List Keyword Reference for LISTSERV 17.5

Prime= Yes | No | when

This keyword is not available in LISTSERV Lite.

Determines whether or not mail for the list is processed during "prime time", a value that is determined by the LISTSERV maintainer and is kept in the system configuration file. The default is "Prime= Yes", which means that LISTSERV will allow postings to be processed during prime time.  You can also explicitly code "Prime= No", which means that LISTSERV will use the value in its PRIMETIME site configuration variable to determine "prime time" for the list.

This keyword can be most useful in controlling the load on the machine running LISTSERV.  "Prime=" may also be set to an explicit time specification, for example,

Prime= "MON-FRI: 09:00-17:00; SAT-SUN: -"

or (for a once-weekly newsletter issued on Wednesday, perhaps)

Prime= "MON-TUE: 00:00-23:59; WED: -; THU-SUN: 00:00-23:59"

Note that the time specification for Prime= must always be surrounded by double quotes ("").  Otherwise LISTSERV will stop reading the specification at the first space (ASCII 32) it encounters.  For example, the above example coded without quotes would be interpreted as Prime= MON-FRI: with the balance of the string ignored. LISTSERV will not issue an error if you omit the quotes.

Note also that when you are coding a prime time specification that LISTSERV's week starts on Monday and runs through Sunday.  Thus something like the following examples:

Prime= "MON-TUE: 00:00-23:59; WED: -; THU-SUN: 00:00-23:59"

Prime= "TUE: 01:00-4:59; THU-SUN: 00:00-23:59"

are correct syntax, whereas

Prime= "WED: -; THU-SUN: 00:00-23:59; MON-TUE: 00:00-23:59"

is not.  Furthermore note carefully the weekdays must be specified in their correct order, that is,

Prime= "THU-FRI: 00:00-23:59; SAT-MON: 21:00-23:59"

is not correct because it starts on Thursday and ends on Monday  The correct specification in this case would be 

Prime= "MON: 21:00-23:59; THU-FRI: 00:00-23:59; SAT-SUN: 21:00-23:59"

IMPORTANT: When you set a "prime time" either for a list or globally for the entire server ("PRIMETIME=" in the site configuration file), you are setting the time during which LISTSERV does not process postings. It is "prime time" for the machine when it should be doing other things, for example, number crunching, daily backups, or any other function during which LISTSERV should not be using cycles.

Note also that the minutes specification is cosmetic only. LISTSERV checks on jobs held awaiting non-prime time only once each hour, on the hour. Thus if you have

* Prime= "MON-SUN: 06:00-21:00"

then jobs awaiting non-prime time will be executed at 22:00, not 21:00 as you might otherwise expect. On the other hand, if you code

* Prime= "MON-SUN: 06:00-20:xx"

where "xx" is any two-digit integer between 01 and 59, then jobs awaiting non-prime time will be executed when LISTSERV runs its hourly check of PRIME jobs at 21:00.

If you need to open only one short window during one or more days, you can do this by coding something like:

* Prime= "MON-FRI: 00:00-02:59 04:00-23:59; SAT-SUN: -"

This example allows LISTSERV to process mail for the list only between 3 AM and 4 AM Monday through Friday, and at any time on Saturday and Sunday. Note that there is no punctuation--just a space--between the time settings for a given day or day sequence.