This is gnus, produced by makeinfo version 4.8 from gnus.texi.

INFO-DIR-SECTION The Emacs editor and associated tools
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Gnus: (gnus.info).			The newsreader Gnus.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

   This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.

   Copyright (C) 1995,96,97,98,99,2000 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: Contributors,  Next: New Features,  Prev: Gnus Development,  Up: History

10.1.8 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.

   * Shenghuo Zhu--uudecode.el, mm-uu.el, rfc1843.el, webmail.el,
     nnwarchive and many, many other things connected with MIME and
     other types of en/decoding, as well as general bug fixing, new
     functionality and stuff.

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

   * Luis Fernandes--design and graphics.

   * Justin Sheehy-the FAQ maintainer.

   * Erik Naggum--help, ideas, support, code and stuff.

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

   * Kim-Minh Kaplan--further work on the picon code.

   * 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 and lots of bugs detections and
     fixes.

   * Vladimir Alexiev--the refcard and reference booklets.

   * Felix Lee & Jamie Zawinski--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'.

   * David Moore--rewrite of `nnvirtual.el' and many other things.

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

   * François Pinard--many, many interesting and thorough bug reports,
     as well as autoconf support.


   This manual was proof-read by Adrian Aichner, with Ricardo Nassif,
Mark Borges, and Jost Krieger proof-reading parts of the manual.

   The following people have contributed many patches and suggestions:

   Christopher Davis, Andrew Eskilsson, Kai Grossjohann, David Kågedal,
Richard Pieri, Fabrice Popineau, Daniel Quinlan, Jason L. Tibbitts, III,
and Jack Vinson.

   Also thanks to the following for patches and stuff:

   Jari Aalto, Adrian Aichner, Vladimir Alexiev, Russ Allbery, Peter
Arius, Matt Armstrong, Marc Auslander, Miles Bader, Alexei V. Barantsev,
Frank Bennett, Robert Bihlmeyer, Chris Bone, Mark Borges, Mark Boyns,
Lance A. Brown, Rob Browning, Kees de Bruin, Martin Buchholz, Joe
Buehler, Kevin Buhr, Alastair Burt, Joao Cachopo, Zlatko Calusic,
Massimo Campostrini, Castor, David Charlap, Dan Christensen, Kevin
Christian, Jae-you Chung, James H. Cloos, Jr., Laura Conrad, Michael R.
Cook, Glenn Coombs, Andrew J. Cosgriff, Neil Crellin, Frank D. Cringle,
Geoffrey T. Dairiki, Andre Deparade, Ulrik Dickow, Dave Disser, Rui-Tao
Dong, Joev Dubach, Michael Welsh Duggan, Dave Edmondson, Paul Eggert,
Mark W. Eichin, Karl Eichwalder, Enami Tsugutomo, Michael Ernst, Luc
Van Eycken, Sam Falkner, Nelson Jose dos Santos Ferreira, Sigbjorn
Finne, Sven Fischer, Paul Fisher, Decklin Foster, Gary D. Foster, Paul
Franklin, Guy Geens, Arne Georg Gleditsch, David S. Goldberg,
Michelangelo Grigni, Dale Hagglund, D. Hall, Magnus Hammerin, Kenichi
Handa, Raja R. Harinath, Yoshiki Hayashi, P. E. Jareth Hein, Hisashige
Kenji, Scott Hofmann, Marc Horowitz, Gunnar Horrigmo, Richard Hoskins,
Brad Howes, Miguel de Icaza, François Felix Ingrand, Tatsuya Ichikawa,
Ishikawa Ichiro, Lee Iverson, Iwamuro Motonori, Rajappa Iyer, Andreas
Jaeger, Adam P. Jenkins, Randell Jesup, Fred Johansen, Gareth Jones,
Simon Josefsson, Greg Klanderman, Karl Kleinpaste, Michael Klingbeil,
Peter Skov Knudsen, Shuhei Kobayashi, Petr Konecny, Koseki Yoshinori,
Thor Kristoffersen, Jens Lautenbacher, Martin Larose, Seokchan Lee,
Joerg Lenneis, Carsten Leonhardt, James LewisMoss, Christian Limpach,
Markus Linnala, Dave Love, Mike McEwan, Tonny Madsen, Shlomo Mahlab,
Nat Makarevitch, Istvan Marko, David Martin, Jason R. Mastaler, Gordon
Matzigkeit, Timo Metzemakers, Richard Mlynarik, Lantz Moore, Morioka
Tomohiko, Erik Toubro Nielsen, Hrvoje Niksic, Andy Norman, Fred
Oberhauser, C. R. Oldham, Alexandre Oliva, Ken Olstad, Masaharu Onishi,
Hideki Ono, Ettore Perazzoli, William Perry, Stephen Peters, Jens-Ulrik
Holger Petersen, Ulrich Pfeifer, Matt Pharr, Andy Piper, John McClary
Prevost, Bill Pringlemeir, Mike Pullen, Jim Radford, Colin Rafferty,
Lasse Rasinen, Lars Balker Rasmussen, Joe Reiss, Renaud Rioboo, Roland
B. Roberts, Bart Robinson, Christian von Roques, Markus Rost, Jason
Rumney, Wolfgang Rupprecht, Jay Sachs, Dewey M. Sasser, Conrad
Sauerwald, Loren Schall, Dan Schmidt, Ralph Schleicher, Philippe
Schnoebelen, Andreas Schwab, Randal L. Schwartz, Danny Siu, Matt
Simmons, Paul D. Smith, Jeff Sparkes, Toby Speight, Michael Sperber,
Darren Stalder, Richard Stallman, Greg Stark, Sam Steingold, Paul
Stevenson, Jonas Steverud, Paul Stodghill, Kiyokazu Suto, Kurt Swanson,
Samuel Tardieu, Teddy, Chuck Thompson, Tozawa Akihiko, Philippe Troin,
James Troup, Trung Tran-Duc, Jack Twilley, Aaron M. Ucko, Aki Vehtari,
Didier Verna, Vladimir Volovich, Jan Vroonhof, Stefan Waldherr, Pete
Ware, Barry A. Warsaw, Christoph Wedler, Joe Wells, Lee Willis, Katsumi
Yamaoka and Lloyd Zusman.

   For a full overview of what each person has done, the ChangeLogs
included in the Gnus alpha distributions should give ample reading
(550kB and counting).

   Apologies to everybody that I've forgotten, of which there are many,
I'm sure.

   Gee, that's quite a list of people.  I guess that must mean that
there actually are people who are using Gnus.  Who'd'a thunk it!


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

10.1.9 New Features
-------------------

* Menu:

* ding Gnus::          New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
* September Gnus::     The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.3/5.3.
* Red Gnus::           Third time best---Gnus 5.4/5.5.
* Quassia Gnus::       Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.

   These lists are, of course, just _short_ overviews of the _most_
important new features.  No, really.  There are tons more.  Yes, we
have feeping creaturism in full effect.


File: gnus,  Node: ding Gnus,  Next: September Gnus,  Up: New Features

10.1.9.1 (ding) Gnus
....................

New features in Gnus 5.0/5.1:

   * 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::).



File: gnus,  Node: September Gnus,  Next: Red Gnus,  Prev: ding Gnus,  Up: New Features

10.1.9.2 September Gnus
.......................

New features in Gnus 5.2/5.3:

   * A new message composition mode is used.  All old customization
     variables for `mail-mode', `rnews-reply-mode' and `gnus-msg' are
     now obsolete.

   * Gnus is now able to generate "sparse" threads--threads where
     missing articles are represented by empty nodes (*note Customizing
     Threading::).

          (setq gnus-build-sparse-threads 'some)

   * Outgoing articles are stored on a special archive server (*note
     Archived Messages::).

   * Partial thread regeneration now happens when articles are referred.

   * Gnus can make use of GroupLens predictions (*note GroupLens::).

   * Picons (personal icons) can be displayed under XEmacs (*note
     Picons::).

   * A `trn'-like tree buffer can be displayed (*note Tree Display::).

          (setq gnus-use-trees t)

   * An `nn'-like pick-and-read minor mode is available for the summary
     buffers (*note Pick and Read::).

          (add-hook 'gnus-summary-mode-hook 'gnus-pick-mode)

   * In binary groups you can use a special binary minor mode (*note
     Binary Groups::).

   * Groups can be grouped in a folding topic hierarchy (*note Group
     Topics::).

          (add-hook 'gnus-group-mode-hook 'gnus-topic-mode)

   * Gnus can re-send and bounce mail (*note Summary Mail Commands::).

   * Groups can now have a score, and bubbling based on entry frequency
     is possible (*note Group Score::).

          (add-hook 'gnus-summary-exit-hook 'gnus-summary-bubble-group)

   * Groups can be process-marked, and commands can be performed on
     groups of groups (*note Marking Groups::).

   * Caching is possible in virtual groups.

   * `nndoc' now understands all kinds of digests, mail boxes, rnews
     news batches, ClariNet briefs collections, and just about
     everything else (*note Document Groups::).

   * Gnus has a new backend (`nnsoup') to create/read SOUP packets
     (*note SOUP::).

   * The Gnus cache is much faster.

   * Groups can be sorted according to many criteria (*note Sorting
     Groups::).

   * New group parameters have been introduced to set list-addresses and
     expiry times (*note Group Parameters::).

   * All formatting specs allow specifying faces to be used (*note
     Formatting Fonts::).

   * There are several more commands for setting/removing/acting on
     process marked articles on the `M P' submap (*note Setting Process
     Marks::).

   * The summary buffer can be limited to show parts of the available
     articles based on a wide range of criteria.  These commands have
     been bound to keys on the `/' submap (*note Limiting::).

   * Articles can be made persistent with the `*' command (*note
     Persistent Articles::).

   * All functions for hiding article elements are now toggles.

   * Article headers can be buttonized (*note Article Washing::).

   * All mail backends support fetching articles by `Message-ID'.

   * Duplicate mail can now be treated properly (*note Duplicates::).

   * All summary mode commands are available directly from the article
     buffer (*note Article Keymap::).

   * Frames can be part of `gnus-buffer-configuration' (*note Windows
     Configuration::).

   * Mail can be re-scanned by a daemonic process (*note Daemons::).

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

          (setq gnus-use-nocem t)

   * Groups can be made permanently visible (*note Listing Groups::).

          (setq gnus-permanently-visible-groups "^nnml:")

   * Many new hooks have been introduced to make customizing easier.

   * Gnus respects the `Mail-Copies-To' header.

   * Threads can be gathered by looking at the `References' header
     (*note Customizing Threading::).

          (setq gnus-summary-thread-gathering-function
                'gnus-gather-threads-by-references)

   * Read articles can be stored in a special backlog buffer to avoid
     refetching (*note Article Backlog::).

          (setq gnus-keep-backlog 50)

   * A clean copy of the current article is always stored in a separate
     buffer to allow easier treatment.

   * Gnus can suggest where to save articles (*note Saving Articles::).

   * Gnus doesn't have to do as much prompting when saving (*note
     Saving Articles::).

          (setq gnus-prompt-before-saving t)

   * `gnus-uu' can view decoded files asynchronously while fetching
     articles (*note Other Decode Variables::).

          (setq gnus-uu-grabbed-file-functions 'gnus-uu-grab-view)

   * Filling in the article buffer now works properly on cited text
     (*note Article Washing::).

   * Hiding cited text adds buttons to toggle hiding, and how much
     cited text to hide is now customizable (*note Article Hiding::).

          (setq gnus-cited-lines-visible 2)

   * Boring headers can be hidden (*note Article Hiding::).

   * Default scoring values can now be set from the menu bar.

   * Further syntax checking of outgoing articles have been added.



File: gnus,  Node: Red Gnus,  Next: Quassia Gnus,  Prev: September Gnus,  Up: New Features

10.1.9.3 Red Gnus
.................

New features in Gnus 5.4/5.5:

   * `nntp.el' has been totally rewritten in an asynchronous fashion.

   * Article prefetching functionality has been moved up into Gnus
     (*note Asynchronous Fetching::).

   * Scoring can now be performed with logical operators like `and',
     `or', `not', and parent redirection (*note Advanced Scoring::).

   * Article washing status can be displayed in the article mode line
     (*note Misc Article::).

   * `gnus.el' has been split into many smaller files.

   * Suppression of duplicate articles based on Message-ID can be done
     (*note Duplicate Suppression::).

          (setq gnus-suppress-duplicates t)

   * New variables for specifying what score and adapt files are to be
     considered home score and adapt files (*note Home Score File::)
     have been added.

   * `nndoc' was rewritten to be easily extendable (*note Document
     Server Internals::).

   * Groups can inherit group parameters from parent topics (*note
     Topic Parameters::).

   * Article editing has been revamped and is now actually usable.

   * Signatures can be recognized in more intelligent fashions (*note
     Article Signature::).

   * Summary pick mode has been made to look more `nn'-like.  Line
     numbers are displayed and the `.' command can be used to pick
     articles (`Pick and Read').

   * Commands for moving the `.newsrc.eld' from one server to another
     have been added (*note Changing Servers::).

   * There's a way now to specify that "uninteresting" fields be
     suppressed when generating lines in buffers (*note Advanced
     Formatting::).

   * Several commands in the group buffer can be undone with `M-C-_'
     (*note Undo::).

   * Scoring can be done on words using the new score type `w' (*note
     Score File Format::).

   * Adaptive scoring can be done on a Subject word-by-word basis
     (*note Adaptive Scoring::).

          (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring '(word))

   * Scores can be decayed (*note Score Decays::).

          (setq gnus-decay-scores t)

   * Scoring can be performed using a regexp on the Date header.  The
     Date is normalized to compact ISO 8601 format first (*note Score
     File Format::).

   * A new command has been added to remove all data on articles from
     the native server (*note Changing Servers::).

   * A new command for reading collections of documents (`nndoc' with
     `nnvirtual' on top) has been added--`M-C-d' (*note Really Various
     Summary Commands::).

   * Process mark sets can be pushed and popped (*note Setting Process
     Marks::).

   * A new mail-to-news backend makes it possible to post even when the
     NNTP server doesn't allow posting (*note Mail-To-News Gateways::).

   * A new backend for reading searches from Web search engines
     ("DejaNews", "Alta Vista", "InReference") has been added (*note
     Web Searches::).

   * Groups inside topics can now be sorted using the standard sorting
     functions, and each topic can be sorted independently (*note Topic
     Sorting::).

   * Subsets of the groups can be sorted independently (`Sorting
     Groups').

   * Cached articles can be pulled into the groups (*note Summary
     Generation Commands::).

   * Score files are now applied in a more reliable order (*note Score
     Variables::).

   * Reports on where mail messages end up can be generated (*note
     Splitting Mail::).

   * More hooks and functions have been added to remove junk from
     incoming mail before saving the mail (*note Washing Mail::).

   * Emphasized text can be properly fontisized:



File: gnus,  Node: Quassia Gnus,  Prev: Red Gnus,  Up: New Features

10.1.9.4 Quassia Gnus
.....................

New features in Gnus 5.6:

   * New functionality for using Gnus as an offline newsreader has been
     added.  A plethora of new commands and modes have been added.  See
     *note Gnus Unplugged:: for the full story.

   *  The `nndraft' backend has returned, but works differently than
     before.  All Message buffers are now also articles in the `nndraft'
     group, which is created automatically.

   * `gnus-alter-header-function' can now be used to alter header
     values.

   *  `gnus-summary-goto-article' now accept Message-ID's.

   *  A new Message command for deleting text in the body of a message
     outside the region: `C-c C-v'.

   *  You can now post to component group in `nnvirtual' groups with
     `C-u C-c C-c'.

   *  `nntp-rlogin-program'--new variable to ease customization.

   *  `C-u C-c C-c' in `gnus-article-edit-mode' will now inhibit
     re-highlighting of the article buffer.

   *  New element in `gnus-boring-article-headers'--`long-to'.

   *  `M-i' symbolic prefix command.  See the section "Symbolic
     Prefixes" in the Gnus manual for details.

   *  `L' and `I' in the summary buffer now take the symbolic prefix
     `a' to add the score rule to the "all.SCORE" file.

   *  `gnus-simplify-subject-functions' variable to allow greater
     control over simplification.

   *  `A T'--new command for fetching the current thread.

   *  `/ T'--new command for including the current thread in the limit.

   *  `M-RET' is a new Message command for breaking cited text.

   *  `\\1'-expressions are now valid in `nnmail-split-methods'.

   *  The `custom-face-lookup' function has been removed.  If you used
     this function in your initialization files, you must rewrite them
     to use `face-spec-set' instead.

   *  Canceling now uses the current select method.  Symbolic prefix
     `a' forces normal posting method.

   *  New command to translate M******** sm*rtq**t*s into proper
     text--`W d'.

   *  For easier debugging of `nntp', you can set
     `nntp-record-commands' to a non-`nil' value.

   *  `nntp' now uses `~/.authinfo', a `.netrc'-like file, for
     controlling where and how to send AUTHINFO to NNTP servers.

   *  A command for editing group parameters from the summary buffer
     has been added.

   *  A history of where mails have been split is available.

   *  A new article date command has been added--`article-date-iso8601'.

   *  Subjects can be simplified when threading by setting
     `gnus-score-thread-simplify'.

   *  A new function for citing in Message has been
     added--`message-cite-original-without-signature'.

   *  `article-strip-all-blank-lines'--new article command.

   *  A new Message command to kill to the end of the article has been
     added.

   *  A minimum adaptive score can be specified by using the
     `gnus-adaptive-word-minimum' variable.

   *  The "lapsed date" article header can be kept continually updated
     by the `gnus-start-date-timer' command.

   *  Web listserv archives can be read with the `nnlistserv' backend.

   *  Old dejanews archives can now be read by `nnweb'.



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

10.1.10 Newest Features
-----------------------

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

   Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

   (That a feature appears in this list doesn't necessarily mean that
I've decided to actually implement it.  It just means that I think it
sounds interesting.)

   (Yes, this is the actual, up-to-the-second todo list.)

   *  I would like the zombie-page to contain an URL to the source of
     the latest version of gnus or some explanation on where to find it.

   *  A way to continue editing the latest Message composition.

   *  http://www.sonicnet.com/feature/ari3/

   *  facep is not declared.

   *  Include a section in the manual on why the number of articles
     isn't the same in the group buffer and on the SPC prompt.

   *  Interacting with rmail fcc isn't easy.

   *       Hypermail:
          <URL:http://www.falch.no/people/pepper/DSSSL-Lite/archives/>
          <URL:http://www.eit.com/software/hypermail/hypermail.html>
          <URL:http://homer.ncm.com/>
          <URL:http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTML_Converters/>
          http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9610/index.html
          <URL:http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/converters.html>
          http://www.miranova.com/gnus-list/

   * `^-- ' is made into - in LaTeX.

   *  gnus-kill is much slower than it was in GNUS 4.1.3.

   *  when expunging articles on low score, the sparse nodes keep
     hanging on?

   *  starting the first time seems to hang Gnus on some systems.  Does
     NEWGROUPS answer too fast?

   *  nndir doesn't read gzipped files.

   *  FAQ doesn't have an up node?

   *  when moving mail from a procmail spool to the crash-box, the
     crash-box is only appropriate to one specific group.

   *  `t' `t' makes X-Faces disappear.

   *  nnmh-be-safe means that crossposted articles will be marked as
     unread.

   *  Orphan score entries don't show on "V t" score trace

   *  when clearing out data, the cache data should also be reset.

   *  rewrite gnus-summary-limit-children to be non-recursive to avoid
     exceeding lisp nesting on huge groups.

   *  expunged articles are counted when computing scores.

   *  implement gnus-batch-brew-soup

   *  ticked articles aren't easy to read in pick mode - `n' and stuff
     just skips past them.  Read articles are the same.

   *  topics that contain just groups with ticked articles aren't
     displayed.

   *  nndoc should always allocate unique Message-IDs.

   *  If there are mail groups the first time you use Gnus, Gnus'll
     make the mail groups killed.

   *  no "no news is good news" when using topics.

   *  when doing crosspost marking, the cache has to be consulted and
     articles have to be removed.

   *  nnweb should fetch complete articles when they are split into
     several parts.

   *  scoring on head immediate doesn't work.

   *  finding short score file names takes forever.

   *  canceling articles in foreign groups.

   *  nntp-open-rlogin no longer works.

   *  C-u C-x C-s (Summary) switches to the group buffer.

   *  move nnmail-split-history out to the backends.

   *  nnweb doesn't work properly.

   *  using a virtual server name as `gnus-select-method' doesn't work?

   *  when killing/yanking a group from one topic to another in a
     slave, the master will yank it first to one topic and then add it
     to another.  Perhaps.

   *  warn user about `=' redirection of a group in the active file?

   *  take over the XEmacs menubar and offer a toggle between the XEmacs
     bar and the Gnus bar.

   *       push active file and NOV file parsing down into C code.
          `(canonize-message-id id)'
          `(mail-parent-message-id references n)'
          `(parse-news-nov-line &optional dependency-hashtb)'
          `(parse-news-nov-region beg end &optional dependency-hashtb fullp)'
          `(parse-news-active-region beg end hashtb)'

   *  nnml .overview directory with splits.

   *  asynchronous cache

   *  postponed commands.

   *  the selected article show have its Subject displayed in its
     summary line.

   *  when entering groups, get the real number of unread articles from
     the server?

   *  sort after gathering threads - make false roots have the headers
     of the oldest orphan with a 0 article number?

   *  nndoc groups should inherit the score files of their parents?
     Also inherit copy prompts and save files.

   *  command to start up Gnus (if not running) and enter a mail mode
     buffer.

   *  allow editing the group description from the group buffer for
     backends that support that.

   * gnus-hide,show-all-topics

   *  groups and sub-topics should be allowed to mingle inside each
     topic, and not just list all subtopics at the end.

   *  a command to remove all read articles that are not needed to
     connect threads - `gnus-summary-limit-to-sparse-unread'?

   *  a variable to turn off limiting/cutting of threads in the tree
     buffer.

   *  a variable to limit how many files are uudecoded.

   *  add zombie groups to a special "New Groups" topic.

   *  server mode command: close/open all connections

   *  put a file date in gnus-score-alist and check whether the file
     has been changed before using it.

   *  on exit from a digest group, go to the next article in the parent
     group.

   *  hide (sub)threads with low score.

   *  when expiring, remove all marks from expired articles.

   *  gnus-summary-limit-to-body

   *  a regexp alist that says what level groups are to be subscribed
     on.  Eg. - `(("nnml:" . 1))'.

   *  easier interface to nnkiboze to create ephemeral groups that
     contain groups that match a regexp.

   *  allow newlines in <URL:> urls, but remove them before using the
     URL.

   *  If there is no From line, the mail backends should fudge one from
     the "From " line.

   *  fuzzy simplifying should strip all non-alpha-numerical info from
     subject lines.

   *  gnus-soup-brew-soup-with-high-scores.

   *  nntp-ping-before-connect

   *  command to check whether NOV is evil.  "list overview.fmt".

   *  when entering a group, Gnus should look through the score files
     very early for `local' atoms and set those local variables.

   *  message annotations.

   *  topics are always yanked before groups, and that's not good.

   *  (set-extent-property extent 'help-echo "String to display in
     minibuf") to display help in the minibuffer on buttons under
     XEmacs.

   *  allow group line format spec to say how many articles there are
     in the cache.

   *  AUTHINFO GENERIC

   *  `run-with-idle-timer' in gnus-demon.

   *  stop using invisible text properties and start using overlays
     instead

   *  C-c C-f C-e to add an Expires header.

   *  go from one group to the next; everything is expunged; go to the
     next group instead of going to the group buffer.

   *  gnus-renumber-cache - to renumber the cache using "low" numbers.

   *  record topic changes in the dribble buffer.

   *  `nnfolder-generate-active-file' should look at the folders it
     finds and generate proper active ranges.

   *  nneething-look-in-files-for-article-heads variable to control
     whether nneething should sniff all files in the directories.

   *  gnus-fetch-article - start Gnus, enter group, display article

   *  gnus-dont-move-articles-to-same-group variable when respooling.

   *  when messages are crossposted between several auto-expirable
     groups, articles aren't properly marked as expirable.

   *  nneething should allow deletion/moving.

   *  TAB on the last button should go to the first button.

   *  if the car of an element in `mail-split-methods' is a function,
     and the function returns non-nil, use that as the name of the
     group(s) to save mail in.

   *  command for listing all score files that have been applied.

   *  a command in the article buffer to return to `summary' config.

   *  `gnus-always-post-using-current-server' - variable to override
     `C-c C-c' when posting.

   *  nnmail-group-spool-alist - says where each group should use as a
     spool file.

   *  when an article is crossposted to an auto-expirable group, the
     article should be marker as expirable.

   *  article mode command/menu for "send region as URL to browser".

   *  on errors, jump to info nodes that explain the error.  For
     instance, on invalid From headers, or on error messages from the
     nntp server.

   *  when gathering threads, make the article that has no "Re: " the
     parent.  Also consult Date headers.

   *  a token in splits to call shrink-window-if-larger-than-buffer

   *  `1 0 A M' to do matches on the active hashtb.

   *  duplicates - command to remove Gnus-Warning header, use the read
     Message-ID, delete the "original".

   *  when replying to several messages at once, put the "other"
     message-ids into a See-Also header.

   *  support setext: URL:http://www.bsdi.com/setext/

   *  support ProleText:
     <URL:http://proletext.clari.net/prole/proletext.html>

   *  when browsing a foreign server, the groups that are already
     subscribed should be listed as such and not as "K".

   *  generate font names dynamically.

   *  score file mode auto-alist.

   *  allow nndoc to change/add/delete things from documents.  Implement
     methods for each format for adding an article to the document.

   *  `gnus-fetch-old-headers' `all' value to incorporate absolutely
     all headers there is.

   *  function like `|', but concatenate all marked articles and pipe
     them to the process.

   *  cache the list of killed (or active) groups in a separate file.
     Update the file whenever we read the active file or the list of
     killed groups in the .eld file reaches a certain length.

   *  function for starting to edit a file to put into the current mail
     group.

   *  score-find-trace should display the total score of the article.

   *  "ghettozie" - score on Xref header and nix it out after using it
     to avoid marking as read in other groups it has been crossposted
     to.

   *  look at procmail splitting.  The backends should create the
     groups automatically if a spool file exists for that group.

   *  function for backends to register themselves with Gnus.

   *  when replying to several process-marked articles, have all the
     From end up in Cc headers?  Variable to toggle.

   *  command to delete a crossposted mail article from all groups it
     has been mailed to.

   *  `B c' and `B m' should be crosspost aware.

   *  hide-pgp should also hide PGP public key blocks.

   *  Command in the group buffer to respool process-marked groups.

   *  `gnus-summary-find-matching' should accept pseudo-"headers" like
     "body", "head" and "all"

   *  When buttifying <URL: > things, all white space (including
     newlines) should be ignored.

   *  Process-marking all groups in a topic should process-mark groups
     in subtopics as well.

   *  Add non-native groups to the list of killed groups when killing
     them.

   *  nntp-suggest-kewl-config to probe the nntp server and suggest
     variable settings.

   *  add edit and forward secondary marks.

   *  nnml shouldn't visit its .overview files.

   *  allow customizing sorting within gathered threads.

   *  `B q' shouldn't select the current article.

   *  nnmbox should support a newsgroups file for descriptions.

   *  allow fetching mail from several pop servers.

   *  Be able to specify whether the saving commands save the original
     or the formatted article.

   *  a command to reparent with the child process-marked (cf. `T ^'.).

   *  I think the possibility to send a password with nntp-open-rlogin
     should be a feature in Red Gnus.

   *  The `Z n' command should be possible to execute from a mouse
     click.

   *  more limiting functions - date, etc.

   *  be able to limit on a random header; on body; using reverse
     matches.

   *  a group parameter (`absofucking-total-expiry') that will make
     Gnus expire even unread articles.

   *  a command to print the article buffer as postscript.

   *  variable to disable password fetching when opening by
     nntp-open-telnet.

   *  manual: more example servers - nntp with rlogin, telnet

   *  checking for bogus groups should clean topic alists as well.

   *  canceling articles in foreign groups.

   *  article number in folded topics isn't properly updated by Xref
     handling.

   *  Movement in the group buffer to the next unread group should go
     to the next closed topic with unread messages if no group can be
     found.

   *  Extensive info pages generated on the fly with help everywhere -
     in the "*Gnus edit*" buffers, for instance.

   *  Topic movement commands - like thread movement.  Up, down,
     forward, next.

   *  a way to tick/mark as read Gcc'd articles.

   *  a way to say that all groups within a specific topic comes from a
     particular server?  Hm.

   *  `gnus-article-fill-if-long-lines' - a function to fill the
     article buffer if there are any looong lines there.

   *  `T h' should jump to the parent topic and fold it.

   *  a command to create an ephemeral nndoc group out of a file, and
     then splitting it/moving it to some other group/backend.

   *  a group parameter for nnkiboze groups that says that all kibozed
     articles should be entered into the cache.

   *  It should also probably be possible to delimit what
     `gnus-jog-cache' does - for instance, work on just some groups, or
     on some levels, and entering just articles that have a score
     higher than a certain number.

   *  nnfolder should append to the folder instead of re-writing the
     entire folder to disk when accepting new messages.

   *  allow all backends to do the proper thing with .gz files.

   *  a backend for reading collections of babyl files nnbabylfolder?

   *  a command for making the native groups into foreign groups.

   *  server mode command for clearing read marks from all groups from
     a server.

   *  when following up multiple articles, include all To, Cc, etc
     headers from all articles.

   *  a command for deciding what the total score of the current thread
     is.  Also a way to highlight based on this.

   *  command to show and edit group scores

   *  a gnus-tree-minimize-horizontal to minimize tree buffers
     horizontally.

   *  command to generate nnml overview file for one group.

   *  `C-u C-u a' - prompt for many crossposted groups.

   *  keep track of which mail groups have received new articles (in
     this session).  Be able to generate a report and perhaps do some
     marking in the group buffer.

   *  gnus-build-sparse-threads to a number - build only sparse threads
     that are of that length.

   *  have nnmh respect mh's unseen sequence in .mh_profile.

   *  cache the newsgroups descriptions locally.

   *  asynchronous posting under nntp.

   *  be able to control word adaptive scoring from the score files.

   *  a variable to make `C-c C-c' post using the "current" select
     method.

   *  `limit-exclude-low-scored-articles'.

   *  if `gnus-summary-show-thread' is a number, hide threads that have
     a score lower than this number.

   *  split newsgroup subscription variable up into "order" and
     "method".

   *  buttonize ange-ftp file names.

   *  a command to make a duplicate copy of the current article so that
     each copy can be edited separately.

   *  nnweb should allow fetching from the local nntp server.

   *  record the sorting done in the summary buffer so that it can be
     repeated when limiting/regenerating the buffer.

   *  nnml-generate-nov-databses should generate for all nnml servers.

   *  when the user does commands in the group buffer, check the
     modification time of the .newsrc.eld file and use
     ask-user-about-supersession-threat.  Also warn when trying to save
     .newsrc.eld and it has changed.

   *  M-g on a topic will display all groups with 0 articles in the
     topic.

   *  command to remove all topic stuff.

   *  allow exploding incoming digests when reading incoming mail and
     splitting the resulting digests.

   *  nnsoup shouldn't set the `message-' variables.

   *  command to nix out all nnoo state information.

   *  nnmail-process-alist that calls functions if group names matches
     an alist - before saving.

   *  use buffer-invisibility-spec everywhere for hiding text.

   *  variable to activate each group before entering them to get the
     (new) number of articles.  `gnus-activate-before-entering'.

   *  command to fetch a Message-ID from any buffer, even starting Gnus
     first if necessary.

   *  when posting and checking whether a group exists or not, just ask
     the nntp server instead of relying on the active hashtb.

   *  buttonize the output of `C-c C-a' in an apropos-like way.

   *  `G p' should understand process/prefix, and allow editing of
     several groups at once.

   *  command to create an ephemeral nnvirtual group that matches some
     regexp(s).

   *  nndoc should understand "Content-Type: message/rfc822" forwarded
     messages.

   *  it should be possible to score "thread" on the From header.

   *  hitting RET on a "gnus-uu-archive" pseudo article should unpack
     it.

   *  `B i' should display the article at once in the summary buffer.

   *  remove the "*" mark at once when unticking an article.

   *  `M-s' should highlight the matching text.

   *  when checking for duplicated mails, use Resent-Message-ID if
     present.

   *  killing and yanking groups in topics should be better.  If
     killing one copy of a group that exists in multiple topics, only
     that copy should be removed.  Yanking should insert the copy, and
     yanking topics should be possible to be interspersed with the
     other yankings.

   *  command for enter a group just to read the cached articles.  A
     way to say "ignore the nntp connection; just read from the cache."

   *  `X u' should decode base64 articles.

   *  a way to hide all "inner" cited text, leaving just the most
     recently cited text.

   *  nnvirtual should be asynchronous.

   *  after editing an article, gnus-original-article-buffer should be
     invalidated.

   *  there should probably be a way to make Gnus not connect to the
     server and just read the articles in the server

   *  allow a `set-default' (or something) to change the default value
     of nnoo variables.

   *  a command to import group infos from a .newsrc.eld file.

   *  groups from secondary servers have the entire select method
     listed in each group info.

   *  a command for just switching from the summary buffer to the group
     buffer.

   *  a way to specify that some incoming mail washing functions should
     only be applied to some groups.

   *  Message `C-f C-t' should ask the user whether to heed
     mail-copies-to: never.

   *  new group parameter - `post-to-server' that says to post using
     the current server.  Also a variable to do the same.

   *  the slave dribble files should auto-save to the slave file names.

   *  a group parameter that says what articles to display on group
     entry, based on article marks.

   *  a way to visually distinguish slave Gnusae from masters.  (Whip
     instead of normal logo?)

   *  Use DJ Bernstein "From " quoting/dequoting, where applicable.

   *  Why is hide-citation-maybe and hide-citation different?  Also
     clear up info.

   *  group user-defined meta-parameters.

     From: John Griffith <griffith@sfs.nphil.uni-tuebingen.de>

   *  I like the option for trying to retrieve the FAQ for a group and
     I was thinking it would be great if for those newsgroups that had
     archives you could also try to read the archive for that group.
     Part of the problem is that archives are spread all over the net,
     unlike FAQs.  What would be best I suppose is to find the one
     closest to your site.

     In any case, there is a list of general news group archives at
     ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/users/claird/news.lists/newsgroup_archives.html

   *      From: Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@hpc.uh.edu>
          (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
            (lambda ()
              (gnus-group-add-parameter group
                 (cons 'gnus-group-date-last-entered (list (current-time-string))))))

          (defun gnus-user-format-function-d (headers)
            "Return the date the group was last read."
            (cond ((car (gnus-group-get-parameter gnus-tmp-group 'gnus-group-date-last-entered)))
                (t "")))

   *  tanken var at når du bruker `gnus-startup-file' som prefix (FOO)
     til å lete opp en fil FOO-SERVER, FOO-SERVER.el, FOO-SERVER.eld,
     kan du la den være en liste hvor du bruker hvert element i listen
     som FOO, istedet.  da kunne man hatt forskjellige serveres
     startup-filer forskjellige steder.

   * LMI> Well, nnbabyl could alter the group info to heed labels like
     LMI> answered and read, I guess.

     It could also keep them updated (the same for the Status: header of
     unix mbox files).

     They could be used like this:

          `M l <name> RET' add label <name> to current message.
          `M u <name> RET' remove label <name> from current message.
          `/ l <expr> RET' limit summary buffer according to <expr>.

          <expr> would be a boolean expression on the labels, e.g.

          `/ l bug & !fixed RET'

     would show all the messages which are labeled `bug' but not labeled
     `fixed'.

     One could also imagine the labels being used for highlighting, or
     affect the summary line format.

   * Sender: abraham@dina.kvl.dk

     I'd like a gnus-find-file which work like find file, except that it
     would recognize things that looks like messages or folders:

     - If it is a directory containing numbered files, create an nndir
     summary buffer.

     - For other directories, create a nneething summary buffer.

     - For files matching "\\`From ", create a nndoc/mbox summary.

     - For files matching "\\`BABYL OPTIONS:", create a nndoc/baby
     summary.

     - For files matching "\\`[^ \t\n]+:", create an *Article* buffer.

     - For other files, just find them normally.

     I'd like `nneething' to use this function, so it would work on a
     directory potentially containing mboxes or babyl files.

   * Please send a mail to bwarsaw@cnri.reston.va.us (Barry A. Warsaw)
     and tell him what you are doing.

   * Currently, I get prompted:

     decend into sci?  - type y decend into sci.something ?  - type n
     decend into ucd?

     The problem above is that since there is really only one
     subsection of science, shouldn't it prompt you for only descending
     sci.something?  If there was a sci.somethingelse group or section,
     then it should prompt for sci? first the sci.something? then
     sci.somethingelse?...

   * Ja, det burde være en måte å si slikt.  Kanskje en ny variabel?
     `gnus-use-few-score-files'?  Så kunne score-regler legges til den
     "mest" lokale score-fila.  F. eks. ville no-gruppene betjenes av
     "no.all.SCORE", osv.

   * What i want is for Gnus to treat any sequence or combination of
     the following as a single spoiler warning and hide it all,
     replacing it with a "Next Page" button:

     ^L's

     more than n blank lines

     more than m identical lines (which should be replaced with button
     to show them)

     any whitespace surrounding any of the above

   * Well, we could allow a new value to `gnus-thread-ignore-subject' -
     `spaces', or something.  (We could even default to that.)  And then
     subjects that differ in white space only could be considered the
     "same" subject for threading purposes.

   * Modes to preprocess the contents (e.g. jka-compr) use the second
     form "(REGEXP FUNCTION NON-NIL)" while ordinary modes (e.g. tex)
     use the first form "(REGEXP . FUNCTION)", so you could use it to
     distinguish between those two types of modes. (auto-modes-alist,
     insert-file-contents-literally.)

   *  Under XEmacs - do funny article marks: tick - thumb tack killed -
     skull soup - bowl of soup score below - dim light bulb score over
     - bright light bulb

   * Yes. I think the algorithm is as follows:

          Group-mode

             show-list-of-articles-in-group
                  if (key-pressed == SPACE)
                          if (no-more-articles-in-group-to-select)
                                  if (articles-selected)
                                          start-reading-selected-articles;
                                  junk-unread-articles;
                                  next-group;
                           else
                                  show-next-page;

                   else if (key-pressed = '.')
                          if (consolidated-menus)         # same as hide-thread in Gnus
                                  select-thread-under-cursor;
                          else
                                  select-article-under-cursor;


          Article-mode
                  if (key-pressed == SPACE)
                          if (more-pages-in-article)
                                  next-page;
                          else if (more-selected-articles-to-read)
                                  next-article;
                          else
                                  next-group;

   * My precise need here would have been to limit files to Incoming*.
     One could think of some `nneething-only-files' variable, but I
     guess it would have been unacceptable if one was using many
     unrelated such nneething groups.

     A more useful approach would be to, in response to the `G D'
     prompt, be allowed to say something like: `~/.mail/Incoming*',
     somewhat limiting the top-level directory only (in case
     directories would be matched by the wildcard expression).

   * It would be nice if it also handled

     <URL:news://sunsite.auc.dk/>

     which should correspond to `B nntp RET sunsite.auc.dk' in *Group*.

   *    Take a look at w3-menu.el in the Emacs-W3 distribution - this
     works out really well.  Each menu is 'named' by a symbol that
     would be on a gnus-*-menus (where * would be whatever, but at
     least group, summary, and article versions) variable.

     So for gnus-summary-menus, I would set to '(sort mark dispose ...)

     A value of '1' would just put _all_ the menus in a single 'GNUS'
     menu in the main menubar.  This approach works really well for
     Emacs-W3 and VM.

   *  nndoc should take care to create unique Message-IDs for all its
     articles.

   *  gnus-score-followup-article only works when you have a summary
     buffer active.  Make it work when posting from the group buffer as
     well.  (message-sent-hook).

   *  rewrite gnus-demon to use run-with-idle-timers.

   *  * Enhancements to Gnus:

     Add two commands:

     * gnus-servers (gnus-start-server-buffer?)-enters Gnus and goes
     straight to the server buffer, without opening any connections to
        servers first.

     * gnus-server-read-server-newsrc-produces a buffer very similar to
        the group buffer, but with only groups from that server listed;
        quitting this buffer returns to the server buffer.

   *  add a command to check the integrity of an nnfolder folder - go
     through the article numbers and see that there are no duplicates,
     and stuff.

   *  `unsmileyfy-buffer' to undo smileification.

   *  a command to give all relevant info on an article, including all
     secondary marks.

   *  when doing `-request-accept-article', the backends should do the
     nnmail duplicate checking.

   *  allow `message-signature-file' to be a function to return the
     value of the signature file.

   *  In addition, I would love it if I could configure message-tab so
     that it could call `bbdb-complete-name' in other headers.  So,
     some sort of interface like

     (setq message-tab-alist       '((message-header-regexp
     message-expand-group)         ("^\\(To\\|[cC]c\\|[bB]cc\\)"
     bbdb-complete-name)))

     then you could run the relevant function to complete the
     information in the header

   *  cache the newsgroups file locally to avoid reloading it all the
     time.

   *  a command to import a buffer into a group.

   *  nnweb should allow fetching by Message-ID from servers.

   *  point in the article buffer doesn't always go to the beginning of
     the buffer when selecting new articles.

   *  a command to process mark all unread articles.

   *  `gnus-gather-threads-by-references-and-subject' - first do
     gathering by references, and then go through the dummy roots and
     do more gathering by subject.

   *  gnus-uu-mark-in-numerical-order - process mark articles in
     article numerical order.

   *  (gnus-thread-total-score  (gnus-id-to-thread (mail-header-id
     (gnus-summary-article-header)))) bind to a key.

   *  sorting by score is wrong when using sparse threads.

   *  a command to fetch an arbitrary article - without having to be in
     the summary buffer.

   *  a new nncvs backend.  Each group would show an article, using
     version branches as threading, checkin date as the date, etc.

   *  http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnsetfilter_exp.html ?  This filter
     allows one to construct advance queries on the Dejanews database
     such as specifying start and end dates, subject, author, and/or
     newsgroup name.

   *  new Date header scoring type - older, newer

   *  use the summary toolbar in the article buffer.

   *  a command to fetch all articles that are less than X days old.

   *  in pick mode, `q' should save the list of selected articles in the
     group info.  The next time the group is selected, these articles
     will automatically get the process mark.

   *  Isn't it possible to (also?) allow M-^ to automatically try the
     default server if it fails on the current server?  (controlled by a
     user variable, (nil, t, 'ask)).

   *  make it possible to cancel articles using the select method for
     the current group.

   *  `gnus-summary-select-article-on-entry' or something.  It'll
     default to t and will select whatever article decided by
     `gnus-auto-select-first'.

   *  a new variable to control which selection commands should be
     unselecting.  `first', `best', `next', `prev', `next-unread',
     `prev-unread' are candidates.

   *  be able to select groups that have no articles in them to be able
     to post in them (using the current select method).

   *  be able to post via DejaNews.

   *  `x' should retain any sortings that have been performed.

   *  allow the user to specify the precedence of the secondary marks.
     Also allow them to be displayed separately.

   *  gnus-summary-save-in-pipe should concatenate the results from the
     processes when doing a process marked pipe.

   *  a new match type, like Followup, but which adds Thread matches on
     all articles that match a certain From header.

   *  a function that can be read from kill-emacs-query-functions to
     offer saving living summary buffers.

   *  a function for selecting a particular group which will contain
     the articles listed in a list of article numbers/id's.

   *  a battery of character translation functions to translate common
     Mac, MS (etc) characters into ISO 8859-1.

          (defun article-fix-m$word ()
            "Fix M$Word smartquotes in an article."
            (interactive)
            (save-excursion
              (let ((buffer-read-only nil))
                (goto-char (point-min))
                (while (search-forward "\221" nil t)
                  (replace-match "`" t t))
                (goto-char (point-min))
                (while (search-forward "\222" nil t)
                  (replace-match "'" t t))
                (goto-char (point-min))
                (while (search-forward "\223" nil t)
                  (replace-match "\"" t t))
                (goto-char (point-min))
                (while (search-forward "\224" nil t)
                  (replace-match "\"" t t)))))

   *       (add-hook 'gnus-exit-query-functions
          '(lambda ()
             (if (and (file-exists-p nnmail-spool-file)
                      (> (nnheader-file-size nnmail-spool-file) 0))
                 (yes-or-no-p "New mail has arrived.  Quit Gnus anyways? ")
                 (y-or-n-p "Are you sure you want to quit Gnus? "))))

   *  allow message-default-headers to be a function.

   *  new Date score match types - < > = (etc) that take floating point
     numbers and match on the age of the article.

   *      >  > > If so, I've got one gripe: It seems that when I fire up gnus 5.2.25
          >  > > under xemacs-19.14, it's creating a new frame, but is erasing the
          >  > > buffer in the frame that it was called from =:-O
          >
          >  > Hm.  How do you start up Gnus?  From the toolbar or with
          >  > `M-x gnus-other-frame'?
          >
          >    I normally start it up from the toolbar; at
          > least that's the way I've caught it doing the
          > deed before.

   *  all commands that react to the process mark should push the
     current process mark set onto the stack.

   *  gnus-article-hide-pgp Selv ville jeg nok ha valgt å slette den
     dersom teksten matcher
          "\\(This\s+\\)?[^ ]+ has been automatically signed by"
     og det er maks hundre tegn mellom match-end og ---linja.  Men -det-
     er min type heuristikk og langt fra alles.

   *  `gnus-subscribe-sorted' - insert new groups where they would have
     been sorted to if `gnus-group-sort-function' were run.

   *  gnus-(group,summary)-highlight should respect any `face' text
     props set on the lines.

   *  use run-with-idle-timer for gnus-demon instead of the home-brewed
     stuff for better reliability.

   *  add a way to select which NoCeM type to apply - spam, troll, etc.

   *  nndraft-request-group should tally auto-save files.

   *  implement nntp-retry-on-break and nntp-command-timeout.

   *  gnus-article-highlight-limit that says when not to highlight
     (long) articles.

   *  (nnoo-set SERVER VARIABLE VALUE)

   *  nn*-spool-methods

   *  interrupitng agent fetching of articles should save articles.

   *  command to open a digest group, and copy all the articles there
     to the current group.

   *  a variable to disable article body highlights if there's more than
     X characters in the body.

   *  handle 480/381 authinfo requests separately.

   *  include the texi/dir file in the distribution.

   *  format spec to "tab" to a position.

   *  Move all prompting to the new `M-n' default style.

   *  command to display all dormant articles.

   *  gnus-auto-select-next makeover - list of things it should do.

   *  a score match type that adds scores matching on From if From has
     replied to something someone else has said.

   *  Read Netscape discussion groups:
     snews://secnews.netscape.com/netscape.communicator.unix

   * One command to edit the original version if an article, and one to
     edit the displayed version.

   * `T v' - make all process-marked articles the children of the
     current article.

   * Switch from initial text to the new default text mechanism.

   * How about making it possible to expire local articles?  Will it be
     possible to make various constraints on when an article can be
     expired, e.g. (read), (age > 14 days), or the more interesting
     (read & age > 14 days)?

   * New limit command--limit to articles that have a certain string in
     the head or body.

   * Allow breaking lengthy NNTP commands.

   * gnus-article-highlight-limit, to disable highlighting in big
     articles.

   * Editing an article should put the article to be edited in a
     special, unique buffer.

   * A command to send a mail to the admin-address group param.

   * A Date scoring type that will match if the article is less than a
     certain number of days old.

   * New spec: %~(tab 56) to put point on column 56

   * Allow Gnus Agent scoring to use normal score files.

   * Rething the Agent active file thing.  `M-g' doesn't update the
     active file, for instance.

   * With dummy roots, `^' and then selecing the first article in any
     other dummy thread will make Gnus highlight the dummy root instead
     of the first article.

   * Propagate all group properties (marks, article numbers, etc) up to
     the topics for displaying.

   * `n' in the group buffer with topics should go to the next group
     with unread articles, even if that group is hidden in a topic.

   * gnus-posting-styles doesn't work in drafts.

   * gnus-summary-limit-include-cached is slow when there are many
     articles in the cache, since it regenerates big parts of the
     summary buffer for each article.

   * Implement gnus-batch-brew-soup.

   * Group parameters and summary commands for un/subscribing to mailing
     lists.

   * Introduce nnmail-home-directory.

   * gnus-fetch-group and friends should exit Gnus when the user exits
     the group.

   * The jingle is only played on the second invocation of Gnus.

   * Bouncing articles should do MIME.

   * Crossposted articles should "inherit" the % or  mark from the other
     groups it has been crossposted to, or something.  (Agent.)

   * If point is on a group that appears multiple times in topics, and
     you press `l', point will move to the first instance of the group.

   * A spec for the group line format to display the number of
     agent-downloaded articles in the group.

   * Some nntp servers never respond when posting, so there should be a
     timeout for all commands.

   * When stading on a topic line and `t'-ing, point goes to the last
     line.  It should go somewhere else.

   * I'm having trouble accessing a newsgroup with a "+" in its name
     with Gnus.  There is a new newsgroup on msnews.microsoft.com named
     "microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time" that I'm trying to
     access as
     "nntp+msnews.microsoft.com:microsoft.public.multimedia.directx.html+time"
     but it gives an error that it cant access the group.

     Is the "+" character illegal in newsgroup names?  Is there any way
     in Gnus to work around this?  (gnus 5.6.45 - XEmacs 20.4)

   *  When `#F', do:

          Subject: Answer to your mails 01.01.1999-01.05.1999
           --text follows this line--
          Sorry I killfiled you...

          Under the subject "foo", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
          > bar
          Under the subject "foo1", you wrote on 01.01.1999:
          > bar 1

   * Allow "orphan" scores in the Agent scoring.

   *          - Edit article's summary line.
              - End edit
              - Sort lines in buffer by subject

              --> the old subject line appears in Summary buffer, not the one that was
              just changed to.

   * Remove list identifiers from the subject in the summary when doing
     `^' and the like.

   * Have the Agent write out articles, one by one, as it retrieves
     them, to avoid having to re-fetch them all if Emacs should crash
     while fetching.

   * Be able to forward groups of messages as MIME digests.

   * nnweb should include the "get whole article" article when getting
     articles.

   * When I type W W c (gnus-article-hide-citation) in the summary
     buffer, the citations are revealed, but the [+] buttons don't turn
     into [-] buttons.  (If I click on one of the [+] buttons, it does
     turn into a [-] button.)

   * Perhaps there should be a command to "attach" a buffer of comments
     to a message?  That is, `B WHATEVER', you're popped into a buffer,
     write something, end with `C-c C-c', and then the thing you've
     written gets to be the child of the message you're commenting.

   * Handle external-body parts.

   * When renaming a group name, nnmail-split-history does not get the
     group name renamed.

   * Allow mail splitting on bodies when using advanced mail splitting.

            (body "whatever.text")

   * Be able to run `J u' from summary buffers.

   * Solve the halting problem.



File: gnus,  Node: On Writing Manuals,  Next: Terminology,  Prev: History,  Up: Appendices

10.2 On Writing Manuals
=======================

I guess most manuals are written after-the-fact; documenting a program
that's already there.  This is not how this manual is written.  When
implementing something, I write the manual entry for that something
straight away.  I then see that it's difficult to explain the
functionality, so I write how it's supposed to be, and then I change the
implementation.  Writing the documentation and writing the code goes
hand in hand.

   This, of course, means that this manual has no, or little, flow.  It
documents absolutely everything in Gnus, but often not where you're
looking for it.  It is a reference manual, and not a guide to how to get
started with Gnus.

   That would be a totally different book, that should be written using
the reference manual as source material.  It would look quite
differently.


File: gnus,  Node: Terminology,  Next: Customization,  Prev: On Writing Manuals,  Up: Appendices

10.3 Terminology
================

"news"
     This is what you are supposed to use this thing for--reading news.
     News is generally fetched from a nearby NNTP server, and is
     generally publicly available to everybody.  If you post news, the
     entire world is likely to read just what you have written, and
     they'll all snigger mischievously.  Behind your back.

"mail"
     Everything that's delivered to you personally is mail.  Some
     news/mail readers (like Gnus) blur the distinction between mail
     and news, but there is a difference.  Mail is private.  News is
     public.  Mailing is not posting, and replying is not following up.

"reply"
     Send a mail to the person who has written what you are reading.

"follow up"
     Post an article to the current newsgroup responding to the article
     you are reading.

"backend"
     Gnus gets fed articles from a number of backends, both news and
     mail backends.  Gnus does not handle the underlying media, so to
     speak--this is all done by the backends.

"native"
     Gnus will always use one method (and backend) as the "native", or
     default, way of getting news.

"foreign"
     You can also have any number of foreign groups active at the same
     time.  These are groups that use non-native non-secondary backends
     for getting news.

"secondary"
     Secondary backends are somewhere half-way between being native and
     being foreign, but they mostly act like they are native.

"article"
     A message that has been posted as news.

"mail message"
     A message that has been mailed.

"message"
     A mail message or news article

"head"
     The top part of a message, where administrative information (etc.)
     is put.

"body"
     The rest of an article.  Everything not in the head is in the body.

"header"
     A line from the head of an article.

"headers"
     A collection of such lines, or a collection of heads.  Or even a
     collection of NOV lines.

"NOV"
     When Gnus enters a group, it asks the backend for the headers of
     all unread articles in the group.  Most servers support the News
     OverView format, which is more compact and much faster to read and
     parse than the normal HEAD format.

"level"
     Each group is subscribed at some "level" or other (1-9).  The ones
     that have a lower level are "more" subscribed than the groups with
     a higher level.  In fact, groups on levels 1-5 are considered
     "subscribed"; 6-7 are "unsubscribed"; 8 are "zombies"; and 9 are
     "killed".  Commands for listing groups and scanning for new
     articles will all use the numeric prefix as "working level".

"killed groups"
     No information on killed groups is stored or updated, which makes
     killed groups much easier to handle than subscribed groups.

"zombie groups"
     Just like killed groups, only slightly less dead.

"active file"
     The news server has to keep track of what articles it carries, and
     what groups exist.  All this information in stored in the active
     file, which is rather large, as you might surmise.

"bogus groups"
     A group that exists in the `.newsrc' file, but isn't known to the
     server (i.e.,  it isn't in the active file), is a _bogus group_.
     This means that the group probably doesn't exist (any more).

"activating"
     The act of asking the server for info on a group and computing the
     number of unread articles is called "activating the group".
     Un-activated groups are listed with `*' in the group buffer.

"server"
     A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.

"select method"
     A structure that specifies the backend, the server and the virtual
     server settings.

"virtual server"
     A named select method.  Since a select method defines all there is
     to know about connecting to a (physical) server, taking the thing
     as a whole is a virtual server.

"washing"
     Taking a buffer and running it through a filter of some sort.  The
     result will (more often than not) be cleaner and more pleasing
     than the original.

"ephemeral groups"
     Most groups store data on what articles you have read.  "Ephemeral"
     groups are groups that will have no data stored--when you exit the
     group, it'll disappear into the aether.

"solid groups"
     This is the opposite of ephemeral groups.  All groups listed in the
     group buffer are solid groups.

"sparse articles"
     These are article placeholders shown in the summary buffer when
     `gnus-build-sparse-threads' has been switched on.

"threading"
     To put responses to articles directly after the articles they
     respond to--in a hierarchical fashion.

"root"
     The first article in a thread is the root.  It is the ancestor of
     all articles in the thread.

"parent"
     An article that has responses.

"child"
     An article that responds to a different article--its parent.

"digest"
     A collection of messages in one file.  The most common digest
     format is specified by RFC 1153.



File: gnus,  Node: Customization,  Next: Troubleshooting,  Prev: Terminology,  Up: Appendices

10.4 Customization
==================

All variables are properly documented elsewhere in this manual.  This
section is designed to give general pointers on how to customize Gnus
for some quite common situations.

* Menu:

* Slow/Expensive Connection:: You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
* Slow Terminal Connection::  You run a remote Emacs.
* Little Disk Space::         You feel that having large setup files is icky.
* Slow Machine::              You feel like buying a faster machine.


File: gnus,  Node: Slow/Expensive Connection,  Next: Slow Terminal Connection,  Up: Customization

10.4.1 Slow/Expensive NNTP Connection
-------------------------------------

If you run Emacs on a machine locally, and get your news from a machine
over some very thin strings, you want to cut down on the amount of data
Gnus has to get from the NNTP server.

`gnus-read-active-file'
     Set this to `nil', which will inhibit Gnus from requesting the
     entire active file from the server.  This file is often v.  large.
     You also have to set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' and
     `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' to `nil' to make sure that Gnus
     doesn't suddenly decide to fetch the active file anyway.

`gnus-nov-is-evil'
     This one has to be `nil'.  If not, grabbing article headers from
     the NNTP server will not be very fast.  Not all NNTP servers
     support XOVER; Gnus will detect this by itself.


File: gnus,  Node: Slow Terminal Connection,  Next: Little Disk Space,  Prev: Slow/Expensive Connection,  Up: Customization

10.4.2 Slow Terminal Connection
-------------------------------

Let's say you use your home computer for dialing up the system that runs
Emacs and Gnus.  If your modem is slow, you want to reduce (as much as
possible) the amount of data sent over the wires.

`gnus-auto-center-summary'
     Set this to `nil' to inhibit Gnus from re-centering the summary
     buffer all the time.  If it is `vertical', do only vertical
     re-centering.  If it is neither `nil' nor `vertical', do both
     horizontal and vertical recentering.

`gnus-visible-headers'
     Cut down on the headers included in the articles to the minimum.
     You can, in fact, make do without them altogether--most of the
     useful data is in the summary buffer, anyway.  Set this variable to
     `^NEVVVVER' or `From:', or whatever you feel you need.

     Set this hook to all the available hiding commands:
          (setq gnus-treat-hide-headers 'head
                gnus-treat-hide-signature t
                gnus-treat-hide-citation t)

`gnus-use-full-window'
     By setting this to `nil', you can make all the windows smaller.
     While this doesn't really cut down much generally, it means that
     you have to see smaller portions of articles before deciding that
     you didn't want to read them anyway.

`gnus-thread-hide-subtree'
     If this is non-`nil', all threads in the summary buffer will be
     hidden initially.

`gnus-updated-mode-lines'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will not put information in the buffer mode
     lines, which might save some time.


File: gnus,  Node: Little Disk Space,  Next: Slow Machine,  Prev: Slow Terminal Connection,  Up: Customization

10.4.3 Little Disk Space
------------------------

The startup files can get rather large, so you may want to cut their
sizes a bit if you are running out of space.

`gnus-save-newsrc-file'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will never save `.newsrc'--it will only
     save `.newsrc.eld'.  This means that you will not be able to use
     any other newsreaders than Gnus.  This variable is `t' by default.

`gnus-read-newsrc-file'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will never read `.newsrc'--it will only
     read `.newsrc.eld'.  This means that you will not be able to use
     any other newsreaders than Gnus.  This variable is `t' by default.

`gnus-save-killed-list'
     If this is `nil', Gnus will not save the list of dead groups.  You
     should also set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' to `ask-server' and
     `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' to `nil' if you set this variable to
     `nil'.  This variable is `t' by default.



File: gnus,  Node: Slow Machine,  Prev: Little Disk Space,  Up: Customization

10.4.4 Slow Machine
-------------------

If you have a slow machine, or are just really impatient, there are a
few things you can do to make Gnus run faster.

   Set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' and `gnus-check-bogus-newsgroups' to
`nil' to make startup faster.

   Set `gnus-show-threads', `gnus-use-cross-reference' and
`gnus-nov-is-evil' to `nil' to make entering and exiting the summary
buffer faster.


File: gnus,  Node: Troubleshooting,  Next: Gnus Reference Guide,  Prev: Customization,  Up: Appendices

10.5 Troubleshooting
====================

Gnus works _so_ well straight out of the box--I can't imagine any
problems, really.

   Ahem.

  1. Make sure your computer is switched on.

  2. Make sure that you really load the current Gnus version.  If you
     have been running GNUS, you need to exit Emacs and start it up
     again before Gnus will work.

  3. Try doing an `M-x gnus-version'.  If you get something that looks
     like `Gnus v5.46; nntp 4.0' you have the right files loaded.  If,
     on the other hand, you get something like `NNTP 3.x' or `nntp
     flee', you have some old `.el' files lying around.  Delete these.

  4. Read the help group (`G h' in the group buffer) for a FAQ and a
     how-to.

  5. Gnus works on many recursive structures, and in some extreme (and
     very rare) cases Gnus may recurse down "too deeply" and Emacs will
     beep at you.  If this happens to you, set `max-lisp-eval-depth' to
     500 or something like that.

   If all else fails, report the problem as a bug.

   If you find a bug in Gnus, you can report it with the `M-x gnus-bug'
command.  `M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET', and send me
the backtrace.  I will fix bugs, but I can only fix them if you send me
a precise description as to how to reproduce the bug.

   You really can never be too detailed in a bug report.  Always use the
`M-x gnus-bug' command when you make bug reports, even if it creates a
10Kb mail each time you use it, and even if you have sent me your
environment 500 times before.  I don't care.  I want the full info each
time.

   It is also important to remember that I have no memory whatsoever.
If you send a bug report, and I send you a reply, and then you just send
back "No, it's not! Moron!", I will have no idea what you are insulting
me about.  Always over-explain everything.  It's much easier for all of
us--if I don't have all the information I need, I will just mail you
and ask for more info, and everything takes more time.

   If the problem you're seeing is very visual, and you can't quite
explain it, copy the Emacs window to a file (with `xwd', for instance),
put it somewhere it can be reached, and include the URL of the picture
in the bug report.

   If you just need help, you are better off asking on
`gnu.emacs.gnus'.  I'm not very helpful.

   You can also ask on the ding mailing list--`ding@gnus.org'.  Write
to `ding-request@gnus.org' to subscribe.


File: gnus,  Node: Gnus Reference Guide,  Next: Emacs for Heathens,  Prev: Troubleshooting,  Up: Appendices

10.6 Gnus Reference Guide
=========================

It is my hope that other people will figure out smart stuff that Gnus
can do, and that other people will write those smart things as well.  To
facilitate that I thought it would be a good idea to describe the inner
workings of Gnus.  And some of the not-so-inner workings, while I'm at
it.

   You can never expect the internals of a program not to change, but I
will be defining (in some details) the interface between Gnus and its
backends (this is written in stone), the format of the score files
(ditto), data structures (some are less likely to change than others)
and general methods of operation.

* Menu:

* Gnus Utility Functions::   Common functions and variable to use.
* Backend Interface::        How Gnus communicates with the servers.
* Score File Syntax::        A BNF definition of the score file standard.
* Headers::                  How Gnus stores headers internally.
* Ranges::                   A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
* Group Info::               The group info format.
* Extended Interactive::     Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
* Emacs/XEmacs Code::        Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
* Various File Formats::     Formats of files that Gnus use.


File: gnus,  Node: Gnus Utility Functions,  Next: Backend Interface,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.1 Gnus Utility Functions
-----------------------------

When writing small functions to be run from hooks (and stuff), it's
vital to have access to the Gnus internal functions and variables.
Below is a list of the most common ones.

`gnus-newsgroup-name'
     This variable holds the name of the current newsgroup.

`gnus-find-method-for-group'
     A function that returns the select method for GROUP.

`gnus-group-real-name'
     Takes a full (prefixed) Gnus group name, and returns the unprefixed
     name.

`gnus-group-prefixed-name'
     Takes an unprefixed group name and a select method, and returns
     the full (prefixed) Gnus group name.

`gnus-get-info'
     Returns the group info list for GROUP.

`gnus-group-unread'
     The number of unread articles in GROUP, or `t' if that is unknown.

`gnus-active'
     The active entry for GROUP.

`gnus-set-active'
     Set the active entry for GROUP.

`gnus-add-current-to-buffer-list'
     Adds the current buffer to the list of buffers to be killed on Gnus
     exit.

`gnus-continuum-version'
     Takes a Gnus version string as a parameter and returns a floating
     point number.  Earlier versions will always get a lower number
     than later versions.

`gnus-group-read-only-p'
     Says whether GROUP is read-only or not.

`gnus-news-group-p'
     Says whether GROUP came from a news backend.

`gnus-ephemeral-group-p'
     Says whether GROUP is ephemeral or not.

`gnus-server-to-method'
     Returns the select method corresponding to SERVER.

`gnus-server-equal'
     Says whether two virtual servers are equal.

`gnus-group-native-p'
     Says whether GROUP is native or not.

`gnus-group-secondary-p'
     Says whether GROUP is secondary or not.

`gnus-group-foreign-p'
     Says whether GROUP is foreign or not.

`group-group-find-parameter'
     Returns the parameter list of GROUP.  If given a second parameter,
     returns the value of that parameter for GROUP.

`gnus-group-set-parameter'
     Takes three parameters; GROUP, PARAMETER and VALUE.

`gnus-narrow-to-body'
     Narrows the current buffer to the body of the article.

`gnus-check-backend-function'
     Takes two parameters, FUNCTION and GROUP.  If the backend GROUP
     comes from supports FUNCTION, return non-`nil'.

          (gnus-check-backend-function "request-scan" "nnml:misc")
          => t

`gnus-read-method'
     Prompts the user for a select method.



File: gnus,  Node: Backend Interface,  Next: Score File Syntax,  Prev: Gnus Utility Functions,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.2 Backend Interface
------------------------

Gnus doesn't know anything about NNTP, spools, mail or virtual groups.
It only knows how to talk to "virtual servers".  A virtual server is a
"backend" and some "backend variables".  As examples of the first, we
have `nntp', `nnspool' and `nnmbox'.  As examples of the latter we have
`nntp-port-number' and `nnmbox-directory'.

   When Gnus asks for information from a backend--say `nntp'--on
something, it will normally include a virtual server name in the
function parameters.  (If not, the backend should use the "current"
virtual server.)  For instance, `nntp-request-list' takes a virtual
server as its only (optional) parameter.  If this virtual server hasn't
been opened, the function should fail.

   Note that a virtual server name has no relation to some physical
server name.  Take this example:

     (nntp "odd-one"
           (nntp-address "ifi.uio.no")
           (nntp-port-number 4324))

   Here the virtual server name is `odd-one' while the name of the
physical server is `ifi.uio.no'.

   The backends should be able to switch between several virtual
servers.  The standard backends implement this by keeping an alist of
virtual server environments that they pull down/push up when needed.

   There are two groups of interface functions: "required functions",
which must be present, and "optional functions", which Gnus will always
check for presence before attempting to call 'em.

   All these functions are expected to return data in the buffer
`nntp-server-buffer' (` *nntpd*'), which is somewhat unfortunately
named, but we'll have to live with it.  When I talk about "resulting
data", I always refer to the data in that buffer.  When I talk about
"return value", I talk about the function value returned by the
function call.  Functions that fail should return `nil' as the return
value.

   Some backends could be said to be "server-forming" backends, and
some might be said not to be.  The latter are backends that generally
only operate on one group at a time, and have no concept of "server" -
they have a group, and they deliver info on that group and nothing more.

   In the examples and definitions I will refer to the imaginary backend
`nnchoke'.

* Menu:

* Required Backend Functions::        Functions that must be implemented.
* Optional Backend Functions::        Functions that need not be implemented.
* Error Messaging::                   How to get messages and report errors.
* Writing New Backends::              Extending old backends.
* Hooking New Backends Into Gnus::    What has to be done on the Gnus end.
* Mail-like Backends::                Some tips on mail backends.


File: gnus,  Node: Required Backend Functions,  Next: Optional Backend Functions,  Up: Backend Interface

10.6.2.1 Required Backend Functions
...................................

`(nnchoke-retrieve-headers ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FETCH-OLD)'
     ARTICLES is either a range of article numbers or a list of
     `Message-ID's.  Current backends do not fully support either--only
     sequences (lists) of article numbers, and most backends do not
     support retrieval of `Message-ID's.  But they should try for both.

     The result data should either be HEADs or NOV lines, and the result
     value should either be `headers' or `nov' to reflect this.  This
     might later be expanded to `various', which will be a mixture of
     HEADs and NOV lines, but this is currently not supported by Gnus.

     If FETCH-OLD is non-`nil' it says to try fetching "extra headers",
     in some meaning of the word.  This is generally done by fetching
     (at most) FETCH-OLD extra headers less than the smallest article
     number in `articles', and filling the gaps as well.  The presence
     of this parameter can be ignored if the backend finds it
     cumbersome to follow the request.  If this is non-`nil' and not a
     number, do maximum fetches.

     Here's an example HEAD:

          221 1056 Article retrieved.
          Path: ifi.uio.no!sturles
          From: sturles@ifi.uio.no (Sturle Sunde)
          Newsgroups: ifi.discussion
          Subject: Re: Something very droll
          Date: 27 Oct 1994 14:02:57 +0100
          Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
          Lines: 26
          Message-ID: <38o8e1$a0o@holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no>
          References: <38jdmq$4qu@visbur.ifi.uio.no>
          NNTP-Posting-Host: holmenkollen.ifi.uio.no
          .

     So a `headers' return value would imply that there's a number of
     these in the data buffer.

     Here's a BNF definition of such a buffer:

          headers        = *head
          head           = error / valid-head
          error-message  = [ "4" / "5" ] 2number " " <error message> eol
          valid-head     = valid-message *header "." eol
          valid-message  = "221 " <number> " Article retrieved." eol
          header         = <text> eol

     If the return value is `nov', the data buffer should contain
     "network overview database" lines.  These are basically fields
     separated by tabs.

          nov-buffer = *nov-line
          nov-line   = 8*9 [ field <TAB> ] eol
          field      = <text except TAB>

     For a closer look at what should be in those fields, *note
     Headers::.

`(nnchoke-open-server SERVER &optional DEFINITIONS)'
     SERVER is here the virtual server name.  DEFINITIONS is a list of
     `(VARIABLE VALUE)' pairs that define this virtual server.

     If the server can't be opened, no error should be signaled.  The
     backend may then choose to refuse further attempts at connecting
     to this server.  In fact, it should do so.

     If the server is opened already, this function should return a
     non-`nil' value.  There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-close-server &optional SERVER)'
     Close connection to SERVER and free all resources connected to it.
     Return `nil' if the server couldn't be closed for some reason.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-close)'
     Close connection to all servers and free all resources that the
     backend have reserved.  All buffers that have been created by that
     backend should be killed.  (Not the `nntp-server-buffer', though.)
     This function is generally only called when Gnus is shutting down.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-server-opened &optional SERVER)'
     If SERVER is the current virtual server, and the connection to the
     physical server is alive, then this function should return a
     non-`nil' vlue.  This function should under no circumstances
     attempt to reconnect to a server we have lost connection to.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-status-message &optional SERVER)'
     This function should return the last error message from SERVER.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-article ARTICLE &optional GROUP SERVER TO-BUFFER)'
     The result data from this function should be the article specified
     by ARTICLE.  This might either be a `Message-ID' or a number.  It
     is optional whether to implement retrieval by `Message-ID', but it
     would be nice if that were possible.

     If TO-BUFFER is non-`nil', the result data should be returned in
     this buffer instead of the normal data buffer.  This is to make it
     possible to avoid copying large amounts of data from one buffer to
     another, while Gnus mainly requests articles to be inserted
     directly into its article buffer.

     If it is at all possible, this function should return a cons cell
     where the `car' is the group name the article was fetched from,
     and the `cdr' is the article number.  This will enable Gnus to
     find out what the real group and article numbers are when fetching
     articles by `Message-ID'.  If this isn't possible, `t' should be
     returned on successful article retrieval.

`(nnchoke-request-group GROUP &optional SERVER FAST)'
     Get data on GROUP.  This function also has the side effect of
     making GROUP the current group.

     If FAST, don't bother to return useful data, just make GROUP the
     current group.

     Here's an example of some result data and a definition of the same:

          211 56 1000 1059 ifi.discussion

     The first number is the status, which should be 211.  Next is the
     total number of articles in the group, the lowest article number,
     the highest article number, and finally the group name.  Note that
     the total number of articles may be less than one might think
     while just considering the highest and lowest article numbers, but
     some articles may have been canceled.  Gnus just discards the
     total-number, so whether one should take the bother to generate it
     properly (if that is a problem) is left as an exercise to the
     reader.

          group-status = [ error / info ] eol
          error        = [ "4" / "5" ] 2<number> " " <Error message>
          info         = "211 " 3* [ <number> " " ] <string>

`(nnchoke-close-group GROUP &optional SERVER)'
     Close GROUP and free any resources connected to it.  This will be
     a no-op on most backends.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-list &optional SERVER)'
     Return a list of all groups available on SERVER.  And that means
     _all_.

     Here's an example from a server that only carries two groups:

          ifi.test 0000002200 0000002000 y
          ifi.discussion 3324 3300 n

     On each line we have a group name, then the highest article number
     in that group, the lowest article number, and finally a flag.

          active-file = *active-line
          active-line = name " " <number> " " <number> " " flags eol
          name        = <string>
          flags       = "n" / "y" / "m" / "x" / "j" / "=" name

     The flag says whether the group is read-only (`n'), is moderated
     (`m'), is dead (`x'), is aliased to some other group
     (`=other-group') or none of the above (`y').

`(nnchoke-request-post &optional SERVER)'
     This function should post the current buffer.  It might return
     whether the posting was successful or not, but that's not
     required.  If, for instance, the posting is done asynchronously,
     it has generally not been completed by the time this function
     concludes.  In that case, this function should set up some kind of
     sentinel to beep the user loud and clear if the posting could not
     be completed.

     There should be no result data from this function.



File: gnus,  Node: Optional Backend Functions,  Next: Error Messaging,  Prev: Required Backend Functions,  Up: Backend Interface

10.6.2.2 Optional Backend Functions
...................................

`(nnchoke-retrieve-groups GROUPS &optional SERVER)'
     GROUPS is a list of groups, and this function should request data
     on all those groups.  How it does it is of no concern to Gnus, but
     it should attempt to do this in a speedy fashion.

     The return value of this function can be either `active' or
     `group', which says what the format of the result data is.  The
     former is in the same format as the data from
     `nnchoke-request-list', while the latter is a buffer full of lines
     in the same format as `nnchoke-request-group' gives.

          group-buffer = *active-line / *group-status

`(nnchoke-request-update-info GROUP INFO &optional SERVER)'
     A Gnus group info (*note Group Info::) is handed to the backend for
     alterations.  This comes in handy if the backend really carries
     all the information (as is the case with virtual and imap groups).
     This function should destructively alter the info to suit its
     needs, and should return the (altered) group info.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-type GROUP &optional ARTICLE)'
     When the user issues commands for "sending news" (`F' in the
     summary buffer, for instance), Gnus has to know whether the
     article the user is following up on is news or mail.  This
     function should return `news' if ARTICLE in GROUP is news, `mail'
     if it is mail and `unknown' if the type can't be decided.  (The
     ARTICLE parameter is necessary in `nnvirtual' groups which might
     very well combine mail groups and news groups.)  Both GROUP and
     ARTICLE may be `nil'.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-set-mark GROUP ACTION &optional SERVER)'
     Set/remove/add marks on articles.  Normally Gnus handles the
     article marks (such as read, ticked, expired etc) internally, and
     store them in `~/.newsrc.eld'.  Some backends (such as IMAP)
     however carry all information about the articles on the server, so
     Gnus need to propagate the mark information to the server.

     ACTION is a list of mark setting requests, having this format:

          (RANGE ACTION MARK)

     Range is a range of articles you wish to update marks on.  Action
     is `set', `add' or `del', respectively used for removing all
     existing marks and setting them as specified, adding (preserving
     the marks not mentioned) mark and removing (preserving the marks
     not mentioned) marks.  Mark is a list of marks; where each mark is
     a symbol.  Currently used marks are `read', `tick', `reply',
     `expire', `killed', `dormant', `save', `download' and `unsend',
     but your backend should, if possible, not limit itself to these.

     Given contradictory actions, the last action in the list should be
     the effective one.  That is, if your action contains a request to
     add the `tick' mark on article 1 and, later in the list, a request
     to remove the mark on the same article, the mark should in fact be
     removed.

     An example action list:

          (((5 12 30) 'del '(tick))
           ((10 . 90) 'add '(read expire))
           ((92 94) 'del '(read)))

     The function should return a range of articles it wasn't able to
     set the mark on (currently not used for anything).

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-update-mark GROUP ARTICLE MARK)'
     If the user tries to set a mark that the backend doesn't like, this
     function may change the mark.  Gnus will use whatever this function
     returns as the mark for ARTICLE instead of the original MARK.  If
     the backend doesn't care, it must return the original MARK, and
     not `nil' or any other type of garbage.

     The only use for this I can see is what `nnvirtual' does with
     it--if a component group is auto-expirable, marking an article as
     read in the virtual group should result in the article being
     marked as expirable.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-scan &optional GROUP SERVER)'
     This function may be called at any time (by Gnus or anything else)
     to request that the backend check for incoming articles, in one
     way or another.  A mail backend will typically read the spool file
     or query the POP server when this function is invoked.  The GROUP
     doesn't have to be heeded--if the backend decides that it is too
     much work just scanning for a single group, it may do a total scan
     of all groups.  It would be nice, however, to keep things local if
     that's practical.

     There should be no result data from this function.

`(nnchoke-request-group-description GROUP &optional SERVER)'
     The result data from this function should be a description of
     GROUP.

          description-line = name <TAB> description eol
          name             = <string>
          description      = <text>

`(nnchoke-request-list-newsgroups &optional SERVER)'
     The result data from this function should be the description of all
     groups available on the server.

          description-buffer = *description-line

`(nnchoke-request-newgroups DATE &optional SERVER)'
     The result data from this function should be all groups that were
     created after `date', which is in normal human-readable date
     format.  The data should be in the active buffer format.

`(nnchoke-request-create-group GROUP &optional SERVER)'
     This function should create an empty group with name GROUP.

     There should be no return data.

`(nnchoke-request-expire-articles ARTICLES &optional GROUP SERVER FORCE)'
     This function should run the expiry process on all articles in the
     ARTICLES range (which is currently a simple list of article
     numbers.)  It is left up to the backend to decide how old articles
     should be before they are removed by this function.  If FORCE is
     non-`nil', all ARTICLES should be deleted, no matter how new they
     are.

     This function should return a list of articles that it did not/was
     not able to delete.

     There should be no result data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-move-article ARTICLE GROUP SERVER ACCEPT-FORM'
     &optional LAST)

     This function should move ARTICLE (which is a number) from GROUP
     by calling ACCEPT-FORM.

     This function should ready the article in question for moving by
     removing any header lines it has added to the article, and
     generally should "tidy up" the article.  Then it should `eval'
     ACCEPT-FORM in the buffer where the "tidy" article is.  This will
     do the actual copying.  If this `eval' returns a non-`nil' value,
     the article should be removed.

     If LAST is `nil', that means that there is a high likelihood that
     there will be more requests issued shortly, so that allows some
     optimizations.

     The function should return a cons where the `car' is the group
     name and the `cdr' is the article number that the article was
     entered as.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-accept-article GROUP &optional SERVER LAST)'
     This function takes the current buffer and inserts it into GROUP.
     If LAST in `nil', that means that there will be more calls to this
     function in short order.

     The function should return a cons where the `car' is the group
     name and the `cdr' is the article number that the article was
     entered as.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-replace-article ARTICLE GROUP BUFFER)'
     This function should remove ARTICLE (which is a number) from GROUP
     and insert BUFFER there instead.

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-delete-group GROUP FORCE &optional SERVER)'
     This function should delete GROUP.  If FORCE, it should really
     delete all the articles in the group, and then delete the group
     itself.  (If there is such a thing as "the group itself".)

     There should be no data returned.

`(nnchoke-request-rename-group GROUP NEW-NAME &optional SERVER)'
     This function should rename GROUP into NEW-NAME.  All articles in
     GROUP should move to NEW-NAME.

     There should be no data returned.



File: gnus,  Node: Error Messaging,  Next: Writing New Backends,  Prev: Optional Backend Functions,  Up: Backend Interface

10.6.2.3 Error Messaging
........................

The backends should use the function `nnheader-report' to report error
conditions--they should not raise errors when they aren't able to
perform a request.  The first argument to this function is the backend
symbol, and the rest are interpreted as arguments to `format' if there
are multiple of them, or just a string if there is one of them.  This
function must always returns `nil'.

     (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "You did something totally bogus")

     (nnheader-report 'nnchoke "Could not request group %s" group)

   Gnus, in turn, will call `nnheader-get-report' when it gets a `nil'
back from a server, and this function returns the most recently
reported message for the backend in question.  This function takes one
argument--the server symbol.

   Internally, these functions access BACKEND`-status-string', so the
`nnchoke' backend will have its error message stored in
`nnchoke-status-string'.


File: gnus,  Node: Writing New Backends,  Next: Hooking New Backends Into Gnus,  Prev: Error Messaging,  Up: Backend Interface

10.6.2.4 Writing New Backends
.............................

Many backends are quite similar.  `nnml' is just like `nnspool', but it
allows you to edit the articles on the server.  `nnmh' is just like
`nnml', but it doesn't use an active file, and it doesn't maintain
overview databases.  `nndir' is just like `nnml', but it has no concept
of "groups", and it doesn't allow editing articles.

   It would make sense if it were possible to "inherit" functions from
backends when writing new backends.  And, indeed, you can do that if you
want to.  (You don't have to if you don't want to, of course.)

   All the backends declare their public variables and functions by
using a package called `nnoo'.

   To inherit functions from other backends (and allow other backends to
inherit functions from the current backend), you should use the
following macros:

`nnoo-declare'
     This macro declares the first parameter to be a child of the
     subsequent parameters.  For instance:

          (nnoo-declare nndir
            nnml nnmh)

     `nndir' has declared here that it intends to inherit functions from
     both `nnml' and `nnmh'.

`defvoo'
     This macro is equivalent to `defvar', but registers the variable as
     a public server variable.  Most state-oriented variables should be
     declared with `defvoo' instead of `defvar'.

     In addition to the normal `defvar' parameters, it takes a list of
     variables in the parent backends to map the variable to when
     executing a function in those backends.

          (defvoo nndir-directory nil
            "Where nndir will look for groups."
            nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)

     This means that `nnml-current-directory' will be set to
     `nndir-directory' when an `nnml' function is called on behalf of
     `nndir'.  (The same with `nnmh'.)

`nnoo-define-basics'
     This macro defines some common functions that almost all backends
     should have.

          (nnoo-define-basics nndir)

`deffoo'
     This macro is just like `defun' and takes the same parameters.  In
     addition to doing the normal `defun' things, it registers the
     function as being public so that other backends can inherit it.

`nnoo-map-functions'
     This macro allows mapping of functions from the current backend to
     functions from the parent backends.

          (nnoo-map-functions nndir
            (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
            (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0))

     This means that when `nndir-retrieve-headers' is called, the first,
     third, and fourth parameters will be passed on to
     `nnml-retrieve-headers', while the second parameter is set to the
     value of `nndir-current-group'.

`nnoo-import'
     This macro allows importing functions from backends.  It should be
     the last thing in the source file, since it will only define
     functions that haven't already been defined.

          (nnoo-import nndir
            (nnmh
             nnmh-request-list
             nnmh-request-newgroups)
            (nnml))

     This means that calls to `nndir-request-list' should just be passed
     on to `nnmh-request-list', while all public functions from `nnml'
     that haven't been defined in `nndir' yet should be defined now.


   Below is a slightly shortened version of the `nndir' backend.

     ;;; nndir.el --- single directory newsgroup access for Gnus
     ;; Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

     ;;; Code:

     (require 'nnheader)
     (require 'nnmh)
     (require 'nnml)
     (require 'nnoo)
     (eval-when-compile (require 'cl))

     (nnoo-declare nndir
       nnml nnmh)

     (defvoo nndir-directory nil
       "Where nndir will look for groups."
       nnml-current-directory nnmh-current-directory)

     (defvoo nndir-nov-is-evil nil
       "*Non-nil means that nndir will never retrieve NOV headers."
       nnml-nov-is-evil)

     (defvoo nndir-current-group "" nil nnml-current-group nnmh-current-group)
     (defvoo nndir-top-directory nil nil nnml-directory nnmh-directory)
     (defvoo nndir-get-new-mail nil nil nnml-get-new-mail nnmh-get-new-mail)

     (defvoo nndir-status-string "" nil nnmh-status-string)
     (defconst nndir-version "nndir 1.0")

     ;;; Interface functions.

     (nnoo-define-basics nndir)

     (deffoo nndir-open-server (server &optional defs)
       (setq nndir-directory
             (or (cadr (assq 'nndir-directory defs))
                 server))
       (unless (assq 'nndir-directory defs)
         (push `(nndir-directory ,server) defs))
       (push `(nndir-current-group
               ,(file-name-nondirectory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
             defs)
       (push `(nndir-top-directory
               ,(file-name-directory (directory-file-name nndir-directory)))
             defs)
       (nnoo-change-server 'nndir server defs))

     (nnoo-map-functions nndir
       (nnml-retrieve-headers 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
       (nnmh-request-article 0 nndir-current-group 0 0)
       (nnmh-request-group nndir-current-group 0 0)
       (nnmh-close-group nndir-current-group 0))

     (nnoo-import nndir
       (nnmh
        nnmh-status-message
        nnmh-request-list
        nnmh-request-newgroups))

     (provide 'nndir)


File: gnus,  Node: Hooking New Backends Into Gnus,  Next: Mail-like Backends,  Prev: Writing New Backends,  Up: Backend Interface

10.6.2.5 Hooking New Backends Into Gnus
.......................................

Having Gnus start using your new backend is rather easy--you just
declare it with the `gnus-declare-backend' functions.  This will enter
the backend into the `gnus-valid-select-methods' variable.

   `gnus-declare-backend' takes two parameters--the backend name and an
arbitrary number of "abilities".

   Here's an example:

     (gnus-declare-backend "nnchoke" 'mail 'respool 'address)

   The abilities can be:

`mail'
     This is a mailish backend--followups should (probably) go via mail.

`post'
     This is a newsish backend--followups should (probably) go via news.

`post-mail'
     This backend supports both mail and news.

`none'
     This is neither a post nor mail backend--it's something completely
     different.

`respool'
     It supports respooling--or rather, it is able to modify its source
     articles and groups.

`address'
     The name of the server should be in the virtual server name.  This
     is true for almost all backends.

`prompt-address'
     The user should be prompted for an address when doing commands like
     `B' in the group buffer.  This is true for backends like `nntp',
     but not `nnmbox', for instance.


File: gnus,  Node: Mail-like Backends,  Prev: Hooking New Backends Into Gnus,  Up: Backend Interface

10.6.2.6 Mail-like Backends
...........................

One of the things that separate the mail backends from the rest of the
backends is the heavy dependence by the mail backends on common
functions in `nnmail.el'.  For instance, here's the definition of
`nnml-request-scan':

     (deffoo nnml-request-scan (&optional group server)
       (setq nnml-article-file-alist nil)
       (nnmail-get-new-mail 'nnml 'nnml-save-nov nnml-directory group))

   It simply calls `nnmail-get-new-mail' with a few parameters, and
`nnmail' takes care of all the moving and splitting of the mail.

   This function takes four parameters.

METHOD
     This should be a symbol to designate which backend is responsible
     for the call.

EXIT-FUNCTION
     This function should be called after the splitting has been
     performed.

TEMP-DIRECTORY
     Where the temporary files should be stored.

GROUP
     This optional argument should be a group name if the splitting is
     to be performed for one group only.

   `nnmail-get-new-mail' will call BACKEND`-save-mail' to save each
article.  BACKEND`-active-number' will be called to find the article
number assigned to this article.

   The function also uses the following variables:
BACKEND`-get-new-mail' (to see whether to get new mail for this
backend); and BACKEND`-group-alist' and BACKEND`-active-file' to
generate the new active file.  BACKEND`-group-alist' should be a
group-active alist, like this:

     (("a-group" (1 . 10))
      ("some-group" (34 . 39)))


File: gnus,  Node: Score File Syntax,  Next: Headers,  Prev: Backend Interface,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.3 Score File Syntax
------------------------

Score files are meant to be easily parseable, but yet extremely
mallable.   It was decided that something that had the same read syntax
as an Emacs Lisp list would fit that spec.

   Here's a typical score file:

     (("summary"
       ("win95" -10000 nil s)
       ("Gnus"))
      ("from"
       ("Lars" -1000))
      (mark -100))

   BNF definition of a score file:

     score-file       = "" / "(" *element ")"
     element          = rule / atom
     rule             = string-rule / number-rule / date-rule
     string-rule      = "(" quote string-header quote space *string-match ")"
     number-rule      = "(" quote number-header quote space *number-match ")"
     date-rule        = "(" quote date-header quote space *date-match ")"
     quote            = <ascii 34>
     string-header    = "subject" / "from" / "references" / "message-id" /
                        "xref" / "body" / "head" / "all" / "followup"
     number-header    = "lines" / "chars"
     date-header      = "date"
     string-match     = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
                        space date [ "" / [ space string-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
     score            = "nil" / <integer>
     date             = "nil" / <natural number>
     string-match-t   = "nil" / "s" / "substring" / "S" / "Substring" /
                        "r" / "regex" / "R" / "Regex" /
                        "e" / "exact" / "E" / "Exact" /
                        "f" / "fuzzy" / "F" / "Fuzzy"
     number-match     = "(" <integer> [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
                        space date [ "" / [ space number-match-t ] ] ] ] ] ")"
     number-match-t   = "nil" / "=" / "<" / ">" / ">=" / "<="
     date-match       = "(" quote <string> quote [ "" / [ space score [ "" /
                        space date [ "" / [ space date-match-t ] ] ] ] ")"
     date-match-t     = "nil" / "at" / "before" / "after"
     atom             = "(" [ required-atom / optional-atom ] ")"
     required-atom    = mark / expunge / mark-and-expunge / files /
                        exclude-files / read-only / touched
     optional-atom    = adapt / local / eval
     mark             = "mark" space nil-or-number
     nil-or-number    = "nil" / <integer>
     expunge          = "expunge" space nil-or-number
     mark-and-expunge = "mark-and-expunge" space nil-or-number
     files            = "files" *[ space <string> ]
     exclude-files    = "exclude-files" *[ space <string> ]
     read-only        = "read-only" [ space "nil" / space "t" ]
     adapt            = "adapt" [ space "ignore" / space "t" / space adapt-rule ]
     adapt-rule       = "(" *[ <string> *[ "(" <string> <integer> ")" ] ")"
     local            = "local" *[ space "(" <string> space <form> ")" ]
     eval             = "eval" space <form>
     space            = *[ " " / <TAB> / <NEWLINE> ]

   Any unrecognized elements in a score file should be ignored, but not
discarded.

   As you can see, white space is needed, but the type and amount of
white space is irrelevant.  This means that formatting of the score
file is left up to the programmer--if it's simpler to just spew it all
out on one looong line, then that's ok.

   The meaning of the various atoms are explained elsewhere in this
manual (*note Score File Format::).


File: gnus,  Node: Headers,  Next: Ranges,  Prev: Score File Syntax,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.4 Headers
--------------

Internally Gnus uses a format for storing article headers that
corresponds to the NOV format in a mysterious fashion.  One could
almost suspect that the author looked at the NOV specification and just
shamelessly _stole_ the entire thing, and one would be right.

   "Header" is a severely overloaded term.  "Header" is used in RFC
1036 to talk about lines in the head of an article (e.g., `From').  It
is used by many people as a synonym for "head"--"the header and the
body".  (That should be avoided, in my opinion.)  And Gnus uses a
format internally that it calls "header", which is what I'm talking
about here.  This is a 9-element vector, basically, with each header
(ouch) having one slot.

   These slots are, in order: `number', `subject', `from', `date',
`id', `references', `chars', `lines', `xref', and `extra'.  There are
macros for accessing and setting these slots--they all have predictable
names beginning with `mail-header-' and `mail-header-set-',
respectively.

   All these slots contain strings, except the `extra' slot, which
contains an alist of header/value pairs (*note To From Newsgroups::).


File: gnus,  Node: Ranges,  Next: Group Info,  Prev: Headers,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.5 Ranges
-------------

GNUS introduced a concept that I found so useful that I've started
using it a lot and have elaborated on it greatly.

   The question is simple: If you have a large amount of objects that
are identified by numbers (say, articles, to take a _wild_ example)
that you want to qualify as being "included", a normal sequence isn't
very useful.  (A 200,000 length sequence is a bit long-winded.)

   The solution is as simple as the question: You just collapse the
sequence.

     (1 2 3 4 5 6 10 11 12)

   is transformed into

     ((1 . 6) (10 . 12))

   To avoid having those nasty `(13 . 13)' elements to denote a
lonesome object, a `13' is a valid element:

     ((1 . 6) 7 (10 . 12))

   This means that comparing two ranges to find out whether they are
equal is slightly tricky:

     ((1 . 5) 7 8 (10 . 12))

   and

     ((1 . 5) (7 . 8) (10 . 12))

   are equal.  In fact, any non-descending list is a range:

     (1 2 3 4 5)

   is a perfectly valid range, although a pretty long-winded one.  This
is also valid:

     (1 . 5)

   and is equal to the previous range.

   Here's a BNF definition of ranges.  Of course, one must remember the
semantic requirement that the numbers are non-descending.  (Any number
of repetition of the same number is allowed, but apt to disappear in
range handling.)

     range           = simple-range / normal-range
     simple-range    = "(" number " . " number ")"
     normal-range    = "(" start-contents ")"
     contents        = "" / simple-range *[ " " contents ] /
                       number *[ " " contents ]

   Gnus currently uses ranges to keep track of read articles and article
marks.  I plan on implementing a number of range operators in C if The
Powers That Be are willing to let me.  (I haven't asked yet, because I
need to do some more thinking on what operators I need to make life
totally range-based without ever having to convert back to normal
sequences.)


File: gnus,  Node: Group Info,  Next: Extended Interactive,  Prev: Ranges,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.6 Group Info
-----------------

Gnus stores all permanent info on groups in a "group info" list.  This
list is from three to six elements (or more) long and exhaustively
describes the group.

   Here are two example group infos; one is a very simple group while
the second is a more complex one:

     ("no.group" 5 ((1 . 54324)))

     ("nnml:my.mail" 3 ((1 . 5) 9 (20 . 55))
                     ((tick (15 . 19)) (replied 3 6 (19 . 3)))
                     (nnml "")
                     ((auto-expire . t) (to-address . "ding@gnus.org")))

   The first element is the "group name"--as Gnus knows the group,
anyway.  The second element is the "subscription level", which normally
is a small integer.  (It can also be the "rank", which is a cons cell
where the `car' is the level and the `cdr' is the score.)  The third
element is a list of ranges of read articles.  The fourth element is a
list of lists of article marks of various kinds.  The fifth element is
the select method (or virtual server, if you like).  The sixth element
is a list of "group parameters", which is what this section is about.

   Any of the last three elements may be missing if they are not
required.  In fact, the vast majority of groups will normally only have
the first three elements, which saves quite a lot of cons cells.

   Here's a BNF definition of the group info format:

     info          = "(" group space ralevel space read
                     [ "" / [ space marks-list [ "" / [ space method [ "" /
                     space parameters ] ] ] ] ] ")"
     group         = quote <string> quote
     ralevel       = rank / level
     level         = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
     rank          = "(" level "." score ")"
     score         = <integer in the range of 1 to inf>
     read          = range
     marks-lists   = nil / "(" *marks ")"
     marks         = "(" <string> range ")"
     method        = "(" <string> *elisp-forms ")"
     parameters    = "(" *elisp-forms ")"

   Actually that `marks' rule is a fib.  A `marks' is a `<string>'
consed on to a `range', but that's a bitch to say in pseudo-BNF.

   If you have a Gnus info and want to access the elements, Gnus offers
a series of macros for getting/setting these elements.

`gnus-info-group'
`gnus-info-set-group'
     Get/set the group name.

`gnus-info-rank'
`gnus-info-set-rank'
     Get/set the group rank (*note Group Score::).

`gnus-info-level'
`gnus-info-set-level'
     Get/set the group level.

`gnus-info-score'
`gnus-info-set-score'
     Get/set the group score (*note Group Score::).

`gnus-info-read'
`gnus-info-set-read'
     Get/set the ranges of read articles.

`gnus-info-marks'
`gnus-info-set-marks'
     Get/set the lists of ranges of marked articles.

`gnus-info-method'
`gnus-info-set-method'
     Get/set the group select method.

`gnus-info-params'
`gnus-info-set-params'
     Get/set the group parameters.

   All the getter functions take one parameter--the info list.  The
setter functions take two parameters--the info list and the new value.

   The last three elements in the group info aren't mandatory, so it
may be necessary to extend the group info before setting the element.
If this is necessary, you can just pass on a non-`nil' third parameter
to the three final setter functions to have this happen automatically.


File: gnus,  Node: Extended Interactive,  Next: Emacs/XEmacs Code,  Prev: Group Info,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.7 Extended Interactive
---------------------------

Gnus extends the standard Emacs `interactive' specification slightly to
allow easy use of the symbolic prefix (*note Symbolic Prefixes::).
Here's an example of how this is used:

     (defun gnus-summary-increase-score (&optional score symp)
       (interactive (gnus-interactive "P\ny"))
       ...
       )

   The best thing to do would have been to implement `gnus-interactive'
as a macro which would have returned an `interactive' form, but this
isn't possible since Emacs checks whether a function is interactive or
not by simply doing an `assq' on the lambda form.  So, instead we have
`gnus-interactive' function that takes a string and returns values that
are usable to `interactive'.

   This function accepts (almost) all normal `interactive' specs, but
adds a few more.

`y'
     The current symbolic prefix--the `gnus-current-prefix-symbol'
     variable.

`Y'
     A list of the current symbolic prefixes--the
     `gnus-current-prefix-symbol' variable.

`A'
     The current article number--the `gnus-summary-article-number'
     function.

`H'
     The current article header--the `gnus-summary-article-header'
     function.

`g'
     The current group name--the `gnus-group-group-name' function.



File: gnus,  Node: Emacs/XEmacs Code,  Next: Various File Formats,  Prev: Extended Interactive,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.8 Emacs/XEmacs Code
------------------------

While Gnus runs under Emacs, XEmacs and Mule, I decided that one of the
platforms must be the primary one.  I chose Emacs.  Not because I don't
like XEmacs or Mule, but because it comes first alphabetically.

   This means that Gnus will byte-compile under Emacs with nary a
warning, while XEmacs will pump out gigabytes of warnings while
byte-compiling.  As I use byte-compilation warnings to help me root out
trivial errors in Gnus, that's very useful.

   I've also consistently used Emacs function interfaces, but have used
Gnusey aliases for the functions.  To take an example:  Emacs defines a
`run-at-time' function while XEmacs defines a `start-itimer' function.
I then define a function called `gnus-run-at-time' that takes the same
parameters as the Emacs `run-at-time'.  When running Gnus under Emacs,
the former function is just an alias for the latter.  However, when
running under XEmacs, the former is an alias for the following function:

     (defun gnus-xmas-run-at-time (time repeat function &rest args)
       (start-itimer
        "gnus-run-at-time"
        `(lambda ()
           (,function ,@args))
        time repeat))

   This sort of thing has been done for bunches of functions.  Gnus does
not redefine any native Emacs functions while running under XEmacs--it
does this `defalias' thing with Gnus equivalents instead.  Cleaner all
over.

   In the cases where the XEmacs function interface was obviously
cleaner, I used it instead.  For example `gnus-region-active-p' is an
alias for `region-active-p' in XEmacs, whereas in Emacs it is a
function.

   Of course, I could have chosen XEmacs as my native platform and done
mapping functions the other way around.  But I didn't.  The performance
hit these indirections impose on Gnus under XEmacs should be slight.


File: gnus,  Node: Various File Formats,  Prev: Emacs/XEmacs Code,  Up: Gnus Reference Guide

10.6.9 Various File Formats
---------------------------

* Menu:

* Active File Format::      Information on articles and groups available.
* Newsgroups File Format::  Group descriptions.


File: gnus,  Node: Active File Format,  Next: Newsgroups File Format,  Up: Various File Formats

10.6.9.1 Active File Format
...........................

The active file lists all groups available on the server in question.
It also lists the highest and lowest current article numbers in each
group.

   Here's an excerpt from a typical active file:

     soc.motss 296030 293865 y
     alt.binaries.pictures.fractals 3922 3913 n
     comp.sources.unix 1605 1593 m
     comp.binaries.ibm.pc 5097 5089 y
     no.general 1000 900 y

   Here's a pseudo-BNF definition of this file:

     active      = *group-line
     group-line  = group space high-number space low-number space flag <NEWLINE>
     group       = <non-white-space string>
     space       = " "
     high-number = <non-negative integer>
     low-number  = <positive integer>
     flag        = "y" / "n" / "m" / "j" / "x" / "=" group

   For a full description of this file, see the manual pages for
`innd', in particular `active(5)'.


File: gnus,  Node: Newsgroups File Format,  Prev: Active File Format,  Up: Various File Formats

10.6.9.2 Newsgroups File Format
...............................

The newsgroups file lists groups along with their descriptions.  Not all
groups on the server have to be listed,  and not all groups in the file
have to exist on the server.  The file is meant purely as information to
the user.

   The format is quite simple; a group name, a tab, and the description.
Here's the definition:

     newsgroups    = *line
     line          = group tab description <NEWLINE>
     group         = <non-white-space string>
     tab           = <TAB>
     description   = <string>


File: gnus,  Node: Emacs for Heathens,  Next: Frequently Asked Questions,  Prev: Gnus Reference Guide,  Up: Appendices

10.7 Emacs for Heathens
=======================

Believe it or not, but some people who use Gnus haven't really used
Emacs much before they embarked on their journey on the Gnus Love Boat.
If you are one of those unfortunates whom "`M-C-a'", "kill the region",
and "set `gnus-flargblossen' to an alist where the key is a regexp that
is used for matching on the group name" are magical phrases with little
or no meaning, then this appendix is for you.  If you are already
familiar with Emacs, just ignore this and go fondle your cat instead.

* Menu:

* Keystrokes::      Entering text and executing commands.
* Emacs Lisp::      The built-in Emacs programming language.


File: gnus,  Node: Keystrokes,  Next: Emacs Lisp,  Up: Emacs for Heathens

10.7.1 Keystrokes
-----------------

   * Q: What is an experienced Emacs user?

   * A: A person who wishes that the terminal had pedals.

   Yes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the
shift key and the meta key a lot.  This is very annoying to some people
(notably `vi'le users), and the rest of us just love the hell out of
it.  Just give up and submit.  Emacs really does stand for
"Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift", and not "Editing Macros", as you may
have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).

   The shift keys are normally located near your pinky fingers, and are
normally used to get capital letters and stuff.  You probably use it all
the time.  The control key is normally marked "CTRL" or something like
that.  The meta key is, funnily enough, never marked as such on any
keyboard.  The one I'm currently at has a key that's marked "Alt",
which is the meta key on this keyboard.  It's usually located somewhere
to the left hand side of the keyboard, usually on the bottom row.

   Now, us Emacs people don't say "press the meta-control-m key",
because that's just too inconvenient.  We say "press the `M-C-m' key".
`M-' is the prefix that means "meta" and "C-" is the prefix that means
"control".  So "press `C-k'" means "press down the control key, and
hold it down while you press `k'".  "Press `M-C-k'" means "press down
and hold down the meta key and the control key and then press `k'".
Simple, ay?

   This is somewhat complicated by the fact that not all keyboards have
a meta key.  In that case you can use the "escape" key.  Then `M-k'
means "press escape, release escape, press `k'".  That's much more work
than if you have a meta key, so if that's the case, I respectfully
suggest you get a real keyboard with a meta key.  You can't live without
it.


File: gnus,  Node: Emacs Lisp,  Prev: Keystrokes,  Up: Emacs for Heathens

10.7.2 Emacs Lisp
-----------------

Emacs is the King of Editors because it's really a Lisp interpreter.
Each and every key you tap runs some Emacs Lisp code snippet, and since
Emacs Lisp is an interpreted language, that means that you can configure
any key to run any arbitrary code.  You just, like, do it.

   Gnus is written in Emacs Lisp, and is run as a bunch of interpreted
functions.  (These are byte-compiled for speed, but it's still
interpreted.)  If you decide that you don't like the way Gnus does
certain things, it's trivial to have it do something a different way.
(Well, at least if you know how to write Lisp code.)  However, that's
beyond the scope of this manual, so we are simply going to talk about
some common constructs that you normally use in your `.emacs' file to
customize Gnus.

   If you want to set the variable `gnus-florgbnize' to four (4), you
write the following:

     (setq gnus-florgbnize 4)

   This function (really "special form") `setq' is the one that can set
a variable to some value.  This is really all you need to know.  Now
you can go and fill your `.emacs' file with lots of these to change how
Gnus works.

   If you have put that thing in your `.emacs' file, it will be read
and `eval'ed (which is lisp-ese for "run") the next time you start
Emacs.  If you want to change the variable right away, simply say `C-x
C-e' after the closing parenthesis.  That will `eval' the previous
"form", which is a simple `setq' statement here.

   Go ahead--just try it, if you're located at your Emacs.  After you
`C-x C-e', you will see `4' appear in the echo area, which is the
return value of the form you `eval'ed.

   Some pitfalls:

   If the manual says "set `gnus-read-active-file' to `some'", that
means:

     (setq gnus-read-active-file 'some)

   On the other hand, if the manual says "set `gnus-nntp-server' to
`nntp.ifi.uio.no'", that means:

     (setq gnus-nntp-server "nntp.ifi.uio.no")

   So be careful not to mix up strings (the latter) with symbols (the
former).  The manual is unambiguous, but it can be confusing.


File: gnus,  Node: Frequently Asked Questions,  Prev: Emacs for Heathens,  Up: Appendices

10.8 Frequently Asked Questions
===============================

This is the Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.  If you have a Web
browser, the official hypertext version is at
`http://www.ccs.neu.edu/software/gnus/', and has probably been updated
since you got this manual.

* Menu:

* Installation FAQ::      Installation of Gnus.
* Customization FAQ::     Customizing Gnus.
* Reading News FAQ::      News Reading Questions.
* Reading Mail FAQ::      Mail Reading Questions.


File: gnus,  Node: Installation FAQ,  Next: Customization FAQ,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

10.8.1 Installation
-------------------

   * Q1.1  What is the latest version of Gnus?

     The latest (and greatest) version is 5.0.10.  You might also run
     across something called _September Gnus_.  September Gnus is the
     alpha version of the next major release of Gnus.  It is currently
     not stable enough to run unless you are prepared to debug lisp.

   * Q1.2  Where do I get Gnus?

     Any of the following locations:

        - `ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/gnus.tar.gz'

        - `ftp://ftp.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/'

        - `gopher://gopher.pilgrim.umass.edu/11/pub/misc/ding/'

        - `ftp://aphrodite.nectar.cs.cmu.edu/pub/ding-gnus/'

        - `ftp://ftp.solace.mh.se:/pub/gnu/elisp/'


   * Q1.3  Which version of Emacs do I need?

     At least GNU Emacs 19.28, or XEmacs 19.12 is recommended.  GNU
     Emacs 19.25 has been reported to work under certain circumstances,
     but it doesn't _officially_ work on it.  19.27 has also been
     reported to work.  Gnus has been reported to work under OS/2 as
     well as Unix.

   * Q1.4  Where is timezone.el?

     Upgrade to XEmacs 19.13.  In earlier versions of XEmacs this file
     was placed with Gnus 4.1.3, but that has been corrected.

   * Q1.5  When I run Gnus on XEmacs 19.13 I get weird error messages.

     You're running an old version of Gnus.  Upgrade to at least version
     5.0.4.

   * Q1.6  How do I unsubscribe from the Mailing List?

     Send an e-mail message to `ding-request@ifi.uio.no' with the magic
     word _unsubscribe_ somewhere in it, and you will be removed.

     If you are reading the digest version of the list, send an e-mail
     message to
     `ding-rn-digests-d-request@moe.shore.net' with _unsubscribe_ as
     the subject and you will be removed.

   * Q1.7  How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?

     The basic answer is to byte-compile under XEmacs, and then you can
     run under either Emacsen.  There is, however, a potential version
     problem with easymenu.el with Gnu Emacs prior to 19.29.

     Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes :
     The internal easymenu.el interface changed between 19.28 and 19.29
     in order to make it possible to create byte compiled files that
     can be shared between Gnu Emacs and XEmacs.  The change is upward
     compatible, but not downward compatible.  This gives the following
     compatibility table:

          Compiled with:  | Can be used with:
          ----------------+--------------------------------------
          19.28           | 19.28         19.29
          19.29           |               19.29           XEmacs
          XEmacs          |               19.29           XEmacs

     If you have Gnu Emacs 19.28 or earlier, or XEmacs 19.12 or
     earlier, get a recent version of auc-menu.el from
     `ftp://ftp.iesd.auc.dk/pub/emacs-lisp/auc-menu.el', and install it
     under the name easymenu.el somewhere early in your load path.

   * Q1.8 What resources are available?

     There is the newsgroup Gnu.emacs.gnus. Discussion of Gnus 5.x is
     now taking place there. There is also a mailing list, send mail to
     `ding-request@ifi.uio.no' with the magic word _subscribe_
     somewhere in it.

     _NOTE:_ the traffic on this list is heavy so you may not want to be
     on it (unless you use Gnus as your mailer reader, that is). The
     mailing list is mainly for developers and testers.

     Gnus has a home World Wide Web page at
     `http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding.html'.

     Gnus has a write up in the X Windows Applications FAQ at
     `http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/xapps/Q-III.html'.

     The Gnus manual is also available on the World Wide Web. The
     canonical source is in Norway at
     `http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-manual/gnus_toc.html'.

     There are three mirrors in the United States:
       1. `http://www.miranova.com/gnus-man/'

       2.
          `http://www.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/manual/gnus_toc.html'

       3. `http://www.rtd.com/~woo/gnus/'


     PostScript copies of the Gnus Reference card are available from
     `ftp://ftp.cs.ualberta.ca/pub/oolog/gnus/'.  They are mirrored at
     `ftp://ftp.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/refcard/' in the United
     States. And
     `ftp://marvin.fkphy.uni-duesseldorf.de/pub/gnus/' in Germany.

     An online version of the Gnus FAQ is available at
     `http://www.miranova.com/~steve/gnus-faq.html'. Off-line formats
     are also available:
     ASCII: `ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq'
     PostScript: `ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq.ps'.

   * Q1.9  Gnus hangs on connecting to NNTP server

     I am running XEmacs on SunOS and Gnus prints a message about
     Connecting to NNTP server and then just hangs.

     Ben Wing <wing@netcom.com> writes :
     I wonder if you're hitting the infamous _libresolv_ problem.  The
     basic problem is that under SunOS you can compile either with DNS
     or NIS name lookup libraries but not both.  Try substituting the
     IP address and see if that works; if so, you need to download the
     sources and recompile.

   * Q1.10  Mailcrypt 3.4 doesn't work

     This problem is verified to still exist in Gnus 5.0.9 and
     Mailcrypt 3.4.  The answer comes from Peter Arius
     <arius@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>.

     I found out that mailcrypt uses `gnus-eval-in-buffer-window',
     which is a macro.  It seems as if you have compiled mailcrypt with
     plain old GNUS in load path, and the XEmacs byte compiler has
     inserted that macro definition into `mc-toplev.elc'.  The solution
     is to recompile `mc-toplev.el' with Gnus 5 in load-path, and it
     works fine.

     Steve Baur <steve@miranova.com> adds :
     The problem also manifests itself if neither GNUS 4 nor Gnus 5 is
     in the load-path.

   * Q1.11  What other packages work with Gnus?

        - Mailcrypt.

          Mailcrypt is an Emacs interface to PGP.  It works, it installs
          without hassle, and integrates very easily.  Mailcrypt can be
          obtained from
          `ftp://cag.lcs.mit.edu/pub/patl/mailcrypt-3.4.tar.gz'.

        - Tools for Mime.

          Tools for Mime is an Emacs MUA interface to MIME.
          Installation is a two-step process unlike most other
          packages, so you should be prepared to move the byte-compiled
          code somewhere.  There are currently two versions of this
          package available.  It can be obtained from
          `ftp://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/GNU/elisp/'.  Be sure to apply the
          supplied patch.  It works with Gnus through version 5.0.9.
          In order for all dependencies to work correctly the load
          sequence is as follows:
                 (load "tm-setup")
                 (load "gnus")
                 (load "mime-compose")

          _NOTE:_ Loading the package disables citation highlighting by
          default.  To get the old behavior back, use the `M-t' command.




File: gnus,  Node: Customization FAQ,  Next: Reading News FAQ,  Prev: Installation FAQ,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

10.8.2 Customization
--------------------

   * Q2.1  Custom Edit does not work under XEmacs

     The custom package has not been ported to XEmacs.

   * Q2.2  How do I quote messages?

     I see lots of messages with quoted material in them.  I am
     wondering how to have Gnus do it for me.

     This is Gnus, so there are a number of ways of doing this.  You
     can use the built-in commands to do this.  There are the `F' and
     `R' keys from the summary buffer which automatically include the
     article being responded to.  These commands are also selectable as
     Followup and Yank and Reply and Yank in the Post menu.

     `C-c C-y' grabs the previous message and prefixes each line with
     `ail-indentation-spaces' spaces or `mail-yank-prefix' if that is
     non-nil, unless you have set your own `mail-citation-hook', which
     will be called to do the job.

     You might also consider the Supercite package, which allows for
     pretty arbitrarily complex quoting styles.  Some people love it,
     some people hate it.

   * Q2.3 How can I keep my nnvirtual:* groups sorted?

     How can I most efficiently arrange matters so as to keep my
     nnvirtual:* (etc) groups at the top of my group selection buffer,
     whilst keeping everything sorted in alphabetical order.

     If you don't subscribe often to new groups then the easiest way is
     to first sort the groups and then manually kill and yank the
     virtuals wherever you want them.

   * Q2.4  Any good suggestions on stuff for an all.SCORE file?

     Here is a collection of suggestions from the Gnus mailing list.

       1. From "Dave Disser" <disser@sdd.hp.com>
          I like blasting anything without lowercase letters.  Weeds
          out most of the make $$ fast, as well as the lame titles like
          "IBM" and "HP-UX" with no further description.
                (("Subject"
                 ("^\\(Re: \\)?[^a-z]*$" -200 nil R)))

       2. From "Peter Arius" <arius@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
          The most vital entries in my (still young) all.SCORE:
               (("xref"
                 ("alt.fan.oj-simpson" -1000 nil s))
                ("subject"
                 ("\\<\\(make\\|fast\\|big\\)\\s-*\\(money\\|cash\\|bucks?\\)\\>" -1000 nil r)
                 ("$$$$" -1000 nil s)))

       3. From "Per Abrahamsen" <abraham@dina.kvl.dk>
               (("subject"
                 ;; CAPS OF THE WORLD, UNITE
                 ("^..[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R)
                 ;; $$$ Make Money $$$ (Try work)
                 ("$" -1 nil s)
                 ;; I'm important! And I have exclamation marks to prove it!
                 ("!" -1 nil s)))

       4. From "heddy boubaker" <boubaker@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr>
          I  would like to contribute with mine.
               (
                (read-only t)
                ("subject"
                 ;; ALL CAPS SUBJECTS
                 ("^\\([Rr][Ee]: +\\)?[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R)
                 ;; $$$ Make Money $$$
                 ("$$" -10 nil s)
                 ;; Empty subjects are worthless!
                 ("^ *\\([(<]none[>)]\\|(no subject\\( given\\)?)\\)? *$" -10 nil r)
                 ;; Sometimes interesting announces occur!
                 ("ANN?OU?NC\\(E\\|ING\\)" +10 nil r)
                 ;; Some people think they're on mailing lists
                 ("\\(un\\)?sub?scribe" -100 nil r)
                 ;; Stop Micro$oft NOW!!
                 ("\\(m\\(icro\\)?[s$]\\(oft\\|lot\\)?-?\\)?wind?\\(ows\\|aube\\|oze\\)?[- ]*\\('?95\\|NT\\|3[.]1\\|32\\)" -1001 nil r)
                 ;; I've nothing to buy
                 ("\\(for\\|4\\)[- ]*sale" -100 nil r)
                 ;; SELF-DISCIPLINED people
                 ("\\[[^a-z0-9 \t\n][^a-z0-9 \t\n]\\]" +100 nil r)
                 )
                ("from"
                 ;; To keep track of posters from my site
                 (".dgac.fr" +1000 nil s))
                ("followup"
                 ;; Keep track of answers to my posts
                 ("boubaker" +1000 nil s))
                ("lines"
                 ;; Some people have really nothing to say!!
                 (1 -10 nil <=))
                (mark -100)
                (expunge -1000)
                )

       5. From "Christopher Jones" <cjones@au.oracle.com>
          The sample `all.SCORE' files from Per and boubaker could be
          augmented with:
               	(("subject"
               	  ;; No junk mail please!
               	  ("please ignore" -500 nil s)
               	  ("test" -500 nil e))
               	)

       6. From "Brian Edmonds" <edmonds@cs.ubc.ca>
          Augment any of the above with a fast method of scoring down
          excessively cross posted articles.
                ("xref"
                 ;; the more cross posting, the exponentially worse the article
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -1 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -2 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -4 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -8 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -16 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -32 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -64 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -128 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -256 nil r)
                 ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -512 nil r))


   * Q2.5  What do I use to yank-through when replying?

     You should probably reply and followup with `R' and `F', instead
     of `r' and `f', which solves your problem.  But you could try
     something like:

          (defconst mail-yank-ignored-headers
            "^.*:"
            "Delete these headers from old message when it's inserted in a reply.")

   * Q2.6  I don't like the default WWW browser

     Now when choosing an URL Gnus starts up a W3 buffer, I would like
     it to always use Netscape (I don't browse in text-mode ;-).

       1. Activate `Customize...' from the `Help' menu.

       2. Scroll down to the `WWW Browser' field.

       3. Click `mouse-2' on `WWW Browser'.

       4. Select `Netscape' from the pop up menu.

       5. Press `C-c C-c'


     If you are using XEmacs then to specify Netscape do
            (setq gnus-button-url 'gnus-netscape-open-url)

   * Q2.7 What, if any, relation is between "ask-server" and "(setq
     gnus-read-active-file 'some)"?

     In order for Gnus to show you the complete list of newsgroups, it
     will either have to either store the list locally, or ask the
     server to transmit the list. You enable the first with

                  (setq gnus-save-killed-list t)

     and the second with

                  (setq gnus-read-active-file t)

     If both are disabled, Gnus will not know what newsgroups exists.
     There is no option to get the list by casting a spell.

   * Q2.8  Moving between groups is slow.

     Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes:
     Do you call `define-key' or something like that in one of the
     summary mode hooks?  This would force Emacs to recalculate the
     keyboard shortcuts.  Removing the call should speed up `M-x
     gnus-summary-mode RET' by a couple of orders of magnitude.  You
     can use

          (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map KEY COMMAND)

     in your `.gnus' instead.



File: gnus,  Node: Reading News FAQ,  Next: Reading Mail FAQ,  Prev: Customization FAQ,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

10.8.3 Reading News
-------------------

   * Q3.1  How do I convert my kill files to score files?

     A kill-to-score translator was written by Ethan Bradford
     <ethanb@ptolemy.astro.washington.edu>.  It is available from
     `http://baugi.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el'.

   * Q3.2 My news server has a lot of groups, and killing groups is
     painfully slow.

     Don't do that then.  The best way to get rid of groups that should
     be dead is to edit your newsrc directly.  This problem will be
     addressed in the near future.

   * Q3.3  How do I use an NNTP server with authentication?

     Put the following into your .gnus:
           (add-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-authinfo)

   * Q3.4  Not reading the first article.

     How do I avoid reading the first article when a group is selected?

       1. Use `RET' to select the group instead of `SPC'.

       2. `(setq gnus-auto-select first nil)'

       3. Luis Fernandes <elf@mailhost.ee.ryerson.ca>writes:
          This is what I use...customize as necessary...

               ;;; Don't auto-select first article if reading sources, or archives or
               ;;; jobs postings, etc. and just display the summary buffer
               (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
               	  (function
               	   (lambda ()
               	     (cond ((string-match "sources" gnus-newsgroup-name)
               		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
               			   ((string-match "jobs" gnus-newsgroup-name)
               				(setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
               		   ((string-match "comp\\.archives" gnus-newsgroup-name)
               		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
               		   ((string-match "reviews" gnus-newsgroup-name)
               		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
               		   ((string-match "announce" gnus-newsgroup-name)
               		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
               		   ((string-match "binaries" gnus-newsgroup-name)
               		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
               		   (t
               		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first t))))))

       4. Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes:
          Another possibility is to create an `all.binaries.all.SCORE'
          file like this:

               ((local
                 (gnus-auto-select-first nil)))

          and insert
               	(setq gnus-auto-select-first t)

          in your `.gnus'.


   * Q3.5  Why aren't BBDB known posters marked in the summary buffer?

     Brian Edmonds <edmonds@cs.ubc.ca> writes:
     Due to changes in Gnus 5.0, `bbdb-gnus.el' no longer marks known
     posters in the summary buffer.  An updated version, `gnus-bbdb.el'
     is available at the locations listed below.  This package also
     supports autofiling of incoming mail to folders specified in the
     BBDB.  Extensive instructions are included as comments in the file.

     Send mail to `majordomo@edmonds.home.cs.ubc.ca' with the following
     line in the body of the message: _get misc gnus-bbdb.el_.

     Or get it from the World Wide Web:
     `http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/edmonds/gnus-bbdb.el'.



File: gnus,  Node: Reading Mail FAQ,  Prev: Reading News FAQ,  Up: Frequently Asked Questions

10.8.4 Reading Mail
-------------------

   * Q4.1 What does the message "Buffer has changed on disk" mean in a
     mail group?

     Your filter program should not deliver mail directly to your
     folders, instead it should put the mail into spool files.  Gnus
     will then move the mail safely from the spool files into the
     folders.  This will eliminate the problem.  Look it up in the
     manual, in the section entitled "Mail & Procmail".

   * Q4.2  How do you make articles un-expirable?

     I am using nnml to read news and have used
     `gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups' to automagically expire articles
     in some groups (Gnus being one of them).  Sometimes there are
     interesting articles in these groups that I want to keep.  Is
     there any way of explicitly marking an article as un-expirable -
     that is mark it as read but not expirable?

     Use `u', `!', `d' or `M-u' in the summary buffer. You just remove
     the `E' mark by setting some other mark. It's not necessary to
     tick the articles.

   * Q4.3  How do I delete bogus nnml: groups?

     My problem is that I have various mail (nnml) groups generated
     while experimenting with Gnus. How do I remove them now? Setting
     the level to 9 does not help. Also `gnus-group-check-bogus-groups'
     does not recognize them.

     Removing mail groups is tricky at the moment. (It's on the to-do
     list, though.) You basically have to kill the groups in Gnus, shut
     down Gnus, edit the active file to exclude these groups, and
     probably remove the nnml directories that contained these groups
     as well. Then start Gnus back up again.

   * Q4.4  What happened to my new mail groups?

     I got new mail, but I have never seen the groups they should have
     been placed in.

     They are probably there, but as zombies. Press `A z' to list
     zombie groups, and then subscribe to the groups you want with `u'.
     This is all documented quite nicely in the user's manual.

   * Q4.5  Not scoring mail groups

     How do you _totally_ turn off scoring in mail groups?

     Use an nnbabyl:all.SCORE (or nnmh, or nnml, or whatever) file
     containing:

          ((adapt ignore)
           (local (gnus-use-scoring nil))
           (exclude-files "all.SCORE"))


