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debian.org/MailingLists - Official information about mailing lists

First see the official information.

Introduction

There are over one hundred mailing lists, each focused on a specific topic.

Find a list in lists.debian.org or on other locations.

A click on a list name yields this information:

A list can be read via these mechanisms:

Each list has two addresses:

For users

debian-user is probably the most frequented mailing list for users. Any problem using Debian can be discussed there in English. This list receives a large volume of email per day.

Other lists are dedicated to other human languages and to specific subjects.

Posting Rules, Guidelines, and Tips

The official rules of conduct

The answer to a question might already have been answered. Check these areas before posting:

Most lists are unmoderated and will accept a submission from an address which is not subscribed.

Read first the official code of conduct. These points should be born in mind:

Why all these rules? Busy people spend valuable time monitoring lists and responding to questions. The recommended practices make these activities more efficient and pleasant.

Message Threading and Replying

Typically there is at least one reply to a question in the list. The sequence comprising the original message and the replies is commonly referred to as a thread. The software which manages Debian mailing lists stores every submitted message in an archive. When an archived message is displayed by a Web browser, links to antecedent messages and replies are displayed allowing a thread to be followed through the archive. The mailing list software creates these links by referring to the "Message-ID", "In-Reply-To" and "References" fields in the message header as described in RFC 5322. Typically, when an email client is used to read a message and create a reply, it automatically takes the value from the Message-id field of the antecedent and inserts it as the value of the In-Reply-To field in the reply. Also according to RFC 5322 the client should take the complete value of the References field from the antecedent, append the Message-ID of the antecedent and insert the result as the value for References in the reply.

A thread is easily broken so that links to antecedent messages do not appear correctly in the archive. For example an email client might use only the antecedent Message-ID as the value for References.

When reading messages via the web archives, you can click the "Reply to" mailto links at the bottom of the posts to compose a new email with the correct headers. Most graphical mail clients will support these reply links. For clients that do not support these reply links, some email clients allow the user to construct these fields. mutt, for example, has the -H option. Fields To, In-Reply-To, References and Subject and the message body are placed in a file, named "draft" for example. Then "mutt -H draft" will issue the threaded reply. To illustrate, this is the head of the draft to create a reply to <20200115165147.GB3320@wren.corp>:

Web view of message being replied to:

To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: xdvi refresh
From: ...
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 10:51:47 -0600
Message-id: <[🔎] 20200115165147.GB3320@wren.corp>
Reply-to: debian-user@lists.debian.org
In-reply-to: <[🔎] 20200115070050.GB10975@tuxteam.de>
References: <[🔎] 20200114201617.vbbxu7hest5oozvl@rlharris.org> <[🔎] 20200115070050.GB10975@tuxteam.de>

<message body>

plain text content of draft file:

To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
In-Reply-To: <20200115165147.GB3320@wren.corp>
References: <20200114201617.vbbxu7hest5oozvl@rlharris.org> <20200115070050.GB10975@tuxteam.de> <20200115165147.GB3320@wren.corp>
Subject: Re: how to seamlessly play audio clip

<message body>

Notable points.

PGP-based approvals

Some Debian lists (including debian-devel-announce) only allow posts which are signed by a Debian Developer key to be submitted. This system does not allow unsigned content at the beginning of a PGP/MIME message, which means that messages sent by Thunderbird/Icedove will be blocked (see https://sourceforge.net/p/enigmail/bugs/349/ for more information about this problem).

How to send plain text emails to the list

Alpine/Pine

No configuration necessary.

AIM Mail

To set plain text as default - (before composing)

AOL Mail

See instructions for AIM Mail.

(Apple) Mail

To set plain text as default

To set plain text for a single message - (before hitting Send)

ATmail Webmail

ATmail doesn't support plain text. Please don't use this email client to post to the list.

Claws

No configuration necessary.

Eudora

To set plain text as default

Evolution

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

Gmail

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

FastMail.FM

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

Kmail

Default is plain text. To disable HTML

Mutt

No configuration necessary.

Oberon

No configuration necessary. Maintain a thread by following the instructions above.

Outlook

To set plain text for a single message - (before hitting composing)

Outlook Express

To set plain text as default


To set plain text for a single message - (before hitting Send)

Icedove/Thunderbird

To set plain text as default

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

Pegasus

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

Windows Live Hotmail

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

Windows Mail

See instructions for Outlook Express.

Yahoo! Mail

To set plain text for a single message - (while composing your post)

Yahoo! Classic To set plain text for a single message - (before composing your post)


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