worley@compass.com (Dale Worley) (07/14/90)
If anybody has seen the Bitnet "Listserv" program, it's a pretty winning way to automatically maintain a mailing list. Unfortunately, it only runs on IBM systems (yuck). Has anybody considered reimplementing it in Perl to run on Un*x (which shouldn't be too hard, except for interfacing to the mailer)? Dale Worley Compass, Inc. worley@compass.com -- What the eye beholds And the heart covets Let the hand boldly sieze!
jv@mh.nl (Johan Vromans) (07/14/90)
In article <1990Jul13.173111.506@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU> worley@compass.com (Dale Worley) writes: > Has anybody considered reimplementing it [the Bitnet "Listserv" > program] in Perl to run on Un*x (which shouldn't be too hard, except > for interfacing to the mailer)? Just in case anyone wants to try: I have a mail response server that could be used a a starting point. It handles the interface to the mailer and knows about RFC822 addresses. But of course, real programmers never start with something someone else has written :-). Johan -- Johan Vromans jv@mh.nl via internet backbones Multihouse Automatisering bv uucp: ..!{uunet,hp4nl}!mh.nl!jv Doesburgweg 7, 2803 PL Gouda, The Netherlands phone/fax: +31 1820 62911/62500 ------------------------ "Arms are made for hugging" -------------------------
libes@cme.nist.gov (Don Libes) (07/15/90)
In article <1990Jul14.101729.15986@squirrel.mh.nl> Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> writes: >Just in case anyone wants to try: I have a mail response server that >could be used a a starting point. It handles the interface to the >mailer and knows about RFC822 addresses. >But of course, real programmers never start with something someone >else has written :-). In fact, the opposite. Dave Shaver (shaver@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu) took your code and made a number of improvements to it, as well as making it more portable. I believe it is still 85% your code though. (I used yours originally so I know what it looked like.) Unfortunately, Dave seems to have fallen into a black hole, so I ended up making yet another version with more enhancements. Unfortunately, I'm still a novice at Perl, so most of my additions to the code look pretty grody. (It is extremely difficult debugging when programs have to be run remotely by a sendmail!) I have no interest in distributing this code, and would rather you and Dave get together on this. (I figure a little public pressure might motivate Dave.)
eric@egsner.cirr.com (Eric Schnoebelen) (07/15/90)
In article <5159@muffin.cme.nist.gov> libes@cme.nist.gov (Don Libes) writes: - In article <1990Jul14.101729.15986@squirrel.mh.nl> Johan Vromans <jv@mh.nl> writes: - >Just in case anyone wants to try: I have a mail response server that - >could be used a a starting point. It handles the interface to the - >mailer and knows about RFC822 addresses. - - In fact, the opposite. Dave Shaver (shaver@atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu) - took your code and made a number of improvements to it, as well as - making it more portable. - - Unfortunately, Dave seems to have fallen into a black hole, so I ended - up making yet another version with more enhancements. The black hole into which Dave fell was graduation.. :-) Dave can be found as shaver@convex.com, or shaver@cirr.com. I also believe he brought all his goodies along with him. Perhaps with sufficient arm twisting, I will be able to get his archive server running here on egsner.. - I have no interest in distributing this code, and would rather you and - Dave get together on this. (I figure a little public pressure might - motivate Dave.) I'll bounce this all at him, and we'll see how motivated he gets! -- Eric Schnoebelen eric@cirr.com schnoebe@convex.com Artificial Intelligence is neither -- it consists of quite natural people programming computers to do dumb things. - Bob Spitzer
shaver@convex.com (Dave Shaver) (07/17/90)
libes@cme.nist.gov (Don Libes) writes: > Dave Shaver took [Johan Vromans'] code [for a mail archive server] and > made a number of improvements to it, as well as making it more > portable. Unfortunately, Dave seems to have fallen into a black hole [...] Sorry, Don, not a REAL black hole, just a small grayish one. :-) I accepted a new job with CONVEX and moved back in the middle of June. My email was floating around for a while, but I'm now at "shaver@convex.com". All of my code should still be up on "archive.cs.iastate.edu" at 129.186.3.15. I don't expect to do any more work on the server any time soon, and what's FTP'able at Iowa State is complete, usable, documented, and released. Johan's original code---along with about four other mail servers---should still be there, too. Let me know if anyone has questions or problems with my or Johan's code. I'm willing to help! /\ Dave Shaver \\ CONVEX Computer Corporation \/ Internet: shaver@convex.com UUCP: uunet!convex!shaver
fuchs@czar.Princeton.EDU (Ira Fuchs) (07/27/90)
Not to rain on anyones's parade but LISTSERV is actually a rather large program with functionality that goes WELL beyond the typical mail distribution programs. It includes its own archiving and database search capabilities (complete with complex boolean searching, etc). It has myriad user and system controls for setting up almost any type of conference. Most people only know it and only use it for fairly simple mail distribution but it is capable of much more. I have tried to interest the author of LISTSERV in porting to UNIX but to no avail. Alas, it is fairly inextricably tied to VM/CMS and only the author or a very committed programmer (or one that ought to be committed) would attempt a port.