New Groups
==========

   What Gnus does when it encounters a new group is determined by the
`gnus-subscribe-newsgroup-method' variable.

   This variable should contain a function.  Some handy pre-fab values
are:

`gnus-subscribe-zombies'
     Make all new groups zombies.  You can browse the zombies later
     (with `A z') and either kill them all off properly, or subscribe
     to them.  This is the default.

`gnus-subscribe-randomly'
     Subscribe all new groups randomly.

`gnus-subscribe-alphabetically'
     Subscribe all new groups alphabetically.

`gnus-subscribe-hierarchically'
     Subscribe all new groups hierarchically.

`gnus-subscribe-interactively'
     Subscribe new groups interactively.  This means that Gnus will ask
     you about *all* new groups.

`gnus-subscribe-killed'
     Kill all new groups.

   A closely related variable is
`gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive'.  (That's quite a mouthful.)
If this variable is non-`nil', Gnus will ask you in a hierarchical
fashion whether to subscribe to new groups or not.  Gnus will ask you
for each sub-hierarchy whether you want to descend the hierarchy or not.

   One common mistake is to set the variable a few paragraphs above to
`gnus-subscribe-hierarchical-interactive'.  This is an error.  This
will not work.  This is ga-ga.  So don't do it.

   A nice and portable way to control which new newsgroups should be
subscribed (or ignored) is to put an "options" line at the start of the
`.newsrc' file.  Here's an example:

     options -n !alt.all !rec.all sci.all

   This line obviously belongs to a serious-minded intellectual
scientific person (or she may just be plain old boring), because it
says that all groups that have names beginning with `alt' and `rec'
should be ignored, and all groups with names beginning with `sci' should
be subscribed.  Gnus will not use the normal subscription method for
subscribing these groups.  `gnus-subscribe-options-newsgroup-method' is
used instead.  This variable defaults to
`gnus-subscribe-alphabetically'.

   If you don't want to mess with your `.newsrc' file, you can just set
the two variables `gnus-options-subscribe' and
`gnus-options-not-subscribe'.  These two variables do exactly the same
as the `.newsrc' `options -n' trick.  Both are regexps, and if the the
new group matches the former, it will be unconditionally subscribed,
and if it matches the latter, it will be ignored.

   Yet another variable that meddles here is
`gnus-auto-subscribed-groups'.  It works exactly like
`gnus-options-subscribe', and is therefore really superfluous, but I
thought it would be nice to have two of these.  This variable is more
meant for setting some ground rules, while the other variable is used
more for user fiddling.  By default this variable makes all new groups
that come from mail backends (`nnml', `nnbabyl', `nnfolder', `nnmbox',
and `nnmh') subscribed.  If you don't like that, just set this variable
to `nil'.

   If you are satisfied that you really never want to see any new
groups, you could set `gnus-check-new-newsgroups' to `nil'.  This will
also save you some time at startup.  Even if this variable is `nil',
you can always subscribe to the new groups just by pressing `U' in the
group buffer (see Group Maintenance.).  This variable is `t' by
default.

   Gnus normally determines whether a group is new or not by comparing
the list of groups from the active file(s) with the lists of subscribed
and dead groups.  This isn't a particularly fast method.  If
`gnus-check-new-newsgroups' is `ask-server', Gnus will ask the server
for new groups since the last time.  This is both faster & cheaper.
This also means that you can get rid of the list of killed groups
altogether, so you may set `gnus-save-killed-list' to `nil', which will
save time both at startup, at exit, and all over.  Saves disk space,
too.  Why isn't this the default, then?  Unfortunately, not all servers
support this command.

   I bet I know what you're thinking now: How do I find out whether my
server supports `ask-server'?  No?  Good, because I don't have a
fail-safe answer.  I would suggest just setting this variable to
`ask-server' and see whether any new groups appear within the next few
days.  If any do, then it works.  If any don't, then it doesn't work.
I could write a function to make Gnus guess whether the server supports
`ask-server', but it would just be a guess.  So I won't.  You could
`telnet' to the server and say `HELP' and see whether it lists
`NEWGROUPS' among the commands it understands.  If it does, then it
might work.  (But there are servers that lists `NEWGROUPS' without
supporting the function properly.)

   This variable can also be a list of select methods.  If so, Gnus will
issue an `ask-server' command to each of the select methods, and
subscribe them (or not) using the normal methods.  This might be handy
if you are monitoring a few servers for new groups.  A side effect is
that startup will take much longer, so you can meditate while waiting.
Use the mantra "dingnusdingnusdingnus" to achieve permanent bliss.