TULP(5)

NAME
lists - list of active public mailing-lists
listname.u - mailing-list description file
listname.w - mailing-list welcome message
listname.n - mailing-list X-Sequence counter
listname (directory) - directory for archive files

DESCRIPTION
These files are used by TULP in order to ensure proper operation. The file lists is unique for the package, whereas the listname.* need or may (for some of them only) to be created for each active mailing-list on the system. All files must be in the TULP directory that has been defined in conf.h at compile time, typically this would be ~listserv/expl where ~listserv is the home directory of the user under which you're running TULP.

Lists contains the list of active and public lists on your TULP system. Some lists may be hidden and thus not appear if this file. The contents of the file are a set of text lines, each line describing a particular list. It is recommended to use the alphabetic order when filling this file. The indicated data is only informative and used when a user issues a LISTS command sent to TULP. Each line is divided into two comma separated fields:
    name,description

The first field is the name of the list. The maximum length of this field is the maximum length of a filenam on your system, minus 2. Thus it is strongly advised not to use names longer than 12 characters, in order to be Posix compliant. If you wish a greater compatibility with Bitnet LISTSERV's, the length should not exceed 8 characters. The name of the list should correspond to the name of the alias where messages to the list have to be sent.

The description field is a few words (30-40 characters) describing briefly the list.

Listname.u is the list definition file (where listname is to be replaced by the real name of the list) for a mailing-list. This file is divided into two sections: the comments/flags, and the list of subscribers.

The first sections, called header, is either comments or special flags describing the behavior of the list. A comment line must not begin with one of the reserved flags given below. All lines within the header must begin with a # sign.

The format of flags is as follow:
    # flag = value

The equal sign car be preceeded or followed by zero or more spaces or tabulations. Case is not significant. The possible values for flag and value are:

Review = Public | Private | Owner
    This flag describes who may retrieve the list of subsribers to a given list. Public allows anyone to get the list of subscribers. Private allows only the subscribers to review a list. Owner gives review access only to the owners of the list. Unauthorized users will only receive the header of the list in response to their command.

Subscription = Open | Closed | Owner
    This flag describes how subsription orders are to be handled. Open allows anyone to join the list. Closed will reject all subscription requests. Owner will forward all subscription requests to the owner of the lists for approval.

Send = Public | Private | Editor
    Defines who may send messages to the list. Public allows anyone, even non-subscribers, to contribute to the list. Private allows only subscribers to contribute to the list. Editor defines a moderated list where only the Editor may contribute to. All other incoming messages will be forwarded to the Editor for approval.

Notify = Yes | No | email1,email2,...
    Not implemented yet.

Periodicity = Yearly | Monthly | Weekly | Daily
    Not implemented yet. All archives are currently handled only on a monthly basis.

Errors-To = Owner,email1,email2,...
    A part to listname-request if selected, errors will be reported to the indicated persons. Currently only email1 may be indicated. We do not recommand the usage of this field yet.

Owner = email
    Defines an owner of a list. Only one owner must be indicated per line, but multiple owner lines are allowed. Email must be the email address of the owner, without any comments.

Editor = email
    Defines the moderator for the list. Only one editor is currently supported.

Reply-To = List | Sender | email [,Respect]
    Defines how the Reply-To header has to be handled. List forces replies to be redirected to the mailing-list. Use this with care. Sender will not alter the Reply-To header. Email will force the reply to the indicated email address. Useful when doing redistribution lists. Respect may be added where it makes sense and will not alter the Reply-To field when there is already one in the incoming message.

The second part of the description file contains the list of subscribers given in following format:
    user@host.away.domain (First Lastname)

Where the first field should be a valid email address and the second (between parenthesis) the comment associated to the subsriber, typically the name of the person.

Exemple of list description file (file sample.u):
    # List "Sample list"
    #
    # Contributions:  <sample@host.dom.ain>
    # Commandes:      <listserv@host.dom.ain>
    #
    # Owner         =  Christophe.Wolfhugel@host.dom.ain
    # Owner         =  Kimmo.Suominen@host.dom.ain
    # Send          =  Private
    # Review        =  Public
    # Subscription  =  Owner
    # Reply-To      =  List,Respect
    #
    chris@there.fr (Christophe Wolfhugel)
    kim@this.fi (Kimmo Suominen)
    pb@mati.fr (Patrice Bere)

This file might be edited manually only when TULP is not running, in order to avoid possible access conflicts and damage to the file.

This file is mandatory and must be unique for each list you are hosting (wether it's described in the file lists or not).

Listname.w is the welcome message that is to be sent to each new subscriber. There are no restrictions on its contents, but it's a good idea to remind the newcomer at least how to get off the list.

This file is also mandatory.

Listname.n when existing is the counter for the X-Sequence field to be added to each forwarded message. It has to be created containing the first sequence number to be used, minus 1. If unexisting, then no X-Sequence header will be added.

Listname (directory) All messages sent to the list will be archives if, and only if, this directory exists. The name of the log file will be logyymm where yy is the current year and mm the current month. Exemple: test-list/log9207.

SEE ALSO
tulp(8)

HISTORY
Written by Kimmo Suominen <Kimmo.Suominen@lut.fi> and Christophe Wolfhugel <Christophe.Wolfhugel@univ-lyon1.fr> for TULP.