OpenBSD Mailing List Server

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subscribe[-nowelcome][-welcome] listname [address]
subscribe-set[-nowelcome][-welcome] listname setting[,setting,...] [address]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
address,    if specified, is an email address not previously subscribed
listname,   required, is the name of a list at this site
-nowelcome, if specified, suppresses the new subscriber message(s)
-welcome,   if specified, distributes the new subscriber message(s)
-set,       if specified, changes the settings for the new subscription
setting,    if specified, is a personal setting (see "help set" for details)
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The "subscribe" command adds an "address" to the named list. Unless
the command is "approve"d in advance, a confirmation token may be
sent to the given "address" (based on the subscribe_policy or the
access_rules settings for "listname") to verify this action, and must
be replied to with an "accept" command before the subscription is done.

To subscribe to the LISTNAME email broadcast list at this site,
as simply as possible, send this one-line message to majordomo@openbsd.org:
    subscribe LISTNAME 
replacing "LISTNAME" with the name of the list.

If the address you wish to subscribe to the list is different from
the address from which you are sending the message, the command
may be written instead as:
    subscribe LISTNAME EmailAddress
replacing "EmailAddress" with the address you want to subscribe to 
the list.

In some cases, confirmation from the new subscriber is required.
A message with "CONFIRM" in the subject line is sent to the new
subscriber's address.  The confirmation message contains instructions
for confirming the subscription (using the "accept" command).

The first time an address is subscribed to a list at this site, an entry
in the registration database is created for that address, and a personal
password is assigned.  Only one password is assigned to a given address,
regardless of the number of subscriptions.  Using the "approve" command
with the personal password will usually allow you to avoid the 
confirmation process (see "help approve" and "help password" for more
details.)  List owners can use their list's administrative password
to avoid the confirmation process.

Unless the "-nowelcome" option is used, Majordomo will send a message
to "address" with an explanation of how to leave the list. Each list
owner can decide how many files, if any, new subscribers will receive.

Some lists may be configured such that a welcome message is not
sent automatically (see "help configset_welcome" for an explanation.)
In this case, using the "-welcome" mode will cause the welcome
files to be sent.

The "-set" mode is used to initialize the settings for a new subscription
(see "help set" for a description of the different settings.)  For
example, if you wish to receive the messages posted to the list in
a digest, use this command:
  subscribe-set LISTNAME digest

More than one setting can be specified by joining the settings with
commas, for instance:
  subscribe-set LISTNAME digest,noreplyto

If for some reason you wish to have the mailings go to a different address
(a friend's address, a specific other system on which you have an account,
or an address which is more correct than the one that automatically appears 
in the "From:" header on the mail you send), you would add that address to
the command. The confirmation would then be sent to that address.

The reason that many lists require additional confirmation is that it is in
general impossible to verify that the address being subscribed to the list
is indeed the person who sent the request.  This fact is frequently
exploited to forge subscription requests which result in hassles for the
victim and all of the list owners.  By sending a message to the subscriber
address and requiring a valid reply the abuse is limited to the single
confirmation message; the victim does not have to go through the hassle of
being removed from the list.  In addition, Majordomo2 stores information
about the source of the forged requests and if a rejection is sent in
response to the confirmation message, this stored information is
automatically forwarded to various responsible parties.

The address need not be a simple email address. Comment fields are
preserved in the registration database. These are all valid addresses:
   joe@example.com
   Joe Blow <joe@example.com>
   "Joe Blow 555-1212" joe@example.com
   joe@example.com (Joe Blow)
Note that registering with a name or other comment field is not
required, but it may help a site administrator find your address
in the event you need help later. The name or comment portion must
be enclosed in quotes if it contains certain characters like periods
or other puncutation.

In addition, other technically illegal addresses can be used
but only if the site administrator has enabled them. See these
help files for details:
   help configset_addr_allow_at_in_phrase
   help configset_addr_allow_bang_paths
   help configset_addr_allow_comments_after_route
   help configset_addr_allow_ending_dot

Upon subscribing, you should (unless you specified otherwise) receive an
introductory message containing list policies and features.  Save this
message for future reference; it will also contain exact directions for
unsubscribing.  If you lose the intro mail and would like another copy of
the policies, send this message to majordomo@openbsd.org
        info LISTNAME
(substituting, of course, the real name of your list for "LISTNAME").

If a subscriber changes from one email address to another, it is
not necessary to unregister and re-subscribe to all the lists.
The "changeaddr" command can update the registry and subscriber
databases all at one time.

List owners can subscribe more than one address to a mailing list
using a "here document" or "here file" (see "help here_document" for
a description of here files.)  For example, to subscribe the
addresses a@example.com and b@example.com to a list, the owner
could use the following command:

subscribe LISTNAME <<ABC
a@example.com
b@example.com
ABC

List owners can also add addresses to a collection called an "auxiliary 
subscriber list" (see "help auxiliary_list" for more details.)
Welcome messages are never sent when an address is added to an auxiliary
list.

Every Majordomo command supports five administrative command modes.
These modes are:
  noinform  - Do not mail a notice to the list owners.
  nolog     - Do not record this command in the log.
  nomessage - Do not mail the results if the "default user" command
              has been used.  See "help default" for more information.
  quiet     - Do not send a notice if the command is delayed.
  rule      - Act as if the "access_password_override" configuration
              setting were turned off.
The noinform, nolog, nomessage, and rule modes require the use of an
administrative password.  For more details, see the "Administrative
command modes" section of the "help admin_commands" document.


See Also:
   help accept      (which is used to confirm subscriptions)
   help access_variables 
   help admin_subscribers
   help approve     (authentication to avoid the confirmation process)
   help auxiliary_list (which is used to manage a set of addresses)
   help changeaddr  (which replaces one address with another)
   help configset_welcome       (determines if welcome messages are sent)
   help configset_welcome_files (determines which welcome messages are sent)
   help here_document
   help password    (which changes an individual's password)
   help register    (which registers, and creates a password for, an address)
   help unregister  (which removes an address from all lists)
   help unsubscribe (which removes an address from just one list)

This is the "subscribe" help document for 
Majordomo 2, version 0.1201103110.

For a list of all help documents, send the following command:
   help topics
in the body of a message to majordomo@openbsd.org.

For assistance, please contact the openbsd.org administrators.

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