Re: [aclug-L] Important Complete.Org List Changes
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March 1999: Re: [aclug-L] Important Complete.Org List Changes |
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Let's see . . . Upgraded hardware . . . Upgraded software . . . Did Majordomo get upgraded to Lt. Col. Domo? Or did he just retire? :-) At 07:53 PM 3/27/99 -0500, you wrote: Hello, This message is being sent to all subscribers of all Complete.Org mailing lists. If you receive it multiple times, I apologize in advance; it simply means you're on multiple mailing lists. Today, there has been a major change on the Complete.Org mail server. The software that hosts the mailing lists here has been changed to Listar. This should result in faster mail delivery, many more features for you, more flexibility, and more. Coupled with a recent hardware upgrade for the mail server, lists should be much nicer now. Most of your existing knowledge about how to interact with Complete.Org's mail server should still serve you well. Any commands sent to Majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx will be automatically forwarded to Listar@xxxxxxxxxxxx -- and the good news is that Listar can understand Majordomo commands, so you don't have to learn anything new. Digests are now handled in a much better way; to learn how to deal with them now, look at the following URL in your web browser: http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/ListInfo.html#s3 You have already received, or will shortly receive, a confirmation e-mail for your subscription on each Complete.Org list that you are on. For more help on the Complete.Org lists, see: http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/ Some Complete.Org lists have online archives containing searchable copies of every message ever going across the list. You may find these at: http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/archives/ For your convenience, I am including at the end of this message a copy of the mailing list instructions that you can find at http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/. However, if you would like a printed version, which can be nice to have as a reference, I'd encourage you to download a PDF or PostScript version from the website and print it out. Also, if you need any help, feel free to write to me. Regards, John Goerzen Postmaster, Complete.Org -== Mailing List Instructions ==- Complete.Org Mailing Lists John Goerzen, jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx Fourth Edition; March 27, 1999 Available on the World-Wide Web at http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/ ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Complete.Org 1.2 Getting the latest version of this document 1.3 Mailing lists 1.3.1 How a list works 1.3.2 How to join a list (simple) 1.3.3 How to leave a list (simple) 1.4 Mailing List Archives 2. Quick Start 2.1 Joining a list 2.2 Leaving a list 2.3 Reading messages from the list 2.4 Posting a message to the list 2.5 Getting help 2.6 Conclusion 3. List digests 3.1 Using list digests 4. Talking to Listar 4.1 The Basics 4.1.1 Getting your request to Listar 4.1.1.1 Alternate method of reaching Listar 4.1.2 Formatting of commands 4.2 Available Listar commands ______________________________________________________________________ First Edition, 1996 Second Edition, January 3, 1997 Third Edition, October 23, 1998 1. Introduction 1.1. Complete.Org Complete.Org has been around in various forms for some time. At present. Complete.Org hosts approximately 50 mailing lists, web-based archives for some of those, and various online services for Open Source projects running under GNU/Linux, such as the Air Capital Linux Users Group . 1.2. Getting the latest version of this document You may always receive the latest version of this document by checking the World Wide Web at http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/ . This web page contains a typeset version suitable for printing, an online HTML version, and a plain text version that is sent to new list subscribers. 1.3. Mailing lists Mailing lists (or just "lists") are ways to have group discussions over the Internet. Lists can be open to the public or can be private. Or there are some ones that fall in-between. In the 50 lists hosted at Complete.Org, there are lists of almost every type, but the majority are public lists. Most lists let you join by sending a computer a simple command. I will give a brief overview of the various functions of a mailing list below. More in-depth explanations of many aspects of lists are discussed later. 1.3.1. How a list works Once you are part of a list group, here's how everything works. It is important to understand this, but it is a very simple process. 1. You send a message to the list submission address (the list submission address is covered later) 2. Your message is processed by a computer at complete.org 3. The computer will then e-mail your message to everyone in the group 4. Everyone gets your message and can read it! 1.3.2. How to join a list If you look at step 3 above, you notice that the message is sent to everyone in the group. That brings up a question: how do you become part of the group? The procedure is very simple! 1. Send the computer at complete.org a request to join a list 2. The computer processes your request 3. You receive a confirmation in e-mail of your request status Details on how to send the computer your request, etc. are below. 1.3.3. How to leave a list If you ever want a leave a list, it is very simple. 1. Send the computer at complete.org a request to leave a list 2. The computer processes your request 3. You receive a confirmation in e-mail of your request status Again, see the later sections in this manual for more information about sending the computer your request. 1.4. Mailing List Archives Some Complete.Org mailing lists have archives of all past and present posts that have been sent to the list. These are useful for checking to see whether your comment has been discussed before, and also provides an alternative interface to reading messages in a mail client. To access these archives, point your Web browser to http://www.complete.org/mailinglists/archives/ . 2. Quick Start This section will get you up and going quickly with complete.org's mailing lists. Later on in this manual are in-depth instructions for communicating with mail software at complete.org. Throughout this section, we will use a fictitious list called listname as a sample. For instance, there will be a reference to listname- request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. If the list you actually want to act upon is called qwerty, you would use qwerty-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. If the list you actually want to act upon is called qwerty-discussion-digest, you would use qwerty-discussion-digest-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. 2.1. Joining a list Send an e-mail to listname-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. In the body of that e-mail, put the single word SUBSCRIBE. You will shortly receive an acknowledgement from the complete.org computer indicating that it has processed your request. 2.2. Leaving a list Send an e-mail to listname-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. In the body of that e-mail, put the single word UNSUBSCRIBE. You will shortly receive an acknowledgement from the complete.org computer indicating that is has processed your request. 2.3. Reading messages from the list After you have joined a list, all messages send to the list will be automatically e-mailed directly to you. There is nothing special you need to do to read messages on the list. 2.4. Posting a message to the list To post a message to the list, simply e-mail your message to listname@xxxxxxxxxxxx. 2.5. Getting help If you have a problem, question, or a comment, you may write to listar-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx (for generic list system questions) or to listname-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx. 2.6. Conclusion If you are just interested in the basics of mailing lists, you don't need to read any more information in this manual. The other information is for users that want to use Listar's more advanced functions, such as list digests. 3. List digests Sometimes you may be subscribed to a list with high volume (that is, there are lots of posts to it). Such a list may place a lot of messages in your mailbox. This is where list digests come in handy. A list digest will take a bunch of messages, combine them all into one large message, and deliver that message to you. You get exactly the same messages from a list digest as you would from a normal list -- they are just delivered to you differently. 3.1. Using list digests Using a list digest is simple. Write to listname-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx as before. However, this time, in the body of your message, put the line: SET DIGEST You will receive a confirmation by return e-mail. If you ever want to turn off digest mode, write to listname- request@xxxxxxxxxxxx, and put this line in the body of your message: UNSET DIGEST Remember, replace "listname" with the real name of the list; for instance, if your list is aclug-L, you'd write to aclug-L- request@xxxxxxxxxxxx. If you need help, please feel free to write to listar-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxx. 4. Talking to Listar Listar is a system that handles join and leave requests for the Complete.Org mailing lists. 4.1. The Basics Listar is a computer program that runs on the computer at complete.org. It takes commands and acts accordingly. Since it is not a human, you have to word commands in certain precise ways. But it's very easy! 4.1.1. Getting your request to Listar This is easy! In your e-mail program, you send a message to the e-mail address listar@xxxxxxxxxxxx. You can set the subject to anything you want. The commands that you have for Listar will go in the body of your message. 4.1.1.1. Alternate method of reaching Listar In the summary of Listar commands, you will see that many of them require you to use a listname with the command, for instance, "SUBSCRIBE listname". Another, possibly easier way to send a "SUBSCRIBE listname" command is to send your message to listname- request@xxxxxxxxxxxx and then omit the "listname" parameter from the command line. For instance, to subscribe to a list called qwerty- discussion, you would e-mail qwerty-discussion-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx and put just the word "SUBSCRIBE" in the body of your message. This command works with all commands below that ask for a listname on their command line. This is the method detailed above. 4.1.2. Formatting of commands In the body of your message, you will supply one or more commands for Listar. Each command is a request for a certain task to be performed. Each command goes on one line. Listar will continue looking for more commands until it reaches the end of your e-mail, the command QUIT or it seems to recognize a sig. If you have a sigfile, either put the command QUIT before it in your message or turn it off -- otherwise, you may confuse Listar. 4.2. Available Listar commands The Listar commands are too numerous to list here. You may, however, request a summary of them by sending a message to Listar@xxxxxxxxxxxx and putting the command HELP in it.
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