diff options
author | Dave Love <fx@gnu.org> | 1999-09-29 15:17:24 +0000 |
---|---|---|
committer | Dave Love <fx@gnu.org> | 1999-09-29 15:17:24 +0000 |
commit | 6bf7aab68402fd010eae5d280350bd399014406a (patch) | |
tree | 625ed090fc4abe8605e63f152740733c70314c4a /man/gnus-faq.texi | |
parent | f58395f66db524e38e011f95f292d7abcc1fe2d1 (diff) | |
download | emacs-6bf7aab68402fd010eae5d280350bd399014406a.tar.gz |
#
Diffstat (limited to 'man/gnus-faq.texi')
-rw-r--r-- | man/gnus-faq.texi | 659 |
1 files changed, 659 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/man/gnus-faq.texi b/man/gnus-faq.texi new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..a899e7def45 --- /dev/null +++ b/man/gnus-faq.texi @@ -0,0 +1,659 @@ +\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 + + |