lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm  | 22 +++++++++++-----------
 lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm |  4 +++-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
index b641bd23e5304f964586544dec4dd340e2f67eff..6822219646ffe1f5b5cae2177bbff99544cb255f 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
@@ -136,29 +136,29 @@
 sub list_active ($;$) {
 	my ($self, $wildmat) = @_;
 	wildmat2re($wildmat);
-	foreach my $ng (@{$self->{nntpd}->{grouplist}}) {
-		$ng->{newsgroup} =~ $wildmat or next;
-		group_line($self, $ng);
+	my $groups = $self->{nntpd}->{groups};
+	for my $ngname (grep(/$wildmat/, @{$self->{nntpd}->{groupnames}})) {
+		group_line($self, $groups->{$ngname});
 	}
 }
 
 sub list_active_times ($;$) {
 	my ($self, $wildmat) = @_;
 	wildmat2re($wildmat);
-	foreach my $ng (@{$self->{nntpd}->{grouplist}}) {
-		$ng->{newsgroup} =~ $wildmat or next;
-		my $c = eval { $ng->uidvalidity } // time;
-		more($self, "$ng->{newsgroup} $c $ng->{-primary_address}");
+	my $groups = $self->{nntpd}->{groups};
+	for my $ngname (grep(/$wildmat/, @{$self->{nntpd}->{groupnames}})) {
+		my $ibx = $groups->{$ngname};
+		my $c = eval { $ibx->uidvalidity } // time;
+		more($self, "$ngname $c $ibx->{-primary_address}");
 	}
 }
 
 sub list_newsgroups ($;$) {
 	my ($self, $wildmat) = @_;
 	wildmat2re($wildmat);
-	foreach my $ng (@{$self->{nntpd}->{grouplist}}) {
-		$ng->{newsgroup} =~ $wildmat or next;
-		my $d = $ng->description;
-		more($self, "$ng->{newsgroup} $d");
+	my $groups = $self->{nntpd}->{groups};
+	for my $ngname (grep(/$wildmat/, @{$self->{nntpd}->{groupnames}})) {
+		more($self, "$ngname ".$groups->{$ngname}->description);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
index 13b0f678284b284ed4c05b3cefc3beead125cd25..4de1944b27206c36e7afc6bce44353de532843ea 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
@@ -60,7 +60,9 @@ 		} else {
 			delete $groups->{$ngname};
 		}
 	});
-	$self->{grouplist} = [ map { $groups->{$_} } sort(keys %$groups) ];
+	my @names = sort(keys %$groups);
+	$self->{grouplist} = [ map { $groups->{$_} } @names ];
+	$self->{groupnames} = \@names;
 	$self->{pi_config} = $pi_config;
 	# this will destroy old groups that got deleted
 	$self->{groups} = $groups;