[Mailman-Developers] anti-spam filter

[Terri Oda]

On 13-04-18 6:40 PM, Patrick Ben Koetter wrote:
> If we stop at a programmable interface - which I understand is what 
> you and Terri suggest - they will not be able to use Mailman in more 
> complex setups, because integrating additional mail processing 
> components would require them to program.

Oi, I hope that's not what it sounded like I was advocating.  I want a 
fair bit more than just an generic interface.

In my ideal world, the deliverable for this project will be "everything 
a sysadmin needs to integrate SpamBayes, SpamAssassin, and maybe 2 other 
related mail filtering tools" (e.g. ClamAV?) This includes an installer 
for each one or at least a set of INSTALL_$SPAM_SOLUTION.TXT files and 
all the work necessary so that they have about 2 steps that amount to 
"install the thing" and "enable the thing in mailman by flipping this 
switch/changing this config option."

So I think in that respect, Patrick and I are on the same page.


I don't think we're saying exactly "oh, all sysadmins could do this in a 
few minutes" so much as "is this really worth a whole summer of 
mentoring time given that most of our mentors could write it in 2 weeks 
themselves if they had need?"  The question is whether it's a viable 
GSoC project, not so much whether it's a thing that would be useful to 
someone, someday.

*I* still think that there's potential for a good GSoC proposal that 
includes spam filtering, assuming the student understands that this is 
more of an integration project (NOT a "build a spam filter!" project) 
and the student is willing to pair this with some other useful features 
in order to be sure of having 12 weeks of work.

  Terri

PS -  milters sound like something any students interested in this 
project should read up on and mention in their proposals why they 
did/didn't choose to go that route.  It's a good way to show that you've 
been paying attention to discussions here! :)