Efficient final message disposition (was Re: [Mailman-Developers] Requirements for a new archiver)

[Brad Knowles]

At 8:41 AM -0800 2003/10/30, Chuq Von Rospach wrote:

>  (yawn. My server's bored. snicker)

	Understood, but the techniques they recommend are still valid.

>  but seriously, both of them are built around pre sendmail 8.12
>  environments.

	True.

>                there's some interesting stuff there, but it's now
>  fairly dated, since sendmail 8.12 really changes the landscape.
>  And all of those other environments....

	There are still some things that even sendmail 8.12, postfix, 
etc... do not do.

	One of them is recipient sorting by average delivery time over 
the past week (probably want a decaying geometric mean), which would 
require tracking log data on a per-recipient basis.

	Another is two-level message handling, by configuring the MTA for 
the initial delivery attempt to use very low timeouts, but then to 
fall back to a secondary MTA (or MTA pool) that uses more standard 
timeouts for those sites that are slower.

	I'm sure there are others.

>  Because pretty much every MLM has internalized the process.

	Indeed.  So, is Barry going the right way by trying to 
externalize this, or should the internal methods be beefed up so that 
they more fully address the issues in question?

>  And with sendmail 8.12, queue groups and envelope splitting, frankly,
>  bulk_mailer does more harm to the delivery stream than good. Just stuff
>  it into sendmail, tune sendmail to split intelligently. bulk_mailer is
>  obsolete...

	Perhaps in its current form, that is true.  However, not all 
sites are using sendmail 8.12, and of the ones that are, most are 
probably not using it in a manner that is more suitable for mailing 
lists.

	So, this kind of tool does still have it's uses at most sites, 
and it could certainly be extended to address the issues that even 
the most modern MTAs do not (yet) attempt to handle.


	However, given the issues you've mentioned, it would probably be 
a good idea to be able to turn off selected "bulk_mailer" type 
features, so that you can let the MTA do more of it's job better -- 
if it is configured to do so.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E-(---) W+++(--) N+
!w--- O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)