GNUS Manual
Fourth Edition, GNUS Version 3.14
March 1990
Masanobu UMEDA
Copyright (C) 1989 Fujitsu Laboratories LTD.
Copyright (C) 1990 Masanobu UMEDA.
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 sections entitled "Distribution" and "GNUS General Public License" are included exactly as in the original, and provided 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, except that the sections entitled "Distribution" and "GNUS General Public License" may be included in a translation approved by the author instead of in the original English.
GNUS is free; this means that everyone is free to use it and free to redistribute it on a free basis. GNUS is not in the public domain; it is copyrighted and there are restrictions on its distribution, but these restrictions are designed to permit everything that a good cooperating citizen would want to do. What is not allowed is to try to prevent others from further sharing any version of GNUS that they might get from you. The precise conditions appears following this section.
The easiest way to get a copy of GNUS is from someone else who has it. You need not ask for permission to do so, or tell any one else; just copy it.
If you have access to the Internet, you can get the latest version of GNUS from tut.cis.ohio-state.edu [128.146.8.60] using anonymous ftp. You can also get it from osu-cis using anonymous uucp.
You may also receive GNUS when you buy a computer. Computer manufacturers are free to distribute copies on the same terms that apply to everyone else. These terms require them to give you the full sources, including whatever changes they may have made, and to permit you to redistribute the GNUS received from them under the usual terms of the General Public License. In other words, the program must be free for you when you get it, not just free for the manufacturer.
If you cannot get a copy in any of those ways, you can order one from the author using electronic mail. For further information, write to:
umerin@mse.kyutech.ac.jp
If you cannot reach the author using these addresses, try the following mailing list:
info-gnus-english@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
The list is intended to exchange useful information about GNUS, such as bug reports, useful hooks, and extensions. Feel free to ask about the nearest machine that has GNUS installed. Subscription requests for this list should be sent to:
info-gnus-english-request@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
See section Reporting Bugs, for more information on the mailing list.
The license agreements of most software companies keep you at the mercy of those companies. By contrast, our general public license is intended to give everyone the right to share GNUS. To make sure that you get the rights we want you to have, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. Hence this license agreement.
Specifically, we want to make sure that you have the right to give away copies of GNUS, that you receive source code or else can get it if you want it, that you can change GNUS or use pieces of it in new free programs, and that you know you can do these things.
To make sure that everyone has such rights, we have to forbid you to deprive anyone else of these rights. For example, if you distribute copies of GNUS, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must tell them their rights.
Also, for our own protection, we must make certain that everyone finds out that there is no warranty for GNUS. If GNUS is modified by someone else and passed on, we want its recipients to know that what they have is not what we distributed, so that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on our reputation.
Therefore I (Masanobu Umeda) use the following terms, which are written for GNU Emacs by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation, Inc. They say what you must do to be allowed to distribute or change GNU Emacs. You can know your right to distribute or change GNUS by replacing any occurrences of GNU Emacs with GNUS. Please apply the same policies to GNUS as GNU Emacs.
Your comments and suggestions about our licensing policies and our software are welcome! Please contact the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139.
@vfil @eject
BECAUSE GNUS IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, WE PROVIDE ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE STATE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING, FUJITSU LABORATORIES LTD., MASANOBU UMEDA AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE GNUS "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE GNUS PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW WILL FUJITSU LABORATORIES LTD., MASANOBU UMEDA, AND/OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND REDISTRIBUTE GNUS AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST MONIES, OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH PROGRAMS NOT DISTRIBUTED BY MASANOBU UMEDA) THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY CLAIM BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
The author would like to thank all those who have helped design and develop GNUS, and who tested non stable code at their own risk.
Haruo Yokota, Hiroyuki Yoshida, and Kohji Akiyama contributed many valuable suggestions in the early stages of the development of GNUS. Nobuyuki Hiraoka, Tsuneo Nakata, and Mark Feldman patiently tested non stable code and contributed valuable comments. Mark Feldman also helped with proofreading. Mike Khaw, Kouich Kumon, and Mitsuhiro Kishimoto helped contribute the name GNUS. Itaru Ichikawa helped implement the caesar rotations for Japanese characters. Yasunari Itoh, Akio Shibata, and Ken-ichi Sakaeda made this software available on SX/A Emacs and some old versions of GNU Emacs. Leonard H. Tower Jr., Bob Sutterfield, and Karl Kleinpaste helped create mailing lists for GNUS users. Bob Sutterfield has also been managing the info-gnus-english mailing list. Jordan K. Hubbard helped with proofreading of this Texinfo manual.
The author would also like to thank many other GNUS users who have sent comments, suggestions, and bug fixes. Thanks also go to Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation for their good work.
GNUS is a program for reading and writing USENET news using GNU Emacs. This manual documents the use and simple customization of GNUS.
Unlike other conventional newsreaders such as rn which was (:-) the most popular newsreader in the world, GNUS runs inside the GNU Emacs editor as a subsystem. This means that there is no need to invoke an editor when composing articles or mail. The reading and writing of articles can be done in the same Emacs environment you usually work in.
Like rrn, a remote version of rn, GNUS can use computer networks for retrieving articles. This means that there is no need to have a local copy of the news spool, to mount a remote file system over the network, or to run Emacs on a remote machine. Its great advantage is to balance loads and exploit resources of the entire computer system in a distributed environment. The protocol used by GNUS is NNTP, the Network News Transfer Protocol, defined by RFC977.
Unlike rrn, GNUS can talk to many NNTP servers easily. The only thing you have to do is to create startup files for each NNTP server.
Like other libraries of GNU Emacs, GNUS is completely written in Emacs lisp. This means that GNUS is highly extensible and customizable just like GNU Emacs. It is possible to change the behavior of GNUS and extend its functions by using variables and hooks.
GNUS is pronounced "NUZ". Never call it "ghu-NUZ" nor "ghu-NAS".
This manual is currently in progress and thus is incomplete. Your suggestions, bug fixes, and contributions are welcome.
Installation of GNUS and some initialization of your computing environment are described in this chapter. Please read the following sections carefully before getting started with GNUS.
Unpacking the shar files will produce the following files. They are the Emacs lisp sources, a C source, a Texinfo manual of GNUS, and a Makefile.
open-network-stream.
Move the lisp files, the C file, and `Makefile' to the
appropriate directory in the search path defined by the variable
load-path. Before actually byte-compiling the lisp files, make
sure there are no byte-compiled files of older versions of GNUS in that
directory. Remove or rename such files as the byte-compiler may be
confused by old macro definitions. If you can use the `make'
command, you don't have to take care of the dependencies.
The C file `tcp.c' should be compiled with a C compiler and
installed in a directory in the search path defined by the variable
exec-path, if this is required.
If you can use the `make' command, just type make in a
Unix shell. All the lisp files will be byte-compiled. Otherwise,
byte-compile lisp files in the following order according to your
computing environment by yourself:
`tcp.el' defines the function open-network-stream, and
`tcp.c' is an emulation program for the stream used by the
function. If you modified `tcp.c' for your system, please send the
author the diffs. Some of them will be included in the future releases
of GNUS.
It is useful to define autoload entries in `.emacs', `site-init.el' or `default.el' as follows:
(autoload 'gnus "gnus" "Read network news." t) (autoload 'gnus-post-news "gnuspost" "Post a new news." t)
The NNTP server and its service name, your domain and organization, and other important definitions of your computing environment are described in this section. Since these definitions depend heavily on your environment, you'd better be familiar with the operating system you are using. Knowledge of the USENET software is also important.
The variable gnus-nntp-server specifies the default NNTP
server. To define the server `flab', put the following code in
`.emacs', `site-init.el' or `default.el':
(setq gnus-nntp-server "flab")
The variable gnus-nntp-server is initialized from the
NNTPSERVER environment variable. To define the server using the
NNTPSERVER environment variable, put the following code in
`.login':
setenv NNTPSERVER "flab"
If an NNTP server is preceded by a colon such as `:Mail', the user's private directory `~/Mail' is used as the news spool. This makes it possible to read mail stored in MH folders or articles saved by GNUS. See section Reading a Private Directory, for more information.
GNUS will ask you for the NNTP server at start up time unless it is defined. Even if the default server is defined, it is possible to choose another server by invoking GNUS with a prefix argument like C-u M-x gnus (see section Getting Started GNUS).
The default service name of NNTP is "nntp". You may, however,
have to define the service name as the number 119 as
follows:
(setq gnus-nntp-service 119)
If you'd like to use a local news spool of your machine directly
instead of NNTP, set the variable to nil as follows:
(setq gnus-nntp-service nil)
In this case, the NNTP server must be a local host name returned by the
function system-name (see section Using Local News Spool).
Domain and organization must be defined before you post your first article, because they are included in all articles you post and will be used for identifying who you are.
Domain is the domain part of your mail address excluding the
local host name. For example, if your mail address is
`umerin@photon.stars.flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP' and the local host name
is `photon', your domain is `stars.flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP'. If
the function system-name of your Emacs returns the full Internet
name, you do not have to define the domain.
Organization is the organization you belong to. It must be defined unless it is defined in the file `/usr/lib/news/organization'.
To define the domain `stars.flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP' and the organization `Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan.' using lisp variables, put the following code in `.emacs', `site-init.el' or `default.el'. If you are a system administrator and are installing GNUS for other users, `site-init.el' is the best place to define this because the domain and organization are common to all users of the system.
(setq gnus-local-domain "stars.flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP")
(setq gnus-local-organization
"Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan.")
The DOMAINNAME and ORGANIZATION environment variables
are used instead, if defined. To define these variables, put the
following code in `.login'.
setenv DOMAINNAME "stars.flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP" setenv ORGANIZATION "Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan."
If the value of the ORGANIZATION environment variable or the
variable gnus-local-organization begins with a slash, it is taken
as the name of a file whose contents are read for the value. If neither
of these is defined, and a file
`~/.organization-distribution' or `~/.organization'
exists, the contents of that file are used. If neither of them does not
exist, and the file `/usr/lib/news/organization' exists, its
contents are used.
If the variable gnus-use-generic-from is non-nil, the
local host name of your machine will not appear in the `From:'
field of article headers you post. This is called the GENERICFROM
feature in the Bnews system. This may be useful if there are many
workstations connected to each other in a local area network, and
aliases service or automatic forwarding of mail is supported between the
workstations.
To use the GENERICFROM, put the following code in `.emacs', `site-init.el' or `default.el'. If you are a system administrator and are installing GNUS for other users, `site-init.el' is the best place to define it because the definition is common to all users of the system having the same domain and organization (see section Domain and Organization).
(setq gnus-use-generic-from t)
As a special case of the GENERICFROM feature, if the variable
gnus-use-generic-from is a string, it is used as your domain
instead of the definition of the environment variable DOMAINNAME
or the variable gnus-local-domain (see section Domain and Organization).
If the variable gnus-use-generic-path is nil, the NNTP
server name followed by the user login name is used in the `Path:'
field of article headers you post. If it is a string, the string
followed by the user login name is used instead. Otherwise, if it is
non-nil, only the user login name is used. This is called the
GENERICPATH feature in the Bnews system.
For example, to define the generic path `flab', put the following codes in `.emacs', `site-init.el' or `default.el'. If you are a system administrator and are installing GNUS for other users, `site-init.el' is the best place to define it because the definition is common to all users of the system having the same domain and organization (see section Domain and Organization).
(setq gnus-use-generic-path "flab")
In this case, the `Path:' field will be generated as `Path: flab!user'.
Startup file is a file recording information on articles you
have already read. GNUS uses `.newsrc' for the startup file as in
the Bnews system. If you think you will talk to exactly one NNTP
server, you can use it without any problems. Otherwise, if you want to
talk to several NNTP servers, you'd better use server specific startup
files since startup files are not portable between servers. The server
specific startup file for an NNTP server on a machine server is a
file named `.newsrc-server'. For example,
`.newsrc-photon' is for an NNTP server on a machine named
`photon'. The primary name of the startup file, `.newsrc', is
specified by the variable gnus-startup-file
(see section Common Variables).
GNUS automatically adds newly created newsgroups to a startup file
when getting started. To prevent adding the newsgroups under some
newsgroup hierarchies, you can use the options line in the startup file
or the variable gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method provided for
subscription method customization. See section Common Variables, for more
information on the variable customization.
Option -n of the options line in the startup file is recognized
properly the same as for the Bnews system. For example, if the options
line is `options -n !talk talk.rumors', newsgroups under the
`talk' hierarchy except for `talk.rumors' are ignored while
checking new newsgroups. These ignored newsgroups can be added manually
using the command U (gnus-Group-unsubscribe-group) in the
Newsgroup buffer. Use the commands C-k and C-w
(gnus-Group-kill-group and gnus-Group-kill-region) to kill
newsgroups from the startup file per a newsgroup basis.
See section Maintaining Newsgroups, for more information.
Once a startup file is updated by GNUS, the quick startup file
of which the file name is generated by appending `.el' to that of
the raw startup file is also created. The quick startup file can be
read by Emacs faster than the raw startup file since all information in
the file is in lisp form. If there is a quick startup file and it is
newer than the raw startup file, the quick startup file is loaded
instead of the raw startup file. If the raw startup file is newer, it
is normally read after loading the quick startup file. You should not
remove the quick startup file because it contains additional
information. Instead, make the raw startup file newer than that by
touching it or force GNUS to read it by using the command R
(gnus-Group-restart) in the Newsgroup buffer if you want to
reflect the changes of the raw startup file to GNUS.
`gnus.texinfo' is a manual of GNUS written in Texinfo format. This file can be printed using TeX, and also can be read using Info Mode of Emacs.
See Info file `texinfo', node `Creating an Info File', to
create an on-line Info file from the Texinfo manual. If you are not
allowed to create the Info file in the standard Info directory specified
by the variable Info-directory, create it in your private
directory and set the variable gnus-Info-directory to the
directory.
If this Info file is installed, you can read the documentation of GNUS
according to the current major mode of GNUS. The command
gnus-Info-find-node for reading appropriate Info nodes of the
Info file is assigned to C-c C-i in all major modes of
GNUS.
See Info file `texinfo', node `Printing Hardcopy', to print a hardcopy of the manual.
Type M-x gnus at the top level of GNU Emacs to invoke GNUS. Unless a default NNTP server is defined, you will be asked for the name of the server. The NNTP server can be changed at startup time by giving a prefix argument to the command even if a default server is defined. See section NNTP Server, to define the default server.
If the NNTP server is the local host name (exactly the same as the
value returned by the function system-name), and the variable
gnus-nntp-service is nil, GNUS looks up the local news spool of
your machine directly instead of NNTP (see section NNTP Service).
It may be a good idea not to use NNTP if you wish to reduce network traffic (even if an NNTP server is running on the local machine) though commands for retrieving articles by Message-IDs may take longer or not work at all. See section Referencing Articles, to refer to articles by the Message-IDs, and see section Local News Spool Specific Variables, for more information on the restrictions.
If an NNTP server is preceded by a colon such as `:Mail', the user's private directory `~/Mail' is used as the news spool. This makes it possible to read mail stored in MH folders or articles saved by GNUS. An active file for the directory is generated from files of which the file name consists of only numeric characters, and other files containing non-numeric characters in their file name are ignored.
A server specific startup file for each directory must be created before starting GNUS. For example, a startup file for the directory `~/Mail' is a file named `.newsrc-:Mail'. See section Startup File, for more information on the server specific startup file.
Basically GNUS uses three buffers in Emacs: Newsgroup buffer, Subject
buffer, and Article buffer. Each of them is associated with a specific
major mode of Emacs. The configuration of the windows displaying these
buffers are customizable by using the variable
gnus-window-configuration. See section Common Variables, for more
information on customizing the window configuration.
Newsgroup buffer is for listing newsgroups. The major mode of this buffer is Group Mode. The buffer is created and popped up when GNUS starts. Newsgroups which are subscribed to and contain unread articles are usually listed in the buffer. If there is no such newsgroup, the buffer will be empty and a message `No news is good news.' will be displayed in the echo area of Emacs.
The contents of a Newsgroup buffer looks something like the following:
SM NUMBER: NEWSGROUP
Subject buffer is for listing subjects and other important headers of articles. The major mode of the buffer is Subject Mode. The buffer is created for each newsgroup when the newsgroup is selected in the Newsgroup buffer.
The contents of a Subject buffer looks something like the following:
S NUMBER:C[LINES:AUTHOR] SUBJECT
Strings between `[' and `]' are optional, and can be
customized using the variable gnus-optional-headers.
See section Common Variables, and see section Function Hooks, for more information on
customization.
Article buffer is for displaying articles. The major mode of the buffer is Article Mode. Very few commands are available in this buffer because most operations on the buffer can be done in the Subject buffer.
The Newsgroup buffer is intended to show newsgroups which are subscribed to and contain unread articles. Unsubscribed newsgroups or newsgroups containing no unread articles are not usually displayed in the buffer.
Commands for browsing through newsgroups, selecting newsgroups to read, and maintaining newsgroups are described in this chapter.
First of all, you have to move the point to a newsgroup to read articles in it.
gnus-Group-next-unread-group).
gnus-Group-prev-unread-group).
gnus-Group-next-group).
gnus-Group-prev-group).
gnus-Group-jump-to-group).
isearch-forward).
beginning-of-buffer).
end-of-buffer).
gnus-Group-restrict-groups).
The command j (gnus-Group-jump-to-group) reads a
newsgroup name interactively, and moves the point to it. If there is no
such newsgroup in the buffer, a line for the newsgroup is inserted at
the beginning of the buffer.
The command r (gnus-Group-restrict-groups) restricts
visible newsgroups to the current region specified by the point and the
mark. This is useful if you want to concentrate on a restricted set of
newsgroups in a region. Type C-x w (widen) to remove the
restriction.
If you successfully move the point to a desired newsgroup, you can
select the newsgroup to read articles by typing SPC
(gnus-Group-read-group) or =
(gnus-Group-select-group) on that line.
gnus-Group-read-group).
gnus-Group-select-group). No article is
selected automatically.
To prevent automatic selection of the first unread article even when
the newsgroup is selected by the command SPC
(gnus-Group-read-group), set the variable
gnus-auto-select-first to nil. If you want to change the
value of the variable according to the selected newsgroups, set the
variable in the hook gnus-Select-group-hook.
If unread articles are contained in a selected newsgroup, they become
ready to be read. Otherwise, all articles in the newsgroup become ready
to be read. All articles in a newsgroup can be selected unconditionally
by giving a prefix argument to the commands SPC and =
(gnus-Group-read-group and
gnus-Group-select-group).
If the number of articles being selected is larger than the variable
gnus-large-newsgroup, the number of articles actually selected is
asked for. If the given value n is positive, the last n
articles will be selected. If n is negative, the first n
articles will be selected. An empty string means to select all
articles.
See section Common Variables, and see section Function Hooks, for more information on customization.
Subscription of newsgroups, deletion of bogus newsgroups, and other related operations are described in this section.
gnus-Group-catch-up).
gnus-Group-catch-up-all).
gnus-Group-list-groups).
gnus-Group-list-all-groups).
gnus-Group-unsubscribe-current-group).
gnus-Group-unsubscribe-group). If it is not contained in the
startup file, it is added to the file.
gnus-Group-kill-group).
Numeric argument to the command specifies the number of newsgroups to be
killed.
gnus-Group-kill-region).
gnus-Group-yank-group).
gnus-Browse-killed-groups).
gnus-Group-check-bogus-groups). Bogus
means non-active.
gnus-Group-get-new-news). In fact,
GNUS reads the active file from the NNTP server again.
gnus-Group-restart).
The commands c and C (gnus-Group-catch-up and
gnus-Group-catch-up-all) mark all articles as read in a
newsgroup. These commands do not take account of the cross-reference
information in the `Xref:' field, while the command c
(gnus-Subject-catch-up-and-exit) in Subject Mode does.
Only subscribed newsgroups containing unread articles are usually
displayed in the Newsgroup buffer. Type L
(gnus-Group-list-all-groups) to show all newsgroups which are
currently active.
The command U (gnus-Group-unsubscribe-group) reads a
newsgroup name interactively, and toggles its subscription flag if it is
already in the startup file. Otherwise, if it is not contained in the
startup file, it is added to the file. Thus, you can add newly created
newsgroups manually which are not added automatically because of the
options line in the startup file. See section Startup File, for more
information on the startup file and options line.
The commands C-k and C-w (gnus-Group-kill-group and
gnus-Group-kill-region) kill newsgroups from both the Newsgroup
buffer and the raw startup file. The killed newsgroups are stored in an
invisible kill ring and they can be yanked back later. The command
C-y (gnus-Group-yank-group) yank the last newsgroup killed.
The command C-c C-y (gnus-Browse-killed-groups) pops up the
Browse-Killed buffer for browsing all the killed newsgroups. In
this buffer, the killed newsgroups can be yanked in any order using the
commands y and C-y (gnus-Browse-killed-yank). Thus,
you can change the order of newsgroups in the Newsgroup buffer without
editing the raw startup file directly. Since the information on the
killed newsgroups will be stored in the quick startup file, they can be
restored any time unless you lose the file.
A bogus newsgroup is one not in the list of active newsgroups in
the active file. Bogus newsgroups which are deleted or renamed must be
deleted from the startup file (see section Startup File) explicitly by the
command b (gnus-Group-check-bogus-groups).
The command R (gnus-Group-restart) is useful to restart
GNUS using the raw startup file instead of the quick startup file.
Generally speaking, if you want changes to the raw startup file to be
noticed by GNUS, it must be newer than the quick startup file.
See section Startup File, for more information on the startup file.
GNUS reads the active file at start up time to know about currently
active articles. This information is not updated unless you force GNUS
to do so with the command g (gnus-Group-get-new-news) or
the command R (gnus-Group-restart).
gnus-Group-force-update).
gnus-Group-suspend).
gnus-Group-exit).
gnus-Group-quit).
If a GNUS session is suspended by the command z
(gnus-Group-suspend), it is possible to resume it later without
any time-consuming initializations. Switch to the Newsgroup buffer and
type g (gnus-Group-get-new-news) to get newly arrived
articles if you want to resume the suspended GNUS session. It is a good
idea to update the startup file (see section Startup File) before suspending
GNUS.
If you want to forget what you read this GNUS session, exit GNUS by
the command Q (gnus-Group-quit). Otherwise, exit by the
command q (gnus-Group-exit) to update the startup
file.
The hook gnus-Exit-gnus-hook is called when exiting GNUS, and
the hook gnus-Suspend-gnus-hook is called when suspending GNUS.
If you want to clear out Emacs buffers which were created by GNUS and
remain afterwards, use these hooks.
Other miscellaneous commands are described here.
gnus-Group-post-news). See section Followup and Reply, for more information.
gnus-Group-edit-local-kill). See section KILL File, for more information.
gnus-Group-edit-global-kill).
See section KILL File, for more information.
gnus-version).
gnus-Group-describe-briefly).
gnus-Info-find-node).
See section Texinfo Manual, to prepare an Info file of GNUS.
The Subject buffer is intended to show interesting headers of articles in a newsgroup and to help you know what kind of discussions are being held there. Messages of articles are displayed in the Article buffer which is usually popped up automatically when necessary. Scrolling of the messages and most other commands on articles can be done in the Subject buffer.
gnus-Subject-next-subject).
gnus-Subject-prev-subject).
gnus-Subject-next-unread-subject).
gnus-Subject-prev-unread-subject).
gnus-Subject-goto-subject).
isearch-forward).
These commands are for moving the point on headers. Type SPC
(gnus-Subject-next-page) or g
(gnus-Subject-show-article) to read an article on the line
(see section Scrolling Within an Article).
gnus-Subject-expand-window).
gnus-Subject-toggle-truncation).
The command = (gnus-Subject-expand-window) expands the
Subject Mode window by deleting the Article Mode window. It is very
useful for displaying the Subject buffer full window when browsing
through many headers. The command behaves different from the command
C-x 1 (delete-other-windows) if windows more than two are
displayed.
Long lines in the Subject buffer are truncated and the continuation
lines are not displayed normally. The command C-t
(gnus-Subject-toggle-truncation) toggles the truncation of the
lines in the buffer.
The commands described here are for moving the point on headers, and then automatically selecting articles.
gnus-Subject-next-unread-article).
gnus-Subject-prev-unread-article).
gnus-Subject-next-article).
gnus-Subject-prev-article).
gnus-Subject-next-same-subject).
gnus-Subject-prev-same-subject).
gnus-Subject-first-unread-article).
gnus-Subject-goto-last-article).
gnus-Subject-goto-article).
If the variable gnus-auto-select-same is non-nil, the
commands n and p (gnus-Subject-next-unread-article
and gnus-Subject-prev-unread-article) move the point to unread
articles with the same subject as the current article like the commands
M-x gnus-Subject-next-unread-same-subject and M-x
gnus-Subject-prev-unread-same-subject, respectively. If you are used
to running `rn -S', set the variable to non-nil.
If the variable gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup is non-nil,
the commands N and P (gnus-Subject-next-article and
gnus-Subject-prev-article) extend visible articles to forward and
backward if possible.
The variable gnus-auto-select-next defines the behavior of GNUS
when there is no unread article in the current newsgroup and a command
selecting the next unread article is executed. If the variable is
non-nil, the next newsgroup containing unread articles is
selected automatically.
See section Common Variables, for more information on customization.
Type SPC (gnus-Subject-next-page) to scroll to the next
page of the current article. If no article is selected yet, an article
near the point is selected and its first page is displayed in the
Article buffer. The next unread article is selected automatically if
SPC is typed at the end of the message.
gnus-Subject-next-page). Select it first if no article is
selected yet. Select the next unread article automatically at the end of
the message.
gnus-Subject-prev-page).
gnus-Subject-scroll-up).
gnus-Subject-beginning-of-article).
gnus-Subject-end-of-article).
gnus-Subject-stop-page-breaking).
gnus-Subject-show-all-headers).
gnus-Subject-toggle-header).
gnus-Subject-caesar-message).
gnus-Subject-show-article).
If the Article buffer is not visible, it is popped up under the
Subject buffer when necessary. The height of the Subject buffer and
that of the Article buffer can be customized by using the variable
gnus-window-configuration.
The command C-c C-r (gnus-Subject-caesar-message) rotates
all letters in the message body of the current article by 13 places.
Japanese characters are rotated by 47 places. Running the command twice
on the same article results the original message.
If the variable gnus-break-pages is non-nil, the message
is broken into pages at page delimiters specified by the variable
gnus-page-delimiter. The command w
(gnus-Subject-stop-page-breaking) temporary suspends page
breaks.
The variable gnus-ignored-headers specifies header fields which
should be ignored. The command v
(gnus-Subject-show-all-headers) shows all headers of the current
article, while the command t (gnus-Subject-toggle-header)
toggles the headers.
See section Common Variables, and see section Function Hooks, for more information on customization.
GNUS uses three kinds of marks to indicate article status.
The status is displayed at the beginning of each line of the Subject buffer. Commands for marking or removing these marks are as follows:
gnus-Subject-mark-as-read-forward).
gnus-Subject-mark-as-read-backward).
gnus-Subject-mark-as-unread-forward).
gnus-Subject-mark-as-unread-backward).
gnus-Subject-clear-mark-forward).
gnus-Subject-clear-mark-backward).
gnus-Subject-kill-same-subject-and-select).
gnus-Subject-kill-same-subject).
It is helpful to delete headers marked as read while reading a large
newsgroup. The command x
(gnus-Subject-delete-marked-as-read) deletes headers marked as
read. The command X (gnus-Subject-delete-marked-with)
deletes headers which have a specific mark.
gnus-Subject-delete-marked-as-read).
gnus-Subject-delete-marked-with).Conversations on the usenet news usually contain several threads under a single subject. This makes it difficult to know which article follows which without reading references directly. It would be useful if we could read articles based on conversation threads.
GNUS enables you this thread-based reading. The reader can follow
threads of conversation, mark threads as read, and go up and down thread
trees. The command M-C-t (gnus-Subject-toggle-threads)
toggles showing conversation threads in Subject Mode. If it is turned
on, Subject buffer is displayed in a tree structured form according to
what each article was a reply to.
gnus-Subject-toggle-threads).
gnus-Subject-show-thread).
gnus-Subject-hide-thread).
gnus-Subject-next-thread).
gnus-Subject-prev-thread).
gnus-Subject-down-thread).
gnus-Subject-up-thread).
gnus-Subject-kill-thread).
Thread subtrees can be hidden by using the command M-C-h
(gnus-Subject-hide-thread), and the hidden subtrees can be shown
by using the command M-C-s
(gnus-Subject-show-thread).
If the variable gnus-thread-hide-killed is non-nil,
thread subtrees killed by the command M-C-k
(gnus-Subject-kill-thread) are hidden automatically.
If you want to hide thread subtrees initially, set the variable
gnus-thread-hide-subtree to non-nil.
If you want to enable thread-based reading automatically, set the
variable gnus-show-threads to non-nil.
See section Common Variables, for more information on customization.
Digest article is a message containing many messages in digest format. Since a digest article contains many messages in one article, it is a little bit difficult to read it on a per message basis. The following commands make it easier to read each message in a digest.
gnus-Subject-next-digest).
gnus-Subject-prev-digest).
gnus-Subject-rmail-digest).
The commands C-c C-n and C-c C-p
(gnus-Subject-next-digest and gnus-Subject-prev-digest)
scroll a digest article to the next and previous digested message,
respectively. The variable gnus-digest-separator specifies a
regexp which separates digested messages.
The command C-d (gnus-Subject-rmail-digest) runs Rmail on
a digest article and makes it possible to read messages not in digest
form using Rmail Mode. See Info file `emacs', node `Rmail', for more
information on Rmail Mode. Use the hook gnus-Select-article-hook
to run Rmail on digest articles automatically.
Digest articles in some newsgroups of USENET cannot be read using
Rmail. In this case, a message `Article is not a digest' is
displayed in the echo area of Emacs. This means that these articles are
not written in the proper digest format. It is, however, possible to
read these incomplete digest articles by modifying the message headers
or bodies appropriately using the hook gnus-Select-digest-hook.
See section Function Hooks, to modify incomplete digest articles.
If the variable gnus-digest-show-summary is non-nil, a
summary of the digest article is also displayed automatically when Rmail
is invoked.
gnus-Subject-isearch-article).
gnus-Subject-search-article-forward). If regexp is empty,
the last regexp used is used again.
gnus-Subject-search-article-backward). If regexp is empty,
the last regexp used is used again.
gnus-Subject-execute-command). If
field is empty, the entire article is searched for.
The command s (gnus-Subject-isearch-article) does an
incremental search on the current article. The commands M-s and
M-S (gnus-Subject-search-article-forward and
gnus-Subject-search-article-backward) search for articles
containing a match for regexp. The search starts from the current point
of the current article.
The command & (gnus-Subject-execute-command)
interactively reads the field name of article headers, regexp, and a
valid command key sequence. It then searches for articles having a
field that contains a match for the regexp, and then executes the
command specified by the key sequence on them.
gnus-Subject-refer-parent-article). With a prefix argument, go
back to the child.
gnus-Subject-refer-article). With an empty Message-ID, go
back to the origin.
The command ^ (gnus-Subject-refer-parent-article) refers
to parent article of the current article. The child article is remembered in
internal history, and it is possible to return to the child by giving a
prefix argument to the command.
The commands ^ and M-r
(gnus-Subject-refer-parent-article and
gnus-Subject-refer-article) share the same internal history. You
can thus go back to a child using the command M-r with an empty
Message-ID.
Type g (gnus-Subject-show-article) to go back to the
origin from the visited articles directly.
See section Article Commands, to refer to articles by using Message-IDs included in the messages.
GNUS provides four different formats for saving articles: Rmail
format, Unix mailbox format, MH folder, and article format. If you set
the variable gnus-default-article-saver to your favorite article
saver, you can save an article using the command o
(gnus-Subject-save-article) in your favorite format. The default
saver is the function gnus-Subject-save-in-rmail.
gnus-default-article-saver
(gnus-Subject-save-article).
gnus-Subject-pipe-output).
If the variable gnus-save-all-headers is non-nil, all
headers of an article are saved.
The variable gnus-article-save-directory specifies a directory
in which articles are saved to by the functions
gnus-Subject-save-in-mail, gnus-Subject-save-in-rmail, and
gnus-Subject-save-in-file. It is initialized from the
SAVEDIR environment variable. The default directory is
`~/News'.
The variables gnus-mail-save-name, gnus-rmail-save-name,
gnus-folder-save-name, and gnus-file-save-name specify
functions generating default file name to which articles are saved using
gnus-Subject-save-in-mail, gnus-Subject-save-in-rmail,
gnus-Subject-save-in-folder, and
gnus-Subject-save-in-file, respectively. The function is called
with newsgroup, headers, and optional
last-name.
See section Common Variables, for more information on customization.
The headers listed in the Subject buffer can be sorted by number, subject, date, or author of articles. Sorting is stable, so it is possible to combine them to sort the headers with multiple keys. To sort in reverse order, give a prefix argument to the commands.
gnus-Subject-sort-by-number).
gnus-Subject-sort-by-subject).
gnus-Subject-sort-by-date).
gnus-Subject-sort-by-author).
It is also possible to sort the headers automatically when a newsgroup
is selected using the hook gnus-Select-group-hook
(see section Function Hooks).
gnus-Subject-post-reply).
gnus-Subject-post-reply-with-original).
gnus-Subject-post-news).
Type a (gnus-Subject-post-news) to post a new article.
If the variable gnus-interactive-post is non-nil, the
newsgroup, subject, and distribution are asked for interactively. The
command f (gnus-Subject-post-reply) fills these values in
automatically from those of the original article. Type C-c C-y
(news-reply-yank-original) to include the original article. The
command F (gnus-Subject-post-reply-with-original) yanks the
original article automatically. If you want to followup to several
articles in a single article and want to include them in it, type
F for each of them. You will be asked if a text being edited
should be erased. You should answer `n' to the question.
If the variable gnus-novice-user is non-nil, your
confirmations will be required for composing a new article.
The major mode for composing a new article is News Mode which is
borrowed from `rnewspost.el'. Type C-h m
(describe-mode) to get more help on News Mode.
gnus-Subject-cancel-article).
Suppose you post an article and then later realize that you made a
horrible mistake. You really do not want anyone to see your article.
You want the article to be removed from any machines that it may have
reached. The command C (gnus-Subject-cancel-article) is
intended to do this. First select the offending article as current,
then type C.
gnus-Subject-mail-reply).
gnus-Subject-mail-reply-with-original).
gnus-Subject-mail-forward).
gnus-Subject-mail-other-window).
Use the command r (gnus-Subject-mail-reply) to reply to
the author of the article. Type C-c C-y to include the original
article. The command R
(gnus-Subject-mail-reply-with-original) yanks the original
article automatically.
When composing a mail message, the message composer (or mailer) is
selected by the values of the variables gnus-mail-reply-method,
gnus-mail-forward-method, and
gnus-mail-other-window-method. These are defaulted to use Mail
Mode. If you want to use mh-e letter Mode instead of it, set the
variable gnus-mail-reply-method to
gnus-mail-reply-using-mhe, variable
gnus-mail-forward-method to gnus-mail-forward-using-mhe,
and the variable gnus-mail-other-window-method to
gnus-mail-other-window-using-mhe. It is possible to use other
mailers by customizing these variables. See Info file `emacs', node `Mail Mode', for more information on Mail Mode.
gnus-Subject-exit).
gnus-Subject-quit).
gnus-Subject-reselect-current-group).
The command G (gnus-Subject-reselect-current-group)
selects the current newsgroup again after temporary exiting the
newsgroup. If no articles remain unread, all articles in the newsgroup
will be selected. A prefix argument to the command means to select all
articles in the newsgroup.
Other miscellaneous commands are described here.
gnus-Subject-edit-local-kill). See section KILL File, for more
information.
gnus-Subject-edit-local-kill). See section KILL File, for more
information.
gnus-version).
gnus-Subject-describe-briefly).
gnus-Info-find-node).
See section Texinfo Manual, to prepare an Info file of GNUS.
In the Article buffer the following commands are available:
gnus-Article-next-page).
gnus-Article-prev-page).
gnus-Article-refer-article).
gnus-Article-pop-article).
gnus-Article-show-subjects).
gnus-Article-describe-briefly).
gnus-Info-find-node).
See section Texinfo Manual, to prepare an Info file of GNUS.
The command r (gnus-Article-refer-article) searches for
the Message-ID around the point, and refers to the article specified by
it if found. Use the command o (gnus-Article-pop-article)
to return to the previous article. See section Referencing Articles, for
referencing parent articles easily.
A KILL file contains lisp expressions to be applied to a selected newsgroup. The purpose is to mark articles as read on the basis of some set of regexps.
There are two kinds of KILL files, global and local. A global KILL file is applied to every newsgroup, and a local KILL file to a specified newsgroup. Since a global KILL file is applied to every newsgroup, for better performance use a local one.
A KILL file can contain any kind of Emacs lisp expressions expected to be evaluated in the Subject buffer. Writing lisp programs for this purpose is not easy because the internal working of GNUS must be well-known. For this reason, GNUS provides a general function which does this easily for non-lisp programmers.
(gnus-kill field regexp &optional command all)
The gnus-kill function executes commands available in Subject
Mode by their key sequences. gnus-kill must be called with
field, regexp, and optional command and all.
Field is a string representing the header field or an empty
string. If field is an empty string, the entire article body is
searched for. Regexp is a string which is compared with
field value. Command is a string representing a valid key
sequence in Subject Mode or a lisp expression. Command is default
to (gnus-Subject-mark-as-read nil "X"). Make sure that
command is executed in the Subject buffer. If the second optional
argument all is non-nil, the command is applied to
articles which are already marked as read or unread. Articles which are
marked are skipped over by default.
For example, if you want to mark articles of which subjects contain the string `AI' as read, a possible KILL file may look like:
(gnus-kill "Subject" "AI")
If you want to mark articles with `D' instead of `X', you can use the following expression:
(gnus-kill "Subject" "AI" "d")
In this example it is assumed that the command
gnus-Subject-mark-as-read-forward is assigned to d in
Subject Mode.
It is possible to delete unnecessary headers which are marked with
`X' in a KILL file by using the function gnus-expunge as
follows:
(gnus-expunge "X")
If the Subject buffer is empty after applying KILL files, GNUS will exit the selected newsgroup normally. If headers which are marked with `D' are deleted in a KILL file, it is impossible to read articles which are marked as read in the previous GNUS sessions. Marks other than `D' should be used for articles which should really be deleted.
All sorts of searches in Subject Mode normally ignore the case of the
text they are searching through. If you do not want to ignore the case,
set the variable case-fold-search to nil.
The command M-K in Subject Mode and Group Mode
(gnus-Subject-edit-global-kill and
gnus-Group-edit-global-kill) pops up an Emacs buffer for editing
a global KILL file. A global KILL file is created in the directory
specified by the variable gnus-article-save-directory (default to
`~/News'), and its file name is specified by the variable
gnus-kill-file-name (default to `KILL').
The command M-k in Subject Mode and Group Mode
(gnus-Subject-edit-local-kill and
gnus-Group-edit-local-kill) pops up an Emacs buffer for editing a
local KILL file. A local KILL file for a newsgroup news.group is
created as `news.group.KILL' in the directory specified by
the variable gnus-article-save-directory if the variable
gnus-use-long-file-name is non-nil. Otherwise, if the
variable gnus-use-long-file-name is nil, the file is
created as `news/group/KILL' under the same
directory.
The major mode of these buffers is KILL-File Mode. This mode is specialized for editing Emacs lisp programs the same as Emacs-Lisp Mode. In addition to Emacs-Lisp Mode, the following commands are available:
gnus-Kill-file-kill-by-subject).
gnus-Kill-file-kill-by-author).
gnus-Kill-file-apply-buffer).
gnus-Kill-file-apply-last-sexp).
gnus-Kill-file-exit).
gnus-Info-find-node).
See section Texinfo Manual, to prepare an Info file of GNUS.
If KILL-File Mode is invoked from Subject Mode by the command
gnus-Subject-edit-local-kill or
gnus-Subject-edit-global-kill, the commands C-c C-k C-s and
C-c C-k C-a (gnus-Kill-file-kill-by-subject and
gnus-Kill-file-kill-by-author) insert a kill command on the
subject and author of an article where the point is on, respectively.
Otherwise, a template of a kill command is inserted.
The commands C-c C-a and C-c C-e
(gnus-Kill-file-apply-buffer and
gnus-Kill-file-apply-last-sexp) can be used to test kill commands
being edited in current buffer. The kill commands are applied to
current newsgroup.
The following is an example of a local KILL file for newsgroup `control'. This is currently being used by the author.
;; Apply to the newsgroup `control' if the NNTP server is flab.
(if (string-equal gnus-nntp-server "flab")
(progn
(gnus-kill "Subject" "ihave flab\\|sendme")
(gnus-kill "Subject" "cancel\\|newgroup\\|rmgroup" "d")
(gnus-expunge "X")))
Kill processing may take long time. If it becomes terribly frustrating, try background kill processing using the following shell command:
emacs -batch -l gnus -f gnus-batch-kill NEWSGROUPS
where NEWSGROUPS argument is newsgroup names separated by either white spaces or a comma. `!' preceding a newsgroup name means negation, and `all' matches anything else. These interpretations are the same as the options line of the startup file (see section Startup File).
Internally, applying kills means to run the hook
gnus-Apply-kill-hook. It is called after the Subject buffer is
prepared for a selected newsgroup. The default hook is the function
gnus-apply-kill-file which loads a global KILL file and a local
KILL file in this order. A different style of the kill processing can
be implemented by customizing this hook.
For example, if you think a global KILL file is unnecessary, you can use the following hook which applies only a local KILL file. This change can save the time for checking the existence of a global KILL file.
(setq gnus-Apply-kill-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Apply a local KILL file.
(load (gnus-newsgroup-kill-file gnus-newsgroup-name) t nil t))))
On the contrary, the following example enables only a global KILL file.
(setq gnus-Apply-kill-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Apply a global KILL file.
(load (gnus-newsgroup-kill-file nil) t nil t))))
Here is an advanced example that drastically reduces the time for applying KILL files. This hook does the kill processing directly without loading the KILL files.
(setq gnus-Apply-kill-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Apply to the newsgroup `control'
;; if the NNTP server is flab.
(and (string-equal gnus-nntp-server "flab")
(string-equal gnus-newsgroup-name "control")
(progn
(gnus-kill "Subject" "ihave flab\\|sendme")
(gnus-kill "Subject" "cancel\\|newgroup\\|rmgroup" "d")
(gnus-expunge "X"))))))
Appendix A describes the variables and hooks for simple customization and the variables for localization.
gnus-nntp-server
NNTPSERVER environment variable. If the
server name is preceded by a colon such as `:Mail', the user's
private directory `~/Mail' is used as a news spool. See section NNTP Server, and see section Reading a Private Directory, for more information.
gnus-nntp-service
"nntp". In a
few instances, it must be the number 119. To use a local news
spool of your machine rather than NNTP, set the variable to nil.
See section NNTP Service, and see section Using Local News Spool, for more
information.
gnus-local-domain
DOMAINNAME is used instead if defined. If the function
system-name returns the full Internet name, there is no need to
define the domain. See section Domain and Organization, for more
information.
gnus-local-organization
ORGANIZATION is used instead if defined. If the value begins
with a slash, it is taken as the name of a file whose contents are read
for the value. See section Domain and Organization, for more
information.
gnus-local-timezone
nil, a general time
zone handling package `timezone.el' is used to generate a valid
date for `Date:' field in terms of RFC822. Otherwise, if it is
nil, GNUS generate a date ignoring the local time zone. If you are
using Bnews, it is okay since `inews' will rewrite the invalid
date. However, if you are using Cnews, you must set the variable to the
correct time zone or set the variable gnus-news-system to
`Cnews' since `inews' of Cnews does not rewrite the wrong
`Date:' field.
gnus-use-generic-from
nil means the local host name of your machine will not appear
in the `From:' field of article headers. If the variable is a
string, it is used as your domain instead of the definition by the
variable gnus-local-domain or the environment variable
DOMAINNAME. See section GENERICFROM, for more information.
gnus-use-generic-path
nil means the NNTP server name will not appear in the
`Path:' field of article headers. If the variable is a string, it
is used in the `Path:' field as the NNTP server name instead of the
definition by the variable gnus-nntp-server. See section GENERICPATH,
for more information.
gnus-news-system
gnus-startup-file
gnus-signature-file
nil to
prevent appending the signature file automatically.
gnus-use-cross-reference
nil, cross references are ignored. If it is t,
articles in subscribed newsgroups are only marked as read. Otherwise,
if it is not nil nor t, articles in all newsgroups are
marked as read.
gnus-use-followup-to
nil, its value is ignored. If it is non-nil, its value is
used as followup newsgroups. Especially, if it is t and you are
going to followup to an article in which poster is specified,
your confirmation is required.
gnus-use-full-window
nil means to take up the entire screen of Emacs. If the
variable is nil, the windows used by GNUS will be restricted to
the bounds of the original window. This is very useful if you want to
read articles while you do other work in other windows.
gnus-window-configuration
(setq gnus-window-configuration
'((SelectNewsgroup (0 1 0))
(ExitNewsgroup (1 0 0))
(SelectArticle (0 3 10))
(ExpandSubject (0 1 0))))
The following is an example of yet another two windows mode. Article
buffer is always displayed on a screen. This is useful on a slow
terminal.
(setq gnus-window-configuration
'((SelectNewsgroup (0 1 0))
(ExitNewsgroup (1 0 3))
(SelectArticle (0 1 3))
(ExpandSubject (0 1 0))))
The following is an example of three windows mode. Three buffers are
always displayed on a screen. This is also useful on a slow terminal.
(setq gnus-window-configuration
'((SelectNewsgroup (1 4 0))
(ExitNewsgroup (1 1 3))
(SelectArticle (1 1 3))
(ExpandSubject (1 4 0))))
gnus-large-newsgroup
gnus-author-copy
AUTHORCOPY environment variable. The specified file name is
inserted in `FCC:' field, so you have a chance to change the file
name or disable saving a copy by editing this field.
If the first character of the value is not `|', the article is
saved to the specified file using the function specified by the variable
gnus-author-copy-saver. The default function rmail-output
saves in Unix mailbox format. Instead, if the first character is
`|', the contents of the article is send to a program specified
by the rest of the value. For example, articles can be saved in an MH
folder by the following:
(setq gnus-author-copy
"|/usr/local/lib/mh/rcvstore +Article")
gnus-author-copy-saver
rmail-output saves in Unix mailbox format.
gnus-use-long-file-name
nil means that a newsgroup name is used as a default file
name to save articles to. If it is nil, the directory form of a
newsgroup name is used instead. It is set to nil by default if the
variable system-type is either `usg-unix-v' or
`xenix'.
gnus-mail-save-name
gnus-rmail-save-name
gnus-folder-save-name
gnus-file-save-name
nntp-header-field and
gnus-header-field, respectively. The following functions
are provided as file name generators by default:
gnus-numeric-save-name
gnus-use-long-file-name.
gnus-Numeric-save-name
gnus-use-long-file-name.
gnus-plain-save-name
gnus-use-long-file-name.
gnus-Plain-save-name
gnus-use-long-file-name.
gnus-folder-save-name
gnus-use-long-file-name.
gnus-Folder-save-name
gnus-use-long-file-name.gnus-default-article-saver
gnus-Subject-save-article. The function must be
interactively funcallable. In other words, it must be an Emacs command.
The functions currently provided are as follows:
gnus-Subject-save-in-mail
gnus-Subject-save-in-rmail
gnus-Subject-save-in-folder
gnus-Subject-save-in-file
gnus-article-save-directory
gnus-Subject-save-in-mail, gnus-Subject-save-in-rmail, and
gnus-Subject-save-in-file. The variable is initialized from the
SAVEDIR environment variable. Its default value is
`~/News'.
gnus-kill-file-name
gnus-default-distribution
gnus-novice-user
nil means you are a novice to USENET. If it is
non-nil, verbose messages may be displayed or your confirmations
may be required.
gnus-interactive-post
nil means that newsgroup, subject, and distribution are asked
for interactively when composing a new article.
gnus-user-login-name
USER
and LOGNAME environment variables and the function
user-login-name, if undefined.
gnus-user-full-name
NAME
environment variable and the function user-full-name, if
undefined.
gnus-show-all-headers
nil means all headers of an article are shown.
gnus-save-all-headers
nil means all headers of an article are saved in a file.
gnus-show-threads
nil means conversation threads are displayed in a tree
structured form according to references in Subject Mode.
gnus-thread-hide-subject
nil means subjects of lower level threads are hidden if the
thread-based reading is turned on.
gnus-thread-hide-subtree
nil means thread subtrees are hidden initially. If thread
subtrees are hidden, you have to run the command
gnus-Subject-show-thread by hand or by using
gnus-Select-article-hook to show them.
gnus-thread-hide-killed
nil means killed thread subtrees are hidden
automatically.
gnus-thread-ignore-subject
nil means subject differences are ignored but only references
are taken into account in constructing threads trees. If it is
non-nil and thread subtrees are hidden, some commands work with
subjects may not work properly.
gnus-thread-indent-level
gnus-auto-extend-newsgroup
nil means visible articles are automatically extended to
forward and backward if possible when the commands N and P
(gnus-Subject-next-article and gnus-Subject-prev-article)
are executed in Subject Mode.
gnus-auto-select-first
nil means the first unread article is selected automatically
when a newsgroup is selected. If you'd like to prevent automatic
selection of the first unread article in some newsgroups, set the
variable to nil in the hook gnus-Select-group-hook or
gnus-Apply-kill-hook (see section Function Hooks).
gnus-auto-select-next
nil means the next newsgroup is selected automatically at the
end of the newsgroup. If the value is t and the next newsgroup is
empty (no unread articles), GNUS will exit Subject Mode and go back to
Group Mode. If the value is neither nil nor t, GNUS won't
exit Subject Mode but will select the following unread newsgroup. If
the value is `quietly', the next unread newsgroup will be selected
without any confirmations.
gnus-auto-select-same
nil means an article with the same subject as the current
article is selected automatically like `rn -S'.
gnus-auto-center-subject
nil means that the cursor is always kept centered in the
Subject Mode window.
gnus-break-pages
nil means an article is broken into pages at page delimiters.
The page delimiter is specified by the variable
gnus-page-delimiter. This may not work with some versions of GNU
Emacs earlier than version 18.50.
gnus-page-delimiter
"^\^L".
gnus-digest-show-summary
nil means that a summary of digest messages is shown when
reading a digest article using the command
gnus-Subject-rmail-digest.
gnus-digest-separator
gnus-Subject-next-digest and gnus-Subject-prev-digest, but
not the command gnus-Subject-rmail-digest.
gnus-optional-headers
nntp-header-field and gnus-header-field,
respectively.
GNUS provides two functions:
gnus-optional-lines-and-from
gnus-optional-lines
gnus-Info-directory
Info-directory.
See section Texinfo Manual, for more information.
gnus-mail-reply-method
nil. To use Mail Mode, set
the variable to gnus-mail-reply-using-mail. To use mh-e letter
Mode, set the variable to gnus-mail-reply-using-mhe.
gnus-mail-forward-method
gnus-mail-forward-using-mail.
To use mh-e letter Mode, set the variable to
gnus-mail-forward-using-mhe.
gnus-mail-other-window-method
gnus-mail-other-window-using-mail. To use mh-e letter Mode, set
the variable to gnus-mail-other-window-using-mhe.
gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
gnus-subscribe-randomly
gnus-subscribe-alphabetically
gnus-subscribe-hierarchically
(setq gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
(function
(lambda (newsgroup)
(gnus-subscribe-newsgroup newsgroup
(car (car gnus-newsrc-assoc))))))
Instead, if you want to add new newsgroup at the end of newsgroups, use
the following:
(setq gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
(function
(lambda (newsgroup)
(gnus-subscribe-newsgroup newsgroup nil))))
If you want to prevent adding new newsgroups automatically and want to
subscribe them later using the command U
(gnus-Group-unsubscribe-group) in the Newsgroup buffer, use the
following:
(setq gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
(function (lambda (newsgroup) nil))) ;Do nothing.
The following final example must be the most useful for you who want not
to add new newsgroups automatically. This definition subscribes a new
newsgroup first, and then kills it. The killed newsgroups can be added
to the subscription list interactively using Browse-Killed Mode
(see section Maintaining Newsgroups).
(setq gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method
(function
(lambda (newsgroup)
(gnus-subscribe-newsgroup newsgroup)
(gnus-kill-newsgroup newsgroup))))
nntp-large-newsgroup
nntp-buggy-select
nil means the select routine of your operating system is
buggy. GNUS may hang up while waiting for NNTP server responses. The
problem may be solved by setting the variable to t. See section NNTP Problems, for more information.
nntp-maximum-request
nntp-debug-read
nil means show the communication status about reading the
NNTP server output. Set the variable to nil if you are annoyed
about verbose messages while reading news from slow terminal.
tcp-program-name
open-network-stream, there is no need to
define this variable.
nnspool-inews-program
news-inews-program which is default to `inews'.
nnspool-inews-switches
nnspool-request-post to pass
to the command `inews' for posting news. Its default value is
("-h").
nnspool-spool-directory
news-path which is default to `/usr/spool/news'.
nnspool-active-file
nnspool-history-file
mhspool-list-directory-switches
mhspool-request-list to pass
to the command `ls' for getting file listings in a private
directory. There should be one entry for each line. Its default value
is ("-R"). Some machines may require the ("-R1")
switch.
gnus-Group-mode-hook
nil. This hook is intended to customize Group Mode only
once. It is possible to define or change the NNTP server as you like in
this hook since the hook is called before GNUS is connected to an NNTP
server.
gnus-Subject-mode-hook
nil. This hook is intended to customize Subject Mode only
once. All sorts of searches in Subject Mode normally ignore the case of
the text they are searching through. If you do not want to ignore the
case, set the variable case-fold-search to nil in this
hook.
The following example shows how to assign the functions
gnus-Subject-next-group and gnus-Subject-prev-group to
keys in Subject Mode.
(setq gnus-Subject-mode-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(local-set-key "\C-cn" 'gnus-Subject-next-group)
(local-set-key "\C-cp" 'gnus-Subject-prev-group))))
gnus-Article-mode-hook
nil. This hook is intended to customize Article Mode only
once.
Displaying the current time in the mode line of buffers is disabled in
the Article buffer and the Subject buffer to show information on the
current newsgroup and the current article. If you want to display the
current time in the mode line of the Article buffer, make the variable
global-mode-string no longer have a separate value in the buffer
as follows:
(setq gnus-Article-mode-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(kill-local-variable 'global-mode-string))))
gnus-Kill-file-mode-hook
nil.
gnus-Browse-killed-mode-hook
nil.
gnus-Open-server-hook
nil.
gnus-Startup-hook
nil. It is possible to change the behavior
of GNUS according to the server.
gnus-Group-prepare-hook
gnus-Subject-prepare-hook
gnus-Article-prepare-hook
gnus-Select-group-hook
(setq gnus-Select-group-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; First of all, sort by date.
(gnus-sort-headers
(function
(lambda (a b)
(gnus-date-lessp (gnus-header-date a)
(gnus-header-date b)))))
;; Then sort by subject ignoring `Re:'.
(gnus-sort-headers
(function
(lambda (a b)
(gnus-string-lessp
(gnus-simplify-subject
(gnus-header-subject a) 're-only)
(gnus-simplify-subject
(gnus-header-subject b) 're-only)
)))))))
The following is an example of simplifying subjects like the
gnus-Subject-next-same-subject command does:
(setq gnus-Select-group-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(mapcar (function
(lambda (header)
(nntp-set-header-subject
header
(gnus-simplify-subject
(gnus-header-subject header) 're-only))))
gnus-newsgroup-headers))))
In some newsgroups, author names are meaningless. It is possible to
prevent listing author names in the Subject buffer as follows:
(setq gnus-Select-group-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(cond ((string-equal "comp.sources.unix"
gnus-newsgroup-name)
(setq gnus-optional-headers
(function gnus-optional-lines)))
(t
(setq gnus-optional-headers
(function
gnus-optional-lines-and-from)))))))
gnus-Select-article-hook
nil.
The default hook definition shows conversation thread subtrees of the
selected article automatically as follows:
(setq gnus-Select-article-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(gnus-Subject-show-thread))))
It is possible to run Rmail on a digest article automatically as
follows:
(setq gnus-Select-article-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(gnus-Subject-show-thread)
(cond ((string-equal "comp.sys.sun"
gnus-newsgroup-name)
(gnus-Subject-rmail-digest))
((and (string-equal "comp.text"
gnus-newsgroup-name)
(string-match "^TeXhax Digest"
(gnus-header-subject
gnus-current-headers)))
(gnus-Subject-rmail-digest)
)))))
gnus-Select-digest-hook
nil. This hook is intended to modify an article so
that Rmail can work with it. See section Reading Digest Articles, for more
information on digest articles.
The following example is the default hook definition to modify
incomplete digest articles:
(setq gnus-Select-digest-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Reply-To: is required by
;; `undigestify-rmail-message'.
(or (mail-position-on-field "Reply-to" t)
(progn
(mail-position-on-field "Reply-to")
(insert (gnus-fetch-field "From")))))))
gnus-Rmail-digest-hook
nil. This hook is intended to customize Rmail Mode
for reading digest articles.
gnus-Apply-kill-hook
nil. This hook is intended
to apply KILL files to the selected newsgroup. It is set to the
function gnus-apply-kill-file by default.
Since a general KILL file is too heavy to use only for a few newsgroups,
a lighter hook function is recommended. For example, if you'd like to
apply kills to articles which contain the string `rmgroup' in
subject in newsgroup `control', you can use the following
hook:
(setq gnus-Apply-kill-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(cond ((string-match "control" gnus-newsgroup-name)
(gnus-kill "Subject" "rmgroup")
(gnus-expunge "X"))))))
See section KILL File, for more information on KILL files.
gnus-Mark-article-hook
nil. The hook is intended to mark an article
as read (or unread) automatically when it is selected.
The following example is the default definition of the hook:
(setq gnus-Mark-article-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Mark the selected article as read.
(or (memq gnus-current-article gnus-newsgroup-marked)
(gnus-Subject-mark-as-read gnus-current-article))
;; Put "+" on the current subject.
(gnus-Subject-set-current-mark "+"))))
It is possible to mark as unread (`-') instead when an article is
selected as follows:
(setq gnus-Mark-article-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Mark the selected article as unread.
(gnus-Subject-mark-as-unread gnus-current-article)
;; Put "+" on the current subject.
(gnus-Subject-set-current-mark "+"))))
gnus-Inews-article-hook
nil. This hook is called just before sending an article to
the NNTP server or calling the `inews' program, while the hook
news-inews-hook is called before preparing article headers. This
hook is intended to run special encoding programs such as kanji code
conversion on the article.
gnus-Exit-group-hook
nil. If your machine is so slow that exiting from Subject
Mode takes a long time, you can inhibit marking articles as read by
using cross-reference information in the `Xref:' field by setting
the variable gnus-newsgroup-headers to nil in this
hook.
gnus-Exit-gnus-hook
nil. If you want to clear out Emacs buffers which were
created by GNUS and remain afterwards, you can use this hook.
The following example shows how to kill a buffer which was used for
posting news.
(setq gnus-Exit-gnus-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Kill a buffer used for posting news.
(and (get-buffer "*post-news*")
(kill-buffer "*post-news*")))))
gnus-Suspend-gnus-hook
nil. The purpose is the same as the hook
gnus-Exit-gnus-hook.
gnus-Save-newsrc-hook
nil. This hook is intended to change the way
of backing up the startup file.
nntp-server-hook
nil. This hook is
intended to change the kanji code of a buffer associated with the
stream. Use the variable nntp-server-name to refer to the name
of the NNTP server in this hook. See section Kanji Handling, for more
information.
Some common problems and their solutions are described. If you have any other problems which are not described here and cannot solve them by yourself, see section Reporting Bugs.
Emacs may hang up while waiting for NNTP server responses. This may
be caused by a buggy select routine of your operating system. If so,
the problem may be solved by using source codes of `nntp.el'
instead of byte-compiled codes. If you still have problems with it, set
the variable nntp-buggy-select to t.
Emacs may hang up while retrieving headers of a large newsgroup. The
reason is that too many requests have been sent to the NNTP server
without reading replies to them. This causes a deadlock of Emacs and
the server. In this case, the number of requests sent to the server at
one time must be reduced. Set the variable nntp-maximum-request
to a lower value than the default. The optimal value depends on your
computing environment.
If the kanji code of articles stored in the NNTP server is different
from your private file kanji code, the correct kanji code of the buffer
associated with the NNTP stream must be specified using the hook
nntp-server-hook as follows:
(setq nntp-server-hook
(function
(lambda ()
;; Server's Kanji code is EUC (NEmacs hack).
(make-local-variable 'kanji-fileio-code)
(setq kanji-fileio-code 0))))
If you use a local news spool in stead of NNTP, the following additional hook is required to post an article in the correct kanji code in any case:
(setq gnus-Inews-article-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(save-excursion
(set-buffer nntp-server-buffer)
(make-local-variable 'kanji-fileio-code)
(setq kanji-fileio-code 0) ;EUC
))))
The variable nntp-server-name is a buffer local variable
holding a host name running an NNTP server. Use this variable to change
the kanji code according to the server. The following example shows how
to change the kanji code using this variable.
(setq nntp-server-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(make-local-variable 'kanji-fileio-code)
(cond ((string-equal nntp-server-name "foo")
(setq kanji-fileio-code 0)) ;EUC
((string-equal nntp-server-name "bar")
(setq kanji-fileio-code 1)) ;Shift-JIS
(t
(setq kanji-fileio-code 2)) ;JIS
))))
The author has less experiences with NEmacs 3.0. So, the following description may be wrong. If you find any mistakes, please let the author know (see section Reporting Bugs).
In NEmacs 3.0, the kanji code of articles stored in the NNTP server
must be specified according to both the service name (or number) and the
host name running the server. For this, the function
define-service-kanji-code is provided.
The following example specifies the kanji code of the host `flab' as JIS using this function:
(define-service-kanji-code "nntp" "flab" 2) ;2 stands for JIS.
If the kanji code of articles stored in the NNTP server is not EUC, it must be converted to EUC in an Emacs buffer after being read into the buffer. The kanji code of articles being posted must be also converted to the server specific kanji code in an Emacs buffer before actually being sent to the server. The following examples show how to do these using hooks:
(setq gnus-Article-prepare-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
"nkf" t t nil "-e" ;-e stands for EUC.
))))
(setq gnus-Inews-article-hook
(function
(lambda ()
(call-process-region (point-min) (point-max)
"nkf" t t nil "-j" ;-j stands for JIS.
))))
In this example, `nkf' (Network Kanji Filter) is used as a kanji code converter, and the kanji code of the NNTP server is JIS.
Basically, GNUS is not designed to be preloaded. For instance, if you
preload `gnus.el', some user variables which are initialized from
environment variables may be improperly initialized according to your
environment definitions. The variables gnus-nntp-server,
gnus-author-copy, and gnus-article-save-directory are such
variables.
To prevent GNUS from being initialized from your definitions, you
should unsetenv related environment variables before preloading
GNUS, or set the variables to nil after loading GNUS.
There are two mailing lists and one USENET newsgroup for discussing GNUS related topics. These are intended for exchanging useful information about GNUS, such as bug reports, useful hooks, and extensions of GNUS. If you have any questions or problems, feel free to ask about them. Suggestions are also welcome.
gnu.emacs.gnus
info-gnus-english@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
info-gnus-english-request@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
info-gnus@flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP
info-gnus-request@flab.Fujitsu.CO.JP
The major difference between info-gnus-english/gnu.emacs.gnus and info-gnus is the official language. There is no need to subscribe to info-gnus if you cannot read messages written in Japanese since most discussions and important announcements will be sent to info-gnus-english.
If you find a bug, it is important to report it and to report it in a way which is useful. If it is a bug of a lisp program, what is the most useful is an exact backtrace information of the lisp program with the version number of GNUS that you are using.
To make the backtrace information, you must set the Emacs variable
debug-on-error to t before the error happens. A backtrace
obtained from a byte-compiled lisp program is not usually
understandable. To make a human readable backtrace, load the source
program which is not byte-compiled yet and then produce the
error.
See Info file `emacs', node `Bugs', for more information.