Chains

When a new message is posted to a mailing list, Mailman uses a set of rule chains to decide whether the message gets accepted for posting, rejected, discarded, or held for moderator approval.

There are a number of built-in chains available that act as end-points in the processing of messages.

The Discard chain

The discard chain simply throws the message away.

>>> chain = config.chains['discard']
>>> print(chain.name)
discard
>>> print(chain.description)
Discard a message and stop processing.

>>> mlist = create_list('test@example.com')
>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: aperson@example.com
... To: test@example.com
... Subject: My first post
... Message-ID: <first>
...
... An important message.
... """)

>>> def print_msgid(event):
...     print('{0}: {1}'.format(
...         event.chain.name.upper(), event.msg.get('message-id', 'n/a')))

>>> from mailman.core.chains import process
>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import event_subscribers

>>> with event_subscribers(print_msgid):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'discard')
DISCARD: <first>

The Reject chain

The reject chain bounces the message back to the original sender, and logs this action.

>>> chain = config.chains['reject']
>>> print(chain.name)
reject
>>> print(chain.description)
Reject/bounce a message and stop processing.

>>> with event_subscribers(print_msgid):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'reject')
REJECT: <first>

The bounce message is now sitting in the virgin queue.

>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import get_queue_messages
>>> qfiles = get_queue_messages('virgin')
>>> len(qfiles)
1
>>> print(qfiles[0].msg.as_string())
Subject: My first post
From: test-owner@example.com
To: aperson@example.com
...
[No bounce details are available]
...
Content-Type: message/rfc822
MIME-Version: 1.0
<BLANKLINE>
From: aperson@example.com
To: test@example.com
Subject: My first post
Message-ID: <first>
<BLANKLINE>
An important message.
<BLANKLINE>
...

The Hold Chain

The hold chain places the message into the administrative request database and depending on the list’s settings, sends a notification to both the original sender and the list moderators.

>>> chain = config.chains['hold']
>>> print(chain.name)
hold
>>> print(chain.description)
Hold a message and stop processing.

>>> with event_subscribers(print_msgid):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'hold')
HOLD: <first>

There are now two messages in the virgin queue, one to the list moderators and one to the original author.

>>> qfiles = get_queue_messages('virgin', sort_on='to')
>>> len(qfiles)
2

One of the message is addressed to the mailing list moderators, and the other is addressed to the original sender.

>>> from operator import itemgetter
>>> messages = sorted((item.msg for item in qfiles),
...                   key=itemgetter('to'), reverse=True)

This one is addressed to the list moderators.

>>> print(messages[0].as_string())
Subject: test@example.com post from aperson@example.com requires approval
From: test-owner@example.com
To: test-owner@example.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
...
As list administrator, your authorization is requested for the
following mailing list posting:
<BLANKLINE>
    List:    test@example.com
    From:    aperson@example.com
    Subject: My first post
<BLANKLINE>
The message is being held because:
<BLANKLINE>
    N/A
<BLANKLINE>
At your convenience, visit your dashboard to approve or deny the
request.
<BLANKLINE>
...
Content-Type: message/rfc822
MIME-Version: 1.0
<BLANKLINE>
From: aperson@example.com
To: test@example.com
Subject: My first post
Message-ID: <first>
X-Message-ID-Hash: RXJU4JL6N2OUN3OYMXXPPSCR7P7JE2BW
<BLANKLINE>
An important message.
<BLANKLINE>
...
Content-Type: message/rfc822
MIME-Version: 1.0
<BLANKLINE>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: confirm ...
From: test-request@example.com
...
<BLANKLINE>
If you reply to this message, keeping the Subject: header intact,
Mailman will discard the held message.  Do this if the message is
spam.  If you reply to this message and include an Approved: header
with the list password in it, the message will be approved for posting
to the list.  The Approved: header can also appear in the first line
of the body of the reply.
...

This message is addressed to the sender of the message.

>>> print(messages[1].as_string())
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Subject: Your message to test@example.com awaits moderator approval
From: test-bounces@example.com
To: aperson@example.com
...
Your mail to 'test@example.com' with the subject
<BLANKLINE>
    My first post
<BLANKLINE>
Is being held until the list moderator can review it for approval.
<BLANKLINE>
The message is being held because:
<BLANKLINE>
    N/A
<BLANKLINE>
Either the message will get posted to the list, or you will receive
notification of the moderator's decision.

The Accept chain

The accept chain sends the message on the pipeline queue, where it will be processed and sent on to the list membership.

>>> chain = config.chains['accept']
>>> print(chain.name)
accept
>>> print(chain.description)
Accept a message.

>>> with event_subscribers(print_msgid):
...     process(mlist, msg, {}, 'accept')
ACCEPT: <first>

>>> qfiles = get_queue_messages('pipeline')
>>> len(qfiles)
1
>>> print(qfiles[0].msg.as_string())
From: aperson@example.com
To: test@example.com
Subject: My first post
Message-ID: <first>
X-Message-ID-Hash: RXJU4JL6N2OUN3OYMXXPPSCR7P7JE2BW

An important message.

Run-time chains

We can also define chains at run time, and these chains can be mutated. Run-time chains are made up of links where each link associates both a rule and a jump. The rule is really a rule name, which is looked up when needed. The jump names a chain which is jumped to if the rule matches.

There is one built-in posting chain. This is the default chain to use when no other input chain is defined for a mailing list. It runs through the default rules.

>>> chain = config.chains['default-posting-chain']
>>> print(chain.name)
default-posting-chain
>>> print(chain.description)
The built-in moderation chain.

Once the sender is a member of the mailing list, the previously created message is innocuous enough that it should pass through all default rules. This message will end up in the pipeline queue.

>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import subscribe
>>> subscribe(mlist, 'Anne')
<Member: aperson@example.com on test@example.com as MemberRole.member>

>>> with event_subscribers(print_msgid):
...     process(mlist, msg, {})
ACCEPT: <first>

>>> qfiles = get_queue_messages('pipeline')
>>> len(qfiles)
1
>>> print(qfiles[0].msg.as_string())
From: aperson@example.com
To: test@example.com
Subject: My first post
Message-ID: <first>
X-Message-ID-Hash: RXJU4JL6N2OUN3OYMXXPPSCR7P7JE2BW
X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: approved; emergency; loop; member-moderation;
    administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size;
    news-moderation; no-subject; suspicious-header; nonmember-moderation

An important message.

In addition, the message metadata now contains lists of all rules that have hit and all rules that have missed.

>>> dump_list(qfiles[0].msgdata['rule_hits'])
*Empty*
>>> dump_list(qfiles[0].msgdata['rule_misses'])
administrivia
approved
emergency
implicit-dest
loop
max-recipients
max-size
member-moderation
news-moderation
no-subject
nonmember-moderation
suspicious-header