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Buffers Used by GNUS

GNUS uses three Emacs buffers: the Newsgroup buffer, the Summary buffer, and the Article buffer. Each has its own particular purpose and its own major mode. GNUS often displays all three buffers at the same time, with a configuration you can customize by setting the variable gnus-window-configuration.

The Article buffer is where GNUS displays the text of an article. Its major mode is always Article Mode. Users rarely select this buffer because you can read the text while keeping the Summary buffer selected.

Newsgroup Buffer

Newsgroup buffer contains a list of newsgroups. Its major mode is Group Mode. This is the first buffer that GNUS displays when it starts up.

Normally the list contains only the newsgroups which you subscribe to and which contain unread articles. It is normally empty if there is no such newsgroups. When you start GNUS, it displays the message `No news is good news.' in the echo area.

The format of the Newsgroup buffer looks like this:

sm  number: newsgroup

s

A character indicating whether the newsgroup is subscribed to. `U' means you subscribe to the newsgroup; ` ' means that you don't. You can change your subscriptions using commands available in Group mode.

m

A character indicating whether there are newly arrived and unread articles in the newsgroup. `*' means there are no newly arrived articles in the newsgroup. ` ' means there are newly arrived articles.

number

The number of unread articles in the newsgroup.

newsgroup

The name of the newsgroup.

Summary Buffer

The Summary buffer displays a summary of articles in a single newsgroup, including their subjects, their numbers, and who posted them. Its major mode is Summary mode. GNUS creates a Summary buffer for a newsgroup when you select the group in the Newsgroup buffer.

A Summary buffer contains a line for each article. Each line looks like this:

s number:c[lines:author] subject

Here is what the fields mean:

s

The status code for this article. ` ' means the article is newly arrived and never read. `D' means you read the article already. `-' means you read it but marked it as saved.

number

The number assigned to the article.

c

A character indicating which article is currently selected. `+' is placed on the current article.

lines

The number of lines of the article body.

author

The mail address of the author of the article.

subject

The subject of the article.

You can customize the format by setting the variable gnus-optional-headers.

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