ARCHIVED: What are some of the basic commands for Majordomo?

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UITS has retired the Majordomo list server at Indiana University Bloomington. If you were the primary owner of an IUB Majordomo list, you can no longer use it to send mail. If you'd like to create a new mailing list, anyone with an IU Network ID username and passphrase can request a LISTSERV list. For instructions, see ARCHIVED: At IU, how do I request a new LISTSERV list? Also, for a collection of documents with general LISTSERV information, and information about owning and subscribing to LISTSERV lists at IU, see the Knowledge Base menu ARCHIVED: LISTSERV, distribution lists, and mass mailing.

Note: You should never send commands to the address of the Majordomo mailing list (e.g., to listname@host.domain, where listname is the name of the list, and host.domain is the name of the computer where the list resides); only messages intended for members of the list should be sent to the list's address. Rather, send commands to the administrative address of your Majordomo list (e.g., to majordomo@host.domain). Additionally, send all commands in the body of the message; commands in the "Subject:" line of messages are ignored.

The information below comes from the Majordomo help file.

Create a list

To create a Majordomo list, send the following command to the administrative address of your Majordomo server:

  create listname password

Replace listname with the name of the list you're creating, and password with the password you wish to use when sending administrative commands. If you wish, you can add subscribers by listing email addresses immediately following the create command, one on each line.

Subscribe to or unsubscribe from a list

To subscribe to a Majordomo list, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: In Majordomo, how do I subscribe to a mailing list?

To unsubscribe from a Majordomo list, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: For Majordomo, how do I unsubscribe from a mailing list?

View list members

To see who is subscribed to a particular list, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: For my Majordomo list, how do I get a list of all the subscribers?

View the list introduction

For directions to see a list's introduction, see the Knowledge Base document ARCHIVED: For my Majordomo list, how can I check the introduction?

View available lists

To see the lists served by your Majordomo server, use the command lists.

Retrieve the Majordomo help file

To get the Majordomo help file, use the command help.

Stop processing commands

If your mailing program adds a signature, it's useful to use the end command at the end of any commands you send to the Majordomo server. This command tells the server to stop processing commands, and thus it won't try to interpret your signature as a command.