[Mailman-Users] rsync'able Mailman archive

[Andy Sy]

For a huge list like http://www.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl/ (104MB),
being able to download the raw archive is a blessing.  For those
newsgroups which have (hallelujah) Mailman versions, this means
no more fiddling with infernal newsreader behaviour when it comes
to retrieving big newsgroups.

Just:

1. Fetch huge archive efficiently your favorite download client.
2. Drop the mbox format file into your mail client directory (like
Mozilla Mail)
3. voila!  A configurable, collapsible-threadable, searchable,
completely complete (yeah!) local version of the whole list.


PROBLEM
=======
is... how do you update your local mbox copy efficiently?  I,
can, for example, get a snapshot of the SDL archives as it
stands today, subscribe to the mailing list, and basically
ensure my local 'mirror' is both complete and up-to-date.

BUT... what if I want to stop subscribing for a while, and then
3 months down the road I want a complete version of the mailing
list again?  I would then have to download the (now larger)
full archive all over again.

The solution is to make the archive downloads rsync'able.
Which brings me to the topic of this post:


QUESTION 1
==========
Is making the archive rsync'able a responsibility of the
list administrator or... wouldn't it be better to build
such support in Mailman.  If rsync access were provided
by default and thus widely available, it would allow those
people who are OC about getting complete lists to save time
and avoid wasting gobs of bandwidth by loading and reloading
the full archive multiple times.

QUESTION 2
==========
Once I start subscribing to the list, my local mbox-format
copy of the list is now being updated locally and thus will
not be byte-for-byte identical to the Mailman archive.  If
I then rsync said mailbox with Mailman's, will the differences
then be 'repaired' efficiently (like rsync is supposed to do)?


A HACKISH WORKAROUND IN THE ABSENCE OF RSYNC SUPPORT
====================================================
Deliberately truncate your local mbox copy to a size smaller
than it was when you FIRST updated it locally (you have to
remember what its size was at that point in time), and then
resume copy transferring from that point.




-- 
=========================================
reply-to: a n d y @ n e t f x p h . c o m
http://www.neotitans.com
Web and Software Development