For a huge list like http://www.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl/ (104MB), being able to download the raw archive is a blessing. For those newsgroups which have (hallelujah) Mailman versions, this means no more fiddling with infernal newsreader features.
Just:
1. Fetch huge archive efficiently your favorite download client. 2. Drop the mbox format file into your mail client directory (like Mozilla Mail) 3. voila! A configurable, collapsible-threadable, searchable, completely complete (yeah!) local version of the whole list.
PROBLEM ======= is... how do you update your local mbox copy efficiently? I, can, for example, get a snapshot of the SDL archives as it stands today, subscribe to the mailing list, and basically ensure my local 'mirror' is both complete and up-to-date.
BUT... what if I want to stop subscribing for a while, and then 3 months down the road I want a complete version of the mailing list again? I would then have to download the (now larger) full archive all over again.
The solution is to make the archive downloads rsync'able. Which brings me to the topic of this post:
QUESTION 1 ========== Is making the archive rsync'able a responsibility of the list administrator or... wouldn't it be better to build such support in Mailman (to allow people who are OC about getting the complete list to save time and avoid wasting gobs of bandwidth)?
QUESTION 2 ========== Once I start subscribing to the list, my local mbox-format copy of the list is now being updated locally and thus will not be byte-for-byte identical to the Mailman archive. If I then rsync said mailbox with Mailman's, will the differences then be 'repaired' efficiently (like rsync is supposed to do)?
A HACKISH WORKAROUND IN THE ABSENCE OF RSYNC SUPPORT ==================================================== Deliberately truncate your local mbox copy to a size smaller than it was when you FIRST updated it locally (you have to remember what its size was), and then resume copy transferring from that point.
-- ========================================= reply-to: a n d y @ n e t f x p h . c o m http://www.neotitans.com Web and Software Development
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