how to remove groups entirely from .newsrc.eld file?

how to remove groups entirely from .newsrc.eld file?

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

Hello,

I have been using gnus to read old mail, using G D. I then copied
articles en masse to nnml groups, which are created by gnus if they do
not already exist. However, if I want to now kill one of these nnml
groups, and I use either S k or Ctrl-K, the group still remains
somewhere in my startup news files. I have some parsing error in one
of these nnml groups, perhaps due to Japanese character sets, and I
copied articles to other groups, and deleted this particular nnml
group. It still gets read on startup though....

Do I have to edit the .newsrc.eld file by hand to get rid of it?

On a related note, anything done with G D appears in the .newsrc.eld
file, as expected, but not anywhere in my .gnus.el. Similarly, if I
copy articles from an existing mail group into a new one, this new one
is created, but does not exist in my .gnus.el. This is inconvenient
for me, since I do not want my mail groups destroyed if something
happens to .newsrc.eld. That file is also not so easy to understand at
a glance. 

Is there a recommended method for keeping mail safely organized (easy
to overview in the .gnus.el file, for example, not so easy if you
don't know where on disk(s) your groups were located if you have to
try and look for them again), and can I move stuff that is created
with G D into my .gnus.el file?

Thanks, and best regards,
     Gernot Hassenpflug
-- 
G Hassenpflug RASC, Kyoto University

Re: how to remove groups entirely from .newsrc.eld file?

[Sébastien Kirche]

Le 8 Jun 2005 à 06:06, Gernot Hassenpflug s'est exprimé ainsi :

> Hello,
> 
> I have been using gnus to read old mail, using G D. I then copied
> articles en masse to nnml groups, which are created by gnus if they do
> not already exist. However, if I want to now kill one of these nnml
> groups, and I use either S k or Ctrl-K, the group still remains
> somewhere in my startup news files. I have some parsing error in one
> of these nnml groups, perhaps due to Japanese character sets, and I
> copied articles to other groups, and deleted this particular nnml
> group. It still gets read on startup though....
> 
> Do I have to edit the .newsrc.eld file by hand to get rid of it?

While recently  playing with archives groups and  creating several bogus
servers  i found that  sometimes the  only way  to get  rid of  a server
definition  is to  manually edit  .newsrc.eld  files (when  Gnus is  not
started) and to edit the gnus-server-alist definition.

As else  in the  server buffer Gnus  keeps on  refusing to kill  some of
them.

> On a related note, anything done with G D appears in the .newsrc.eld
> file, as expected, but not anywhere in my .gnus.el. Similarly, if I
> copy articles from an existing mail group into a new one, this new one
> is created, but does not exist in my .gnus.el. This is inconvenient
> for me, since I do not want my mail groups destroyed if something
> happens to .newsrc.eld. That file is also not so easy to understand at
> a glance. 

I think  that .gnus.el  should be considered  more as  an initialisation
script that actually a config file.

(Except for the customize section in  the .emacs file that one can place
elsewhere)  Gnus does  not modify  its  starting script  but stores  its
configuration in the .newsrc.eld file.

So it  is normal not  to see groups/servers or  parameters modifications
propagated to the .gnus.el file.
 
> Is there a recommended method for keeping mail safely organized (easy
> to overview in the .gnus.el file, for example, not so easy if you
> don't know where on disk(s) your groups were located if you have to
> try and look for them again), and can I move stuff that is created
> with G D into my .gnus.el file?

Maybe you can do like me  for some settings : looking in the .newsrc.eld
for the parameters  that gnus set and copying them to  the .gnus to keep
them in  case of  future reuse. I  used to  see that those  settings are
ignored from the  .gnus if they are also present  in the .newsrc.eld (so
you  have to remove  them from  .newsrc.eld before  they are  taken into
account if you modify the .gnus definition).

HTH.

-- 
Sébastien Kirche

Re: how to remove groups entirely from .newsrc.eld file?

[Gernot Hassenpflug]

>>>>> "Sébastien" == Sébastien Kirche <sebastien.kirche.no@spam.free.fr.invalid> writes:

    Sébastien> Le 8 Jun 2005 à 06:06, Gernot Hassenpflug s'est exprimé
    Sébastien> ainsi :
    >> Do I have to edit the .newsrc.eld file by hand to get rid of
    >> it?

    Sébastien> While recently playing with archives groups and
    Sébastien> creating several bogus servers i found that sometimes
    Sébastien> the only way to get rid of a server definition is to
    Sébastien> manually edit .newsrc.eld files (when Gnus is not
    Sébastien> started) and to edit the gnus-server-alist definition.

    Sébastien> As else in the server buffer Gnus keeps on refusing to
    Sébastien> kill some of them.

Hello Sébastien, many thanks for your helpful reply. I did edit the
.newsrc.eld file for the gnus-server-alist definition. Solved the
problem.

    >> On a related note, anything done with G D appears in the
    >> .newsrc.eld file, as expected,...

    Sébastien> I think that .gnus.el should be considered more as an
    Sébastien> initialisation script that actually a config file.

    Sébastien> (Except for the customize section in the .emacs file
    Sébastien> that one can place elsewhere) Gnus does not modify its
    Sébastien> starting script but stores its configuration in the
    Sébastien> .newsrc.eld file.


OK, now that that is clarified, I feel much better. I remember the
days of .newsrc files that were simple multi-column lists of newsgroup
names and article numbers. Things have gotten more complex!

    >> Is there a recommended method for keeping mail safely organized
    >> (easy to overview in the .gnus.el file, for example, not so
    >> easy if you don't know where on disk(s) your groups were
    >> located if you have to try and look for them again), and can I
    >> move stuff that is created with G D into my .gnus.el file?

    Sébastien> Maybe you can do like me for some settings : looking in
    Sébastien> the .newsrc.eld for the parameters that gnus set and
    Sébastien> copying them to the .gnus to keep them in case of
    Sébastien> future reuse. I used to see that those settings are
    Sébastien> ignored from the .gnus if they are also present in the
    Sébastien> .newsrc.eld (so you have to remove them from
    Sébastien> .newsrc.eld before they are taken into account if you
    Sébastien> modify the .gnus definition).

OK, that sounds good to me. I'll give that a try. I've gained new
respect for the .newsrc.eld file, and back it up regularly too, in
case of accidental clearing.

Many thanks,
     Gernot 
-- 
G Hassenpflug RASC, Kyoto University

Re: how to remove groups entirely from .newsrc.eld file?

[Sébastien Kirche]

At 15:06 on Jun 8 2005, Gernot Hassenpflug said :

> Hello Sébastien, many thanks for your helpful reply. I did edit the
> .newsrc.eld file for the gnus-server-alist definition. Solved the
> problem.

Good. :)

If another gnus  power user is reading and knows  another mean that hand
editing the .newsrc.eld, I still would like to know...


> OK, now that that is clarified, I feel much better. I remember the
> days of .newsrc files that were simple multi-column lists of newsgroup
> names and article numbers. Things have gotten more complex!

There is still  a .newsrc with such data. But i  always seen it together
with .newsrc.eld (I am a rather new gnus user : around 2 years...).

> > > Is there a recommended method for keeping mail safely organized
> > > (easy to overview in the .gnus.el file, for example, not so
> > > easy if you don't know where on disk(s) your groups were
> > > located if you have to try and look for them again), and can I
> > > move stuff that is created with G D into my .gnus.el file?
> 
> Sébastien> Maybe you can do like me for some settings : looking in
> Sébastien> the .newsrc.eld for the parameters that gnus set and
> Sébastien> copying them to the .gnus to keep them in case of
> Sébastien> future reuse. I used to see that those settings are
> Sébastien> ignored from the .gnus if they are also present in the

I should rather say  : «those settings seem ignored if» as  it is what I
noticed while  experimenting, but  it is only  my opinion, not  a strong
affirmation...

> Sébastien> .newsrc.eld (so you have to remove them from
> Sébastien> .newsrc.eld before they are taken into account if you
> Sébastien> modify the .gnus definition).
> 
> OK, that sounds good to me. I'll give that a try. I've gained new
> respect for the .newsrc.eld file, and back it up regularly too, in
> case of accidental clearing.

Yep. Loosing groups  subscriptions is not that terrible,  but by loosing
or corrupting the .newsrc.eld you  can also loose the marked articles or
the groups parameters that is much more annoying (already tested :/)

-- 
Sébastien Kirche