# Shorewall Mailing Lists

Tom Eastep
Copyright © 2001-2005 Thomas M. Eastep

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

2005-03-05

## See the Shorewall Website for Shorewall information and documentation.

## Table of Contents

- Mailing list Moderation
- Guidelines

- Please post in plain text

- Please don't hijack another poster's thread

- Search the List Archives
- Shorewall CA Certificate
- The Mailing Lists

- Shorewall Users
- Shorewall Announcements
- Shorewall Development
- Shorewall Newbies (Closed)

- Unsubscribing
- Spam Filters at Shorewall.net
- Reporting Mailing List Problems
- Acknowlegements

## Mailing Lists are closed to Non-Member Posts

For several years, the Shorewall lists were moderated for non-member posts. I've found that this is a pain for me (I have to wade through the spam to find and approve legitimate posts). Additionally, non-members seemed to almost universally ignore instructions to mention that they were non-members in their post. Since the mailing lists are set up so that replies go to the list rather than to the poster, this means that most non-members who posted were not receiving their replies. So effective 2005-03-05, all Shorewall lists are closed to non-member posts.
- Tom Eastep

## Please post in plain text

A growing number of MTAs serving list subscribers are rejecting all HTML traffic. At least one MTA has gone so far as to blacklist shorewall.net "for continuous abuse" because it has been my policy to allow HTML in list posts!!
I think that blocking all HTML is a Draconian way to control spam and that the ultimate losers here are not the spammers but the list subscribers whose MTAs are bouncing all shorewall.net mail. As one list subscriber wrote to me privately "These e-mail admin's need to get a (expletive deleted) life instead of trying to rid the planet of HTML based e-mail". Nevertheless, to allow subscribers to receive list posts as must as possible, I have now configured the list server at shorewall.net to strip all HTML from outgoing posts. This means that HTML-only posts will be bounced by the list server.

Note: The list server limits posts to 120kb.

## Please don't hijack another poster's thread

On shorewall.net as elsewhere, it is considered very bad netiquette to hijack another poster's thread by simply replying to a list post and changing the subject to a different one. Please start a new thread when you wish to introduce a new topic for discussion.

## Mailing Lists Archive Search

## Please do not try to download the entire HTML Archive -- it is 300MB (and growing daily) and my slow DSL line simply won't stand the traffic. If I catch you, you will be blacklisted.

## Shorewall CA Certificate

If you want to trust X.509 certificates issued by Shoreline Firewall (such as the one used on my web site), you may download and install my CA certificate in your browser. If you don't wish to trust my certificates then you can either use unencrypted access when subscribing to Shorewall mailing lists or you can use secure access (SSL) and accept the server's certificate when prompted by your browser.

## Shorewall Users Mailing List

The Shorewall Users Mailing list provides a way for users to get answers to questions and to report problems. Information of general interest to the Shorewall user community is also posted to this list.

Problem reports that do not include the information requested in the problem reporting guidelines will go unanswered (at least by the Shorewall author).

To subscribe: https//lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-users

To post to the list, post to shorewall-users@lists.shorewall.net. IMPORTANT: If you are not subscribed to the list, please say so -- otherwise, you will not be included in any replies.

The list archives are at http://lists.shorewall.net/pipermail/shorewall-users.

Note that prior to 1/1/2002, the mailing list was hosted at Sourceforge. The archives from that list may be found at www.geocrawler.com/lists/3/Sourceforge/9327/0/.

## Shorewall Announce Mailing List

This list is for announcements of general interest to the Shorewall community. DO NOT USE THIS LIST FOR REPORTING PROBLEMS OR ASKING FOR HELP.

To subscribe: https://lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-announce.

The list archives are at http://lists.shorewall.net/pipermail/shorewall-announce.

## Shorewall Development Mailing List

The Shorewall Development Mailing list provides a forum for the exchange of ideas about the future of Shorewall and for coordinating ongoing Shorewall Development. ONLY USE THIS LIST FOR REPORTING PROBLEMS WITH DEVELOPMENT RELEASES -- REGULAR RELEASE SUPPORT REQUESTS SHOULD BE POSTED TO THE USER'S LIST.

To subscribe to the mailing list: https//lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-devel.

To post to the list, post to shorewall-devel@lists.shorewall.net.

The list archives are at http://lists.shorewall.net/pipermail/shorewall-devel.

## Shorewall Newbies Mailing List (Closed)

This list previously provided a place where people who are new to Shorewall could get questions answered and could receive help with problems. It proved to be less that a success and has been discontinued.

To unsubscribe: https//lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-newbies

The list archives are at http://lists.shorewall.net/pipermail/shorewall-newbies.

## How to Unsubscribe from one of the Mailing Lists

There seems to be near-universal confusion about unsubscribing from Mailman-managed lists although Mailman 2.1 has attempted to make this less confusing. To unsubscribe:

- Follow the same link above that you used to subscribe to the list.

- Down at the bottom of that page is the following text: " To unsubscribe from <list name>, get a password reminder, or change your subscription options enter your subscription email address:". Enter your email address in the box and click on the "Unsubscribe or edit options" button.

- There will now be a box where you can enter your password and click on "Unsubscribe"; if you have forgotten your password, there is another button that will cause your password to be emailed to you.

## A Word about the SPAM Filters at Shorewall.net

Please note that the mail server at shorewall.net checks incoming mail:

1. against Spamassassin (including Vipul's Razor).
2. to ensure that the sender address is fully qualified.
3. to verify that the sender's domain has an A or MX record in DNS.
4. to ensure that the host name in the HELO/EHLO command is a valid fully-qualified DNS name.
5. to ensure that the sending host has a PTR DNS record (reverse DNS lookup must not fail).

## If you experience problems with any of these lists, please let me know

## Not able to Post Mail to shorewall.net?

You can report such problems by sending mail to tmeastep at hotmail dot com.

## Acknowlegments

The Shorewall Mailing Lists use the following software:

- ClamAV
- GNU Mailman
- Vipul's Razor
- SpamAssassin
- Postfix
- Amavisd-new

## Frustrated by having to Rebuild Mailman to use it with Postfix?

Check out these instructions