Re: I would like to have avaliable a couple Hypermail variables.

From: Kent Landfield <kent_at_hypermail-project.org>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 10:32:06 -0500 (CDT)
Message-Id: <199810071532.KAA18421_at_landfield.com>


# I am considering using Hypermail for a large number of automatically
# generated lists. To ease installation woes, it would be helpful to have
# some more generic capabilities for many of hypermails options.
#
# I would like something like:
#
# HM_LISTNAME listname
#
# hm_listname = [ listname | NONE ]
#
# -L <listname>
# This options specifies the name of the list being archived. This is a
# convienent variable to have defined as it can be used as a cookie or
# environemntal variable in documentation references.
#
# -H <hostname>
# Set this to the hostname you want added to a mail
# address appearing in the RFC822 field which lack a
# hostname. It is usefull on the command line when servicing
# virtual hosts.

These are easy enough and needed for other reasons as well. The first (-L) will need to be added completely while the (-H) is already there as DOMAINADDR, hm_domainaddr. This was done since usually it is not a hostname that you want there but instead is a domain name. It can be used either way.

# %L - name of current list
# %H - name of current host. Convienient for archiving with virtual hosting.

These would be very useful in the list's header and footer .hyp files.

I can see how this would be useful for virtual hosts. I could use it here as well ;) I do have some questions about the .hmrc file usage though.

# For example for a default .hmrc file:
#
# hm_label = Hypermail discussion list for %L_at_%H
# hm_archives = http://%H
# hm_about = http://%H/%L
# hm_dir = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/%y/%M
# hm_ihtmlheaderfile = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/owner/idxheader.hyp
# hm_ihtmlfooterfile = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/owner/idxfooter.hyp
# hm_mhtmlheaderfile = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/owner/msgheader.hyp
# hm_mhtmlfooterfile = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/owner/msgfooter.hyp
# hm_hmail = %L_at_%H

What is done if there are no values for %H and %L when first encountered ? It is possible to '#define LISTNAME "NONE"' in options.h, not set the HM_LISTNAME environment variable and then find no hm_listname or hm_hostname in the .hmrc file for the list. Then the above config file input would be  

hm_label = Hypermail discussion list for _at_
hm_archives = http://
hm_about = http:///
hm_dir = /var/hypermail///%y/%M
hm_ihtmlheaderfile = /var/hypermail///owner/idxheader.hyp
hm_ihtmlfooterfile = /var/hypermail///owner/idxfooter.hyp
hm_mhtmlheaderfile = /var/hypermail///owner/msgheader.hyp
hm_mhtmlfooterfile = /var/hypermail///owner/msgfooter.hyp
hm_hmail = _at_

Should it bail if hypermail is called without a value in a substitution cookie ? Today it doesn't.

# Does this seem reasonable enough? Mostly a more frequently used variable
# substitution routine.

Yes it is quite reasonable.

# A more difficult endevor which could also be helpful would be to leverage
# off of the case where %L is used in the hm_dir variable along with other
# date formats (%y, %M, etc) being used. In this case, it would be nice to
# have Hypermail generate the "homepage(s)" for the directory traversals on
# the fly. The page would need to be created initially (-d option) and then
# updated anytime a new directory was automaticaly created.
#
# If this were done, then two addition .hyp files would be good:
# hm_lhtmlheaderfile = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/owner/lstheader.hyp
# hm_lhtmlfooterfile = /var/hypermail/%H/%L/owner/lstfooter.hyp
#
# Probably put a link to my search engine in "hm_lhtmlfooterfile"....

So... In essence be able to create a top level index for all the year/month directories ? For example, in the hypermail list archives here I have two types of directories at the Top level,

  1. hypermail generated archives separated by month/year,
  2. a mailbox directory that keeps a copy of the inbond messages in unix mailboxes separated by month

Here is what I mean.

hypermail/mail-archive:

drwxr-xr-x   9 lists    daemon       512 Oct  6 11:48 1998
lrwxrwxrwx   1 kent     kent          13 Apr 23 23:45 index.html 
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon       512 Oct  2 20:27 mailbox

hypermail/mail-archive/1998:
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon      1536 Oct  6 11:31 Apr
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon      1024 Oct  6 11:33 Aug
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon       512 Oct  6 11:33 Jul
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon      1536 Oct  6 11:33 Jun
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon      1024 Oct  6 11:32 May
drwxrwxr-x   2 lists    daemon       512 Oct  7 10:12 Oct
drwxr-xr-x   2 lists    daemon      1536 Oct  6 11:34 Sep

hypermail/mail-archive/1998/Apr:
-rw-r--r--   1 lists    daemon      4678 Oct  6 11:31 0000.html
...
-rw-r--r--   1 lists    daemon      8813 Oct  6 11:31 author.html
-rw-r--r--   1 lists    daemon      7469 Oct  6 11:31 date.html
-rw-r--r--   1 lists    daemon      7753 Oct  6 11:31 index.html

/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/1998/May:
/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/1998/Jun:
/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/1998/Jul:
/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/1998/Aug:

/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/1998/Sep:
/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/1998/Oct:

/ftp/hypermail/mail-archive/mailbox:
-rw-r--r-- 1 lists daemon 159819 May 25 23:09 hypermail.9804 ...
-rw-r--r-- 1 lists daemon 33048 Oct 7 10:12 hypermail.9810

So in this case I would need to create a Top level index in the hypermail/mail-archive directory that links in the entire archive. I would then need to have a year index file in hypermail/mail-archive/1998 that linked in the separate months. The individual months are already handled. ;) Then when I incorporate the ability for hypermail to save a copy of the inbound message in mailbox format prior to generating a html page for it, I'll need to have an index generated for that. Is this the type of thing that we are talking about ?

Don't get me wrong... I'm trying to understand what we looking at so that I can see how to make it generic enough to implement and administer.

# Not sure how much of this has been discussed before, or how active
# development is, having recently joined your list.

The indexing has not been discussed as to how to do it right... As of this morning, the TODO list has the following items on it about indexing.:


We need to discuss how it might be used so we can see what can be done about improving it...

-- 
Kent Landfield                        Phone: 1-817-545-2502             
Email: kent_at_landfield.com             http://www.landfield.com/
Email: kent_at_nfr.net                   http://www.nfr.net/
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Received on Wed 07 Oct 1998 05:33:15 PM GMT

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