Stan Horwitz <[log in to unmask]> writes:
 
> If, for  example, 200  people on this  system are signed  up to  a particular
> listserv distribution  list, our  system will  end up  holding 200  copies of
> every posting sent to that list; one  for each subscriber. There are in fact,
> several lists which  are very popular here and very  prolific so this example
> is  realistic. Are  we doing  something  very wrong  here on  our system?  It
> seems wasteful to have many copies of the same posting in this system's spool
> area  when   one  copy  for  central   access  would  do  quite   nicely.  My
> understanding, however, is  that this is just  the way things are  done on VM
> and that there's nothing anyone can do  to change the situation. Perhaps I am
> wrong. If so,  I'de like to know so  I can ask our systems people  to fix it.
 
  Assuming that everything is configured properly, LISTSERV (either yours or
another) will deliver a single file to your mailer with multiple users listed
as "To:". [Some software limits the number of users in a single message, I'm
not sure about LISTSERV].
 
  Once it gets to that point, it's individual mail messages held in whatever
system-dependent location incoming mail sits in. For VM, that's likely to be
spool. For VMS, it's the ISAM MAIL.MAI file (and child files).
 
  So, the trick is to either a) not deliver it as mail, or b) deliver it to
a mail system that understands shared mail messages. Here at SPC under VMS,
we've gone with the first solution - users requests lists locally, and we do
a SUBSCRIBE of our local poster daemon to the list. That gives a single copy
which users can then extract if they find it interesting, etc. Some sites use
the second solution - mail systems like DEC's ALL-IN-1 offer shared messages,
where a single copy is owned by the system, although it shows up in the mail
file of each user. Such messages are indistinguishable from normal unshared
ones. When the last user "deletes" the message, the system copy is discarded.
 
  If you can implement either of those options, then you'd be set. My VM ex-
perience is very rusty, but perhaps something could be set up with a modified
PEEK that lets users read a single userid's spool area? Nicer things can be
done once the concept is proven. The trick is to get your users to buy into
using something "new" for reading list mail.
 
        Terry Kennedy           Operations Manager, Academic Computing
        [log in to unmask]     St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA
        [log in to unmask]    +1 201 915 9381