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1  @c Insert  "\input texinfo" at 1st line before texing this file alone.  @c Insert  "\input texinfo" at 1st line before texing this file alone.
2  @c -*-texinfo-*-  @c -*-texinfo-*-
3  @c Copyright (C) 1995, 98, 99, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.  @c Copyright (C) 1995, 2001, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4  @setfilename ../info/gnus-faq.info  @setfilename gnus-faq.info
5    
6    @c Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ - Introduction, Emacs for Heathens, Top
7    
8  @node Frequently Asked Questions  @node Frequently Asked Questions
9    @comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
10    
11    @c @chapter Frequently Asked Questions
12  @section Frequently Asked Questions  @section Frequently Asked Questions
13    @cindex FAQ
14    @cindex Frequently Asked Questions
15    
16  This is the Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.  @c - Uncomment @chapter, comment @section
17  If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at  @c - run (texinfo-every-node-update)
18  @file{http://www.ccs.neu.edu/software/gnus/}, and has  @c - revert it.
 probably been updated since you got this manual.  
19    
20  @menu  @menu
21  * Installation FAQ::      Installation of Gnus.  * FAQ - Introduction::                    About Gnus and this FAQ.
22  * Customization FAQ::     Customizing Gnus.  * FAQ 1 - Installation::                  Installation of Gnus.
23  * Reading News FAQ::      News Reading Questions.  * FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer::        Start up questions and the first
24  * Reading Mail FAQ::      Mail Reading Questions.                                            buffer Gnus shows you.
25    * FAQ 3 - Getting messages::              Making Gnus read your mail and news.
26    * FAQ 4 - Reading messages::              How to efficiently read messages.
27    * FAQ 5 - Composing messages::            Composing mails or Usenet postings.
28    * FAQ 6 - Old messages::                  Importing, archiving, searching
29                                              and deleting messages.
30    * FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment:: Reading mail and news while offline.
31    * FAQ 8 - Getting help::                  When this FAQ isn't enough.
32    * FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus::                   How to make Gnus faster.
33    * FAQ - Glossary::                        Terms used in the FAQ explained.
34  @end menu  @end menu
35    
36    
37  @node Installation FAQ  @subheading Abstract
38    
39     This is the new Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.  If you have a
40    Web browser, the official hypertext version is at
41    @uref{http://my.gnus.org/FAQ/}, the Docbook source is available from
42    @uref{http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnus/}.
43    
44    
45     Please submit features and suggestions to the
46     @email{faq-discuss@@my.gnus.org,FAQ discussion list}.
47     The list is protected against junk mail with
48     @uref{http://smarden.org/qconfirm/index.html,qconfirm, qconfirm}. As
49     a subscriber, your submissions will automatically pass. You can
50     also subscribe to the list by sending a blank email to
51     @email{faq-discuss-subscribe@@my.gnus.org}
52     and
53     @uref{http://mail1.kens.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-browse?command=monthbythread%26list=faq-discuss,browse
54     the archive, browse the archive}.
55    
56    @node FAQ - Introduction, FAQ 1 - Installation, Frequently Asked Questions, Frequently Asked Questions
57    @comment  node-name,  next,  previous,  up
58    @heading Introduction
59    
60    This is the Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.
61    
62    Gnus is a Usenet Newsreader and Electronic Mail User Agent implemented
63     as a part of Emacs. It's been around in some form for almost a decade
64     now, and has been distributed as a standard part of Emacs for much of
65     that time. Gnus 5 is the latest (and greatest) incarnation. The
66     original version was called GNUS, and was written by Masanobu UMEDA.
67     When autumn crept up in '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and
68     decided to rewrite Gnus.
69    
70     Its biggest strength is the fact that it is extremely
71     customizable. It is somewhat intimidating at first glance, but
72     most of the complexity can be ignored until you're ready to take
73     advantage of it. If you receive a reasonable volume of e-mail
74     (you're on various mailing lists), or you would like to read
75     high-volume mailing lists but cannot keep up with them, or read
76     high volume newsgroups or are just bored, then Gnus is what you
77     want.
78    
79     This FAQ was maintained by Justin Sheehy until March 2002. He
80     would like to thank Steve Baur and Per Abrahamsen for doing a wonderful
81     job with this FAQ before him. We would like to do the same - thanks,
82     Justin!
83    
84    
85     If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at:@*
86     @uref{http://my.gnus.org/FAQ/}.
87     This version is much nicer than the unofficial hypertext
88     versions that are archived at Utrecht, Oxford, Smart Pages, Ohio
89     State, and other FAQ archives. See the resources question below
90     if you want information on obtaining it in another format.
91    
92    
93     The information contained here was compiled with the assistance
94     of the Gnus development mailing list, and any errors or
95     misprints are the my.gnus.org team's fault, sorry.
96    
97    
98    @ifnottex
99    @node FAQ 1 - Installation, FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, FAQ - Introduction, Frequently Asked Questions
100    @end ifnottex
101  @subsection Installation  @subsection Installation
102    
103  @itemize @bullet  @menu
104  @item  * [1.1]::   What is the latest version of Gnus?
105  Q1.1  What is the latest version of Gnus?  * [1.2]::   What's new in 5.10.0?
106    * [1.3]::   Where and how to get Gnus?
107    * [1.4]::   What to do with the tarball now?
108    * [1.5]::   Which version of Emacs do I need?
109    * [1.6]::   How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?
110    @end menu
111    
 The latest (and greatest) version is 5.0.10.  You might also run  
 across something called @emph{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.  
112    
113  @item  @ifnottex
114  Q1.2  Where do I get Gnus?  @node [1.1], [1.2], FAQ 1 - Installation, FAQ 1 - Installation
115    @end ifnottex
116    @subsubheading Question 1.1:
117    
118  Any of the following locations:  What is the latest version of Gnus?
119    
120  @itemize @minus  Answer:
 @item  
 @file{ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/gnus.tar.gz}  
121    
122  @item   Jingle please: Gnus 5.10.0 is released, get it while it's
123  @file{ftp://ftp.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/}   hot! As well as the step in version number is rather
124     small, Gnus 5.10 has tons of new features which you
125     shouldn't miss, however if you are cautious, you might
126     prefer to stay with 5.8.8 respectively 5.9 (they are
127     basically the same) until some bugfix releases are out.
128    
129    @ifnottex
130    @node [1.2], [1.3], [1.1], FAQ 1 - Installation
131    @end ifnottex
132    @subsubheading Question 1.2:
133    
134  @item  What's new in 5.10.0?
 @file{gopher://gopher.pilgrim.umass.edu/11/pub/misc/ding/}  
135    
136  @item  Answer:
 @file{ftp://aphrodite.nectar.cs.cmu.edu/pub/ding-gnus/}  
137    
138  @item   First of all, you should have a look into the file
139  @file{ftp://ftp.solace.mh.se:/pub/gnu/elisp/}   GNUS-NEWS in the toplevel directory of the Gnus tarball,
140     there the most important changes are listed. Here's a
141     short list of the changes I find especially
142     important/interesting:
143    
144    
145  @end itemize  
146    
147    @itemize @bullet{}
148    
149  @item  @item
150  Q1.3  Which version of Emacs do I need?   Major rewrite of the Gnus agent, Gnus agent is now
151     active by default.
152    
153    @item
154     Many new article washing functions for dealing with
155     ugly formatted articles.
156    
157    @item
158     Anti Spam features.
159    
160    @item
161     message-utils now included in Gnus.
162    
163    @item
164     New format specifiers for summary lines, e.g. %B for
165     a complex trn-style thread tree.
166    
167    @end itemize
168    
169    @ifnottex
170    @node [1.3], [1.4], [1.2], FAQ 1 - Installation
171    @end ifnottex
172    @subsubheading Question 1.3:
173    
174    Where and how to get Gnus?
175    
176    Answer:
177    
178     The latest released version of Gnus isn't included in
179     Emacs 21 and until now it also isn't available through the
180     package system of XEmacs 21.4, therefor you should get the
181     Gnus tarball from
182     @uref{http://www.gnus.org/dist/gnus.tar.gz}
183     or via anonymous FTP from
184     @uref{ftp://ftp.gnus.org/pub/gnus/gnus.tar.gz}.
185    
186    @ifnottex
187    @node [1.4], [1.5], [1.3], FAQ 1 - Installation
188    @end ifnottex
189    @subsubheading Question 1.4:
190    
191     What to do with the tarball now?
192    
193    
194    Answer:
195    
196     Untar it via @samp{tar xvzf gnus.tar.gz} and do the common
197     @samp{./configure; make; make install} circle.
198     (under MS-Windows either get the Cygwin environment from
199     @uref{http://www.cygwin.com}
200     which allows you to do what's described above or unpack the
201     tarball with some packer (e.g. Winace from
202     @uref{http://www.winace.com})
203     and use the batch-file make.bat included in the tarball to install
204     Gnus. If you don't want to (or aren't allowed to) install Gnus
205     system-wide, you can install it in your home directory and add the
206     following lines to your ~/.xemacs/init.el or ~/.emacs:
207    
208    
209  At least GNU Emacs 19.28, or XEmacs 19.12 is recommended.  GNU Emacs  @example
210  19.25 has been reported to work under certain circumstances, but it  (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/gnus/lisp")
211  doesn't @emph{officially} work on it.  19.27 has also been reported to  (if (featurep 'xemacs)
212  work.  Gnus has been reported to work under OS/2 as well as Unix.      (add-to-list 'Info-directory-list "/path/to/gnus/texi/")
213      (add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "/path/to/gnus/texi/"))
214    @end example
215    
216    @noindent
217     Make sure that you don't have any Gnus related stuff
218     before this line, on MS Windows use something like
219     "C:/path/to/lisp" (yes, "/").
220    
221    @ifnottex
222    @node [1.5], [1.6], [1.4], FAQ 1 - Installation
223    @end ifnottex
224    @subsubheading Question 1.5:
225    
226    Which version of Emacs do I need?
227    
228    Answer:
229    
230     Gnus 5.10.0 requires an Emacs version that is greater
231     than or equal to Emacs 20.7 or XEmacs 21.1.
232    
233    @ifnottex
234    @node [1.6],  , [1.5], FAQ 1 - Installation
235    @end ifnottex
236    @subsubheading Question 1.6:
237    
238    How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?
239    
240    Answer:
241    
242     You can't use the same copy of Gnus in both as the Lisp
243     files are byte-compiled to a format which is different
244     depending on which Emacs did the compilation. Get one copy
245     of Gnus for Emacs and one for XEmacs.
246    
247    @ifnottex
248    @node FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, FAQ 3 - Getting messages, FAQ 1 - Installation, Frequently Asked Questions
249    @end ifnottex
250    @subsection Startup / Group buffer
251    
252  @item  @menu
253  Q1.4  Where is timezone.el?  * [2.1]::   Every time I start Gnus I get a message
254                "Gnus auto-save file exists. Do you want to read it?",
255                what does this mean and how to prevent it?
256    * [2.2]::   Gnus doesn't remember which groups I'm subscribed to, what's this?
257    * [2.3]::   How to change the format of the lines in Group buffer?
258    * [2.4]::   My group buffer becomes a bit crowded, is there a way to sort my
259                groups into categories so I can easier browse through them?
260    * [2.5]::   How to manually sort the groups in Group buffer? How to sort the
261                groups in a topic?
262    @end menu
263    
264  Upgrade to XEmacs 19.13.  In earlier versions of XEmacs this file was  @ifnottex
265  placed with Gnus 4.1.3, but that has been corrected.  @node [2.1], [2.2], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
266    @end ifnottex
267    @subsubheading Question 2.1:
268    
269     Every time I start Gnus I get a message "Gnus auto-save
270     file exists. Do you want to read it?", what does this mean
271     and how to prevent it?
272    
273    
274    Answer:
275    
276     This message means that the last time you used Gnus, it
277     wasn't properly exited and therefor couldn't write its
278     informations to disk (e.g. which messages you read), you
279     are now asked if you want to restore those informations
280     from the auto-save file.
281    
282    
283     To prevent this message make sure you exit Gnus
284     via @samp{q} in group buffer instead of
285     just killing Emacs.
286    
287    @ifnottex
288    @node [2.2], [2.3], [2.1], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
289    @end ifnottex
290    @subsubheading Question: 2.2
291    
292     Gnus doesn't remember which groups I'm subscribed to,
293     what's this?
294    
295    
296    Answer:
297    
298     You get the message described in the q/a pair above while
299     starting Gnus, right? It's an other symptom for the same
300     problem, so read the answer above.
301    
302    @ifnottex
303    @node [2.3], [2.4], [2.2], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
304    @end ifnottex
305    @subsubheading Question 2.3:
306    
307     How to change the format of the lines in Group buffer?
308    
309    
310    Answer:
311    
312     You've got to tweak the value of the variable
313     gnus-group-line-format. See the manual node "Group Line
314     Specification" for information on how to do this. An
315     example for this (guess from whose .gnus :-)):
316    
317    
318    @example
319    
320  @item  (setq gnus-group-line-format "%P%M%S[%5t]%5y : %(%g%)\n")
321  Q1.5  When I run Gnus on XEmacs 19.13 I get weird error messages.              
322    @end example
323    
324    @ifnottex
325    @node [2.4], [2.5], [2.3], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
326    @end ifnottex
327    @subsubheading Question 2.4:
328    
329     My group buffer becomes a bit crowded, is there a way to
330     sort my groups into categories so I can easier browse
331     through them?
332    
333    
334    Answer:
335    
336     Gnus offers the topic mode, it allows you to sort your
337     groups in, well, topics, e.g. all groups dealing with
338     Linux under the topic linux, all dealing with music under
339     the topic music and all dealing with scottish music under
340     the topic scottish which is a subtopic of music.
341    
342    
343     To enter topic mode, just hit t while in Group buffer. Now
344     you can use @samp{T n} to create a topic
345     at point and @samp{T m} to move a group to
346     a specific topic. For more commands see the manual or the
347     menu. You might want to include the %P specifier at the
348     beginning of your gnus-group-line-format variable to have
349     the groups nicely indented.
350    
351    @ifnottex
352    @node [2.5],  , [2.4], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
353    @end ifnottex
354    @subsubheading Question 2.5:
355    
356     How to manually sort the groups in Group buffer? How to
357     sort the groups in a topic?
358    
359    
360    Answer:
361    
362     Move point over the group you want to move and
363     hit @samp{C-k}, now move point to the
364     place where you want the group to be and
365     hit @samp{C-y}.
366    
367    @ifnottex
368    @node FAQ 3 - Getting messages, FAQ 4 - Reading messages, FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, Frequently Asked Questions
369    @end ifnottex
370    @subsection Getting messages
371    
372  You're running an old version of Gnus.  Upgrade to at least version  @menu
373  5.0.4.  * [3.1]::   I just installed Gnus, started it via M-x gnus but it only says
374                "nntp (news) open error", what to do?
375    * [3.2]::   I'm working under Windows and have no idea what ~/.gnus means.
376    * [3.3]::   My news server requires authentication, how to store user name
377                and password on disk?
378    * [3.4]::   Gnus seems to start up OK, but I can't find out how to
379                subscribe to a group.
380    * [3.5]::   Gnus doesn't show all groups / Gnus says I'm not allowed to
381                post on this server as well as I am, what's that?
382    * [3.6]::   I want Gnus to fetch news from several servers, is this possible?
383    * [3.7]::   And how about local spool files?
384    * [3.8]::   OK, reading news works now, but I want to be able to read my mail
385                with Gnus, too. How to do it?
386    * [3.9]::   And what about IMAP?
387    * [3.10]::  At the office we use one of those MS Exchange servers,
388                can I use Gnus to read my mail from it?
389    * [3.11]::  Can I tell Gnus not to delete the mails on the server
390                it retrieves via POP3?
391    @end menu
392    
393    @ifnottex
394    @node [3.1], [3.2], FAQ 3 - Getting messages, FAQ 3 - Getting messages
395    @end ifnottex
396    @subsubheading Question 3.1:
397    
398     I just installed Gnus, started it via
399     @samp{M-x gnus}
400     but it only says "nntp (news) open error", what to do?
401    
402    
403    Answer:
404    
405     You've got to tell Gnus where to fetch the news from. Read
406     the documentation for information on how to do this. As a
407     first start, put those lines in ~/.gnus:
408    
409    
410  @item  @example
411  Q1.6  How do I unsubscribe from the Mailing List?  (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.yourprovider.net"))
412    (setq user-mail-address "you@@yourprovider.net")
413    (setq user-full-name "Your Name")
414    @end example
415    
416    @ifnottex
417    @node [3.2], [3.3], [3.1], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
418    @end ifnottex
419    @subsubheading Question 3.2:
420    
421     I'm working under Windows and have no idea what ~/.gnus means.
422    
423    
424    Answer:
425    
426     The ~/ means the home directory where Gnus and Emacs look for the
427    configuration files. However, you don't really need to know what this
428    means, it suffices that Emacs knows what it means :-) You can type
429    @samp{C-x C-f ~/.gnus RET } (yes, with the forward slash, even on
430    Windows), and Emacs will open the right file for you. (It will most
431    likely be new, and thus empty.)  However, I'd discourage you from
432    doing so, since the directory Emacs chooses will most certainly not be
433    what you want, so let's do it the correct way.  The first thing you've
434    got to do is to create a suitable directory (no blanks in directory
435    name please) e.g. @file{c:\myhome}. Then you must set the environment
436    variable HOME to this directory. To do this under Win9x or Me include
437    the line
438    
439    
440  Send an e-mail message to @file{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} with the magic word  @example
 @emph{unsubscribe} somewhere in it, and you will be removed.  
441    
442  If you are reading the digest version of the list, send an e-mail message  SET HOME=C:\myhome
443  to @*              
444  @file{ding-rn-digests-d-request@@moe.shore.net}  @end example
 with @emph{unsubscribe} as the subject and you will be removed.  
445    
446    @noindent
447     in your autoexec.bat and reboot. Under NT, 2000 and XP,
448     hit Winkey+Pause/Break to enter system options (if it
449     doesn't work, go to Control Panel -> System). There you'll
450     find the possibility to set environment variables, create
451     a new one with name HOME and value @file{c:\myhome}, a reboot is
452     not necessary.
453    
454    
455     Now to create ~/.gnus, say
456     @samp{C-x C-f ~/.gnus RET C-x C-s}.
457     in Emacs.
458    
459    @ifnottex
460    @node [3.3], [3.4], [3.2], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
461    @end ifnottex
462    @subsubheading Question 3.3:
463    
464     My news server requires authentication, how to store
465     user name and password on disk?
466    
467    
468  @item  Answer:
 Q1.7  How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?  
469    
470  The basic answer is to byte-compile under XEmacs, and then you can   Create a file ~/.authinfo which includes for each server a line like this
471  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:  
   
 @example  
 Compiled with:  | Can be used with:  
 ----------------+--------------------------------------  
 19.28           | 19.28         19.29  
 19.29           |               19.29           XEmacs  
 XEmacs          |               19.29           XEmacs  
 @end example  
   
 If you have Gnu Emacs 19.28 or earlier, or XEmacs 19.12 or earlier, get  
 a recent version of auc-menu.el from  
 @file{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.  
472    
473    @example
474    machine news.yourprovider.net login YourUserName password YourPassword
475    @end example
476    
477  @item  @noindent
478  Q1.8 What resources are available?  .
479     Make sure that the file isn't readable to others if you
480     work on a OS which is capable of doing so. (Under Unix
481     say
482    
483  There is the newsgroup Gnu.emacs.gnus. Discussion of Gnus 5.x is now  @example
484  taking place there. There is also a mailing list, send mail to  chmod 600 ~/.authinfo
485  @file{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} with the magic word @emph{subscribe}  @end example
 somewhere in it.  
486    
487  @emph{NOTE:} the traffic on this list is heavy so you may not want to be  @noindent
488  on it (unless you use Gnus as your mailer reader, that is). The mailing   in a shell.)
489  list is mainly for developers and testers.  
490    @ifnottex
491    @node [3.4], [3.5], [3.3], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
492    @end ifnottex
493    @subsubheading Question 3.4:
494    
495     Gnus seems to start up OK, but I can't find out how to
496     subscribe to a group.
497    
498    
499    Answer:
500    
501     If you know the name of the group say @samp{U
502     name.of.group RET} in group buffer (use the
503     tab-completion Luke). Otherwise hit ^ in group buffer,
504     this brings you to the server buffer. Now place point (the
505     cursor) over the server which carries the group you want,
506     hit @samp{RET}, move point to the group
507     you want to subscribe to and say @samp{u}
508     to subscribe to it.
509    
510    @ifnottex
511    @node [3.5], [3.6], [3.4], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
512    @end ifnottex
513    @subsubheading Question 3.5:
514    
515     Gnus doesn't show all groups / Gnus says I'm not allowed to
516     post on this server as well as I am, what's that?
517    
518    
519    Answer:
520    
521     Some providers allow restricted anonymous access and full
522     access only after authorization. To make Gnus send authinfo
523     to those servers append
524    
525    
526  Gnus has a home World Wide Web page at@*  @example
527  @file{http://www.gnus.org/}.  force yes
528    @end example
529    
530    
531  Gnus has a write up in the X Applications FAQ at@*  @noindent
532  @file{http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/xapps/Q-III.html}.   to the line for those servers in ~/.authinfo.
533    
534    @ifnottex
535    @node [3.6], [3.7], [3.5], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
536    @end ifnottex
537    @subsubheading Question 3.6:
538    
539     I want Gnus to fetch news from several servers, is this possible?
540    
541    
542    Answer:
543    
544     Of course. You can specify more sources for articles in the
545     variable gnus-secondary-select-methods. Add something like
546     this in ~/.gnus:
547    
548    
549  The Gnus manual is also available on the World Wide Web. The canonical  @example
550  source is in Norway at@*  (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
551  @file{http://www.gnus.org/manual/gnus_toc.html}.               '(nntp "news.yourSecondProvider.net"))
552    (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
553                 '(nntp "news.yourThirdProvider.net"))          
554    @end example
555    
556    @ifnottex
557    @node [3.7], [3.8], [3.6], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
558    @end ifnottex
559    @subsubheading Question 3.7:
560    
561     And how about local spool files?
562    
563    
564    Answer:
565    
566     No problem, this is just one more select method called
567     nnspool, so you want this:
568    
569    
570  There are three mirrors in the United States:  @example
571  @enumerate  (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnspool ""))
572  @item  @end example
 @file{http://www.miranova.com/gnus-man/}  
573    
574  @item  @noindent
575  @file{http://www.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/manual/gnus_toc.html}   Or this if you don't want an NNTP Server as primary news source:
576    
577    
578  @item  @example
579  @file{http://www.rtd.com/~woo/gnus/}  (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
580    @end example
581    
582  @end enumerate  @noindent
583     Gnus will look for the spool file in /usr/spool/news, if you
584     want something different, change the line above to something like this:
585    
586    
587  PostScript copies of the Gnus Reference card are available from@*  @example
588  @file{ftp://ftp.cs.ualberta.ca/pub/oolog/gnus/}.  They are mirrored at@*  (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
589  @file{ftp://ftp.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/refcard/} in the               '(nnspool "" (nnspool-directory "/usr/local/myspoolddir")))
590  United States. And@*  @end example
 @file{ftp://marvin.fkphy.uni-duesseldorf.de/pub/gnus/}  
 in Germany.  
   
 An online version of the Gnus FAQ is available at@*  
 @file{http://www.miranova.com/~steve/gnus-faq.html}. Off-line formats  
 are also available:@*  
 ASCII: @file{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq}@*  
 PostScript: @file{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq.ps}.  
591    
592    @noindent
593     This sets the spool directory for this server only.
594     You might have to specify more stuff like the program used
595     to post articles, see the Gnus manual on how to do this.
596    
597    @ifnottex
598    @node [3.8], [3.9], [3.7], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
599    @end ifnottex
600    @subsubheading Question 3.8:
601    
602     OK, reading news works now, but I want to be able to read my mail
603     with Gnus, too. How to do it?
604    
605    
606    Answer:
607    
608     That's a bit harder since there are many possible sources
609     for mail, many possible ways for storing mail and many
610     different ways for sending mail. The most common cases are
611     these: 1: You want to read your mail from a pop3 server and
612     send them directly to a SMTP Server 2: Some program like
613     fetchmail retrieves your mail and stores it on disk from
614     where Gnus shall read it. Outgoing mail is sent by
615     Sendmail, Postfix or some other MTA. Sometimes, you even
616     need a combination of the above cases.
617    
618    
619     However, the first thing to do is to tell Gnus in which way
620     it should store the mail, in Gnus terminology which back end
621     to use. Gnus supports many different back ends, the most
622     commonly used one is nnml. It stores every mail in one file
623     and is therefor quite fast. However you might prefer a one
624     file per group approach if your file system has problems with
625     many small files, the nnfolder back end is then probably the
626     choice for you. To use nnml add the following to ~/.gnus:
627    
628    
629  @item  @example
630  Q1.9  Gnus hangs on connecting to NNTP server  (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnml ""))
631    @end example
632    
633  I am running XEmacs on SunOS and Gnus prints a message about Connecting  @noindent
634  to NNTP server and then just hangs.   As you might have guessed, if you want nnfolder, it's
635    
636    
637  Ben Wing <wing@@netcom.com> writes :@*  @example
638  I wonder if you're hitting the infamous @emph{libresolv} problem.  (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnfolder ""))
639  The basic problem is that under SunOS you can compile either  @end example
640  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.  
641    
642     Now we need to tell Gnus, where to get it's mail from. If
643     it's a POP3 server, then you need something like this:
644    
645    
646  @item  @example
647  Q1.10  Mailcrypt 3.4 doesn't work  (eval-after-load "mail-source"
648      '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(pop :server "pop.YourProvider.net"
649                                        :user "yourUserName"
650                                        :password "yourPassword")))
651    @end example
652    
653  This problem is verified to still exist in Gnus 5.0.9 and Mailcrypt 3.4.  @noindent
654  The answer comes from Peter Arius   Make sure ~/.gnus isn't readable to others if you store
655  <arius@@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>.   your password there. If you want to read your mail from a
656     traditional spool file on your local machine, it's
657  I found out that mailcrypt uses  
 @code{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  
 @file{mc-toplev.elc}.  
 The solution is to recompile @file{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.  
658    
659    @example
660    (eval-after-load "mail-source"
661      '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(file :path "/path/to/spool/file")))
662    @end example
663    
664  @item  @noindent
665  Q1.11  What other packages work with Gnus?   If it's a Maildir, with one file per message as used by
666     postfix, Qmail and (optionally) fetchmail it's
667    
668    
669  @itemize @minus  @example
670  @item  (eval-after-load "mail-source"
671  Mailcrypt.    '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(maildir :path "/path/to/Maildir/"
672                                            :subdirs ("cur" "new")))
673    @end example
674    
675  Mailcrypt is an Emacs interface to PGP.  It works, it installs  @noindent
676  without hassle, and integrates very easily.  Mailcrypt can be   And finally if you want to read your mail from several files
677  obtained from@*   in one directory, for example because procmail already split your
678  @file{ftp://cag.lcs.mit.edu/pub/patl/mailcrypt-3.4.tar.gz}.   mail, it's
679    
680    
681  @item  @example
682  Tools for Mime.  (eval-after-load "mail-source"
683      '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(directory :path "/path/to/procmail-dir/"
684                                              :suffix ".prcml"))
685    @end example
686    
687  Tools for Mime is an Emacs MUA interface to MIME.  Installation is  @noindent
688  a two-step process unlike most other packages, so you should   Where :suffix ".prcml" tells Gnus only to use files with the
689  be prepared to move the byte-compiled code somewhere.  There   suffix .prcml.
690  are currently two versions of this package available.  It can  
691  be obtained from@*  
692  @file{ftp://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/GNU/elisp/}.   OK, now you only need to tell Gnus how to send mail. If you
693  Be sure to apply the supplied patch.  It works with Gnus through   want to send mail via sendmail (or whichever MTA is playing
694  version 5.0.9.  In order for all dependencies to work correctly   the role of sendmail on your system), you don't need to do
695  the load sequence is as follows:   anything. However, if you want to send your mail to an
696  @lisp   SMTP Server you need the following in your ~/.gnus
697    (load "tm-setup")  
   (load "gnus")  
   (load "mime-compose")  
 @end lisp  
698    
699  @emph{NOTE:} Loading the package disables citation highlighting by  @example
700  default.  To get the old behavior back, use the @kbd{M-t} command.  (setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
701    (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
702    (setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.yourProvider.net")
703    @end example
704    
705    @ifnottex
706    @node [3.9], [3.10], [3.8], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
707    @end ifnottex
708    @subsubheading Question 3.9:
709    
710     And what about IMAP?
711    
712    
713    Answer:
714    
715     There are two ways of using IMAP with Gnus. The first one is
716     to use IMAP like POP3, that means Gnus fetches the mail from
717     the IMAP server and stores it on disk. If you want to do
718     this (you don't really want to do this) add the following to
719     ~/.gnus
720    
721    
722  @end itemize  @example
723    (add-to-list 'mail-sources '(imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
724                                      :user "username"
725                                      :pass "password"
726                                      :stream network
727                                      :authentication login
728                                      :mailbox "INBOX"
729                                      :fetchflag "\\Seen"))
730    @end example
731    
732  @end itemize  @noindent
733     You might have to tweak the values for stream and/or
734     authentification, see the Gnus manual node "Mail Source
735     Specifiers" for possible values.
736    
737    
738     If you want to use IMAP the way it's intended, you've got to
739     follow a different approach. You've got to add the nnimap
740     back end to your select method and give the information
741     about the server there.
742    
743    
744    @example
745    (add-to-list
746     'gnus-secondary-select-methods
747     '(nnimap "Give the baby a name"
748              (nnimap-address "imap.yourProvider.net")
749              (nnimap-port 143)
750              (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")))
751    @end example
752    
753  @node Customization FAQ  @noindent
754  @subsection Customization   Again, you might have to specify how to authenticate to the
755     server if Gnus can't guess the correct way, see the Manual
756     Node "IMAP" for detailed information.
757    
758    @ifnottex
759    @node [3.10], [3.11], [3.9], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
760    @end ifnottex
761    @subsubheading Question 3.10:
762    
763     At the office we use one of those MS Exchange servers, can I use
764     Gnus to read my mail from it?
765    
766    
767    Answer:
768    
769     Offer your administrator a pair of new running shoes for
770     activating IMAP on the server and follow the instructions
771     above.
772    
773    @ifnottex
774    @node [3.11],  , [3.10], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
775    @end ifnottex
776    @subsubheading Question 3.11:
777    
778     Can I tell Gnus not to delete the mails on the server it
779     retrieves via POP3?
780    
781    
782    Answer:
783    
784     First of all, that's not the way POP3 is intended to work,
785     if you have the possibility, you should use the IMAP
786     Protocol if you want your messages to stay on the
787     server. Nevertheless there might be situations where you
788     need the feature, but sadly Gnus itself has no predefined
789     functionality to do so.
790    
791    
792     However this is Gnus county so there are possibilities to
793     achieve what you want. The easiest way is to get an external
794     program which retrieves copies of the mail and stores them
795     on disk, so Gnus can read it from there. On Unix systems you
796     could use e.g. fetchmail for this, on MS Windows you can use
797     Hamster, an excellent local news and mail server.
798    
799    
800     The other solution would be, to replace the method Gnus
801     uses to get mail from POP3 servers by one which is capable
802     of leaving the mail on the server. If you use XEmacs, get
803     the package mail-lib, it includes an enhanced pop3.el,
804     look in the file, there's documentation on how to tell
805     Gnus to use it and not to delete the retrieved mail. For
806     GNU Emacs look for the file epop3.el which can do the same
807     (If you know the home of this file, please send me an
808     e-mail). You can also tell Gnus to use an external program
809     (e.g. fetchmail) to fetch your mail, see the info node
810     "Mail Source Specifiers" in the Gnus manual on how to do
811     it.
812    
813    
814    @ifnottex
815    @node FAQ 4 - Reading messages, FAQ 5 - Composing messages, FAQ 3 - Getting messages, Frequently Asked Questions
816    @end ifnottex
817    @subsection Reading messages
818    
819  @itemize @bullet  @menu
820  @item  * [4.1]::   When I enter a group, all read messages are gone.
821  Q2.1  Custom Edit does not work under XEmacs              How to view them again?
822    * [4.2]::   How to tell Gnus to show an important message every time
823                I enter a group, even when it's read?
824    * [4.3]::   How to view the headers of a message?
825    * [4.4]::   How to view the raw unformatted message?
826    * [4.5]::   How can I change the headers Gnus displays by default at the
827                top of the article buffer?
828    * [4.6]::   I'd like Gnus NOT to render HTML-mails but show me the
829                text part if it's available. How to do it?
830    * [4.7]::   Can I use some other browser than w3 to render my HTML-mails?
831    * [4.8]::   Is there anything I can do to make poorly formatted mails
832                more readable?
833    * [4.9]::   Is there a way to automatically ignore posts by specific authors
834                or with specific words in the subject? And can I highlight more
835                interesting ones in some way?
836    * [4.10]::  How can I disable threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or set
837                other variables specific for some groups?
838    * [4.11]::  Can I highlight messages written by me and follow-ups to those?
839    * [4.12]::  The number of total messages in a group which Gnus displays in
840                group buffer is by far to high, especially in mail groups.
841                Is this a bug?
842    * [4.13]::  I don't like the layout of summary and article buffer,
843                how to change it?  Perhaps even a three pane display?
844    * [4.14]::  I don't like the way the Summary buffer looks, how to tweak it?
845    * [4.15]::  How to split incoming mails in several groups?
846    @end menu
847    
848  The custom package has not been ported to XEmacs.  @ifnottex
849    @node [4.1], [4.2], FAQ 4 - Reading messages, FAQ 4 - Reading messages
850    @end ifnottex
851    @subsubheading Question 4.1:
852    
853     When I enter a group, all read messages are gone. How to view them again?
854    
855    
856    Answer:
857    
858     If you enter the group by saying
859     @samp{RET}
860     in summary buffer with point over the group, only unread and ticked messages are loaded. Say
861     @samp{C-u RET}
862     instead to load all available messages. If you want only the e.g. 300 newest say
863     @samp{C-u 300 RET}
864    
865    
866     Loading only unread messages can be annoying if you have threaded view enabled, say
867    
868    
869  @item  @example
870  Q2.2  How do I quote messages?  (setq gnus-fetch-old-headers 'some)
871    @end example
872    
873    
874  I see lots of messages with quoted material in them.  I am wondering  @noindent
875  how to have Gnus do it for me.   in ~/.gnus to load enough old articles to prevent teared threads, replace 'some with t to load
876     all articles (Warning: Both settings enlarge the amount of data which is
877     fetched when you enter a group and slow down the process of entering a group).
878    
879    
880     If you already use Gnus 5.10.0, you can say
881     @samp{/o N}
882     In summary buffer to load the last N messages, this feature is not available in 5.8.8
883    
884    
885     If you don't want all old messages, but the parent of the message you're just reading,
886     you can say @samp{^}, if you want to retrieve the whole thread
887     the message you're just reading belongs to, @samp{A T} is your friend.
888    
889    @ifnottex
890    @node [4.2], [4.3], [4.1], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
891    @end ifnottex
892    @subsubheading Question 4.2:
893    
894     How to tell Gnus to show an important message every time I
895     enter a group, even when it's read?
896    
897    
898    Answer:
899    
900     You can tick important messages. To do this hit
901     @samp{u} while point is in summary buffer
902     over the message. When you want to remove the mark, hit
903     either @samp{d} (this deletes the tick
904     mark and set's unread mark) or @samp{M c}
905     (which deletes all marks for the message).
906    
907    @ifnottex
908    @node [4.3], [4.4], [4.2], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
909    @end ifnottex
910    @subsubheading Question 4.3:
911    
912     How to view the headers of a message?
913    
914    
915    Answer:
916    
917     Say @samp{t}
918     to show all headers, one more
919     @samp{t}
920     hides them again.
921    
922    @ifnottex
923    @node [4.4], [4.5], [4.3], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
924    @end ifnottex
925    @subsubheading Question 4.4:
926    
927     How to view the raw unformatted message?
928    
929    
930    Answer:
931    
932     Say
933     @samp{C-u g}
934     to show the raw message
935     @samp{g}
936     returns to normal view.
937    
938    @ifnottex
939    @node [4.5], [4.6], [4.4], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
940    @end ifnottex
941    @subsubheading Question 4.5:
942    
943     How can I change the headers Gnus displays by default at
944     the top of the article buffer?
945    
946    
947    Answer:
948    
949     The variable gnus-visible-headers controls which headers
950     are shown, its value is a regular expression, header lines
951     which match it are shown. So if you want author, subject,
952     date, and if the header exists, Followup-To and MUA / NUA
953     say this in ~/.gnus:
954    
955    @example
956    (setq gnus-visible-headers
957          "^\\(From:\\|Subject:\\|Date:\\|Followup-To:\
958    \\|X-Newsreader:\\|User-Agent:\\|X-Mailer:\\)")
959    @end example
960    
961    @ifnottex
962    @node [4.6], [4.7], [4.5], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
963    @end ifnottex
964    @subsubheading Question 4.6:
965    
966     I'd like Gnus NOT to render HTML-mails but show me the
967     text part if it's available. How to do it?
968    
969    
970  This is Gnus, so there are a number of ways of doing this.  You can use  Answer:
 the built-in commands to do this.  There are the @kbd{F} and @kbd{R}  
 keys from the summary buffer which automatically include the article  
 being responded to.  These commands are also selectable as @i{Followup  
 and Yank} and @i{Reply and Yank} in the Post menu.  
   
 @kbd{C-c C-y} grabs the previous message and prefixes each line with  
 @code{ail-indentation-spaces} spaces or @code{mail-yank-prefix} if that is  
 non-nil, unless you have set your own @code{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.  
971    
972     Say
973    
974    
975  @item  @example
976  Q2.3 How can I keep my nnvirtual:* groups sorted?  (eval-after-load "mm-decode"
977     '(progn
978          (add-to-list 'mm-discouraged-alternatives "text/html")
979          (add-to-list 'mm-discouraged-alternatives "text/richtext")))
980    @end example
981    
982  How can I most efficiently arrange matters so as to keep my nnvirtual:*  @noindent
983  (etc) groups at the top of my group selection buffer, whilst keeping   in ~/.gnus. If you don't want HTML rendered, even if there's no text alternative add
984  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.  
985    
986    @example
987    (setq mm-automatic-display (remove "text/html" mm-automatic-display))
988    @end example
989    
990  @item  @noindent
991  Q2.4  Any good suggestions on stuff for an all.SCORE file?   too.
992    
993    @ifnottex
994    @node [4.7], [4.8], [4.6], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
995    @end ifnottex
996    @subsubheading Question 4.7:
997    
998     Can I use some other browser than w3 to render my HTML-mails?
999    
1000    
1001    Answer:
1002    
1003     Only if you use Gnus 5.10.0 or younger. In this case you've got the
1004     choice between w3, w3m, links, lynx and html2text, which
1005     one is used can be specified in the variable
1006     mm-text-html-renderer, so if you want links to render your
1007     mail say
1008    
1009    
1010  Here is a collection of suggestions from the Gnus mailing list.  @example
1011    (setq mm-text-html-renderer 'links)
1012    @end example
1013    
1014    @ifnottex
1015    @node [4.8], [4.9], [4.7], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1016    @end ifnottex
1017    @subsubheading Question 4.8:
1018    
1019     Is there anything I can do to make poorly formatted mails
1020     more readable?
1021    
1022    
1023    Answer:
1024    
1025     Gnus offers you several functions to "wash" incoming mail,
1026     you can find them if you browse through the menu, item Article->Washing. The most
1027     interesting ones are probably "Wrap long lines" (
1028     @samp{W w}
1029     ), "Decode ROT13" (
1030     @samp{W r}
1031     ) and "Outlook Deuglify" which repairs the dumb quoting used
1032     by many users of Microsoft products (
1033     @samp{W Y f} gives you full deuglify.
1034     See @samp{W Y C-h} or
1035     have a look at the menus for other deuglifications).
1036     Outlook deuglify is only available since Gnus 5.10.0.
1037    
1038    @ifnottex
1039    @node [4.9], [4.10], [4.8], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1040    @end ifnottex
1041    @subsubheading Question 4.9:
1042    
1043     Is there a way to automatically ignore posts by specific
1044     authors or with specific words in the subject? And can I
1045     highlight more interesting ones in some way?
1046    
1047    
1048    Answer:
1049    
1050     You want Scoring. Scoring means, that you define rules
1051     which assign each message an integer value. Depending on
1052     the value the message is highlighted in summary buffer (if
1053     it's high, say +2000) or automatically marked read (if the
1054     value is low, say -800) or some other action happens.
1055    
1056    
1057     There are basically three ways of setting up rules which assign
1058     the scoring-value to messages. The first and easiest way is to set
1059     up rules based on the article you are just reading. Say you're
1060     reading a message by a guy who always writes nonsense and you want
1061     to ignore his messages in the future. Hit
1062     @samp{L}, to set up a rule which lowers the score.
1063     Now Gnus asks you which the criteria for lowering the Score shall
1064     be. Hit @samp{?} twice to see all possibilities,
1065     we want @samp{a} which means the author (the from
1066     header). Now Gnus wants to know which kind of matching we want.
1067     Hit either @samp{e} for an exact match or
1068     @samp{s} for substring-match and delete afterwards
1069     everything but the name to score down all authors with the given
1070     name no matter which email address is used. Now you need to tell
1071     Gnus when to apply the rule and how long it should last, hit e.g.
1072     @samp{p} to apply the rule now and let it last
1073     forever. If you want to raise the score instead of lowering it say
1074     @samp{I} instead of @samp{L}.
1075    
1076    
1077     You can also set up rules by hand. To do this say @samp{V
1078     f} in summary buffer. Then you are asked for the name
1079     of the score file, it's name.of.group.SCORE for rules valid in
1080     only one group or all.Score for rules valid in all groups. See the
1081     Gnus manual for the exact syntax, basically it's one big list
1082     whose elements are lists again. the first element of those lists
1083     is the header to score on, then one more list with what to match,
1084     which score to assign, when to expire the rule and how to do the
1085     matching. If you find me very interesting, you could e.g. add the
1086     following to your all.Score:
1087    
1088    
1089  @enumerate  @example
1090  @item  (("references" ("hschmi22.userfqdn.rz-online.de" 500 nil s))
1091  From ``Dave Disser'' <disser@@sdd.hp.com>@*   ("message-id" ("hschmi22.userfqdn.rz-online.de" 999 nil s)))
1092  I like blasting anything without lowercase letters.  Weeds out most of  @end example
 the make $$ fast, as well as the lame titles like ``IBM'' and ``HP-UX''  
 with no further description.  
 @lisp  
  (("Subject"  
   ("^\\(Re: \\)?[^a-z]*$" -200 nil R)))  
 @end lisp  
1093    
1094  @item  @noindent
1095  From ``Peter Arius'' <arius@@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>@*   This would add 999 to the score of messages written by me
1096  The most vital entries in my (still young) all.SCORE:   and 500 to the score of messages which are a (possibly
1097  @lisp   indirect) answer to a message written by me. Of course
1098  (("xref"   nobody with a sane mind would do this :-)
1099    ("alt.fan.oj-simpson" -1000 nil s))  
1100   ("subject"  
1101    (concat "\\<\\(make\\|fast\\|big\\)\\s-*"   The third alternative is adaptive scoring. This means Gnus
1102            "\\(money\\|cash\\|bucks?\\)\\>"   watches you and tries to find out what you find
1103     -1000 nil r)   interesting and what annoying and sets up rules
1104    ("$$$$" -1000 nil s)))   which reflect this. Adaptive scoring can be a huge help
1105  @end lisp   when reading high traffic groups. If you want to activate
1106     adaptive scoring say
1107    
1108    
1109  @item  @example
1110  From ``Per Abrahamsen'' <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk>@*  (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring t)
1111  @lisp  @end example
 (("subject"  
   ;; CAPS OF THE WORLD, UNITE  
   ("^..[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R)  
   ;; $$$ Make Money $$$ (Try work)  
   ("$" -1 nil s)  
   ;; I'm important! And I have exclamation marks to prove it!  
   ("!" -1 nil s)))  
 @end lisp  
1112    
1113  @item  @noindent
1114  From ``heddy boubaker'' <boubaker@@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr>@*   in ~/.gnus.
1115  I  would like to contribute with mine.  
1116  @lisp  @ifnottex
1117  (  @node [4.10], [4.11], [4.9], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1118   (read-only t)  @end ifnottex
1119   ("subject"  @subsubheading Question 4.10:
1120    ;; ALL CAPS SUBJECTS  
1121    ("^\\([Rr][Ee]: +\\)?[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R)   How can I disable threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or
1122    ;; $$$ Make Money $$$   set other variables specific for some groups?
1123    ("$$" -10 nil s)  
1124    ;; Empty subjects are worthless!  
1125    ("^ *\\([(<]none[>)]\\|(no subject\\( given\\)?)\\)? *$"  Answer:
1126     -10 nil r)  
1127    ;; Sometimes interesting announces occur!   While in group buffer move point over the group and hit
1128    ("ANN?OU?NC\\(E\\|ING\\)" +10 nil r)   @samp{G c}, this opens a buffer where you
1129    ;; Some people think they're on mailing lists   can set options for the group. At the bottom of the buffer
1130    ("\\(un\\)?sub?scribe" -100 nil r)   you'll find an item that allows you to set variables
1131    ;; Stop Micro$oft NOW!!   locally for the group. To disable threading enter
1132    ;; ("concat" used to avoid overfull box.)   gnus-show-threads as name of variable and nil as
1133    (concat "\\(m\\(icro\\)?[s$]\\(oft\\|lot\\)?-?\\)?"   value. Hit button done at the top of the buffer when
1134            "wind?\\(ows\\|aube\\|oze\\)?[- ]*"   you're ready.
1135            "\\('?95\\|NT\\|3[.]1\\|32\\)" -1001 nil r)  
1136    ;; I've nothing to buy  @ifnottex
1137    ("\\(for\\|4\\)[- ]*sale" -100 nil r)  @node [4.11], [4.12], [4.10], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1138    ;; SELF-DISCIPLINED people  @end ifnottex
1139    ("\\[[^a-z0-9 \t\n][^a-z0-9 \t\n]\\]" +100 nil r)  @subsubheading Question 4.11:
1140    )  
1141   ("from"   Can I highlight messages written by me and follow-ups to
1142    ;; To keep track of posters from my site   those?
1143    (".dgac.fr" +1000 nil s))  
1144   ("followup"  
1145    ;; Keep track of answers to my posts  Answer:
1146    ("boubaker" +1000 nil s))  
1147   ("lines"   Stop those "Can I ..." questions, the answer is always yes
1148    ;; Some people have really nothing to say!!   in Gnus Country :-). It's a three step process: First we
1149    (1 -10 nil <=))   make faces (specifications of how summary-line shall look
1150   (mark -100)   like) for those postings, then we'll give them some
1151   (expunge -1000)   special score and finally we'll tell Gnus to use the new
1152   )   faces. You can find detailed instructions on how to do it on
1153  @end lisp   @uref{http://my.gnus.org/Members/dzimmerm/HowTo%2C2002-07-25%2C1027619165012198456/view,my.gnus.org}
1154    
1155    @ifnottex
1156    @node [4.12], [4.13], [4.11], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1157    @end ifnottex
1158    @subsubheading Question 4.12:
1159    
1160     The number of total messages in a group which Gnus
1161     displays in group buffer is by far to high, especially in
1162     mail groups. Is this a bug?
1163    
1164    
1165    Answer:
1166    
1167     No, that's a matter of design of Gnus, fixing this would
1168     mean reimplementation of major parts of Gnus'
1169     back ends. Gnus thinks "highest-article-number -
1170     lowest-article-number = total-number-of-articles". This
1171     works OK for Usenet groups, but if you delete and move
1172     many messages in mail groups, this fails. To cure the
1173     symptom, enter the group via @samp{C-u RET}
1174     (this makes Gnus get all messages), then
1175     hit @samp{M P b} to mark all messages and
1176     then say @samp{B m name.of.group} to move
1177     all messages to the group they have been in before, they
1178     get new message numbers in this process and the count is
1179     right again (until you delete and move your mail to other
1180     groups again).
1181    
1182    @ifnottex
1183    @node [4.13], [4.14], [4.12], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1184    @end ifnottex
1185    @subsubheading Question 4.13:
1186    
1187     I don't like the layout of summary and article buffer, how
1188     to change it? Perhaps even a three pane display?
1189    
1190    
1191    Answer:
1192    
1193     You can control the windows configuration by calling the
1194     function gnus-add-configuration. The syntax is a bit
1195     complicated but explained very well in the manual node
1196     "Window Layout". Some popular examples:
1197    
1198    
1199     Instead 25% summary 75% article buffer 35% summary and 65%
1200     article (the 1.0 for article means "take the remaining
1201     space"):
1202    
1203    
1204  @item  @example
1205  From ``Christopher Jones'' <cjones@@au.oracle.com>@*  (gnus-add-configuration
1206  The sample @file{all.SCORE} files from Per and boubaker could be   '(article (vertical 1.0
1207  augmented with:                       (summary .35 point)
1208  @lisp                       (article 1.0))))
1209          (("subject"  @end example
1210            ;; No junk mail please!  
           ("please ignore" -500 nil s)  
           ("test" -500 nil e))  
         )  
 @end lisp  
1211    
1212  @item   A three pane layout, Group buffer on the left, summary
1213  From ``Brian Edmonds'' <edmonds@@cs.ubc.ca>@*   buffer top-right, article buffer bottom-right:
1214  Augment any of the above with a fast method of scoring down  
 excessively cross posted articles.  
 @lisp  
  ("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)  
   (concat "^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+"  
           " \\S-+ \\S-+"  
     -32 nil r)  
   (concat "^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+"  
           " \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -64 nil r)  
   (concat "^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+"  
           " \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -128 nil r)  
   (concat "^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+"  
           " \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -256 nil r)  
   (concat "^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+"  
           " \\S-+" \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -512 nil r))  
 @end lisp  
1215    
1216  @end enumerate  @example
1217    (gnus-add-configuration
1218     '(article
1219       (horizontal 1.0
1220                   (vertical 25
1221                             (group 1.0))
1222                   (vertical 1.0
1223                             (summary 0.25 point)
1224                             (article 1.0)))))
1225    (gnus-add-configuration
1226     '(summary
1227       (horizontal 1.0
1228                   (vertical 25
1229                             (group 1.0))
1230                   (vertical 1.0
1231                             (summary 1.0 point)))))              
1232    @end example
1233    
1234    @ifnottex
1235    @node [4.14], [4.15], [4.13], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1236    @end ifnottex
1237    @subsubheading Question 4.14:
1238    
1239     I don't like the way the Summary buffer looks, how to tweak it?
1240    
1241    
1242    Answer:
1243    
1244     You've got to play around with the variable
1245     gnus-summary-line-format. It's value is a string of
1246     symbols which stand for things like author, date, subject
1247     etc. A list of the available specifiers can be found in the
1248     manual node "Summary Buffer Lines" and the often forgotten
1249     node "Formatting Variables" and it's sub-nodes. There
1250     you'll find useful things like positioning the cursor and
1251     tabulators which allow you a summary in table form, but
1252     sadly hard tabulators are broken in 5.8.8.
1253    
1254    
1255     Since 5.10.0, Gnus offers you some very nice new specifiers,
1256     e.g. %B which draws a thread-tree and %&user-date which
1257     gives you a date where the details are dependent of the
1258     articles age. Here's an example which uses both:
1259    
1260    
1261    @example
1262    (setq gnus-summary-line-format
1263          ":%U%R %B %s %-60=|%4L |%-20,20f |%&user-date; \n")
1264    @end example
1265    
1266  @item  @noindent
1267  Q2.5  What do I use to yank-through when replying?   resulting in:
1268    
1269    
1270    @smallexample
1271    :O     Re: [Richard Stallman] rfc2047.el          |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:06
1272    :O     Re: Revival of the ding-patches list       |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:12
1273    :R  >  Re: Find correct list of articles for a gro|  25 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:16
1274    :O  \->  ...                                      |  21 |Kai Grossjohann      | 0:01
1275    :R  >  Re: Cry for help: deuglify.el - moving stuf|  28 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:34
1276    :O  \->  ...                                      | 115 |Raymond Scholz       | 1:24
1277    :O    \->  ...                                    |  19 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |15:33
1278    :O     Slow mailing list                          |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:49
1279    :O     Re: `@@' mark not documented                |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:50
1280    :R  >  Re: Gnus still doesn't count messages prope|  23 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt |Sat 23:57
1281    :O  \->  ...                                      |  18 |Kai Grossjohann      | 0:35
1282    :O    \->  ...                                    |  13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt | 0:56
1283    @end smallexample
1284    
1285    @ifnottex
1286    @node [4.15],  , [4.14], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
1287    @end ifnottex
1288    @subsubheading Question 4.15:
1289    
1290     How to split incoming mails in several groups?
1291    
1292    
1293    Answer:
1294    
1295     Gnus offers two possibilities for splitting mail, the easy
1296     nnmail-split-methods and the more powerful Fancy Mail
1297     Splitting. I'll only talk about the first one, refer to
1298     the manual, node "Fancy Mail Splitting" for the latter.
1299    
1300    
1301     The value of nnmail-split-methods is a list, each element
1302     is a list which stands for a splitting rule. Each rule has
1303     the form "group where matching articles should go to",
1304     "regular expression which has to be matched", the first
1305     rule which matches wins. The last rule must always be a
1306     general rule (regular expression .*) which denotes where
1307     articles should go which don't match any other rule. If
1308     the folder doesn't exist yet, it will be created as soon
1309     as an article lands there. By default the mail will be
1310     send to all groups whose rules match. If you
1311     don't want that (you probably don't want), say
1312    
1313    
1314    @example
1315    (setq nnmail-crosspost nil)
1316    @end example
1317    
1318  You should probably reply and followup with @kbd{R} and @kbd{F}, instead  @noindent
1319  of @kbd{r} and @kbd{f}, which solves your problem.  But you could try   in ~/.gnus.
1320  something like:  
1321    
1322     An example might be better than thousand words, so here's
1323     my nnmail-split-methods. Note that I send duplicates in a
1324     special group and that the default group is spam, since I
1325     filter all mails out which are from some list I'm
1326     subscribed to or which are addressed directly to me
1327     before. Those rules kill about 80% of the Spam which
1328     reaches me (Email addresses are changed to prevent spammers
1329     from using them):
1330    
1331    
1332  @example  @example
1333  (defconst mail-yank-ignored-headers  (setq nnmail-split-methods
1334    "^.*:"    '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
1335    "Delete these headers from message when it's inserted in reply.")      ("XEmacs-NT" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@xemacs.bla.*")
1336        ("Gnus-Tut" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@socha.bla.*")
1337        ("tcsh" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@mx.gw.bla.*")
1338        ("BAfH" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@.*uni-muenchen.bla.*")
1339        ("Hamster-src"
1340         "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*hamster-sourcen@@yahoogroups.\\(de\\|com\\).*")
1341        ("Tagesschau" "^From: tagesschau <localpart@@www.tagesschau.bla>$")
1342        ("Replies" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*localpart@@Frank-Schmitt.bla.*")
1343        ("EK"
1344         "^From:.*\\(localpart@@privateprovider.bla\\|localpart@@workplace.bla\\).*")
1345        ("Spam"
1346         "^Content-Type:.*\\(ks_c_5601-1987\\|EUC-KR\\|big5\\|iso-2022-jp\\).*")
1347        ("Spam"
1348         "^Subject:.*\\(This really work\\|XINGA\\|ADV:\\|XXX\\|adult\\|sex\\).*")
1349        ("Spam"
1350         "^Subject:.*\\(\=\?ks_c_5601-1987\?\\|\=\?euc-kr\?\\|\=\?big5\?\\).*")
1351        ("Spam" "^X-Mailer:\\(.*BulkMailer.*\\|.*MIME::Lite.*\\|\\)")
1352        ("Spam"
1353         "^X-Mailer:\\(.*CyberCreek Avalanche\\|.*http\:\/\/GetResponse\.com\\)")
1354        ("Spam"
1355         "^From:.*\\(verizon\.net\\|prontomail\.com\\|money\\|ConsumerDirect\\).*")
1356        ("Spam" "^Delivered-To: GMX delivery to spamtrap@@gmx.bla$")
1357        ("Spam" "^Received: from link2buy.com")
1358        ("Spam" "^CC: .*azzrael@@t-online.bla")
1359        ("Spam" "^X-Mailer-Version: 1.50 BETA")
1360        ("Uni" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*localpart@@uni-koblenz.bla.*")
1361        ("Inbox"
1362         "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*\\(my\ name\\|address@@one.bla\\|adress@@two.bla\\)")
1363        ("Spam" "")))
1364  @end example  @end example
1365    
1366    
1367    @ifnottex
1368    @node FAQ 5 - Composing messages, FAQ 6 - Old messages, FAQ 4 - Reading messages, Frequently Asked Questions
1369    @end ifnottex
1370    @subsection Composing messages
1371    
1372  @item  @menu
1373  Q2.6  I don't like the default WWW browser  * [5.1]::   What are the basic commands I need to know for sending mail and
1374                postings?
1375    * [5.2]::   How to enable automatic word-wrap when composing messages?
1376    * [5.3]::   How to set stuff like From, Organization, Reply-To, signature...?
1377    * [5.4]::   Can I set things like From, Signature etc group based on the
1378                group I post too?
1379    * [5.5]::   Is there a spell-checker? Perhaps even on-the-fly spell-checking?
1380    * [5.6]::   Can I set the dictionary based on the group I'm posting to?
1381    * [5.7]::   Is there some kind of address-book, so I needn't remember all
1382                those email addresses?
1383    * [5.8]::   Sometimes I see little images at the top of article buffer.
1384                What's that and how can I send one with my postings, too?
1385    * [5.9]::   Sometimes I accidentally hit r instead of f in newsgroups.
1386                Can Gnus warn me, when I'm replying by mail in newsgroups?
1387    * [5.10]::  How to tell Gnus not to generate a sender header?
1388    * [5.11]::  I want Gnus to locally store copies of my send mail and news,
1389                how to do it?
1390    * [5.12]::  People tell me my Message-IDs are not correct,
1391                why aren't they and how to fix it?
1392    @end menu
1393    
1394  Now when choosing an URL Gnus starts up a W3 buffer, I would like it  @ifnottex
1395  to always use Netscape (I don't browse in text-mode ;-).  @node [5.1], [5.2], FAQ 5 - Composing messages, FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1396    @end ifnottex
1397    @subsubheading Question 5.1:
1398    
1399     What are the basic commands I need to know for sending mail and postings?
1400    
1401    
1402    Answer:
1403    
1404     To start composing a new mail hit @samp{m}
1405     either in Group or Summary buffer, for a posting, it's
1406     either @samp{a} in Group buffer and
1407     filling the Newsgroups header manually
1408     or @samp{a} in the Summary buffer of the
1409     group where the posting shall be send to. Replying by mail
1410     is
1411     @samp{r} if you don't want to cite the
1412     author, or import the cited text manually and
1413     @samp{R} to cite the text of the original
1414     message. For a follow up to a newsgroup, it's
1415     @samp{f} and @samp{F}
1416     (analog to @samp{r} and
1417     @samp{R}.
1418    
1419    
1420     Enter new headers above the line saying "--text follows
1421     this line--", enter the text below the line. When ready
1422     hit @samp{C-c C-c}, to send the message,
1423     if you want to finish it later hit @samp{C-c
1424     C-d} to save it in the drafts group, where you
1425     can start editing it again by saying @samp{D
1426     e}.
1427    
1428    @ifnottex
1429    @node [5.2], [5.3], [5.1], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1430    @end ifnottex
1431    @subsubheading Question 5.2:
1432    
1433  @enumerate   How to enable automatic word-wrap when composing messages?
1434  @item  
 Activate `Customize...' from the `Help' menu.  
1435    
1436  @item  Answer:
 Scroll down to the `WWW Browser' field.  
1437    
1438  @item   Say
1439  Click `mouse-2' on `WWW Browser'.  
1440    
1441  @item  @example
1442  Select `Netscape' from the pop up menu.  (add-hook 'message-mode-hook
1443          (lambda ()
1444               (setq fill-column 72)
1445               (turn-on-auto-fill)))
1446    @end example
1447    
1448  @item  @noindent
1449  Press `C-c C-c'   in ~/.gnus. You can reformat a paragraph by hitting
1450     @samp{M-q} (as usual)
1451    
1452    @ifnottex
1453    @node [5.3], [5.4], [5.2], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1454    @end ifnottex
1455    @subsubheading Question 5.3:
1456    
1457     How to set stuff like From, Organization, Reply-To, signature...?
1458    
1459    
1460    Answer:
1461    
1462     There are other ways, but you should use posting styles
1463     for this. (See below why).
1464     This example should make the syntax clear:
1465    
1466    
1467  @end enumerate  @example
1468    (setq gnus-posting-styles
1469      '((".*"
1470         (name "Frank Schmitt")
1471         (address "me@@there.bla")
1472         (organization "Hamme net, kren mer och nimmi")
1473         (signature-file "~/.signature")
1474         ("X-SampleHeader" "foobar")
1475         (eval (setq some-variable "Foo bar")))))
1476    @end example
1477    
1478    @noindent
1479     The ".*" means that this settings are the default ones
1480     (see below), valid values for the first element of the
1481     following lists are signature, signature-file,
1482     organization, address, name or body. The attribute name
1483     can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
1484     a header name, and the value will be inserted in the
1485     headers of the article; if the value is `nil', the header
1486     name will be removed. You can also say (eval (foo bar)),
1487     then the function foo will be evaluated with argument bar
1488     and the result will be thrown away.
1489    
1490    @ifnottex
1491    @node [5.4], [5.5], [5.3], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1492    @end ifnottex
1493    @subsubheading Question 5.4:
1494    
1495     Can I set things like From, Signature etc group based on the group I post too?
1496    
1497    
1498    Answer:
1499    
1500     That's the strength of posting styles. Before, we used ".*"
1501     to set the default for all groups. You can use a regexp
1502     like "^gmane" and the following settings are only applied
1503     to postings you send to the gmane hierarchy, use
1504     ".*binaries" instead and they will be applied to postings
1505     send to groups containing the string binaries in their
1506     name etc.
1507    
1508    
1509     You can instead of specifying a regexp specify a function
1510     which is evaluated, only if it returns true, the
1511     corresponding settings take effect. Two interesting
1512     candidates for this are message-news-p which returns t if
1513     the current Group is a newsgroup and the corresponding
1514     message-mail-p.
1515    
1516    
1517     Note that all forms that match are applied, that means in
1518     the example below, when I post to
1519     gmane.mail.spam.spamassassin.general, the settings under
1520     ".*" are applied and the settings under message-news-p and
1521     those under "^gmane" and those under
1522     "^gmane\\.mail\\.spam\\.spamassassin\\.general$". Because
1523     of this put general settings at the top and specific ones
1524     at the bottom.
1525    
1526    
1527  If you are using XEmacs then to specify Netscape do  @example
1528  @lisp  (setq gnus-posting-styles
1529    (setq gnus-button-url 'gnus-netscape-open-url)    '((".*"  ;;default
1530  @end lisp       (name "Frank Schmitt")
1531         (organization "Hamme net, kren mer och nimmi")
1532         (signature-file "~/.signature"))
1533        ((message-news-p)  ;;Usenet news?
1534         (address "mySpamTrap@@Frank-Schmitt.bla")
1535         ("Reply-To" "hereRealRepliesOnlyPlease@@Frank-Schmitt.bla"))
1536        ((message-mail-p)  ;;mail?
1537         (address "usedForMails@@Frank-Schmitt.bla"))
1538        ("^gmane" ;;this is mail, too in fact
1539         (address "usedForMails@@Frank-Schmitt.net")
1540         ("Reply-To" nil))
1541        ("^gmane.mail.spam.spamassassin.general$"
1542         (eval (setq mail-envelope-from "Azzrael@@rz-online.de"))
1543         (address "Azzrael@@rz-online.de"))))
1544    @end example
1545    
1546    @ifnottex
1547    @node [5.5], [5.6], [5.4], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1548    @end ifnottex
1549    @subsubheading Question 5.5:
1550    
1551     Is there a spell-checker? Perhaps even on-the-fly spell-checking?
1552    
1553    
1554    Answer:
1555    
1556    You can use ispell.el to spell-check stuff in Emacs. So the first
1557    thing to do is to make sure that you've got either
1558    @itemize @bullet
1559    @item
1560    @uref{http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/fmg-members/geoff/ispell.html,ispell}
1561    or
1562  @item  @item
1563  Q2.7 What, if any, relation is between ``ask-server'' and ``(setq  @uref{http://aspell.sourceforge.net/,aspell}
1564  gnus-read-active-file 'some)''?  @end itemize
1565    @noindent
1566    installed and in your Path.
1567    
1568  In order for Gnus to show you the complete list of newsgroups, it will  Then you need
1569  either have to either store the list locally, or ask the server to  @uref{http://www.kdstevens.com/~stevens/ispell-page.html,ispell.el,ispell.el}
1570  transmit the list. You enable the first with  and for on-the-fly spell-checking
1571    @uref{http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/personnel/Manuel.Serrano/flyspell/flyspell.html,flyspell.el,flyspell.el}.
1572    Ispell.el is shipped with Gnus Emacs and available through the Emacs
1573    package system, flyspell.el is shipped with Emacs and part of XEmacs
1574    text-modes package which is available through the package system, so
1575    there should be no need to install them manually.
1576    
1577    
1578  @lisp   Ispell.el assumes you use ispell, if you choose aspell say
1579          (setq gnus-save-killed-list t)  
 @end lisp  
1580    
1581  and the second with  @example
1582    (setq ispell-program-name "aspell")
1583    @end example
1584    
1585    
1586  @lisp  @noindent
1587          (setq gnus-read-active-file t)   in your Emacs configuration file.
1588  @end lisp  
1589    
1590  If both are disabled, Gnus will not know what newsgroups exists. There   If you want your outgoing messages to be spell-checked, say
1591  is no option to get the list by casting a spell.  
1592    
1593    @example
1594    (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
1595    @end example
1596    
1597  @item  @noindent
1598  Q2.8  Moving between groups is slow.   In your ~/.gnus, if you prefer on-the-fly spell-checking say
1599    
1600    
1601  Per Abrahamsen <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk> writes:@*  @example
1602    (add-hook 'message-mode-hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1)))
1603    @end example
1604    
1605    @ifnottex
1606    @node [5.6], [5.7], [5.5], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1607    @end ifnottex
1608    @subsubheading Question 5.6:
1609    
1610  Do you call @code{define-key} or something like that in one of the   Can I set the dictionary based on the group I'm posting to?
1611  summary mode hooks?  This would force Emacs to recalculate the keyboard  
 shortcuts.  Removing the call should speed up @kbd{M-x gnus-summary-mode  
 RET} by a couple of orders of magnitude.  You can use  
1612    
1613  @lisp  Answer:
 (define-key gnus-summary-mode-map KEY COMMAND)  
 @end lisp  
1614    
1615  in your @file{.gnus} instead.   Yes, say something like
1616    
1617    
1618  @end itemize  @example
1619    (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
1620              (lambda ()
1621                (cond
1622                 ((string-match
1623                   "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
1624                  (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch8"))
1625                 (t
1626                  (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
1627    @end example
1628    
1629    
1630    @noindent
1631     in ~/.gnus. Change "^de\\." and "deutsch8" to something
1632     that suits your needs.
1633    
1634    @ifnottex
1635    @node [5.7], [5.8], [5.6], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1636    @end ifnottex
1637    @subsubheading Question 5.7:
1638    
1639     Is there some kind of address-book, so I needn't remember
1640     all those email addresses?
1641    
1642    
1643    Answer:
1644    
1645     There's an very basic solution for this, mail aliases.
1646     You can store your mail addresses in a ~/.mailrc file using a simple
1647     alias syntax:
1648    
1649    
1650  @node Reading News FAQ  @example
1651  @subsection Reading News  alias al        "Al <al@@english-heritage.bla>"
1652    @end example
1653    
1654  @itemize @bullet  @noindent
1655  @item   Then typing your alias (followed by a space or punctuation
1656  Q3.1  How do I convert my kill files to score files?   character) on a To: or Cc: line in the message buffer will
1657     cause Gnus to insert the full address for you. See the
1658     node "Mail Aliases" in Message (not Gnus) manual for
1659     details.
1660    
1661    
1662     However, what you really want is the Insidious Big Brother
1663     Database bbdb. Get it through the XEmacs package system or from
1664     @uref{http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/,bbdb's homepage}.
1665     Now place the following in ~/.gnus, to activate bbdb for Gnus:
1666    
1667    
1668  @email{ethanb@@ptolemy.astro.washington.edu, Ethan Bradford} write a  @example
1669  kill-to-score translator.  It is available from@*  (require 'bbdb)
1670  @file{http://baugi.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.  (bbdb-initialize 'gnus 'message)
1671    @end example
1672    
1673    @noindent
1674     Now you probably want some general bbdb configuration,
1675     place them in ~/.emacs:
1676    
1677    
1678  @item  @example
1679  Q3.2 My news server has a lot of groups, and killing groups is painfully  (require 'bbdb)
1680  slow.  ;;If you don't live in Northern America, you should disable the
1681    ;;syntax check for telephone numbers by saying
1682    (setq bbdb-north-american-phone-numbers-p nil)
1683    ;;Tell bbdb about your email address:
1684    (setq bbdb-user-mail-names
1685          (regexp-opt '("Your.Email@@here.bla"
1686                        "Your.other@@mail.there.bla")))
1687    ;;cycling while completing email addresses
1688    (setq bbdb-complete-name-allow-cycling t)
1689    ;;No popup-buffers
1690    (setq bbdb-use-pop-up nil)
1691    @end example
1692    
1693  Don't do that then.  The best way to get rid of groups that should be  @noindent
1694  dead is to edit your newsrc directly.  This problem will be addressed   Now you should be ready to go. Say @samp{M-x bbdb RET
1695  in the near future.   RET} to open a bbdb buffer showing all
1696     entries. Say @samp{c} to create a new
1697     entry, @samp{b} to search your BBDB and
1698     @samp{C-o} to add a new field to an
1699     entry. If you want to add a sender to the BBDB you can
1700     also just hit `:' on the posting in the summary buffer and
1701     you are done. When you now compose a new mail,
1702     hit @samp{TAB} to cycle through know
1703     recipients.
1704    
1705    @ifnottex
1706    @node [5.8], [5.9], [5.7], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1707    @end ifnottex
1708    @subsubheading Question 5.8:
1709    
1710     Sometimes I see little images at the top of article
1711     buffer. What's that and how can I send one with my
1712     postings, too?
1713    
1714    
1715    Answer:
1716    
1717     Those images are called X-Faces. They are 48*48 pixel b/w
1718     pictures, encoded in a header line. If you want to include
1719     one in your posts, you've got to convert some image to a
1720     X-Face. So fire up some image manipulation program (say
1721     Gimp), open the image you want to include, cut out the
1722     relevant part, reduce color depth to 1 bit, resize to
1723     48*48 and save as bitmap. Now you should get the compface
1724     package from
1725     @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu:/pub/faces/,this site}.
1726     and create the actual X-face by saying
1727    
1728    
1729    @example
1730    cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon |compface > file.face
1731    cat ./file.face | sed 's/\\/\\\\/g' | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g' > ./file.face.quoted
1732    @end example
1733    
1734  @item  @noindent
1735  Q3.3  How do I use an NNTP server with authentication?  If you can't use compface, there's an online X-face converter at@*
1736    @uref{http://www.dairiki.org/xface/}.  If you use MS Windows, you
1737    could also use the WinFace program from
1738    @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~walterln/winface/}.
1739    
1740  Put the following into your .gnus:  Now you only have to tell Gnus to include the X-face in your postings
1741  @lisp  by saying
  (add-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-authinfo)  
 @end lisp  
1742    
1743    @example
1744    (setq message-default-headers
1745            (with-temp-buffer
1746              (insert "X-Face: ")
1747              (insert-file-contents "~/.xemacs/xface")
1748              (buffer-string)))
1749    @end example
1750    
1751  @item  @noindent
1752  Q3.4  Not reading the first article.   in ~/.gnus.
1753    
1754    @ifnottex
1755    @node [5.9], [5.10], [5.8], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1756    @end ifnottex
1757    @subsubheading Question 5.9:
1758    
1759     Sometimes I accidentally hit r instead of f in
1760     newsgroups. Can Gnus warn me, when I'm replying by mail in
1761     newsgroups?
1762    
1763    
1764  How do I avoid reading the first article when a group is selected?  Answer:
1765    
1766  @enumerate   Put this in ~/.gnus:
1767  @item  
 Use @kbd{RET} to select the group instead of @kbd{SPC}.  
1768    
1769  @item  @example
1770  @code{(setq gnus-auto-select first nil)}  (setq gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news t)
1771    @end example
1772    
1773  @item  @noindent
1774  Luis Fernandes <elf@@mailhost.ee.ryerson.ca>writes:@*   if you already use Gnus 5.10.0, if you still use 5.8.8 or
1775  This is what I use...customize as necessary...   5.9 try this instead:
1776    
1777    
1778  @lisp  @example
1779  ;;; Don't auto-select first article if reading sources, or  (defadvice gnus-summary-reply (around reply-in-news activate)
1780  ;;; archives or jobs postings, etc. and just display the         (interactive)
1781  ;;; summary buffer          (when (or (not (gnus-news-group-p gnus-newsgroup-name))
1782  (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook                    (y-or-n-p "Really reply? "))
1783            (function           ad-do-it))
1784             (lambda ()  @end example
1785               (cond ((string-match "sources" gnus-newsgroup-name)  
1786                      (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))  @ifnottex
1787                             ((string-match "jobs" gnus-newsgroup-name)  @node [5.10], [5.11], [5.9], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1788                                  (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))  @end ifnottex
1789                     ((string-match "comp\\.archives" gnus-newsgroup-name)  @subsubheading Question 5.10:
1790                      (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))  
1791                     ((string-match "reviews" gnus-newsgroup-name)   How to tell Gnus not to generate a sender header?
1792                      (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))  
1793                     ((string-match "announce" gnus-newsgroup-name)  
1794                      (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))  Answer:
1795                     ((string-match "binaries" gnus-newsgroup-name)  
1796                      (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))   Since 5.10.0 Gnus doesn't generate a sender header by
1797                     (t   default. For older Gnus' try this in ~/.gnus:
1798                      (setq gnus-auto-select-first t))))))  
 @end lisp  
1799    
1800  @item  @example
1801  Per Abrahamsen <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk> writes:@*  (eval-after-load "message"
1802  Another possibility is to create an @file{all.binaries.all.SCORE} file        '(add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled)))
1803  like this:  @end example
1804    
1805  @lisp  
1806  ((local  @ifnottex
1807    (gnus-auto-select-first nil)))  @node [5.11], [5.12], [5.10], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1808  @end lisp  @end ifnottex
1809    @subsubheading Question 5.11:
1810  and insert  
1811  @lisp   I want gnus to locally store copies of my send mail and
1812          (setq gnus-auto-select-first t)   news, how to do it?
1813  @end lisp  
1814    
1815    Answer:
1816    
1817     You must set the variable gnus-message-archive-group to do
1818     this. You can set it to a string giving the name of the
1819     group where the copies shall go or like in the example
1820     below use a function which is evaluated and which returns
1821     the group to use.
1822    
1823    
1824  in your @file{.gnus}.  @example
1825    (setq gnus-message-archive-group
1826            '((if (message-news-p)
1827                  "nnml:Send-News"
1828                "nnml:Send-Mail")))
1829    @end example
1830    
1831    
1832    @ifnottex
1833    @node [5.12],  , [5.11], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
1834    @end ifnottex
1835    @subsubheading Question 5.12:
1836    
1837     People tell me my Message-IDs are not correct, why
1838     aren't they and how to fix it?
1839    
1840    
1841    Answer:
1842    
1843     The message-ID is an unique identifier for messages you
1844     send. To make it unique, Gnus need to know which machine
1845     name to put after the "@@". If the name of the machine
1846     where Gnus is running isn't suitable (it probably isn't
1847     at most private machines) you can tell Gnus what to use
1848     by saying
1849    @example
1850    (setq message-user-fqdn "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld")
1851    @end example
1852    @noindent
1853     in ~/.gnus.  If you use Gnus 5.9 or ealier, you can use this
1854    instead:
1855    @example
1856    (eval-after-load "message"
1857      '(let (myfqdn "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld");; <-- Edit this!
1858         (if (boundp 'message-user-fqdn)
1859             (setq message-user-fqdn fqdn)
1860           (gnus-message 1 "Redefining `message-make-fqdn'.")
1861           (defun message-make-fqdn ()
1862             "Return user's fully qualified domain name."
1863             fqdn))))
1864    @end example
1865    
1866  @end enumerate   If you have no idea what to insert for
1867     "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld", you've got several
1868     choices. You can either ask your provider if he allows
1869     you to use something like
1870     yourUserName.userfqdn.provider.net, or you can use
1871     somethingUnique.yourdomain.tld if you own the domain
1872     yourdomain.tld, or you can register at a service which
1873     gives private users a FQDN for free, e.g.
1874     @uref{http://www.stura.tu-freiberg.de/~dlx/addfqdn.html}.
1875     (Sorry but this website is in German, if you know of an
1876     English one offering the same, drop me a note).
1877    
1878    
1879     Finally you can tell Gnus not to generate a Message-ID
1880     for News at all (and letting the server do the job) by saying
1881    
1882    
1883  @item  @example
1884  Q3.5  Why aren't BBDB known posters marked in the summary buffer?  (setq message-required-news-headers
1885      (remove' Message-ID message-required-news-headers))
1886    @end example
1887    
1888  Brian Edmonds <edmonds@@cs.ubc.ca> writes:@*  @noindent
1889  Due to changes in Gnus 5.0, @file{bbdb-gnus.el} no longer marks known   you can also tell Gnus not to generate Message-IDs for mail by saying
1890  posters in the summary buffer.  An updated version, @file{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.  
1891    
1892  Send mail to @file{majordomo@@edmonds.home.cs.ubc.ca} with the following  @example
1893  line in the body of the message: @emph{get misc gnus-bbdb.el}.  (setq message-required-mail-headers
1894      (remove' Message-ID message-required-mail-headers))
1895    @end example
1896    
1897  Or get it from the World Wide Web:@*  @noindent
1898  @file{http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/edmonds/gnus-bbdb.el}.   , however some mail servers don't generate proper
1899     Message-IDs, too, so test if your Mail Server behaves
1900     correctly by sending yourself a Mail and looking at the Message-ID.
1901    
1902    
1903    @ifnottex
1904    @node FAQ 6 - Old messages, FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, FAQ 5 - Composing messages, Frequently Asked Questions
1905    @end ifnottex
1906    @subsection Old messages
1907    
1908  @end itemize  @menu
1909    * [6.1]::   How to import my old mail into Gnus?
1910    * [6.2]::   How to archive interesting messages?
1911    * [6.3]::   How to search for a specific message?
1912    * [6.4]::   How to get rid of old unwanted mail?
1913    * [6.5]::   I want that all read messages are expired (at least in some
1914                groups). How to do it?
1915    * [6.6]::   I don't want expiration to delete my mails but to move them
1916                to another group.
1917    @end menu
1918    
1919    @ifnottex
1920    @node [6.1], [6.2], FAQ 6 - Old messages, FAQ 6 - Old messages
1921    @end ifnottex
1922    @subsubheading Question 6.1:
1923    
1924     How to import my old mail into Gnus?
1925    
1926    
1927    Answer:
1928    
1929     The easiest way is to tell your old mail program to
1930     export the messages in mbox format. Most Unix mailers
1931     are able to do this, if you come from the MS Windows
1932     world, you may find tools at
1933     @uref{http://mbx2mbox.sourceforge.net/}.
1934    
1935    
1936     Now you've got to import this mbox file into Gnus. To do
1937     this, create a nndoc group based on the mbox file by
1938     saying @samp{G f /path/file.mbox RET} in
1939     Group buffer. You now have read-only access to your
1940     mail. If you want to import the messages to your normal
1941     Gnus mail groups hierarchy, enter the nndoc group you've
1942     just created by saying @samp{C-u RET}
1943     (thus making sure all messages are retrieved), mark all
1944     messages by saying @samp{M P b} and
1945     either copy them to the desired group by saying
1946     @samp{B c name.of.group RET} or send them
1947     through nnmail-split-methods (respool them) by saying
1948     @samp{B r}.
1949    
1950    @ifnottex
1951    @node [6.2], [6.3], [6.1], FAQ 6 - Old messages
1952    @end ifnottex
1953    @subsubheading Question 6.2:
1954    
1955     How to archive interesting messages?
1956    
1957    
1958    Answer:
1959    
1960     If you stumble across an interesting message, say in
1961     gnu.emacs.gnus and want to archive it there are several
1962     solutions. The first and easiest is to save it to a file
1963     by saying @samp{O f}. However, wouldn't
1964     it be much more convenient to have more direct access to
1965     the archived message from Gnus? If you say yes, put this
1966     snippet by Frank Haun <pille3003@@fhaun.de> in
1967     ~/.gnus:
1968    
1969    
1970  @node Reading Mail FAQ  @example
1971  @subsection Reading Mail  (defun my-archive-article (&optional n)
1972      "Copies one or more article(s) to a corresponding `nnml:' group, e.g.
1973    `gnus.ding' goes to `nnml:1.gnus.ding'. And `nnml:List-gnus.ding' goes
1974    to `nnml:1.List-gnus-ding'.
1975    
1976    Use process marks or mark a region in the summary buffer to archive
1977    more then one article."
1978      (interactive "P")
1979      (let ((archive-name
1980             (format
1981              "nnml:1.%s"
1982              (if (featurep 'xemacs)
1983                  (replace-in-string gnus-newsgroup-name "^.*:" "")
1984                (replace-regexp-in-string "^.*:" "" gnus-newsgroup-name)))))
1985        (gnus-summary-copy-article n archive-name)))
1986    @end example
1987    
1988  @itemize @bullet  @noindent
1989  @item   You can now say @samp{M-x
1990  Q4.1 What does the message ``Buffer has changed on disk'' mean in a mail   my-archive-article} in summary buffer to
1991  group?   archive the article under the cursor in a nnml
1992     group. (Change nnml to your preferred back end)
1993    
1994    
1995     Of course you can also make sure the cache is enabled by saying
1996    
1997    
1998  Your filter program should not deliver mail directly to your folders,  @example
1999  instead it should put the mail into spool files.  Gnus will then move  (setq gnus-use-cache t)
2000  the mail safely from the spool files into the folders.  This will  @end example
 eliminate the problem.  Look it up in the manual, in the section  
 entitled ``Mail & Procmail''.  
2001    
2002    @noindent
2003     then you only have to set either the tick or the dormant
2004     mark for articles you want to keep, setting the read
2005     mark will remove them from cache.
2006    
2007    @ifnottex
2008    @node [6.3], [6.4], [6.2], FAQ 6 - Old messages
2009    @end ifnottex
2010    @subsubheading Question 6.3:
2011    
2012     How to search for a specific message?
2013    
2014    
2015    Answer:
2016    
2017     There are several ways for this, too. For a posting from
2018     a Usenet group the easiest solution is probably to ask
2019     @uref{http://groups.google.com,groups.google.com},
2020     if you found the posting there, tell Google to display
2021     the raw message, look for the message-id, and say
2022     @samp{M-^ the@@message.id RET} in a
2023     summary buffer.
2024     Since Gnus 5.10.0 there's also a Gnus interface for
2025     groups.google.com which you can call with
2026     @samp{G W}) in group buffer.
2027    
2028    
2029     Another idea which works for both mail and news groups
2030     is to enter the group where the message you are
2031     searching is and use the standard Emacs search
2032     @samp{C-s}, it's smart enough to look at
2033     articles in collapsed threads, too. If you want to
2034     search bodies, too try @samp{M-s}
2035     instead. Further on there are the
2036     gnus-summary-limit-to-foo functions, which can help you,
2037     too.
2038    
2039    
2040     Of course you can also use grep to search through your
2041     local mail, but this is both slow for big archives and
2042     inconvenient since you are not displaying the found mail
2043     in Gnus. Here comes nnir into action. Nnir is a front end
2044     to search engines like swish-e or swish++ and
2045     others. You index your mail with one of those search
2046     engines and with the help of nnir you can search trough
2047     the indexed mail and generate a temporary group with all
2048     messages which met your search criteria. If this sound
2049     cool to you get nnir.el from
2050     @uref{ftp://ls6-ftp.cs.uni-dortmund.de/pub/src/emacs/}
2051     or @uref{ftp://ftp.is.informatik.uni-duisburg.de/pub/src/emacs/}.
2052     Instructions on how to use it are at the top of the file.
2053    
2054    @ifnottex
2055    @node [6.4], [6.5], [6.3], FAQ 6 - Old messages
2056    @end ifnottex
2057    @subsubheading Question 6.4:
2058    
2059     How to get rid of old unwanted mail?
2060    
2061    
2062    Answer:
2063    
2064     You can of course just mark the mail you don't need
2065     anymore by saying @samp{#} with point
2066     over the mail and then say @samp{B DEL}
2067     to get rid of them forever. You could also instead of
2068     actually deleting them, send them to a junk-group by
2069     saying @samp{B m nnml:trash-bin} which
2070     you clear from time to time, but both are not the intended
2071     way in Gnus.
2072    
2073    
2074     In Gnus, we let mail expire like news expires on a news
2075     server. That means you tell Gnus the message is
2076     expirable (you tell Gnus "I don't need this mail
2077     anymore") by saying @samp{E} with point
2078     over the mail in summary buffer. Now when you leave the
2079     group, Gnus looks at all messages which you marked as
2080     expirable before and if they are old enough (default is
2081     older than a week) they are deleted.
2082    
2083    @ifnottex
2084    @node [6.5], [6.6], [6.4], FAQ 6 - Old messages
2085    @end ifnottex
2086    @subsubheading Question 6.5:
2087    
2088     I want that all read messages are expired (at least in
2089     some groups). How to do it?
2090    
2091    
2092    Answer:
2093    
2094     If you want all read messages to be expired (e.g. in
2095     mailing lists where there's an online archive), you've
2096     got two choices: auto-expire and
2097     total-expire. Auto-expire means, that every article
2098     which has no marks set and is selected for reading is
2099     marked as expirable, Gnus hits @samp{E}
2100     for you every time you read a message. Total-expire
2101     follows a slightly different approach, here all article
2102     where the read mark is set are expirable.
2103    
2104    
2105     To activate auto-expire, include auto-expire in the
2106     Group parameters for the group. (Hit @samp{G
2107     c} in summary buffer with point over the
2108     group to change group parameters). For total-expire add
2109     total-expire to the group-parameters.
2110    
2111    
2112     Which method you choose is merely a matter of taste:
2113     Auto-expire is faster, but it doesn't play together with
2114     Adaptive Scoring, so if you want to use this feature,
2115     you should use total-expire.
2116    
2117    
2118     If you want a message to be excluded from expiration in
2119     a group where total or auto expire is active, set either
2120     tick (hit @samp{u}) or dormant mark (hit
2121     @samp{u}), when you use auto-expire, you
2122     can also set the read mark (hit
2123     @samp{d}).
2124    
2125    @ifnottex
2126    @node [6.6],  , [6.5], FAQ 6 - Old messages
2127    @end ifnottex
2128    @subsubheading Question 6.6:
2129    
2130     I don't want expiration to delete my mails but to move them
2131     to another group.
2132    
2133    
2134  @item  Answer:
 Q4.2  How do you make articles un-expirable?  
2135    
2136  I am using nnml to read news and have used   Say something like this in ~/.gnus:
2137  @code{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 @kbd{u}, @kbd{!}, @kbd{d} or @kbd{M-u} in the summary buffer. You  
 just remove the @kbd{E} mark by setting some other mark. It's not  
 necessary to tick the articles.  
2138    
2139    @example
2140    (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
2141    @end example
2142    
2143  @item  @noindent
2144  Q4.3  How do I delete bogus nnml: groups?   (If you want to change the value of nnmail-expiry-target
2145     on a per group basis see the question "How can I disable
2146     threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or set other
2147     variables specific for some groups?")
2148    
2149    
2150    @ifnottex
2151    @node FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, FAQ 8 - Getting help, FAQ 6 - Old messages, Frequently Asked Questions
2152    @end ifnottex
2153    @subsection Gnus in a dial-up environment
2154    
2155  My problem is that I have various mail (nnml) groups generated while  @menu
2156  experimenting with Gnus. How do I remove them now? Setting the level to  * [7.1]::   I don't have a permanent connection to the net, how can I
2157  9 does not help. Also @code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups} does not              minimize the time I've got to be connected?
2158  recognize them.  * [7.2]::   So what was this thing about the Agent?
2159    * [7.3]::   I want to store article bodies on disk, too. How to do it?
2160  Removing mail groups is tricky at the moment. (It's on the to-do list,  * [7.4]::   How to tell Gnus not to try to send mails / postings while
2161  though.) You basically have to kill the groups in Gnus, shut down Gnus,              I'm offline?
2162  edit the active file to exclude these groups, and probably remove the  @end menu
 nnml directories that contained these groups as well. Then start Gnus  
 back up again.  
2163    
2164    
2165    @ifnottex
2166    @node [7.1], [7.2], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
2167    @end ifnottex
2168    @subsubheading Question 7.1:
2169    
2170     I don't have a permanent connection to the net, how can
2171     I minimize the time I've got to be connected?
2172    
2173    
2174    Answer:
2175    
2176     You've got basically two options: Either you use the
2177     Gnus Agent (see below) for this, or you can install
2178     programs which fetch your news and mail to your local
2179     disk and Gnus reads the stuff from your local
2180     machine.
2181    
2182    
2183     If you want to follow the second approach, you need a
2184     program which fetches news and offers them to Gnus, a
2185     program which does the same for mail and a program which
2186     receives the mail you write from Gnus and sends them
2187     when you're online.
2188    
2189    
2190    Let's talk about Unix systems first: For the news part, the easiest
2191    solution is a small nntp server like
2192    @uref{http://www.leafnode.org/,Leafnode} or
2193    @uref{http://infa.abo.fi/~patrik/sn/,sn}, of course you can also
2194    install a full featured news server like
2195    @uref{http://www.isc.org/products/INN/,inn}.
2196    
2197    Then you want to fetch your Mail, popular choices are
2198    @itemize @bullet
2199  @item  @item
2200  Q4.4  What happened to my new mail groups?  @uref{http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/,fetchmail} and
2201    @item
2202    @uref{http://www.qcc.ca/~charlesc/software/getmail-3.0/,getmail}.
2203    @end itemize
2204    You should tell those to write the mail to your disk and Gnus to read
2205    it from there. Last but not least the mail sending part: This can be
2206    done with every MTA like @uref{http://www.sendmail.org/,sendmail},
2207    @uref{http://www.qmail.org/,postfix}, @uref{http://www.exim.org/,exim}
2208    or @uref{http://www.qmail.org/,qmail}.
2209    
2210    
2211     On windows boxes I'd vote for
2212     @uref{http://www.tglsoft.de/,Hamster},
2213     it's a small freeware, open-source program which fetches
2214     your mail and news from remote servers and offers them
2215     to Gnus (or any other mail and/or news reader) via nntp
2216     respectively POP3 or IMAP. It also includes a smtp
2217     server for receiving mails from Gnus.
2218    
2219    @ifnottex
2220    @node [7.2], [7.3], [7.1], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
2221    @end ifnottex
2222    @subsubheading Question 7.2:
2223    
2224     So what was this thing about the Agent?
2225    
2226    
2227    Answer:
2228    
2229     The Gnus agent is part of Gnus, it allows you to fetch
2230     mail and news and store them on disk for reading them
2231     later when you're offline. It kind of mimics offline
2232     newsreaders like e.g. Forte Agent. If you want to use
2233     the Agent place the following in ~/.gnus if you are
2234     still using 5.8.8 or 5.9 (it's the default since 5.10.0):
2235    
2236    
2237  I got new mail, but I have  @example
2238  never seen the groups they should have been placed in.  (setq gnus-agent t)
2239    @end example
2240    
2241    
2242  They are probably there, but as zombies. Press @kbd{A z} to list   Now you've got to select the servers whose groups can be
2243  zombie groups, and then subscribe to the groups you want with @kbd{u}.   stored locally. To do this, open the server buffer
2244  This is all documented quite nicely in the user's manual.   (that is press @samp{^} while in the
2245     group buffer). Now select a server by moving point to
2246     the line naming that server. Finally, agentize the
2247     server by typing @samp{J a}. If you
2248     make a mistake, or change your mind, you can undo this
2249     action by typing @samp{J r}. When
2250     you're done, type 'q' to return to the group buffer.
2251     Now the next time you enter a group on a agentized
2252     server, the headers will be stored on disk and read from
2253     there the next time you enter the group.
2254    
2255    @ifnottex
2256    @node [7.3], [7.4], [7.2], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
2257    @end ifnottex
2258    @subsubheading Question 7.3:
2259    
2260     I want to store article bodies on disk, too. How to do it?
2261    
2262    
2263    Answer:
2264    
2265     You can tell the agent to automatically fetch the bodies
2266     of articles which fulfill certain predicates, this is
2267     done in a special buffer which can be reached by
2268     saying @samp{J c} in group
2269     buffer. Please refer to the documentation for
2270     information which predicates are possible and how
2271     exactly to do it.
2272    
2273    
2274     Further on you can tell the agent manually which
2275     articles to store on disk. There are two ways to do
2276     this: Number one: In the summary buffer, process mark a
2277     set of articles that shall be stored in the agent by
2278     saying @samp{#} with point over the
2279     article and then type @samp{J s}. The
2280     other possibility is to set, again in the summary
2281     buffer, downloadable (%) marks for the articles you
2282     want by typing @samp{@@} with point over
2283     the article and then typing @samp{J u}.
2284     What's the difference? Well, process marks are erased as
2285     soon as you exit the summary buffer while downloadable
2286     marks are permanent. You can actually set downloadable
2287     marks in several groups then use fetch session ('J s' in
2288     the GROUP buffer) to fetch all of those articles. The
2289     only downside is that fetch session also fetches all of
2290     the headers for every selected group on an agentized
2291     server. Depending on the volume of headers, the initial
2292     fetch session could take hours.
2293    
2294    @ifnottex
2295    @node [7.4],  , [7.3], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
2296    @end ifnottex
2297    @subsubheading Question 7.4:
2298    
2299     How to tell Gnus not to try to send mails / postings
2300     while I'm offline?
2301    
2302    
2303    Answer:
2304    
2305     All you've got to do is to tell Gnus when you are online
2306     (plugged) and when you are offline (unplugged), the rest
2307     works automatically. You can toggle plugged/unplugged
2308     state by saying @samp{J j} in group
2309     buffer. To start Gnus unplugged say @samp{M-x
2310     gnus-unplugged} instead of
2311     @samp{M-x gnus}. Note that for this to
2312     work, the agent must be active.
2313    
2314    
2315    @ifnottex
2316    @node FAQ 8 - Getting help, FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, Frequently Asked Questions
2317    @end ifnottex
2318    @subsection Getting help
2319    
2320    @menu
2321    * [8.1]::   How to find information and help inside Emacs?
2322    * [8.2]::   I can't find anything in the Gnus manual about X
2323                (e.g. attachments, PGP, MIME...), is it not documented?
2324    * [8.3]::   Which websites should I know?
2325    * [8.4]::   Which mailing lists and newsgroups are there?
2326    * [8.5]::   Where to report bugs?
2327    * [8.6]::   I need real-time help, where to find it?
2328    @end menu
2329    
2330  @item  @ifnottex
2331  Q4.5  Not scoring mail groups  @node [8.1], [8.2], FAQ 8 - Getting help, FAQ 8 - Getting help
2332    @end ifnottex
2333    @subsubheading Question 8.1:
2334    
2335     How to find information and help inside Emacs?
2336    
2337    
2338    Answer:
2339    
2340     The first stop should be the Gnus manual (Say
2341     @samp{C-h i d m Gnus RET} to start the
2342     Gnus manual, then walk through the menus or do a
2343     full-text search with @samp{s}). Then
2344     there are the general Emacs help commands starting with
2345     C-h, type @samp{C-h ? ?} to get a list
2346     of all available help commands and their meaning. Finally
2347     @samp{M-x apropos-command} lets you
2348     search through all available functions and @samp{M-x
2349     apropos} searches the bound variables.
2350    
2351    @ifnottex
2352    @node [8.2], [8.3], [8.1], FAQ 8 - Getting help
2353    @end ifnottex
2354    @subsubheading Question 8.2:
2355    
2356     I can't find anything in the Gnus manual about X
2357     (e.g. attachments, PGP, MIME...), is it not documented?
2358    
2359    
2360    Answer:
2361    
2362     There's not only the Gnus manual but also the manuals
2363     for message, emacs-mime, sieve and pgg. Those packages
2364     are distributed with Gnus and used by Gnus but aren't
2365     really part of core Gnus, so they are documented in
2366     different info files, you should have a look in those
2367     manuals, too.
2368    
2369    @ifnottex
2370    @node [8.3], [8.4], [8.2], FAQ 8 - Getting help
2371    @end ifnottex
2372    @subsubheading Question 8.3:
2373    
2374     Which websites should I know?
2375    
2376    
2377    Answer:
2378    
2379     The two most important ones are the
2380     @uref{http://www.gnus.org,official Gnus website}.
2381     and it's sister site
2382     @uref{http://my.gnus.org,my.gnus.org (MGO)},
2383     hosting an archive of lisp snippets, howtos, a (not
2384     really finished) tutorial and this FAQ.
2385    
2386    
2387     Tell me about other sites which are interesting.
2388    
2389    @ifnottex
2390    @node [8.4], [8.5], [8.3], FAQ 8 - Getting help
2391    @end ifnottex
2392    @subsubheading Question 8.4:
2393    
2394     Which mailing lists and newsgroups are there?
2395    
2396    
2397    Answer:
2398    
2399     There's the newsgroup gnu.emacs.gnus (pull it from
2400     e.g. news.gnus.org) which deals with general questions
2401     and the ding mailing list (ding@@gnus.org) dealing with
2402     development of Gnus. You can read the ding list via
2403     NNTP, too under the name gnus.ding from news.gnus.org.
2404    
2405    
2406     If you want to stay in the big8,
2407     news.software.newssreaders is also read by some Gnus
2408     users (but chances for qualified help are much better in
2409     the above groups) and if you speak German, there's
2410     de.comm.software.gnus.
2411    
2412    @ifnottex
2413    @node [8.5], [8.6], [8.4], FAQ 8 - Getting help
2414    @end ifnottex
2415    @subsubheading Question 8.5:
2416    
2417     Where to report bugs?
2418    
2419    
2420    Answer:
2421    
2422    Say @samp{M-x gnus-bug}, this will start a message to the
2423    @email{bugs@@gnus.org,gnus bug mailing list} including information
2424    about your environment which make it easier to help you.
2425    
2426    @ifnottex
2427    @node [8.6],  , [8.5], FAQ 8 - Getting help
2428    @end ifnottex
2429    @subsubheading Question 8.6:
2430    
2431     I need real-time help, where to find it?
2432    
2433    
2434    Answer:
2435    
2436     Point your IRC client to irc.my.gnus.org channel
2437     #mygnus. Don't be afraid if people there speak German,
2438     they are willing and capable of switching to
2439     English when people from outside Germany enter.
2440    
2441    
2442    @ifnottex
2443    @node FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, FAQ - Glossary, FAQ 8 - Getting help, Frequently Asked Questions
2444    @end ifnottex
2445    @subsection Tuning Gnus
2446    
2447  How do you @emph{totally} turn off scoring in mail groups?  @menu
2448    * [9.1]::   Starting Gnus is really slow, how to speed it up?
2449    * [9.2]::   How to speed up the process of entering a group?
2450    * [9.3]::   Sending mail becomes slower and slower, what's up?
2451    @end menu
2452    
2453  Use an nnbabyl:all.SCORE (or nnmh, or nnml, or whatever) file containing:  @ifnottex
2454    @node [9.1], [9.2], FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus
2455    @end ifnottex
2456    @subsubheading Question 9.1:
2457    
2458     Starting Gnus is really slow, how to speed it up?
2459    
2460    
2461    Answer:
2462    
2463     The reason for this could be the way Gnus reads it's
2464     active file, see the node "The Active File" in the Gnus
2465     manual for things you might try to speed the process up.
2466     An other idea would be to byte compile your ~/.gnus (say
2467     @samp{M-x byte-compile-file RET ~/.gnus
2468     RET} to do it). Finally, if you have require
2469     statements in your .gnus, you could replace them with
2470     eval-after-load, which loads the stuff not at startup
2471     time, but when it's needed. Say you've got this in your
2472     ~/.gnus:
2473    
2474    
2475  @example  @example
2476  ((adapt ignore)  (require 'message)
2477   (local (gnus-use-scoring nil))  (add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled))
  (exclude-files "all.SCORE"))  
2478  @end example  @end example
2479    
2480  @end itemize  @noindent
2481     then as soon as you start Gnus, message.el is loaded. If
2482     you replace it with
2483    
2484    
2485    @example
2486    (eval-after-load "message"
2487          '(add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled)))
2488    @end example
2489    
2490    @noindent
2491     it's loaded when it's needed.
2492    
2493    @ifnottex
2494    @node [9.2], [9.3], [9.1], FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus
2495    @end ifnottex
2496    @subsubheading Question 9.2:
2497    
2498     How to speed up the process of entering a group?
2499    
2500    
2501    Answer:
2502    
2503     A speed killer is setting the variable
2504     gnus-fetch-old-headers to anything different from nil,
2505     so don't do this if speed is an issue. To speed up
2506     building of summary say
2507    
2508    
2509    @example
2510    (gnus-compile)
2511    @end example
2512    
2513    @noindent
2514     at the bottom of your ~/.gnus, this will make gnus
2515     byte-compile things like
2516     gnus-summary-line-format.
2517     then you could increase the value of gc-cons-threshold
2518     by saying something like
2519    
2520    
2521    @example
2522    (setq gc-cons-threshold 3500000)
2523    @end example
2524    
2525    @noindent
2526     in ~/.emacs. If you don't care about width of CJK
2527     characters or use Gnus 5.10.0 or younger together with a
2528     recent GNU Emacs, you should say
2529    
2530    
2531    @example
2532    (setq gnus-use-correct-string-widths nil)
2533    @end example
2534    
2535    
2536    @noindent
2537     in ~/.gnus (thanks to Jesper harder for the last
2538     two suggestions). Finally if you are still using 5.8.8
2539     or 5.9 and experience speed problems with summary
2540     buffer generation, you definitely should update to
2541     5.10.0 since there quite some work on improving it has
2542     been done.
2543    
2544    @ifnottex
2545    @node [9.3],  , [9.2], FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus
2546    @end ifnottex
2547    @subsubheading Question 9.3:
2548    
2549     Sending mail becomes slower and slower, what's up?
2550    
2551    
2552    Answer:
2553    
2554     The reason could be that you told Gnus to archive the
2555     messages you wrote by setting
2556     gnus-message-archive-group. Try to use a nnml group
2557     instead of an archive group, this should bring you back
2558     to normal speed.
2559    
2560    
2561    @ifnottex
2562    @node FAQ - Glossary,  , FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, Frequently Asked Questions
2563    @end ifnottex
2564    @subsection Glossary
2565    
2566    @table @dfn
2567    
2568    @item ~/.gnus
2569     When the term ~/.gnus is used it just means your Gnus
2570     configuration file. You might as well call it ~/.gnus.el or
2571     specify another name.
2572    
2573    
2574    @item Back End
2575     In Gnus terminology a back end is a virtual server, a layer
2576     between core Gnus and the real NNTP-, POP3-, IMAP- or
2577     whatever-server which offers Gnus a standardized interface
2578     to functions like "get message", "get Headers" etc.
2579    
2580    
2581    @item Emacs
2582     When the term Emacs is used in this FAQ, it means either GNU
2583     Emacs or XEmacs.
2584    
2585    
2586    @item Message
2587     In this FAQ message means a either a mail or a posting to a
2588     Usenet Newsgroup or to some other fancy back end, no matter
2589     of which kind it is.
2590    
2591    
2592    @item MUA
2593     MUA is an acronym for Mail User Agent, it's the program you
2594     use to read and write e-mails.
2595    
2596    
2597    @item NUA
2598     NUA is an acronym for News User Agent, it's the program you
2599     use to read and write Usenet news.
2600    
2601    @end table
2602    
2603    @c @bye
2604    
2605  @ignore  @ignore
2606     arch-tag: 64dc5692-edb4-4848-a965-7aa0181acbb8     arch-tag: 64dc5692-edb4-4848-a965-7aa0181acbb8

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