Re: Streamlining first-time Gnus usage

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>]

Julien Danjou <julien@danjou.info> writes:

> I don't think assistants is a good solution. That would just hide a
> complexity. But things should not be complex.

They shouldn't, but sometimes they are...  That is, it's more pleasant
for the user if we query the user instead of making a wrong guess, in
general. 

>> (setq gnus-select-method '(nnimap "imap.gmail.com"))
>
> FWIW, it took me several weeks until I understand what was the
> differences between gnus-select-method and
> gnus-secondary-select-methods. That could be a starting point.

After the `g' rework, the only difference real is in the group name.
That is, the primary method groups don't have prefixed names, while the
rest do.  We could hide that by not displaying the prefixes (by default)
in the group buffer, but it's a leaky thing...  and doing a total rework
here is ... eh...  Kinda a lot of work.

But we could recommend doing stuff like

(gnus-add-method '(nnimap "imap.gmail.com"))
(gnus-add-method '(nntp "news.gmane.org"))

instead of exposing the primary/secondary stuff directly.  I mean, if we
just drop the idea of a primary method altogether, and just say that
they're all secondary, then everything is fine.  Except for the long,
prefixed group names...

>> 2) don't create the queue group -- it should be deferred until it's
>>    needed (if ever)
>
> Weird, I do not have one. It may be recent.

Perhaps you've killed it?  It's only relevant for Agent users.

>> 4) subscribe all the groups from the primary select method (and activate
>>    them) if the primary select method is a mail method (like nnimap)
>
> Add nnimap into `gnus-auto-subscribed-groups'?

How odd that it isn't in there already.  I've now added it.

> (I do that in my configuration. I prefer to be auto-subscribed and kill
> the group if I do not want it, rather than miss a new group. :)

Yup.

However, that's really not the proper fix, since native groups (again
with the difference) aren't prefixed.  I'll add a different fix.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen