[Mailman-Developers] Patch for Mail Archive mirroring

[JC Dill]

Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

>>>>>>"JC" == JC Dill <lists05 at equinephotoart.com> writes:
>>>>>>            
>>>>>>
>
>    JC> I personally don't see it as being a significant endorsement.
>    JC> AIUI, it's a patch that allows 2 software programs to work
>    JC> well together.
>
>My understanding is that the programs already work well together; you
>just type "archive at mail-archive.org" into "Mass Subscribe", hit
>"Submit" and you're there.  The patch changes this to "one-click," ie,
>advertises the Mail Archive as part of the ordinary configuration
>process. 
>
But *only* for lists on a server whose listmaster has explicitly:

A)  patched mailman to add this feature
or
B)  toggled the setting in a mailman install to turn this feature on.

so it's the *listmaster* who has to do something to make this available 
for the server users in the ordinary configuration process.

> This is very different from patching the docs to explain
>that the Mail Archive is an alternative / supplement to pipermail,
>MHonArc, or Gmane.
>  
>
Mailman is what the listmaster makes of it, isn't it?  The listmaster 
makes various decisions about how to patch and install mailman on their 
particular server.  Once installed, it's not "our mailman" it is "their 
mailman" with the features and customization the listmaster selects.  A 
patch that defaults to "off" unless the listmaster does something 
explicit to turn it on (by downloading a separate patch or by 
specifically changing the setting to "on") is not an endorsement, IMHO.  
It's just one more feature that allows the listmaster to easily 
customize mailman for their particular user needs.

>>From a technical standpoint, I'm all for it (subject to the "defaults
>to OFF" policy).  Archiving is a sore point with all the MLMs; giving
>admins another easy-to-install option is a plus.  But from a support
>and PR standpoint, I think it does constitute an endorsement.
>  
>
Would it help if  the patch documentation elaborated on this concern?  
Example:

This patch is provided for those who wish to enable their list owners to 
have a one-click option to have their lists archived with The Mail 
Archive.  This patch is not an endorsement for The Mail Archive, each 
mailman server installer needs to make their own determination if this 
feature is desired on their server or not.

jc