Mailman Commands

by Brad Anderson on January 24, 2007 · No Comments

The email interface

Every mailing list has a set of email addresses to which messages can be sent. There’s always one address for posting messages to the list, one address to which bounces are sent, and addresses for processing email commands. For the Framers mailing list called framers@lists.frameusers.com, you’d find these addresses:

framers@lists.frameusers.com – this is the email address people should use for new postings to the list.

framers-join@lists.frameusers.com – by sending a message to this address, a new member can request subscription to the list. Both the Subject: header and body of such a message are ignored. Note that framers-subscribe@lists.frameusers.com is an alias for the -join address.

framers-leave@lists.frameusers.com – by sending a message to this address, a member can request unsubscription from the list. As with the -join address, the Subject: header and body of the message is ignored. Note that framers-unsubscribe@lists.frameusers.com is an alias for the -leave address.

framers-owner@lists.frameusers.com – This address reaches the list owner and list moderators directly. This is the address you use if you need to contact the person or people in charge.

framers-request@lists.frameusers.com – This address reaches a mail robot which processes email commands that can be used to set member subscription options, as well as process other commands. A list of members’ email commands is provided in Appendix A.

framers-bounces@lists.frameusers.com – This address is used in Mailman’s automatic bounce processing.

framers-confirm@lists.frameusers.com – This address is used for processing confirmation messages for subscription and unsubscription requests.

There’s also an ADMIN address which also reaches the list administrators – listadmin@frameusers.com.

For changing options, we use the LISTNAME-request address (for example, framers-request@lists.frameusers.com).

Commands can appear in the subject line or the body of the message. Each command should be on a separate line. If your mail program automatically appends a signature to your messages, you may want to put the word “end” (without the quotes) on a separate line after your other commands. The end command tells Mailman not to process the email after that point.
The most important command is probably the “help” command, since it makes Mailman return a message full of useful information about the email commands and directions to the web interface.

Email commands quick reference

confirm CONFIRMATION-STRING
• Confirm an action. The confirmation-string is required and should be supplied within a mailback confirmation notice.

end
• Stop processing commands. Use this if your mail program automatically adds a signature file.

help
• Receive a copy of the help message.

info
• Get information about this mailing list.

lists
• See a list of the public mailing lists on this GNU Mailman server.

password [ ] [address=

]
• Retrieve or change your password. With no arguments, this returns your current password. With arguments and you can change your password.
set …
• Set or view your membership options.
• Use `set help’ (without the quotes) to get a more detailed list of the options you can change. This list is also given in Appendix B.
• Use `set show’ (without the quotes) to view your current option settings.

subscribe [] [digest|nodigest] [address=

]
• Subscribe to this mailing list. Your password must be given to unsubscribe or change your options, but if you omit the password, one will be generated for you. You may be periodically reminded of your password.
• The next argument may be either: `nodigest’ or `digest’ (no quotes!). If you wish to subscribe an address other than the address you sent this request from, you may specify `address=ADDRESS’ (no brackets around the email address, and no quotes!)

unsubscribe [] [address=

]
• Unsubscribe from the mailing list. If given, your password must match your current password. If omitted, a confirmation email will be sent to the unsubscribing address. If you wish to unsubscribe an address other than the address you sent this request from, you may specify `address=ADDRESS’ (no brackets around the email address, and no quotes!)

Brad AndersonJanuary 24, 2007