This is Info file ../info/gnus, produced by Makeinfo-1.63 from the
input file gnus.texi.

   This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.

   Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
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File: gnus,  Node: Process/Prefix,  Next: Interactive,  Up: Various

Process/Prefix
==============

   Many functions, among them functions for moving, decoding and saving
articles, use what is known as the "Process/Prefix convention".

   This is a method for figuring out what articles that the user wants
the command to be performed on.

   It goes like this:

   If the numeric prefix is N, perform the operation on the next N
articles, starting with the current one.  If the numeric prefix is
negative, perform the operation on the previous N articles, starting
with the current one.

   If `transient-mark-mode' in non-`nil' and the region is active, all
articles in the region will be worked upon.

   If there is no numeric prefix, but some articles are marked with the
process mark, perform the operation on the articles that are marked with
the process mark.

   If there is neither a numeric prefix nor any articles marked with the
process mark, just perform the operation on the current article.

   Quite simple, really, but it needs to be made clear so that surprises
are avoided.

   One thing that seems to shock & horrify lots of people is that, for
instance, `3 d' does exactly the same as `d' `d' `d'.  Since each `d'
(which marks the current article as read) by default goes to the next
unread article after marking, this means that `3 d' will mark the next
three unread articles as read, no matter what the summary buffer looks
like.  Set `gnus-summary-goto-unread' to `nil' for a more
straightforward action.


File: gnus,  Node: Interactive,  Next: Formatting Variables,  Prev: Process/Prefix,  Up: Various

Interactive
===========

`gnus-novice-user'
     If this variable is non-`nil', you are either a newcomer to the
     World of Usenet, or you are very cautious, which is a nice thing
     to be, really.  You will be given questions of the type "Are you
     sure you want to do this?" before doing anything dangerous.  This
     is `t' by default.

`gnus-expert-user'
     If this variable is non-`nil', you will never ever be asked any
     questions by Gnus.  It will simply assume you know what you're
     doing, no matter how strange.

`gnus-interactive-catchup'
     Require confirmation before catching up a group if non-`nil'.  It
     is `t' by default.

`gnus-interactive-exit'
     Require confirmation before exiting Gnus.  This variable is `t' by
     default.


File: gnus,  Node: Formatting Variables,  Next: Windows Configuration,  Prev: Interactive,  Up: Various

Formatting Variables
====================

   Throughout this manual you've probably noticed lots of variables that
are called things like `gnus-group-line-format' and
`gnus-summary-mode-line-format'.  These control how Gnus is to output
lines in the various buffers.  There's quite a lot of them.
Fortunately, they all use the same syntax, so there's not that much to
be annoyed by.

   Here's an example format spec (from the group buffer): `%M%S%5y:
%(%g%)\n'.  We see that it is indeed extremely ugly, and that there are
lots of percentages everywhere.

   Each `%' element will be replaced by some string or other when the
buffer in question is generated.  `%5y' means "insert the `y' spec, and
pad with spaces to get a 5-character field".  Just like a normal format
spec, almost.

   You can also say `%6,4y', which means that the field will never be
more than 6 characters wide and never less than 4 characters wide.

   There are also specs for highlighting, and these are shared by all
the format variables.  Text inside the `%(' and `%)' specifiers will
get the special `mouse-face' property set, which means that it will be
highlighted (with `gnus-mouse-face') when you put the mouse pointer
over it.

   Text inside the `%[' and `%]' specifiers will have their normal
faces set using `gnus-face-0', which is `bold' by default.  If you say
`%1[' instead, you'll get `gnus-face-1' instead, and so on.  Create as
many faces as you wish.  The same goes for the `mouse-face' specs--you
can say `%3(hello%)' to have `hello' mouse-highlighted with
`gnus-mouse-face-3'.

   Here's an alternative recipe for the group buffer:

     ;; Create three face types.
     (setq gnus-face-1 'bold)
     (setq gnus-face-3 'italic)
     
     ;; We want the article count to be in
     ;; a bold and green face.  So we create
     ;; a new face called `my-green-bold'.
     (copy-face 'bold 'my-green-bold)
     ;; Set the color.
     (set-face-foreground 'my-green-bold "ForestGreen")
     (setq gnus-face-2 'my-green-bold)
     
     ;; Set the new & fancy format.
     (setq gnus-group-line-format
           "%M%S%3{%5y%}%2[:%] %(%1{%g%}%)\n")

   I'm sure you'll be able to use this scheme to create totally
unreadable and extremely vulgar displays.  Have fun!

   Currently Gnus uses the following formatting variables:
`gnus-group-line-format', `gnus-summary-line-format',
`gnus-server-line-format', `gnus-topic-line-format',
`gnus-group-mode-line-format', `gnus-summary-mode-line-format',
`gnus-article-mode-line-format', `gnus-server-mode-line-format'.

   Note that the `%(' specs (and friends) do not make any sense on the
mode-line variables.

   All these format variables can also be arbitrary elisp forms.  In
that case, they will be `eval'ed to insert the required lines.

   Gnus includes a command to help you while creating your own format
specs.  `M-x gnus-update-format' will `eval' the current form, update
the spec in question and pop you to a buffer where you can examine the
resulting lisp code to be run to generate the line.


File: gnus,  Node: Windows Configuration,  Next: Compilation,  Prev: Formatting Variables,  Up: Various

Windows Configuration
=====================

   No, there's nothing here about X, so be quiet.

   If `gnus-use-full-window' non-`nil', Gnus will delete all other
windows and occupy the entire Emacs screen by itself.  It is `t' by
default.

   `gnus-buffer-configuration' describes how much space each Gnus
buffer should be given.  Here's an excerpt of this variable:

     ((group (vertical 1.0 (group 1.0 point)
                           (if gnus-carpal (group-carpal 4))))
      (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
                             (article 1.0))))

   This is an alist.  The "key" is a symbol that names some action or
other.  For instance, when displaying the group buffer, the window
configuration function will use `group' as the key.  A full list of
possible names is listed below.

   The "value" (i. e., the "split") says how much space each buffer
should occupy.  To take the `article' split as an example -

     (article (vertical 1.0 (summary 0.25 point)
                            (article 1.0)))

   This "split" says that the summary buffer should occupy 25% of upper
half of the screen, and that it is placed over the article buffer.  As
you may have noticed, 100% + 25% is actually 125% (yup, I saw y'all
reaching for that calculator there).  However, the special number `1.0'
is used to signal that this buffer should soak up all the rest of the
space available after the rest of the buffers have taken whatever they
need.  There should be only one buffer with the `1.0' size spec per
split.

   Point will be put in the buffer that has the optional third element
`point'.

   Here's a more complicated example:

     (article (vertical 1.0 (group 4)
                            (summary 0.25 point)
                            (if gnus-carpal (summary-carpal 4))
                            (article 1.0)))

   If the size spec is an integer instead of a floating point number,
then that number will be used to say how many lines a buffer should
occupy, not a percentage.

   If the "split" looks like something that can be `eval'ed (to be
precise--if the `car' of the split is a function or a subr), this split
will be `eval'ed.  If the result is non-`nil', it will be used as a
split.  This means that there will be three buffers if `gnus-carpal' is
`nil', and four buffers if `gnus-carpal' is non-`nil'.

   Not complicated enough for you?  Well, try this on for size:

     (article (horizontal 1.0
                  (vertical 0.5
                      (group 1.0)
                      (gnus-carpal 4))
                  (vertical 1.0
                      (summary 0.25 point)
                      (summary-carpal 4)
                      (article 1.0))))

   Whoops.  Two buffers with the mystery 100% tag.  And what's that
`horizontal' thingie?

   If the first element in one of the split is `horizontal', Gnus will
split the window horizontally, giving you two windows side-by-side.
Inside each of these strips you may carry on all you like in the normal
fashion.  The number following `horizontal' says what percentage of the
screen is to be given to this strip.

   For each split, there *must* be one element that has the 100% tag.
The splitting is never accurate, and this buffer will eat any leftover
lines from the splits.

   To be slightly more formal, here's a definition of what a legal split
may look like:

     split       = frame | horizontal | vertical | buffer | form
     frame       = "(frame " size *split ")"
     horizontal  = "(horizontal " size *split ")"
     vertical    = "(vertical " size *split ")"
     buffer      = "(" buffer-name " " size *[ "point" ] ")"
     size        = number | frame-params
     buffer-name = group | article | summary ...

   The limitations are that the `frame' split can only appear as the
top-level split.  FORM should be an Emacs Lisp form that should return
a valid split.  We see that each split is fully recursive, and may
contain any number of `vertical' and `horizontal' splits.

   Finding the right sizes can be a bit complicated.  No window may be
less than `gnus-window-min-height' (default 2) characters high, and all
windows must be at least `gnus-window-min-width' (default 1) characters
wide.  Gnus will try to enforce this before applying the splits.  If
you want to use the normal Emacs window width/height limit, you can
just set these two variables to `nil'.

   If you're not familiar with Emacs terminology, `horizontal' and
`vertical' splits may work the opposite way of what you'd expect.
Windows inside a `horizontal' split are shown side-by-side, and windows
within a `vertical' split are shown above each other.

   If you want to experiment with window placement, a good tip is to
call `gnus-configure-frame' directly with a split.  This is the function
that does all the real work when splitting buffers.  Below is a pretty
nonsensical configuration with 5 windows; two for the group buffer and
three for the article buffer.  (I said it was nonsensical.)  If you
`eval' the statement below, you can get an idea of how that would look
straight away, without going through the normal Gnus channels.  Play
with it until you're satisfied, and then use `gnus-add-configuration'
to add your new creation to the buffer configuration list.

     (gnus-configure-frame
      '(horizontal 1.0
         (vertical 10
           (group 1.0)
           (article 0.3 point))
         (vertical 1.0
           (article 1.0)
           (horizontal 4
             (group 1.0)
             (article 10)))))

   You might want to have several frames as well.  No prob--just use the
`frame' split:

     (gnus-configure-frame
      '(frame 1.0
              (vertical 1.0
                        (summary 0.25 point)
                        (article 1.0))
              (vertical ((height . 5) (width . 15)
                         (user-position . t)
                         (left . -1) (top . 1))
                        (picon 1.0))))

   This split will result in the familiar summary/article window
configuration in the first (or "main") frame, while a small additional
frame will be created where picons will be shown.  As you can see,
instead of the normal `1.0' top-level spec, each additional split
should have a frame parameter alist as the size spec.  *Note Frame
Parameters: (elisp)Frame Parameters.

   Here's a list of all possible keys for `gnus-buffer-configuration':

   `group', `summary', `article', `server', `browse', `group-mail',
`summary-mail', `summary-reply', `info', `summary-faq', `edit-group',
`edit-server', `reply', `reply-yank', `followup', `followup-yank',
`edit-score'.

   Since the `gnus-buffer-configuration' variable is so long and
complicated, there's a function you can use to ease changing the config
of a single setting: `gnus-add-configuration'.  If, for instance, you
want to change the `article' setting, you could say:

     (gnus-add-configuration
      '(article (vertical 1.0
                    (group 4)
                    (summary .25 point)
                    (article 1.0))))

   You'd typically stick these `gnus-add-configuration' calls in your
`.gnus' file or in some startup hook - they should be run after Gnus
has been loaded.


File: gnus,  Node: Compilation,  Next: Mode Lines,  Prev: Windows Configuration,  Up: Various

Compilation
===========

   Remember all those line format specification variables?
`gnus-summary-line-format', `gnus-group-line-format', and so on.  Now,
Gnus will of course heed whatever these variables are, but,
unfortunately, changing them will mean a quite significant slow-down.
(The default values of these variables have byte-compiled functions
associated with them, while the user-generated versions do not, of
course.)

   To help with this, you can run `M-x gnus-compile' after you've
fiddled around with the variables and feel that you're (kind of)
satisfied.  This will result in the new specs being byte-compiled, and
you'll get top speed again.


File: gnus,  Node: Mode Lines,  Next: Highlighting and Menus,  Prev: Compilation,  Up: Various

Mode Lines
==========

   `gnus-updated-mode-lines' says what buffers should keep their mode
lines updated.  It is a list of symbols.  Supported symbols include
`group', `article', `summary', `server', `browse', and `tree'.  If the
corresponding symbol is present, Gnus will keep that mode line updated
with information that may be pertinent.  If this variable is `nil',
screen refresh may be quicker.

   By default, Gnus displays information on the current article in the
mode lines of the summary and article buffers.  The information Gnus
wishes to display (eg. the subject of the article) is often longer than
the mode lines, and therefore have to be cut off at some point.  The
`gnus-mode-non-string-length' variable says how long the other elements
on the line is (i.e., the non-info part).  If you put additional
elements on the mode line (eg. a clock), you should modify this
variable:

     (add-hook 'display-time-hook
               (lambda () (setq gnus-mode-non-string-length
                                (+ 21
                                   (if line-number-mode 5 0)
                                   (if column-number-mode 4 0)
                                   (length display-time-string)))))

   If this variable is `nil' (which is the default), the mode line
strings won't be chopped off, and they won't be padded either.


File: gnus,  Node: Highlighting and Menus,  Next: Buttons,  Prev: Mode Lines,  Up: Various

Highlighting and Menus
======================

   The `gnus-visual' variable controls most of the prettifying Gnus
aspects.  If `nil', Gnus won't attempt to create menus or use fancy
colors or fonts.  This will also inhibit loading the `gnus-vis.el' file.

   This variable can be a list of visual properties that are enabled.
The following elements are legal, and are all included by default:

`group-highlight'
     Do highlights in the group buffer.

`summary-highlight'
     Do highlights in the summary buffer.

`article-highlight'
     Do highlights in the article buffer.

`highlight'
     Turn on highlighting in all buffers.

`group-menu'
     Create menus in the group buffer.

`summary-menu'
     Create menus in the summary buffers.

`article-menu'
     Create menus in the article buffer.

`browse-menu'
     Create menus in the browse buffer.

`server-menu'
     Create menus in the server buffer.

`score-menu'
     Create menus in the score buffers.

`menu'
     Create menus in all buffers.

   So if you only want highlighting in the article buffer and menus in
all buffers, you could say something like:

     (setq gnus-visual '(article-highlight menu))

   If you want only highlighting and no menus whatsoever, you'd say:

     (setq gnus-visual '(highlight))

   If `gnus-visual' is `t', highlighting and menus will be used in all
Gnus buffers.

   Other general variables that influence the look of all buffers
include:

`gnus-mouse-face'
     This is the face (i.e., font) used for mouse highlighting in Gnus.
     No mouse highlights will be done if `gnus-visual' is `nil'.

`gnus-display-type'
     This variable is symbol indicating the display type Emacs is
     running under.  The symbol should be one of `color', `grayscale' or
     `mono'.  If Gnus guesses this display attribute wrongly, either set
     this variable in your `~/.emacs' or set the resource
     `Emacs.displayType' in your `~/.Xdefaults'.

`gnus-background-mode'
     This is a symbol indicating the Emacs background brightness.  The
     symbol should be one of `light' or `dark'.  If Gnus guesses this
     frame attribute wrongly, either set this variable in your
     `~/.emacs' or set the resource `Emacs.backgroundMode' in your
     `~/.Xdefaults'.  `gnus-display-type'.

   There are hooks associated with the creation of all the different
menus:

`gnus-article-menu-hook'
     Hook called after creating the article mode menu.

`gnus-group-menu-hook'
     Hook called after creating the group mode menu.

`gnus-summary-menu-hook'
     Hook called after creating the summary mode menu.

`gnus-server-menu-hook'
     Hook called after creating the server mode menu.

`gnus-browse-menu-hook'
     Hook called after creating the browse mode menu.

`gnus-score-menu-hook'
     Hook called after creating the score mode menu.


File: gnus,  Node: Buttons,  Next: Daemons,  Prev: Highlighting and Menus,  Up: Various

Buttons
=======

   Those new-fangled "mouse" contraptions is very popular with the
young, hep kids who don't want to learn the proper way to do things
these days.  Why, I remember way back in the summer of '89, when I was
using Emacs on a Tops 20 system.  Three hundred users on one single
machine, and every user was running Simula compilers.  Bah!

   Right.

   Well, you can make Gnus display bufferfuls of buttons you can click
to do anything by setting `gnus-carpal' to `t'.  Pretty simple, really.
Tell the chiropractor I sent you.

`gnus-carpal-mode-hook'
     Hook run in all carpal mode buffers.

`gnus-carpal-button-face'
     Face used on buttons.

`gnus-carpal-header-face'
     Face used on carpal buffer headers.

`gnus-carpal-group-buffer-buttons'
     Buttons in the group buffer.

`gnus-carpal-summary-buffer-buttons'
     Buttons in the summary buffer.

`gnus-carpal-server-buffer-buttons'
     Buttons in the server buffer.

`gnus-carpal-browse-buffer-buttons'
     Buttons in the browse buffer.

   All the `buttons' variables are lists.  The elements in these list
is either a cons cell where the car contains a text to be displayed and
the cdr contains a function symbol, or a simple string.


File: gnus,  Node: Daemons,  Next: NoCeM,  Prev: Buttons,  Up: Various

Daemons
=======

   Gnus, being larger than any program ever written (allegedly), does
lots of strange stuff that you may wish to have done while you're not
present.  For instance, you may want it to check for new mail once in a
while.  Or you may want it to close down all connections to all servers
when you leave Emacs idle.  And stuff like that.

   Gnus will let you do stuff like that by defining various "handlers".
Each handler consists of three elements:  A FUNCTION, a TIME, and an
IDLE parameter.

   Here's an example of a handler that closes connections when Emacs has
been idle for thirty minutes:

     (gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)

   Here's a handler that scans for PGP headers every hour when Emacs is
idle:

     (gnus-demon-scan-pgp 60 t)

   This TIME parameter and than IDLE parameter works together in a
strange, but wonderful fashion.  Basically, if IDLE is `nil', then the
function will be called every TIME minutes.

   If IDLE is `t', then the function will be called after TIME minutes
only if Emacs is idle.  So if Emacs is never idle, the function will
never be called.  But once Emacs goes idle, the function will be called
every TIME minutes.

   If IDLE is a number and TIME is a number, the function will be
called every TIME minutes only when Emacs has been idle for IDLE
minutes.

   If IDLE is a number and TIME is `nil', the function will be called
once every time Emacs has been idle for IDLE minutes.

   And if TIME is a string, it should look like `07:31', and the
function will then be called once every day somewhere near that time.
Modified by the IDLE parameter, of course.

   (When I say "minute" here, I really mean `gnus-demon-timestep'
seconds.  This is `60' by default.  If you change that variable, all
the timings in the handlers will be affected.)

   To set the whole thing in motion, though, you have to set
`gnus-use-demon' to `t'.

   So, if you want to add a handler, you could put something like this
in your `.gnus' file:

     (gnus-demon-add-handler 'gnus-demon-close-connections nil 30)

   Some ready-made functions to do this has been created:
`gnus-demon-add-nocem', `gnus-demon-add-disconnection', and
`gnus-demon-add-scanmail'.  Just put those functions in your `.gnus' if
you want those abilities.

   If you add handlers to `gnus-demon-handlers' directly, you should
run `gnus-demon-init' to make the changes take hold.  To cancel all
daemons, you can use the `gnus-demon-cancel' function.

   Note that adding daemons can be pretty naughty if you overdo it.
Adding functions that scan all news and mail from all servers every two
seconds is a sure-fire way of getting booted off any respectable
system.  So behave.


File: gnus,  Node: NoCeM,  Next: Picons,  Prev: Daemons,  Up: Various

NoCeM
=====

   "Spamming" is posting the same article lots and lots of times.
Spamming is bad.  Spamming is evil.

   Spamming is usually canceled within a day or so by various
anti-spamming agencies.  These agencies usually also send out "NoCeM"
messages.  NoCeM is pronounced "no see-'em", and means what the name
implies--these are messages that make the offending articles, like, go
away.

   What use are these NoCeM messages if the articles are canceled
anyway?  Some sites do not honor cancel messages and some sites just
honor cancels from a select few people.  Then you may wish to make use
of the NoCeM messages, which are distributed in the `alt.nocem.misc'
newsgroup.

   Gnus can read and parse the messages in this group automatically, and
this will make spam disappear.

   There are some variables to customize, of course:

`gnus-use-nocem'
     Set this variable to `t' to set the ball rolling.  It is `nil' by
     default.

`gnus-nocem-groups'
     Gnus will look for NoCeM messages in the groups in this list.  The
     default is `("alt.nocem.misc" "news.admin.net-abuse.announce")'.

`gnus-nocem-issuers'
     There are many people issuing NoCeM messages.  This list says what
     people you want to listen to.  The default is `("Automoose-1"
     "clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;" "jem@xpat.com;"
     "red@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)")'; fine, upstanding
     citizens all of them.

     Known despammers that you can put in this list include:

    `clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca;'
          Chris Lewis--Major Canadian despammer who has probably
          canceled more usenet abuse than anybody else.

    `Automoose-1'
          The CancelMoose[tm] on autopilot.  The CancelMoose[tm] is
          reputed to be Norwegian, and was the person(s) who invented
          NoCeM.

    `jem@xpat.com;'
          Jem--Korean despammer who is getting very busy these days.

    `red@redpoll.mrfs.oh.us (Richard E. Depew)'
          Richard E. Depew--lone American despammer.  He mostly cancels
          binary postings to non-binary groups and removes spews
          (regurgitated articles).

     You do not have to heed NoCeM messages from all these people--just
     the ones you want to listen to.

`gnus-nocem-directory'
     This is where Gnus will store its NoCeM cache files.  The default
     is `~/News/NoCeM/'.

`gnus-nocem-expiry-wait'
     The number of days before removing old NoCeM entries from the
     cache.  The default is 15.  If you make it shorter Gnus will be
     faster, but you might then see old spam.


File: gnus,  Node: Picons,  Next: Various Various,  Prev: NoCeM,  Up: Various

Picons
======

   So...  You want to slow down your news reader even more!  This is a
good way to do so.  Its also a great way to impress people staring over
your shoulder as you read news.

* Menu:

* Picon Basics::           What are picons and How do I get them.
* Picon Requirements::     Don't go further if you aren't using XEmacs.
* Easy Picons::            Displaying Picons - the easy way.
* Hard Picons::            The way you should do it.  You'll learn something.
* Picon Configuration::    Other variables you can trash/tweak/munge/play with.


File: gnus,  Node: Picon Basics,  Next: Picon Requirements,  Up: Picons

Picon Basics
------------

   What are Picons?  To quote directly from the Picons Web site
(`http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html'):

     "Picons" is short for "personal icons".  They're small,
     constrained images used to represent users and domains on the net,
     organized into databases so that the appropriate image for a given
     e-mail address can be found.  Besides users and domains, there are
     picon databases for Usenet newsgroups and weather forecasts.  The
     picons are in either monochrome `XBM' format or color `XPM' and
     `GIF' formats.

   Please see the above mentioned web site for instructions on obtaining
and installing the picons databases, or the following ftp site:
`http://www.cs.indiana.edu/picons/ftp/index.html'.

   Gnus expects picons to be installed into a location pointed to by
`gnus-picons-database'.


File: gnus,  Node: Picon Requirements,  Next: Easy Picons,  Prev: Picon Basics,  Up: Picons

Picon Requirements
------------------

   To use have Gnus display Picons for you, you must be running XEmacs
19.13 or greater since all other versions of Emacs aren't yet able to
display images.

   Additionally, you must have `xpm' support compiled into XEmacs.

   If you want to display faces from `X-Face' headers, you must have
the `netpbm' utilities installed, or munge the
`gnus-picons-convert-x-face' variable to use something else.


File: gnus,  Node: Easy Picons,  Next: Hard Picons,  Prev: Picon Requirements,  Up: Picons

Easy Picons
-----------

   To enable displaying picons, simply put the following line in your
`~/.gnus' file and start Gnus.

     (setq gnus-use-picons t)
     (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)
     (add-hook 'gnus-summary-prepare-hook 'gnus-group-display-picons t)
     (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-picons-article-display-x-face)


File: gnus,  Node: Hard Picons,  Next: Picon Configuration,  Prev: Easy Picons,  Up: Picons

Hard Picons
-----------

   Gnus can display picons for you as you enter and leave groups and
articles.  It knows how to interact with three sections of the picons
database.  Namely, it can display the picons newsgroup pictures,
author's face picture(s), and the authors domain.  To enable this
feature, you need to first decide where to display them.

`gnus-picons-display-where'
     Where the picon images should be displayed.  It is `picons' by
     default (which by default maps to the buffer `*Picons*').  Other
     valid places could be `article', `summary', or `"*scratch*"' for
     all I care.  Just make sure that you've made the buffer visible
     using the standard Gnus window configuration routines - *Note
     Windows Configuration::.

   Note: If you set `gnus-use-picons' to `t', it will set up your
window configuration for you to include the `picons' buffer.

   Now that you've made that decision, you need to add the following
functions to the appropriate hooks so these pictures will get displayed
at the right time.

`gnus-article-display-picons'
     Looks up and display the picons for the author and the author's
     domain in the `gnus-picons-display-where' buffer.  Should be added
     to the `gnus-article-display-hook'.

`gnus-group-display-picons'
     Displays picons representing the current group.  This function
     should be added to the `gnus-summary-prepare-hook' or to the
     `gnus-article-display-hook' if `gnus-picons-display-where' is set
     to `article'.

`gnus-picons-article-display-x-face'
     Decodes and displays the X-Face header if present.  This function
     should be added to `gnus-article-display-hook'.

   Note:  You must append them to the hook, so make sure to specify 't'
to the append flag of `add-hook':

     (add-hook 'gnus-article-display-hook 'gnus-article-display-picons t)


File: gnus,  Node: Picon Configuration,  Prev: Hard Picons,  Up: Picons

Picon Configuration
-------------------

   The following variables offer further control over how things are
done, where things are located, and other useless stuff you really
don't need to worry about.

`gnus-picons-database'
     The location of the picons database.  Should point to a directory
     containing the `news', `domains', `users' (and so on)
     subdirectories.  Defaults to `/usr/local/faces'.

`gnus-picons-news-directory'
     Sub-directory of the faces database containing the icons for
     newsgroups.

`gnus-picons-user-directories'
     List of subdirectories to search in `gnus-picons-database' for user
     faces.  Defaults to `("local" "users" "usenix" "misc/MISC")'.

`gnus-picons-domain-directories'
     List of subdirectories to search in `gnus-picons-database' for
     domain name faces.  Defaults to `("domains")'.  Some people may
     want to add `unknown' to this list.

`gnus-picons-convert-x-face'
     The command to use to convert the `X-Face' header to an X bitmap
     (`xbm').  Defaults to `(format "{ echo '/* Width=48, Height=48
     */'; uncompface; } | icontopbm | pbmtoxbm > %s"
     gnus-picons-x-face-file-name)'

`gnus-picons-x-face-file-name'
     Names a temporary file to store the `X-Face' bitmap in.  Defaults
     to `(format "/tmp/picon-xface.%s.xbm" (user-login-name))'.

`gnus-picons-buffer'
     The name of the buffer that `picons' points to.  Defaults to
     `*Icon Buffer*'.


File: gnus,  Node: Various Various,  Prev: Picons,  Up: Various

Various Various
===============

`gnus-verbose'
     This variable is an integer between zero and ten.  The higher the
     value, the more messages will be displayed.  If this variable is
     zero, Gnus will never flash any messages, if it is seven (which is
     the default), most important messages will be shown, and if it is
     ten, Gnus won't ever shut up, but will flash so many messages it
     will make your head swim.

`gnus-verbose-backends'
     This variable works the same way as `gnus-verbose', but it applies
     to the Gnus backends instead of Gnus proper.

`nnheader-max-head-length'
     When the backends read straight heads of articles, they all try to
     read as little as possible.  This variable (default `4096')
     specifies the absolute max length the backends will try to read
     before giving up on finding a separator line between the head and
     the body.  If this variable is `nil', there is no upper read
     bound.  If it is `t', the backends won't try to read the articles
     piece by piece, but read the entire articles.  This makes sense
     with some versions of `ange-ftp'.

`nnheader-file-name-translation-alist'
     This is an alist that says how to translate characters in file
     names.  For instance, if `:' is illegal as a file character in
     file names on your system (you OS/2 user you), you could say
     something like:

          (setq nnheader-file-name-translation-alist
                '((?: . ?_)))

     In fact, this is the default value for this variable on OS/2 and MS
     Windows (phooey) systems.

`gnus-hidden-properties'
     This is a list of properties to use to hide "invisible" text.  It
     is `(invisible t intangible t)' by default on most systems, which
     makes invisible text invisible and intangible.

`gnus-parse-headers-hook'
     A hook called before parsing headers.  It can be used, for
     instance, to gather statistics on the headers fetched, or perhaps
     you'd like to prune some headers.  I don't see why you'd want
     that, though.


File: gnus,  Node: The End,  Next: Appendices,  Prev: Various,  Up: Top

The End
*******

   Well, that's the manual--you can get on with your life now.  Keep in
touch.  Say hello to your cats from me.

   My *ghod*--I just can't stand goodbyes.  Sniffle.

   Ol' Charles Reznikoff said it pretty well, so I leave the floor to
him:

     *Te Deum*

     Not because of victories
     I sing,
     having none,
     but for the common sunshine,
     the breeze,
     the largess of the spring.

     Not for victory
     but for the day's work done
     as well as I was able;
     not for a seat upon the dais
     but at the common table.


File: gnus,  Node: Appendices,  Next: Index,  Prev: The End,  Up: Top

Appendices
**********

* Menu:

* History::                        How Gnus got where it is today.
* Terminology::                    We use really difficult, like, words here.
* Customization::                  Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
* Troubleshooting::                What you might try if things do not work.
* A Programmers Guide to Gnus::    Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
* Emacs for Heathens::             A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
* Frequently Asked Questions::     A question-and-answer session.


File: gnus,  Node: History,  Next: Terminology,  Up: Appendices

History
=======

   GNUS was written by Masanobu UMEDA.  When autumn crept up in '94,
Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and decided to rewrite Gnus.

   If you want to investigate the person responsible for this outrage,
you can point your (feh!) web browser to
`http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/'.  This is also the primary distribution
point for the new and spiffy versions of Gnus, and is known as The Site
That Destroys Newsrcs And Drives People Mad.

   During the first extended alpha period of development, the new Gnus
was called "(ding) Gnus".  "(ding)", is, of course, short for "ding is
not Gnus", which is a total and utter lie, but who cares?  (Besides,
the "Gnus" in this abbreviation should probably be pronounced "news" as
UMEDA intended, which makes it a more appropriate name, don't you
think?)

   In any case, after spending all that energy on coming up with a new
and spunky name, we decided that the name was *too* spunky, so we
renamed it back again to "Gnus".  But in mixed case.  "Gnus" vs.
"GNUS".  New vs. old.

   The first "proper" release of Gnus 5 was done in November 1995 when
it was included in the Emacs 19.30 distribution.

   In May 1996 the next Gnus generation (aka.  "September Gnus") was
released under the name "Gnus 5.2".

* Menu:

* Why?::                What's the point of Gnus?
* Compatibility::       Just how compatible is Gnus with GNUS?
* Conformity::          Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
* Emacsen::             Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
* Contributors::        Oodles of people.
* New Features::        Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
* Newest Features::     Features so new that they haven't been written yet.


File: gnus,  Node: Why?,  Next: Compatibility,  Up: History

Why?
----

   What's the point of Gnus?

   I want to provide a "rad", "happening", "way cool" and "hep"
newsreader, that lets you do anything you can think of.  That was my
original motivation, but while working on Gnus, it has become clear to
me that this generation of newsreaders really belong in the stone age.
Newsreaders haven't developed much since the infancy of the net.  If the
volume continues to rise with the current rate of increase, all current
newsreaders will be pretty much useless.  How do you deal with
newsgroups that have thousands of new articles each day?  How do you
keep track of millions of people who post?

   Gnus offers no real solutions to these questions, but I would very
much like to see Gnus being used as a testing ground for new methods of
reading and fetching news.  Expanding on UMEDA-san's wise decision to
separate the newsreader from the backends, Gnus now offers a simple
interface for anybody who wants to write new backends for fetching mail
and news from different sources.  I have added hooks for customizations
everywhere I could imagine useful.  By doing so, I'm inviting every one
of you to explore and invent.

   May Gnus never be complete. `C-u 100 M-x hail-emacs'.


File: gnus,  Node: Compatibility,  Next: Conformity,  Prev: Why?,  Up: History

Compatibility
-------------

   Gnus was designed to be fully compatible with GNUS.  Almost all key
bindings have been kept.  More key bindings have been added, of course,
but only in one or two obscure cases have old bindings been changed.

   Our motto is:
                         In a cloud bones of steel.


   All commands have kept their names.  Some internal functions have
changed their names.

   The `gnus-uu' package has changed drastically. *note Decoding
Articles::..

   One major compatibility question is the presence of several summary
buffers.  All variables that are relevant while reading a group are
buffer-local to the summary buffer they belong in.  Although many
important variables have their values copied into their global
counterparts whenever a command is executed in the summary buffer, this
change might lead to incorrect values being used unless you are careful.

   All code that relies on knowledge of GNUS internals will probably
fail.  To take two examples: Sorting `gnus-newsrc-alist' (or changing
it in any way, as a matter of fact) is strictly verboten.  Gnus
maintains a hash table that points to the entries in this alist (which
speeds up many functions), and changing the alist directly will lead to
peculiar results.

   Old hilit19 code does not work at all.  In fact, you should probably
remove all hilit code from all Gnus hooks (`gnus-group-prepare-hook'
and `gnus-summary-prepare-hook').  Gnus provides various integrated
functions for highlighting.  These are faster and more accurate.  To
make life easier for everybody, Gnus will by default remove all hilit
calls from all hilit hooks.  Uncleanliness!  Away!

   Packages like `expire-kill' will no longer work.  As a matter of
fact, you should probably remove all old GNUS packages (and other code)
when you start using Gnus.  More likely than not, Gnus already does
what you have written code to make GNUS do.  (Snicker.)

   Even though old methods of doing things are still supported, only the
new methods are documented in this manual.  If you detect a new method
of doing something while reading this manual, that does not mean you
have to stop doing it the old way.

   Gnus understands all GNUS startup files.

   Overall, a casual user who hasn't written much code that depends on
GNUS internals should suffer no problems.  If problems occur, please
let me know by issuing that magic command `M-x gnus-bug'.


File: gnus,  Node: Conformity,  Next: Emacsen,  Prev: Compatibility,  Up: History

Conformity
----------

   No rebels without a clue here, ma'am.  We conform to all standards
known to (wo)man.  Except for those standards and/or conventions we
disagree with, of course.

*RFC 822*
     There are no known breaches of this standard.

*RFC 1036*
     There are no known breaches of this standard, either.

*Usenet Seal of Approval*
     Gnus hasn't been formally through the Seal process, but I have read
     through the Seal text and I think Gnus would pass.

*Son-of-RFC 1036*
     We do have some breaches to this one.

    *MIME*
          Gnus does no MIME handling, and this standard-to-be seems to
          think that MIME is the bees' knees, so we have major breakage
          here.

    *X-Newsreader*
          This is considered to be a "vanity header", while I consider
          it to be consumer information.  After seeing so many badly
          formatted articles coming from `tin' and `Netscape' I know
          not to use either of those for posting articles.  I would not
          have known that if it wasn't for the `X-Newsreader' header.

    *References*
          Gnus does line breaking on this header.  I infer from RFC1036
          that being conservative in what you output is not creating
          5000-character lines, so it seems like a good idea to me.
          However, this standard-to-be says that whitespace in the
          `References' header is to be preserved, so...  It doesn't
          matter one way or the other to Gnus, so if somebody tells me
          what The Way is, I'll change it.  Or not.

   If you ever notice Gnus acting non-compliantly with regards to the
texts mentioned above, don't hesitate to drop a note to Gnus Towers and
let us know.


File: gnus,  Node: Emacsen,  Next: Contributors,  Prev: Conformity,  Up: History

Emacsen
-------

   Gnus should work on :

   * Emacs 19.30 and up.

   * XEmacs 19.13 and up.

   * Mule versions based on Emacs 19.30 and up.

   Gnus will absolutely not work on any Emacsen older than that.  Not
reliably, at least.

   There are some vague differences between Gnus on the various
platforms:

   * The mouse-face on Gnus lines under Emacs and Mule is delimited to
     certain parts of the lines while they cover the entire line under
     XEmacs.

   * The same with current-article marking--XEmacs puts an underline
     under the entire summary line while Emacs and Mule are nicer and
     kinder.

   * XEmacs features more graphics--a logo and a toolbar.

   * Citation highlighting us better under Emacs and Mule than under
     XEmacs.

   * Emacs 19.26-19.28 have tangible hidden headers, which can be a bit
     confusing.


File: gnus,  Node: Contributors,  Next: New Features,  Prev: Emacsen,  Up: History

Contributors
------------

   The new Gnus version couldn't have been done without the help of all
the people on the (ding) mailing list.  Every day for over a year I have
gotten billions of nice bug reports from them, filling me with joy,
every single one of them.  Smooches.  The people on the list have been
tried beyond endurance, what with my "oh, that's a neat idea <type
type>, yup, I'll release it right away <ship off> no wait, that doesn't
work at all <type type>, yup, I'll ship that one off right away <ship
off> no, wait, that absolutely does not work" policy for releases.
Micro$oft--bah.  Amateurs.  I'm *much* worse.  (Or is that "worser"?
"much worser"?  "worsest"?)

   I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Academy for...
oops, wrong show.

   * Masanobu UMEDA The writer of the original GNUS.

   * Per Abrahamsen Custom, scoring, highlighting and SOUP code (as
     well as numerous other things).

   * Luis Fernandes Design and graphics.

   * Wes Hardaker `gnus-picon.el' and the manual section on "picons"
     (*note Picons::.).

   * Brad Miller `gnus-gl.el' and the GroupLens manual section (*note
     GroupLens::.).

   * Sudish Joseph Innumerable bug fixes.

   * Ilja Weis `gnus-topic.el'.

   * Steven L. Baur Lots and lots of bugs detections and fixes.

   * Vladimir Alexiev The refcard and reference booklets.

   * Felix Lee & JWZ I stole some pieces from the XGnus distribution by
     Felix Lee and JWZ.

   * Scott Byer `nnfolder.el' enhancements & rewrite.

   * Peter Mutsaers Orphan article scoring code.

   * Ken Raeburn POP mail support.

   * Hallvard B Furuseth Various bits and pieces, especially dealing
     with .newsrc files.

   * Brian Edmonds `gnus-bbdb.el'.

   * Ricardo Nassif and Mark Borges Proof-reading.

   * Kevin Davidson Came up with the name "ding", so blame him.

   Peter Arius, Stainless Steel Rat, Ulrik Dickow, Jack Vinson, Daniel
Quinlan, Frank D. Cringle, Geoffrey T. Dairiki, Fabrice Popineau and
Andrew Eskilsson have all contributed code and suggestions.


File: gnus,  Node: New Features,  Next: Newest Features,  Prev: Contributors,  Up: History

New Features
------------

   * The look of all buffers can be changed by setting format-like
     variables (*note Group Buffer Format::. and *note Summary Buffer
     Format::.).

   * Local spool and several NNTP servers can be used at once (*note
     Select Methods::.).

   * You can combine groups into virtual groups (*note Virtual
     Groups::.).

   * You can read a number of different mail formats (*note Getting
     Mail::.).  All the mail backends implement a convenient mail
     expiry scheme (*note Expiring Mail::.).

   * Gnus can use various strategies for gathering threads that have
     lost their roots (thereby gathering loose sub-threads into one
     thread) or it can go back and retrieve enough headers to build a
     complete thread (*note Customizing Threading::.).

   * Killed groups can be displayed in the group buffer, and you can
     read them as well (*note Listing Groups::.).

   * Gnus can do partial group updates--you do not have to retrieve the
     entire active file just to check for new articles in a few groups
     (*note The Active File::.).

   * Gnus implements a sliding scale of subscribedness to groups (*note
     Group Levels::.).

   * You can score articles according to any number of criteria (*note
     Scoring::.).  You can even get Gnus to find out how to score
     articles for you (*note Adaptive Scoring::.).

   * Gnus maintains a dribble buffer that is auto-saved the normal Emacs
     manner, so it should be difficult to lose much data on what you
     have read if your machine should go down (*note Auto Save::.).

   * Gnus now has its own startup file (`.gnus') to avoid cluttering up
     the `.emacs' file.

   * You can set the process mark on both groups and articles and
     perform operations on all the marked items (*note
     Process/Prefix::.).

   * You can grep through a subset of groups and create a group from the
     results (*note Kibozed Groups::.).

   * You can list subsets of groups according to, well, anything (*note
     Listing Groups::.).

   * You can browse foreign servers and subscribe to groups from those
     servers (*note Browse Foreign Server::.).

   * Gnus can fetch articles asynchronously on a second connection to
     the server (*note Asynchronous Fetching::.).

   * You can cache articles locally (*note Article Caching::.).

   * The uudecode functions have been expanded and generalized (*note
     Decoding Articles::.).

   * You can still post uuencoded articles, which was a little-known
     feature of GNUS' past (*note Uuencoding and Posting::.).

   * Fetching parents (and other articles) now actually works without
     glitches (*note Finding the Parent::.).

   * Gnus can fetch FAQs and group descriptions (*note Group
     Information::.).

   * Digests (and other files) can be used as the basis for groups
     (*note Document Groups::.).

   * Articles can be highlighted and customized (*note Customizing
     Articles::.).

   * URLs and other external references can be buttonized (*note
     Article Buttons::.).

   * You can do lots of strange stuff with the Gnus window & frame
     configuration (*note Windows Configuration::.).

   * You can click on buttons instead of using the keyboard (*note
     Buttons::.).

   * Gnus can use NoCeM files to weed out spam (*note NoCeM::.).

   This is, of course, just a *short* overview of the *most* important
new features.  No, really.  There are tons more.  Yes, we have feeping
creaturism in full effect, but nothing too gratuitous, I would hope.


File: gnus,  Node: Newest Features,  Prev: New Features,  Up: History

Newest Features
---------------

   Also known as the "todo list".  Sure to be implemented before the
next millennium.

   Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

   * Native MIME support is something that should be done.

   * A better and simpler method for specifying mail composing methods.

   * Allow posting through mail-to-news gateways.

   * Really do unbinhexing.

   And much, much, much more.  There is more to come than has already
been implemented.  (But that's always true, isn't it?)

   `<URL:http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/sgnus/todo>' is where the actual
up-to-the-second todo list is located, so if you're really curious, you
could point your Web browser over that-a-way.

