Re: LINUX

Jonathan Walther (krooger@debian.org)
Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:30:20 -0700 (PDT)


Besides the X-mailing-list: header, many mailing lists now politely user the
Sender: header field to identify themselves.

For this list, my infallible procmail rule is:

0:
* ^Sender:.*owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
linux-kernel

Jonathan Walther

-- sig --
Witches are fucked up manhating mind perverts.

On Tue, 29 Jun 1999, Mike A. Harris wrote:

> On Mon, 28 Jun 1999, Ted Rolle wrote:
>
> >Well, it seems to make more sense to have a well-defined place (like the
> >start of the subject line rather than have it "in the headers".
>
> I suggest you read RFC 822.
>
> >I like precision.
>
> Then purchase a vernier caliper.
>
> >Causes less problems downstream.
>
> For you perhaps.
>
> >And the "If your mail client can't sort properly..." is a
> >fatuous argument.
>
> No it is not. As far as I know, there is *NO* defined email
> header that is a standard place to put identifying information as
> to which mailing list a particular mail comes from.
>
> Therefore, it is up to the administrator of each mailing list to
> deal with this inconvenient issue themselves, and in the best way
> known to them.
>
> The best nonintrusive way to do this, is to put a new header into
> the mail message called "X-mailing-list" which is what a great
> many mailing lists do. Other lists, have some other static
> header.
>
> Since there is no "standard way" to identify a mailing list
> across the board, each list does it in their own way. Some do in
> fact use the subject line, because their admin does not know any
> better. Others do it the proper way, but choosing some other
> header that does not negatively affect anything.
>
> Since there is no standard way to put identify the mailing list
> in the message headers, there is also no standard way for email
> client software to "detect" which mailing list a mail comes from.
> The identifying information is in _some_ header, but that could
> be any one of many, or none at all. As such, the best way to
> implement mail folder sorting is with some regular expression
> based email filter that can search the header, and optionally the
> body of each incoming mail message.
>
> If you were to do a poll of all mailing lists out there, you
> would very much find that a large majority of them do NOT use the
> subject line for identification, and DO use an alternate header
> of some sort, or no indentification at all. I am on about 30
> mailing lists right now, and not ONE uses the subject line, thank
> god.
>
> As such, this is how the MAJORITY of mailing lists indentify
> themselves to client software, and it is up to the end user to
> run software that can properly filter mail based on defacto
> standard procedures for identifying mailing lists. If you do
> not, then your software isn't broken, but it isn't going to do
> what you want either. As such, you can either upgrade your mail
> client, or even better - use procmail as your mail filter. It is
> free, and works as a front end to your mailbox, so you can use
> ANY EMAIL CLIENT you wish.
>
>
> >Taken to the other extreme, would it cause insurmountable
> >problems to the other "several thousand" on the mailing list?
>
> Yes it would. The subject line allready gets cut in half when
> displaying the folder screen in practically any email client.
> Thus you have about 3-4 inches of subject line showing at best.
> Losing 2 more inches to put "[LINUX-KERNEL]" on every message
> would make it extremely inconvenient to everyone on this list
> that matters (and I'm not necessarily one of them).
>
> >I think not.
>
> That is your opinion. At any rate the discussion is completely
> useless, and a waste of bandwidth because regardless of what you
> think/want on the issue, the maintainer of the vger mailing
> lists, as well as 99.9% of the subscribers of all the vger
> mailing lists do not want the current method to change. You can
> complain until you're purple if you like, but it is basically a
> "I am GOD of this mailing list, and it will not change" issue, so
> don't waste your breath. (Note: GOD - in the above context, is
> not me. ;o) I believe David Miller is GOD in this particular
> context. ;o)
>
> Other than that, enjoy the mailing list, and check out the
> procmail program:
>
> man procmail
>
> Use the following rule to sort linux-kernel:
>
> # Store linux kernel messages into a different folder.
> :0:
> * ^TOlinux-kernel@vger
> LINUX-KERNEL
>
>
> Take care,
> TTYL
>
>
>
> --
> Mike A. Harris Linux advocate GNU advocate
> Computer Consultant Open Source advocate
>
> Tea, Earl Grey, Hot...
>
>
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
>

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/