The mailing list creation tool is Sympa's web interface. However, this web feature has only been available from version 2.7 onwards. Users of previous versions will need to create new lists using their favorite text file editor.
This chapter describe how to create a mailing list without using
web tools. See 12, page for
instructions on the use of WWSympa, which is no doubt the easier method.
The only part of list creation requiring system privileges is the declaration of new system-wide mail aliases. All the other steps should be performed by the sympa user, which will ensure that the files created have the correct access permissions.
For each new list, it is necessary to create three mail aliases (the location of the sendmail alias file varies from one system to another).
For example, to create the mylist list, the following aliases must be added:
mylist: "|/home/sympa/bin/queue mylist" mylist-request: "|/home/sympa/bin/queue mylist-request" mylist-editor: "|/home/sympa/bin/queue mylist-editor" mylist-owner: "|/home/sympa/bin/bouncequeue mylist mylist-subscribe: "|/home/sympa/bin/queue mylist-subscribe" mylist-unsubscribe: "|/home/sympa/bin/queue mylist-unsubscribe"
The address mylist-request should correspond to the person responsible for managing mylist (the owner). Sympa will forward messages for mylist-request to the owner of mylist, as defined in the ~sympa/expl/mylist/config file. Using this feature means you would not need to modify the alias file if the owner of the list were to change.
Similarly, the address mylist-editor can be used to contact the list editors if any are defined in ~sympa/expl/mylist/config. This address definition is not compulsory.
The address mylist-owner is the address receiving
non-delivery reports. The bouncequeue program stores these messages
in the queuebounce directory. WWSympa ((see 1.2, page )
may then analyze them and provide a web access to them.
The address mylist-subscribe is an address enabling users to subscribe in a manner which can easily be explained to them. Beware: subscribing this way is so straightforward that you may find spammers subscribing to your list by accident.
The address mylist-unsubscribe is the equivalent for unsubscribing. By the way, the easier it is for users to unsubscribe, the easier it will be for you to manage your list!
Each list has its own directory whose name defines the list name. We recommend creating it with the same name as the alias. This directory is located in ~sympa/expl (or any other home which you might have defined in the/etc/sympa.conf file).
Here is a list of files/directories you may find in the list directory :
archives/ bye.tpl config info invite.tpl homepage message.header message.footer reject.tpl remind.tpl removed.tpl stats subscribers welcome.tpl \end {verbatim} \end {quote} \section {List configuration file} \label {exp-config} The configuration file for the \mailaddr {\samplelist} list is named \tildefile {sympa/expl/\samplelist/config}. \Sympa reads it into memory the first time the list is referred to. This file is not rewritten by \Sympa, so you may put comment lines in it. It is possible to change this file when the program is running. Changes are taken into account the next time the list is accessed. Be careful to provide read access for \Sympa to this file ! You will find a few configuration files in the \dir {sample} directory. Copy one of them to \tildefile {sympa/expl/\samplelist/config} and customize it. List configuration parameters are described in the list creation section, \ref {list-configuration-param}, page~\pageref {list-configuration-param}. \section {Examples of configuration files} This first example is for a list open to everyone: \begin {quote} \begin{verbatim} subject First example (an open list) visibility noconceal owner email Pierre.David@prism.uvsq.fr send public review public
The second example is for a moderated list with authenticated subscription:
subject Second example (a moderated list) visibility noconceal owner email moi@ici.fr editor email big.prof@ailleurs.edu send editor subscribe auth review owner reply_to_header value list cookie 142cleliste
The third example is for a moderated list, with subscription controlled by the owner, and running in digest mode. Subscribers who are in digest mode receive messages on Mondays and Thursdays.
owner email moi@ici.fr editor email prof@ailleurs.edu send editor subscribe owner review owner reply_to_header value list digest 1,4 12:00
WARNING: Sympa will not use this file if the list is configured with include or database user_data_source.
The ~sympa/expl/mylist/subscribers file is automatically created and populated. It contains information about list subscribers. It is not advisable to edit this file. Main parameters are:
E-mail address of subscriber.
Information about subscriber (last name, first name, etc.) This parameter is optional at subscription time.
Special receive modes which the subscriber may select.
Special modes can be either nomail, digest, summary, notice, txt,
html, urlize, not_me .
In normal receive mode, the receive attribute
for a subscriber is not displayed. See the SET LISTNAME SUMMARY (17.1,
page ),
the SET LISTNAME NOMAIL command (17.1,
page
), and the digest
parameter (13.4.7, page
).
Special mode which allows the subscriber to remain invisible when
a REVIEW command is issued for the list. If this
parameter is not declared, the subscriber will be visible
for REVIEW. Note: this option does not affect
the results of a REVIEW command issued by an
owner. See the SET LISTNAME MAIL command (17.1, page ) for
details.
~sympa/expl/mylist/info should contain a detailed text description of the list, to be displayed by the INFO command. It can also be referenced from template files for service messages.
~sympa/expl/mylist/homepage is the HTML text on the WWSympa info page for the list.
These files are used by Sympa as service messages for commands such as
SUB, ADD, SIG, DEL, REJECT.
These files are interpreted (parsed) by Sympa and respect the template
format ; every file has the .tpl extension. See 9.1,
page .
Sympa looks for these files in the following order :
If the file starts with a From: line, it is taken to be a full message and will be sent (after parsing) without the addition of SMTP headers. Otherwise the file is treated as a text/plain message body.
The following variables may be used in list template files :
You may also dynamically include a file from a template using the [INCLUDE] directive.
Example:
Dear [user->email], Welcome to list [list->name.@[list->host]. Presentation of the list : [INCLUDE 'info'] The owners of [list->name] are : [FOREACH ow IN list->owner] [ow->gecos] <[ow->email]> [END]
Sympa will send a welcome message for every subscription. The welcome message can be customized for each list.
Sympa will send a farewell message for each SIGNOFF mail command received.
This message is sent to users who have been deleted (using the DELETE command) from the list by the list owner.
Sympa will send a reject message to the senders of messages rejected by the list editor. If the editor prefixes her REJECT with the keyword QUIET, the reject message will not be sent.
This message is sent to users who have been invited (using the INVITE command) to subscribe to a list.
You may use additional variables
This file contains a message sent to each subscriber
when one of the list owners sends the REMIND command
(see 17.2, page ).
Template for summaries (reception mode close to digest),
see 17.1, page .
~sympa/expl/mylist/stats is a text file containing statistics about the list. Data are numerics separated by white space within a single line :
These files are used by Sympa to create task files. They are interpreted (parsed)
by the task manager and respect the task format. See 9.10, page .
Every year Sympa will send a message (the template remind.tpl) to all subscribers of the list to remind them their subscription.
Every month Sympa will delete subscribers older than one year who haven't answered two warning messages.
You may create ~sympa/expl/mylist/message.header and ~sympa/expl/mylist/message.footer files. Their content is added, either at the beginning or at the end of each message before the distribution process.
The footer_type list parameter defines whether to attach the header/footer content as a MIME part (except for multipart/alternative messages), or to append them to the message body (for text/plain messages).
The ~sympa/expl/mylist/archives/ directory contains the
archived messages for lists which are archived; see 13.6.1,
page . The files are named in accordance with the
archiving frequency defined by the archive parameter.