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Below is a detailed list of features that Sympa provides. It has been organized to help you find out if Sympa meets your needs.
You can refer to the manual for more details on each feature.
Performances and Scalability
feature | details | related documentation |
bulk mailer | mail distribution is very fast thanks to a built-in bulk mailer | |
database | user informations are stored in a RDBMS for faster response time | documentation |
dedicated processes | sympa comes with 6 specialized processes (web, mail, archives, bounces, task manager, soap) | |
fast web interface | sympa uses the fastCGI technology to have a persistant web server | documentation |
big lists | up to 700.000 subscribers | |
many lists | up to 20.000 mailing lists | |
full virtual hosting | a single sympa server can provide true virtual hosting (handles same list names within different vhosts) | documentation |
list families | list creation can be automated | documentation |
Email commands
feature | details | related documentation |
subscribe/unsubscribe | | |
review list members | a list configuration parameter defines who can review the list members | |
available mailing lists | the WHICH command lists available mailing lists, but lists may be configured as hidden | |
send message | list can be configured to request a challenge email | |
contact list owners | the list-request address automatically refers to list owners | |
digest | user can select the digest reception mode | |
digest modes | Sympa provides different kind of digests (MIME, textplain, notice, summary) | |
conceal | list members can hide from the members review page | |
get archive | user can request list archive (index and messages) | |
feature | details | related documentation |
a single web interface | a single web interface provides user and admin interfaces | |
flexible user authentication | user can authenticate with Sympa's own mecanism or via an enterprise mecanism | |
internationalization | the web interface is translated into 20 different languages | translations |
RSS feed | RSS feeds show the latest lists and the latest messages for each list | |
XHTML compliance | the web interface is compliant with the W3C | |
accessibility | sympa GUI is WAI compliant | |
shared documents | Sympa provides a web documents sharing functionality with access control definition | documentation |
web archive | mailing lists archive can be browsed/searched through the web | |
members review | list members / owners can review the list members | |
member pictures | list members can upload their pictures on the list | |
message topics | users can subscribe to message topics defined for a list | documentation |
post messages | subscribers can post messages from the web interface | |
feature | details | related documentation |
MIME compliance | web archiving uses MhOnArc tool that handles well complex MIME messages | |
thread and chronological organization | messages are sorted and linked in both modes | |
spam protection | email addresses are protected via different mecanisms | |
crawlers protection | web archive can be protected from crawlers | |
search engine | user can search web archive ; it includes an advanced search mode | |
private archive | access control is enforced for non-public list archive | |
message reply | user can reply to a message through the web interface | |
message removal | a message can be removed by the list owner or by its authenticated author | |
resend message | user can ask to receive the message again | |
export archive | list owners can download a ZIP of the list archive | |
quota | listmaster can determine list archive quotas | |
RSS feed | latest messages are published via RSS | |
customizeable archive | archive organization can be customized via the MhOnArc resource file | |
feature | details | related documentation |
RFC 2369 support | sympa sets SMTP header fields defined in RFC 2369 | |
X-No-Archive header field | Sympa checks the X-No-Archive header field | |
anonymize header fields | Sympa can anonymize SMTP header fields | documentation |
MIME digest | sympa provides both plaintext and MIME digests | |
multipart/alternative support | multipart/alternative messages are handled for mail commands and text/html reception modes | |
S/MIME support | sympa handles S/MIME signed and encrypted messages | documentation |
bounces format | Sympa handles RFC1891 bouncing messages + other common formats | |
headers and footers | list owner can define MIME or plaintext headers and footers | |
urlize | message attachements can be dettached on the server, with URL sent to list members | |
feature | details | related documentation |
bounce analysis | bounces are analyzed ; most bounce formats are recognized | |
automatic bounce management | sympa has a sophisticated algorithm to trigger bouncing users notification/removal | documentation |
advanced VERP | sympa does VERP for a share of the list members during each mail processing | documentation |
distribution optimization | messages are first distributed to non-bouncing users to optimize the delivery time | |
web view of bouncers | list owners can view the currently bouncing users with advanced informations | |
feature | details | related documentation |
moderate messages | list moderators can moderate messages via the mail or web interfaces | |
moderate subscriptions | list owners can moderate subscription requests | |
edit mail service messages | owners can edit service messages (templates ) | |
edit list config | owners can edit list configuration, according to their profile | |
view logs | list owners can view logs related to their mailing list | |
feature | details | related documentation |
search user | listmaster can search all the mailing lists a user is member/admin of | |
list moderation | listmaster can validate/reject pending mailing lists via the web | |
list removal | listmaster can close a list via the web | |
list active user sessions | view all active user sessions with IP adresses | |
change identity | listmaster can take someone else identity for test purpose | |
customize templates | listmaster can customize mail/web templates from the web | |
feature | details | related documentation |
dynamic mailing lists | list members can be extracted from an external database (SQL, LDAP) | documentation |
user authentication | authentication can use an LDAP database or Single Sign-On servers (CAS, SHibboleth,…) | documentation |
SOAP interface | most Sympa features are accessible through a SOAP interface | documentation |
supported RDBMS | Sympa can use different RDBMS (mysql, posgresql, sqlight, oracle or sybase) | documentation |
supported MTA | Sympa can be coupled with most MTAs (sendmail, postfix, qmail, exim) | |
feature | details | related documentation |
loop prevention | sympa detects messages that could create a loop | documentation |
user session management | web sessions are handled in the database in secured way | |
S/MIME | both S/MIME signature and encryption are handled | documentation |
authorization | access control is enforced via Sympa's authorization scenarios | documentation |
spam protection | site administrator can define authorization scenarios that detect spam | |
virus protection | Sympa can be plugged with multiple anti-virus software (McAfee/uvscan, Fsecure/fsav, Sophos, AVP, Trend Micro/VirusWall and Clam Antivirus) | documentation |
quotas | listmaster can define quotas for message size, web archive, shared documents | |
feature | details | related documentation |
CSS | the Sympa CSS can easily be customized | |
web templates | each web page is defined via a TT2 template that can be customized | |
mail services templates | mail commands output are defined via TT2 temlates that can be customized | |
authorization scenarios | authorization scenarios can be customized to apply site-specific access controle rules | |
SOAP interface | sites can have their own software call Sympa services via SOAP | documentation |
custom user attributes | list owner can defined custom user attributes, provisionning is done at subscription time | |
custom list parameters | list owner can define custom list parameters, later used on the web interface | |
list privileges | site admin can define what list configurations can be edited by list owner | |