Next: 6. sympa.conf parameters Up: Sympa Mailing Lists Management Software version Previous: 4. Upgrading Sympa Contents Index
Subsections

- 5.1 Robot aliases
- 5.2 List aliases
- 5.3 Alias manager
- 5.4 Virtual domains

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5. Mail aliases

Mail aliases are required in Sympa for `sympa.pl` to receive mail commands and list messages. Management of these aliases management will depend on the MTA (`sendmail`, `qmail`, `postfix`, `exim`) you're using, where you store aliases and whether you are managing virtual domains or not.

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5.1 Robot aliases

An electronic list manager such as Sympa is built around two processing steps:

- a message sent to a list or to Sympa itself (commands such as subscribe or unsubscribe) is received by the SMTP server. The SMTP server, on reception of this message, runs the `queue` program (supplied in this package) to store the message in a spool.

- the `sympa.pl` daemon, set in motion at system startup, scans this spool. As soon as it detects a new message, it processes it and performs the requested action (distribution or processing of a command).

To separate the processing of commands (subscription, unsubscription, help requests, etc.) from the processing of messages destined for mailing lists, a special mail alias is reserved for administrative requests, so that Sympa can be permanently accessible to users. The following lines must therefore be added to the `sendmail` alias file (often `/etc/aliases`):

> sympa: "| /usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue sympa@my.domain.org"
> listmaster: "| /usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue listmaster@my.domain.org"
> bounce+*: "| /usr/local/sympa-os/bin/bouncequeue sympa@my.domain.org"
> sympa-request: postmaster
> sympa-owner: postmaster

Note: if you run Sympa virtual robots, you will need one `sympa` alias entry per virtual robot (see virtual robots section, 13, page ).

`sympa-request` should be the address of the robot administrator, i.e. a person who looks after Sympa (here `postmastercru.fr`).

`sympa-owner` is the return address for Sympa error messages.

The alias bounce+* is dedicated to collect bounces. It is useful only if at least one list uses `welcome_return_path unique` or `remind_return_path unique`. Don't forget to run `newaliases` after any change to the `/etc/aliases` file!

Note: aliases based on `listserv` (in addition to those based on `sympa`) can be added for the benefit of users accustomed to the `listserv` and `majordomo` names. For example:

    listserv:          sympa
    listserv-request:  sympa-request
    majordomo:         sympa
    listserv-owner:    sympa-owner

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5.2 List aliases

For each new list, it is necessary to create up to six mail aliases (at least three). If you managed to setup the alias manager (see next section) then Sympa will install automatically the following aliases for you.

For example, to create the `mylist` list, the following aliases must be added:

> ``mylist`:` | `"|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue mylist@my.domain.org"`
> ``mylist-request`:` | `"|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue mylist-request@my.domain.org"`
> ``mylist-editor`:` | `"|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue mylist-editor@my.domain.org"`
> ``mylist-owner`:` | `"|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/bouncequeue mylist@my.domain.org`
> ``mylist-subscribe`:` | `"|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue mylist-subscribe@my.domain.org@my.domain.org"`
> ``mylist-unsubscribe`:` | `"|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/queue mylist-unsubscribe@my.domain.org"`

The address `mylist-request` should correspond to the person responsible for managing `mylist` (the owner). Sympa will forward messages for `mylist-request` to the owner of `mylist`, as defined in the `/usr/local/sympa-os/expl/mylist/config` file. Using this feature means you would not need to modify the alias file if the owner of the list were to change.

Similarly, the address `mylist-editor` can be used to contact the list editors if any are defined in `/usr/local/sympa-os/expl/mylist/config`. This address definition is not compulsory.

The address `mylist-owner` is the address receiving non-delivery reports. The `bouncequeue` program stores these messages in the `queuebounce` directory. WWSympa ((see 1.2, page ) may then analyze them and provide a web access to them.

The address `mylist-subscribe` is an address enabling users to subscribe in a manner which can easily be explained to them. Beware: subscribing this way is so straightforward that you may find spammers subscribing to your list by accident.

The address `mylist-unsubscribe` is the equivalent for unsubscribing. By the way, the easier it is for users to unsubscribe, the easier it will be for you to manage your list!

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5.3 Alias manager

The `alias_manager.pl` script does aliases management. It is run by WWSympa and will install aliases for a new list and delete aliases for closed lists.

The script expects the following arguments :

1. add | del
2. `<`list name`>`
3. `<`list domain`>`

Example : `/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/alias_manager.pl add mylistcru.fr`

`/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/alias_manager.pl` works on the alias file as defined in `sympa.conf`) by the SENDMAIL_ALIASES variable (default is `/etc/mail/sympa_aliases`) in the main Makefile (see 3.3, page ). You must refer to this aliases file in your `sendmail.mc` (if using sendmail) :

    define(`ALIAS_FILE', `/etc/aliases,/etc/mail/sympa_aliases')dnl

`/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/alias_manager.pl` runs a `newaliases` command (via `aliaswrapper`), after any changes to aliases file.

If you manage virtual domains with your mail server, then you might want to change the form of aliases used by the alias_manager. You can customize the `list_aliases` template that is parsed to generate list aliases (see15.8.8, page ).

L. Marcotte has written a version of `alias_manager.pl` that is LDAP enabled. Check the contrib. page for more information : http://sympa.org/contrib.html.

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5.4 Virtual domains

When using virtual domains with `sendmail` or `postfix`, you can't refer to `mylist@my.domain.org` on the right-hand side of an `/etc/aliases` entry. You need to define an additional entry in a virtual table. You can also add a unique entry, with a regular expression, for your domain.

With Postfix, you should edit the `/etc/postfix/virtual.regexp` file as follows :

> /`^`(.*)@my.domain.org$/ my.domain.org-$1

Entries in the 'aliases' file will look like this :

> my.domain.org-sympa: "|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/sympa.pl sympa@my.domain.org" ..... my.domain.org-listA: "|/usr/local/sympa-os/bin/sympa.pl listA@my.domain.org"

With Sendmail, add the following entry to `/etc/mail/virtusertable` file :

> @my.domain.org my.domain.org-%1%3

Next: 6. sympa.conf parameters Up: Sympa Mailing Lists Management Software version Previous: 4. Upgrading Sympa Contents Index