In response to the complexities of
customizing messages for multiple mailing lists, we have patched ezmlm-idx to make such customizations simpler.
This patch is already in place on the servers, and will automatically apply to all lists created anew from this point forward. You need do nothing for newly created lists to take advantage of this change.
This patch allows you to create generic text files that are usable for all of your lists. It is only pertinent to those clients using the ezmlm-idx mailing list feature in their
CNC and who also wish to customize the default text for emails sent by the list manager program.
Details regarding customizing the text files for ezmlm lists are provided in the following Knowledgebase article:
Modifying Your Mailing List
For further details, please visit
the complete ezmlm-idx manual.
To create a new mailing lists, please visit your
CNC and click on the "Mailing Lists" link. General information about the
ezmlm-idx mailing list manager offered in your CNC can be found in the
mailing list category of our Knowledgebase.
For existing lists, if you wish to take advantage of the new patch, the following explanation provides technical details that may assist you in doing so.
Assuming your domain name is example.com, your login name is "username" and your mailing list's name is "listname", then the template files for your list reside in the directory
/big/dom/
xexample/
username/
listname/text
These template files contain a number of tags that are substituted at the time that a message is processed by ezmlm-idx. For example, the ezmlm-idx templates use the tags <#h#> and <#H#>, which both refer to the host name of the list. On FutureQuest the hostname for a list is lists.
example.com. So, any template files that contain <#h#> will have that tag replaced with lists.example.com at the time the email is sent. It does turn out that both <#h#> and <#H#> were and are replaced with the same hostname value.
However, the ezmlm-idx tags <#l#> and <#L#> were not and are not identical in all cases. The <#L#> tag refers to the base list name (whatever name you selected for your mailing list), and the <#l#> represents the modified list name (which may be either
listname or
listname-digest). These are not interchangeable in all cases.
Before this patch was applied, you would only ever have seen the <#l#> in the template files in the directory
/big/dom/xdomain/username/listname/text
The <#L#> tag was used at list creation time, and substituted at the time the list was created, and would not have appeared your template files, nor would it have been available for you to use in the templates files. As a result of this patch, the <#L#> tag is now available for your use. (This also applies to the tag <#H#> which was not available for your use previously in template files, but is now available to you as well.)
From now on the text files in all newly created lists will have the tags <#L#> and <#H#> left in place, instead of being substituted with the listname and hostname when the list is created. This patch will allow you to create generic text files that are usable for all of your lists.
The difference between the <#L#> (base list name) and <#l#> (modified list name) needs some explanation. Ezmlm-idx lists may have more than one list of subscriber addresses. In particular, mailing lists set up with the digest option will have a main list and a digest list. The base list name is the name the list was configured with, which is never modified. The modified list name is the actual subscriber list in use.
This means that when an email is sent to
listname-digest-subscribe, for example, <#L#> will be replaced with "
listname" as usual, but <#l#> will be replaced with "
listname-digest". As such the text files will need to use <#L#> for addresses that are only relevant for the base list (such as
listname-info
listname-help
listname-get.### etc), while <#l#> is needed for the subscribe addresses (such as putting "
listname-unsubscribe" in the text/trailer file).
For assistance in using your mailing lists, please take advantage of these forums, and post your requests for assistance in the forums. Support for the usage and configuration of ezmlm mailing lists cannot be provided from the Service Desk.
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