[Mailman-Users] Modifying held posts feature

[Jon Carnes]

On Tue, 2003-08-12 at 12:26, Adam Boettiger wrote:
> I'm using mailman 2.1.2
> 
> As I recall in the archives of last year there was a post about a patch that
> could be installed in 2.0 that would allow moderators and admins to modify
> held posts.  I'm wondering if this feature or patch has become a permanent
> addition to 2.1.2 or if there are plans to include it in the next upgrade?
> 
> Also, I am new to Python so excuse the ignorant question, but how does one
> install a patch?  Is there a document somewhere that explains it in layman's
> terms?  And, if I install this patch, will I need to kill and then recreate
> my mailing list or regenerate it?
> 
> Finally, I see by reading the archives that one can modify the held posts
> directly by modifying the file in /mailman/data . I tried this once using
> BBEdit and FTP and got an error when I tried to approve the post.  Any
> suggestions on the best way to modify a file on the server and what parts of
> it I should stay away from or what file type it needs to be saved as?
> 
> - Sorry for so many newbie questions.  Thanks in advance for any insight.
> The modify held posts is a really critical feature for me, so I'd like to
> get it working.
> 
> AB

Look in the FAQ's. There is a specific procedure for editing the message
directly using version 2.0.  This also works in version 2.1, but only if
you modify the default value for one of the settings in mm_cfg.py. The
setting determines whether held messages will be stored in text format
or in a pickle format. If you scan Defaults.py you should be able to
find it.

 You of course want them stored in a text format if you are going to
edit held messages directly.

Mailman FAQ: http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py

There is a great patch that allow you to edit the message while in the
approval web-browser.  I *think* this patch was ported to 2.1 as well. 
This makes modifying messages a real snap!

There is also an FAQ on applying patches to mailman. Be prepared to
install from the source code!

Good Luck - Jon Carnes