45
1.2 AdministrativeRoles
Therearetwoprimaryadministrativerolesforeachmailinglist,alistownerandalistmoderator. Alistowneris
allowedtochangevarioussettingsofthelist,suchastheprivacyandarchivingpolicies,thecontentfilteringsettings,
etc. Thelistownerisalsoallowedtosubscribeorinvitemembers,unsubscribemembers,andchangeanymember’s
subscriptionoptions.
Thelistmoderatorontheotherhand,isonlyallowedtoapproveorrejectpostingsandsubscriptionrequests.Thelist
moderatorcanalsodothingslikeclearamember’smoderationflag,oraddanaddresstoalistofapprovednon-member
posters.
Normally,thelistownerandlistmoderatorarethesameperson.Infact,thelistownercanalwaysdoallthetasksalist
moderatorcando.Accesstoboththeowner’sconfigurationpages,andthemoderationpagesareprotectedbythesame
password.However,ifthelistownerwantstodelegatepostingandsubscriptionapprovalauthoritytootherpeople,a
separatelistmoderatorpasswordcanbeset,givingmoderatorsaccesstotheapprovalpages,butnottheconfiguration
pages.Inthissetup,listownerscanstillmoderatethelist,ofcourse.
Inthesectionsthatfollow,we’lloftenusethetermslistownerandlistadministratorinterchangably,meaningboth
roles.Whennecessary,we’lldistinguishthelistmoderatorexplicitly.
1.3 AList’sWebPages
Everymailinglistisalsoaccessiblebyanumberofwebpages. Notethattheexacturlsareconfigurablebythe
siteadministrator,sotheymaybedifferentthanwhat’sdescribedbelow. We’lldescribethemostcommondefault
configuration,butcheckwithyoursiteadministratororhostingservicefordetails.
Mailmanprovidesasetofwebpagesthatlistmembersusetogetinformationaboutthelist,ormanagetheirmember-
shipoptions.Therearealsolistarchivepages,forbrowsinganonlineweb-basedarchiveofthelisttraffic.Theseare
describedinmoredetailintheGNUMailmanuser’smanual.
Mailmanalsoprovidesasetofpagesforconfiguringanindividuallist,aswellasasetofpagesfordisposingofposting
andsubscriptionrequests.
Foramailinglistcalledmylisthostedatthedomainlists.example.com,youwouldtypicallyaccesstheadministrative
pagesbygoingtohttp://lists.example.com/mailman/admin/mylist. Thefirsttimeyouvisitthis
page,youwillbepresentedwithaloginpage,askingforthelistowner’spassword. Whenyouenterthepassword,
Mailmanwillstoreasessioncookieinyourbrowser,soyoudon’thavetore-authenticateforeveryactionyouwantto
take.Thiscookieisstoredonlyuntilyouexityourbrowser.
Toaccesstheadministrativerequestspage,you’dvisithttp://lists.example.com/mailman/admindb/mylist
(notetheadmindburlasopposedtotheadminurl).Again,thefirsttimeyouvisitthispage,you’llbepresentedwith
aloginpage,onwhichyoucanentereitherthelistmoderatorpasswordorthelistownerpassword. Again,asession
cookieisdroppedinyourbrowser.Notealsothatifyou’vepreviouslyloggedinasthelistowner,youdonotneedto
re-logintoaccesstheadministrativerequestspage.
1.4 BasicArchitecturalOverview
ThissectionwilloutlinethebasicarchitectureofGNUMailman,suchashowmessagesareprocessedbythesytem.
Withoutgoingintolotsofdetail,thisinformationwillhelpyouunderstandhowtheconfigurationoptionscontrol
Mailman’sfunctionality.
Whenmailentersthesystemfromyourmailserver,itisdroppedintooneofseveralMailmanqueuesdependingon
theaddressthemessagewassentto.Forexample,ifyoursystemhasamailinglistnamedmylistandyourdomainis
example.com,peoplecanpostmessagestoyourlistbysendingthemtomylist@example.com. Thesemessageswill
bedroppedintotheincomingqueue,whichisalsocolloquiallycalledthemoderate-and-mungequeue.Theincoming
queueiswheremostoftheapprovalprocessoccurs,andit’salsowherethemessageispreparedforsendingouttothe
1.2 AdministrativeRoles
3
52
listmembership.
Thereareseparatequeuesforthebuilt-inarchiver,thebounceprocessor,theemailcommandprocessor,aswellasthe
outgoingemailandnewsqueues.There’salsoaqueueformessagesgeneratedbytheMailmansystem.Eachofthese
queuestypicallyhasonequeuerunner(or“qrunner”)thatprocessesmessagesinthequeue. Theqrunnersareidle
whentherearenomessagestoprocess.
Everymessageinthequeuesisrepresentedbytwofiles,amessagefileandametadatafile. Bothofthesefilesshare
thesamebasename,whichisacombinationofauniquehashandtheUnixtimethatthemessagewasreceived.The
metadatafilehasasuffixof‘
.db
’andthemessagefilehasasuffixofeither‘
.msg
’ifstoredinplaintext,or‘
.pck
’if
storedinamoreefficientinternalrepresentation
1
.
Asamessagemovesthroughtheincomingqueue, itperformsvariouschecksonthemessage, suchaswhetherit
matchesoneofthemoderationcriteria,orcontainsdisallowedMIMEtypes.Onceamessageisapprovedforsending
tothelistmembership,themessageispreparedforsendingbydeleting,adding,orchangingmessageheaders,adding
footers,etc.Messagesintheincomingqueuemayalsobestoredforappendingtodigests.
2 TheListConfigurationPages
Afterloggingintothelistconfigurationpages,you’llseetheconfigurationoptionsforthelist,groupedincategories.
Alltheadministrativepageshavesomecommonelements.Intheuppersection,you’llseetwocolumnslabeled“Con-
figurationCategories”. Somecategorieshavesub-categorieswhichareonlyvisiblewhenyouclickonthecategory
link. Thefirstpageyouseeafterlogginginwillbethe“GeneralOptions”category. Thespecificoptionsettingsfor
eachcategoryaredescribedbelow.
Ontherightsideofthetopsection,you’llseeacolumnlabeled“OtherAdministrativeActivities”. Hereyou’llfind
someotherthingsyoucandotoyourlist,aswellasconvenientlinkstothelistinformationpageandthelistarchives.
Notethebig“Logout”link;usethisifyou’refinishedconfiguringyourlistanddon’twanttoleavethesessioncookie
activeinyourbrowser.
Belowthiscommonheader,you’llfindalistofthiscategory’sconfigurationvariables,arrangedintwocolumns. In
theleftcolumnisabriefdescriptionoftheoption,whichalsocontainsa“details”link. Formanyofthevariables,
moredetailsareavailabledescribingthesemanticsofthevariousavailablesettings,orinformationontheinteraction
betweenthissettingandotherlistoptions. Clickingonthedetailslinkbringsupapagewhichcontainsonlythe
informationforthatoption,aswellasabuttonforsubmittingyoursetting,andalinkbacktothecategorypage.
Ontherightsideofthetwo-columnsection,you’llseethevariable’scurrentvalue. Somevariablesmaypresenta
limitedsetofvalues,viaradiobuttonorcheckboxarrays. Othervariablesmaypresenttextentryboxesofoneor
multiplelines.Mostvariablescontrolsettingsfortheoperationofthelist,butothersperformimmediateactions(these
areclearlylabeled).
Atthebottomofthepage,you’llfinda“Submit”buttonandafooterwithsomemoreusefullinksandafewlogos.
Hittingthesubmitbuttoncommitsyourlistsettings,afterthey’vebeenvalidated. Anyinvalidvalueswillbeignored
andanerrormessagewillbedisplayedatthetopoftheresultingpage. Theresultspagewillalwaysbethecategory
pagethatyousubmitted.
2.1 TheGeneralOptionsCategory
TheGeneralOptionscategoryiswhereyoucansetavarietyofvariablesthataffectbasicbehaviorandpublicinfor-
mation. Inthedescriptionsthatfollow,thevariablenameisgivenfirst,alongwithanoverviewandadescriptionof
whatthatvariablecontrols.
1
Specifically,aPythonpickle
4
2 TheListConfigurationPages
67
Generallistpersonality
Thesevariables,groupedunderthegenerallistpersonalitysection,controlsomepublicinformationaboutthemailing
list.
real
name Everymailinglisthasbothapostingnameandarealname. . Thepostingnameshowsupinurlsandin
emailaddresses,e.g.themylistinmylist@example.com.Thepostingnameisalwayspresentedinlower
case,withalphanumericcharactersandnospaces. Thelist’srealnameisusedinsomepublicinformationand
emailresponses,suchasinthegenerallistoverview. Therealnamecandifferfromthepostingnamebycase
only.Forexample,ifthepostingnameismylist,therealnamecanbeMyList.
owner Thisvariablecontainsalistofemailaddresses,oneaddressperline,ofthelistowners. . Theseaddressesare
usedwheneverthelistownersneedtobecontacted,eitherbythesystemorbyendusers.Often,theseaddresses
areusedincombinationwiththemoderatoraddresses(seebelow).
moderator Thisvariablecontains alist ofemailaddresses, one address perline, ofthelistmoderators. These
addresses are often used in combination with the owner addresses. For example, when you email
mylist-owner@example.com,boththeownerandmoderatoraddresseswillreceiveacopyofthemes-
sage.
description Inthegenerallistoverviewpage,whichshowsyoueveryavailablemailinglist,eachlistisdisplayed
withashortdescription. Thecontentsofthisvariableisthatdescription.Notethatinemailsfromthemailing
list,thisdescriptionisalsousedinthecommentsectionofthe
To:
address.Thistextshouldberelativelyshort
andnolongerthanoneline.
info Thisvariablecontainsalongerdescriptionofthemailinglist. . Itisincludedatthetopofthelist’sinformation
page,anditcancontainHTML.However,blanklineswillbeautomaticallyconvertedintoparagraphbreaks.
PreviewyourHTMLthough,becauseunclosedorinvalidHTMLcanpreventdisplayofpartsofthelistinfor-
mationpage.
subject
prefix Thisisastringthatwillbeprependedtothe
Subject:
headerofanymessagepostedtothelist. For
example,ifamessageispostedtothelistwitha
Subject:
like:
Subject: This is a a message
andthesubject_prefixis[My List] (notethetrailingspace!),thenthemessagewillbereceivedlike
so:
Subject: [My List] This is a message
Ifyouleavesubject_prefixempty,noprefixwillbeaddedtothe
Subject:
.Mailmaniscarefulnottoadd
aprefixwhentheheaderalreadyhasone,asisthecaseinrepliesforexample. Theprefixcanalsocontain
charactersinthelist’spreferredlanguage.Inthiscase,becauseofthevagariesoftheemailstandards,youmay
ormaynotwanttoaddatrailingspace.
from
is
list Thisappliestoallnon-digestmessagessentbythelist. . Forsettingsthatapplyonlytomessageswhose
From:
domainpublishesaDMARCp=rejectorp=quarantinepolicy,seethedmarc_moderation_-
actiondescriptioninsection2.7.
IfsettoMungeFrom,itreplacesthe
From:
headeraddresswiththelist’spostingaddresstomitigateissues
stemmingfromtheoriginal
From:
domain’sDMARCorsimilarpoliciesandputstheoriginal
From:
addressin
a
Reply-To:
header.
IfsettoWrapMessageitwrapstheoriginalmessageasaMIMEsubpartofanoutermessagewith
From:
and
Reply-To:
headersasabove.
2.1 TheGeneralOptionsCategory
5
88
anonymous
list ThisvariableallowsyoutoturnonsomesimpleanonymizingfeaturesofMailman. Whenyouset
thisoptiontoYes,Mailmanwillremoveorreplacethe
From:
,
Sender:
,and
Reply-To:
fieldsofanymessage
postedtothelist.
Notethatthisoptionissimplyanaidforanonymization,itdoesn’tguaranteeit.Forexample,aposter’sidentity
couldbeevidentintheirsignature,orinothermailheaders,oreveninthestyleofthecontentofthemessage.
There’slittleMailmancandoaboutthiskindofidentityleakage.
Reply-Toheadermunging
Thissectioncontrolswhathappenstothe
Reply-To:
headersofmessagespostedthroughyourlist.
Beware!
Reply-To:
mungingisconsideredareligiousissueandthepoliciesyousetherecanignitesomeofthemost
heatedoff-topicflamewarsonyourmailinglists. We’lltrytostayasagnosticaspossible,butourbiasesmaystill
peakthrough.
Reply-To:
isaheaderthatiscommonlyusedtoredirectrepliestomessages. Exactlywhathappenswhenyourusers
replytosuchamessagedependsonthemailreadersyourusersuse,andwhatfunctionstheyprovide. Usually,there
isbotha“replytosender”buttonanda“replytoall”button.Ifpeopleusethesebuttonscorrectly,youwillprobably
neverneedtomunge
Reply-To:
,sothedefaultvaluesshouldbefine.
Sinceaninformeddecisionisalwaysbest,herearelinkstotwoarticlesthatdiscusstheopposingviewpointsingreat
detail:
Reply-ToMungingConsideredHarmful
Reply-ToMungingConsideredUseful
Thethreeoptionsinthissectionworktogethertoprovideenoughflexibilitytodowhatever
Reply-To:
mungingyou
might(misguidingly:)feelyouneedtodo.
first
strip
reply
to Thisvariablecontrolswhetherany
Reply-To:
headeralreadypresentinthepostedmessageshould
getremovedbeforeanyothermungingoccurs.Strippingthisheaderwillbedoneregardlessofwhetherornot
Mailmanwilladditsown
Reply-To:
headertothemessage.
IfthisoptionissettoNo,thenanyexisting
Reply-To:
headerwillberetainedinthepostedmessage.IfMailman
addsitsownheader,itwillcontainaddresseswhicharetheunionoftheoriginalheaderandtheMailmanadded
addresses.Themailstandardsspecifythatamessagemayonlyhaveone
Reply-To:
header,butthatthatheader
maycontainmultipleaddresses.
reply
goes
to
list ThisvariablecontrolswhetherMailmanwilladditsown
Reply-To:
header,andifso,whatthe
valueofthatheaderwillbe(notcountingoriginalheaderstripping–seeabove).
WhenyousetthisvariabletoPoster,noadditional
Reply-To:
headerwillbeaddedbyMailman.Thissettingis
stronglyrecommended.
WhenyousetthisvariabletoThislist,a
Reply-To:
headerpointingbacktoyourlist’spostingaddresswillbe
added.
WhenyousetthisvariabletoExplicitaddress,thevalueofthevariablereply_to_address(seebelow)will
beadded.Notethatthisisonesituationwhere
Reply-To:
mungingmayhavealegitimatepurpose.Sayyouhave
twolistsatyoursite,anannouncelistandadiscussionlist.Theannouncelistmightallowpostingsonlyfrom
asmallnumberofapprovedusers;thegenerallistmembershipprobablycan’tposttothislist.Butyouwantto
allowcommentsonannouncementstobepostedtothegeneraldiscussionlistbyanylistmember.Inthiscase,
youcansetthe
Reply-To:
headerfortheannouncelisttopointtothediscussionlist’spostingaddress.
reply
to
address Thisistheaddressthatwillbeaddedinthe
Reply-To:
headerifreply_goes_to_listissetto
Explicitaddress.
6
2 TheListConfigurationPages
58
Umbrellalistsettings
TBD.NotethatumbrellalistsaredeprecatedandwillbereplacedwithabettermechanismforMailman3.0.
Notifications
Mailmansendsnotificationstothelistadministratorsorlistmembersunderanumberofdifferentcircumstances.Most
ofthesenotificationscanbeconfiguredinthissection,butseetheBounceProcessingandAuto-respondercategories
forothernotificationsthatMailmancansend.
send
reminders BydefaultMailmansendsalllistmembersamonthlypasswordreminder. . Thisnoticeservestwo
purposes.First,itremindspeopleaboutalltheliststheymaybesubscribedtoonthisdomain,includingthelists
wheretheirsubscriptionmaybedisabled. Second,itremindspeopleabouttheirpasswordsfortheselists,as
wellastheurlfortheirpersonaloptionspages,sothattheycanmoreeasilyconfiguretheirsubscriptionoptions.
Somepeoplegetannoyedwiththesemonthlyreminders,andtheycandisabletheremindersviatheirsubscrip-
tionoptionspage.Forsomelists,themonthlyremindersaren’tappropriateforanyofthemembers,soyoucan
disablethemlist-widebysettingthesend_remindersvariabletoNo.
welcome
msg Whennewmembersaresubscribedtothelist,eitherbytheirownaction,ortheactionofalistad-
ministrator,awelcomemessagecanbesenttothem.Thewelcomemessagecontainssomecommonboilerplate
information,suchasthenameofthelist,instructionsforpostingtothelist,andthemember’ssubscriptionpass-
word. Youcanaddadditionalinformationtothewelcomemessagebytypingthetextintothewelcome_msg
textbox.Notethatbecausethistextissentaspartofanemail,itshouldnotcontainHTML.
send
welcome
msg Thisflagcontrolswhetherornotthewelcomemessageissenttonewsubscribers.
goodbye
msg Likethewelcome_msg,a“goodbye”messagecanbesenttomemberswhentheyunsubscribefrom
thelist.Unlikethewelcomemessage,there’snoboilerplateforthegoodbyemessage.Entertheentiregoodbye
messageyou’dlikeunsubscribingmemberstoreceiveintothegoodbye_msgtextbox.
send
goodbye
msg Thisflagcontrolswhetherornotthegoodbyemessageissenttounsubscribingmembers.
admin
immed
notify Listmoderatorsgetnotificationsofpendingadministrativeactions, , suchassubscriptionor
unsubscriptionrequeststhatrequiremoderatorapproval,orpostedmessagesthatarebeingheldformoderator
approval. Listmoderatorswillalwaysgetadailysummaryofsuchpendingrequests,buttheycanalsoget
immediatenotificationswhensucharequestismade.Theadmin_immed_notifyvariablecontrolswhether
theseimmediatenotificationsaresentornot.It’sgenerallyagoodideatoleavethissettoYes.
admin
notify
mchanges Thisvariablecontrolswhetherthelistadministratorsshouldgetnotificationswhenmem-
bersjoinorleavethelist.
respond
to
post
requests Thisvariablecontrolswhethertheoriginalsenderofapostinggetsanoticewhentheir
messageisheldformoderatorapproval.
Additionalsettings
Thissectioncontainssomemiscellaneoussettingsforyourmailinglist.
emergency Whenthisoptionisenabled,alllisttrafficisemergencymoderated,i.e. . heldformoderation. . Turnthis
optiononwhenyourlistisexperiencingaflamewarandyouwantacoolingoffperiod.
new
member
options Eachmemberhasasetofsubscriptionoptionswhichtheycanusetocontrolhowtheyreceive
messagesandotherwiseinteractwiththelist.Whilethememberscanchangethesesettingsbyloggingintotheir
personaloptionspage,youmightwanttosetthedefaultforanumberofthememberoptions. Youcandothat
withthisvariable,butseealsotheothercategoriesforothermemberdefaultsyoucanset.
2.1 TheGeneralOptionsCategory
7
66
Thisvariablepresentsasetofcheckboxeswhichcontrolthedefaultsforsomeofthememberoptions.Conceal
themember’s address specifies whetherornottheaddressisdisplayedinthelistroster. Acknowledgethe
member’spostingcontrolswhetherornotMailmansendsanacknowledgementtoamemberwhentheyposta
messagetothelist.Donotsendacopyofamember’sownpostspecifieswhetheramemberpostingtothelist
willgetacopyoftheirownposting.Filteroutduplicatemessagestolistmembers(ifpossible)specifieswhether
memberswhoareexplicitlylistedasarecipientofamessage(e.g.viathe
Cc:
header)willalsogetacopyfrom
Mailman.
Ofcourse,memberscanalwaysoverridethesedefaultsbymakingchangesontheirmembershipoptionspage.
administrivia ThisoptionspecifieswhetherMailmanwillsearchpostedmessagesforadmimistrivia,inotherwords,
emailcommandswhichusuallyshouldbepostedtothe-requestaddressforthelist.SettingthistoYeshelps
preventsuchthingsasunsubscribemessagesgettingerroneouslypostedtothelist.
Ifamessageseemstocontainadministrivia,itisheldformoderatorapproval.
max
message
size Thisoptionspecifiesamaximummessagesize,inkilobytes,overwhichthemessagewillbeheld
formoderatorapproval.
host
name Thisoptionspecifiesthehostnamepartofemailaddressesusedbythislist. Forexample,thisisthe
example.compartofthepostingaddressmylist@example.com.
It’sgenerallynotagoodideatochangethisvalue,sinceitsdefaultvalueisspecifiedwhenthemailinglistis
created.Changingthistoanincorrectvaluecouldmakeitdifficulttocontactyourmailinglist. Alsonotethat
theurlusedtovisitthelist’spagesisnotconfigurablethroughthewebinterface.Thisisbecauseifyoumessed
itup,you’dhavetohavethesiteadministratorfixit.
include
rfc2369
headers RFC2369isaninternetstandardthatdescribesabunchofheadersthatmailinglistman-
agersshouldaddtomessagestomakeiteasierforpeopletointeractwiththelist. Mailreadingprograms
whichsupportthisstandardmayprovidebuttonsforeasyaccesstothelist’sarchives,orforsubscribingand
unsubscribingtothelist.It’sgenerallyagoodideatoenabletheseheadersasitprovidesforanimproveduser
experience.TheseheadersareoftencalledtheList-
*
headers.
However,notallmailreadersarestandardscompliantyet,andifyouhavealargenumberofmemberswhoare
usingnon-compliantmailreaders,theymaybeannoyedattheseheaders. Youshouldfirsttrytoeducateyour
membersastowhytheseheadersexist,andhowtohidethemintheirmailclients. Asalastresortyoucan
disabletheseheaders,butthisisnotrecommended.
include
list
post
header The
List-Post:
headerisoneoftheheadersrecommendedbyRFC2369.Howeverforsome
announce-onlymailinglists,onlyaveryselectgroupofpeopleareallowedtoposttothelist;thegeneralmem-
bershipisusuallynotallowedtoposttosuchlists. Forlistsofthisnature,the
List-Post:
headerismisleading.
SelectNotodisabletheinclusionofthis header. (ThisdoesnotaffecttheinclusionoftheotherList-
*
headers.)
2.2 ThePasswordsCategory
Asmentionedabove,therearetwoprimaryadministrativerolesformailinglists.Inthiscategoryyoucanspecifythe
passwordfortheseroles.
Thelistownerhastotalcontrolovertheconfigurationoftheirmailinglist(withinsomeboundsasspecifiedbythe
siteadministrator). Notethatonthispage,forhistoricalreasons, , thelistownerroleisdescribedhereas thelist
administrator. Youcansetthelistowner’spasswordbyenteringitinthepasswordfieldontheleft. . Youmusttype
ittwiceforconfirmation. Notethatifyouforgetthispassword,theonlywayforyoutogetbackintoyourlist’s
administrativepagesistoaskthesiteadministratortoresetitforyou(there’snopasswordremindersforlistowners).
Ifyouwanttodelegatelistmoderationtosomeoneelse,youcanenteradifferentmoderatorpasswordinthefieldon
theright(typedtwiceforconfirmation). Notethatifyouaren’tgoingtodelegatemoderation,andthesamepeople
aregoingtobothconfigurethelistandmoderatepostingstothelist,don’tenteranythingintothemoderatorpassword
fields.Ifyoudoenteraseparatemoderatorpassword,besuretofillinthemoderatorvariableintheGeneraloptions
categorypage.
8
2 TheListConfigurationPages
50
2.3 TheLanguageOptionsCategory
Mailmanismultilingualandinternationalized,meaningyoucansetupyourlistsothatmemberscaninteractwithit
inanyofanumberofnaturallanguages.Ofcourse,Mailmanwon’ttranslatelistpostings.:)
However,ifyoursiteadministratorhasenableditssupport,youcansetyourlistuptosupportanyofabouttwodozen
languages,suchasGerman,Italian,Japanese,orSpanish.Yourlistmemberscanthenchooseanyofyoursupported
languagesastheirpreferredlanguageforinteractingwiththelist. Suchthingsastheirmemberoptionspagewill
bedisplayedinthislanguage. Eachmailinglistalsohasitsownpreferredlanguagewhichisthelanguagethelist
supportsifnootherlanguagecontextisknown.
Thesevariablescontrolthelanguagesettingsforyourmailinglist:
preferred
language Thisisthelist’spreferredlanguage,whichisthelanguagethatthelistadministrativepageswill
bedisplayedin.AlsoanymessagessenttothelistownersbyMailmanwillbesentinthislanguage.Thisoption
ispresentedasadrop-downlistcontainingthelanguagesenabledintheavailable_languagesvariable.
available
languages Thissetofcheckboxescontainsallthenaturallanguagesthatyoursiteadministratorhasmade
availabletoyourmailinglists. Selectanylanguagethatyou’deitherlikeyourmemberstobeabletoviewthe
listin,orthatyou’dliketobeabletouseinyourlist’spreferred_languagevariable.
encode
ascii
prefixes Ifyourmailinglist’spreferredlanguageusesanon-ASCIIcharactersetandthesubject_-
prefixcontainsnon-ASCIIcharacters,theprefixwillalwaysbeencodedaccordingtotherelevantstandards.
However, ifyoursubjectprefixcontainsonlyASCIIcharacters,youmaywanttosetthisoptiontoNeverto
disableprefixencoding. Thiscanmakethesubjectheadersslightlymorereadableforuserswithmailreaders
thatdon’tproperlyhandlenon-ASCIIencodings.
Notehowever,thatifyourmailinglistreceivesbothencodedandunencodedsubjectheaders,youmightwant
tochooseAsneeded. Usingthissetting,MailmanwillnotencodeASCIIprefixeswhentherestoftheheader
containsonlyASCIIcharacters,butiftheoriginalheadercontainsnon-ASCIIcharacters,itwillencodethe
prefix. Thisavoidsanambiguityinthestandardswhichcouldcausesomemailreaderstodisplayextra,or
missingspacesbetweentheprefixandtheoriginalheader.
2.4 TheMembershipManagementCategory
TheMembershipManagementcategoryisunliketheotheradministrativecategories.Itdoesn’tcontainconfiguration
variablesorlistsettings.Instead,itpresentsanumberofpagesthatallowyoutomanagethemembershipofyourlist.
Thisincludespagesforsubscribingandunsubscribingmembers,andforsearchingformembers,andforchanging
variousmember-specificsettings.
MoredetailsonmembershipmanagementaredescribedintheMembershipManagementsection.
2.5 TheNon-digestOptionsCategory
Mailmandeliversmessagestousersviatwomodes. Listmemberscanelecttoreceivepostingsinbundlescalled
digestsoneorafewtimesaday,ortheycanreceivemessagesimmediatelywheneverthemessageispostedtothe
list.Thislatterdeliverymodeisalsocallednon-digestdelivery.Therearetwoadministrativecategoriesavailablefor
separatelycontrollingdigestandnon-digestdelivery.Youcanevendisableoneortheotherformsofdelivery(butnot
both).
Bothkindsofdeliverycanhavelist-specificheadersandfootersaddedtothemwhichcancontainotherusefulinfor-
mationyouwantyourlistmemberstosee.Forexample,youcanincludeinstructionsforunsubscribing,oraurltothe
listsdigest,oranyotherinformation.
Non-digestdeliveriescanalsobepersonalizedwhichmeans certainpartsofthemessagecancontaininformation
tailoredtothememberreceivingthemessage. Forexample,the
To:
headerwillcontaintheaddressofthemember
2.3 TheLanguageOptionsCategory
9
47
whendeliveriesarepersonalized.Footersandheaderscancontainpersonalizedinformationaswell,suchasalinkto
theindividualuser’soptionspage.
In addition, , personalizedmessages willcontainextrainformationthatMailmancanusetounambiguouslytrack
bouncesfrommembers. Ordinarily,Mailmandoessomepatternrecognitiononbouncemessagestodeterminelist
memberswhoseaddressesarenolongervalid,butbecauseofthevagariesofmailsystems,andthecountlessforwards
peoplecanputinplace,it’softenthecasethatbouncemessagesdon’tcontainanyusefulinformationinthem. Per-
sonalizedmessagesavoidthisproblembyencodinginformationincertainheadersthatunambiguouslyidentifythe
recipientofamessage.Ifthatmessagebounces,Mailmanwillknowexactlywhichmemberitwasintendedfor.
Notethatbecausepersonalizationrequiresextrasystemresources,itmustbeenabledbythesiteadministratorbefore
youcanchooseit.
Herearethevariableswhichcontrolnon-digestdelivery:
nondigestable Thisoptioncontrolswhethermemberscanreceiveimmediatedeliveryornot. Ifnot, , theywillbe
forcedtoreceivemessagesindigests.Youcan’tdisablenon-digestdeliveryifdigestsarealreadydisabled.
personalize Thisoptionturnsonmessagepersonalization.
msg
header Thistextboxletsyouenterinformationthatwillbeincludedintheheaderofeverynon-digestmessage
sentthroughthelist.
Seebelowformoreinformationonwhatcangointheheadersandfooters.Ifyouleavethistextboxempty,no
headerwillbeadded.
msg
footer Justlikewiththeheader,youcanaddafootertoeverymessage.Thesamerulesapplytofootersasapply
toheaders.
Headersandfooterscancontainanytextyouwant. Fornon-Englishlists,theheadersandfooterscancontainany
characterinthecharactersetofthelist’spreferredlanguage. Theheadersandfooterscanalsocontainsubstitution
variableswhichMailmanwillfillinwithinformationtakenfromthemailinglist. ThesesubstitutionsareinPython
stringinterpolationformat,wheresomethinglike%(list_name)sissubstitutedwithhenameofthemailinglist.
Notethatthetrailing‘s’isrequired2.
Forexample,afootercontainingthefollowingtext:
This is s the \%(list_name)s mailing list
Description: \%(description)s
mightgetattachedtopostingslikeso:
This is s the Example mailing list
Description: An example e of Mailman mailing lists
Hereisthelistofsubstitutionvariablesavailableforyourheadersandfooters:
real
name Thisisthevalueofthereal_nameconfigurationvariableintheGeneraloptionscategory.
list
name Thisisthecanonicalnameofthemailinglist.Inotherwordsit’sthepostingaddressofthelist3.
host
name Thisisthedomainnamepartoftheemailaddressforthislist.
2
Thesiteadministratorcanconfigureliststouseasimplerinterpolationformat,where$list_nameor${list_name}wouldbesubstituted
withthemailinglist’sname.Askyoursiteadministratorifthey’veconfiguredyourlistthisway.
3
Forbackwardcompatibility,thevariable_internal_nameisequivalent.
10
2 TheListConfigurationPages
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
