Should I have all my mailing lists in both 'lists' and 'subscribe'?

[Sam Kuper]

On Mon, Feb 15, 2021 at 01:04:15PM +0000, ಚಿರಾಗ್ ನಟರಾಜ್ wrote:
> 12021/01/05 03:27.03 ನಲ್ಲಿ, Chris Green ಬರೆದರು:
>> Currently I automatically add all mailing lists I am subscribed to
>> into my muttrc file against both 'lists' and 'subscribe', is this
>> correct/OK?
>> 
>> I've never been quite clear why there are two commands.
>
> [..] More precisely, Mutt maintains lists of patterns for the
> addresses of known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed
> mailing list is known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the list
> command. To mark it as subscribed, use subscribe. (section 3.14)

This is really the key point.

I.e. Mutt, correctly, makes a distinction between known mailing lists
and subscribed ones.

So, if you *post* to a mailing list *to which you are not subscribed*:

- you should add it to "lists" first, to enable relevant list-related
  functionality in Mutt such as adding suitable headers.  (Which
  functionality kicks in, in each person's specific case, will depend,
  as you mentioned, on some of their other Mutt settings.)

Alternatively, if you *subscribe* to a mailing list:

- add it to "subscribe".  This will also enable relevant but slightly
  different list-related functionality in Mutt.

  If you previously had that list's address in "lists", you can delete
  it there, because if it is in "subscribe" then that is sufficient for
  Mutt to understand that it is a mailing list.

> Personally, I just do what you mentioned and haven't had any ill
> effects.

Once you have entered a subscribed list into "subscribe", entering it
into "lists" serves no purpose in the short-term.  In the long-term, it
has the advantage that if you ever unsubscribe from the list, then you
can just remove it from "subscribe" (but not from "lists") and Mutt will
still know it is a mailing list.

But sure, if you only post to mailing lists to which you subscribe, then
there would be no ill-effects (besides perhaps an imperceptible
processing delay) to mentioning all the lists both in "lists" and
"subscribe".


(I belive all the above is accurate.  If I am mistaken, somebody please
correct me!)

Sam

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