Mailing lists

Most discussion about ROX happens on the mailing lists.
The mailing lists are available through email and as newsgroups (which can be read with a news-reader such as Pan):

rox-users is the place to ask about problems using or installing ROX

• Access with news reader: news://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.desktop.rox.user
• Web archives: gmane, SourceForge
• Subscribe to get emails: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rox-users

rox-devel is for discussion of new features, bug reports and patches

• Access with news reader news://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.desktop.rox.devel
• Web archives: gmane, SourceForge.
• Subscribe to get emails: http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/rox-devel

Due to the large amounts of SPAM that were being sent to the lists, you must now subscribe before you can post.

When posting to the mailing lists, please use a subject that will attract the right people to answer it, and make it easy for other people searching the archives to find what they want. Examples of bad subjects are ROX desktop question or Feature request. Good subjects would be How can I theme the file icons? or Feature request: multi-threaded filer.

Using a news reader

If clicking on the news links above directly doesn't work:

1. Load Pan and add news.gmane.org as a new server (Tools->News Servers).
2. Select gmane using the Server menu.
3. Type rox into the group search box (top left) and press Return to find the groups.
4. You can right click over the two rox groups and choose Subscribe from the menu to make it easier to find them in future. Note that 'Subscribing' to a news group just marks it as interesting to your newsreader. It is different to the 'subscribe to get emails' above, which emails you a copy of each post to the list.

Other sources of help

• The bugs page gives hints on tracking down programs, and the bug tracker.
• IRC can be used to chat in real-time about problems.
• The FAQ contains answers to many common questions.
• You could even read ROX-Filer's manual!

Mini-FAQ

How do I unsubscribe from a mailing list?

Every post to the list includes a URL at the bottom which leads to the list's information page, or you can use the Subscribe link above. Use the Edit Options button on that page to unsubscribe.

Should I send large attachments or images to the mailing list?

No. Please put patches in the patch tracker, and host screenshots yourself. Put a link to the tracker item or screenshot in your mailing list posting. This is because many of our subscribers use dial-up, and have to pay for their time on-line. Large emails are automatically rejected by the mailing list software.

Why do emails I send to the list bounce?

If you have problems posting:

• Try using the news interface to post (see above).
• File a support request with sourceforge:
  http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=1&atid=200001

Would you like to be listed in our software directory?

Not if it involves registering and filling out forms each release. We have enough to do! You can pull the information you need automamtically from freshmeat's XML feeds (eg http://freshmeat.net/projects-xml/rox-filer/rox-filer.xml)
or from the injector XML feeds (GPG signed) (eg http://rox.sourceforge.net/2005/interfaces/ROX-Filer).

Will I get a faster response if I email you directly?

No. You'll get this message:

This is a semi-automatic reply.
Please send bug reports, feature requests and questions to the mailing list,
not to me. Thank you.

* Why did I get this reply?

Probably because you sent a message to me which should have gone to a public
mailing list.

I get around 1000 emails a month (excluding spam). Most of these are questions
that could be better answered by other people, that should be seen by other
people, and that should form part of the searchable public archives for
whichever of my projects they concern.

Sending email to me means:

- No one else can answer it.

- I may not notice it was sent personally (it ends up in my INBOX either way)
  and not answer it because I know it is the responsibility of someone else on
  the mailing list, who I assume has seen it.

- No one else will see the reply.

- I will probably have to answer the same question again, because other people
  can't see or search for the reply.

- There is no chance for discussion of the ideas.

- It may get spam-blocked before I see it.

* But I don't want to subscribe to another mailing list!

No problem. We have a mail-to-news interface, allowing you to browse the
archives and send messages from your regular newsreader (eg, pan or slrn).