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Middle Tennessee State University ListProc Information |
ListProcessor(tm) version 8.1
Copyright (c) 1993-97 by
the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN)
May 1994
Preliminary User's Guide
Contents:
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How do I use the ListProcessor(tm)
2.1. Regular users
2.2. List owners
ListProcessor(tm) is a system that automates mailing lists and archives. Users may add themselves to mailing lists supported by ListProcessor(tm), post messages, review the members of a list, etc. The system also maintains hierarchical archives of files that users may get. Archives and mailing lists may be private, which means that a password is required for archive access, and that the owner of a private mailing list decides who may subscribe and who may not. Lists may also be moderated, in which case the owner decides which messages are made public, and which are flushed.
2) How do I use the ListProcessor(tm)
There are two levels of users: a) regular users who subscribe to lists and send/receive messages and get files from archives, and b) list owners who oversee the functioning of lists. There is of course a system manager that oversees the entire operation. List owners have certain privileges: they can add and remove users from their lists, reject postings to moderated lists, manipulate addresses, etc. All users interact with ListProcessor(tm) by email. ListProcessor(tm) understands a sginificant set of requests and expects a fixed syntax for each one of those. Users send email to when they wish to have a request processed. If users want to send a message to a mailing list, they email to list-name@address instead.
2.1) Regular users
Usually, the first thing that a regular user will want to do is find out which lists are available for subscription. He should then send email to with a 'lists' request in the body of the message and nothing else. He then subscribes to a list called foo by sending another email to with the following request:
subscribe foo <His Name>
where <His Name>should let people know who he is.
Once subscribed, he may send messages to foo@address. He may remove himself from that list later on by issuing a:
unsubscribe foo
request to .
To access the archives, an 'index' request is sent to to find out what archives are available and what files may be obtained from these archives. A user then may request one or more files via a 'get' request. For example:
get products/database/name/version patch
will send the file patch from that archive. In the case of binary files, what the user receives is a uuencoded file, possibly split in parts due to its size. Archives may be searched with the 'search' request which accepts an egrep(1)- style pattern, For extensive information on all requests, accepts requests like 'help [topic]' where 'topic' is a request.
2.2) List owners
List owners are users who have special privileges on the lists they are assigned to. Each mailing list has at least one primary owner and may have infinite secondary ones. The primary owner will be the recipient of all error messages and may set more preferences by contacting the system's manager; these preferences include requests to be copied on certain user requests. For example, an owner may wish to be notified when someone subscribed to his list, or when someone signed off.
Each list is accessed by an owner via a password. All owner requests require that password. In addition, the email address of the owner is verified for such requests.
The following owner requests (which should always be sent to ) are recognized (refer to the man page for hidden owner requests not mentioned here):
reports <list><password>
A copy of the report files on list activity are sent to the owner.
edit <list><password><file>
Each list is controlled through some system files. These include the subscribers file, the welcoming message, the aliases file and the ignored file (enemies of the list). Refer to the man page for more information.
put <list><password><keyword>[args]
The above edited files may be put back using this request. The owner may also put new aliases and enemies to the database. Refer to the man page for more information.
approve <list><password><tag>
If a list is moderated, each message sent by a regular user is forwarded to the primary owner for review, editing and approval. Each such message is identified by a unique tag number. The owner sends back the approved message to preceded by the above request, and provides the proper tag number.
discard <list><password><tag>
This is the opposite of 'approve'. A message that is not approved or discarded will remain in the queue for ever.
Each mailing list may have its messages automatically archived. This can be useful for newcomers who want to catch up with the discussion, or for posting and archiving FAQ's.
The system may also keep archives of patches, and other types of files. As explained before, archives may be private in which case passwords are required for access for both the 'index' and 'get' requests.
For the most part, requests span a single line. However, for whatever the reason a request may be continued on another line if it is terminated by &\n (ampersand followed by carriage return).
Requests like 'put' may take a file as argument (like the subscribers file, or the welcoming message). In these cases, the actual text follows the 'put' request and spans till the end of the message. For example, here is a session where the owner would put the welcoming message:
Subject:put my-list my-password welcome
Welcome to the my-list list. You may sign off any time by sending the following request to :
sign off my-list Enjoy!
See server(1) for system setup and management.
See listproc(1) for list owner information on list management and their privileges.
See list(1) for information on moderated lists and how to define user aliases and unwanted users. Also how to connect to news groups.
See listproc(1) for a complete description of all user requests.