[Mailman-Users] Setting up redundant mailing lists in OS XSnowLeopard.

[JRC Groups]

Hi, Mark.


On 1/1/10 8:46 AM, "Mark Sapiro" <mark at msapiro.net> wrote:

> JRC Groups wrote:
>> 
>> On 12/30/09 6:47 AM, "Mark Sapiro" <mark at msapiro.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> There are also command-line tools for adding members and syncing
>>> membership with a flat file.
>> 
>> When you mention flat file are you referring to a plain text file ? If so,
>> what specific format (or encoding) should be used for this file ? How
>> exactly should it be formatted ?
> 
> 
> Yes, a plain text file with one address per line. Addresses can be
> formatted in any standard (RFC 2822 compliant) way. See the FAQ at
> <http://wiki.list.org/x/YoA9> for some examples.

Thanks. I will definitely look into this as it seems to be the perfect
solution for my case and a way to make it simple to manage subscriptions.
 
>>> I'm not sure I understand the question. You can set up two lists with
>>> two different names. Use Mailman's Content Filtering to specify what
>>> will be accepted and what will be filtered out. If you mean you want
>>> posts to be sent to one address and some people to receive attachments
>>> and some not, you can use an umbrella list for this (search the FAQ at
>>> <http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3> for "umbrella")
>> 
>> The idea is to have a way to control or manage attachments on a per user
>> base. I've experienced this is the past with mailings lists I have
>> subscribed. Many subscribers are on fast broadband these days and like to
>> receive images and other attachments along with their messages. On the other
>> hand there are those who are on slow connections and even dial-up. These
>> don't like to receive attachments as they slow things down and take a while
>> to download specially when the list is a busy one with numerous posts per
>> day. My idea was to set-up two separate lists. Posts would be sent to one
>> single address and then forwarded to two lists - one with and one without
>> attachments. Subscribers would have the option to subscribe to one list or
>> the other depending on whether they chose to receive attachments.
>> 
>> According to what you stated above it seems there is a fairly simpler way to
>> accomplishing this task. I've looked at the pages describing the "umbrella"
>> list concept. It is certainly an option to keep in mind but I would prefer
>> another simpler solution as I noticed the notes about possible problems and
>> workarounds.
> 
> 
> I think an umbrella list is appropriate for your requirement. Most of
> the issues with umbrella lists have to do with people who are members
> of more than one subordinate list receiving multiple copies of posts,
> but you won't have people who are members of both subordinates.

This is indeed the case. All subscribers will either belong to one list or
the other. Never both. One of the issues I noticed when reading the post has
to do with replies from subscribers. Considering subscribers are either
receiving mail from Sublist1 or Sublist2 but post are mailed to
UmbrellaList1 what happens when a subscriber replies to a post ? Since he
received it from (let's say) Sublist1 wouldn't the reply be sent back to the
same list ? How can this be resolved  in setting up this system ?
 
>> Is there a way to set-up user preferences so that every user can have its
>> subscription set to either receive or block attachments ? This would make
>> things a lot easier and allow me to address this issue very easily.
 
> This cannot be done in current Mailman except perhaps by overloading
> some existing user option and either implementing a custom handler
> (see the FAQ at <http://wiki.list.org/x/l4A9>) or modifying the
> existing MimeDel (content filtering) handler to process it.

Let's not go there. Already sounds way too complicated. May I suggest this
for future releases as a feature request ? I think this would be very
helpful and a feature all administrators would really benefit from.
 
>> Can content filtering be set-up to block or allow certain specific types of
>> files ? Considering the answer to be yes, would it be possible to set
>> content filtering to allow images files but place a restriction on the size
>> and/or resolution of the files sent as attachments ?

> Content filtering is set per list (the sub-lists in your case). It
> passes or filters MIME message parts based on MIME content type, and
> also optionally on 'extension' of attached files. Content filtering
> per se does not have a way to deal with the size of any attached
> message parts or the resolution of any image/* parts, but there is a
> maximum message size (for new lists in a default install, this
> defaults to 40KB) that applies to all messages on a per list basis
> that will result in all messages exceeding that size being held for
> moderator approval.

Same thing here. Would it be possible to add this as a feature request ? I
think it would really beneficial to have limits set-up per list and also
some control over the way individual subscribers receive their posts. Some
might like attachments while others may prefer to have them blocked.

Thank you again for your replies and really helpful suggestions.


Joe