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(gnus)Startup Files

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Startup Files
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   Now, you all know about the `.newsrc' file.  All subscription
information is traditionally stored in this file.

   Things got a bit more complicated with GNUS.  In addition to keeping
the `.newsrc' file updated, it also used a file called `.newsrc.el' for
storing all the information that didn't fit into the `.newsrc' file.
(Actually, it also duplicated everything in the `.newsrc' file.)  GNUS
would read whichever one of these files was the most recently saved,
which enabled people to swap between GNUS and other newsreaders.

   That was kinda silly, so Gnus went one better: In addition to the
`.newsrc' and `.newsrc.el' files, Gnus also has a file called
`.newsrc.eld'.  It will read whichever of these files that are most
recent, but it will never write a `.newsrc.el' file.  You should never
delete the `.newsrc.eld' file--it contains much information not stored
in the `.newsrc' file.

   You can turn off writing the `.newsrc' file by setting
`gnus-save-newsrc-file' to `nil', which means you can delete the file
and save some space, as well as exiting from Gnus faster.  However,
this will make it impossible to use other newsreaders than Gnus.  But
hey, who would want to, right?  Similarly, setting
`gnus-read-newsrc-file' to `nil' makes Gnus ignore the `.newsrc' file
and any `.newsrc-SERVER' files, which is convenient if you have a
tendency to use Netscape once in a while.

   If `gnus-save-killed-list' (default `t') is `nil', Gnus will not
save the list of killed groups to the startup file.  This will save
both time (when starting and quitting) and space (on disk).  It will
also mean that Gnus has no record of what groups are new or old, so the
automatic new groups subscription methods become meaningless.  You
should always set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' to `nil' or `ask-server'
if you set this variable to `nil' (Note: New Groups).  This variable
can also be a regular expression.  If that's the case, remove all
groups that do not match this regexp before saving.  This can be useful
in certain obscure situations that involve several servers where not
all servers support `ask-server'.

   The `gnus-startup-file' variable says where the startup files are.
The default value is `~/.newsrc', with the Gnus (El Dingo) startup file
being whatever that one is, with a `.eld' appended.

   `gnus-save-newsrc-hook' is called before saving any of the newsrc
files, while `gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook' is called just before saving
the `.newsrc.eld' file, and `gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook' is called
just before saving the `.newsrc' file.  The latter two are commonly
used to turn version control on or off.  Version control is on by
default when saving the startup files.  If you want to turn backup
creation off, say something like:

     (defun turn-off-backup ()
       (set (make-local-variable 'backup-inhibited) t))
     
     (add-hook 'gnus-save-quick-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)
     (add-hook 'gnus-save-standard-newsrc-hook 'turn-off-backup)

   When Gnus starts, it will read the `gnus-site-init-file'
(`.../site-lisp/gnus' by default) and `gnus-init-file' (`~/.gnus' by
default) files.  These are normal Emacs Lisp files and can be used to
avoid cluttering your `~/.emacs' and `site-init' files with Gnus stuff.
Gnus will also check for files with the same names as these, but with
`.elc' and `.el' suffixes.  In other words, if you have set
`gnus-init-file' to `~/.gnus', it will look for `~/.gnus.elc',
`~/.gnus.el', and finally `~/.gnus' (in this order).