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| -rw-r--r-- | README | 101 |
1 files changed, 92 insertions, 9 deletions
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -$Revision: 442 $, $Date: 1998-04-13 05:37:28 +0100 (Mon, 13 Apr 1998) $ +$Revision: 448 $, $Date: 1998-04-13 20:55:46 +0100 (Mon, 13 Apr 1998) $ There's still much that I'd like to redo or add. I'm not incredibly proud of the code, and it's a bit embarassing to be sharing it at this @@ -6,7 +6,10 @@ point. The weakest points in my mind are probably the cgi scripts and html formatting. Unfortunately, I won't soon have the time to devote to doing it better. -Initial version of Mailman (v. 0.9) written by John Viega Dec 12-15 1996 +Initial version of Mailman (v. 0.9) written by John Viega Dec 12-15 +1996. +Refinements for mailman 1.0b2 by ken manheimer. + See file DONE for info on changes since v. 0.9 Features: @@ -14,9 +17,12 @@ Features: moderation, mail based commands, digests, etc... o An extensive web interface customizable on a per-list basis. o Web based list administration interface for *all* admin-type tasks. - o Automatic web based hypermail-style archives (using pipermail) + o Automatic web based hypermail-style archives (using pipermail or + other external archiver), including provisions for private archives o Smart bounce detection and correction o Fast bulk mailing + o Smart spam protection + o Extendable logging o Multiple list owners and moderators o Optional MIME-Compliant digests o Nice about which machine you subscribed from if you're from the @@ -25,8 +31,8 @@ Features: Requirements: You must be root on a machine running a mail transport program that uses an /etc/aliases file, and has a sendmail executable (smail - should be OK). Eventually I'd really like to support qmail, - but currently don't. + should be OK). (We should soon be switching over to direct + SMTP connection to whatever you have running on port 25.) The machine really needs to have a web server in order to configure lists. Install: @@ -66,13 +72,39 @@ Install: copy from mailman/modules/mm_cfg.py.dist. Include settings in mm_cfg.py for any of the defaults in mm_defaults.py that you want to tailor for your site. + o Create the site password, if you don't already have one, using + 'mailman/bin/mmsitepass password'. + o Point external archiver at public and private archives (we recommend + http://starship.skyport.net/crew/amk/maintained/pipermail.html ). Adding a new list: o Run the program bin/newlist +List managers, note that: + + o Being a list administrator does not entail receiving the traffic - + you have to subscribe, as well. + o Relevant urls - the DEFAULT_URL plus: + - mailman/listinfo/listname for public view of list + - mailman/admin/listname for options + - mailman/admindb/listname for pending requests + - and generally, mailman/listinfo for the list of (public) lists + Troubleshooting: + Many of the scripts have their stderr logged to + ~mailman/logs/error, and some of the modules log caught errors + conditions there, as well, so you should check there at least + occasionally to look for bugs in the code and problems in your + setup. + + One thing that is *not* caught by stderr hook is syntax errors! + However, just about all files **except** cron/mailpasswds can be + run from the command line with no arguments, and no effect. So + you can and should use the python interpreter to check the syntax + of any changes before trying them out. + If the web pages hang: CERN web servers might leave python's running, and in some @@ -84,14 +116,15 @@ If mail isn't getting delivered: The cgi wrappers are failing. Either a UID is wrong, or your web server / mailer has a non-standard name. -Some notes about the code (Developers notes): - How to add a new user option: +How to add a new user option + + You'll need to do some of these things and not others. 1) Add a flag to mm_defaults.py, and mm_cfg.py.dist if it's likely to require a custom value for each site. 2) Add an entry to mm_html GetStandardReplacements name & mapping, to enable referring to the value from mailman html. - 3) Add replacements lines to the cgi/options and cgi/listionfo + 3) Add replacements lines to the cgi/options and cgi/listinfo scripts, to hook the mailman html up with the option. 4) For user-specific options, make SetUserOption calls in & cgi/handle_opts. @@ -100,6 +133,56 @@ Some notes about the code (Developers notes): 6) For user-specific options, add description to mm_mailcmd help 7) Update templates if the options have replacements 8) Use your option wherever appropriate... - +Interactive python sessions with maillists + + You can do substantial things with maillists from th interpreter! + Cd to the modules subdir and, with '.' on your pythonpath, start + the interpreter and import maillist and mm_utils. You can + instantiate the maillist of your choice, eg for a list named + postal: + +>>> l = maillist.MailList('postal') + + If the list is active, and you aren't going to be saving any + changes, do an l.Unlock() immediately. (Otherwise, anyone visiting + a web interface involving the list, or postings going to the list, + will be held awaiting the lock.) Now you can examine various + aspects of the list: + +>>> l.members +['klm@python.org'] +>>> l.digest_members +[] +>>> l.real_name +'Postal' +>>> l._internal_name +'postal' + + dir(l) will present the components of the list. maillists.py has + the descriptions of many of the components, though some are defined + in other modules. + + If you want to save changes, 'l.Save()' will do it. It's a real + good idea to play with trial lists, first, before doing surgery + with this method on production lists. + + When you do get comfortable with it, you use it and a utility + routine, mm_utils.mm_utils.map_maillists(), to do wholesale changes + on all your lists. It takes a function argument, and applies that + function to every one of the lists on your system. For instance, + to get the names of all the lists on your system which are + advertised: + +>>> import maillist, mm_utils +>>> def advertised(l): +... if l.advertised: return l.real_name +... +>>> filter(None, mm_utils.map_maillists(advertised)) +['Mailman-developers', 'Meta-sig', 'Python-Help', 'C++-SIG', +'Matrix-SIG', 'DB-SIG', 'DO-SIG', 'Doc-SIG', 'GUI-SIG', 'Image-SIG', +'Objc-SIG', 'Plot-SIG', 'Pythonmac-SIG', 'String-SIG', 'Thread-SIG', +'Grail', 'XML-SIG', 'JPython-Interest'] + If you do list surgery with this mechanism, double check that + you're doing what you intend before having the routine do l.Save()'s. |