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Majordomo is a mailing list manager written in Perl by Brent Chapman. Chances are, anyone who has ever subscribed to an Internet mailing list has likely used Majordomo to do it. List configuration, subscription management, identifying the purpose of a list or who is on it, or even finding what lists are available are all functions easily provided by commands sent in e-mail to a Majordomo server address.
But as popular as Majordomo is, the mail-based command
structure can be a difficult concept for novices to grasp. In addition,
there are numerous other opportunities for users to encounter difficulties:
being subscribed under multiple addresses, the word-wrapping behavior of
some mailers, and even the "delayed gratification" nature of the mail-based
interface can often confuse users. And if end-user functions such as
"subscribe
" and "unsubscribe
" are confusing,
imagine the novice list administrator staring at a 300+ line
configuration file that was requested (and must be returned) via
Majordomo mail commands!
By its very nature, Majordomo has always lacked a GUI tool to help simplify its usage for inexperienced users. However, with the World Wide Web providing the perfect foundation, it may be an appropriate time for just such an application.
MajorCool, written in Perl, is a Web interface for Majordomo mailing list configuration and subscriber management. Unlike many Web-to-mailing-list interfaces currently available, MajorCool is uniquely different:
Far be it for MajorCool to claim a monopoly -- there are a number of other CGI applications available that are designed for the end-user and/or list-administrator ( MailServ, LWGate, Gutierrez', Marcos', Pandora, Maitre-d, Regan's ). I encourage you to use the tool which best meets your needs.
MajorCool is not a tool to access remotely hosted mailing lists. Nor is it primarily designed to provide a one-button subscribe action for an individual mailing list (although that functionality is supported). Other more generic interfaces such as MailServ and LWGate do this much more efficiently than MajorCool ever could. MajorCool's distinctiveness lies in its support of administrative functions, and a key feature is its site-oriented method of providing access to all lists on a server.
MajorCool is not 100% secure. Remember: "security is inversely proportional to convenience", and MajorCool is first and foremost meant to make things easy for the list subscriber or administrator. Its unsecure nature stems from a lack of "authentication" in the subscribe/unsubscribe functionality -- there is no guarantee that the user entered a valid or "true" address. [NOTE: only the end-user functions should be considered unsafe; the list admin features are secure, and since the two can be accessed separately, you can choose to not provide the end-user support.]
MajorCool is a site management tool. It offers a complete view of all lists available on a server, allowing users to browse and subscribe as permissions allow.
MajorCool is an excellent intranet application. Its
use of siteaddr
modules allow users within a specific
environment to be identified by multiple addresses. This address
mapping capability is less applicable for general Internet purposes
due to the diversity of e-mail addresses (but if you have a database
available, it can be done).
MajorCool is currently enjoying heavy use at the Southern California campuses of NCR Corp, presently serving close to 2000 local users, countless remote subscribers, and over 500 active lists. It has proven to be a most valuable service, and much preferred by users over the standard Majordomo e-mail interface.
Many would-be implementors ask if they could see MajorCool in operation before they elect to install it. Alas, the aforementioned NCR site is behind the company firewall. You might want to look at these sites instead: