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1994-09-08
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MLP - Mailing List Processor for OS/2 Version 0.6
==========================================================================
Edition: first
Date: September 1, 1994
Author: Jivko Koltchev <jivko@netcom.com>
**************************************************************************
THIS DOCUMENT will help you understand what MLP is and how to make it
work for you.
Please read this document before you ever try MLP to avoid
any problems and possible damages to your system.
NOTICES
MLP is FREEWARE but that does not mean that you are allowed
to do everything you want with it.
COPYRIGHT 1994 by Jivko Koltchev All Rights Reserved.
Publication of this document or MLP software in any form
is expressly prohibited without the explicit permission of
the author. Any distribution of this program must include
both program and documentation without any modifications.
This program is available for you to use free of charge while
commercial sale or re-sale of this program is allowed only
with the approval of the author.
DISCLAIMER: No warranties or guarantees are expressed or implied. The
author assumes no liability for any damage or loss whatsoever
that may occur while this program is being used. The author
is under no obligation whatsoever to provide support of any
kind.
**************************************************************************
1. History
Since I could not find OS/2 based mailing list processor for a very long
time and I needed one a lot I decided that I may as well put one together.
Porting an existing one was not very acceptable idea because of the format
in which IBM's TCP/IP package stores the incoming e-mail.
I have been using this list processor for several mounts now without
significant problem and hope you will be able to set it up and use it
as well.
2. Requirements
MLP requires OS/2 2.x and IBM TCP/IP (It should work fine with version
1.2.1 though I am currently using it with 2.0)
3. Installation
It is very simple to install and configure MLP. Here are the few steps
you will have to follow:
a) create directory for you list processor (let it be MLP)
b) copy mlp.exe in that directory.
c) you are all set. MLP is already installed on your system. You may
want to include your MLP directory in your PATH environment though
I do not recommend it.
NOTE: I assume you already have the IBM's TCP/IP package installed and
configured to receive and send E-mail messages.
4. Configuration
There isn't much you will have to configure except the names of the
mailing lists you would like to have available and few standard messages
for every single one of the lists. (There is no mistake here. MLP can
support multiple mailing lists on the same machine)
a) Mailing lists' names
Create a ASCII text file named mlist.cf in your MLP directory with
you favorite text editor and enter the names of the lists you
would like to have available one per line. Here is an example:
# Top of file
# The following is ListNameOne
ListNameOne
# The following is ListNameTwo
ListNameTwo
# Bottom of file
Lines beginning with '#' as first character will be ignored.
Blank lines will be ignored
The lists' names may not contain spaces
The lists' names may not have more than 29 characters (should be plenty)
b) Dedicated directories.
For every mailing list you will have to create 'home' directory. That
directory should carry the name of the list and be located in the MLP
directory. MLP will be using that 'home' directory to store temporary
messages and will keep them there as long as needed.
c) Subscribe greetings
Every mailing list should have a special file name 'subscribe' which
MLP will mail back automatically to every new member. The 'subscribe'
file should be located in the 'home' directory of the corresponding
mailing list.
c) Unsubscribe message
Every mailing list should have a special file name 'unsubscribe' which
MLP will mail back automatically to every member indicating termination
of his or her membership. The 'unsubscribe' file should be located in
the 'home' directory of the corresponding mailing list.
5. How to run the program?
MLP can be started without any arguments. It will automatically locate
your sendmail.cf file (using the ETC variable) and find out where your
InBox resides. Thus MLP will be able to monitor all the incoming mail
and process it almost immediately.
If you do not want MLP to monitor your InBox but and other folder instead
you can run MLP and as a first parameter specify the name of the folder's
index file. One may want to do it this way if one wants to monitor the
messages posted on the list and remove some of them from time to time. If
this is the case than you will have to move the messages from you InBox to
the specified to MLP folder so that MLP will be able to process the
messages.
As a second argument to MLP you may specify a log file in which MLP
will save most of the message id otherwise displays on the screen.
I know it is annoying to not have switches for the arguments and have
to remember their position but...So if you want to have MLP save
information to a log file and in the same time figure out by itself where
your InBox index is you should use the following command line:
MLP . mlp.log
^------------The dot here tells MLP to ignore that argument
Most probably you would like to have MLP start automatically every time
you restart your system. The best place to do this is not your STARTUP.CMD
file because this way MLP will be started before the TCP/IP has been
initialized and if there are messages to be posted MLP will start doing
it right away. (MLP uses sendmail.exe to send its messages so it doesn't
really care if the network is up or not. Perhaps I should change that but
it will be in one of the future release.) So the best place to start MLP
is at the end of your TCPSTART.CMD file including the following few lines:
drive:
cd \MLP
MLP . mlp.log
I am sure you will find much better ways to do it but the above is
something that should work.
5. How to stop the program?
Hit <Esc> to kill the process.
7. How does it work at all?
a) Form the users' prospective
- to subscribe a user will have to send e-mail to
mailing_list@your.host with subject 'subscribe' (one word only)
In confirmation the user will receive you 'subscribe' file.
- to unsubscribe a user will have to send e-mail to
mailing_list@your.host with subject 'unsubscribe' (one word only)
In confirmation the user will receive you 'unsubscribe' file.
- to receive some help the user will have to send e-mail to
mailing_list@your.host with subject 'help' (one word only)
In result the user will receive your 'help' file.
- to post messages to all the subscribers a user will have to
send e-mail to mailing_list@your.host with any subject but
'subscribe', 'unsubscribe' or 'help'
b) From your prospective
- there will be a special data base file "musers" created in the
MLP directory. This file is very important. Make sure you do not
delete it by mistake.
Because of the way the data is stored in musers you may notice
that it doesn't change its size after some users have unsubscribed.
That is OK. MLP will not rewrite the file but will try to make
use of the available empty space the next time someone subscribes
to any list.
Unfortunately there is no utility that currently allows you to edit
the msusers file. It will become available soon, especially if
there is some interest. I personally manage the list in a very
simple way (I have done it not more than 5 time up till now) by
sending fake e-mail to the list I need.
In case the data base file gets corrupted (It can happen if you
reset your computer without stopping the MLP process) the next time
you run MLP it will try to restore the musers file and work with
it. If you overwrite portions of that file, MLP may not be able
to restore it properly.
- when a message cannot be sent to its recipient MLP will keep trying
every hour to deliver the message for about 72 hours. At the end
the message will be discarded and the recipient removed from the
mailing list.
8. Support
Send e-mail to Jivko@netcom.com and I will be glad to help as much as
I can. Any comments and suggestions are welcome. I hope I will be able
to allocate enough time to support this product in the future although
I do not expect a lot of interest towards it.
9. Known problems
- It may not be a good idea to subscribe to any of the mailing lists from
the machine on which you are running MLP. Somehow sendmail doesn't
always behave very nicely when sending E-mail to itself. I have an idea
what the problem might be an will hopefully fix it in the next release.
10.The latest version
Send E-mail to jivko@netcom.com and I will be happy to mail the latest
version of MLP back to you. If you also indicate in your e-mail that you
would like to receive future release by e-mail I will add you to the list
of people I will be e-mailing every new release.
11.The money
Feel free to contribute whatever you can without being obliged to do so.
Be warned however that I will not accept contributions exceeding the amount
of $1000 per site without strong motivation on your side.
ENJOY