If all the lists were archived, there wouldn't really be a problem. C. David Young Central Systems Support University Of Texas At Arlington mailto:[log in to unmask] Voice: (817) 272-3666 Fax: (817) 272-5796 > -----Original Message----- > From: Raymond Ayers [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Thursday, September 16, 1999 9:40 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: List expiration? > > On Thu, 16 Sep 1999 09:36:27 -0500 David Young said: > >I've been thinking about doing something like what you're asking about to > >deal with lists created each semester for courses. I haven't really > found a > >simple solution, though. The Change-Log feature (Change-Log= Yes) helps, > >but the files take up quite a bit of space for very active lists. It > would > >be really handy if Listserv could keep a "last post" date accessible via > a > >SHOW command for easier checking. I currently keep an archive of list > >requests which sometimes contain a termination date and use that > information > >to periodically clean up my lists. I hope you find a solution. > > > IF your lists are archived the date of each file making up the archives > for > a list is a very good indicator of the 'last used' date. > > While I am doing this from VM on the mainframe, the same technique should > work on other platforms. I have an exec (script) that runs weekly and > pulls > a list of the current lists, parses their headers for basic info and > updates > an info file with new lists. Since our standard for list headers requires > the keyword pharse: "CLASS LIST FOR xxxxxxxx" I can distinguish the class > lists > from the others. The date the record is created (first time list is seen) > and a keyword identifying the list as a class list, then allows me to run > another script after semester's end to generate delete commands for the > archive > files. I leave the list defined and our support staff does deletes after > the > next term starts.