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From: [email protected] (Ryan Alyn Porter)
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi,comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: MailMan WWW email interface v2.0 FAQ
Followup-To: comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi
Date: 29 May 1998 11:55:24 GMT
Organization: Endymion Corporation, http://www.endymion.com
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Summary: A Frequently Asked Questions list for MailMan, version 2.0,
        a web-based internet email interface.
X-Last-Updated: 1998/05/29
Originator: [email protected]
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi:63664 comp.infosystems.www.authoring.misc:26694 comp.answers:31469 news.answers:131254

Archive-name: www/mailman-faq
Posting-Frequency: biweekly
Last-modified: Thursday, May 28, 1998
URL: http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/faq.htm
Created: Friday, May 22, 1998
Maintainer: Ryan Alyn Porter [email protected]

    Frequently Asked Questions for MailMan version 2.0

             Ryan Alyn Porter [email protected]
          Copyright � Endymion Corporation, 1998
               <URL:http://www.endymion.com>

------------------------------

Subject: 1.1) Introduction and Intent

This document is an attempt to answer some of the more
frequently asked questions concerning MailMan, a web-based
email interface from Endymion Corporation.  An HTML copy of
this document is stored online at
<URL:http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/faq.htm>.
This document is not intended to act as marketing materials
for MailMan or for Endymion, this document is intended to
assist us in providing fast and efficient technical support
for MailMan users, 24 hours a day.  I have attempted to
address all levels of reader, from those only barely
familiar with Internet-related software to those with the
task of actually implementing and maintaining MailMan
installations.  Readers of this document are the real judge
of how successfully I have managed to pull that trick off
though.  Let me know if you have any serious issues with the
information contained here.  I have also tried to use simple
and straightforward English, since our users come from all
over the world.  If I have used any idioms that are
difficult to understand in your particular region, please
let me know so that I might make this document more
universally comprehensible.

------------------------------

Subject: 2.1) Table of Contents

1.1) Introduction and Intent

2.1) Table of Contents

3.1) Overview
3.2) What is MailMan?
3.3) What could I use MailMan for?
3.3) How is MailMan different from HotMail, YahooMail,
ExciteMail, etc?
3.4) Where would I find current information on MailMan?
3.5) What�s the short version of how MailMan works from a
technical standpoint?
3.6) Can I customize the interface of MailMan?
3.7) What is the difference between the Standard and the
Professional editions of MailMan?
3.8) What are the basic requirements for setting up a
MailMan installation?
3.9) What standards and protocols does MailMan comply with?

4.1) Licensing
4.2) Is MailMan free?
4.3) What about the source code?
4.4) Why would you want people reading your source code?
4.5) What constitutes a single �installation� of MailMan?
4.6) Why are you picking on Scientology?

5.1) Installation
5.2) What is the difference between the different
installation distributions?
5.3) What is the basic installation procedure?
5.4) What is the installation procedure for a Unix system?
5.5) What is the installation procedure for an NT system?
5.6) I installed MailMan and it doesn�t work, what do I do?
5.7) What does it mean when I try to run MailMan and the
server says �Can�t locate cgi-lib.pl�?

6.1) Operation
6.2) How would I use MailMan in conjunction with a 'primary'
mailer on my home or office system?
6.3) Wouldn't IMAP be very well-suited to this type of
scenario?

7.1) Innards
7.2) How do I customize MailMan to blend into my site and
provide a branded interface to my users?
7.3) Is it possible to �rig� a MailMan installation with a
default POP3 or SMTP server address so that the user doesn�t
have to enter them?
7.4) Is it possible to �rig� a MailMan installation with a
default POP3 or SMTP server address so that the user can�t
modify them even if they want to?

------------------------------

Subject: 3.1) Overview

This section provides an overview of the basic top-level
questions about what MailMan is and what it does.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.2) What is MailMan?

MailMan is a system that provides any user with an interface
to his or her own email account from any web browser
anywhere in the world.  MailMan is a piece of software that
runs on a web server as a part of an existing web site that
interacts with a mail server and displays the results
through the web server.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.2) What could I use MailMan for?

A MailMan installation could support a free email
advertisement site.  A different installation of MailMan
could provide essential email access for the students at a
small community college or the students at a large
university.  A different installation of MailMan could allow
the users of a neighborhood ISP to access their local email
accounts through the web without configuring a mail reader.
A different installation of MailMan could provide access to
any email address anywhere in the world for the patrons of a
cyber caf�.  Another installation might allow business
workers to stay in touch while away from their desks, even
while at a pay kiosk in an airport or at a borrowed
workstation at another corporation.  Another installation
might allow a family to keep in touch with friends through
Grandma�s WebTV box while visiting for Christmas.  There are
other uses for MailMan that we have not even thought of yet.
If you think of others, please let us know.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.3) How is MailMan different from HotMail,
YahooMail, ExciteMail, etc?

Free Internet mail services such as the ones mentioned above
provide the same basic services that MailMan does, but they
provide them through a proprietary web site, generally with
the purpose of selling advertisements to a guaranteed repeat
audience.  Free email sites provide the user with a mailbox
and the server to access the mailbox.  MailMan is different
because it is simply a piece of software, a technology to be
applied in any number of ways.  MailMan works in conjunction
with other mail servers in order to process incoming and
outgoing mail, communicating with those servers though well-
accepted Internet standards such as the POP3 and STMP
protocols.  The primary advantage of MailMan is that
administrators can control their own MailMan installations.
They have the power to specify what mail servers MailMan
connects to, what MailMan looks like when it runs, who has
access to MailMan, etc.  When you use MailMan, you are
accessing the same email account that you normally access,
not a new account that was created just for you to access
through a free email service.  Some free email services
allow you to access your own email address through the
service, but you are still forced into using someone else�s
web server and you are forced into watching someone else�s
advertisements.  With MailMan you have much more control.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.4) Where would I find current information on
MailMan?

The �official� MailMan information site is at the Endymion
Corporation web site, at
<URL:http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman>.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.5) What�s the short version of how MailMan works
from a technical standpoint?

The heart of MailMan is a CGI application written in Perl,
version 5.  The mail application generates MailMan�s user
interface dynamically by reading template files filled with
HTML code, processing them, and producing output for the
user through a web server.  To obtain useful email
information, MailMan obtains a user�s email account
authentication information directly from the user (a
username, password and server name) and communicates with
the user�s POP3 email server the way that any client-side
mail software ordinarily would.  The user sees a list of
messages and can select messages for viewing, deletion, and
other normal mail tasks.  If a user wishes to reply to a
message, forward a message, or create a new message, MailMan
communicates with an SMTP mail server to send the outgoing
message the way that any ordinary client-side software
would.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.6) Can I customize the interface of MailMan?

One of the primary benefits of MailMan is that the entire
interface that is presented to the user is the result of a
collection of template files that contain ordinary HTML.
These templates can be modified to incorporate specific
branding of any web site as long as they still contain
certain vital keywords that allow MailMan to insert valuable
information.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.7) What is the difference between the Standard
and the Professional editions of MailMan?

The standard edition of MailMan is more of a 'viewer' for a
POP3 server than a complete mailer.  It does not store any
user information on the server side.  It does not store
messages anywhere, so the only messages that you see are the
messages that are actually on the POP3 server at that time.
The professional edition stores messages on the server side
after they have been fetched from the POP3 server, allowing
you to organize them into a folder hierarchy like you might
in Eudora or whatever mail program you ordinarily use.  The
professional edition also stores user settings on the server
side, allowing users to configure options such as a default
SMTP server or a signature message to append to outgoing
messages.  The standard edition is a version that we intend
for use by users as a secondary mail system that will
compliment an existing client-side mail package, the
professional edition is intended for use by novice users as
a primary mailer.  Experienced users will probably not be
happy with any version of MailMan as a primary mailer, just
like they would not use HotMail or ExciteMail for a primary
mailer.

Another difference, on a more practical level, is that the
professional edition is not yet complete, and won't even go
beta for at least two or three weeks.  (This was written on
Wednesday, May 27, 1998, during the public beta of MailMan
version 2.0 Standard)

------------------------------

Subject: 3.8) What are the basic requirements for setting up
a MailMan installation?

In order to make use of MailMan you must have a functioning
web server that has the ability to run Perl CGI
applications.  To read incoming mail you must have access to
a functioning POP3 mail server and to send outgoing messages
you must have access to a functioning STMP mail server.
These are all very common Internet standards and you
probably have access to the necessary mail servers if you
have an Internet email account.

------------------------------

Subject: 3.9) What standards and protocols does MailMan
comply with?

MailMan uses CGI to communicate with the host web server.
For more information about CGI, consult Nick Kew's CGI FAQ
at
<URL:http://www3.pair.com/webthing/docs/cgi/faqs/cgifaq.shtm
l>.

For the generation of HTTP headers, MailMan conforms as
closely as possible with the proposed standard RFC 2068,
"Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", as well as the
earlier related specifications such as RFC 1945, "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0."

MailMan's user interface is generated using messages that
comply as closely as possible with RFC 1866, "HyperText
Markup Language Specification - 2.0" and related
specifications.

Persistent state information for the frames-based MailMan
interface is maintained according to RFC 2109, "HTTP State
Management Mechanism".

For communication with incoming internet email servers,
MailMan conforms as closely as possible with RFC 1939, "Post
Office Protocol - Version 3", and was originally based on
the earlier specification, RFC 1725.  MailMan is in strict
compliance with end of line delimiters specified in the POP3
standards documents and should be compatible with POP3
servers regardless of the end of line delimiter used in the
server's host operating system.

For communication with outgoing internet email servers,
MailMan conforms as closely as possible with RFC 821,
"Simple Mail Transfer Protocol".  MailMan does not make use
of enhancements provided by later approved extension
standards such as RFC 1869 or RFC 1870.

The messages that MailMan processes and generates are
compliant as closely as possible with RFC 822, "Standard for
the format of ARPA Internet text messages".  Formatted
messages and messages with attachments are automatically
handled by portions of MailMan which are compliant as
closely as possible with the specifications in RFC 2045, RFC
2046, RFC 2047, RFC 2048 and RFC 2049, "Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)", parts one through five.

All of the above referenced standards documents are
available at <URL:http://www.ietf.org>.

------------------------------

Subject: 4.1) Licensing

This section describes the licensing structure of MailMan.

------------------------------

Subject: 4.2) Is MailMan free?

No, MailMan is not free.  An employee of Endymion
Corporation originally started MailMan as a spare time
project in 1996.  The first version of MailMan was released
through the Endymion Corporation web site in 1997 under the
GNU Public License, in the hope that people would find the
software valuable and contribute to its development.  In the
time since then, many people have downloaded MailMan and
used the application and some have even contributed
suggestions and bug fixes, but nobody has undertaken further
development.  Since MailMan has survived the test of time,
Endymion Corporation has decided to pronounce MailMan an
official, supported product.  We have invested the time and
resources in developing MailMan version 2.0, a vast
improvement over the original freeware incarnation of
MailMan, and we are offering it for license.

Now for the exceptions.  Endymion Corporation automatically
grants a license for free to installations of MailMan that
meet one of the following criteria:

1.   Educational Institutions, including government,
 private, and non-profit institutions.  In situations where
 the nature of your institution is disputed, Endymion
 Corporation reserves the right to require a copy of your
 501(c)(3) form or a local equivalent before granting a
 license.
2.   Non-profit institutions, including religious
 institutions, but with the specific exception of the Church
 of Scientology International or any other religious
 organizations directly related to the Church of Scientology.
 Endymion Corporation reserves the right to require a United
 States federal non-profit tax ID number or a local
 equivalent before granting a license.
3.   Private individuals or families.

All installations of MailMan that do not clearly fit into
one of the three clearly-defined categories above must be
licensed.  So that there is no confusion, installations of
MailMan that must be licensed include, but are not limited
to, the following examples:

�    Cyber caf� mail kiosks
�    Large ISPs
�    Small-town ISPs
�    Free Internet email services
�    Corporate messaging applications

One license must be purchased for each installation of
MailMan, but each installation can host an unlimited number
of users, unlike MailMan�s primary competition.  For current
information on MailMan licensing policies, please see
<URL:http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/licensing.htm>

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