[937] in Moira
Re: [blanche] @mit.edu removal causes STRING:->USER: conversion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Theodore Ts'o)
Sun Nov 19 17:31:34 1995
Date: Sun, 19 Nov 1995 17:31:11 -0500
From: Theodore Ts'o <tytso@MIT.EDU>
To: John Hawkinson <jhawk@MIT.EDU>
Cc: bug-moira@MIT.EDU, proven@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: John Hawkinson's message of Sat, 18 Nov 1995 20:27:25 -0500,
<9511190127.AA04816@bill-the-cat.MIT.EDU>
Adding strings which represent users that get local (mit.edu) mail
delivery is something that I *don't* want to encourage. Yes, I know we
have a few lists that do it in moira today, but it falls into the
"kiddies don't try this at home" category.
The problem with adding "STRING:pst" to the list is that if the user pst
does not exist, or if pst exists now, but the account gets deactivated,
that mailing list will break and stop working --- mail to the entire
list will bounce back to the sender, without being sent to anybody. If
"USER:pst" is added to the list, the appropriate garbage collection will
take place when the user account is deactivated.
This is why we don't want EITHER "STRING:pst@mit.edu" or "STRING:pst" on
the mailing list. We're currently not enforcing this prohibition in the
server, but putting such items on mailing lists are Not Supported. In
the future, we reserve the right to spike out such requests in the
server. For now, if you circumvent the tests in the client by using
mrtest, and the mailing list breaks when a user gets deactivated, don't
expect us to do emergency surgery work on the aliases file to get the
mailing list working again. You'll have to fix the list yourself, and
wait for the next daily update like everyone else.
If you really want to have different people on the ACL than on the
mailing list, you should use different lists for the purpose. In the
long run that's a much more supportable situation. What mailing list is
this for, anyway?
- Ted
P.S. With a very few execptions, if you need to circumvent the safety
mechanisms on the moira clients, you're probably doing something wrong.
Those safety interlocks, like the ones which stop a lawn mower blade
when you lift the lawn mower off of the ground, are there for a reason.
