Majordomo is a program which automates the management of Internet mailing lists. Commands are sent to majordomo via electronic mail to handle all aspects of list maintenance. Once a list is set up, virtually all operations can be performed remotely, requiring no intervention upon the postmaster of the list site.
The first part of this document
will give you an idea of what kinds of configurations there are
for lists on the majordomo. Then there is an overview of how
a user sees and uses the majordomo list server. The last section
describes what a list owner will need to know for managing a list.
Important: the server has changed as of 6/30/2004. Send all list
submissions and majordomo commands to the server lists.state.mn.us ONLY.
See below for examples.
There are several different kinds of lists available on the Mail*Hub Majordomo list server:
If the list is "auto" anyone can subscribe anyone's email address. If the list is "open" anyone can send email to the list. All subscriptions will be automatically approved if the address in the "subscribe" command is the same as the sender of the email. If the list is "open+confirm" then majordomo will send email back to the user and ask them to confirm their subscription by sending in a authorization command provided by majordomo. This provides an extra layer of security by disallowing a user to subscribe someone else to a list.
In a closed list, only the people subscribed to the list can send messages to it. All email from non-subscribers will bounce. All subscriptions to a closed list must be approved by the list owner.
In a public list, subscribers have access to information about other subscribers through the "who" and "which" commands. These commands give information about to which lists users are subscribed. In a private list, this information is not made available to non-subscribers. When a list is private, only subscribers can use the "who" and "which" commands.
In a single mail message type list each time a person sends to the list the e-mail message will go out to the subscribers of the list immediately. In a digest message type list when a person sends to the list the e-mail will be accumulated for a predetermined amount of time and then sent out to the subscribers. Most often the list owner will set the digest list e-mails to be sent out once a week.
In a moderated list, all messages sent to the list must be approved by the list owner before they are sent out.
A user can subscribe to a
list or ask about his or other users' subscriptions by sending
mail to the majordomo server, majordomo@state.mn.us. Commands
should be put in the body of the mail message, not on the "Subject:"
header component. Other than white space, the commands must be
the first text in the message body; in other words, don't begin
with "Dear Majordomo." If the command line is over
70 characters long the line may wrap around to the next line.
Majordomo does not like this because it processes every line
as a separate command. To get around this you can cut the line
in half with a "\" and continue the rest of the command
on the next line.
In the sections below, items in brackets ( [ ] ) are optional. If you include the optional item, don't include the brackets.
Sends one-line summaries of majordomo commands.
Sends you a brief description of the list "listname".
Shows the lists served by this majordomo server.
This command subscribes a user to the named "listname". Unless the user includes the optional address, Majordomo will use the e-mail address in the mail message header ("Reply-to:", if any, otherwise "From:") to send mail to the user.
This unsubscribes the user (or "address") from "listname".
Tells which lists the user (or "address") is subscribed to.
Lists the subscribers of "listname".
Tells majordomo to stop reading
the message. This is useful for users whose mailer adds text
(like a signature) to the end of a message. A line that starts
with a dash (-) is also treated as an "end" command
by Majordomo. Because many peoples' mail message signatures start
with some dashes, this avoids error messages.
The list owner is the person (or persons) who will run day-to-day operations of a mailing list by responding to mail messages from Majordomo. Each mailing list operated by Majordomo can have its own list owners.
All a list owner needs is
to be able to send and receive e-mail. The owner doesn't need
to have login access to the system where the list is handled.
The list owner doesn't even need to be on a UNIX system, although
majordomo comes with some UNIX scripts that make life easier for
the list owner.
The list owner may receive four types of mail messages from Majordomo:
The commands for users can also be used by list owners. But there are six more password-protected commands just for list owners. These commands should also be in the body of a message addressed to majordomo@state.mn.us. Remember that majordomo treats each line as a separate command. Some of these commands can be well over one line and must be split by a "\" and continued on the nex line.
Subscribe or unsubscribe someone from the list "listname". You can use this to subscribe someone to a list without them having to send in a request.
Change the subscription approval password for "listname" from "old-password" to "new-password". Remember that this password is stored, unencrypted, on the computer running Majordomo. Don't use your login password!
Change the text in the "listname.info" file (the text a user receives when they mail an "info" command or subscribe to the list). The text is taken from the rest of the mail message until a line with the three upper-case letters "EOF" at the start.
E-mails a copy of the configuration file for "listname" to the owner.
The owner can edit the configuration file and send it back with "newconfig".
newconfig listname password
..config file contents here...
EOF
The "newconfig" command installs a new configuration file for "listname". After you type the "newconfig" command, the rest of the mail message should be a copy of the new configuration file.
Rewrites the configuration file into standard form-including all documentation in the configuration file.
Force a digest to be generated
for "list".
In almost all instances that majordomo
contacts a list owner, or list user, the message will include
a command/suggestion about what needs to do to resolve the matter.
If you have to send it back a command, it includes the command(s).
If majordomo really gets confused and can't figure something
out, it will send out the help file. Most of the commands are
fairly intuitive and easy to learn.
A word about subscriptions:
Since all subscription/unsubscription requests are handled by the majordomo itself, the owner shouldn't get involved (unless it's a closed list, of course). This also means that for a user to be added to a list they should send in the subscription request to majordomo. There is a way for the owner to add them to the list using the "approve" command. This is necessary and allows the majordomo to get the proper addresses for that user. If the user wants to change their address on a list they have to unsubscribe the old address and then subscribe the new one.
The special case for subscriptions
is if the account is actually a fax gateway or some other automated
function that can't send a subscription request. Then the owner
should use the "approve" command.
Here is an example of what approving a subscription to a closed list would look like. If a user named John Smith sent a subscription request to a closed list, "email-list", then majordomo will send the owner of that list a message that looks like this:
To: email-list-approval@lists.state.mn.us (majordomo alias pointing to the list owner)
--
John Smith <John.Smith@state.mn.us> requests that you approve the following:
subscribe email-list John Smith <John.Smith@state.mn.us>
If you approve, please send a message such as the following back to
approve PASSWORD subscribe email-list John Smith <John.Smith@state.mn.us>
If you disapprove, do nothing.
From: Majordomo@lists.state.mn.us
Subject: APPROVE email-list
Reply-To: Majordomo@lists.state.mn.us
Majordomo@lists.state.mn.us (with the appropriate PASSWORD filled in, of course):
Thanks!
Majordomo@lists.state.mn.us
If you approve of this user's subscription, you would send a message back to the majordomo with the command provided for you, but remember to fill in the password.
To: majordomo@state.mn.us
subscribe email-list \ how to properly line wrap
From: JoBob@owner.of.list (address of the list owner)
Subject:
John Smith <John.Smith@state.mn.us>
Once majordomo processes the subscription it will send you confirmation of the command.
To: email-list-owner@state.mn.us
--
>>>> approve email-list.password
subscribe email-list John Smith <John.Smith@state.mn.us>
END OF COMMANDS
From: Majordomo@lists.state.mn.us
Subject: Majordomo results: Re: APPROVE email-list
Succeeded.
>>>> ---
Now here is an example of approving a message for distribution to a moderated list. If John Smith sends a message to "email-list", which happens to be a moderated list, then the list owner will receive a message like this:
To: owner-email-list@lists.state.mn.us
From John.Smith@state.mn.us Wed Apr 16 08:48 CDT 1997
The break room now has English toffee cookies!
John
From: owner-email-list@lists.state.mn.us
Subject: BOUNCE email-list@lists.state.mn.us: Approval required:
To: email-list@state.mn.us
Subject: News break
If the list owner wants to send the message to the rest of the list they have to mark it "approved" and send it back to the list (not majordomo). This is done by adding the header "Approved: PASSWORD" to the original message. The message sent back to the list would look like this:
To: email-list@state.mn.us
Approved: liSTpaSSworD
The break room now has English toffee cookies!
John
From: JoBob@owner.of.list <-- address of list owner
Subject: BOUNCE email-list@lists.state.mn.us: Approval required:
From John.Smith@state.mn.us Wed Apr 16 08:48 CDT 1997
To: email-list@state.mn.us
Subject: News break
The message would then be processed by majordomo and sent to the rest of the list.
Written based upon the Majordomo
1.94.1 documentation.
updated 3/3/99
Shari Plumb
Department of Administration
InterTechnologies Group