PUBLIC-INBOX-OVERVIEW(7) public-inbox user manual PUBLIC-INBOX-OVERVIEW(7) NAME public-inbox-overview - an overview of public-inbox DESCRIPTION public-inbox consists of many pieces which may be used independently or in conjunction of each other for: 1. Mirroring existing public-inboxes. 2. Mirroring mailing lists. 3. Hosting standalone inboxes. Mirroring existing public-inboxes Mirroring existing public-inboxes is the easiest way to get started. Your mirror will remain dependent on the REMOTE_URL you are mirroring and you only need to use two new commands in addition to common git(1) commands. Instructions are different depending on whether the inbox is public-inbox-v1-format(5) or public-inbox-v2-format(5). See the "Archives are clonable:" part of the WWW interface of a given inbox for cloning instructions specific to that inbox. The instructions are roughly: # for v1 inboxes: git clone --mirror URL INBOX_DIR # for v2 inboxes (each epoch needs to be cloned): git clone --mirror URL/EPOCH INBOX_DIR/git/EPOCH.git # The following should create the necessary entry in # ~/.public-inbox/config, use "-V2" only for v2 inboxes: public-inbox-init [-V2] NAME INBOX_DIR MY_URL LIST_ADDRESS # Optional but strongly recommended for hosting HTTP # (and required for NNTP) # enable overview (requires DBD::SQLite) and, if Search::Xapian is # available, search: public-inbox-index INBOX_DIR # Periodically fetch the repo using git-fetch(1) # for v1 inboxes: git --git-dir=INBOX_DIR fetch # for v2 (in most cases, only the newest epoch needs to be fetched): git --git-dir=INBOX_DIR/git/EPOCH.git fetch # index new messages after fetching: public-inbox-index INBOX_DIR See "Serving public-inboxes" below for info on how to expose your mirror to other readers. Mirroring mailing lists Mirroring mailing lists may be done by any reader of a mailing list using public-inbox-watch(1). # This will create a new v2 inbox: public-inbox-init -V2 NAME INBOX_DIR MY_URL LIST_ADDRESS Then, see the public-inbox-watch(1) manual for configuring "watch", "watchheader", "listid" and the optional "spamcheck" and "watchspam" entries. You will need to leave public-inbox-watch(1) running to keep the mailbox up-to-date as messages are delivered to the mailing list. Running public-inbox-index(1) to create search indices is recommended. public-inbox-watch(1) will automatically maintain the indices if they were created by public-inbox-index(1) public-inbox-index INBOX_DIR Instead of using public-inbox-watch(1), using public-inbox-mda(1) with the "--no-precheck" option and relying on the "listid" directive in public-inbox-config(5) is also an option. Hosting standalone inboxes Using public-inbox-init(1) to initialize the inbox as in the other methods is recommended. See public-inbox-mda(1) for more details; but this also requires MTA-specific knowledge. Serving public-inboxes Since public-inboxes are git repositories, they may be served to remote clients via git-daemon(1) as well as specialized HTTP and NNTP daemons distributed with public-inbox. See public-inbox-httpd(1) and public-inbox-nntpd(1) for more information on using these daemons. Hosting a public-inbox over HTTP or NNTP will never require write access to any files in the inbox directory. Users familiar with PSGI and Plack may also use PublicInbox::WWW with the preferred server instead of public-inbox-httpd(1) CONTACT Feedback welcome via plain-text mail to The mail archives are hosted at and COPYRIGHT Copyright 2016-2021 all contributors License: AGPL-3.0+ public-inbox.git 1993-10-02 PUBLIC-INBOX-OVERVIEW(7)