Majordomo (O'Reilly)
This file is the chapter about Majordomo from the Nutshell Handbook
"Managing Internet Information Services," written by Jerry Peek.
The chapter is (c) Copyright 1994 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.,
and was included in the Majordomo distribution by permission of the
publisher. You may not edit, adapt, or redistribute changed versions
of this for other than your personal use without the express written
permission of O'Reilly & Associates. Sorry for the legal jargon;
we said that to protect our copyright!
This draft chapter is current as of March 15, 1994 but might not be
kept up to date with the software. The book version may also become
different over time.
In a few places, this chapter refers to previous chapters of the book.
If you want to see those chapters, too, you'll have to buy the book ;-)
(or borrow it).
If you have comments or corrections, please send email to
bookquestions@ora.com, phone +1-707-829-0515, or send snail mail to
O'Reilly & Associates; 103A Morris Street; Sebastopol, CA 95472 USA.
.
Majordomo is a set of programs written in Perl that automate operation
of multiple mailing lists. Majordomo automatically handles routine
requests to subscribe or unsubscribe; it also has "closed lists" that
route all subscription requests to a "list owner" for approval. It
also supports "moderated lists" that send all messages to the list
owner for approval before they're sent to subscribers. Once the list
is set up, it can be controlled by electronic mail, so the list owner
need not be on the machine where Majordomo is running. It can also
maintain simple archives and deliver them via e-mail.
Although you don't need to know Perl to run Majordomo, the Perl
interpreter must be installed on the computer where you run Majordomo.
Perl's source code is freely available from archives around the
Internet, such as ftp.uu.net. You can also get ready-to-run versions
from the CD-ROM that comes with the book "UNIX Power Tools." (For more
information about Perl, see the Nutshell Handbooks "Learning Perl" by
Randal Schwartz and "Programming Perl" by Larry Wall and Randal
Schwartz.)
Majordomo's developer and maintainer, Brent Chapman, developed
Majordomo for his own purposes (managing the mailing lists for SAGE,
the System Administrators Guild). He didn't try to make the software
do everything a list server could possibly do. Majordomo is popular
anyway; it's good software that fills a real need. This chapter covers
Majordomo version 1.62, which is available free via ftp.
One of Majordomo's real strengths is its relative simplicity. You can
figure it out in a few hours. ListProcessor, another major mailing
list management system, requires much longer--so much so that we
couldn't cover it effectively in a book of this size. We've left it
for another book. But if you intend to manage huge lists,
ListProcessor provides lots of useful features that can make it well
worth the effort. We use ListProcessor for our company mailing lists.
Chapter 1 has a short comparison of Majordomo and ListProcessor.
A good way to learn more about Majordomo is by subscribing to the
majordomo-users mailing list. Send a subscription request to
majordomo@greatcircle.com--see "A User's View of Majordomo", below,
for instructions. (Another list on the same host, majordomo-announce,
announces new versions of Majordomo as well as bug fixes. The
majordomo-workers list is for people who develop Majordomo.)
The first section of this chapter gives an overview of Majordomo as it
is seen by users, list owners, and administrators; it also mentions a
planned new release, Majordomo 2.0. Then comes installation, creation
of lists, and testing. Finally there's a description of how to run and
maintain a list.
.
AN OVERVIEW OF MAJORDOMO
Before we dip into the intricacies of setting up and running Majordomo
mailing lists, it will be helpful to get an overview of how it works
from the user's perspective, how the list owner manages a list, and how
the various programs that make up the Majordomo package work together.
A User's View of Majordomo
First here's a user's guide to the Majordomo package. (Actually, this
is an introduction to majordomo, the program which provides all of
these functions.) It explains subscription, unsubscription, and all
the other Majordomo commands available to users. It also includes some
notes for the person running the list about who has permission to use
some commands. (The section "List Server Software" in Chapter 1 shows
how users interact with a list server.)
A user can subscribe to a list, or ask about his or other users'
subscriptions, by sending mail to the majordomo server, usually
majordomo@hostname. Put the commands in the body of the mail message
(not on the "Subject:" header component). Other than white space, the
commands must be the first text in the message body; in other words,
don't begin with "Dear Majordomo."
In the sections below, items in brackets ([]) are optional. If you
include the optional item, don't type the brackets.
- help
Sends one-line summaries of majordomo commands. The first line of
output tells you which version of Majordomo the server is running.
- info list
Sends an introduction to the list "list".
- lists
Shows the lists served by this majordomo server.
- subscribe list [address]
This command subscribes a user to the named "list". Unless the user
includes the optional "address", Majordomo will use the e-mail
address in the mail message header ("Reply-to:", if any, otherwise
"From:") to send mail to the user.
- unsubscribe list [address]
This unsubscribes the user (or "address") from "list".
- which [address]
Tells the lists to which the user (or "address") is subscribed.
- who list
Lists the subscribers of "list".
- index list
Gives a listing of files in the "list" archive. If the list is
private, only members can run this command. Only for Majordomo
versions 1.54 and later.
- get list filename
Mails a file named "filename" from the "list" archive. If the list
is private, only members can run this command. Only for Majordomo
versions 1.54 and later.
- end
Stops reading the message. This is useful for users whose mailer
adds text (like a signature) to the end of a message.
A line that starts with a dash (-) is also treated as an "end"
command by newer versions of Majordomo. Because many peoples' mail
message signatures start with some dashes, this avoids error
messages.
Majordomo for List Owners
The list owner is the person (or persons) who will run day-to-day
operations of a mailing list by responding to mail messages from
Majordomo. Each mailing list operated by Majordomo can have its own
list owners.
Majordomo has "open" and "closed" lists. A subscriber to an open list
will be approved automatically unless they specify an "address"
different from the one in their e-mail header. All subscriptions to
closed lists will be sent to the list owner for approval.
If you'd like a list with the absolute minimum of maintenance (but also
a minimum of security), you could create an "auto" list. All
subscription or unsubscription requests will be honored without any
input from the list owner. For example, anyone could unsubscribe
anyone else.
Majordomo also has "public" and "private" lists. In a public list,
subscribers have access to information about other subscribers through
the "who" and "which" commands; in a private list, they don't. When a
list is private, only subscribers can use the archive commands "index"
and "get".
The owner can potentially receive four types of messages: requests to
approve subscriptions (or unsubscriptions), requests to approve
messages to the list, notifications of successful subscriptions or
unsubscriptions, and bounces (messages sent to the list that weren't
delivered). Which of these the owner receives, and how many, depends
on the setup of the list (and of course, how many members the list
has). Majordomo provides the "approve" script to help handle approval
of subscriptions and messages, and "bounce" to help handle bounces.
Majordomo for Administrators
The administrator in this context is the person who installs Majordomo,
creates new lists, or changes the settings (moderated or not, private
or public, etc.) of existing lists. Unlike a list owner, the
administrator needs to have direct access to the system where Majordomo
is running. In many cases, the list owner and the administrator are
the same person, but they don't need to be.
Majordomo is actually a suite of Perl scripts, not just one. In this
chapter, the name Majordomo (with an uppercase "M") refers to the whole
package of programs and files. majordomo (with a lowercase "m") means
the individual program with that name. Here is an outline of what each
program and file in the Majordomo package does:
- "majordomo" (the program itself) is run each time a message arrives
for the address majordomo@hostname. It figures out what approval is
necessary and sends mail to the list owner as necessary, or simply
performs the requested commands. Unlike a lot of system services,
majordomo doesn't run constantly (as a daemon). It's started by your
system MTA when a message comes in. The disadvantage is that you
don't have much control over Majordomo on a busy system. The
advantage is that there's no daemon process to crash.
- "resend" - When a message arrives to appear on a list, "resend"
checks the message according to its command line options. If the
message must be approved or if there are other problems, the message
is forwarded to the list owner. Otherwise, "resend" edits the
header, then hands the single message to the computer's MTA for
distribution to the list. "resend" rewrites headers of messages but
uses the system's mail transfer agent (MTA) for mail delivery to the
lists.
- The "wrapper" program allows other Majordomo programs to run as a
"trusted user"--so programs can set the correct envelope sender
address. It's the only part of the Majordomo package that's written
in the C language. (The rest is in Perl.)
- The "bounce" script helps owners handle subscribers whose mail is
bouncing. The "bounce-remind" script tries to notify those
subscribers about the problem.
- The "approve" script is also for owners. It simplifies approval of
subscriptions or moderated messages.
- "new-list" answers mail sent to a new list. Its replies ask people
to wait to send messages until the list owner opens the list for
business.
- "request-answer" answers mail to the address "listname-request"
(see Chapter 2). The replies tell people to mail to majordomo--and
how to find out more about the server.
- "majordomo.cf" sets the configuration of the Majordomo system.
You can control whether a list is open, public, moderated, and several
other aspects of a list by creating files of the form
"listname.option". For example, to make a closed list, you simply
create an empty file called "listname.closed". (This will change in
Majordomo 1.90; you'll use an overall configuration file for each list
instead.)
The owner is notified of all successful "subscribe" and "unsubscribe"
actions. If you don't want the owner to be notified, you can edit two
subroutines in the majordomo script: "welcome" sends subscription
notices; "do_unsubscribe" sends unsubscription notices.
Majordomo 2.0 is Coming
Since late 1993, people have been working on major revisions to
Majordomo. A new version, 1.90, should be ready by the time this book
is printed. Version 1.90 has a new config file format and includes the
"digest" program as part of Majordomo. A list of the planned changes
for list owners is in the section called "Majordomo Commands for List
Owners".
Majordomo 2.0 isn't cast in stone yet. Besides the changes in version
1.90, above, some of the major changes in version 2.0 will probably
be:
- The local site can define new Majordomo commands and add to existing
commands. For instance, a site could change the "unsubscribe"
command to let users subscribe from all lists by sending
"unsubscribe *".
- Replies can be edited automatically. For instance, large replies
could be split into a series of smaller messages.
- The "help" command will take arguments. Instead of getting help for
all commands, a user could get help for just the "subscribe" command
by sending "help subscribe".
.
INSTALLING MAJORDOMO
In general, if you have a recent version of Perl on your UNIX system,
majordomo should work too. You'll need to set up the "majordomo.cf"
file, and maybe tweak a couple of the scripts. You'll also need a C
compiler for the "wrapper" program (although you can work around that
by copying a compiled version of "wrapper" from someone else who has
the same computer and operating system). But because the system is so
simple and the code is so straightforward, it isn't hard to solve
problems (especially if you've joined the majordomo-users mailing
list).
In the directions below, a name like $whoami is a Perl variable. Most
variables I cover are defined in the "majordomo.cf" file (see below).
**NOTE** Although I show a step-by-step procedure here, I can't promise
you that the following steps are exactly what you need for your
computer. Your system might be different. You may have a different
version of Majordomo than the one I installed. Please use these steps
as a GUIDE only.
Here are the steps:
1. Be sure that your system has Perl version 4.035 (or later) and its
libraries.
2. Some sites give majordomo another name ("listmgr", "lists", etc.).
I don't recommend doing that unless you have a good reason:
especially as more documentation about Majordomo becomes available,
users may just get confused by giving the system other names.
Also, after Majordomo upgrades, you'll have to patch the system
again.
If you decide to change the name, edit all of the code references
to majordomo that are visible to users. For example, change the
subject of mail messages that say "Majordomo results." You don't
need to change filenames like "majordomo.cf". You definitely
shouldn't change the help file line that says "This is the
Majordomo listmanager written by Brent Chapman."
3. Pick a username, group name, and home directory for Majordomo.
A good name for both user and group is "majordom" (but not
"majordomo"; it's over the 8-character limit). I made the home
directory /usr/local/majordomo.
As superuser, add that user and group to /etc/passwd and
/etc/group. Make the home directory, set its owner and group to
"majordom", and set its mode to 775.
If the person who manages Majordomo doesn't want to "su" to
"majordom", you should add the manager's account to the "majordom"
group. (I think it's not a good idea to maintain Majordomo as the
superuser; permissions and ownerships can accidentally be set
wrong.) If there are list owners on the system, and if they should
be doing routine maintenance, add them to the "majordom" group,
too.
4. Set up the Majordomo directory structure. Although I like to keep
all of Majordomo and its list files under Majordomo's home
directory, you don't have to. The structure is flexible; you can
separate the programs and the lists if you want to (see the sample
majordomo.cf file a few steps ahead). Here's the structure I'm
using.
My home directory holds the $log file and the majordomo.cf
configuration file. The subdirectories are:
- "archive" has subdirectories that hold list archive files.
- "bin" is where I extracted the Majordomo distribution file:
executable scripts and documentation are here. The documentation
and sample configurations are in a subdirectory named "Doc"; you
might want to move some or all of it somewhere else.
- "lists" has the files for the lists: subscribers, passwords, and
so on.
If you aren't installing all of Majordomo in its home directory,
create the other directories now and set their ownership. Create
an empty $log file with owner & group "majordom" and mode 664.
5. Now you can "su" to the new "majordom" account. (Most of the rest
of the installation doesn't need to be done as root.)
6. Get a Majordomo distribution file from ftp.greatcircle.com in the
pub/majordomo directory. While you're there, get Brent's paper
about Majordomo (majordomo.paper.ps.Z, in compressed PostScript
format). It's titled "Majordomo: How I Manage 17 Mailing Lists
Without Answering `-request' Mail". The paper has an interesting
overview of how and why he wrote Majordomo, as well as an
introduction to Majordomo for users and administrators. The
Majordomo version it covers is fairly out of date now. To find out
about any new documentation, read the "Changes" file in the
Majordomo distribution.
In the directory /pub/majordomo/archive are monthly archive files
of all the articles posted to the majordomo mailing lists. They're
worth browsing through someday in your copious free time. There's
lots of information that we don't have the room to cover in this
book.
7. Extract the Majordomo distribution file into whatever directory you
chose.
Each Perl script starts with a line that contains the pathname of
the Perl interpreter on Brent's system. If your Perl is in a
different place, you'll need to edit all the script files that
start with "#!" and fix that line. For instance, if your Perl
executable is /stuff/bin/perl, change the first lines to look
like:
#!/stuff/bin/perl
Note that the version of "resend" with Majordomo 1.62 (and probably
others) has a "-U" option at the end of the "#!" line. Don't
forget it.
8. You might want to look through each program for an idea of how it
works. At least, read the "README", "Description", and
"resend.README" files. The "Changes" file also explains some
things that the other files don't. The Doc/samples directory has
samples of files for different list configurations.
9. Configure Majordomo. Copy the sample.cf to become the majordomo.cf
file. Edit majordomo.cf to set the locations of directories and
files. This is Perl code, so each line (except comments) has to
end with a semicolon (;):
# $whereami -- Hostname to advertise for machine I'm running on:
$whereami = "ora.com";
# $whoami -- Address for users to send my requests:
$whoami = "Majordomo@$whereami";
# $whoami_owner -- owner of the above, in case of problems:
$whoami_owner = "Owner-Majordomo@$whereami";
# $homedir -- Directory with my extra .pl files, like
# majordomo.pl, shlock.pl, and majordomo_version.pl:
$homedir = "/usr/local/majordomo/bin";
# $listdir -- Directory with files for mailing lists:
$listdir = "/usr/local/majordomo/lists";
# $log -- Full pathname of the log file I write:
$log = "/usr/local/majordomo/Log";
# $mailer -- Program and arguments I use to send mail:
$mailer = "/usr/lib/sendmail -oi -f\$sender \$to";
# Majordomo will look for "get" and "index" files related to $list
# in directory "$filedir/$list$filedir_suffix":
$filedir = "/usr/local/majordomo/archive";
$filedir_suffix = "";
# $index_command -- Command for processing an "index" request.
# Majordomo does chdir("$filedir/$list$filedir_suffix") first.
# This one makes a little heading without permissions, links,
# or owner name. This won't work if you use ls -lRL instead:
$index_command = "/bin/ls -lL | \\
/bin/sed -e 's/^......................//' \\
-e '1s/.*/ SIZE DATE NAME/'"
# If you want to use FTPMAIL, rather than local access, for
# file transfer and access, define the following:
# $ftpmail_address = "ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com";
# $ftpmail_location = "FTP.$whereami";
The sendmail "-f\$sender" sets the message's "envelope sender"
address. The backslash (\) makes sure the Perl variable $sender,
which is set by "resend", isn't interpreted until the mail is
sent. In the same way, the "\$to" is replaced with the destination
address. The "-oi" option tells sendmail not to quit if it sees a
line with just a dot (.). If you have big lists or a busy system,
you might also add "-odq" to queue all messages instead of trying
to deliver them immediately.
Of course, if you don't have sendmail, use a command for sending mail
with your system's MTA.
I've also hacked the $index_command to make a simpler archive index
than the default "ls -lRL" command does. This makes the output
more user-friendly for users who don't know UNIX, but it won't work
if a list's archive has sub-archives (subdirectories).
10. Majordomo looks for its configuration file in /etc/majordomo.cf
unless you set the W_MAJORDOMO_CF variable for "wrapper" that makes
it look somewhere else. My personal preference is to keep master
copies of my local files off of /etc, so I made a symbolic link
from /etc/majordomo.cf to /usr/local/majordomo/majordomo.cf.
11. Install the "wrapper" program. It lets the majordomo script run as
a "trusted user." On non-POSIX systems, that's normally the user
"daemon"; on POSIX systems, it's "root".
Edit the Makefile and set the "make" macros W_BIN and
W_MAJORDOMO_CF for "wrapper". W_BIN should point to the same
directory as $homedir in the majordomo.cf file. Give
W_MAJORDOMO_CF the absolute pathname of the majordomo.cf file.
Also check W_PATH, W_HOME, W_SHELL; they set the environment
variables PATH, HOME, and SHELL, respectively, during "wrapper".
If you're using a POSIX system, remove the comment characters from
the front of the POSIX section and add them to the non-POSIX
section.
Some day the "wrapper" program may be eliminated. If you're using
a version of Majordomo newer than version 1.90 and "wrapper" is
missing, see the "Changes" file.
Go back to the superuser account. (If your shell has job control
and the "suspend" command, that's an easy way to drop back to
"root". [That's assuming you originally typed "su majordom" from
the "root" account.] When you're ready to be "majordom" again, just
use "fg".) Run "make" to build the "wrapper" program. If you
decided to install "wrapper" somewhere other than the current
directory, run "make install".
12. You may want to copy or move the online manual pages from the
Doc/man directory to your system's online manual page area.
13. While you're the superuser, edit the MTA alias file to add aliases
like these:
owner-owner: postmaster
#
# Majordomo
#
majordomo: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"
majordom: owner-majordomo
majordomo-owner: jerry
owner-majordomo: majordomo-owner
(There's a sample MMDF aliases file in the section "For MMDF
Systems", below.)
If your "aliases" file doesn't have an "owner-owner" alias, we
recommend it (actually, the Nutshell Handbook "sendmail" does).
Using this special alias will help to find any problems with the
zillions of other "owner-xxx" aliases that you'll be adding as you
configure Majordomo lists. Errors in any "owner-" alias will go to
the system postmaster.
The setup of the similar-looking "xxx-owner" and "owner-xxx"
aliases is important if you use sendmail version 8. The setup
above makes the envelope sender address "majordomo-owner" instead
of a person's address (here, "jerry"). See the section of Chapter
2 called "Envelope Sender in Sendmail Version 8".
Notice that the "majordomo" alias doesn't have the absolute
pathname of the majordomo program. For security, the absolute
pathname is hardcoded into the "wrapper" binary. If you move the
majordomo program, the alias won't work until you recompile
"wrapper".
Be sure that mail sent to the "majordom" user is routed somewhere.
A sendmail alias could route it to "majordomo" (a good choice if
you'll be getting much mail from systems that truncate mail
addresses to an 8-character length). The alias above routes
"majordom" mail to the person in charge of Majordomo. You could
also use a program like "canned_reply" (see Chapter 1).
If this sendmail alias file is shared by more than one host, and
they won't all be running the same Majordomo setup (which isn't
likely), you've got some configuring to do. The section of Chapter
2 called "Problems with Your Local Network" has some tips.
If your system needs it, run "newaliases" to rebuild the alias
database.
14. You or list owners may want to have a "bounces" mailing list set
up. If you do, this is a good time to add the aliases and make the
list files. (See the section below named "Setting Up Lists".)
15. I edited the "request-answer" program to change the mail message
it sends.
Now the message also explains other e-mail addresses at our company.
Before you turn your users and list owners loose on the system, set up
at least one list and test your system. The section below explains how
to do that.
.
SETTING UP LISTS
Once you've got Majordomo installed, you'll want to create one or more
mailing lists. The following sections provide a step-by-step procedure
for creating a mailing list, how to make a list moderated, and how to
test the list to make sure it's working.
Creating a New List
New lists are created by adding files to the $listdir directory (named
in majordomo.cf) and by making entries in your MTA aliases file. Here
are the steps:
1. Pick a name for the list: letters, digits, underbars (_), or dashes
(-) only. To avoid confusing users, it's a good idea not to use
both underbars and dashes for your system's listnames. Choose one
or the other, then use it consistently.
2. Decide who'll own the list. The address of this person (or
persons) will go on the "listname-approval" and "listname-owner"
aliases for the list.
3. The owner should pick the subscription approval password. Store it
in the "listname.passwd" file in the $listdir directory. Use
"chmod" to set the file mode to 660. As for all other Majordomo
files, be sure that the group owner is "majordom".
4. The owner should write a description of the list to be mailed out
for "info" requests and for new subscriptions. Store the
description in the "listname.info" file in the $listdir directory.
(Hint: a good description in the "info" file will save you time by
avoiding questions later.) Set the file mode to 664.
5. If you want the list to be archived, create a file in the archive
area. Optionally, create an archive directory for the list, in the
location specified by the $filedir and $filedir_suffix variables.
Set the file mode to 664.
6. Set the subscription policy. If the list owner wants all requests
to be approved automatically, including requests by any user to
subscribe or unsubscribe any other user, create an empty file named
"listname.auto" in the $listdir directory. The list owner will
still be notified when people subscribe or unsubscribe but won't
have to approve them.
If there isn't a "listname.auto" file, non-routine subscriptions
(requests by any user to subscribe or unsubscribe any other user)
will be sent to the list owner. Routine subscriptions will be
approved automatically (unless there's a "listname.closed" file;
see below).
A "closed list" requires the list owner to approve all
subscriptions. To close a list, create an empty file named
"listname.closed" in the "lists" directory. To open the list,
remove that file.
7. Decide whether you want to include comments in the subscriber
list. Normally, Majordomo stores the complete address it gets for
each subscriber. That includes comments like "Jerry Peek" or
"(Phone 123-4567, FAX 234-5678)". These can help you (and other
people) find subscribers when the e-mail address isn't enough. If
you create an empty file named "listname.strip" in the $listdir
directory, comments won't be stored with addresses.
8. By default, anyone (even non-subscribers) can use the commands
"who", "which", "index", and "get" on a list. If you create an
empty file named "listname.private" in the $listdir directory, only
members of the list can use those commands.
9. Make a file in the $listdir directory to hold the list's
subscribers. The filename is the same as the listname.
10. Set up list distribution. The "resend" script, run by the
"wrapper" program, receives and distributes mail for each list.
(Strictly speaking, you don't need "resend" for a simple list. You
can let majordomo manage the subscriber list and use a simple
sendmail alias to distribute messages. But unless you have a
problem with "resend", its features will usually be a help.)
The table below explains the "resend" options you can use; the only
required options are "-l" (the list name) and "-h" (the host name).
Pick the options and settings you'll use; there are examples below.
You should probably check the "resend.README" file for any changes
in this list of options.
- "-C config-file" names an alternate configuration file that only
"resend" uses. The default is the main majordomo.cf file.
If you use the "-C" option, it MUST BE THE FIRST OPTION given.
- "-l list-name", which is required, gives the name of the mailing
list.
- "-h host-name", which is required, gives the fully-qualified
domain name of the computer running Majordomo.
- "-A" makes the list moderated. To create a moderated list, see
the section below called "Making a Moderated List". (Use the
"-a" option, too.) Also see the "-I" option.
- "-a password" sets the approval password for moderated lists
and other messages that have been rejected for some reason.
(If the list will be moderated, use the "-A" option, too.)
If the argument starts with a slash (/), it's used as the
pathname to a file that contains the password. If your MTA has
an SMTP VRFY command, use a pathname for security; see the
section "Making a Moderated List".
- "-d" sets debugging: instead of running the commands, "resend"
writes the command lines it would run to its standard output.
- "-f from-address" is used as the "envelope sender" address for
messages on the list. (See the part of Chapter 1 called "`From '
vs. `From:'".) It's also the "approval address" used for any
message that "resend" needs to bounce to the list owner. If you
don't give "-f", the default address is "listname-request".
- "-I filenames" is used to restrict who can post to a list. The
"filenames" argument is a list of one or more files, separated
by colons (:), in the $listdir directory. The files contain
addresses that are allowed to send messages to the list. If the
message doesn't have a valid "Approved:" header and the sender's
"From:" address isn't on this list, the message will be bounced
to the list owner.
For example, a company might want a general announcements list
that only a few employees should send messages to. Instead of
making the list moderated (which would add overhead) they can use
the name of a file with the addresses of people who are approved
to send mail to the list. This isn't very secure because any
user can forge a "From:" address easily. Still, this is an easy
way to stop messages (replies, for example) from being sent to
the list accidentally. It also doesn't require all the people
who post to know the article approval password.
- "-m sendmail-flags" is the place to store any sendmail flags you
want used when mail is sent to the list. For example, "-m -odq"
will queue messages instead of trying to deliver them
immediately. To use more than one sendmail option, put single
quotes around the options--for example, "-m '-odq -oi'".
- "-M maximum-message-length" is the maximum message size, in
bytes, that "resend" will send to the list. Bigger messages are
forwarded to the list owner for approval.
- "-p precedence" will add a "Precedence: precedence" header
component to messages. Many lists use "-p bulk". (See the
section of Chapter 1 called "Bounced Mail".)
- "-R" will delete "Received:" header components on incoming
messages.
- "-r reply-to" will add a "Reply-To: reply-to" header component.
- "-s" enables "administrivia" checks. With this option, "resend"
does two checks of each message. If the message's subject has a
word that ends in "subscribe" or "unsubscribe", upper or lower
case, it will be bounced. Also, if the first five lines of the
message body have the words "add me", "delete me", "subscribe",
"sub", "unsubscribe", or "unsub", upper or lower case, anywhere
in those lines, the message will be bounced.
The list owner can bypass the administrivia checks by adding a
valid "Approved:" header and re-sending the message to the list.
11. Add list aliases to the sendmail (or other MTA) aliases file. Here
are some for an unmoderated, archived list named "sample" on the
host foo.com.au:
#
# Sample mailing list
#
owner-sample: sample-owner
sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend -p bulk -M 10000
-R -l Sample -f Sample-Owner -h foo.com.au -s sample-outgoing"
sample-owner: jerry
sample-approval: sample-owner
sample-outgoing:
:include:/usr/local/majordomo/lists/sample, sample-archive
owner-sample-outgoing: sample-owner
sample-archive: /usr/local/majordomo/archive/sample/sample
owner-sample-archive: sample-owner
sample-request:
"|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper request-answer sample"
owner-sample-request: sample-owner
(There's a sample MMDF aliases file in the section "For MMDF
Systems", below.)
The aliases are:
- "listname-owner" (and "owner-listname", which points to it) is
the list owner, the person (or people) in charge of the list. A
lot of the other aliases can point to this one.
As Chapter 2 explains, sendmail uses the "owner-xxx" aliases for
errors. Majordomo uses the "xxx-owner" aliases. (Actually, an
"xxx-owner" alias isn't used by Majordomo itself--but aliases
that Majordomo uses are set up to point to "xxx-owner".)
- "listname" runs the "wrapper" program to set the correct
permissions. Then "wrapper" starts "resend" to send the message
to the list. (Brent wants to get rid of "wrapper" some day.)
This is where the "resend" options are set (see the list above).
The alias ends with the distribution address (here,
"sample-outgoing").
Here's a useful trick from Brent Chapman. Some versions of
sendmail have a 256-character length limit for aliases. A
"resend" line with a lot of arguments can easily go over that
limit. To solve this, you can put all the "resend" arguments in
a file called "listname.resend". Set up the alias with
backquotes (grave accents) and "cat"--like this:
sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend
`/bin/cat /usr/local/majordomo/lists/sample.resend`
sample-outgoing"
When sendmail interprets the alias, it will be fairly short. The
shell will run "cat"--and replace the backquoted string with the
"sample.resend" file contents--after sendmail has finished
interpreting the alias.
Another advantage of this is that the majordomo administrator can
change the list's "resend" configuration without editing the
system aliases file.
- "listname-approval" is the person (or people) who approves
subscriptions to closed lists, subscriptions or unsubscriptions
at a different address, and mailings to moderated lists. This
can usually point to "listname-owner".
- "listname-outgoing" is the actual list of people subscribed to
the list. The sendmail ":include:" directive reads the
subscribers list at the time a message is sent. If the list is
archived, add the name of the archive alias (like
"listname-archive") too.
- Optional (I recommend it): By convention, many Internet mailing
lists have a subscription address of "listname-request".
Although your list doesn't use that address (it uses
"majordomo"), the "request-answer" program can answer mail sent
to that address. You may want to edit the "request-answer"
program to send a different message--for example, to give
information about places to get help and information (local
addresses, phone numbers, etc.) at your company.
- Optional: The "new-list" script can answer mail sent to the list
for the first few days. The message asks people to wait to post
messages for a few days until most subscribers have joined the
list. "new-list" also returns the sender's message.
To install "new-list", "comment out" the "listname" alias and put
"new-list" in its place temporarily:
# sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend -p bulk -M 10000
# -R -l Sample -f Sample-Owner -h foo.com.au -s sample-outgoing"
sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper new-list Sample"
After a few days, the system administrator should install the
permanent list alias. The owner should send an announcement that
the list is "open for business."
Most of the alias names starting with "owner-" tell sendmail where
to send errors caused by the corresponding alias. For example, if
there's a problem with the "sample-archive" alias, sendmail will
complain to "owner-sample-archive". These "owner-" aliases will
usually be easier to maintain if you point them to an overall alias
(like "owner-sample" or "postmaster") instead of a particular user
(like "jerry").
As before, if this sendmail alias file is shared by more than one
host, and they won't all be running the same Majordomo setup, there
are tips in the section of Chapter 2 called "Problems with Your
Local Network".
12. Make sure everything is owned by user "majordom", group "majordom",
and writable by both owner and group (that is, mode 664 for files
and mode 775 for directories). In a lot of cases, files and
directories don't need world access; you can use modes 660 and
770. But check and test carefully; it's better to leave everything
world-readable unless you're sure things work okay without it.
If you need to be very careful about permissions, think about how
each file will be read and written. Many files are accessed by
programs invoked from "wrapper"; those files only need permission
for access by "wrapper"'s UID and GID. Files that will be written
by users logged on interactively (like the list administrator) may
also need write permission for the "majordom" group. Files written
directly from a sendmail alias (the list archive files) probably
need world write permission because of the variety of UIDs and GIDs
that sendmail may run as.
For MMDF Systems
The examples in the steps above are for systems with the sendmail MTA.
Here are examples for systems that use the MMDF MTA. (Thanks to Morna
Findlay for these examples.) The leading name "majordom|" means the
"majordomo" and "sample" aliases will run as the user "majordom". This
is from the MMDF aliases file:
majordomo: "majordom|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"
owner-majordomo: jerry
majordomo-owner: jerry
Now, for the sample mailing list, here are entries from the MMDF
"lists" file. In MMDF, mailing lists have their own channel:
sample: sample-outbound@list-channel
sample-outbound: :include:/usr/local/majordomo/lists/sample
sample-request: "majordom|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper request-recording sample"
sample-approval: jerry
owner-sample: jerry
Making a Moderated List
A list owner may want to approve every message before it goes to the
list. The list might distribute official company statements, or begin
to carry lots of inappropriate messages and "noise" that subscribers
don't want to see. One common reason is that people accidentally send
subscription requests to the list itself instead of to the "majordomo"
address. Having one person filter these out can potentially save
thousands of people from wasting time on them. (Also see the "resend
-s" and "-I" options.)
To make a list moderated, add the options "-A" and "-a password" to the
list's alias (its "resend" command) in your system alias file. The
argument to "-a password" is the password that the list owner adds to a
message header to approve an article:
Approved: BigSecret
The revised list entry in the sendmail aliases file would look like:
sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend -p bulk
-A -a BigSecret
-M 10000 -R -l Sample -f Sample-Owner
-h foo.com.au -s sample-outgoing"
Like other Majordomo features, this isn't especially secure. If your
system's sendmail has a VRFY command, anyone can find the list
password. Also, the list owners can't change their article approval
password unless you (the system administrator) edit the system alias
file. An easy fix is to give the full pathname of a file, starting
with a slash (/), as the argument to the "-a" option. In the example
below, "resend" will read in the subscription approval password (from
the list's "sample.passwd" file):
sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend -p bulk
-A -a /usr/local/majordomo/lists/sample.passwd
-M 10000 -R -l Sample -f Sample-Owner
-h foo.com.au -s sample-outgoing"
Of course, you could use a different password file (instead of the list
subscription password). The advantage of using the list subscription
password for article approval is that the list owner can change both
passwords by e-mail.
**NOTE** As mentioned before, the "-a" password isn't just used for
moderated lists. It's used to approve any message that "resend"
bounces because of things like administrivia ("-s" flag) and length
("-M" flag).
To find out how to approve a message, see the section "Managing the
Lists", below.
Testing Your Installation
You should have set up at least one list by now. A nice way to test
majordomo is with the sendmail "-v" ("verbose") switch; it shows you
what's happening.
In case something is set up wrong, it's a good idea to have a superuser
shell ready to do some fast cleanup.
1. Send a test "help" message to majordomo. I found a permission
problem right away:
% echo help | /usr/lib/sendmail -v majordomo
majordomo... aliased to "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"
"|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"... Connecting to via prog...
shlock: open(">/usr/local/majordomo/shlock4344"): Permission denied
at /usr/local/majordomo/bin/shlock.pl line 131, <> line 1.
shlock: open(">/usr/local/majordomo/shlock4344"): Permission denied
at /usr/local/majordomo/bin/shlock.pl line 131, <> line 1.
(error message repeated every second or so)
Because I had a superuser shell ready, it was easy to kill the perl
process running on that terminal. I deleted the queued message from
the /usr/spool/mqueue directory, fixed the permission problem (the
home directory wasn't group-writable), and tried again. (One of
this book's reviewers told me that his system required all files be
owned by "daemon". He also had to make "daemon" the W_UID in his
Makefile. I don't see why, but there are a lot of systems out
there; this tip might help you too.)
Majordomo sent me a help message:
From Owner-Majordomo@ora.com Mon Aug 2 11:36:15 1993
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 93 11:36:13 PDT
To: jerry
From: Majordomo@ora.com
Subject: Majordomo results
Reply-To: Majordomo@ora.com
>>>> help
...
Commands should be sent in the body of an email message to
"Majordomo@ora.com".
Commands in the "Subject:" line NOT processed.
If you have any questions or problems, please contact
"Owner-Majordomo@ora.com".
Check the addresses in that message to be sure they're right.
2. I tested the "request-answer" program by mailing to "sample-request"
(my test list was named "sample"):
% echo help | /usr/lib/sendmail -v sample-request
...
Again, I checked the addresses in the returned message. In this
message and the one before, the envelope sender (shown in the "From
" or "Return-Path:" lines) should be one of the Majordomo aliases:
From sample-request Mon Aug 2 11:41:26 1993
Return-Path:
That's because the "wrapper" program runs as "daemon" (or, on POSIX
systems, as "root")--and those users are on the trusted user list in
the sendmail configuration file (/etc/sendmail.cf):
T root daemon uucp
The trusted user settings aren't something to experiment with. If
you're having trouble getting the right envelope sender address,
check a reference for your MTA. (The Nutshell Handbook "sendmail"
should be a help if you use that MTA.)
3. Next, be sure that your system's MTA is configured right to send
mail across a network. Go to another account on another computer,
send mail to "majordomo", then check the return addresses in the
message headers. You might ask a friend at another company to do
the same thing.
4. Subscribe to the sample list. (I did it from another computer.)
You should get a welcome message and a "Majordomo results" message:
From Owner-Majordomo@ora.com Mon Aug 2 15:22:28 1993
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 93 12:24:42 PDT
To: jerry@foobar.ora.com
From: Majordomo@ora.com
Subject: Welcome to sample
Reply-To: Majordomo@ora.com
Welcome to the sample mailing list!
If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, send the
following command in email to "Majordomo@ora.com":
unsubscribe sample jerry@foobar.ora.com (Jerry Peek)
Here's the general information for the list you've subscribed to, in
case you don't already have it:
...you should get a copy of the sample.info file here...
From Owner-Majordomo@ora.com Mon Aug 2 15:22:30 1993
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 93 12:24:41 PDT
To: jerry@foobar.ora.com
From: Majordomo@ora.com
Subject: Majordomo results
Reply-To: Majordomo@ora.com
>>>> subscribe sample
Succeeded.
5. Look at the log file; be sure these transactions are being logged.
6. Send a message to the sample list:
% /usr/lib/sendmail -v sample@ora.com
Subject: test message to sample list; will this make a log file?
Hi, folks.
^D
...watch the transaction...
And look at the message sent to the list.
From Sample-Owner@ora.com Mon Aug 2 15:27:12 1993
From: Jerry Peek
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1993 12:26:58 EDT
To: sample@ora.com
Subject: test message to sample list; will this make a log file?
Sender: Sample-Owner@ora.com
Precedence: bulk
Hi, folks.
Be sure that the message is going into the list archive file, if
any.
If you're planning to set up the "new-list" script, "comment out"
the list's current "resend" alias (add a "#" before it) and set up
"new-list". Test it to be sure you get a reply.
7. If the list is closed, private, or moderated, check whether those
features are actually working. Test the list owner's account to be
sure mail gets there--including mail about the routine subscriptions
and unsubscriptions.
Try sending a message from some other account to unsubscribe you.
Your request should be forwarded to the list owner unless you
created a "listname.auto" file.
8. Try the "newinfo" and "passwd" commands from the list owner
account. (See "Majordomo Commands for List Owners", below.) The
corresponding files in the list directory should be updated.
9. If you've made a list archive, there should be a file in it by now.
Get a listing of the archive and a copy of the file:
% /usr/lib/sendmail -v majordomo
majordomo... aliased to "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"
index sample
get sample archive
^D
"|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"... Connecting to via prog...
"|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"... sent.
If you didn't see any errors, you should get two mail messages. One
is a copy of the file; the other holds the results of the majordomo
session:
Return-Path:
To: jerry
From: Majordomo@ora.com
Subject: Majordomo file: list 'sample' file 'archive'
Reply-To: Majordomo@ora.com
--
>From Sample-Owner Mon Aug 2 12:37:46 1993
Received: by ora.com (5.65c/Spike-2.1)
id AA05037; Mon, 2 Aug 1993 12:35:17 -0700
...copy of messages from the list...
Return-Path:
To: jerry
From: Majordomo@ora.com
Subject: Majordomo results
Reply-To: Majordomo@ora.com
--
>>>> index sample
SIZE DATE NAME
5383 Sep 6 01:58 archive
>>>> get sample archive
List 'sample' file 'archive'
is being sent as a separate message.
.
MANAGING THE LISTS
Majordomo makes day-to-day operation of a mailing list easier, but
there are still things to do. If your mailing lists are open (anyone
can subscribe) and unmoderated (anyone can post), you'll get fewer
messages, but you should still expect some.
When mail (a subscription, unsubscription, or an article intended for a
moderated list) needs approval, majordomo sends the message to the list
owner(s). Any list owner (and in fact, anyone who knows the list
password) can send an approval message back to Majordomo to approve the
request.
A "list owner" is the person (or people) listed on the
"listname-approval" alias in your system aliases file. (For sendmail,
that filename is usually /usr/lib/aliases or /etc/aliases.)
Note that Majordomo lets you put different people on the
"listname-approval" and "listname-owner" aliases. If you split those
duties between two different people, keep that in mind as you read the
sections below. I've assumed that all list messages needing action go
to a single "list owner."
A List Owner's Account
All a list owner needs is to be able to send and receive e-mail. The
owner doesn't need to have login access to the system where the list is
handled.
The list owner doesn't even need to be on a UNIX system, although
majordomo comes with some UNIX scripts that make life easier for the
list owner.
Majordomo Commands for List Owners
The requests for users can also be used by list owners. But there are
three more password-protected commands just for list owners. These
aren't mentioned in Majordomo's help file. If the owner doesn't have
an account on the machine where Majordomo runs, these commands allow
routine housekeeping via e-mail:
- approve password subscribe/unsubscribe list address"
Subscribe or unsubscribe someone from the list "list". For
example:
approve !BooM! subscribe donut-makers Bob Baker
approve !BooM! unsubscribe donut-makers john.dough@bakers.org
- passwd list old-password new-password
Change the subscription approval password for "list" from
"old-password" to "new-password". Remember that this password is
stored, unencrypted, on the computer running Majordomo. Don't use
your login password!
- newinfo list password
Change the text in the "listname.info" file (the text a user
receives when they mail an "info" command or subscribe to the
list). The text is taken from the rest of the mail message until a
line with the three upper-case letters "EOF" at the start.
Majordomo version 1.90, which should be out by the time this book is
printed, has a few new commands for list owners: (Thanks to John
Rouillard for this summary.)
- config list password
E-mails a copy of the configuration file for "list" to the owner.
The owner can edit the configuration file and send it back with
"newconfig".
newconfig list password
...config file contents here...
EOF
The "newconfig" command installs a new configuration file for
"list". After you type the "newconfig" command, the rest of the
mail message should be a copy of the new configuration file.
- writeconfig list password
Rewrites the configuration file into standard form--including all
documentation in the configuration file.
- mkdigest list password
Force a digest to be generated for "list".
Approving Subscriptions and Moderating with "approve"
The list owner will receive three types of mail messages from
Majordomo:
- For subscriptions that need approval, you'll get a message with
APPROVE in the subject line. For closed lists all subscriptions
need approval. For open lists, approval is necessary only for
subscriptions where the subscriber specifies an e-mail address other
than their own.
- For moderated lists, or for other messages that "resend" rejects,
you'll get a message with BOUNCE in the subject line. The subject
will tell you the reason for the bounce, and the body will contain
the whole bounced message. You decide whether this message is
appropriate to be sent to all the subscribers.
- Reports of successful subscriptions and unsubscriptions.
Majordomo includes "approve", a Perl script for making these chores
easier. For subscription requests, "approve" sends an e-mail message
back to "majordomo" indicating that the subscription should be
accepted. For messages submitted to moderated lists, "approve" adds an
"Approved:" header and re-sends the message to the list. The next two
sections show how to do these things manually in case the list owner is
on a system where "approve" (or Perl) can't run. They also show the
e-mail messages that fly back and forth.
"approve" can be run either on the machine where majordomo is running
or on a remote machine where the list owner is managing the list by
e-mail. The "approve" script assumes that the Perl interpreter is in
/usr/local/bin/perl. If Perl is somewhere else, the first line of the
"approve" script should be edited to the path for that system:
#! /usr/local/bin/perl
"approve" uses a file named ".majordomo" (the name starts with a dot)
in the owner's home directory. It has an entry for each of the owner's
lists: the list name, list password and e-mail address of its
Majordomo server. There's a tab character (NOT space characters)
between the three fields in each line. For example, this is the
".majordomo" file for the owner of the "donut-makers" and
"mud-wrestlers" mailing lists:
donut-makers !BooM! majordomo@bakers.org
mud-wrestlers GoJoan majordomo@foo.bar.com
For security, it's a good idea to protect the file from other users.
Use a command like "chmod 600 .majordomo".
To approve a request, feed the original approval-request message from
Majordomo to the "approve" script. Messages can be saved in separate
files, one per message, and named on the command line:
% approve file1 file2 etc.
Messages can also be fed to the standard input of "approve". For
example, in MH mail, where the "show" command displays a message:
% scan 32
32+ 09/05 Majordomo@bakers.o APPROVE donut-makers<<-- postmaster@yu
% show | approve
Or in "mush", the Mail User's Shell:
...
> 32 Majordomo@bakers.org Sep 5, (29/804) "APPROVE donut-makers"
...
Msg 32 of 78: pipe approve
The command in the Berkeley "mail" program is simply a vertical bar
(|). (For other mailers, check your documentation or help screen.)
Approving Subscriptions without "approve"
It's possible that a list owner may be using a PC or some other system
where the "approve" script won't work. In that case, everything that
"approve" does can be done manually. This section and the next may
also be useful for those who want to know what "approve" does in more
detail.
If someone sends a non-routine subscription to "majordomo", the server
sends a message to the list owner. There are two kinds of non-routine
subscription. One is when the person sends a subscribe/unsubscribe
command with a different e-mail address than their own. The other is
if the list is "closed"--that is, when the owner must approve all new
subscriptions.
For example, the system postmaster at a bakery might want to set up a
list exploder (see Chapter 2) for the "donut-makers" mailing list. She
adds an exploder named donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com and sends this
mail to the Majordomo server:
From: postmaster@yummybake.com
To: majordomo@bakers.org
subscribe donut-makers donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com
When Majordomo gets the message, it sees that the subscription address
isn't the same as the sender's address. So it sends the following mail
message to the list owner:
From Owner-Majordomo@bakers.org Sun Sep 5 08:56:09 1993
To: donut-makers-approval
From: Majordomo@bakers.org
Subject: APPROVE donut-makers
Reply-To: Majordomo@bakers.org
--
postmaster@yummybake.com requests that you approve the following:
subscribe donut-makers donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com
If you approve, please send a message such as the following back to
Majordomo@bakers.org (with the appropriate PASSWORD filled in, of course):
approve PASSWORD subscribe donut-makers donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com
If you disapprove, do nothing. Thanks!
Majordomo@bakers.org
If an owner doesn't want to apprive the subscription request, I suggest
that he not just "do nothing." If a subscription is rejected, it's a
good idea to reply and explain why. Otherwise, the subscriber will
probably write to ask because she already got a message like this:
From Owner-Majordomo@bakers.org Sun Sep 5 08:56:09 1993
To: postmaster@yummybake.com
From: Majordomo@bakers.org
Subject: Majordomo results
Reply-To: Majordomo@bakers.org
--
>>>> subscribe donut-makers donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com
Your request to Majordomo@bakers.org:
subscribe donut-makers donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com
has been forwarded to the owner of the "donut-makers" list for approval.
This could be for any of several reasons:
You might have asked to subscribe to a "closed" list, where all new
additions must be approved by the list owner.
You might have asked to subscribe or unsubscribe an address other than
the one that appears in the headers of your mail message.
When the list owner approves your request, you will be notified.
If you have any questions about the policy of the list owner, please
contact "sample-approval@bakers.org". Thanks!
Majordomo@bakers.org
As the message to the list owner explained, the owner can approve the
subscription by mailing an "approve" command to the majordomo server:
From: owner-name@owner-address
To: Majordomo@bakers.org
approve !BooM! subscribe donut-makers donut-makers-dist@yummybake.com
(where "!BooM!" is the list password).
Moderating Lists without approve
This section describes how to moderate messages manually if you can't
use "approve". It also shows the messages that get passed between the
list owner and Majordomo.
Here's a message that the "donut-makers" list owner just received:
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 93 22:17:34 PDT
To: Donut-makers-Owner@bakers.org
From: Donut-makers-Owner@bakers.org
Subject: BOUNCE Donut-makers@bakers.org: Approval required
>From elliek@hearthbake.com Sun Sep 5 22:17:29 1993
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 93 22:17:29 PDT
From: elliek@hearthbake.com (Ellie Katella)
To: donut-makers@bakers.org
Subject: jelly donuts
What's your favorite recipe for jelly donuts? Thanks.
If the owner doesn't want to approve the message, it's courteous to
mail a note to the original sender and explain why. (Maybe Ellie
should read the "donut-makers" "Frequently-Asked Questions" list.)
There are a few ways to tell Majordomo (actually, the "resend" script)
to send an approved message. The easiest is the "approve" script.
Otherwise, the owner should send mail to the list address (in this
case, to Donut-makers@bakers.org). The owner adds a line like this to
the approved message header--or on the line before the approved
message:
Approved: password
There are two ways to do that:
- On a mail system like MH that lets people modify the mail message
header, send the approved message to the list address as a new
message. Add the "Approved:" header at the top. (Delete headers
like "Date:"; leave "From:", "To:", and "Subject:".) For example:
Approved: BigSecret
From: elliek@hearthbake.com (Ellie Katella)
To: donut-makers@bakers.org
Subject: jelly donuts
What's your favorite recipe for jelly donuts? Thanks.
When the "Approved:" header appears with the message headers, these
message headers will be used when the message is sent to the list.
Compare that to the second method below.
- Majordomo 1.60 added a new way to approve messages that's handy for
owners who can't modify their mail headers. Send a new mail message
to the list address. Start the message body with the "Approved:"
line. Next, read in a copy of the approved message. Delete any
useless headers and send it.
For example, in the Berkeley "mail" command:
...
N 17 Donut-makers-Owner Sun Sep 5 22:17 23/733 BOUNCE Donut-makers
...
& mail donut-makers@bakers.com
Subject:
Approved: BigSecret
~f 17
Interpolating: 17
(continue)
~v ...editor starts... edit the headers...
(continue)
~p ...shows message you've edited...
-------
Message contains:
To: donut-makers@bakers.org
Approved: BigSecret
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 93 22:17:29 PDT
From: elliek@hearthbake.com (Ellie Katella)
To: donut-makers@bakers.org
Subject: jelly donuts
What's your favorite recipe for jelly donuts? Thanks.
(continue)
^D ...sends message...
&
In this second method, the message sent to the list will contain the
headers below the "Approved:" line.
Headers above the "Approved:" won't be used.
Either way, Ellie's message will go to the list with no trace of the
password:
From Donut-makers-Owner@bakers.org Sun Sep 5 23:40:22 1993
Date: Sun, 5 Sep 93 22:17:29 PDT
From: elliek@hearthbake.com (Ellie Katella)
To: donut-makers@bakers.org
Subject: jelly donuts
Sender: Donut-makers-Owner@bakers.org
Precedence: bulk
What's your favorite recipe for jelly donuts? Thanks.
Bounced Mail and the Bounces List
List owners will get familiar with messages like these:
Return-Path:
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 93 13:24:11 EDT
From: MAILER-DAEMON@mukluk.ice.ca (Mail Delivery Subsystem)
Subject: Returned mail: Cannot send message for 3 days
Message-Id: <9310101724.AA20948@mukluk.ice.ca>
To: listown@online.ora.com
----- Transcript of session follows -----
421 tuna.ice.ca: Host tuna.ice.ca is down
----- Unsent message follows -----
Received: from online.ora.com by mukluk.ice.ca (4.1/4.7)
id for shh@tuna.ice.ca; Thu, 7 Oct 93 13:05:22 EDT
Received: by online.ora.com (5.65c/Spike-2.1)
id AA13466; Thu, 7 Oct 1993 10:13:03 -0400
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1993 10:13:03 -0400
...
If your lists will be busy, you'll probably want to set up a special
list named "bounces". It's a list for subscribers of other lists whose
mail starts bouncing. The address of the subscriber is removed from
the list they used to belong to and added to the "bounces" list. A
cron job runs the "bounce-remind" script every night to send mail to
all the people with bad addresses. The mail's "From:" address and
envelope sender are set to "nobody", a user on your system whose mail
goes to /dev/null. (The /dev/null file is actually a "black hole."
Text written there disappears; it's thrown away.)
If the mail gets through to a subscriber, the subscriber will find out
what has happened and how to fix it. If the problem isn't fixed after
a while (usually, a month or so), the list owner can review the
"bounces" subscriber list and remove the hopeless cases.
To set up the "bounces" list:
1. Make sure that the "nobody" user exists on your system. There
should also be a mail alias for "nobody" pointing to /dev/null:
nobody: /dev/null
If your system doesn't have that user and can't create it, you can
get by. Make a mail alias that has an obvious name ("trashcan",
"dustbin", "nothing", etc.) pointing to /dev/null; use it in the
setup below.
2. Follow the steps in the section "Creating a New List" to make the
"bounces" list. Here's the main entry for "resend":
bounces: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend -p junk
-l Bounces -f nobody -h foo.com.au -s bounces-outgoing"
The priority "junk" helps stop mail bounces.
3. Check the "bounce-remind" script to be sure that the path to the
Perl interpreter on the first line is correct. Take a quick look
through the script.
4. Make a crontab entry to run "bounce-remind" once a night.
5. Help list owners set up their accounts with the "bounce" script.
Remember that the owners' ".majordomo" files need an entry for the
"bounces" list as well as the other lists.
Bounced messages come in so many different formats that it's hard to
completely automate subscriptions to the "bounces" list. (In fact, in
some cases, the addressee of the bounced mail won't even be shown in
the message!) If the list owner's system can run a Perl script, the
"bounces" script makes the job easy. The script works differently than
"approve". The script doesn't read a message from a file or standard
input. Instead, it reads its command line arguments:
% bounce listname user@xyz.com
That command would unsubscribe the address user@xyz.com from the
"listname" list and add them to the "bounces" list. An owner who can't
run the "bounce" script can send mail to Majordomo with two commands
like these:
approve passwdA unsubscribe listname user@xyz.com
approve passwdB subscribe bounces user@xyz.com (931005 listname)
The first command unsubscribes the user from the current list. The
second one subscribes the user to the "bounces" list, with a comment
that shows the date and the name of the list they used to belong to.
The Majordomo Log File
Majordomo keeps a log file. The file's pathname is set in the $log
variable in your majordomo.cf file. It's a good idea to read the file
every day or two.
When Majordomo is busy (such as after you've added a new list), you may
want to run "tail -f" to watch messages as they're being added to the
log. Clean it out periodically. I've found it useful to keep
compressed copies of old log files for reference.
The log file won't give you much help with security problems. (As
Brent has made clear, security wasn't one of Majordomo's main goals.)
Transactions are logged with the "Reply-to:" or "From:" address in the
mail message header. For example, you can send a message like this:
Reply-to: John Doe
From: Your-real-name
To: majordomo@bakers.org
passwd donut-makers oldpassword newpassword
This is what will be logged (and it will be "FAILED" only if the old
password was incorrect):
Sep 05 21:06:31 bakers majordomo[27604] {johndoe@nowhere.org}
FAILED passwd donut-makers OLD NEW
There's no trace of the original sender or any way to see the "OLD"
password he tried. One way to track messages like these is by reading
your system MTA log file. Another is by making duplicates of all mail
sent to "majordomo". For instance, the following alias would send a
copy of all majordomo requests to "owner-majordomo":
majordomo: owner-majordomo, "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper majordomo"
Of course, on a busy system, the person who is "owner-majordomo"
will get a lot of mail; a mail filter program like "procmail" can store
that mail and help to sort out the messages you might really want to
see. (You can get "procmail", by Stephen R. van den Berg, from many
anonymous FTP sites.) Instead of a mailbox address, you can also give
the absolute pathname of a log file. Note that, in many cases, the
file will need to be world-writable (mode 622 or 666).
Managing the Archives
An archive is a file containing messages that previously appeared on
the mailing list. You can create an archive simply by putting an entry
in the system MTA alias file as described in the section "Creating a
New List".
A list's archive will keep growing forever until you truncate or split
it. It's a good idea to split the file once in a while. Otherwise,
people who "get" it can receive a HUGE mail message. (Worse, some
mailer may truncate the file or refuse to send it.)
Majordomo doesn't come with fancy archive management tools. The
Majordomo distribution comes with a Perl script named
"split_archive.pl"--it's in the "Tools" subdirectory. It splits an
archive file into separate files, one per message, named 0001, 0002,
and so on.
You can also put any ASCII file in the archive, and set up a directory
hierarchy. But you need to do this by hand. For example, if you want
majordomo to mail files that contain non-text characters, you'll need
to pre-process the files with a utility like "uuencode" or "btoa".
If your site has an anonymous FTP area, you can set Majordomo to store
your archives there. You can also configure the majordomo.cf file to
handle "get" commands by mailing requests to an ftpmail server. (See
the section "Installing Majordomo".) To do that, define the variables
$ftpmail_address (and, optionally $ftpmail_location--the default is the
local host) in the majordomo.cf file. The ftpmail setup assumes that
the FTP archive is structured the same way as your local archive
directory. It uses the pathname $filedir/listname$filedir_suffix for
the archive directory, then issues an FTP "get" command for the file
specified.
Disabling Majordomo Temporarily
Once Majordomo is running on your system, how do you do maintenance?
It's always active because mail aliases will start the program
anytime. If you make a mistake in your maintenance, mail can start to
bounce. One way is to shut off your system's sendmail daemon, but that
affects all mail on your system.
An easier way is to make a small "stub" shell script named
"majordomo.hold":
#! /bin/sh
exit 75
Make that file executable with "chmod 755 majordomo.hold". Then
quickly (so there's less chance of causing incoming mail to bounce)
swap the "majordomo" Perl script and your "majordomo.hold" script:
% mv majordomo majordomo.tmp && mv majordomo.hold majordomo
(The shell's "&&" operator lets you type both command lines before
executing either of them. It does the second "mv" command only if the
first one succeeds.) When mail comes in, sendmail will run your little
script, which will return an exit status of 75. This special status
makes sendmail defer (queue) the incoming message and try to deliver it
to "majordomo:" again later. When you're done with your maintenance,
swap the script with the real "majordomo" script and mail will be
processed again. (Special exit statuses like 75 are listed in the file
/usr/include/sysexits.h.)
The same thing works with "resend"; disabling it will disable all of
the lists.
Note that your sendmail may convert pathnames of commands run by
deferred messages to all lower-case letters. This problem may only
bite you after you defer messages. For example, if your "resend" alias
starts like this:
sample: "|/usr/local/majordomo/bin/wrapper resend
-A -a /usr/local/majordomo/Lists/Sample.passwd
The "L" and "S" in that pathname may be changed to "l" and "s" when the
message is deferred. If they are, "resend" won't be able to find the
password file. The fix for this problem is to either change your
sendmail.cf file or make all your file and directory names with only
lower-case letters.