[Mailman-Users] Custom header

[Brad Knowles]

At 12:42 PM +0800 2004-08-31, David Cake wrote:

>  	I guess my questions really is 'do the existing per-list
>  customisation options include any way of changes to the mail headers
>  beyond what is already accessible from the GUI?'

	You can change the templates, but I don't recall off the top of 
my head whether that allows you to change the headers used within the 
message.  I don't think it does, but I might be wrong.

	To change the templates, you'll need to have command-line access 
to the server.  Modifying these is not possible from the web admin 
interface.

>  	And, as a followup, if it requires source code level changes, is
>  there a sane and sensible way of doing these on a per list basis so
>  my installation remains upgradable? I know python, but I'm in no
>  hurry to make by installation unmaintainable.

	On a per-list basis?  No.  If you wanted to make modifications to 
the headers, you'd either have to make a single change in a central 
place that is reflected in all the headers on all the lists, or you'd 
have to invent your own infrastructure to support a per-list 
mechanism for changing/adding headers.

>  	Alternatively, has anyone else managed to tackle the same problem by
>  an alternative route, say procmail, or via their MTA rules (postfix in
>  my case, despite my other thread).

	Procmail would be one potential solution, but I don't recall of 
having heard anyone say that they'd done this sort of thing before. 
Of course, now that I've said this, I'm hoping that someone else will 
pipe up and tell me that I'm wrong.

>  	I did. It told me mailman wasn't a CRM and I shouldn't expect to do
>  any customisation on an individual message basis (apart from VERP) which
>  I was already pretty clear on. I don't want complex per user customisation
>  (which the FAQ entry was pretty clear I wouldn't get), I want simple per
>  list customisation (which the FAQ entry left me a bit unsure about).

	Then the FAQ entry must have left you with an incorrect 
impression, because through modifying the templates, you can make 
changes to the message bodies, and that can be done on a per-list 
basis.  Moreover, those message bodies are capable of using variable 
substitution field names on a per-user basis.  This is how we create 
the footers on some mailing lists that will have a link direct to 
your user login page for the list in question.

	But there are limits to what you can do.  That is the key 
impression that I had hoped to leave with the FAQ entries on this 
subject.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad at stop.mail-abuse.org>

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little
temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

     -- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
     Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755

   SAGE member since 1995.  See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.