Appendix D: Related Documentation and Support

D.1. Official L-Soft Documentation

Subscribers to LISTSERV mailing lists will find answers to many of their questions in the General User's Guide to LISTSERV. This manual supersedes the old "NSC93" document originally written for LISTSERV 1.8a.

LISTSERV list owners will be interested in both the List Owner's Quick Start Manual and the List Owner's Manual for LISTSERV. (The Quick Start manual is currently being rewritten.)

New for LISTSERV 1.8d is the Developer's Guide for LISTSERV, which includes (in addition to some material formerly part of the Site Manager's Operations Manual) information on using the new LISTSERV API.

All of L-Soft's manuals and other documentation for LISTSERV are available in ascii-text format via LISTSERV and in popular word-processing formats via ftp.lsoft.com. They are also available on the World Wide Web at the following URL:

http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/index.html

L-Soft invites comment on its manuals. Please feel free to send your comments via e-mail to MANUALS@LSOFT.COM, and mention which manual you are commenting on. (However, please do not send support questions to this address. See chapter 19 of this manual for appropriate support addresses.)

"Hot fix" revisions to this and other L-Soft manuals are posted as they are made to the master document, on the announcement-only mailing list:

LSOFT-DOC-UPDATES@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM

D.2. LISTSERV Support FAQ

An official LISTSERV Support FAQ is updated regularly and can be viewed at

http://www.lsoft.com/lsv-faq.html

This FAQ is aimed primarily at site maintainers.

D.3. User-Created Documentation

LISTSERV began as a non-commercial product, with fairly-complete but terse documentation. Over time, list owners and LISTSERV maintainers found that it was necessary to amplify some of the documentation, and wrote their own manuals. Some of these manuals, while they may be dated, are still of value and are still available.

D.3.1. Documentation of new database functions

This document is in fact not dated at all; it is practically brand new. Norm Aleks has put together documentation of the new database functions (SEARCH and GETPOST) available beginning with version 1.8c. You can get a copy by sending the command

INFO DATABASE

to LISTSERV@LIBRARY.UMMED.EDU .

D.3.2. LISTSERV List Owner Information Area on LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU

This site replaces the old LSVOWNER package mentioned in earlier versions of this manual. Here are the files currently (18 September 1998) available:

How to Maintain your Class E-mail Distribution List Guide from Julia Cohan, School of Management LISTSERV "Ins & Outs" Guide from Hugh Jarvis, Faculty of Social Sciences LISTSERV list header keywords information
LISTSERV list management commands
Explanation of LISTSERV List Columns 81-92
List Owner USENET News Gateway Information
List Owner New List Announcement
List Owner Welcome to the List Message
List Owner General Information
List Owner How To Maintain A List Header
WWW Gateway to LISTSERV(tm) Lists

These files are found at the URL

http://listserv.buffalo.edu/owner/

(Please note that any links found there to list management or list creation are for local use only and remote users should avoid trying to use them :)

D.3.3. LISTSERV TIPS

LISTSERV TIPS is a document with the formal title "List Management Tips for LISTSERV Postmasters and List Owners". It was compiled in 1991 by Lisa Covi. LISTSERV TIPS can be retrieved from the LISTSERV hosts at SEARN and UBVM (among others) with the usual GET command.

The basic document has never been updated and is very BITNET-oriented, but is still quite useful as a basic information source on running a list. To view LISTSERV TIPS on the World Wide Web, see Holly Stowe’s LISTSERV FAQ at

http://www.listserv.iupui.edu/

You can also go directly to LISTSERV TIPS at

http://www.iupui.edu/~lstmaint/listserv_tips.shtml

Please note that LISTSERV TIPS is not an official L-Soft publication and is therefore not maintained by L-Soft.

D.3.4. FSV GUIDE

FSV GUIDE (formal title: "Setting Up the LISTSERV File Server -- A Beginner's Guide") is really aimed at LISTSERV maintainers, but it is a handy guide for list owners who have filelists on VM systems as well. Ben Chi (bec@albany.edu) is the author of this fine document about the "traditional" VM LISTSERV file server system. You can get a copy from LISTSERV@ALBANY.EDU.

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List Owner's Manual for LISTSERV®
Appendix A: System Reference Library for LISTSERV® Version 1.8d
Appendix B: List Keyword Reference for LISTSERV® Version 1.8d
Appendix C: Sample Boilerplate Files
Appendix E: Acknowledgements