lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm  | 6 +++---
 lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm | 1 +

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
index 53de2bca2495c7b49b4369dbc1a94ebae7fa41fc..12ce4e687f574e655e9201fda255552f7241ebb1 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ 		PublicInbox::EvCleanup::asap(sub {}) if $closed;
 	}
 }
 
+sub greet ($) { $_[0]->write($_[0]->{nntpd}->{greet}) };
+
 sub new ($$$) {
 	my ($class, $sock, $nntpd) = @_;
 	my $self = fields::new($class);
@@ -113,9 +115,7 @@ 		$wbuf->[0] = \&PublicInbox::DS::accept_tls_step;
 	}
 	$self->SUPER::new($sock, $ev);
 	$self->{nntpd} = $nntpd;
-	my $greet = "201 $nntpd->{servername} ready - post via email\r\n";
-	open my $fh, '<:scalar',  \$greet or die "open :scalar: $!";
-	push @$wbuf, $fh;
+	push @$wbuf, \&greet;
 	$self->{wbuf} = $wbuf;
 	$self->{rbuf} = '';
 	update_idle_time($self);
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
index 6d9ffd5ffe03b687c863ec5b930f796b9d1dc9f4..4f30c5d9aede1cdbedab3a11bf4b84f4edd8c7e5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTPD.pm
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ 		err => \*STDERR,
 		out => \*STDOUT,
 		grouplist => [],
 		servername => $name,
+		greet => \"201 $name ready - post via email\r\n",
 		# accept_tls => { SSL_server => 1, ..., SSL_reuse_ctx => ... }
 	}, $class;
 }