Re: Mirroring mailing lists directly

[Mateusz Loskot <mateusz@loskot.net>]

On Sat, 23 Feb 2019 at 04:10, Eric Wong <e@80x24.org> wrote:
> Mateusz Loskot <mateusz@loskot.net> wrote:
> >
> > I'm trying to figure out how to "mirror existing mailing lists" [1]
> > in practice. I've got Debian 9 with all dependencies installed.
> > [...]
> > How to actually deliver mailing list posts to the public-inbox watch?
>
> -watch currently requires mail to be delivered to a Maildir.
> I use offlineimap for that; but mbsync (isync) or other
> similar tools should work, too.

This is helpful. I will try offlineimap.

> If you run your own MTA

No, I'd prefer to avoid own MTA.

> > Could anyone mirroring a list out there share any details on setup of
> > the public-inbox mirror host?
>
> Is the example at the top of
>
>         https://public-inbox.org/public-inbox-watch.html
>
> not enough?

The example is clear and I think it should be enough for me.

All the details you gave about configs will be useful, I'm sure.
It's just that I'm not there yet. I'm still missing some
aspects of the bigger picture of mirroring a mailing list.

I've realised, I'm missing an outline of the overall procedure:

0. Install public-inbox and its dependencies
1. Find mailing list to mirror e.g. public@list.org
2. Get a new e-mail address e.g. mirror@user.org
3. Subscribe to list@host.org with mirror@user.org
4. Set up (to run manually or daemon) offlineimap to
   sync from mirror@user.org to local Maildir
5. Set up public-inbox-watch
6. Set up public-inbox-httpd to publish via HTTP
7. Set up public-inbox-index to enable search
8. Set up git daemon to allow `git clone` access to mirrored archives.

Is this plan correct, complete or am I missing anything?

Do I need to bother with public-inbox-watch's bidirectional sync?

> Please let us know if there's specific stuff to clarify in docs
> or if the getting mail-to-Maildir was the primary thing.  I have
> a lot on my plate :x

The docs of the public-inbox toolset are clear and they seem complete.
As explained above, I am missing a basic "where do I start" to
create mirror, especially for someone who is not a sysadmin,
like myself :)

Once I get to the 4. and later points of the plan above,
I will get back to your other suggestions on the implementation
details.

Best regards,
-- 
Mateusz Loskot, http://mateusz.loskot.net