\input texinfo@c -*-texinfo-*-@c Copyright (C) 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.@setfilename gnus-faq.info@node Frequently Asked Questions@section Frequently Asked QuestionsThis 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 hasprobably 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@itemQ1.1 What is the latest version of Gnus?The latest (and greatest) version is 5.0.10. You might also runacross something called @emph{September Gnus}. September Gnusis the alpha version of the next major release of Gnus. It is currentlynot stable enough to run unless you are prepared to debug lisp.@itemQ1.2 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@itemQ1.3 Which version of Emacs do I need?At least GNU Emacs 19.28, or XEmacs 19.12 is recommended. GNU Emacs19.25 has been reported to work under certain circumstances, but itdoesn't @emph{officially} work on it. 19.27 has also been reported towork. Gnus has been reported to work under OS/2 as well as Unix.@itemQ1.4 Where is timezone.el?Upgrade to XEmacs 19.13. In earlier versions of XEmacs this file wasplaced with Gnus 4.1.3, but that has been corrected.@itemQ1.5 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 version5.0.4.@itemQ1.6 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 messageto @*@file{ding-rn-digests-d-request@@moe.shore.net}with @emph{unsubscribe} as the subject and you will be removed.@itemQ1.7 How do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?The basic answer is to byte-compile under XEmacs, and then you canrun under either Emacsen. There is, however, a potential versionproblem 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 inorder to make it possible to create byte compiled files that can beshared between Gnu Emacs and XEmacs. The change is upwardcompatible, but not downward compatible. This gives the following compatibility table:@exampleCompiled with: | Can be used with:----------------+--------------------------------------19.28 | 19.28 19.2919.29 | 19.29 XEmacsXEmacs | 19.29 XEmacs@end exampleIf you have Gnu Emacs 19.28 or earlier, or XEmacs 19.12 or earlier, geta recent version of auc-menu.el from@file{ftp://ftp.iesd.auc.dk/pub/emacs-lisp/auc-menu.el}, and install itunder the name easymenu.el somewhere early in your load path.@itemQ1.8 What resources are available?There is the newsgroup Gnu.emacs.gnus. Discussion of Gnus 5.x is nowtaking 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 beon it (unless you use Gnus as your mailer reader, that is). The mailinglist 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 canonicalsource 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 enumeratePostScript 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 theUnited 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 formatsare also available:@*ASCII: @file{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq}@*PostScript: @file{ftp://ftp.miranova.com/pub/gnus/gnus-faq.ps}.@itemQ1.9 Gnus hangs on connecting to NNTP serverI am running XEmacs on SunOS and Gnus prints a message about Connectingto 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 eitherwith DNS or NIS name lookup libraries but not both. Trysubstituting the IP address and see if that works; if so, youneed to download the sources and recompile.@itemQ1.10 Mailcrypt 3.4 doesn't workThis 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 havecompiled mailcrypt with plain old GNUS in load path, and the XEmacs bytecompiler has inserted that macro definition into@file{mc-toplev.elc}.The solution is to recompile @file{mc-toplev.el} with Gnus 5 inload-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 theload-path.@itemQ1.11 What other packages work with Gnus?@itemize @minus@itemMailcrypt.Mailcrypt is an Emacs interface to PGP. It works, it installswithout hassle, and integrates very easily. Mailcrypt can beobtained from@*@file{ftp://cag.lcs.mit.edu/pub/patl/mailcrypt-3.4.tar.gz}.@itemTiny Mime.Tiny Mime is an Emacs MUA interface to MIME. Installation isa two-step process unlike most other packages, so you shouldbe prepared to move the byte-compiled code somewhere. Thereare currently two versions of this package available. It canbe obtained from@*@file{ftp://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/GNU/elisp/}.Be sure to apply the supplied patch. It works with Gnus throughversion 5.0.9. In order for all dependencies to work correctlythe load sequence is as follows:@lisp (load "tm-setup") (load "gnus") (load "mime-compose")@end lisp@emph{NOTE:} Loading the package disables citation highlighting bydefault. To get the old behavior back, use the @kbd{M-t} command.@end itemize@end itemize@node Customization FAQ@subsection Customization@itemize @bullet@itemQ2.1 Custom Edit does not work under XEmacsThe custom package has not been ported to XEmacs.@itemQ2.2 How do I quote messages?I see lots of messages with quoted material in them. I am wonderinghow to have Gnus do it for me.This is Gnus, so there are a number of ways of doing this. You can usethe built-in commands to do this. There are the @kbd{F} and @kbd{R}keys from the summary buffer which automatically include the articlebeing responded to. These commands are also selectable as @i{Followupand 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 isnon-nil, unless you have set your own @code{mail-citation-hook}, which willbe called to to do the job.You might also consider the Supercite package, which allows for prettyarbitrarily complex quoting styles. Some people love it, some peoplehate it.@itemQ2.3 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 keepingeverything sorted in alphabetical order.If you don't subscribe often to new groups then the easiest way is tofirst sort the groups and then manually kill and yank the virtualswherever you want them.@itemQ2.4 Any good suggestions on stuff for an all.SCORE file?Here is a collection of suggestions from the Gnus mailing list.@enumerate@itemFrom ``Dave Disser'' <disser@@sdd.hp.com>@*I like blasting anything without lowercase letters. Weeds out most ofthe make $$ fast, as well as the lame titles like ``IBM'' and ``HP-UX''with no further description.@lisp (("Subject" ("^\\(Re: \\)?[^a-z]*$" -200 nil R)))@end lisp@itemFrom ``Peter Arius'' <arius@@immd2.informatik.uni-erlangen.de>@*The most vital entries in my (still young) all.SCORE:@lisp(("xref" ("alt.fan.oj-simpson" -1000 nil s)) ("subject" ("\\<\\(make\\|fast\\|big\\)\\s-*\\(money\\|cash\\|bucks?\\)\\>" -1000 nil r) ("$$$$" -1000 nil s)))@end lisp@itemFrom ``Per Abrahamsen'' <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk>@*@lisp(("subject" ;; CAPS OF THE WORLD, UNITE ("^..[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R) ;; $$$ Make Money $$$ (Try work) ("$" -1 nil s) ;; I'm important! And I have exclamation marks to prove it! ("!" -1 nil s)))@end lisp@itemFrom ``heddy boubaker'' <boubaker@@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr>@*I would like to contribute with mine.@lisp( (read-only t) ("subject" ;; ALL CAPS SUBJECTS ("^\\([Rr][Ee]: +\\)?[^a-z]+$" -1 nil R) ;; $$$ 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@itemFrom ``Christopher Jones'' <cjones@@au.oracle.com>@*The sample @file{all.SCORE} files from Per and boubaker could beaugmented with:@lisp (("subject" ;; No junk mail please! ("please ignore" -500 nil s) ("test" -500 nil e)) )@end lisp@itemFrom ``Brian Edmonds'' <edmonds@@cs.ubc.ca>@*Augment any of the above with a fast method of scoring downexcessively 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@itemQ2.5 What do I use to yank-through when replying?You should probably reply and followup with @kbd{R} and @kbd{F}, insteadof @kbd{r} and @kbd{f}, which solves your problem. But you could trysomething like:@example(defconst mail-yank-ignored-headers "^.*:" "Delete these headers from old message when it's inserted in a reply.")@end example@itemQ2.6 I don't like the default WWW browserNow when choosing an URL Gnus starts up a W3 buffer, I would like itto always use Netscape (I don't browse in text-mode ;-).@enumerate@itemActivate `Customize...' from the `Help' menu.@itemScroll down to the `WWW Browser' field.@itemClick `mouse-2' on `WWW Browser'.@itemSelect `Netscape' from the pop up menu.@itemPress `C-c C-c'@end enumerateIf you are using XEmacs then to specify Netscape do@lisp (setq gnus-button-url 'gnus-netscape-open-url)@end lisp@itemQ2.7 What, if any, relation is between ``ask-server'' and ``(setqgnus-read-active-file 'some)''?In order for Gnus to show you the complete list of newsgroups, it willeither have to either store the list locally, or ask the server totransmit the list. You enable the first with@lisp (setq gnus-save-killed-list t)@end lispand the second with@lisp (setq gnus-read-active-file t)@end lispIf both are disabled, Gnus will not know what newsgroups exists. Thereis no option to get the list by casting a spell.@itemQ2.8 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 thesummary mode hooks? This would force Emacs to recalculate the keyboardshortcuts. Removing the call should speed up @kbd{M-x gnus-summary-modeRET} by a couple of orders of magnitude. You can use@lisp(define-key gnus-summary-mode-map KEY COMMAND)@end lispin your @file{.gnus} instead.@end itemize@node Reading News FAQ@subsection Reading News@itemize @bullet@itemQ3.1 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}.@itemQ3.2 My news server has a lot of groups, and killing groups is painfullyslow.Don't do that then. The best way to get rid of groups that should bedead is to edit your newsrc directly. This problem will be addressedin the near future.@itemQ3.3 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@itemQ3.4 Not reading the first article.How do I avoid reading the first article when a group is selected?@enumerate@itemUse @kbd{RET} to select the group instead of @kbd{SPC}.@item@code{(setq gnus-auto-select first nil)}@itemLuis 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@itemPer Abrahamsen <abraham@@dina.kvl.dk> writes:@*Another possibility is to create an @file{all.binaries.all.SCORE} filelike this:@lisp((local (gnus-auto-select-first nil)))@end lispand insert @lisp (setq gnus-auto-select-first t)@end lispin your @file{.gnus}.@end enumerate@itemQ3.5 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 knownposters in the summary buffer. An updated version, @file{gnus-bbdb.el}is available at the locations listed below. This package also supportsautofiling of incoming mail to folders specified in the BBDB. Extensiveinstructions are included as comments in the file.Send mail to @file{majordomo@@edmonds.home.cs.ubc.ca} with the followingline 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@itemQ4.1 What does the message ``Buffer has changed on disk'' mean in a mailgroup?Your filter program should not deliver mail directly to your folders,instead it should put the mail into spool files. Gnus will then movethe mail safely from the spool files into the folders. This willeliminate the problem. Look it up in the manual, in the sectionentitled ``Mail & Procmail''.@itemQ4.2 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 articlesin some groups (Gnus being one of them). Sometimes there areinteresting articles in these groups that I want to keep. Is there anyway of explicitly marking an article as un-expirable - that is mark itas read but not expirable?Use @kbd{u}, @kbd{!}, @kbd{d} or @kbd{M-u} in the summary buffer. Youjust remove the @kbd{E} mark by setting some other mark. It's notnecessary to tick the articles.@itemQ4.3 How do I delete bogus nnml: groups?My problem is that I have various mail (nnml) groups generated whileexperimenting with Gnus. How do I remove them now? Setting the level to9 does not help. Also @code{gnus-group-check-bogus-groups} does notrecognize 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 thennml directories that contained these groups as well. Then start Gnusback up again.@itemQ4.4 What happened to my new mail groups?I got new mail, but I havenever seen the groups they should have been placed in.They are probably there, but as zombies. Press @kbd{A z} to listzombie groups, and then subscribe to the groups you want with @kbd{u}.This is all documented quite nicely in the user's manual.@itemQ4.5 Not scoring mail groupsHow 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