appear in the echo area, which is the
return value of the form you `eval'ed.

   Some pitfalls:

   If the manual says "set `gnus-read-active-file' to `some'", that
means:

     (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)

   On the other hand, if the manual says "set `gnus-nntp-server-file' to
`/etc/nntpserver'", that means:

     (setq gnus-nntp-server-file "/etc/nntpserver")

   So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
former).  The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.


File: gnus,  Node: Frequently Asked Questions,  Prev: Emacs for Heathens,  Up: Appendices

11.9 Frequently Asked Questions
===============================

* Menu:

* FAQ - Changes::
* FAQ - Introduction::                       About Gnus and this FAQ.
* FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ::                 Installation of Gnus.
* FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer::           Start up questions and the
                                             first buffer Gnus shows you.
* FAQ 3 - Getting Messages::                 Making Gnus read your mail
                                             and news.
* FAQ 4 - Reading messages::                 How to efficiently read
                                             messages.
* FAQ 5 - Composing messages::               Composing mails or Usenet
                                             postings.
* FAQ 6 - Old messages::                     Importing, archiving,
                                             searching and deleting messages.
* FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment::    Reading mail and news while
                                             offline.
* FAQ 8 - Getting help::                     When this FAQ isn't enough.
* FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus::                      How to make Gnus faster.
* FAQ - Glossary::                           Terms used in the FAQ
                                             explained.

Abstract
--------

This is the new Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.

   Please submit features and suggestions to the ding list
<ding@gnus.org>.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ - Changes,  Next: FAQ - Introduction,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

Changes
-------

   * 2008-06-15: Adjust for message-fill-column.  Add x-face-file.
     Clarify difference between ding and gnu.emacs.gnus.  Remove
     reference to discontinued service.

   * 2006-04-15: Added tip on how to delete sent buffer on exit.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ - Introduction,  Next: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ,  Prev: FAQ - Changes,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction
------------

This is the Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.

   Gnus is a Usenet Newsreader and Electronic Mail User Agent
implemented as a part of Emacs. It's been around in some form for
almost a decade now, and has been distributed as a standard part of
Emacs for much of that time. Gnus 5 is the latest (and greatest)
incarnation. The original version was called GNUS, and was written by
Masanobu UMEDA.  When autumn crept up in '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen
grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.

   Its biggest strength is the fact that it is extremely customizable.
It is somewhat intimidating at first glance, but most of the complexity
can be ignored until you're ready to take advantage of it. If you
receive a reasonable volume of e-mail (you're on various mailing
lists), or you would like to read high-volume mailing lists but cannot
keep up with them, or read high volume newsgroups or are just bored,
then Gnus is what you want.

   This FAQ was maintained by Justin Sheehy until March 2002. He would
like to thank Steve Baur and Per Abrahamsen for doing a wonderful job
with this FAQ before him. We would like to do the same - thanks, Justin!

   This version is much nicer than the unofficial hypertext versions
that are archived at Utrecht, Oxford, Smart Pages, Ohio State, and
other FAQ archives. See the resources question below if you want
information on obtaining it in another format.

   The information contained here was compiled with the assistance of
the Gnus development mailing list, and any errors or misprints are the
Gnus team's fault, sorry.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ,  Next: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer,  Prev: FAQ - Introduction,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.1 Installation FAQ
-----------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 1-1::    What is the latest version of Gnus?
* FAQ 1-2::    What's new in 5.10?
* FAQ 1-3::    Where and how to get Gnus?
* FAQ 1-4::    What to do with the tarball now?
* FAQ 1-5::    I sometimes read references to No Gnus and Oort Gnus,
               what are those?
* FAQ 1-6::    Which version of Emacs do I need?
* FAQ 1-7::    How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-1,  Next: FAQ 1-2,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.1
............

What is the latest version of Gnus?

Answer
......

Jingle please: Gnus 5.10 is released, get it while it's hot! As well as
the step in version number is rather small, Gnus 5.10 has tons of new
features which you shouldn't miss. The current release (5.13) should be
at least as stable as the latest release of the 5.8 series.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-2,  Next: FAQ 1-3,  Prev: FAQ 1-1,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.2
............

What's new in 5.10?

Answer
......

First of all, you should have a look into the file GNUS-NEWS in the
toplevel directory of the Gnus tarball, there the most important
changes are listed. Here's a short list of the changes I find especially
important/interesting:

   * Major rewrite of the Gnus agent, Gnus agent is now active by
     default.

   * Many new article washing functions for dealing with ugly formatted
     articles.

   * Anti Spam features.

   * Message-utils now included in Gnus.

   * New format specifiers for summary lines, e.g. %B for a complex
     trn-style thread tree.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-3,  Next: FAQ 1-4,  Prev: FAQ 1-2,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.3
............

Where and how to get Gnus?

Answer
......

Gnus is released independent from releases of Emacs and XEmacs.
Therefore, the version bundled with Emacs or the version in XEmacs's
package system might not be up to date (e.g. Gnus 5.9 bundled with Emacs
21 is outdated).  You can get the latest released version of Gnus from
`http://www.gnus.org/dist/gnus.tar.gz' or via anonymous FTP from
`ftp://ftp.gnus.org/pub/gnus/gnus.tar.gz'.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-4,  Next: FAQ 1-5,  Prev: FAQ 1-3,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.4
............

What to do with the tarball now?

Answer
......

Untar it via `tar xvzf gnus.tar.gz' and do the common `./configure;
make; make install' circle.  (under MS-Windows either get the Cygwin
environment from `http://www.cygwin.com' which allows you to do what's
described above or unpack the tarball with some packer (e.g. Winace from
`http://www.winace.com') and use the batch-file make.bat included in
the tarball to install Gnus.) If you don't want to (or aren't allowed
to) install Gnus system-wide, you can install it in your home directory
and add the following lines to your ~/.xemacs/init.el or ~/.emacs:

     (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/gnus/lisp")
     (if (featurep 'xemacs)
         (add-to-list 'Info-directory-list "/path/to/gnus/texi/")
       (add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "/path/to/gnus/texi/"))
   Make sure that you don't have any Gnus related stuff before this
line, on MS Windows use something like "C:/path/to/lisp" (yes, "/").


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-5,  Next: FAQ 1-6,  Prev: FAQ 1-4,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.5
............

I sometimes read references to No Gnus and Oort Gnus, what are those?

Answer
......

Oort Gnus was the name of the development version of Gnus, which became
Gnus 5.10 in autumn 2003. No Gnus is the name of the current
development version which will once become Gnus 5.12 or Gnus 6. (If
you're wondering why not 5.11, the odd version numbers are normally
used for the Gnus versions bundled with Emacs)


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-6,  Next: FAQ 1-7,  Prev: FAQ 1-5,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.6
............

Which version of Emacs do I need?

Answer
......

Gnus 5.10 requires an Emacs version that is greater than or equal to
Emacs 20.7 or XEmacs 21.1.  The development versions of Gnus (aka No
Gnus) requires Emacs 21 or XEmacs 21.4.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 1-7,  Prev: FAQ 1-6,  Up: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ

Question 1.7
............

How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?

Answer
......

You can't use the same copy of Gnus in both as the Lisp files are
byte-compiled to a format which is different depending on which Emacs
did the compilation. Get one copy of Gnus for Emacs and one for XEmacs.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer,  Next: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages,  Prev: FAQ 1 - Installation FAQ,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.2 Startup / Group buffer
-----------------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 2-1::    Every time I start Gnus I get a message "Gnus auto-save
               file exists. Do you want to read it?", what does this mean and
               how to prevent it?
* FAQ 2-2::    Gnus doesn't remember which groups I'm subscribed to,
               what's this?
* FAQ 2-3::    How to change the format of the lines in Group buffer?
* FAQ 2-4::    My group buffer becomes a bit crowded, is there a way to
               sort my groups into categories so I can easier browse through
               them?
* FAQ 2-5::    How to manually sort the groups in Group buffer? How to
               sort the groups in a topic?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 2-1,  Next: FAQ 2-2,  Up: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer

Question 2.1
............

Every time I start Gnus I get a message "Gnus auto-save file exists. Do
you want to read it?", what does this mean and how to prevent it?

Answer
......

This message means that the last time you used Gnus, it wasn't properly
exited and therefore couldn't write its information to disk (e.g. which
messages you read), you are now asked if you want to restore that
information from the auto-save file.

   To prevent this message make sure you exit Gnus via `q' in group
buffer instead of just killing Emacs.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 2-2,  Next: FAQ 2-3,  Prev: FAQ 2-1,  Up: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer

Question 2.2
............

Gnus doesn't remember which groups I'm subscribed to, what's this?

Answer
......

You get the message described in the q/a pair above while starting
Gnus, right? It's an other symptom for the same problem, so read the
answer above.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 2-3,  Next: FAQ 2-4,  Prev: FAQ 2-2,  Up: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer

Question 2.3
............

How to change the format of the lines in Group buffer?

Answer
......

You've got to tweak the value of the variable gnus-group-line-format.
See the manual node "Group Line Specification" for information on how
to do this. An example for this (guess from whose .gnus :-)):

     (setq gnus-group-line-format "%P%M%S[%5t]%5y : %(%g%)\n")


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 2-4,  Next: FAQ 2-5,  Prev: FAQ 2-3,  Up: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer

Question 2.4
............

My group buffer becomes a bit crowded, is there a way to sort my groups
into categories so I can easier browse through them?

Answer
......

Gnus offers the topic mode, it allows you to sort your groups in, well,
topics, e.g. all groups dealing with Linux under the topic linux, all
dealing with music under the topic music and all dealing with scottish
music under the topic scottish which is a subtopic of music.

   To enter topic mode, just hit t while in Group buffer. Now you can
use `T n' to create a topic at point and `T m' to move a group to a
specific topic. For more commands see the manual or the menu. You might
want to include the %P specifier at the beginning of your
gnus-group-line-format variable to have the groups nicely indented.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 2-5,  Prev: FAQ 2-4,  Up: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer

Question 2.5
............

How to manually sort the groups in Group buffer? How to sort the groups
in a topic?

Answer
......

Move point over the group you want to move and hit `C-k', now move
point to the place where you want the group to be and hit `C-y'.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages,  Next: FAQ 4 - Reading messages,  Prev: FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.3 Getting Messages
-----------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 3-1::     I just installed Gnus, started it via  `M-x gnus'
                but it only says "nntp (news) open error", what to do?
* FAQ 3-2::     I'm working under Windows and have no idea what
                ~/.gnus.el means.
* FAQ 3-3::     My news server requires authentication, how to store
                user name and password on disk?
* FAQ 3-4::     Gnus seems to start up OK, but I can't find out how to
                subscribe to a group.
* FAQ 3-5::     Gnus doesn't show all groups / Gnus says I'm not allowed
                to post on this server as well as I am, what's that?
* FAQ 3-6::     I want Gnus to fetch news from several servers, is this
                possible?
* FAQ 3-7::     And how about local spool files?
* FAQ 3-8::     OK, reading news works now, but I want to be able to
                read my mail with Gnus, too. How to do it?
* FAQ 3-9::     And what about IMAP?
* FAQ 3-10::    At the office we use one of those MS Exchange servers,
                can I use Gnus to read my mail from it?
* FAQ 3-11::    Can I tell Gnus not to delete the mails on the server it
                retrieves via POP3?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-1,  Next: FAQ 3-2,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.1
............

I just installed Gnus, started it via `M-x gnus' but it only says "nntp
(news) open error", what to do?

Answer
......

You've got to tell Gnus where to fetch the news from. Read the
documentation for information on how to do this. As a first start, put
those lines in ~/.gnus.el:

     (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.yourprovider.net"))
     (setq user-mail-address "you@yourprovider.net")
     (setq user-full-name "Your Name")


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-2,  Next: FAQ 3-3,  Prev: FAQ 3-1,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.2
............

I'm working under Windows and have no idea what ~/.gnus.el means.

Answer
......

The ~/ means the home directory where Gnus and Emacs look for the
configuration files.  However, you don't really need to know what this
means, it suffices that Emacs knows what it means :-) You can type `C-x
C-f ~/.gnus.el RET ' (yes, with the forward slash, even on Windows), and
Emacs will open the right file for you.  (It will most likely be new,
and thus empty.)  However, I'd discourage you from doing so, since the
directory Emacs chooses will most certainly not be what you want, so
let's do it the correct way.  The first thing you've got to do is to
create a suitable directory (no blanks in directory name please) e.g.
c:\myhome. Then you must set the environment variable HOME to this
directory.  To do this under Win9x or Me include the line

     SET HOME=C:\myhome
   in your autoexec.bat and reboot.  Under NT, 2000 and XP, hit
Winkey+Pause/Break to enter system options (if it doesn't work, go to
Control Panel -> System -> Advanced). There you'll find the possibility
to set environment variables.  Create a new one with name HOME and
value C:\myhome.  Rebooting is not necessary.

   Now to create ~/.gnus.el, say `C-x C-f ~/.gnus.el RET C-x C-s'.  in
Emacs.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-3,  Next: FAQ 3-4,  Prev: FAQ 3-2,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.3
............

My news server requires authentication, how to store user name and
password on disk?

Answer
......

Create a file ~/.authinfo which includes for each server a line like
this

     machine news.yourprovider.net login YourUserName password YourPassword
   .  Make sure that the file isn't readable to others if you work on a
OS which is capable of doing so.  (Under Unix say
     chmod 600 ~/.authinfo
   in a shell.)


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-4,  Next: FAQ 3-5,  Prev: FAQ 3-3,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.4
............

Gnus seems to start up OK, but I can't find out how to subscribe to a
group.

Answer
......

If you know the name of the group say `U name.of.group RET' in group
buffer (use the tab-completion Luke). Otherwise hit ^ in group buffer,
this brings you to the server buffer. Now place point (the cursor) over
the server which carries the group you want, hit `RET', move point to
the group you want to subscribe to and say `u' to subscribe to it.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-5,  Next: FAQ 3-6,  Prev: FAQ 3-4,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.5
............

Gnus doesn't show all groups / Gnus says I'm not allowed to post on
this server as well as I am, what's that?

Answer
......

Some providers allow restricted anonymous access and full access only
after authorization. To make Gnus send authinfo to those servers append

     force yes
   to the line for those servers in ~/.authinfo.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-6,  Next: FAQ 3-7,  Prev: FAQ 3-5,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.6
............

I want Gnus to fetch news from several servers, is this possible?

Answer
......

Of course. You can specify more sources for articles in the variable
gnus-secondary-select-methods. Add something like this in ~/.gnus.el:

     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
                  '(nntp "news.yourSecondProvider.net"))
     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
                  '(nntp "news.yourThirdProvider.net"))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-7,  Next: FAQ 3-8,  Prev: FAQ 3-6,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.7
............

And how about local spool files?

Answer
......

No problem, this is just one more select method called nnspool, so you
want this:

     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnspool ""))
   Or this if you don't want an NNTP Server as primary news source:

     (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
   Gnus will look for the spool file in /usr/spool/news, if you want
something different, change the line above to something like this:

     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
                  '(nnspool ""
                            (nnspool-directory "/usr/local/myspoolddir")))
   This sets the spool directory for this server only.  You might have
to specify more stuff like the program used to post articles, see the
Gnus manual on how to do this.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-8,  Next: FAQ 3-9,  Prev: FAQ 3-7,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.8
............

OK, reading news works now, but I want to be able to read my mail with
Gnus, too. How to do it?

Answer
......

That's a bit harder since there are many possible sources for mail,
many possible ways for storing mail and many different ways for sending
mail. The most common cases are these: 1: You want to read your mail
from a pop3 server and send them directly to a SMTP Server 2: Some
program like fetchmail retrieves your mail and stores it on disk from
where Gnus shall read it. Outgoing mail is sent by Sendmail, Postfix or
some other MTA. Sometimes, you even need a combination of the above
cases.

   However, the first thing to do is to tell Gnus in which way it
should store the mail, in Gnus terminology which back end to use. Gnus
supports many different back ends, the most commonly used one is nnml.
It stores every mail in one file and is therefore quite fast. However
you might prefer a one file per group approach if your file system has
problems with many small files, the nnfolder back end is then probably
the choice for you.  To use nnml add the following to ~/.gnus.el:

     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnml ""))
   As you might have guessed, if you want nnfolder, it's

     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnfolder ""))
   Now we need to tell Gnus, where to get its mail from. If it's a POP3
server, then you need something like this:

     (eval-after-load "mail-source"
       '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(pop :server "pop.YourProvider.net"
                                         :user "yourUserName"
                                         :password "yourPassword")))
   Make sure ~/.gnus.el isn't readable to others if you store your
password there. If you want to read your mail from a traditional spool
file on your local machine, it's

     (eval-after-load "mail-source"
       '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(file :path "/path/to/spool/file"))
   If it's a Maildir, with one file per message as used by postfix,
Qmail and (optionally) fetchmail it's

     (eval-after-load "mail-source"
       '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(maildir :path "/path/to/Maildir/"
                                             :subdirs ("cur" "new")))
   And finally if you want to read your mail from several files in one
directory, for example because procmail already split your mail, it's

     (eval-after-load "mail-source"
       '(add-to-list 'mail-sources
                     '(directory :path "/path/to/procmail-dir/"
                                 :suffix ".prcml")))
   Where :suffix ".prcml" tells Gnus only to use files with the suffix
.prcml.

   OK, now you only need to tell Gnus how to send mail. If you want to
send mail via sendmail (or whichever MTA is playing the role of
sendmail on your system), you don't need to do anything. However, if
you want to send your mail to an SMTP Server you need the following in
your ~/.gnus.el

     (setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
     (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
     (setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.yourProvider.net")


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-9,  Next: FAQ 3-10,  Prev: FAQ 3-8,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.9
............

And what about IMAP?

Answer
......

There are two ways of using IMAP with Gnus. The first one is to use
IMAP like POP3, that means Gnus fetches the mail from the IMAP server
and stores it on disk. If you want to do this (you don't really want to
do this) add the following to ~/.gnus.el

     (add-to-list 'mail-sources '(imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
                                       :user "username"
                                       :pass "password"
                                       :stream network
                                       :authentication login
                                       :mailbox "INBOX"
                                       :fetchflag "\\Seen"))
   You might have to tweak the values for stream and/or authentication,
see the Gnus manual node "Mail Source Specifiers" for possible values.

   If you want to use IMAP the way it's intended, you've got to follow
a different approach.  You've got to add the nnimap back end to your
select method and give the information about the server there.

     (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
                  '(nnimap "Give the baby a name"
                           (nnimap-address "imap.yourProvider.net")
                           (nnimap-port 143)
                           (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")))
   Again, you might have to specify how to authenticate to the server
if Gnus can't guess the correct way, see the Manual Node "IMAP" for
detailed information.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-10,  Next: FAQ 3-11,  Prev: FAQ 3-9,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.10
.............

At the office we use one of those MS Exchange servers, can I use Gnus
to read my mail from it?

Answer
......

Offer your administrator a pair of new running shoes for activating
IMAP on the server and follow the instructions above.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 3-11,  Prev: FAQ 3-10,  Up: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages

Question 3.11
.............

Can I tell Gnus not to delete the mails on the server it retrieves via
POP3?

Answer
......

First of all, that's not the way POP3 is intended to work, if you have
the possibility, you should use the IMAP Protocol if you want your
messages to stay on the server. Nevertheless there might be situations
where you need the feature, but sadly Gnus itself has no predefined
functionality to do so.

   However this is Gnus county so there are possibilities to achieve
what you want. The easiest way is to get an external program which
retrieves copies of the mail and stores them on disk, so Gnus can read
it from there. On Unix systems you could use e.g. fetchmail for this,
on MS Windows you can use Hamster, an excellent local news and mail
server.

   The other solution would be, to replace the method Gnus uses to get
mail from POP3 servers by one which is capable of leaving the mail on
the server. If you use XEmacs, get the package mail-lib, it includes an
enhanced pop3.el, look in the file, there's documentation on how to tell
Gnus to use it and not to delete the retrieved mail. For GNU Emacs look
for the file epop3.el which can do the same (If you know the home of
this file, please send me an e-mail). You can also tell Gnus to use an
external program (e.g. fetchmail) to fetch your mail, see the info node
"Mail Source Specifiers" in the Gnus manual on how to do it.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4 - Reading messages,  Next: FAQ 5 - Composing messages,  Prev: FAQ 3 - Getting Messages,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.4 Reading messages
-----------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 4-1::     When I enter a group, all read messages are gone. How to
                view them again?
* FAQ 4-2::     How to tell Gnus to show an important message every time
                I enter a group, even when it's read?
* FAQ 4-3::     How to view the headers of a message?
* FAQ 4-4::     How to view the raw unformatted message?
* FAQ 4-5::     How can I change the headers Gnus displays by default at
                the top of the article buffer?
* FAQ 4-6::     I'd like Gnus NOT to render HTML-mails but show me the
                text part if it's available. How to do it?
* FAQ 4-7::     Can I use some other browser than w3 to render my
                HTML-mails?
* FAQ 4-8::     Is there anything I can do to make poorly formatted
                mails more readable?
* FAQ 4-9::     Is there a way to automatically ignore posts by specific
                authors or with specific words in the subject? And can I
                highlight more interesting ones in some way?
* FAQ 4-10::    How can I disable threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups,
                or set other variables specific for some groups?
* FAQ 4-11::    Can I highlight messages written by me and follow-ups to
                those?
* FAQ 4-12::    The number of total messages in a group which Gnus
                displays in group buffer is by far to high, especially in mail
                groups. Is this a bug?
* FAQ 4-13::    I don't like the layout of summary and article buffer,
                how to change it? Perhaps even a three pane display?
* FAQ 4-14::    I don't like the way the Summary buffer looks, how to
                tweak it?
* FAQ 4-15::    How to split incoming mails in several groups?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-1,  Next: FAQ 4-2,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.1
............

When I enter a group, all read messages are gone. How to view them
again?

Answer
......

If you enter the group by saying `RET' in group buffer with point over
the group, only unread and ticked messages are loaded. Say `C-u RET'
instead to load all available messages. If you want only the e.g. 300
newest say `C-u 300 RET'

   Loading only unread messages can be annoying if you have threaded
view enabled, say

     (setq gnus-fetch-old-headers 'some)
   in ~/.gnus.el to load enough old articles to prevent teared threads,
replace 'some with t to load all articles (Warning: Both settings
enlarge the amount of data which is fetched when you enter a group and
slow down the process of entering a group).

   If you already use Gnus 5.10, you can say `/o N' In summary buffer
to load the last N messages, this feature is not available in 5.8.8

   If you don't want all old messages, but the parent of the message
you're just reading, you can say `^', if you want to retrieve the whole
thread the message you're just reading belongs to, `A T' is your friend.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-2,  Next: FAQ 4-3,  Prev: FAQ 4-1,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.2
............

How to tell Gnus to show an important message every time I enter a
group, even when it's read?

Answer
......

You can tick important messages. To do this hit `u' while point is in
summary buffer over the message. When you want to remove the mark, hit
either `d' (this deletes the tick mark and set's unread mark) or `M c'
(which deletes all marks for the message).


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-3,  Next: FAQ 4-4,  Prev: FAQ 4-2,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.3
............

How to view the headers of a message?

Answer
......

Say `t' to show all headers, one more `t' hides them again.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-4,  Next: FAQ 4-5,  Prev: FAQ 4-3,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.4
............

How to view the raw unformatted message?

Answer
......

Say `C-u g' to show the raw message `g' returns to normal view.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-5,  Next: FAQ 4-6,  Prev: FAQ 4-4,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.5
............

How can I change the headers Gnus displays by default at the top of the
article buffer?

Answer
......

The variable gnus-visible-headers controls which headers are shown, its
value is a regular expression, header lines which match it are shown.
So if you want author, subject, date, and if the header exists,
Followup-To and MUA / NUA say this in ~/.gnus.el:

     (setq gnus-visible-headers
           '("^From" "^Subject" "^Date" "^Newsgroups" "^Followup-To"
             "^User-Agent" "^X-Newsreader" "^X-Mailer"))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-6,  Next: FAQ 4-7,  Prev: FAQ 4-5,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.6
............

I'd like Gnus NOT to render HTML-mails but show me the text part if
it's available. How to do it?

Answer
......

Say

     (eval-after-load "mm-decode"
      '(progn
           (add-to-list 'mm-discouraged-alternatives "text/html")
           (add-to-list 'mm-discouraged-alternatives "text/richtext")))
   in ~/.gnus.el. If you don't want HTML rendered, even if there's no
text alternative add

     (setq mm-automatic-display (remove "text/html" mm-automatic-display))
   too.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-7,  Next: FAQ 4-8,  Prev: FAQ 4-6,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.7
............

Can I use some other browser than w3 to render my HTML-mails?

Answer
......

Only if you use Gnus 5.10 or younger. In this case you've got the
choice between w3, w3m, links, lynx and html2text, which one is used
can be specified in the variable mm-text-html-renderer, so if you want
links to render your mail say

     (setq mm-text-html-renderer 'links)


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-8,  Next: FAQ 4-9,  Prev: FAQ 4-7,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.8
............

Is there anything I can do to make poorly formatted mails more readable?

Answer
......

Gnus offers you several functions to "wash" incoming mail, you can find
them if you browse through the menu, item Article->Washing. The most
interesting ones are probably "Wrap long lines" (`W w'), "Decode ROT13"
(`W r') and "Outlook Deuglify" which repairs the dumb quoting used by
many users of Microsoft products (`W Y f' gives you full deuglify.  See
`W Y C-h' or have a look at the menus for other deuglifications).
Outlook deuglify is only available since Gnus 5.10.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-9,  Next: FAQ 4-10,  Prev: FAQ 4-8,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.9
............

Is there a way to automatically ignore posts by specific authors or
with specific words in the subject? And can I highlight more
interesting ones in some way?

Answer
......

You want Scoring. Scoring means, that you define rules which assign
each message an integer value. Depending on the value the message is
highlighted in summary buffer (if it's high, say +2000) or
automatically marked read (if the value is low, say -800) or some other
action happens.

   There are basically three ways of setting up rules which assign the
scoring-value to messages. The first and easiest way is to set up rules
based on the article you are just reading. Say you're reading a message
by a guy who always writes nonsense and you want to ignore his messages
in the future. Hit `L', to set up a rule which lowers the score.  Now
Gnus asks you which the criteria for lowering the Score shall be. Hit
`?' twice to see all possibilities, we want `a' which means the author
(the from header). Now Gnus wants to know which kind of matching we
want.  Hit either `e' for an exact match or `s' for substring-match and
delete afterwards everything but the name to score down all authors
with the given name no matter which email address is used. Now you need
to tell Gnus when to apply the rule and how long it should last, hit
e.g.  `p' to apply the rule now and let it last forever. If you want to
raise the score instead of lowering it say `I' instead of `L'.

   You can also set up rules by hand. To do this say `V f' in summary
buffer. Then you are asked for the name of the score file, it's
name.of.group.SCORE for rules valid in only one group or all.Score for
rules valid in all groups. See the Gnus manual for the exact syntax,
basically it's one big list whose elements are lists again. the first
element of those lists is the header to score on, then one more list
with what to match, which score to assign, when to expire the rule and
how to do the matching. If you find me very interesting, you could e.g.
add the following to your all.Score:

     (("references" ("hschmi22.userfqdn.rz-online.de" 500 nil s))
      ("message-id" ("hschmi22.userfqdn.rz-online.de" 999 nil s)))
   This would add 999 to the score of messages written by me and 500 to
the score of messages which are a (possibly indirect) answer to a
message written by me. Of course nobody with a sane mind would do this
:-)

   The third alternative is adaptive scoring. This means Gnus watches
you and tries to find out what you find interesting and what annoying
and sets up rules which reflect this. Adaptive scoring can be a huge
help when reading high traffic groups. If you want to activate adaptive
scoring say

     (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring t)
   in ~/.gnus.el.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-10,  Next: FAQ 4-11,  Prev: FAQ 4-9,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.10
.............

How can I disable threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or set other
variables specific for some groups?

Answer
......

While in group buffer move point over the group and hit `G c', this
opens a buffer where you can set options for the group. At the bottom
of the buffer you'll find an item that allows you to set variables
locally for the group. To disable threading enter gnus-show-threads as
name of variable and nil as value. Hit button done at the top of the
buffer when you're ready.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-11,  Next: FAQ 4-12,  Prev: FAQ 4-10,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.11
.............

Can I highlight messages written by me and follow-ups to those?

Answer
......

Stop those "Can I ..." questions, the answer is always yes in Gnus
Country :-). It's a three step process: First we make faces
(specifications of how summary-line shall look like) for those
postings, then we'll give them some special score and finally we'll
tell Gnus to use the new faces.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-12,  Next: FAQ 4-13,  Prev: FAQ 4-11,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.12
.............

The number of total messages in a group which Gnus displays in group
buffer is by far to high, especially in mail groups. Is this a bug?

Answer
......

No, that's a matter of design of Gnus, fixing this would mean
reimplementation of major parts of Gnus' back ends. Gnus thinks
"highest-article-number - lowest-article-number =
total-number-of-articles". This works OK for Usenet groups, but if you
delete and move many messages in mail groups, this fails. To cure the
symptom, enter the group via `C-u RET' (this makes Gnus get all
messages), then hit `M P b' to mark all messages and then say `B m
name.of.group' to move all messages to the group they have been in
before, they get new message numbers in this process and the count is
right again (until you delete and move your mail to other groups again).


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-13,  Next: FAQ 4-14,  Prev: FAQ 4-12,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.13
.............

I don't like the layout of summary and article buffer, how to change
it? Perhaps even a three pane display?

Answer
......

You can control the windows configuration by calling the function
gnus-add-configuration. The syntax is a bit complicated but explained
very well in the manual node "Window Layout". Some popular examples:

   Instead 25% summary 75% article buffer 35% summary and 65% article
(the 1.0 for article means "take the remaining space"):

     (gnus-add-configuration
      '(article (vertical 1.0 (summary .35 point) (article 1.0))))
   A three pane layout, Group buffer on the left, summary buffer
top-right, article buffer bottom-right:

     (gnus-add-configuration
      '(article
        (horizontal 1.0
                    (vertical 25
                              (group 1.0))
                    (vertical 1.0
                              (summary 0.25 point)
                              (article 1.0)))))
     (gnus-add-configuration
      '(summary
        (horizontal 1.0
                    (vertical 25
                              (group 1.0))
                    (vertical 1.0
                              (summary 1.0 point)))))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-14,  Next: FAQ 4-15,  Prev: FAQ 4-13,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.14
.............

I don't like the way the Summary buffer looks, how to tweak it?

Answer
......

You've got to play around with the variable gnus-summary-line-format.
Its value is a string of symbols which stand for things like author,
date, subject etc. A list of the available specifiers can be found in
the manual node "Summary Buffer Lines" and the often forgotten node
"Formatting Variables" and its sub-nodes. There you'll find useful
things like positioning the cursor and tabulators which allow you a
summary in table form, but sadly hard tabulators are broken in 5.8.8.

   Since 5.10, Gnus offers you some very nice new specifiers, e.g. %B
which draws a thread-tree and %&user-date which gives you a date where
the details are dependent of the articles age. Here's an example which
uses both:

     (setq gnus-summary-line-format ":%U%R %B %s %-60=|%4L |%-20,20f |%&user-date; \n")
   resulting in:

     :O     Re: [Richard Stallman] rfc2047.el          |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:06
     :O     Re: Revival of the ding-patches list       |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:12
     :R  >  Re: Find correct list of articles for a gro|  25 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:16
     :O  \->  ...                                      |  21 |Kai Grossjohann      | 0:01
     :R  >  Re: Cry for help: deuglify.el - moving stuf|  28 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:34
     :O  \->  ...                                      | 115 |Raymond Scholz       | 1:24
     :O    \->  ...                                    |  19 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |15:33
     :O     Slow mailing list                          |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:49
     :O     Re: `@' mark not documented                |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:50
     :R  >  Re: Gnus still doesn't count messages prope|  23 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:57
     :O  \->  ...                                      |  18 |Kai Grossjohann      | 0:35
     :O    \->  ...                                    |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt | 0:56


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 4-15,  Prev: FAQ 4-14,  Up: FAQ 4 - Reading messages

Question 4.15
.............

How to split incoming mails in several groups?

Answer
......

Gnus offers two possibilities for splitting mail, the easy
nnmail-split-methods and the more powerful Fancy Mail Splitting. I'll
only talk about the first one, refer to the manual, node "Fancy Mail
Splitting" for the latter.

   The value of nnmail-split-methods is a list, each element is a list
which stands for a splitting rule. Each rule has the form "group where
matching articles should go to", "regular expression which has to be
matched", the first rule which matches wins. The last rule must always
be a general rule (regular expression .*) which denotes where articles
should go which don't match any other rule. If the folder doesn't exist
yet, it will be created as soon as an article lands there.  By default
the mail will be send to all groups whose rules match. If you don't
want that (you probably don't want), say

     (setq nnmail-crosspost nil)
   in ~/.gnus.el.

   An example might be better than thousand words, so here's my
nnmail-split-methods. Note that I send duplicates in a special group
and that the default group is spam, since I filter all mails out which
are from some list I'm subscribed to or which are addressed directly to
me before. Those rules kill about 80% of the Spam which reaches me
(Email addresses are changed to prevent spammers from using them):

     (setq nnmail-split-methods
       '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
         ("XEmacs-NT" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@xemacs.invalid.*")
         ("Gnus-Tut" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@socha.invalid.*")
         ("tcsh" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@mx.gw.invalid.*")
         ("BAfH" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@.*uni-muenchen.invalid.*")
         ("Hamster-src" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*hamster-sourcen@yahoogroups.\\(de\\|com\\).*")
         ("Tagesschau" "^From: tagesschau <localpart@www.tagesschau.invalid>$")
         ("Replies" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*localpart@Frank-Schmitt.invalid.*")
         ("EK" "^From:.*\\(localpart@privateprovider.invalid\\|localpart@workplace.invalid\\).*")
         ("Spam" "^Content-Type:.*\\(ks_c_5601-1987\\|EUC-KR\\|big5\\|iso-2022-jp\\).*")
         ("Spam" "^Subject:.*\\(This really work\\|XINGA\\|ADV:\\|XXX\\|adult\\|sex\\).*")
         ("Spam" "^Subject:.*\\(\=\?ks_c_5601-1987\?\\|\=\?euc-kr\?\\|\=\?big5\?\\).*")
         ("Spam" "^X-Mailer:\\(.*BulkMailer.*\\|.*MIME::Lite.*\\|\\)")
         ("Spam" "^X-Mailer:\\(.*CyberCreek Avalanche\\|.*http\:\/\/GetResponse\.com\\)")
         ("Spam" "^From:.*\\(verizon\.net\\|prontomail\.com\\|money\\|ConsumerDirect\\).*")
         ("Spam" "^Delivered-To: GMX delivery to spamtrap@gmx.invalid$")
         ("Spam" "^Received: from link2buy.com")
         ("Spam" "^CC: .*azzrael@t-online.invalid")
         ("Spam" "^X-Mailer-Version: 1.50 BETA")
         ("Uni" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*localpart@uni-koblenz.invalid.*")
         ("Inbox" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*\\(my\ name\\|address@one.invalid\\|address@two.invalid\\)")
         ("Spam" "")))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5 - Composing messages,  Next: FAQ 6 - Old messages,  Prev: FAQ 4 - Reading messages,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.5 Composing messages
-------------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 5-1::     What are the basic commands I need to know for sending
                mail and postings?
* FAQ 5-2::     How to enable automatic word-wrap when composing
                messages?
* FAQ 5-3::     How to set stuff like From, Organization, Reply-To,
                signature...?
* FAQ 5-4::     Can I set things like From, Signature etc group based on
                the group I post too?
* FAQ 5-5::     Is there a spell-checker? Perhaps even on-the-fly
                spell-checking?
* FAQ 5-6::     Can I set the dictionary based on the group I'm posting
                to?
* FAQ 5-7::     Is there some kind of address-book, so I needn't
                remember all those email addresses?
* FAQ 5-8::     Sometimes I see little images at the top of article
                buffer. What's that and how can I send one with my postings,
                too?
* FAQ 5-9::     Sometimes I accidentally hit r instead of f in
                newsgroups. Can Gnus warn me, when I'm replying by mail in
                newsgroups?
* FAQ 5-10::    How to tell Gnus not to generate a sender header?
* FAQ 5-11::    I want Gnus to locally store copies of my send mail and
                news, how to do it?
* FAQ 5-12::    I want Gnus to kill the buffer after successful sending
                instead of keeping it alive as "Sent mail to...", how to do it?
* FAQ 5-13::    People tell me my Message-IDs are not correct, why
                aren't they and how to fix it?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-1,  Next: FAQ 5-2,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.1
............

What are the basic commands I need to know for sending mail and
postings?

Answer
......

To start composing a new mail hit `m' either in Group or Summary
buffer, for a posting, it's either `a' in Group buffer and filling the
Newsgroups header manually or `a' in the Summary buffer of the group
where the posting shall be send to. Replying by mail is `r' if you
don't want to cite the author, or import the cited text manually and
`R' to cite the text of the original message. For a follow up to a
newsgroup, it's `f' and `F' (analogously to `r' and `R').

   Enter new headers above the line saying "-text follows this line-",
enter the text below the line. When ready hit `C-c C-c', to send the
message, if you want to finish it later hit `C-c C-d' to save it in the
drafts group, where you can start editing it again by saying `D e'.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-2,  Next: FAQ 5-3,  Prev: FAQ 5-1,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.2
............

How to enable automatic word-wrap when composing messages?

Answer
......

Starting from No Gnus, automatic word-wrap is already enabled by
default, see the variable message-fill-column.

   For other versions of Gnus, say

     (unless (boundp 'message-fill-column)
       (add-hook 'message-mode-hook
                 (lambda ()
                   (setq fill-column 72)
                   (turn-on-auto-fill))))
   in ~/.gnus.el.

   You can reformat a paragraph by hitting `M-q' (as usual).


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-3,  Next: FAQ 5-4,  Prev: FAQ 5-2,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.3
............

How to set stuff like From, Organization, Reply-To, signature...?

Answer
......

There are other ways, but you should use posting styles for this. (See
below why).  This example should make the syntax clear:

     (setq gnus-posting-styles
       '((".*"
          (name "Frank Schmitt")
          (address "me@there.invalid")
          (organization "Hamme net, kren mer och nimmi")
          (signature-file "~/.signature")
          ("X-SampleHeader" "foobar")
          (eval (setq some-variable "Foo bar")))))
   The ".*" means that this settings are the default ones (see below),
valid values for the first element of the following lists are
signature, signature-file, organization, address, name or body.  The
attribute name can also be a string.  In that case, this will be used as
a header name, and the value will be inserted in the headers of the
article; if the value is `nil', the header name will be removed. You
can also say (eval (foo bar)), then the function foo will be evaluated
with argument bar and the result will be thrown away.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-4,  Next: FAQ 5-5,  Prev: FAQ 5-3,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.4
............

Can I set things like From, Signature etc group based on the group I
post too?

Answer
......

That's the strength of posting styles. Before, we used ".*" to set the
default for all groups. You can use a regexp like "^gmane" and the
following settings are only applied to postings you send to the gmane
hierarchy, use ".*binaries" instead and they will be applied to postings
send to groups containing the string binaries in their name etc.

   You can instead of specifying a regexp specify a function which is
evaluated, only if it returns true, the corresponding settings take
effect. Two interesting candidates for this are message-news-p which
returns t if the current Group is a newsgroup and the corresponding
message-mail-p.

   Note that all forms that match are applied, that means in the
example below, when I post to gmane.mail.spam.spamassassin.general, the
settings under ".*" are applied and the settings under message-news-p
and those under "^gmane" and those under
"^gmane\\.mail\\.spam\\.spamassassin\\.general$". Because of this put
general settings at the top and specific ones at the bottom.

     (setq gnus-posting-styles
           '((".*" ;;default
              (name "Frank Schmitt")
              (organization "Hamme net, kren mer och nimmi")
              (signature-file "~/.signature"))
             ((message-news-p) ;;Usenet news?
              (address "mySpamTrap@Frank-Schmitt.invalid")
              (reply-to "hereRealRepliesOnlyPlease@Frank-Schmitt.invalid"))
             ((message-mail-p) ;;mail?
              (address "usedForMails@Frank-Schmitt.invalid"))
             ("^gmane" ;;this is mail, too in fact
              (address "usedForMails@Frank-Schmitt.invalid")
              (reply-to nil))
             ("^gmane\\.mail\\.spam\\.spamassassin\\.general$"
              (eval (set (make-local-variable 'message-sendmail-envelope-from)
                         "Azzrael@rz-online.de")))))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-5,  Next: FAQ 5-6,  Prev: FAQ 5-4,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.5
............

Is there a spell-checker? Perhaps even on-the-fly spell-checking?

Answer
......

You can use ispell.el to spell-check stuff in Emacs. So the first thing
to do is to make sure that you've got either ispell
(http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/fmg-members/geoff/ispell.html) or aspell
(http://aspell.sourceforge.net/) installed and in your Path. Then you
need ispell.el (http://www.kdstevens.com/~stevens/ispell-page.html) and
for on-the-fly spell-checking flyspell.el
(http://www-sop.inria.fr/members/Manuel.Serrano/flyspell/flyspell.html).
Ispell.el is shipped with Emacs and available through the XEmacs
package system, flyspell.el is shipped with Emacs and part of XEmacs
text-modes package which is available through the package system, so
there should be no need to install them manually.

   Ispell.el assumes you use ispell, if you choose aspell say

     (setq ispell-program-name "aspell")
   in your Emacs configuration file.

   If you want your outgoing messages to be spell-checked, say

     (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
   In your ~/.gnus.el, if you prefer on-the-fly spell-checking say

     (add-hook 'message-mode-hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1)))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-6,  Next: FAQ 5-7,  Prev: FAQ 5-5,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.6
............

Can I set the dictionary based on the group I'm posting to?

Answer
......

Yes, say something like

     (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
               (lambda ()
                 (cond
                  ((string-match
                    "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
                   (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch8"))
                  (t
                   (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
   in ~/.gnus.el. Change "^de\\." and "deutsch8" to something that
suits your needs.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-7,  Next: FAQ 5-8,  Prev: FAQ 5-6,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.7
............

Is there some kind of address-book, so I needn't remember all those
email addresses?

Answer
......

There's an very basic solution for this, mail aliases.  You can store
your mail addresses in a ~/.mailrc file using a simple alias syntax:

     alias al        "Al <al@english-heritage.invalid>"
   Then typing your alias (followed by a space or punctuation
character) on a To: or Cc: line in the message buffer will cause Gnus
to insert the full address for you. See the node "Mail Aliases" in
Message (not Gnus) manual for details.

   However, what you really want is the Insidious Big Brother Database
bbdb. Get it through the XEmacs package system or from bbdb's homepage
(http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/).  Now place the following in ~/.gnus.el,
to activate bbdb for Gnus:

     (require 'bbdb)
     (bbdb-initialize 'gnus 'message)
   Now you probably want some general bbdb configuration, place them in
~/.emacs:

     (require 'bbdb)
     ;;If you don't live in Northern America, you should disable the
     ;;syntax check for telephone numbers by saying
     (setq bbdb-north-american-phone-numbers-p nil)
     ;;Tell bbdb about your email address:
     (setq bbdb-user-mail-names
           (regexp-opt '("Your.Email@here.invalid"
                         "Your.other@mail.there.invalid")))
     ;;cycling while completing email addresses
     (setq bbdb-complete-name-allow-cycling t)
     ;;No popup-buffers
     (setq bbdb-use-pop-up nil)
   Now you should be ready to go. Say `M-x bbdb RET RET' to open a bbdb
buffer showing all entries. Say `c' to create a new entry, `b' to
search your BBDB and `C-o' to add a new field to an entry. If you want
to add a sender to the BBDB you can also just hit `:' on the posting in
the summary buffer and you are done. When you now compose a new mail,
hit `TAB' to cycle through know recipients.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-8,  Next: FAQ 5-9,  Prev: FAQ 5-7,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.8
............

Sometimes I see little images at the top of article buffer. What's that
and how can I send one with my postings, too?

Answer
......

Those images are called X-Faces. They are 48*48 pixel b/w pictures,
encoded in a header line. If you want to include one in your posts,
you've got to convert some image to a X-Face. So fire up some image
manipulation program (say Gimp), open the image you want to include,
cut out the relevant part, reduce color depth to 1 bit, resize to 48*48
and save as bitmap. Now you should get the compface package from this
site (ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu:/pub/faces/).  and create the actual
X-face by saying

     cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon | compface > file.face
     cat file.face | sed 's/\\/\\\\/g;s/\"/\\\"/g;' > file.face.quoted
   If you can't use compface, there's an online X-face converter at
`http://www.dairiki.org/xface/'.  If you use MS Windows, you could also
use the WinFace program from `http://www.xs4all.nl/~walterln/winface/'.
Now you only have to tell Gnus to include the X-face in your postings
by saying

     (setq message-default-headers
             (with-temp-buffer
               (insert "X-Face: ")
               (insert-file-contents "~/.xface")
               (buffer-string)))
   in ~/.gnus.el.  If you use Gnus 5.10, you can simply add an entry

     (x-face-file "~/.xface")
   to gnus-posting-styles.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-9,  Next: FAQ 5-10,  Prev: FAQ 5-8,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.9
............

Sometimes I accidentally hit r instead of f in newsgroups. Can Gnus
warn me, when I'm replying by mail in newsgroups?

Answer
......

Put this in ~/.gnus.el:

     (setq gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news t)
   if you already use Gnus 5.10, if you still use 5.8.8 or 5.9 try this
instead:

     (eval-after-load "gnus-msg"
       '(unless (boundp 'gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news)
          (defadvice gnus-summary-reply (around reply-in-news activate)
            "Request confirmation when replying to news."
            (interactive)
            (when (or (not (gnus-news-group-p gnus-newsgroup-name))
                      (y-or-n-p "Really reply by mail to article author? "))
              ad-do-it))))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-10,  Next: FAQ 5-11,  Prev: FAQ 5-9,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.10
.............

How to tell Gnus not to generate a sender header?

Answer
......

Since 5.10 Gnus doesn't generate a sender header by default. For older
Gnus' try this in ~/.gnus.el:

     (eval-after-load "message"
           '(add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled)))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-11,  Next: FAQ 5-12,  Prev: FAQ 5-10,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.11
.............

I want Gnus to locally store copies of my send mail and news, how to do
it?

Answer
......

You must set the variable gnus-message-archive-group to do this. You
can set it to a string giving the name of the group where the copies
shall go or like in the example below use a function which is evaluated
and which returns the group to use.

     (setq gnus-message-archive-group
             '((if (message-news-p)
                   "nnml:Send-News"
                 "nnml:Send-Mail")))


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-12,  Next: FAQ 5-13,  Prev: FAQ 5-11,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.12
.............

I want Gnus to kill the buffer after successful sending instead of
keeping it alive as "Sent mail to...", how to do it?

Answer
......

Add this to your ~/.gnus:

     (setq message-kill-buffer-on-exit t)


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 5-13,  Prev: FAQ 5-12,  Up: FAQ 5 - Composing messages

Question 5.13
.............

People tell me my Message-IDs are not correct, why aren't they and how
to fix it?

Answer
......

The message-ID is an unique identifier for messages you send. To make
it unique, Gnus need to know which machine name to put after the "@".
If the name of the machine where Gnus is running isn't suitable (it
probably isn't at most private machines) you can tell Gnus what to use
by saying:

     (setq message-user-fqdn "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld")
   in ~/.gnus.el.  If you use Gnus 5.9 or earlier, you can use this
instead (works for newer versions as well):

     (eval-after-load "message"
       '(let ((fqdn "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld"));; <-- Edit this!
          (if (boundp 'message-user-fqdn)
              (setq message-user-fqdn fqdn)
            (gnus-message 1 "Redefining `message-make-fqdn'.")
            (defun message-make-fqdn ()
              "Return user's fully qualified domain name."
              fqdn))))
   If you have no idea what to insert for "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld",
you've got several choices. You can either ask your provider if he
allows you to use something like yourUserName.userfqdn.provider.net, or
you can use somethingUnique.yourdomain.tld if you own the domain
yourdomain.tld, or you can register at a service which gives private
users a FQDN for free.

   Finally you can tell Gnus not to generate a Message-ID for News at
all (and letting the server do the job) by saying

     (setq message-required-news-headers
       (remove' Message-ID message-required-news-headers))
   you can also tell Gnus not to generate Message-IDs for mail by saying

     (setq message-required-mail-headers
       (remove' Message-ID message-required-mail-headers))
   , however some mail servers don't generate proper Message-IDs, too,
so test if your Mail Server behaves correctly by sending yourself a
Mail and looking at the Message-ID.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6 - Old messages,  Next: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment,  Prev: FAQ 5 - Composing messages,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.6 Old messages
-------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 6-1::    How to import my old mail into Gnus?
* FAQ 6-2::    How to archive interesting messages?
* FAQ 6-3::    How to search for a specific message?
* FAQ 6-4::    How to get rid of old unwanted mail?
* FAQ 6-5::    I want that all read messages are expired (at least in
               some groups). How to do it?
* FAQ 6-6::    I don't want expiration to delete my mails but to move
               them to another group.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6-1,  Next: FAQ 6-2,  Up: FAQ 6 - Old messages

Question 6.1
............

How to import my old mail into Gnus?

Answer
......

The easiest way is to tell your old mail program to export the messages
in mbox format. Most Unix mailers are able to do this, if you come from
the MS Windows world, you may find tools at
`http://mbx2mbox.sourceforge.net/'.

   Now you've got to import this mbox file into Gnus. To do this,
create a nndoc group based on the mbox file by saying `G f
/path/file.mbox RET' in Group buffer. You now have read-only access to
your mail. If you want to import the messages to your normal Gnus mail
groups hierarchy, enter the nndoc group you've just created by saying
`C-u RET' (thus making sure all messages are retrieved), mark all
messages by saying `M P b' and either copy them to the desired group by
saying `B c name.of.group RET' or send them through
nnmail-split-methods (respool them) by saying `B r'.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6-2,  Next: FAQ 6-3,  Prev: FAQ 6-1,  Up: FAQ 6 - Old messages

Question 6.2
............

How to archive interesting messages?

Answer
......

If you stumble across an interesting message, say in gnu.emacs.gnus and
want to archive it there are several solutions. The first and easiest
is to save it to a file by saying `O f'. However, wouldn't it be much
more convenient to have more direct access to the archived message from
Gnus? If you say yes, put this snippet by Frank Haun
<pille3003@fhaun.de> in ~/.gnus.el:

     (defun my-archive-article (&optional n)
       "Copies one or more article(s) to a corresponding `nnml:' group, e.g.
     `gnus.ding' goes to `nnml:1.gnus.ding'. And `nnml:List-gnus.ding' goes
     to `nnml:1.List-gnus-ding'.

     Use process marks or mark a region in the summary buffer to archive
     more then one article."
       (interactive "P")
       (let ((archive-name
              (format
               "nnml:1.%s"
               (if (featurep 'xemacs)
                   (replace-in-string gnus-newsgroup-name "^.*:" "")
                 (replace-regexp-in-string "^.*:" "" gnus-newsgroup-name)))))
         (gnus-summary-copy-article n archive-name)))
   You can now say `M-x my-archive-article' in summary buffer to
archive the article under the cursor in a nnml group. (Change nnml to
your preferred back end)

   Of course you can also make sure the cache is enabled by saying

     (setq gnus-use-cache t)
   then you only have to set either the tick or the dormant mark for
articles you want to keep, setting the read mark will remove them from
cache.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6-3,  Next: FAQ 6-4,  Prev: FAQ 6-2,  Up: FAQ 6 - Old messages

Question 6.3
............

How to search for a specific message?

Answer
......

There are several ways for this, too. For a posting from a Usenet group
the easiest solution is probably to ask groups.google.com
(http://groups.google.com), if you found the posting there, tell Google
to display the raw message, look for the message-id, and say `M-^
the@message.id RET' in a summary buffer.  Since Gnus 5.10 there's also
a Gnus interface for groups.google.com which you can call with `G W')
in group buffer.

   Another idea which works for both mail and news groups is to enter
the group where the message you are searching is and use the standard
Emacs search `C-s', it's smart enough to look at articles in collapsed
threads, too. If you want to search bodies, too try `M-s' instead.
Further on there are the gnus-summary-limit-to-foo functions, which can
help you, too.

   Of course you can also use grep to search through your local mail,
but this is both slow for big archives and inconvenient since you are
not displaying the found mail in Gnus. Here comes nnir into action.
Nnir is a front end to search engines like swish-e or swish++ and
others. You index your mail with one of those search engines and with
the help of nnir you can search through the indexed mail and generate a
temporary group with all messages which met your search criteria. If
this sound cool to you get nnir.el from
`ftp://ls6-ftp.cs.uni-dortmund.de/pub/src/emacs/' or
`ftp://ftp.is.informatik.uni-duisburg.de/pub/src/emacs/'.  Instructions
on how to use it are at the top of the file.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6-4,  Next: FAQ 6-5,  Prev: FAQ 6-3,  Up: FAQ 6 - Old messages

Question 6.4
............

How to get rid of old unwanted mail?

Answer
......

You can of course just mark the mail you don't need anymore by saying
`#' with point over the mail and then say `B DEL' to get rid of them
forever. You could also instead of actually deleting them, send them to
a junk-group by saying `B m nnml:trash-bin' which you clear from time
to time, but both are not the intended way in Gnus.

   In Gnus, we let mail expire like news expires on a news server. That
means you tell Gnus the message is expirable (you tell Gnus "I don't
need this mail anymore") by saying `E' with point over the mail in
summary buffer. Now when you leave the group, Gnus looks at all
messages which you marked as expirable before and if they are old
enough (default is older than a week) they are deleted.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6-5,  Next: FAQ 6-6,  Prev: FAQ 6-4,  Up: FAQ 6 - Old messages

Question 6.5
............

I want that all read messages are expired (at least in some groups).
How to do it?

Answer
......

If you want all read messages to be expired (e.g. in mailing lists
where there's an online archive), you've got two choices: auto-expire
and total-expire. Auto-expire means, that every article which has no
marks set and is selected for reading is marked as expirable, Gnus hits
`E' for you every time you read a message. Total-expire follows a
slightly different approach, here all article where the read mark is
set are expirable.

   To activate auto-expire, include auto-expire in the Group parameters
for the group. (Hit `G c' in summary buffer with point over the group
to change group parameters). For total-expire add total-expire to the
group-parameters.

   Which method you choose is merely a matter of taste: Auto-expire is
faster, but it doesn't play together with Adaptive Scoring, so if you
want to use this feature, you should use total-expire.

   If you want a message to be excluded from expiration in a group
where total or auto expire is active, set either tick (hit `u') or
dormant mark (hit `u'), when you use auto-expire, you can also set the
read mark (hit `d').


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 6-6,  Prev: FAQ 6-5,  Up: FAQ 6 - Old messages

Question 6.6
............

I don't want expiration to delete my mails but to move them to another
group.

Answer
......

Say something like this in ~/.gnus.el:

     (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
   (If you want to change the value of nnmail-expiry-target on a per
group basis see the question "How can I disable threading in some (e.g.
mail-) groups, or set other variables specific for some groups?")


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment,  Next: FAQ 8 - Getting help,  Prev: FAQ 6 - Old messages,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.7 Gnus in a dial-up environment
------------------------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 7-1::    I don't have a permanent connection to the net, how can I
               minimize the time I've got to be connected?
* FAQ 7-2::    So what was this thing about the Agent?
* FAQ 7-3::    I want to store article bodies on disk, too. How to do
               it?
* FAQ 7-4::    How to tell Gnus not to try to send mails / postings
               while I'm offline?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 7-1,  Next: FAQ 7-2,  Up: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment

Question 7.1
............

I don't have a permanent connection to the net, how can I minimize the
time I've got to be connected?

Answer
......

You've got basically two options: Either you use the Gnus Agent (see
below) for this, or you can install programs which fetch your news and
mail to your local disk and Gnus reads the stuff from your local
machine.

   If you want to follow the second approach, you need a program which
fetches news and offers them to Gnus, a program which does the same for
mail and a program which receives the mail you write from Gnus and
sends them when you're online.

   Let's talk about Unix systems first: For the news part, the easiest
solution is a small nntp server like Leafnode
(http://www.leafnode.org/) or sn (http://infa.abo.fi/~patrik/sn/), of
course you can also install a full featured news server like inn
(http://www.isc.org/products/INN/).  Then you want to fetch your Mail,
popular choices are fetchmail (http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/) and
getmail (http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/).  You should tell those
to write the mail to your disk and Gnus to read it from there. Last but
not least the mail sending part: This can be done with every MTA like
sendmail (http://www.sendmail.org/), postfix (http://www.qmail.org/),
exim (http://www.exim.org/) or qmail (http://www.qmail.org/).

   On windows boxes I'd vote for Hamster (http://www.tglsoft.de/), it's
a small freeware, open-source program which fetches your mail and news
from remote servers and offers them to Gnus (or any other mail and/or
news reader) via nntp respectively POP3 or IMAP. It also includes a smtp
server for receiving mails from Gnus.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 7-2,  Next: FAQ 7-3,  Prev: FAQ 7-1,  Up: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment

Question 7.2
............

So what was this thing about the Agent?

Answer
......

The Gnus agent is part of Gnus, it allows you to fetch mail and news
and store them on disk for reading them later when you're offline. It
kind of mimics offline newsreaders like e.g. Forte Agent. If you want
to use the Agent place the following in ~/.gnus.el if you are still
using 5.8.8 or 5.9 (it's the default since 5.10):

     (setq gnus-agent t)
   Now you've got to select the servers whose groups can be stored
locally.  To do this, open the server buffer (that is press `^' while
in the group buffer).  Now select a server by moving point to the line
naming that server.  Finally, agentize the server by typing `J a'.  If
you make a mistake, or change your mind, you can undo this action by
typing `J r'.  When you're done, type 'q' to return to the group buffer.
Now the next time you enter a group on a agentized server, the headers
will be stored on disk and read from there the next time you enter the
group.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 7-3,  Next: FAQ 7-4,  Prev: FAQ 7-2,  Up: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment

Question 7.3
............

I want to store article bodies on disk, too. How to do it?

Answer
......

You can tell the agent to automatically fetch the bodies of articles
which fulfill certain predicates, this is done in a special buffer
which can be reached by saying `J c' in group buffer. Please refer to
the documentation for information which predicates are possible and how
exactly to do it.

   Further on you can tell the agent manually which articles to store
on disk. There are two ways to do this: Number one: In the summary
buffer, process mark a set of articles that shall be stored in the
agent by saying `#' with point over the article and then type `J s'. The
other possibility is to set, again in the summary buffer, downloadable
(%) marks for the articles you want by typing `@' with point over the
article and then typing `J u'.  What's the difference? Well, process
marks are erased as soon as you exit the summary buffer while
downloadable marks are permanent.  You can actually set downloadable
marks in several groups then use fetch session ('J s' in the GROUP
buffer) to fetch all of those articles.  The only downside is that
fetch session also fetches all of the headers for every selected group
on an agentized server.  Depending on the volume of headers, the initial
fetch session could take hours.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 7-4,  Prev: FAQ 7-3,  Up: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment

Question 7.4
............

How to tell Gnus not to try to send mails / postings while I'm offline?

Answer
......

All you've got to do is to tell Gnus when you are online (plugged) and
when you are offline (unplugged), the rest works automatically. You can
toggle plugged/unplugged state by saying `J j' in group buffer. To
start Gnus unplugged say `M-x gnus-unplugged' instead of `M-x gnus'.
Note that for this to work, the agent must be active.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8 - Getting help,  Next: FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus,  Prev: FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.8 Getting help
-------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 8-1::    How to find information and help inside Emacs?
* FAQ 8-2::    I can't find anything in the Gnus manual about X (e.g.
               attachments, PGP, MIME...), is it not documented?
* FAQ 8-3::    Which websites should I know?
* FAQ 8-4::    Which mailing lists and newsgroups are there?
* FAQ 8-5::    Where to report bugs?
* FAQ 8-6::    I need real-time help, where to find it?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8-1,  Next: FAQ 8-2,  Up: FAQ 8 - Getting help

Question 8.1
............

How to find information and help inside Emacs?

Answer
......

The first stop should be the Gnus manual (Say `C-h i d m Gnus RET' to
start the Gnus manual, then walk through the menus or do a full-text
search with `s'). Then there are the general Emacs help commands
starting with C-h, type `C-h ? ?' to get a list of all available help
commands and their meaning. Finally `M-x apropos-command' lets you
search through all available functions and `M-x apropos' searches the
bound variables.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8-2,  Next: FAQ 8-3,  Prev: FAQ 8-1,  Up: FAQ 8 - Getting help

Question 8.2
............

I can't find anything in the Gnus manual about X (e.g. attachments,
PGP, MIME...), is it not documented?

Answer
......

There's not only the Gnus manual but also the manuals for message,
emacs-mime, sieve, EasyPG Assistant, and pgg. Those packages are
distributed with Gnus and used by Gnus but aren't really part of core
Gnus, so they are documented in different info files, you should have a
look in those manuals, too.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8-3,  Next: FAQ 8-4,  Prev: FAQ 8-2,  Up: FAQ 8 - Getting help

Question 8.3
............

Which websites should I know?

Answer
......

The most important one is the official Gnus website
(http://www.gnus.org).

   Tell me about other sites which are interesting.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8-4,  Next: FAQ 8-5,  Prev: FAQ 8-3,  Up: FAQ 8 - Getting help

Question 8.4
............

Which mailing lists and newsgroups are there?

Answer
......

There's the newsgroup gnu.emacs.gnus (also available as
gmane.emacs.gnus.user (http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.user))
which deals with general Gnus questions.  If you have questions about
development versions of Gnus, you should better ask on the ding mailing
list, see below.

   If you want to stay in the big8, news.software.readers is also read
by some Gnus users (but chances for qualified help are much better in
the above groups).  If you speak German, there's de.comm.software.gnus.

   The ding mailing list (ding@gnus.org) deals with development of
Gnus. You can read the ding list via NNTP, too under the name
gmane.emacs.gnus.general
(http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general) from news.gmane.org.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8-5,  Next: FAQ 8-6,  Prev: FAQ 8-4,  Up: FAQ 8 - Getting help

Question 8.5
............

Where to report bugs?

Answer
......

Say `M-x gnus-bug', this will start a message to the gnus bug mailing
list <bugs@gnus.org> including information about your environment which
make it easier to help you.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 8-6,  Prev: FAQ 8-5,  Up: FAQ 8 - Getting help

Question 8.6
............

I need real-time help, where to find it?

Answer
......

Point your IRC client to irc.freenode.net, channel #gnus.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus,  Next: FAQ - Glossary,  Prev: FAQ 8 - Getting help,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.9 Tuning Gnus
------------------

* Menu:

* FAQ 9-1::    Starting Gnus is really slow, how to speed it up?
* FAQ 9-2::    How to speed up the process of entering a group?
* FAQ 9-3::    Sending mail becomes slower and slower, what's up?


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 9-1,  Next: FAQ 9-2,  Up: FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus

Question 9.1
............

Starting Gnus is really slow, how to speed it up?

Answer
......

The reason for this could be the way Gnus reads its active file, see
the node "The Active File" in the Gnus manual for things you might try
to speed the process up.  An other idea would be to byte compile your
~/.gnus.el (say `M-x byte-compile-file RET ~/.gnus.el RET' to do it).
Finally, if you have require statements in your .gnus, you could
replace them with eval-after-load, which loads the stuff not at startup
time, but when it's needed. Say you've got this in your ~/.gnus.el:

     (require 'message)
     (add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled))
   then as soon as you start Gnus, message.el is loaded. If you replace
it with

     (eval-after-load "message"
           '(add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled)))
   it's loaded when it's needed.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 9-2,  Next: FAQ 9-3,  Prev: FAQ 9-1,  Up: FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus

Question 9.2
............

How to speed up the process of entering a group?

Answer
......

A speed killer is setting the variable gnus-fetch-old-headers to
anything different from nil, so don't do this if speed is an issue. To
speed up building of summary say

     (gnus-compile)
   at the bottom of your ~/.gnus.el, this will make gnus byte-compile
things like gnus-summary-line-format.  then you could increase the
value of gc-cons-threshold by saying something like

     (setq gc-cons-threshold 3500000)
   in ~/.emacs. If you don't care about width of CJK characters or use
Gnus 5.10 or younger together with a recent GNU Emacs, you should say

     (setq gnus-use-correct-string-widths nil)
   in ~/.gnus.el (thanks to Jesper harder for the last two
suggestions). Finally if you are still using 5.8.8 or 5.9 and
experience speed problems with summary buffer generation, you
definitely should update to 5.10 since there quite some work on
improving it has been done.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ 9-3,  Prev: FAQ 9-2,  Up: FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus

Question 9.3
............

Sending mail becomes slower and slower, what's up?

Answer
......

The reason could be that you told Gnus to archive the messages you
wrote by setting gnus-message-archive-group. Try to use a nnml group
instead of an archive group, this should bring you back to normal speed.


File: gnus,  Node: FAQ - Glossary,  Prev: FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

11.9.10 Glossary
----------------

"~/.gnus.el"
     When the term ~/.gnus.el is used it just means your Gnus
     configuration file. You might as well call it ~/.gnus or specify
     another name.

"Back End"
     In Gnus terminology a back end is a virtual server, a layer
     between core Gnus and the real NNTP-, POP3-, IMAP- or
     whatever-server which offers Gnus a standardized interface to
     functions like "get message", "get Headers" etc.

"Emacs"
     When the term Emacs is used in this FAQ, it means either GNU Emacs
     or XEmacs.

"Message"
     In this FAQ message means a either a mail or a posting to a Usenet
     Newsgroup or to some other fancy back end, no matter of which kind
     it is.

"MUA"
     MUA is an acronym for Mail User Agent, it's the program you use to
     read and write e-mails.

"NUA"
     NUA is an acronym for News User Agent, it's the program you use to
     read and write Usenet news.



File: gnus,  Node: GNU Free Documentation License,  Next: Index,  Prev: Appendices,  Up: Top

12 GNU Free Documentation License
*********************************

                     Version 1.3, 3 November 2008

     Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     `http://fsf.org/'

     Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
     of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

  0. PREAMBLE

     The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
     functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to
     assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it,
     with or without modifying it, either commercially or
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     being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

     This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative
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     It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
     license designed for free software.

     We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for
     free software, because free software needs free documentation: a
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  1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

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  2. VERBATIM COPYING

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  3. COPYING IN QUANTITY

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       A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title
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     If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
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  5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

     You may combine the Document with other documents released under
     this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for
     modified versions, provided that you include in the combination
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     In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled
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  6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

     You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other
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     You may extract a single document from such a collection, and
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     a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow
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  7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

     A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other
     separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of
     a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the
     copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the
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     are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

     If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
     copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half
     of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed
     on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
     electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic
     form.  Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket
     the whole aggregate.

  8. TRANSLATION

     Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
     distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section
     4.  Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
     permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
     translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
     original versions of these Invariant Sections.  You may include a
     translation of this License, and all the license notices in the
     Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also
     include the original English version of this License and the
     original versions of those notices and disclaimers.  In case of a
     disagreement between the translation and the original version of
     this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will
     prevail.

     If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements",
     "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to
     Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the
     actual title.

  9. TERMINATION

     You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document
     except as expressly provided under this License.  Any attempt
     otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void,
     and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.

     However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your
     license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a)
     provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly
     and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the
     copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some
     reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

     Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is
     reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the
     violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have
     received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from
     that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days
     after your receipt of the notice.

     Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate
     the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from
     you under this License.  If your rights have been terminated and
     not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of
     the same material does not give you any rights to use it.

 10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

     The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of
     the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time.  Such new
     versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
     differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.  See
     `http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/'.

     Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version
     number.  If the Document specifies that a particular numbered
     version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you
     have the option of following the terms and conditions either of
     that specified version or of any later version that has been
     published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.  If
     the Document does not specify a version number of this License,
     you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the
     Free Software Foundation.  If the Document specifies that a proxy
     can decide which future versions of this License can be used, that
     proxy's public statement of acceptance of a version permanently
     authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.

 11. RELICENSING

     "Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site" (or "MMC Site") means any
     World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also
     provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works.  A
     public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server.
     A "Massive Multiauthor Collaboration" (or "MMC") contained in the
     site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC
     site.

     "CC-BY-SA" means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
     license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit
     corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco,
     California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license
     published by that same organization.

     "Incorporate" means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or
     in part, as part of another Document.

     An MMC is "eligible for relicensing" if it is licensed under this
     License, and if all works that were first published under this
     License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently
     incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover
     texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior
     to November 1, 2008.

     The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the
     site under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1,
     2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.


ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
====================================================

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
the License in the document and put the following copyright and license
notices just after the title page:

       Copyright (C)  YEAR  YOUR NAME.
       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
       under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
       or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
       with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
       Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
       Free Documentation License''.

   If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover
Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:

         with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with
         the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts
         being LIST.

   If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other
combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the
situation.

   If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of
free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to
permit their use in free software.



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