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Date:	Sat, 3 Apr 2004 14:18:07 PST8PDT,4,1,0,3600,10,-1,0,7200,3600
From:	"Bob" <tt336a5u02@sneakemail.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: SCOUG Server: Bob's report, mailing list software

** Reply to message from "Peter Skye pskye@peterskye.com" on Sat, 3 Apr 2004
11:34:09 PST8PDT,4,1,0,3600,10,-1,0,7200,3600

> Finally, should we write our own? It seems pretty simple to me -- you
> check your POP3 mailbox every 60 seconds and if there's a message there
> you send it out to a bunch of people. Heck, Hacksaw can do all the
> sending and there's got to be some POP3 retrieval programs on Hobbes so,
> like, dude, it's maybe a 20 line batch file. And we can put in
> subscription confirmation. And the daily digests should be easy.

I hate to burst your bubble but you will not get anything running in a 20 line
batch file.

Steward is a REXX program. There are 8 cmd files with a total of 5,000 lines
of code. And it does not do the entire job!

> > Weasel looks good except it does not generate RFC compliant "receive" headers.
>
> Interesting. What is the non-compliancy; are they too long?

No. They are putting an IP address in a field that must have a domain name.
In another field which should be a domain name but can be an IP they always
insert an IP address.

> > > ZxMail http://www.zeryx.com/
> > I think I will try this next.
>
> Thanks, Bob.

So far I am not impressed with ZxMail. I need to get on their mailing list to
see if my understanding of it is correct. I have not been able to receive
email from another email server.

> > > MajorMajor
> > 1. The list identifier can only be 8 bytes,
> > "SCOUG-Programming:" is much longer than 8 bytes.
> > 2. The digest is tied to the archive time. This feature
> > does not make sense to me.
>
> Is MajorMajor open source? It can't be that difficult to lengthen the
> field.

No it is not open source. It is written by the same person that wrote Weasel,
Peter Moylan.

I have now posted a message on the majormajor mailing list about what I think
needs to change.

> > With the current version [of InetMail] we are using there is
> > no confirmed subscription, a feature I think we should have.
>
> What is confirmed subscription?

Steward does not do confirmations. This means that anyone can sign-up anyone
else they want. Some people, when they get angry at someone, will go around to
a lot of mailing lists and sign-up their enemies. It is like taking a bingo
card at the back of some magazines and checking off a lot of entries and
putting someone elses name and address on it and sending it in. Afterwards you
get a lot of junk mail you really don't want. Same with mailing lists that do
not do confirmations.

A mailing list that does confirmations will send one message to the person that
has been subscribed asking if they really did this. They will not get anything
else from the mailing list unless they respond to the confirmation message.

> > I looked on Hobbes and downloaded the two mail list programs there.
>
> Three? http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/pub/os2/apps/internet/mail/list
> major15.zip
> mclst205.zip
> mlp08.zip

I assumed that major15.zip was majormajor which I have already installed on my
system.

> > [Both of them do] not have confirmed subscription.
>
> If confirmed subscription is important, perhaps we should find an open
> source list processor and modify it.
>
> > I could not find any other OS/2 mailing list servers.
> > If someone knows of any post the URL.
>
> Mailman (latest is Dec 2003) at http://mailman.sourceforge.net/ but it
> uses Python and I didn't look to see if OS/2 has a Python.

I think there is a Python available for OS/2.

> There are a few other mail list programs on SourceForge (I searched on
> "mailing list" and "mail list" -- be sure to check the box for "all
> words" or it will do an OR search).
>
> There might be a Java mail list program if we want to look. Terry
> Warren may know of one.

Robert Blair

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