Majordomo
- FAQ
1. What is
Majordomo?
2. How does Majordomo
work?
3. How do I subscribe
or unsubscribe myself from the list?
4. How do I post
messages to the list?
5. What's a digest?
6. How can I change my
password or other configuration
options?
7. I want one.
What do I do now?
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.
Majordomo might benefit you if you would like to setup
a discussion group, or just send out announcements to a
list of subscribers.
Here is a list of some features Majordomo has to
offer:
- supports various types of lists, including
moderated ones.
- List options can be set easily through a
configuration file, editable remotely.
- Supports archival and remote retrieval of
messages.
- Supports digests.
- Written in Perl, - easily customizable and
expandable.
- Modular in design.
- Supports confirmation of subscriptions (to
protect against forged subscription requests).
- List filters
Majordomo is written in Perl. When mail is sent
to the mailing list address, the email gets piped into
Majordomo, which then does any number of things to
it. Most commonly it will direct that email to a
list of email addresses.
For this example we will use the following
information:
Domain: example.com
List name: testlist
Password: mypassword
Your email address: my_email_address@my_isp.com
If you are sending mail from the email address
my_email_address@my_isp.com, you will need to send an
email to majordomo@list.example.com with the following in
the body of the email
subscribe testlist
subscribe - tells majordomo that you
want to subscribe
testlist - the name of the list you want
to subscribe to.
If you are sending email from an account other than
my_email_address@my_isp.com, you will need to replace the
above line with
subscribe testlist my_email_address@my_isp.com
subscribe - tells majordomo that you
want to subscribe
testlist - the name of the list you want
to subscribe to.
my_email_address@my_isp.com - the name
of the email address you
would like to subscribe to the list if
you are not sending the email from
that address.
To use the unsubscribe feature with the mailing list
use the same method as outlined above, but in the body of
the email replace subscribe with unsubscribe
.
For this example we will use the following
information:
Domain: example.com
List name: testlist
Password: mypassword
Your email address: my_email_address@my_isp.com
To post a message to the list, send an email to
testlist@list.example.com . Send this like you
would send a normal email. However, do not attach
any files including vcard's or any other form of
attachments. Also do not use special formats like
colored text or styled text. This will come out of
the list looking like garbage.
Majordomo offers the ability to create digests.
This features allows all emails to be archived into one
email, and then sent out to whoever is subscribed to the
digest version of the list in one big email rather than
sending out each individual post at the same time.
The list of email addresses subscribed to the digest
version is different than the normal list so you can use
which ever is best for you, or both.
These tasks can only be preformed by the list
moderator/owner.
For this example we will use the following
information:
Domain: example.com
List name: testlist
Password: mypassword
Your email address: my_email_address@my_isp.com
To change the password and configure other features
that the list has to offer, send an email to
majordomo@list.example.com with the following line in the
body of the email
config testlist mypassword
config - the command you are passing
to majordomo
testlist - the name of the list to
perform the command on
mypassword - the password to the list
After you send of this email, wait a few minutes and
then check your email. You should receive an email
with the subject line containing "Majordomo
Results" . If you look inside this email you
will see the configuration file for your list. You
will need to edit the configuration file(explained below)
and then send it back to the list. To send it back
to the list, create a new email to
majordomo@list.example.com . Inside the body of the
email first put the following line:
newconfig testlist mypassword
config - the command you are passing
to majordomo
testlist - the name of the list to
perform the command on
mypassword - the password to the list
Below newconfig line, paste in your
configuration file. The following is a list of
things that will cause majordomo to reject the new
configuration file
- Reply marks indicating that you
are replying to an email, for example if your
email client places the > character at the
beginning of every line when you reply to an
email, Majordomo will not accept it.
- Signatures. If you have a
signature at the bottom of your email, make sure
you remove it before you send the new
configuration file back to Majordomo
- MIME content. This
includes any special character formatting or
styles.
There are several options that you are allowed to
configure in the list configuration file. There are
a few things to remember about the configuration file...
First, comments begin the line with a # . So
if you want to add a comment to remind yourself
something, insert a blank line and start it with a # and
then type your comment. Second, there are comments
above every configuration directive that will give you an
explanation of what that directive will do. If you
blow up the config file you are working on you can just
remove it and ask Majordomo for a new one by sending the
command config testlist mypassword .
If you would like WebHostPage to set one up for you,
please go to
http://www.WebHostPage.com/addons/majordomo
and fill out the orderform on that page. Please
be aware that there are additional costs for each mailing
list you add. Prices can be found on the URL above.
Some information on this FAQ was found at:
http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/majordomo-faq.html
Where the original FAQ is located.
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