subscriptions - Default recommended subscriptions
The
pathetc/subscriptions file contains a list of newsgroups that is
returned by the NNTP command LIST SUBSCRIPTIONS.
Clients that support this command usually send it the first time they connect to
a new news server. They use the returned list to initialize the list of
subscribed newsgroups. The
subscriptions file therefore should contain
groups intended for new users, for testing, or that contain FAQs and other
useful information for first-time Usenet users.
The syntax of the
subscriptions file is trivial; it is a simple list of
newsgroup names, one per line. The order of newsgroups may be significant; the
news reading client may present the groups in that order to the user.
Be aware that use of the LIST SUBSCRIPTIONS command is not widespread (though
documented in RFC 6048) and most news clients will never ask for this
file.
A typical
subscriptions file may look like:
news.announce.newusers
news.newusers.questions
local.test
local.general
local.talk
misc.test
misc.test.moderated
news.answers
news.announce.newgroups
This gives the client the FAQs and question newsgroup for new users first, then
a local newsgroup for testing and various commonly-read local discussion
groups, followed by the world-wide test groups, all the FAQs, and
announcements of new world-wide newsgroups. If there is a local new users
group, one might want to list it first.
Written by Bettina Fink <
[email protected]> for InterNetNews.
nnrpd(8).