This is Info file ../info/gnus, produced by Makeinfo version 1.68 from the input file gnus.texi. START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Gnus: (gnus). The newsreader Gnus. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader. Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions.  File: gnus, Node: Washing Mail, Next: Duplicates, Prev: Expiring Mail, Up: Getting Mail Washing Mail ------------ Mailers and list servers are notorious for doing all sorts of really, really stupid things with mail. "Hey, RFC822 doesn't explicitly prohibit us from adding the string `wE aRe ElItE!!!!!1!!' to the end of all lines passing through our server, so let's do that!!!!1!" Yes, but RFC822 wasn't designed to be read by morons. Things that were considered to be self-evident were not discussed. So. Here we are. Case in point: The German version of Microsoft Exchange adds `AW: ' to the subjects of replies instead of `Re: '. I could pretend to be shocked and dismayed by this, but I haven't got the energy. It is to laugh. Gnus provides a plethora of functions for washing articles while displaying them, but it might be nicer to do the filtering before storing the mail to disc. For that purpose, we have three hooks and various functions that can be put in these hooks. `nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook' This hook is called before doing anything with the mail and is meant for grand, sweeping gestures. Functions to be used include: `nnheader-ms-strip-cr' Remove trailing carriage returns from each line. This is default on Emacs running on MS machines. `nnmail-prepare-incoming-header-hook' This hook is called narrowed to each header. It can be used when cleaning up the headers. Functions that can be used include: `nnmail-remove-leading-whitespace' Clear leading white space that "helpful" listservs have added to the headers to make them look nice. Aaah. `nnmail-remove-list-identifiers' Some list servers add an identifier--for example, `(idm)'--to the beginning of all `Subject' headers. I'm sure that's nice for people who use stone age mail readers. This function will remove strings that match the `nnmail-list-identifiers' regexp, which can also be a list of regexp. For instance, if you want to remove the `(idm)' and the `nagnagnag' identifiers: (setq nnmail-list-identifiers '("(idm)" "nagnagnag")) `nnmail-remove-tabs' Translate all `TAB' characters into `SPACE' characters. `nnmail-prepare-incoming-message-hook' This hook is called narrowed to each message. Functions to be used include: `article-de-quoted-unreadable' Decode Quoted Readable encoding.  File: gnus, Node: Duplicates, Next: Not Reading Mail, Prev: Washing Mail, Up: Getting Mail Duplicates ---------- If you are a member of a couple of mailing lists, you will sometimes receive two copies of the same mail. This can be quite annoying, so `nnmail' checks for and treats any duplicates it might find. To do this, it keeps a cache of old `Message-ID's-- `nnmail-message-id-cache-file', which is `~/.nnmail-cache' by default. The approximate maximum number of `Message-ID's stored there is controlled by the `nnmail-message-id-cache-length' variable, which is 1000 by default. (So 1000 `Message-ID's will be stored.) If all this sounds scary to you, you can set `nnmail-treat-duplicates' to `warn' (which is what it is by default), and `nnmail' won't delete duplicate mails. Instead it will insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks that this is a duplicate of a different message. This variable can also be a function. If that's the case, the function will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in question with the `Message-ID' as a parameter. The function must return either `nil', `warn', or `delete'. You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to `nil'. If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special "duplicates" group, you could do that using the normal mail split methods: (setq nnmail-split-fancy '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group. ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate") ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another. (any mail "mail.misc") ;; Other rules. [ ... ] )) Or something like: (setq nnmail-split-methods '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:") ;; Other rules. [...])) Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail with Gnus, and that she has `nnmail-treat-duplicates' set to `delete', you can send her as many insults as you like, just by using a `Message-ID' of a mail that you know that she's already received. Think of all the fun! She'll never see any of it! Whee!  File: gnus, Node: Not Reading Mail, Next: Choosing a Mail Backend, Prev: Duplicates, Up: Getting Mail Not Reading Mail ---------------- If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them. This might not be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want. If you set `nnmail-spool-file' to `nil', none of the backends will ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help. This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite happily with `nnml' and just want to peek at some old RMAIL file you have stashed away with `nnbabyl'. All backends have variables called backend-`get-new-mail'. If you want to disable the `nnbabyl' mail reading, you edit the virtual server for the group to have a setting where `nnbabyl-get-new-mail' to `nil'. All the mail backends will call `nn'*`-prepare-save-mail-hook' narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading incoming mail.  File: gnus, Node: Choosing a Mail Backend, Prev: Not Reading Mail, Up: Getting Mail Choosing a Mail Backend ----------------------- Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group. The mail file is first copied to your home directory. What happens after that depends on what format you want to store your mail in. * Menu: * Unix Mail Box:: Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox. * Rmail Babyl:: Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format. * Mail Spool:: Store your mail in a private spool? * MH Spool:: An mhspool-like backend. * Mail Folders:: Having one file for each group.  File: gnus, Node: Unix Mail Box, Next: Rmail Babyl, Up: Choosing a Mail Backend Unix Mail Box ............. The "nnmbox" backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store mail. `nnmbox' will add extra headers to each mail article to say which group it belongs in. Virtual server settings: `nnmbox-mbox-file' The name of the mail box in the user's home directory. `nnmbox-active-file' The name of the active file for the mail box. `nnmbox-get-new-mail' If non-`nil', `nnmbox' will read incoming mail and split it into groups.  File: gnus, Node: Rmail Babyl, Next: Mail Spool, Prev: Unix Mail Box, Up: Choosing a Mail Backend Rmail Babyl ........... The "nnbabyl" backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. "rmail mbox") to store mail. `nnbabyl' will add extra headers to each mail article to say which group it belongs in. Virtual server settings: `nnbabyl-mbox-file' The name of the rmail mbox file. `nnbabyl-active-file' The name of the active file for the rmail box. `nnbabyl-get-new-mail' If non-`nil', `nnbabyl' will read incoming mail.  File: gnus, Node: Mail Spool, Next: MH Spool, Prev: Rmail Babyl, Up: Choosing a Mail Backend Mail Spool .......... The "nnml" spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known format. It should be used with some caution. If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into files, one file for each mail, and put the articles into the corresponding directories under the directory specified by the `nnml-directory' variable. The default value is `~/Mail/'. You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take care of all that. If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to store in your account, you should not use this backend. As each mail gets its own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes within a few weeks. If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a problem for you having your friendly systems administrator walking around, madly, shouting "Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!", then you should know that this is probably the fastest format to use. You do not have to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new mail. `nnml' is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article splitting. It has to create lots of files, and it also generates NOV databases for the incoming mails. This makes it the fastest backend when it comes to reading mail. Virtual server settings: `nnml-directory' All `nnml' directories will be placed under this directory. `nnml-active-file' The active file for the `nnml' server. `nnml-newsgroups-file' The `nnml' group descriptions file. *Note Newsgroups File Format::. `nnml-get-new-mail' If non-`nil', `nnml' will read incoming mail. `nnml-nov-is-evil' If non-`nil', this backend will ignore any NOV files. `nnml-nov-file-name' The name of the NOV files. The default is `.overview'. `nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook' Hook run narrowed to an article before saving. If your `nnml' groups and NOV files get totally out of whack, you can do a complete update by typing `M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases'. This command will trawl through the entire `nnml' hierarchy, looking at each and every article, so it might take a while to complete. A better interface to this functionality can be found in the server buffer (*note Server Commands::.).  File: gnus, Node: MH Spool, Next: Mail Folders, Prev: Mail Spool, Up: Choosing a Mail Backend MH Spool ........ `nnmh' is just like `nnml', except that is doesn't generate NOV databases and it doesn't keep an active file. This makes `nnmh' a *much* slower backend than `nnml', but it also makes it easier to write procmail scripts for. Virtual server settings: `nnmh-directory' All `nnmh' directories will be located under this directory. `nnmh-get-new-mail' If non-`nil', `nnmh' will read incoming mail. `nnmh-be-safe' If non-`nil', `nnmh' will go to ridiculous lengths to make sure that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they are. It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so setting this to `t' will mean a serious slow-down. If you never use anything but Gnus to read the `nnmh' articles, you do not have to set this variable to `t'.  File: gnus, Node: Mail Folders, Prev: MH Spool, Up: Choosing a Mail Backend Mail Folders ............ `nnfolder' is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate file. Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format. `nnfolder' will add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival dates. Virtual server settings: `nnfolder-directory' All the `nnfolder' mail boxes will be stored under this directory. `nnfolder-active-file' The name of the active file. `nnfolder-newsgroups-file' The name of the group descriptions file. *Note Newsgroups File Format::. `nnfolder-get-new-mail' If non-`nil', `nnfolder' will read incoming mail. `nnfolder-save-buffer-hook' Hook run before saving the folders. Note that Emacs does the normal backup renaming of files even with the `nnfolder' buffers. If you wish to switch this off, you could say something like the following in your `.emacs' file: (defun turn-off-backup () (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t)) (add-hook 'nnfolder-save-buffer-hook 'turn-off-backup) If you have lots of `nnfolder'-like files you'd like to read with `nnfolder', you can use the `M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file' command to make `nnfolder' aware of all likely files in `nnfolder-directory'.  File: gnus, Node: Other Sources, Next: Combined Groups, Prev: Getting Mail, Up: Select Methods Other Sources ============= Gnus can do more than just read news or mail. The methods described below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were newsgroups. * Menu: * Directory Groups:: You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup. * Anything Groups:: Dired? Who needs dired? * Document Groups:: Single files can be the basis of a group. * SOUP:: Reading SOUP packets "offline". * Web Searches:: Creating groups from articles that match a string. * Mail-To-News Gateways:: Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.  File: gnus, Node: Directory Groups, Next: Anything Groups, Up: Other Sources Directory Groups ---------------- If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files in it, you might treat it as a newsgroup. The files have to have numerical names, of course. This might be an opportune moment to mention `ange-ftp' (and its successor `efs'), that most wonderful of all wonderful Emacs packages. When I wrote `nndir', I didn't think much about it--a backend to read directories. Big deal. `ange-ftp' changes that picture dramatically. For instance, if you enter the `ange-ftp' file name `/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/' as the directory name, `ange-ftp' or `efs' will actually allow you to read this directory over at `sina' as a newsgroup. Distributed news ahoy! `nndir' will use NOV files if they are present. `nndir' is a "read-only" backend--you can't delete or expire articles with this method. You can use `nnmh' or `nnml' for whatever you use `nndir' for, so you could switch to any of those methods if you feel the need to have a non-read-only `nndir'.  File: gnus, Node: Anything Groups, Next: Document Groups, Prev: Directory Groups, Up: Other Sources Anything Groups --------------- From the `nndir' backend (which reads a single spool-like directory), it's just a hop and a skip to `nneething', which pretends that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup. Strange, but true. When `nneething' is presented with a directory, it will scan this directory and assign article numbers to each file. When you enter such a group, `nneething' must create "headers" that Gnus can use. After all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting. `nneething' does this in a two-step process. First, it snoops each file in question. If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first few lines look like headers), it will use this as the head. If this is just some arbitrary file without a head (e.g. a C source file), `nneething' will cobble up a header out of thin air. It will use file ownership, name and date and do whatever it can with these elements. All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be presented with something that looks very much like a newsgroup. Totally like a newsgroup, to be precise. If you select an article, it will be displayed in the article buffer, just as usual. If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you into a new summary buffer for this `nneething' group. And so on. You can traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember that Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either. There are two overall modes to this action--ephemeral or solid. When doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., `G D' from the group buffer), Gnus will not store information on what files you have read, and what files are new, and so on. If you create a solid `nneething' group the normal way with `G m', Gnus will store a mapping table between article numbers and file names, and you can treat this group like any other groups. When you activate a solid `nneething' group, you will be told how many unread articles it contains, etc., etc. Some variables: `nneething-map-file-directory' All the mapping files for solid `nneething' groups will be stored in this directory, which defaults to `~/.nneething/'. `nneething-exclude-files' All files that match this regexp will be ignored. Nice to use to exclude auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by default. `nneething-map-file' Name of the map files.  File: gnus, Node: Document Groups, Next: SOUP, Prev: Anything Groups, Up: Other Sources Document Groups --------------- `nndoc' is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file as a newsgroup. Several files types are supported: `babyl' The babyl (rmail) mail box. `mbox' The standard Unix mbox file. `mmdf' The MMDF mail box format. `news' Several news articles appended into a file. `rnews' The rnews batch transport format. `forward' Forwarded articles. `mime-parts' MIME multipart messages, besides digests. `mime-digest' MIME (RFC 1341) digest format. `standard-digest' The standard (RFC 1153) digest format. `slack-digest' Non-standard digest format--matches most things, but does it badly. You can also use the special "file type" `guess', which means that `nndoc' will try to guess what file type it is looking at. `digest' means that `nndoc' should guess what digest type the file is. `nndoc' will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers into it--it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a group. And that's it. If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into your new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, `nndoc' can probably help you with that. Say you have an old `RMAIL' file with mail that you now want to split into your new `nnml' groups. You look at that file using `nndoc' (using the `G f' command in the group buffer (*note Foreign Groups::.)), set the process mark on all the articles in the buffer (`M P b', for instance), and then re-spool (`B r') using `nnml'. If all goes well, all the mail in the `RMAIL' file is now also stored in lots of `nnml' directories, and you can delete that pesky `RMAIL' file. If you have the guts! Virtual server variables: `nndoc-article-type' This should be one of `mbox', `babyl', `digest', `news', `rnews', `mmdf', `forward', `rfc934', `rfc822-forward', `mime-parts', `mime-digest', `standard-digest', `slack-digest', `clari-briefs' or `guess'. `nndoc-post-type' This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news group or a mail group. There are two valid values: `mail' (the default) and `news'. * Menu: * Document Server Internals:: How to add your own document types.  File: gnus, Node: Document Server Internals, Up: Document Groups Document Server Internals ......................... Adding new document types to be recognized by `nndoc' isn't difficult. You just have to whip up a definition of what the document looks like, write a predicate function to recognize that document type, and then hook into `nndoc'. First, here's an example document type definition: (mmdf (article-begin . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n") (body-end . "^\^A\^A\^A\^A\n")) The definition is simply a unique "name" followed by a series of regexp pseudo-variable settings. Below are the possible variables--don't be daunted by the number of variables; most document types can be defined with very few settings: `first-article' If present, `nndoc' will skip past all text until it finds something that match this regexp. All text before this will be totally ignored. `article-begin' This setting has to be present in all document type definitions. It says what the beginning of each article looks like. `head-begin-function' If present, this should be a function that moves point to the head of the article. `nndoc-head-begin' If present, this should be a regexp that matches the head of the article. `nndoc-head-end' This should match the end of the head of the article. It defaults to `^$'--the empty line. `body-begin-function' If present, this function should move point to the beginning of the body of the article. `body-begin' This should match the beginning of the body of the article. It defaults to `^\n'. `body-end-function' If present, this function should move point to the end of the body of the article. `body-end' If present, this should match the end of the body of the article. `file-end' If present, this should match the end of the file. All text after this regexp will be totally ignored. So, using these variables `nndoc' is able to dissect a document file into a series of articles, each with a head and a body. However, a few more variables are needed since not all document types are all that news-like--variables needed to transform the head or the body into something that's palatable for Gnus: `prepare-body-function' If present, this function will be called when requesting an article. It will be called with point at the start of the body, and is useful if the document has encoded some parts of its contents. `article-transform-function' If present, this function is called when requesting an article. It's meant to be used for more wide-ranging transformation of both head and body of the article. `generate-head-function' If present, this function is called to generate a head that Gnus can understand. It is called with the article number as a parameter, and is expected to generate a nice head for the article in question. It is called when requesting the headers of all articles. Let's look at the most complicated example I can come up with--standard digests: (standard-digest (first-article . ,(concat "^" (make-string 70 ?-) "\n\n+")) (article-begin . ,(concat "\n\n" (make-string 30 ?-) "\n\n+")) (prepare-body-function . nndoc-unquote-dashes) (body-end-function . nndoc-digest-body-end) (head-end . "^ ?$") (body-begin . "^ ?\n") (file-end . "^End of .*digest.*[0-9].*\n\\*\\*\\|^End of.*Digest *$") (subtype digest guess)) We see that all text before a 70-width line of dashes is ignored; all text after a line that starts with that `^End of' is also ignored; each article begins with a 30-width line of dashes; the line separating the head from the body may contain a single space; and that the body is run through `nndoc-unquote-dashes' before being delivered. To hook your own document definition into `nndoc', use the `nndoc-add-type' function. It takes two parameters--the first is the definition itself and the second (optional) parameter says where in the document type definition alist to put this definition. The alist is traversed sequentially, and `nndoc-TYPE-type-p' is called for a given type `TYPE'. So `nndoc-mmdf-type-p' is called to see whether a document is of `mmdf' type, and so on. These type predicates should return `nil' if the document is not of the correct type; `t' if it is of the correct type; and a number if the document might be of the correct type. A high number means high probability; a low number means low probability with `0' being the lowest valid number.  File: gnus, Node: SOUP, Next: Web Searches, Prev: Document Groups, Up: Other Sources SOUP ---- In the PC world people often talk about "offline" newsreaders. These are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities. With built-in modem programs. Yecchh! Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like `uucp' and, like, `nntpd' and set up proper news and mail transport things like Ghod intended. And then we just use normal newsreaders. However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a bit easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not really that interested in doing things properly. A file format called SOUP has been developed for transporting news and mail from servers to home machines and back again. It can be a bit fiddly. First some terminology: "server" This is the machine that is connected to the outside world and where you get news and/or mail from. "home machine" This is the machine that you want to do the actual reading and responding on. It is typically not connected to the rest of the world in any way. "packet" Something that contains messages and/or commands. There are two kinds of packets: "message packets" These are packets made at the server, and typically contain lots of messages for you to read. These are called `SoupoutX.tgz' by default, where X is a number. "response packets" These are packets made at the home machine, and typically contains replies that you've written. These are called `SoupinX.tgz' by default, where X is a number. 1. You log in on the server and create a SOUP packet. You can either use a dedicated SOUP thingie (like the `awk' program), or you can use Gnus to create the packet with its SOUP commands (`O s' and/or `G s b'; and then `G s p') (*note SOUP Commands::.). 2. You transfer the packet home. Rail, boat, car or modem will do fine. 3. You put the packet in your home directory. 4. You fire up Gnus on your home machine using the `nnsoup' backend as the native or secondary server. 5. You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things you want (*note SOUP Replies::.). 6. You do the `G s r' command to pack these replies into a SOUP packet. 7. You transfer this packet to the server. 8. You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the `G s s' command. 9. You then repeat until you die. So you basically have a bipartite system--you use `nnsoup' for reading and Gnus for packing/sending these SOUP packets. * Menu: * SOUP Commands:: Commands for creating and sending SOUP packets * SOUP Groups:: A backend for reading SOUP packets. * SOUP Replies:: How to enable `nnsoup' to take over mail and news.  File: gnus, Node: SOUP Commands, Next: SOUP Groups, Up: SOUP SOUP Commands ............. These are commands for creating and manipulating SOUP packets. `G s b' Pack all unread articles in the current group (`gnus-group-brew-soup'). This command understands the process/prefix convention. `G s w' Save all SOUP data files (`gnus-soup-save-areas'). `G s s' Send all replies from the replies packet (`gnus-soup-send-replies'). `G s p' Pack all files into a SOUP packet (`gnus-soup-pack-packet'). `G s r' Pack all replies into a replies packet (`nnsoup-pack-replies'). `O s' This summary-mode command adds the current article to a SOUP packet (`gnus-soup-add-article'). It understands the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::.). There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these thingies: `gnus-soup-directory' Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing SOUP packets. The default is `~/SoupBrew/'. `gnus-soup-replies-directory' This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending our reply packets. `~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/' is the default. `gnus-soup-prefix-file' Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix. The default is `gnus-prefix'. `gnus-soup-packer' A format string command for packing a SOUP packet. The default is `tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz'. `gnus-soup-unpacker' Format string command for unpacking a SOUP packet. The default is `gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -'. `gnus-soup-packet-directory' Where Gnus will look for reply packets. The default is `~/'. `gnus-soup-packet-regexp' Regular expression matching SOUP reply packets in `gnus-soup-packet-directory'.  File: gnus, Node: SOUP Groups, Next: SOUP Replies, Prev: SOUP Commands, Up: SOUP SOUP Groups ........... `nnsoup' is the backend for reading SOUP packets. It will read incoming packets, unpack them, and put them in a directory where you can read them at leisure. These are the variables you can use to customize its behavior: `nnsoup-tmp-directory' When `nnsoup' unpacks a SOUP packet, it does it in this directory. (`/tmp/' by default.) `nnsoup-directory' `nnsoup' then moves each message and index file to this directory. The default is `~/SOUP/'. `nnsoup-replies-directory' All replies will be stored in this directory before being packed into a reply packet. The default is `~/SOUP/replies/"'. `nnsoup-replies-format-type' The SOUP format of the replies packets. The default is `?n' (rnews), and I don't think you should touch that variable. I probably shouldn't even have documented it. Drats! Too late! `nnsoup-replies-index-type' The index type of the replies packet. The default is `?n', which means "none". Don't fiddle with this one either! `nnsoup-active-file' Where `nnsoup' stores lots of information. This is not an "active file" in the `nntp' sense; it's an Emacs Lisp file. If you lose this file or mess it up in any way, you're dead. The default is `~/SOUP/active'. `nnsoup-packer' Format string command for packing a reply SOUP packet. The default is `tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupin%d.tgz'. `nnsoup-unpacker' Format string command for unpacking incoming SOUP packets. The default is `gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -'. `nnsoup-packet-directory' Where `nnsoup' will look for incoming packets. The default is `~/'. `nnsoup-packet-regexp' Regular expression matching incoming SOUP packets. The default is `Soupout'. `nnsoup-always-save' If non-`nil', save the replies buffer after each posted message.  File: gnus, Node: SOUP Replies, Prev: SOUP Groups, Up: SOUP SOUP Replies ............ Just using `nnsoup' won't mean that your postings and mailings end up in SOUP reply packets automagically. You have to work a bit more for that to happen. The `nnsoup-set-variables' command will set the appropriate variables to ensure that all your followups and replies end up in the SOUP system. In specific, this is what it does: (setq message-send-news-function 'nnsoup-request-post) (setq message-send-mail-function 'nnsoup-request-mail) And that's it, really. If you only want news to go into the SOUP system you just use the first line. If you only want mail to be SOUPed you use the second.  File: gnus, Node: Web Searches, Next: Mail-To-News Gateways, Prev: SOUP, Up: Other Sources Web Searches ------------ It's, like, too neat to search the Usenet for articles that match a string, but it, like, totally *sucks*, like, totally, to use one of those, like, Web browsers, and you, like, have to, rilly, like, look at the commercials, so, like, with Gnus you can do *rad*, rilly, searches without having to use a browser. The `nnweb' backend allows an easy interface to the mighty search engine. You create an `nnweb' group, enter a search pattern, and then enter the group and read the articles like you would any normal group. The `G w' command in the group buffer (*note Foreign Groups::.) will do this in an easy-to-use fashion. `nnweb' groups don't really lend themselves to being solid groups--they have a very fleeting idea of article numbers. In fact, each time you enter an `nnweb' group (not even changing the search pattern), you are likely to get the articles ordered in a different manner. Not even using duplicate suppression (*note Duplicate Suppression::.) will help, since `nnweb' doesn't even know the `Message-ID' of the articles before reading them using some search engines (DejaNews, for instance). The only possible way to keep track of which articles you've read is by scoring on the `Date' header--mark all articles posted before the last date you read the group as read. If the search engine changes its output substantially, `nnweb' won't be able to parse it and will fail. One could hardly fault the Web providers if they were to do this--their *raison d'être* is to make money off of advertisements, not to provide services to the community. Since `nnweb' washes the ads off all the articles, one might think that the providers might be somewhat miffed. We'll see. You must have the `url' and `w3' package installed to be able to use `nnweb'. Virtual server variables: `nnweb-type' What search engine type is being used. The currently supported types are `dejanews', `dejanewsold', `altavista' and `reference'. `nnweb-search' The search string to feed to the search engine. `nnweb-max-hits' Advisory maximum number of hits per search to display. The default is 100. `nnweb-type-definition' Type-to-definition alist. This alist says what `nnweb' should do with the various search engine types. The following elements must be present: `article' Function to decode the article and provide something that Gnus understands. `map' Function to create an article number to message header and URL alist. `search' Function to send the search string to the search engine. `address' The address the aforementioned function should send the search string to. `id' Format string URL to fetch an article by `Message-ID'.  File: gnus, Node: Mail-To-News Gateways, Prev: Web Searches, Up: Other Sources Mail-To-News Gateways --------------------- If your local `nntp' server doesn't allow posting, for some reason or other, you can post using one of the numerous mail-to-news gateways. The `nngateway' backend provides the interface. Note that you can't read anything from this backend--it can only be used to post with. Server variables: `nngateway-address' This is the address of the mail-to-news gateway. `nngateway-header-transformation' News headers often have to be transformed in some odd way or other for the mail-to-news gateway to accept it. This variable says what transformation should be called, and defaults to `nngateway-simple-header-transformation'. The function is called narrowed to the headers to be transformed and with one parameter--the gateway address. This default function just inserts a new `To' header based on the `Newsgroups' header and the gateway address. For instance, an article with this `Newsgroups' header: Newsgroups: alt.religion.emacs will get this `From' header inserted: To: alt-religion-emacs@GATEWAY The following pre-defined functions exist: `nngateway-simple-header-transformation' Creates a `To' header that looks like NEWSGROUP@`nngateway-address'. `nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation' Creates a `To' header that looks like `nngateway-address'. Here's an example: (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "mail2news@replay.com" (nngateway-header-transformation nngateway-mail2news-header-transformation))) So, to use this, simply say something like: (setq gnus-post-method '(nngateway "GATEWAY.ADDRESS"))  File: gnus, Node: Combined Groups, Next: Gnus Unplugged, Prev: Other Sources, Up: Select Methods Combined Groups =============== Gnus allows combining a mixture of all the other group types into bigger groups. * Menu: * Virtual Groups:: Combining articles from many groups. * Kibozed Groups:: Looking through parts of the newsfeed for articles.  File: gnus, Node: Virtual Groups, Next: Kibozed Groups, Up: Combined Groups Virtual Groups -------------- An "nnvirtual group" is really nothing more than a collection of other groups. For instance, if you are tired of reading many small groups, you can put them all in one big group, and then grow tired of reading one big, unwieldy group. The joys of computing! You specify `nnvirtual' as the method. The address should be a regexp to match component groups. All marks in the virtual group will stick to the articles in the component groups. So if you tick an article in a virtual group, the article will also be ticked in the component group from whence it came. (And vice versa--marks from the component groups will also be shown in the virtual group.) Here's an example `nnvirtual' method that collects all Andrea Dworkin newsgroups into one, big, happy newsgroup: (nnvirtual "^alt\\.fan\\.andrea-dworkin$\\|^rec\\.dworkin.*") The component groups can be native or foreign; everything should work smoothly, but if your computer explodes, it was probably my fault. Collecting the same group from several servers might actually be a good idea if users have set the Distribution header to limit distribution. If you would like to read `soc.motss' both from a server in Japan and a server in Norway, you could use the following as the group regexp: "^nntp\\+server\\.jp:soc\\.motss$\\|^nntp\\+server\\.no:soc\\.motss$" (Remember, though, that if you're creating the group with `G m', you shouldn't double the backslashes, and you should leave off the quote characters at the beginning and the end of the string.) This should work kinda smoothly--all articles from both groups should end up in this one, and there should be no duplicates. Threading (and the rest) will still work as usual, but there might be problems with the sequence of articles. Sorting on date might be an option here (*note Selecting a Group::.). One limitation, however--all groups included in a virtual group have to be alive (i.e., subscribed or unsubscribed). Killed or zombie groups can't be component groups for `nnvirtual' groups. If the `nnvirtual-always-rescan' is non-`nil', `nnvirtual' will always scan groups for unread articles when entering a virtual group. If this variable is `nil' (which is the default) and you read articles in a component group after the virtual group has been activated, the read articles from the component group will show up when you enter the virtual group. You'll also see this effect if you have two virtual groups that have a component group in common. If that's the case, you should set this variable to `t'. Or you can just tap `M-g' on the virtual group every time before you enter it--it'll have much the same effect. `nnvirtual' can have both mail and news groups as component groups. When responding to articles in `nnvirtual' groups, `nnvirtual' has to ask the backend of the component group the article comes from whether it is a news or mail backend. However, when you do a `^', there is typically no sure way for the component backend to know this, and in that case `nnvirtual' tells Gnus that the article came from a not-news backend. (Just to be on the safe side.) `C-c C-t' in the message buffer will insert the `Newsgroups' line from the article you respond to in these cases.  File: gnus, Node: Kibozed Groups, Prev: Virtual Groups, Up: Combined Groups Kibozed Groups -------------- "Kibozing" is defined by OED as "grepping through (parts of) the news feed". `nnkiboze' is a backend that will do this for you. Oh joy! Now you can grind any NNTP server down to a halt with useless requests! Oh happiness! To create a kibozed group, use the `G k' command in the group buffer. The address field of the `nnkiboze' method is, as with `nnvirtual', a regexp to match groups to be "included" in the `nnkiboze' group. That's where most similarities between `nnkiboze' and `nnvirtual' end. In addition to this regexp detailing component groups, an `nnkiboze' group must have a score file to say what articles are to be included in the group (*note Scoring::.). You must run `M-x nnkiboze-generate-groups' after creating the `nnkiboze' groups you want to have. This command will take time. Lots of time. Oodles and oodles of time. Gnus has to fetch the headers from all the articles in all the component groups and run them through the scoring process to determine if there are any articles in the groups that are to be part of the `nnkiboze' groups. Please limit the number of component groups by using restrictive regexps. Otherwise your sysadmin may become annoyed with you, and the NNTP site may throw you off and never let you back in again. Stranger things have happened. `nnkiboze' component groups do not have to be alive--they can be dead, and they can be foreign. No restrictions. The generation of an `nnkiboze' group means writing two files in `nnkiboze-directory', which is `~/News/' by default. One contains the NOV header lines for all the articles in the group, and the other is an additional `.newsrc' file to store information on what groups have been searched through to find component articles. Articles marked as read in the `nnkiboze' group will have their NOV lines removed from the NOV file.  File: gnus, Node: Gnus Unplugged, Prev: Combined Groups, Up: Select Methods Gnus Unplugged ============== In olden times (ca. February '88), people used to run their newsreaders on big machines with permanent connections to the net. News transport was dealt with by news servers, and all the newsreaders had to do was to read news. Believe it or not. Nowadays most people read news and mail at home, and use some sort of modem to connect to the net. To avoid running up huge phone bills, it would be nice to have a way to slurp down all the news and mail, hang up the phone, read for several hours, and then upload any responses you have to make. And then you repeat the procedure. Of course, you can use news servers for doing this as well. I've used `inn' together with `slurp', `pop' and `sendmail' for some years, but doing that's a bore. Moving the news server functionality up to the newsreader makes sense if you're the only person reading news on a machine. Using Gnus as an "offline" newsreader is quite simple. * First, set up Gnus as you would do if you were running it on a machine that has full connection to the net. Go ahead. I'll still be waiting here. * Then, put the following magical incantation at the end of your `.gnus.el' file: (gnus-agentize) That's it. Gnus is now an "offline" newsreader. Of course, to use it as such, you have to learn a few new commands. * Menu: * Agent Basics:: How it all is supposed to work. * Agent Categories:: How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download. * Agent Commands:: New commands for all the buffers. * Agent Expiry:: How to make old articles go away. * Outgoing Messages:: What happens when you post/mail something? * Agent Variables:: Customizing is fun. * Example Setup:: An example `.gnus.el' file for offline people. * Batching Agents:: How to fetch news from a `cron' job.  File: gnus, Node: Agent Basics, Next: Agent Categories, Up: Gnus Unplugged Agent Basics ------------ First, let's get some terminology out of the way. The Gnus Agent is said to be "unplugged" when you have severed the connection to the net (and notified the Agent that this is the case). When the connection to the net is up again (and Gnus knows this), the Agent is "plugged". The "local" machine is the one you're running on, and which isn't connected to the net continuously. "Downloading" means fetching things from the net to your local machine. "Uploading" is doing the opposite. Let's take a typical Gnus session using the Agent. * You start Gnus with `gnus-unplugged'. This brings up the Gnus Agent in a disconnected state. You can read all the news that you have already fetched while in this mode. * You then decide to see whether any new news has arrived. You connect your machine to the net (using PPP or whatever), and then hit `J j' to make Gnus become "plugged". * You can then read the new news immediately, or you can download the news onto your local machine. If you want to do the latter, you press `J s' to fetch all the eligible articles in all the groups. (To let Gnus know which articles you want to download, *note Agent Categories::..) * After fetching the articles, you press `J j' to make Gnus become unplugged again, and you shut down the PPP thing (or whatever). And then you read the news offline. * And then you go to step 2. Here are some things you should do the first time (or so) that you use the Agent. * Decide which servers should be covered by the Agent. If you have a mail backend, it would probably be nonsensical to have it covered by the Agent. Go to the server buffer (`^' in the group buffer) and press `J a' the server (or servers) that you wish to have covered by the Agent (*note Server Agent Commands::.). This will typically be only the primary select method, which is listed on the bottom in the buffer. * Decide on download policy. *Note Agent Categories::. * Uhm... that's it.  File: gnus, Node: Agent Categories, Next: Agent Commands, Prev: Agent Basics, Up: Gnus Unplugged Agent Categories ---------------- One of the main reasons to integrate the news transport layer into the newsreader is to allow greater control over what articles to download. There's not much point in downloading huge amounts of articles, just to find out that you're not interested in reading any of them. It's better to be somewhat more conservative in choosing what to download, and then mark the articles for downloading manually if it should turn out that you're interested in the articles anyway. The main way to control what is to be downloaded is to create a "category" and then assign some (or all) groups to this category. Gnus has its own buffer for creating and managing categories. * Menu: * Category Syntax:: What a category looks like. * The Category Buffer:: A buffer for maintaining categories. * Category Variables:: Customize'r'Us.  File: gnus, Node: Category Syntax, Next: The Category Buffer, Up: Agent Categories Category Syntax ............... A category consists of two things. 1. A predicate which (generally) gives a rough outline of which articles are eligible for downloading; and 2. a score rule which (generally) gives you a finer granularity when deciding what articles to download. (Note that this "download score" is wholly unrelated to normal scores.) A predicate consists of predicates with logical operators sprinkled in between. Perhaps some examples are in order. Here's a simple predicate. (It's the default predicate, in fact, used for all groups that don't belong to any other category.) short Quite simple, eh? This predicate is true if and only if the article is short (for some value of "short"). Here's a more complex predicate: (or high (and (not low) (not long))) This means that an article should be downloaded if it has a high score, or if the score is not low and the article is not long. You get the drift. The available logical operators are `or', `and' and `not'. (If you prefer, you can use the more "C"-ish operators `|', `&' and `!' instead.) The following predicates are pre-defined, but if none of these fit what you want to do, you can write your own. `short' True iff the article is shorter than `gnus-agent-short-article' lines; default 100. `long' True iff the article is longer than `gnus-agent-long-article' lines; default 200. `low' True iff the article has a download score less than `gnus-agent-low-score'; default 0. `high' True iff the article has a download score greater than `gnus-agent-high-score'; default 0. `spam' True iff the Gnus Agent guesses that the article is spam. The heuristics may change over time, but at present it just computes a checksum and sees whether articles match. `true' Always true. `false' Always false. If you want to create your own predicate function, here's what you have to know: The functions are called with no parameters, but the `gnus-headers' and `gnus-score' dynamic variables are bound to useful values. Now, the syntax of the download score is the same as the syntax of normal score files, except that all elements that require actually seeing the article itself are verboten. This means that only the following headers can be scored on: `From', `Subject', `Date', `Xref', `Lines', `Chars', `Message-ID', and `References'.