[Mailman-Users] Is Mailman right for my app?

[Simon White]

On Wed, 2003-01-29 at 03:50, Bobby and Denise wrote:
> I'm building a web application in PHP to upload multiple mailing lists
> via text files and merge the addresses (eliminate duplicates) to create
> a single list.  This final list will reside in my web db, and can have
> up to 50,000 email addresses.  Up to this point is no problem, but...
> 
> I need to then be able to create a mailing list from the list in my db
> (preferably by writing to a text file), and launch a mailer to the list
> via the mail server.   After sending a single message I no longer need
> the list-- i.e. I can completely overwrite it next time, and someone
> else manages opt-outs.  I would like to capture bounce info back into by
> application db though.  My hosting company recommends Mailman.
> 
> Is Mailman the right mail server software for me?  Better than Majordomo
> and Mojomail (also available via my host on my vps)?  I see the list
> mgmt guide, but I don't need to maintain the list at all, nor do I need
> to send another message to this list ever.  If so, where can I find the
> documentation on how to create mailing lists remotely (with a web page)?

If you need bounce info, and if that list is re-used after opt-outs are
calculated, then you need a mailing list manager. That's because it
injects messages one at a time, so you can tune it to not hammer a
server, which is bound to reject a single message with 50,000 Bcc:
recipients (RFCs don't require an MTA to even accept delivery of such a
message, and it's going to kill the upstream MTA)

You're also going to need the bounce usefulness of mailman, but it's
only really useful after multiple sends. One send cannot remove bounces
from the list in case the bounces are non-permanent. No doubt you could
hack something to get rid of permanent looking bounces but you'd have to
parse the bounces yourself then. Not easy, when MTAs can respond in all
sorts of languages and with all sorts of codes.

You don't want to be overwriting each time, if I'm reading between the
lines. You want to *synchronise* with other lists each time. For that,
you can use some scripting of your own in PHP perhaps to do this. I host
a site with a mailing list of c. 12,000 subscribers which are also in an
SQL database which synchronises with mailman at each change. It was a
hassle (auto-ftp and stuff) but it works nicely. I use tools in the
$prefix/bin directory of mailman like add_member, remove_member, and the
sync_can't remember the rest thing.

-- 
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