[geeklog-modules] Sendmail hack demonstratable

[Tony Bibbs]

> For our point of view using aliases is by far the easiest approach to 
> posting. Our partner the Philippines government Presidents press office 
> post to a number of sites. Whilst your method _is_ perhaps the simplest 
> for a one site with limited postings if you are to post to 3 or four 
> sites each with numerous topics there needs to be a simpler way and less 
> top heavy. From our side posting is not always made by a computer 
> literate person.
> 
> Note: All sites are on the same server but each running under its own 
> domain.
> 
> Currently we use a program which takes the output from the news database 
> and key words within the database decide which site and which category 
> each item goes to. 
> 
> Site a: may have topics Education, Health and Ecology
> Site b: Business, Metro, Political, Health, Education

No, no, no I think we have a misunderstanding.  Having an email on a 
*per-site* basis make total sense.  Having an alias on a 
"per-site/per-topic" basis doesn't.  So, to be clear, you would want to 
have a siteA at domain1.com and a siteB at domain2.com address

> 
> Yes there is some overlap ....
> 
> therefore with an alias and email address it is easier to direct an 
> article to the two example sites with:
> 
> - email address being unique for the site and topic
> - subject being the subject of the story
> - text of the email being the story with somesort of setting to  
>      automatically decide on the split.
> 
> Your approach being generic would make the posting address public and 
> available to all registered members and stack the items in the 
> submission list. 

Keep in mind this is a *framework* in which I added one sample command.  
To add administrative commands to fit your needs is quite simple.  In 
otherwords, with little effort I could add a savestorybyadmin command that 
would pump a story into the GL database withotu needing moderation.  I 
could also have it so you have a command called approvemoderation that 
would approve submissions quickly.  Again, the exact commands you want are 
up to you, you just need to define them and have them coded (or have 
someone do it for you).  I promise, the code needed to add a new command 
is trivial.

> 
> I think it is an admirable approach and will work very well - sadly our 
> use is different and I am not sure if it would be possible to doctor 
> your application to fit our rather customised needs. (I am told php-nuke 
> can handle what we need with little alteration - but I am not very 
> impressed with php-nuke hence we chose GL as a better tool).

Instead of guessing at this, can you type up a brief email of all the 
commands you would want along with a description of what each would do?  
That way I can see everything you are talking about.  Again, I don't see 
how this implementation couldn't fit your needs.

> 
> In our case all postings will come from trusted inputers and therefore 
> would not require to be approved being safeguarded by origin of poster.

Again, that is just a matter of customizing the command.  Trivial to do.

> 
> We will install and examine your approach but feel the various lines of 
> input at the beginning of the email is open to error, especially by 
> those who are not computer literate.

Suggestions on how to simplify user input is welcome.  Keep in mind 
this system has help built in which, regarldess of how easy you try to 
make it, will assist the less-capable people in figuring out how to do it 
right. 

--Tony

> 
> Wayne
> 
> > > Topic: Wouldn't this be better just taken from the address and
> > > Sendmail alias.
> >
> > Could. Again managing multiple aliases is a pain.  Instead the command
> > "help <submitstory>" should return a list of available topics for you
> >
> > > I presume the command, username, mode and story would appear in the
> > > email body with the first three being on the first three lines.
> 

-- 
Tony Bibbs          "I guess you have to remember that those who don't
tony at tonybibbs.com  hunt or fish often see those of us who do as      
                    harmlessly strange and sort of amusing. When you  
                    think about it, that might be a fair assessment." 
                    --Unknown