ezmlm-manage(1) ezmlm-manage(1)
NAME
ezmlm-manage - automatically manage a mailing list
SYNOPSIS
ezmlm-manage [-bBcCdDeEfFlLmMsSuUvV] dir
DESCRIPTION
ezmlm-manage handles administrative requests for the mail-
ing list stored in dir, as well as for the associated
digest list.
ezmlm-manage is normally invoked from a .qmail file. It
reads a mail message from its standard input, and a mail
envelope from the SENDER, LOCAL, and HOST environment
variables.
ezmlm-manage expects LOCAL to be of the form list-action-
box=domain. Here list is the first line of dir/inlocal,
action is a request, and box@domain is the target of the
request. ezmlm-manage sends a response to the target. It
attaches the original message to the end of its response.
LOCAL may instead be of the form list-action. Then the
envelope sender is used as the target.
ezmlm-manage expects HOST to match the first line of
dir/inhost.
If list is the first line of dir/inlocal followed by
``-digest'', the request is assumed to be for the associ-
ated digest list. ezmlm-manage handles these requests
similarly, except that digest list subscriber addresses
are stored in dir/digest/subscribers, rather than in
dir/subscribers.
If list dir/inlocal followed by ``-allow'', the request is
assumed to be for the associated dir/allow/ database. This
database is used to store aliases of subscribers for lists
allowing only posts only if the envelope sender is a sub-
scriber. Actions on the dir/allow/ database follow the
same rules as for the main list. The ezmlm messages are
the same as those used for normal subscription, but refer
to the list-allow@host list. As this feature is designed
for advanced uses and remote administrators only, this is
not a problem. NOTE: No message is sent out to confirm
additions to or removals from this database. However, the
user can verify the change using the query action. The
list-deny addresses similarly controls dir/deny/ database
for blocking posts with certain envelope senders. This
database is available to remote administrators only, and
only if the list has been set up with this feature (see
ezmlm-manage(1)). NOTE: No message is sent out to confirm
additions to or removals from this database. However, the
remote admin can verify the change using the query action.
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ezmlm-manage(1) ezmlm-manage(1)
ezmlm-manage copies dir/mailinglist into a Mailing-List
field in its response. If the incoming message has a
Mailing-List field, ezmlm-manage refuses to respond.
ezmlm-manage also refuses to respond to bounce messages.
OPTIONS
-b (Default.) ezmlm-manage will add general instruc-
tions and the request to the outgoing message.
-B ezmlm-manage will not add general instructions and
the request to the outgoing message. This informa-
tion gives the recipient of a confirmation request
some information about the inciting message. Use of
this switch will deny the recipient that information.
-c (Default.) ezmlm-manage will reply to -get commands.
-C ezmlm-manage will not reply to -get commands. This is
useful for closed lists, where the owner for some
reason wants to keep an archive, without making it
available.
-d Alias for the -e switch for backwards compatibility.
-D Alias for the -E switch for backwards compatibility.
-e ezmlm-manage allows remote administrators to edit
files in dir/text/ via E-mail.
-E (Default.) Text file editing not allowed.
-f (Default.) The information in the ``From:'' is
extracted from subscribe confirm messages and added
to dir/Log together with the subscriber address. This
makes it easier for the list owner to help a sub-
scriber who cannot determine his/her subscription
address. If the -S switch is used, the information is
instead extracted from the subscribe request.
-F Ignore ``From:'' headers.
-l ezmlm-manage will send a subscriber list in reply to
the -list command if dir/modsub or dir/remote exist
and target (the address the reply is to be sent to)
is a moderator.
-L (Default.) ezmlm-manage will ignore the -list com-
mand.
-m For lists with moderated subscription, require moder-
ator approval also for unsubscribe requests.
-M (Default.) Requests to unsubscribe from moderated
lists do not require moderator approval.
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ezmlm-manage(1) ezmlm-manage(1)
-s (Default.) ezmlm-manage will handle subscriptions
with the normal target handshake.
-S ezmlm-manage will eliminate the target handshake from
the subscription process. This allows anyone to sub-
scribe anybody else. DO NOT use this option, unless
you know what you are doing. This option may be use-
ful for some moderated lists. For remote non-moder-
ated lists, an attempt by a non-moderator to sub-
scribe an address other than sender results in a con-
firmation request to the moderators. This is NOT
secure and can be easily defeated.
-u (Default.) ezmlm-manage will handle unsubscribe
requests with the normal target handshake.
-U ezmlm-manage will eliminate the target handshake from
the subscription process. This allows anyone to
unsubscribe anybody else. DO NOT use this option,
unless you know what you are doing. For moderated or
remote admin lists, an attempt to unsubscribe an
address other than SENDER results in a confirmation
request to the moderators and the target. This is NOT
secure and can be easily defeated.
-v Display ezmlm-manage version information.
-V Display ezmlm-manage version information.
CHARACTER SETS
If dir/charset exists, ezmlm-manage will use the character
set listed for all messages. Otherwise, the default ``us-
ascii'' will be used. The character set can be suffixed by
``:'' followed by a code. If the code is ``Q'', outgoing
messages are sent as ``Quoted-Printable'', if it is ``B''
they are sent ``base64'' encoded. Otherwise, text is sent
as is.
Incoming text for the -edit is accepted unencoded or in
either of these encodings.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
If action is sc.cookie, where cookie is an appropriate
code (depending on the target, the approximate time, and
other factors), ezmlm-manage adds the target to the mail-
ing list if subscriptions are not moderated. For sub-
scription moderated lists, ezmlm-manage sends a confirma-
tion request to the moderators with the right tc.cookie
address in its response.
If action is tc.cookie, where cookie is an appropriate
code (depending on the target, the approximate time, and
other factors), ezmlm-manage adds the target to the mail-
ing list. If the target was not already a subscriber, a
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ezmlm-manage(1) ezmlm-manage(1)
welcome message is sent to the target.
If action is subscribe, ezmlm-manage does not subscribe
the target, but it identifies the right sc.cookie address
in its response.
This confirmation mechanism (1) verifies that the target
is reachable and (2) protects the target against forged
subscription requests.
Actions of uc.cookie and unsubscribe are used in the same
way to delete the target from the mailing list. Unsub-
scribes do not require moderator confirmation.
Actions of vc.cookie are used to confirm moderator-initi-
ated unsubscribes for lists configured with remote admin-
istration (see MODERATION).
If action is query, ezmlm-manage returns a message to the
target indicating whether or not the target address is a
subscriber.
If action is info or faq, ezmlm-manage returns the con-
tents of dir/text/info or dir/text/info, respectively.
If dir/public does not exist, ezmlm-manage rejects all
subscription and unsubscription attempts. However, if the
list is configured with remote administration, moderator-
initiated subscribe and unsubscribe requests will still be
honored. Also, if action is help, ezmlm-manage will still
send help.
TEXT FILE EDITING
If action is edit, the -e switch is used, and the target
address is that of a remote administrator, ezmlm-manage
will reply with a list of editable file in dir/text/ and
instructions for editing. Cookies for editing expire
approximately 27.8 hours after they are issued, or when a
file has been changed, whichever is sooner. The size of
the updated file is limited to 5120 bytes.
If action is edit.file, the -e switch is used, and the
target address is that of a remote administrator, ezmlm-
manage will return an editable copy of file.
If action is ed.cookie, ezmlm-manage will verify that the
edit cookie is still valid and that the file has not been
modified since the cookie was issued. If the cookie passes
these tests, ezmlm-manage will update dir/text/file.
ARCHIVE RETRIEVALS
If action is get.num, ezmlm-manage sends back message num
from dir/archive/. This can be disabled with the -C com-
mand line switch.
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ezmlm-manage(1) ezmlm-manage(1)
If dir/public does not exist, ezmlm-manage rejects all
archive retrieval attempts.
MODERATION
If dir/modsub exists, subscriptions are moderated. Users
can unsubscribe without moderator action, but moderator
confirmation is required for subscriptions.
If dir/modsub starts with a forward slash, it is assumed
that the content this is the base directory for the moder-
ator database ( moddir). Otherwise, moddir is assumed to
be dir/mod/.
The moderator names are assumed to be stored in a set of
files in /moddir/subscribers/.
I to add, remove, and list moderators, use respectively:
ezmlm-sub moddir user@host
ezmlm-unsub moddir user@host
ezmlm-list moddir
Subscription requests from potential subscribers will be
sent for a second round of confirmation to all the modera-
tors. If a moderator approves the request, a message con-
firming the subscription will be sent to the subscriber.
The subscriber will not know which moderator approved the
subscription.
If more than one moderator replies to the confirmation
request, the subscriber will not receive duplicate mes-
sages about being on (or not on) the mailing list.
Unsubscribe requests from users are handled as for non-
moderated lists.
All subscribe confirmation requests requiring moderator
action have a subject of CONFIRM subscribe to list-
name@host. All unsubscribe confirmation requests in reply
to moderator-initiated unsubscribe dialogs have a subject
of CONFIRM unsubscribe from listname@host.
If dir/remote exists (remote administration), moderators
can initiate a request to subscribe a user 'username@user-
host' by sending mail to listname-subscribe-username=user-
host@host. The moderator (not the subscriber) will
receive the confirmation request, and can complete the
transaction. Moderators' request to unsubscribe users are
handled analogously.
dir/remote starts with a forward slash, it is assumed that
the content this is the base directory for the moderator
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ezmlm-manage(1) ezmlm-manage(1)
database ( moddir). The moderator names are assumed to be
stored in a set of files in /moddir/subscribers/. If both
dir/modsub and dir/remote exist, and both contain direc-
tory names, the directory name in dir/modsub is used, and
the dir/remote entry is ignored.
It is possible to set up a mailinglist for moderators only
by using dir/mod/ as the list directory. Make sure that
such a list is not public! Otherwise, anyone can become a
moderator by subscribing to this list.
If action is -help and target is a moderator, ezmlm-manage
will in addition to the usual help send dir/text/mod-help
containing instructions for moderators.
If action is -list and target is a moderator, the list is
set up for subscription moderation or remote administra-
tion, and the -l command line switch is used, ezmlm-manage
will reply with an unsorted subscriber list. Extensions
for digest subscribers and auxillary databases are sup-
ported (see above).
If action is -log, ezmlm-manage will reply with the con-
tents of the Log file with the same access restrictions as
for the -list action.
SEE ALSO
ezmlm-make(1), ezmlm-return(1), ezmlm-send(1), ezmlmsub(1)
, ezmlm-unsub(1), ezmlm-list(1), ezmlm(5), qmailcommand(8)
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© 1994 Man-cgi 1.15, Panagiotis Christias <christia@theseas.ntua.gr>