Majordomo address: # Majordomo@FooBar.COM
Majordomo-Owner address:# Majordomo-Owner@FooBar.COM
List posting address: # ListName@FooBar.COM
List request address: # ListName-Request@FooBar.COM
List password: # whatever
List flags: # closed, private, moderated, etc.
Your mailing list has been established. It is being served by an
automated mailing list manager that responds to commands emailed to
the "Majordomo address" listed above. This message has all the details
of how to manage your list remotely using Majordomo. If you have any
questions, refer them to the Majordomo-Owner address listed above.
There's a lot of info here, so please read this completely and
carefully, and save it for future reference. If you have any questions,
you should send them to the Majordomo-Owner address above.
Your list-owner password is shown above. Keep track of this; you'll
need it later. Instructions for changing your password are below.
As soon as possible, please issue a "newinfo" command for your
list (see below) to create the file that someone will receive when
they join or ask about your list.
You can issue a "who" command for your list to see who's already on your
list. You may or may not already be subscribed to your own list.
================
The Gory Details
================
Your mailing list is managed by an automated mailing list management
program called Majordomo. Majordomo should free you from dealing
with most of the administrivia usually associated with running mailing
lists (adding users, dropping users, etc.).
To submit something to your list, you (or anybody else) should simply
mail it to the list posting address shown at the top of this file.
If somebody sends something to list request address shown above (which
is the traditional Internet way of being added to a mailing list), they'll
get back a message telling them how to use Majordomo for routine requests,
and how to contact you if they need to speak to a human being.
To be added to your list, a user simply sends a message of the form
subscribe your-list-name
by email to the Majordomo address shown above.
Majordomo understands several commands, and is not limited to a
single command per message (it will process commands until reaching
end-of-message or the command "end"). The command "help" will tell
you about all the other commands.
Actually, it won't tell you about _all_ the other commands that
Majordomo understands. There are several commands there for use by
list owners such as yourself, which are not advertised to the public.
All of these commands are password-protected on a list-by-list basis,
but anyone with a valid list/password combination can invoke these
commands. This is not exactly high-tech security, but it's more
intended to keep annoyance to a minimum than to be foolproof.
The "documented" commands which Majordomo understands and which are
for everyone to use are:
subscribe <list> [<address>]
unsubscribe <list> [<address>]
which [<address>]
who <list>
info <list>
index <list>
get <list>
lists
help
end
You can get detailed explanations of all of these by asking for "help"
from Majordomo.
The "undocumented" commands for use by list owners are:
approve <passwd> {subscribe|unsubscribe} <list> [<address>]
This is so that you can approve subscription or unsubscription
actions that need approval by the list owner. Note that this
is just a standard "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" command prefixed
with "approve <password>" (where you substitute the password for
your list, which is listed above, for "<password>").
passwd <list> <old_passwd> <new_passwd>
This is so you can change the password for your list, if you desire.
newinfo <list> <password>
This is so that you can replace the information file that people
get when they do "info <list>" or "subscribe <list>". It reads
everything after the "newinfo" command to end-of-message or the
word "EOF" on a line by itself as the new info for the list.
Types of Lists
==============
Majordomo understands several types of lists. A list may have multiple
types; for instance, it may be "closed", "private", and "moderated".
Regardless of the type of list, the list owner (you) will get email every
time someone successfully subscribes to or unsubscribes from your list.
When someone successfully subscribes, they get a message from Majordomo
welcoming them to the list, and including the "info" file for the list
so that they know the ground rules, archive location, and so forth.
The first and simplest type of list is an "open" list. If a list is
"open", a user can add themselves to or drop themselves from the list.
If they try to subscribe or unsubscribe somebody else, though, Majordomo
asks for your approval.
Another type of list is a "closed" list, then the list owner (that's you)
must approve all subscriptions to the list (see below for information
about approving Majordomo commands).
An "auto" list is one where Majordomo performs _all_ requests (even
those that apply to addresses other than that of the person making the
request) without checking with the list owner for approval. The list
owner is still notified of all successful "subscribe" and "unsubscribe"
requests, of course.
Still another kind of list is a "private" list. If a list is a "private"
list, then only people who are on the list will be able to do a "who" command
(to see who else is on the list), "index" command (to see what list-related
files are available), or "get" command (to retrieve a list-related file).
Approval
========
When Majordomo requests your approval for something, it sends you a
message that includes a template of the approval message; if you concur,
you simply need to replace "PASSWORD" in the template with your list
password, and send the template line back to Majordomo.
The requests for approval that Majordomo generates all start with
"APPROVE" in the "Subject:" line.
You aren't limited to approving only things to Majordomo requests
approval for. You can approve any "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" request,
regardless of whether Majordomo has requested this approval, with an
"approve" command. Thus, you can subscribe or unsubscribe people from
your list without them having to send anything to Majordomo; just
send an appropriate "approve PASSWORD subscribe LIST ADDRESS" or
"approve PASSWORD unsubscribe LIST ADDRESS" command off to Majordomo.
If you read your mail on a UNIX system and have "perl" available (try
"perl -v" and see if it tells you about perl; if it gives you a
"command not found" message instead, then you don't have perl on your
machine), there is a program called "approve" available to automate the
approval process; contact your Majordomo-Owner at the address listed
above for a copy of the program.
Bounced Messages
================
Majordomo may bounce certain messages that people attempt to post to
your mailing list. These messages may be bounced because they appear
to be administrative requests (i.e., someone mailed a request to subscribe
or unsubscribe to the posting address rather than to Majordomo or to the
-request address), because they are too long, or for any of a number of
other reasons.
Majordomo will forward these messages to you in another message whose
subject line begins with the word "BOUNCE"; the subject line will also
indicate the name of the list the message was bounced from (in case you
manage more than one list) and the reason the message was bounced.
If you decide that the message is OK and should not have been bounced,
then you can cause Majordomo to post it anyway by sending the message
back to the posting address (NOT to the Majordomo address) with a special
"Approved: password" header. To do this, follow these instructions:
1) Save the original message (the body of the message you received
from Majordomo) in a file.
2) Edit the file to insert a line that says "Approved: password" (where
"password" is the password for your list) at the top, before the
original message.
3) Send this edited file back to the posting address for your list (NOT
to Majordomo).
This time around, Majordomo will notice the "Approved:" line and check it
against your list password. If it matches, Majordomo will strip off the
header of your message and the "Approved:" line (leaving just the original
message), and send the original message on through.
The "approve" program mentioned above in the section on approving Majordomo
requests can also approve bounced messages for posting. You just save the
whole message from Majordomo in a file, and say "approve file" (or pipe
the message to the "approve" program as standard input), and the "approve"
program does the rest.
Moderation
==========
If your list is moderated, then messages without an "Approved:" line are
bounced, just as described above. To cause them to be posted to the list,
you add a valid "Approved:" line and send them back, just as described above.
Again, if you're able to use it, the "approve" program automates all this.
If you have any questions about all of this, send them to the Majordomo-Owner
address shown at the top of this file.
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