lurker-users — Lurker user support

[Lurker-users] New user - Possibilities with use of program

[James G. <jga...@co...>]

Hello Everyone,

I work for a school district in the Technology Department and have been 
looking for a program that will allow us to archive our email.  This is 
a very recent requirement that we have been asked to follow in order to 
be in accordance to changes with US laws regarding the length of 
retention that an entity must keep.

In searching the Internet, I stumbled upon this project and think it 
would be a very good solution and would like to setup a test server to 
begin evaluating it.

I have some questions that I hope can be answered to help point me in 
the right direction.  For the purposes of the test, I plan on using a 
laptop as my test platform.  It is a Compaq Armada E500 that has Intel 
Pentium III 800Mhz CPU, 256MB RAM, and a 20GB Hard drive.  I plan on 
installing Puppy Linux (http://www.puppylinux.org) and XAMPP 
(http://www.apachefriends.org) for the operating system, webserver, and 
database.  Will this setup work for the test that I'd like to conduct?  
Is there documentation available that explains how to setup Lurker and 
create the mail-list?  I did not see any install documenation available 
on the SourceForge project page.  We have Novell Groupwise 6 as our 
email server.  I would need to find a way to be able to carbon copy each 
mail that is sent through the system to Lurker, correct?

Thanks in advance for any information that can be provided!
James G.

Re: [Lurker-users] Update of Lurker db

[Jonas M. <jo...@fr...>]

On 22/09/2007 Michael Rasmussen wrote:
> Where is TFM that I should be finding the answer to this question?
> 
> Scenario: freshly installed Lurker v2.1, did 
>   mailman2lurker -p
>    (a few edits to adjust as needed)
>   mailman2lurker -i
> 
> And everything is in place.  I can enjoy searching and browsing through the
> mail list archvies.  
> 
> Tomorrow the lurker archives will be out of date.  Reading the man page of
> lurker-index it seems I should be setting up an ID that will receive list
> emails for lurker and feeding it.  
> 
> What's the recommnded way of keeping lurker up to date?

You need to configure lurker as archiver in mailman. Please see
/usr/share/doc/lurker/README.mailman.gz.

greetings,
 jonas

Re: [Lurker-users] Update of Lurker db

[Wesley W. T. <we...@te...>]

On Sep 22, 2007, at 11:01 PM, Michael Rasmussen wrote:
> Scenario: freshly installed Lurker v2.1, did
>   mailman2lurker -p
>    (a few edits to adjust as needed)
>   mailman2lurker -i
>
> And everything is in place.  I can enjoy searching and browsing  
> through the
> mail list archvies.
>
> Tomorrow the lurker archives will be out of date.  Reading the man  
> page of
> lurker-index it seems I should be setting up an ID that will  
> receive list
> emails for lurker and feeding it.
>
> What's the recommnded way of keeping lurker up to date?

If you are running the mailing list, you can tell mailman to use an  
external indexer. Set lurker-index there. I believe there is  
documentation in /usr/share/doc/lurker that covers how to do this (I  
gather you're using the debian package).

[Lurker-users] Update of Lurker db

[Michael R. <mi...@pa...>]

Where is TFM that I should be finding the answer to this question?

Scenario: freshly installed Lurker v2.1, did 
  mailman2lurker -p
   (a few edits to adjust as needed)
  mailman2lurker -i

And everything is in place.  I can enjoy searching and browsing through the
mail list archvies.  

Tomorrow the lurker archives will be out of date.  Reading the man page of
lurker-index it seems I should be setting up an ID that will receive list
emails for lurker and feeding it.  

What's the recommnded way of keeping lurker up to date?

-- 
      Michael Rasmussen, Portland Oregon  
    Be appropriate && Follow your curiosity
          http://www.patch.com/words/ 
  The fortune cookie says:
The `loner' may be respected, but he is always resented by his colleagues,
for he seems to be passing a critical judgment on them, when he may be
simply making a limiting statement about himself.
		-- Sidney Harris

Re: [Lurker-users] how to search

[martin f k. <ma...@ma...>]

also sprach Wesley W. Terpstra <we...@te...> [2007.08.24.1047 +0200]:
> > and yet, if I search 'au:thomas', it returns no results. What could
> > be the reason?
>=20
> If this really happens, it's a bug. Please provide me with the email =20
> in question. Does this email appear in the archive?

I am trying to reproduce this but so far have not found a message
that I can provide to the public.

> > However, sometimes I really just want to browse, but I cannot figure
> > out how to do this with lurker. Is it possible to just display the
> > next 20 entries/matches?
>=20
> ... the white arrow with a blue outline? It's at the top and 'left' =20
> means earlier, 'right' means later. Select a list from the start =20
> page, click 'view newest messages', proceed to use the left arrow to =20
> move backwards in time.

Believe it or not, this button has only just entered my perception.
I did not see it previously, thanks!

> > Strangely, if I browse the 20th thread, there is also no right
> > arrow at the bottom to jump to the previous thread.
>=20
> I'm not sure how the 'previous thread' should be even be defined.
> At  the bottom of a message you can jump to the mailing list index
> surrounding an email ('nearby messages'), which would then show
> you  previous messages from other threads. Or use the arrows at
> the bottom  if you want to follow all messages in the list in
> order.

Yes, I think I must have misunderstood the way lurker works. The
main screen shows the active threads, not a thread index.

Thanks for your time,

--=20
martin;              (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
  \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:" net@madduck
=20
"even if you persuade me, you won't persuade me."
                                                       -- aristophanes
=20
spamtraps: mad...@ma...

Re: [Lurker-users] how to search

[Wesley W. T. <we...@te...>]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Aug 24, 2007, at 9:43 AM, martin f krafft wrote:
> I like lurker a lot and am considering using it to archive several
> mailing lists. However, I cannot come to terms with the search. For
> instance, I might have a message from a person
>
>   Thomas Someone <tho...@do...>
>
> and yet, if I search 'au:thomas', it returns no results. What could
> be the reason?

If this really happens, it's a bug. Please provide me with the email  
in question. Does this email appear in the archive?

> However, sometimes I really just want to browse, but I cannot figure
> out how to do this with lurker. Is it possible to just display the
> next 20 entries/matches?

... the white arrow with a blue outline? It's at the top and 'left'  
means earlier, 'right' means later. Select a list from the start  
page, click 'view newest messages', proceed to use the left arrow to  
move backwards in time.

> Strangely, if I browse the 20th thread, there is also no right arrow
> at the bottom to jump to the previous thread.

I'm not sure how the 'previous thread' should be even be defined. At  
the bottom of a message you can jump to the mailing list index  
surrounding an email ('nearby messages'), which would then show you  
previous messages from other threads. Or use the arrows at the bottom  
if you want to follow all messages in the list in order.

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[Lurker-users] Navigating index and search results

[martin f k. <ma...@ma...>]

By default, lurker shows the most recently active 20 threads in the
index page. Also, search results include up to 20 entries.

I am aware of the functionality to "jmp to those matching messages
which are nearest to" a particular date.

However, sometimes I really just want to browse, but I cannot figure
out how to do this with lurker. Is it possible to just display the
next 20 entries/matches?

Strangely, if I browse the 20th thread, there is also no right arrow
at the bottom to jump to the previous thread.

What gives?

--=20
martin;              (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
  \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:" net@madduck
=20
someday we'll find it
the rainbow connection
the lovers, the dreamers,
and me!
                                                             -- kermit
=20
spamtraps: mad...@ma...

[Lurker-users] how to search

[martin f k. <ma...@ma...>]

Hi,

I like lurker a lot and am considering using it to archive several
mailing lists. However, I cannot come to terms with the search. For
instance, I might have a message from a person

  Thomas Someone <tho...@do...>

and yet, if I search 'au:thomas', it returns no results. What could
be the reason?

At other times, I have a message with a hyphenated word, such as
Bank-Kunde (undoubtedly wrong German, but that's not the issue), and
searching for 'Bank' or 'bank' returns no results.

What gives?

--=20
martin;              (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
  \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:" net@madduck
=20
"it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
                                                           -- voltaire
=20
spamtraps: mad...@ma...

Re: [Lurker-users] Finding messages by message-id

[Jonas M. <jo...@fr...>]

On 19/07/2007 Nigel Metheringham wrote:
> I've just moved the exim.org mailing lists over to lurker.
> 
> We have a pile of things referring to old archive locations. I was
> wondering if it was possible to redirect them to a search in lurker that
> used the message-id from original archive entry and indexed into the
> lurker archive with that.
> 
> However lurker doesn't obviously have message-id as search item... or
> have I not looked in the right place?

Hello Nigel,

lurker indeed has message-id as search item. just use id:message-id as
search term.

For example, at http://lists.exim.org/lurker/splash/index.en.html, give
the following as search term:
"id:afa...@de..."

...
 jonas

-- 
"In post-historical society, the rulers have ceased to rule,
		but the slaves remain slaves." - Perry Anderson

[Lurker-users] Finding messages by message-id

[Nigel M. <nig...@de...>]

I've just moved the exim.org mailing lists over to lurker.

We have a pile of things referring to old archive locations. I was
wondering if it was possible to redirect them to a search in lurker that
used the message-id from original archive entry and indexed into the
lurker archive with that.

However lurker doesn't obviously have message-id as search item... or
have I not looked in the right place?

     Nigel.
--
[ Nigel Metheringham           Nig...@In... ]
[ - Comments in this message are my own and not ITO opinion/policy - ]

Re: [Lurker-users] mails in lurker db are being randomly deleted

[Jenny H. <hop...@gm...>]

On 25/06/07, Jenny Hopkins <hop...@gm...> wrote:
> On 25/06/07, Julian Mehnle <ju...@me...> wrote:
> > Jenny Hopkins wrote:
> > > On 25/06/07, Julian Mehnle <ju...@me...> wrote:
> > > > Perhaps your Lurker web UI allows anyone to delete messages, and
> > > > various web crawlers (Google, etc.) accidentally activate the delete
> > > > action for all or most of your messages?
> > >
> > > That sounds plausible - would you know where I have to look?  I can't
> > > see a delete button on the website at all, but there is that delete
> > > line in the lurker conf.
> >
> > Is that line commented out?
> >
> > I always disable Lurker's web-based delete feature (by commenting out said
> > line in the config file) because I find the delete password configuration
> > scheme too awkward.
> >


As a follow-up to this:
It has now been several days since I commented out the delete line in
the lurker config file, and the archives have remained intact.

Many thanks,

Jenny

Re: [Lurker-users] mails in lurker db are being randomly deleted

[Jenny H. <hop...@gm...>]

On 25/06/07, Julian Mehnle <ju...@me...> wrote:
> Jenny Hopkins wrote:
> > On 25/06/07, Julian Mehnle <ju...@me...> wrote:
> > > Perhaps your Lurker web UI allows anyone to delete messages, and
> > > various web crawlers (Google, etc.) accidentally activate the delete
> > > action for all or most of your messages?
> >
> > That sounds plausible - would you know where I have to look?  I can't
> > see a delete button on the website at all, but there is that delete
> > line in the lurker conf.
>
> Is that line commented out?
>
> I always disable Lurker's web-based delete feature (by commenting out said
> line in the config file) because I find the delete password configuration
> scheme too awkward.
>

Thankyou very much.  I'll comment out the delete line, rebuild the
database and see if it cures the  spontaneous deletions.
I'll let you know if it works or not.  Well, I'll be back asking more
questions if it doesn't fix it :-)

Thanks,

Jenny

Re: [Lurker-users] mails in lurker db are being randomly deleted

[Julian M. <ju...@me...>]

Jenny Hopkins wrote:
> On 25/06/07, Julian Mehnle <ju...@me...> wrote:
> > Perhaps your Lurker web UI allows anyone to delete messages, and
> > various web crawlers (Google, etc.) accidentally activate the delete
> > action for all or most of your messages?
>
> That sounds plausible - would you know where I have to look?  I can't
> see a delete button on the website at all, but there is that delete
> line in the lurker conf.

Is that line commented out?

I always disable Lurker's web-based delete feature (by commenting out said=
=20
line in the config file) because I find the delete password configuration=20
scheme too awkward.

PS: Just reply to the mailing list; there's no need to CC me.

Re: [Lurker-users] mails in lurker db are being randomly deleted

[Jenny H. <hop...@gm...>]

On 25/06/07, Julian Mehnle <ju...@me...> wrote:

> Perhaps your Lurker web UI allows anyone to delete messages, and various
> web crawlers (Google, etc.) accidentally activate the delete action for
> all or most of your messages?
>
That sounds plausible - would you know where I have to look?  I can't
see a delete button on the website at all, but there is that delete
line in the lurker conf.

Thanks,
Jenny

Re: [Lurker-users] mails in lurker db are being randomly deleted

[Julian M. <ju...@me...>]

Jenny Hopkins wrote:
> Hullo there.  I'm having a very difficult time trying to find out what
> is flagging mails in my lurker db as 'deleted'.
>
> The problem started after an upgrade on the server from debian sarge to
> etch. We noticed that new mails weren't being archived - the fix turned
> out to be that the wrapper script we were using to archive a mail from
> mailman was named lurker-index-mm rather than lurker-index-cl.  I ran
> lurker-index on the mailman archived mbox and thought we were back in
> business.
> All was well, but suddenly a few days later the mails all disappeared
> again. In desperation I removed the lurker db directory, and recreated
> it for each mailing list, freshly importing in from the mboxes as
> before.
>
> All was well again for about two days, then I saw most of the mails
> missing again:.

Perhaps your Lurker web UI allows anyone to delete messages, and various=20
web crawlers (Google, etc.) accidentally activate the delete action for=20
all or most of your messages?

BTW, Wesley, how about releasing Lurker 2.2 with the pending improvements=20
(especially the fix for the issue where messages with headers (mis-)=20
formatted in a certain way are displayed as empty pages)?

Julian.

[Lurker-users] mails in lurker db are being randomly deleted

[Jenny H. <hop...@gm...>]

Hullo there.  I'm having a very difficult time trying to find out what
is flagging mails in my lurker db as 'deleted'.

The problem started after an upgrade on the server from debian sarge to etch.
We noticed that new mails weren't being archived - the fix turned out
to be that the wrapper script we were using to archive a mail from
mailman was named lurker-index-mm rather than lurker-index-cl.  I ran
lurker-index on the mailman archived mbox and thought we were back in
business.
All was well, but suddenly a few days later the mails all disappeared again.
In desperation I removed the lurker db directory, and recreated it for
each mailing list, freshly importing in from the mboxes as before.

All was well again for about two days, then I saw most of the mails
missing again:.

If I follow a single mail and ask to see the thread tree, it knows
about the missing
mails but reports them as 'deleted'.

I don't know what flags them as deleted in the lurker db.  I looked at
lurker-prune, but I think that is just tidying the web cache.
That runs as a cron job every 15 mins.
There's the delete line in lurker conf
delete_message = sg lurker -c "/usr/bin/lurker-search -d -f -q -i -c %c %i"
but that must be for deleting from the ui I'd have thought.

Has anyone got any idea what is causing the mails to be deleted?  I'm stumped.

Thanks,

Jenny

Re: [Lurker-users] lurker-prune: "list/<list-name-with-dots>.html: not a lurker file"

[Jonas M. <jo...@fr...>]

On 24/05/2007 Julian Mehnle wrote:
> Wesley W. Terpstra wrote:
> > > How should this be resolved?  Ban dots from list names, or fix
> > > lurker-prune (I don't see an easy fix, though)?
> >
> > I should probably just forbid this in the config file.
>=20
> Doesn't sound nice, as a I cannot rename that list easily.
> [...]

I agree with you. Simply denying listnames with dots is the worst fix.

I know several mailinglists with dots in their names, and the listname
should be consistent between mailinglist manager and archiver everywhere
possible.

greetings,
 jonas

Re: [Lurker-users] "The requested document does not match the file lurker intends to generate"

[martin f k. <ma...@ma...>]

also sprach Wesley W. Terpstra <we...@te...> [2007.05.24.0157 +0200]:
> Most likely you've given the wrong path to the website base directory =20
> in the lurker config file.
> What are HTTP_BASE and FILESYSTEM_BASE?

Yeah, absolutely correct, I am an idiot. I did not copy
/var/www/lurker to $HTTP_BASE, which is under $HOME. :)

It works now. Thanks for your help and the hint with the
sledgehammer. :)

--=20
martin;              (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
  \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:" net@madduck
=20
spamtraps: mad...@ma...
=20
"it is the customary fate of new truths
 to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions.
                                                      -- thomas huxley

Re: [Lurker-users] lurker-prune: "list/<list-name-with-dots>.html: not a lurker file"

[Julian M. <ju...@me...>]

Wesley W. Terpstra wrote:
> > How should this be resolved?  Ban dots from list names, or fix
> > lurker-prune (I don't see an easy fix, though)?
>
> Well, an easy work-around for now is certainly to avoid dots in the name.
> I'm assuming the only problem is that it deletes all cache on every prune
> run?
> ie: aside from the performance implications, there is no other side
> effect?

No, the effect is that the cache _isn't_ pruned for that list, at least not=
=20
completely.  The list/<list-name-with-dots>.(en.)html file remains and=20
thus prevents the list archive's web page from being updated.

> I should probably just forbid this in the config file.

Doesn't sound nice, as a I cannot rename that list easily.  (Well, I could,=
=20
within Lurker's reach, but that would make it inconsistent with my Mailman=
=20
configuration, which I'd like to avoid.)  Especially since I already=20
wasted hours before, trying to find out why Courier MTA doesn't accept=20
mail to localparts with more than 3 dashes (don't ask!).  That's when I=20
resorted to dots.  Now I cannot use dots either?  :-(

Re: [Lurker-users] lurker-prune: "list/<list-name-with-dots>.html: not a lurker file"

[Wesley W. T. <we...@te...>]

On May 19, 2007, at 11:05 PM, Julian Mehnle wrote:
> I am having problems with running lurker-prune on lists whose names  
> contain
> dots.  As far as I could see, this isn't declared illegal anywhere  
> by the
> Lurker docs and man-pages.

I didn't think they were, but you've indeed found a problem.

> However, lurker-prune seems to have a problem
> |         string::size_type o = ks->first.find('.', skip);

Right. And I can't cut from the second last '.' b/c of legacy support  
for list.html instead of list.en.html.

> How should this be resolved?  Ban dots from list names, or fix  
> lurker-prune
> (I don't see an easy fix, though)?

Well, an easy work-around for now is certainly to avoid dots in the  
name.
I'm assuming the only problem is that it deletes all cache on every  
prune run?
ie: aside from the performance implications, there is no other side  
effect?

I should probably just forbid this in the config file.

Re: [Lurker-users] "The requested document does not match the file lurker intends to generate"

[Wesley W. T. <we...@te...>]

On May 23, 2007, at 6:59 PM, martin f krafft wrote:
> I just set up my first lurker instance on a Debian system, but using
> a searate configuration file pointing into my home directory, since
> I do not want a system-wide instance.
>
> I have checked all permissions and paths multiple times. However,
> I cannot get lurker to work. If I request
>
>   $HTTP_BASE/splash/index.en.html
>
> I simply get
>
>   Lurker - failed to render page:
>   Requested document is in error ($FILESYSTEM_BASE/lurker/splash):
>
>   The requested document does not match the file lurker intends to
>   generate: $FILESYSTEM_BASE/lurker/splash/index.en.html
>
> If I leave off the index.en.html, apache2 returns a 404.
>
> Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

Most likely you've given the wrong path to the website base directory  
in the lurker config file.
What are HTTP_BASE and FILESYSTEM_BASE?

As a first guess, I'd say you intend the lurker directory tree to be  
contained in $FILESYSTEM_BASE/lurker, but specified
frontend = $FILESYSTEM_BASE
instead of
frontend = $FILESYSTEM_BASE/lurker
...

What are the actual paths and configuration value of 'frontend'?

[Lurker-users] "The requested document does not match the file lurker intends to generate"

[martin f k. <ma...@ma...>]

Hi,

I just set up my first lurker instance on a Debian system, but using
a searate configuration file pointing into my home directory, since
I do not want a system-wide instance.

I have checked all permissions and paths multiple times. However,
I cannot get lurker to work. If I request

  $HTTP_BASE/splash/index.en.html

I simply get

  Lurker - failed to render page:
  Requested document is in error ($FILESYSTEM_BASE/lurker/splash):

  The requested document does not match the file lurker intends to
  generate: $FILESYSTEM_BASE/lurker/splash/index.en.html

If I leave off the index.en.html, apache2 returns a 404.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

--=20
martin;              (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
  \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:" net@madduck
=20
spamtraps: mad...@ma...
=20
"die philosophie ist eine art rache an der wirklichkeit."
                                                 - friedrich nietzsche

[Lurker-users] lurker-prune: "list/<list-name-with-dots>.html: not a lurker file"

[Julian M. <ju...@me...>]

Wesley,

I am having problems with running lurker-prune on lists whose names contain
dots.  As far as I could see, this isn't declared illegal anywhere by the
Lurker docs and man-pages.  However, lurker-prune seems to have a problem
with such list names in at least one place, namely prune/list.cpp:

| ...
|=20
| bool PTable::test_list(KSI ks)
| {
|         const string::size_type skip =3D sizeof("list"); // null is /
|=20
|         string::size_type o =3D ks->first.find('.', skip);
|=20
|         return  o !=3D string::npos &&
|                 cfg.lists.find(string(ks->first, skip, o-skip)) !=3D cfg.=
lists.end();
| }
|=20
| void PTable::calc_list(KSI ks)
| {
|         ...
|=20
|         if (!test_list(ks))
|         {
|                 if (verbose)
|                         cout << ks->first << ": not a lurker file." << en=
dl;
|                 return;
|         }
|=20
| ...

PTable::test_list() cuts names of the files that it finds in
$www_cache/list/ at the first dot and then matches them against the known
list names.  Obviously this fails if the list name itself contains a dot.

How should this be resolved?  Ban dots from list names, or fix lurker-prune
(I don't see an easy fix, though)?

Julian.

[Lurker-users] Lurker 2.2?

[Julian M. <ju...@me...>]

Jonas Meurer wrote:
> Wesley W. Terpstra wrote:
> > Jonas Meurer wrote:
> > > you mentioned that you plan to release 2.2 within the next time.
> >
> > Yes. It has a number of accumulated bugfixes. I don't have a
> > particular time frame in mind, though.
>
> could you send me a diff then, so that the fixes have a change to make
> it into etch?

As far as I can see, this didn't happen in time for Etch.

Wesley, do you have any plans for making a 2.2 release any time soon?  That=
=20
would be great!

Re: [Lurker-users] Spam on the list

[Julian M. <ju...@me...>]

Wesley W.Terpstra wrote:
> I'm considering whether or not to hide subscriber email addresses in
> the archive, as well.
> Any opinions?

I don't care.  Hiding your address doesn't really keep it from getting=20
propagated by address dealers nowadays.  YMMV.