[thelist] Re: how to set up a mailing list

[Kevin Martin]

Andy responded to BT:
> If mail is not automatically delivered via procmail,
> you can force it through there using a .forward file.
>
> Come to think of it, if you want all of your mail to go through a single
> script, you can put something like "| /home/user/bin/mailprocess.pl" in
> your .forward file.

If BT has access to procmail, a very easy to use mailing list program
is "minordomo" (Yes, the name is a play on "Majordomo").

### minordomo -- a lightweight mail processor for moderated
###              mailing lists
### Copyright 1996-2000, Sanford Morton <smorton at pobox.com>
###              except material authored by others

You can get it at Tucows among other places -- Google is your friend.

I set it up to provide a mailing list for a few people I used to work with,
and it was painless.  I even added the ability for them to subscribe and
unsubscribe without manual intervention.  (One downside -- I get the
bounces if one of them has a full mailbox or closes his account, but
that's not unusual for any list manager.)

The recipes to add to procmail are pretty simple:

:0
* ^To: .*mylist at example\.com
* ^Subject: .*unsubscribe
        | $HOME/bin/mdomo -u

:0
* ^To: .*mylist at example\.com
* ^Subject: subscribe
        | $HOME/bin/mdomo -s

:0
* ^To: .*mylist at example\.com
* !^Subject: .*subscribe
* !^X-loop: alreadyseenhere
        | $HOME/bin/mdomo


The first unsubscribes the member, the second subscribes them,
and the third actually echos mail to the entire list.  The minordomo
code adds an "X-loop" header to outgoing mail; I test for that to
avoid a runaway loop.  The reason for doing it in this order should
be clear.

Also check to see if your mailbox receives mail sent to "plussed"
addresses; that way you don't even need a separate account for
your list.  If your address is "myname at example.com" then see if
you receive mail sent to "myname+anything at example.com" and if so
then you can use "myname+mylist at example.com" for your mailing list.

--
Kevin Martin <evolt at brasscannon.net>