Re: gnus with Fastmail.fm account

[Trey Sizemore <trey@fastmail.fm>]

On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:27:16 +0200
Tassilo Horn <tassilo@member.fsf.org> wrote:

> Trey Sizemore <trey@fastmail.fm> writes:
> 
> Hi Trey,
> 
> > The default layout for messages looks a bit ugly for my taste, so
> > I'll need to read up on how to change this.
> 
> I think you mean
> 
> ,----[ C-h v gnus-summary-line-format RET ]
> | gnus-summary-line-format is a variable defined in `gnus.el'.
> | Its value is 
> | "%U%R%z%4{%B%} %(%[%4L: %-20,20f%]%) %s\n"
> | 
> | 
> | Documentation:
> | *The format specification of the lines in the summary buffer.
> | 
> | It works along the same lines as a normal formatting string,
> | with some simple extensions.
> | 
> | %N   Article number, left padded with spaces (string)
> | %S   Subject (string)
> | %s   Subject if it is at the root of a thread, and "" otherwise
> | (string) %n   Name of the poster (string)
> | %a   Extracted name of the poster (string)
> | %A   Extracted address of the poster (string)
> | %F   Contents of the From: header (string)
> | %f   Contents of the From: or To: headers (string)
> | %x   Contents of the Xref: header (string)
> | %D   Date of the article (string)
> | %d   Date of the article (string) in DD-MMM format
> | %o   Date of the article (string) in YYYYMMDD`T'HHMMSS format
> | %M   Message-id of the article (string)
> | %r   References of the article (string)
> | %c   Number of characters in the article (integer)
> | %k   Pretty-printed version of the above (string)
> |      For example, "1.2k" or "0.4M".
> | %L   Number of lines in the article (integer)
> | %I   Indentation based on thread level (a string of spaces)
> | %B   A complex trn-style thread tree (string)
> |      The variables `gnus-sum-thread-*' can be used for
> | customization. %T   A string with two possible values: 80 spaces if
> | the article is on thread level two or larger and 0 spaces on level
> | one %R   "A" if this article has been replied to, " " otherwise
> | (character) %U   Status of this article (character, "R", "K", "-"
> | or " ") %[   Opening bracket (character, "[" or "<")
> | %]   Closing bracket (character, "]" or ">")
> | %>   Spaces of length thread-level (string)
> | %<   Spaces of length (- 20 thread-level) (string)
> | %i   Article score (number)
> | %z   Article zcore (character)
> | %t   Number of articles under the current thread (number).
> | %e   Whether the thread is empty or not (character).
> | %V   Total thread score (number).
> | %P   The line number (number).
> | %O   Download mark (character).
> | %*   If present, indicates desired cursor position
> |      (instead of after first colon).
> | %u   User defined specifier.  The next character in the format
> | string should be a letter.  Gnus will call the function
> | gnus-user-format-function-X, where X is the letter following %u.
> | The function will be passed the current header as argument.  The
> | function should return a string, which will be inserted into the
> | summary just like information from any other summary specifier.
> | 
> | The %U (status), %R (replied) and %z (zcore) specs have to be
> | handled with care.  For reasons of efficiency, Gnus will compute
> | what column these characters will end up in, and "hard-code" that.
> | This means that it is invalid to have these specs after a
> | variable-length spec.  Well, you might not be arrested, but your
> | summary buffer will look strange, which is bad enough.
> | 
> | The smart choice is to have these specs as far to the left as
> | possible.
> | 
> | This restriction may disappear in later versions of Gnus.
> | 
> | General format specifiers can also be used.
> | See Info node `(gnus)Formatting Variables'.
> | 
> | You can customize this variable.
> `----
> 
> 

Yes, it appears these are the ones I need to play around with.

> > I assume I can also do the things I'm used to in mutt such as mark
> > messages as important,
> 
> Normally I go with
> 
> ,----[ (info "(gnus)Unread Articles") ]
> | `!'
> |      Marked as ticked (`gnus-ticked-mark').
> | 
> |      "Ticked articles" are articles that will remain visible
> | always.  If you see an article that you find interesting, or you
> | want to put off reading it, or replying to it, until sometime
> | later, you'd typically tick it.
> `----
> 
> for articles I want to reply to later.  To mark an article as
> important scoring is the best way, I think.
> 
> See
> 
> ,----[ (info "(gnus)Summary Score Commands") ]
> | The score commands that alter score entries do not actually modify
> | real score files.  That would be too inefficient.  Gnus maintains a
> | cache of previously loaded score files, one of which is considered
> | the "current score file alist".  The score commands simply insert
> | entries into this list, and upon group exit, this list is saved.
> `----
> 

Yes, more so I want to mark as important such that it stands out from
other messages in a folder.  With mutt, it gets marked with a ! and
also highlights it in a different color.

> 
> > gpg sign,
> 
> Have a look at EasyPGP [1] which is going to replace PGG.
> 
> > include citations in the message body easily, etc.?
> 
> I use something homebrewn with fortune and posting styles, but maybe
> randomsig [2].

Thanks, good info.  Here I really meant citations like you did above
with [1] and [2].

> 
> > Perhaps someone on the list can point me to a nice,
> > heavily-commented .gnus file from which I can learn and pilfer some
> > of the above? ;-)
> 
> Mine is at http://www.tsdh.de/configs/.gnus.el, but it's documented
> mostly in German.  And the usual warning:  Don't copy stuff you don't
> fully understand.

My German is a bit rusty, so I don't know how much help it will be, but
thanks just the same.  I'll try to find some that are commented in
English.

> 
> Bye,
> Tassilo
> __________
> [1] http://www.easypg.org/
> [2] http://www.backmes.de/scripts+programs/randomsig.el
>