The Gnus Newsreader

You can read news (and mail) from within Emacs by using Gnus. The news can be gotten by any nefarious means you can think of—NNTP, local spool or your mbox file. All at the same time, if you want to push your luck.

This manual corresponds to Ma Gnus v0.12

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being “A GNU Manual”, and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

(a) The FSF’s Back-Cover Text is: “You have the freedom to copy and modify this GNU manual.”

Other related manuals
1. Starting Gnus		Finding news can be a pain.
2. Group Buffer		Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
3. Summary Buffer		Reading, saving and posting articles.
4. Article Buffer		Displaying and handling articles.
5. Composing Messages		Information on sending mail and news.
6. Select Methods		Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
7. Scoring		Assigning values to articles.
8. Searching		Mail and News search engines.
9. Various		General purpose settings.
10. The End		Farewell and goodbye.
11. Appendices		Terminology, Emacs intro, FAQ, History, Internals.
12. GNU Free Documentation License		The license for this documentation.
13. Index		Variable, function and concept index.
14. Key Index
• Message:(message)		Composing messages.
• Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime)		Composing messages; MIME-specific parts.
• Sieve:(sieve)		Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
• EasyPG:(epa)		PGP/MIME with Gnus.
• SASL:(sasl)		SASL authentication in Emacs.
— The Detailed Node Listing — Starting Gnus
1.1 Finding the News		Choosing a method for getting news.
1.2 The Server is Down		How can I read my mail then?
1.3 Slave Gnusae		You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
9.13 Fetching a Group		Starting Gnus just to read a group.
1.4 New Groups		What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
1.5 Changing Servers		You may want to move from one server to another.
1.6 Startup Files		Those pesky startup files—‘`.newsrc`’.
1.7 Auto Save		Recovering from a crash.
1.8 The Active File		Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
1.9 Startup Variables		Other variables you might change.
New Groups
1.4.1 Checking New Groups		Determining what groups are new.
1.4.2 Subscription Methods		What Gnus should do with new groups.
1.4.3 Filtering New Groups		Making Gnus ignore certain new groups.
Group Buffer
2.1 Group Buffer Format		Information listed and how you can change it.
2.2 Group Maneuvering		Commands for moving in the group buffer.
2.3 Selecting a Group		Actually reading news.
2.4 Subscription Commands		Unsubscribing, killing, subscribing.
2.5 Group Data		Changing the info for a group.
2.6 Group Levels		Levels? What are those, then?
2.7 Group Score		A mechanism for finding out what groups you like.
2.8 Marking Groups		You can mark groups for later processing.
2.9 Foreign Groups		Creating and editing groups.
2.10 Group Parameters		Each group may have different parameters set.
2.11 Listing Groups		Gnus can list various subsets of the groups.
2.12 Sorting Groups		Re-arrange the group order.
2.13 Group Maintenance		Maintaining a tidy ‘`.newsrc`’ file.
2.14 Browse Foreign Server		You can browse a server. See what it has to offer.
2.15 Exiting Gnus		Stop reading news and get some work done.
2.16 Group Topics		A folding group mode divided into topics.
2.17 Accessing groups of non-English names
2.18 Misc Group Stuff		Other stuff that you can to do.
Group Buffer Format
2.1.1 Group Line Specification		Deciding how the group buffer is to look.
2.1.2 Group Mode Line Specification		The group buffer mode line.
2.1.3 Group Highlighting		Having nice colors in the group buffer.
Group Topics
2.16.1 Topic Commands		Interactive E-Z commands.
2.16.2 Topic Variables		How to customize the topics the Lisp Way.
2.16.3 Topic Sorting		Sorting each topic individually.
2.16.4 Topic Topology		A map of the world.
2.16.5 Topic Parameters		Parameters that apply to all groups in a topic.
Misc Group Stuff
2.18.1 Scanning New Messages		Asking Gnus to see whether new messages have arrived.
2.18.2 Group Information		Information and help on groups and Gnus.
2.18.3 Group Timestamp		Making Gnus keep track of when you last read a group.
2.18.4 File Commands		Reading and writing the Gnus files.
2.18.5 Sieve Commands		Managing Sieve scripts.
Summary Buffer
3.1 Summary Buffer Format		Deciding how the summary buffer is to look.
3.2 Summary Maneuvering		Moving around the summary buffer.
3.3 Choosing Articles		Reading articles.
3.4 Scrolling the Article		Scrolling the current article.
3.5 Reply, Followup and Post		Posting articles.
3.6 Delayed Articles		Send articles at a later time.
3.7 Marking Articles		Marking articles as read, expirable, etc.
3.8 Limiting		You can limit the summary buffer.
3.9 Threading		How threads are made.
3.10 Sorting the Summary Buffer		How articles and threads are sorted.
3.11 Asynchronous Article Fetching		Gnus might be able to pre-fetch articles.
3.12 Article Caching		You may store articles in a cache.
3.13 Persistent Articles		Making articles expiry-resistant.
3.14 Sticky Articles		Article buffers that are not reused.
3.15 Article Backlog		Having already read articles hang around.
3.16 Saving Articles		Ways of customizing article saving.
3.17 Decoding Articles		Gnus can treat series of (uu)encoded articles.
3.18 Article Treatment		The article buffer can be mangled at will.
3.19 MIME Commands		Doing MIMEy things with the articles.
3.20 Charsets		Character set issues.
3.21 Article Commands		Doing various things with the article buffer.
3.22 Summary Sorting		Sorting the summary buffer in various ways.
3.23 Finding the Parent		No child support? Get the parent.
3.24 Alternative Approaches		Reading using non-default summaries.
3.25 Tree Display		A more visual display of threads.
3.26 Mail Group Commands		Some commands can only be used in mail groups.
3.27 Various Summary Stuff		What didn’t fit anywhere else.
3.28 Exiting the Summary Buffer		Returning to the Group buffer, or reselecting the current group.
3.29 Crosspost Handling		How crossposted articles are dealt with.
3.30 Duplicate Suppression		An alternative when crosspost handling fails.
3.31 Security		Decrypt and Verify.
3.32 Mailing List		Mailing list minor mode.
Summary Buffer Format
3.1.1 Summary Buffer Lines		You can specify how summary lines should look.
3.1.2 To From Newsgroups		How to not display your own name.
3.1.3 Summary Buffer Mode Line		You can say how the mode line should look.
3.1.4 Summary Highlighting		Making the summary buffer all pretty and nice.
Choosing Articles
3.3.1 Choosing Commands		Commands for choosing articles.
3.3.2 Choosing Variables		Variables that influence these commands.
Reply, Followup and Post
3.5.1 Summary Mail Commands		Sending mail.
3.5.2 Summary Post Commands		Sending news.
3.5.3 Summary Message Commands		Other Message-related commands.
3.5.4 Canceling Articles
Marking Articles
3.7.1 Unread Articles		Marks for unread articles.
3.7.2 Read Articles		Marks for read articles.
3.7.3 Other Marks		Marks that do not affect readedness.
3.7.4 Setting Marks		How to set and remove marks.
3.7.5 Generic Marking Commands		How to customize the marking.
3.7.6 Setting Process Marks		How to mark articles for later processing.
Threading
3.9.1 Customizing Threading		Variables you can change to affect the threading.
3.9.2 Thread Commands		Thread based commands in the summary buffer.
Customizing Threading
3.9.1.1 Loose Threads		How Gnus gathers loose threads into bigger threads.
3.9.1.2 Filling In Threads		Making the threads displayed look fuller.
3.9.1.3 More Threading		Even more variables for fiddling with threads.
3.9.1.4 Low-Level Threading		You thought it was over… but you were wrong!
Decoding Articles
3.17.1 Uuencoded Articles		Uudecode articles.
3.17.2 Shell Archives		Unshar articles.
3.17.3 PostScript Files		Split PostScript.
3.17.4 Other Files		Plain save and binhex.
3.17.5 Decoding Variables		Variables for a happy decoding.
3.17.6 Viewing Files		You want to look at the result of the decoding?
Decoding Variables
3.17.5.1 Rule Variables		Variables that say how a file is to be viewed.
3.17.5.2 Other Decode Variables		Other decode variables.
3.17.5.3 Uuencoding and Posting		Variables for customizing uuencoding.
Article Treatment
3.18.1 Article Highlighting		You want to make the article look like fruit salad.
3.18.2 Article Fontisizing		Making emphasized text look nice.
3.18.3 Article Hiding		You also want to make certain info go away.
3.18.4 Article Washing		Lots of way-neat functions to make life better.
3.18.5 Article Header		Doing various header transformations.
3.18.6 Article Buttons		Click on URLs, Message-IDs, addresses and the like.
3.18.7 Article button levels		Controlling appearance of buttons.
3.18.8 Article Date		Grumble, UT!
3.18.9 Article Display		Display various stuff—X-Face, Picons, Smileys, Gravatars
3.18.10 Article Signature		What is a signature?
3.18.11 Article Miscellanea		Various other stuff.
Alternative Approaches
3.24.1 Pick and Read		First mark articles and then read them.
3.24.2 Binary Groups		Auto-decode all articles.
Various Summary Stuff
3.27.1 Summary Group Information		Information oriented commands.
3.27.2 Searching for Articles		Multiple article commands.
3.27.3 Summary Generation Commands
3.27.4 Really Various Summary Commands		Those pesky non-conformant commands.
Article Buffer
4.1 Hiding Headers		Deciding what headers should be displayed.
4.2 Using MIME		Pushing articles through MIME before reading them.
4.3 HTML		Reading HTML messages.
4.4 Customizing Articles		Tailoring the look of the articles.
4.5 Article Keymap		Keystrokes available in the article buffer.
4.6 Misc Article		Other stuff.
Composing Messages
5.1 Mail		Mailing and replying.
5.2 Posting Server		What server should you post and mail via?
5.3 POP before SMTP		You cannot send a mail unless you read a mail.
5.4 Mail and Post		Mailing and posting at the same time.
5.5 Archived Messages		Where Gnus stores the messages you’ve sent.
5.6 Posting Styles		An easier way to specify who you are.
5.7 Drafts		Postponing messages and rejected messages.
5.8 Rejected Articles		What happens if the server doesn’t like your article?
5.9 Signing and encrypting		How to compose secure messages.
Select Methods
6.1 Server Buffer		Making and editing virtual servers.
6.2 Getting News		Reading USENET news with Gnus.
6.3 Using IMAP		Reading mail from IMAP.
6.4 Getting Mail		Reading your personal mail with Gnus.
6.5 Browsing the Web		Getting messages from a plethora of Web sources.
6.6 Other Sources		Reading directories, files.
6.7 Combined Groups		Combining groups into one group.
6.8 Email Based Diary		Using mails to manage diary events in Gnus.
6.9 Gnus Unplugged		Reading news and mail offline.
Server Buffer
6.1.1 Server Buffer Format		You can customize the look of this buffer.
6.1.2 Server Commands		Commands to manipulate servers.
6.1.3 Example Methods		Examples server specifications.
6.1.4 Creating a Virtual Server		An example session.
6.1.5 Server Variables		Which variables to set.
6.1.6 Servers and Methods		You can use server names as select methods.
6.1.7 Unavailable Servers		Some servers you try to contact may be down.
Getting News
6.2.1 NNTP		Reading news from an NNTP server.
6.2.2 News Spool		Reading news from the local spool.
NNTP
6.2.1.1 Direct Functions		Connecting directly to the server.
6.2.1.2 Indirect Functions		Connecting indirectly to the server.
6.2.1.3 Common Variables		Understood by several connection functions.
Getting Mail
6.4.1 Mail in a Newsreader		Important introductory notes.
6.4.2 Getting Started Reading Mail		A simple cookbook example.
6.4.3 Splitting Mail		How to create mail groups.
6.4.4 Mail Sources		How to tell Gnus where to get mail from.
6.4.5 Mail Back End Variables		Variables for customizing mail handling.
6.4.6 Fancy Mail Splitting		Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
6.4.7 Group Mail Splitting		Use group customize to drive mail splitting.
6.4.8 Incorporating Old Mail		What about the old mail you have?
6.4.9 Expiring Mail		Getting rid of unwanted mail.
6.4.10 Washing Mail		Removing cruft from the mail you get.
6.4.11 Duplicates		Dealing with duplicated mail.
6.4.12 Not Reading Mail		Using mail back ends for reading other files.
6.4.13 Choosing a Mail Back End		Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.
Mail Sources
6.4.4.1 Mail Source Specifiers		How to specify what a mail source is.
6.4.4.3 Mail Source Customization		Some variables that influence things.
6.4.4.4 Fetching Mail		Using the mail source specifiers.
Choosing a Mail Back End
6.4.13.1 Unix Mail Box		Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
6.4.13.2 Babyl		Babyl was used by older versions of Rmail.
6.4.13.3 Mail Spool		Store your mail in a private spool?
6.4.13.4 MH Spool		An mhspool-like back end.
6.4.13.5 Maildir		Another one-file-per-message format.
6.4.13.10 Mail Folders		Having one file for each group.
6.4.13.11 Comparing Mail Back Ends		An in-depth looks at pros and cons.
Browsing the Web
6.5.1 Archiving Mail
6.5.2 Web Searches		Creating groups from articles that match a string.
6.5.3 RSS		Reading RDF site summary.
Other Sources
6.6.1 Directory Groups		You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
6.6.2 Anything Groups		Dired? Who needs dired?
6.6.3 Document Groups		Single files can be the basis of a group.
6.6.4 Mail-To-News Gateways		Posting articles via mail-to-news gateways.
6.6.5 The Empty Backend		The backend that never has any news.
Document Groups
6.6.3.1 Document Server Internals		How to add your own document types.
Combined Groups
6.7.1 Virtual Groups		Combining articles from many groups.
Email Based Diary
6.8.1 The NNDiary Back End		Basic setup and usage.
6.8.2 The Gnus Diary Library		Utility toolkit on top of nndiary.
6.8.3 Sending or Not Sending		A final note on sending diary messages.
The NNDiary Back End
6.8.1.1 Diary Messages		What makes a message valid for nndiary.
6.8.1.2 Running NNDiary		NNDiary has two modes of operation.
6.8.1.3 Customizing NNDiary		Bells and whistles.
The Gnus Diary Library
6.8.2.1 Diary Summary Line Format		A nicer summary buffer line format.
6.8.2.2 Diary Articles Sorting		A nicer way to sort messages.
6.8.2.3 Diary Headers Generation		Not doing it manually.
6.8.2.4 Diary Group Parameters		Not handling them manually.
Gnus Unplugged
6.9.1 Agent Basics		How it all is supposed to work.
6.9.2 Agent Categories		How to tell the Gnus Agent what to download.
6.9.3 Agent Commands		New commands for all the buffers.
6.9.4 Agent Visuals		Ways that the agent may effect your summary buffer.
6.9.5 Agent as Cache		The Agent is a big cache too.
6.9.6 Agent Expiry		How to make old articles go away.
6.9.7 Agent Regeneration		How to recover from lost connections and other accidents.
6.9.8 Agent and flags		How the Agent maintains flags.
6.9.9 Agent and IMAP		How to use the Agent with IMAP.
6.9.10 Outgoing Messages		What happens when you post/mail something?
6.9.11 Agent Variables		Customizing is fun.
6.9.12 Example Setup		An example ‘`~/.gnus.el`’ file for offline people.
6.9.13 Batching Agents		How to fetch news from a `cron` job.
6.9.14 Agent Caveats		What you think it’ll do and what it does.
Agent Categories
6.9.2.1 Category Syntax		What a category looks like.
6.9.2.2 Category Buffer		A buffer for maintaining categories.
6.9.2.3 Category Variables		Customize’r’Us.
Agent Commands
6.9.3.1 Group Agent Commands		Configure groups and fetch their contents.
6.9.3.2 Summary Agent Commands		Manually select then fetch specific articles.
6.9.3.3 Server Agent Commands		Select the servers that are supported by the agent.
Scoring
7.1 Summary Score Commands		Adding score entries for the current group.
7.2 Group Score Commands		General score commands.
7.3 Score Variables		Customize your scoring. (My, what terminology).
7.4 Score File Format		What a score file may contain.
7.5 Score File Editing		You can edit score files by hand as well.
7.6 Adaptive Scoring		Big Sister Gnus knows what you read.
7.7 Home Score File		How to say where new score entries are to go.
7.8 Followups To Yourself		Having Gnus notice when people answer you.
7.9 Scoring On Other Headers		Scoring on non-standard headers.
7.10 Scoring Tips		How to score effectively.
7.11 Reverse Scoring		That problem child of old is not problem.
7.12 Global Score Files		Earth-spanning, ear-splitting score files.
7.13 Kill Files		They are still here, but they can be ignored.
7.14 Converting Kill Files		Translating kill files to score files.
7.15 Advanced Scoring		Using logical expressions to build score rules.
7.16 Score Decays		It can be useful to let scores wither away.
Advanced Scoring
7.15.1 Advanced Scoring Syntax		A definition.
7.15.2 Advanced Scoring Examples		What they look like.
7.15.3 Advanced Scoring Tips		Getting the most out of it.
Searching
8.1 nnir		Searching with various engines.
8.2 nnmairix		Searching with Mairix.
nnir
8.1.1 What is nnir?		What does nnir do.
8.1.2 Basic Usage		How to perform simple searches.
8.1.3 Setting up nnir		How to set up nnir.
Setting up nnir
8.1.3.1 Associating Engines		How to associate engines.
Various
9.1 Process/Prefix		A convention used by many treatment commands.
9.2 Interactive		Making Gnus ask you many questions.
9.3 Symbolic Prefixes		How to supply some Gnus functions with options.
9.4 Formatting Variables		You can specify what buffers should look like.
9.5 Window Layout		Configuring the Gnus buffer windows.
9.6 Faces and Fonts		How to change how faces look.
9.7 Mode Lines		Displaying information in the mode lines.
9.8 Highlighting and Menus		Making buffers look all nice and cozy.
9.9 Daemons		Gnus can do things behind your back.
9.10 Undo		Some actions can be undone.
9.11 Predicate Specifiers		Specifying predicates.
9.12 Moderation		What to do if you’re a moderator.
9.14 Image Enhancements		Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
9.15 Fuzzy Matching		What’s the big fuzz?
9.16 Thwarting Email Spam		Simple ways to avoid unsolicited commercial email.
9.17 Spam Package		A package for filtering and processing spam.
9.18 The Gnus Registry		A package for tracking messages by Message-ID.
9.19 Interaction with other modes
9.20 Various Various		Things that are really various.
Formatting Variables
9.4.1 Formatting Basics		A formatting variable is basically a format string.
9.4.2 Mode Line Formatting		Some rules about mode line formatting variables.
9.4.3 Advanced Formatting		Modifying output in various ways.
9.4.4 User-Defined Specs		Having Gnus call your own functions.
9.4.5 Formatting Fonts		Making the formatting look colorful and nice.
9.4.6 Positioning Point		Moving point to a position after an operation.
9.4.7 Tabulation		Tabulating your output.
9.4.8 Wide Characters		Dealing with wide characters.
Image Enhancements
9.14.1 X-Face		Display a funky, teensy black-and-white image.
9.14.2 Face		Display a funkier, teensier colored image.
9.14.3 Smileys		Show all those happy faces the way they were meant to be shown.
9.14.4 Picons		How to display pictures of what you’re reading.
9.14.5 Gravatars		Display the avatar of people you read.
9.14.6 Various XEmacs Variables		Other XEmacsy Gnusey variables.
Thwarting Email Spam
9.16.1 The problem of spam		Some background, and some solutions
9.16.2 Anti-Spam Basics		Simple steps to reduce the amount of spam.
9.16.3 SpamAssassin, Vipul’s Razor, DCC, etc		How to use external anti-spam tools.
9.16.4 Hashcash		Reduce spam by burning CPU time.
Spam Package
9.17.1 Spam Package Introduction
9.17.2 Filtering Incoming Mail
9.17.3 Detecting Spam in Groups
9.17.4 Spam and Ham Processors
9.17.5 Spam Package Configuration Examples
9.17.6 Spam Back Ends
9.17.7 Extending the Spam package
9.17.8 Spam Statistics Package
Spam Statistics Package
9.17.8.1 Creating a spam-stat dictionary
9.17.8.2 Splitting mail using spam-stat
9.17.8.3 Low-level interface to the spam-stat dictionary
Appendices
11.1 XEmacs		Requirements for installing under XEmacs.
11.2 History		How Gnus got where it is today.
11.3 On Writing Manuals		Why this is not a beginner’s guide.
11.4 Terminology		We use really difficult, like, words here.
11.5 Customization		Tailoring Gnus to your needs.
11.6 Troubleshooting		What you might try if things do not work.
11.7 Gnus Reference Guide		Rilly, rilly technical stuff.
11.8 Emacs for Heathens		A short introduction to Emacsian terms.
11.9 Frequently Asked Questions		The Gnus FAQ
History
11.2.1 Gnus Versions		What Gnus versions have been released.
11.2.2 Why?		What’s the point of Gnus?
11.2.3 Compatibility		Just how compatible is Gnus with GNUS?
11.2.4 Conformity		Gnus tries to conform to all standards.
11.2.5 Emacsen		Gnus can be run on a few modern Emacsen.
11.2.6 Gnus Development		How Gnus is developed.
11.2.7 Contributors		Oodles of people.
11.2.8 New Features		Pointers to some of the new stuff in Gnus.
New Features
11.2.8.1 (ding) Gnus		New things in Gnus 5.0/5.1, the first new Gnus.
11.2.8.2 September Gnus		The Thing Formally Known As Gnus 5.2/5.3.
11.2.8.3 Red Gnus		Third time best—Gnus 5.4/5.5.
11.2.8.4 Quassia Gnus		Two times two is four, or Gnus 5.6/5.7.
11.2.8.5 Pterodactyl Gnus		Pentad also starts with P, AKA Gnus 5.8/5.9.
11.2.8.6 Oort Gnus		It’s big. It’s far out. Gnus 5.10/5.11.
11.2.8.7 No Gnus		Very punny. Gnus 5.12/5.13
11.2.8.8 Ma Gnus		Celebrating 25 years of Gnus.
Customization
11.5.1 Slow/Expensive Connection		You run a local Emacs and get the news elsewhere.
11.5.2 Slow Terminal Connection		You run a remote Emacs.
11.5.3 Little Disk Space		You feel that having large setup files is icky.
11.5.4 Slow Machine		You feel like buying a faster machine.
Gnus Reference Guide
11.7.1 Gnus Utility Functions		Common functions and variable to use.
11.7.2 Back End Interface		How Gnus communicates with the servers.
11.7.3 Score File Syntax		A BNF definition of the score file standard.
11.7.4 Headers		How Gnus stores headers internally.
11.7.5 Ranges		A handy format for storing mucho numbers.
11.7.6 Group Info		The group info format.
11.7.7 Extended Interactive		Symbolic prefixes and stuff.
11.7.8 Emacs/XEmacs Code		Gnus can be run under all modern Emacsen.
11.7.9 Various File Formats		Formats of files that Gnus use.
Back End Interface
11.7.2.1 Required Back End Functions		Functions that must be implemented.
11.7.2.2 Optional Back End Functions		Functions that need not be implemented.
11.7.2.3 Error Messaging		How to get messages and report errors.
11.7.2.4 Writing New Back Ends		Extending old back ends.
11.7.2.5 Hooking New Back Ends Into Gnus		What has to be done on the Gnus end.
11.7.2.6 Mail-like Back Ends		Some tips on mail back ends.
Various File Formats
11.7.9.1 Active File Format		Information on articles and groups available.
11.7.9.2 Newsgroups File Format		Group descriptions.
Emacs for Heathens
11.8.1 Keystrokes		Entering text and executing commands.
11.8.2 Emacs Lisp		The built-in Emacs programming language.

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