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+\input texinfo
+@c -*-texinfo-*-
+@c Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+@setfilename gnus-faq.info
+
+@node Frequently Asked Questions
+@section Frequently Asked Questions
+
+This is the Gnus Frequently Asked Questions list.
+If you have a Web browser, the official hypertext version is at
+@file{http://www.miranova.com/~steve/gnus-faq.html>}, and has
+probably been updated since you got this manual.
+
+@menu
+* Installation FAQ::      Installation of Gnus.
+* Customization FAQ::     Customizing Gnus.
+* Reading News FAQ::      News Reading Questions.
+* Reading Mail FAQ::      Mail Reading Questions.
+@end menu
+
+
+@node Installation FAQ
+@subsection Installation
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Q1.1  What is the latest version of Gnus?
+
+The latest (and greatest) version is 5.0.10.  You might also run
+across something called @emph{September Gnus}.  September Gnus
+is the alpha version of the next major release of Gnus.  It is currently
+not stable enough to run unless you are prepared to debug lisp.
+
+@item
+Q1.2  Where do I get Gnus?
+
+Any of the following locations:
+
+@itemize @minus
+@item
+@file{ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/gnus.tar.gz}
+
+@item
+@file{ftp://ftp.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/}
+
+@item
+@file{gopher://gopher.pilgrim.umass.edu/11/pub/misc/ding/}
+
+@item
+@file{ftp://aphrodite.nectar.cs.cmu.edu/pub/ding-gnus/}
+
+@item
+@file{ftp://ftp.solace.mh.se:/pub/gnu/elisp/}
+
+@end itemize
+
+@item
+Q1.3  Which version of Emacs do I need?
+
+At least GNU Emacs 19.28, or XEmacs 19.12 is recommended.  GNU Emacs
+19.25 has been reported to work under certain circumstances, but it
+doesn't @emph{officially} work on it.  19.27 has also been reported to
+work.  Gnus has been reported to work under OS/2 as well as Unix.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.4  Where is timezone.el?
+
+Upgrade to XEmacs 19.13.  In earlier versions of XEmacs this file was
+placed with Gnus 4.1.3, but that has been corrected.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.5  When I run Gnus on XEmacs 19.13 I get weird error messages.
+
+You're running an old version of Gnus.  Upgrade to at least version
+5.0.4.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.6  How do I unsubscribe from the Mailing List?
+
+Send an e-mail message to @file{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} with the magic word
+@emph{unsubscribe} somewhere in it, and you will be removed.
+
+If you are reading the digest version of the list, send an e-mail message
+to @*
+@file{ding-rn-digests-d-request@@moe.shore.net}
+with @emph{unsubscribe} as the subject and you will be removed.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.7  How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?
+
+The basic answer is to byte-compile under XEmacs, and then you can
+run under either Emacsen.  There is, however, a potential version
+problem with easymenu.el with Gnu Emacs prior to 19.29.
+
+Per Abrahamsen <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk> writes :@*
+The internal easymenu.el interface changed between 19.28 and 19.29 in
+order to make it possible to create byte compiled files that can be
+shared between Gnu Emacs and XEmacs.  The change is upward
+compatible, but not downward compatible. 
+This gives the following compatibility table:
+
+@example
+Compiled with:  | Can be used with:
+----------------+--------------------------------------
+19.28           | 19.28         19.29
+19.29           |               19.29           XEmacs
+XEmacs          |               19.29           XEmacs
+@end example
+
+If you have Gnu Emacs 19.28 or earlier, or XEmacs 19.12 or earlier, get
+a recent version of auc-menu.el from
+@file{ftp://ftp.iesd.auc.dk/pub/emacs-lisp/auc-menu.el}, and install it
+under the name easymenu.el somewhere early in your load path.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.8 What resources are available?
+
+There is the newsgroup Gnu.emacs.gnus. Discussion of Gnus 5.x is now
+taking place there. There is also a mailing list, send mail to
+@file{ding-request@@ifi.uio.no} with the magic word @emph{subscribe}
+somewhere in it.
+
+@emph{NOTE:} the traffic on this list is heavy so you may not want to be
+on it (unless you use Gnus as your mailer reader, that is). The mailing
+list is mainly for developers and testers.
+
+Gnus has a home World Wide Web page at@*
+@file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding.html}.
+   
+Gnus has a write up in the X Windows Applications FAQ at@*
+@file{http://www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/xapps/Q-III.html}.
+   
+The Gnus manual is also available on the World Wide Web. The canonical
+source is in Norway at@*
+@file{http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-manual/gnus_toc.html}.
+
+There are three mirrors in the United States:
+@enumerate
+@item
+@file{http://www.miranova.com/gnus-man/}
+
+@item
+@file{http://www.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/manual/gnus_toc.html}
+
+@item
+@file{http://www.rtd.com/~woo/gnus/}
+
+@end enumerate
+
+PostScript copies of the Gnus Reference card are available from@*
+@file{ftp://ftp.cs.ualberta.ca/pub/oolog/gnus/}.  They are mirrored at@*
+@file{ftp://ftp.pilgrim.umass.edu/pub/misc/ding/refcard/} in the
+United States. And@*
+@file{ftp://marvin.fkphy.uni-duesseldorf.de/pub/gnus/}
+in Germany.
+   
+An online version of the Gnus FAQ is available at@*
+@file{http://www.miranova.com/~steve/gnus-faq.html}. Off-line formats
+are also available:@*
+ASCII: @file{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq}@*
+PostScript: @file{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq.ps}.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.9  Gnus hangs on connecting to NNTP server
+
+I am running XEmacs on SunOS and Gnus prints a message about Connecting
+to NNTP server and then just hangs.
+
+Ben Wing <wing@@netcom.com> writes :@*
+I wonder if you're hitting the infamous @emph{libresolv} problem.
+The basic problem is that under SunOS you can compile either
+with DNS or NIS name lookup libraries but not both.  Try
+substituting the IP address and see if that works; if so, you
+need to download the sources and recompile.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.10  Mailcrypt 3.4 doesn't work
+
+This problem is verified to still exist in Gnus 5.0.9 and MailCrypt 3.4.
+The answer comes from Peter Arius
+<arius@@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>.
+
+I found out that mailcrypt uses
+@code{gnus-eval-in-buffer-window}, which is a macro.
+It seems as if you have
+compiled mailcrypt with plain old GNUS in load path, and the XEmacs byte
+compiler has inserted that macro definition into
+@file{mc-toplev.elc}.
+The solution is to recompile @file{mc-toplev.el} with Gnus 5 in
+load-path, and it works fine.
+
+Steve Baur <steve@@miranova.com> adds :@*
+The problem also manifests itself if neither GNUS 4 nor Gnus 5 is in the
+load-path.
+
+
+@item
+Q1.11  What other packages work with Gnus?
+
+@itemize @minus
+@item
+Mailcrypt.
+
+Mailcrypt is an Emacs interface to PGP.  It works, it installs
+without hassle, and integrates very easily.  Mailcrypt can be
+obtained from@*
+@file{ftp://cag.lcs.mit.edu/pub/patl/mailcrypt-3.4.tar.gz}.
+
+@item
+Tiny Mime.
+
+Tiny Mime is an Emacs MUA interface to MIME.  Installation is
+a two-step process unlike most other packages, so you should
+be prepared to move the byte-compiled code somewhere.  There
+are currently two versions of this package available.  It can
+be obtained from@*
+@file{ftp://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/GNU/elisp/}.
+Be sure to apply the supplied patch.  It works with Gnus through
+version 5.0.9.  In order for all dependencies to work correctly
+the load sequence is as follows:
+@lisp
+  (load "tm-setup")
+  (load "gnus")
+  (load "mime-compose")
+@end lisp
+
+@emph{NOTE:} Loading the package disables citation highlighting by
+default.  To get the old behavior back, use the @kbd{M-t} command.
+
+@end itemize
+
+@end itemize
+
+
+@node Customization FAQ
+@subsection Customization
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Q2.1  Custom Edit does not work under XEmacs
+
+The custom package has not been ported to XEmacs.
+
+
+@item
+Q2.2  How do I quote messages?
+
+I see lots of messages with quoted material in them.  I am wondering
+how to have Gnus do it for me.
+
+This is Gnus, so there are a number of ways of doing this.  You can use
+the built-in commands to do this.  There are the @kbd{F} and @kbd{R}
+keys from the summary buffer which automatically include the article
+being responded to.  These commands are also selectable as @i{Followup
+and Yank} and @i{Reply and Yank} in the Post menu.
+
+@kbd{C-c C-y} grabs the previous message and prefixes each line with
+@code{ail-indentation-spaces} spaces or @code{mail-yank-prefix} if that is
+non-nil, unless you have set your own @code{mail-citation-hook}, which will
+be called to to do the job.
+
+You might also consider the Supercite package, which allows for pretty
+arbitrarily complex quoting styles.  Some people love it, some people
+hate it.
+
+
+@item
+Q2.3 How can I keep my nnvirtual:* groups sorted?
+
+How can I most efficiently arrange matters so as to keep my nnvirtual:*
+(etc) groups at the top of my group selection buffer, whilst keeping
+everything sorted in alphabetical order.
+   
+If you don't subscribe often to new groups then the easiest way is to
+first sort the groups and then manually kill and yank the virtuals
+wherever you want them.
+
+
+@item
+Q2.4  Any good suggestions on stuff for an all.SCORE file?
+
+Here is a collection of suggestions from the Gnus mailing list.
+
+@enumerate
+@item
+From ``Dave Disser'' <disser@@sdd.hp.com>@*
+I like blasting anything without lowercase letters.  Weeds out most of
+the make $$ fast, as well as the lame titles like ``IBM'' and ``HP-UX''
+with no further description.
+@lisp
+ (("Subject"
+  ("^\\(Re: \\)?[^a-z]*$" -200 nil R)))
+@end lisp
+
+@item
+From ``Peter Arius'' <arius@@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>@*
+The most vital entries in my (still young) all.SCORE:
+@lisp
+(("xref"
+  ("alt.fan.oj-simpson" -1000 nil s))
+ ("subject"
+  ("\\<\\(make\\|fast\\|big\\)\\s-*\\(money\\|cash\\|bucks?\\)\\>" -1000 nil r)
+  ("$$$$" -1000 nil s)))
+@end lisp
+
+@item
+From ``Per Abrahamsen'' <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk>@*
+@lisp
+(("subject"
+  ;; CAPS OF THE WORLD, UNITE
+  ("^..[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R)
+  ;; $$$ Make Money $$$ (Try work)
+  ("$" -1 nil s)
+  ;; I'm important! And I have exclamation marks to prove it!
+  ("!" -1 nil s)))
+@end lisp
+
+@item
+From ``heddy boubaker'' <boubaker@@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr>@*
+I  would like to contribute with mine.
+@lisp
+(
+ (read-only t)
+ ("subject"
+  ;; ALL CAPS SUBJECTS
+  ("^\\([Rr][Ee]: +\\)?[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R)
+  ;; $$$ Make Money $$$
+  ("$$" -10 nil s)
+  ;; Empty subjects are worthless!
+  ("^ *\\([(<]none[>)]\\|(no subject\\( given\\)?)\\)? *$" -10 nil r)
+  ;; Sometimes interesting announces occur!
+  ("ANN?OU?NC\\(E\\|ING\\)" +10 nil r)
+  ;; Some people think they're on mailing lists
+  ("\\(un\\)?sub?scribe" -100 nil r)
+  ;; Stop Micro$oft NOW!!
+  ("\\(m\\(icro\\)?[s$]\\(oft\\|lot\\)?-?\\)?wind?\\(ows\\|aube\\|oze\\)?[- ]*\\('?95\\|NT\\|3[.]1\\|32\\)" -1001 nil r)
+  ;; I've nothing to buy
+  ("\\(for\\|4\\)[- ]*sale" -100 nil r)
+  ;; SELF-DISCIPLINED people
+  ("\\[[^a-z0-9 \t\n][^a-z0-9 \t\n]\\]" +100 nil r)
+  )
+ ("from"
+  ;; To keep track of posters from my site
+  (".dgac.fr" +1000 nil s))
+ ("followup"
+  ;; Keep track of answers to my posts
+  ("boubaker" +1000 nil s))
+ ("lines"
+  ;; Some people have really nothing to say!!
+  (1 -10 nil <=))
+ (mark -100)
+ (expunge -1000)
+ )
+@end lisp
+
+@item
+From ``Christopher Jones'' <cjones@@au.oracle.com>@*
+The sample @file{all.SCORE} files from Per and boubaker could be
+augmented with:
+@lisp
+	(("subject"
+	  ;; No junk mail please!
+	  ("please ignore" -500 nil s)
+	  ("test" -500 nil e))
+	)
+@end lisp
+
+@item
+From ``Brian Edmonds'' <edmonds@@cs.ubc.ca>@*
+Augment any of the above with a fast method of scoring down
+excessively cross posted articles.
+@lisp
+ ("xref"
+  ;; the more cross posting, the exponentially worse the article
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -1 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -2 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -4 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -8 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -16 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -32 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -64 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -128 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -256 nil r)
+  ("^xref: \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+ \\S-+" -512 nil r))
+@end lisp
+
+@end enumerate
+
+
+@item
+Q2.5  What do I use to yank-through when replying?
+
+You should probably reply and followup with @kbd{R} and @kbd{F}, instead
+of @kbd{r} and @kbd{f}, which solves your problem.  But you could try
+something like:
+
+@example
+(defconst mail-yank-ignored-headers
+  "^.*:"
+  "Delete these headers from old message when it's inserted in a reply.")
+@end example
+
+
+@item
+Q2.6  I don't like the default WWW browser
+
+Now when choosing an URL Gnus starts up a W3 buffer, I would like it
+to always use Netscape (I don't browse in text-mode ;-).
+
+@enumerate
+@item
+Activate `Customize...' from the `Help' menu.
+
+@item
+Scroll down to the `WWW Browser' field.
+
+@item
+Click `mouse-2' on `WWW Browser'.
+
+@item
+Select `Netscape' from the pop up menu.
+
+@item
+Press `C-c C-c'
+
+@end enumerate
+
+If you are using XEmacs then to specify Netscape do
+@lisp
+  (setq gnus-button-url 'gnus-netscape-open-url)
+@end lisp
+
+
+@item
+Q2.7 What, if any, relation is between ``ask-server'' and ``(setq
+gnus-read-active-file 'some)''?
+
+In order for Gnus to show you the complete list of newsgroups, it will
+either have to either store the list locally, or ask the server to
+transmit the list. You enable the first with
+
+@lisp
+        (setq gnus-save-killed-list t)
+@end lisp
+
+and the second with
+
+@lisp
+        (setq gnus-read-active-file t)
+@end lisp
+
+If both are disabled, Gnus will not know what newsgroups exists. There
+is no option to get the list by casting a spell.
+
+
+@item
+Q2.8  Moving between groups is slow.
+
+Per Abrahamsen <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk> writes:@*
+
+Do you call @code{define-key} or something like that in one of the
+summary mode hooks?  This would force Emacs to recalculate the keyboard
+shortcuts.  Removing the call should speed up @kbd{M-x gnus-summary-mode
+RET} by a couple of orders of magnitude.  You can use
+
+@lisp
+(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map KEY COMMAND)
+@end lisp
+
+in your @file{.gnus} instead.
+
+@end itemize
+
+
+@node Reading News FAQ
+@subsection Reading News
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Q3.1  How do I convert my kill files to score files?
+
+A kill-to-score translator was written by Ethan Bradford
+<ethanb@@ptolemy.astro.washington.edu>.  It is available from@*
+@file{http://baugi.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/ding-various/gnus-kill-to-score.el}.
+
+
+@item
+Q3.2 My news server has a lot of groups, and killing groups is painfully
+slow.
+
+Don't do that then.  The best way to get rid of groups that should be
+dead is to edit your newsrc directly.  This problem will be addressed
+in the near future.
+
+
+@item
+Q3.3  How do I use an NNTP server with authentication?
+
+Put the following into your .gnus:
+@lisp
+ (add-hook 'nntp-server-opened-hook 'nntp-send-authinfo)
+@end lisp
+
+
+@item
+Q3.4  Not reading the first article.
+
+How do I avoid reading the first article when a group is selected?
+
+@enumerate
+@item
+Use @kbd{RET} to select the group instead of @kbd{SPC}.
+
+@item
+@code{(setq gnus-auto-select first nil)}
+
+@item
+Luis Fernandes <elf@@mailhost.ee.ryerson.ca>writes:@*
+This is what I use...customize as necessary...
+
+@lisp
+;;; Don't auto-select first article if reading sources, or archives or
+;;; jobs postings, etc. and just display the summary buffer
+(add-hook 'gnus-select-group-hook
+	  (function
+	   (lambda ()
+	     (cond ((string-match "sources" gnus-newsgroup-name)
+		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
+			   ((string-match "jobs" gnus-newsgroup-name)
+				(setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
+		   ((string-match "comp\\.archives" gnus-newsgroup-name)
+		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
+		   ((string-match "reviews" gnus-newsgroup-name)
+		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
+		   ((string-match "announce" gnus-newsgroup-name)
+		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
+		   ((string-match "binaries" gnus-newsgroup-name)
+		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first nil))
+		   (t
+		    (setq gnus-auto-select-first t))))))
+@end lisp
+
+@item
+Per Abrahamsen <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk> writes:@*
+Another possibility is to create an @file{all.binaries.all.SCORE} file
+like this:
+
+@lisp
+((local
+  (gnus-auto-select-first nil)))
+@end lisp
+
+and insert 
+@lisp
+	(setq gnus-auto-select-first t)
+@end lisp
+
+in your @file{.gnus}.
+
+@end enumerate
+
+@item
+Q3.5  Why aren't BBDB known posters marked in the summary buffer?
+
+Brian Edmonds <edmonds@@cs.ubc.ca> writes:@*
+Due to changes in Gnus 5.0, @file{bbdb-gnus.el} no longer marks known
+posters in the summary buffer.  An updated version, @file{gnus-bbdb.el}
+is available at the locations listed below.  This package also supports
+autofiling of incoming mail to folders specified in the BBDB.  Extensive
+instructions are included as comments in the file.
+
+Send mail to @file{majordomo@@edmonds.home.cs.ubc.ca} with the following
+line in the body of the message: @emph{get misc gnus-bbdb.el}.
+
+Or get it from the World Wide Web:@*
+@file{http://www.cs.ubc.ca/spider/edmonds/gnus-bbdb.el}.
+
+@end itemize
+
+
+@node Reading Mail FAQ
+@subsection Reading Mail
+
+@itemize @bullet
+@item
+Q4.1 What does the message ``Buffer has changed on disk'' mean in a mail
+group?
+
+Your filter program should not deliver mail directly to your folders,
+instead it should put the mail into spool files.  Gnus will then move
+the mail safely from the spool files into the folders.  This will
+eliminate the problem.  Look it up in the manual, in the section
+entitled ``Mail & Procmail''.
+
+
+@item
+Q4.2  How do you make articles un-expirable?
+
+I am using nnml to read news and have used
+@code{gnus-auto-expirable-newsgroups} to automagically expire articles
+in some groups (Gnus being one of them).  Sometimes there are
+interesting articles in these groups that I want to keep.  Is there any
+way of explicitly marking an article as un-expirable - that is mark it
+as read but not expirable?
+
+Use @kbd{u}, @kbd{!}, @kbd{d} or @kbd{M-u} in the summary buffer. You
+just remove the @kbd{E} mark by setting some other mark. It's not
+necessary to tick the articles.
+
+
+@item
+Q4.3  How do I delete bogus nnml: groups?
+
+My problem is that I have various mail (nnml) groups generated while
+experimenting with Gnus. How do I remove them now? Setting the level to
+9 does not help. Also @code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups} does not
+recognize them.
+
+Removing mail groups is tricky at the moment. (It's on the to-do list,
+though.) You basically have to kill the groups in Gnus, shut down Gnus,
+edit the active file to exclude these groups, and probably remove the
+nnml directories that contained these groups as well. Then start Gnus
+back up again.
+
+
+@item
+Q4.4  What happened to my new mail groups?
+
+I got new mail, but I have
+never seen the groups they should have been placed in.
+
+They are probably there, but as zombies. Press @kbd{A z} to list
+zombie groups, and then subscribe to the groups you want with @kbd{u}.
+This is all documented quite nicely in the user's manual.
+
+
+@item
+Q4.5  Not scoring mail groups
+
+How do you @emph{totally} turn off scoring in mail groups?
+
+Use an nnbabyl:all.SCORE (or nnmh, or nnml, or whatever) file containing:
+
+@example
+((adapt ignore)
+ (local (gnus-use-scoring nil))
+ (exclude-files "all.SCORE"))
+@end example
+
+@end itemize
+
+