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diff --git a/www/text.causal.agency/019-mailing-list.7 b/www/text.causal.agency/019-mailing-list.7 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..b3490a94 --- /dev/null +++ b/www/text.causal.agency/019-mailing-list.7 @@ -0,0 +1,286 @@ +.Dd March 4, 2021 +.Dt MAILING-LIST 7 +.Os "Causal Agency" +. +.Sh NAME +.Nm Mailing List +.Nd a small-scale approach +. +.Sh DESCRIPTION +When I initially published +some software I expected +other people to use, +I just asked that patches +be mailed directly to me, +but I figured that +if more people were interested, +it would be better +to have a mailing list. +Unfortunately +email software, +mailing list options in particular, +are quite daunting. +I wanted a light-weight option +that would require me to host +as little software as possible. +. +.Pp +My regular email is hosted by Fastmail, +and I poked around its settings +to see what I could do. +It turns out Fastmail lets you +configure address aliases to +.Dq also send to all contacts in +a contacts group. +That's a mailing list! +I created a group called +.Dq List +and an alias called +.Mt list@causal.agency +configured to deliver to that group. +So it's really just an alias +for my regular address +that happens to also +deliver to another group of people. +. +.Pp +It's easier to just configure +and manage one mailing list, +so what I do is ask patches and feedback +to be sent to +.Mt list+catgirl@causal.agency , +for example. +Fastmail treats any +.Ar +suffix +the same as the base address, +but the full address can be used +by subscribers to filter mail by topic +if they wish. +. +.Pp +To subscribe someone to the list, +I add their contact to the group. +For a long time I was planning +to write some software +to manage these subscriptions. +It should be possible +to process subscription requests from IMAP +and manipulate the contact group with CardDAV. +When I went to start implementing this, +however, +I found CardDAV (and WebDAV in general) +completely inscrutable. +It's the kind of protocol +that is split across like 20 +different RFCs +and you can't understand anything +by just reading +the one you actually care about. +So I've given up on that +and will keep manually subscribing people +on request. +. +.Pp +The only thing missing, then, +is a way for people to read +mail sent to the list +while they aren't subscribed. +All the existing +mailing list archive software +I know of +expects to have the mail locally, +but I'd rather keep all my mail in IMAP. +First, +in order to make sure +I keep a complete archive +of the mailing list in IMAP, +I added a small amount +of Sieve code +to my Fastmail filters configuration: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +if address :matches ["To", "Cc"] "list*@causal.agency" { + fileinto :copy :flags "\e\eSeen" "INBOX.List"; +} +.Ed +. +.Pp +Sieve is a small standard language +specifically for filtering mail. +This bit of code matches +anything sent to the list +and adds a copy of it +(the original is going into my inbox) +to the +.Dq List +folder +and marks the copy as read. +. +.Pp +With a pristine IMAP mailbox +to export from, +I wrote a new archive generator. +It's called +.Xr bubger 1 +kirg (have it in a way). +My goal was to render directly from IMAP +and produce only static files as output, +making it not only easy to serve, +but also to run in one place +and copy the files elsewhere. +That's important to me +because it has access to my email, +so I'd rather run it +on my local network and +.Xr rsync 1 +its output into The Cloud. +The static files are in +HTML, Atom and mboxrd formats. +. +.Pp +The architecture of +.Xr bubger 1 +is that for each piece of mail, +identified by its UID in the mailbox, +HTML and Atom fragments +are exported along with the mboxrd. +Those fragments are then stitched together +using the IMAP SORT and THREAD extensions +to make full pages and feeds +for each thread. +The fragments act as a cache +for subsequent runs. +. +.Pp +I admit I did some +pretty questionable things +to achieve this. +Namely, +I wrote a small string templating engine in C. +I use it to produce the HTML +and XML for Atom, +as well as to generate URLs +and paths. +I'm really happy with how it works, actually. +This is also where +I really started using +one of my favourite C hacks: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +#define Q(...) #__VA_ARGS__ +.Ed +. +.Pp +I quote all my HTML/XML templates +with this and it's lovely. +. +.Pp +I've been working on +.Xr bubger 1 +on and off for almost a year now, +and it's been interesting. +I learned a lot about how email +works from having to deal with +all the ways a message can be. +Thankfully a lot of that dealing +is done by the IMAP server. +. +.Pp +As for running it, +I initially just ran it with +.Xr cron 8 , +and that's still a good way to go. +To hook it up to +.Xr rsync 1 , +pipe it like so: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +bubger -C list [...] | rsync -a --files-from=- list remote:list +.Ed +. +.Pp +Later, +I got a little annoyed +with having to wait +for the next run +if I wanted to link +to some mail I just received. +I added an option +to use IMAP IDLE +to wait for new mail continuously +and I started running it +under my process supervisor, +.Xr catsitd 8 . +. +.Pp +The setup is a little more complex +to feed the list of updated files to +.Xr rsync 1 . +I added the +.Xr catsit-watch 1 +utility to run a command +when a file changes, +and in my +.Xr catsit.conf 5 +I have the following: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +bubger ~/.local/libexec/bubger +rsync catsit-watch -i -f ~/list/UIDNEXT ~/.local/libexec/rsync +.Ed +. +.Pp +The +.Pa ~/.local/libexec/bubger +script runs +.Xr bubger 1 , +writing the list of updated paths to +.Pa ~/list/FILES : +.Bd -literal -offset indent +exec bubger -i -C ~/list [...] >~/list/FILES +.Ed +. +.Pp +And the +.Pa ~/.local/libexec/rsync +script gets run each time a +.Xr bubger 1 +update completes +.Po +.Pa UIDNEXT +is always the last file written +.Pc +and copies the listed files +to the remote host: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +exec rsync -a --files-from=$HOME/list/FILES ~/list remote:list +.Ed +. +.Pp +I haven't tagged any +.Xr bubger 1 +releases yet +because it hasn't gotten +a huge amount of testing, +and I'm not sure anyone but me +would even want to use it. +But I'm happy +with how it's working right now, +so I might tag 1.0 soon +just for fun. +. +.Sh SEE ALSO +.Bl -item -compact +.It +.Lk https://causal.agency/list/ +.It +.Lk https://git.causal.agency/bubger/about +.It +.Lk https://git.causal.agency/catsit/about +.El +. +.Sh AUTHORS +.An june Aq Mt june@causal.agency +. +.Sh BUGS +Almost every time +I try to type +.Dq mailing list +I instead type +.Dq mailist list . |