In the following sections, commands will appear in Courier font. The uppercase letters of a word constitute the required part, but the commands are not case sensitive (e.g., the UNSUBscribe command could be entered as UNSUB, unsub, UNSUBSCRI, or unsubscribe). Words in italics should be replaced with actual names or values (listnames, help/config topics). A slash (|) will be used to indicate mutually exclusive options (e.g., yes|no; local|global). Optional arguments will be placed between square brackets ([ ]). All other words in lowercase Courier font should be entered as they appear.
What is a "mailing list"?
A mailing list is the electronic version of a discussion group. Any message sent to the list address is distributed to each member. Mailing lists can be as simple as an alias file that contains the addresses of all the members, or they can be handled by programs like LISTSERV or ListProc, which automatically distribute messages to each person on the mailing list. Mailing lists at Homewood Academic Computing are handled by a ListProc server.
Note: Do not confuse the list address and the ListProc address. The list address should be used for discussions only. The format of the list address is usually listname@host.domain (e.g. BlueJays@listproc.hcf.jhu.edu for a list of Blue Jays fans at Johns Hopkins). Commands to subscribe, unsubscribe, retrieve archives, etc., should be sent to the ListProc address, usually ListProc@host.domain --in this case, ListProc@listproc.hcf.jhu.edu
How do I send commands to ListProc?
All commands should be sent in the body of an e-mail message to the ListProc address from the address at which the user wishes to receive the output of commands or discussion messages. They should contain no subject. The body of the message can contain several ListProc commands, each on a separate line. If a single command spans multiple lines, an ampersand (&) should be placed at the end of each line to indicate that it is continued on the following line.
How do I get help on ListProc commands?
Provides more information about a specific topic. Issue the previous commands to find a topic of interest.
How do I find out what lists are available?
LISTS [local|global]
local: Lists all the local ³mailing lists² known to this server.
global: Lists all mailing lists, including those hosted by other servers at
other sites known to the local ListProc server. This file can be huge! One need not subscribe
to a list to issue this command.
How can I receive more information about a list?
Sends you the attributes of the list, such as name and address of the owners, subscription information, the names of its users, etc.
How do I subscribe to a list?
How do I unsubscribe to a list?
The list-owner(s) can disable some or all of the commands above, in which case the user should e-mail the subscription and signoff requests to listname-request@host.domain
How do I review older messages, including those sent before I registered?
Sends an index of the list of files in the "archive." If it exists, "archive" is usually just "list" but it might have a different name. The welcome message sent to subscribers will usually tell you if the list is archived.
After you have found a file with the previous command, you can retrieve it using this one.