.. index:: single: Mailing Lists

Mailing Lists
=============

Installing the necessary software
---------------------------------

-  The software is normally installed as part of Red Hat Enterprise
   Linux (Mail Man mailing list software):
   http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/index.html
-  If mailman is not installed, sudo yum install mailman should install
   the required package.

Creating the mailing list
-------------------------

#. Create the list at the command line on grand
#. Command: sudo /usr/lib/mailman/bin/newlist

   #. Enter name of list
   #. Enter email of admin (person running list). Probably TA or project
      leader
   #. Enter admin password for this list
   #. You will be presented with a list of aliases that need to be
      created. Copy this into a buffer/temporary file

#. Paste these aliases into /etc/aliases
#. Run: sudo /usr/bin/newaliases
#. You can now admin the list at:
   http://grand.cs.ualberta.ca/mailman/admin/LISTNAME
#. Secure the installation by changing a few settings:
#. On the main page you may want to set to "0" the setting "Maximum
   length in kilobytes (KB) of a message body."
#. On the Privacy options set "What steps are required for
   subscription?" to be "Confirm and Approve"
#. Again, on privacy options set "Advertise this list when people ask
   what lists are on this machine" to be "No"
#. Under "Archiving Options", set "Is archive file source for public or
   private archival?" to "private".

Killing an obsolete mailing list
--------------------------------

You need to run the commands as sudo. Be careful as always.

Remove the list from mailman: Commandline using:

-  sudo /usr/lib/mailman/bin/rmlist -a listname
-  The -a removes the archives on disk
-  You can get params and help on any of the binaries for mailman with
   something like:
-  sudo /usr/lib/mailman/bin/rmlist -h

Remove the aliases (to avoid cruft) in /etc/aliases

-  Open /etc/aliases in your favourite editor (emacs of course!)
-  After removing/adding entries, you need to run the command: sudo
   newaliases
   
Managing Mailing List Rules from the Forum
------------------------------------------

You can manage who gets automatically subscribed/unsubscribed by going to Special:MailingListRules

1. Select the mailing list to edit
2. Add/Edit a rule

   a. Select the type of rule (Role, Project, Phase, Location)
   b. Then select the value of that rule
   c. The rules which have the same type use the 'OR' operation, and those which are of different types use the 'AND' operation when evaluating whether or not a person should be in that list

      i. For example if the rules are as follows:

         - Role: PNI
         - Role: CNI
         - Location: Toronto
         - Project: KNOW

         It will result in the following boolean expression: ((Role == PNI || Role == CNI) && (Location == 'Toronto') && (Project == 'KNOW'))