[Mailman-Users] Email Command Question

[Mark Sapiro]

On 04/15/2017 08:53 AM, Paul Mosher wrote:
> 
>    However, if I move the command from the subject line to the message body
>    (leaving the subject line empty), as in:
> 
>    Subject: <blank>
> 
>    (and in the message body:)
>    who <admin password>
>    end
> 
>    I get NO RESPONSE at all from the server -- neither an error message nor
>    the correct result of the command, as if the my email is being discarded
>    by the server.  And if  I do it this way:


I have to look at this some more, but you should get a 'The results of
your email commands' response in any case.


>    Subject: who request
> 
>    (and in the message body)
>    who <admin password>
>    end
> 
>    THEN I do get a reply but it is an error message:
>    "You are not allowed to retrieve the list membership."
> 
>    which seems to me to indicate that the server is trying to interpret the
>    subject line, sees the word "request" as an incorrect password, and then
>    doesn't check the message body at all.
> 
>    According to the mailman documentation the command should work if it is in
>    either place in the email:
>    "Commands can appear in the subject line or the body of the message."
>    [1]http://www.list.org/mailman-member/node10.html


The most up to date version of this manual is at
<https://wiki.list.org/DOC/Mailman%202.1%20Members%20Manual>. I just
added a note to
<https://wiki.list.org/DOC/Mailman%202.1%20Members%20Manual#A3.2_The_email_interfaces>
about the body needing to be text/plain.


>    So that's my first question. What did I do wrong?


I'm a bit confused, but the message to this list to which I'm replying
was sent as a text/html only message with no text/plain part.

Commands in the body of a message to the list-request address must be in
the first plain text (text/plain) part of the message. Mt confusion is
if there is no text/plain part, you should receive a 'Ignoring
non-text/plain MIME parts' message in the 'The results of your email
commands' response.


>    (2) As to subscribing (not inviting) subscribers via email, my
>    understanding is that adding subscribers via email is not possible.  Is
>    that correct?


That is correct. The email interface for administrative tasks is limited
to approving/discarding held posts about which the admin has received a
notice.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <mark at msapiro.net>        The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan