We pretty much do the same thing now -- create a list via web then
run a makefile to create aliases.lsv, which then gets edited
into /etc/aliases by a nightly cron job.   The cron job also
propogates an altered version of /etc/aliases around to some
backup systems (we have two kinds of mailing lists: old-style
sendmail aliases and Listserv lists.  The sendmail lists are
available even if the primary system goes down; the Listserv
aliases entries on the backup systems are directed back to the single
Listserv system, so they aren't as reliable).

A CGI script could be written to run the makefile and edit the
result into /etc/aliases, but it hasn't seemed urgent enough,
I'm not sure about the security, and I'm worried about too much
editing of /etc/aliases during primetime.  Sometimes it's nice having
a delay before the list goes "live".

Eva Kalman
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