Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 23:40:45 -0500
To: itpartners@MIT.EDU, infosys@MIT.EDU
From: Robert Ferrara <rferrara@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Mailman Delivery project announcement
Cc: accounts@MIT.EDU

Hello

I'm pleased to announce the Implementation of the Mailman Delivery project, which will make available a new email list service. Mailman is a modern list management system that has been adopted by a number of our peer institutions.

Today, Information Systems supports two different email list maintenance systems: "Athena lists" and LISTSERV on MITVMA. Athena Lists are simple "sendmail" style lists where messages sent to the list are distributed to all list members. Athena lists are integrated into the Athena "Moira" system which facilitates management of the subscriptions.

LISTSERV on MITVMA is a product with many more features and flexibility in tailoring lists to meet users’ needs. These include the ability to moderate messages sent to a list, limit posting of messages to list subscribers only, and make list archives available.

Information Systems will be adding Mailman and, initially, this will be in addition to Athena lists and LISTSERV. IS would, however, like to eventually support a single integrated email list service and will plan first for the phaseout of LISTSERV. Mailman offers many of the features of the present LISTSERV and includes a web interface to greatly simplify list management for list owners and subscribers. It is an open-source package that allows us to modify the product to meet our needs here at MIT.

Mailman will be rolled out in multiple phases:

1. "Stock" mailman: This is currently in place. Lists can be created manually. Several pilot lists have already been created.

2. Initial MIT Integrated mailman: Information Systems User Accounts may create mailman lists from existing lists and provide limited support. End-user documentation will be available for this release. Preliminary information for LISTSERV users will be available. The goal is to have this in place within a month.

3. MIT Integrated Mailman: Information Systems will provide full support for mailman lists. This includes documentation and support via regular IS channels. We may also add integration with the Athena Moira system if we determine during phase 2 that this would improve the overall usability and support of the mailman system. The goal is to have this done by the end of Summer 2003.

" Athena List" owners and LISTSERV list owners will be able to migrate their existing lists to Mailman during the spring. We will initially pilot a small subset of lists to move and offer broader list migration help as we gain experience in moving existing lists.

By the completion of this project, the MIT community will have another good e-mail list service available. LISTSERV lists (with a few possible exceptions) and many Athena lists will be migrated to Mailman.

The project team includes Laura Baldwin (Athena User Accounts), Karen Fortoul (VM Systems Services Team), James Kretchmar (Network Operations), Jag Patel (IT Delivery - team leader), Jeffrey I. Schiller (Network Operations - technical lead), Oliver Thomas (Athena User Accounts), and Garry Zacheiss (Athena Server Operations). Also, Art Anger (Help Desk, VM-SST) is a consultant to the team. Susan Minai-Azary, Director of Architecture & Infrastructure, and Theresa Regan, Director, Office Computing Practice, are the sponsors.

The project notebook can be found at <http://web.mit.edu/lists/delivery/>. If you have questions regarding the project, please contact the team at accounts@mit.edu.

Thanks, Bob Ferrara,
Director I/T Delivery