RFC 1429 (rfc1429) - Page 3 of 8
Listserv Distribute Protocol
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1429 Listserv Distribute Protocol February 1993
Finally, make sure that the "Master nodes file" is not older
than 2 months: there are a handful of sites which never update
their tables due to staffing problems. They cannot be prevented
from running LISTSERV, but you will certainly want to avoid them.
c. How big is your workload? If you are planning to use the service
for more than 10,000 daily recipients, you should get permission
from the LISTSERV administrator, both as a matter of courtesy and
to hear about any restrictions or regularly scheduled downtime they
might have. For instance, some universities might not allow large
distributions during prime time, or they may have several
DISTRIBUTE machines and will want to make sure you use the "right"
one. Send mail to "owner-listserv" at the host in question and
give an estimate of the amount of daily messages and recipients you
would like to submit. If your message bounces back with "No such
local user" or the like, it means the server did not pass the above
test (b) and you don't want to use it anyway.
An index of sites/hosts which have the required configuration, good
connectivity, keep their tables up to date and have generally agreed
to provide this service to anyone in their topological area will be
published separately in the future.
2. Physical delivery of the DISTRIBUTE request
The distribution request is delivered via SMTP to the e-mail address
obtained in step 1 (for instance, ). In fact,
as long as you can somehow get mail to the server's host, you can use
the service; SMTP is just the most convenient way of doing so.
2.1. Contents of MAIL FROM: field
You should set the MAIL FROM: field to the address of the person who
maintains your mailing list or, generally speaking, to the address of
a human being who can take action in case the message fails to reach
the DISTRIBUTE server's host. This is a very rare occurrence.
2.2. Contents of RCPT TO: field
The RCPT TO: field points to the server's address (for instance,
).
2.3. Contents of the RFC 822 header
After the DATA instruction, you must supply a valid RFC 822 header
with a "From:" field pointing to the mailbox that should receive
notification of delivery problems, bounced mail, and so on. This can
be the same as the MAIL FROM: field, an address of the type "owner-
Thomas