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Last update: 29 Oct 1997
There are now two versions of LISTSERV: A "Classic" version and a "Lite" version. For a description of the differences between LISTSERV Classic and LISTSERV Lite, please see the URL http://www.lsoft.com/listserv-lite.html.
LISTSERV Lite is user-supported, via the mailing list
Please do not send questions regarding LISTSERV Lite to L-Soft's normal support addresses.
If you're very familiar with software installations on your system and would prefer terse, matter of fact steps rather than complete instructions, skip to the section entitled "The Bare Facts About Installing LISTSERV" near the end of this document.
LISTSERV Classic for UNIX(R) is distributed as two compressed "tar" archive files. The installation guide, which is the file you are currently reading, is also available independently of the archives. One of the tar files contains data files common to LISTSERV on all UNIX(R) platforms, and the other contains the compiled version of the LISTSERV server. In order to simplify the process of removing extraneous files created during the installation procedure, you can copy the tar files to a scratch directory, install LISTSERV, and then "rm -fr /tmp/scratch" (or whatever you name the staging area).
LISTSERV Lite for UNIX(R) is distributed as one compressed "tar" archive file. The installation guide, which is the file you are currently reading, is also available independently of the archives. The tar file contains data files common to LISTSERV on all UNIX(R) platforms, as well as the compiled version of the LISTSERV server. In order to simplify the process of removing extraneous files created during the installation procedure, you can copy the tar file to a scratch directory, install LISTSERV, and then "rm -fr /tmp/scratch" (or whatever you name the staging area).
LISTSERV for UNIX (both Classic and Lite) is shipped with both:
The installation of LISTSERV consists of the following steps:
Note that many commercial unixes are shipped with Sendmail version 5. If your Sendmail is at a version less than version 8, note that you will probably experience long turnaround times on requests to LISTSERV that could run to several hours. This is because earlier Sendmail versions can handle only 1-2K deliveries per day. L-Soft strongly recommends that any Unix site running LISTSERV with Sendmail upgrade to at least Sendmail version 8.7.x.
LISTSERV requires exclusive access to the mail sent to one username.
Unless you have a very good reason to do otherwise, the username
"listserv" should be used for that purpose. Many people around the world
are already familiar with LISTSERV, and will assume that mail sent to
BEFORE STARTING: Please note that the makefile should be run from a
temporary directory rather than the target directory. Otherwise some 'mv'
commands will produce unexpected results.
For LISTSERV Classic, the two archive files you receive will be called
common.tar.Z and either AIX.tar.Z, or SunOS.tar.Z, or ULTRIX.tar.Z, etc...
depending on the version of UNIX(R) you are using. The filename
is taken from the string returned by the 'uname' command on each UNIX(R)
platform. Please note that some FTP sites may change the name of the files
slightly to adhere to system specific naming conventions.
For LISTSERV Lite you will download only the 'uname'.tar.Z file.
Do not attempt to apply the common.tar.Z file to your LISTSERV Lite
installation! You can safely ignore any further references in this
file to the common.tar.Z file.
If you're used
to dealing with compressed tar files already, then just extract the contents
using whatever commands you prefer. If you'd like the sample commands listed
below to work as shown, rename the files you received to common.tar.Z and
`uname`.tar.Z before continuing. For example, if the system specific file
you received is called aix.tar-z, you would enter the command mv
aix.tar-z `uname`.tar.Z. Copy or move the two files to a scratch
directory first. (The advantage of using a work directory for the
installation is that you can easily clean up afterwards.) Once the files
have been copied, "cd" to that directory and enter, uncompress *.tar.Z to
restore them to their original state. Then enter, tar xf common.tar and
tar xf `uname`.tar to unbundle the programs, data files, etc... needed to
install LISTSERV. Afterwards you should find the following files have
been created in your current directory,
If you plan to use the precompiled lsv binary, you can skip this section
as it uses the defaults for these locations.
Before you can continue with the installation of LISTSERV, you need to
choose where you want several things to be placed. The installation
process needs the full path names of three directories. All of them are
defined by macros in the Makefile (which was extracted from the
common.tar archive in the preceding step).
The directory where the mail interface and command line interface
programs should be installed is defined by the BINDIR macro. The Makefile
is distributed with BINDIR set to /usr/local/bin by default. Whether you
choose to use the default directory, or redefine it, the installation
procedure assumes the directory already exists. If you choose a new
directory, you will need to create it before running the final "make
install". This directory is only referenced during the installation of
the mail interface. Neither the mail interface program, the command line
interface utility, nor the LISTSERV server process requires write access
to this directory afterwards.
Incoming mail is written to the directory defined by the LSVSPOOL macro
in the Makefile. The default value is /home/listserv/spool. Unlike the
BINDIR directory, the LISTSERV spool directory is assumed to be a new
directory. In fact, no other users or daemon processes should write to
this directory since LISTSERV scans this directory for incoming mail. If
the directory doesn't exist when the "make install" command is executed,
it will be created, and the LISTSERV account will be made the owner.
The LISTSERV executable, as well as associated directories and data files
will be installed in the directory pointed to by the LSVROOT macro in the
Makefile. Any directory can be used, so long as LISTSERV has write access
to it. When the final "make install" is run, the LSVSPOOL directory, and
several subdirectories, will be created if necessary. The LISTSERV
account will be made the owner of those directories. The Makefile is
distributed with the LSVROOT macro is set to /home/listserv. If you
choose the default setting, the directories /home/listserv,
/home/listserv/home, and /home/listserv/tmp will be created as a result.
To use different directories, edit the Makefile and change the BINDIR,
LSVSPOOL, and/or LSVROOT macros.
Sample commands for this step:
The program that handles incoming mail is called lsv_amin and is
distributed in source form. The file lsv_amin.c is a standalone program
that can be modified to suit your local mail system as needed. It should
work as distributed with unmodified Sendmail systems. If you are running
ZMAILER instead of Sendmail, please contact L-Soft for installation
instructions. If you are running PP instead of Sendmail, you can compile
the standard mail interface with -DMAIL_PP. To compile lsv_amin, first
check the CC and CFLAGS macro in the Makefile to make certain the
compiler and options specified are appropriate for your system. Second,
if you have enabled the syslog daemon on your system, note that the
lsv_amin program logs informational and error level messages using the
syslog facility. By default, lsv_amin logs those messages as part of the
mail system. That is, LOG_MAIL is used on the openlog() call. If you
would prefer to log the LISTSERV mail interface entries separate from the
other mail software on your system, edit lsv_amin.c and change the line
#define LOG_FACILITY LOG_MAIL
replacing LOG_MAIL with LOG_LOCAL1, or whatever category is appropriate
for your site. If you are using a system on which the openlog() routine
only takes two parameters, older Ultrix system for example, just change
LOG_MAIL to 0. Once you've checked the Makefile and (optionally) changed
the syslog option in lsv_amin.c, enter "make mailer" to build the
program.
The "lcmd" utility is also distributed in source form. Once you've
compiled and installed "lcmd", users can use it to send commands to your
LISTSERV server rather than having to use a mail program. Users familiar
with the Bitnet version of LISTSERV will find "lcmd" works much like the
VM "tell" and JNET "send" commands. The primary differences being that
LISTSERV sends back mail in response to commands submitted with "lcmd",
and only your local LISTSERV can be reached. In addition to providing a
simple command line interface to LISTSERV, sending commands with "lcmd"
obviates the need for password validation of protected commands. Since
the origin of the command is determined by the username of the person
running "lcmd", not by parsing mail headers, password checking can be
skipped by LISTSERV. The lcmd.c program should compile without
modification. Site specific information needed by "lcmd" will be provided
by the Makefile when building the program. To compile the LISTSERV
command interface enter, "make lcmd".
If you have decided to use the precompiled lsv binary shipped with the
distribution, you can skip the rest of this section.
If you have decided to link the lsv.o file and make your own lsv binary,
there should be no need to modify anything in the Makefile to perform
this step. Just enter, "make server" to build the server program. The
resulting binary will be named "lsv".
Sample commands for this step:
The command, "make install" will copy the "lsv", "lsv_amin", and "lcmd"
programs to the appropriate directories, as specified by the BINDIR and
LSVROOT macros in the Makefile. In addition several directories will be
created and a number of data files copied to those directories. While
there are scenarios in which you can complete this step from the LISTSERV
account, in most cases you will need to become "root" to run the "make
install" command.
Sample commands for this step:
LISTSERV needs to know a variety of things about your system, and also
how to communicate with the people that will be maintaining the software.
All of the settings that you are likely to want to change are defined in
the "go.user" shell script, which is created in the LSVROOT directory
when you enter "make install". There are a number of environment
variables that you can set to reflect things like the Internet domain
name of the machine that will be running LISTSERV, the e-mail address of
the LISTSERV postmaster, etc... You'll need to edit the go.user file in
the LSVROOT directory, and set each of the variables as appropriate.
There are comments in the file explaining the purpose of each variable.
Sample commands for this step:
Please note that the file you need to edit in this step, and the commands
you need to issue will require root privileges. Also, while the procedure
for manually modifying the sendmail aliases file is described below, you
can also enter "make aliases" to have the installation program complete
this step automatically. The automated procedure assumes that your
sendmail stores aliases in the file /etc/aliases, that the "newaliases"
command will rebuild the aliases database, and finally that "kill -HUP
`cat /etc/sendmail.pid`" will cause Sendmail to read in the updated alias
list.
LISTSERV accepts and responds to several e-mail addresses. Even before
you setup mailing lists, mail sent to listserv and owner-listserv should
be handed to LISTSERV. The link between LISTSERV and your mail system is
the lsv_amin program. If you are running Sendmail, the best way to route
incoming mail to lsv_amin is by adding entries to your "aliases" file.
Refer to the manual pages for sendmail on your system if you are not sure
where the alias file is stored. On many systems the file will be called
/etc/aliases. Once you have located the file, add the following lines,
listserv: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS listserv"
to the file, replacing /BBB with the directory where the lsv_amin program
was installed (the BINDIR macro in the Makefile), and replacing /SSS with
the LISTSERV spool directory (the LSVSPOOL macro from the Makefile).
Other than that, the lines should look exactly like the examples above.
The double quotes should be entered into the alias file.
For example, if you changed BINDIR to /usr/lbin, and kept the default
LSVSPOOL directory, the new lines in /etc/aliases would look like the
following.
listserv: "|/usr/lbin/lsv_amin /home/listserv/spool listserv"
After updating the alias file, you will need to issue two Sendmail
commands. First enter "newaliases" to compile the alias file into the
format the sendmail daemon expects. Then you need to direct the sendmail
daemon currently running on your system to read the newly compiled list
of aliases. Refer to the manual pages for sendmail if you are unsure of
how to do so. The command, "kill -HUP `cat /etc/sendmail.pid`" will work
on AIX and SunOS systems. If you are running a syslog daemon, sendmail
will log the fact that it has loaded the new aliases file. You can check
the syslog output after issuing the command to make sure your changes are
in place.
Sample commands for this step:
Please note that this step is handled automatically for evaluation kits.
The necessary file, called "license.merge", is provided in the COMMON.TAR
archive and the "make install" command will copy it to the proper
directory.
Before you can start up LISTSERV, you will need to install a License
Activation Key (LAK) for 'LISTSERV-xxx' (xxx = SUNOS, AIX, BSDI, etc...).
In order to offer the same range of services to all LISTSERV sites,
regardless of the operating system used, we had to develop our own
"license key" scheme. Using system supplied license managers where
available and L-Soft LAKs elsewhere would have required us to develop
multiple authorization schemes, and would also complicate the task of
issuing license keys to customers.
Since the LAK manager is part of LISTSERV, installing the LAK is done
last, after all the programs have been built and moved to their proper
directories. The process is quite simple, you just create a file in the
$LSVROOT/home directory and start the LISTSERV server to compile the
information. The instructions for doing so are described in the License
Registration Form that came with your installation materials.
Once you've customized the "go.user" shell script, you're ready to start
LISTSERV. To do so, change your current directory to LSVROOT (as defined
in the Makefile) and enter "go". LISTSERV will print some startup
messages, then since this is the first time your server has been run,
LISTSERV will generate a number of files needed to route mail. You should
see messages similar the ones below.
Once you've verified that your LISTSERV server starts and accepts
commands, you should check to make sure the mail interface is working
properly. If you stopped your LISTSERV, then restart it. You can use "go
bg" if you'd rather have the server run in the background. After
restarting LISTSERV, login to a different username and send mail to the
LISTSERV account on your machine. Include one or more LISTSERV commands
in the body of the mail message. Since you have yet to define any mailing
lists to your server, commands like RELEASE, INFO and THANKS would be
good choices. The mail interface notifies the server immediately upon
arrival of new mail. So unless your system is heavily used when you try
sending the message, a response should arrive within a few moments. If
you don't receive mail back from LISTSERV, check for syslog entries
generated by the mail interface, lsv_amin. Also, check to see if there
are any errors on the terminal/window where you're running LISTSERV. If
you started the server with "go bg" check the file "listserv.log" for
error messages.
A discussion group for sites that have installed evaluation copies of
LISTSERV has been created to facilitate communication between LISTSERV
maintainers, list owners and L-Soft support staff. The list is called
LSTSRV-E, and you can subscribe by sending mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET,
with the command, "SUB LSTSRV-E Your Name" in the body of the mail
message. If you have any questions, comments, helpful hints, etc., please
post them to LSTSRV-E for distribution to other people participating in
the evaluation. Don't forget to mention which version of UNIX(R) you are
using when posting. The purpose of the list is to share your experience
and problems with other users of evaluation kits. Because there are so
many versions and brands of unix, the kits haven't been tested equally on
all possible platforms. Knowing which kit you are using will streamline
the process of finding an answer to your questions.
NOTE: This section does not apply to evaluation kits or to LISTSERV Lite
kits. Evaluation copies of LISTSERV should not be registered because they
are (presumably) temporary servers running test lists, whose existence
should not be broadcast. LISTSERV Lite copies run only in TABLELESS mode
and therefore cannot be registered in the same manner as LISTSERV
Classic, nor may they participate in the LISTSERV backbone.
Once the server is ready for production use (that is, once you have
installed a permanent License Activation Key, and once you have arranged
for LISTSERV to be started automatically when the system boots), you
should register it with L-Soft by filling in the enclosed registration
form, and returning it to Support@LSOFT.COM. Registering the server is
necessary to broadcast its existence to the other LISTSERV servers. Once
you have registered, your server will be sent periodic updates about the
lists hosted by other LISTSERV sites, among other things, and, similarly,
other LISTSERV sites will receive information about the public lists you
are hosting. Here is the registration form (the fields you must fill in
are represented as XXXXXXXX, or a suggested value is provided):
This topic is discussed in detail in the Site Manager's Operations Manual
for LISTSERV, available from L-Soft's World Wide Web site.
In order to create a new list, you must:
Please note that LISTSERV will not create archive directories
automatically. You must issue the appropriate "mkdir" command yourself.
And when creating such directories, remember that the file permissions
must grant the LISTSERV account write access to the directory. Also,
directories should be specified as full path names.
For assistance with problems specific to evaluation kits, join the
LSTSRV-E list or contact Support@LSOFT.COM for a prompt reply. Please
don't forget to tell us which brand and version of unix you are running!
Following is a sample list header file that can be modified, then cut and
pasted into a mail message to be sent to your LISTSERV server. For help
with the various header keywords (not all are shown here), please refer
to the LISTSERV List Owners Manual.
(If you use this sample, be sure to change "/some/directory" in the Notebook=
keyword specification to a directory that actually exists on your machine, and
also change "someone@somewhere.com" in the Owner= keyword to point to a real
list owner. While this sounds basic, it is one of the more common mistakes made
by first-time installers.)
Once you have constructed a list header file, and sent it to your
LISTSERV, you need to instruct your mail system to route mail for that
new list to the LISTSERV mail interface. That involves adding entries to
your Sendmail aliases file, much like you did when installing the server
itself. For each new list, you'll need to add five entries to the aliases
file. The format of those lines is as follows,
NAME: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS NAME"
For example, assuming the default values were chosen for BINDIR and
LSVSPOOL, the aliases for a new list called "newt" would be,
(Note that /etc/aliases does not use line continuation characters and will
not operate properly unless each alias is on a line by itself. For instance, the
newt-search-request: alias above should be on a single physical line even though
it is over 80 columns long.)
Once you've added the new aliases to the file, you need to issue the
"newaliases" command and send your Sendmail daemon a hangup (HUP) signal
before they will take effect.
As with the earlier step where adding mail aliases was necessary, the
commands documented above can be automatically invoked by using the
"make" command. If you system stores aliases in /etc/aliases, and the
newaliases command can be used to compile that file, and if the command
"kill -HUP `cat /etc/aliases`" will cause your Sendmail to reload the
alias file, then the automated method should work. To add the mail
aliases for a new list, and to direct your Sendmail to use those new
aliases immediately, enter "make list name=XXX" where "XXX" is the name
of the new list.
While there is no LISTSERV command to delete a list, the procedure is
quite simple. Log in to the listserv account (or any other account with
privileges in LISTSERV's directories, e.g., root), copy or archive any
files (list archives, etc.) that you want to keep to a safe place, and
then use the Unix 'rm' command to delete the list file. For instance, if
you are deleting a list called 'test.list', simply 'rm test.list' from
the LISTSERV 'home' directory (by the Makefile default, this directory is
LSVROOT/home). Optionally you may also remove the Sendmail aliases
from /etc/aliases, but once the '.list' file is gone, it has been deleted
as far as LISTSERV is concerned.
VM lists can be migrated to unix with a much simpler procedure:
B. FTP a copy of the xxxx.LIST file from the VM system, in ASCII mode.
Note that you must grab the file as it appears on the VM server's
"A-disk". If you send a REVIEW command to the VM LISTSERV, you may be
sent a file called xxxx.LIST, but it is not suitable for migration: among
other things, it will not list subscribers with the "conceal" flag.
C. If the list is archived, edit the xxxx.LIST file (which is an ordinary
text file) to insert a suitable directory name in the "Notebook=" keyword
(see example above). Do not modify the lines with subscriber names! The
only lines you may edit at this stage are the ones starting with an
asterisk.
D. Start the unix LISTSERV. It will issue a warning about incorrect list
format, and automatically convert it to the format used on unix.
The "go" shell script can be called from an inittab entry if you would
like LISTSERV to be started whenever your system is rebooted. And since
the "lsv" program takes over the shell script's process, the "respawn"
option can be used if you would like the init process to monitor and
restart LISTSERV if it should stop for some reason. If you choose to
treat LISTSERV like other daemon processes, it is advisable to redirect
the standard output of the go script to a file. Otherwise, information
needed to track and resolve problems will not be available for reference.
You can either edit the "go" script, which is located in the LSVROOT
directory, or start the server with the command "go bg". The "bg", or
"background", option will redirect LISTSERV's informational and error
messages to a file called "listserv.log" in the LSVROOT directory. By way
of example, here is the inittab entry used on one of the L-Soft
development machines.
Extracting installation materials from the "tar" files
lsv.o Makefile go go.sys
go.user.sample u-install.memo lsv_amin.c lcmd.c
lsv
and the ./home directory will contain the following files.bitearn.nodes listall.refcard listmast.memo peers.names
country.file listfile.memo listownr.memo service.names
default.mailtpl listjob.memo listpres.memo stdcmd.file
errfac.file listkeyw.memo listserv.memo sysff.file
intpeers.names listkwd.file lsvhelp.file system.catalog
linkswt2.file listlpun.memo lsvinfo.file
Sample commands for this step:
mkdir /tmp/scratch
cp common.tar.Z `uname`.tar.Z /tmp/scratch
cd /tmp/scratch
uncompress *.Z
tar xf common.tar
tar xf `uname`.tar Deciding where LISTSERV will reside
vi Makefile
Building the interface utilities and LISTSERV server
vi Makefile
vi lsv_amin.c
make mailer
make lcmd
make serverMoving the programs and files to the proper directories
su root
make install
exit Customizing LISTSERV for your system
cd /home/listserv
vi go.userTelling your mail system about LISTSERV
owner-listserv: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS owner-listserv"
owner-listserv: "|/usr/lbin/lsv_amin /home/listserv/spool owner-listserv"
su root
cd /etc
vi aliases
newaliases
kill -HUP `cat sendmail.pid`
exitIMPORTANT - License Activation Key
Starting LISTSERV and Verifying a Successful Installation
12 Jun 1996 22:16:47 LISTSERV-TCP/IP for unix version 1.8c starting...
12 Jun 1996 22:16:47 Copyright L-Soft international 1986-1997
12 Jun 1996 22:16:47 SIGNUP files are being compressed...
12 Jun 1996 22:16:47 -> No entry removed.
12 Jun 1996 22:16:48 The network tables are outdated and must be rebuilt.
* Network tables generation process started - be patient...
Currently processed 500 nodes.
Currently processed 1000 nodes.
etc...
And once the table generation steps have finished you will see,* Step 6 complete - link weights file successfully compiled.
*
* Network tables generation completed successfully.
12 Jun 1996 22:16:54 Nearest backbone host is LISTSERV@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM
12 Jun 1996 22:16:54 Nearest NJE host is LISTSERV@PSUVM
12 Jun 1996 22:16:54 Initialization complete.
which confirms that you've successfully installed the LISTSERV server. To
issue LISTSERV commands, press Ctrl-C and you will be prompted to enter a
command. You can verify that your customized version of "go.user" was
used with the RELEASE command. It will display, among other things, the
address(es) of the LISTSERV postmaster(s) you entered in "go.user". If
not, then stop the server and make certain that LISTSERV owns the
"go.user" file, and that execute permission is set for the file. To stop
LISTSERV hit Ctrl-C then enter "stop".Talking to other LISTSERV evaluation kit users
Registering the server
------------------------------- Cut here --------------------------------
:node.XXXXXXXX ! Internet hostname, including domain name.
:userid.LISTSERV ! Username under which LISTSERV runs
:net.Internet ! Must be Internet, LISTSERV for UNIX cannot
! cannot run in NJE (BITNET) mode
:site.XXXXXXXX ! University of XYZ, city, state, country
:country.XX ! Two-letter ISO country code
:system.XXXXXXXX ! Which type of UNIX system, and the version
! Examples: SUNOS 4.1, AIX 3.2.5, etc...
:machine.XXXXXXXX ! Hardware - RS6000 320H, AXP 3000-600, etc...
:contact.XXXXXXXX ! Contact person, in the following format:
! (Joe Manager) JOE@XYZ.EDU (+1 301 871.2727)
:type.unix ! Do not change this - must be "unix"
:version.1.8c ! Version you are currently running
:backbone.XXXXXXXX ! YES or NO, depending on whether you want to
! participate in the LISTSERV backbone; L-Soft
! will advise you on this keyword.
------------------------------- Cut here --------------------------------
List creation
If you have questions about list creation, keywords, list management and
other high-level or system-independent LISTSERV topics, the best place to
ask them is the LSTOWN-L list, an open forum of LISTSERV list owners. mail listserv@xyz.edu < newlist.create
------------------------------- Cut here --------------------------------
PUT SAMPLE.LIST PW=CCCCCCCC
*
* Title of sample LISTSERV list
*
* Review= Public Subscription= Open Send= Public
* Notify= Yes Reply-to= List,Respect Files= No
* Validate= No
* Notebook= Yes,/some/directory,Monthly,Public
*
* Owner= someone@somewhere.EDU
*
* PW= XXXXXXXX
------------------------------- Cut here --------------------------------
owner-NAME: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS owner-NAME"
NAME-request: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS NAME-request"
NAME-search-request: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS NAME-search-request"
NAME-server: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS NAME-server"newt: "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin /var/spool/listserv newt"
owner-newt: "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin /var/spool/listserv owner-newt"
newt-request: "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin /var/spool/listserv newt-request"
newt-search-request: "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin home/listserv/spool newt-search-request"
newt-server: "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin /var/spool/listserv newt-server"
Deleting a list
Note to customers migrating from VM
A. Stop LISTSERV on unix, and go to its /home directory.
You can also FTP the archive files (xxxx.LOGyymm) directly to the
directory selected in point C.Starting LISTSERV automatically
listserv:2:respawn:/u/listserv/server/go bg
Please refer to the manual pages for init and inittab on your system for specific information on how such mechanisms work on your version of UNIX®.
There are three file server systems currently in use or under development for LISTSERV:
With the traditional system, you create files called "xxxx FILELIST", which contain definitions for all the files belonging to a particular archive. With the temporary system, you store these definitions in a file called "site.catalog", in the LISTSERV "home" directory (by the Makefile default, this directory is LSVROOT/home). You create files called xxxx.catalog and register them in site.catalog in order to provide access to them. Please be aware that there are major differences between the way files are registered on VM and workstation systems as many list owners use (or are used to) a VM server with different conventions.
To register a new file to the server, you add a line to the "site.catalog" file in the LSV$ROOT directory (create it if it did not exist). Do not modify the "system.catalog" file, as it is part of LISTSERV and may be replaced when you apply service. Here is what a typical "site.catalog" entry looks like:
MY.FILE /aaa/bbb/my.file XXX YYY
The first item, MY.FILE, is the name by which the file is known to LISTSERV. That is, the users will use GET MY.FILE to order a copy of that file. The name should only contain one period. Only the first 8 characters of the name and the first 8 characters of the extension are shown by the INDEX command. This restriction will be removed with the new file server system.
The second item, "/aaa/bbb/my.file", is the name LISTSERV will use for the actual UNIX file. Note that the directory must be created before you register the file. For security reasons, LISTSERV will not create the directory (or set the protections) for you.
Note: if you are upgrading from LISTSERV 1.8b to 1.8c, the preceding represents a change in the format of site.catalog entries. For compatibility, the old style entries are also acceptable.
Note that if you are not creating special subdirectories for file archives and they will reside in the LSVROOT/home directory, you can simplify the site.catalog entry by using "A" instead of the full path, e.g.:
MY.FILE my.file.A XXX YYY
The third and fourth items are "File Access Codes" (FACs). The first is for read accesses, and the second for writing. The following file access codes are available:
MY.FILE my.file./pub JOE@XYZ.EDU,JACK@XYZ.EDU,PRIVATE(XYZ-L) CTL
IMPORTANT: LISTSERV does not set file protections to ensure that only the people listed are allowed to access the files. These attributes apply to LISTSERV commands (GET, PUT, INDEX) only; it is your responsibility to protect the actual UNIX file and parent directory by setting the file protections and/or ownership (UID and GID) to prevent unwanted access by local users. Please keep in mind that the LISTSERV username must be able to read the files it is to distribute to people, and it must have read/write access to files you want people to be able to update via PUT commands.
For more information on running the LISTSERV file archive server on your machine, including how to set up sub-catalogs, please consult chapter 8 of the Site Manager's Operations Manual for LISTSERV 1.8c, available from L-Soft's ftp and World Wide Web sites.
listserv: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS listserv"
owner-listserv: "|/BBB/lsv_amin /SSS owner-listserv"(where /BBB is the BINDIR directory, and /SSS is the LSVSPOOL directory) to your sendmail aliases file. Then rebuild the aliases and send the appropriate signal to your sendmail daemon to load the new aliases.
Complete information on installing the Web Archive Interface is contained in chatper 5 of the Site Manager's Operations Manual.
We've made an attempt here to document a few of the most frequently-asked questions pertaining to running a LISTSERV server. Before contacting L-Soft for problem resolution, please take a moment to read through this list and see if your problem is answered here.
(Please see http://www.lsoft.com/lsv-faq.html for the most current version of this FAQ.)
| listserv.memo | A General Introduction to LISTSERV |
| listpres.memo | A presentation of LISTSERV for the general user |
| listownr.memo | A List Owner's Manual for LISTSERV 1.8b |
| listkeyw.memo | A manual of the various list header keywords and what they do |
| listall.refcard | A quick reference card for LISTSERV commands |
A Site Manager's Operations Manual for LISTSERV 1.8c is available from L-Soft at the URL
And finally, a General Users Guide for LISTSERV is available from L-Soft at the URL
Additionally, the following files are available for downloading from L-Soft's anonymous ftp site, ftp.lsoft.com :
LISTSERV for the non-technical user
(superseded by the new General User's Guide)
=====================================================================
| NSC93US.PS | PostScript(tm) version formatted for 8-1/2" x 11" paper |
| NSC93A4.PS | PostScript(tm) version formatted for A4 paper |
| NSC93.MEMO | Plain text version |
There are several mailing lists dedicated to the support of LISTSERV.
| LSTSRV-L@SEARN.SUNET.SE | for LISTSERV maintainers and interested list owners |
| LSTOWN-L@SEARN.SUNET.SE | for LISTSERV list owners |
| LSTSRV-E@SEARN.SUNET.SE | for LISTSERV evaluation kit users |