> # Is there any way to use the Majordomo listserv to obtain a list of all the
> # lists on all the Majordomo servers as the $LIST GLOBAL command does with Eric
> # Thomas's Revised LISTSERV?
I've been thinking about this recently. There are really two aspects
to this: (1) how to make the lists command show more lists than only those
on the same Majordomo server, and (2) how to create and/or distribute a
consolidated list of Majordomo servers.
I have an idea of how to do it.
For the first item (how to extend the lists command) we could allow the
command to take optional parameters. If a parameter is specified,
it would be used as the target of a substring search, just like the
"which" command. If the word "global" is the first word of the
parameter, then an administrator-defined set of files is also searched
for any line that matches the parameter. This means the lists command
could return information on local lists, lists on other Majordomo
systems (assuming we had a list of all Majordomo-run lists available
in a text file- more on that next), and even lists from BITNET
(by keeping a recent copy of a Revised Listserv LIST GLOBAL command
in a text file) or other mailing list managers!
Related to this, it would be nice to extend the current built-in
lists command to display a one-line description for each list.
This could be in another list.something file, or we could take the
first line of the list.info file, or we could just wait for the new
configuration system to be finished and have a "description" keyword.
> No. So far I've avoided the whole issue of cooperating Majordomo
> servers; each runs standalone, with no knowledge of any others.
I agree with this philosophy. That's why the lists command would
just search optional text files. They can be anything the administrator
wants, plus a separate "unrelated" mechanism to build the file with
the list of Majordomo servers.
> # If not, is there any way to obtain a complete list of networked servers and
> # the lists they carry?
>
> Not really. I've been half-heartedly compiling a list of the
> Majordomo servers that I know about, just for my own amusement,
> but I don't really have time to do it on any kind of formal basis.
Here's my idea for the master Majordomo list: We set up a master
mailing list of all Majordomo servers that wish to participate. We
include this in the doc files, so new installations know how to join.
We set up a mechanism for a site to run which sends a "lists" command
to all the Majordomo servers on the list (say, once a month). The
results are returned to a program which combines them into a consolidated
file. This consolidated file would be used as one of the inputs to
the extended "lists" command I described above.
This polling/consolidating process could be done from a single central
site and then a consolidated file would be distributed to anyone who
wants it. Or each site that wishes to use it could run the programs
directly themselves with a cron job and a few new entries in their
system's aliases file. This may be a little more work to set up,
but would scale better.
Comments? What does everyone think about the usefulness of a consolidated
list? How about this scheme to implement it?
- Alan
P.S. Yes, I'll volunteer to run the master list at my site and develop
the code, but I want discussion/feedback on the features.
---- ,,,,
Alan Millar amillar@bolis.SF-Bay.org __oo \
System Administrator =___/
Batteries not included.
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