CREN's ListProcessor
ListProc: The list-management software of choice.
With ListProc, list management keeps getting easier and easier.
Why Use a List-Management System?
Electronic mailing lists (also known as discussion groups) offer a
highly efficient way to both disseminate information to large numbers of people
and hold long-distance discussions among many people. Internet mailing lists
have become a critical component of scholarly collaboration. Many colleges and
universities are also using them to facilitate and enhance classroom education.
Mailing lists are an easy way to reach a lot of people very quickly, by
automating the distribution of electronic mail to all those who subscribe to
the mailing list. Electronic mail is the network communication service most
likely to be supported and, for many, still the only network service
available.
Electronic mailing-list management software makes it possible to automate and
enhance many of the functions associated with electronic mailing lists. Some
of these functions are:
- Self-subscription to mailing lists and self-unsubscription from lists by the
participants themselves, with multiple options for the subscriber's interaction
with the lists;
- Automatic removal of subscribers whose network addresses have become
inoperative;
- Archiving list discussions and providing open or restricted access to those
archives;
- Controlling who may subscribe to a list, who may post messages, and who may
access list archives;
- Providing search capabilities for locating archived postings on a particular
topic;
- Aggregating postings so that a subscriber can receive the entire day's or
week's postings in a single mail message;
- Allowing users to search for mailing lists devoted to a specified topic;
- Providing access to and distribution of general information files (in
addition to mailing-list archives) with automatic notification or file
distribution to subscribers to this service, on a file-by-file basis, whenever
a file is updated;
- Providing a mechanism for electronic publication through lists with
controlled (or open) subscription;
- Providing easily used, flexible options for list behavior, such as:
- Moderator review or actual editing of submissions to a moderated list prior
to posting;
- Limiting the number of postings per day;
- Predefining the default behavior of replies to list postings;
- Defining a list as visible to searches for lists by topic, or as "private"
and hidden from such searches;
- Providing maximum control of subscriber interaction with the list to the
subscribers themselves, and maximum control of individual list behavior to the
list owners, consistent with security and the need for overall control by the
hosting organization, in order to maximize the efficiency of the support staff
at all levels;
- Providing intuitive interfaces for managing all interactions with the
mailing lists and the list-management software, to maximize effectiveness and
to minimize frustration and assistance required by subscribers, list owners and
moderators, and list-management staff.
A good list-management package must also be efficient in its use of system
resources, be effective in distributing postings to large (and small) lists,
provide adequate control of system resources to prevent large list mailings
from blocking other essential activities, and provide good system security.
CREN's ListProcessor
CREN's ListProc, versions 7.0 and higher, is a major upgrade to the free
UNIX* ListProc 6.0c. It satisfies all the aforementioned functional
requirements, is flexible, easy to use, and efficient, and complies with
relevant Internet standards. ListProc's most basic subscriber interactions are
LISTSERV-compatible. ListProc provides extensive list-control and
list-configuration options to list owners, moderators, and managers through
easily used commands. List archives are conveniently accessible via e-mail,
ftp, the Internet Gopher, and WAIS*, with keyword searching of
archives -- including the use of logical expressions -- supported through
e-mail and WAIS. WAIS searches of list archives may also be set up to be
accessible through the World Wide Web and its clients. Common subscriber
commands are documented in the User Reference Card, available via anonymous ftp
from ftp.cren.net as /listproc/usercard.ps or ...rtf and "landscape" formatted
for folding to 5.5" by 8.5". ListProc also offers an extensive set of on-line
help files.
Searching for mailing lists by subject is supported across multiple hosts and
also allows the use of regular expressions. Lists may be hidden or public with
respect to such searches, at the discretion of the list owner. Individual
subscribers may also be hidden or public, if the list is configured to allow
hidden subscribers. Posting to lists and access to list archives may
independently be set by the list owner to be open, limited to subscribers or to
owners, or (in a future update) limited to specified Internet domains. Lists
are easily gatewayed (in both directions) with Newsgroups, and lists may be
peered (run on multiple hosts with independent subscriber lists on each host).
List-management features are designed to maximize the productivity of list
owners and system managers. List owners, moderators, and administrators find
flexible, powerful, intuitive facilities for managing their lists, conveniently
documented in the list-owner reference card, available on CREN's Web and Gopher
servers (see below), and via anonymous ftp from ftp.cren.net as the file
/listproc/ownercard.ps or ...rtf. A complete installation and procedures
manual is also available for system administrators, as are on-line UNIX
man pages.
Additional ListProc Capabilities
Anyone may use ListProc's help commands to obtain on-line descriptions
of all ListProc commands or of specified individual commands. Anyone may
review the intended use of any public list and the list of "visible"
subscribers to any public list. Subscribers to ListProc lists may select to
receive their list messages individually as posted or as collections of
messages aggregated over a time interval selected by the list owner, typically
24 hours. Subject to the list's configuration, a subscriber may set alias
addresses (different from the one to which the list mail is sent) for mailing
to a subscriber-only list, change his or her list address without
unsubscribing, change his or her list password (required for certain
operations), and conceal his or her subscription to the list. Subscribers may
temporarily disable receipt of list mail without unsubscribing, terminate all
their subscriptions to lists on a specified host with a single command, and
obtain, with a single command, a list of all their list subscriptions on a
specified host.
With release 7.1, ListProc provides user-selectable notification of changes or
automatic distribution of files, whenever user-selected files are modified by
their maintainers. With ListProc 7.1, the default handling of the "To:",
"Cc:", and "Reply-To:" mail headers is to leave them as provided by the
originator of the message, but previous header-handling options remain
available for those who wish to utilize them. Release 7.1 also includes a
number of other enhancements to further improve the user interface, system
efficiency, and the handling of very large lists.
List owners may select whether messages posted to a list are to be posted
without review, reviewed by a moderator before posting, or optionally edited
before posting. List owners provide the description of the list, an optional
descriptive "personal" name for the list, any restrictions on the subscriber
options allowed for the list, and any restrictions on who may subscribe to the
list, who may review its description and subscriber list, who may access its
archives, and who may access statistics on its use. List owners determine if
the lists provide optional aggregation of messages, and the aggregation period.
They select the options for how mail headers are handled by the list. Easily
used commands with intuitive keywords provide convenient set-up and
reconfiguration of lists by system administrators and list owners, without the
need for shutting down the list or the server. List maintenance is facilitated
by optional automatic unsubscription based on analysis of bounced list mail.
ListProc includes an interactive command protocol and interface for optional
use by system managers, list owners, and list subscribers in performing almost
all interactions with the list-management system. Future Mac, MS-Windows, and
X clients will provide point-and-click interaction, built on this protocol, for
subscribers, list owners, and system managers.
When used with the Zmailer Mail Transfer Agent software, ListProc can manage
lists with 20,000 or more subscribers, and its efficiency is regularly being
improved. For smaller lists, ListProc can also be used with sendmail and most
other Mail Transfer Agents. ListProc prevents and detects looping through use
of MD5 checksums and a variety of other techniques.
Availability and Cost of CREN's ListProc
CREN's ListProc is currently available for the SunOS* 4.1,
Solaris* 2.x, AIX*, ULTRIX*,
OSF/1*, HP-UX*, and SGI's IRIX* operating
systems and will be ported to other UNIX platforms. ListProc will be
electronically delivered upon receipt of a properly executed license agreement
and any required fees. An on-line information file detailing procedures for
obtaining ListProc may be procured by e-mail, Gopher, or anonymous ftp as
described below in "On-Line Information".
Each CREN member (nonprofit or for-profit) is eligible for one free license
to ListProc and may license additional copies at $250 per year. The same
will apply to nonprofit members of cooperating international network providers
that sign an agreement with CREN and agree to provide technical support for
ListProc to their member organizations.
Nonprofit organizations that are not members of CREN or of a cooperating
international network provider may license ListProc for $2,000 per year per
copy.
For-profit organizations that are not CREN members may license ListProc for
$2,500 per year per copy.
The ListProc license is normally for perpetual use of the software, but
upgrades and continuing support are provided only if the license fee is paid
annually. (Exceptions in the term of the license are made for special
situations, such as limited-term licenses for testing the software.) The
ListProc license fee is independent of the size of the computer on which the
software is used and of the number of lists supported with it.
Support
Continuing support for the use of its ListProc will be provided
electronically by CREN for its members and other organizations that license the
software directly from CREN. Cooperating Networks are responsible for
supporting the use of the software by their member organizations. Feedback
from all users of the software about their needs and requirements is encouraged
by CREN as part of the continuing development process.
On-line Information
Information about ListProc and CREN's other services is available under
"ListProcessor" from CREN's WorldWide Web server (https://www.cren.net/) and
CREN's Gopher server (Gopher.cren.net), and via anonymous ftp
to ftp.cren.net, in the /listproc subdirectory.
The procedures for obtaining CREN's ListProc are described in an information
file available in CREN's WWW server under "ListProcessor" as "Information", via
anonymous ftp from ftp.cren.net as /listproc/info, via Gopher as the file
"CREN ListProcessor Information" in the directory "CREN ListProcessor", or by
sending e-mail to listproc@listproc.net with the command
send listproc info
as the body of the message. This file also documents other
information about ListProc.
Additional information about CREN is also available from CREN's Web server
(click "CREN"), via Gopher in the "CREN" subdirectory, and via anonymous ftp.
The ftp name of the file with information about CREN's projects is
/cren/brochure. The terms and conditions of CREN membership are documented in
/cren/terms, and CREN dues are found in /cren/cost. CREN's newsletters are
found using the path /cren/cren-newsletter.
For further information, contact CREN through e-mail to
listproc-info@listproc.net or to cren@cren.net, or call 202-872-4200 and ask for
someone from CREN.
Find out why ListProc has become the list management software of
choice!
Corporation for Research & Educational Networking
1112 Sixteenth Street, NW -- Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
______________
* Trademark and servicemark information: CREN is a registered
servicemark of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking. DEC,
ULTRIX, and OSF are Trademarks of the Digital Equipment Corporation; SunOS and
Solaris, of Sun Microsystems, Inc.; IBM and AIX, of International Business
Machines, Inc.; HP and HP-UX, of Hewlett-Packard, Inc; UNIX, of X/OPEN Co.,
Ltd. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. CREN has
applied for registration of ListProc and ListProcessor.