Translation(s): English - Italiano
debian.org/MailingLists - Official information about mailing lists
See first the official information.
Contents
Introduction
There are over one hundred mailing lists, each focused on a specific topic.
Find a list in lists.debian.org.
A click on a list name yields this information.
- A description of the subject.
- An index to archived messages.
- An interface for subscribing and for canceling subscription.
- Statistics concerning activity.
A list can be read via these mechanisms.
- Email when subscribed to the list.
A Web browser viewing the archives, which are public. Open http://lists.debian.org/<listname>/. Subscription is not necessary.
- Usenet with Network News (Transfer|Transport) Protocol, NNTP.
The mail-to-news gateways linux.debian.*. Install a news reader and subscribe to the linux-gate admin.
Each list has two addresses.
<listname>@lists.debian.org to which a list message can be sent.
<listname>-REQUEST@lists.debian.org to which an administrative request can be sent. Subscription and unsubscription requests are examples. More information is available in the Debian support page on debian.org.
Email Clients, Mail User Agents, MUA
Recommended
Disrecommended
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 up to 300--yes, three hundred--mails per day.
Other lists are dedicated to other natural languages and to specific subjects.
Posting a good question
The answer to a question might already be available. Check these areas before posting.
Debian Mailing Lists archive. Instructions for searching are in the SearchHowto.
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.
- Help is provided voluntarily. However dissatisfied a questioner is with an answer, anger or rudeness is inappropriate.
- Formats other than plain text should be avoided. Do not submit HTML, h4x0r or sp34k.
- Do not submit an attachment larger than 10 KiB.
- Do not flame or troll.
Respond in ?PostFix (aka ?AntiJeopardy) format. Answer follows question,
- Aim for standard grammar and spelling.
- Set linewrap to 65-78 characters. 72 is a popular setting.
Flow quoted text if possible. "qv}" in vim.
Use standard and conventional abbreviations in the Subject field.
Use the standard prefix characters '> ' or '>'. Other notations can interfere with quoting or wrapping.
- Attribute quotes accurately.
Use a concise and descriptive subject line. When the sender has no clue where the problem is hidden extra care should be taken in choosing the subject. A subject such as "help" is non-specific and likely to be ignored. Avoid redundant information as in "I need help setting up X with Debian GNU/Linux". That help is needed and that this is a Debian issue is already known. ?MicroContent is maximized with the concise, descriptive "setting up X 4.1 with Matrox G550".
- Debian lists are for discussion of Debian issues. Discussion of other distributions, or other operating systems, unless related to a Debian issue, are inappropriate.
- For the benefit of others, keep a discussion on the list. Avoid making it a private conversation with the author.
- Use the 'reply' function of your mail-program. That should include a reference to the original message so that the connection of reply and question are evident.
- Trim Cc:'s. Many or most list members do not want two copies of a message.
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 reply messages are displayed. This allows 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 message 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 parent 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 in the archive correctly. For example an email client might use only the antecedent Message-id as the value for References. Otherwise an old message can be read from the archive with a browser and a reply can be created with an email client. No email client can extract the Message-id field from the html version of a message archived under http://lists.debian.org/. In this situation, unless the user deliberately inserts values for In-reply-to and References a new thread is created. Some email clients allow the user to construct these fields. Mutt for example has the -H option. The required In-reply-to, References and Subject fields and the message body are placed in a file, named "Draft" for example. "mutt -H Draft" will create the reply with thread connectivity.
See Also
DebianResources if you want to find information about Debian