This is Info file ../info/gnus.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.68 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.info, Node: Group Parameters, Next: Listing Groups, Prev: Foreign Groups, Up: The Group Buffer Group Parameters ================ 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 that 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'. If you do an `a' command in a mail group and you don't have a `to-list' group parameter, one will be added automatically upon sending the message. `visible' If the group parameter list has the element `(visible . t)', that group will always be visible in the Group buffer, regardless of whether it has any unread articles. `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' Elements like `(to-group . "some.group.name")' means that all posts in that group will be sent to `some.group.name'. `newsgroup' If this symbol is present in the group parameter list, Gnus will treat all responses as if they were responses to news articles. This can be useful if you have a mail group that's really a mirror of a news group. `gcc-self' If this symbol is present in the group parameter list and set to `t', newly composed messages will be `Gcc''d to the current group. If it is present and set to `none', no `Gcc:' header will be generated, if it is present and a string, this string will be inserted literally as a `gcc' header (this symbol takes precedence over any default `Gcc' rules as described later). `auto-expire' If the group parameter has an element that looks like `(auto-expire . t)', all articles read will be marked as expirable. For an alternative approach, *note Expiring Mail::.. `total-expire' If the group parameter has an element that looks like `(total-expire . t)', all read articles will be put through the expiry process, even if they are not marked as expirable. Use with caution. Unread, ticked and dormant articles are not eligible for expiry. `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. `adapt-file' Elements that look like `(adapt-file . "file")' will make `file' into the current adaptive score file for the group in question. All adaptive score entries will be put into this file. `admin-address' When unsubscribing from 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. `display' Elements that look like `(display . MODE)' say which articles to display on entering the group. Legal values are: `all' Display all articles, both read and unread. `default' Display the default visible articles, which normally includes unread and ticked articles. `comment' Elements that look like `(comment . "This is a comment")' are arbitrary comments on the group. They are currently ignored by Gnus, but provide a place for you to store information on particular groups. `(VARIABLE FORM)' You can use the group parameters to set variables local to the group you are entering. If you want to turn threading off in `news.answers', you could 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 a group, 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? Use the `G p' command to edit group parameters of a group. *note Topic Parameters::.. Here's an example group parameter list: ((to-address . "ding@gnus.org") (auto-expiry . t))  File: gnus.info, Node: Listing Groups, Next: Sorting Groups, Prev: Group Parameters, Up: The Group Buffer Listing Groups ============== These commands all list various slices of the groups 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 (i. e., `gnus-group-default-list-level') 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 unread, subscribed groups with names 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 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. Also note that this command may list groups that don't exist (yet)--these will be listed as if they were killed groups. Take the output with some grains of salt. `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.  File: gnus.info, Node: Sorting Groups, Next: Group Maintenance, Prev: Listing Groups, Up: The Group Buffer Sorting Groups ============== The `C-c C-s' (`gnus-group-sort-groups') command sorts the group buffer according to the function(s) given by the `gnus-group-sort-function' variable. Available sorting functions include: `gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet' Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default. `gnus-group-sort-by-real-name' Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names. `gnus-group-sort-by-level' Sort by group level. `gnus-group-sort-by-score' Sort by group score. `gnus-group-sort-by-rank' Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score are, when taken together, the group's "rank". `gnus-group-sort-by-unread' Sort by number of unread articles. `gnus-group-sort-by-method' Sort alphabetically on the select method. `gnus-group-sort-function' can also be a list of sorting functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be the last one. There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to some sorting criteria: `G S a' Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name (`gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet'). `G S u' Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles (`gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread'). `G S l' Sort the group buffer by group level (`gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level'). `G S v' Sort the group buffer by group score (`gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score'). `G S r' Sort the group buffer by group rank (`gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank'). `G S m' Sort the group buffer alphabetically by backend name (`gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method'). When given a prefix, all these commands will sort in reverse order. You can also sort a subset of the groups: `G P a' Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by group name (`gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet'). `G P u' Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by the number of unread articles (`gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread'). `G P l' Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group level (`gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level'). `G P v' Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group score (`gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score'). `G P r' Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer by group rank (`gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank'). `G P m' Sort the process/prefixed groups in the group buffer alphabetically by backend name (`gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method').  File: gnus.info, Node: Group Maintenance, Next: Browse Foreign Server, Prev: Sorting Groups, Up: The Group Buffer Group Maintenance ================= `b' Find bogus groups and delete them (`gnus-group-check-bogus-groups'). `F' Find new groups and process them (`gnus-group-find-new-groups'). If given a prefix, use the `ask-server' method to query the server for new groups. `C-c C-x' Run all expirable articles in the current group through the expiry process (if any) (`gnus-group-expire-articles'). `C-c M-C-x' Run all articles in all groups through the expiry process (`gnus-group-expire-all-groups').  File: gnus.info, Node: Browse Foreign Server, Next: Exiting Gnus, Prev: Group Maintenance, Up: The Group Buffer Browse Foreign Server ===================== `B' You will be queried for a select method and a server name. Gnus will then attempt to contact this server and let you browse the groups there (`gnus-group-browse-foreign-server'). A new buffer with a list of available groups will appear. This buffer will use the `gnus-browse-mode'. This buffer looks a bit (well, a lot) like a normal group buffer. Here's a list of keystrokes available in the browse mode: `n' Go to the next group (`gnus-group-next-group'). `p' Go to the previous group (`gnus-group-prev-group'). `SPACE' Enter the current group and display the first article (`gnus-browse-read-group'). `RET' Enter the current group (`gnus-browse-select-group'). `u' Unsubscribe to the current group, or, as will be the case here, subscribe to it (`gnus-browse-unsubscribe-current-group'). `l' `q' Exit browse mode (`gnus-browse-exit'). `?' Describe browse mode briefly (well, there's not much to describe, is there) (`gnus-browse-describe-briefly').  File: gnus.info, Node: Exiting Gnus, Next: Group Topics, Prev: Browse Foreign Server, Up: The Group Buffer Exiting Gnus ============ Yes, Gnus is ex(c)iting. `z' Suspend Gnus (`gnus-group-suspend'). This doesn't really exit Gnus, but it kills all buffers except the Group buffer. I'm not sure why this is a gain, but then who am I to judge? `q' Quit Gnus (`gnus-group-exit'). `Q' Quit Gnus without saving the `.newsrc' files (`gnus-group-quit'). The dribble file will be saved, though (*note Auto Save::.). `gnus-suspend-gnus-hook' is called when you suspend Gnus and `gnus-exit-gnus-hook' is called when you quit Gnus, while `gnus-after-exiting-gnus-hook' is called as the final item when exiting Gnus. If you wish to completely unload Gnus and all its adherents, you can use the `gnus-unload' command. This command is also very handy when trying to customize meta-variables. Note: Miss Lisa Cannifax, while sitting in English class, felt her feet go numbly heavy and herself fall into a hazy trance as the boy sitting behind her drew repeated lines with his pencil across the back of her plastic chair.  File: gnus.info, Node: Group Topics, Next: Misc Group Stuff, Prev: Exiting Gnus, Up: The Group Buffer Group Topics ============ If you read lots and lots of groups, it might be convenient to group them hierarchically according to topics. You put your Emacs groups over here, your sex groups over there, and the rest (what, two groups or so?) you put in some misc section that you never bother with anyway. You can even group the Emacs sex groups as a sub-topic to either the Emacs groups or the sex groups--or both! Go wild! Here's an example: Gnus Emacs -- I wuw it! 3: comp.emacs 2: alt.religion.emacs Naughty Emacs 452: alt.sex.emacs 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery Misc 8: comp.binaries.fractals 13: comp.sources.unix To get this *fab* functionality you simply turn on (ooh!) the `gnus-topic' minor mode--type `t' in the group buffer. (This is a toggling command.) Go ahead, just try it. I'll still be here when you get back. La de dum... Nice tune, that... la la la... What, you're back? Yes, and now press `l'. There. All your groups are now listed under `misc'. Doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Hot and bothered? If you want this permanently enabled, you should add that minor mode to the hook for the group mode: (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode) * Menu: * Topic Variables:: How to customize the topics the Lisp Way. * Topic Commands:: Interactive E-Z commands. * Topic Sorting:: Sorting each topic individually. * Topic Topology:: A map of the world. * Topic Parameters:: Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.  File: gnus.info, Node: Topic Variables, Next: Topic Commands, Up: Group Topics Topic Variables --------------- Now, if you select a topic, it will fold/unfold that topic, which is really neat, I think. The topic lines themselves are created according to the `gnus-topic-line-format' variable (*note Formatting Variables::.). Legal elements are: `i' Indentation. `n' Topic name. `v' Visibility. `l' Level. `g' Number of groups in the topic. `a' Number of unread articles in the topic. `A' Number of unread articles in the topic and all its subtopics. Each sub-topic (and the groups in the sub-topics) will be indented with `gnus-topic-indent-level' times the topic level number of spaces. The default is 2. `gnus-topic-mode-hook' is called in topic minor mode buffers. The `gnus-topic-display-empty-topics' says whether to display even topics that have no unread articles in them. The default is `t'.  File: gnus.info, Node: Topic Commands, Next: Topic Sorting, Prev: Topic Variables, Up: Group Topics Topic Commands -------------- When the topic minor mode is turned on, a new `T' submap will be available. In addition, a few of the standard keys change their definitions slightly. `T n' Prompt for a new topic name and create it (`gnus-topic-create-topic'). `T m' Move the current group to some other topic (`gnus-topic-move-group'). This command uses the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `T c' Copy the current group to some other topic (`gnus-topic-copy-group'). This command uses the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `T D' Remove a group from the current topic (`gnus-topic-remove-group'). This command uses the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `T M' Move all groups that match some regular expression to a topic (`gnus-topic-move-matching'). `T C' Copy all groups that match some regular expression to a topic (`gnus-topic-copy-matching'). `T h' Toggle hiding empty topics (`gnus-topic-toggle-display-empty-topics'). `T #' Mark all groups in the current topic with the process mark (`gnus-topic-mark-topic'). `T M-#' Remove the process mark from all groups in the current topic (`gnus-topic-unmark-topic'). `RET' `SPACE' Either select a group or fold a topic (`gnus-topic-select-group'). When you perform this command on a group, you'll enter the group, as usual. When done on a topic line, the topic will be folded (if it was visible) or unfolded (if it was folded already). So it's basically a toggling command on topics. In addition, if you give a numerical prefix, group on that level (and lower) will be displayed. `T TAB' "Indent" the current topic so that it becomes a sub-topic of the previous topic (`gnus-topic-indent'). If given a prefix, "un-indent" the topic instead. `C-k' Kill a group or topic (`gnus-topic-kill-group'). All groups in the topic will be removed along with the topic. `C-y' Yank the previously killed group or topic (`gnus-topic-yank-group'). Note that all topics will be yanked before all groups. `T r' Rename a topic (`gnus-topic-rename'). `T DEL' Delete an empty topic (`gnus-topic-delete'). `A T' List all groups that Gnus knows about in a topics-ified way (`gnus-topic-list-active'). `G p' Edit the topic parameters (`gnus-topic-edit-parameters'). *Note Topic Parameters::.  File: gnus.info, Node: Topic Sorting, Next: Topic Topology, Prev: Topic Commands, Up: Group Topics Topic Sorting ------------- You can sort the groups in each topic individually with the following commands: `T S a' Sort the current topic alphabetically by group name (`gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-alphabet'). `T S u' Sort the current topic by the number of unread articles (`gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-unread'). `T S l' Sort the current topic by group level (`gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-level'). `T S v' Sort the current topic by group score (`gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-score'). `T S r' Sort the current topic by group rank (`gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-rank'). `T S m' Sort the current topic alphabetically by backend name (`gnus-topic-sort-groups-by-method'). *Note Sorting Groups:: for more information about group sorting.  File: gnus.info, Node: Topic Topology, Next: Topic Parameters, Prev: Topic Sorting, Up: Group Topics Topic Topology -------------- So, let's have a look at an example group buffer: Gnus Emacs -- I wuw it! 3: comp.emacs 2: alt.religion.emacs Naughty Emacs 452: alt.sex.emacs 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery Misc 8: comp.binaries.fractals 13: comp.sources.unix So, here we have one top-level topic (`Gnus'), two topics under that, and one sub-topic under one of the sub-topics. (There is always just one (1) top-level topic). This topology can be expressed as follows: (("Gnus" visible) (("Emacs -- I wuw it!" visible) (("Naughty Emacs" visible))) (("Misc" visible))) This is in fact how the variable `gnus-topic-topology' would look for the display above. That variable is saved in the `.newsrc.eld' file, and shouldn't be messed with manually--unless you really want to. Since this variable is read from the `.newsrc.eld' file, setting it in any other startup files will have no effect. This topology shows what topics are sub-topics of what topics (right), and which topics are visible. Two settings are currently allowed--`visible' and `invisible'.  File: gnus.info, Node: Topic Parameters, Prev: Topic Topology, Up: Group Topics Topic Parameters ---------------- All groups in a topic will inherit group parameters from the parent (and ancestor) topic parameters. All legal group parameters are legal topic parameters (*note Group Parameters::.). Group parameters (of course) override topic parameters, and topic parameters in sub-topics override topic parameters in super-topics. You know. Normal inheritance rules. ("Rules" is here a noun, not a verb, although you may feel free to disagree with me here.) Gnus Emacs 3: comp.emacs 2: alt.religion.emacs 452: alt.sex.emacs Relief 452: alt.sex.emacs 0: comp.talk.emacs.recovery Misc 8: comp.binaries.fractals 13: comp.sources.unix 452: alt.sex.emacs The `Emacs' topic has the topic parameter `(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")'; the `Relief' topic has the topic parameter `(score-file . "relief.SCORE")'; and the `Misc' topic has the topic parameter `(score-file . "emacs.SCORE")'. In addition, `alt.religion.emacs' has the group parameter `(score-file . "religion.SCORE")'. Now, when you enter `alt.sex.emacs' in the `Relief' topic, you will get the `relief.SCORE' home score file. If you enter the same group in the `Emacs' topic, you'll get the `emacs.SCORE' home score file. If you enter the group `alt.religion.emacs', you'll get the `religion.SCORE' home score file. This seems rather simple and self-evident, doesn't it? Well, yes. But there are some problems, especially with the `total-expiry' parameter. Say you have a mail group in two topics; one with `total-expiry' and one without. What happens when you do `M-x gnus-expire-all-expirable-groups'? Gnus has no way of telling which one of these topics you mean to expire articles from, so anything may happen. In fact, I hereby declare that it is "undefined" what happens. You just have to be careful if you do stuff like that.  File: gnus.info, Node: Misc Group Stuff, Prev: Group Topics, Up: The Group Buffer Misc Group Stuff ================ * Menu: * Scanning New Messages:: Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived. * Group Information:: Information and help on groups and Gnus. * Group Timestamp:: Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group. * File Commands:: Reading and writing the Gnus files. `^' Enter the server buffer (`gnus-group-enter-server-mode'). *Note The Server Buffer::. `a' Post an article to a group (`gnus-group-post-news'). The current group name will be used as the default. `m' Mail a message somewhere (`gnus-group-mail'). Variables for the group buffer: `gnus-group-mode-hook' is called after the group buffer has been created. `gnus-group-prepare-hook' is called after the group buffer is generated. It may be used to modify the buffer in some strange, unnatural way. `gnus-permanently-visible-groups' Groups matching this regexp will always be listed in the group buffer, whether they are empty or not.  File: gnus.info, Node: Scanning New Messages, Next: Group Information, Up: Misc Group Stuff Scanning New Messages --------------------- `g' Check the server(s) for new articles. If the numerical prefix is used, this command will check only groups of level ARG and lower (`gnus-group-get-new-news'). If given a non-numerical prefix, this command will force a total re-reading of the active file(s) from the backend(s). `M-g' Check whether new articles have arrived in the current group (`gnus-group-get-new-news-this-group'). `gnus-goto-next-group-when-activating' says whether this command is to move point to the next group or not. It is `t' by default. `C-c M-g' Activate absolutely all groups (`gnus-activate-all-groups'). `R' Restart Gnus (`gnus-group-restart'). This saves the `.newsrc' file(s), closes the connection to all servers, clears up all run-time Gnus variables, and then starts Gnus all over again. `gnus-get-new-news-hook' is run just before checking for new news. `gnus-after-getting-new-news-hook' is run after checking for new news.  File: gnus.info, Node: Group Information, Next: Group Timestamp, Prev: Scanning New Messages, Up: Misc Group Stuff Group Information ----------------- `H f' Try to fetch the FAQ for the current group (`gnus-group-fetch-faq'). Gnus will try to get the FAQ from `gnus-group-faq-directory', which is usually a directory on a remote machine. This variable can also be a list of directories. In that case, giving a prefix to this command will allow you to choose between the various sites. `ange-ftp' (or `efs') will be used for fetching the file. If fetching from the first site is unsuccessful, Gnus will attempt to go through `gnus-group-faq-directory' and try to open them one by one. `H d' `C-c C-d' Describe the current group (`gnus-group-describe-group'). If given a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description from the server. `M-d' Describe all groups (`gnus-group-describe-all-groups'). If given a prefix, force Gnus to re-read the description file from the server. `H v' `V' Display current Gnus version numbers (`gnus-version'). `?' Give a very short help message (`gnus-group-describe-briefly'). `C-c C-i' Go to the Gnus info node (`gnus-info-find-node').  File: gnus.info, Node: Group Timestamp, Next: File Commands, Prev: Group Information, Up: Misc Group Stuff Group Timestamp --------------- It can be convenient to let Gnus keep track of when you last read a group. To set the ball rolling, you should add `gnus-group-set-timestamp' to `gnus-select-group-hook': (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook 'gnus-group-set-timestamp) After doing this, each time you enter a group, it'll be recorded. This information can be displayed in various ways--the easiest is to use the `%d' spec in the group line format: (setq gnus-group-line-format "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %d\n") This will result in lines looking like: * 0: mail.ding 19961002T012943 0: custom 19961002T012713 As you can see, the date is displayed in compact ISO 8601 format. This may be a bit too much, so to just display the date, you could say something like: (setq gnus-group-line-format "%M\%S\%p\%P\%5y: %(%-40,40g%) %6,6~(cut 2)d\n")  File: gnus.info, Node: File Commands, Prev: Group Timestamp, Up: Misc Group Stuff File Commands ------------- `r' Re-read the init file (`gnus-init-file', which defaults to `~/.gnus') (`gnus-group-read-init-file'). `s' Save the `.newsrc.eld' file (and `.newsrc' if wanted) (`gnus-group-save-newsrc'). If given a prefix, force saving the file(s) whether Gnus thinks it is necessary or not.  File: gnus.info, Node: The Summary Buffer, Next: The Article Buffer, Prev: The Group Buffer, Up: Top The Summary Buffer ****************** A line for each article is displayed in the summary buffer. You can move around, read articles, post articles and reply to articles. The most common way to a summary buffer is to select a group from the group buffer (*note Selecting a Group::.). You can have as many summary buffers open as you wish. * Menu: * Summary Buffer Format:: Deciding how the summary buffer is to look. * Summary Maneuvering:: Moving around the summary buffer. * Choosing Articles:: Reading articles. * Paging the Article:: Scrolling the current article. * Reply Followup and Post:: Posting articles. * Canceling and Superseding:: "Whoops, I shouldn't have called him that." * Marking Articles:: Marking articles as read, expirable, etc. * Limiting:: You can limit the summary buffer. * Threading:: How threads are made. * Sorting:: How articles and threads are sorted. * Asynchronous Fetching:: Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles. * Article Caching:: You may store articles in a cache. * Persistent Articles:: Making articles expiry-resistant. * Article Backlog:: Having already read articles hang around. * Saving Articles:: Ways of customizing article saving. * Decoding Articles:: Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles. * Article Treatment:: The article buffer can be mangled at will. * Article Commands:: Doing various things with the article buffer. * Summary Sorting:: Sorting the summary buffer in various ways. * Finding the Parent:: No child support? Get the parent. * Alternative Approaches:: Reading using non-default summaries. * Tree Display:: A more visual display of threads. * Mail Group Commands:: Some commands can only be used in mail groups. * Various Summary Stuff:: What didn't fit anywhere else. * Exiting the Summary Buffer:: Returning to the Group buffer. * Crosspost Handling:: How crossposted articles are dealt with. * Duplicate Suppression:: An alternative when crosspost handling fails.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Buffer Format, Next: Summary Maneuvering, Up: The Summary Buffer Summary Buffer Format ===================== * Menu: * Summary Buffer Lines:: You can specify how summary lines should look. * Summary Buffer Mode Line:: You can say how the mode line should look. * Summary Highlighting:: Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice. Gnus will use the value of the `gnus-extract-address-components' variable as a function for getting the name and address parts of a `From' header. Two pre-defined functions exist: `gnus-extract-address-components', which is the default, quite fast, and too simplistic solution; and `mail-extract-address-components', which works very nicely, but is slower. The default function will return the wrong answer in 5% of the cases. If this is unacceptable to you, use the other function instead. `gnus-summary-same-subject' is a string indicating that the current article has the same subject as the previous. This string will be used with those specs that require it. The default is `'.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Buffer Lines, Next: Summary Buffer Mode Line, Up: Summary Buffer Format Summary Buffer Lines -------------------- You can change the format of the lines in the summary buffer by changing the `gnus-summary-line-format' variable. It works along the same lines as a normal `format' string, with some extensions (*note Formatting Variables::.). The default string is `%U%R%z%I%(%[%4L: %-20,20n%]%) %s\n'. The following format specification characters are understood: `N' Article number. `S' Subject string. `s' Subject if the article is the root or the previous article had a different subject, `gnus-summary-same-subject' otherwise. (`gnus-summary-same-subject' defaults to `'.) `F' Full `From' header. `n' The name (from the `From' header). `a' The name (from the `From' header). This differs from the `n' spec in that it uses the function designated by the `gnus-extract-address-components' variable, which is slower, but may be more thorough. `A' The address (from the `From' header). This works the same way as the `a' spec. `L' Number of lines in the article. `c' Number of characters in the article. `I' Indentation based on thread level (*note Customizing Threading::.). `T' Nothing if the article is a root and lots of spaces if it isn't (it pushes everything after it off the screen). `[' Opening bracket, which is normally `[', but can also be `<' for adopted articles (*note Customizing Threading::.). `]' Closing bracket, which is normally `]', but can also be `>' for adopted articles. `>' One space for each thread level. `<' Twenty minus thread level spaces. `U' Unread. `R' Replied. `i' Score as a number. `z' Zcore, `+' if above the default level and `-' if below the default level. If the difference between `gnus-summary-default-level' and the score is less than `gnus-summary-zcore-fuzz', this spec will not be used. `V' Total thread score. `x' `Xref'. `D' `Date'. `d' The `Date' in `DD-MMM' format. `o' The `Date' in YYYYMMDD`T'HHMMSS format. `M' `Message-ID'. `r' `References'. `t' Number of articles in the current sub-thread. Using this spec will slow down summary buffer generation somewhat. `e' An `=' (`gnus-not-empty-thread-mark') will be displayed if the article has any children. `P' The line number. `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 header as argument. The function should return a string, which will be inserted into the summary just like information from any other summary specifier. The `%U' (status), `%R' (replied) and `%z' (zcore) specs have to be handled with care. For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will compute what column these characters will end up in, and "hard-code" that. This means that it is illegal to have these specs after a variable-length spec. Well, you might not be arrested, but your summary buffer will look strange, which is bad enough. The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as possible. (Isn't that the case with everything, though? But I digress.) This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Buffer Mode Line, Next: Summary Highlighting, Prev: Summary Buffer Lines, Up: Summary Buffer Format Summary Buffer Mode Line ------------------------ You can also change the format of the summary mode bar. Set `gnus-summary-mode-line-format' to whatever you like. The default is `Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z'. Here are the elements you can play with: `G' Group name. `p' Unprefixed group name. `A' Current article number. `V' Gnus version. `U' Number of unread articles in this group. `e' Number of unselected articles in this group. `Z' A string with the number of unread and unselected articles represented either as `<%U(+%e) more>' if there are both unread and unselected articles, and just as `<%U more>' if there are just unread articles and no unselected ones. `g' Shortish group name. For instance, `rec.arts.anime' will be shortened to `r.a.anime'. `S' Subject of the current article. `u' User-defined spec. `s' Name of the current score file. `d' Number of dormant articles. `t' Number of ticked articles. `r' Number of articles that have been marked as read in this session. `E' Number of articles expunged by the score files.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Highlighting, Prev: Summary Buffer Mode Line, Up: Summary Buffer Format Summary Highlighting -------------------- `gnus-visual-mark-article-hook' This hook is run after selecting an article. It is meant to be used for highlighting the article in some way. It is not run if `gnus-visual' is `nil'. `gnus-summary-update-hook' This hook is called when a summary line is changed. It is not run if `gnus-visual' is `nil'. `gnus-summary-selected-face' This is the face (or "font" as some people call it) used to highlight the current article in the summary buffer. `gnus-summary-highlight' Summary lines are highlighted according to this variable, which is a list where the elements are of the format (FORM . FACE). If you would, for instance, like ticked articles to be italic and high-scored articles to be bold, you could set this variable to something like (((eq mark gnus-ticked-mark) . italic) ((> score default) . bold)) As you may have guessed, if FORM returns a non-`nil' value, FACE will be applied to the line.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Maneuvering, Next: Choosing Articles, Prev: Summary Buffer Format, Up: The Summary Buffer Summary Maneuvering =================== All the straight movement commands understand the numeric prefix and behave pretty much as you'd expect. None of these commands select articles. `G M-n' `M-n' Go to the next summary line of an unread article (`gnus-summary-next-unread-subject'). `G M-p' `M-p' Go to the previous summary line of an unread article (`gnus-summary-prev-unread-subject'). `G j' `j' Ask for an article number and then go to that article (`gnus-summary-goto-article'). `G g' Ask for an article number and then go to the summary line of that article without displaying the article (`gnus-summary-goto-subject'). If Gnus asks you to press a key to confirm going to the next group, you can use the `C-n' and `C-p' keys to move around the group buffer, searching for the next group to read without actually returning to the group buffer. Variables related to summary movement: `gnus-auto-select-next' If you issue one of the movement commands (like `n') and there are no more unread articles after the current one, Gnus will offer to go to the next group. If this variable is `t' and the next group is empty, Gnus will exit summary mode and return to the group buffer. If this variable is neither `t' nor `nil', Gnus will select the next group, no matter whether it has any unread articles or not. As a special case, if this variable is `quietly', Gnus will select the next group without asking for confirmation. If this variable is `almost-quietly', the same will happen only if you are located on the last article in the group. Finally, if this variable is `slightly-quietly', the `Z n' command will go to the next group without confirmation. Also *note Group Levels::.. `gnus-auto-select-same' If non-`nil', all the movement commands will try to go to the next article with the same subject as the current. ("Same" here might mean "roughly equal". See `gnus-summary-gather-subject-limit' for details (*note Customizing Threading::.).) This variable is not particularly useful if you use a threaded display. `gnus-summary-check-current' If non-`nil', all the "unread" movement commands will not proceed to the next (or previous) article if the current article is unread. Instead, they will choose the current article. `gnus-auto-center-summary' If non-`nil', Gnus will keep the point in the summary buffer centered at all times. This makes things quite tidy, but if you have a slow network connection, or simply do not like this un-Emacsism, you can set this variable to `nil' to get the normal Emacs scrolling action. This will also inhibit horizontal re-centering of the summary buffer, which might make it more inconvenient to read extremely long threads.  File: gnus.info, Node: Choosing Articles, Next: Paging the Article, Prev: Summary Maneuvering, Up: The Summary Buffer Choosing Articles ================= * Menu: * Choosing Commands:: Commands for choosing articles. * Choosing Variables:: Variables that influence these commands.  File: gnus.info, Node: Choosing Commands, Next: Choosing Variables, Up: Choosing Articles Choosing Commands ----------------- None of the following movement commands understand the numeric prefix, and they all select and display an article. `SPACE' Select the current article, or, if that one's read already, the next unread article (`gnus-summary-next-page'). `G n' `n' Go to next unread article (`gnus-summary-next-unread-article'). `G p' `p' Go to previous unread article (`gnus-summary-prev-unread-article'). `G N' `N' Go to the next article (`gnus-summary-next-article'). `G P' `P' Go to the previous article (`gnus-summary-prev-article'). `G C-n' Go to the next article with the same subject (`gnus-summary-next-same-subject'). `G C-p' Go to the previous article with the same subject (`gnus-summary-prev-same-subject'). `G f' `.' Go to the first unread article (`gnus-summary-first-unread-article'). `G b' `,' Go to the article with the highest score (`gnus-summary-best-unread-article'). `G l' `l' Go to the previous article read (`gnus-summary-goto-last-article'). `G p' Pop an article off the summary history and go to this article (`gnus-summary-pop-article'). This command differs from the command above in that you can pop as many previous articles off the history as you like.  File: gnus.info, Node: Choosing Variables, Prev: Choosing Commands, Up: Choosing Articles Choosing Variables ------------------ Some variables relevant for moving and selecting articles: `gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup' All the movement commands will try to go to the previous (or next) article, even if that article isn't displayed in the Summary buffer if this variable is non-`nil'. Gnus will then fetch the article from the server and display it in the article buffer. `gnus-select-article-hook' This hook is called whenever an article is selected. By default it exposes any threads hidden under the selected article. `gnus-mark-article-hook' This hook is called whenever an article is selected. It is intended to be used for marking articles as read. The default value is `gnus-summary-mark-read-and-unread-as-read', and will change the mark of almost any article you read to `gnus-unread-mark'. The only articles not affected by this function are ticked, dormant, and expirable articles. If you'd instead like to just have unread articles marked as read, you can use `gnus-summary-mark-unread-as-read' instead. It will leave marks like `gnus-low-score-mark', `gnus-del-mark' (and so on) alone.  File: gnus.info, Node: Paging the Article, Next: Reply Followup and Post, Prev: Choosing Articles, Up: The Summary Buffer Scrolling the Article ===================== `SPACE' Pressing `SPACE' will scroll the current article forward one page, or, if you have come to the end of the current article, will choose the next article (`gnus-summary-next-page'). `DEL' Scroll the current article back one page (`gnus-summary-prev-page'). `RET' Scroll the current article one line forward (`gnus-summary-scroll-up'). `A g' `g' (Re)fetch the current article (`gnus-summary-show-article'). If given a prefix, fetch the current article, but don't run any of the article treatment functions. This will give you a "raw" article, just the way it came from the server. `A <' `<' Scroll to the beginning of the article (`gnus-summary-beginning-of-article'). `A >' `>' Scroll to the end of the article (`gnus-summary-end-of-article'). `A s' `s' Perform an isearch in the article buffer (`gnus-summary-isearch-article').  File: gnus.info, Node: Reply Followup and Post, Next: Canceling and Superseding, Prev: Paging the Article, Up: The Summary Buffer Reply, Followup and Post ======================== * Menu: * Summary Mail Commands:: Sending mail. * Summary Post Commands:: Sending news.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Mail Commands, Next: Summary Post Commands, Up: Reply Followup and Post Summary Mail Commands --------------------- Commands for composing a mail message: `S r' `r' Mail a reply to the author of the current article (`gnus-summary-reply'). `S R' `R' Mail a reply to the author of the current article and include the original message (`gnus-summary-reply-with-original'). This command uses the process/prefix convention. `S w' Mail a wide reply to the author of the current article (`gnus-summary-wide-reply'). A "wide reply" is a reply that goes out to all people listed in the `To', `From' (or `Reply-to') and `Cc' headers. `S W' Mail a wide reply to the current article and include the original message (`gnus-summary-reply-with-original'). This command uses the process/prefix convention. `S o m' Forward the current article to some other person (`gnus-summary-mail-forward'). If given a prefix, include the full headers of the forwarded article. `S m' `m' Send a mail to some other person (`gnus-summary-mail-other-window'). `S D b' If you have sent a mail, but the mail was bounced back to you for some reason (wrong address, transient failure), you can use this command to resend that bounced mail (`gnus-summary-resend-bounced-mail'). You will be popped into a mail buffer where you can edit the headers before sending the mail off again. If you give a prefix to this command, and the bounced mail is a reply to some other mail, Gnus will try to fetch that mail and display it for easy perusal of its headers. This might very well fail, though. `S D r' Not to be confused with the previous command, `gnus-summary-resend-message' will prompt you for an address to send the current message off to, and then send it to that place. The headers of the message won't be altered--but lots of headers that say `Resent-To', `Resent-From' and so on will be added. This means that you actually send a mail to someone that has a `To' header that (probably) points to yourself. This will confuse people. So, natcherly you'll only do that if you're really eVIl. This command is mainly used if you have several accounts and want to ship a mail to a different account of yours. (If you're both `root' and `postmaster' and get a mail for `postmaster' to the `root' account, you may want to resend it to `postmaster'. Ordnung muß sein! This command understands the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `S O m' Digest the current series and forward the result using mail (`gnus-uu-digest-mail-forward'). This command uses the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `S M-c' Send a complaint about excessive crossposting to the author of the current article (`gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint'). This command is provided as a way to fight back agains the current crossposting pandemic that's sweeping Usenet. It will compose a reply using the `gnus-crosspost-complaint' variable as a preamble. This command understands the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.) and will prompt you before sending each mail.