Annotation of www/mail.html, Revision 1.78
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1.2 deraadt 4: <title>OpenBSD Mailing lists</title>
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1.25 deraadt 17: <p>
1.66 nick 18: <h1><font color="#e00000">Mailing Lists</font></h1>
1.57 horacio 19: <hr>
1.7 downsj 20:
1.66 nick 21: Mailing lists are an important means of communication among users and
22: developers of OpenBSD. With the exceptions of <b>announce</b> and
1.70 nick 23: <b>security-announce</b>, the lists are not moderated. We deliberately
1.66 nick 24: restrict the number of different mailing lists.
25: This helps reduce the amount of cross-posting and makes sure that the
26: information gets distributed to a wide audience.
27:
1.28 louis 28: <p>
1.66 nick 29: <a name="Netiquette"></a>
30: <h2><font color="#e00000">Netiquette</font></h2>
1.28 louis 31: <p>
32: Be considerate of other subscribers on the mailing lists.
33: <dl>
1.66 nick 34: <dt><b>Plain text, 72 characters per line</b>
35: <dd>Many subscribers and developers read their mail on text-based mailers
36: (mail(1), emacs, Mutt)
1.45 millert 37: and they find HTML-formatted messages, or lines that stretch beyond 72
38: characters often unreadable.
39: Most OpenBSD mailing lists strip messages of MIME content before
40: sending them out to the rest of the list.
41: If you don't use plain text your messages will be reformatted or,
42: if they cannot be reformatted, summarily rejected.
1.66 nick 43: The only mailing list that allows attachments is the <b>ports</b> list,
1.45 millert 44: they will be removed from messages on the other mailing lists.
1.66 nick 45:
46: <dt><b>Do your homework before you post</b>
1.28 louis 47: <dd>If you have an installation question, make sure that you have read the relevant
48: documents such as the INSTALL.* text files in the FTP installation directories, the
1.57 horacio 49: <a href="faq/index.html">FAQ</a> and the relevant man pages (start with
1.66 nick 50: <a href= "http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=afterboot&sektion=8">afterboot(8)</a>),
51: and check the mailing list <a href="#Archives">archives</a>.
52: We want to help, but we wouldn't want to deprive you of a valuable
53: learning experience, and no one wants to see the same question on the
54: lists for the fifth time in a month.
55:
56: <dt><b>Include a useful Subject line</b>
1.45 millert 57: <dd>Messages with an empty Subject will get bounced to the list manager and
1.57 horacio 58: so they will take longer to show up. Including a relevant Subject in the message
1.45 millert 59: will ensure that more people actually read what you've written.
60: Also, avoid Subject lines with excessive capitalization.
1.66 nick 61: "Help!" or "I can't get it to work!" are not a useful subject lines.
62: Do not change the subject line while on the same topic. YOU may know
63: what it is regarding, the rest of us who get several hundred messages a
64: day will have no idea.
65:
66: <dt><b>Trim your signature</b>
67: <dd>Keep the signature lines at the bottom of your mail to a reasonable
68: length. PGP signatures, and those automatic address cards are merely
69: annoying and are stripped out. Legal disclaimers and advisories are
70: very annoying, and inappropriate to public mailing lists.
71:
72: <dt><b>Stay on topic</b>
1.28 louis 73: <dd>Please keep the subject of the post relevant to users of OpenBSD.
1.66 nick 74:
75: <dt><b>Include important information</b>
76: <dd>Don't waste everyone's time with a hopelessly incomplete question.
77: No one other than you has the information needed to resolve your
78: problem, it is better to provide more information than needed than one
79: detail too little. Any question should include at least the
80: <a href="faq/faq5.html#Flavors">version</a> of OpenBSD (i.e.,
81: "3.2-stable", "3.3-current as of July 20, 2003"). Any hardware related
1.69 nick 82: questions should mention the platform (i.e., sparc,
1.66 nick 83: alpha, etc.), and provide a full
1.70 nick 84: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=dmesg&sektion=8">dmesg(8)</a>.
1.66 nick 85: Hardware model numbers, unfortunately, don't indicate much about the
86: actual content of a particular machine or accessory, and are useless to
87: anyone who doesn't have that exact machine sitting where they can easily
88: recognize it. The dmesg(8) tells us exactly what is IN your machine,
89: not what stickers are on the outside.
90:
91: <dt><b>Respect differences in opinion and philosophy</b>
92: <dd>Intelligent people may look at the same set of facts and come to
93: very different conclusions. Repeating the same points that didn't
94: convince someone previously rarely changes their mind and irritates all
95: the other readers.
96:
97: <dt><b>Do not cross-post or repeat post</b>
98: <dd>Posting the same message to multiple lists and/or multiple times
99: does not increase the likelihood of getting a useful response, but is
100: likely to irritate the people you want to help you. If you didn't get a
101: satisfactory response the first time you posted to an appropriate list,
102: it is usually because you provided insufficient or unclear information.
103: Don't simply repost the same message.
104:
1.28 louis 105: </dl>
1.1 deraadt 106:
1.33 millert 107: <p>
1.66 nick 108: <a name="spam"></a>
109: <h2><font color="#e00000">Spam</font></h2>
1.33 millert 110: <p>
1.66 nick 111: The OpenBSD mailing lists use
1.78 ! millert 112: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=spamd&sektion=8">spamd(8)</a> in greylisting mode as well as
1.66 nick 113: <a href="http://www.spamassassin.org">SpamAssassin</a> to keep down the
1.67 nick 114: spam volume but sometimes things sneak through.
1.66 nick 115: In addition, the list server also has regex-based rules to reject
116: based on some common spam telltales.
117: If you get spam through one of the OpenBSD mailing lists,
1.33 millert 118: you might want to submit it to <a href="http://spamcop.net">spamcop</a>.
119: In general, you don't have to send a copy to the list owner--chances
1.42 millert 120: are he's already seen it. Please note that complaining about
1.66 nick 121: and commenting upon
1.42 millert 122: spam on the list proper is counter-productive as it generates more
1.66 nick 123: traffic than the spam itself.
1.77 millert 124: Note that if you are sending mail from a dynamic IP address you
125: will probably <b>not</b> be able to post to the mailing lists.
126: In this case you should use a <em>smart host</em> sendmail configuration
127: that utilizes your ISP's mail server. See the comments in
128: <tt>/usr/share/sendmail/cf/openbsd-proto.mc</tt> for how to do this.
1.66 nick 129:
130:
131: <a name="Lists"></a>
132: <h2><font color="#e00000">The Mailing Lists</font></h2>
1.33 millert 133:
1.66 nick 134: <h3>General Interest Lists</h3>
135: These lists are of interest to most users of OpenBSD.
1.1 deraadt 136: <dl>
1.66 nick 137:
138: <dt><b>misc</b>
139: <dd>User questions and answers, general questions. This is the most
140: active list. Please, <a href="faq/index.html">read the FAQ</a> and the
141: installation documents, and see <a href="report.html">How to report a
142: Problem</a> before posting.
143:
144: <dt><b>advocacy</b>
145: <dd>Promoting the use of OpenBSD. Non-technical discussions in
146: <i>misc</i> often get shunted here.
147:
148: <dt><b>announce</b>
149: <dd>Important announcements. This low volume list is excellent for
150: people who just want occasional news about the project.
151:
152: <dt><b>security-announce</b>
1.31 millert 153: <dd>Security announcements. This low volume list receives OpenBSD
154: security advisories and pointers to security patches as they become
155: available.
1.66 nick 156:
157: <dt><b>ports</b>
158: <dd>Discussions about using and contributing to the 'ports' source tree.
159:
160: <dt><b>www</b>
161: <dd>Discussion of the OpenBSD Website.</dd>
162: </dl>
163:
164: <h3>Developer's Lists</h3>
165: These lists are for technical discussions of aspects of OpenBSD. They
166: are NOT for beginning or average users, they are not for problem
167: reporting (unless you are including a good fix), and they are not for
168: installation problems. If you have any question about if a message
169: should be posted to any of these lists, almost invariably, it should not
170: be. Use <b>misc</b>, above, instead. <b>Please</b> do not cross post
171: to multiple lists.
172:
173: <dl>
174: <dt><b>bugs</b>
1.57 horacio 175: <dd><a href="report.html">Bug reports</a> as sent in via
1.66 nick 176: <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=sendbug&sektion=1">sendbug(1)</a>
177: and follow-up discussions. If you wish to have your message logged
178: by the <a href="query-pr.html">GNATS</a> bug tracking system, reply
179: to <i>gnats@openbsd.org</i>, gnats@ will then forward to <i>bugs@</i>.
180:
181: <dt><b>ipv6</b>
182: <dd>Discussion of IPv6 and IPsec in OpenBSD
183:
184: <dt><b>ports-bugs</b>
185: <dd>Discussion regarding bugs within the OpenBSD ports tree
186:
187: <dt><b>smp</b>
188: <dd>Development of <a href="faq/faq8.html#SMP">multiprocessor</a>
189: support in OpenBSD. Offers to "help test" and complaints about it not
190: being completed yet are not appreciated. Code, however, is welcome.
191:
192: <dt><b>tech</b>
193: <dd>Discussion of technical topics for OpenBSD developers and advanced
194: users. This is <b>not</b> a "tech support" forum, do not use it as
195: such.
196:
197: <dt><b>x11</b>
198: <dd>Discussion of X11 development within OpenBSD
199: </dl>
200:
201: <h3>Platform Specific Lists</h3>
202: These lists are focused on user issues and development on individual
203: platforms.
204: <dl>
205: <dt><b>alpha</b>
206: <dd>OpenBSD/alpha port
207:
1.75 miod 208: <dt><b>arm</b>
209: <dd>OpenBSD/cats port and other ARM porting efforts
210:
1.66 nick 211: <dt><b>hppa</b>
212: <dd>OpenBSD/hppa port
213:
214: <dt><b>mac68k</b>
215: <dd>OpenBSD/mac68k port (not PowerPC Macintosh systems)
216:
217: <dt><b>ppc</b>
1.75 miod 218: <dd>OpenBSD/macppc and OpenBSD/pegasos ports,
219: as well as other PowerPC porting efforts
1.66 nick 220:
221: <dt><b>sparc</b>
222: <dd>OpenBSD/sparc and OpenBSD/sparc64 ports
223:
224: <dt><b>vax</b>
225: <dd>OpenBSD/vax port
226: </dl>
227:
228: <h3>CVS Changes Mailing Lists</h3>
229: Every time a developer commits a change to the OpenBSD
1.69 nick 230: <a href="why-cvs.html">CVS tree</a>, a message is mailed out to all the subscribers
1.66 nick 231: of these lists, containing the commit comments.
232:
233: <dl>
234: <dt><b>source-changes</b>
235: <dd>Automated mail-out of CVS source tree changes in all the repositories
236: other than <i>ports</i>.
237:
238: <dt><b>ports-changes</b>
239: <dd>Automated mail-out of ports-specific CVS source tree changes.
1.1 deraadt 240: </dl>
241:
1.66 nick 242: <h3>CTM Lists</h3>
243: A number of mailing lists are used by the <a href="ctm.html">CTM</a>,
244: an alternative source change distribution system. See the
245: <a href="ctm.html">CTM page</a> for details.
246:
247:
248: <a name="Majordomo"></a>
249: <h2><font color="#e00000">Managing Mailing List Membership via
250: Majordomo</font></h2>
1.1 deraadt 251: <p>
1.57 horacio 252: If you want to be sent a complete list with all mailing lists available
1.66 nick 253: at openbsd.org, send the command "<tt>lists</tt>" on the body of
1.57 horacio 254: a message to
255: <a href="mailto:majordomo@OpenBSD.org">majordomo@OpenBSD.org</a>.
1.28 louis 256:
257: <p>
1.66 nick 258: To subscribe to a given list, send mail to
259: <a href="mailto:majordomo@OpenBSD.org">majordomo@OpenBSD.org</a>
260: with a message body of "<b>subscribe mailing-list-name</b>".
261:
262: <p>
263: For further assistance, send a message body of "<b>help</b>"
1.57 horacio 264: to <a href="mailto:majordomo@OpenBSD.org">majordomo@OpenBSD.org</a>
1.13 deraadt 265: and you will receive a reply outlining all your options. Your domain
1.66 nick 266: <b>MUST</b> resolve properly or the mail will not go through!
1.1 deraadt 267:
1.66 nick 268:
269: <a name="Web"></a>
270: <h2><font color="#e00000">Managing Mailing List Membership via
271: Web</font></h2>
272: Your membership to the OpenBSD mailing lists can also be managed via
273: a web interface at:
274: <blockquote>
275: <a href="http://lists.openbsd.org/">http://lists.openbsd.org/</a>
276: </blockquote>
277:
278:
279: <a name="Tricks"></a>
280: <h2><font color="#e00000">Mailing Lists Tricks</font></h2>
281: There are a number of very useful options that can be selected, either
282: by the <a href="http://lists.openbsd.org">web interface</a> or through
283: <a href="mailto:majordomo@openbsd.org">Majordomo</a>. You can change
284: your email address without having to unsubscribe and resubscribe, you
1.69 nick 285: can temporarily disable your message delivery for a few days while you go on
1.66 nick 286: vacation, and much more. The user is invited to spend some time reading
287: through the options, available by sending
288: <a href="mailto:majordomo@openbsd.org">Majordomo</a> a message
289: containing "<tt>help</tt>" as the body text, or through the
290: "<tt>Help</tt>" tab of the <a href="http://lists.openbsd.org">web
291: interface</a>.
292:
293: <p>
294: As an example, if you were going on vacation for two weeks and didn't
1.69 nick 295: wish to come back to several thousand e-mails, you can disable
1.70 nick 296: message delivery by the mail server for the time of your vacation and have
297: delivery automatically resume upon your scheduled return using the command:
1.66 nick 298: <pre>
299: set all nomail-14d
300: </pre>
1.68 nick 301: This will suspend your subscription to all mail lists for 14 days
302: (<tt>-14d</tt>). More details and options can be seen on the
303: <a href="http://lists.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr?&user=&passw=&list=GLOBAL&func=help&extra=overview">Majordomo
304: overview page</a>.
305:
1.66 nick 306:
307: <h3>Digests</h3>
308: If you would prefer to see a "digest" (a consolidated listing of all the
309: messages for a time period), rather than getting messages individually
310: in "real-time" form, you can use the commands:
311: <pre>
312: set misc digest-daily
313: set source-changes digest-weekly
314: </pre>
315: for daily digests of the <b>misc</b> list, and weekly digests of the
316: <b>source-changes</b> list. Yes, multiple commands can be placed in one
317: Majordomo email.
318:
319:
320: <a name="OtherLists"></a>
321: <h2><font color="#e00000">Other Mailing Lists</font></h2>
322: <p>
323: The fine folks at
324: <a href="http://www.squish.net/openbsd/">squish.net</a> run mailing
325: lists with daily and weekly digests of the OpenBSD <b>source-changes</b>
326: and <b>ports-changes</b> mailing list. This is handy for those who
1.72 nick 327: don't like the typically high volume of these lists.
1.42 millert 328:
329: <p>
1.39 horacio 330: The clever monkeys at <a href="http://www.monkey.org/openbsd-mobile/">monkey.org</a>
1.66 nick 331: maintain the <b>openbsd-mobile</b> list for people using OpenBSD
1.29 louis 332: on mobile and laptop computers. To subscribe:
333: <br>
334: echo subscribe | mail openbsd-mobile-request@monkey.org
335:
1.50 jufi 336: <p>
1.61 dhartmei 337: The insomniac at <a href="http://www.benzedrine.cx/pf/">benzedrine.cx</a>
1.66 nick 338: maintains the <b>pf</b> list for people using the OpenBSD
1.61 dhartmei 339: packet filter. To subscribe:
340: <br>
341: echo subscribe | mail pf-request@benzedrine.cx
342:
343: <p>
1.50 jufi 344: A mailing list for OpenBSD FTP, Web, AnonCVS and CVSup mirror maintainers is
345: available at <a href="http://rt.fm/openbsd-mirrors/">rt.fm</a>.
346:
1.66 nick 347: <a name="nonEnglish"></a>
348: <h2><font color="#e00000">Non-English Lists</font></h2>
1.28 louis 349:
1.66 nick 350: Several non-English speaking mailing lists related to OpenBSD are available
1.59 miod 351: separately. Here is a list of the currently known mailing lists:
352:
353: <!--
354: PLEASE KEEP THIS LIST SORTED, EXCEPT FOR TRANSLATIONS, WHERE YOU SHOULD PUT
355: THE LIST IN YOUR LANGUAGE, IF ONE EXISTS, HEAD OF LIST.
356: -->
1.63 nick 357: <!--
1.59 miod 358: <p>
359: Chinese:
1.66 nick 360: <b>openbsd@shellhung.org</b>
1.59 miod 361: <br>To subscribe, visit the URL at:
362: <a href="http://www.shellhung.org/mailman/listinfo/openbsd/">http://www.shellhung.org/mailman/listinfo/openbsd/</a>.
1.63 nick 363: -->
1.59 miod 364:
365: <p>
366: Czech:
1.66 nick 367: <b>users@openbsd.cz</b>
1.59 miod 368: <br>To subscribe, visit the URL at:
369: <a href="http://openbsd.cz/mailman/listinfo/users/">http://openbsd.cz/mailman/listinfo/users/</a>.
370:
371: <p>
1.71 todd 372: French:
373: <b>openbsd-france-misc@openbsd-france.org</b>
374: <br>To subscribe, visit the URL at:
375: <a href="http://www.openbsd-france.org/mailing-list.php">http://www.openbsd-france.org/mailing-list.php</a>.
376:
377: <p>
1.64 nick 378: German:
1.69 nick 379: <b>liste@openbsd.de</b>
1.64 nick 380: <br>To subscribe, please visit the URL at:
381: <a href="https://www.openbsd.de/listen/listinfo/liste">https://www.openbsd.de/listen/listinfo/liste</a>.
382:
383: <p>
1.59 miod 384: Greek:
1.66 nick 385: <b>openbsd@bsd.gr</b>
1.59 miod 386: <br>To subscribe send a mail to
387: <a href="mailto:majordomo@bsd.gr">majordomo@bsd.gr</a> with a message
1.66 nick 388: body of "<b>subscribe openbsd</b>".
1.18 deraadt 389:
390: <p>
1.59 miod 391: Italian:
1.66 nick 392: <a href="http://www.sikurezza.org/">sikurezza.org</a>, an Italian language
393: non-commercial security portal hosts <b>openbsd@sikurezza.org</b>.
1.59 miod 394: <br>To subscribe just send an empty message to <a
395: href="mailto:openbsd-subscribe@sikurezza.org">openbsd-subscribe@sikurezza.org</a>.
396:
397: <p>
398: Japanese: Please visit the URL at:
399: <a href="http://www.openbsd.ics.nara-wu.ac.jp/wakakusa">http://www.openbsd.ics.nara-wu.ac.jp/wakakus</a>
400: for more information.
401:
402: <p>
403: Polish: to subscribe, send mail to
1.55 miod 404: <a href="mailto:OpenBSD-request@bsdzine.org">OpenBSD-request@bsdzine.org</a>.
1.24 deraadt 405:
406: <p>
1.59 miod 407: Portuguese:
1.66 nick 408: <b>openbsd@neei.uevora.pt</b>
1.59 miod 409: <br>To subscribe, visit the URL at:
410: <a href="http://neei.uevora.pt/mailman/listinfo/openbsd/">http://neei.uevora.pt/mailman/listinfo/openbsd/</a>.
411:
412: <p>
1.60 miod 413: Russian:
1.66 nick 414: <b>openbsd@openbsd.ru</b>
1.47 form 415: <br>To subscribe, send mail to
416: <a href="mailto:minimalist@openbsd.ru">minimalist@openbsd.ru</a> with
1.66 nick 417: subject "<b>subscribe openbsd</b>".
1.34 form 418:
419: <p>
1.73 nick 420: Slovenian:
421: to subscribe please visit the URL at
422: <a href="http://obsd.17slon.org/mailinglist.php"
423: >http://obsd.17slon.org/mailinglist.php</a>
424:
425: <p>
1.62 fgsch 426: Spanish:
1.66 nick 427: <b>misc@openbsd.org.mx</b>, run from Mexico.
1.43 horacio 428: <br>To subscribe, send an empty mail to
1.65 nick 429: <a href="mailto:misc-subscribe@openbsd.org.mx">misc-subscribe@openbsd.org.mx</a>.
1.49 horacio 430:
431: <p>
1.66 nick 432: <a name="Archives"></a>
433: <h2><font color="#e00000">Mailing List Archives:</font></h2>
434: These mailing list archives are not managed by the OpenBSD project.
435: Take the time to look at more than one -- each is a little different,
436: and has different search abilities. If you don't find an answer in
437: one, check another.
438:
439: <p>
440: General search engines, such as
441: <a href="http://www.google.com">Google</a> also prove very effective at
442: finding answers to OpenBSD questions.
443:
1.19 deraadt 444: <ul>
1.57 horacio 445: <li><a href="http://www.sigmasoft.com/~openbsd/">USA</a>
1.66 nick 446: <!-- seemingly not working any longer
1.27 ericj 447: <li><a href="http://www.geocrawler.com/lists/4/OpenBSD">Geocrawler Archive</a>
1.66 nick 448: -->
1.39 horacio 449: <li><a href="http://www.monkey.org/openbsd/">The primates at monkey.org</a>
1.41 avsm 450: <li><a href="http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/">MARC</a>
1.51 heko 451: <li><a href="http://bsdsearch.com/eao/phorum/index.php?f=2">BSDSearch.com</a>
452: <li><a href="http://www.netsys.com/archives.html">@netsys.com</a>
1.57 horacio 453: <li>Neohapsis has a
454: <a href="http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/openbsd/">mixed archive
455: for tech@, misc@ and ports@</a> and a
456: <a href="http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/openbsd/cvs/">mixed
457: archive for CVS commits</a>
1.19 deraadt 458: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 459:
460: <hr>
1.57 horacio 461: <a href="index.html"><img height=24 width=24 src="back.gif" border=0 alt="OpenBSD"></a>
462: <a href="mailto:www@openbsd.org">www@openbsd.org</a>
1.78 ! millert 463: <br><small>$OpenBSD: mail.html,v 1.77 2004/04/14 17:38:59 millert Exp $</small>
1.1 deraadt 464:
465: </body>
466: </html>