[Savannah-cvs] [486] separate sections for disabling and deleting lists

[karl]

Revision: 486
          
http://svn.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/?view=rev&root=administration&revision=486
Author:   karl
Date:     2022-10-18 18:15:52 -0400 (Tue, 18 Oct 2022)
Log Message:
-----------
separate sections for disabling and deleting lists

Modified Paths:
--------------
    trunk/sviki/ListServer.mdwn

Modified: trunk/sviki/ListServer.mdwn
===================================================================
--- trunk/sviki/ListServer.mdwn 2022-08-20 18:51:18 UTC (rev 485)
+++ trunk/sviki/ListServer.mdwn 2022-10-18 22:15:52 UTC (rev 486)
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 Mailing Lists Server
 ====================
+All gnu and nongnu (there are other domains too) mailing lists are
+processed on `lists.gnu.org` using the Mailman package. This machine is
+managed by FSF admins. Savannah admins have only non-root access and are
+able to perform limited mailing-list related administration tasks.
 
-All gnu and nongnu mailing lists are processed on `lists.gnu.org`
-using the Mailman package. This machine is managed by FSF admins.
-Savannah admins have only non-root access and are able to perform
-limited mailing-list related administration tasks.
-
 This page describes commands to manually manage mailing lists
-by savannah administrators. See also:
+by Savannah administrators. See also:
 
 * [[MailSystem]] - various email and mailing-list related details
   in Savannah and gnu systems.
@@ -17,7 +16,6 @@
 
 General
 -------
-
 Some Mailman admin tasks need to be performed on the actual machine
 where Mailman is installed, while others, such as changing the password
 for a list, can be done via the web interface and the site-wide admin
@@ -45,7 +43,6 @@
 
 List creation
 -------------
-
 Project admins can create their own mailing lists through the normal web
 interface.  (This results in an ssh connection to `lists.gnu.org`
 and `newlist` being run there; see the [[MailSystem]] page.)
@@ -63,7 +60,6 @@
 
 Switch from nongnu to gnu
 -------------------------
-
 You need to edit the list configuration, and the FSF-specific virtual
 domain support (the domains/ subdirectory from the list directory).
 
@@ -80,11 +76,11 @@
 There is an hourly cron job that collects the "domains" information, so
 changes are not instantaneous.
 
-List deletion
--------------
-
+Disabling a list
+----------------
 We do not remove list archives when it was a public archive. Instead, we
-deactivate a list, while keeping archives and status.  On lists.gnu.org:
+deactivate a list, so it cannot receive mail, while keeping archives and
+the list configuration (members and other settings). On lists.gnu.org:
 
     cd /home/list/mailman/lists/listname/domains
     mv gnu.org gnu.org.disabled-yourname-date
@@ -100,36 +96,36 @@
 Then, remove any heldmsg-listname\* pending messages from
 `~list/mailman/data`.
 
-If you really want to delete a list (not likely), then to tell Mailman
-to delete a list and its settings:
+Deleting a list
+---------------
+In contrast, if you really want to delete a list (not likely), 
+you can tell Mailman to delete a list:
 
     rmlist listname
 
-... with archives:
+If you want to go even further and delete the archives (even less likely):
 
-     listname=LISTNAME
-     rmlist -a $listname
-     # purge pending requests
-     ls -U /home/list/mailman/data | grep '^heldmsg-$listname-[0-9]+.pck$' | 
xargs rm
-     # Note: with a live list, purging should be followed by this, so Mailman 
take the removals into account:
-     # curl http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/admindb/testlist -F adminpw=******
-     # (ToDo: backup the archives somewhere for a little while)
+    listname=LISTNAME
+    rmlist -a $listname
+    # purge pending requests
+    ls -U /home/list/mailman/data | grep '^heldmsg-$listname-[0-9]+.pck$' | 
xargs rm
+    # Note: with a live list, purging should be followed by this, so Mailman 
take the removals into account:
+    # curl http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/admindb/testlist -F adminpw=******
+    # (ToDo: backup the archives somewhere for a little while)
 
-     # with mharc, for public archives
-     mv ~/mbox/$listname ~/archive/mbox
-     mv ~/html/$listname ~/archive/html
+    # with mharc, for public archives
+    mv ~/mbox/$listname ~/archive/mbox
+    mv ~/html/$listname ~/archive/html
 
-    'listname' doesn't contain the @domain.tld part. Some mailing lists
-    contain both private and public archives.
+In the above, $listname doesn't have any @domain.tld part. Some mailing
+lists contain both private and public archives.
 
 Renaming a mailing list
 -----------------------
-
 See [[RenamingProjectGroup]].
 
 Message deletion from archives
 ------------------------------
-
 Sometimes people ask to remove a message from the archives, because they
 don't want their address harvested, or for some legality, or whatever.
 
@@ -141,10 +137,10 @@
 body/headers/whatever empty, instead of actually deleting it. Deletion
 will change all the existing url's. Here's the procedure:
 
--   ssh mharc@lists.gnu.org
--   cd mbox/listname
--   edit file
--   cd ~/bin
--   ./web-archive -rebuild listname
+    ssh mharc@lists.gnu.org
+    cd mbox/listname
+    edit file
+    cd ~/bin
+    ./web-archive -rebuild listname # remake html
 
 It's CRUCIAL to run web-archive as the mharc user.