note changes to mailing lists below (web URL, list address and
filtering headers).
- river.
----- Forwarded message from Mark Bergsma <mark(a)wikimedia.org> -----
Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:48:57 +0100
From: Mark Bergsma <mark(a)wikimedia.org>
Reply-To: mark(a)wikimedia.org
Organization: Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
To: wikitech-l(a)wikimedia.org
Subject: Migration to a new mailing list server
[BCC to all mailing list administrators]
Dear list admins,
Please read the following info carefully.
Currently we are in the process of setting up a new mailing list server
for all Wikimedia mailing lists. The migration of all lists to the new
server is scheduled for Saturday January 6th, around 10:00 UTC. This
will unfortunately cause some downtime for at least the mailing lists
and possibly the rest of the mail system around that time, and will
bring some (user) noticeable changes, which is why I am writing to you.
We have decided to split off the mailing lists from the rest of the mail
system, and put them on a separate hostname/domain,
lists.wikimedia.org.
This means that the Mailman web interface will be accessible through
http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/... and that all mailing lists will
use e.g. wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org instead of @wikimedia.org.
Old addresses will continue to work however; all mail sent to the
current @wikimedia.org addresses will be forwarded to the new address.
Newly created mailing lists will *not* get @wikimedia.org aliases
though. The old web interface at
http://mail.wikimedia.org will redirect
to the new server. The old static page at
http://mail.wikimedia.org/index.html will disappear; instead
http://lists.wikimedia.org/ will redirect to
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/overview on meta, where it
can be maintained by the community instead of just us system administrators.
This also means that the current practice of naming mailing lists with a
"-l" suffix, e.g. foundation-l(a)wikimedia.org, is no longer strictly
necessary. We will however not rename the existing mailinglists (other
than the domain change), as this is likely to bring confusion. Newly
created mailing lists are free to use a name with or without that suffix.
One problem with the hostname/domain change is that many user's mail
filters might break. The Reply-To, List-Id, etc. mail headers will be
changed to reflect the new domain, which might cause them to not be
recognized by user mail filters, breaking their mail sorting or other
inconveniences. Therefore, if you deem it necessary for your mailing
list, I hope you will notify your members of this upcoming change, which
will take effect on Saturday. Even though the old addresses will
continue to work, I hope you will encourage everyone to start using the
new @lists.wikimedia.org addresses for better stability and faster delivery.
The new setup will of course bring a few improvements. First of all, we
hope it will be more stable than the current system is, as it appears
that Mailman is currently the major cause for downtime of our weak,
overloaded mail server.
Furthermore, it will be possible to create mailing lists without system
administrator intervention, by using a Mailman web interface and a
mailing list creator's password. (It is yet to be determined who will
get this password.) Also, no mail aliases will need to be set up for new
mailing lists, the mailing list will automatically and immediately work
under the @lists.wikimedia.org domain once created in the web interface.
And, the new setup will utilize some spam filtering, although this will
likely need some fine tuning. More details on that will follow.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me directly.
Thanks,
--
Mark Bergsma <mark(a)wikimedia.org>
System & Network Administrator, Wikimedia Foundation
----- End forwarded message -----