[Mailman-Users] Can I set up a user-friendly write-to address?

[Richard Barrett]

On 27 Jan 2004, at 15:24, Todd wrote:

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> Lee wrote:
>> I have Mailman installed as a standard option on my web host, but
>> the only thing stopping me from moving over to it is the way the
>> write-to email address is configured, which I feel is far too
>> complicated for my users to grapple with.
>>
>> Here's how my list's address gets set up :
>>
>>  incel_incelsite.com at incelsite.com
>
> Sounds like you're hosted on a site using cPanel.  See the archives
> for how well regarded the cPanel patches to mailman are around here.
> Then complain to your host.  This is not a mailman issue.

I may be wrong but I think you can send messages to incel at incelsite.com 
and that the incel_incelsite.com@<incelsite's-real-host>.com is only 
how the list name is "viewed" through the Mailman web GUI. See below 
for more on why I think this is the case.

>
>> I need to have the write-to address as simply :
>>
>> incel at incelsite.com
>
> This is how mailman does it by default.  The cPanel folks muck up the
> mailman source and then inflict it on the world.

That is not entirely fair. CPanel have decided to modify Mailman to 
overcome the real problem of listname collisions on a machine 
supporting multiple hostnames.

Mailman listnames occupy a single namespace per real machine and 
Mailman provides no means to qualify listnames with a hostname. I view 
that as an unresolved deficiency in Mailman and its way of handling 
virtual hosts.

CPanel's modifications deal with the problem by "lying" to Mailman 
about a list's name by introducing the virtual host into each listname.

The only installation of Mailman under CPanel I have seen was using 
Exim as MTA and if I recollect, postings to addresses like 
alist at virtual1.host.tld were delivered to Mailman as if the had been 
posted to alist_virtual1.host.tld at the-real.host.tld. This allowed 
Mailman to cope with also having alist at virtual2.host.tld supported on 
the same machine as it would see posts to the second virtual host as 
alist_virtual2.host.tld at the-real.host.tld, that is Mailman would see 
two independent lists called alist_virtual1.host.tld and 
alist_virtual2.host.tld. Without CPanel's mods, what the outside world 
would see as alist at virtual1.host.tld and alist at virtual2.host.tld 
Mailman would see as a the same list if virtual1.host.tld and 
virtual2.host.tld resolved to the same machine the-real.host.tld

CPanel's implementation may be edgy, even flakey, and they would 
probably be doing themselves and people using the modified Mailman they 
ship a favor if the published their modification; they might find that 
people would help them get it right. But the only people with the right 
to demand access to the mods appear to be the hosting providers; to the 
letter but maybe not the spirit of Open Software. Unfortunately, while 
CPanel treat their modifications to Open Software as proprietary and 
they get it wrong, it is Mailman's reputation that suffers; just look 
at the number of queries posted to this list on CPanel related 
problems.

> They don't even have
> the courtesy to make the changes easily available so that someone
> could fix the things they break in the process.
>
> - --
> Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xD654075A | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
>
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Richard Barrett                               http://www.openinfo.co.uk