updating the content for this guide

author: bwarsaw <> 2004-12-14 14:14:32 +0000
committer: bwarsaw <> 2004-12-14 14:14:32 +0000
commit: a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822 (patch)
tree: bb447beeccdfa07a18082a99929ea7eb9f85cf9e /admin/www/mailman-admin/node18.html
parent: d497f1c251bff2eae3bce19d183a4bd988fe37e4 (diff)
download: mailman2-a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822.tar.gz
mailman2-a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822.tar.xz
mailman2-a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822.zip
1 files changed, 286 insertions, 70 deletions
diff --git a/admin/www/mailman-admin/node18.html b/admin/www/mailman-admin/node18.html
index 51b3e503..7eb98306 100644
--- a/admin/www/mailman-admin/node18.html
+++ b/admin/www/mailman-admin/node18.html
@@ -1,99 +1,315 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
 <html>
 <head>
-<title>3.4 The Membership Management Category</title>
-<META NAME="description" CONTENT="3.4 The Membership Management Category">
-<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="mailman-admin">
-<META NAME="resource-type" CONTENT="document">
-<META NAME="distribution" CONTENT="global">
-<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
-<link rel="STYLESHEET" href="mailman-admin.css">
-<link rel="first" href="mailman-admin.html">
-<link rel="contents" href="contents.html" title="Contents">
-
-<LINK REL="next" HREF="node19.html">
-<LINK REL="previous" HREF="node17.html">
-<LINK REL="up" HREF="node9.html">
-<LINK REL="next" HREF="node19.html">
+<link rel="STYLESHEET" href="mailman-admin.css" type='text/css' />
+<link rel="first" href="mailman-admin.html" title='GNU Mailman - List Administration Manual' />
+<link rel='contents' href='contents.html' title="Contents" />
+<link rel='last' href='about.html' title='About this document...' />
+<link rel='help' href='about.html' title='About this document...' />
+<link rel="next" href="node19.html" />
+<link rel="prev" href="node17.html" />
+<link rel="parent" href="node8.html" />
+<link rel="next" href="node19.html" />
+<meta name='aesop' content='information' />
+<title>2.5 The Non-digest Options Category</title>
 </head>
 <body>
 <DIV CLASS="navigation">
+<div id='top-navigation-panel' xml:id='top-navigation-panel'>
 <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
 <tr>
-<td><A HREF="node17.html"><img src="../icons/previous.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Previous Page" width="32"></A></td>
-<td><A HREF="node9.html"><img src="../icons/up.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Up One Level" width="32"></A></td>
-<td><A HREF="node19.html"><img src="../icons/next.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Next Page" width="32"></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="2.4 The Membership Management"
+  href="node17.html"><img src='previous.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="2 The List Configuration"
+  href="node8.html"><img src='up.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="2.6 The Digest Options"
+  href="node19.html"><img src='next.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td>
 <td align="center" width="100%">GNU Mailman - List Administration Manual</td>
-<td><A href="contents.html"><img src="../icons/contents.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Contents" width="32"></A></td>
-<td><img src="../icons/blank.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="" width="32"></td>
-<td><img src="../icons/blank.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="" width="32"></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"
+  href="contents.html"><img src='contents.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><img src='blank.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='' width='32' /></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><img src='blank.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='' width='32' /></td>
 </tr></table>
-<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" HREF="node17.html">3.3 The Language Options</A>
-<b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" HREF="node9.html">3 The List Configuration</A>
-<b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" HREF="node19.html">3.5 The Non-digest Options</A>
-<br><hr>
+<div class='online-navigation'>
+<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b>
+<a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="node17.html">2.4 The Membership Management</A>
+<b class="navlabel">Up:</b>
+<a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="node8.html">2 The List Configuration</A>
+<b class="navlabel">Next:</b>
+<a class="sectref" rel="next" href="node19.html">2.6 The Digest Options</A>
+</div>
+<hr /></div>
 </DIV>
 <!--End of Navigation Panel-->
 
-<H2><A NAME="SECTION002340000000000000000">
-3.4 The Membership Management Category</A>
+<H2><A NAME="SECTION002250000000000000000">
+2.5 The Non-digest Options Category</A>
 </H2>
 
 <P>
-The <i>Membership Management</i> category is unlike the other
-administrative categories.  It doesn't contain configuration variables
-or list settings.  Instead, it presents a number of pages that allow
-you to manage the membership of you list.  This includes pages for
-subscribing and unsubscribing members, and for searching for members,
-and for changing various member-specific settings.
+Mailman delivers messages to users via two modes.  List members can
+elect to receive postings in bundles call <em>digests</em> one or a few
+times a day, or they can receive messages immediately whenever the
+message is posted to the list.  This latter delivery mode is also
+called <em>non-digest delivery</em>.  There are two administrative
+categories available for separately controlling digest and non-digest
+delivery.  You can even disable one or the other forms of delivery
+(but not both).
 
 <P>
-More details on membership management are described in the Membership
-Management section.
+Both kinds of delivery can have list-specific headers and footers
+added to them which can contain other useful information you want your
+list members to see.  For example, you can include instructions for
+unsubscribing, or a url to the lists digest, or any other information.
 
 <P>
+Non-digest deliveries can also be <em>personalized</em> which means
+certain parts of the message can contain information tailored to the
+member receiving the message.  For example, the <span class="mailheader">To:</span> header
+will contain the address of the member when deliveries are
+personalized.  Footers and headers can contain personalized
+information as well, such as a link to the individual user's options
+page.
 
+<P>
+In addition, personalized messages will contain extra information that
+Mailman can use to unambiguously track bounces from members.
+Ordinarily, Mailman does some pattern recognition on bounce messages
+to determine list members whose addresses are no longer valid, but
+because of the vagaries of mail systems, and the countless forwards
+people can put in place, it's often the case that bounce messages
+don't contain any useful information in them.  Personalized messages
+avoid this problem by encoding information in certain headers that
+unambiguously identify the recipient of a message.  If that message
+bounces, Mailman will know exactly which member it was intended for.
+
+<P>
+Note that because personalization requires extra system resources, it
+must be enabled by the site administrator before you can choose it.
+
+<P>
+Here are the variables which control non-digest delivery:
+
+<P>
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>nondigestable</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This option controls whether members can receive immediate
+    delivery or not.  If not, they will be forced to receive messages
+    in digests.  You can't disable non-digest delivery if digests are
+    already disabled.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>personalize</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This option turns on message personalization.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>msg_header</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This text box lets you enter information that will be included in
+    the header of every non-digest message sent through the
+    list.
+
+<P>
+See below for more information on what can go in the headers and
+    footers.  If you leave this text box empty, no header will be
+    added.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>msg_footer</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>Just like with the header, you can add a footer to every message.
+    The same rules apply to footers as apply to headers.
+</DD>
+</DL>
+
+<P>
+Headers and footers can contain any text you want.  For non-English
+lists, the headers and footers can contain any character in the
+character set of the list's preferred language.  The headers and
+footers can also contain <em>substitution variables</em> which Mailman
+will fill in with information taken from the mailing list.  These
+substitutions are in Python string interpolation format, where
+something like <code>%(list_name)s</code> is substituted with he name of
+the mailing list.  Note that the trailing "<tt class="samp">s</tt>" is
+required<A NAME="tex2html4"
+  HREF="#foot279"><SUP>2</SUP></A>.
+
+<P>
+For example, a footer containing the following text:
+
+<P>
+<div class="verbatim"><pre>
+This is the \%(list_name)s mailing list
+Description: \%(description)s
+</pre></div>
+
+<P>
+might get attached to postings like so:
+
+<P>
+<div class="verbatim"><pre>
+This is the Example mailing list
+Description: An example of Mailman mailing lists
+</pre></div>
+
+<P>
+Here is the list of substitution variables available for your headers
+and footers:
+
+<P>
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>real_name</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This is the value of the <code>real_name</code> configuration variable
+    in the General options category.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>list_name</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This is the canonical name of the mailing list.  In other words
+    it's the posting address of the list<A NAME="tex2html5"
+  HREF="#foot280"><SUP>3</SUP></A>.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>host_name</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This is the domain name part of the email address for this list.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>web_page_url</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This is the base url for contacting the list via the web.  It can
+    be appended with <code>listinfo/%(list_name)s</code> to yield the
+    general list information page for the mailing list.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>description</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The brief description of the mailing list.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>info</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This is the full description of the mailing list.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>cgiext</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>This is the extension added to CGI scripts.  It might be the empty
+    string, <code>.cgi</code>, or something else depending on how your site
+    is configured.
+</DD>
+</DL>
+
+<P>
+Note that <code>real_name</code>, <code>host_name</code>, <code>description</code>, and
+<code>info</code> substitution variables take their values from the list
+configuration variables of the same name.
+
+<P>
+When personalization is enabled, the following substitution variables
+are also available:
+
+<P>
+<DL>
+<DT><STRONG>user_address</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The address of the recipient of the message, coerced to lower case.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>user_delivered_to</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The case-preserved address that the user subscribed to the mailing
+    list with<A NAME="tex2html6"
+  HREF="#foot281"><SUP>4</SUP></A>.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>user_password</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The user's password, in clear text.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>user_name</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The user's full name.
+
+<P>
+</DD>
+<DT><STRONG>user_optionsurl</STRONG></DT>
+<DD>The url to the user's personal options page.
+</DD>
+</DL>
+
+<P>
+<BR><HR><H4>Footnotes</H4>
+<DL>
+<DT><A NAME="foot279">...
+required</A><A
+ HREF="node18.html#tex2html4"><SUP>2</SUP></A></DT>
+<DD>The site administrator can configure lists to use a
+simpler interpolation format, where <code>$list_name</code> or
+<code>${list_name}</code> would be substituted with the mailing list's
+name.  Ask your site administrator if the've configured your list this
+way.
+
+</DD>
+<DT><A NAME="foot280">... list</A><A
+ HREF="node18.html#tex2html5"><SUP>3</SUP></A></DT>
+<DD>For backward
+    compatibility, the variable <code>_internal_name</code> is
+    equivalent.
+
+</DD>
+<DT><A NAME="foot281">... with</A><A
+ HREF="node18.html#tex2html6"><SUP>4</SUP></A></DT>
+<DD>Usually it makes no difference which of
+    <code>user_address</code> and <code>user_delivered_to</code> is used, but it's
+    important to remember that they can be different.  When they're
+    different, Mailman always uses the lower case address as the key
+    to the member's subscription information, but it always delivers
+    messages to the case-preserved version.
+
+</DD>
+</DL>
 <DIV CLASS="navigation">
-<p><hr>
+<div class='online-navigation'>
+<p></p><hr />
 <table align="center" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
 <tr>
-<td><A HREF="node17.html"><img src="../icons/previous.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Previous Page" width="32"></A></td>
-<td><A HREF="node9.html"><img src="../icons/up.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Up One Level" width="32"></A></td>
-<td><A HREF="node19.html"><img src="../icons/next.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Next Page" width="32"></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="prev" title="2.4 The Membership Management"
+  href="node17.html"><img src='previous.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Previous Page' width='32' /></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="parent" title="2 The List Configuration"
+  href="node8.html"><img src='up.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Up One Level' width='32' /></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="next" title="2.6 The Digest Options"
+  href="node19.html"><img src='next.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Next Page' width='32' /></A></td>
 <td align="center" width="100%">GNU Mailman - List Administration Manual</td>
-<td><A href="contents.html"><img src="../icons/contents.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="Contents" width="32"></A></td>
-<td><img src="../icons/blank.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="" width="32"></td>
-<td><img src="../icons/blank.gif"
-  border="0" height="32"
-  alt="" width="32"></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><a rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"
+  href="contents.html"><img src='contents.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='Contents' width='32' /></A></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><img src='blank.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='' width='32' /></td>
+<td class='online-navigation'><img src='blank.png'
+  border='0' height='32'  alt='' width='32' /></td>
 </tr></table>
-<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b> <a class="sectref" HREF="node17.html">3.3 The Language Options</A>
-<b class="navlabel">Up:</b> <a class="sectref" HREF="node9.html">3 The List Configuration</A>
-<b class="navlabel">Next:</b> <a class="sectref" HREF="node19.html">3.5 The Non-digest Options</A>
-<hr>
-<span class="release-info">Release 2.1, documentation updated on October 2, 2004.</span>
+<div class='online-navigation'>
+<b class="navlabel">Previous:</b>
+<a class="sectref" rel="prev" href="node17.html">2.4 The Membership Management</A>
+<b class="navlabel">Up:</b>
+<a class="sectref" rel="parent" href="node8.html">2 The List Configuration</A>
+<b class="navlabel">Next:</b>
+<a class="sectref" rel="next" href="node19.html">2.6 The Digest Options</A>
+</div>
+</div>
+<hr />
+<span class="release-info">Release 2.1, documentation updated on December 13, 2004.</span>
 </DIV>
 <!--End of Navigation Panel-->
author	bwarsaw <>	2004-12-14 14:14:32 +0000
committer	bwarsaw <>	2004-12-14 14:14:32 +0000
commit	a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822 (patch)
tree	bb447beeccdfa07a18082a99929ea7eb9f85cf9e /admin/www/mailman-admin/node18.html
parent	d497f1c251bff2eae3bce19d183a4bd988fe37e4 (diff)
download	mailman2-a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822.tar.gz mailman2-a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822.tar.xz mailman2-a3a7b94b04974c40bca54caece474e8506d53822.zip