Ezmlm
Encyclopedia
ezmlm is a software package for managing electronic mailing list
s by Daniel J. Bernstein
. It is similar to GNU Mailman
and Majordomo
but only works with the qmail
mail transfer agent
. It is released into the public domain
.
The latest version, 0.53, came out in 1997. The ezmlm-idx patches add modern features like MIME
handling.
privileges.
Unlike some other mailing list management software, ezmlm's user interface is command-based. The mailing list administrator usually does not have to edit files. For example, the command to create a new mailing list is
and the commands to (manually) subscribe someone to and unsubscribe someone from that list are
and
The operation of each individual mailing list is controlled by files in the list's directory (~/list in the aforegiven example). That directory also contains an archive of all messages sent to the list.
Whether a list is moderated or not is controlled by the existence of a file in the list's directory, named public. In the aforegiven example, this file would be ~/list/public. If the file exists, the list is not moderated, and anyone can subscribe to and unsubscribe from the mailing list by sending (empty) electronic mail messages to special -subscribe and -unsubscribe electronic mailboxes. If the file does not exist, the list is moderated, and only the list owner can change subscriptions using the ezmlm-sub and ezmlm-unsub commands. The ezmlm-idx extension provides more moderation mechanisms.
Standard ezmlm does not include a web interface, but the ezmlm-web extension provides that functionality.
Ezmlm works very fast since it makes use of database type files, while many other mailing list managers use flat ascii files. Ezmlm also has a very good security record.
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
s by Daniel J. Bernstein
Daniel J. Bernstein
Daniel Julius Bernstein is a mathematician, cryptologist, programmer, and professor of mathematics at the University of Illinois at Chicago...
. It is similar to GNU Mailman
GNU Mailman
GNU Mailman is a computer software application from the GNU project for managing electronic mailing lists.Mailman is coded primarily in Python and currently maintained by Barry Warsaw...
and Majordomo
Majordomo (software)
Majordomo is a mailing list manager developed by Brent Chapman of Great Circle Associates. It is written in Perl and works in conjunction with sendmail on UNIX and related operating systems...
but only works with the qmail
Qmail
qmail is a mail transfer agent that runs on Unix. It was written, starting December 1995, by Daniel J. Bernstein as a more secure replacement for the popular Sendmail program...
mail transfer agent
Mail transfer agent
Within Internet message handling services , a message transfer agent or mail transfer agent or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using a client–server application architecture...
. It is released into the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
.
The latest version, 0.53, came out in 1997. The ezmlm-idx patches add modern features like MIME
MIME
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions is an Internet standard that extends the format of email to support:* Text in character sets other than ASCII* Non-text attachments* Message bodies with multiple parts...
handling.
Features
ezmlm provides all of the common electronic mailing list functionality: moderated lists, automated subscription and unsubscription, and digest creation. ezmlm takes advantage of the features of qmail to enable ordinary users to create and to manage mailing lists, without need for superuserSuperuser
On many computer operating systems, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system, the actual name of this account might be: root, administrator or supervisor....
privileges.
Unlike some other mailing list management software, ezmlm's user interface is command-based. The mailing list administrator usually does not have to edit files. For example, the command to create a new mailing list is
- ezmlm-make ~/list ~/.qmail-list `whoami`-list host
and the commands to (manually) subscribe someone to and unsubscribe someone from that list are
- ezmlm-sub ~/list mailbox
and
- ezmlm-unsub ~/list mailbox
The operation of each individual mailing list is controlled by files in the list's directory (~/list in the aforegiven example). That directory also contains an archive of all messages sent to the list.
Whether a list is moderated or not is controlled by the existence of a file in the list's directory, named public. In the aforegiven example, this file would be ~/list/public. If the file exists, the list is not moderated, and anyone can subscribe to and unsubscribe from the mailing list by sending (empty) electronic mail messages to special -subscribe and -unsubscribe electronic mailboxes. If the file does not exist, the list is moderated, and only the list owner can change subscriptions using the ezmlm-sub and ezmlm-unsub commands. The ezmlm-idx extension provides more moderation mechanisms.
Standard ezmlm does not include a web interface, but the ezmlm-web extension provides that functionality.
Ezmlm works very fast since it makes use of database type files, while many other mailing list managers use flat ascii files. Ezmlm also has a very good security record.