Subscribing to New Newsgroups

The following document will give suggestions on how to deal with the addition of new newsgroups in the newsreaders 'trn', 'rn', and 'nn'. It is divided into two parts. Part A covers the 'trn' and 'rn' newsreaders and part B covers the 'nn' newsreader.

Panix adds groups in the Big Eight (comp, humanities, misc, news, rec, sci, soc, talk) automatically as we receive the authorized control messages. Other groups are added upon request to newsgroups@panix.com

We synch the newsreader machines with the feed machine twice a day (overnight and mid-afternoon). If you think you're missing a group in the Big Eight, try updating your subscription list.

The help system includes instructions for creating a newsgroup in the panix.user.* hierarchy.

Reminder: If you read news from the shell but aren't comfortable with a standard Unix editor, you can use eep to change the newsgroiups you're subscribed to.

A - If your newsreader is 'rn', or 'trn':

Upon entering '(t)rn', you will normally get the following messages if there are new newsgroups:

Checking for new newsgroups...
Newsgroup [new-newsgroup-name] not in your .newsrc--subscribe? [ynYN]

At this point, you have four options:

y - You will be subscribed to this newsgroup.
n - You will not be subscribed to this newsgroup.
Y - You will be subscribed to this newsgroup, and any other new newsgroups there are in this session.
N - You will not be subscribed to this newsgroup nor will you be subscribed to any other new newsgroups there are in this session.

If you want to ignore the new newsgroups as completely as possible, select the "N" option.

When you select "N":

'rn' will put all new unsubscribed newsgroups in your .newsrc file and give you this message:

(I'll add all new newsgroups (unsubscribed) to the end of your .newsrc.)

and the following message for each group:

(Adding [new-newsgroup-name] to end of your .newsrc unsubscribed)

'trn' will _not_ put any new unsubscribed newsgroups in your .newsrc file but you will get the following message for each group:

(Ignoring [new-newsgroup-name])

If panix has added many new newsgroups at once, it will take a while for (t)rn to go through them all.

If you don't want to receive the "Newsgroup [new-newsgroup-name] not in your .newsrc--subscribe? [ynYN]" question when there are new newsgroups, you can set the variable "AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE" which is used by '(t)rn' to decide what to do with new groups.

Setting the "AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE" variable to * will cause '(t)rn' to automatically not subscribe to all new newsgroups. You can set this variable in two ways.

• On the command line when you execute '(t)rn:

  $ rn -EAUTOUNSUBSCRIBE='*'

• From the command line of the Unix shell:
  • tcsh users, add the following line to the file .login in your home directory:

    setenv AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE '*'

  • ksh users, add the following line to the file .profile in your home directory:

    export AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE='*'

  • bash users, add the following line to the file .bash_login in your home directory if you have it, or the file .profile if you don't):

    export AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE='*'

  • zsh users, add the following line to the file .zlogin in your home directory:

    export AUTOUNSUBSCRIBE='*'

B - If your newsreader is 'nn':

By default, 'nn' will automatically (and silently) add all new newgroups to your .newsrc file and subscribe you to them. You can control what 'nn' does with new newsgroups using the file ~/.nn/init and the "new-group-action variable". Here are some lines you can use in your ~/.nn/init file and what they will do:

set new-group-action 0

Ignore _all_ groups (new groups included) not in your .newsrc.

set new-group-action 3

New groups are automatically appended to your .newsrc and you are subscribed to them. This is the default action of 'nn'.

set new-group-action 4

You will be asked if you wish to add new newsgroups to your .newsrc file.

set new-group-action 5

You will be asked if you wish to add new newsgroups to your .newsrc file ('nn' will attempt to store information compatible with 'rn').

Here are some excerpts from the 'nn' man page ("man nn") concerning variables that may be set in your ~/.nn/init file to control what happens to new groups:

       new-group-action action  (integer, default 3)
              This  variable  controls how new groups are treated
              by nn.  It is an integer variable, and the  follow-
              ing  values  can  be  used.   Some of these actions
              (marked with  an  *)  will  only  work  when  keep-
              unsubscribed  is set, since the presence of a group
              in .newsrc is the only way to recognize  it  as  an
              old group:
              0)   Ignore  groups which are not in .newsrc.  This
              will obviously include new groups.
              1*)  Groups not in .newsrc  are  considered  to  be
              new,  and  are  inserted  at  the  beginning of the
              .newsrc file.
              2*)  Groups not in .newsrc  are  considered  to  be
              new,  and  are  appended  to the end of the .newsrc
              file.
              3)  New groups  are  recognized  via  a  time-stamp
              saved  in  the  file  .nn/LAST and in the database,
              i.e. it is not dependent on the groups currently in
              .newsrc.  The new groups are automatically appended
              to .newsrc with subscription.  Old groups not  pre-
              sent  in  .newsrc  will  be considered to be unsub-
              scribed.
              4)  As 3, but the user is asked to confirm that the
              new  group  should  be  appended  to  .newsrc.   If
              rejected,  the  group  will  not  be  appended   to
              .newsrc, and thus be regarded as unsubscribed.
              5)   As 4, except that the information is stored in
              a  format  compatible  with  the  rn  news   reader
              (.rnlast).  This needs to be tested!

       keep-unsubscribed        (boolean, default true)
              When  set, unsubscribed groups are kept in .newsrc.
              If not set, nn will automatically remove all unsub-
              scribed  from  .newsrc  if tidy-newsrc is set.  See
              also unsubscribe-mark-read.

       tidy-newsrc         (boolean, default false)
              When  set,  nn will automatically remove lines from
              .newsrc which represent groups  not  found  in  the
              active   file   or  unsubscribed  groups  if  keep-
              unsubscribed is not set.

If you have any questions about new newsgroups, send email to newsgroups@panix.com.

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