Goals and next steps?

Hi Stephan,

Thanks for the follow up about the Zope - Mailman integration project
(which is now called "Zmailman" I gather).  Thanks, too, for setting
up the zmailman list.  Who else is helping us?

You suggested that I start by installing Mailman as a Zope product.

Maybe before I do that we could talk about our project goals?

What I really need is a better system for managing our mailing lists at
EcoAccess.  We are running an old version of Mailman and Zope 2.3.3.  I'm
about to install my CGI product for Zope as a temporary quick fix so that
our mailing list subscribers can access the Mailman subscription interface
screens.

Any of the following project goals for Zmailman would satisfy me.  The
question I have is which of the following are we trying to do?

Possible Goal A: Quick and dirty Zmailman hack?
The goal would be just to get Mailman 2.0.8 and Zope 2.3.3 to work
together.  To achieve this goal we could download the code for Mailman
2.0.8, study its API, and write a few DTML screens that replace the CGI
part of Mailman.  We would not plan to continue to support or improve
Zmailman after we got it working.

Possible Goal B: Fork Zmailman?
The goal would be to take some version of Mailman and fork from the main
Mailman project.  We'd work on our fork independently of the other Mailman
hackers, with the goal of continuing to support and improve Zmailman.

Possible Goal C: Improve Mailman?
The goal would be to add Zope support to Mailman.  We'd work with the
other Mailman hackers.  It would make the most sense to branch from the
Mailman CVS, either the latest Mailman 2.0.x release or the new Mailman
2.1 beta.  Of course, maybe the other Mailman hackers don't want to
add Zope support to Mailman, in which case we won't be able to achieve
this goal.

With either goal B or C we need to decide which version(s) of Zope
we're aiming for now.  EcoAccess runs Python 1.5.2, so anything which
forces us into Python 2.x would not be our top choice.  We run
Zope 2.3.3 and Mailman 2.0.8 because they do not require Python 2.x.
Does Mailman 2.1 require Python 2.x?

It would be great if we could aim for a Zope product that works with
Zope 2.3.3 or better and Python 1.5.2 or better.

I would like to hear thoughts about the goals for Zmailman from anyone
else who is interested in working on it.

Thanks!
Fred
-- 
Fred Wilson Horch			mailto:[email protected]
Executive Director, EcoAccess		http://ecoaccess.org/
P.O. Box 2823, Durham, NC 27715-2823	phone: 919.419-8567