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Version 1.8c
Copyright © 1996-1998 L-Soft International
Last update: 9 Jan 1997
LISTSERV Lite is user-supported, via the mailing list
Please do not send questions regarding LISTSERV Lite to L-Soft's normal support addresses.
LISTSERV for Windows NT™ requires the following products:
Please note that due to the lack of a standard Windows Internet mail API, the use of LISTSERV's SMTP listener (SMTPL.EXE) may cause a conflict for port 25 (the SMTP port) of your machine if you are running another SMTP server product on the LISTSERV machine. Concretely this means that if you must run LISTSERV on the same machine with your regular mail server, you must set up the "listener" to listen out on another port (e.g., 1025) and configure your regular mail server to route LISTSERV's mail to that port. Currently the only product so supported is Software.Com's Post.Office version 3.1.x and higher (see appendix). The Netscape Messaging Server, while similar to Post.Office, does not currently (version 3.01.3) have the functionality to transfer mail to a non-standard port.
Otherwise, LISTSERV running with the SMTPL "listener" requires an external machine for the delivery of SMTP mail. The external machine can be any hardware, operating system and software with a SMTP implementation that meets your needs, in terms of volume and RFC compliance.
Currently L-Soft's LSMTP product is the only Windows NT mail delivery agent on the market that will interface directly to LISTSERV without special configuration. LSMTP does not require the use of the SMTPL.EXE "listener" (and in fact, the LSMTP installation program will disable SMTPL if it finds it installed).
As noted above, the LSMTP installation program will disable SMTPL.EXE if it finds it installed. Note that we recommend that you first install and test LISTSERV with the SMTPL listener before turning traffic over to LSMTP.
Please note carefully that you should install LISTSERV (and make sure that it is installed as an NT service by checking in the Control Panel/Services applet) before installing LSMTP. If LISTSERV is not installed as an NT service, you may remedy this by opening a command prompt box, executing a CD into the LISTSERV\MAIN directory, and entering the command:
at the prompt. However, note that normally this task is taken care of by the installation program and you should not need to do this.
We recommend that you take a few moments to read this installation guide before starting the installation of LISTSERV. The software is provided in a compressed file format, available from our ftp site (ftp://ftp.lsoft.com). To install LISTSERV, you need only uncompress the software into a "scratch" or temporary directory and do the following:
If you have any problem, contact SUPPORT@LSOFT.COM (or send mail to the LISTSERV- LITE mailing list if you are running LISTSERV Lite). Note that LISTSERV will not see any mail you send it via MAPI unless you have a MAPI/SMTP gateway for your LAN. This version of LISTSERV does not include a MAPI gateway.
Changing the default setting is done by opening the Windows NT Registry Editor (regedt32.exe), choosing the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" window, and then locating the key
To disable the 8-dot-3 filename creation, change the value of this key from 0 to 1 and reboot your machine.
Directory | Description |
| LOG | The directory where the server log files are created. These files can be viewed with Notepad or equivalent, but the active (i.e. today's) file should not be modified. These files are for your convenience in troubleshooting problems or monitoring server activity. LISTSERV does not use them for anything. |
| MAIN | LISTSERV's main directory. This is where configuration files, executables, lists and the like are located. Some of these files can be modified directly by the administrator, using Notepad, but unless this is specifically indicated in the present installation guide, you should assume that the files are private to LISTSERV and cannot be edited. |
| SPOOL | The directory where incoming and outgoing requests are stored until they can be processed or sent. You should not modify any of the files in this directory. Some are binary files and cannot be viewed. |
| TMP | A directory for temporary files. If the server ever crashes when processing a command, you should save the contents of that directory before restarting it, in case they prove useful in troubleshooting the problem. |
For Windows NT™ installations, L-Soft recommends that you run LISTSERV and the SMTP listener in a non-privileged account, and using a NTFS partition with a private directory (no world access). You are, however, free to run either or both services from the local System account, and this is the way the software is configured when you install it. The reason for this apparent conflict is that the installation procedure cannot know what your local account creation policy is (user groups, profiles, etc), and lets you create the LISTSERV account yourself. To run the two Services from the LISTSERV account, you must modify their startup options from Control Panel and indicate "Log in as LISTSERV". Control Panel will add the "Log in as system service" privilege to LISTSERV's profile, and this should not be removed. LISTSERV does not, however, need any other privilege.
Please note that LSMTP currently does not support being run from a non- privileged account.
LISTSERV can be started interactively, for debugging purposes, or in the background as an NT Service. However, you can only run one copy of LISTSERV at any given time. That is, you cannot start LISTSERV interactively if it is already running as a service, or vice-versa, nor can you start LISTSERV in multiple CMD windows. The same applies to the SMTP listener.
When running as a service under Windows NT™, LISTSERV and the SMTP listener are stopped or started using the Services applet of Control Panel. This is the normal production mode. The services create log files in the C:\LISTSERV\LOG directory (assuming you installed LISTSERV in C:\LISTSERV) but, for performance reasons, the file buffers are not flushed with each and every write. If you attempt to TYPE the log file, it may appear to be empty. If you wait a few minutes, the buffers will be flushed and you will be able to examine the files. Critical errors are reported to the system event log and can be examined with Event Viewer (select the Application log). Starting with version 1.8c, LISTSERV generates "crash reports" when it terminates abnormally, which are sent to the LISTSERV postmasters by default. These "crash reports" normally include a traceback of the error along with the last 100 LISTSERV log entries prior to the crash, and should be sent to L-Soft support for problem resolution.
To start LISTSERV or the SMTP listener interactively on Windows NT™, open a CMD window, go to the C:\LISTSERV\MAIN directory (assuming you installed LISTSERV in C:\LISTSERV) and type LSV START or SMTPL START. You can also use the icons created by the installation program in Program Manager or the Start menu. In this mode, the log files are also created but the file buffers are flushed continuously. This mode should be used only when you are trying to troubleshoot a problem. Flushing the logs continuously ensures that, in the event of a severe program failure, the logs will always contain information about the cause of the failure. To stop LSV, simply type STOP. To stop SMTPL, wait until there is no more activity and type Ctrl-C. LSMTP should be stopped from its own control panel.
Before you can start up LISTSERV, you will need to install a License Activation Key (LAK). This is usually accomplished during the automatic setup process, but it can be done manually as well. To install the LAK, simply create a file called LICENSE.MERGE in the C:\LISTSERV\MAIN directory (assuming you installed LISTSERV in C:\LISTSERV) with the contents of the license key. If you received the LAK electronically or on a floppy, you can simply copy it to LICENSE.MERGE. Note that LISTSERV must be restarted in order for the new LAK to be activated.
Note that LSMTP, if installed, requires a separate LAK, which is installed in the LSMTP home directory in an identical manner. Your LISTSERV LAK will not work with LSMTP.
Special note for sites running Windows NT 4.0 and higher: If you create the LICENSE.MERGE file with NOTEPAD, please note that by default the NOTEPAD application under 4.0 will save your file with a .txt extension (e.g., if you type license.merge in the "Save as" dialog box, NOTEPAD will actually save license.merge.txt). If this happens you must rename the file to license.merge or LISTSERV will not see it on startup.
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.
Once the server is ready for production use (that is, once you have installed a permanent License Activation Key, and once you have arranged for LISTSERV to be started automatically when the system boots), you should register it with L-Soft by filling in the enclosed registration form, and returning it to SUPPORT@LSOFT.COM. Registering the server is necessary to broadcast its existence to the other LISTSERV servers. Once you have registered, your server will be sent periodic updates about the lists hosted by other LISTSERV sites, among other things, and, similarly, other LISTSERV sites will receive information about the public lists you are hosting. Here is the registration form (the fields you must fill in are represented as XXXXXXXX, or a suggested value is provided):
------------------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
:node.XXXXXXXX ! Internet hostname
:userid.LISTSERV ! Username under which LISTSERV runs
:net.Internet !
:site.XXXXXXXX ! XYZ Corporation, city, state, country
:country.XX ! Two-letter ISO country code
:system.NT 4.0 (Intel) ! NT version (architecture)
:machine.XXXXXXXX ! Hardware - P90, AXP 3000-00,etc
:contact.XXXXXXXX ! Contact person, in the following format:
! (Joe Manager) JOE@XYZ.COM (+1 301 871.2727)
:type.NT ! Do not change this - must be "NT"
:version.1.8c ! Version you are currently running
:backbone.XXXXXXXX ! YES or NO, depending on whether you want to
! participate in the LISTSERV backbone; L-Soft
! will advise you on this keyword.
------------------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
This topic is discussed in detail in the Site Manager's Operations Manual for LISTSERV, available from L-Soft's World Wide Web site.
In order to create a new list, you must:
1. Prepare a "list header", for instance using the sample provided below. You can also get the header of an existing (L-Soft) LISTSERV list and use it as a sample.
2. The first line of the list header MUST be as follows:
PUT LISTNAME.LIST PW=CCCCCCCC
Replace "LISTNAME" with the name of your list, e.g.,
PUT MYLIST-L.LIST PW=CCCCCCCC
Then replace "CCCCCCCC" after "PW=" with the "CREATEPW" you chose when configuring LISTSERV. If your CREATEPW is FIATLUX, then your complete PUT line for a list called MYLIST-L would be as follows:
PUT MYLIST-L.LIST PW=FIATLUX
Note that one of the most common errors made by new LISTSERV users is to leave out the ".LIST" part of the PUT command. If you leave this part out, LISTSERV will bounce the header back to you with the comment that it does not have any file by the name "MYLIST-L PW=FIATLUX".
3. Following the PUT line, you insert as many "list header" lines as you need (see the sample). Each of these lines MUST begin with an asterisk in column 1, e.g.,
* Notebook= Yes,C:\LISTS\PUBLIC,Monthly,Public
If your mail software indents paragraphs by default, you must turn off paragraph indentation, or an attempt to store the list will be returned to you with a message that there did not appear to be any list header lines.
Each "list header" line contains information needed by LISTSERV to operate your list. Most of this information is provided by you in the form of values for standard keywords. You can use the sample header provided below as an example; a complete list of keywords recognized by LISTSERV along with descriptions of their functions can be found in Appendix B of both the List Owner's Manual for LISTSERV and the Site Manager's Operations Manual for LISTSERV.
4. Mail the resulting file to the LISTSERV address.
The "LISTSERV address" is the address formed by "LISTSERV@" + the value you defined in the site configuration file for NODE=. For instance, if you defined NODE=XYZ.COM, the LISTSERV address would be LISTSERV@XYZ.COM.
This mail must be sent as Internet mail from a username defined as a "postmaster" in the LISTSERV configuration. For instance, from a VMS™ system, you would save your list file (say, in a file called 'newlist.create'), and then do:
$ mail MAIL> send newlist.create To: in%"listserv@xyz.com" Subj: MAIL>
Or, from a unix® system:
$ mail listserv@xyz.com < newlist.create
On a PC, you would use your POP client or other GUI-based mail program. Make sure to cut+paste the file via the Clipboard and not send it as an "attachment" or use drag and drop. "Attachment" mechanisms are often proprietary or PC-specific and cannot be guaranteed to work. Sending plain text from the Clipboard always works.
If you have questions about list creation, keywords, list management and other high-level or system-independent LISTSERV topics, the best place to ask them is the LSTOWN-L list, an open forum of LISTSERV list owners.
Please note that, for security reasons, LISTSERV will not create notebook archive directories automatically. You must create the directory and set the protections before storing the list. LISTSERV will need read, write and delete access to the directory.
For assistance with problems specific to evaluation kits, join the LSTSRV-E list or contact Support@LSOFT.COM for a prompt reply. Please don't forget to tell us which hardware and software you are using!
------------------------------- Cut here ------------------------------ PUT SAMPLE.LIST PW=CCCCCCCC * * Title of sample LISTSERV list * * Review= Public Subscription= Open Send= Public * Notify= Yes Reply-to= List,Respect Validate= No * Notebook= Yes,C:\LISTS\PUBLIC,Monthly,Public * * Owner= someone@somewhere.COM ------------------------------- Cut here -------------------------------
For security reasons, there is no LISTSERV command to delete a list. To delete a list, simply move any archives or other related files that you wish to save to a safe place (delete them if you don't want to keep them) and then use the CMD prompt or File Manager to delete the list file itself. List files are kept in the \LISTSERV\MAIN directory, and they have a file extension of .LIST (case-insensitive). Thus to delete a list called MYLIST-L, you would simply CD into \LISTSERV\MAIN and 'erase mylist-l.list' (or 'del mylist-l.list').
VM lists can be migrated to Windows NT(tm) with a much simpler procedure:
Note: Under LISTSERV Lite, the hierarchical file system described below which supports multiple sub-catalogs is not supported. You can define files in the main SITE.CATALOG as described but you cannot define sub-catalogs in SITE.CATALOG which in turn refer to further files.
Traditionally, LISTSERV has supported the concept of file serving almost since its inception. However, the traditional "FILELIST" system which originated on IBM VM mainframes is significantly different from the LISTSERV maintainer's point of view than the new "CATALOG" system which has been available on VMS, unix and Windows systems in various states of development since version 1.8a. With the "FILELIST" system, the LISTSERV maintainer created files called "xxxx FILELIST", which contained definitions for all the files belonging to a particular archive. This system still exists on VM servers and is mentioned in this context only because older documentation for LISTSERV will refer to it. You should be aware that there are major differences between the way files are registered on VM systems as opposed to the other supported systems, as many list owners still have lists on (or are used to) a VM server with different conventions and may give you advice that is incorrect in the context of your non-VM server. Particularly if you are migrating to the Windows NT version from VM, you should be aware of the differences.
With the "CATALOG" system, you store these definitions in a file called "site.catalog", in the LISTSERV "home" directory (by default, under Windows this directory is drive:\LISTSERV\MAIN). You create files called xxxx.catalog and register them in site.catalog in order to provide access to them.
To register a new file to the server, you add a line to the SITE.CATALOG file in the drive:\LISTSERV\MAIN directory (create "site.catalog" with Notepad or another ASCII text editor if it does not exist; L-Soft does not ship it with the software). Do not modify the "system.catalog" file, as it is part of LISTSERV and may be replaced when you apply software updates; however, site.catalog is formatted in a similar manner. Here is what a typical site.catalog entry for a file looks like:
MY.FILE C:\LISTS\XYZ\MY.FILE XXX YYY
The first item, MY.FILE, is the name by which the file is known to LISTSERV. That is, the users will use GET MY.FILE to order a copy of that file. The name should only contain one period.
The second item, C:\FILES\XYZ\MY.FILE, is the name LISTSERV will use for the actual disk file; a standard full path. For security reasons, LISTSERV will not create the directory (or set the protections) for you. Note that LISTSERV will normally need full access to these files.
If you are upgrading from LISTSERV 1.8a or 1.8b, you will note a slight change in the format of the second item in the example above. You will not need to change the entries in your existing SITE.CATALOG unless you want to; LISTSERV 1.8c will accept the older format.
The third and fourth items are "File Access Codes" (FACs). The first is for read accesses, and the second for writing. The following file access codes are available:
Access Code | Description |
| ALL | universal access |
| CTL | LISTSERV administrator ("postmaster" in SITE.CFG) only. |
| N/A | no access. This is normally used (in SYSTEM.CATALOG) for files that are maintained internally by LISTSERV and should not be updated using the file server functions, but you can use it for your own purposes as well. |
| PRIVATE(xxx) | only members of the xxx list have access. |
| OWNER(xxx) | only the owners of the xxx list have access. |
| SERVICE(xxx) | only users in the service area of the xxx list have access. |
| NOTEBOOK(xxx) | same access as the archives of the xxx list. |
| user@host | the user in question is granted access. |
Except for ALL and CTL, which must occur on their own, you can specify multiple file access code entries, separated by a comma with no intervening space. For instance:
MY.FILE C:\FILES\XYZ\MY.FILE JOE@XYZ.EDU,JACK@XYZ.EDU,PRIVATE(XYZ-L) CTL
defines a file that Joe, Jack and the subscribers of the XYZ-L list can order via the GET command, but that only the LISTSERV administrator can update.
IMPORTANT: These "file access codes" apply to LISTSERV commands (GET, PUT, INDEX) only, and do not affect native Windows NT™ file and directory security. It is your responsibility to protect the actual disk file by setting the file protections for the directory in which they are created.
For further information on how to use the new hierarchical cataloging system, please refer to the List Owner's Manual or to the Site Manager's Operations Manual.
Complete information on installing the Web Archive Interface (including how to publish the content of "Send= Private" and/or "Confidential= Yes" lists) is contained in chapter 5 of the Site Manager's Operations Manual.
Upgrading LISTSERV is almost as simple as installing it. Simply follow these steps:
You should be aware that there are several documentation files included with LISTSERV. They are located in the MAIN directory and include the following:
Filename | Description |
| LISTSERV.MEMO | A General Introduction to LISTSERV |
| LISTPRES.MEMO | A presentation of LISTSERV for the general user |
| LISTOWNR.MEMO | A List Owner's Manual for LISTSERV 1.8c |
| LISTKEYW.MEMO | A manual of the various list header keywords and what they do |
| LISTALL.REFCARD | A quick reference card for LISTSERV commands |
The List Owner's Manual can also be viewed on the World Wide Web at the URL
A Site Manager's Operations Manual for LISTSERV 1.8c is available from L-Soft at the URL
And finally, a General Users Guide for LISTSERV is available from L-Soft at the URL
Additionally, the following files are available for downloading from L-Soft's anonymous ftp site, ftp.lsoft.com :
LISTSERV for the non-technical user
(superseded by the new General User's Guide)
=====================================================================
| NSC93US.PS | PostScript(tm) version formatted for 8-1/2" x 11" paper |
| NSC93A4.PS | PostScript(tm) version formatted for A4 paper |
| NSC93.MEMO | Plain text version |
There are several mailing lists dedicated to the support of LISTSERV.
| LSTSRV-L@SEARN.SUNET.SE | for LISTSERV maintainers and interested list owners |
| LSTOWN-L@SEARN.SUNET.SE | for LISTSERV list owners |
| LSTSRV-E@SEARN.SUNET.SE | for LISTSERV evaluation kit users |
You will notice that from time to time, LISTSERV Lite sends and receives data to and from a LISTSERV backbone site in Base64 format. These messages are indeed from L-Soft, but please note that this is not an attempt on the part of L-Soft to probe your system for sensitive data. The commands being sent can be sent by any user and the responses contain only LISTSERV statistical data and updates for L-Soft's CataList service (see http://www.lsoft.com/lists/listref.html). All such jobs are readable with the JOBVIEW.EXE application, and all such jobs are logged in LISTSERV's console log. There is no way to turn this off, so if this is a security concern for your site, we recommend that you stop using LISTSERV Lite and purchase LISTSERV Classic (which can be run in "Standalone" mode and thus not receive this kind of traffic).
Please note that if you remove LISTSERV Lite from your system, these mails will continue to arrive for several days until the central LISTSERV reporting site determines that your site no longer exists. This does not happen immediately because it is always possible that a network link is down and the requests are not getting through to a site which is actually up and running.
This information applies to version 3.1.x and later of Post.Office. While the functionality listed below may be available in earlier versions of the Post.Office product, L-Soft does not guarantee that the solution below will work with any version of Post.Office prior to version 3.1. Further, please note that L-Soft cannot help you configure your Post.Office server to work properly with LISTSERV beyond the following information.
The Netscape Messaging Server, while similar to Post.Office, does not currently (version 3.01.3) have the functionality to transfer mail to a non-standard port, and you therefore cannot use these instructions to integrate LISTSERV with Netscape Messaging Server.
If you wish to "multi-home" your server (i.e., assign it multiple separate IP addresses, one for each DNS entry), you can certainly do so, but multi-homing is not required to make this work.
NODE=LISTSERV.MYHOST.COM
MYDOMAIN=LISTSERV.MYHOST.COM MAIL.MYHOST.COM
SMTP_FORWARD=MAIL.MYHOST.COM
SMTP_FORWARD_1=MAIL.MYHOST.COM
SMTP_LISTENER_PORT=4025(Naturally you will want to configure other settings as well, but these are the critical ones in this particular case.) Please note that current versions of the SITE.EXE Site Configuration Utility will require you to add SMTP_LISTENER_PORT as a "New Parameter" under the "Advanced Configuration" screen. This minor annoyance will be resolved when the next version of the configuration GUI is released, probably with LISTSERV 1.8d.
listserv.myhost.com:listserv.myhost.com#4025