Configuration for each list

A list has a directory of its own. Most of configuration files and control files specific to the list are placed there. List also has several other directories to provide extensive features.

Directories

Following directories may be used so that a list will work. “List directory” must be created at the time of list creation. The others will be created as their necessities.

• List directory

  Directory which contains configuration specific to a list (see also below).

  Default location is $EXPLDIR/mail domain/list name/.

  Note

  • Exceptionally, $EXPLDIR/list name/ is also allowed for primary mail domain (mail domain defined by domain parameter in sympa.conf). However, full path described above is recommended for new installation.

• Bounce directory

  Base directory of bounce and tracking information (see also “Bounce management”).

  Default location is $BOUNCEDIR/list name@mail domain/.

• Archive directory

  Base directory of list archives (see also “Archives”).

  Default location is $ARCDIR/list name@mail domain/.

• Pictures directory

  Directory for subscribers’ pictures.

  Default location is $PICTURESDIR/list name@mail domain/.

• Shared document repository

  Base directory of Shared document repository (see also “Shared document repository”).

  Location is the subdirectory named shared/ under list directory described above.

Configuration files under list directory

There may be following configuration files under list directory. Among them, config file is required. The others may be created during list creation, or configuration works by listmasters or owners.

Main configuration

• config

  The file keeps most of list configuration. See also “Configuration files” in “Configuration hierarchy”. See list_config(5) for details of format and configuration parameters.

info and homepage files

• info

  Long description of the list. Content of this file will be included in welcome message (mail_tt2/welcome.tt2) sent to new subscribers or response to INFO mail command.

  This file contains the text entered as “Description” in list creation page of web interface.

• homepage

  Content of this file will be included in list information page of web interface. HTML format is allowed. If it does not exist, content of info file will be used.

Message header and footer

• message_footer

• message_footer.mime

  Note

  • On Sympa 6.2.40 or earlier, these were named message.footer and message.footer.mime.

  If either of these files exists, it will be appended at end of distributed messages.

  message_footer.mime is used only when footer type is “mime” (see also footer_type parameter).

• message_header

• message_header.mime

  Note

  • On Sympa 6.2.40 or earlier, these were named message.header and message.header.mime.

  Similar to files above, but they will be appended at beginning of distributed messages.

Templates

• mail_tt2/file name.tt2

• web_tt2/file name.tt2

  Mail templates (mail_tt2/file name.tt2) and web templates (mail_tt2/file name.tt2) for specific list may customize templates. See also “Templates”.

Tasks

• tasks/file name.task

  Task files for specific list. Note that, with earlier versions, list_task_models directory was used instead of tasks. See “Tasks” for details.

Data inclusion files

• data_sources/file name.incl

  Data inclusion files for specific list may customize data source definitions. See also “Data sources”.

Control files

Dump files

Note

• Feature of dump files was introduced on Sympa 6.2.33b.1.

• owner.dump
• editor.dump

• member.dump

  These files include snapshots of list users: owner.dump for list owners, editor.dump for moderators and member.dump for subscribers.

Creation, opening, modifying, closing or restoring lists

When a list is created using list creation template (see “List creation”), dump files are created and imported to backend database immediately.

When a family list is modified (see “Modifying a family list”), dump files including new owners and moderators are created, and owners and moderators in backend database are replaced with content of dump files.

When a list is closed (see “Removing a list”), list users are exported into dump files, and users are removed from backaend database. When the list is restored by listmaster, users in dump files are imported again.

Handling dump files with command line interface

Additionally, administrator can export users to dump files using command line sympa.pl --dump_users anytime, or import dump files using sympa.pl --restore_users (see sympa.pl(1)) anytime. sympa.pl --dump_users does not remove users in database backend.

Other files

In general, these files should not be modified manually.

• stats

  stats file under list directory contains accumulated amount of message delivery. It contains following four integer numbers separated by space characters:

  1. Number of messages the list has distributed. This number is assigned as value of list.sequence template variable used with custom_subject parameter.
  2. Total number of messages the list has distributed.
  3. Sum of message sizes the list has distributed.
  4. Total sum of message sizes the list has distributed.

  Note

  • This file on earlier versions of Sympa might contain additional information. Format of this file may be changed in the future.

• msg_count

  msg_count file under list directory contains number of messages distributed by days. Its content will be imported in database, and shown in “List statistics” page of web interface.

• config_changes

  config_changes file under list directory tracks modification of list configuration by users, if the list belongs to family.

  (Work in progress)

Deprecated files

• subscribers

  On Sympa prior to 5.4, this file retained subscriber information. Recently, information of subscribers are solely stored in database, and this file has been deprecated.