
                                                                 The Mail Robot
                                  MAIL ROBOT
                                       
   The mail robot is a program which will accept incoming mail and allow remote
   users to:
   
      Subscribe to mailing lists (and unsubscribe)
      
      Retrieve information given a W3 addresss (URL)
      
   Originally from UC Berkeley, an enhanced robot is distributed as part of the
   world-wide web global information initiative. Futhur information available
   is:
   
  Help                    The help file for users of the robot service
                         
  Installation            Installation instructions for unix system managers
                         
  Bugs                    Lists of improvements requested or needed.
                         
  Change history          A list of features introduced and bugs fixed.

                                                       Using the WWW Mail Robot
                          USING THE W3 MAILING ROBOT
                                       
   This robot maintains the W3 mailing lists, and allows W3 documents to be
   retrieved on request.
   
   You can subscribe or unsubscribe to any of the various WWW mailing lists by
   sending email to the robot "listserv@info.cern.ch" -- see the commands
   listed below.
   
   If you have any problems, requests or questions for a human being, mail
   "www-request@info.cern.ch". Lists are:
   
  www-announce            Anyone interested in WWW, who would like information
                         about new releases or new online data available.
                         Please refrain from posting administrivia to this
                         large list !
                         
  www-talk                Developers of WWW code, or those interested in
                         discussions of technical details
                         
   You can also find information on WWW (as well as many other things!) by
   telnetting to info.cern.ch (no username, no password).
   
   If you want to pick up the WWW software, then use anonymous FTP to
   info.cern.ch and look in directory /pub/www. Subdirectories are src for the
   latest source packages, bin for executables for various machines, doc for
   "paper copies" of articles on WWW in PostScript and ASCII forms, and also
   the "WWW book" which is a compendium of the hypertext documentation of the
   project. To read the latest documentation, use WWW !
   
Commands

   The commands understood by the listserv program are:
   
  HELP                    lists this file.  This is also sent whenever a
                         message to listserv is received from which no valid
                         command could be parsed.
                         
  HELP groupname          lists a brief description of the group requested.
                         
  ADD listname            Add yourself to the list
                         
  DELETE listname         take yourself off the list
                         
  ADD address listname    Add yourself with a given mail address to the given
                         list. The address must not contain spaces!
                         
  DELETE address listname
                          Remove the given name from the given list. For all
                         ADD/DELETE commands, mail is sent to the address given
                         to confirm the add or delete operation.
                         
  SEND document-address   returns a document with the requested W3 address.
                         
  STOP                    Stop processing requests: ignore the rest of the
                         message. Needed if you send a signature on the end of
                         your message (or if some gateway adds one). If in
                         doubt, use it.
                         
   A command must be the first word on each line in the message.  Lines which
   do not start with a command word are ignored.  If no commands were found in
   the entire message, this help file will be returned to you. A single message
   may contain multiple commands; a separate response will be sent for each.
                                             Using the WWW Mail Robot (129/152)
  EXAMPLES
  

        add www-announce

        add me@host.uni.edu www-announce

        delete me@host.uni.edu www-talk
        
        send http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html

Subscription

   If you are not sending mail from your preferred mail address, then you can
   use the second form of the command to give your mail address. If you are not
   on the internet, please convert your address into arpa stye. (For example,
   UK users please use international ordering joe@host.ac.uk) Just speficy the
   mailbox, without any spaces.
   
   If you omit the 'address' the command will assume the mailbox that is in the
   From: line of the message.  Note that SUBSCRIBE is a synonym for ADD;
   UNSUBSCRIBE for DELETE.
   
   Please note that is IS possible to add or delete someone else's subscription
   to a mailing list.  This facility is provided so that subscribers may alter
   their own subscriptions from a new or different computer account.  There is
   therefore some potential for abuse; we have chosen to limit this by mailing
   a confirmation notification of any addition or deletion to the address added
   or deleted including a copy of the message which requested the operation.
   At least you can find out who's doing it to you.
   
   Note that although you would mail submissions to a mailing list by
   addressing mail to e.g., www-talk@info.cern.ch, in a subscription request
   you specify the name of the list simply (without the @hostname part) as in
   the first example above.
   
Retrieving documents

   The SEND command (or the WWW command which is equivalent) returns the
   document with the given W3 address, subject to certain restrictions.
   Hypertext documents are formatted to 72 character width, with links
   numbered. A separate list at the end gives the document-addresses of the
   related documents.
   
   If the document is hypertext, it links will be marked by numbers in
   brackets, and a list of document addresses by number will be appended to the
   message. In this way, you can navigate through the web, albeit only at mail
   speed.
   
   If you don't know where to start, try asking for on of
   

 http://info.cern.ch./hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html
 http://info.cern.ch./hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Physics/HEP.html
 http://info.cern.ch./hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html

   for lists of futher pointers.
   
CAUTIONARY NOTE

   As the robot gives potential mail access to a *vast* amount of information,
   we must emphasise that the service should not be abused. Examples of
   appropriate use would be:
   
      Accessing any information about W3 itself;
      
      Accessing any CERN and/or physics-related or network development related
      information;
      
   Examples of INappropriate use would be:
   
      Attempting to retrieve binaries or .tar files or anything more than
      directory listsings or short ASCCII files from FTP archive sites;
      
      Reading internet newsgroups which your site doesn't take;
      
      Repeated automatic use;
      
   There is currently a 1000 line limit on any returned file. We don't want to
   overload other people's mail relays or our server. We reserve the right to
   withdraw the service at any time. We are currently monitoring all use of the
   server, so your reading will not initially enjoy privacy. End of cautionary
   note.
   
   Enjoy!
   
                                    The W3 team at CERN  (www-bug@info.cern.ch)

                                                      Installing the Mail Robot
                                 INSTALLATION
                                       
   Here are the steps necessary to install the Mail Robot product on your unix
   system.
   
Customisation

   Set up the variables in listserv.h and CommonMakefile to suit your site.
   
  POSTMASTER              The address from which messages appear to come. Why
                         not listserv? Perhaps to prevent mail loops.
                         
  SECUREWWW               The executable W3 line mode browser (v1.3 or later,
                         so as to have the -listrefs option). This is a
                         separate product. For security, www should be writable
                         only by root.
                         
  SERVERDIR               The directory in which you want to put your mailing
                         lists and help about them.
                         
Compile the programs

   Everything compiled on AEM's MicroVax II running ULTRIX 3.0 then TBL's NeXT
   without any problem at all. Your results may vary.
   
Create your SERVDIR

   wherever you specified in listserv.h. Install a HELP file, perhaps using the
   example-files/HELP in this directory as a template.
   
Set up an alias "listserv"

   Make an alias in your /etc/aliases (or /etc/sendmail/aliases, whatever you
   have) that points to this program, for example:
   

                listserv:       "|/usr/local/mail/listserv"
                robot:          "|/usr/local/mail/listserv"


For each mailing list

   Create a name.info file giving a bit of information about that mailing list.
   see the *.info files in the example-files subdirectory.
   
   Create a name file in the same directory, consisting of email addresses one
   to a line of subscribers to a group. If it is for a brand-new group, create
   an empty file. Remember that this file must be writable by the mail daemon.
   The name of the file is just the name of the group.
   
   Depending on how you have your mailing lists set up, you may need to add an
   alias to the /etc/aliases file for each of the mailing lists. For example:
   
        real-recipes: :include:/usr/local/mail/maillists/recipes

   So sending mail to real-recipes actually goes to each of the subscribers
   listed in /usr/local/mail/maillists/recipes
   
Install listserv

   Install in the appropriate directory.  Edit the CommonMakefile and then
   
                make install
                                              Installing the Mail Robot (79/79)
                         separate product. For security, www should be writable
                         only by root.
                         
  SERVERDIR               The directory in which you want to put your mailing
                         lists and help about them.
                         
Compile the programs

   Everything compiled on AEM's MicroVax II running ULTRIX 3.0 then TBL's NeXT
   without any problem at all. Your results may vary.
   
Create your SERVDIR

   wherever you specified in listserv.h. Install a HELP file, perhaps using the
   example-files/HELP in this directory as a template.
   
Set up an alias "listserv"

   Make an alias in your /etc/aliases (or /etc/sendmail/aliases, whatever you
   have) that points to this program, for example:
   

                listserv:       "|/usr/local/mail/listserv"
                robot:          "|/usr/local/mail/listserv"


For each mailing list

   Create a name.info file giving a bit of information about that mailing list.
   see the *.info files in the example-files subdirectory.
   
   Create a name file in the same directory, consisting of email addresses one
   to a line of subscribers to a group. If it is for a brand-new group, create
   an empty file. Remember that this file must be writable by the mail daemon.
   The name of the file is just the name of the group.
   
   Depending on how you have your mailing lists set up, you may need to add an
   alias to the /etc/aliases file for each of the mailing lists. For example:
   
        real-recipes: :include:/usr/local/mail/maillists/recipes

   So sending mail to real-recipes actually goes to each of the subscribers
   listed in /usr/local/mail/maillists/recipes
   
Install listserv

   Install in the appropriate directory.  Edit the CommonMakefile and then
   
                make install

Run newaliases

   This gets sendmail to read the changes in /etc/aliases.
   
                newaliases

Try it out

   Send mail to listserv with body
   

                HELP

   for example.

                                                             Bugs in Mail Robot
                                     BUGS
                                       
   This is a list of bugs in or improvements desired in the Mail Robot. See
   also the list of bug fixes.
   
   This list seems currently to be empty. (This may be a bug)

                    /Net/dxcern/userd/tbl/hypertext/WWW/MailRobot/Features.html
                                CHANGE HISTORY
                                       
   Changes to the Mail Robot, in reverse chronological order:
   
October 1992

   TBL added information retrieval possibility using WWW. Release as an
   unsupported W3 product to those who ask for it.
   
1991

   TBL rewrote str.c (used to overwrite its arguments).
   
AEM

   A. E. Mossberg, aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu made a couple minor changes, to make
   it slightly less UCSD-specific. He also added a README, and example files in
   the subdirectory example-files.
   
Origin

   Note this is NOT the bitnet LISTSERV program. The term "mail robot" is yused
   to attempt to prevent confusion between these two products, which have
   different functionality although they do basically the same sort of thing.
   
   This was the UCSD listserv program, which AEM retrieved from ucsd.edu by
   anonymous ftp, TBL retrieved from ftp.eff.org  As retrieved, from
   file://ftp.eff.org/pub/listserv2.shar, it consisted of the following files:
   
    README
    Makefile
    commands.c
    listserv.h
    main.c
    str.c
    subscribe.c



