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View Full Version : [FQuest Announce] ezMLM modification


sheila
07-10-2003, 10:35 PM
FutureQuest is pleased to be able to address one of the recent requests regarding ezMLM. FutureQuest has been able to create a patch that will modify the method by which ezMLM handles subscribe and unsubscribe requests under certain circumstances. This patch will be distributed to all servers tomorrow morning.

Once the patch has been distributed, a follow up announcement will be posted to these forums to let you know that the described changes are in place.


Previous ezMLM behavior:

Subscribing: If someone attempted to subscribe an email address that was already subscribed to the mailing list, ezMLM would first send out the confirmation notice to the "potential" subscriber, and then after the confirmation response was received, would send the following notice:
Acknowledgment: The address

<email>

is on this mailing list.


Unsubscribing: If someone attempted to unsubscribe an email address that was not subscribed to the mailing list, ezMLM would first send out the confirmation notice to that email address, and after the confirmation response was received, would send the following notice:
Acknowledgment: The address

<email>

is not on this mailing list.

New ezMLM behavior:

The new behavior eliminates the confirmation step, since in both of the above cases there is no action to be taken by ezMLM. Additionally, FutureQuest has modified the text of the response messages so that for new mailing lists created after the patch is distributed tomorrow morning, the process and response will be as follows:

Subscribing: If someone attempts to subscribe an email address that is already subscribed to the mailing list, ezMLM will immediately send out the following notice in response:
Acknowledgment: The address

<email>

is already on this mailing list.

Unsubscribing: If someone attempts to unsubscribe an email address that is not subscribed to the mailing list, ezMLM will immediately send out the following notice in response:
Acknowledgment: The address

<email>

was not on this mailing list.

As noted above, the text changes will only be in effect for mailing lists created after the patch has been distributed. It is not possible for FutureQuest to modify the text already in place for pre-existing mailing lists. However, if desired, Site Owners will be able to modify the text, and also the subject lines, for these notices by following the instructions below.

The instructions below assume that the $HOME directory for your account is

/big/dom/xdomain/username

where username is the username for logging in to your account's CNC
xdomain is the appropriate directory for your account (usually the domain without the .tld extension and with the letter "x" in front).

The instructions also assume that the name of the mailing list is listname.

Further directions on making modifications to your ezMLM mailing lists can be found in the following tutorial:
http://www.aota.net/Mailing_Lists/modifylist.php4

Modifying the Subject header of the notices

Note that the default subject of the notifications discussed above was and still will be "ezmlm response". The patch will make no changes to the Subject header of these notices. Site Owners can modify the Subject header of these notices, if desired.

In order to modify the Subject header, first make sure that within the directory /big/dom/xdomain/username/listname there is a subdirectory called subject. If the subject subdirectory does not exist, you will need to create it.

To specify the Subject header to use in the case that someone tries to subscribe an email address that is already subscribed to the mailing list, create a file named sub-nop and place it in the subject directory. The file should contain the desired Subject on a single line, such as Your Email Address Is Already Subscribed, and hit [Enter] so that there is a blank line after the subject text.

To specify the Subject header to use in the case that someone tries to unsubscribe an email address that is not subscribed to the list, create the file unsub-nop and place it in the subscribe directory. The file should contain the desired Subject on a single line, such as Your Email Address is NOT Subscribed, and hit [Enter] so that there is a blank line after the subject text.

Modifying text on pre-existing mailing lists.

To change the message sent to someone who submits a subscribe request for an email address that is already subscribed to that list, modify the text in the file

/big/dom/xdomain/username/listname/text/sub-nop

To change the message sent to someone who submits an unsubscribe request for an email address that is not subscribed to the list, modify the text in the file

/big/dom/xdomain/username/listname/text/unsub-nop

WayneK
07-11-2003, 09:07 AM
How about being able to add a line to every email sent to list members pointing the way to the web based subscribe/unsubscribe or a pre-populated link that will automatically unsubscribe?

sheila
07-11-2003, 11:53 AM
That feature, Wayne, is one of the many on the wishlist for mailing features. FutureQuest does plan to implement it at some point.

If you are referring to an announcement list, you would of course be able to add such a line yourself when composing the message.

If you are referring to a discussion list, there has been some discussion in the forums on how to add a footer to the emails by using an alias email address and custom email filters.

sheila
07-11-2003, 08:54 PM
This ezMLM patch, eliminating unnecessary confirmation steps, is now in place.