I can't believe that it would be that hard to write a shell script under Unix that would emulate the ( strictly finite ) number of operations that LISTSERV supports, applying the documented syntax in search of the docu- -mented set of possible commands and generating LISTSERV-like messages on those occasions when the command violates the constraints of the syntax. Set up a mail address, which, in Unix, would evaluate to an entry in the aliases database, possibly a password entry to allow account management, and a file for mail to accumulate in. Write the script to read the file once every so often, read each message, act appropriately, zero the file and split. Add some mechanisms to keep the script from zeroing the file when it's being accessed by the mail delivery agent. You're done. Once the script works, turn it into a *simple* C program. Runs faster, less likely to crash. If there is an Internet group meeting on the topic of LISTSERV, I would predict that they are meeting to agree on a common command syntax so that all LISTSERVs behave identically, much as FTP and telnet behave identically under diverse operating systems. The actual implimentation of a LISTSERV is trivial, IMHO. -- richard ===== -- richard childers [log in to unmask] 1 415 506 2411 oracle data center -- unix systems & network administration Klein flask for rent. Inquire within.