This is Info file ../info/gnus.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.63 from the
input file gnus.texi.

   This file documents Gnus, the GNU Emacs newsreader.

   Copyright (C) 1995,96 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
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that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms
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   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Unavailable Servers,  Prev: Servers and Methods,  Up: The Server Buffer

Unavailable Servers
-------------------

   If a server seems to be unreachable, Gnus will mark that server as
`denied'.  That means that any subsequent attempt to make contact with
that server will just be ignored.  "It can't be opened," Gnus will tell
you, without making the least effort to see whether that is actually
the case or not.

   That might seem quite naughty, but it does make sense most of the
time.  Let's say you have 10 groups subscribed to the server
`nepholococcygia.com'.  This server is located somewhere quite far away
from you, the machine is quite, so it takes 1 minute just to find out
that it refuses connection from you today.  If Gnus were to attempt to
do that 10 times, you'd be quite annoyed, so Gnus won't attempt to do
that.  Once it has gotten a single "connection refused", it will regard
that server as "down".

   So, what happens if the machine was only feeling unwell temporarily?
How do you test to see whether the machine has come up again?

   You jump to the server buffer (*note The Server Buffer::.) and poke
it with the following commands:

`O'
     Try to establish connection to the server on the current line
     (`gnus-server-open-server').

`C'
     Close the connection (if any) to the server
     (`gnus-server-close-server').

`D'
     Mark the current server as unreachable (`gnus-server-deny-server').

`R'
     Remove all marks to whether Gnus was denied connection from all
     servers (`gnus-server-remove-denials').


File: gnus.info,  Node: Getting News,  Next: Getting Mail,  Prev: The Server Buffer,  Up: Select Methods

Getting News
============

   A newsreader is normally used for reading news.  Gnus currently
provides only two methods of getting news--it can read from an NNTP
server, or it can read from a local spool.

* Menu:

* NNTP::               Reading news from an NNTP server.
* News Spool::         Reading news from the local spool.


File: gnus.info,  Node: NNTP,  Next: News Spool,  Up: Getting News

NNTP
----

   Subscribing to a foreign group from an NNTP server is rather easy.
You just specify `nntp' as method and the address of the NNTP server as
the, uhm, address.

   If the NNTP server is located at a non-standard port, setting the
third element of the select method to this port number should allow you
to connect to the right port.  You'll have to edit the group info for
that (*note Foreign Groups::.).

   The name of the foreign group can be the same as a native group.  In
fact, you can subscribe to the same group from as many different servers
you feel like.  There will be no name collisions.

   The following variables can be used to create a virtual `nntp'
server:

`nntp-server-opened-hook'
     `nntp-server-opened-hook' is run after a connection has been made.
     It can be used to send commands to the NNTP server after it has
     been contacted.  By default is sends the command `MODE READER' to
     the server with the `nntp-send-mode-reader' function.  Another
     popular function is `nntp-send-authinfo', which will prompt you for
     an NNTP password and stuff.

`nntp-server-action-alist'
     This is an list of regexps to match on server types and actions to
     be taken when matches are made.  For instance, if you want Gnus to
     beep every time you connect to innd, you could say something like:

          (setq nntp-server-action-alist
                '(("innd" (ding))))

     You probably don't want to do that, though.

     The default value is

            '(("nntpd 1\\.5\\.11t"
               (remove-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook nntp-send-mode-reader)))

     This ensures that Gnus doesn't send the `MODE READER' command to
     nntpd 1.5.11t, since that command chokes that server, I've been
     told.

`nntp-maximum-request'
     If the NNTP server doesn't support NOV headers, this backend will
     collect headers by sending a series of `head' commands.  To speed
     things up, the backend sends lots of these commands without
     waiting for reply, and then reads all the replies.  This is
     controlled by the `nntp-maximum-request' variable, and is 400 by
     default.  If your network is buggy, you should set this to 1.

`nntp-connection-timeout'
     If you have lots of foreign `nntp' groups that you connect to
     regularly, you're sure to have problems with NNTP servers not
     responding properly, or being too loaded to reply within reasonable
     time.  This is can lead to awkward problems, which can be helped
     somewhat by setting `nntp-connection-timeout'.  This is an integer
     that says how many seconds the `nntp' backend should wait for a
     connection before giving up.  If it is `nil', which is the default,
     no timeouts are done.

`nntp-command-timeout'
     If you're running Gnus on a machine that has a dynamically assigned
     address, Gnus may become confused.  If the address of your machine
     changes after connecting to the NNTP server, Gnus will simply sit
     waiting forever for replies from the server.  To help with this
     unfortunate problem, you can set this command to a number.  Gnus
     will then, if it sits waiting longer than that number of seconds
     for a reply from the server, shut down the connection, start a new
     one, and resend the command.  This should hopefully be transparent
     to the user.  A likely number is 30 seconds.

`nntp-retry-on-break'
     If this variable is non-`nil', you can also `C-g' if Gnus hangs.
     This will have much the same effect as the command timeout
     described above.

`nntp-server-hook'
     This hook is run as the last step when connecting to an NNTP
     server.

`nntp-open-server-function'
     This function is used to connect to the remote system.  Two
     pre-made functions are `nntp-open-network-stream', which is the
     default, and simply connects to some port or other on the remote
     system.  The other is `nntp-open-rlogin', which does an rlogin on
     the remote system, and then does a telnet to the NNTP server
     available there.

`nntp-rlogin-parameters'
     If you use `nntp-open-rlogin' as the `nntp-open-server-function',
     this list will be used as the parameter list given to `rsh'.

`nntp-end-of-line'
     String to use as end-of-line markers when talking to the NNTP
     server.  This is `\r\n' by default, but should be `\n' when using
     `rlogin' to talk to the server.

`nntp-rlogin-user-name'
     User name on the remote system when using the `rlogin' connect
     function.

`nntp-address'
     The address of the remote system running the NNTP server.

`nntp-port-number'
     Port number to connect to when using the `nntp-open-network-stream'
     connect function.

`nntp-buggy-select'
     Set this to non-`nil' if your select routine is buggy.

`nntp-nov-is-evil'
     If the NNTP server does not support NOV, you could set this
     variable to `t', but `nntp' usually checks whether NOV can be used
     automatically.

`nntp-xover-commands'
     List of strings that are used as commands to fetch NOV lines from a
     server.  The default value of this variable is `("XOVER"
     "XOVERVIEW")'.

`nntp-nov-gap'
     `nntp' normally sends just one big request for NOV lines to the
     server.  The server responds with one huge list of lines.  However,
     if you have read articles 2-5000 in the group, and only want to
     read article 1 and 5001, that means that `nntp' will fetch 4999 NOV
     lines that you do not want, and will not use.  This variable says
     how big a gap between two consecutive articles is allowed to be
     before the `XOVER' request is split into several request.  Note
     that if your network is fast, setting this variable to a really
     small number means that fetching will probably be slower.  If this
     variable is `nil', `nntp' will never split requests.

`nntp-prepare-server-hook'
     A hook run before attempting to connect to an NNTP server.

`nntp-async-number'
     How many articles should be pre-fetched when in asynchronous mode.
     If this variable is `t', `nntp' will pre-fetch all the articles
     that it can without bound.  If it is `nil', no pre-fetching will be
     made.

`nntp-warn-about-losing-connection'
     If this variable is non-`nil', some noise will be made when a
     server closes connection.


File: gnus.info,  Node: News Spool,  Prev: NNTP,  Up: Getting News

News Spool
----------

   Subscribing to a foreign group from the local spool is extremely
easy, and might be useful, for instance, to speed up reading groups like
`alt.binaries.pictures.furniture'.

   Anyways, you just specify `nnspool' as the method and `' (or
anything else) as the address.

   If you have access to a local spool, you should probably use that as
the native select method (*note Finding the News::.).  It is normally
faster than using an `nntp' select method, but might not be.  It
depends.  You just have to try to find out what's best at your site.

`nnspool-inews-program'
     Program used to post an article.

`nnspool-inews-switches'
     Parameters given to the inews program when posting an article.

`nnspool-spool-directory'
     Where `nnspool' looks for the articles.  This is normally
     `/usr/spool/news/'.

`nnspool-nov-directory'
     Where `nnspool' will look for NOV files.  This is normally
     `/usr/spool/news/over.view/'.

`nnspool-lib-dir'
     Where the news lib dir is (`/usr/lib/news/' by default).

`nnspool-active-file'
     The path of the active file.

`nnspool-newsgroups-file'
     The path of the group descriptions file.

`nnspool-history-file'
     The path of the news history file.

`nnspool-active-times-file'
     The path of the active date file.

`nnspool-nov-is-evil'
     If non-`nil', `nnspool' won't try to use any NOV files that it
     finds.

`nnspool-sift-nov-with-sed'
     If non-`nil', which is the default, use `sed' to get the relevant
     portion from the overview file.  If nil, `nnspool' will load the
     entire file into a buffer and process it there.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Getting Mail,  Next: Other Sources,  Prev: Getting News,  Up: Select Methods

Getting Mail
============

   Reading mail with a newsreader--isn't that just plain WeIrD? But of
course.

* Menu:

* Getting Started Reading Mail:: A simple cookbook example.
* Splitting Mail::               How to create mail groups.
* Mail Backend Variables::       Variables for customizing mail handling.
* Fancy Mail Splitting::         Gnus can do hairy splitting of incoming mail.
* Mail and Procmail::            Reading mail groups that procmail create.
* Incorporating Old Mail::       What about the old mail you have?
* Expiring Mail::                Getting rid of unwanted mail.
* Duplicates::                   Dealing with duplicated mail.
* Not Reading Mail::             Using mail backends for reading other files.
* Choosing a Mail Backend::      Gnus can read a variety of mail formats.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Getting Started Reading Mail,  Next: Splitting Mail,  Up: Getting Mail

Getting Started Reading Mail
----------------------------

   It's quite easy to use Gnus to read your new mail.  You just plonk
the mail backend of your choice into `gnus-secondary-select-methods',
and things will happen automatically.

   For instance, if you want to use `nnml' (which is a one file per
mail backend), you could put the following in your `.gnus' file:

     (setq gnus-secondary-select-methods
           '((nnml "private")))

   Now, the next time you start Gnus, this backend will be queried for
new articles, and it will move all the messages in your spool file to
its directory, which is `~/Mail/' by default.  The new group that will
be created (`mail.misc') will be subscribed, and you can read it like
any other group.

   You will probably want to split the mail into several groups, though:

     (setq nnmail-split-methods
       '(("junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
         ("crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
         ("other" "")))

   This will result in three new mail groups being created:
`nnml:junk', `nnml:crazy', and `nnml:other'.  All the mail that doesn't
fit into the first two groups will be placed in the latter group.

   This should be sufficient for reading mail with Gnus.  You might
want to give the other sections in this part of the manual a perusal,
though, especially *note Choosing a Mail Backend::. and *note Expiring
Mail::..


File: gnus.info,  Node: Splitting Mail,  Next: Mail Backend Variables,  Prev: Getting Started Reading Mail,  Up: Getting Mail

Splitting Mail
--------------

   The `nnmail-split-methods' variable says how the incoming mail is to
be split into groups.

     (setq nnmail-split-methods
       '(("mail.junk" "^From:.*Lars Ingebrigtsen")
         ("mail.crazy" "^Subject:.*die\\|^Organization:.*flabby")
         ("mail.other" "")))

   This variable is a list of lists, where the first element of each of
these lists is the name of the mail group (they do not have to be called
something beginning with `mail', by the way), and the second element is
a regular expression used on the header of each mail to determine if it
belongs in this mail group.

   The second element can also be a function.  In that case, it will be
called narrowed to the headers with the first element of the rule as the
argument.  It should return a non-`nil' value if it thinks that the
mail belongs in that group.

   The last of these groups should always be a general one, and the
regular expression should *always* be `' so that it matches any mails
that haven't been matched by any of the other regexps.

   If you like to tinker with this yourself, you can set this variable
to a function of your choice.  This function will be called without any
arguments in a buffer narrowed to the headers of an incoming mail
message.  The function should return a list of groups names that it
thinks should carry this mail message.

   Note that the mail backends are free to maul the poor, innocent
incoming headers all they want to.  They all add `Lines' headers; some
add `X-Gnus-Group' headers; most rename the Unix mbox `From<SPACE>'
line to something else.

   The mail backends all support cross-posting.  If several regexps
match, the mail will be "cross-posted" to all those groups.
`nnmail-crosspost' says whether to use this mechanism or not.  Note
that no articles are crossposted to the general (`') group.

   `nnmh' and `nnml' makes crossposts by creating hard links to the
crossposted articles.  However, not all files systems support hard
links.  If that's the case for you, set
`nnmail-crosspost-link-function' to `copy-file'.  (This variable is
`add-name-to-file' by default.)

   Gnus gives you all the opportunity you could possibly want for
shooting yourself in the foot.  Let's say you create a group that will
contain all the mail you get from your boss.  And then you accidentally
unsubscribe from the group.  Gnus will still put all the mail from your
boss in the unsubscribed group, and so, when your boss mails you "Have
that report ready by Monday or you're fired!", you'll never see it and,
come Tuesday, you'll still believe that you're gainfully employed while
you really should be out collecting empty bottles to save up for next
month's rent money.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Mail Backend Variables,  Next: Fancy Mail Splitting,  Prev: Splitting Mail,  Up: Getting Mail

Mail Backend Variables
----------------------

   These variables are (for the most part) pertinent to all the various
mail backends.

`nnmail-read-incoming-hook'
     The mail backends all call this hook after reading new mail.  You
     can use this hook to notify any mail watch programs, if you want
     to.

`nnmail-spool-file'
     The backends will look for new mail in this file.  If this
     variable is `nil', the mail backends will never attempt to fetch
     mail by themselves.  If you are using a POP mail server and your
     name is `larsi', you should set this variable to `po:larsi'.  If
     your name is not `larsi', you should probably modify that
     slightly, but you may have guessed that already, you smart &
     handsome devil!  You can also set this variable to `pop', and Gnus
     will try to figure out the POP mail string by itself.  In any
     case, Gnus will call `movemail' which will contact the POP server
     named in the `MAILHOST' environment variable.  If the POP server
     needs a password, you can either set
     `nnmail-pop-password-required' to `t' and be prompted for the
     password, or set `nnmail-pop-password' to the password itself.

     When you use a mail backend, Gnus will slurp all your mail from
     your inbox and plonk it down in your home directory.  Gnus doesn't
     move any mail if you're not using a mail backend--you have to do a
     lot of magic invocations first.  At the time when you have
     finished drawing the pentagram, lightened the candles, and
     sacrificed the goat, you really shouldn't be too surprised when
     Gnus moves your mail.

`nnmail-use-procmail'
     If non-`nil', the mail backends will look in
     `nnmail-procmail-directory' for incoming mail.  All the files in
     that directory that have names ending in `nnmail-procmail-suffix'
     will be considered incoming mailboxes, and will be searched for new
     mail.

`nnmail-crash-box'
     When the mail backends read a spool file, it is first moved to this
     file, which is `~/.gnus-crash-box' by default.  If this file
     already exists, it will always be read (and incorporated) before
     any other spool files.

`nnmail-prepare-incoming-hook'
     This is run in a buffer that holds all the new incoming mail, and
     can be used for, well, anything, really.

`nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook'
`nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook'
     These are two useful hooks executed when treating new incoming
     mail--`nnmail-pre-get-new-mail-hook' (is called just before
     starting to handle the new mail) and
     `nnmail-post-get-new-mail-hook' (is called when the mail handling
     is done).  Here's and example of using these two hooks to change
     the default file modes the new mail files get:

          (add-hook 'gnus-pre-get-new-mail-hook
                    (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 511)))
          
          (add-hook 'gnus-post-get-new-mail-hook
                    (lambda () (set-default-file-modes 551)))

`nnmail-tmp-directory'
     This variable says where to move the incoming mail to while
     processing it.  This is usually done in the same directory that
     the mail backend inhabits (i.e., `~/Mail/'), but if this variable
     is non-`nil', it will be used instead.

`nnmail-movemail-program'
     This program is executed to move mail from the user's inbox to her
     home directory.  The default is `movemail'.

`nnmail-delete-incoming'
     If non-`nil', the mail backends will delete the temporary incoming
     file after splitting mail into the proper groups.  This is `nil' by
     default for reasons of security.

`nnmail-use-long-file-names'
     If non-`nil', the mail backends will use long file and directory
     names.  Groups like `mail.misc' will end up in directories like
     `mail.misc/'.  If it is `nil', the same group will end up in
     `mail/misc/'.

`nnmail-delete-file-function'
     Function called to delete files.  It is `delete-file' by default.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Fancy Mail Splitting,  Next: Mail and Procmail,  Prev: Mail Backend Variables,  Up: Getting Mail

Fancy Mail Splitting
--------------------

   If the rather simple, standard method for specifying how to split
mail doesn't allow you to do what you want, you can set
`nnmail-split-methods' to `nnmail-split-fancy'.  Then you can play with
the `nnmail-split-fancy' variable.

   Let's look at an example value of this variable first:

     ;; Messages from the mailer daemon are not crossposted to any of
     ;; the ordinary groups.  Warnings are put in a separate group
     ;; from real errors.
     (| ("from" mail (| ("subject" "warn.*" "mail.warning")
                        "mail.misc"))
        ;; Non-error messages are crossposted to all relevant
        ;; groups, but we don't crosspost between the group for the
        ;; (ding) list and the group for other (ding) related mail.
        (& (| (any "ding@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "ding.list")
              ("subject" "ding" "ding.misc"))
           ;; Other mailing lists...
           (any "procmail@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "procmail.list")
           (any "SmartList@informatik\\.rwth-aachen\\.de" "SmartList.list")
           ;; People...
           (any "larsi@ifi\\.uio\\.no" "people.Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen"))
        ;; Unmatched mail goes to the catch all group.
        "misc.misc"))")

   This variable has the format of a "split".  A split is a (possibly)
recursive structure where each split may contain other splits.  Here are
the four possible split syntaxes:

"GROUP"
     If the split is a string, that will be taken as a group name.

"(FIELD VALUE SPLIT)"
     If the split is a list, and the first element is a string, then
     that means that if header FIELD (a regexp) contains VALUE (also a
     regexp), then store the message as specified by SPLIT.

"(| SPLIT...)"
     If the split is a list, and the first element is `|' (vertical
     bar), then process each SPLIT until one of them matches.  A SPLIT
     is said to match if it will cause the mail message to be stored in
     one or more groups.

"(& SPLIT...)"
     If the split is a list, and the first element is `&', then process
     all SPLITs in the list.

   In these splits, FIELD must match a complete field name.  VALUE must
match a complete word according to the fundamental mode syntax table.
You can use `.*' in the regexps to match partial field names or words.

   FIELD and VALUE can also be lisp symbols, in that case they are
expanded as specified by the variable `nnmail-split-abbrev-alist'.
This is an alist of cons cells, where the car of the cells contains the
key, and the cdr contains a string.

   `nnmail-split-fancy-syntax-table' is the syntax table in effect when
all this splitting is performed.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Mail and Procmail,  Next: Incorporating Old Mail,  Prev: Fancy Mail Splitting,  Up: Getting Mail

Mail and Procmail
-----------------

   Many people use `procmail' (or some other mail filter program or
external delivery agent--`slocal', `elm', etc) to split incoming mail
into groups.  If you do that, you should set `nnmail-spool-file' to
`procmail' to ensure that the mail backends never ever try to fetch
mail by themselves.

   This also means that you probably don't want to set
`nnmail-split-methods' either, which has some, perhaps, unexpected side
effects.

   When a mail backend is queried for what groups it carries, it replies
with the contents of that variable, along with any groups it has figured
out that it carries by other means.  None of the backends (except
`nnmh') actually go out to the disk and check what groups actually
exist.  (It's not trivial to distinguish between what the user thinks is
a basis for a newsgroup and what is just a plain old file or directory.)

   This means that you have to tell Gnus (and the backends) what groups
exist by hand.

   Let's take the `nnmh' backend as an example.

   The folders are located in `nnmh-directory', say, `~/Mail/'.  There
are three folders, `foo', `bar' and `mail.baz'.

   Go to the group buffer and type `G m'.  When prompted, answer `foo'
for the name and `nnmh' for the method.  Repeat twice for the two other
groups, `bar' and `mail.baz'.  Be sure to include all your mail groups.

   That's it.  You are now set to read your mail.  An active file for
this method will be created automatically.

   If you use `nnfolder' or any other backend that store more than a
single article in each file, you should never have procmail add mails to
the file that Gnus sees.  Instead, procmail should put all incoming mail
in `nnmail-procmail-directory'.  To arrive at the file name to put the
incoming mail in, append `nnmail-procmail-suffix' to the group name.
The mail backends will read the mail from these files.

   When Gnus reads a file called `mail.misc.spool', this mail will be
put in the `mail.misc', as one would expect.  However, if you want Gnus
to split the mail the normal way, you could set
`nnmail-resplit-incoming' to `t'.

   If you use `procmail' to split things directory into an `nnmh'
directory (which you shouldn't do), you should set
`nnmail-keep-last-article' to non-`nil' to prevent Gnus from ever
expiring the final article in a mail newsgroup.  This is quite, quite
important.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Incorporating Old Mail,  Next: Expiring Mail,  Prev: Mail and Procmail,  Up: Getting Mail

Incorporating Old Mail
----------------------

   Most people have lots of old mail stored in various file formats.  If
you have set up Gnus to read mail using one of the spiffy Gnus mail
backends, you'll probably wish to have that old mail incorporated into
your mail groups.

   Doing so can be quite easy.

   To take an example: You're reading mail using `nnml' (*note Mail
Spool::.), and have set `nnmail-split-methods' to a satisfactory value
(*note Splitting Mail::.).  You have an old Unix mbox file filled with
important, but old, mail.  You want to move it into your `nnml' groups.

   Here's how:

  1. Go to the group buffer.

  2. Type `G f' and give the path of the mbox file when prompted to
     create an `nndoc' group from the mbox file (*note Foreign
     Groups::.).

  3. Type `SPACE' to enter the newly created group.

  4. Type `M P b' to process-mark all articles in this group (*note
     Setting Process Marks::.).

  5. Type `B r' to respool all the process-marked articles, and answer
     `nnml' when prompted (*note Mail Group Commands::.).

   All the mail messages in the mbox file will now also be spread out
over all your `nnml' groups.  Try entering them and check whether things
have gone without a glitch.  If things look ok, you may consider
deleting the mbox file, but I wouldn't do that unless I was absolutely
sure that all the mail has ended up where it should be.

   Respooling is also a handy thing to do if you're switching from one
mail backend to another.  Just respool all the mail in the old mail
groups using the new mail backend.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Expiring Mail,  Next: Duplicates,  Prev: Incorporating Old Mail,  Up: Getting Mail

Expiring Mail
-------------

   Traditional mail readers have a tendency to remove mail articles when
you mark them as read, in some way.  Gnus takes a fundamentally
different approach to mail reading.

   Gnus basically considers mail just to be news that has been received
in a rather peculiar manner.  It does not think that it has the power to
actually change the mail, or delete any mail messages.  If you enter a
mail group, and mark articles as "read", or kill them in some other
fashion, the mail articles will still exist on the system.  I repeat:
Gnus will not delete your old, read mail.  Unless you ask it to, of
course.

   To make Gnus get rid of your unwanted mail, you have to mark the
articles as "expirable".  This does not mean that the articles will
disappear right away, however.  In general, a mail article will be
deleted from your system if, 1) it is marked as expirable, AND 2) it is
more than one week old.  If you do not mark an article as expirable, it
will remain on your system until hell freezes over.  This bears
repeating one more time, with some spurious capitalizations: IF you do
NOT mark articles as EXPIRABLE, Gnus will NEVER delete those ARTICLES.

   You do not have to mark articles as expirable by hand.  Groups that
match the regular expression `gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups' will have
all articles that you read marked as expirable automatically.  All
articles that are marked as expirable have an `E' in the first column
in the summary buffer.

   Let's say you subscribe to a couple of mailing lists, and you want
the articles you have read to disappear after a while:

     (setq gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups
           "mail.nonsense-list\\|mail.nice-list")

   Another way to have auto-expiry happen is to have the element
`auto-expire' in the group parameters of the group.

   The `nnmail-expiry-wait' variable supplies the default time an
expirable article has to live.  The default is seven days.

   Gnus also supplies a function that lets you fine-tune how long
articles are to live, based on what group they are in.  Let's say you
want to have one month expiry period in the `mail.private' group, a one
day expiry period in the `mail.junk' group, and a six day expiry period
everywhere else:

     (setq nnmail-expiry-wait-function
           (lambda (group)
            (cond ((string= group "mail.private")
                    31)
                  ((string= group "mail.junk")
                    1)
                  ((string= group "important")
                    'never)
                  (t
                    6))))

   The group names that this function is fed are "unadorned" group
names--no `nnml:' prefixes and the like.

   The `nnmail-expiry-wait' variable and `nnmail-expiry-wait-function'
function can be either a number (not necessarily an integer) or the
symbols `immediate' or `never'.

   You can also use the `expiry-wait' group parameter to selectively
change the expiry period (*note Group Parameters::.).

   If `nnmail-keep-last-article' is non-`nil', Gnus will never expire
the final article in a mail newsgroup.  This is to make life easier for
procmail users.

   By the way, that line up there about Gnus never expiring
non-expirable articles is a lie.  If you put `total-expire' in the group
parameters, articles will not be marked as expirable, but all read
articles will be put through the expiry process.  Use with extreme
caution.  Even more dangerous is the `gnus-total-expirable-newsgroups'
variable.  All groups that match this regexp will have all read
articles put through the expiry process, which means that *all* old
mail articles in the groups in question will be deleted after a while.
Use with extreme caution, and don't come crying to me when you discover
that the regexp you used matched the wrong group and all your important
mail has disappeared.  Be a *man*!  Or a *woman*!  Whatever you feel
more comfortable with!  So there!


File: gnus.info,  Node: Duplicates,  Next: Not Reading Mail,  Prev: Expiring Mail,  Up: Getting Mail

Duplicates
----------

   If you are a member of a couple of mailing list, you will sometime
receive two copies of the same mail.  This can be quite annoying, so
`nnmail' checks for and treats any duplicates it might find.  To do
this, it keeps a cache of old `Message-ID's -
`nnmail-message-id-cache-file', which is `~/.nnmail-cache' by default.
The approximate maximum number of `Message-ID's stored there is
controlled by the `nnmail-message-id-cache-length' variable, which is
1000 by default. (So 1000 `Message-ID's will be stored.) If all this
sounds scary to you, you can set `nnmail-treat-duplicates' to `warn'
(which is what it is by default), and `nnmail' won't delete duplicate
mails.  Instead it will generate a brand new `Message-ID' for the mail
and insert a warning into the head of the mail saying that it thinks
that this is a duplicate of a different message.

   This variable can also be a function.  If that's the case, the
function will be called from a buffer narrowed to the message in
question with the `Message-ID' as a parameter.  The function must
return either `nil', `warn', or `delete'.

   You can turn this feature off completely by setting the variable to
`nil'.

   If you want all the duplicate mails to be put into a special
"duplicates" group, you could do that using the normal mail split
methods:

     (setq nnmail-split-fancy
           '(| ;; Messages duplicates go to a separate group.
               ("gnus-warning" "duplication of message" "duplicate")
               ;; Message from daemons, postmaster, and the like to another.
               (any mail "mail.misc")
               ;; Other rules.
               [ ... ] ))

   Or something like:
     (setq nnmail-split-methods
           '(("duplicates" "^Gnus-Warning:")
             ;; Other rules.
             [...]))

   Here's a neat feature: If you know that the recipient reads her mail
with Gnus, and that she has `nnmail-treat-duplicates' set to `delete',
you can send her as many insults as you like, just by using a
`Message-ID' of a mail that you know that she's already received.
Think of all the fun!  She'll never see any of it!  Whee!


File: gnus.info,  Node: Not Reading Mail,  Next: Choosing a Mail Backend,  Prev: Duplicates,  Up: Getting Mail

Not Reading Mail
----------------

   If you start using any of the mail backends, they have the annoying
habit of assuming that you want to read mail with them.  This might not
be unreasonable, but it might not be what you want.

   If you set `nnmail-spool-file' to `nil', none of the backends will
ever attempt to read incoming mail, which should help.

   This might be too much, if, for instance, you are reading mail quite
happily with `nnml' and just want to peek at some old RMAIL file you
have stashed away with `nnbabyl'.  All backends have variables called
backend-`get-new-mail'.  If you want to disable the `nnbabyl' mail
reading, you edit the virtual server for the group to have a setting
where `nnbabyl-get-new-mail' to `nil'.

   All the mail backends will call `nn'*`-prepare-save-mail-hook'
narrowed to the article to be saved before saving it when reading
incoming mail.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Choosing a Mail Backend,  Prev: Not Reading Mail,  Up: Getting Mail

Choosing a Mail Backend
-----------------------

   Gnus will read the mail spool when you activate a mail group.  The
mail file is first copied to your home directory.  What happens after
that depends on what format you want to store your mail in.

* Menu:

* Unix Mail Box::               Using the (quite) standard Un*x mbox.
* Rmail Babyl::                 Emacs programs use the rmail babyl format.
* Mail Spool::                  Store your mail in a private spool?
* MH Spool::                    An mhspool-like backend.
* Mail Folders::                Having one file for each group.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Unix Mail Box,  Next: Rmail Babyl,  Up: Choosing a Mail Backend

Unix Mail Box
.............

   The "nnmbox" backend will use the standard Un*x mbox file to store
mail.  `nnmbox' will add extra headers to each mail article to say
which group it belongs in.

   Virtual server settings:

`nnmbox-mbox-file'
     The name of the mail box in the user's home directory.

`nnmbox-active-file'
     The name of the active file for the mail box.

`nnmbox-get-new-mail'
     If non-`nil', `nnmbox' will read incoming mail and split it into
     groups.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Rmail Babyl,  Next: Mail Spool,  Prev: Unix Mail Box,  Up: Choosing a Mail Backend

Rmail Babyl
...........

   The "nnbabyl" backend will use a babyl mail box (aka. "rmail mbox")
to store mail. `nnbabyl' will add extra headers to each mail article to
say which group it belongs in.

   Virtual server settings:

`nnbabyl-mbox-file'
     The name of the rmail mbox file.

`nnbabyl-active-file'
     The name of the active file for the rmail box.

`nnbabyl-get-new-mail'
     If non-`nil', `nnbabyl' will read incoming mail.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Mail Spool,  Next: MH Spool,  Prev: Rmail Babyl,  Up: Choosing a Mail Backend

Mail Spool
..........

   The "nnml" spool mail format isn't compatible with any other known
format.  It should be used with some caution.

   If you use this backend, Gnus will split all incoming mail into
files; one file for each mail, and put the articles into the correct
directories under the directory specified by the `nnml-directory'
variable.  The default value is `~/Mail/'.

   You do not have to create any directories beforehand; Gnus will take
care of all that.

   If you have a strict limit as to how many files you are allowed to
store in your account, you should not use this backend.  As each mail
gets its own file, you might very well occupy thousands of inodes
within a few weeks.  If this is no problem for you, and it isn't a
problem for you having your friendly systems administrator walking
around, madly, shouting "Who is eating all my inodes?! Who? Who!?!",
then you should know that this is probably the fastest format to use.
You do not have to trudge through a big mbox file just to read your new
mail.

   `nnml' is probably the slowest backend when it comes to article
splitting.  It has to create lots of files, and it also generates NOV
databases for the incoming mails.  This makes is the fastest backend
when it comes to reading mail.

   Virtual server settings:

`nnml-directory'
     All `nnml' directories will be placed under this directory.

`nnml-active-file'
     The active file for the `nnml' server.

`nnml-newsgroups-file'
     The `nnml' group descriptions file.  *Note Newsgroups File
     Format::.

`nnml-get-new-mail'
     If non-`nil', `nnml' will read incoming mail.

`nnml-nov-is-evil'
     If non-`nil', this backend will ignore any NOV files.

`nnml-nov-file-name'
     The name of the NOV files.  The default is `.overview'.

`nnml-prepare-save-mail-hook'
     Hook run narrowed to an article before saving.

   If your `nnml' groups and NOV files get totally out of whack, you
can do a complete update by typing `M-x nnml-generate-nov-databases'.
This command will trawl through the entire `nnml' hierarchy, looking at
each and every article, so it might take a while to complete.


File: gnus.info,  Node: MH Spool,  Next: Mail Folders,  Prev: Mail Spool,  Up: Choosing a Mail Backend

MH Spool
........

   `nnmh' is just like `nnml', except that is doesn't generate NOV
databases and it doesn't keep an active file.  This makes `nnmh' a
*much* slower backend than `nnml', but it also makes it easier to write
procmail scripts for.

   Virtual server settings:

`nnmh-directory'
     All `nnmh' directories will be located under this directory.

`nnmh-get-new-mail'
     If non-`nil', `nnmh' will read incoming mail.

`nnmh-be-safe'
     If non-`nil', `nnmh' will go to ridiculous lengths to make sure
     that the articles in the folder are actually what Gnus thinks they
     are.  It will check date stamps and stat everything in sight, so
     setting this to `t' will mean a serious slow-down.  If you never
     use anything but Gnus to read the `nnmh' articles, you do not have
     to set this variable to `t'.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Mail Folders,  Prev: MH Spool,  Up: Choosing a Mail Backend

Mail Folders
............

   `nnfolder' is a backend for storing each mail group in a separate
file.  Each file is in the standard Un*x mbox format.  `nnfolder' will
add extra headers to keep track of article numbers and arrival dates.

   Virtual server settings:

`nnfolder-directory'
     All the `nnfolder' mail boxes will be stored under this directory.

`nnfolder-active-file'
     The name of the active file.

`nnfolder-newsgroups-file'
     The name of the group descriptions file.  *Note Newsgroups File
     Format::.

`nnfolder-get-new-mail'
     If non-`nil', `nnfolder' will read incoming mail.

   If you have lots of `nnfolder'-like files you'd like to read with
`nnfolder', you can use the `M-x nnfolder-generate-active-file' command
to make `nnfolder' aware of all likely files in `nnfolder-directory'.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Other Sources,  Next: Combined Groups,  Prev: Getting Mail,  Up: Select Methods

Other Sources
=============

   Gnus can do more than just read news or mail.  The methods described
below allow Gnus to view directories and files as if they were
newsgroups.

* Menu:

* Directory Groups::   You can read a directory as if it was a newsgroup.
* Anything Groups::    Dired?  Who needs dired?
* Document Groups::    Single files can be the basis of a group.
* SOUP::               Reading SOUP packets "offline".


File: gnus.info,  Node: Directory Groups,  Next: Anything Groups,  Up: Other Sources

Directory Groups
----------------

   If you have a directory that has lots of articles in separate files
in it, you might treat it as a newsgroup.  The files have to have
numerical names, of course.

   This might be an opportune moment to mention `ange-ftp', that most
wonderful of all wonderful Emacs packages.  When I wrote `nndir', I
didn't think much about it--a backend to read directories.  Big deal.

   `ange-ftp' changes that picture dramatically.  For instance, if you
enter `"/ftp.hpc.uh.edu:/pub/emacs/ding-list/"' as the the directory
name, ange-ftp will actually allow you to read this directory over at
`sina' as a newsgroup.  Distributed news ahoy!

   `nndir' will use NOV files if they are present.

   `nndir' is a "read-only" backend--you can't delete or expire
articles with this method.  You can use `nnmh' or `nnml' for whatever
you use `nndir' for, so you could switch to any of those methods if you
feel the need to have a non-read-only `nndir'.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Anything Groups,  Next: Document Groups,  Prev: Directory Groups,  Up: Other Sources

Anything Groups
---------------

   From the `nndir' backend (which reads a single spool-like
directory), it's just a hop and a skip to `nneething', which pretends
that any arbitrary directory is a newsgroup.  Strange, but true.

   When `nneething' is presented with a directory, it will scan this
directory and assign article numbers to each file.  When you enter such
a group, `nneething' must create "headers" that Gnus can use.  After
all, Gnus is a newsreader, in case you're forgetting. `nneething' does
this in a two-step process.  First, it snoops each file in question.
If the file looks like an article (i.e., the first few lines look like
headers), it will use this as the head.  If this is just some arbitrary
file without a head (eg. a C source file), `nneething' will cobble up a
header out of thin air.  It will use file ownership, name and date and
do whatever it can with these elements.

   All this should happen automatically for you, and you will be
presented with something that looks very much like a newsgroup.
Totally like a newsgroup, to be precise.  If you select an article, it
will be displayed in the article buffer, just as usual.

   If you select a line that represents a directory, Gnus will pop you
into a new summary buffer for this `nneething' group.  And so on.  You
can traverse the entire disk this way, if you feel like, but remember
that Gnus is not dired, really, and does not intend to be, either.

   There are two overall modes to this action--ephemeral or solid.  When
doing the ephemeral thing (i.e., `G D' from the group buffer), Gnus
will not store information on what files you have read, and what files
are new, and so on.  If you create a solid `nneething' group the normal
way with `G m', Gnus will store a mapping table between article numbers
and file names, and you can treat this group like any other groups.
When you activate a solid `nneething' group, you will be told how many
unread articles it contains, etc., etc.

   Some variables:

`nneething-map-file-directory'
     All the mapping files for solid `nneething' groups will be stored
     in this directory, which defaults to `~/.nneething/'.

`nneething-exclude-files'
     All files that match this regexp will be ignored.  Nice to use to
     exclude auto-save files and the like, which is what it does by
     default.

`nneething-map-file'
     Name of the map files.


File: gnus.info,  Node: Document Groups,  Next: SOUP,  Prev: Anything Groups,  Up: Other Sources

Document Groups
---------------

   `nndoc' is a cute little thing that will let you read a single file
as a newsgroup.  Several files types are supported:

`babyl'
     The babyl (rmail) mail box.

`mbox'
     The standard Unix mbox file.

`mmdf'
     The MMDF mail box format.

`news'
     Several news articles appended into a file.

`rnews'
     The rnews batch transport format.

`forward'
     Forwarded articles.

`mime-digest'
     MIME (RFC 1341) digest format.

`standard-digest'
     The standard (RFC 1153) digest format.

`slack-digest'
     Non-standard digest format--matches most things, but does it badly.

   You can also use the special "file type" `guess', which means that
`nndoc' will try to guess what file type it is looking at.  `digest'
means that `nndoc' should guess what digest type the file is.

   `nndoc' will not try to change the file or insert any extra headers
into it--it will simply, like, let you use the file as the basis for a
group.  And that's it.

   If you have some old archived articles that you want to insert into
your new & spiffy Gnus mail backend, `nndoc' can probably help you with
that.  Say you have an old `RMAIL' file with mail that you now want to
split into your new `nnml' groups.  You look at that file using
`nndoc', set the process mark on all the articles in the buffer (`M P
b', for instance), and then re-spool (`B r') using `nnml'.  If all goes
well, all the mail in the `RMAIL' file is now also stored in lots of
`nnml' directories, and you can delete that pesky `RMAIL' file.  If you
have the guts!

   Virtual server variables:

`nndoc-article-type'
     This should be one of `mbox', `babyl', `digest', `mmdf',
     `forward', `news', `rnews', `mime-digest', `clari-briefs', or
     `guess'.

`nndoc-post-type'
     This variable says whether Gnus is to consider the group a news
     group or a mail group.  There are two legal values:  `mail' (the
     default) and `news'.


File: gnus.info,  Node: SOUP,  Prev: Document Groups,  Up: Other Sources

SOUP
----

   In the PC world people often talk about "offline" newsreaders.  These
are thingies that are combined reader/news transport monstrosities.
With built-in modem programs.  Yecchh!

   Of course, us Unix Weenie types of human beans use things like
`uucp' and, like, `nntpd' and set up proper news and mail transport
things like Ghod intended.  And then we just use normal newsreaders.

   However, it can sometimes be convenient to do something a that's a
bit easier on the brain if you have a very slow modem, and you're not
really that interested in doing things properly.

   A file format called SOUP has been developed for transporting news
and mail from servers to home machines and back again.  It can be a bit
fiddly.

  1. You log in on the server and create a SOUP packet.  You can either
     use a dedicated SOUP thingie, or you can use Gnus to create the
     packet with the `O s' command.

  2. You transfer the packet home.  Rail, boat, car or modem will do
     fine.

  3. You put the packet in your home directory.

  4. You fire up Gnus using the `nnsoup' backend as the native server.

  5. You read articles and mail and answer and followup to the things
     you want.

  6. You do the `G s r' command to pack these replies into a SOUP
     packet.

  7. You transfer this packet to the server.

  8. You use Gnus to mail this packet out with the `G s s' command.

  9. You then repeat until you die.


   So you basically have a bipartite system--you use `nnsoup' for
reading and Gnus for packing/sending these SOUP packets.

* Menu:

* SOUP Commands::     Commands for creating and sending SOUP packets
* SOUP Groups::       A backend for reading SOUP packets.
* SOUP Replies::      How to enable `nnsoup' to take over mail and news.


File: gnus.info,  Node: SOUP Commands,  Next: SOUP Groups,  Up: SOUP

SOUP Commands
.............

`G s b'
     Pack all unread articles in the current group
     (`gnus-group-brew-soup').  This command understands the
     process/prefix convention.

`G s w'
     Save all data files (`gnus-soup-save-areas').

`G s s'
     Send all replies from the replies packet
     (`gnus-soup-send-replies').

`G s p'
     Pack all files into a SOUP packet (`gnus-soup-pack-packet').

`G s r'
     Pack all replies into a replies packet (`nnsoup-pack-replies').

`O s'
     This summary-mode command adds the current article to a SOUP packet
     (`gnus-soup-add-article').  It understands the process/prefix
     convention.

   There are a few variables to customize where Gnus will put all these
thingies:

`gnus-soup-directory'
     Directory where Gnus will save intermediate files while composing
     SOUP packets.  The default is `~/SoupBrew/'.

`gnus-soup-replies-directory'
     This is what Gnus will use as a temporary directory while sending
     our reply packets.  The default is `~/SoupBrew/SoupReplies/'.

`gnus-soup-prefix-file'
     Name of the file where Gnus stores the last used prefix.  The
     default is `gnus-prefix'.

`gnus-soup-packer'
     A format string command for packing a SOUP packet.  The default is
     `tar cf - %s | gzip > $HOME/Soupout%d.tgz'.

`gnus-soup-unpacker'
     Format string command for unpacking a SOUP packet.  The default is
     `gunzip -c %s | tar xvf -'.

`gnus-soup-packet-directory'
     Where Gnus will look for reply packets.  The default is `~/'.

`gnus-soup-packet-regexp'
     Regular expression matching SOUP reply packets in
     `gnus-soup-packet-directory'.

