can gnus do this ?

can gnus do this ?

[news]

I've taken the plunge with emacs and so far am pleased at the
integrated approach. 

Can gnus be set up to:
1. down-load only the last N headers of selected groups;
2. down-load only the previously 'marked for  d/ling' bodies of articles;
3. go directly [without browsing] to the set of d/l-article bodies  ?

So far [on linux] it "can't connect to server" - error.
Is this set-up under gnus/emacs, or is it passed off to a different 'transporter',
as mailing is apparently passed-off to send mail ?

Thnaks for any info,

== Chris Glur

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Frank Schmitt]

news@absamail.co.za writes:

> I've taken the plunge with emacs and so far am pleased at the
> integrated approach. 
>
> Can gnus be set up to:
> 1. down-load only the last N headers of selected groups;

You mean when entering the Group buffer? Say C-u 50 RET with point over
group to download the last 50 headers.

> 2. down-load only the previously 'marked for  d/ling' bodies of
> articles;

Look for Gnus Agent in the manual.

> 3. go directly [without browsing] to the set of d/l-article bodies  ?

Sorry, I don't know what you mean here.

> So far [on linux] it "can't connect to server" - error.
> Is this set-up under gnus/emacs, or is it passed off to a different 'transporter',
> as mailing is apparently passed-off to send mail ?

Again I don't really know what your problem is, could you be a bit more
verbose?

Some common problems are addressed in the Gnus FAQ, available at
http://my.gnus.org/faq/html-chunks/FAQ.html

-- 
Did you ever realize how much text fits in eighty columns? If you now consider
that a signature usually consists of up to four lines, this gives you enough
space to spread a tremendous amount of information with your messages. So seize
this opportunity and don't waste your signature with bullshit nobody will read.

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Joel J. Adamson]

news@absamail.co.za writes:

> So far [on linux] it "can't connect to server" - error.

I had simply set the wrong variable: under Customize, you should set
Gnus Select Method to nntp and give it the name of the server, instead
of "Gnus Server File" or "Gnus Server."

Joel

-- 
Joel J. Adamson
Biostatistician
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA  02114
(617) 643-1432
(303) 880-3109

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Tim X]

jadamson@partners.org (Joel J. Adamson) writes:

> Another difference in my situation is that I'm relaying mail to a pop
> server on our main network, rather than using my own mail system to
> send mail out to the internet.
>

Due to issues of spam and misconfigured MTAs, many ISPs are now blocking access
to port 25 on dynamic mail addresses they allocate to users. I've also seen
quite a few ISPs who actually put their dynamic IP addresses into various
blacklists, like those run by SpamCop etc. This emans that many sites will
block an e-mail that comes from a server running on a dynamic IP which is
allocated by an ISP to their users. 

Putting these two points together, it is now beginning to make more sense for
users to use their ISPs mail server rather than one they have on their own
system. This is what I do and I don't miss the config/maintenance of a local
MTA at all!

Tim

-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Tim X]

Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> writes:

> ['Invalid' group alt.comp.software.newsreaders deleted]
>
> Joel J. Adamson <jadamson@partners.org> wrote:
>> news@absamail.co.za writes:
>> 
>> > OP wrote:
>> 
>> > Apparently emacs doesn't have a mail-transport-agent:
>> 
>> Yes, it does: sendmail.el; correct me if this does not serve as a user
>> MTA.  It works on my machine without using sendmail, procmail,
>> postfix, fetchmail...
>
>   I don't know the first thing about gnus, emacs, sendmail.el, etc., but
> such a "user MTA" is often referred to as a MSA (Mail/Message
> *Submission* Agent), i.e. the component which only *submits* a mail
> message to a 'mail server' (MTA), which actually *sends* (transfers) the
> message (to a remote mail-server/MTA).
>
>   The confusion often comes from 1) the *name* 'sendmail' or/and 2) the
> fact that sendmail(1M) *can* do *both*, i.e. MSA and MTA, but doesn't
> *have* to do both.

Correct. The mail submission agent is also sometimes called the MUA - mail user
agent. 

I've found the smtp.el package in emacs 22 is pretty good as well. I've also
seen references to other elisp packages that support things like usinig an SMTP
server that requires authentication etc. 

Tim


-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Joel J. Adamson]

Another difference in my situation is that I'm relaying mail to a pop
server on our main network, rather than using my own mail system to
send mail out to the internet.

Joel

Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> writes:

> Joel J. Adamson <jadamson@partners.org> wrote:
>> news@absamail.co.za writes:
>> 
>> > OP wrote:
>> 
>> > Apparently emacs doesn't have a mail-transport-agent:
>> 
>> Yes, it does: sendmail.el; correct me if this does not serve as a user
>> MTA.  It works on my machine without using sendmail, procmail,
>> postfix, fetchmail...
>
>   I don't know the first thing about gnus, emacs, sendmail.el, etc., but
> such a "user MTA" is often referred to as a MSA (Mail/Message
> *Submission* Agent), i.e. the component which only *submits* a mail
> message to a 'mail server' (MTA), which actually *sends* (transfers) the
> message (to a remote mail-server/MTA).

-- 
Joel J. Adamson
Biostatistician
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA  02114
(617) 643-1432
(303) 880-3109

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Frank Slootweg]

['Invalid' group alt.comp.software.newsreaders deleted]

Joel J. Adamson <jadamson@partners.org> wrote:
> news@absamail.co.za writes:
> 
> > OP wrote:
> 
> > Apparently emacs doesn't have a mail-transport-agent:
> 
> Yes, it does: sendmail.el; correct me if this does not serve as a user
> MTA.  It works on my machine without using sendmail, procmail,
> postfix, fetchmail...

  I don't know the first thing about gnus, emacs, sendmail.el, etc., but
such a "user MTA" is often referred to as a MSA (Mail/Message
*Submission* Agent), i.e. the component which only *submits* a mail
message to a 'mail server' (MTA), which actually *sends* (transfers) the
message (to a remote mail-server/MTA).

  The confusion often comes from 1) the *name* 'sendmail' or/and 2) the
fact that sendmail(1M) *can* do *both*, i.e. MSA and MTA, but doesn't
*have* to do both.

  HTH.

Re: can gnus do this ?

[Joel J. Adamson]

news@absamail.co.za writes:

> OP wrote:

> Apparently emacs doesn't have a mail-transport-agent:

Yes, it does: sendmail.el; correct me if this does not serve as a user
MTA.  It works on my machine without using sendmail, procmail,
postfix, fetchmail...

Joel

-- 
Joel J. Adamson
Biostatistician
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research Unit
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA  02114
(617) 643-1432
(303) 880-3109

can gnus do this ?

[news]

OP wrote:
> > I've taken the plunge with emacs and so far am pleased at the
> > integrated approach.
> > 
> > Can gnus be set up to:
> > 1. down-load only the last N headers of selected groups;

Frank Schmitt wrote:
> You  mean  when  entering  the Group buffer? Say C-u 50 RET with 
> point   over   group to download the last 50 headers.

I'll try that if/when I get it to connect to the server.

> > 2.  down-load  only  the  previously  'marked  for   d/ling' bodies of
> > articles;

> Look for Gnus Agent in the manual.
If you can confirm that gnus does it, I can expend the time to search HOW.
I tried: ^h a agent == 'gnus-agentize      M-x gnus-agentize RET
  Command: Allow Gnus to be an offline newsreader.'
Try: Alt/x == 'no command name given' ie. expects char after 'Alt/x ' ?

> > 3. go directly [without browsing] to the set of d/l-article bodies  ?
> > 
>    Sorry, I don't know what you mean here.
> 
Newly downloaded bodies [because they were mark for d/l-ing for
the most recent on-line session] may be dispersed over the many
groups which you are subscribed to. You don't want to have to 
search in each group for 'new bodies'. You want to 'go to the
next unread body, irrespective of group' ?

> > So far [on linux] it "can't connect to server" - error.
> > Is  this  set-up  under gnus/emacs, or is it passed off to a different
> > 'transporter',
> > as mailing is apparently passed-off to send mail ?
> > 
> 
> Again  I  don't  really  know what your problem is, could you be a bit
>    more   verbose?
> 
Apparently emacs doesn't have a mail-transport-agent: it uses
sendmail & some 'fetcher' to connect to the mail server[s].
What about for the news-server ?
Are the news-server parameters setup by emacs, or does gnus
use some other transport-agent which does it's own setup ?

> > Thanks for any info,

== Chris Glur