[Mailman-Users] Status of sibling lists

Mark Sapiro mark at msapiro.net
Thu Sep 15 18:13:13 EDT 2016


On 09/15/2016 02:35 PM, Lindsay Haisley wrote:
> On Thu, 2016-09-15 at 13:40 -0700, Mark Sapiro wrote:
>>
>> This post was garbled with multiple insertions of the same text in
>> random places.
> 
> Hmmm. I don't know what happened, Mark. I didn't get a copy so I can't
> see it.

You can see it at
<https://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2016-September/081319.html>


> The configuration will be:
> 
> Master List ("umbrella list") - linked to siblings via regular_include_lists:
> 	sibling list 1
> 	sibling list 2
> 	etc.
> 
> Posts to the Master List will deliver _one_ copy only to each of the
> subscribers on the several sibling lists, regardless of CCs or
> duplicate addresses across these lists. I believe this is a feature of
> regular_include_lists.


That is not completely correct. for example if a post to master list is
Ccd to sib1 and sib2, a member of all three lists will receive a copy
from each of the three lists for a total of three, but a member of say
only sib1 will only receive the one copy from that list.

For a post to only master list with no Cc, both the above members will
receive only the master list copy.

It works like this. The recipient list for the master list post are all
the members of the master list plus all the members of those
regular_include_lists not also directly addressed in To: or Cc:, but
that recipient list is built as a set so there are no duplicates in it.


> I understand that unsubscribe instructions on posts distributed via
> (addressed to) the Master List will be relevant to the Master List,
> although the address to be "unsubscribed" may exist on one or more
> sibling lists. Since at least one of the sibling lists will contain the
> email addresses of dues-paying members, it's necessary that the
> unsubscribe request be processed on the Master List as an instruction
> to _not_ distribute to the unsubscribing address rather than as an
> instruction to unsubscribe the address from any or all sibling lists.


This is not possible for sibling lists. If an address is a member of
both the 'master' and one of the regular_include_lists, and it is
unsubscribed from the master, it will still be sent copies of posts to
the master because of its membership in the included list. There's no
way for the master to know that any member of an included list should
not be included.


> Disablement or removal of addresses due to bounces, on the other hand,
> should propagate to all sibling lists and cause them to be disabled or
> expunged in every list on which they occur.


This doesn't happen either.  If a member of an included list is bouncing
posts from the master list, the bounce goes to the master list and is
ignored because it's for a non-member.


> I hope this is clear this time :)
> 
> Can Mailman do these things? 


It could probably be enhanced to do the things it currently doesn't do,
but there are no plans to do so.


-- 
Mark Sapiro <mark at msapiro.net>        The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan


More information about the Mailman-Users mailing list