[Mailman-Users] List-creation Owner E-mail Address

[Barry Finkel]

I have a suggestion.  I do not know how others create new Mailman lists,
but I have around 20 template files.  If I want to make a list named
NEWLIST, then I copy the appropriate configuration file into

     newlist.config

I then edit this file to change any parameters that need changing:

     real_name
     owner
     info
     description
     <digest options>
     <archive options>

Then I run a script

     create_list.exec newlist [emaildomain]

that does some pre-processing of the list name and then invokes

     /usr/sbin/newlist $emaildomain $listname
     config_list -i $listname.config $listname

The config_list code allows me to specify ONLY ONE e-mail address for
the list owner, when I may have specified multiple owners in the
newlist.config file.  I ran a test and created a test list named
"testowner".  For the address of the list owner I specified

     testowner-owner at lists.example.com

and the list-creation mail was sent to the list owners I had specified
in my configuration file.  In my case, I have already set the owner(s)
before I create the list, so this address - testowner-owner - is
set and ready to use.  Could this be a default for the owner prompt?
Or would it create problems for those who create a list and then change
the list parameters to suit the list's needs?  As I look at the
"newlist" python code, I see what happens:

     1) A list is created and the result of the "owner" prompt becomes
        the list owner.

     2) I overwrite the owner information (and all the other parameters)
        when I run the "config_list" command.

     3) When is the list-creation e-mail sent to the one owner e-mail
        address?  It appears to be done in the "newlist" code, but
        at that time, I have not yet run the "config_list" command
        that resets the parameters.  When I ran my test, was I lucky
        that by the time that the list-creation mail had been sent
        to Postfix, the "config_list" command had finished re-populating
        the owner field?

I know that there has been talk in the past weeks about list-creation
templates.  I would like to be able to specify multiple e-mail
addresses at the list-creation prompt so that all of the list owners
would get the mail.  I do not want to rely on specifying one list owner
and then insuring that he or she forwards a copy to the other
co-owners.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Barry S. Finkel
Computing and Information Systems Division
Argonne National Laboratory          Phone:    +1 (630) 252-7277
9700 South Cass Avenue               Facsimile:+1 (630) 252-4601
Building 240, Room 5.B.8             Internet: BSFinkel at anl.gov
Argonne, IL   60439-4828             IBMMAIL:  I1004994