source: introduction/welcome/maillists.xml@ f45b1953

<sect1 id="intro-welcome-maillists" xreflabel="Mailing lists and archives">
<?dbhtml filename="maillists.html" dir="introduction"?>
<title>Mailing lists and archives</title>

<para>The linuxfromscratch.org server is hosting the following publicly 
accessible mailing lists:</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>blfs-dev</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>blfs-book</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>blfs-support</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>lfs-support</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>lfs-dev</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>lfs-announce</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>lfs-security</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>lfs-book</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>alfs-discuss</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<sect2>
<title>blfs-book</title>

<para>The blfs-book list is used by the BLFS-BOOK editors
to co-ordinate blfs-book's maintenance, like XML issues and the like.
Actual discussion on what should be added and removed should take place
on blfs-dev.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>blfs-dev</title>

<para>The blfs-dev mailing list discusses matters related to the
BLFS-BOOK (Beyond LFS).  If problems with the book come up, a bug
or two need to be
reported, or suggestions to improve the book (such as suggestions as to
installation instructions to add) are to be made, this mailing list
is the right one.</para>

<para>Requests for help with programs beyond the base LFS setup (not
just those in BLFS) should go to blfs-support.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>blfs-support</title>

<para>The blfs-support list deals with support requests for any software
not installed in the LFS book.  The list is not just for help with
software explicitly mentioned in the BLFS book, any software beyond that
installed as part of the base LFS system can be discussed here.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>lfs-support</title>

<para>The lfs-support mailing list provides support to users building an
LFS system as far as the end of the main book.  Requests for help with
installing software beyond the base system should go to the blfs-support
list.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>lfs-dev</title>

<para>The lfs-dev mailing list discusses matters strictly related to the
LFS-BOOK. If problems with the book come up, a bug or two need to be
reported, or suggestions to improve the book should be made,
this mailing list is the right one.</para>

<para>Requests for help should go to lfs-support or blfs-support.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>lfs-announce</title>

<para>The lfs-announce list is a moderated list. It can be subscribed
to, but
you can't post any messages to this list. This list is used to announce
new stable releases. The lfs-dev list will carry information about
development releases as well. If a user is already on the lfs-dev
list, there's little use subscribing to
this list as well because everything that is posted to the lfs-announce
list will be posted to the lfs-dev list as well.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>lfs-security</title>

<para>The lfs-security mailing list discusses security-related matters.
Security concerns or security problems with a package used by LFS,
should be addressed on this list.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>lfs-book</title>

<para>The lfs-book list is used by the LFS-BOOK editors to co-ordinate
lfs-book's maintenance, like XML issues and the like. Actual discussion
on what should be added and removed take place on lfs-dev.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>alfs-discuss</title>

<para>The alfs-discuss list discusses the development of ALFS, which
stands for
Automated Linux From Scratch. The goal of this project is to develop an
installation tool that can install an LFS system automatically.
It's main goal is to speed up compilation by taking away the need to
manually enter the commands to configure, compile, and install
packages.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Mail archives</title>

<para>All these lists are archived and can be viewed online at
<ulink url="http://archive.linuxfromscratch.org/mail-archives"/> or downloaded
from <ulink url="&ftp-root;/mail-archives"/>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>How to subscribe?</title>

<para>Any of the above-mentioned mailinglists can be subscribed to by
sending an email to <ulink 
url="mailto:listar@linuxfromscratch.org">listar@linuxfromscratch.org</ulink>
and writing <emphasis>subscribe listname</emphasis> as the subject
header of the message.</para>

<para>Multiple lists at the same time can be subscribed to by using
one email. This is done by leaving the subject blank and putting all the
commands in the body of the email. The email will look like:</para>

<blockquote><literallayout>To: listar@linuxfromscratch.org
Subject:

subscribe lfs-dev
subscribe blfs-support
subscribe alfs-discuss</literallayout></blockquote>

<para>After the email is sent, the Listar program will reply with an
email requesting a confirmation of the subscription request. After
this confirmation email is sent back, Listar will send an
email again with the message that the user has been subscribed to the
list(s) along with an introduction message for that particular
list.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>How to unsubscribe?</title>

<para>To unsubscribe from a list, send an email 
to <ulink url="mailto:listar@linuxfromscratch.org"/> and 
write <emphasis>unsubscribe listname</emphasis> as the subject header of 
the message.</para>

<para>Multiple lists can be unsubscribed at the same time
using one email. This is done by leaving the subject header blank and
putting all the commands in the body of the email. The email will look
like: </para>

<blockquote><literallayout>To: listar@linuxfromscratch.org
Subject:

unsubscribe lfs-dev
unsubscribe blfs-support
unsubscribe alfs-discuss</literallayout></blockquote>

<para>After the email is sent, the Listar program will reply with an
email requesting a confirmation of the unsubscription
request. After this confirmation email is sent back, Listar will
send an email again with the message that the user has been unsubscribed
from the list(s).</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Other list modes</title>

<para>The modes that can be set by a user require sending an email to
<ulink
url="mailto:listar@linuxfromscratch.org">listar@linuxfromscratch.org</ulink>.
The modes themselves are set by writing
the appropriate commands in the subject header of the message.</para>

<para>As the name implies, the <emphasis>Set command</emphasis> tells
what
to write to set a mode. The <emphasis>Unset command</emphasis> tells
what to write to unset a mode.</para>

<para>The listname in the example subject headers should be replaced
with the
listname to which
the mode is going to be applied to. If more than one mode is to be set
(to
the same list or multiple lists) with one email, this can be done by
leaving the subject header blank and writing all the commands in the
body of
the message instead.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Digests</title>

<literallayout>
Set command: <emphasis>set listname digest</emphasis>
Unset command: <emphasis>unset listname digest</emphasis>
</literallayout>

<para>All lists have the digest mode available which can be set after a
user
has subscribed to a list. Being in digest mode will
cause you to stop receiving individual messages as they are posted to
the list and instead receive one email a day containing all
the messages posted to the list during that day.</para>

<para>There is a second digest mode called digest2. When a user is set
to this
mode he will receive the daily digests but will also continue to
receive the individual messages to the lists as they are posted. To
set this mode, substitute <emphasis>digest</emphasis> for
<emphasis>digest2</emphasis> in the command.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Vacation</title>

<literallayout>
Set command: <emphasis>set listname vacation</emphasis>
Unset command: <emphasis>unset listname vacation</emphasis>
</literallayout>

<para>If a user is going to be away for a while or wishes to stop
receiving
messages from the lists but doesn't want to unsubscribe, he can change
to vacation mode. This has the same effect as unsubscribing,
but without having to go through the unsubscribe process and
then later through the subscribe process again.</para>

</sect2>

</sect1>