A distribution list is a special contact. It is stored into a folder that holds contacts, but it has a different mimetype: "application/x-vnd.kolab.contact.distlist".
This is the specification of the body contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<distribution-list version="1.0">
<!-- Common fields -->
<uid>(string, no default)</uid>
<body>(string, default empty)</body>
<categories>(string, default empty)</categories>
<creation-date>(datetime, no default)</creation-date>
<last-modification-date>(datetime, no default)</last-modification-date>
<sensitivity>(string, default public)</sensitivity>
{<inline-attachment>(string, no default)</inline-attachment>}
{<link-attachment>(string, no default)</link-attachment>}
<product-id>(string, default empty)</product-id>
<!-- Distribution-list specific fields -->
<display-name>(string)</display-name>
{<member>
<display-name>(string)</display-name>
<smtp-address>(string)</smtp-address>
</member>}
</distribution-list>See Section 4.1> for the description of the common fields
A distribution list is a list of members, where each member is specified by its name and email address.