Under 1.8d sites will be able to revert to the 1.8c DISTRIBUTE behavior
by setting

DIST_SECURITY=0

in the site configuration file.  We don't recommend it for obvious reasons
but it can be done for sites that rely heavily on DISTRIBUTE for the purposes
you have outlined.

About all I can say regarding your request for a way to give list owners
as a class access to DISTRIBUTE is that we will put it in the wish list.
I don't think this is a reasonable solution, however, since it doesn't
give you <user> level control.  Most list owners will probably never use
DISTRIBUTE, so it would seem more sensible to have a file containing the
userids of those users who have been granted access to DISTRIBUTE by the
LISTSERV maintainer.  Again, however, this will have to go into the wish
list.

Nathan