[Mailman-Developers] Requirements for a new archiver

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 23:01:14 -0500 
Barry Warsaw <barry at python.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-10-29 at 16:54, J C Lawrence wrote:

>> Aye, picking the right interface abstractions is key.

> Right on.

I'm still debating if I can run down there on the 8th.  I'd love to go
to EuroQuest, but I also really need to be in Providence on the 7th, and
back at work on the 9th.  Aaaarrrgh.  _IF_ I can make it we must go hit
a pub with whiteboards in hand.

Sorry for no earlier reply on this BTW, I'm in drowning eyeballs mode.

> ...as well as implement a bulk mailer to eliminate the need for an
> outgoing mail server.  

Eeeek!  I trust this would be for immediate handoff to a "real" MTA
versus handling final delivery directly?  Quite the Pandora's box if
not.

>> Mailman v2.1 has a plugin layer for the membership roster.  Its not a
>> fully mature interface, but there are LDAP and SQL adaptors in the
>> wild.

> This interface was largely bolted on, so it's clumsy.  Mailman 3 will
> be defined by interfaces from the start.

<nod>

BTW Whatever happened to Michel Pelletier's interfaces PEP?  I see the
draft, and I see signs that something got done, but not what...

>> Oh yeah, and just to keep Nigel Metheringham hopping:
 
>> Mailman just doesn't have enough configuration options.

> Heh.  That's another issue.  

Last I heard Nigel was still running screaming into the hills.

> I'm sure Mailman 3 will grow many more configuration options.  The
> trick is making them manageable (and mostly ignorable -- i.e. the
> defaults Usually Work out of the box).

<nod>

> I've been experimenting with ideas for list styles which will make
> list admins lives easier I think, without reducing the flexibility for
> experts.

Aye, that's something the Plone folk have been digging at with some
success: a base library of waffle-stomp configuration patterns.  I'm not
sure for Mailman if we want just a picklist, or a very simple wizard.

I suspect something more akin to the very brief Q&A wizard at Creative
Commons for choosing a license type may be more effective and
interesting than a picklist:

  http://creativecommons.org/license/

Very simple, very general, covers the basic cases, hides all the ugly
stuff and picks sane defaults.  It becomes even more interesting if site
admins can tailor the configs for the basic cases.
  
-- 
J C Lawrence                
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas. 
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?		  
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.