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This is Info file ../info/gnus, produced by Makeinfo-1.63 from the input file gnus.texi. This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader. Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions. File: gnus, Node: Top, Next: Starting Up, Up: (dir) The Gnus Newsreader ******************* You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of--NNTP, local spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your luck. * Menu: * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain. * The Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups. * The Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles. * The Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles. * Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news. * Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods. * Scoring:: Assigning values to articles. * Various:: General purpose settings. * The End:: Farewell and goodbye. * Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals. * Index:: Variable, function and concept index. * Key Index:: Key Index. File: gnus, Node: Starting Up, Next: The Group Buffer, Prev: Top, Up: Top Starting Gnus ************* If your system administrator has set things up properly, starting Gnus and reading news is extremely easy--you just type `M-x gnus' in your Emacs. If you want to start Gnus in a different frame, you can use the command `M-x gnus-other-frame' instead. If things do not go smoothly at startup, you have to twiddle some variables. * Menu: * Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news. * The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it? * The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then? * Slave Gnusii:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time. * Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group. * New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups? * Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files--`.newsrc'. * Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash. * The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time. * Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change. File: gnus, Node: Finding the News, Next: The First Time, Up: Starting Up Finding the News ================ The `gnus-select-method' variable says where Gnus should look for news. This variable should be a list where the first element says "how" and the second element says "where". This method is your native method. All groups that are not fetched with this method are foreign groups. For instance, if the `news.somewhere.edu' NNTP server is where you want to get your daily dosage of news from, you'd say: (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.somewhere.edu")) If you want to read directly from the local spool, say: (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool "")) If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost certainly be much faster. If this variable is not set, Gnus will take a look at the `NNTPSERVER' environment variable. If that variable isn't set, Gnus will see whether `gnus-nntpserver-file' (`/etc/nntpserver' by default) has any opinions on the matter. If that fails as well, Gnus will will try to use the machine that is running Emacs as an NNTP server. That's a long-shot, though. If `gnus-nntp-server' is set, this variable will override `gnus-select-method'. You should therefore set `gnus-nntp-server' to `nil', which is what it is by default. You can also make Gnus prompt you interactively for the name of an NNTP server. If you give a non-numerical prefix to `gnus' (i.e., `C-u M-x gnus'), Gnus will let you choose between the servers in the `gnus-secondary-servers' list (if any). You can also just type in the name of any server you feel like visiting. However, if you use one NNTP server regularly and are just interested in a couple of groups from a different server, you would be better served by using the `B' command in the group buffer. It will let you have a look at what groups are available, and you can subscribe to any of the groups you want to. This also makes `.newsrc' maintenance much tidier. *Note Foreign Groups::. A slightly different approach to foreign groups is to set the `gnus-secondary-select-methods' variable. The select methods listed in this variable are in many ways just as native as the `gnus-select-method' server. They will also be queried for active files during startup (if that's required), and new newsgroups that appear on these servers will be subscribed (or not) just as native groups are. For instance, if you use the `nnmbox' backend to read your mail, you would typically set this variable to (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods '((nnmbox ""))) File: gnus, Node: The First Time, Next: The Server is Down, Prev: Finding the News, Up: Starting Up The First Time ============== If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should be subscribed by default. If the variable `gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups' is set, Gnus will subscribe you to just those groups in that list, leaving the rest killed. Your system administrator should have set this variable to something useful. Since she hasn't, Gnus will just subscribe you to a few arbitrarily picked groups (i.e., `*.newusers'). ("Arbitrary" is here defined as "whatever Lars thinks you should read".) You'll also be subscribed to the Gnus documentation group, which should help you with most common problems. If `gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups' is `t', Gnus will just use the normal functions for handling new groups, and not do anything special. File: gnus, Node: The Server is Down, Next: Slave Gnusii, Prev: The First Time, Up: Starting Up The Server is Down ================== If the default server is down, Gnus will understandably have some problems starting. However, if you have some mail groups in addition to the news groups, you may want to start Gnus anyway. Gnus, being the trusting sort of program, will ask whether to proceed without a native select method if that server can't be contacted. This will happen whether the server doesn't actually exist (i.e., you have given the wrong address) or the server has just momentarily taken ill for some reason or other. If you decide to continue and have no foreign groups, you'll find it difficult to actually do anything in the group buffer. But, hey, that's your problem. Blllrph! If you know that the server is definitely down, or you just want to read your mail without bothering with the server at all, you can use the `gnus-no-server' command to start Gnus. That might come in handy if you're in a hurry as well. File: gnus, Node: Slave Gnusii, Next: Fetching a Group, Prev: The Server is Down, Up: Starting Up Slave Gnusi∩ ============ You might want to run more than one Emacs with more than one Gnus at the same time. If you are using different `.newsrc' files (eg., if you are using the two different Gnusi∩ to read from two different servers), that is no problem whatsoever. You just do it. The problem appears when you want to run two Gnusi∩ that use the same `.newsrc' file. To work around that problem some, we here at the Think-Tank at the Gnus Towers have come up with a new concept: "Masters" and "servants". (We have applied for a patent on this concept, and have taken out a copyright on those words. If you wish to use those words in conjunction with each other, you have to send $1 per usage instance to me. Usage of the patent ("Master/Slave Relationships In Computer Applications") will be much more expensive, of course.) Anyways, you start one Gnus up the normal way with `M-x gnus' (or however you do it). Each subsequent slave Gnusi∩ should be started with `M-x gnus-slave'. These slaves won't save normal `.newsrc' files, but instead save "slave files" that contains information only on what groups have been read in the slave session. When a master Gnus starts, it will read (and delete) these slave files, incorporating all information from them. (The slave files will be read in the sequence they were created, so the latest changes will have precedence.) Information from the slave files has, of course, precedence over the information in the normal (i. e., master) `.newsrc' file. File: gnus, Node: Fetching a Group, Next: New Groups, Prev: Slave Gnusii, Up: Starting Up Fetching a Group ================ It it sometime convenient to be able to just say "I want to read this group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not". This is perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the command `gnus-fetch-group' provides this functionality in any case. It takes the group name as a parameter. File: gnus, Node: New Groups, Next: Startup Files, Prev: Fetching a Group, Up: Starting Up New Groups ========== What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the `gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method' variable. This variable should contain a function. Some handy pre-fab values are: `gnus-subscribe-zombies' Make all new groups zombies. You can browse the zombies later (with `A z') and either kill them all off properly, or subscribe to them. This is the default. `gnus-subscribe-randomly' Subscribe all new groups randomly. `gnus-subscribe-alphabetically' Subscribe all new groups alphabetically. `gnus-subscribe-hierarchically' Subscribe all new groups hierarchically. `gnus-subscribe-interactively' Subscribe new groups interactively. This means that Gnus will ask you about *all* new groups. `gnus-subscribe-killed' Kill all new groups. A closely related variable is `gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive'. (That's quite a mouthful.) If this variable is non-`nil', Gnus will ask you in a hierarchical fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not. Gnus will ask you for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the hierarchy or not. One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above to `gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive'. This is an error. This will not work. This is ga-ga. So don't do it. A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be subscribed (or ignored) is to put an "options" line at the start of the `.newsrc' file. Here's an example: options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual scientific person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it says that all groups that have names beginning with `alt' and `rec' should be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with `sci' should be subscribed. Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for subscribing these groups. `gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method' is used instead. This variable defaults to `gnus-subscribe-alphabetically'. If you don't want to mess with your `.newsrc' file, you can just set the two variables `gnus-options-subscribe' and `gnus-options-not-subscribe'. These two variables do exactly the same as the `.newsrc' `options -n' trick. Both are regexps, and if the the new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally subscribed, and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored. Yet another variable that meddles here is `gnus-auto-subscribed-groups'. It works exactly like `gnus-options-subscribe', and is therefore really superfluous, but I thought it would be nice to have two of these. This variable is more meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used more for user fiddling. By default this variable makes all new groups that come from mail backends (`nnml', `nnbabyl', `nnfolder', `nnmbox', and `nnmh') subscribed. If you don't like that, just set this variable to `nil'. If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new groups, you could set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' to `nil'. This will also save you some time at startup. Even if this variable is `nil', you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing `U' in the group buffer (*note Group Maintenance::.). This variable is `t' by default. Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing the list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed and dead groups. This isn't a particularly fast method. If `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' is `ask-server', Gnus will ask the server for new groups since the last time. This is both faster & cheaper. This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed groups altogether, so you may set `gnus-save-killed-list' to `nil', which will save time both at startup, at exit, and all over. Saves disk space, too. Why isn't this the default, then? Unfortunately, not all servers support this command. I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my server supports `ask-server'? No? Good, because I don't have a fail-safe answer. I would suggest just setting this variable to `ask-server' and see whether any new groups appear within the next few days. If any do, then it works. If any don't, then it doesn't work. I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server supports `ask-server', but it would just be a guess. So I won't. You could `telnet' to the server and say `HELP' and see whether it lists `NEWGROUPS' among the commands it understands. If it does, then it might work. (But there are servers that lists `NEWGROUPS' without supporting the function properly.) This variable can also be a list of select methods. If so, Gnus will issue an `ask-server' command to each of the select methods, and subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods. This might be handy if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups. A side effect is that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting. Use the mantra "dingnusdingnusdingnus" to achieve permanent bliss. File: gnus, Node: Startup Files, Next: Auto Save, Prev: New Groups, Up: Starting Up Startup Files ============= Now, you all know about the `.newsrc' file. All subscription information is traditionally stored in this file. Things got a bit more complicated with GNUS. In addition to keeping the `.newsrc' file updated, it also used a file called `.newsrc.el' for storing all the information that didn't fit into the `.newsrc' file. (Actually, it also duplicated everything in the `.newsrc' file.) GNUS would read whichever one of these files was the most recently saved, which enabled people to swap between GNUS and other newsreaders. That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the `.newsrc' and `.newsrc.el' files, Gnus also has a file called `.newsrc.eld'. It will read whichever of these files that are most recent, but it will never write a `.newsrc.el' file. You can turn off writing the `.newsrc' file by setting `gnus-save-newsrc-file' to `nil', which means you can delete the file and save some space, as well as making exit from Gnus faster. However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? If `gnus-save-killed-list' (default `t') is `nil', Gnus will not save the list of killed groups to the startup file. This will save both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk). It will also means that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old, so the automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless. You should always set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' to `nil' or `ask-server' if you set this variable to `nil' (*note New Groups::.). The `gnus-startup-file' variable says where the startup files are. The default value is `~/.newsrc', with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup file being whatever that one is with a `.eld' appended. `gnus-save-newsrc-hook' is called before saving any of the newsrc files, while `gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook' is called just before saving the `.newsrc.eld' file, and `gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook' is called just before saving the `.newsrc' file. The latter two are commonly used to turn version control on or off. Version control is off by default when saving the startup files. File: gnus, Node: Auto Save, Next: The Active File, Prev: Startup Files, Up: Starting Up Auto Save ========= Whenever you do something that changes the Gnus data (reading articles, catching up, killing/subscribing groups), the change is added to a special "dribble buffer". This buffer is auto-saved the normal Emacs way. If your Emacs should crash before you have saved the `.newsrc' files, all changes you have made can be recovered from this file. If Gnus detects this file at startup, it will ask the user whether to read it. The auto save file is deleted whenever the real startup file is saved. If `gnus-use-dribble-file' is `nil', Gnus won't create and maintain a dribble buffer. The default is `t'. Gnus will put the dribble file(s) in `gnus-dribble-directory'. If this variable is `nil', which it is by default, Gnus will dribble into the directory where the `.newsrc' file is located. (This is normally the user's home directory.) The dribble file will get the same file permissions as the `.newsrc' file. File: gnus, Node: The Active File, Next: Startup Variables, Prev: Auto Save, Up: Starting Up The Active File =============== When Gnus starts, or indeed whenever it tries to determine whether new articles have arrived, it reads the active file. This is a very large file that lists all the active groups and articles on the server. Before examining the active file, Gnus deletes all lines that match the regexp `gnus-ignored-newsgroups'. This is done primarily to reject any groups with bogus names, but you can use this variable to make Gnus ignore hierarchies you aren't ever interested in. However, this is not recommended. In fact, it's highly discouraged. Instead, *note New Groups::. for an overview of other variables that can be used instead. The active file can be rather Huge, so if you have a slow network, you can set `gnus-read-active-file' to `nil' to prevent Gnus from reading the active file. This variable is `t' by default. Gnus will try to make do by getting information just on the groups that you actually subscribe to. Note that if you subscribe to lots and lots of groups, setting this variable to `nil' will probably make Gnus slower, not faster. At present, having this variable `nil' will slow Gnus down considerably, unless you read news over a 2400 baud modem. This variable can also have the value `some'. Gnus will then attempt to read active info only on the subscribed groups. On some servers this is quite fast (on sparkling, brand new INN servers that support the `LIST ACTIVE group' command), on others this isn't fast at all. In any case, `some' should be faster than `nil', and is certainly faster than `t' over slow lines. If this variable is `nil', Gnus will ask for group info in total lock-step, which isn't very fast. If it is `some' and you use an NNTP server, Gnus will pump out commands as fast as it can, and read all the replies in one swoop. This will normally result in better performance, but if the server does not support the aforementioned `LIST ACTIVE group' command, this isn't very nice to the server. In any case, if you use `some' or `nil', you should definitely kill all groups that you aren't interested in to speed things up. File: gnus, Node: Startup Variables, Prev: The Active File, Up: Starting Up Startup Variables ================= `gnus-load-hook' A hook that is run while Gnus is being loaded. Note that this hook will normally be run just once in each Emacs session, no matter how many times you start Gnus. `gnus-startup-hook' A hook that is run after starting up Gnus successfully. `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' If non-`nil', Gnus will check for and delete all bogus groups at startup. A "bogus group" is a group that you have in your `.newsrc' file, but doesn't exist on the news server. Checking for bogus groups can take quite a while, so to save time and resources it's best to leave this option off, and do the checking for bogus groups once in a while from the group buffer instead (*note Group Maintenance::.). `gnus-inhibit-startup-message' If non-`nil', the startup message won't be displayed. That way, your boss might not notice that you are reading news instead of doing your job as easily. `gnus-no-groups-message' Message displayed by Gnus when no groups are available. File: gnus, Node: The Group Buffer, Next: The Summary Buffer, Prev: Starting Up, Up: Top The Group Buffer **************** The "group buffer" lists all (or parts) of the available groups. It is the first buffer shown when Gnus starts, and will never be killed as long as Gnus is active. * Menu: * Group Buffer Format:: Information listed and how you can change it. * Group Maneuvering:: Commands for moving in the group buffer. * Selecting a Group:: Actually reading news. * Subscription Commands:: Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing. * Group Levels:: Levels? What are those, then? * Group Score:: A mechanism for finding out what groups you like. * Marking Groups:: You can mark groups for later processing. * Foreign Groups:: Creating and editing groups. * Group Parameters:: Each group may have different parameters set. * Listing Groups:: Gnus can list various subsets of the groups. * Sorting Groups:: Re-arrange the group order. * Group Maintenance:: Maintaining a tidy `.newsrc' file. * Browse Foreign Server:: You can browse a server. See what it has to offer. * Exiting Gnus:: Stop reading news and get some work done. * Group Topics:: A folding group mode divided into topics. * Misc Group Stuff:: Other stuff that you can to do. File: gnus, Node: Group Buffer Format, Next: Group Maneuvering, Up: The Group Buffer Group Buffer Format =================== * Menu: * Group Line Specification:: Deciding how the group buffer is to look. * Group Modeline Specification:: The group buffer modeline. * Group Highlighting:: Having nice colors in the group buffer. File: gnus, Node: Group Line Specification, Next: Group Modeline Specification, Up: Group Buffer Format Group Line Specification ------------------------ The default format of the group buffer is nice and dull, but you can make it as exciting and ugly as you feel like. Here's a couple of example group lines: 25: news.announce.newusers * 0: alt.fan.andrea-dworkin Quite simple, huh? You can see that there are 25 unread articles in `news.announce.newusers'. There are no unread articles, but some ticked articles, in `alt.fan.andrea-dworkin' (see that little asterisk at the beginning of the line?) You can change that format to whatever you want by fiddling with the `gnus-group-line-format' variable. This variable works along the lines of a `format' specification, which is pretty much the same as a `printf' specifications, for those of you who use (feh!) C. *Note Formatting Variables::. The default value that produced those lines above is `%M%S%5y: %(%g%)\n'. There should always be a colon on the line; the cursor always moves to the colon after performing an operation. Nothing else is required--not even the group name. All displayed text is just window dressing, and is never examined by Gnus. Gnus stores all real information it needs using text properties. (Note that if you make a really strange, wonderful, spreadsheet-like layout, everybody will believe you are hard at work with the accounting instead of wasting time reading news.) Here's a list of all available format characters: `M' Only marked articles. `S' Whether the group is subscribed. `L' Level of subscribedness. `N' Number of unread articles. `I' Number of dormant articles. `T' Number of ticked articles. `R' Number of read articles. `t' Total number of articles. `y' Number of unread, unticked, non-dormant articles. `i' Number of ticked and dormant articles. `g' Full group name. `G' Group name. `D' Newsgroup description. `o' `m' if moderated. `O' `(m)' if moderated. `s' Select method. `n' Select from where. `z' A string that looks like `<%s:%n>' if a foreign select method is used. `P' Indentation based on the level of the topic (*note Group Topics::.). `c' Short (collapsed) group name. The `gnus-group-uncollapsed-levels' variable says how many levels to leave at the end of the group name. The default is `1'. `u' User defined specifier. The next character in the format string should be a letter. GNUS will call the function `gnus-user-format-function-'`X', where `X' is the letter following `%u'. The function will be passed the current headers as argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted into the buffer just like information from any other specifier. All the "number-of" specs will be filled with an asterisk (`*') if no info is available--for instance, if it is a non-activated foreign group, or a bogus (or semi-bogus) native group. File: gnus, Node: Group Modeline Specification, Next: Group Highlighting, Prev: Group Line Specification, Up: Group Buffer Format Group Modeline Specification ---------------------------- The mode line can be changed by setting (`gnus-group-mode-line-format'). It doesn't understand that many format specifiers: `S' The native news server. `M' The native select method. File: gnus, Node: Group Highlighting, Prev: Group Modeline Specification, Up: Group Buffer Format Group Highlighting ------------------ Highlighting in the group buffer is controlled by the `gnus-group-highlight' variable. This is an alist with elements that look like (FORM . FACE). If FORM evaluates to something non-`nil', the FACE will be used on the line. Here's an example value for this variable that might look nice if the background is dark: (setq gnus-group-highlight `(((> unread 200) . ,(custom-face-lookup "Red" nil nil t nil nil)) ((and (< level 3) (zerop unread)) . ,(custom-face-lookup "SeaGreen" nil nil t nil nil)) ((< level 3) . ,(custom-face-lookup "SpringGreen" nil nil t nil nil)) ((zerop unread) . ,(custom-face-lookup "SteelBlue" nil nil t nil nil)) (t . ,(custom-face-lookup "SkyBlue" nil nil t nil nil)) )) Variables that are dynamically bound when the forms are evaluated include: `group' The group name. `unread' The number of unread articles in the group. `method' The select method. `mailp' Whether the group is a mail group. `level' The level of the group. `score' The score of the group. `ticked' The number of ticked articles in the group. `topic' When using the topic minor mode, this variable is bound to the current topic being inserted. When the forms are `eval'ed, point is at the beginning of the line of the group in question, so you can use many of the normal Gnus functions for snarfing info on the group. `gnus-group-update-hook' is called when a group line is changed. It will not be called when `gnus-visual' is `nil'. This hook calls `gnus-group-highlight-line' by default. File: gnus, Node: Group Maneuvering, Next: Selecting a Group, Prev: Group Buffer Format, Up: The Group Buffer Group Maneuvering ================= All movement commands understand the numeric prefix and will behave as expected, hopefully. `n' Go to the next group that has unread articles (`gnus-group-next-unread-group'). `p' `DEL' Go to the previous group group that has unread articles (`gnus-group-prev-unread-group'). `N' Go to the next group (`gnus-group-next-group'). `P' Go to the previous group (`gnus-group-prev-group'). `M-p' Go to the next unread group on the same level (or lower) (`gnus-group-next-unread-group-same-level'). `M-n' Go to the previous unread group on the same level (or lower) (`gnus-group-prev-unread-group-same-level'). Three commands for jumping to groups: `j' Jump to a group (and make it visible if it isn't already) (`gnus-group-jump-to-group'). Killed groups can be jumped to, just like living groups. `,' Jump to the unread group with the lowest level (`gnus-group-best-unread-group'). `.' Jump to the first group with unread articles (`gnus-group-first-unread-group'). If `gnus-group-goto-unread' is `nil', all the movement commands will move to the next group, not the next unread group. Even the commands that say they move to the next unread group. The default is `t'. File: gnus, Node: Selecting a Group, Next: Subscription Commands, Prev: Group Maneuvering, Up: The Group Buffer Selecting a Group ================= `SPACE' Select the current group, switch to the summary buffer and display the first unread article (`gnus-group-read-group'). If there are no unread articles in the group, or if you give a non-numerical prefix to this command, Gnus will offer to fetch all the old articles in this group from the server. If you give a numerical prefix N, Gnus will fetch N number of articles. If N is positive, fetch the N newest articles, if N is negative, fetch the ABS(N) oldest articles. `RET' Select the current group and switch to the summary buffer (`gnus-group-select-group'). Takes the same arguments as `gnus-group-read-group'--the only difference is that this command does not display the first unread article automatically upon group entry. `M-RET' This does the same as the command above, but tries to do it with the minimum amount off fuzz (`gnus-group-quick-select-group'). No scoring/killing will be performed, there will be no highlights and no expunging. This might be useful if you're in a real hurry and have to enter some humongous group. `M-SPACE' This is yet one more command that does the same as the one above, but this one does it without expunging and hiding dormants (`gnus-group-visible-select-group'). `c' Mark all unticked articles in this group as read (`gnus-group-catchup-current'). `gnus-group-catchup-group-hook' is when catching up a group from the group buffer. `C' Mark all articles in this group, even the ticked ones, as read (`gnus-group-catchup-current-all'). The `gnus-large-newsgroup' variable says what Gnus should consider to be a big group. This is 200 by default. If the group has more unread articles than this, Gnus will query the user before entering the group. The user can then specify how many articles should be fetched from the server. If the user specifies a negative number (`-n'), the `n' oldest articles will be fetched. If it is positive, the `n' articles that have arrived most recently will be fetched. `gnus-auto-select-first' control whether any articles are selected automatically when entering a group. `nil' Don't select any articles when entering the group. Just display the full summary buffer. `t' Select the first unread article when entering the group. `best' Select the most high-scored article in the group when entering the group. If you want to prevent automatic selection in some group (say, in a binary group with Huge articles) you can set this variable to `nil' in `gnus-select-group-hook', which is called when a group is selected. File: gnus, Node: Subscription Commands, Next: Group Levels, Prev: Selecting a Group, Up: The Group Buffer Subscription Commands ===================== `S t' `u' Toggle subscription to the current group (`gnus-group-unsubscribe-current-group'). `S s' `U' Prompt for a group to subscribe, and then subscribe it. If it was subscribed already, unsubscribe it instead (`gnus-group-unsubscribe-group'). `S k' `C-k' Kill the current group (`gnus-group-kill-group'). `S y' `C-y' Yank the last killed group (`gnus-group-yank-group'). `C-x C-t' Transpose two groups (`gnus-group-transpose-groups'). This isn't really a subscription command, but you can use it instead of a kill-and-yank sequence sometimes. `S w' `C-w' Kill all groups in the region (`gnus-group-kill-region'). `S z' Kill all zombie groups (`gnus-group-kill-all-zombies'). `S C-k' Kill all groups on a certain level (`gnus-group-kill-level'). These groups can't be yanked back after killing, so this command should be used with some caution. The only thing where this command comes in really handy is when you have a `.newsrc' with lots of unsubscribed groups that you want to get rid off. `S C-k' on level `7' will kill off all unsubscribed groups that do not have message numbers in the `.newsrc' file. Also *note Group Levels::.. File: gnus, Node: Group Levels, Next: Group Score, Prev: Subscription Commands, Up: The Group Buffer Group Levels ============ All groups have a level of "subscribedness". For instance, if a group is on level 2, it is more subscribed than a group on level 5. You can ask Gnus to just list groups on a given level or lower (*note Listing Groups::.), or to just check for new articles in groups on a given level or lower (*note Scanning New Messages::.). Remember: The higher the level of the group, the less important it is. `S l' Set the level of the current group. If a numeric prefix is given, the next N groups will have their levels set. The user will be prompted for a level. Gnus considers groups on between levels 1 and `gnus-level-subscribed' (inclusive) (default 5) to be subscribed, `gnus-level-subscribed' (exclusive) and `gnus-level-unsubscribed' (inclusive) (default 7) to be unsubscribed, `gnus-level-zombie' to be zombies (walking dead) (default 8) and `gnus-level-killed' to be killed (default 9), completely dead. Gnus treats subscribed and unsubscribed groups exactly the same, but zombie and killed groups have no information on what articles you have read, etc, stored. This distinction between dead and living groups isn't done because it is nice or clever, it is done purely for reasons of efficiency. It is recommended that you keep all your mail groups (if any) on quite low levels (eg. 1 or 2). If you want to play with the level variables, you should show some care. Set them once, and don't touch them ever again. Better yet, don't touch them at all unless you know exactly what you're doing. Two closely related variables are `gnus-level-default-subscribed' (default 3) and `gnus-level-default-unsubscribed' (default 6), which are the levels that new groups will be put on if they are (un)subscribed. These two variables should, of course, be inside the relevant legal ranges. If `gnus-keep-same-level' is non-`nil', some movement commands will only move to groups that are of the same level (or lower). In particular, going from the last article in one group to the next group will go to the next group of the same level (or lower). This might be handy if you want to read the most important groups before you read the rest. All groups with a level less than or equal to `gnus-group-default-list-level' will be listed in the group buffer by default. If `gnus-group-list-inactive-groups' is non-`nil', non-active groups will be listed along with the unread groups. This variable is `t' by default. If it is `nil', inactive groups won't be listed. If `gnus-group-use-permanent-levels' is non-`nil', once you give a level prefix to `g' or `l', all subsequent commands will use this level as the "work" level. Gnus will normally just activate groups that are on level `gnus-activate-level' or less. If you don't want to activate unsubscribed groups, for instance, you might set this variable to `5'. File: gnus, Node: Group Score, Next: Marking Groups, Prev: Group Levels, Up: The Group Buffer Group Score =========== You would normally keep important groups on high levels, but that scheme is somewhat restrictive. Don't you wish you could have Gnus sort the group buffer according to how often you read groups, perhaps? Within reason? This is what "group score" is for. You can assign a score to each group. You can then sort the group buffer based on this score. Alternatively, you can sort on score and then level. (Taken together, the level and the score is called the "rank" of the group. A group that is on level 4 and has a score of 1 has a higher rank than a group on level 5 that has a score of 300. (The level is the most significant part and the score is the least significant part.) If you want groups you read often to get higher scores than groups you read seldom you can add the `gnus-summary-bubble-group' function to the `gnus-summary-exit-hook' hook. This will result (after sorting) in a bubbling sort of action. If you want to see that in action after each summary exit, you can add `gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank' or `gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score' to the same hook, but that will slow things down somewhat. File: gnus, Node: Marking Groups, Next: Foreign Groups, Prev: Group Score, Up: The Group Buffer Marking Groups ============== If you want to perform some command on several groups, and they appear subsequently in the group buffer, you would normally just give a numerical prefix to the command. Most group commands will then do your bidding on those groups. However, if the groups are not in sequential order, you can still perform a command on several groups. You simply mark the groups first with the process mark and then execute the command. `#' `M m' Set the mark on the current group (`gnus-group-mark-group'). `M-#' `M u' Remove the mark from the current group (`gnus-group-unmark-group'). `M U' Remove the mark from all groups (`gnus-group-unmark-all-groups'). `M w' Mark all groups between point and mark (`gnus-group-mark-region'). `M b' Mark all groups in the buffer (`gnus-group-mark-buffer'). `M r' Mark all groups that match some regular expression (`gnus-group-mark-regexp'). Also *note Process/Prefix::.. If you want to execute some command on all groups that have been marked with the process mark, you can use the `M-&' (`gnus-group-universal-argument') command. It will prompt you for the command to be executed. File: gnus, Node: Foreign Groups, Next: Group Parameters, Prev: Marking Groups, Up: The Group Buffer Foreign Groups ============== Here are some group mode commands for making and editing general foreign groups, as well as commands to ease the creation of a few special-purpose groups: `G m' Make a new group (`gnus-group-make-group'). Gnus will prompt you for a name, a method and possibly an "address". For an easier way to subscribe to NNTP groups, *note Browse Foreign Server::.. `G r' Rename the current group to something else (`gnus-group-rename-group'). This is legal only on some groups - mail groups mostly. This command might very well be quite slow on some backends. `G e' Enter a buffer where you can edit the select method of the current group (`gnus-group-edit-group-method'). `G p' Enter a buffer where you can edit the group parameters (`gnus-group-edit-group-parameters'). `G E' Enter a buffer where you can edit the group info (`gnus-group-edit-group'). `G d' Make a directory group. You will be prompted for a directory name (`gnus-group-make-directory-group'). `G h' Make the Gnus help group (`gnus-group-make-help-group'). `G a' Make a Gnus archive group (`gnus-group-make-archive-group'). By default a group pointing to the most recent articles will be created (`gnus-group-recent-archive-directory'), but given a prefix, a full group will be created from from `gnus-group-archive-directory'. `G k' Make a kiboze group. You will be prompted for a name, for a regexp to match groups to be "included" in the kiboze group, and a series of strings to match on headers (`gnus-group-make-kiboze-group'). *Note Kibozed Groups:: `G D' Read an arbitrary directory as if with were a newsgroup with the `nneething' backend (`gnus-group-enter-directory'). `G f' Make a group based on some file or other (`gnus-group-make-doc-group'). If you give a prefix to this command, you will be prompted for a file name and a file type. Currently supported types are `babyl', `mbox', `digest', `mmdf', `news', `rnews', `clari-briefs', and `forward'. If you run this command without a prefix, Gnus will guess at the file type. `G DEL' This function will delete the current group (`gnus-group-delete-group'). If given a prefix, this function will actually delete all the articles in the group, and forcibly remove the group itself from the face of the Earth. Use a prefix only if you are absolutely sure of what you are doing. `G V' Make a new, fresh, empty `nnvirtual' group (`gnus-group-make-empty-virtual'). `G v' Add the current group to an `nnvirtual' group (`gnus-group-add-to-virtual'). Uses the process/prefix convention. *Note Select Methods:: for more information on the various select methods. If the `gnus-activate-foreign-newsgroups' is a positive number, Gnus will check all foreign groups with this level or lower at startup. This might take quite a while, especially if you subscribe to lots of groups from different NNTP servers. File: gnus, Node: Group Parameters, Next: Listing Groups, Prev: Foreign Groups, Up: The Group Buffer Group Parameters ================ Gnus stores all information on a group in a list that is usually known as the "group info". This list has from three to six elements. Here's an example info. ("nnml:mail.ding" 3 ((1 . 232) 244 (256 . 270)) ((tick 246 249)) (nnml "private") ((to-address . "ding@ifi.uio.no"))) 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. 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. The group parameters store information local to a particular group: `to-address' If the group parameter list contains an element that looks like `(to-address . "some@where.com")', that address will be used by the backend when doing followups and posts. This is primarily useful in mail groups that represent closed mailing lists--mailing lists where it's expected that everybody that writes to the mailing list is subscribed to it. Since using this parameter ensures that the mail only goes to the mailing list itself, it means that members won't receive two copies of your followups. Using `to-address' will actually work whether the group is foreign or not. Let's say there's a group on the server that is called `fa.4ad-l'. This is a real newsgroup, but the server has gotten the articles from a mail-to-news gateway. Posting directly to this group is therefore impossible--you have to send mail to the mailing list address instead. `to-list' If the group parameter list has an element that looks like `(to-list . "some@where.com")', that address will be used when doing a `a' in any group. It is totally ignored when doing a followup--except that if it is present in a news group, you'll get mail group semantics when doing `f'. `broken-reply-to' Elements like `(broken-reply-to . t)' signals that `Reply-To' headers in this group are to be ignored. This can be useful if you're reading a mailing list group where the listserv has inserted `Reply-To' headers that point back to the listserv itself. This is broken behavior. So there! `to-group' If the group parameter list contains an element like `(to-group . "some.group.name")', all posts will be sent to that group. `auto-expire' If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, all articles that are read will be marked as expirable. For an alternative approach, *note Expiring Mail::.. `total-expire' If this symbol is present, all read articles will be put through the expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with caution. `expiry-wait' If the group parameter has an element that looks like `(expiry-wait . 10)', this value will override any `nnmail-expiry-wait' and `nnmail-expiry-wait-function' when expiring expirable messages. The value can either be a number of days (not necessarily an integer) or the symbols `never' or `immediate'. `score-file' Elements that look like `(score-file . "file")' will make `file' into the current score file for the group in question. This means that all score commands you issue will end up in that file. `admin-address' When unsubscribing to a mailing list you should never send the unsubscription notice to the mailing list itself. Instead, you'd send messages to the administrative address. This parameter allows you to put the admin address somewhere convenient. `comment' This parameter allows you to enter a arbitrary comment on the group. `(VARIABLE FORM)' You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you are entering. Say you want to turn threading off in `news.answers'. You'd then put `(gnus-show-threads nil)' in the group parameters of that group. `gnus-show-threads' will be made into a local variable in the summary buffer you enter, and the form `nil' will be `eval'ed there. This can also be used as a group-specific hook function, if you'd like. If you want to hear a beep when you enter the group `alt.binaries.pictures.furniture', you could put something like `(dummy-variable (ding))' in the parameters of that group. `dummy-variable' will be set to the result of the `(ding)' form, but who cares? If you want to change the group info you can use the `G E' command to enter a buffer where you can edit it. You usually don't want to edit the entire group info, so you'd be better off using the `G p' command to just edit the group parameters. File: gnus, Node: Listing Groups, Next: Sorting Groups, Prev: Group Parameters, Up: The Group Buffer Listing Groups ============== These commands all list various slices of the groups that are available. `l' `A s' List all groups that have unread articles (`gnus-group-list-groups'). If the numeric prefix is used, this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it only lists groups of level five or lower (i.e., just subscribed groups). `L' `A u' List all groups, whether they have unread articles or not (`gnus-group-list-all-groups'). If the numeric prefix is used, this command will list only groups of level ARG and lower. By default, it lists groups of level seven or lower (i.e., just subscribed and unsubscribed groups). `A l' List all unread groups on a specific level (`gnus-group-list-level'). If given a prefix, also list the groups with no unread articles. `A k' List all killed groups (`gnus-group-list-killed'). If given a prefix argument, really list all groups that are available, but aren't currently (un)subscribed. This could entail reading the active file from the server. `A z' List all zombie groups (`gnus-group-list-zombies'). `A m' List all subscribed groups with unread articles that match a regexp (`gnus-group-list-matching'). `A M' List groups that match a regexp (`gnus-group-list-all-matching'). `A A' List absolutely all groups that are in the active file(s) of the server(s) you are connected to (`gnus-group-list-active'). This might very well take quite a while. It might actually be a better idea to do a `A m' to list all matching, and just give `.' as the thing to match on. `A a' List all groups that have names that match a regexp (`gnus-group-apropos'). `A d' List all groups that have names or descriptions that match a regexp (`gnus-group-description-apropos'). Groups that match the `gnus-permanently-visible-groups' regexp will always be shown, whether they have unread articles or not. You can also add the `visible' element to the group parameters in question to get the same effect. Groups that have just ticked articles in it are normally listed in the group buffer. If `gnus-list-groups-with-ticked-articles' is `nil', these groups will be treated just like totally empty groups. It is `t' by default.