Re: Mailing list manager on NetBSD

["Julian H. Stacey" <jhs%berklix.com@localhost>]

Mayuresh wrote:
> I am looking to set up a mailing list manager on a NetBSD server.

I moved from majordomo to mailman on a freebsd server,
I wouldnt expect difficulty on netbsd either. I've been very happy
with mailman, more functionality than majordomo.


> The member count is more or less fixed between 300 to 350 and isn't going
> to grow beyond.

My max on biggest list is maybe 250+, but some mailman installations
run much bigger


> The email archive should be browsable and searchable through a web
> interface. ("searchable" is less critical of the two requirements as even
> google search can be used to search through the archive.)

Browsable yes.  Searchable ? Maybe not
  As https://www.freebsd.org/community/mailinglists.html
  contains 
    "You can search or browse the mailing list archives at
    www.FreeBSD.org. It is also possible to browse the mailing lists
    via the Mailman Web interface."
  I suspect mailman may not support that internaly.
  Better ask on mailman users list.


> I need the email storage to be in text format so as to be able to write
> tools of my own, on the server, to analyze the emails (say to grep
> patterns or even to do NLP).

Just hours ago I inspected & deleted archives of list
  http://mailman.berklix.org/mailman/listinfo/ctm-src-12
so yes I can confirm plain text. Grep'able


> Lastly it needs to be available in pkgsrc.
No idea. I used to use NetBSD, & would happily again if need arose,
but I don't currently as keeping up on 1 OS is less work than 2
If by chance Mailman is not supported yet, grab & convert to NetBSD:
  https://svnweb.freebsd.org/ports/head/mail/mailman/


> I first looked up majordomo as that's the one NetBSD mailing lists use.
> But looks like it is not an active project, with last release being in
> 2000.

I recall there was a majordomo2, & there was also a MajorCool web interface
but I think not widely adpopted. I upgraded to mailman instead

Only problem I had was I didnt know how to import my old majordomo
archives to mailman. I still dont know, ran out of time.


> Saw mailman and sympa to be talked about more and there is a nice
> comparison here[1].
> 
> Would appreciate inputs on this.
> 
> An OT question: Does NetBSD mailing list prefer majordomo or it's a legacy
> with no specific reason to change (or are there thoughts about changing
> it?)

I imagine netbsd.org has no particular need of mailman for its own
lists, as skilled tech savy computer people.  I was equaly happy
with a legacy majordomo on berklix.org while I just ran lists for
BSD users & other tech savy users who could use command line intefaces
& for users who could & would actualy Think.

But I gradually ran more public lists for non techs, including some
self admitted completely clueless & some other immeasurably lazy
users, many of whom cant think or refuse to think, love to argue,
& freak at command line etc, so the support load on unpaid volunteer
admin time became intolerable, & I was depserate for a list manager
with graphical clickey support to seperate myself from user support.
(Though mailman can be CLI driven too I recall)


> > > Mayuresh >
> [1] https://www.sympa.org/documentation/mailmanvssympa.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mailing_list_software
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Mailman
https://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/

Cheers,
Julian
-- 
Julian Stacey, Computer Consultant Sys.Eng. BSD Linux Unix, Munich Aachen Kent
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