@end iftex
@menu
-* Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
-* Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
-* Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
-* Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
-* Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
-* Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
-* Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
-* Various:: General purpose settings.
-* The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
-* Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
-* Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
-* Key Index:: Key Index.
+* Starting Up:: Finding news can be a pain.
+* Group Buffer:: Selecting, subscribing and killing groups.
+* Summary Buffer:: Reading, saving and posting articles.
+* Article Buffer:: Displaying and handling articles.
+* Composing Messages:: Information on sending mail and news.
+* Select Methods:: Gnus reads all messages from various select methods.
+* Scoring:: Assigning values to articles.
+* Various:: General purpose settings.
+* The End:: Farewell and goodbye.
+* Appendices:: Terminology, Emacs intro, @acronym{FAQ}, History, Internals.
+* Index:: Variable, function and concept index.
+* Key Index:: Key Index.
Other related manuals
-* Message:(message). Composing messages.
-* Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
-* Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
-* PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
+* Message:(message). Composing messages.
+* Emacs-MIME:(emacs-mime). Composing messages; @acronym{MIME}-specific parts.
+* Sieve:(sieve). Managing Sieve scripts in Emacs.
+* PGG:(pgg). @acronym{PGP/MIME} with Gnus.
@detailmenu
--- The Detailed Node Listing ---
terminology section (@pxref{Terminology}).
@menu
-* Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
-* The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
-* The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
-* Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
-* Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
-* New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
-* Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
-* Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
-* Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
-* The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
-* Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
+* Finding the News:: Choosing a method for getting news.
+* The First Time:: What does Gnus do the first time you start it?
+* The Server is Down:: How can I read my mail then?
+* Slave Gnusae:: You can have more than one Gnus active at a time.
+* New Groups:: What is Gnus supposed to do with new groups?
+* Changing Servers:: You may want to move from one server to another.
+* Startup Files:: Those pesky startup files---@file{.newsrc}.
+* Auto Save:: Recovering from a crash.
+* The Active File:: Reading the active file over a slow line Takes Time.
+* Startup Variables:: Other variables you might change.
@end menu
If you can use a local spool, you probably should, as it will almost
certainly be much faster. But do not use the local spool if your
-server is running Leafnode; in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
+server is running Leafnode (which is a simple, standalone private news
+server); in this case, use @code{(nntp "localhost")}.
@vindex gnus-nntpserver-file
@cindex NNTPSERVER
@section The First Time
@cindex first time usage
-If no startup files exist, Gnus will try to determine what groups should
-be subscribed by default.
+If no startup files exist (@pxref{Startup Files}), Gnus will try to
+determine what groups should be subscribed by default.
@vindex gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups
If the variable @code{gnus-default-subscribed-newsgroups} is set, Gnus
incorporated into the slave. If you answer ``no'', the slave may see some
messages as unread that have been read in the master.
-@node Fetching a Group
-@section Fetching a Group
-@cindex fetching a group
-
-@findex gnus-fetch-group
-It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
-group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
-perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
-command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
-It takes the group name as a parameter.
@node New Groups
@cindex .newsrc.el
@cindex .newsrc.eld
-Now, you all know about the @file{.newsrc} file. All subscription
-information is traditionally stored in this file.
+Most common Unix news readers use a shared startup file called
+@file{.newsrc}. This file contains all the information about what
+groups are subscribed, and which articles in these groups have been
+read.
Things got a bit more complicated with @sc{gnus}. In addition to
keeping the @file{.newsrc} file updated, it also used a file called
However, this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than
Gnus. But hey, who would want to, right? Similarly, setting
@code{gnus-read-newsrc-file} to @code{nil} makes Gnus ignore the
-@file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which is
-convenient if you have a tendency to use Netscape once in a while.
+@file{.newsrc} file and any @file{.newsrc-SERVER} files, which can be
+convenient if you use a different news reader occasionally, and you
+want to read a different subset of the available groups with that
+news reader.
@vindex gnus-save-killed-list
If @code{gnus-save-killed-list} (default @code{t}) is @code{nil}, Gnus
will be prompted for the location of the feed.
An easy way to get started with @code{nnrss} is to say something like
-the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET y}, then
+the following in the group buffer: @kbd{B nnrss RET RET y}, then
subscribe to groups.
The following @code{nnrss} variables can be altered:
* Undo:: Some actions can be undone.
* Predicate Specifiers:: Specifying predicates.
* Moderation:: What to do if you're a moderator.
+* Fetching a Group:: Starting Gnus just to read a group.
* Image Enhancements:: Modern versions of Emacs/XEmacs can display images.
* Fuzzy Matching:: What's the big fuzz?
* Thwarting Email Spam:: A how-to on avoiding unsolicited commercial email.
@end lisp
+@node Fetching a Group
+@section Fetching a Group
+@cindex fetching a group
+
+@findex gnus-fetch-group
+It is sometimes convenient to be able to just say ``I want to read this
+group and I don't care whether Gnus has been started or not''. This is
+perhaps more useful for people who write code than for users, but the
+command @code{gnus-fetch-group} provides this functionality in any case.
+It takes the group name as a parameter.
+
+
@node Image Enhancements
@section Image Enhancements
number of unread articles is called @dfn{activating the group}.
Un-activated groups are listed with @samp{*} in the group buffer.
+@item spool
+@cindex spool
+News servers store their articles locally in one fashion or other.
+One old-fashioned storage method is to have just one file per
+article. That's called a ``traditional spool''.
+
@item server
@cindex server
A machine one can connect to and get news (or mail) from.