> The only way to disable the feature is to turn of the spam controls on a
> list-by-list basis. I would not want to completely disable spam filters on
> all lists, I would simply want to bypass the spam filters messages from a
> single local (on the server itself) sender. This feature is enabled by
> default for all lists, so  to disable it for all lists would mean manually
> updating each and every list header on a server which hosts over 18,000
> lists. This is a "damned if we do, damned if we don't" situation. We cannot
> upgrade to 14.3 without either making a herculean but misguided effort to
> disable the spam filters for all existing lists or breaking all the
> automated processes that send notices to -request addresses.

If I were you, I would use the following solution:

1. Pick an address for the origin of your administrative messages. Let's call it 'listinfo'.

2. Add a /etc/aliases entry piping mail for 'listinfo' to a script.

3. Write a script that looks at the header of the message until it finds the "Subject:" line, recognizes if it is a confirmation request, does any other verifications you might find appropriate (perhaps verify that the text of the message looks like what you normally send), and, if so, issues an OK command and exits. Otherwise, just exit.

This should not take more than 10-20 lines or so and should not require a higher level of programming skills than the scripts that send the notification to begin with.

  Eric