[Top][All Lists]
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[Emacs-diffs] Changes to emacs/man/gnus-faq.texi [gnus-5_10-branch]
|
From: |
Reiner Steib |
|
Subject: |
[Emacs-diffs] Changes to emacs/man/gnus-faq.texi [gnus-5_10-branch] |
|
Date: |
Mon, 02 Aug 2004 18:16:50 -0400 |
Index: emacs/man/gnus-faq.texi
diff -c /dev/null emacs/man/gnus-faq.texi:1.8.2.1
*** /dev/null Mon Aug 2 13:38:56 2004
--- emacs/man/gnus-faq.texi Mon Aug 2 13:38:50 2004
***************
*** 0 ****
--- 1,2607 ----
+ @c Insert "\input texinfo" at 1st line before texing this file alone.
+ @c -*-texinfo-*-
+ @c Copyright (C) 1995, 2001, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ @setfilename gnus-faq.info
+
+ @c Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ - Introduction, Emacs for Heathens, Top
+
+ @node Frequently Asked Questions
+ @comment node-name, next, previous, up
+
+ @c @chapter Frequently Asked Questions
+ @section Frequently Asked Questions
+ @cindex FAQ
+ @cindex Frequently Asked Questions
+
+ @c - Uncomment @chapter, comment @section
+ @c - run (texinfo-every-node-update)
+ @c - revert it.
+
+ @menu
+ * FAQ - Introduction:: About Gnus and this FAQ.
+ * FAQ 1 - Installation:: Installation of Gnus.
+ * FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer:: Start up questions and the first
+ buffer Gnus shows you.
+ * FAQ 3 - Getting messages:: Making Gnus read your mail and news.
+ * FAQ 4 - Reading messages:: How to efficiently read messages.
+ * FAQ 5 - Composing messages:: Composing mails or Usenet postings.
+ * FAQ 6 - Old messages:: Importing, archiving, searching
+ and deleting messages.
+ * FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment:: Reading mail and news while offline.
+ * FAQ 8 - Getting help:: When this FAQ isn't enough.
+ * FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus:: How to make Gnus faster.
+ * FAQ - Glossary:: Terms used in the FAQ explained.
+ @end menu
+
+
+ @subheading Abstract
+
+ This is the new Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list. If you have a
+ Web browser, the official hypertext version is at
+ @uref{http://my.gnus.org/FAQ/}, the Docbook source is available from
+ @uref{http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnus/}.
+
+
+ Please submit features and suggestions to the
+ @email{faq-discuss@@my.gnus.org,FAQ discussion list}.
+ The list is protected against junk mail with
+ @uref{http://smarden.org/qconfirm/index.html,qconfirm, qconfirm}. As
+ a subscriber, your submissions will automatically pass. You can
+ also subscribe to the list by sending a blank email to
+ @email{faq-discuss-subscribe@@my.gnus.org}
+ and
+
@uref{http://mail1.kens.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-browse?command=monthbythread%26list=faq-discuss,browse
+ the archive, browse the archive}.
+
+ @node FAQ - Introduction, FAQ 1 - Installation, Frequently Asked Questions,
Frequently Asked Questions
+ @comment node-name, next, previous, up
+ @heading Introduction
+
+ This is the Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.
+
+ Gnus is a Usenet Newsreader and Electronic Mail User Agent implemented
+ as a part of Emacs. It's been around in some form for almost a decade
+ now, and has been distributed as a standard part of Emacs for much of
+ that time. Gnus 5 is the latest (and greatest) incarnation. The
+ original version was called GNUS, and was written by Masanobu UMEDA.
+ When autumn crept up in '94, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen grew bored and
+ decided to rewrite Gnus.
+
+ Its biggest strength is the fact that it is extremely
+ customizable. It is somewhat intimidating at first glance, but
+ most of the complexity can be ignored until you're ready to take
+ advantage of it. If you receive a reasonable volume of e-mail
+ (you're on various mailing lists), or you would like to read
+ high-volume mailing lists but cannot keep up with them, or read
+ high volume newsgroups or are just bored, then Gnus is what you
+ want.
+
+ This FAQ was maintained by Justin Sheehy until March 2002. He
+ would like to thank Steve Baur and Per Abrahamsen for doing a wonderful
+ job with this FAQ before him. We would like to do the same - thanks,
+ Justin!
+
+
+ If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at:@*
+ @uref{http://my.gnus.org/FAQ/}.
+ This version is much nicer than the unofficial hypertext
+ versions that are archived at Utrecht, Oxford, Smart Pages, Ohio
+ State, and other FAQ archives. See the resources question below
+ if you want information on obtaining it in another format.
+
+
+ The information contained here was compiled with the assistance
+ of the Gnus development mailing list, and any errors or
+ misprints are the my.gnus.org team's fault, sorry.
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 1 - Installation, FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, FAQ -
Introduction, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Installation
+
+ @menu
+ * [1.1]:: What is the latest version of Gnus?
+ * [1.2]:: What's new in 5.10.0?
+ * [1.3]:: Where and how to get Gnus?
+ * [1.4]:: What to do with the tarball now?
+ * [1.5]:: Which version of Emacs do I need?
+ * [1.6]:: How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?
+ @end menu
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [1.1], [1.2], FAQ 1 - Installation, FAQ 1 - Installation
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 1.1:
+
+ What is the latest version of Gnus?
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Jingle please: Gnus 5.10.0 is released, get it while it's
+ hot! As well as the step in version number is rather
+ small, Gnus 5.10 has tons of new features which you
+ shouldn't miss, however if you are cautious, you might
+ prefer to stay with 5.8.8 respectively 5.9 (they are
+ basically the same) until some bugfix releases are out.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [1.2], [1.3], [1.1], FAQ 1 - Installation
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 1.2:
+
+ What's new in 5.10.0?
+
+ Answer:
+
+ First of all, you should have a look into the file
+ GNUS-NEWS in the toplevel directory of the Gnus tarball,
+ there the most important changes are listed. Here's a
+ short list of the changes I find especially
+ important/interesting:
+
+
+
+
+ @itemize @bullet{}
+
+ @item
+ Major rewrite of the Gnus agent, Gnus agent is now
+ active by default.
+
+ @item
+ Many new article washing functions for dealing with
+ ugly formatted articles.
+
+ @item
+ Anti Spam features.
+
+ @item
+ message-utils now included in Gnus.
+
+ @item
+ New format specifiers for summary lines, e.g. %B for
+ a complex trn-style thread tree.
+
+ @end itemize
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [1.3], [1.4], [1.2], FAQ 1 - Installation
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 1.3:
+
+ Where and how to get Gnus?
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The latest released version of Gnus isn't included in
+ Emacs 21 and until now it also isn't available through the
+ package system of XEmacs 21.4, therefor you should get the
+ Gnus tarball from
+ @uref{http://www.gnus.org/dist/gnus.tar.gz}
+ or via anonymous FTP from
+ @uref{ftp://ftp.gnus.org/pub/gnus/gnus.tar.gz}.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [1.4], [1.5], [1.3], FAQ 1 - Installation
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 1.4:
+
+ What to do with the tarball now?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Untar it via @samp{tar xvzf gnus.tar.gz} and do the common
+ @samp{./configure; make; make install} circle.
+ (under MS-Windows either get the Cygwin environment from
+ @uref{http://www.cygwin.com}
+ which allows you to do what's described above or unpack the
+ tarball with some packer (e.g. Winace from
+ @uref{http://www.winace.com})
+ and use the batch-file make.bat included in the tarball to install
+ Gnus. If you don't want to (or aren't allowed to) install Gnus
+ system-wide, you can install it in your home directory and add the
+ following lines to your ~/.xemacs/init.el or ~/.emacs:
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/gnus/lisp")
+ (if (featurep 'xemacs)
+ (add-to-list 'Info-directory-list "/path/to/gnus/texi/")
+ (add-to-list 'Info-default-directory-list "/path/to/gnus/texi/"))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Make sure that you don't have any Gnus related stuff
+ before this line, on MS Windows use something like
+ "C:/path/to/lisp" (yes, "/").
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [1.5], [1.6], [1.4], FAQ 1 - Installation
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 1.5:
+
+ Which version of Emacs do I need?
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Gnus 5.10.0 requires an Emacs version that is greater
+ than or equal to Emacs 20.7 or XEmacs 21.1.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [1.6], , [1.5], FAQ 1 - Installation
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 1.6:
+
+ How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You can't use the same copy of Gnus in both as the Lisp
+ files are byte-compiled to a format which is different
+ depending on which Emacs did the compilation. Get one copy
+ of Gnus for Emacs and one for XEmacs.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, FAQ 3 - Getting messages, FAQ 1 -
Installation, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Startup / Group buffer
+
+ @menu
+ * [2.1]:: Every time I start Gnus I get a message
+ "Gnus auto-save file exists. Do you want to read it?",
+ what does this mean and how to prevent it?
+ * [2.2]:: Gnus doesn't remember which groups I'm subscribed to, what's
this?
+ * [2.3]:: How to change the format of the lines in Group buffer?
+ * [2.4]:: My group buffer becomes a bit crowded, is there a way to sort my
+ groups into categories so I can easier browse through them?
+ * [2.5]:: How to manually sort the groups in Group buffer? How to sort the
+ groups in a topic?
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [2.1], [2.2], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer, FAQ 2 - Startup / Group
buffer
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 2.1:
+
+ Every time I start Gnus I get a message "Gnus auto-save
+ file exists. Do you want to read it?", what does this mean
+ and how to prevent it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ This message means that the last time you used Gnus, it
+ wasn't properly exited and therefor couldn't write its
+ informations to disk (e.g. which messages you read), you
+ are now asked if you want to restore those informations
+ from the auto-save file.
+
+
+ To prevent this message make sure you exit Gnus
+ via @samp{q} in group buffer instead of
+ just killing Emacs.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [2.2], [2.3], [2.1], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question: 2.2
+
+ Gnus doesn't remember which groups I'm subscribed to,
+ what's this?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You get the message described in the q/a pair above while
+ starting Gnus, right? It's an other symptom for the same
+ problem, so read the answer above.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [2.3], [2.4], [2.2], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 2.3:
+
+ How to change the format of the lines in Group buffer?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You've got to tweak the value of the variable
+ gnus-group-line-format. See the manual node "Group Line
+ Specification" for information on how to do this. An
+ example for this (guess from whose .gnus :-)):
+
+
+ @example
+
+ (setq gnus-group-line-format "%P%M%S[%5t]%5y : %(%g%)\n")
+
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [2.4], [2.5], [2.3], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 2.4:
+
+ My group buffer becomes a bit crowded, is there a way to
+ sort my groups into categories so I can easier browse
+ through them?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Gnus offers the topic mode, it allows you to sort your
+ groups in, well, topics, e.g. all groups dealing with
+ Linux under the topic linux, all dealing with music under
+ the topic music and all dealing with scottish music under
+ the topic scottish which is a subtopic of music.
+
+
+ To enter topic mode, just hit t while in Group buffer. Now
+ you can use @samp{T n} to create a topic
+ at point and @samp{T m} to move a group to
+ a specific topic. For more commands see the manual or the
+ menu. You might want to include the %P specifier at the
+ beginning of your gnus-group-line-format variable to have
+ the groups nicely indented.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [2.5], , [2.4], FAQ 2 - Startup / Group buffer
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 2.5:
+
+ How to manually sort the groups in Group buffer? How to
+ sort the groups in a topic?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Move point over the group you want to move and
+ hit @samp{C-k}, now move point to the
+ place where you want the group to be and
+ hit @samp{C-y}.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 3 - Getting messages, FAQ 4 - Reading messages, FAQ 2 - Startup /
Group buffer, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Getting messages
+
+ @menu
+ * [3.1]:: I just installed Gnus, started it via M-x gnus but it only says
+ "nntp (news) open error", what to do?
+ * [3.2]:: I'm working under Windows and have no idea what ~/.gnus means.
+ * [3.3]:: My news server requires authentication, how to store user name
+ and password on disk?
+ * [3.4]:: Gnus seems to start up OK, but I can't find out how to
+ subscribe to a group.
+ * [3.5]:: Gnus doesn't show all groups / Gnus says I'm not allowed to
+ post on this server as well as I am, what's that?
+ * [3.6]:: I want Gnus to fetch news from several servers, is this possible?
+ * [3.7]:: And how about local spool files?
+ * [3.8]:: OK, reading news works now, but I want to be able to read my mail
+ with Gnus, too. How to do it?
+ * [3.9]:: And what about IMAP?
+ * [3.10]:: At the office we use one of those MS Exchange servers,
+ can I use Gnus to read my mail from it?
+ * [3.11]:: Can I tell Gnus not to delete the mails on the server
+ it retrieves via POP3?
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.1], [3.2], FAQ 3 - Getting messages, FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.1:
+
+ I just installed Gnus, started it via
+ @samp{M-x gnus}
+ but it only says "nntp (news) open error", what to do?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You've got to tell Gnus where to fetch the news from. Read
+ the documentation for information on how to do this. As a
+ first start, put those lines in ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-select-method '(nntp "news.yourprovider.net"))
+ (setq user-mail-address "you@@yourprovider.net")
+ (setq user-full-name "Your Name")
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.2], [3.3], [3.1], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.2:
+
+ I'm working under Windows and have no idea what ~/.gnus means.
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The ~/ means the home directory where Gnus and Emacs look for the
+ configuration files. However, you don't really need to know what this
+ means, it suffices that Emacs knows what it means :-) You can type
+ @samp{C-x C-f ~/.gnus RET } (yes, with the forward slash, even on
+ Windows), and Emacs will open the right file for you. (It will most
+ likely be new, and thus empty.) However, I'd discourage you from
+ doing so, since the directory Emacs chooses will most certainly not be
+ what you want, so let's do it the correct way. The first thing you've
+ got to do is to create a suitable directory (no blanks in directory
+ name please) e.g. @file{c:\myhome}. Then you must set the environment
+ variable HOME to this directory. To do this under Win9x or Me include
+ the line
+
+
+ @example
+
+ SET HOME=C:\myhome
+
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in your autoexec.bat and reboot. Under NT, 2000 and XP,
+ hit Winkey+Pause/Break to enter system options (if it
+ doesn't work, go to Control Panel -> System). There you'll
+ find the possibility to set environment variables, create
+ a new one with name HOME and value @file{c:\myhome}, a reboot is
+ not necessary.
+
+
+ Now to create ~/.gnus, say
+ @samp{C-x C-f ~/.gnus RET C-x C-s}.
+ in Emacs.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.3], [3.4], [3.2], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.3:
+
+ My news server requires authentication, how to store
+ user name and password on disk?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Create a file ~/.authinfo which includes for each server a line like this
+
+
+ @example
+ machine news.yourprovider.net login YourUserName password YourPassword
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ .
+ Make sure that the file isn't readable to others if you
+ work on a OS which is capable of doing so. (Under Unix
+ say
+
+ @example
+ chmod 600 ~/.authinfo
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in a shell.)
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.4], [3.5], [3.3], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.4:
+
+ Gnus seems to start up OK, but I can't find out how to
+ subscribe to a group.
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ If you know the name of the group say @samp{U
+ name.of.group RET} in group buffer (use the
+ tab-completion Luke). Otherwise hit ^ in group buffer,
+ this brings you to the server buffer. Now place point (the
+ cursor) over the server which carries the group you want,
+ hit @samp{RET}, move point to the group
+ you want to subscribe to and say @samp{u}
+ to subscribe to it.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.5], [3.6], [3.4], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.5:
+
+ Gnus doesn't show all groups / Gnus says I'm not allowed to
+ post on this server as well as I am, what's that?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Some providers allow restricted anonymous access and full
+ access only after authorization. To make Gnus send authinfo
+ to those servers append
+
+
+ @example
+ force yes
+ @end example
+
+
+ @noindent
+ to the line for those servers in ~/.authinfo.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.6], [3.7], [3.5], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.6:
+
+ I want Gnus to fetch news from several servers, is this possible?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Of course. You can specify more sources for articles in the
+ variable gnus-secondary-select-methods. Add something like
+ this in ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
+ '(nntp "news.yourSecondProvider.net"))
+ (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
+ '(nntp "news.yourThirdProvider.net"))
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.7], [3.8], [3.6], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.7:
+
+ And how about local spool files?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ No problem, this is just one more select method called
+ nnspool, so you want this:
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnspool ""))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Or this if you don't want an NNTP Server as primary news source:
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-select-method '(nnspool ""))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Gnus will look for the spool file in /usr/spool/news, if you
+ want something different, change the line above to something like this:
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
+ '(nnspool "" (nnspool-directory "/usr/local/myspoolddir")))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ This sets the spool directory for this server only.
+ You might have to specify more stuff like the program used
+ to post articles, see the Gnus manual on how to do this.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.8], [3.9], [3.7], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.8:
+
+ OK, reading news works now, but I want to be able to read my mail
+ with Gnus, too. How to do it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ That's a bit harder since there are many possible sources
+ for mail, many possible ways for storing mail and many
+ different ways for sending mail. The most common cases are
+ these: 1: You want to read your mail from a pop3 server and
+ send them directly to a SMTP Server 2: Some program like
+ fetchmail retrieves your mail and stores it on disk from
+ where Gnus shall read it. Outgoing mail is sent by
+ Sendmail, Postfix or some other MTA. Sometimes, you even
+ need a combination of the above cases.
+
+
+ However, the first thing to do is to tell Gnus in which way
+ it should store the mail, in Gnus terminology which back end
+ to use. Gnus supports many different back ends, the most
+ commonly used one is nnml. It stores every mail in one file
+ and is therefor quite fast. However you might prefer a one
+ file per group approach if your file system has problems with
+ many small files, the nnfolder back end is then probably the
+ choice for you. To use nnml add the following to ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnml ""))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ As you might have guessed, if you want nnfolder, it's
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'gnus-secondary-select-methods '(nnfolder ""))
+ @end example
+
+
+ Now we need to tell Gnus, where to get it's mail from. If
+ it's a POP3 server, then you need something like this:
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "mail-source"
+ '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(pop :server "pop.YourProvider.net"
+ :user "yourUserName"
+ :password "yourPassword")))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Make sure ~/.gnus isn't readable to others if you store
+ your password there. If you want to read your mail from a
+ traditional spool file on your local machine, it's
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "mail-source"
+ '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(file :path "/path/to/spool/file")))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ If it's a Maildir, with one file per message as used by
+ postfix, Qmail and (optionally) fetchmail it's
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "mail-source"
+ '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(maildir :path "/path/to/Maildir/"
+ :subdirs ("cur" "new")))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ And finally if you want to read your mail from several files
+ in one directory, for example because procmail already split your
+ mail, it's
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "mail-source"
+ '(add-to-list 'mail-sources '(directory :path "/path/to/procmail-dir/"
+ :suffix ".prcml"))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Where :suffix ".prcml" tells Gnus only to use files with the
+ suffix .prcml.
+
+
+ OK, now you only need to tell Gnus how to send mail. If you
+ want to send mail via sendmail (or whichever MTA is playing
+ the role of sendmail on your system), you don't need to do
+ anything. However, if you want to send your mail to an
+ SMTP Server you need the following in your ~/.gnus
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
+ (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it)
+ (setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server "smtp.yourProvider.net")
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.9], [3.10], [3.8], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.9:
+
+ And what about IMAP?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ There are two ways of using IMAP with Gnus. The first one is
+ to use IMAP like POP3, that means Gnus fetches the mail from
+ the IMAP server and stores it on disk. If you want to do
+ this (you don't really want to do this) add the following to
+ ~/.gnus
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list 'mail-sources '(imap :server "mail.mycorp.com"
+ :user "username"
+ :pass "password"
+ :stream network
+ :authentication login
+ :mailbox "INBOX"
+ :fetchflag "\\Seen"))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ You might have to tweak the values for stream and/or
+ authentification, see the Gnus manual node "Mail Source
+ Specifiers" for possible values.
+
+
+ If you want to use IMAP the way it's intended, you've got to
+ follow a different approach. You've got to add the nnimap
+ back end to your select method and give the information
+ about the server there.
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-to-list
+ 'gnus-secondary-select-methods
+ '(nnimap "Give the baby a name"
+ (nnimap-address "imap.yourProvider.net")
+ (nnimap-port 143)
+ (nnimap-list-pattern "archive.*")))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Again, you might have to specify how to authenticate to the
+ server if Gnus can't guess the correct way, see the Manual
+ Node "IMAP" for detailed information.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.10], [3.11], [3.9], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.10:
+
+ At the office we use one of those MS Exchange servers, can I use
+ Gnus to read my mail from it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Offer your administrator a pair of new running shoes for
+ activating IMAP on the server and follow the instructions
+ above.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [3.11], , [3.10], FAQ 3 - Getting messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 3.11:
+
+ Can I tell Gnus not to delete the mails on the server it
+ retrieves via POP3?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ First of all, that's not the way POP3 is intended to work,
+ if you have the possibility, you should use the IMAP
+ Protocol if you want your messages to stay on the
+ server. Nevertheless there might be situations where you
+ need the feature, but sadly Gnus itself has no predefined
+ functionality to do so.
+
+
+ However this is Gnus county so there are possibilities to
+ achieve what you want. The easiest way is to get an external
+ program which retrieves copies of the mail and stores them
+ on disk, so Gnus can read it from there. On Unix systems you
+ could use e.g. fetchmail for this, on MS Windows you can use
+ Hamster, an excellent local news and mail server.
+
+
+ The other solution would be, to replace the method Gnus
+ uses to get mail from POP3 servers by one which is capable
+ of leaving the mail on the server. If you use XEmacs, get
+ the package mail-lib, it includes an enhanced pop3.el,
+ look in the file, there's documentation on how to tell
+ Gnus to use it and not to delete the retrieved mail. For
+ GNU Emacs look for the file epop3.el which can do the same
+ (If you know the home of this file, please send me an
+ e-mail). You can also tell Gnus to use an external program
+ (e.g. fetchmail) to fetch your mail, see the info node
+ "Mail Source Specifiers" in the Gnus manual on how to do
+ it.
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 4 - Reading messages, FAQ 5 - Composing messages, FAQ 3 - Getting
messages, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Reading messages
+
+ @menu
+ * [4.1]:: When I enter a group, all read messages are gone.
+ How to view them again?
+ * [4.2]:: How to tell Gnus to show an important message every time
+ I enter a group, even when it's read?
+ * [4.3]:: How to view the headers of a message?
+ * [4.4]:: How to view the raw unformatted message?
+ * [4.5]:: How can I change the headers Gnus displays by default at the
+ top of the article buffer?
+ * [4.6]:: I'd like Gnus NOT to render HTML-mails but show me the
+ text part if it's available. How to do it?
+ * [4.7]:: Can I use some other browser than w3 to render my HTML-mails?
+ * [4.8]:: Is there anything I can do to make poorly formatted mails
+ more readable?
+ * [4.9]:: Is there a way to automatically ignore posts by specific authors
+ or with specific words in the subject? And can I highlight more
+ interesting ones in some way?
+ * [4.10]:: How can I disable threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or set
+ other variables specific for some groups?
+ * [4.11]:: Can I highlight messages written by me and follow-ups to those?
+ * [4.12]:: The number of total messages in a group which Gnus displays in
+ group buffer is by far to high, especially in mail groups.
+ Is this a bug?
+ * [4.13]:: I don't like the layout of summary and article buffer,
+ how to change it? Perhaps even a three pane display?
+ * [4.14]:: I don't like the way the Summary buffer looks, how to tweak it?
+ * [4.15]:: How to split incoming mails in several groups?
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.1], [4.2], FAQ 4 - Reading messages, FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.1:
+
+ When I enter a group, all read messages are gone. How to view them again?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ If you enter the group by saying
+ @samp{RET}
+ in summary buffer with point over the group, only unread and ticked messages
are loaded. Say
+ @samp{C-u RET}
+ instead to load all available messages. If you want only the e.g. 300 newest
say
+ @samp{C-u 300 RET}
+
+
+ Loading only unread messages can be annoying if you have threaded view
enabled, say
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-fetch-old-headers 'some)
+ @end example
+
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus to load enough old articles to prevent teared threads, replace
'some with t to load
+ all articles (Warning: Both settings enlarge the amount of data which is
+ fetched when you enter a group and slow down the process of entering a
group).
+
+
+ If you already use Gnus 5.10.0, you can say
+ @samp{/o N}
+ In summary buffer to load the last N messages, this feature is not available
in 5.8.8
+
+
+ If you don't want all old messages, but the parent of the message you're
just reading,
+ you can say @samp{^}, if you want to retrieve the whole thread
+ the message you're just reading belongs to, @samp{A T} is your friend.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.2], [4.3], [4.1], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.2:
+
+ How to tell Gnus to show an important message every time I
+ enter a group, even when it's read?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You can tick important messages. To do this hit
+ @samp{u} while point is in summary buffer
+ over the message. When you want to remove the mark, hit
+ either @samp{d} (this deletes the tick
+ mark and set's unread mark) or @samp{M c}
+ (which deletes all marks for the message).
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.3], [4.4], [4.2], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.3:
+
+ How to view the headers of a message?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Say @samp{t}
+ to show all headers, one more
+ @samp{t}
+ hides them again.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.4], [4.5], [4.3], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.4:
+
+ How to view the raw unformatted message?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Say
+ @samp{C-u g}
+ to show the raw message
+ @samp{g}
+ returns to normal view.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.5], [4.6], [4.4], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.5:
+
+ How can I change the headers Gnus displays by default at
+ the top of the article buffer?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The variable gnus-visible-headers controls which headers
+ are shown, its value is a regular expression, header lines
+ which match it are shown. So if you want author, subject,
+ date, and if the header exists, Followup-To and MUA / NUA
+ say this in ~/.gnus:
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-visible-headers
+ "^\\(From:\\|Subject:\\|Date:\\|Followup-To:\
+ \\|X-Newsreader:\\|User-Agent:\\|X-Mailer:\\)")
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.6], [4.7], [4.5], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.6:
+
+ I'd like Gnus NOT to render HTML-mails but show me the
+ text part if it's available. How to do it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Say
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "mm-decode"
+ '(progn
+ (add-to-list 'mm-discouraged-alternatives "text/html")
+ (add-to-list 'mm-discouraged-alternatives "text/richtext")))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus. If you don't want HTML rendered, even if there's no text
alternative add
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq mm-automatic-display (remove "text/html" mm-automatic-display))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ too.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.7], [4.8], [4.6], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.7:
+
+ Can I use some other browser than w3 to render my HTML-mails?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Only if you use Gnus 5.10.0 or younger. In this case you've got the
+ choice between w3, w3m, links, lynx and html2text, which
+ one is used can be specified in the variable
+ mm-text-html-renderer, so if you want links to render your
+ mail say
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq mm-text-html-renderer 'links)
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.8], [4.9], [4.7], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.8:
+
+ Is there anything I can do to make poorly formatted mails
+ more readable?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Gnus offers you several functions to "wash" incoming mail,
+ you can find them if you browse through the menu, item Article->Washing. The
most
+ interesting ones are probably "Wrap long lines" (
+ @samp{W w}
+ ), "Decode ROT13" (
+ @samp{W r}
+ ) and "Outlook Deuglify" which repairs the dumb quoting used
+ by many users of Microsoft products (
+ @samp{W Y f} gives you full deuglify.
+ See @samp{W Y C-h} or
+ have a look at the menus for other deuglifications).
+ Outlook deuglify is only available since Gnus 5.10.0.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.9], [4.10], [4.8], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.9:
+
+ Is there a way to automatically ignore posts by specific
+ authors or with specific words in the subject? And can I
+ highlight more interesting ones in some way?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You want Scoring. Scoring means, that you define rules
+ which assign each message an integer value. Depending on
+ the value the message is highlighted in summary buffer (if
+ it's high, say +2000) or automatically marked read (if the
+ value is low, say -800) or some other action happens.
+
+
+ There are basically three ways of setting up rules which assign
+ the scoring-value to messages. The first and easiest way is to set
+ up rules based on the article you are just reading. Say you're
+ reading a message by a guy who always writes nonsense and you want
+ to ignore his messages in the future. Hit
+ @samp{L}, to set up a rule which lowers the score.
+ Now Gnus asks you which the criteria for lowering the Score shall
+ be. Hit @samp{?} twice to see all possibilities,
+ we want @samp{a} which means the author (the from
+ header). Now Gnus wants to know which kind of matching we want.
+ Hit either @samp{e} for an exact match or
+ @samp{s} for substring-match and delete afterwards
+ everything but the name to score down all authors with the given
+ name no matter which email address is used. Now you need to tell
+ Gnus when to apply the rule and how long it should last, hit e.g.
+ @samp{p} to apply the rule now and let it last
+ forever. If you want to raise the score instead of lowering it say
+ @samp{I} instead of @samp{L}.
+
+
+ You can also set up rules by hand. To do this say @samp{V
+ f} in summary buffer. Then you are asked for the name
+ of the score file, it's name.of.group.SCORE for rules valid in
+ only one group or all.Score for rules valid in all groups. See the
+ Gnus manual for the exact syntax, basically it's one big list
+ whose elements are lists again. the first element of those lists
+ is the header to score on, then one more list with what to match,
+ which score to assign, when to expire the rule and how to do the
+ matching. If you find me very interesting, you could e.g. add the
+ following to your all.Score:
+
+
+ @example
+ (("references" ("hschmi22.userfqdn.rz-online.de" 500 nil s))
+ ("message-id" ("hschmi22.userfqdn.rz-online.de" 999 nil s)))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ This would add 999 to the score of messages written by me
+ and 500 to the score of messages which are a (possibly
+ indirect) answer to a message written by me. Of course
+ nobody with a sane mind would do this :-)
+
+
+ The third alternative is adaptive scoring. This means Gnus
+ watches you and tries to find out what you find
+ interesting and what annoying and sets up rules
+ which reflect this. Adaptive scoring can be a huge help
+ when reading high traffic groups. If you want to activate
+ adaptive scoring say
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-use-adaptive-scoring t)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.10], [4.11], [4.9], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.10:
+
+ How can I disable threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or
+ set other variables specific for some groups?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ While in group buffer move point over the group and hit
+ @samp{G c}, this opens a buffer where you
+ can set options for the group. At the bottom of the buffer
+ you'll find an item that allows you to set variables
+ locally for the group. To disable threading enter
+ gnus-show-threads as name of variable and nil as
+ value. Hit button done at the top of the buffer when
+ you're ready.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.11], [4.12], [4.10], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.11:
+
+ Can I highlight messages written by me and follow-ups to
+ those?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Stop those "Can I ..." questions, the answer is always yes
+ in Gnus Country :-). It's a three step process: First we
+ make faces (specifications of how summary-line shall look
+ like) for those postings, then we'll give them some
+ special score and finally we'll tell Gnus to use the new
+ faces. You can find detailed instructions on how to do it on
+
@uref{http://my.gnus.org/Members/dzimmerm/HowTo%2C2002-07-25%2C1027619165012198456/view,my.gnus.org}
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.12], [4.13], [4.11], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.12:
+
+ The number of total messages in a group which Gnus
+ displays in group buffer is by far to high, especially in
+ mail groups. Is this a bug?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ No, that's a matter of design of Gnus, fixing this would
+ mean reimplementation of major parts of Gnus'
+ back ends. Gnus thinks "highest-article-number -
+ lowest-article-number = total-number-of-articles". This
+ works OK for Usenet groups, but if you delete and move
+ many messages in mail groups, this fails. To cure the
+ symptom, enter the group via @samp{C-u RET}
+ (this makes Gnus get all messages), then
+ hit @samp{M P b} to mark all messages and
+ then say @samp{B m name.of.group} to move
+ all messages to the group they have been in before, they
+ get new message numbers in this process and the count is
+ right again (until you delete and move your mail to other
+ groups again).
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.13], [4.14], [4.12], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.13:
+
+ I don't like the layout of summary and article buffer, how
+ to change it? Perhaps even a three pane display?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You can control the windows configuration by calling the
+ function gnus-add-configuration. The syntax is a bit
+ complicated but explained very well in the manual node
+ "Window Layout". Some popular examples:
+
+
+ Instead 25% summary 75% article buffer 35% summary and 65%
+ article (the 1.0 for article means "take the remaining
+ space"):
+
+
+ @example
+ (gnus-add-configuration
+ '(article (vertical 1.0
+ (summary .35 point)
+ (article 1.0))))
+ @end example
+
+
+ A three pane layout, Group buffer on the left, summary
+ buffer top-right, article buffer bottom-right:
+
+
+ @example
+ (gnus-add-configuration
+ '(article
+ (horizontal 1.0
+ (vertical 25
+ (group 1.0))
+ (vertical 1.0
+ (summary 0.25 point)
+ (article 1.0)))))
+ (gnus-add-configuration
+ '(summary
+ (horizontal 1.0
+ (vertical 25
+ (group 1.0))
+ (vertical 1.0
+ (summary 1.0 point)))))
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.14], [4.15], [4.13], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.14:
+
+ I don't like the way the Summary buffer looks, how to tweak it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You've got to play around with the variable
+ gnus-summary-line-format. It's value is a string of
+ symbols which stand for things like author, date, subject
+ etc. A list of the available specifiers can be found in the
+ manual node "Summary Buffer Lines" and the often forgotten
+ node "Formatting Variables" and it's sub-nodes. There
+ you'll find useful things like positioning the cursor and
+ tabulators which allow you a summary in table form, but
+ sadly hard tabulators are broken in 5.8.8.
+
+
+ Since 5.10.0, Gnus offers you some very nice new specifiers,
+ e.g. %B which draws a thread-tree and %&user-date which
+ gives you a date where the details are dependent of the
+ articles age. Here's an example which uses both:
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-summary-line-format
+ ":%U%R %B %s %-60=|%4L |%-20,20f |%&user-date; \n")
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ resulting in:
+
+
+ @smallexample
+ :O Re: [Richard Stallman] rfc2047.el | 13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|Sat 23:06
+ :O Re: Revival of the ding-patches list | 13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|Sat 23:12
+ :R > Re: Find correct list of articles for a gro| 25 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|Sat 23:16
+ :O \-> ... | 21 |Kai Grossjohann
| 0:01
+ :R > Re: Cry for help: deuglify.el - moving stuf| 28 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|Sat 23:34
+ :O \-> ... | 115 |Raymond Scholz
| 1:24
+ :O \-> ... | 19 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|15:33
+ :O Slow mailing list | 13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|Sat 23:49
+ :O Re: `@@' mark not documented | 13 |Lars Magne
Ingebrigt |Sat 23:50
+ :R > Re: Gnus still doesn't count messages prope| 23 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
|Sat 23:57
+ :O \-> ... | 18 |Kai Grossjohann
| 0:35
+ :O \-> ... | 13 |Lars Magne Ingebrigt
| 0:56
+ @end smallexample
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [4.15], , [4.14], FAQ 4 - Reading messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 4.15:
+
+ How to split incoming mails in several groups?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Gnus offers two possibilities for splitting mail, the easy
+ nnmail-split-methods and the more powerful Fancy Mail
+ Splitting. I'll only talk about the first one, refer to
+ the manual, node "Fancy Mail Splitting" for the latter.
+
+
+ The value of nnmail-split-methods is a list, each element
+ is a list which stands for a splitting rule. Each rule has
+ the form "group where matching articles should go to",
+ "regular expression which has to be matched", the first
+ rule which matches wins. The last rule must always be a
+ general rule (regular expression .*) which denotes where
+ articles should go which don't match any other rule. If
+ the folder doesn't exist yet, it will be created as soon
+ as an article lands there. By default the mail will be
+ send to all groups whose rules match. If you
+ don't want that (you probably don't want), say
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq nnmail-crosspost nil)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus.
+
+
+ An example might be better than thousand words, so here's
+ my nnmail-split-methods. Note that I send duplicates in a
+ special group and that the default group is spam, since I
+ filter all mails out which are from some list I'm
+ subscribed to or which are addressed directly to me
+ before. Those rules kill about 80% of the Spam which
+ reaches me (Email addresses are changed to prevent spammers
+ from using them):
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq nnmail-split-methods
+ '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:.*duplicate")
+ ("XEmacs-NT" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@xemacs.bla.*")
+ ("Gnus-Tut" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@socha.bla.*")
+ ("tcsh" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@mx.gw.bla.*")
+ ("BAfH" "^\\(To:\\|CC:\\).*localpart@@.*uni-muenchen.bla.*")
+ ("Hamster-src"
+ "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*hamster-sourcen@@yahoogroups.\\(de\\|com\\).*")
+ ("Tagesschau" "^From: tagesschau <localpart@@www.tagesschau.bla>$")
+ ("Replies" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*localpart@@Frank-Schmitt.bla.*")
+ ("EK"
+
"^From:.*\\(localpart@@privateprovider.bla\\|localpart@@workplace.bla\\).*")
+ ("Spam"
+ "^Content-Type:.*\\(ks_c_5601-1987\\|EUC-KR\\|big5\\|iso-2022-jp\\).*")
+ ("Spam"
+ "^Subject:.*\\(This really work\\|XINGA\\|ADV:\\|XXX\\|adult\\|sex\\).*")
+ ("Spam"
+ "^Subject:.*\\(\=\?ks_c_5601-1987\?\\|\=\?euc-kr\?\\|\=\?big5\?\\).*")
+ ("Spam" "^X-Mailer:\\(.*BulkMailer.*\\|.*MIME::Lite.*\\|\\)")
+ ("Spam"
+ "^X-Mailer:\\(.*CyberCreek Avalanche\\|.*http\:\/\/GetResponse\.com\\)")
+ ("Spam"
+
"^From:.*\\(verizon\.net\\|prontomail\.com\\|money\\|ConsumerDirect\\).*")
+ ("Spam" "^Delivered-To: GMX delivery to spamtrap@@gmx.bla$")
+ ("Spam" "^Received: from link2buy.com")
+ ("Spam" "^CC: .*azzrael@@t-online.bla")
+ ("Spam" "^X-Mailer-Version: 1.50 BETA")
+ ("Uni" "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*localpart@@uni-koblenz.bla.*")
+ ("Inbox"
+ "^\\(CC:\\|To:\\).*\\(my\ name\\|address@@one.bla\\|adress@@two.bla\\)")
+ ("Spam" "")))
+ @end example
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 5 - Composing messages, FAQ 6 - Old messages, FAQ 4 - Reading
messages, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Composing messages
+
+ @menu
+ * [5.1]:: What are the basic commands I need to know for sending mail and
+ postings?
+ * [5.2]:: How to enable automatic word-wrap when composing messages?
+ * [5.3]:: How to set stuff like From, Organization, Reply-To, signature...?
+ * [5.4]:: Can I set things like From, Signature etc group based on the
+ group I post too?
+ * [5.5]:: Is there a spell-checker? Perhaps even on-the-fly spell-checking?
+ * [5.6]:: Can I set the dictionary based on the group I'm posting to?
+ * [5.7]:: Is there some kind of address-book, so I needn't remember all
+ those email addresses?
+ * [5.8]:: Sometimes I see little images at the top of article buffer.
+ What's that and how can I send one with my postings, too?
+ * [5.9]:: Sometimes I accidentally hit r instead of f in newsgroups.
+ Can Gnus warn me, when I'm replying by mail in newsgroups?
+ * [5.10]:: How to tell Gnus not to generate a sender header?
+ * [5.11]:: I want Gnus to locally store copies of my send mail and news,
+ how to do it?
+ * [5.12]:: People tell me my Message-IDs are not correct,
+ why aren't they and how to fix it?
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.1], [5.2], FAQ 5 - Composing messages, FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.1:
+
+ What are the basic commands I need to know for sending mail and postings?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ To start composing a new mail hit @samp{m}
+ either in Group or Summary buffer, for a posting, it's
+ either @samp{a} in Group buffer and
+ filling the Newsgroups header manually
+ or @samp{a} in the Summary buffer of the
+ group where the posting shall be send to. Replying by mail
+ is
+ @samp{r} if you don't want to cite the
+ author, or import the cited text manually and
+ @samp{R} to cite the text of the original
+ message. For a follow up to a newsgroup, it's
+ @samp{f} and @samp{F}
+ (analog to @samp{r} and
+ @samp{R}.
+
+
+ Enter new headers above the line saying "--text follows
+ this line--", enter the text below the line. When ready
+ hit @samp{C-c C-c}, to send the message,
+ if you want to finish it later hit @samp{C-c
+ C-d} to save it in the drafts group, where you
+ can start editing it again by saying @samp{D
+ e}.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.2], [5.3], [5.1], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.2:
+
+ How to enable automatic word-wrap when composing messages?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Say
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-hook 'message-mode-hook
+ (lambda ()
+ (setq fill-column 72)
+ (turn-on-auto-fill)))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus. You can reformat a paragraph by hitting
+ @samp{M-q} (as usual)
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.3], [5.4], [5.2], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.3:
+
+ How to set stuff like From, Organization, Reply-To, signature...?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ There are other ways, but you should use posting styles
+ for this. (See below why).
+ This example should make the syntax clear:
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-posting-styles
+ '((".*"
+ (name "Frank Schmitt")
+ (address "me@@there.bla")
+ (organization "Hamme net, kren mer och nimmi")
+ (signature-file "~/.signature")
+ ("X-SampleHeader" "foobar")
+ (eval (setq some-variable "Foo bar")))))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ The ".*" means that this settings are the default ones
+ (see below), valid values for the first element of the
+ following lists are signature, signature-file,
+ organization, address, name or body. The attribute name
+ can also be a string. In that case, this will be used as
+ a header name, and the value will be inserted in the
+ headers of the article; if the value is `nil', the header
+ name will be removed. You can also say (eval (foo bar)),
+ then the function foo will be evaluated with argument bar
+ and the result will be thrown away.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.4], [5.5], [5.3], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.4:
+
+ Can I set things like From, Signature etc group based on the group I post
too?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ That's the strength of posting styles. Before, we used ".*"
+ to set the default for all groups. You can use a regexp
+ like "^gmane" and the following settings are only applied
+ to postings you send to the gmane hierarchy, use
+ ".*binaries" instead and they will be applied to postings
+ send to groups containing the string binaries in their
+ name etc.
+
+
+ You can instead of specifying a regexp specify a function
+ which is evaluated, only if it returns true, the
+ corresponding settings take effect. Two interesting
+ candidates for this are message-news-p which returns t if
+ the current Group is a newsgroup and the corresponding
+ message-mail-p.
+
+
+ Note that all forms that match are applied, that means in
+ the example below, when I post to
+ gmane.mail.spam.spamassassin.general, the settings under
+ ".*" are applied and the settings under message-news-p and
+ those under "^gmane" and those under
+ "^gmane\\.mail\\.spam\\.spamassassin\\.general$". Because
+ of this put general settings at the top and specific ones
+ at the bottom.
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-posting-styles
+ '((".*" ;;default
+ (name "Frank Schmitt")
+ (organization "Hamme net, kren mer och nimmi")
+ (signature-file "~/.signature"))
+ ((message-news-p) ;;Usenet news?
+ (address "mySpamTrap@@Frank-Schmitt.bla")
+ ("Reply-To" "hereRealRepliesOnlyPlease@@Frank-Schmitt.bla"))
+ ((message-mail-p) ;;mail?
+ (address "usedForMails@@Frank-Schmitt.bla"))
+ ("^gmane" ;;this is mail, too in fact
+ (address "usedForMails@@Frank-Schmitt.net")
+ ("Reply-To" nil))
+ ("^gmane.mail.spam.spamassassin.general$"
+ (eval (setq mail-envelope-from "Azzrael@@rz-online.de"))
+ (address "Azzrael@@rz-online.de"))))
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.5], [5.6], [5.4], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.5:
+
+ Is there a spell-checker? Perhaps even on-the-fly spell-checking?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You can use ispell.el to spell-check stuff in Emacs. So the first
+ thing to do is to make sure that you've got either
+ @itemize @bullet
+ @item
+ @uref{http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/fmg-members/geoff/ispell.html,ispell}
+ or
+ @item
+ @uref{http://aspell.sourceforge.net/,aspell}
+ @end itemize
+ @noindent
+ installed and in your Path.
+
+ Then you need
+ @uref{http://www.kdstevens.com/~stevens/ispell-page.html,ispell.el,ispell.el}
+ and for on-the-fly spell-checking
+
@uref{http://www-sop.inria.fr/mimosa/personnel/Manuel.Serrano/flyspell/flyspell.html,flyspell.el,flyspell.el}.
+ Ispell.el is shipped with Gnus Emacs and available through the Emacs
+ package system, flyspell.el is shipped with Emacs and part of XEmacs
+ text-modes package which is available through the package system, so
+ there should be no need to install them manually.
+
+
+ Ispell.el assumes you use ispell, if you choose aspell say
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq ispell-program-name "aspell")
+ @end example
+
+
+ @noindent
+ in your Emacs configuration file.
+
+
+ If you want your outgoing messages to be spell-checked, say
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-hook 'message-send-hook 'ispell-message)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ In your ~/.gnus, if you prefer on-the-fly spell-checking say
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-hook 'message-mode-hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1)))
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.6], [5.7], [5.5], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.6:
+
+ Can I set the dictionary based on the group I'm posting to?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Yes, say something like
+
+
+ @example
+ (add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
+ (lambda ()
+ (cond
+ ((string-match
+ "^de\\." (gnus-group-real-name gnus-newsgroup-name))
+ (ispell-change-dictionary "deutsch8"))
+ (t
+ (ispell-change-dictionary "english")))))
+ @end example
+
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus. Change "^de\\." and "deutsch8" to something
+ that suits your needs.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.7], [5.8], [5.6], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.7:
+
+ Is there some kind of address-book, so I needn't remember
+ all those email addresses?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ There's an very basic solution for this, mail aliases.
+ You can store your mail addresses in a ~/.mailrc file using a simple
+ alias syntax:
+
+
+ @example
+ alias al "Al <al@@english-heritage.bla>"
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Then typing your alias (followed by a space or punctuation
+ character) on a To: or Cc: line in the message buffer will
+ cause Gnus to insert the full address for you. See the
+ node "Mail Aliases" in Message (not Gnus) manual for
+ details.
+
+
+ However, what you really want is the Insidious Big Brother
+ Database bbdb. Get it through the XEmacs package system or from
+ @uref{http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/,bbdb's homepage}.
+ Now place the following in ~/.gnus, to activate bbdb for Gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (require 'bbdb)
+ (bbdb-initialize 'gnus 'message)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Now you probably want some general bbdb configuration,
+ place them in ~/.emacs:
+
+
+ @example
+ (require 'bbdb)
+ ;;If you don't live in Northern America, you should disable the
+ ;;syntax check for telephone numbers by saying
+ (setq bbdb-north-american-phone-numbers-p nil)
+ ;;Tell bbdb about your email address:
+ (setq bbdb-user-mail-names
+ (regexp-opt '("Your.Email@@here.bla"
+ "Your.other@@mail.there.bla")))
+ ;;cycling while completing email addresses
+ (setq bbdb-complete-name-allow-cycling t)
+ ;;No popup-buffers
+ (setq bbdb-use-pop-up nil)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ Now you should be ready to go. Say @samp{M-x bbdb RET
+ RET} to open a bbdb buffer showing all
+ entries. Say @samp{c} to create a new
+ entry, @samp{b} to search your BBDB and
+ @samp{C-o} to add a new field to an
+ entry. If you want to add a sender to the BBDB you can
+ also just hit `:' on the posting in the summary buffer and
+ you are done. When you now compose a new mail,
+ hit @samp{TAB} to cycle through know
+ recipients.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.8], [5.9], [5.7], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.8:
+
+ Sometimes I see little images at the top of article
+ buffer. What's that and how can I send one with my
+ postings, too?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Those images are called X-Faces. They are 48*48 pixel b/w
+ pictures, encoded in a header line. If you want to include
+ one in your posts, you've got to convert some image to a
+ X-Face. So fire up some image manipulation program (say
+ Gimp), open the image you want to include, cut out the
+ relevant part, reduce color depth to 1 bit, resize to
+ 48*48 and save as bitmap. Now you should get the compface
+ package from
+ @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu:/pub/faces/,this site}.
+ and create the actual X-face by saying
+
+
+ @example
+ cat file.xbm | xbm2ikon |compface > file.face
+ cat ./file.face | sed 's/\\/\\\\/g' | sed 's/\"/\\\"/g' > ./file.face.quoted
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ If you can't use compface, there's an online X-face converter address@hidden
+ @uref{http://www.dairiki.org/xface/}. If you use MS Windows, you
+ could also use the WinFace program from
+ @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~walterln/winface/}.
+
+ Now you only have to tell Gnus to include the X-face in your postings
+ by saying
+
+ @example
+ (setq message-default-headers
+ (with-temp-buffer
+ (insert "X-Face: ")
+ (insert-file-contents "~/.xemacs/xface")
+ (buffer-string)))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.9], [5.10], [5.8], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.9:
+
+ Sometimes I accidentally hit r instead of f in
+ newsgroups. Can Gnus warn me, when I'm replying by mail in
+ newsgroups?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Put this in ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-confirm-mail-reply-to-news t)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ if you already use Gnus 5.10.0, if you still use 5.8.8 or
+ 5.9 try this instead:
+
+
+ @example
+ (defadvice gnus-summary-reply (around reply-in-news activate)
+ (interactive)
+ (when (or (not (gnus-news-group-p gnus-newsgroup-name))
+ (y-or-n-p "Really reply? "))
+ ad-do-it))
+ @end example
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.10], [5.11], [5.9], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.10:
+
+ How to tell Gnus not to generate a sender header?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Since 5.10.0 Gnus doesn't generate a sender header by
+ default. For older Gnus' try this in ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "message"
+ '(add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled)))
+ @end example
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.11], [5.12], [5.10], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.11:
+
+ I want gnus to locally store copies of my send mail and
+ news, how to do it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You must set the variable gnus-message-archive-group to do
+ this. You can set it to a string giving the name of the
+ group where the copies shall go or like in the example
+ below use a function which is evaluated and which returns
+ the group to use.
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-message-archive-group
+ '((if (message-news-p)
+ "nnml:Send-News"
+ "nnml:Send-Mail")))
+ @end example
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [5.12], , [5.11], FAQ 5 - Composing messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 5.12:
+
+ People tell me my Message-IDs are not correct, why
+ aren't they and how to fix it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The message-ID is an unique identifier for messages you
+ send. To make it unique, Gnus need to know which machine
+ name to put after the "@@". If the name of the machine
+ where Gnus is running isn't suitable (it probably isn't
+ at most private machines) you can tell Gnus what to use
+ by saying
+ @example
+ (setq message-user-fqdn "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld")
+ @end example
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus. If you use Gnus 5.9 or ealier, you can use this
+ instead:
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "message"
+ '(let (myfqdn "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld");; <-- Edit this!
+ (if (boundp 'message-user-fqdn)
+ (setq message-user-fqdn fqdn)
+ (gnus-message 1 "Redefining `message-make-fqdn'.")
+ (defun message-make-fqdn ()
+ "Return user's fully qualified domain name."
+ fqdn))))
+ @end example
+
+ If you have no idea what to insert for
+ "yourmachine.yourdomain.tld", you've got several
+ choices. You can either ask your provider if he allows
+ you to use something like
+ yourUserName.userfqdn.provider.net, or you can use
+ somethingUnique.yourdomain.tld if you own the domain
+ yourdomain.tld, or you can register at a service which
+ gives private users a FQDN for free, e.g.
+ @uref{http://www.stura.tu-freiberg.de/~dlx/addfqdn.html}.
+ (Sorry but this website is in German, if you know of an
+ English one offering the same, drop me a note).
+
+
+ Finally you can tell Gnus not to generate a Message-ID
+ for News at all (and letting the server do the job) by saying
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq message-required-news-headers
+ (remove' Message-ID message-required-news-headers))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ you can also tell Gnus not to generate Message-IDs for mail by saying
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq message-required-mail-headers
+ (remove' Message-ID message-required-mail-headers))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ , however some mail servers don't generate proper
+ Message-IDs, too, so test if your Mail Server behaves
+ correctly by sending yourself a Mail and looking at the Message-ID.
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 6 - Old messages, FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, FAQ 5 -
Composing messages, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Old messages
+
+ @menu
+ * [6.1]:: How to import my old mail into Gnus?
+ * [6.2]:: How to archive interesting messages?
+ * [6.3]:: How to search for a specific message?
+ * [6.4]:: How to get rid of old unwanted mail?
+ * [6.5]:: I want that all read messages are expired (at least in some
+ groups). How to do it?
+ * [6.6]:: I don't want expiration to delete my mails but to move them
+ to another group.
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [6.1], [6.2], FAQ 6 - Old messages, FAQ 6 - Old messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 6.1:
+
+ How to import my old mail into Gnus?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The easiest way is to tell your old mail program to
+ export the messages in mbox format. Most Unix mailers
+ are able to do this, if you come from the MS Windows
+ world, you may find tools at
+ @uref{http://mbx2mbox.sourceforge.net/}.
+
+
+ Now you've got to import this mbox file into Gnus. To do
+ this, create a nndoc group based on the mbox file by
+ saying @samp{G f /path/file.mbox RET} in
+ Group buffer. You now have read-only access to your
+ mail. If you want to import the messages to your normal
+ Gnus mail groups hierarchy, enter the nndoc group you've
+ just created by saying @samp{C-u RET}
+ (thus making sure all messages are retrieved), mark all
+ messages by saying @samp{M P b} and
+ either copy them to the desired group by saying
+ @samp{B c name.of.group RET} or send them
+ through nnmail-split-methods (respool them) by saying
+ @samp{B r}.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [6.2], [6.3], [6.1], FAQ 6 - Old messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 6.2:
+
+ How to archive interesting messages?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ If you stumble across an interesting message, say in
+ gnu.emacs.gnus and want to archive it there are several
+ solutions. The first and easiest is to save it to a file
+ by saying @samp{O f}. However, wouldn't
+ it be much more convenient to have more direct access to
+ the archived message from Gnus? If you say yes, put this
+ snippet by Frank Haun <pille3003@@fhaun.de> in
+ ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (defun my-archive-article (&optional n)
+ "Copies one or more article(s) to a corresponding `nnml:' group, e.g.
+ `gnus.ding' goes to `nnml:1.gnus.ding'. And `nnml:List-gnus.ding' goes
+ to `nnml:1.List-gnus-ding'.
+
+ Use process marks or mark a region in the summary buffer to archive
+ more then one article."
+ (interactive "P")
+ (let ((archive-name
+ (format
+ "nnml:1.%s"
+ (if (featurep 'xemacs)
+ (replace-in-string gnus-newsgroup-name "^.*:" "")
+ (replace-regexp-in-string "^.*:" "" gnus-newsgroup-name)))))
+ (gnus-summary-copy-article n archive-name)))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ You can now say @samp{M-x
+ my-archive-article} in summary buffer to
+ archive the article under the cursor in a nnml
+ group. (Change nnml to your preferred back end)
+
+
+ Of course you can also make sure the cache is enabled by saying
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-use-cache t)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ then you only have to set either the tick or the dormant
+ mark for articles you want to keep, setting the read
+ mark will remove them from cache.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [6.3], [6.4], [6.2], FAQ 6 - Old messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 6.3:
+
+ How to search for a specific message?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ There are several ways for this, too. For a posting from
+ a Usenet group the easiest solution is probably to ask
+ @uref{http://groups.google.com,groups.google.com},
+ if you found the posting there, tell Google to display
+ the raw message, look for the message-id, and say
+ @samp{M-^ the@@message.id RET} in a
+ summary buffer.
+ Since Gnus 5.10.0 there's also a Gnus interface for
+ groups.google.com which you can call with
+ @samp{G W}) in group buffer.
+
+
+ Another idea which works for both mail and news groups
+ is to enter the group where the message you are
+ searching is and use the standard Emacs search
+ @samp{C-s}, it's smart enough to look at
+ articles in collapsed threads, too. If you want to
+ search bodies, too try @samp{M-s}
+ instead. Further on there are the
+ gnus-summary-limit-to-foo functions, which can help you,
+ too.
+
+
+ Of course you can also use grep to search through your
+ local mail, but this is both slow for big archives and
+ inconvenient since you are not displaying the found mail
+ in Gnus. Here comes nnir into action. Nnir is a front end
+ to search engines like swish-e or swish++ and
+ others. You index your mail with one of those search
+ engines and with the help of nnir you can search trough
+ the indexed mail and generate a temporary group with all
+ messages which met your search criteria. If this sound
+ cool to you get nnir.el from
+ @uref{ftp://ls6-ftp.cs.uni-dortmund.de/pub/src/emacs/}
+ or @uref{ftp://ftp.is.informatik.uni-duisburg.de/pub/src/emacs/}.
+ Instructions on how to use it are at the top of the file.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [6.4], [6.5], [6.3], FAQ 6 - Old messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 6.4:
+
+ How to get rid of old unwanted mail?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You can of course just mark the mail you don't need
+ anymore by saying @samp{#} with point
+ over the mail and then say @samp{B DEL}
+ to get rid of them forever. You could also instead of
+ actually deleting them, send them to a junk-group by
+ saying @samp{B m nnml:trash-bin} which
+ you clear from time to time, but both are not the intended
+ way in Gnus.
+
+
+ In Gnus, we let mail expire like news expires on a news
+ server. That means you tell Gnus the message is
+ expirable (you tell Gnus "I don't need this mail
+ anymore") by saying @samp{E} with point
+ over the mail in summary buffer. Now when you leave the
+ group, Gnus looks at all messages which you marked as
+ expirable before and if they are old enough (default is
+ older than a week) they are deleted.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [6.5], [6.6], [6.4], FAQ 6 - Old messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 6.5:
+
+ I want that all read messages are expired (at least in
+ some groups). How to do it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ If you want all read messages to be expired (e.g. in
+ mailing lists where there's an online archive), you've
+ got two choices: auto-expire and
+ total-expire. Auto-expire means, that every article
+ which has no marks set and is selected for reading is
+ marked as expirable, Gnus hits @samp{E}
+ for you every time you read a message. Total-expire
+ follows a slightly different approach, here all article
+ where the read mark is set are expirable.
+
+
+ To activate auto-expire, include auto-expire in the
+ Group parameters for the group. (Hit @samp{G
+ c} in summary buffer with point over the
+ group to change group parameters). For total-expire add
+ total-expire to the group-parameters.
+
+
+ Which method you choose is merely a matter of taste:
+ Auto-expire is faster, but it doesn't play together with
+ Adaptive Scoring, so if you want to use this feature,
+ you should use total-expire.
+
+
+ If you want a message to be excluded from expiration in
+ a group where total or auto expire is active, set either
+ tick (hit @samp{u}) or dormant mark (hit
+ @samp{u}), when you use auto-expire, you
+ can also set the read mark (hit
+ @samp{d}).
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [6.6], , [6.5], FAQ 6 - Old messages
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 6.6:
+
+ I don't want expiration to delete my mails but to move them
+ to another group.
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Say something like this in ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq nnmail-expiry-target "nnml:expired")
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ (If you want to change the value of nnmail-expiry-target
+ on a per group basis see the question "How can I disable
+ threading in some (e.g. mail-) groups, or set other
+ variables specific for some groups?")
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, FAQ 8 - Getting help, FAQ 6 -
Old messages, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Gnus in a dial-up environment
+
+ @menu
+ * [7.1]:: I don't have a permanent connection to the net, how can I
+ minimize the time I've got to be connected?
+ * [7.2]:: So what was this thing about the Agent?
+ * [7.3]:: I want to store article bodies on disk, too. How to do it?
+ * [7.4]:: How to tell Gnus not to try to send mails / postings while
+ I'm offline?
+ @end menu
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [7.1], [7.2], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment, FAQ 7 - Gnus in a
dial-up environment
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 7.1:
+
+ I don't have a permanent connection to the net, how can
+ I minimize the time I've got to be connected?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You've got basically two options: Either you use the
+ Gnus Agent (see below) for this, or you can install
+ programs which fetch your news and mail to your local
+ disk and Gnus reads the stuff from your local
+ machine.
+
+
+ If you want to follow the second approach, you need a
+ program which fetches news and offers them to Gnus, a
+ program which does the same for mail and a program which
+ receives the mail you write from Gnus and sends them
+ when you're online.
+
+
+ Let's talk about Unix systems first: For the news part, the easiest
+ solution is a small nntp server like
+ @uref{http://www.leafnode.org/,Leafnode} or
+ @uref{http://infa.abo.fi/~patrik/sn/,sn}, of course you can also
+ install a full featured news server like
+ @uref{http://www.isc.org/products/INN/,inn}.
+
+ Then you want to fetch your Mail, popular choices are
+ @itemize @bullet
+ @item
+ @uref{http://www.catb.org/~esr/fetchmail/,fetchmail} and
+ @item
+ @uref{http://www.qcc.ca/~charlesc/software/getmail-3.0/,getmail}.
+ @end itemize
+ You should tell those to write the mail to your disk and Gnus to read
+ it from there. Last but not least the mail sending part: This can be
+ done with every MTA like @uref{http://www.sendmail.org/,sendmail},
+ @uref{http://www.qmail.org/,postfix}, @uref{http://www.exim.org/,exim}
+ or @uref{http://www.qmail.org/,qmail}.
+
+
+ On windows boxes I'd vote for
+ @uref{http://www.tglsoft.de/,Hamster},
+ it's a small freeware, open-source program which fetches
+ your mail and news from remote servers and offers them
+ to Gnus (or any other mail and/or news reader) via nntp
+ respectively POP3 or IMAP. It also includes a smtp
+ server for receiving mails from Gnus.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [7.2], [7.3], [7.1], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 7.2:
+
+ So what was this thing about the Agent?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The Gnus agent is part of Gnus, it allows you to fetch
+ mail and news and store them on disk for reading them
+ later when you're offline. It kind of mimics offline
+ newsreaders like e.g. Forte Agent. If you want to use
+ the Agent place the following in ~/.gnus if you are
+ still using 5.8.8 or 5.9 (it's the default since 5.10.0):
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-agent t)
+ @end example
+
+
+ Now you've got to select the servers whose groups can be
+ stored locally. To do this, open the server buffer
+ (that is press @samp{^} while in the
+ group buffer). Now select a server by moving point to
+ the line naming that server. Finally, agentize the
+ server by typing @samp{J a}. If you
+ make a mistake, or change your mind, you can undo this
+ action by typing @samp{J r}. When
+ you're done, type 'q' to return to the group buffer.
+ Now the next time you enter a group on a agentized
+ server, the headers will be stored on disk and read from
+ there the next time you enter the group.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [7.3], [7.4], [7.2], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 7.3:
+
+ I want to store article bodies on disk, too. How to do it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ You can tell the agent to automatically fetch the bodies
+ of articles which fulfill certain predicates, this is
+ done in a special buffer which can be reached by
+ saying @samp{J c} in group
+ buffer. Please refer to the documentation for
+ information which predicates are possible and how
+ exactly to do it.
+
+
+ Further on you can tell the agent manually which
+ articles to store on disk. There are two ways to do
+ this: Number one: In the summary buffer, process mark a
+ set of articles that shall be stored in the agent by
+ saying @samp{#} with point over the
+ article and then type @samp{J s}. The
+ other possibility is to set, again in the summary
+ buffer, downloadable (%) marks for the articles you
+ want by typing @samp{@@} with point over
+ the article and then typing @samp{J u}.
+ What's the difference? Well, process marks are erased as
+ soon as you exit the summary buffer while downloadable
+ marks are permanent. You can actually set downloadable
+ marks in several groups then use fetch session ('J s' in
+ the GROUP buffer) to fetch all of those articles. The
+ only downside is that fetch session also fetches all of
+ the headers for every selected group on an agentized
+ server. Depending on the volume of headers, the initial
+ fetch session could take hours.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [7.4], , [7.3], FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up environment
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 7.4:
+
+ How to tell Gnus not to try to send mails / postings
+ while I'm offline?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ All you've got to do is to tell Gnus when you are online
+ (plugged) and when you are offline (unplugged), the rest
+ works automatically. You can toggle plugged/unplugged
+ state by saying @samp{J j} in group
+ buffer. To start Gnus unplugged say @samp{M-x
+ gnus-unplugged} instead of
+ @samp{M-x gnus}. Note that for this to
+ work, the agent must be active.
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 8 - Getting help, FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, FAQ 7 - Gnus in a dial-up
environment, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Getting help
+
+ @menu
+ * [8.1]:: How to find information and help inside Emacs?
+ * [8.2]:: I can't find anything in the Gnus manual about X
+ (e.g. attachments, PGP, MIME...), is it not documented?
+ * [8.3]:: Which websites should I know?
+ * [8.4]:: Which mailing lists and newsgroups are there?
+ * [8.5]:: Where to report bugs?
+ * [8.6]:: I need real-time help, where to find it?
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [8.1], [8.2], FAQ 8 - Getting help, FAQ 8 - Getting help
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 8.1:
+
+ How to find information and help inside Emacs?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The first stop should be the Gnus manual (Say
+ @samp{C-h i d m Gnus RET} to start the
+ Gnus manual, then walk through the menus or do a
+ full-text search with @samp{s}). Then
+ there are the general Emacs help commands starting with
+ C-h, type @samp{C-h ? ?} to get a list
+ of all available help commands and their meaning. Finally
+ @samp{M-x apropos-command} lets you
+ search through all available functions and @samp{M-x
+ apropos} searches the bound variables.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [8.2], [8.3], [8.1], FAQ 8 - Getting help
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 8.2:
+
+ I can't find anything in the Gnus manual about X
+ (e.g. attachments, PGP, MIME...), is it not documented?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ There's not only the Gnus manual but also the manuals
+ for message, emacs-mime, sieve and pgg. Those packages
+ are distributed with Gnus and used by Gnus but aren't
+ really part of core Gnus, so they are documented in
+ different info files, you should have a look in those
+ manuals, too.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [8.3], [8.4], [8.2], FAQ 8 - Getting help
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 8.3:
+
+ Which websites should I know?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The two most important ones are the
+ @uref{http://www.gnus.org,official Gnus website}.
+ and it's sister site
+ @uref{http://my.gnus.org,my.gnus.org (MGO)},
+ hosting an archive of lisp snippets, howtos, a (not
+ really finished) tutorial and this FAQ.
+
+
+ Tell me about other sites which are interesting.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [8.4], [8.5], [8.3], FAQ 8 - Getting help
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 8.4:
+
+ Which mailing lists and newsgroups are there?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ There's the newsgroup gnu.emacs.gnus (pull it from
+ e.g. news.gnus.org) which deals with general questions
+ and the ding mailing list (ding@@gnus.org) dealing with
+ development of Gnus. You can read the ding list via
+ NNTP, too under the name gnus.ding from news.gnus.org.
+
+
+ If you want to stay in the big8,
+ news.software.newssreaders is also read by some Gnus
+ users (but chances for qualified help are much better in
+ the above groups) and if you speak German, there's
+ de.comm.software.gnus.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [8.5], [8.6], [8.4], FAQ 8 - Getting help
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 8.5:
+
+ Where to report bugs?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Say @samp{M-x gnus-bug}, this will start a message to the
+ @email{bugs@@gnus.org,gnus bug mailing list} including information
+ about your environment which make it easier to help you.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [8.6], , [8.5], FAQ 8 - Getting help
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 8.6:
+
+ I need real-time help, where to find it?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ Point your IRC client to irc.my.gnus.org channel
+ #mygnus. Don't be afraid if people there speak German,
+ they are willing and capable of switching to
+ English when people from outside Germany enter.
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, FAQ - Glossary, FAQ 8 - Getting help, Frequently
Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Tuning Gnus
+
+ @menu
+ * [9.1]:: Starting Gnus is really slow, how to speed it up?
+ * [9.2]:: How to speed up the process of entering a group?
+ * [9.3]:: Sending mail becomes slower and slower, what's up?
+ @end menu
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [9.1], [9.2], FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 9.1:
+
+ Starting Gnus is really slow, how to speed it up?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The reason for this could be the way Gnus reads it's
+ active file, see the node "The Active File" in the Gnus
+ manual for things you might try to speed the process up.
+ An other idea would be to byte compile your ~/.gnus (say
+ @samp{M-x byte-compile-file RET ~/.gnus
+ RET} to do it). Finally, if you have require
+ statements in your .gnus, you could replace them with
+ eval-after-load, which loads the stuff not at startup
+ time, but when it's needed. Say you've got this in your
+ ~/.gnus:
+
+
+ @example
+ (require 'message)
+ (add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ then as soon as you start Gnus, message.el is loaded. If
+ you replace it with
+
+
+ @example
+ (eval-after-load "message"
+ '(add-to-list 'message-syntax-checks '(sender . disabled)))
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ it's loaded when it's needed.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [9.2], [9.3], [9.1], FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 9.2:
+
+ How to speed up the process of entering a group?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ A speed killer is setting the variable
+ gnus-fetch-old-headers to anything different from nil,
+ so don't do this if speed is an issue. To speed up
+ building of summary say
+
+
+ @example
+ (gnus-compile)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ at the bottom of your ~/.gnus, this will make gnus
+ byte-compile things like
+ gnus-summary-line-format.
+ then you could increase the value of gc-cons-threshold
+ by saying something like
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gc-cons-threshold 3500000)
+ @end example
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.emacs. If you don't care about width of CJK
+ characters or use Gnus 5.10.0 or younger together with a
+ recent GNU Emacs, you should say
+
+
+ @example
+ (setq gnus-use-correct-string-widths nil)
+ @end example
+
+
+ @noindent
+ in ~/.gnus (thanks to Jesper harder for the last
+ two suggestions). Finally if you are still using 5.8.8
+ or 5.9 and experience speed problems with summary
+ buffer generation, you definitely should update to
+ 5.10.0 since there quite some work on improving it has
+ been done.
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node [9.3], , [9.2], FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsubheading Question 9.3:
+
+ Sending mail becomes slower and slower, what's up?
+
+
+ Answer:
+
+ The reason could be that you told Gnus to archive the
+ messages you wrote by setting
+ gnus-message-archive-group. Try to use a nnml group
+ instead of an archive group, this should bring you back
+ to normal speed.
+
+
+ @ifnottex
+ @node FAQ - Glossary, , FAQ 9 - Tuning Gnus, Frequently Asked Questions
+ @end ifnottex
+ @subsection Glossary
+
+ @table @dfn
+
+ @item ~/.gnus
+ When the term ~/.gnus is used it just means your Gnus
+ configuration file. You might as well call it ~/.gnus.el or
+ specify another name.
+
+
+ @item Back End
+ In Gnus terminology a back end is a virtual server, a layer
+ between core Gnus and the real NNTP-, POP3-, IMAP- or
+ whatever-server which offers Gnus a standardized interface
+ to functions like "get message", "get Headers" etc.
+
+
+ @item Emacs
+ When the term Emacs is used in this FAQ, it means either GNU
+ Emacs or XEmacs.
+
+
+ @item Message
+ In this FAQ message means a either a mail or a posting to a
+ Usenet Newsgroup or to some other fancy back end, no matter
+ of which kind it is.
+
+
+ @item MUA
+ MUA is an acronym for Mail User Agent, it's the program you
+ use to read and write e-mails.
+
+
+ @item NUA
+ NUA is an acronym for News User Agent, it's the program you
+ use to read and write Usenet news.
+
+ @end table
+
+ @c @bye
+
+ @ignore
+ arch-tag: 64dc5692-edb4-4848-a965-7aa0181acbb8
+ @end ignore
| [Prev in Thread] |
Current Thread |
[Next in Thread] |
- [Emacs-diffs] Changes to emacs/man/gnus-faq.texi [gnus-5_10-branch],
Reiner Steib <=