• EmailListsOverview

Current CAcert Email lists

CAcert maintains several email lists. The lists that are visible you are free to subscribe to. Please visit the overview of all lists and our list website to subscribe to any list.

CAcert can use client side certificates to authenticate to the email list.

The tool used for CAcert email lists is Sympa. There is a manual for users using sympa email lists.

List of email lists

The current email lists (@lists.cacert.org) is here.

New email lists

Proposals for initiation of an email list should be addressed to lists-admin@cacert.org.

Guide for Users

All lists that are visible you are allowed to subscribe to. If you have difficulties please email your list owner who will assist you in the resolution of any issues.

Policy Decisions for List Owners

List owners are the ones in charge of the operation of email lists. To achieve some consistency amongst lists the following configuration items should not be changed.

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/description

• visibility - set to noconceal unless you have explicit board approval to run a private list.

• owners - from the community, in most cases the requestor of a new list
• moderators/editors - permission from owners sufficient - not normally needed as lists are generally open.
• topics - covers the most appropriate areas that the list relates to - email list administrator if improvements to this list can be made.
• host - lists.cacert.org - always!
• language - local lists can be set to the appropriate language. Let the email list admin if you language isn't covered. English is the default otherwise.

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/sending

• send - who can send emails - public lists should be public, public_nobcc, privateorpublickey or publickey (in increasing order of spam protection and decreasing order of openness.

• default_user_options - should be mail and noconceal.

• reply_to_header - should be be list and forced

• anonymous_sender - should be blank
• custom_header - should be blank - DKIM compatibility
• rfc2369_header_fields - TODO - remove subscribe or make -subscribe work? currently only registration via web allowed.

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/command privileges

• info - open

• subscribe - open lists - open_notify

• shared_doc - can be used at list owner's discretion

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/archives archives

• web_achive - public generally or private

• archive_crypted_msg - for private lists with PKI this should be decrypted so new members can access historical stuff.

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/bounces

• all defaults

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/data_source

• special uses only

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/edit_list_request/{list}/other

• spam_protection - javascript - otherwise the contact owners link is broken

https://lists.cacert.org/wws/editfile/list-owners

• messageheader / messagefooter - blank for DKIM friendliness

FAQ

• trouble with certificate login? https://lists.cacert.org/nocert/ for password authentication only or https://lists.cacert.org/requirecert need certificate authentication (e.g. Safari users).

• where are [listname] subject headers? removed to be more DKIM friendly
• How do I filter on list identifier without the list name in the subject? The List-ID email header is the perfect way - the header will contain {listname}.lists.cacert.org

  Please Note: The listname includes the cacert- prefix commonly used for our mailing lists

  • To setup filters in Thunderbird:

    1. Tools (German: Extras) -> Filter...

    2. New... (or Edit... to edit an existing filter)

    3. Open the drop down box containing "Subject" etc. and select Customise... (German: Anpassen...)

    4. Fill in List-Id into the text box and click Add and OK

    5. Select List-Id from the left drop down box

    6. From the drop down box containing "contains" select "is"

    7. Insert <LISTNAME.lists.cacert.org> into the text field (with <> and without quotes).

    8. Select the action that should be taken if the rule matches in the area below (e.g. move it into a folder called "LISTNAME")

    9. Click OK

  • To setup filters as a sieve script (server side filtering, available for example on the CAcert mail servers) you can use the following code snippet (replace LISTNAME with the name of the list you want to filter and FOLDERNAME with the name of the folder you want to move the mails into):

    • # This line is only needed once in a sieve script
      require "fileinto";
      
      if header :is "List-Id" "<LISTNAME.lists.cacert.org>" {
        fileinto "INBOX.FOLDERNAME";
        stop;
      }

    This will put all mails from the list into a subfolder of your inbox named FOLDERNAME. If the folder doesn't exist yet it will be created once an email arrives which matches the criteria but you may need to subscribe to this folder in your mail client (Thunderbird: Right click on the inbox -> Subscribe…, check the box of the folder, click OK)

• where are are email list footers? removed be more DKIM friendly.

• what are the confirm messages for? to combat spam - previously posts from non-subscribers were moderated by staff, however by you confirming the email was sent meets the list's antispam requirement. If you don't want these confirmation messages join the list as a subscriber and if you don't want to receive email set your subscription options to nomail.

• Why did CAcert move from Mailman to Sympa?

  • We moved for a number of reasons including:
  • We could support multiple moderators on lists (though the sender confirmation has made this unnecessary for a while).
  • The ability to manage lists by multiple people.
  • Users have a single password for all CAcert lists rather than several.
  • Users (and admins) can use client side certificates to authenticate to the website.
  • The list software supports an archive that is able to be searched.

• What is this DKIM friendliness you speak of? DKIM is a signing and authentication protocol for validating the emails. It works by digitally signing and validating emails. Email list software typically causes difficulty by changing the subject and body of the emails and breaking the digital signature. Since DKIM's goals are so similar to that of CAcert we are putting in an effort to ensure and prove DKIM and list software can co-exist happily.

• Where do I get systems administration info on the setup? SystemAdministration/Systems/Lists

• CategorySystems

• CategoryCommunication