The mailing list for listmasters using Sympa

[Craig Carey <address@concealed>]

The Sympa system kept sending my subscribe messages back to me
 without changing them. I was evaluating the system, and it had
 to be fixed or else the Sympa would have to be rejected by me.

>This is normal behaviour for -request and -owner messages...

The problem with Sympa is actually an absence of code.

Here's a Perl pipe filter that fixes the problem.

The script allows individuals to send commands to addresses
 containing "...-request@...".


The Perl script inserts a single word into the "Subject: " line.
The filter is introduced by editing the '/etc/aliases' file.

If a user sends a message to 'address@concealed' with the
 subject line:
   Subject: subscribe

... then the message is sent instead to 'address@concealed'.
 Its subject becomes:
   Subject: subscribe LISTNAME

File  '/home/sympa/bin/sympa2smartlist.pl'
------------------------------
#! /usr/bin/perl -w
# Perl routine: sympa2smartlist.pl  3 August 1999.
#
# Test: "cat test-mail.txt | perl sympa2smartlist.pl LISTNAME | cat"
# Before: "Subject: subscribe"
# After : "Subject: subscribe LISTNAME"

use strict;
my($notdone, $NameOfSympaList, $buf) = (1, "UNKNOWN-LIST", "");
if ((defined $ARGV[0]) && ("" ne $ARGV[0])) { $NameOfSympaList = $ARGV[0]; }

open(STDOUT, "| /home/sympa/bin/queue sympa");

while (1) {
   $buf = <STDIN>;
   if (not defined $buf) { last; }
   if ($notdone) {
      $buf =~ /(Subject:)\s+(\S+)(.*)$/s;  # /s makes $3 incl line-end-char(s)
      if (defined $2) {
         $buf = $1 . " " . $2 . " ". $NameOfSympaList . $3;
         $notdone = 0;
      }
   }
   print $buf;
}
--------------------------

The '/etc/aliases' file would contain one of these:

LISTNAME-request: "|/home/sympa/bin/sympa2smartlist.pl LISTNAME"
LISTNAME-request: "|/etc/smrsh/sympa2smartlist.pl LISTNAME"

(It is possible to patch Sympa up with Procmail, but in this
 case, the "Subject:" field is assumed to be always present.)

Confirmation messages still go out containing the wrong e-mail
 address. They contain an e-mail address containing 'sympa@...'.

The Perl script has not been tested much.



------------------------------------
At 20:20 28.09.99 , you wrote:
>> I just installed Sympa into ns1.strongnet.co.nz.
>> 
>> The program sympa.pl doesn't do anything much except
>>  return messages sent to it. It does not alter messages
>>  it receives.
>
>This is normal behaviour for -request and -owner messages which are sent
>asis to owners of the list. Commands must be addressed to 
>address@concealed.
>
>> What's wrong with the configuration or Sympa?.
>> [...]
>> 938469311       [smtpto] Msg from 
>> address@concealed@ns1.strongnet.co.nz, 0 rcpts
>> ## Effective address will be $EMAIL@$HOST  <======== !!!!!!!!!!!

That is a line in the file that is unclear.

>> email           address@concealed
>
>Here is the problem : email parameter should be "sympa" !!
>
>Aren't you an ex-Smartlist user (-request) ?

I have a webpage on Ada 95 *mailing lists*.
    (Here if anyone is interested: <http://www.ijs.co.nz/ada_95.htm>)

Only 36% of the lists [9 out of 25] use the Majordomo-Sympa
 method of having no "-request" in the address that receives commands.
(The lists that had litle traffic were not counted).

For whatever its worth, that preference for the SmartList scheme
 seems to be the opinion of administrators that also like that
 best modern programming language ideal for maintainable bug
 free reliable complex multiasking multi-nation military or banking
 or etc., computer systems. (I didn't do much research into various
 arguments that advocate Sympa. However, the rules of the page at

       <http://listes.cru.fr/sympa/sympa-users.html>

 advise subscribers to not do that. We are allowed to make adverse
 comment at least if writing as if complaining about bugs. It is not
 clear whether the rules are flawed, or not.)

(The page notes the place for general [comparative] discussions is
 here:  The List-Managers list:

     <http://www.greatcircle.com/lists/list-managers/archive.html>
     <http://www.greatcircle.com/lists/list-managers/> )

--------

Questions (hypothetical):

Can Sympa subtract out e-mail address from the list it would
 otherwise subscribe to?. E.g. a newsletter was sent out more
 than once.

Is there going to be a CGI interface to handle set subtraction?.

Does Sympa perfectly handle messages containing Arabic text
 or two byte unicode?.

>
>Olivier Salaün


_____________________________________________________________
Mr G. A. Craig Carey
E-mail: address@concealed
Auckland, Nth Island, New Zealand
Pages: Snooz Metasearch: http://www.ijs.co.nz/info/snooz.htm
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