Re: [RFR] templates://mailagent/{templates.master}
Christian Perrier wrote:
> Your review should be sent as an answer to this mail.
Some reorganisations, some defranglifications and one grammar fix to
the original.
> Package: mailagent
[...]
> + Mailagent processes mail automatically. It provides
> + ore functionality than procmail, and is generally considered to be
^m
> + easier to configure with some Perl skills.
I don't see any "generally considered" in the original. How about:
Mailagent processes mail automatically. It provides more functionality
than procmail, and (for those with some Perl skills) is easier to
configure.
> + Given a set of lex-like rules, mails can be filed to specific
> + folders (plain Unix-style folders and also MMDF and MH ones), messages
> + may be forwarded to a third person, piped to a command or posted
> + to newsgroups.
Perhaps this could do with the word "mbox"... I suppose as long as
the word "plain" is in there nobody will be confused. However, it
does need rephrasing (it isn't the mails that are given rules).
Something like:
Obeying lex-like rulesets, mailagent can file mails to specific folders
(plain Unix-style folders and also MMDF and MH ones), forward messages to
third parties, pipe them to commands or post them to newsgroups.
You could even get rid of a paragraph by adding:
It can
process commands contained in the messages.
And maybe even "and the filtering commands can be extended..."
> It is also possible to process messages containing some commands.
(My appended version above clarifies that it processes the
_commands_.)
> + Mailfilter can be used to setup a vacation program, which will automatically
> + answer mail automatically with more flexibly than the
Mailfilter?
Overautomated. And s/setup/set up/, s/flexibly/flexibility/.
> Unix command of the same name. You only need to supply a message to
These days it would be more helpful to say "the vacation command
available in the package of the same name" rather than mentioning
its UNIX history, but neither is particularly relevant to mailagent.
And there's an easily avoidable "you" here.
> be sent and the frequency at which this will occur. Some simple macro
> + substitutions allow re-using some parts of the mail header into
> + vacation messages, for a more personalized reply.
Also slightly awkward. Put it all together and:
Mailagent can be used to set up a vacation program, which will answer
mail automatically with more flexibility than the command of that name.
All it needs is a message to send and the frequency at which this
should occur. Some simple macro substitutions allow parts of the mail
header to be recycled into the vacation messages, for a more
personalized reply.
> + Mailfilter can also be used to setup a generic mail server, without the hassle of the
> lower-level concerns like error recovery, logging or command parsing.
Again s/filter/agent; and s/setup/set up/.
(What does this mean, though? It can work as a mailserver in its
own right, but depends on an installed MTA?)
> It is possible to extend the mailagent filtering commands by
> + implementing them in Perl and then having them automagically loaded
> when used.
Does "them" mean "the mailagent commands" or "your extensions"?
Local extensions to the filtering commands can be implemented in Perl
and will be loaded automagically when used.
> Please note that on Debian systems, mailagent can not lock /var/spool/mail
> + directory mailboxes, and thus one must put a catch-all rule saving all mail
> in ones home directory. This is because Debian MDA policy requires them to
> be setgid mail, and making anything as extensible as mailagent setgid
> anything negates any benefit of having group permission protection.
In en_GB that's "one's" (the only possessive pronoun with an
apostrophe); in en_US it has to be "his or her" (or similar). I'd
avoid it in any case:
Please note that on Debian systems, mailagent requires a catch-all rule
saving all mail into the user's home directory. Unlike other Mail
Delivery Agents such as procmail, mailagent is too extensible to be
safely made setgid mail, and so cannot lock /var/spool/mail mailboxes.
--
JBR with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package
--- ../mailagent.old/debian/templates.master 2008-02-02 13:57:55.000000000 +0000
+++ debian/templates.master 2008-02-06 20:43:46.000000000 +0000
@@ -1,14 +1,14 @@
Template: shared/news/organization
Type: string
Default: --none--
-_Description: Name of your organization:
- You don't seem to have an /etc/news/organization file. Usually that
- contains the name of your organization as you want it to appear on
- the Organization line of outgoing articles/mail/patches. Please
- supply the name of your organization as you want it to appear in
- those places. (It would be useful if this also specifies your
- location. Your city name is probably sufficient if well known.) For
- example: .
- University of Southern North Dakota, Hoople
+_Description: Organization name:
+ The /etc/news/organization file does not exist. That file contains
+ the name of the organization this server belongs to so that it
+ appears on the Organization line of outgoing articles, mail or patches.
.
- Type in "--none--" if you do not want to specify one.
+ Please enter the name of the organization as you want it to appear in
+ those places. It is common practice to add a city name to the organization
+ name, for instance:
+ University of Southern North Dakota, Hoople
+ .
+ If you enter "--none--", no organization name will be setup.
--- ../mailagent.old/debian/control 2008-02-02 13:57:55.000000000 +0000
+++ debian/control 2008-02-06 20:53:35.000000000 +0000
@@ -11,40 +11,30 @@
Package: mailagent
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, perl, debconf (>= 1.2.0) | debconf-2.0, exim4 | postfix | sendmail | mail-transport-agent
Architecture: any
-Description: An automatic mail-processing tool and filter.
- Mailagent allows you to process your mail automatically. This has
- far more functionality than procmail, and is easier to configure
- (providing, of course, that you grok perl). As a mail processing
- tool, this slices, it dices, it ...
- .
- Given a set of lex-like rules, you are able to file mails to specific
- folders (plain Unix-style folders and also MMDF and MH ones), forward
- messages to a third person, pipe a message to a command or even post
- the message to a newsgroup.
- .
- It is also possible to process messages containing some commands.
- .
- You may also set up a vacation program, which will automatically
- answer your mail while you are not there, but more flexibly than the
- Unix command of the same name. You only need to supply a message to
- be sent and the frequency at which this will occur. Some simple macro
- substitutions allow you to re-use some parts of the mail header into
- your vacation message, for a more personalized reply.
- .
- You may also set up a generic mail server, without the hassle of the
- lower-level concerns like error recovery, logging or command parsing.
- .
- The mailagent is not usually invoked manually but is rather called
- via the filter program, which is in turn invoked by sendmail. That
- means you must have sendmail/smail on your system to use this. You
- also must have perl to run the mailagent scripts.
- .
- It is possible to extend the mailagent filtering commands by
- implementing them in perl and then having them automagically loaded
- when used.
- .
- Please note that on Debian systems, mailagent can not lock /var/spool/mail
- directory mailboxes, and thus one must put a catch all rule saving all mail
- in ones home directory. This is because Debian MDA policy requires them to
- be setgid mail, and making anything as extensible as mailagent setgid
- anything negates any benefit of having group permission protection.
+Description: automatic mail-processing tool and filter
+ Mailagent processes mail automatically. It provides more functionality
+ than procmail, and (for those with some Perl skills) is easier to
+ configure.
+ .
+ Obeying lex-like rulesets, mailagent can file mails to specific folders
+ (plain Unix-style folders and also MMDF and MH ones), forward messages to
+ third parties, pipe them to commands or post them to newsgroups. It can
+ process commands contained in the messages, and local extensions to the
+ filtering commands can be implemented in Perl; they will be loaded
+ automagically when used.
+ .
+ Mailagent can be used to set up a vacation program, which will answer
+ mail automatically with more flexibility than the command of that name.
+ All it needs is a message to send and the frequency at which this
+ should occur. Some simple macro substitutions allow parts of the mail
+ header to be recycled into the vacation messages, for a more
+ personalized reply.
+ .
+ Mailagent can also be used to set up a generic mail server, without the
+ hassle of the lower-level concerns like error recovery, logging or command
+ parsing.
+ .
+ Please note that on Debian systems, mailagent requires a catch-all rule
+ saving all mail into the user's home directory. Unlike other Mail
+ Delivery Agents such as procmail, mailagent is too extensible to be
+ safely made setgid mail, and so cannot lock /var/spool/mail mailboxes.
Template: shared/news/organization
Type: string
Default: --none--
_Description: Organization name:
The /etc/news/organization file does not exist. That file contains
the name of the organization this server belongs to so that it
appears on the Organization line of outgoing articles, mail or patches.
.
Please enter the name of the organization as you want it to appear in
those places. It is common practice to add a city name to the organization
name, for instance:
University of Southern North Dakota, Hoople
.
If you enter "--none--", no organization name will be setup.
Source: mailagent
XS-VCS-Arch: http://arch.debian.org/arch/private/srivasta/grab/mailagent
XS-VCS-Browse: http://arch.debian.org/cgi-bin/archzoom.cgi/srivasta@debian.org--lenny/mailagent?expand
Section: mail
Priority: optional
Maintainer: Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>
Standards-Version: 3.7.2.0
Build-Depends: groff-base, po-debconf, file, gettext
Package: mailagent
Depends: ${shlibs:Depends}, perl, debconf (>= 1.2.0) | debconf-2.0, exim4 | postfix | sendmail | mail-transport-agent
Architecture: any
Description: automatic mail-processing tool and filter
Mailagent processes mail automatically. It provides more functionality
than procmail, and (for those with some Perl skills) is easier to
configure.
.
Obeying lex-like rulesets, mailagent can file mails to specific folders
(plain Unix-style folders and also MMDF and MH ones), forward messages to
third parties, pipe them to commands or post them to newsgroups. It can
process commands contained in the messages, and local extensions to the
filtering commands can be implemented in Perl; they will be loaded
automagically when used.
.
Mailagent can be used to set up a vacation program, which will answer
mail automatically with more flexibility than the command of that name.
All it needs is a message to send and the frequency at which this
should occur. Some simple macro substitutions allow parts of the mail
header to be recycled into the vacation messages, for a more
personalized reply.
.
Mailagent can also be used to set up a generic mail server, without the
hassle of the lower-level concerns like error recovery, logging or command
parsing.
.
Please note that on Debian systems, mailagent requires a catch-all rule
saving all mail into the user's home directory. Unlike other Mail
Delivery Agents such as procmail, mailagent is too extensible to be
safely made setgid mail, and so cannot lock /var/spool/mail mailboxes.
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