[Mailman3-dev] Problem with the schema

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 10:58:34 -0600 (CST) 
John-Paul Robinson <jpr at uab.edu> wrote:

> Until a roster is orphaned (no longer has any references) it is not
> eligable for deletion (similar to a hard link in a traditional file
> system).  

True, and there are other interesting cases.  Consider:

  I have a company.  The company is organised into project and focus
  teams.  

  Each team is represented by a roster which contains all members of
  that team.

  A given individual may be part of multiple teams, and thus may be
  present on multiple rosters.  This is especially true for managers and
  executives.

  Every project is represented by a mailing list.

  As projects develop over time they intersect and involve different
  teams.  To represent this rosters are simply andded to and removed
  from the relevant mailing lists.

  A given roster may be linked to multiple lists.

  A given roster may be linked to no lists and remain so unlinked for a
  considerable period.  Such a roster must not be deleted.

  A given email address may occur multiple tiles across the different
  rosters that are referenced by a given list.  (This is mentioned
  simply because only one email should be sent).

Rosters are first class objects that require their own distinct
handling.

> Note, in cases where the subscribers and rosters come from an external
> source, the "zero reference" condition may not be under the control of
> mailman.  That is, a roster may always have > 0 reference in this
> situation and mailman would never try to delete it.

I'd argue that Mailman should never try to delete a roster unless that
roster-type's own expiry polocy states that it should be deleted.  The
nice this is that this need not be done automatically and instantly.  It
is a housekeeping function and so can be done cheaply via a low
frequency (monthly?) cronjob.

-- 
J C Lawrence
---------(*)                Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas.
claw at kanga.nu               He lived as a devil, eh?
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/  Evil is a name of a foeman, as I live.