[Mailman-Users] How to move a list from 2.1.2

[stephen at xemacs.org]

Carl Zwanzig writes:

 > I suppose that I'm also rather 'old-fashioned" in that my preferred 
 > installation is from source,

When was the last time you installed a BIOS from source?<wink>  At some
level everybody has to trust their system from that level on down,
until it proves itself buggy.  I don't think choice of that level is a
matter of fashion; pros will be sharpening their own tools, hobbyists
go to Sears and buy them off the shelf.

 > And as Jon said, you can learn quite a bit about what you're installing
 > just by installing it.

Sure.  I can't blame people who don't though.  As a general principle,
it's all too often the case that all you gain is a knowledge of pain.
I wouldn't impose installing most GNOME apps from source on my worst
enemy.

In the case of Mailman, the defaults *don't* suck and the batteries
*are* included, it's definitely worth the small amount of extra time
spent.

 > I mean, how many people that install from RPMs even know that there
 > might be a README file to read, let along to and find it?

This is something that has peeved me for a decade.  Installers for
commercial software usually offer you the README after installation.
Why don't pkgsrc and dpkg and rpm and portage and MacPorts do that?

(Yes, I suggested that to the dselect maintainer, way back when.  I
guess I should do it again, now that debconf actually works---it
should be possible to adapt similar techniques.)