I was already working on this response to the message from James Hale
<[log in to unmask]> when I saw and responded to Ben Parker's response.

-- pdr

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It appears that you may be confusing owner privileges (manage the list,
add/delete subscribers) with editor privileges (post to the list).

It is possible to configure a list to allow postings from subscribers on
other lists, however, all lists must be hosted on the same server. The
list configuration might look something like this:

        * Send= Editor,Confirm
        * Editor= (list2),(list3)

where 'list2' and 'list3' are the list names, not the list addresses, of the
lists whose subscribers will be allowed to post. With this configuration, the
list would accept postings from addresses which are subscribed to either list2
or list3, and reject postings from all other addresses, however, before a
posting is distributed to the subscribers of this list, the server would send
a confirmation request to the apparent sender of the message and wait for
a response. This prevents forged postings. Another possibility:

        * Send= Editor,Hold,Confirm
        * Editor= [log in to unmask]
        * Editor= (list2),(list3)

With this configuration, the list would accept postings from [log in to unmask]
and from addresses which are subscribed to either list2 or list3. Postings from
other addresses would be forwarded to [log in to unmask] for approval. As in the
previous example, all messages would be subject to confirmation by the apparent
senders.

The PUT command is used to create a list or replace the list header; it is not
used to add or delete subscribers.

Regarding the auto-updating of course-related lists ... we have processes in
place to auto-create and auto-update course-related lists for all courses
offered on our main campus. We create approximately 4000 lists each semester
and update them nightly to reflect registration changes. This is all done with
virtually no human intervention.

The process which creates the lists uses a template for the list header. Our
template includes an 'owner=' statement that provides owner privileges to the
subscribers on our Help Desk staff list, so they can provide assistance to list
owners with questions and problems. The template could (though it does not)
include an 'editor=' statement to provide posting privileges to subscribers on
a faculty list.

Our LISTSERV service runs on Solaris 2.8. We use a combination of perl and
shell scripts to create list header templates and update jobs based on data
in a file from the student information system, submit PUT jobs for new lists,
submit subscriber update (add/delete) jobs for newly created and existing lists,
and compare existing list headers to list header templates to identify lists
with ownership changes (i.e., courses with instructor changes). The scripts
submit all jobs by email.

If you want to know more about this aspect of our list service, please contact
me directly.

--
Paul Russell
Senior Systems Administrator
OIT Messaging Services Team
University of Notre Dame