The LISTSERV® Maintainer's Support FAQ
Last updated 9 May 2008
Note: List owners now have their own FAQ.
If you are running a non-VM release build of 1.8d or earlier (ie the build date shown in the "SHOW LICENSE" output is earlier than 16 July 2000) please see the security advisory found here.
We've made an attempt here to document a few of the most frequently-asked questions pertaining to running a LISTSERV server. Please take a moment to read through this list and see if your problem is answered here before contacting L-Soft's support hotline.
Note: In general these FAQs apply to both the Classic and Lite versions of LISTSERV. If there is any question, please consult the Classic/Lite feature comparison chart at
http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv_checklist.asp
or in chapter 2 of the Site Manager’s Operations Manual for LISTSERV.
Contents
Note carefully that if you are running LISTSERV 1.8c or earlier, you are not running a Y2K-compliant version of LISTSERV. If you have any problem that looks like a Y2K issue and you are running 1.8c or earlier, the solution is to upgrade to the current supported version. There are no Y2K patches for earlier versions.
L-Soft's official Y2K statement is linked here.
Question about recent changes to DST start/end dates? See here.
1. Unix-specific
1.2. Can't create listserv.PID
1.3. LISTSERV crashes and dumps core.
1.4. LISTSERV crashes and doesn't dump core.
1.6. Mail to a list returns "...no such user"
1.7. Error 2 occurs when trying to access archive notebooks via "wa" (unix only)
1.8. "wa" is unable to find template "LISTSERV-HOME" or similar (unix only)
1.9. Mail sent to LISTSERV or to lists never gets processed (or gets processed on the hour)
1.10. Mail sent to a list is returned with "unknown mailer error 137"
1.12. "Cannot bind to local host, port 2306" on LISTSERV restart
1.13. 'make install' fails with error "mkdir: "/home/listserv": Operation not applicable"
1.14. 'wa' requests are very slow when LISTSERV is busy.
1.15. listserv.log filling up with "-> XMRG FROM:" messages (unix specific!)
1.17. "Unspecified error (111)" when LISTSERV starts and queued mail goes nowhere
1.18. Automatically "rotating" the LISTSERV console log (1.8e-2002a or later)
1.20. Newly-installed LISTSERV does not start but exits immediately to shell prompt when invoked.
1.21. LISTSERV 15.5 for Linux can't find the correct LDAP libraries.
2. Windows-specific (NT/2000/XP and 9x)
Please note that 1.8e is the last version of LISTSERV to support Windows 95/98/ME.
2.1. Synchronization event error
2.2. Using POP or other SMTP server on Windows LISTSERV machine
2.3. Under NT 1.8d, "wa" searches/logins fail with a CGI error
2.6. After applying upgrade LAK, LISTSERV fails to start and an NT error is thrown
2.7. NT error 2140 is thrown when attempting to start LISTSERV
2.8. Browser tries to open WA.EXE instead of executing it
2.9. LISTSERV or SMTPS#x log filling up with "-> XMRG FROM:" messages (Windows specific!)
2.10. Error 10053 appears in SMTPS#x log
3. VMS-specific
At the present time there are no VMS-specific FAQ issues.
4. VM-specific
4.3. [VM-TCP only] After upgrade to 1.8d, a call to RXLSVTEL fails at startup and LISTSERV abends.
5. All platforms
5.1. Are L-Soft products Year 2000 compliant?
5.2. Is LISTSERV accessible to the disabled?
5.5. Mail to LISTSERV returns "...no such user"
5.6. Bad return paths (like <@@somehost.com>)
5.7. Users getting duplicate mail from LISTSERV
5.10. Not allowed to use inter-server DISTRIBUTE keywords
5.11. LISTSERV.MYCORP.COM sends out "From: WWW.MYCORP.COM"
5.12. Error 2 occurs when trying to access archive notebooks via "wa" on Unix, VMS, or Windows NT
5.13. Error 13 occurs when trying to access archive notebooks via "wa" on Unix, VMS, or Windows NT
5.14. After deleting a list, LISTSERV says it can't find the list file
5.15. Changing the RFC822 From: header in list mail
5.16. Error "file/major entity not found" when posting to list
5.17. Can "MAIL FROM:<>" on admin mail be changed?
5.18. Can "L-Soft list server at [...] ([version number])" be removed?
5.19. How can a mail admin remove users from remote servers?
5.20. Case-sensitivity with regard to subscriber addresses
5.21. Can LISTSERV check for viruses?
5.23. After upgrade from 1.8c to 1.8d or 1.8e, still can't manage lists via web
5.24. ODBC error when using ODBC list
5.26. Why is mail being held 10 minutes for new subscribers?
5.27. Who the heck is LVMON@VM.SE.LSOFT.COM and why is he asking my server questions???
5.28. How do license points work?
5.29. Mail sent to LISTSERV bounces with an Exchange error saying "user unknown"
5.30. Web-based bulk operations fail with error 2 or error 13
5.31. Added a list and pull-down selection box in web admin interface disappeared
5.32. How to suppress summary of resource utilization in admin messages
5.33. Error message "NJE interface failed to initialize - aborting"
5.34. Can LISTSERV tell me if my mails are being received and opened?
5.35. Does LISTSERV properly handle Adobe Acrobat attachments?
5.36. LISTSERV 1.8e Reporting Interface does not show "2004" as an option
5.37. How to personalize the To: header?
5.38. Does LISTSERV support SPF/DomainKeys?
5.39. Whitelists and blacklists (14.3 on) don't work when enabled.
5.40. Why is IETFHDR incompatible with (for instance) subject tags?
5.41. Is there a LISTSERV patch for the DST start/end date changes?
5.42. What is the difference between "mail delivered" and "mail posted" in the LISTSERV log?
6. Problems specific to previous releases
6.1. Linux evaluation kit "make server" fails
6.2. Unaligned access errors on OSF/1 (Digital Unix)
6.3. Mail to <"LISTSERV@LISTSERV"@...> causing bounces
6.4. IRIX LAK fails after upgrade from IRIX 5.x to 6.x
6.5. 'ld.so.1: ./lsv; warning:...' appears when running 'go'
6.6. Windows NT setup program won't run
6.8. "wa" searches don’t work on Windows 95
1. Unix-specific
I'm attempting to compile LISTSERV on Solaris but whenever I run 'make' I get an error: 'sh:make: not found'.
Sun has placed 'make' in a hidden location, /usr/ccs/bin, which by default is not in your path, so it makes it appear that 'make' isn't available. Therefore you may need to add it to your path to make it work.
1.2. Can't create listserv.PID
I've installed LISTSERV on my unix machine and can't get it to run. When I type "go", I get an error message that says ">>> Cannot create '/listserv.PID' <<<". What do I do?
This is caused by the LISTSERV spool directory being either not defined or set to the empty string. Check go.user and go.sys to see if the spool directory is correctly defined, typically as something like "/home/listserv/spool ".
1.3. LISTSERV crashes and dumps core.
You need to execute "dbx lsv core" (or "gdb lsv core") and then type "where" (or "bt"). Then send this information to support@lsoft.com. L-Soft can't debug the problem without this traceback. Don't send the core file itself as it is useless on any machine other than the one it was generated on.
Also, you should check go.user and go.sys for anything unusual that might have caused the dump. It will probably help (and save time) if you send copies of go.user and go.sys along with the dbx or gdb traceback. Be sure to "xxx" out the CREATEPW= setting in go.user before sending it.
Finally, please send the last 100 lines of 'listserv.log' along with your traceback. L-Soft needs this for context. (Please do not send the entire log if it is longer than that! The last 100 lines are usually sufficient.)
If you do not have either 'dbx' or 'gdb' but do have the 'adb' debugger, you need to execute "adb lsv core" followed by "c" in order to generate the traceback.
1.4. LISTSERV crashes and doesn't dump core.
If a core file is not left after a LISTSERV crash then it is most likely that you need to change some system-wide setting to allow the operating system to write a core file. (See the man page for 'ulimit'.) For instance some unixes have a maxcorefilesize setting (or equivalent -- check the documentation for your particular unix) that defaults to a value that is too small to handle a LISTSERV core dump, which can be quite large. The bottom line is that if a core file is not written after a crash, it's not being written due to an operating system constraint, not because of something LISTSERV is or isn't doing.
LISTSERV is running, but mail to LISTSERV is bouncing back with errors like
lsv_amin: Unable to deliver mail to: owner-listserv
lsv_amin: *Error(13)** A call to fopen() failed.
554 "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin -t owner-listserv"... unknown mailer error 202
You must ensure that the permissions on the spool directory are set to allow lsv_amin and 'listserv' to create new files. Almost all such errors are a direct result of insufficient permission settings. In particular, Error(13) means insufficient permission on the directory to which lsv_amin is trying to write (the 'listserv' user must have full permissions in that directory). Error(9) is similar, but means that the lsv_amin executable itself has a permissions problem -- usually that it has not been given permissions 4755 (the suid bit MUST be set) and ownership 'listserv'.
Note that some Solaris machines running the OEM sendmail will send back similar errors but complain about Error(11) (which means "Try again" and thus isn't very indicative). We do not currently know what this error means in this context. Our general recommendation for any unix is to use a UCB sendmail rather than the sendmail that ships with the box, but if this is not an option (say, for warranty and support reasons) you will have to ask Sun what Error(11) means in this context.
At least one Linux customer has reported that Error(11) appeared after he moved the LISTSERV directory tree. This was due to the fact that the absolute path to the spool directory is compiled into lsv_amin. If you move the LISTSERV directory tree after installation, you must either use a full path to the spool instead of '-t' in /etc/aliases, or you must edit the LSVSPOOL macro in the Makefile (it would probably be wise to update the LSVROOT macro as well) and re-run the 'make mailer' stage, followed by 'make update'. If you use the 'lcmd' utility you will also want to re-run 'make lcmd' before 'make update', as 'lcmd' also has the LSVSPOOL value compiled into it.
1.6. Mail to a list returns "...no such user"
I've successfully created a list on my Unix machine, and it's listed when I send the LISTS command to LISTSERV, but when I try to send mail to it, I get back a "user unknown" error.
You need to create Sendmail aliases for the list. This is explained in the LISTSERV for Unix installation guide which comes with the product.
1.7. Error 2 occurs when trying to access archive notebooks via "wa" (unix only)
I've installed the 'wa' interface on my unix LISTSERV server. When I try to view the archives for the test lists I've created, I get the following message:
The archive files could not be accessed, probably because they are being updated. Please try again in about 30 seconds, and report the problem if it persists for more than a few minutes. The file that could not be opened is: 'archives/test/test.ind9707' and the error code was 2.
The problem is that the file is really there, and as far as I can tell it has the proper permissions.
Error code 2 under unix usually means "file or directory not found". Thus the most likely explanation for this is that you have not created the file '/etc/lsv-wa.config' as outlined in the Web Archive Interface installation instructions. The clue here is that the error message does not show a full path to the test.ind9707 file, meaning that 'wa' is trying to look for the index file in the relative path 'archives/test' instead of looking for it in the full path, which on some servers might be '/var/www/html/archives/test' . The solution is to create the file /etc/lsv-wa.config per the instructions for installing the 'wa' interface.
1.8. "wa" is unable to find template "LISTSERV-HOME" or similar (unix only)
After a migration from one unix machine to another, you may navigate to the LISTSERV web interface and receive an error message similar to the following:
Error - template LISTSERV-HOME not found
A configuration error was detected in the CGI script; the LISTSERV-HOME
template could not be found.
This error usually means that you have not migrated the required /etc/lsv-wa.config file from the old machine. It is essentially the same problem described in 1.7.
If this error is received on a machine that hasn't been migrated, check to ensure that /etc/lsv-wa.config exists, is world-readable, and that the PATH and URL parameters it contains are correct.
1.9. Mail sent to LISTSERV or to lists never gets processed (or gets processed on the hour)
When we send mail to LISTSERV or to a list, the mail either is never processed or is processed only on the hour.
Normally this is due to not having the permissions and/or ownership set correctly for the lsv_amin program. lsv_amin must run 'suid listserv', which means it must have permissions 4755 and be owned by 'listserv'. If the mail is never processed, lsv_amin is probably not owned by 'listserv', meaning that it is creating .job files in the LSVSPOOL directory that LISTSERV can't read because the 'listserv' user doesn't own them. If the mail is being processed only once each hour, the suid bit is probably not set for lsv_amin, which makes it impossible for lsv_amin to send a "wakeup" call to LISTSERV so that LISTSERV will process the mail in its spool. For what it is worth, this may indicate that lsv_amin was copied by hand into the BINDIR directory rather than being put there by 'make install' or 'make update'. 'make update' or 'make install' should set the ownership and permissions properly, assuming that you are logged in as 'root' when you run them.
1.10. Mail sent to a list is returned with "unknown mailer error 137"
Mail being sent to my list (call it MYLIST-L) is being rejected with "unknown mailer error 137", i.e.,
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
"|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin -t MYLIST-L"
(expanded from: )
----- Transcript of session follows -----
Killed
554 "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin -t MYLIST-L"... unknown mailer error 137
The most likely reason we've found for this so far is that someone may have updated /etc/aliases without following up with 'newaliases'. If you check the syslog you will probably come up with something like this:
Sep 17 03:13:03 listserv sendmail[1434]: alias database /etc/aliases.db out of date
If you run 'newaliases' it is probable that the error will disappear. Otherwise a reboot of the machine may be required.
When sending mail to LISTSERV or to a list, I get the error "sh: lsv_amin not available for sendmail programs," ie,
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
"|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin /home/listserv/spool owner-listserv"
(expanded from: owner-listserv)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
sh: lsv_amin not available for sendmail programs
554 "|/usr/local/bin/lsv_amin /home/listserv/spool owner-listserv"... Service
unavailable
550 MAILER-DAEMON... User unknown
This error indicates that you are running sendmail with a sendmail restricted shell, from which only authorized programs may be run. One such shell is "smrsh", which typically is configured by placing symbolic links from /usr/adm/sm.bin/ to the programs which are authorized. (On some recent Red Hat and possibly other systems the link is made to /etc/smrsh -- just note that this may be system dependent and be sure to read your sendmail restricted shell documentation carefully.)
1.12. "Cannot bind to local host, port 2306" on LISTSERV restart
We restart LISTSERV on a regular basis (to rotate logs, etc). However, when we do the restart we get
>>> Cannot bind to local host, port 2306: error 48.
>>> TCP/IP GUI interface disabled <<<
2 Mar 2000 02:00:05 LISTSERV(R) for unix version 1.8d starting...
2 Mar 2000 02:00:05 Copyright L-Soft international 1986-1999
2 Mar 2000 02:00:05 SIGNUP files are being compressed...
in the log and the web interface does not work.
This is a function of how you are stopping LISTSERV. LISTSERV normally runs in two or more processes under unix, a parent plus one or more children. If you use 'kill -9' to stop LISTSERV, there is a very good chance that you will not kill all of the children. This error normally occurs because one of the unkilled children is bound to port 2306, the port used by 'wa' to communicate with LISTSERV.
The supported method of stopping LISTSERV is to send LISTSERV a "STOP" command (which must be authenticated with the CREATEPW value) from one of the POSTMASTER= accounts. This can be done either by mail or by using the 'lcmd' utility. This is the only method that is guaranteed to stop LISTSERV properly.
You can also try 'kill -TERM' instead of 'kill -9'. 'kill -TERM' produces (on most systems) a more orderly shutdown. (Since it does not work 100% of the time, it is not a supported solution.)
Note carefully that LISTSERV will not stop until it has finished whatever jobs are ahead of the STOP command in its queue.
1.13. 'make install' fails with error "mkdir: "/home/listserv": Operation not applicable"
When installing listserv, 'make install' fails with an error like this:
# /usr/ccs/bin/make install
if [ `whoami` = listserv ]; \
then umask 066;mkdir -p /home/listserv; \
else su listserv -c "umask 066;mkdir -p /home/listserv"; \
fi
mkdir: "/home/listserv": Operation not applicable
*** Error code 2
make: Fatal error: Command failed for target `/home/listserv'
It is our understanding that this only happens when attempting to install LISTSERV to a directory on an NFS share. Changing the LSVROOT macro in the Makefile to point to a directory on the local disk should solve the problem. (If you change LSVROOT from the default and are planning to use the precompiled binaries, be sure to read the appropriate sections of the installation guide pertinent to using the precompiled binaries in a non-default environment, particularly with regard to making sendmail aliases for LISTSERV and your lists.)
1.14. 'wa' requests are very slow when LISTSERV is busy.
LISTSERV is a single-threaded process, so when it gets busy distributing mail, it can take a non-trivial amount of time to transfer that mail to the SMTP MTA on your machine for delivery, particularly if the MTA is itself bogged down with traffic. While 'wa' requests do get priority between mail jobs, you are still likely to see a slowdown if you have a lot of mail going through the server at a given time.
The solution as far as LISTSERV is concerned is to take the burden of offloading the mail to the MTA off of its shoulders and instead deliver it in an asynchronous manner to the MTA. This is done by defining SMTP "worker" processes which LISTSERV spawns at run time for this purpose.
In order to define the asynchronous "worker" processes, add the following to your go.user file:
SMTP_FORWARD_1="2*nodename"
export SMTP_FORWARD_1
then stop and restart LISTSERV. "nodename" is the same value you have configured for NODE=. For instance, if you have
NODE="listserv.example.com"
then you should add
SMTP_FORWARD_1="2*listserv.example.com"
export SMTP_FORWARD_1
to go.user. The example shown will tell LISTSERV to spawn two (2) asynchronous SMTP worker processes. While you can tweak this number higher, it is best to start with just a couple of workers and then increase the number if necessary. Note that too many workers can lead to diminishing returns, as the more workers you have, the more system resources you will consume.
The difference between synchronous and asynchronous delivery should be considerable and your 'wa' sessions should run much faster even when LISTSERV is under load.
1.15. listserv.log filling up with "-> XMRG FROM:" messages (unix specific!)
My listserv.log file is filling up with the following messages. What can I do about this?
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -> XMRG FROM:<owner-TEST@LISTSERV.EXAMPLE.COM> VERSION=1
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 500 Command unrecognized: "XMRG FROM:<owner-TEST@LISTSERV.
EXAMPLE.COM> VERSION=1"
Note: This answer is unix-specific. Windows sites with a similar problem should see this FAQ, below.
The problem is that your outbound mailer does not support LISTSERV mail-merge. Mail-merge requires that LSMTP Classic be used as your outbound mailer because it employs a proprietary extension to the BSMTP command set that only LSMTP Classic implements. The error shown above is typical of sites that are using sendmail as the outbound mailer.
When you see these errors you must manually remove from LISTSERV's spool directory the *.mail file(s) that correspond to the errors. The easiest way to find the file(s) in question would be to open a shell session, then cd into the LSVSPOOL directory (usually /home/listserv/spool ) and do
grep -H "XMRG FROM" *.mail
from the shell prompt. Then simply move or delete the offending file (or files) from the spool directory. Note that you might have to stop LISTSERV to make it let go of the file before you can move or delete it.
LISTSERV is configured by default to disallow list owners from sending mail-merge jobs, ie, via the "Mail-Merge" command button in the web administration interface. If you are running LSMTP Classic on a Windows machine to handle your outbound mail from the unix LISTSERV machine, you can allow list owners to perform mail-merge operations by setting
DIST_OWNER_MAIL_MERGE=1
export DIST_OWNER_MAIL_MERGE
in go.user. Then stop and restart LISTSERV to pick up the change.
Note carefully: If you're not running LSMTP to handle your outbound mail, LEAVE THIS VARIABLE SET TO ITS DEFAULT!
LISTSERV's spool directory has some old *.mail files in it that seem to be taking up processing time and are slowing things down. These *.mail files contain lines like
HELO LISTSERV.EXAMPLE.COM
XMRG FROM:<owner-TEST@LISTSERV.EXAMPLE.COM> VERSION=1
XDFN NAME="Jane User"
XDFN *FROM=owner-TEST*JANE**EXAMPLE*-COM@LISTSERV.EXAMPLE.COM
RCPT TO:JANE@EXAMPLE.COM
and sendmail appears to be having a problem with them. What do I do about this? Where are these files coming from?
These are mail-merge jobs. See the previous question for the solution to this problem.
1.17. "Unspecified error (111)" when LISTSERV starts and queued mail goes nowhere
We've installed LISTSERV and started it up but we are getting the following error:
3 Jun 2002 10:59:07 Requeuing 1 mail file for delivery...
3 Jun 2002 10:59:08 >>> Error X'00B0037B' enqueuing mail for delivery <<<
3 Jun 2002 10:59:08 -> Severity: Error
3 Jun 2002 10:59:08 -> Facility: POSIX/unix error codes
3 Jun 2002 10:59:08 -> Abstract: Unspecified error (111) - See errno.h
3 Jun 2002 10:59:08 -> strerror: Connection refused
3 Jun 2002 10:59:08 -> 1 mail file left unprocessed.
There are two ways to look at this -- either sendmail (or whatever you are using as an SMTP MTA) is not running, or sendmail is running but is not configured to accept mail from the network. Obviously the first thing to check is to see if sendmail is running.
If sendmail is running, it is likely configured in a default state which does not allow it to receive mail from the network (this is the default in newer versions of RedHat Linux, for instance, most likely as an anti-spam/anti-relay precaution for sites that install RedHat without doing much local configuration). One way to confirm this is to attempt to telnet to port 25 of the machine from another machine. If the connection is refused and sendmail is running, you've confirmed the problem.
For machines running sendmail, in order to change the default to accept mail from the network, the following checklist is provided. If you are not running sendmail, you will have to refer to the documentation that came with your SMTP MTA for further guidance.
Linux Note: In order to do the following you must have installed the sendmail-cf RPM. That's something that has to be done at the OS level. L-Soft cannot help you with it.
1. cd into /etc/mail and open sendmail.mc in a text editor. Find the following text in that file:
dnl This changes sendmail to only listen on the loopback device 127.0.0.1
dnl and not on any other network devices. Comment this out if you want
dnl to accept email over the network.
DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA')
2. Make backup copies of /etc/mail/sendmail.mc and /etc/sendmail.cf
3. Change the DAEMON_OPTIONS line to read
dnl DAEMON_OPTIONS(`Port=smtp,Addr=127.0.0.1, Name=MTA')
This comments the line out as noted in the explanatory text.
4. Save the file.
5. Run 'm4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf' from the shell prompt. This will overwrite your existing sendmail.cf, so be sure you made a backup of it in #1.
6. Do 'ps ax | grep sendmail'. This should give you something like
[rerun]root:/etc/mail# ps ax | grep sendmail
2299 ? S 0:00 sendmail: accepting connections
12423 pts/0 S 0:00 grep sendmail
and will tell you sendmail's current PID (in this case it was 2299).
7. Do 'kill -HUP xxx' where 'xxx' is sendmail's PID. This will force sendmail to re-read sendmail.cf and implement the new configuration.
Please note: If this does not fix the problem, or if sendmail is already accepting mail from the network at large, you will have to refer to the sendmail documentation or ask Sendmail support for assistance. While L-Soft supports LISTSERV running in a sendmail environment, L-Soft does not provide product support for sendmail itself.
1.18. Automatically "rotating" the LISTSERV console log (1.8e-2002a or later)
Under unix, LISTSERV does not automatically start a new console log file every day. This was originally intended to make it possible for unix sites to redirect standard output from LISTSERV through any specialized scripts that they might decide to write, with the default being simply to redirect standard output to a file called listserv.log in the $LSVROOT directory.
In the event, few sites ever bothered to write custom scripts for log processing, and instead wrote scripts to stop LISTSERV, rename the log file, and restart LISTSERV on a daily basis via cron. This can be quite unsatisfactory, particularly for sites with hundreds or thousands of lists and a great deal of traffic.
As a result, L-Soft developers have written a perl script called lsv-logger.pl which can be downloaded here, and which can be used as a filter to redirect LISTSERV's standard output into daily files, without the need to stop and restart LISTSERV.
Perl 5.6.1 or later is recommended. The script may work with earlier versions of Perl but we have not tested it with earlier versions.
Please note that there is no facility for compressing and deleting logs that are n days old. This must be scripted locally.
Sites running LISTSERV 1.8e-2002a or later use the following instructions. (If you are running an earlier version of LISTSERV, see below.)
0. Back up the 'go' script just in case.
1. Open the 'go' script in a text editor. Find the line
lsvlog="2>&1 >>$LOG_PATH/listserv-`date +%Y%m%d`.log"
2. Replace that line with
lsvlog="2>&1 | ./lsv-logger.pl $LOG_PATH"
3. Save the 'go' script.
4. If you have not configured a value for LOG_PATH in go.user, you should do so at this time. If LOG_PATH is null, the log gets written to "listserv.log" as before and lsv-logger.pl is ignored. Note that the "listserv" UID must own the directory specified in LOG_PATH, and must have RW permissions on it.
5. Copy the lsv-logger.pl script into the LSVROOT directory (same directory where the 'go' script lives).
6. Ensure that lsv-logger.pl is owned by 'listserv' and has permissions 700.
7. Stop and restart LISTSERV. Note that as always, LISTSERV must be started in the background, with 'go bg', in order for a log to be written.
At this point daily logs named listserv-yyyymmdd.log should start appearing in the directory pointed to by the LOG_PATH variable in go.user. These logs will autorotate at midnight without any need to stop and restart LISTSERV. Again, if LOG_PATH is left null, lsv-logger.pl will be bypassed and listserv.log will be written in the LSVROOT directory.
Sites running LISTSERV prior to the 2002a level-set release may be able to use the above instructions, with the following caveats:
1. There is no LOG_PATH variable pre-defined in 'go.user', nor is LOG_PATH exported in 'go'. It would therefore be necessary to add
LOG_PATH="/path/to/logs"
export LOG_PATH
to go.user in order to make this work. ("/path/to/logs" is typically something like "/var/log/listserv". Remember that the "listserv" UID must own that directory and must have RW permissions on it.)
2. Additionally, sites running LISTSERV prior to the 2002a level-set release must replace the following lines in 'go':
if [ -s listserv.log ]
then
mv listserv.log listserv.log.OLD
fi
echo "> Starting LISTSERV as a background process"
lsvlog="2>&1 >listserv.log"
with this block:
echo "> Starting LISTSERV as a background process"
if [ "$LOG_PATH" ]
then
lsvlog="2>&1 |./lsv-logger.pl $LOG_PATH"
else
if [ -s listserv.log ]
then
mv listserv.log listserv.log.OLD
fi
lsvlog="2>&1 >listserv.log"
fi
This error means that sendmail is set to "canonify" outbound addresses on the fly. The problem with this is that LISTSERV, not being an MTA, does not expect errors in the middle of the transmission and thus does not have any way to handle such errors.
The fix for this problem is to disable on-the-fly canonification in sendmail, with FEATURE(nocanonify) in sendmail.mc, recompilation of sendmail.cf, and a restart of sendmail (or at least sending it a SIGHUP) to pick up the configuration change.
1.20. Newly-installed LISTSERV does not start but exits immediately to shell prompt when invoked.
After installing and configuring LISTSERV on unix, './go' and './go bg' results in only a return to the shell prompt. No errors are written to the console and (when started in background mode) no log is written.
Typically this means that the 'listserv' user has not been assigned a working login shell. For instance, when creating the 'listserv' user, you may have assigned '/usr/bin/false' or '/sbin/nologin' as its default shell. LISTSERV must have a working login shell in order to work (we generally recommend 'sh' or 'bash').
1.21. LISTSERV 15.5 for Linux can't find the correct LDAP libraries.
After upgrading to LISTSERV 15.5, LISTSERV will not run because it expects LDAP 2.3, and we have LDAP 2.2 installed.
Generally you will only see this error with the precompiled 'lsv' binary under Linux. Sites that install with DBMS support will generally have to relink by default and the relinking operation will eliminate this issue.
The error is due to the fact that our development environment is set up with LDAP 2.3, whereas it appears that many production systems default to 2.2. This is easy to fix; simply rename 'lsv' to 'lsv-precompiled' or similar, and relink lsv.o as follows:
|
Linux and Linux-2.6: |
gcc -O -o lsv lsv.o nocli.o nooci.o -lldap |
|
|
|
|
Linux-2.6x64: |
gcc -O -o lsv lsv.o nooci.o -lldap |
|
|
|
|
Linux-S390: |
gcc -O -o lsv lsv.o nouodbc.o -lldap |
This will "realign" lsv with your local LDAP libraries. You can verify this by running 'ldd lsv' from the unix command prompt.
2. Windows-specific
2.1. Synchronization event error
On Windows NT/2000/XP, after I installed the kit, I tried to start LISTSERV in interactive mode in a CMD window, but got "Error 5 Creating synchronization events" and then "Abnormal program termination".
This can be narrowed to one of two things:
1. A glitch in the NT TCP/IP stack which occurs irregularly. This can normally be fixed by rebooting the machine. Note that this condition appears to have been fixed by one of the NT Service Packs for NT 3.51; if you are running NT 3.51 without a service pack or with a service pack earlier than SP5, we recommend applying at least SP5. We have not seen this problem in the TCP/IP stack under NT 4.0 (although for other reasons we strongly recommend that you apply at least SP3 for NT 4.0 if you are running LISTSERV).
2. LISTSERV is already running in the background as an NT service, and you are attempting to run a second instance in a CMD box. Note that the SETUP program installs LISTSERV and SMTPL as NT services that are set to start up at boot time. Check your Control Panel/Services applet or issue a NET START command to see if LISTSERV is already running. If so, you can simply stop the services from the Control Panel/Services applet and then fire up LISTSERV and SMTPL in CMD windows for interactive mode.
2.2. Using POP or other SMTP server on Windows LISTSERV machine
I'm running Windows NT/2000/XP (or 9x/ME) and want to know if I can run a POP mail server (or other SMTP server) on the same machine as LISTSERV.
For Windows 9x/ME, the answer is no. For Windows NT/2000/XP, the answer is that the only SMTP servers currently available that will not conflict with LISTSERV are LSMTP and Software.Com's Post.Office version 3.1.x and later. The reason for this is that, due to the lack of a true Internet mail API for Windows systems, the SMTPL.EXE "listener" requires exclusive access to the SMTP port for incoming mail. Windows NT LISTSERV machines can use LSMTP in place of SMTPL.EXE because LSMTP has a built-in interface to process mail bound to LISTSERV and lists running on LISTSERV. And LSMTP for Windows NT has a built-in POP3 server.
For details on how to setup LISTSERV on Windows NT with Software.Com's Post.Office, please see the Windows NT installation guide that comes with your installation kit. You can also view the installation guide at the URL
http://www.lsoft.com/ntinst.html
or download a copy in rich text format at
ftp://ftp.lsoft.com/LISTSERV/WINDOWS/INSTALNT.RTF
L-Soft is currently reviewing other SMTP products for Windows machines to determine if they can be used with LISTSERV. Please note specifically that you cannot currently operate LISTSERV on the same machine with Microsoft Exchange Server, Novell GroupWise, Lotus Notes, or the IIS SMTP service (these being the ones we get the most questions about).
Please note that this restriction does not prevent you from running a Web server or FTP server on the same machine with LISTSERV. Web and FTP servers don't use the SMTP port, so there is no conflict.
2.3. Under NT 1.8d, "wa" searches/logins fail with a CGI error
Under 1.8d and 1.8e "wa" works fine under NT until I try to enter any data, like a search string or my userid/password for the web management interface. When I do this I get back the message
CGI Error
The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of
HTTP headers. The headers it did return are:
and nothing else.
In the 1.8d release builds (late February 1998 and following), "wa" was rewritten to take advantage of LISTSERV's TCPGUI interface, which operates over TCP/IP instead of using named pipes. In order to make this work under NT, you must grant permission to use the Winsock TCP/IP subsystem to the user who is invoking "wa". Under IIS this is the IUSR_xxxx user; under other web servers this will be different. In any case this error can be remedied by using the File Manager or Windows NT Explorer to grant RX permissions (Read and Execute) for the "wa" invoker to the following files, which are found in %SystemRoot%\system32:
MSAFD.DLL
WS2_32.DLL
WS2HELP.DLL
WSHTCPIP.DLL
WSOCK32.DLL
Once you have granted the permission, reloading the page should be all you need to do.
Additionally, a bug in 1.8d and 1.8e prior to the 1.8e-2003a level set release caused this to happen if DEFAULT_SPLIT was explicitly defined in SITE.CFG. If you are running an earlier version and have DEFAULT_SPLIT defined, you can work around this by removing DEFAULT_SPLIT from the configuration, then stopping and restarting LISTSERV. Or you can upgrade to the current version.
I have both LISTSERV and LSMTP installed at my site, and get this error when I try to send email to LISTSERV.
An error was detected while processing the enclosed message. A list of
the affected recipients follows. This list is in a special format that
allows software like LISTSERV to automatically take action on incorrect
addresses; you can safely ignore the numeric codes.
--> Error description:
Error-for: listserv@example.org
Error-Code: 0
Error-Text: Mailer example.org said: "554 Message looping (received 6
times)"
Error-End: One error reported.
------------------------------ Original message ------------------------------
Received: from mail.example.org (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) by mail.example.org (LSMTP
for Windows NT v1.1a) with SMTP id <0.5CCB7DC0@mail.example.org>; Thu, 12
Mar 1998 16:24:42 -0600
(repeats five times for a total of six)
You need to define "example.org" as a "local domain" in the LSMTP configuration. LSMTP must know about all its domains, otherwise it assumes they are remote and attempts to deliver via SMTP, thus causing the loop. It stops after six iterations because of the default configuration setting under "SMTP & Reports" that causes LSMTP to reject messages received more than 5 times.
Are there any known Windows NT service pack issues with LISTSERV and/or LSMTP?
We are not aware of any issues with the current Windows NT service packs. It is however our recommendation that you apply at least SP6 for Windows NT 4.0 as it contains fixes to things like Year 2000 issues and the TCP/IP stack which have the potential to affect the operation of our products if you do not apply them. You may also want to apply certain of the available "hot fixes", for instance the one that prevents SYN attacks, at your discretion.
We also recommend applying Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000. All of our production Windows 2000 servers are at SP4 (as of September 2003) and experiencing no problems.
2.6. After applying upgrade LAK, LISTSERV fails to start and an NT error is thrown
After applying a new LAK, eg, in preparation for an upgrade or to increase LISTSERV's capacity, LISTSERV doesn't start and I get an NT error:
Could not start the Listserv (Primary Server) service on \\XXXXXX
Error 2140: An internal windows NT error occurred.
Generally NT system errors are not helpful in diagnosing LISTSERV problems. You need to look at the LISTSERV console log (typically found in \LISTSERV\LOG, the logs are called LISTSERV-yyyymmdd.LOG where yyyymmdd is the year, month, and day--eg, 19990825 for 25 Aug 1999) to see what LISTSERV has to say about this problem. However a couple of guesses can be hazarded:
· Is the LAK in LICENSE.MERGE properly formatted? If the LAK contains quoted-printable encoding or any other "garbage" that may have accreted between the sales representative and yourself, or if the LAK was typed in by hand and contains an error, LISTSERV will not start.
· Was LICENSE.MERGE created with Notepad and really named LICENSE.MERGE.TXT ?
You can also take a look at this FAQ, below.
2.7. NT error 2140 is thrown when attempting to start LISTSERV
When attempting to start LISTSERV, NT error 2140 is thrown and LISTSERV does not start.
See above. The error literally means that the service did not start. You should check the LISTSERV log for specifics before contacting support. Typically this happens because you do not have a current license or that your license capacity has been exceeded. Rarely, this error can mean something else is wrong; if you do verify that the problem is not with the LAK, contact the appropriate support address.
2.8. Browser tries to open WA.EXE instead of executing it
When we try to use the web administration interface (or any function using WA.EXE) the browser tries to open the executable WA.EXE instead of the web server executing it.
This means that you do not have the access permissions for WA.EXE set so that it can be executed. You need to open the IIS management console and set the access permissions properly so that the file will be executed rather than read. Also ensure that WA.EXE has the correct NTFS execute permission.
2.9. LISTSERV or SMTPS#x log filling up with "-> XMRG FROM:" messages (Windows specific!)
My LISTSERV (or - more usually - SMTPS) log is filling up with the following messages every second. What can I do about this?
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 *** LSMTP extensions activated ***
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -> XMRG FROM: VERSION=1
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 502 Sorry, mailmerge not allowed.
[or, if LSMTP isn't being used as your SMTP_FORWARD mailer, you may be
seeing something like this:]
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 -> XMRG FROM: VERSION=1
29 Mar 2001 00:00:00 500 Command unrecognized: "XMRG FROM: VERSION=1"
Note: This answer is Windows-specific. Unix sites with a similar problem should see this FAQ, above.
In both of these cases the problem is that your outbound mailer does not support LISTSERV mail-merge. Mail-merge requires that LSMTP Classic be used as your outbound mailer because it employs a proprietary extension to the BSMTP command set that only LSMTP Classic implements.
The first error example shows what you get either when LSMTP Lite is being used as the outbound mailer, or when you have mail-merge explicitly disabled in LSMTP Classic. (LSMTP Lite does not have mail-merge support at all.)
The second error example is typical of sites that are using a remote sendmail machine as the outbound mailer.
When you see these errors you must manually remove from LISTSERV's SPOOL directory the *.MAIL file(s) that correspond to the errors. The easiest way to find the file(s) in question would be to open a DOS box, then CD into \LISTSERV\SPOOL and do
find /i "XMRG FROM" *.MAIL
from the DOS prompt. Then simply move or delete the offending file (or files) from the SPOOL directory. Note that you might have to stop LISTSERV to make it let go of the file before you can move or delete it.
LISTSERV is configured by default to disallow list owners from sending mail-merge jobs, ie, via the "Mail-Merge" command button in the web administration interface. If you are running LSMTP Classic to handle your outbound mail, you can allow list owners to perform mail-merge operations by setting
DIST_OWNER_MAIL_MERGE=1
in site.cfg. Then stop and restart LISTSERV to pick up the change.
Note carefully: If you're not running LSMTP to handle your outbound mail, LEAVE THIS VARIABLE SET TO ITS DEFAULT!
2.10. Error 10053 appears in SMTPS#x log
The following appears in my SMTPS#x log file. What does it mean?
30 Aug 2004 10:57:51 Receive error: Unknown error [10053]
30 Aug 2004 10:57:51 *** LSMTP extensions activated ***
It means that the SMTP_FORWARD host associated with the LISTSERV SMTP "worker" in question has dropped the connection and that the worker has immediately restored it. This is normal if there is limited traffic on the connection; most SMTP servers will drop idle connections after a specified timeout period. LISTSERV always attempts to keep its SMTP_FORWARD connections open because it is inefficient to open a connection, send mail, drop the connection, and repeat if traffic is heavy. If you are not noticing any specific delivery problems at the same time, you can safely ignore it.
2.11. Error "rename() failed: Permission denied" appears at the bottom of web interface pages after upgrade to 15.5
This error indicates that the "upload" directory under the web archive interface tree (that is, the "archives\upload" directory) does not have the NTFS file system permission "modify" set. Under earlier versions of the web interface, "read/write/execute" was sufficient, but newer versions of WA.EXE also require "modify" (which apparently is not implied by "write"). Setting the permissions accordingly should eliminate this error.
3. VMS-specific
At the present time there are no VMS-specific FAQ issues.
4. VM-specific
We just received our BITEARN NODES update for the current month, and now LISTSERV doesn't accept commands, mail bounces from hosts that didn't bounce before, etc.
This question is only relevant with VM servers running in NJE mode.
Did you add a ':newnode' tag to your BITEARN NODES entry for the current update? The ':newnode' tag internally removes your server from BITNET, and if you are running LISTSERV-NJE, this will cause problems with mail coming in to the server from outside and with commands (e.g., via TELL) coming from local userids. To fix the problem you must edit your copy of BITEARN NODES and remove the ':newnode' tag from your site's entry. The following appendix from LEAVING BITNET (originally at ftp://ftp.cren.net/bitnet/doc/leaving.bitnet, page no longer available) applies:
Appendix
Use of the :newnode tag for nodes running LISTSERV-NJE
The following is excerpted from e-mail on the LSTSRV-L@UGA.BITNET
list, on 94/11/29-94/12/05 and 96/03/14-96/03/18.
The problems that have been reported to result from setting a
:newnode tag for a node running LISTSERV-NJE include:
a. bounces of regular mailings from external sources that worked fine
before;
b. bounces by local Listserv<->Netnews gateway;
c. Listserv error messages for X-DEL jobs;
d. refusal by LISTSERV to accept mail or TELL commands from
owner/maintainer VM accounts.
e. Users subscribed with FULLHDR lose that option and revert to SHORTHDR
when Listserv 'newnode' processing takes place.
Note that these problems do NOT arise for nodes running LISTSERV-TCP
when the :newnode tag is used for those nodes.
Part of the reason for those problems is that LISTSERV-NJE doesn't
support running from a non-NJE host-name. It is therefore necessary to
edit the node's local copy of BITEARN NODES to remove the :newnode tag,
erase BITEARN LINKSUM2, and restart. This must be done each month the
node remains in BITNET after the :newnode tag is entered.
Another cause for the problems is that the processing of the
:newnode tag does not affect the 'owner' tag in Listserv header, so the
'owner' tag has to be edited by hand for each LISTSERV list whose owner
is affected by the :newnode tag in order for the owner to be recognized
by LISTSERV. LISTSERV will respond to owner comande by mail as it does
for all Internet commands, since all commands will be translated to the
owner's Internet address.
This usually comes from a site exit called LSV$PW EXEC. There is probably some code in there installed at some point which does not work when in TCP/IP mode. For most sites this exit is not really needed and you can just add "Exit 0" at the top.
4.3. [VM-TCP only] After upgrade to 1.8d, a call to RXLSVTEL fails at startup and LISTSERV abends.
After upgrade to 1.8d, a call to RXLSVTEL fails at startup and LISTSERV abends, like this:
23 Jul 1999 14:07:06 LISTSERV(R)-TCP/IP version 1.8d starting...
23 Jul 1999 14:07:06 Copyright L-Soft international 1986-1999
23 Jul 1999 14:07:06 PASCAL code loaded at C97000 - size 1199k
DMSITP143T Addressing exception occurred at 80CBA328 in system routine
RXLSVTEL;
re-IPL CMS
DMSABE2047I AUTODUMP dump started; please wait
DMSABE1297I Dump has been taken
HCPGIR450W CP entered; disabled wait PSW 000A0000 80E77568
This can be fixed by setting the startmsg variable in LOCAL SYSVARS to the null string, ie,
startmsg = ''
5. All platforms
5.1. Are L-Soft products Year 2000 compliant?
Please see the L-Soft international, Inc. Year 2000 Compliance FAQ for Year 2000 issues.
5.2. Is LISTSERV accessible to the disabled?
LISTSERV conforms to Section 508 (summary here) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended in 2000 (29 U.S.C. 794d). All of its essential functions can be accessed through a plain-text email interface.
I just installed a new LAK (License Activation Key) and now LISTSERV is claiming that I don’t have a valid key, e.g.,
3 Jan 1997 13:06:59 >>> Error X'00C80025' loading license data <<<
3 Jan 1997 13:06:59 -> Severity: Severe error
3 Jan 1997 13:06:59 -> Facility: License control
3 Jan 1997 13:06:59 -> Abstract: No license available, cannot start
or
>>> Error in license data: option "I S T S E R V - W I N N T - I N T E L
U N I T S" unknown <<<
3 Jan 1997 13:08:26 >>> Error X'00C80015' loading license data <<<
3 Jan 1997 13:08:26 -> Severity: Severe error
3 Jan 1997 13:08:26 -> Facility: License control
3 Jan 1997 13:08:26 -> Abstract: Syntax error in license data
The first error indicates that the license.merge file was not placed in the correct directory. Consult the material at the beginning of the LAK for platform-specific instructions on where this file should go.
The second error indicates a syntax error in the LAK itself. Generally this is caused by mistyping the LAK material by hand, or by attempting to change any aspect of the LAK from its original settings.
As it happens, the second error above was actually generated on Windows NT by a valid LAK, but the LAK was saved in UNICODE format rather than straight ASCII format. LISTSERV requires that the license.merge file be a straight ASCII file with no imbedded formatting commands, so it is particularly important on NT machines to ensure that you use Notepad (or some other ASCII text editor) rather than Write or WordPad to edit a LAK file, and that you ensure that you save the file in Text format rather than UNICODE format.
If you have trouble with the evaluation LAK when cutting and pasting it into a text editor and saving it, you should try downloading the license.merge file from ftp.lsoft.com in text mode instead.
(Windows 95 evaluation kit users should note that they actually download a file called license.win95, and that this file must be renamed license.merge before restarting LISTSERV. If you do not rename the file, LISTSERV will not find a license and will not start [as in the first example, above].)
Under Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.x, if you create license.merge with the Notepad application, it will save the file as license.merge.txt, which LISTSERV will not be able to find. If you do use Notepad to create your license.merge file, please be aware that you will have to rename the file after saving it.
You can avoid this problem by enclosing the name of the file in double quotes, i.e., when you are prompted for the filename in the "Save as" dialog box, enter "license.merge" (you must use the double quote marks!) and press the OK/Save button. Your file will be saved as license.merge and not as license.merge.txt.
Please note that there are other reasons why a LAK may not "take", even when it is installed in the correct directory. Among these are:
· Occasionally there is confusion between Solaris and SunOS. If you requested a SunOS LAK but are actually running Solaris, the SunOS LAK will be read in by the license manager but will not be accepted at run time.
· If you have received a LAK with an expiration date and your system clock is set incorrectly (that is, set so that the date is later than the expiration date in the LAK), the LAK will not be accepted since as far as LISTSERV can tell, it has expired. (This may sound obvious but we have had people write in who were actually not aware that their clocks were set to some date in 2025.)
I've just made a list called TEST.LIST. When I tried to add subscribers, I got the following error:
>>> Error X'0028005B' updating file F:\listserv\main\TEST.LIST <<<
-> Severity: Error
-> Facility: LFxxx routines
-> Abstract: File not opened in update mode
-> I/O mode: Record read + update
This error generally occurs on the workstation systems when a list file has been manually inserted into LISTSERV's main directory (e.g., created with vi, etc.) and LISTSERV was not restarted before a command arrived for the list (e.g., an ADD or DELETE command). LISTSERV must be restarted to reformat the plain text file before the list can be used.
5.5. Mail to LISTSERV returns "...no such user"
I have LISTSERV installed on my machine called WWW.MYCORP.COM, but when I send mail to it, it says something like "...no such user."
There are several possibilities.
· Does WWW.MYCORP.COM get its mail via a mail exchanger? If so, the error may actually be coming from the mail exchanger rather than from the machine LISTSERV is running on. You may be able to fix this problem by having the system administrator change the DNS records for WWW.MYCORP.COM so that mail goes directly to the LISTSERV machine, or by adding a mail alias that redirects mail sent to the non-existent LISTSERV account on the mail exchanger machine to LISTSERV@WWW.MYCORP.COM.
· Is WWW.MYCORP.COM the only name for your machine? Check with your system administrator to see if there are any variant CNAMEs or MX records in the DNS that point to your machine. If so, you just need to add these aliases to the MYDOMAIN variable in LISTSERV's site configuration file. This is particularly important when running under Windows NT or Windows 95.
· If running under Unix, did you create the Sendmail aliases for listserv and owner-listserv as outlined in the Installation Guide?
· If you are running the NT or Windows 95 version and your bounces look like this:
Connected to listserv.myhost.com:
>>> RCPT To:<list