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Subsections


8. Customizing Sympa/WWSympa


8.1 Template file format

Template files within Sympa and WWSympa are text files containing programming elements (variables, conditions, loops, file inclusions) that will be parsed in order to adapt to the runtime context. These templates are an extension of programs and therefore give access to a limited list of variables (those defined in the 'hash' parameter given to the parser).

Review the Site template files (8.2, page [*]) and List template files (9.8, page [*]).

The following describes the syntactical elements of templates.

8.1.1 Variables

Variables are enclosed between brackets '[]'. The variable name is composed of alphanumerics (0-1a-zA-Z) or underscores (_). The syntax for accessing an element in a 'hash' is [hash-$>$elt].

Examples:

[url]
[is_owner]
[list->name]
[user->lang]

For each template you wish to customize, check the available variables in the documentation.

8.1.2 Conditions

Conditions include variable comparisons (= and <>), or existence. Syntactical elements for conditions are [IF xxx], [ELSE], [ELSIF xxx] and [ENDIF].

Examples:

[IF  user->lang=fr]
Bienvenue dans la liste [list->name]
[ELSIF user->lang=es]
Bienvenida en la lista [list->name]
[ELSE]
Welcome in list [list->name]
[ENDIF]

[IF is_owner]
The following commands are available only 
for lists owners or moderators:
....
[ENDIF]

8.1.3 Loops

Loops make it possible to traverse a list of elements (internally represented by a 'hash' or an 'array').

Example :

A review of public lists

[FOREACH l IN lists]
   [l->NAME] 
   [l->subject]
[END]

[elt-$>$NAME] is a special element of the current entry providing the key in the 'hash' (in this example the name of the list). When traversing an 'array', [elt-$>$INDEX] is the index of the current entry.

8.1.4 File inclusions

You can include another file within a template . The specified file can be included as is, or itself parsed (there is no loop detection). The file path is either specified in the directive or accessed in a variable.

Inclusion of a text file :

[INCLUDE 'archives/last_message']
[INCLUDE file_path]

The first example includes a file whose relative path is archives/last_message. The second example includes a file whose path is in file_path variable.

Inclusion and parsing of a template file :

[PARSE 'welcome.tpl']
[PARSE file_path]

The first example includes the template file welcome.tpl. The second example includes a template file whose path is in file_path variable.

8.1.5 Stop parsing

You may need to exclude certain lines in a template from the parsing process. You can perform this by stopping and restarting the parsing.

Escaping sensitive JavaScript functions :

<HEAD>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!-- for other browsers
  function toggle_selection(myfield) {
    for (i = 0; i < myfield.length; i++) {
    [STOPPARSE]
       if (myfield[i].checked) {
            myfield[i].checked = false;
       }else {
	    myfield[i].checked = true;
       }
    [STARTPARSE]
    }
  }
// end browsers -->
</SCRIPT>
</HEAD>


8.2 Site template files

These files are used by Sympa as service messages for the HELP, LISTS and REMIND * commands. These files are interpreted (parsed) by Sympa and respect the template format ; every file has a .tpl extension. See 8.1, page [*].

Sympa looks for these files in the following order (where $<$list$>$ is the listname if defined, $<$action$>$ is the name of the command, and $<$lang$>$ is the preferred language of the user) :

  1. ~sympa/expl/$<$list$>$/$<$action$>$.$<$lang$>$.tpl.
  2. ~sympa/expl/$<$list$>$/$<$action$>$.tpl.
  3. ~sympa/etc/templates/$<$action$>$.$<$lang$>$.tpl.
  4. ~sympa/etc/templates/$<$action$>$.tpl.
  5. ~sympa/bin/etc/templates/$<$action$>$.$<$lang$>$.tpl.
  6. ~sympa/bin/etc/templates/$<$action$>$.tpl.

If the file starts with a From: line, it is considered as a full message and will be sent (after parsing) without adding SMTP headers. Otherwise the file is treated as a text/plain message body.

The following variables may be used in these template files :

-
[conf-$>$email] : sympa e-mail address local part

-
[conf-$>$host] : sympa host name

-
[conf-$>$sympa] : sympa's complete e-mail address

-
[conf-$>$wwsympa_url] : WWSympa root URL

-
[conf-$>$listmaster] : listmaster e-mail addresses

-
[user-$>$email] : user e-mail address

-
[user-$>$gecos] : user gecos field (usually his/her name)

-
[user-$>$password] : user password

-
[user-$>$lang] : user language

8.2.1 helpfile.tpl

This file is sent in response to a HELP command. You may use additional variables

-
[is_owner] : TRUE if the user is list owner

-
[is_editor] : TRUE if the user is list editor

8.2.2 lists.tpl

File returned by LISTS command. An additional variable is available :

-
[lists] : this is a hash table indexed by list names and containing lists' subjects. Only lists visible to this user (according to the visibility list parameter) are listed.

Example:

These are the public lists for [conf->email]@[conf->host]

[FOREACH l IN lists]
	
 [l->NAME]: [l->subject]

[END]

8.2.3 global_remind.tpl

This file is sent in response to a REMIND * command. (see 15.2, page [*]) You may use additional variables

-
[lists] : this is an array containing the list names the user is subscribed to.

Example:

This is a subscription reminder.

You are subscribed to the following lists :
[FOREACH l IN lists
	
 [l] : [conf->wwsympa\_url]/info/[l]

[END]

Your subscriber e-mail : [user->email]
Your password : [user->password]

8.2.4 your_infected_msg.tpl

This message is sent to warn the sender of a virus infected mail, indicating the name of the virus found (see 14, page [*]).


8.3 Web template files

You may define your own web template files, different from the standard ones. WWSympa first looks for list specific web templates, then for site web templates, before falling back on its defaults.

Your list web template files should be placed in the ~sympa/expl/mylist/wws_templates directory ; your site web templates in ~sympa/expl/wws_templates directory.


8.4 Internationalization

Sympa was originally designed as a multilingual Mailing List Manager. Even in its earliest versions, Sympa separated messages from the code itself, messages being stored in NLS catalogues (according to the XPG4 standard). Later a lang list parameter was introduced. Nowadays Sympa is able to keep track of individual users' language preferences.

8.4.1 Sympa internationalization

Every message sent by Sympa to users, owners and editors is outside the code, in a message catalog. These catalogs are located in the ~sympa/nls/ directory. Messages have currently been translated into 6 different languages :

To tell Sympa to use a particular message catalog, you can either set the lang parameter in sympa.conf, or set the sympa.pl -l option on the command line.

8.4.2 List internationalization

The lang list parameter defines the language for a list. It is currently used by WWSympa and to initialize users' language preferences at subscription time.

In future versions, all messages returned by Sympa concerning a list should be in the list's language.

8.4.3 User internationalization

The user language preference is currently used by WWSympa only. There is no e-mail-based command for a user to set his/her language. The language preference is initialized when the user subscribes to his/her first list. WWSympa allows the user to change it.


8.5 Topics

WWSympa's homepage shows a list of topics for classifying mailing lists. This is dynamically generated using the different lists' topics configuration parameters. A list may appear in multiple categories.

The list of topics is defined in the topics.conf configuration file, located in the ~sympa/etc directory. The format of this file is as follows :

<topic1_name>
title	<topic1 title>
visibility <topic1 visibility>
....
<topicn_name/subtopic_name>
title	<topicn title>

You will notice that subtopics can be used, the separator being /. The topic name is composed of alphanumerics (0-1a-zA-Z) or underscores (_). The order in which the topics are listed is respected in WWSympa's homepage. The visibility line defines who can view the topic (now available for subtopics). It refers to the associated topics_visibility scenario. You will find a sample topics.conf in the sample directory ; NONE is installed as the default.

A default topic is hard-coded in Sympa: default. This default topic contains all lists for which a topic has not been specified.


8.6 Scenarii

List parameters controlling the behavior of commands are linked to different scenarii. For example : the send private parameter is related to the send.private scenario. There are three possible locations for a scenario. When Sympa seeks to apply a scenario, it looks first in the related list directory ~sympa/expl/$<$list$>$/scenari. If it does not find the file there, it scans ~sympa/etc/scenari, and finally ~sympa/bin/etc/scenari, which is the directory installed by the Makefile.

A scenario is a small configuration language to describe who can perform an operation and which authentication method is requested for it. A scenario is an ordered set of rules. The goal is to provide a simple and flexible way to configure authorization and authentication for each operation.

Each scenario rule contains :

Example

del.auth
title.us deletion performed only by list owners, need authentication
title.fr suppression réservée au propriétaire avec authentification
title.es eliminación reservada sólo para el propietario, necesita autentificación


  is_owner([listname],[sender])  smtp       -> request_auth
  is_listmaster([sender])        smtp       -> request_auth
  true()                         md5,smime  -> do_it

Scenarii can also contain includes :

    subscribe
        include commonreject
        match([sender], /cru\.fr$/)          smtp,smime -> do_it
	true()                               smtp,smime -> owner

In this case sympa applies recursively the scenario named include.commonreject before introducing the other rules. This possibility was introduced in order to facilitate the administration of common rules.

A bunch of scenarii is provided with the Sympa distribution ; they provide all possible configurations as defined in previous releases of Sympa ($<$= 2.3) without any change in your list configuration files.

These standard scenarii are located in the ~sympa/bin/scenari/ directory. Default scenarii are named <command>.default.

You may also define and name your own scenarii. Store them in the ~sympa/etc/scenari directory. Example:

Copy the previous scenario to scenari/subscribe.rennes1 :

equal([sender], 'userxxx@univ-rennes1.fr') smtp,smime -> reject
match([sender], /univ-rennes1\.fr$/) smtp,smime -> do_it
true()                               smtp,smime -> owner

You may now refer to this scenario in any list configuration file, for example :

subscribe rennes1

A scenario consists of rules, evaluated in order beginning with the first. Rules are defined as follows :

<rule> ::= <condition> <auth\_list> -> <action>

<condition> ::= [!] <condition
		| true ()
                | equal (<var>, <var>)
                | match (<var>, /perl_regexp/)
                | is_subscriber (<listname>, <var>)
                | is_owner (<listname>, <var>)
                | is_editor (<listname>, <var>)
                | is_listmaster (<var>)
<var> ::= [email] | [sender] | [list-><list\_key\_word>] | [conf-><conf\_key\_word>] | [header-><smtp\_key\_word>] |  <string>

<listname> ::= [listname] | <listname_string>

<auth\_list> ::= <auth>,<auth\_list> | <auth>

<auth> ::= smtp|md5|smime

<action> ::=   do_it [,notify]
             | do_it [,quiet]
             | reject
             | request_auth
             | owner

<list\_key\_word> ::= name | host | lang | max\_size | priority | reply\_to | 
		      status | subject | account | 

<conf\_key\_word> ::= host | email | listmaster | default\_list\_priority | 
		      sympa\_priority | request\_priority | lang | max\_size

perl_regexp can contain the string [host] (interpreted at run time as the list or robot domain). The variable notation [header-$>$<smtp_key_word>] is interpreted as the SMTP header value only when performing the sending message scenario. It can be used, for example, to require editor validation for multipart messages.


8.7 Loop detection

Sympa uses multiple tools to avoid loops in Mailing lists

First, it rejects messages coming from a robot (as indicated by the From: and other header fields), and messages containing commands.

Secondly, every message sent by Sympa includes an X-Loop header field set to the listname. If the message comes back, Sympa will detect that it has already been sent (unless X-Loop header fields have been erased).

Thirdly, Sympa keeps track of Message IDs and will refuse to send multiple messages with the same message ID to the same mailing list.

Finally, Sympa detect loops arising from command reports (i.e. sympa-generated replies to commands). This sort of loop might occur as follows:

1 - X sends a command to Sympa
2 - Sympa sends a command report to X
3 - X has installed a home-made vacation program replying to programs
4 - Sympa processes the reply and sends a report
5 - Looping to step 3

Sympa keeps track (via an internal counter) of reports sent to any particular address. The loop detection algorithm is :


next up previous contents index
Next: 9. Mailing list definition Up: Sympa Mailing Lists Management Software Previous: 7. Sympa with S/MIME and HTTPS   Contents   Index
root 2001-06-05