diff --git a/doc/misc/gnus.texi b/doc/misc/gnus.texi index 2f4bc0cbf8..f3cc46087f 100644 --- a/doc/misc/gnus.texi +++ b/doc/misc/gnus.texi @@ -402,6 +402,7 @@ Top @end iftex @menu +* Don't Panic:: Your first 20 minutes with Gnus. * Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain. * Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups. * Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles. @@ -947,6 +948,140 @@ Top @end detailmenu @end menu +@node Don't Panic +@chapter Don't Panic +@cindex don't panic +@cindex introduction to Gnus + +Welcome, gentle user, to the Gnus newsreader and email client! Gnus +is unlike most clients, in part because of its endless +configurability, in part because of its historical origins. Gnus is +now a fully-featured email client, but it began life as a Usenet-style +newsreader, and its genes are still newsreader genes. Thus it behaves +a little differently than most mail clients. + +The typical assumptions of a newsreader are: + +@enumerate +@item +The server offers a potentially enormous number of newsgroups on a +variety of subjects. The user may only be interested in some of those +groups, and more interested in some than others. +@item +Many groups see a high volume of articles, and the user won't want to +read all of them. Mechanisms are needed for foregrounding interesting +articles, and backgrounding uninteresting articles. +@item +Once a group has been scanned and dealt with by the user, it's +unlikely to be of further interest until new articles come in. +@end enumerate + +These assumptions lead to certain default Gnus behaviors: + +@enumerate +@item +Not all interesting groups are equally interesting, thus groups have +varying degrees of ``subscribedness'', with different behavior +depending on ``how subscribed'' a group is. +@item +There are many commands and tools for scoring and sorting articles, +or otherwise sweeping them under the rug. +@item +Gnus will only show you groups with unread or ticked articles; +groups with no new articles are hidden. +@item +When entering a group, only unread or ticked articles are shown, +all other articles are hidden. +@end enumerate + +If this seems draconian, think of it as Automatic Inbox Zero. This is +the way Gnus works by default. It is possible to make it work more +like an email client (always showing read groups and read articles), +but that takes some effort on the part of the user. + +The brief introduction below should be enough to get you off the +ground. + +@heading The Basics of Servers, Groups, and Articles +@cindex servers +@cindex groups +@cindex articles + +The fundamental building blocks of Gnus are @dfn{servers}, +@dfn{groups}, and @dfn{articles}. Servers can be local or remote. +Each server maintains a list of groups, and those groups contain +articles. Because Gnus presents a unified interface to a wide variety +of servers, the vocabulary doesn't always quite line up (see @ref{FAQ +- Glossary}, for a more complete glossary). Thus a local maildir is +referred to as a ``server'' (@pxref{Finding the News}) the same as a +Usenet or IMAP server is; ``groups'' (@pxref{Group Buffer}) might mean +an NNTP group, IMAP folder, or local mail directory; and an +``article'' (@pxref{Summary Buffer}) might elsewhere be known as a +message or an email. Gnus employs unified terms for all these things. + +Servers fall into two general categories: ``news-like'', meaning that +the articles are part of a public archive and can't be manipulated by +the user; and ``mail-like'', meaning that the articles are owned by +the user, who can freely edit them, move them around, and delete +them. + +For news-like servers, which typically offer hundreds or thousands of +groups, it's important to be able to subscribe to a subset of those +groups. For mail-like servers, the user is generally automatically +subscribed to all groups (though IMAP, for example, also allows +selective subscription). To change group subscription, enter the +Server buffer (with @kbd{^}) and press @kbd{@key{RET}} on the server +in question. From here, Gnus provides commands to change or toggle +your group subscriptions (@pxref{Browse Foreign Server}). + +A Gnus installation is basically just a list of one or more servers, +plus the user's subscribed groups from those servers, plus articles in +those groups. + +Servers can be added and configured in two places: in the user's +gnus.el startup file, using the @code{gnus-select-method} and +@code{gnus-secondary-select-methods} options, or within Gnus itself +using interactive commands in the Server buffer. @ref{Finding +the News} for details. + + +@heading Fetching Mail + +New mail has to come from somewhere. Some servers, such as NNTP or +IMAP, are themselves responsible for fetching newly-arrived articles. +Others, such as maildir or mbox servers, only store articles and don't +fetch them from anywhere. + +In the latter case, Gnus provides for @code{mail sources}: places +where new mail is fetched from. A mail source might be a local spool, +or a remote POP server, or some other source of incoming articles. +Mail sources are usually configured globally, but can be specified +per-group (@pxref{Mail Sources} for more information). + +@xref{Scanning New Messages}, for details on fetching new mail. + +@heading Viewing Mail + +By default, Gnus's Group buffer only displays groups with unread +articles. It is always possible to display all the groups temporarily +with @kbd{L}, and to configure Gnus to always display some groups +(@pxref{Listing Groups}). + +@xref{Selecting a Group}, for how to enter a group, and @pxref{Summary +Buffer} for what to do once you're there. + +@heading Sending Mail + +New message composition can be initiated from the Group buffer +(@pxref{Misc Group Stuff}). If you're in a Summary buffer, you can +compose replies and forward emails in addition to starting new +messages, see @ref{Summary Mail Commands} for details. + +For information about what happens once you've started composing a +message, see @ref{Composing Messages}. For information on setting up +@acronym{SMTP} servers in particular, see @ref{Mail Variables, ,Mail +Variables,message,Message manual}. + @node Starting Up @chapter Starting Gnus @cindex starting up