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: Shared Articles, Next: PostScript Files, Prev: Uuencoded Articles, Up: Decoding Articles Shared Articles --------------- `X s' Unshars the current series (`gnus-uu-decode-unshar'). `X S' Unshars and saves the current series (`gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save'). `X v s' Unshars and views the current series (`gnus-uu-decode-unshar-view'). `X v S' Unshars, views and saves the current series (`gnus-uu-decode-unshar-and-save-view').  File: gnus.info, Node: PostScript Files, Next: Decoding Variables, Prev: Shared Articles, Up: Decoding Articles PostScript Files ---------------- `X p' Unpack the current PostScript series (`gnus-uu-decode-postscript'). `X P' Unpack and save the current PostScript series (`gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save'). `X v p' View the current PostScript series (`gnus-uu-decode-postscript-view'). `X v P' View and save the current PostScript series (`gnus-uu-decode-postscript-and-save-view').  File: gnus.info, Node: Decoding Variables, Next: Viewing Files, Prev: PostScript Files, Up: Decoding Articles Decoding Variables ------------------ Adjective, not verb. * Menu: * Rule Variables:: Variables that say how a file is to be viewed. * Other Decode Variables:: Other decode variables. * Uuencoding and Posting:: Variables for customizing uuencoding.  File: gnus.info, Node: Rule Variables, Next: Other Decode Variables, Up: Decoding Variables Rule Variables .............. Gnus uses "rule variables" to decide how to view a file. All these variables are of the form (list '(regexp1 command2) '(regexp2 command2) ...) `gnus-uu-user-view-rules' This variable is consulted first when viewing files. If you wish to use, for instance, `sox' to convert an `.au' sound file, you could say something like: (setq gnus-uu-user-view-rules (list '(\"\\\\.au$\" \"sox %s -t .aiff > /dev/audio\"))) `gnus-uu-user-view-rules-end' This variable is consulted if Gnus couldn't make any matches from the user and default view rules. `gnus-uu-user-archive-rules' This variable can be used to say what commands should be used to unpack archives.  File: gnus.info, Node: Other Decode Variables, Next: Uuencoding and Posting, Prev: Rule Variables, Up: Decoding Variables Other Decode Variables ...................... `gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions' All functions in this list will be called right after each file has been successfully decoded--so that you can move or view files right away, and don't have to wait for all files to be decoded before you can do anything. Ready-made functions you can put in this list are: `gnus-uu-grab-view' View the file. `gnus-uu-grab-move' Move the file (if you're using a saving function.) `gnus-uu-be-dangerous' Specifies what to do if unusual situations arise during decoding. If `nil', be as conservative as possible. If `t', ignore things that didn't work, and overwrite existing files. Otherwise, ask each time. `gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-name' Files with name matching this regular expression won't be viewed. `gnus-uu-ignore-files-by-type' Files with a MIME type matching this variable won't be viewed. Note that Gnus tries to guess what type the file is based on the name. `gnus-uu' is not a MIME package (yet), so this is slightly kludgey. `gnus-uu-tmp-dir' Where `gnus-uu' does its work. `gnus-uu-do-not-unpack-archives' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' won't peek inside archives looking for files to display. `gnus-uu-view-and-save' Non-`nil' means that the user will always be asked to save a file after viewing it. `gnus-uu-ignore-default-view-rules' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will ignore the default viewing rules. `gnus-uu-ignore-default-archive-rules' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will ignore the default archive unpacking commands. `gnus-uu-kill-carriage-return' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will strip all carriage returns from articles. `gnus-uu-unmark-articles-not-decoded' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will mark unsuccessfully decoded articles as unread. `gnus-uu-correct-stripped-uucode' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will *try* to fix uuencoded files that have had trailing spaces deleted. `gnus-uu-view-with-metamail' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will ignore the viewing commands defined by the rule variables and just fudge a MIME content type based on the file name. The result will be fed to `metamail' for viewing. `gnus-uu-save-in-digest' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu', when asked to save without decoding, will save in digests. If this variable is `nil', `gnus-uu' will just save everything in a file without any embellishments. The digesting almost conforms to RFC1153--no easy way to specify any meaningful volume and issue numbers were found, so I simply dropped them.  File: gnus.info, Node: Uuencoding and Posting, Prev: Other Decode Variables, Up: Decoding Variables Uuencoding and Posting ...................... `gnus-uu-post-include-before-composing' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will ask for a file to encode before you compose the article. If this variable is `t', you can either include an encoded file with `C-c C-i' or have one included for you when you post the article. `gnus-uu-post-length' Maximum length of an article. The encoded file will be split into how many articles it takes to post the entire file. `gnus-uu-post-threaded' Non-`nil' means that `gnus-uu' will post the encoded file in a thread. This may not be smart, as no other decoder I have seen is able to follow threads when collecting uuencoded articles. (Well, I have seen one package that does that--`gnus-uu', but somehow, I don't think that counts...) Default is `nil'. `gnus-uu-post-separate-description' Non-`nil' means that the description will be posted in a separate article. The first article will typically be numbered (0/x). If this variable is `nil', the description the user enters will be included at the beginning of the first article, which will be numbered (1/x). Default is `t'.  File: gnus.info, Node: Viewing Files, Prev: Decoding Variables, Up: Decoding Articles Viewing Files ------------- After decoding, if the file is some sort of archive, Gnus will attempt to unpack the archive and see if any of the files in the archive can be viewed. For instance, if you have a gzipped tar file `pics.tar.gz' containing the files `pic1.jpg' and `pic2.gif', Gnus will uncompress and de-tar the main file, and then view the two pictures. This unpacking process is recursive, so if the archive contains archives of archives, it'll all be unpacked. Finally, Gnus will normally insert a "pseudo-article" for each extracted file into the summary buffer. If you go to these "articles", you will be prompted for a command to run (usually Gnus will make a suggestion), and then the command will be run. If `gnus-view-pseudo-asynchronously' is `nil', Emacs will wait until the viewing is done before proceeding. If `gnus-view-pseudos' is `automatic', Gnus will not insert the pseudo-articles into the summary buffer, but view them immediately. If this variable is `not-confirm', the user won't even be asked for a confirmation before viewing is done. If `gnus-view-pseudos-separately' is non-`nil', one pseudo-article will be created for each file to be viewed. If `nil', all files that use the same viewing command will be given as a list of parameters to that command. If `gnus-insert-pseudo-articles' is non-`nil', insert pseudo-articles when decoding. It is `t' by default. So; there you are, reading your *pseudo-articles* in your *virtual newsgroup* from the *virtual server*; and you think: Why isn't anything real anymore? How did we get here?  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Treatment, Next: Article Commands, Prev: Decoding Articles, Up: The Summary Buffer Article Treatment ================= Reading through this huge manual, you may have quite forgotten that the object of newsreaders is to actually, like, read what people have written. Reading articles. Unfortunately, people are quite bad at writing, so there are tons of functions and variables to make reading these articles easier. * Menu: * Article Highlighting:: You want to make the article look like fruit salad. * Article Fontisizing:: Making emphasized text look niced. * Article Hiding:: You also want to make certain info go away. * Article Washing:: Lots of way-neat functions to make life better. * Article Buttons:: Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like. * Article Date:: Grumble, UT! * Article Signature:: What is a signature?  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Highlighting, Next: Article Fontisizing, Up: Article Treatment Article Highlighting -------------------- Not only do you want your article buffer to look like fruit salad, but you want it to look like technicolor fruit salad. `W H a' Highlight the current article (`gnus-article-highlight'). `W H h' Highlight the headers (`gnus-article-highlight-headers'). The highlighting will be done according to the `gnus-header-face-alist' variable, which is a list where each element has the form (REGEXP NAME CONTENT). REGEXP is a regular expression for matching the header, NAME is the face used for highlighting the header name and CONTENT is the face for highlighting the header value. The first match made will be used. Note that REGEXP shouldn't have `^' prepended--Gnus will add one. `W H c' Highlight cited text (`gnus-article-highlight-citation'). Some variables to customize the citation highlights: `gnus-cite-parse-max-size' If the article size if bigger than this variable (which is 25000 by default), no citation highlighting will be performed. `gnus-cite-prefix-regexp' Regexp matching the longest possible citation prefix on a line. `gnus-cite-max-prefix' Maximum possible length for a citation prefix (default 20). `gnus-cite-face-list' List of faces used for highlighting citations. When there are citations from multiple articles in the same message, Gnus will try to give each citation from each article its own face. This should make it easier to see who wrote what. `gnus-supercite-regexp' Regexp matching normal Supercite attribution lines. `gnus-supercite-secondary-regexp' Regexp matching mangled Supercite attribution lines. `gnus-cite-minimum-match-count' Minimum number of identical prefixes we have to see before we believe that it's a citation. `gnus-cite-attribution-prefix' Regexp matching the beginning of an attribution line. `gnus-cite-attribution-suffix' Regexp matching the end of an attribution line. `gnus-cite-attribution-face' Face used for attribution lines. It is merged with the face for the cited text belonging to the attribution. `W H s' Highlight the signature (`gnus-article-highlight-signature'). Everything after `gnus-signature-separator' (*note Article Signature::.) in an article will be considered a signature and will be highlighted with `gnus-signature-face', which is `italic' by default.  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Fontisizing, Next: Article Hiding, Prev: Article Highlighting, Up: Article Treatment Article Fontisizing ------------------- People commonly add emphasis to words in news articles by writing things like `_this_' or `*this*'. Gnus can make this look nicer by running the article through the `W e' (`gnus-article-emphasize') command. How the emphasis is computed is controlled by the `gnus-article-emphasis' variable. This is an alist where the first element is a regular expression to be matched. The second is a number that says what regular expression grouping is used to find the entire emphasized word. The third is a number that says what regexp grouping should be displayed and highlighted. (The text between these two groupings will be hidden.) The fourth is the face used for highlighting. (setq gnus-article-emphasis '(("_\\(\\w+\\)_" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-underline) ("\\*\\(\\w+\\)\\*" 0 1 gnus-emphasis-bold))) By default, there are seven rules, and they use the following faces: `gnus-emphasis-bold', `gnus-emphasis-italic', `gnus-emphasis-underline', `gnus-emphasis-bold-italic', `gnus-emphasis-underline-italic', `gnus-emphasis-underline-bold', and `gnus-emphasis-underline-bold-italic'. If you want to change these faces, you can either use `M-x customize', or you can use `copy-face'. For instance, if you want to make `gnus-emphasis-italic' use a red face instead, you could say something like: (copy-face 'red 'gnus-emphasis-italic)  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Hiding, Next: Article Washing, Prev: Article Fontisizing, Up: Article Treatment Article Hiding -------------- Or rather, hiding certain things in each article. There usually is much too much cruft in most articles. `W W a' Do maximum hiding on the summary buffer (`gnus-article-hide'). `W W h' Hide headers (`gnus-article-hide-headers'). *Note Hiding Headers::. `W W b' Hide headers that aren't particularly interesting (`gnus-article-hide-boring-headers'). *Note Hiding Headers::. `W W s' Hide signature (`gnus-article-hide-signature'). *Note Article Signature::. `W W p' Hide PGP signatures (`gnus-article-hide-pgp'). The `gnus-article-hide-pgp-hook' hook will be run after a PGP signature has been hidden. `W W P' Hide PEM (privacy enhanced messages) cruft (`gnus-article-hide-pem'). `W W c' Hide citation (`gnus-article-hide-citation'). Some variables for customizing the hiding: `gnus-cite-hide-percentage' If the cited text is of a bigger percentage than this variable (default 50), hide the cited text. `gnus-cite-hide-absolute' The cited text must have at least this length (default 10) before it is hidden. `gnus-cited-text-button-line-format' Gnus adds buttons to show where the cited text has been hidden, and to allow toggle hiding the text. The format of the variable is specified by this format-like variable (*note Formatting Variables::.). These specs are legal: `b' Start point of the hidden text. `e' End point of the hidden text. `l' Length of the hidden text. `gnus-cited-lines-visible' The number of lines at the beginning of the cited text to leave shown. `W W C' Hide cited text in articles that aren't roots (`gnus-article-hide-citation-in-followups'). This isn't very useful as an interactive command, but might be a handy function to stick in `gnus-article-display-hook' (*note Customizing Articles::.). All these "hiding" commands are toggles, but if you give a negative prefix to these commands, they will show what they have previously hidden. If you give a positive prefix, they will always hide. Also *note Article Highlighting::. for further variables for citation customization.  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Washing, Next: Article Buttons, Prev: Article Hiding, Up: Article Treatment Article Washing --------------- We call this "article washing" for a really good reason. Namely, the `A' key was taken, so we had to use the `W' key instead. "Washing" is defined by us as "changing something from something to something else", but normally results in something looking better. Cleaner, perhaps. `W l' Remove page breaks from the current article (`gnus-summary-stop-page-breaking'). `W r' Do a Caesar rotate (rot13) on the article buffer (`gnus-summary-caesar-message'). `W t' Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer (`gnus-summary-toggle-header'). `W v' Toggle whether to display all headers in the article buffer permanently (`gnus-summary-verbose-header'). `W m' Toggle whether to run the article through MIME before displaying (`gnus-summary-toggle-mime'). `W o' Treat overstrike (`gnus-article-treat-overstrike'). `W w' Do word wrap (`gnus-article-fill-cited-article'). If you use this function in `gnus-article-display-hook', it should be run fairly late and certainly after any highlighting. You can give the command a numerical prefix to specify the width to use when filling. `W c' Remove CR (`gnus-article-remove-cr'). `W q' Treat quoted-printable (`gnus-article-de-quoted-unreadable'). `W f' Look for and display any X-Face headers (`gnus-article-display-x-face'). The command executed by this function is given by the `gnus-article-x-face-command' variable. If this variable is a string, this string will be executed in a sub-shell. If it is a function, this function will be called with the face as the argument. If the `gnus-article-x-face-too-ugly' (which is a regexp) matches the `From' header, the face will not be shown. The default action under Emacs is to fork off an `xv' to view the face; under XEmacs the default action is to display the face before the `From' header. (It's nicer if XEmacs has been compiled with X-Face support--that will make display somewhat faster. If there's no native X-Face support, Gnus will try to convert the `X-Face' header using external programs from the `pbmplus' package and friends.) If you want to have this function in the display hook, it should probably come last. `W b' Add clickable buttons to the article (`gnus-article-add-buttons'). `W B' Add clickable buttons to the article headers (`gnus-article-add-buttons-to-head'). `W E l' Remove all blank lines from the beginning of the article (`gnus-article-strip-leading-blank-lines'). `W E m' Replace all blank lines with empty lines and then all multiple empty lines with a single empty line. (`gnus-article-strip-multiple-blank-lines'). `W E t' Remove all blank lines at the end of the article (`gnus-article-remove-trailing-blank-lines'). `W E a' Do all the three commands above (`gnus-article-strip-blank-lines'). `W E s' Remove all white space from the beginning of all lines of the article body (`gnus-article-strip-leading-space').  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Buttons, Next: Article Date, Prev: Article Washing, Up: Article Treatment Article Buttons --------------- People often include references to other stuff in articles, and it would be nice if Gnus could just fetch whatever it is that people talk about with the minimum of fuzz. Gnus adds "buttons" to certain standard references by default: Well-formed URLs, mail addresses and Message-IDs. This is controlled by two variables, one that handles article bodies and one that handles article heads: `gnus-button-alist' This is an alist where each entry has this form: (REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR) REGEXP All text that match this regular expression will be considered an external reference. Here's a typical regexp that matches embedded URLs: `]*\\)>'. BUTTON-PAR Gnus has to know which parts of the matches is to be highlighted. This is a number that says what sub-expression of the regexp is to be highlighted. If you want it all highlighted, you use 0 here. USE-P This form will be `eval'ed, and if the result is non-`nil', this is considered a match. This is useful if you want extra sifting to avoid false matches. FUNCTION This function will be called when you click on this button. DATA-PAR As with BUTTON-PAR, this is a sub-expression number, but this one says which part of the match is to be sent as data to FUNCTION. So the full entry for buttonizing URLs is then ("]*\\)>" 0 t gnus-button-url 1) `gnus-header-button-alist' This is just like the other alist, except that it is applied to the article head only, and that each entry has an additional element that is used to say what headers to apply the buttonize coding to: (HEADER REGEXP BUTTON-PAR USE-P FUNCTION DATA-PAR) HEADER is a regular expression. `gnus-button-url-regexp' A regular expression that matches embedded URLs. It is used in the default values of the variables above. `gnus-article-button-face' Face used on buttons. `gnus-article-mouse-face' Face used when the mouse cursor is over a button.  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Date, Next: Article Signature, Prev: Article Buttons, Up: Article Treatment Article Date ------------ The date is most likely generated in some obscure timezone you've never heard of, so it's quite nice to be able to find out what the time was when the article was sent. `W T u' Display the date in UT (aka. GMT, aka ZULU) (`gnus-article-date-ut'). `W T l' Display the date in the local timezone (`gnus-article-date-local'). `W T s' Display the date using a user-defined format (`gnus-article-date-user'). The format is specified by the `gnus-article-time-format' variable, and is a string that's passed to `format-time-string'. See the documentation of that variable for a list of possible format specs. `W T e' Say how much time has elapsed between the article was posted and now (`gnus-article-date-lapsed'). `W T o' Display the original date (`gnus-article-date-original'). This can be useful if you normally use some other conversion function and are worried that it might be doing something totally wrong. Say, claiming that the article was posted in 1854. Although something like that is *totally* impossible. Don't you trust me? *titter*  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Signature, Prev: Article Date, Up: Article Treatment Article Signature ----------------- Each article is divided into two parts--the head and the body. The body can be divided into a signature part and a text part. The variable that says what is to be considered a signature is `gnus-signature-separator'. This is normally the standard `^-- $' as mandated by son-of-RFC 1036. However, many people use non-standard signature separators, so this variable can also be a list of regular expressions to be tested, one by one. (Searches are done from the end of the body towards the beginning.) One likely value is: (setq gnus-signature-separator '("^-- $" ; The standard "^-- *$" ; A common mangling "^-------*$" ; Many people just use a looong ; line of dashes. Shame! "^ *--------*$" ; Double-shame! "^________*$" ; Underscores are also popular "^========*$")) ; Pervert! The more permissive you are, the more likely it is that you'll get false positives. `gnus-signature-limit' provides a limit to what is considered a signature. 1. If it is an integer, no signature may be longer (in characters) than that integer. 2. If it is a floating point number, no signature may be longer (in lines) than that number. 3. If it is a function, the function will be called without any parameters, and if it returns `nil', there is no signature in the buffer. 4. If it is a string, it will be used as a regexp. If it matches, the text in question is not a signature. This variable can also be a list where the elements may be of the types listed above.  File: gnus.info, Node: Article Commands, Next: Summary Sorting, Prev: Article Treatment, Up: The Summary Buffer Article Commands ================ `A P' Generate and print a PostScript image of the article buffer (`gnus-summary-print-article'). `gnus-ps-print-hook' will be run just before printing the buffer.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Sorting, Next: Finding the Parent, Prev: Article Commands, Up: The Summary Buffer Summary Sorting =============== You can have the summary buffer sorted in various ways, even though I can't really see why you'd want that. `C-c C-s C-n' Sort by article number (`gnus-summary-sort-by-number'). `C-c C-s C-a' Sort by author (`gnus-summary-sort-by-author'). `C-c C-s C-s' Sort by subject (`gnus-summary-sort-by-subject'). `C-c C-s C-d' Sort by date (`gnus-summary-sort-by-date'). `C-c C-s C-l' Sort by lines (`gnus-summary-sort-by-lines'). `C-c C-s C-i' Sort by score (`gnus-summary-sort-by-score'). These functions will work both when you use threading and when you don't use threading. In the latter case, all summary lines will be sorted, line by line. In the former case, sorting will be done on a root-by-root basis, which might not be what you were looking for. To toggle whether to use threading, type `T T' (*note Thread Commands::.).  File: gnus.info, Node: Finding the Parent, Next: Alternative Approaches, Prev: Summary Sorting, Up: The Summary Buffer Finding the Parent ================== If you'd like to read the parent of the current article, and it is not displayed in the summary buffer, you might still be able to. That is, if the current group is fetched by NNTP, the parent hasn't expired and the `References' in the current article are not mangled, you can just press `^' or `A r' (`gnus-summary-refer-parent-article'). If everything goes well, you'll get the parent. If the parent is already displayed in the summary buffer, point will just move to this article. If given a positive numerical prefix, fetch that many articles back into the ancestry. If given a negative numerical prefix, fetch just that ancestor. So if you say `3 ^', Gnus will fetch the parent, the grandparent and the grandgrandparent of the current article. If you say `-3 ^', Gnus will only fetch the grandgrandparent of the current article. You can have Gnus fetch all articles mentioned in the `References' header of the article by pushing `A R' (`gnus-summary-refer-references'). You can also ask the NNTP server for an arbitrary article, no matter what group it belongs to. `M-^' (`gnus-summary-refer-article') will ask you for a `Message-ID', which is one of those long, hard-to-read thingies that look something like `<38o6up$6f2@hymir.ifi.uio.no>'. You have to get it all exactly right. No fuzzy searches, I'm afraid. The current select method will be used when fetching by `Message-ID' from non-news select method, but you can override this by giving this command a prefix. If the group you are reading is located on a backend that does not support fetching by `Message-ID' very well (like `nnspool'), you can set `gnus-refer-article-method' to an NNTP method. It would, perhaps, be best if the NNTP server you consult is the one updating the spool you are reading from, but that's not really necessary. Most of the mail backends support fetching by `Message-ID', but do not do a particularly excellent job at it. That is, `nnmbox' and `nnbabyl' are able to locate articles from any groups, while `nnml' and `nnfolder' are only able to locate articles that have been posted to the current group. (Anything else would be too time consuming.) `nnmh' does not support this at all.  File: gnus.info, Node: Alternative Approaches, Next: Tree Display, Prev: Finding the Parent, Up: The Summary Buffer Alternative Approaches ====================== Different people like to read news using different methods. This being Gnus, we offer a small selection of minor modes for the summary buffers. * Menu: * Pick and Read:: First mark articles and then read them. * Binary Groups:: Auto-decode all articles.  File: gnus.info, Node: Pick and Read, Next: Binary Groups, Up: Alternative Approaches Pick and Read ------------- Some newsreaders (like `nn' and, uhm, `Netnews' on VM/CMS) use a two-phased reading interface. The user first marks in a summary buffer the articles she wants to read. Then she starts reading the articles with just an article buffer displayed. Gnus provides a summary buffer minor mode that allows this--`gnus-pick-mode'. This basically means that a few process mark commands become one-keystroke commands to allow easy marking, and it provides one additional command for switching to the summary buffer. Here are the available keystrokes when using pick mode: `.' Pick the article on the current line (`gnus-summary-mark-as-processable'). If given a numerical prefix, go to that article and pick it. (The line number is normally displayed at the beginning of the summary pick lines.) `SPACE' Scroll the summary buffer up one page (`gnus-pick-next-page'). If at the end of the buffer, start reading the picked articles. `u' Unpick the article (`gnus-summary-unmark-as-processable'). `U' Unpick all articles (`gnus-summary-unmark-all-processable'). `t' Pick the thread (`gnus-uu-mark-thread'). `T' Unpick the thread (`gnus-uu-unmark-thread'). `r' Pick the region (`gnus-uu-mark-region'). `R' Unpick the region (`gnus-uu-unmark-region'). `e' Pick articles that match a regexp (`gnus-uu-mark-by-regexp'). `E' Unpick articles that match a regexp (`gnus-uu-unmark-by-regexp'). `b' Pick the buffer (`gnus-uu-mark-buffer'). `B' Unpick the buffer (`gnus-uu-unmark-buffer'). `RET' Start reading the picked articles (`gnus-pick-start-reading'). If given a prefix, mark all unpicked articles as read first. If `gnus-pick-display-summary' is non-`nil', the summary buffer will still be visible when you are reading. If this sounds like a good idea to you, you could say: (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode) `gnus-pick-mode-hook' is run in pick minor mode buffers. If `gnus-mark-unpicked-articles-as-read' is non-`nil', mark all unpicked articles as read. The default is `nil'. The summary line format in pick mode is slightly different from the standard format. At the beginning of each line the line number is displayed. The pick mode line format is controlled by the `gnus-summary-pick-line-format' variable (*note Formatting Variables::.). It accepts the same format specs that `gnus-summary-line-format' does (*note Summary Buffer Lines::.).  File: gnus.info, Node: Binary Groups, Prev: Pick and Read, Up: Alternative Approaches Binary Groups ------------- If you spend much time in binary groups, you may grow tired of hitting `X u', `n', `RET' all the time. `M-x gnus-binary-mode' is a minor mode for summary buffers that makes all ordinary Gnus article selection functions uudecode series of articles and display the result instead of just displaying the articles the normal way. The only way, in fact, to see the actual articles is the `g' command, when you have turned on this mode (`gnus-binary-show-article'). `gnus-binary-mode-hook' is called in binary minor mode buffers.  File: gnus.info, Node: Tree Display, Next: Mail Group Commands, Prev: Alternative Approaches, Up: The Summary Buffer Tree Display ============ If you don't like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting `gnus-use-trees' to `t'. This will create (by default) an additional "tree buffer". You can execute all summary mode commands in the tree buffer. There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course: `gnus-tree-mode-hook' A hook called in all tree mode buffers. `gnus-tree-mode-line-format' A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers. The default is `Gnus: %%b [%A] %Z'. For a list of legal specs, *note Summary Buffer Mode Line::.. `gnus-selected-tree-face' Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer. The default is `modeline'. `gnus-tree-line-format' A format string for the tree nodes. The name is a bit of a misnomer, though--it doesn't define a line, but just the node. The default value is `%(%[%3,3n%]%)', which displays the first three characters of the name of the poster. It is vital that all nodes are of the same length, so you *must* use `%4,4n'-like specifiers. Legal specs are: `n' The name of the poster. `f' The `From' header. `N' The number of the article. `[' The opening bracket. `]' The closing bracket. `s' The subject. *Note Formatting Variables::. Variables related to the display are: `gnus-tree-brackets' This is used for differentiating between "real" articles and "sparse" articles. The format is ((REAL-OPEN . REAL-CLOSE) (SPARSE-OPEN . SPARSE-CLOSE) (DUMMY-OPEN . DUMMY-CLOSE)), and the default is `((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?{ . ?}))'. `gnus-tree-parent-child-edges' This is a list that contains the characters used for connecting parent nodes to their children. The default is `(?- ?\\ ?|)'. `gnus-tree-minimize-window' If this variable is non-`nil', Gnus will try to keep the tree buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus windows. If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never be higher than that number. The default is `t'. Note that if you have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize all other windows displayed next to it. `gnus-generate-tree-function' The function that actually generates the thread tree. Two predefined functions are available: `gnus-generate-horizontal-tree' and `gnus-generate-vertical-tree' (which is the default). Here's an example from a horizontal tree buffer: {***}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun] | \[Jan] | \[odd]-[Eri] | \(***)-[Eri] | \[odd]-[Paa] \[Bjo] \[Gun] \[Gun]-[Jor] Here's the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer: {***} |--------------------------\-----\-----\ (***) [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun] |--\-----\-----\ | [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***) [Jor] | | |--\ [Gun] [Eri] [Eri] [odd] | [Paa] If you're using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the trees side-by-side with the summary buffer. You could add something like the following to your `.gnus.el' file: (setq gnus-use-trees t gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree gnus-tree-minimize-window nil) (gnus-add-configuration '(article (vertical 1.0 (horizontal 0.25 (summary 0.75 point) (tree 1.0)) (article 1.0)))) *Note Windows Configuration::.  File: gnus.info, Node: Mail Group Commands, Next: Various Summary Stuff, Prev: Tree Display, Up: The Summary Buffer Mail Group Commands =================== Some commands only make sense in mail groups. If these commands are illegal in the current group, they will raise hell and let you know. All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `B e' Expire all expirable articles in the group (`gnus-summary-expire-articles'). `B M-C-e' Delete all the expirable articles in the group (`gnus-summary-expire-articles-now'). This means that *all* articles eligible for expiry in the current group will disappear forever into that big `/dev/null' in the sky. `B DEL' Delete the mail article. This is "delete" as in "delete it from your disk forever and ever, never to return again." Use with caution. (`gnus-summary-delete-article'). `B m' Move the article from one mail group to another (`gnus-summary-move-article'). `B c' Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group (`gnus-summary-copy-article'). `B C' Crosspost the current article to some other group (`gnus-summary-crosspost-article'). This will create a new copy of the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the article will be properly updated. `B i' Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup (`gnus-summary-import-article'). You will be prompted for a file name, a `From' header and a `Subject' header. `B r' Respool the mail article (`gnus-summary-move-article'). `gnus-summary-respool-default-method' will be used as the default select method when respooling. This variable is `nil' by default, which means that the current group select method will be used instead. `B w' `e' Edit the current article (`gnus-summary-edit-article'). To finish editing and make the changes permanent, type `C-c C-c' (`gnus-summary-edit-article-done'). `B q' If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to what group the article will end up in before you do the re-spooling. This command will tell you (`gnus-summary-respool-query'). `B p' Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they follow up to articles you have posted. These usually have a `Newsgroups' header in them, but not always. This command (`gnus-summary-article-posted-p') will try to fetch the current article from your news server (or rather, from `gnus-refer-article-method' or `gnus-select-method') and will report back whether it found the article or not. Even if it says that it didn't find the article, it may have been posted anyway--mail propagation is much faster than news propagation, and the news copy may just not have arrived yet. If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus suggest where to put the articles. `gnus-move-split-methods' is a variable that uses the same syntax as `gnus-split-methods' (*note Saving Articles::.). You may customize that variable to create suggestions you find reasonable. (setq gnus-move-split-methods '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk") ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important") (".*" "nnml:misc")))  File: gnus.info, Node: Various Summary Stuff, Next: Exiting the Summary Buffer, Prev: Mail Group Commands, Up: The Summary Buffer Various Summary Stuff ===================== * Menu: * Summary Group Information:: Information oriented commands. * Searching for Articles:: Multiple article commands. * Summary Generation Commands:: (Re)generating the summary buffer. * Really Various Summary Commands:: Those pesky non-conformant commands. `gnus-summary-mode-hook' This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer. `gnus-summary-generate-hook' This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the generation of the summary buffer. It's quite convenient for customizing the threading variables based on what data the newsgroup has. This hook is called from the summary buffer after most summary buffer variables have been set. `gnus-summary-prepare-hook' It is called after the summary buffer has been generated. You might use it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look of the buffer in some other ungodly manner. I don't care. `gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates' When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same `Message-ID', it has to do something drastic. No articles are allowed to have the same `Message-ID', but this may happen when reading mail from some sources. Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this variable. If it is `nil' (which is the default), Gnus will rename the `Message-ID' (for display purposes only) and display the article as any other article. If this variable is `t', it won't display the article--it'll be as if it never existed.  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Group Information, Next: Searching for Articles, Up: Various Summary Stuff Summary Group Information ------------------------- `H f' Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the current group (`gnus-summary-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 probably be used for fetching the file. `H d' Give a brief description of the current group (`gnus-summary-describe-group'). If given a prefix, force rereading the description from the server. `H h' Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary keystrokes (`gnus-summary-describe-briefly'). `H i' Go to the Gnus info node (`gnus-info-find-node').  File: gnus.info, Node: Searching for Articles, Next: Summary Generation Commands, Prev: Summary Group Information, Up: Various Summary Stuff Searching for Articles ---------------------- `M-s' Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp (`gnus-summary-search-article-forward'). `M-r' Search through all previous articles for a regexp (`gnus-summary-search-article-backward'). `&' This command will prompt you for a header field, a regular expression to match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is made (`gnus-summary-execute-command'). If given a prefix, search backward instead. `M-&' Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with the process mark (`gnus-summary-universal-argument').  File: gnus.info, Node: Summary Generation Commands, Next: Really Various Summary Commands, Prev: Searching for Articles, Up: Various Summary Stuff Summary Generation Commands --------------------------- `Y g' Regenerate the current summary buffer (`gnus-summary-prepare'). `Y c' Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary buffer (`gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles').  File: gnus.info, Node: Really Various Summary Commands, Prev: Summary Generation Commands, Up: Various Summary Stuff Really Various Summary Commands ------------------------------- `C-d' If the current article is a collection of other articles (for instance, a digest), you might use this command to enter a group based on the that article (`gnus-summary-enter-digest-group'). Gnus will try to guess what article type is currently displayed unless you give a prefix to this command, which forces a "digest" interpretation. Basically, whenever you see a message that is a collection of other messages of some format, you `C-d' and read these messages in a more convenient fashion. `M-C-d' This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather several documents into one biiig group (`gnus-summary-read-document'). It does this by opening several `nndoc' groups for each document, and then opening an `nnvirtual' group on top of these `nndoc' groups. This command understands the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). `C-t' Toggle truncation of summary lines (`gnus-summary-toggle-truncation'). This will probably confuse the line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good idea to have truncation switched off while reading articles. `=' Expand the summary buffer window (`gnus-summary-expand-window'). If given a prefix, force an `article' window configuration.  File: gnus.info, Node: Exiting the Summary Buffer, Next: Crosspost Handling, Prev: Various Summary Stuff, Up: The Summary Buffer Exiting the Summary Buffer ========================== Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the group and return you to the group buffer. `Z Z' `q' Exit the current group and update all information on the group (`gnus-summary-exit'). `gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook' is called before doing much of the exiting, which calls `gnus-summary-expire-articles' by default. `gnus-summary-exit-hook' is called after finishing the exit process. `gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook' is run when returning to group mode having no more (unread) groups. `Z E' `Q' Exit the current group without updating any information on the group (`gnus-summary-exit-no-update'). `Z c' `c' Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit (`gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit'). `Z C' Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit (`gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit'). `Z n' Mark all articles as read and go to the next group (`gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group'). `Z R' Exit this group, and then enter it again (`gnus-summary-reselect-current-group'). If given a prefix, select all articles, both read and unread. `Z G' `M-g' Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the group (`gnus-summary-rescan-group'). If given a prefix, select all articles, both read and unread. `Z N' Exit the group and go to the next group (`gnus-summary-next-group'). `Z P' Exit the group and go to the previous group (`gnus-summary-prev-group'). `Z s' Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble buffer and then save the dribble buffer (`gnus-summary-save-newsrc'). If given a prefix, also save the `.newsrc' file(s). Using this command will make exit without updating (the `Q' command) worthless. `gnus-exit-group-hook' is called when you exit the current group. If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind about it, you might set `gnus-kill-summary-on-exit' to `nil'. If you do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it. (Quelle surprise!) Instead it will change the name of the buffer to something like `*Dead Summary ... *' and install a minor mode called `gnus-dead-summary-mode'. Now, if you switch back to this buffer, you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called `gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead'. So tapping any keys in a dead summary buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer. There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one time. The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you have read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the summary buffer. If the `gnus-use-cross-reference' variable is `t' (which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to this group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the other subscribed groups they were cross-posted to. If this variable is neither `nil' nor `t', the article will be marked as read in both subscribed and unsubscribed groups (*note Crosspost Handling::.).