The Majordomo mailing list service at Imperial College London is being replaced
with a new system called Mailman. Please read the following information to see
how this affects you.
If you have any questions not addressed in this document, please contact
mailman@imperial.ac.uk.
1(a): I'm a Majordomo list administrator, what do I need to do?
1(b): What are the key differences between the Majordomo service and the Mailman service?
1(c): What does the transition of a list involve?
1(d): What if I don't need the mailing list anymore?
1(e): When will I be contacted about the transition?
1(f): What if I want to bring forward the transition?
1(g): What are the archival options, are they searchable?
2(a): I'm a member of a Majordomo list, what do I need to do?
2(b): My list administrator said the list had moved, how does this affect me?
2(c): How to I change my membership options?
2(d): How do I find out my password for a list?
2(e): I'm receiving list mails but the list says my email address isn't subscribed
2(f): I used to receive periodic digests of ths list, how do I do this in Mailman?
1(a): I'm a Majordomo list administrator, what do I need to do?
Nothing without being explicitly asked to. You will be personally contacted by email regarding moving your list
over to Mailman. You may familiarise yourself with this FAQ as preparation and if you have any further questions
you may pose them here.
1(b): What are the key differences between the Majordomo service and the Mailman service?
There's a entirely different web interface to administering lists, there are many new choices regarding
functionality and behaviour of lists.
There is a web page for each list offering information about the mailing list and means for subscribing. The
URL to this page provides a useful starting point to offer to potential subscribers.
List members have a password for each list they belong to. There are options available to list members
regarding their membership, these options are password protected. The password isn't "secure", it is randomly
assigned and it serves just to stop others from modifing their membership options. It can always be obtained by
trying to log in and clicking on a "forgotten password" link, at which point it will be emailed to the members
address.
The default behaviour of lists is to email list members once a month to remind them of their membership of
lists and their passwords. Password reminders can be configured on a member and a list basis.
1(c): What does the transition of a list involve?
The new mailing list service, Mailman has much more functionality than the Majordomo service. There is a web
based administrative interface with many options regarding how your list operates.
At the start of the transition, your list will be created on the new service and the membership will be
populated from the Majordomo list, but it will not be "active" (the email addresses won't be active, Majordomo
will continue serving the list).
During the membership "population" process, any invalid email addresses will be stripped out. There is a large
amount of out of date and invalid information contained in most of the Majordomo lists.
You will be supplied with the information to enable you to log into the administrative web pages to your list
on Mailman. You will be required to log in and configure the list to your requirements.
Commonly differing configuration options with lists are:
Whether subscription requests require administrator approval
Who is allow to post to the list
Whether the list should be archived
Should the list archive be publically available
Should the list members be sent monthly reminders (see Key Differences)
When you are happy with the configuration of the list on the new service, you will indicate this to us by email
and the email addresses for the list will be switched over from Majordomo to Mailman.
You will be required to inform the members of your list about the transition, should you feel that it is
necessary. Given that lists are used for a variety of purposes (newsletters, discussion forums, etc), it's up
to the list administrator to decide whether informing the members is necessary. For the most part informing
your members can consist of pointing them towards the "List Member" section of this FAQ.
1(d): What if I don't need the mailing list anymore?
Easy, contact us and the list will be removed from the systems.
1(e): When will I be contacted about the transition?
In due course. There are a large number of lists to be moved, some administrators have several lists that
they are responsible for. Some may require more work than others.
1(f): What if I want to bring forward the transition?
Contact us and we'll see what can be done.
1(g): What are the archival options, are they searchable?
Lists can be set to make an archive of the messages posted to them. This option can be turned off completely,
the default setting is to archive list mail.
The archives are accessed using a web browser, there are two types of archive:
Private, where the archive is only accessible to list members.
Public, where the archive is accessible without authentication.
The default setting is for Private Archives.
Currently, there is no integrated archive search function. The request for this feature has been noted and
will be considered during system maintenance and upgrade. Public archives will be indexed by third-party
internet search engines and may be searched using them. Most internet search engines included an advanced
option for only searching within a specific domain which would facilitate such usage.
2(a): I'm a member of a Majordomo list, what do I need to do?
Your list administrator will mediate the migration of the mailing list from Majordomo to Mailman. Your
list administrator will notify about the migration.
2(b): My list administrator said the list had moved, how does this affect me?
The service running your mailing list has changed, and it handles some things differently to the old service. Firstly
read through the Key Differences.
2(c): How to I change my membership options?
As a member of a list, you have a selection of configuration options that apply to your membership of that list.
You can access these by going to the bottom of the "List Information" page and logging in with your
subscribed email address. You may not know your password, but you can have it emailed to your subscription address.
If your address isn't recognised as being a member of the list, see "I'm receiving list mails but the list says my email address isn't subscribed".
The URL for the "List Information" page is included at the bottom of all mailing list posts by default.
The URL for the "List Information" page may be found in the headers of email sent through the list, most email
clients hide these from you unless you specifically request them ("View / Options" in Outlook). There is an
overview of lists here, however, lists may be configured to not
be listed on this page for privacy reasons.
2(d): How do I find out my password for a list?
See "How to I change my membership options?".
2(e): I'm receiving list mails but the list says my email address isn't subscribed
This can be a problem. Members of Imperial COllege London have a variety of email addresses that will reach them, but typically
only one that they use regularly. For example, username@imperial.ac.uk will be written to their primary mail address and passed
through the mail relays. You'd only be able to log in with the address you're subscribed as, there may be no easy way for you
to tell what this address is. If you are having problems, contact us. Members who's addresses may have
been subscribe to Majordomo lists in the form "email@ic.ac.uk" will be subscribed to Mailman lists as
"email@imperial.ac.uk".
Email forwarding addresses and umbrella mailing lists (where a list is a member of another mailing list) can further complicate
the matter. Again, if you are having problems, contact us.
2(f): I used to receive periodic digests of ths list, how do I do this in Mailman?
If you were subscribed to a digest of a mailing list under Majordomo, you will need to check your list membership
settings for Mailman. Majordomo handled digests as a separate "list" linked to the first. In Mailman, it is
a membership option as whether you want to receive digests and how you want to receive them. A list administrator may
prevent the list from offering the digest option.