Thank you very much, Mark. I appreciate the information and help. I have written a small php app which uses the imap libraries to open and process the mbox files. Given a time frame, the app will mark for deletion or remove any messages older than the time frame. Now to write a script to call bin/arch for each of the lists I process with my php app. I think I will still shutdown mailman when I run the php app since I don't have any way to check on any locks. Afterwards, I can restart Mailman, then call the script to rebuild the archives.
The combination of the two apps/scripts will allow us to automate removing old archives. Run once a month for marking old messages, then once a year to remove marked messages. We can then keep a running 2 - 3 year archive going. Thanks again, Chris On 5/20/2011 8:44 PM, Mark Sapiro wrote: > C Nulk wrote: >> I am in the process of trying to automate our Mailman Archive >> maintenance before it gets unruly. I looked in the FAQ and wiki for >> information and found some about rebuilding the archives (which will be >> handy) but nothing about automating it. >> >> The assumptions I am working under: >> 1. the html files for the archives are located in <some >> prefix>/<listname> (to be called DIR-A) >> 2. the directory the mbox file to rebuild the archive html files are in >> <some prefix>/<listname>.mbox (to be called DIR-B) >> 3. our automated process will process the mbox files in DIR-B and delete >> completely or mark for deletion any messages older than a given timeframe. >> >> Now, the questions: >> 1. If I run bin/arch --wipe <listname> to rebuild the archives for >> <listname>, do I have to delete the files in DIR-A first or will >> bin/arch do it? > > You do not have to delete any DIR-A files. That's what the --wipe > option does. > > >> 2. When a message is added to the mbox file in DIR-B, is it appended to >> the file or does it get added through some interface? > > It is appended. > > >> 3. When a message is added to the mbox file in DIR-B, are any existing >> messages that are marked for deletion removed or is the message just >> added to the mbox file? > > It is just appended by a file open and append operation. The process > does not in any way emulate an MDA or any IMAP or other mail access > type process. > > >> 4. When bin/arch is run and builds the html files, does it ignore >> messages marked for deletion or does it add the message to the html >> files no matter how it is marked? > > It totally ignores any message status type headers. > > >> 5. Should Mailman be shutdown prior to running my automated process, >> which includes running bin/arch, or can I leave Mailman running? > > It's OK for Mailman to be running. There are archive locks that will > prevent concurrent updates. > > >> 6. In our installation, the public archives directory for each list is a >> link to the private archives directory for each list, is that the >> standard or should I be prepared to see some archives in the public area >> and other in the private depending on the particular list's setting? > > All archive data is in archives/private/. archives/public/ contains > only symlinks. > > >> 7. Is there any other gotcha I should watch out for when using an >> automated process? > > I don't think so. > > -- > Mark Sapiro <m...@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, > San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan > ------------------------------------------------------ Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy: http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-users/archive%40jab.org
