gnus-6   [plain text]


This is ../info/gnus, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from gnus.texi.

INFO-DIR-SECTION Emacs
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Gnus: (gnus).         The newsreader Gnus.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.

   Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99,2000,2001 Free Software Foundation,
Inc.

   Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being none, with the Front-Cover texts being "A GNU
Manual", and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.  A copy of the
license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
License" in the Emacs manual.

   (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have freedom to copy and
modify this GNU Manual, like GNU software.  Copies published by the Free
Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development."

   This document is part of a collection distributed under the GNU Free
Documentation License.  If you want to distribute this document
separately from the collection, you can do so by adding a copy of the
license to the document, as described in section 6 of the license.


File: gnus,  Node: Mail Group Commands,  Next: Various Summary Stuff,  Prev: Tree Display,  Up: The Summary Buffer

Mail Group Commands
===================

   Some commands only make sense in mail groups.  If these commands are
invalid in the current group, they will raise a hell and let you know.

   All these commands (except the expiry and edit commands) use the
process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::).

`B e'
     Expire all expirable articles in the group
     (`gnus-summary-expire-articles').

`B M-C-e'
     Delete all the expirable articles in the group
     (`gnus-summary-expire-articles-now').  This means that *all*
     articles eligible for expiry in the current group will disappear
     forever into that big `/dev/null' in the sky.

`B <DEL>'
     Delete the mail article.  This is "delete" as in "delete it from
     your disk forever and ever, never to return again." Use with
     caution.  (`gnus-summary-delete-article').

`B m'
     Move the article from one mail group to another
     (`gnus-summary-move-article').  Marks will be preserved if
     GNUS-PRESERVE-MARKS is non-`nil' (which is the default).

`B c'
     Copy the article from one group (mail group or not) to a mail group
     (`gnus-summary-copy-article').  Marks will be preserved if
     GNUS-PRESERVE-MARKS is non-`nil' (which is the default).

`B B'
     Crosspost the current article to some other group
     (`gnus-summary-crosspost-article').  This will create a new copy of
     the article in the other group, and the Xref headers of the
     article will be properly updated.

`B i'
     Import an arbitrary file into the current mail newsgroup
     (`gnus-summary-import-article').  You will be prompted for a file
     name, a `From' header and a `Subject' header.

`B r'
     Respool the mail article (`gnus-summary-respool-article').
     `gnus-summary-respool-default-method' will be used as the default
     select method when respooling.  This variable is `nil' by default,
     which means that the current group select method will be used
     instead.  Marks will be preserved if GNUS-PRESERVE-MARKS is
     non-`nil' (which is the default).

`B w'
`e'
     Edit the current article (`gnus-summary-edit-article').  To finish
     editing and make the changes permanent, type `C-c C-c'
     (`gnus-summary-edit-article-done').  If you give a prefix to the
     `C-c C-c' command, Gnus won't re-highlight the article.

`B q'
     If you want to re-spool an article, you might be curious as to
     what group the article will end up in before you do the
     re-spooling.  This command will tell you
     (`gnus-summary-respool-query').

`B t'
     Similarly, this command will display all fancy splitting patterns
     used when repooling, if any (`gnus-summary-respool-trace').

`B p'
     Some people have a tendency to send you "courtesy" copies when they
     follow up to articles you have posted.  These usually have a
     `Newsgroups' header in them, but not always.  This command
     (`gnus-summary-article-posted-p') will try to fetch the current
     article from your news server (or rather, from
     `gnus-refer-article-method' or `gnus-select-method') and will
     report back whether it found the article or not.  Even if it says
     that it didn't find the article, it may have been posted
     anyway--mail propagation is much faster than news propagation, and
     the news copy may just not have arrived yet.

   If you move (or copy) articles regularly, you might wish to have Gnus
suggest where to put the articles.  `gnus-move-split-methods' is a
variable that uses the same syntax as `gnus-split-methods' (*note
Saving Articles::).  You may customize that variable to create
suggestions you find reasonable.  (Note that `gnus-move-split-methods'
uses group names where `gnus-split-methods' uses file names.)

     (setq gnus-move-split-methods
           '(("^From:.*Lars Magne" "nnml:junk")
             ("^Subject:.*gnus" "nnfolder:important")
             (".*" "nnml:misc")))


File: gnus,  Node: Various Summary Stuff,  Next: Exiting the Summary Buffer,  Prev: Mail Group Commands,  Up: The Summary Buffer

Various Summary Stuff
=====================

* Menu:

* Summary Group Information::         Information oriented commands.
* Searching for Articles::            Multiple article commands.
* Summary Generation Commands::       (Re)generating the summary buffer.
* Really Various Summary Commands::   Those pesky non-conformant commands.

`gnus-summary-mode-hook'
     This hook is called when creating a summary mode buffer.

`gnus-summary-generate-hook'
     This is called as the last thing before doing the threading and the
     generation of the summary buffer.  It's quite convenient for
     customizing the threading variables based on what data the
     newsgroup has.  This hook is called from the summary buffer after
     most summary buffer variables have been set.

`gnus-summary-prepare-hook'
     It is called after the summary buffer has been generated.  You
     might use it to, for instance, highlight lines or modify the look
     of the buffer in some other ungodly manner.  I don't care.

`gnus-summary-prepared-hook'
     A hook called as the very last thing after the summary buffer has
     been generated.

`gnus-summary-ignore-duplicates'
     When Gnus discovers two articles that have the same `Message-ID',
     it has to do something drastic.  No articles are allowed to have
     the same `Message-ID', but this may happen when reading mail from
     some sources.  Gnus allows you to customize what happens with this
     variable.  If it is `nil' (which is the default), Gnus will rename
     the `Message-ID' (for display purposes only) and display the
     article as any other article.  If this variable is `t', it won't
     display the article--it'll be as if it never existed.

`gnus-alter-articles-to-read-function'
     This function, which takes two parameters (the group name and the
     list of articles to be selected), is called to allow the user to
     alter the list of articles to be selected.

     For instance, the following function adds the list of cached
     articles to the list in one particular group:

          (defun my-add-cached-articles (group articles)
            (if (string= group "some.group")
                (append gnus-newsgroup-cached articles)
              articles))


File: gnus,  Node: Summary Group Information,  Next: Searching for Articles,  Up: Various Summary Stuff

Summary Group Information
-------------------------

`H f'
     Try to fetch the FAQ (list of frequently asked questions) for the
     current group (`gnus-summary-fetch-faq').  Gnus will try to get the
     FAQ from `gnus-group-faq-directory', which is usually a directory
     on a remote machine.  This variable can also be a list of
     directories.  In that case, giving a prefix to this command will
     allow you to choose between the various sites.  `ange-ftp' or
     `efs' will probably be used for fetching the file.

`H d'
     Give a brief description of the current group
     (`gnus-summary-describe-group').  If given a prefix, force
     rereading the description from the server.

`H h'
     Give an extremely brief description of the most important summary
     keystrokes (`gnus-summary-describe-briefly').

`H i'
     Go to the Gnus info node (`gnus-info-find-node').


File: gnus,  Node: Searching for Articles,  Next: Summary Generation Commands,  Prev: Summary Group Information,  Up: Various Summary Stuff

Searching for Articles
----------------------

`M-s'
     Search through all subsequent articles for a regexp
     (`gnus-summary-search-article-forward').

`M-r'
     Search through all previous articles for a regexp
     (`gnus-summary-search-article-backward').

`&'
     This command will prompt you for a header, a regular expression to
     match on this field, and a command to be executed if the match is
     made (`gnus-summary-execute-command').  If the header is an empty
     string, the match is done on the entire article.  If given a
     prefix, search backward instead.

     For instance, `& <RET> some.*string #' will put the process mark on
     all articles that have heads or bodies that match `some.*string'.

`M-&'
     Perform any operation on all articles that have been marked with
     the process mark (`gnus-summary-universal-argument').


File: gnus,  Node: Summary Generation Commands,  Next: Really Various Summary Commands,  Prev: Searching for Articles,  Up: Various Summary Stuff

Summary Generation Commands
---------------------------

`Y g'
     Regenerate the current summary buffer (`gnus-summary-prepare').

`Y c'
     Pull all cached articles (for the current group) into the summary
     buffer (`gnus-summary-insert-cached-articles').


File: gnus,  Node: Really Various Summary Commands,  Prev: Summary Generation Commands,  Up: Various Summary Stuff

Really Various Summary Commands
-------------------------------

`A D'
`C-d'
     If the current article is a collection of other articles (for
     instance, a digest), you might use this command to enter a group
     based on the that article (`gnus-summary-enter-digest-group').
     Gnus will try to guess what article type is currently displayed
     unless you give a prefix to this command, which forces a "digest"
     interpretation.  Basically, whenever you see a message that is a
     collection of other messages of some format, you `C-d' and read
     these messages in a more convenient fashion.

`M-C-d'
     This command is very similar to the one above, but lets you gather
     several documents into one biiig group
     (`gnus-summary-read-document').  It does this by opening several
     `nndoc' groups for each document, and then opening an `nnvirtual'
     group on top of these `nndoc' groups.  This command understands
     the process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::).

`C-t'
     Toggle truncation of summary lines
     (`gnus-summary-toggle-truncation').  This will probably confuse the
     line centering function in the summary buffer, so it's not a good
     idea to have truncation switched off while reading articles.

`='
     Expand the summary buffer window (`gnus-summary-expand-window').
     If given a prefix, force an `article' window configuration.

`M-C-e'
     Edit the group parameters (*note Group Parameters::) of the current
     group (`gnus-summary-edit-parameters').

`M-C-a'
     Customize the group parameters (*note Group Parameters::) of the
     current group (`gnus-summary-customize-parameters').


File: gnus,  Node: Exiting the Summary Buffer,  Next: Crosspost Handling,  Prev: Various Summary Stuff,  Up: The Summary Buffer

Exiting the Summary Buffer
==========================

   Exiting from the summary buffer will normally update all info on the
group and return you to the group buffer.

`Z Z'
`q'
     Exit the current group and update all information on the group
     (`gnus-summary-exit').  `gnus-summary-prepare-exit-hook' is called
     before doing much of the exiting, which calls
     `gnus-summary-expire-articles' by default.
     `gnus-summary-exit-hook' is called after finishing the exit
     process.  `gnus-group-no-more-groups-hook' is run when returning to
     group mode having no more (unread) groups.

`Z E'
`Q'
     Exit the current group without updating any information on the
     group (`gnus-summary-exit-no-update').

`Z c'
`c'
     Mark all unticked articles in the group as read and then exit
     (`gnus-summary-catchup-and-exit').

`Z C'
     Mark all articles, even the ticked ones, as read and then exit
     (`gnus-summary-catchup-all-and-exit').

`Z n'
     Mark all articles as read and go to the next group
     (`gnus-summary-catchup-and-goto-next-group').

`Z R'
     Exit this group, and then enter it again
     (`gnus-summary-reselect-current-group').  If given a prefix, select
     all articles, both read and unread.

`Z G'
`M-g'
     Exit the group, check for new articles in the group, and select the
     group (`gnus-summary-rescan-group').  If given a prefix, select all
     articles, both read and unread.

`Z N'
     Exit the group and go to the next group
     (`gnus-summary-next-group').

`Z P'
     Exit the group and go to the previous group
     (`gnus-summary-prev-group').

`Z s'
     Save the current number of read/marked articles in the dribble
     buffer and then save the dribble buffer
     (`gnus-summary-save-newsrc').  If given a prefix, also save the
     `.newsrc' file(s).  Using this command will make exit without
     updating (the `Q' command) worthless.

   `gnus-exit-group-hook' is called when you exit the current group
with an "updating" exit.  For instance `Q'
(`gnus-summary-exit-no-update') does not call this hook.

   If you're in the habit of exiting groups, and then changing your mind
about it, you might set `gnus-kill-summary-on-exit' to `nil'.  If you
do that, Gnus won't kill the summary buffer when you exit it.  (Quelle
surprise!)  Instead it will change the name of the buffer to something
like `*Dead Summary ... *' and install a minor mode called
`gnus-dead-summary-mode'.  Now, if you switch back to this buffer,
you'll find that all keys are mapped to a function called
`gnus-summary-wake-up-the-dead'.  So tapping any keys in a dead summary
buffer will result in a live, normal summary buffer.

   There will never be more than one dead summary buffer at any one
time.

   The data on the current group will be updated (which articles you
have read, which articles you have replied to, etc.) when you exit the
summary buffer.  If the `gnus-use-cross-reference' variable is `t'
(which is the default), articles that are cross-referenced to this
group and are marked as read, will also be marked as read in the other
subscribed groups they were cross-posted to.  If this variable is
neither `nil' nor `t', the article will be marked as read in both
subscribed and unsubscribed groups (*note Crosspost Handling::).


File: gnus,  Node: Crosspost Handling,  Next: Duplicate Suppression,  Prev: Exiting the Summary Buffer,  Up: The Summary Buffer

Crosspost Handling
==================

   Marking cross-posted articles as read ensures that you'll never have
to read the same article more than once.  Unless, of course, somebody
has posted it to several groups separately.  Posting the same article to
several groups (not cross-posting) is called "spamming", and you are by
law required to send nasty-grams to anyone who perpetrates such a
heinous crime.  You may want to try NoCeM handling to filter out spam
(*note NoCeM::).

   Remember: Cross-posting is kinda ok, but posting the same article
separately to several groups is not.  Massive cross-posting (aka.
"velveeta") is to be avoided at all costs, and you can even use the
`gnus-summary-mail-crosspost-complaint' command to complain about
excessive crossposting (*note Summary Mail Commands::).

   One thing that may cause Gnus to not do the cross-posting thing
correctly is if you use an NNTP server that supports XOVER (which is
very nice, because it speeds things up considerably) which does not
include the `Xref' header in its NOV lines.  This is Evil, but all too
common, alas, alack.  Gnus tries to Do The Right Thing even with XOVER
by registering the `Xref' lines of all articles you actually read, but
if you kill the articles, or just mark them as read without reading
them, Gnus will not get a chance to snoop the `Xref' lines out of these
articles, and will be unable to use the cross reference mechanism.

   To check whether your NNTP server includes the `Xref' header in its
overview files, try `telnet your.nntp.server nntp', `MODE READER' on
`inn' servers, and then say `LIST overview.fmt'.  This may not work,
but if it does, and the last line you get does not read `Xref:full',
then you should shout and whine at your news admin until she includes
the `Xref' header in the overview files.

   If you want Gnus to get the `Xref's right all the time, you have to
set `gnus-nov-is-evil' to `t', which slows things down considerably.

   C'est la vie.

   For an alternative approach, *note Duplicate Suppression::.


File: gnus,  Node: Duplicate Suppression,  Prev: Crosspost Handling,  Up: The Summary Buffer

Duplicate Suppression
=====================

   By default, Gnus tries to make sure that you don't have to read the
same article more than once by utilizing the crossposting mechanism
(*note Crosspost Handling::).  However, that simple and efficient
approach may not work satisfactory for some users for various reasons.

  1. The NNTP server may fail to generate the `Xref' header.  This is
     evil and not very common.

  2. The NNTP server may fail to include the `Xref' header in the
     `.overview' data bases.  This is evil and all too common, alas.

  3. You may be reading the same group (or several related groups) from
     different NNTP servers.

  4. You may be getting mail that duplicates articles posted to groups.

   I'm sure there are other situations where `Xref' handling fails as
well, but these four are the most common situations.

   If, and only if, `Xref' handling fails for you, then you may
consider switching on "duplicate suppression".  If you do so, Gnus will
remember the `Message-ID's of all articles you have read or otherwise
marked as read, and then, as if by magic, mark them as read all
subsequent times you see them--in _all_ groups.  Using this mechanism
is quite likely to be somewhat inefficient, but not overly so.  It's
certainly preferable to reading the same articles more than once.

   Duplicate suppression is not a very subtle instrument.  It's more
like a sledge hammer than anything else.  It works in a very simple
fashion--if you have marked an article as read, it adds this Message-ID
to a cache.  The next time it sees this Message-ID, it will mark the
article as read with the `M' mark.  It doesn't care what group it saw
the article in.

`gnus-suppress-duplicates'
     If non-`nil', suppress duplicates.

`gnus-save-duplicate-list'
     If non-`nil', save the list of duplicates to a file.  This will
     make startup and shutdown take longer, so the default is `nil'.
     However, this means that only duplicate articles read in a single
     Gnus session are suppressed.

`gnus-duplicate-list-length'
     This variable says how many `Message-ID's to keep in the duplicate
     suppression list.  The default is 10000.

`gnus-duplicate-file'
     The name of the file to store the duplicate suppression list in.
     The default is `~/News/suppression'.

   If you have a tendency to stop and start Gnus often, setting
`gnus-save-duplicate-list' to `t' is probably a good idea.  If you
leave Gnus running for weeks on end, you may have it `nil'.  On the
other hand, saving the list makes startup and shutdown much slower, so
that means that if you stop and start Gnus often, you should set
`gnus-save-duplicate-list' to `nil'.  Uhm.  I'll leave this up to you
to figure out, I think.


File: gnus,  Node: The Article Buffer,  Next: Composing Messages,  Prev: The Summary Buffer,  Up: Top

The Article Buffer
******************

   The articles are displayed in the article buffer, of which there is
only one.  All the summary buffers share the same article buffer unless
you tell Gnus otherwise.

* Menu:

* Hiding Headers::        Deciding what headers should be displayed.
* Using MIME::            Pushing articles through MIME before reading them.
* Customizing Articles::  Tailoring the look of the articles.
* Article Keymap::        Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
* Misc Article::          Other stuff.


File: gnus,  Node: Hiding Headers,  Next: Using MIME,  Up: The Article Buffer

Hiding Headers
==============

   The top section of each article is the "head".  (The rest is the
"body", but you may have guessed that already.)

   There is a lot of useful information in the head: the name of the
person who wrote the article, the date it was written and the subject
of the article.  That's well and nice, but there's also lots of
information most people do not want to see--what systems the article
has passed through before reaching you, the `Message-ID', the
`References', etc. ad nauseum--and you'll probably want to get rid of
some of those lines.  If you want to keep all those lines in the
article buffer, you can set `gnus-show-all-headers' to `t'.

   Gnus provides you with two variables for sifting headers:

`gnus-visible-headers'
     If this variable is non-`nil', it should be a regular expression
     that says what headers you wish to keep in the article buffer.  All
     headers that do not match this variable will be hidden.

     For instance, if you only want to see the name of the person who
     wrote the article and the subject, you'd say:

          (setq gnus-visible-headers "^From:\\|^Subject:")

     This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to
     remain visible.

`gnus-ignored-headers'
     This variable is the reverse of `gnus-visible-headers'.  If this
     variable is set (and `gnus-visible-headers' is `nil'), it should
     be a regular expression that matches all lines that you want to
     hide.  All lines that do not match this variable will remain
     visible.

     For instance, if you just want to get rid of the `References' line
     and the `Xref' line, you might say:

          (setq gnus-ignored-headers "^References:\\|^Xref:")

     This variable can also be a list of regexps to match headers to be
     removed.

     Note that if `gnus-visible-headers' is non-`nil', this variable
     will have no effect.

   Gnus can also sort the headers for you.  (It does this by default.)
You can control the sorting by setting the `gnus-sorted-header-list'
variable.  It is a list of regular expressions that says in what order
the headers are to be displayed.

   For instance, if you want the name of the author of the article
first, and then the subject, you might say something like:

     (setq gnus-sorted-header-list '("^From:" "^Subject:"))

   Any headers that are to remain visible, but are not listed in this
variable, will be displayed in random order after all the headers
listed in this variable.

   You can hide further boring headers by setting
`gnus-treat-hide-boring-header' to `head'.  What this function does
depends on the `gnus-boring-article-headers' variable.  It's a list,
but this list doesn't actually contain header names.  Instead is lists
various "boring conditions" that Gnus can check and remove from sight.

   These conditions are:
`empty'
     Remove all empty headers.

`followup-to'
     Remove the `Followup-To' header if it is identical to the
     `Newsgroups' header.

`reply-to'
     Remove the `Reply-To' header if it lists the same address as the
     `From' header.

`newsgroups'
     Remove the `Newsgroups' header if it only contains the current
     group name.

`date'
     Remove the `Date' header if the article is less than three days
     old.

`long-to'
     Remove the `To' header if it is very long.

`many-to'
     Remove all `To' headers if there are more than one.

   To include the four three elements, you could say something like;

     (setq gnus-boring-article-headers
           '(empty followup-to reply-to))

   This is also the default value for this variable.


File: gnus,  Node: Using MIME,  Next: Customizing Articles,  Prev: Hiding Headers,  Up: The Article Buffer

Using MIME
==========

   Mime is a standard for waving your hands through the air, aimlessly,
while people stand around yawning.

   MIME, however, is a standard for encoding your articles, aimlessly,
while all newsreaders die of fear.

   MIME may specify what character set the article uses, the encoding
of the characters, and it also makes it possible to embed pictures and
other naughty stuff in innocent-looking articles.

   Gnus pushes MIME articles through `gnus-display-mime-function' to
display the MIME parts.  This is `gnus-display-mime' by default, which
creates a bundle of clickable buttons that can be used to display, save
and manipulate the MIME objects.

   The following commands are available when you have placed point over
a MIME button:

`<RET> (Article)'
`Mouse-2 (Article)'
     Toggle displaying of the MIME object (`gnus-article-press-button').

`M-<RET> (Article)'
`v (Article)'
     Prompt for a method, and then view the MIME object using this
     method (`gnus-mime-view-part').

`o (Article)'
     Prompt for a file name, and then save the MIME object
     (`gnus-mime-save-part').

`c (Article)'
     Copy the MIME object to a fresh buffer and display this buffer
     (`gnus-mime-copy-part').

`t (Article)'
     View the MIME object as if it were a different MIME media type
     (`gnus-mime-view-part-as-type').

`| (Article)'
     Output the MIME object to a process (`gnus-mime-pipe-part').

`i (Article)'
     Insert the contents of the MIME object into the buffer
     (`gnus-mime-inline-part') as text/plain.  If given a prefix, insert
     the raw contents without decoding.  If given a numerical prefix,
     you can do semi-manual charset stuff (see
     `gnus-summary-show-article-charset-alist' in *note Paging the
     Article::).

`. (Article)'
     Interactively run an action on the MIME object
     (`gnus-mime-action-on-part').

   Gnus will display some MIME objects automatically.  The way Gnus
determines which parts to do this with is described in the Emacs MIME
manual.

   It might be best to just use the toggling functions from the article
buffer to avoid getting nasty surprises.  (For instance, you enter the
group `alt.sing-a-long' and, before you know it, MIME has decoded the
sound file in the article and some horrible sing-a-long song comes
screaming out your speakers, and you can't find the volume button,
because there isn't one, and people are starting to look at you, and you
try to stop the program, but you can't, and you can't find the program
to control the volume, and everybody else in the room suddenly decides
to look at you disdainfully, and you'll feel rather stupid.)

   Any similarity to real events and people is purely coincidental.
Ahem.

   Also see *note MIME Commands::.


File: gnus,  Node: Customizing Articles,  Next: Article Keymap,  Prev: Using MIME,  Up: The Article Buffer

Customizing Articles
====================

   A slew of functions for customizing how the articles are to look like
exist.  You can call these functions interactively, or you can have them
called automatically when you select the articles.

   To have them called automatically, you should set the corresponding
"treatment" variable.  For instance, to have headers hidden, you'd set
`gnus-treat-hide-headers'.  Below is a list of variables that can be
set, but first we discuss the values these variables can have.

   Note: Some values, while valid, make little sense.  Check the list
below for sensible values.

  1. `nil': Don't do this treatment.

  2. `t': Do this treatment on all body parts.

  3. `head': Do the treatment on the headers.

  4. `last': Do this treatment on the last part.

  5. An integer: Do this treatment on all body parts that have a length
     less than this number.

  6. A list of strings: Do this treatment on all body parts that are in
     articles that are read in groups that have names that match one of
     the regexps in the list.

  7. A list where the first element is not a string:

     The list is evaluated recursively.  The first element of the list
     is a predicate.  The following predicates are recognized: `or',
     `and', `not' and `typep'.  Here's an example:

          (or last
              (typep "text/x-vcard"))


   You may have noticed that the word "part" is used here.  This refers
to the fact that some messages are MIME multipart articles that may be
divided into several parts.  Articles that are not multiparts are
considered to contain just a single part.

   Are the treatments applied to all sorts of multipart parts?  Yes, if
you want to, but by default, only `text/plain' parts are given the
treatment.  This is controlled by the `gnus-article-treat-types'
variable, which is a list of regular expressions that are matched to the
type of the part.  This variable is ignored if the value of the
controlling variable is a predicate list, as described above.

   The following treatment options are available.  The easiest way to
customize this is to examine the `gnus-article-treat' customization
group.  Values in parenthesis are suggested sensible values.  Others are
possible but those listed are probably sufficient for most people.

`gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last)'

`gnus-treat-buttonize (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-buttonize-head (head)'

`gnus-treat-emphasize (t, head, integer)'

`gnus-treat-fill-article (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-strip-cr (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-hide-headers (head)'

`gnus-treat-hide-boring-headers (head)'

`gnus-treat-hide-signature (t, last)'

`gnus-treat-hide-citation (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-strip-pgp (t, last, integer)'

`gnus-treat-strip-pem (t, last, integer)'

`gnus-treat-highlight-headers (head)'

`gnus-treat-highlight-citation (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-highlight-signature (t, last, integer)'

`gnus-treat-date-ut (head)'

`gnus-treat-date-local (head)'

`gnus-treat-date-lapsed (head)'

`gnus-treat-date-original (head)'

`gnus-treat-strip-headers-in-body (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-strip-trailing-blank-lines (t, last, integer)'

`gnus-treat-strip-leading-blank-lines (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-strip-multiple-blank-lines (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-overstrike (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-display-xface (head)'

`gnus-treat-display-smileys (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-display-picons (head)'

`gnus-treat-capitalize-sentences (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-fill-long-lines (t, integer)'

`gnus-treat-play-sounds'

`gnus-treat-translate'
   You can, of course, write your own functions to be called from
`gnus-part-display-hook'.  The functions are called narrowed to the
part, and you can do anything you like, pretty much.  There is no
information that you have to keep in the buffer--you can change
everything.


File: gnus,  Node: Article Keymap,  Next: Misc Article,  Prev: Customizing Articles,  Up: The Article Buffer

Article Keymap
==============

   Most of the keystrokes in the summary buffer can also be used in the
article buffer.  They should behave as if you typed them in the summary
buffer, which means that you don't actually have to have a summary
buffer displayed while reading.  You can do it all from the article
buffer.

   A few additional keystrokes are available:

`<SPC>'
     Scroll forwards one page (`gnus-article-next-page').

`<DEL>'
     Scroll backwards one page (`gnus-article-prev-page').

`C-c ^'
     If point is in the neighborhood of a `Message-ID' and you press
     `C-c ^', Gnus will try to get that article from the server
     (`gnus-article-refer-article').

`C-c C-m'
     Send a reply to the address near point (`gnus-article-mail').  If
     given a prefix, include the mail.

`s'
     Reconfigure the buffers so that the summary buffer becomes visible
     (`gnus-article-show-summary').

`?'
     Give a very brief description of the available keystrokes
     (`gnus-article-describe-briefly').

`TAB'
     Go to the next button, if any (`gnus-article-next-button').  This
     only makes sense if you have buttonizing turned on.

`M-TAB'
     Go to the previous button, if any (`gnus-article-prev-button').


File: gnus,  Node: Misc Article,  Prev: Article Keymap,  Up: The Article Buffer

Misc Article
============

`gnus-single-article-buffer'
     If non-`nil', use the same article buffer for all the groups.
     (This is the default.)  If `nil', each group will have its own
     article buffer.

`gnus-article-decode-hook'
     Hook used to decode MIME articles.  The default value is
     `(article-decode-charset article-decode-encoded-words)'

`gnus-article-prepare-hook'
     This hook is called right after the article has been inserted into
     the article buffer.  It is mainly intended for functions that do
     something depending on the contents; it should probably not be
     used for changing the contents of the article buffer.

`gnus-article-mode-hook'
     Hook called in article mode buffers.

`gnus-article-mode-syntax-table'
     Syntax table used in article buffers.  It is initialized from
     `text-mode-syntax-table'.

`gnus-article-mode-line-format'
     This variable is a format string along the same lines as
     `gnus-summary-mode-line-format' (*note Mode Line Formatting::).  It
     accepts the same format specifications as that variable, with two
     extensions:

    `w'
          The "wash status" of the article.  This is a short string
          with one character for each possible article wash operation
          that may have been performed.

    `m'
          The number of MIME parts in the article.

`gnus-break-pages'
     Controls whether "page breaking" is to take place.  If this
     variable is non-`nil', the articles will be divided into pages
     whenever a page delimiter appears in the article.  If this
     variable is `nil', paging will not be done.

`gnus-page-delimiter'
     This is the delimiter mentioned above.  By default, it is `^L'
     (formfeed).


File: gnus,  Node: Composing Messages,  Next: Select Methods,  Prev: The Article Buffer,  Up: Top

Composing Messages
******************

   All commands for posting and mailing will put you in a message buffer
where you can edit the article all you like, before you send the
article by pressing `C-c C-c'.  *Note Top: (message)Top.  Where the
message will be posted/mailed to depends on your setup (*note Posting
Server::).

* Menu:

* Mail::                 Mailing and replying.
* Posting Server::       What server should you post via?
* Mail and Post::        Mailing and posting at the same time.
* Archived Messages::    Where Gnus stores the messages you've sent.
* Posting Styles::       An easier way to specify who you are.
* Drafts::               Postponing messages and rejected messages.
* Rejected Articles::    What happens if the server doesn't like your article?

   Also see *note Canceling and Superseding:: for information on how to
remove articles you shouldn't have posted.


File: gnus,  Node: Mail,  Next: Posting Server,  Up: Composing Messages

Mail
====

   Variables for customizing outgoing mail:

`gnus-uu-digest-headers'
     List of regexps to match headers included in digested messages.
     The headers will be included in the sequence they are matched.

`gnus-add-to-list'
     If non-`nil', add a `to-list' group parameter to mail groups that
     have none when you do a `a'.


File: gnus,  Node: Posting Server,  Next: Mail and Post,  Prev: Mail,  Up: Composing Messages

Posting Server
==============

   When you press those magical `C-c C-c' keys to ship off your latest
(extremely intelligent, of course) article, where does it go?

   Thank you for asking.  I hate you.

   It can be quite complicated.  Normally, Gnus will use the same native
server.  However.  If your native server doesn't allow posting, just
reading, you probably want to use some other server to post your
(extremely intelligent and fabulously interesting) articles.  You can
then set the `gnus-post-method' to some other method:

     (setq gnus-post-method '(nnspool ""))

   Now, if you've done this, and then this server rejects your article,
or this server is down, what do you do then?  To override this variable
you can use a non-zero prefix to the `C-c C-c' command to force using
the "current" server for posting.

   If you give a zero prefix (i.e., `C-u 0 C-c C-c') to that command,
Gnus will prompt you for what method to use for posting.

   You can also set `gnus-post-method' to a list of select methods.  If
that's the case, Gnus will always prompt you for what method to use for
posting.

   Finally, if you want to always post using the same select method as
you're reading from (which might be convenient if you're reading lots of
groups from different private servers), you can set this variable to
`current'.


File: gnus,  Node: Mail and Post,  Next: Archived Messages,  Prev: Posting Server,  Up: Composing Messages

Mail and Post
=============

   Here's a list of variables relevant to both mailing and posting:

`gnus-mailing-list-groups'
     If your news server offers groups that are really mailing lists
     gatewayed to the NNTP server, you can read those groups without
     problems, but you can't post/followup to them without some
     difficulty.  One solution is to add a `to-address' to the group
     parameters (*note Group Parameters::).  An easier thing to do is
     set the `gnus-mailing-list-groups' to a regexp that matches the
     groups that really are mailing lists.  Then, at least, followups
     to the mailing lists will work most of the time.  Posting to these
     groups (`a') is still a pain, though.

   You may want to do spell-checking on messages that you send out.
Or, if you don't want to spell-check by hand, you could add automatic
spell-checking via the `ispell' package:

     (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)

   If you want to change the `ispell' dictionary based on what group
you're in, you could say something like the following:

     (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
               (lambda ()
                 (cond
                  ((string-match "^de\\." gnus-newsgroup-name)
                   (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch"))
                  (t
                   (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))

   Modify to suit your needs.


File: gnus,  Node: Archived Messages,  Next: Posting Styles,  Prev: Mail and Post,  Up: Composing Messages

Archived Messages
=================

   Gnus provides a few different methods for storing the mail and news
you send.  The default method is to use the "archive virtual server" to
store the messages.  If you want to disable this completely, the
`gnus-message-archive-group' variable should be `nil', which is the
default.

   `gnus-message-archive-method' says what virtual server Gnus is to
use to store sent messages.  The default is:

     (nnfolder "archive"
               (nnfolder-directory   "~/Mail/archive")
               (nnfolder-active-file "~/Mail/archive/active")
               (nnfolder-get-new-mail nil)
               (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t))

   You can, however, use any mail select method (`nnml', `nnmbox',
etc.).  `nnfolder' is a quite likable select method for doing this sort
of thing, though.  If you don't like the default directory chosen, you
could say something like:

     (setq gnus-message-archive-method
           '(nnfolder "archive"
                      (nnfolder-inhibit-expiry t)
                      (nnfolder-active-file "~/News/sent-mail/active")
                      (nnfolder-directory "~/News/sent-mail/")))

   Gnus will insert `Gcc' headers in all outgoing messages that point
to one or more group(s) on that server.  Which group to use is
determined by the `gnus-message-archive-group' variable.

   This variable can be used to do the following:

   * a string Messages will be saved in that group.

     Note that you can include a select method in the group name, then
     the message will not be stored in the select method given by
     `gnus-message-archive-method', but in the select method specified
     by the group name, instead.  Suppose `gnus-message-archive-method'
     has the default value shown above.  Then setting
     `gnus-message-archive-group' to `"foo"' means that outgoing
     messages are stored in `nnfolder+archive:foo', but if you use the
     value `"nnml:foo"', then outgoing messages will be stored in
     `nnml:foo'.

   * a list of strings Messages will be saved in all those groups.

   * an alist of regexps, functions and forms When a key "matches", the
     result is used.

   * `nil' No message archiving will take place.  This is the default.

   Let's illustrate:

   Just saving to a single group called `MisK':
     (setq gnus-message-archive-group "MisK")

   Saving to two groups, `MisK' and `safe':
     (setq gnus-message-archive-group '("MisK" "safe"))

   Save to different groups based on what group you are in:
     (setq gnus-message-archive-group
           '(("^alt" "sent-to-alt")
             ("mail" "sent-to-mail")
             (".*" "sent-to-misc")))

   More complex stuff:
     (setq gnus-message-archive-group
           '((if (message-news-p)
                 "misc-news"
               "misc-mail")))

   How about storing all news messages in one file, but storing all mail
messages in one file per month:

     (setq gnus-message-archive-group
           '((if (message-news-p)
                 "misc-news"
               (concat "mail." (format-time-string "%Y-%m")))))

   (XEmacs 19.13 doesn't have `format-time-string', so you'll have to
use a different value for `gnus-message-archive-group' there.)

   Now, when you send a message off, it will be stored in the
appropriate group.  (If you want to disable storing for just one
particular message, you can just remove the `Gcc' header that has been
inserted.)  The archive group will appear in the group buffer the next
time you start Gnus, or the next time you press `F' in the group
buffer.  You can enter it and read the articles in it just like you'd
read any other group.  If the group gets really big and annoying, you
can simply rename if (using `G r' in the group buffer) to something
nice--`misc-mail-september-1995', or whatever.  New messages will
continue to be stored in the old (now empty) group.

   That's the default method of archiving sent messages.  Gnus offers a
different way for the people who don't like the default method.  In that
case you should set `gnus-message-archive-group' to `nil'; this will
disable archiving.

`gnus-outgoing-message-group'
     All outgoing messages will be put in this group.  If you want to
     store all your outgoing mail and articles in the group
     `nnml:archive', you set this variable to that value.  This
     variable can also be a list of group names.

     If you want to have greater control over what group to put each
     message in, you can set this variable to a function that checks the
     current newsgroup name and then returns a suitable group name (or
     list of names).

     This variable can be used instead of `gnus-message-archive-group',
     but the latter is the preferred method.


File: gnus,  Node: Posting Styles,  Next: Drafts,  Prev: Archived Messages,  Up: Composing Messages

Posting Styles
==============

   All them variables, they make my head swim.

   So what if you want a different `Organization' and signature based
on what groups you post to?  And you post both from your home machine
and your work machine, and you want different `From' lines, and so on?

   One way to do stuff like that is to write clever hooks that change
the variables you need to have changed.  That's a bit boring, so
somebody came up with the bright idea of letting the user specify these
things in a handy alist.  Here's an example of a `gnus-posting-styles'
variable:

     ((".*"
       (signature "Peace and happiness")
       (organization "What me?"))
      ("^comp"
       (signature "Death to everybody"))
      ("comp.emacs.i-love-it"
       (organization "Emacs is it")))

   As you might surmise from this example, this alist consists of
several "styles".  Each style will be applicable if the first element
"matches", in some form or other.  The entire alist will be iterated
over, from the beginning towards the end, and each match will be
applied, which means that attributes in later styles that match override
the same attributes in earlier matching styles.  So
`comp.programming.literate' will have the `Death to everybody'
signature and the `What me?' `Organization' header.

   The first element in each style is called the `match'.  If it's a
string, then Gnus will try to regexp match it against the group name.
If it is the symbol `header', then Gnus will look for header that match
the next element in the match, and compare that to the last header in
the match.  If it's a function symbol, that function will be called
with no arguments.  If it's a variable symbol, then the variable will be
referenced.  If it's a list, then that list will be `eval'ed.  In any
case, if this returns a non-`nil' value, then the style is said to
"match".

   Each style may contain a arbitrary amount of "attributes".  Each
attribute consists of a `(NAME . VALUE)' pair.  The attribute name can
be one of `signature', `signature-file', `organization', `address',
`name' or `body'.  The attribute name can also be a string.  In that
case, this will be used as a header name, and the value will be
inserted in the headers of the article; if the value is `nil', the
header name will be removed.  If the attribute name is `eval', the form
is evaluated, and the result is thrown away.

   The attribute value can be a string (used verbatim), a function with
zero arguments (the return value will be used), a variable (its value
will be used) or a list (it will be `eval'ed and the return value will
be used).  The functions and sexps are called/`eval'ed in the message
buffer that is being set up.  The headers of the current article are
available through the `message-reply-headers' variable.

   If you wish to check whether the message you are about to compose is
meant to be a news article or a mail message, you can check the values
of the `message-news-p' and `message-mail-p' functions.

   So here's a new example:

     (setq gnus-posting-styles
           '((".*"
              (signature-file "~/.signature")
              (name "User Name")
              ("X-Home-Page" (getenv "WWW_HOME"))
              (organization "People's Front Against MWM"))
             ("^rec.humor"
              (signature my-funny-signature-randomizer))
             ((equal (system-name) "gnarly")
              (signature my-quote-randomizer))
             ((message-news-p)
              (signature my-news-signature))
             (header "From\\|To" "larsi.*org"
                     (Organization "Somewhere, Inc."))
             ((posting-from-work-p)
              (signature-file "~/.work-signature")
              (address "user@bar.foo")
              (body "You are fired.\n\nSincerely, your boss.")
              (organization "Important Work, Inc"))
             ("nnml:.*"
              (From (save-excursion
                      (set-buffer gnus-article-buffer)
                      (message-fetch-field "to"))))
             ("^nn.+:"
              (signature-file "~/.mail-signature"))))

   The `nnml:.*' rule means that you use the `To' address as the `From'
address in all your outgoing replies, which might be handy if you fill
many roles.


File: gnus,  Node: Drafts,  Next: Rejected Articles,  Prev: Posting Styles,  Up: Composing Messages

Drafts
======

   If you are writing a message (mail or news) and suddenly remember
that you have a steak in the oven (or some pesto in the food processor,
you craaazy vegetarians), you'll probably wish there was a method to
save the message you are writing so that you can continue editing it
some other day, and send it when you feel its finished.

   Well, don't worry about it.  Whenever you start composing a message
of some sort using the Gnus mail and post commands, the buffer you get
will automatically associate to an article in a special "draft" group.
If you save the buffer the normal way (`C-x C-s', for instance), the
article will be saved there.  (Auto-save files also go to the draft
group.)

   The draft group is a special group (which is implemented as an
`nndraft' group, if you absolutely have to know) called
`nndraft:drafts'.  The variable `nndraft-directory' says where
`nndraft' is to store its files.  What makes this group special is that
you can't tick any articles in it or mark any articles as read--all
articles in the group are permanently unread.

   If the group doesn't exist, it will be created and you'll be
subscribed to it.  The only way to make it disappear from the Group
buffer is to unsubscribe it.

   When you want to continue editing the article, you simply enter the
draft group and push `D e' (`gnus-draft-edit-message') to do that.  You
will be placed in a buffer where you left off.

   Rejected articles will also be put in this draft group (*note
Rejected Articles::).

   If you have lots of rejected messages you want to post (or mail)
without doing further editing, you can use the `D s' command
(`gnus-draft-send-message').  This command understands the
process/prefix convention (*note Process/Prefix::).  The `D S' command
(`gnus-draft-send-all-messages') will ship off all messages in the
buffer.

   If you have some messages that you wish not to send, you can use the
`D t' (`gnus-draft-toggle-sending') command to mark the message as
unsendable.  This is a toggling command.