Illogical use of gnus-novice-user & gnus-expert-user

Illogical use of gnus-novice-user & gnus-expert-user

[Cheng Gao]

I just found use of gnus-novice-user and gnus-expert-user is a little
funny.

I suppose they should be contridictory, that's when one is on, another
should be off automatically. But my test shows it's not the case.

You can set them both to on or off with Customization (Gnus-Meta) or
directly in .gnus. 

Say if you set them both to on or off at the same time, what'll happen?
The answer is not sure.

Some files use gnus-novice-user only, and some uses gnus-expert-user
only, and some uses both.

I suggest one should be removed. Say only make gnus-novice-user
customizable, and then set gnus-expert-user to (not gnus-novice-user).

CG
-- 
这去者，不能见他的脸，背影模糊。

Re: Illogical use of gnus-novice-user & gnus-expert-user

[Cheng Gao]

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Attached is a patch file based on latest No Gnus cvs code.
 
My idea is to remove gnus-novice-user and use gnus-expert-user only.

Gnus developers, if you think it's of any meaning, please take some time
to look into it.

TIA


[-- Attachment #2: cg-gnus-diff --]
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--- gnus.el.bak	2004-09-11 20:07:12.906014400 +0800
+++ gnus.el	2004-10-23 19:19:57.437500000 +0800
@@ -1442,13 +1442,6 @@
   :group 'gnus-summary-exit
   :type 'hook)
 
-(defcustom gnus-novice-user t
-  "*Non-nil means that you are a Usenet novice.
-If non-nil, verbose messages may be displayed and confirmations may be
-required."
-  :group 'gnus-meta
-  :type 'boolean)
-
 (defcustom gnus-expert-user nil
   "*Non-nil means that you will never be asked for confirmation about anything.
 That doesn't mean *anything* anything; particularly destructive

--- gnus-cache.el.bak	2004-05-20 16:02:38.000000000 +0800
+++ gnus-cache.el	2004-10-23 19:18:35.312500000 +0800
@@ -587,7 +587,6 @@
 	(nnmail-spool-file nil)
 	(mail-sources nil)
 	(gnus-use-dribble-file nil)
-	(gnus-novice-user nil)
 	(gnus-large-newsgroup nil))
     ;; Start Gnus.
     (gnus)

--- gnus-kill.el.bak	2004-05-20 16:02:40.000000000 +0800
+++ gnus-kill.el	2004-10-23 19:18:44.140625000 +0800
@@ -692,7 +692,7 @@
 	 (gnus-batch-mode t)
 	 info group newsrc unread
 	 ;; Disable verbose message.
-	 gnus-novice-user gnus-large-newsgroup
+	 gnus-large-newsgroup
 	 gnus-options-subscribe gnus-auto-subscribed-groups
 	 gnus-options-not-subscribe)
     ;; Eat all arguments.

--- gnus-start.el.bak	2004-09-10 21:15:16.019377600 +0800
+++ gnus-start.el	2004-10-23 19:18:57.609375000 +0800
@@ -1265,7 +1265,7 @@
 	  ;; Don't error if the group already exists. This happens when a
 	  ;; first-time user types 'F'. -- didier
 	  (gnus-group-make-help-group t))
-	(when gnus-novice-user
+	(when (not gnus-expert-user)
 	  (gnus-message 7 "`A k' to list killed groups"))))))
 
 (defun gnus-subscribe-group (group &optional previous method)

--- gnus-sum.el.bak	2004-10-23 19:19:23.906250000 +0800
+++ gnus-sum.el	2004-10-23 19:19:36.484375000 +0800
@@ -9403,7 +9403,7 @@
   (let ((articles (sort (copy-sequence (gnus-summary-work-articles n)) '<))
 	(nnmail-expiry-target 'delete)
 	not-deleted)
-    (if (and gnus-novice-user
+    (if (and (not gnus-expert-user)
 	     (not (gnus-yes-or-no-p
 		   (format "Do you really want to delete %s forever? "
 			   (if (> (length articles) 1)

--- spam.el.bak	2004-06-22 03:29:32.000000000 +0800
+++ spam.el	2004-10-23 19:20:15.750000000 +0800
@@ -1391,7 +1391,7 @@
 	      (gnus-summary-set-process-mark article)
 	      (gnus-message 9 "Deleting article %d" article))
 	  (when articles
-	    (let ((gnus-novice-user nil)) ; don't ask me if I'm sure
+	    (let ((gnus-expert-user t)) ; don't ask me if I'm sure
 	      (gnus-summary-delete-article nil)))))
 	
       (gnus-summary-yank-process-mark)

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-- 
定定住天涯，依依向物华。
寒梅最堪恨，常作去年花。
          -- 义山 《忆梅》

Re: Illogical use of gnus-novice-user & gnus-expert-user

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004, chenggao@gmail.com wrote:

> Attached is a patch file based on latest No Gnus cvs code.
>  
> My idea is to remove gnus-novice-user and use gnus-expert-user only.
> 
> Gnus developers, if you think it's of any meaning, please take some time
> to look into it.

I looked at the patch and it's fine for its purpose.

I'm not sure I agree with the purpose, though.  It's possible to be
more than a novice but less than an expert.  I would make
gnus-user-expertise-level either 'novice, 'expert, or nil (the
default, indicating general awareness with cautious exploration of
advanced Gnus features).  Then I would use gnus-user-expertise-level
everywhere; for ease of use I would also provide the functions
gnus-novice-user and gnus-expert-user that are drop-in replacements
for the variables we currently use.

Ted