[Mailman-Developers] Marc Perkel's Feature Wish List

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "MP" == Marc Perkel <marc@perkel.com> writes:

    MP> I have set up the system and I've been running it for a few
    MP> weeks and I really like it. But there's a few little missing
    MP> features - many of which should be easy to add, that I hope
    MP> you developers will consider.  I'm the systems admin for the
    MP> Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Ah, an excellent organization!

    MP> I'd like to be able to enter (and/or allow the user to enter)
    MP> other email addresses that if they sens email from the other
    MP> address they have the same membership privileges as the
    MP> original member email address.  Thus if gnu@eff.org is in the
    MP> list but the email comes from gnu@toad.com then it is treated
    MP> the same. Ideally - the user could make these aliases and it
    MP> would apply to all lists the user is a member of.

This will be added after MM2.1 when I consolidate the user database.
For now, I've added a FAQ entry describing the workaround:

    http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py?req=show&file=faq02.001.htp

    MP> Right now the url http://domain.com/mailman/admin goes to a
    MP> page that just shows public lists. I'd like to see a link
    MP> there that goes to a master admin page - where you first have
    MP> to enter the master password - and then you get several master
    MP> admin options - including:

An excellent idea.  The way to do this is to have a `site' cgi script
which provides the functionality.  I think it's too late to add this
to MM2.1, unless someone contributes the code.  I'm offline right now,
but I would suggest you add these ideas to the Mailman wiki:

    http://www.zope.org/Members/bwarsaw/MailmanDesignNotes/FrontPage

perhaps to the MM3 notes section?  Or better yet, add them to the
Feature Request tracker on the SourceForge project.

    MP> 2) Menu to create a new list - avoiding the need to go to the
    MP>    command
    MP> line.

Please note that MM2.1 will let you create new lists thru-the-web.
The link is on the admin overview page.

    MP> Mailman allows a list of people (nonmembers) who are allowed
    MP> to post to the list. The list normally contains additional
    MP> email addresses. I would like to see the ability to refer to
    MP> the entire membership of other lists for membership/or posting
    MP> privileges. For example "@otherlistname" could mean to include
    MP> all the members of another list as being allowed to post to
    MP> this list. Thus you could create an umbrella list - containing
    MP> 3 other lists - and make the list postable by the members of
    MP> any of the three lists (and thier personal aliases) and no one
    MP> else.

    MP> Additionally - I'd like to enter a flat file reference
    MP> "/usr/lists/viplist" to include as people who can also
    MP> post. So if I have 50 lists and we get a new board member - I
    MP> don't have to add them as a privileged person to 50 lists.

You will be able to do both these things in MM2.1, but you'll have to
hack a little Python.  MM2.1 has an extension mechanism which would
let you a small Python module to get this behavior.  I agree that both
are worthwhile and I'd like to see a more integrated approach for a
future version.

    MP> If I set my password - that should be my password for all
    MP> lists. This also applies to my real name - for whenever you
    MP> add that - and other info about me as a user that I chose to
    MP> set - such as my email aliases - my home page - my favorite
    MP> links - or whatever. Maybe the ability to have a checkbox on
    MP> some "per list" setting that allow me to apply the changes to
    MP> all lists.

This checkbox exists in MM2.1.  You can change your RealName, email
address, or password globally, i.e. on all lists in that (virtual)
domain.

It's a bit of a hack internally, but a more principled approach will
be added when the consolidated user database is implemented.

    MP> Some people play by the rules - some don't. It would be nice
    MP> to have global blacklist and global whitelist features to
    MP> control spammers and those who otherwise misbehave.

See Mailman/Handlers/SpamDetect.py for the current approach.  Requires
shell access to the Mailman installation.

    MP> I'd like a setting so that if non-members post to the list
    MP> that their messages are automatically dropped (bounced)
    MP> without list owner intervention. The bounce message should be
    MP> able to be customized giving the user information to join the
    MP> list - or just go to hell.

Hmm, except for the customizable bounce information, this exists in
MM2.1.  You can also auto-discard certain addresses, and do address
matching on explicit address or regular expression.

    MP> Anyhow --- many of these features could be easilly added -
    MP> many might take some serious work - but - I thought I'd add
    MP> this to the wanted list in case no one else thought of these
    MP> things.

The best thing to do, if you don't want these good suggestions to get
lost, is to add them to a more permanent artifact, like the feature
request tracker or the Mailman wiki.

Cheers,
-Barry