Platforms

All (obsolete except for z/VM BITNET servers)


Abstract

The maximum acceptable size, in lines, of an incoming mail message. Obsolete; see Details.


Example

z/VM:

MAILMAXL = 15000

Unix:

MAILMAXL=15000

export MAILMAXL

Windows:

MAILMAXL=15000


Details

Messages larger than MAILMAXL lines are not accepted for processing. For all practical purposes this option is obsolete (it was intended to solve a problem specific to z/VM BITNET servers) and you should not set it (i.e., you should accept the default) unless you are experiencing this kind of problem.

WARNING:  In other words, if you aren't running z/VM on BITNET, don't set this! It is preferable to set a Sizelim= keyword in individual list headers if you must restrict postings on the basis of size. Do not use MAILMAXL as a server-level global replacement for Sizelim= -- it doesn't work that way.

MAILMAXL is primarily intended for small machines where there are not enough resources to process very large messages. Rather than attempting to process them and then running out of resources anyway, you can use the MAILMAXL option to reject the message right away.

Note that if MAILMAXL is set, messages coming in that exceed MAILMAXL will be discarded without any notification to the sender. This is not the same as the list header keyword setting Sizelim=, which when exceeded will cause LISTSERV to send a notification. 

WARNING:   Note carefully that since MAILMAXL is evaluated before the message is actually processed, that is, before Sizelim= can be evaluated, a message that exceeds MAILMAXL (but which may or may not exceed Sizelim= for the list it is being posted to) will be discarded without warning to the sender. This is why it is preferable to restrict postings based on size at the list level rather than at the server level.


Default Value

MAILMAXL defaults to the value of FILEMAXL. Note that under z/VM this can be more complicated as there typically is an entry for MAILMAXL in one of the SYSVARS files which overrides the default in the MODULE. It is not recommended to set MAILMAXL to a value less than 10000, and LISTSERV will issue a warning at startup if MAILMAXL is set lower than that.