sympa.pl is the main daemon; it processes mail commands and is in charge of messages distribution.

sympa.pl recognizes the following command line arguments:

• – add_list familyname - - robot robotname - - input_file /path/to/list_file.xml
  Adds the list described in the XML file to the familyname family. See: Adding a list to a list family.
• – close_family familyname - - robot robotname
  Closes the familyname family. See: List family closure.
• – close_list listname@robot
  Closes the list (changing its status to closed), removes aliases (if sendmail_aliases parameter was set) and removes subscribers from DB (a dump is created in the list directory to allow the list restoration). When you are in a family context, refer to: List family closure.
• – close_unknown
  When instanciating a family, this option tells Sympa to silently close lists unknown to the family.
• – config config_file | -f config_file
  Forces Sympa to use an alternative configuration file. The default behavior is to use the configuration file as defined in the Makefile ($CONFIG).
• – create_list – robot robotname - - input_file /path/to/list_file.xml
  Creates the list described by the xml file, see: List creation on command line with sympa.pl.
• – debug | -d
  Sets Sympa in debug mode and keeps it attached to the terminal. Debugging information is output to STDERR, along with standard log information. Each function call is traced. Useful while reporting a bug.
• – dump listname | ALL
  Dumps subscribers, either of the list listname or of all lists. Subscribers are dumped in subscribers.db.dump.
• – foreground
  the process remains attached to the TTY
• – help | -h
  Prints sympa.pl usage.
• – import listname
  Imports subscribers in the listname list. Data are read from STDIN.
• – instanciate_family familyname robotname - - input_file /path/to/family_file.xml
  Instantiates the family familyname. See Lists families.
• – keepcopy recipient_directory | -k recipient_directory
  Tells Sympa to keep a copy of every incoming message instead of deleting them. recipient_directory is the directory to store messages.
• – lang catalog | -l catalog
  Set this option to use a language catalog for Sympa. The corresponding catalog file must be located in ~sympa/locale directory.
• – lowercase
  Lowercases e-mail addresses in database.
• – mail | -m
  Sympa will log calls to sendmail, including recipients. Useful to keep track of each mail sent (log files may grow faster though).
• – make_alias_file
  Creates an aliases file in /tmp/ with all list aliases (only lists whose status is 'open'). It uses the list_aliases.tt2 template.
• – modify_list familyname - - robot robotname - - input_file /path/to/list_file.xml
  Modifies the existing family list, with description contained in the XML file. See: Modifying a family list.
• –quiet
  When instanciating a family, this option tells Sympa to skip output to STDOUT.
• – reload_list_config - -list=mylist@dom
  Recreates all configbin files. You should run this command if you edit authorization scenarios. The list parameter is optional.
• service process_command | process_message | process_creation
  Sets Sympa daemon to process only message distribution (process_message) or only commands (process_command) or list creation requests (process_creation).
• – sync_include listaddress
  Triggers an update of list members, useful if the list uses external data sources.
• – upgrade - - from=X - -to=Y
  Runs Sympa maintenance script to upgrade from version X to version Y.
• – version | -v
  Prints current version of Sympa.

The make install step should have installed a sysV init script in your /etc/rc.d/init.d/ directory (you can change this at configure time with the -with-initdir option). You should edit your runlevels to make sure Sympa starts after Apache and MySQL. Note that MySQL should also start before Apache because of wwsympa.fcgi.

This script starts these daemons: sympa.pl, task_manager.pl, archived.pl and bounced.pl.

When this signal is sent to sympa.pl (kill -TERM), the daemon is stopped, ending message distribution in progress and this can be long (for big lists). If kill -TERM is used, sympa.pl will stop immediately whatever a distribution message is in progress. In this case, when sympa.pl restarts, messages will be distributed many times.

When this signal is sent to sympa.pl (kill -HUP), it switches off the -mail login option and continues current task.