[Mailman-Developers] Re: Future of pipermail?

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "KK" == Ken Kyler <ken@kyler.com> writes:

    KK> I'd like to suggest that instead of integrating other
    KK> technologies, that making Mailman open to them would be
    KK> better.  Such as offering the alternative to use Webdav, or
    KK> making APIs for PHP, Perl, etc to interact with it.

    KK> This is a classic COTS integration issue.  If you depend too
    KK> heavily on a product, it is possible for a future release of
    KK> that product to break yours and the other guys don't care
    KK> because you're a small fry in the pond.  Been there myself and
    KK> ended up gutting a product I was working on.

Yes, but I think there's a difference in that we're going to be
relying on open standards, not closed COTS technology.  Mailman, of
course, is already built on a number of standards: RFC 822, SMTP,
NNTP, HTTP, CGI, etc., etc.  Any of these could go away or be replaced
or whatever, but we're doing a good thing by relying on these
standards.  Of course, you have to pick the right ones, and (IMO)
build an architecture that lets you more easily move to new standards
when they arise and become useful.

    KK> My apologies for butting in - been lurking a long time and
    KK> this is an interesting thread.

The more the merrier!

-Barry