Majordomo2 list server

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rekey
rekey-noxform 
rekey-repair [pattern]
rekey-verify [pattern]
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pattern, if specified, determines which lists are repaired or verified.
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The rekey command serves two purposes.  The first purpose is to apply
transformations in the GLOBAL addr_xforms configuration setting to every
key in the registry and subscriber databases.  The second purpose is
to verify that the subscriber databases and the registry are consistent
with one another.

Majordomo makes use of two databases to keep a record of every address
that is subscribed to a mailing list.  In the central registry, the
personal password and a list of subscriptions for each address are
stored.  In the subscriber databases, the personal settings for each
subscription are stored.  Each entry in both kinds of database has a
"key" which is an e-mail address, called the "canonical address."  

The canonical address can be different from the actual e-mail address,
as determined by the address transformations in the GLOBAL addr_xforms
configuration setting.  For example, if the domain "example.net" is
mapped to "example.edu" in the addr_xforms setting, the address
"joe@example.net" will have a canonical address "joe@example.edu".

The plain "rekey" command should be used after the addr_xforms setting
has been changed, to modify keys in the registry and every subscriber
database.  The number of addresses found and changed in each database
will be reported.

The "rekey-noxform" command can be used to test the transformations in
the addr_xforms setting against the databases without making any
changes.  The number of addresses that would be changed by rekeying will
be reported.

In some circumstances, the registry and subscriber databases can become
inconsistent with one another.  This has happened in the past when a the
hard disk on which Majordomo stores its files ran out of storage space.
To recover from such a problem, the "rekey-verify" and "rekey-repair"
commands can be helpful.

The "rekey-verify" command checks the consistency of the databases
and reports any problems.  There are two problem cases:

  * The registry says an address is subscribed to a list, but there is
    no entry for that address in the list's subscriber database.

  * The subscriber database for a list says that a subscription exists,
    but the registry entry for that address is missing, or the list of
    subscriptions for that address in the registry does not include the
    list in question.

The "rekey-repair" command will repair any inconsistencies in the
databases.  Repairs always involve adding information.  In the first
problem case, a new entry is added to the subscriber database, using the
default personal settings for the mailing list.  Any customized settings
will be lost.  In the second problem case, the registry entry will be
changed or created.  If a new registry entry is created, a new personal
password will be chosen randomly for that address; any previous personal
password will be lost.

Normally, the rekey-verify and rekey-repair commands will affect every
mailing list in a domain.  However, with the use of a Majordomo pattern,
you can limit the effect of the command to only those lists whose names
match the pattern.  See "help patterns" for an introduction to writing
Majordomo patterns.

Be very careful with this command.  It is possible, with a bad choice of
address transformations, to severely damage your address database.  If
any canonical addresses are duplicated because of a transformation, the
duplicate entries will be discarded silently.  Aside from lost
duplicates, any changes can be undone by choosing the previous set of
transformations and rekeying the databases a second time.

Majordomo also maintains specialized databases for auxiliary subscriber
lists and for address aliases.  These databases will be rekeyed by
the plain "rekey" command, but they are not affected by any of the other
variants of the rekey command.  See "help auxiliary_list" and "help alias"
for more details.

In some cases, a subscriber database file may be damaged beyond the
ability of Majordomo to repair it properly.  In that case, the following
steps are recommended to salvage the situation.  It is necessary to have
shell access to the computer on which Majordomo runs, and the privileges
to assume the identity of the Majordomo user.

1. Use the command
     who-export LISTNAME
   to obtain a list of "set" commands that would be needed to restore
   the settings of the subscribers for each list that shows damage.

2. Shut down the server using the mj_shutdown command.

3. Move each damaged _subscribers.D or _subscribers.T file out of 
   the way.

4. Run the rekey-repair command to repair all subscriber databases.
   This should regenerate each list of subscribers, but you will have
   to apply the "set" commands from step 1 manually, to give the
   subscribers the correct personal settings.

Because database corruption is a serious problem, it is recommended that
the site or domain administrator run the "rekey-verify" command
periodically to monitor the status of the databases.  In addition, the
system administrator should periodically back up the registry database
(_register.D or _register.T in the GLOBAL directory) and the subscriber
database for each mailing list.


See Also:
   help alias
   help admin_domain
   help auxiliary_list
   help configset_addr_xforms  (downcase or otherwise alter addresses)
   help password
   help patterns
   help register
   help set
   help subscribe
   help unalias
   help unregister
   help unsubscribe
   help who

This is the "rekey" help document for 
Majordomo 2, version 0.1200410180.

For a list of all help documents, send the following command:
   help topics
in the body of a message to majordomo@lists.mj2.org.

For assistance, please contact the lists.mj2.org administrators.

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