The linuxfromscratch.org server is hosting the following publicly accessible mailing lists:
lfs-discuss
lfs-apps
lfs-announce
lfs-security
alfs-discuss
The lfs-discuss mailing list discusses matters strictly related to the LFS-BOOK. If problems with the book come up, a bug or two need to be reported, or suggestions to improve the book should be made, this mailing list is the right one.
Any other mail is to be posted on the lfs-apps list.
The lfs-apps list deals with everything that does not fit on the lfs-discuss list.
The lfs-announce list is a moderated list. It can be subscribed to, but you can't post any messages to this list. This list is used to announce new stable releases. The lfs-discuss list will carry information about development releases as well. If a user is already on the lfs-discuss list, there's little use subscribing to this list as well because everything that is posted to the lfs-announce list will be posted to the lfs-discuss list as well.
The lfs-security mailing list discusses security-related matters. Security concerns or security problems with a package used by LFS, should be addressed on this list.
The alfs-discuss list discusses the development of ALFS, which stands for Automated Linux From Scratch. The goal of this project is to develop an installation tool that can install an LFS system automatically. It's main goal is to speed up compilation by taking away the need to manually enter the commands to configure, compile, and install packages.
All these lists are archived and can be viewed online at http://archive.linuxfromscratch.org/mail-archives or downloaded from http://download.linuxfromscratch.org/mail-archives or ftp://download.linuxfromscratch.org/mail-archives.
Any of the above-mentioned mailinglists can be subscribed to by sending an email to listar@linuxfromscratch.org and writing subscribe listname as the subject header of the message.
Multiple lists at the same time can be subscribed to by using one email. This is done by leaving the subject blank and putting all the commands in the body of the email. The email will look like:
To: listar@linuxfromscratch.org
Subject:
subscribe lfs-discuss
subscribe lfs-apps
subscribe alfs-discuss
After the email is sent, the Listar program will reply with an email requesting a confirmation of the subscription request. After this confirmation email was sent back, Listar will send an email again with the message that the user has been subscribed to the list(s) along with an introduction message for that particular list.
To unsubscribe from a list, send an email to listar@linuxfromscratch.org and write unsubscribe listname as the subject header of the message.
Multiple lists can be unsubscribed at the same time using one email. This is done by leaving the subject header blank and putting all the commands in the body of the email. The email will look like:
To: listar@linuxfromscratch.org
Subject:
unsubscribe lfs-discuss
unsubscribe lfs-apps
unsubscribe alfs-discuss
After the email was sent, the Listar program will reply with an email requesting a confirmation of the unsubscription request. After this confirmation email is sent back, Listar will send an email again with the message that the user has been unsubscribed from the list(s).
The modes that can be set by a user require to send an email to listar@linuxfromscratch.org. The modes themselves are set by writing the appropriate commands in the subject headers of the message.
As the name implies, the Set command tells what to write to set a mode. The Unset command tells what to write to unset a mode.
The listname in the example subject headers should be replaced with the listname to which the mode is going to be applied to. If more than one mode is to be set (to the same list or multiple lists) with one email, this can be done by leaving the subject header blank and write all the commands in the body of the message instead.
Set command: set listname digest
Unset command: unset listname digest
All lists have the digest mode available which can be set after a user has subscribed to a list. Being in digest mode will cause to stop receiving individual messages as they are posted to the list and instead send one email daily containing all the messages posted to the list during that day.
There is a second digest mode called digest2. When a user is set to this mode he will receive the daily digests but will also continue to receive the individual messages to the lists as they are posted. To set this mode digest2 has to be written instead of digest in the subject header.
Set command: set listname vacation
Unset command: unset listname vacation
If a user is going to be away for a while or wishes to stop receiving messages from the lists but doesn't want to unsubscribe, he can set to vacation mode. This has the same effect as unsubscribing, but without having to go through the unsubscribe process and then later through the subscribe process again.