[Mailman-Developers] Re: Components and pluggablility

J C Lawrence claw@kanga.nu
Thu, 14 Dec 2000 23:07:50 -0800


On Thu, 14 Dec 2000 23:00:02 -0800 
J C Lawrence <claw@kanga.nu> wrote:

> What's this host-specific stuff?  More later.

Oops, I forgot to paste a particular bit from my notes:

The basic pattern of execution:

  Messages arrive from the MTA and are put in files in ~/inbound
  with the name of the file matching both the list address it was
  send to and what needs to be done to it (bounce processing, list
  post, etc).

  A cron job runs and reads ~/config.<hostname>, and on the basis of
  the contents of that file, forks up to three child processes and
  then silently dies:

    i) Process inbound messages

    ii) Process messages in ~/lists/<listname>/pending

    iii) Process messages in ~/outbound

  The ~/config.hostname file indicates which if any or all of the
  above three children should be forked, and further, can specify
  both which groups or individual lists to process for all three.
  It is this which allows functionality to be distributed across
  hosts with individual hosts assuming specific named loads.

Note: Its actually more than three children as that doesn't (yet)
account for command and bounce processing (which I've put into
seperate queues), but it gives you the general idea.
  
-- 
J C Lawrence                                       claw@kanga.nu
---------(*)                          http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/
--=| A man is as sane as he is dangerous to his environment |=--