'\" t
.TH APPROVE 1
.SH NAME
approve \- approve a Majordomo request
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B approve [filename]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.B approve
automates the task of replying to an approval request from Majordomo.  Input
is the e-mail message containing Majordomo's request, read from
.IR filename ,
or read from standard input if no filename is specified.
.PP
.B approve
currently understands two types of requests; those requesting
subscription to a 
.I closed
list, and those which bounced due to a lack of permission to post to a
moderated, or
.IR private ,
mailing list.
.B approve
reads the body of the message from Majordomo to determine the appropriate
action. Assuming a message containing a subscription request like the
following:
.sp 1
.RS 3
From: Majordomo@This.COM
.sp 0
To: this-list-approval@This.COM
.sp 1
Joe User <User@Fubar.COM> requests you approve the following:
.sp 1
.RS 3
subscribe this-list Joe User <User@Fubar.COM>
.RE
.sp 1
If you approve, send a line such as the following to Majordomo@This.COM:
.sp 1
.RS 3
approve PASSWD subscribe this-list Joe User <User@Fubar.COM>
.RE
.RE
.sp 1
then running
.B approve
on the message by saving it in a file, e.g.,
.sp 1
.RS 3
approve /tmp/request
.RE
.sp 1
or
.sp 1
.RS 3
approve < /tmp/request
.RE
.sp 1
will result in the following reply to Majordomo:
.sp 1
.RS 3
To: Majordomo@This.COM
.sp 1
approve PASSWD subscribe this-list User@Fubar.COM (Joe User)
.sp 1
.RE
If
.B approve
is on the user's path, then it's possible to execute it via a shell escape,
piping the current message to
.B approve
from a mail program, e.g.,
.sp
.RS 3
!approve
.RE
.sp
would
.I approve
the current message in /usr/ucb/Mail.
.PP
If, in the latter case, the "Subject:" line of the request from Majordomo is
"BOUNCE <list>: <reason>", the message is treated as a posting rejected by
.B resend
for some reason, and is reformatted with appropriate "Approved:" headers to
cause it to succeed, and then it is resubmitted to Majordomo for posting.
This provides an easy mechanism for the moderator of a mailing list to
approve postings to the list.
.SH CONFIGURATION
.B approve
assumes that the
.I approve
password for each list is the same as the
.I approval
password used by
.BR resend ,
and that this password is stored
in a file called
.I .majordomo
in the user's home directory.  The file has the following format:
.RS 5
.TS
l l l .
.sp
this-list	passwd1	Majordomo@This.COM
other-list	passwd2	Majordomo@Other.GOV
.sp
.TE
.RE
The first column specifies the name of the mailing list, the second column
specifies the list-owner's password for the given list, and the third column
specifies the e-mail address of the associated Majordomo server.  It is
assumed that the value in the third column is an Internet-style
"something@somewhere" address, and that postings for "List" should be sent
to "List@somewhere".  Since this file
.B only
needs to be read by the user, it should be mode 600 to protect the
passwords.
.SH FILES
~/.majordomo
.sp 0
/usr/local/lib/mail/majordomo/
.SH SEE ALSO
majordomo(8),perl(1),resend(1).
.SH BUGS
There is no direct support for MH(1), so MH users will have to run
.B approve
directly on the message file in their inbox.
.sp
The
.I .majordomo
file requires an at-sign, "@", in the address of the Majordomo server, even
if it colocated on the same system as the list-owner.
.SH AUTHORS
Majordomo and most of the ancillary perl code was written by Brent Chapman,
<brent@GreatCircle.COM>.  
This man page was written by Jim Duncan, <jim@math.psu.edu>.