>Well unless you are looking to do this the hard way, the documented way to >accomplish this is > > GET listname (HEAD NOLOCK > >Which will return the Header with the list in a 'unlocked' state. I know this command and I use it quite often, but this is not the problem. From my point of view, the problem is the unpredictable behavior of our LISTSERV when a sequence of GET listname (HEADER UNLOCK listname is sent by one of our list owners. At least one list owner has done this and got puzzled by the result. Siegfried