Listproc Frequently Asked Questions

In This Section

Listproc Frequently Asked Questions

For a more expansive FAQ, check http://email.ucdavis.edu/eml/listprocFAQ.php.

Table of contents

Overview of listproc
General listproc information
Troubleshooting listproc problems

Overview of Listproc
What is listproc?

Listproc is a software package that automates the administration of electronic mail distribution lists. Once the list is created, it can be set up to have users add and remove themselves with little list owner intervention. It has various levels of moderation, so that most any user needs can be met.

Who can request a listproc mailing list?

IET creates listproc mailing lists for faculty (class), departmental, and for ASUCD recognized student groups use. If you are requesting the list for a class, you must be the faculty or TA in charge of that class.

How can I request a listproc mailing list?

Information Technology creates listproc mailing lists for faculty (class), departmental, and for ASUCD recognized student groups use. If you are requesting the list for a class, you must be the faculty or TA in charge of that class. Select the following link to begin the request process:
Requesting a listproc mailing list

Where do I mail requests?
There are essentially four addresses you need to remember when dealing with listproc mailing lists. They are:
- listproc@ucdavis.edu -- if you want to manage your list via email: send admin requests (add, delete, config, edit, etc.) here. This is the automated software that responds to the admin requests.
- list-request@ucdavis.edu -- send non automated requests that require human intervention to this address. ie. forgotten passwords, help with list configuration issues, etc.
- "yourlist"@ucdavis.edu -- This is how you send mail to the subscribers of "yourlist"
  (substitute your real list name for "yourlist" ie age144@ucdavis.edu).
- listinfo@ucdavis.edu -- A mailing list of list owners. This is a helpful forum for asking general or specific questions about list management. We are working on a UCD listproc FAQ which will answer most questions for you.
How do I find out to which lists am I currently subscribed?

If you would like to find out what lists you are currently subscribed to, you may send an email to listproc@ucdavis.edu; please leave the subject line blank, and in the body of the message put:
which
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Listproc will respond with a listing of all the mailing list you are currently subscribed to.

How do I find out what lists I currently own?

If you would like to find out what lists you own, please send an email to listproc@ucdavis.edu and in the body of the message put:
which-own
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Listproc will repsond with a listing of all the mailing lists you currently own.
General Listproc Information is located on the listproc site.
Troubleshooting Listproc Problems
I just tried to send a TEST message to my list and nothing happened- Help!

Listproc is a program and there are certain words that it will ignore. TEST is one of those words. If you wish to send a TEST message to your list, please use the word Hello in the subject line. Please do NOT use the word TEST.

I need to cancel a mailing list, what do I do?

If you are the owner of a mailing list and the list is no longer needed you should send email to email@ucdavis.edu and request the list be removed. The list managers will disable the list and during the next scheduled down time for the system will remove the closed lists.

Why is my mailbox filling with errors?
Here are a few reasons this might be happening:
1. There may be addresses on the subscriber list that are invalid. If so you will get an error message any time mail is sent to the list. The message will contain all the names of subscribers, but will also point out the addresses that are unknown, and have caused delivery problems.
  For example, if the user smithers@ucdavis.edu is subscribed to your list, but the address doesn't actually exist, you may see part of an error message that looks like this:
  - check_mta_response(): Address: RCPT To: <smithers@ucdavis.edu>
  - not recognized.
  - 550 <smithers@ucdavis.edu>... User unknown
    If this happens, you should remove the name from the list.
2. If there is someone on your list whose mail quota has been reached or exceeded, you will get an error message. The message may contain all the names of those on the list, and state that there was an unrecoverable error for each list subscriber, but those people will still get the mail. The significant error in a case such as this will be formatted like this:
  - mail: Cannot append to /var/mail/loginID You can either ignore this error and wait for the user to read his/her mail, or you could unsubscribe him/her.
3. If the individual is still at UCDavis.edu and their account is active you will be able to look them up using the UCD MailID Detective tool on this sites main page:
  http://email.ucdavis.edu/index.php
  You may plug in either mailids or login account names.
  example: loginID
  loginID translates to mailid@ucdavis.edu
  If you know the person you can tell them their email is bouncing,
  or if you want you can just remove them from the list. We leave that up to you as the owner of the list.
  
  If you use this page and it gives you an error, then just send an email to email@ucdavis.edu
  with the login name and we'll look it up and let you know who it belongs to.
I'm not getting mail sent to my list.
Even though you may be an owner of a list, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will receive mail sent to that list. If you have not done so, you must subscribe yourself to your list in order to receive mail sent to it.
If you send all or most of the messages to your list, and you have an option set so that you do not receive a copy of your messages to the list, then you will not get any mail from the list. This is the 'ack/noack' option. To set this option send email to listproc@ucdavis.edu , please leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message put just the option you wish set:
- set listname mail ack -- this will enable you to receive a copy of your message
- set listname mail noack -- you will not get a copy of your message with this setting
  NOTE: listname is the name of the list without the @ucdavis.edu
What if I'm using email to manage my list and need help with commands?

If you're using email to manage your listproc list and need help you may send an email request to listproc to get a complete list of all commands. Send email to listproc@ucdavis.edu , be sure and leave the subject line blank and please only put this one word in the body of the message: help
If you have a signature please remove it, as listproc only understands commands and listproc will try and read your signature as a command and this will generate error messages back to you.

How do I configure listproc so that All owners do not get the error messages?

You can set who gets the error messages. The default is that all owners get the errors. To change the default, send an email to listproc@ucdavis.edu and leave the subject line blank. In the body of the message type:

config listname listpasswd delivery-errors-to email@hostname

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Click here to view the complete FAQ for ListProc