smail list owner directory -------------------------- Copyright (c) 1993 Ian Kluft Linux smail binary distribution Distribution permitted under the GNU Public License revision 2 or later Files in this directory are also smail lists (see ../README). They are prefixed with the string "-owner". So, if you create a dns-admin file in this directory, it will be deliverable as "dns-admin-owner". Owner lists are almost entirely for administrative purposes. Smail will use them for the bounce messages if any address on the main list is not deliverable. For example, if you create a dns-admin smail list in /usr/lib/smail/lists, you can make a dns-admin file in the owner directory so that smail will send bounce messages to dns-admin-owner, instead of to the sender of the message or the postmaster. There is a good reason for doing this. If you make a large mail list, anyone sending mail to the list doesn't need or even want to know that one or two people's mail were not deliverable. People's mail addresses may go temporarily out of service or they may be completely terminated. It happens, most often when e-mail adminstrators do not clean up after departing employees or users. So, with an owner list, the person who maintains the list gets to see the bounce message and can update the list.