[Mailman-Developers] Requirements for a new archiver

[J C Lawrence]

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003 13:11:01 -0800 
Chuq Von Rospach <chuqui at plaidworks.com> wrote:
> On Oct 29, 2003, at 1:05 PM, David Birnbaum wrote:

>> 2.  third-party add-ons make it that much harder to install.  If I
>> have to set up a Mysql or Postgres database to use Mailman, it's a
>> step that will put off people who don't already have it going.
 
> actually, if you do it right, it's much easier -- because when you
> build in those tools, you build in standardized interfaces that third
> party add-ons can access, instead of the current case, which are code
> hacks that break every time Barry burps at the CVS server...

Aye, picking the right interface abstractions is key.

There's also a disjoint between the novice SysAdm case who loves the
fact of Mailman's all-in-one service, and the more meaty chap who
integrates what he needs to.  Much of Mailman's appeal at the low end is
its all-in-one simple-to-install nature.  (Well, ignoring thee GID
FAQ...)

Mailman v2.1 has a plugin layer for the membership roster.  Its not a
fully mature interface, but there are LDAP and SQL adaptors in the wild.
At some point those adaptors will move into the Mailman core.  If we
move the archiving components (storage, presentation, index) behind
plugin interfaces as well there's a reasonable opportunity for similar
third parties to build adaptor layers which then also move into the
Mailman core.

Oh yeah, and just to keep Nigel Metheringham hopping:

  Mailman just doesn't have enough configuration options.  

-- 
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.