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Majordomo2 Quick Guide

In the text below,

PASSWORD is your list's password.
USER@DOMAIN is an email address (e.g. listuser@yahoo.com.)
LISTNAME is the unqualified name of your list on the Majordomo2 Server (e.g..foo@lists.ncsu.edu would be just foo).
The Majordomo2 server address is the address Mj2 user on the list machine (e.g. mj2@lists.ncsu.edu.)


  1. Q: As a listowner, how do I subscribe someone to the list?
  2. Q: Can people subscribe themselves to a list without going through the listowner?
  3. Q: How can I remove someone from the list?
  4. Q: What does a sample configuration of a list look like?
  5. Q: I've received a CONSULT message from Majordomo2; what do I do now?
  6. Q: How can I "hide" my list so it does not show up in the list-of-lists command (list)?
  7. Q: Why do I keep getting token requests for messages I have never seen?
  8. Q: Why does Mj2 keep telling me that I cannot post to a list? I know I'm registered, the list is members-only, and I get other people's email?
  1. Q: As a listowner, how do I subscribe someone to the list?
    A: Send email to the Majordomo2 server with the following text in the body of the message (not in the Subject line). approve PASSWORD subscribe LISTNAME USER@DOMAIN

    You can add as many as you want in one message:

    approve PASSWORD subscribe LISTNAME USER1@DOMAIN
    approve PASSWORD subscribe LISTNAME USER2@DOMAIN
    approve PASSWORD subscribe LISTNAME USER3@DOMAIN
    ...
    approve PASSWORD subscribe LISTNAME USERN@DOMAIN

  2. Q: Can people subscribe themselves to a list without going through the listowner?
    A: Have them send email to the Majordomo2 server with the following text in the body of the message (not in the Subject line):

    subscribe LISTNAME

    This command will issue a token to them and they can subscribe. The listowner(s) will get a message back asking if you want them to subscribe. The message contains a HTML address and a 12 character token. Enter the token on the web page and either accept, info, or reject. "Info" will give you information about the request such as subscriber, listname, etc. "Accept" will accept the request and add them to the list. "Reject " will reject the request and throw the request away.

  3. Q: How can I remove someone from the list?
    A: In the same way as subscribing someone, except use the command unsubscribe

    approve PASSWORD unsubscribe LISTNAME USER@DOMAIN

  4. Q: What does a sample configuration of a list look like?
    A: Below is a sample configuration file used to setup a simple list.

    You can change any part of the following. If you do want to change anything, clip the section between the lines and send the commands to the Majordomo2 server address. A word of warning: the text parser for this is Perl based. This means that "here" documents work very well for multiple input. However, the here document tokens must match.

    Thus if you have:

    newinfo << ENDAA
    This is new list information that is sent to all new members when they subscribe.
    ENDAA

    The token "ENDAA" must be found at the start of a line by itself in order for the match to stop. If it can't find a match, it will abort the configuration. Thus if you have "ENDAA " (note the extra space at the end), it will not accept the token and abort.

    The lists support: faq's, intro's, and info's.

    The commands faq LISTNAME, intro LISTNAME, or intro LISTNAME sent to the Majordomo2 server will return the text entered below; currently only the info is filled in. 

    ---8<-------8<--------8<--Clip Here-----8<---------8<------8<---
default password PASSWORD
default list LISTNAME
                                       


    
configset description = LISTNAME mailing list
configset description_long = The LISTNAME Mailing list

    
newinfo << ENDCC
The LISTNAME Mailing list.
Maintained by <INSERT YOUR NAME HERE>
ENDCC

    
newintro << ENDDD
ENDDD

    
newfaq << ENDEE
ENDEE

    
configset who_access = list
configset subscribe_policy = open+confirm

    
end
---8<-------8<--------8<--Clip Here-----8<---------8<------8<---
  5. Q: I've received a CONSULT message from Majordomo2; what do I do now?
    A: Supposing you've received a message such as: 
    From mojo-owner@mojo.ncsu.edu  Wed Jan 10 16:03:19 2001
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2001 16:03:18 -0500 (EST)
X-Mailer: MIME-tools 4.104 (Entity 4.117)
To: test-owner@mojo.ncsu.edu
From: test-owner@mojo.ncsu.edu
X-MJ-Confirm: http://mojo.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/mj_confirm
Reply-To: mojo@mojo.ncsu.edu
Subject: 8CC7-740B-D491 : CONSULT test

[message posted to a list]
    You can either (but not both):
    1. Reply back to the message (make sure you keep the same subject as the original message -- this is the token, three sets of four alphanumeric keys. As the first word in your message put the word "accept" (no quotes) if you wish this message to be posted to the list, the word "reject" if you wish to not post this message. After your choice, enter the word "end" on a line by itself. You do not have to include the message which Majordomo2 sent to you for your review.
    2. You can go to http://lists.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/mj_confirm. Enter the token (in the subject) into the webpage and click on the accept, reject, or info button. Press the process token button.

    Example: 

    From: Tim Lowman <tkl@ncsu.edu>
To: mj2@lists.ncsu.edu
Cc:
Bcc:
Subject: Re: 8CC7-740B-D491 : CONSULT test
Reply-To:
In-Reply-To: <200101102103.f0AL3Ie01453@uni00ml.unity.ncsu.edu>; from test-owner
@mojo.ncsu.edu on Wed, Jan 10, 2001 at 04:03:18PM -0500

accept 
end

--
Tim Lowman: Systems Programmer III | SMail: NCSU, Box 7109  Raleigh  NC
Email:tkl at ncsu dot edu          | Postmaster at ncsu dot edu
"Being right half the time beats being half-right all the time." - Macolm S. Forbes
  6. Q: How can I "hide" my list so it does not show up in the list-of-lists command (list)?
    A: Use the configset command to set the "no-advertise" variable to mask the list's existence.

    Send the following command to "mj2@lists.ncsu.edu".

    approve PASSWORD configset LISTNAME noadvertise<<END
    %*%
    END

    Remember that setting your list to hidden means that your list will not show up on the list-of-list pages or the list-of-lists email output since these lists are hidden from the outside world.

  7. Q: Why do I keep getting token requests for messages I have never seen?
    A: The problem is usually stemming from virus messages which are being sent directly to your list. The diagram below explains how this occurs.
    error-file:TidyOut.log
    There are two approaches you can use to stop receiving these messages:

    1. Change your attachment_rules such that unknown MIME attachments are not consulted, but are instead denied. You can do this by using the listowner interface. Configuration ->Moderate->attachment_rules. Change the last entry in the following manner:

      /.*/ | consult

      to

      /.*/ | deny

      (Note: This means that subscribers who are on your list who use unknown mime formats will be denied the ability to post their messages and you will not see these denies.)

    2. Disregard the confirmation warnings and use the listowner interface to approve messages. Login via the listowner interface at http://lists.ncsu.edu/, click on Moderation, you will have a list of pending tokens for your list. Click on a token's radiobox and then tokeninfo-full and you can see the pending message waiting. If this message is one that you wish to send, then click on that message's radiobox and then the accept token. (Note: This means that you must login at a regular interval and check for valid pending messages which are waiting.

  8. Q: Why does Mj2 keep telling me that I cannot post to a list? I know I'm registered, the list is members-only, and I get other people's email?
    A: The problem is happening because you are most likely registered under two different addresses.

    Majordomo2 bases authentication on the subscribed address in order to post to members-only lists. If you are registered under Beth_Oturkey@ncsu.edu but your actual sending address is booturkey@gw.fis.ncsu.edu, then Mj2 will treat those addresses as two completely indepentent addresses unless you alias these two addresses together.

    You can fix this by using the alias command. Here are the mechanisms to fix it:

    1. Send an email to mj2@lists.ncsu.ed with the following in the body, not the subject, of the message: 
                         default user Your_Normal_Address@ncsu.edu
                   alias alternate_address_your_mailer_users@domain.com
    2. When the email is proceeded Mj2 will send you a token to approve. Approve this token and you will be set.

    Note: If your alternate address is already subscribed to any other list, then it has an identity in the system already. You cannot alias it to any other address. To unwind these aliases, you may need to get listman@ncsu.edu to perform these operations for you.

Last modified: 08/20/2004