[Gmod-help] GMOD Nabble Archive Changes

[Dave Clements]

Hello All,

Note: Scott is probably the only one who will care about this.

When I started at Galaxy I created Nabble Archives for the Galaxy Mailing
lists, just like I did at GMOD.  Nabble archives are far better than
Sourceforge or Mailman archives.  They are threaded and easy to search.
However, Nabble really wants to be a forum, not a mailing list archive.
This has caused trouble over the years, with people wanting to
subscribe/post/reply to the Nabble forum, which is not really connected to
Mailman.  This is irritating for them at best.

I just figured out how to fix this.  I am attaching the description of how
it was done.  There is a page in the help desk wiki on Nabble.  At some
point my replacement should update that doc.

I'm going to take a peek at the GMOD Nabble archive and see if I can easily
make the same changes there.  If I can, I will do so.*  I will let you know
how it goes.

Cheers,

Dave C.

* The Galaxy and GMOD archives are structured differently.  GMOD will
either be much easier or much harder.

NAML

Nabble markets itself as both a place for forums where you can post
questions and responses, and as an archive for existing lists. However, it
really wants to be a forum, and not an archive. The default behavior is to
include all sorts of stuff like "subscribe", "new topic", and "reply" that
we want to happen on the mailing list, not just on Nabble.

NAML <http://naml.nabble.com/>, the markup language used to control page
layout at Nabble <http://nabble.com/>, allows you to override this default
behavior. It was far easier to figure out than I expected.

Navigating and Updating NAML

To update the markup for a page, you must first login as the admin of that
list. For the Galaxy lists, the user is *outreach at galaxyproject.org*

To get into NAML, *click* on *See how NAML generates this page* at the
bottom of any page. From there you can navigate either by

   1. clicking on Macro names in the code, to explore how things are
   called, or
   2. clicking on the cog near the top of the page and either searching for
   text or for a macro by name.

The directions on this page describe both methods. However, once you know
the name of the macro to change, it is easier just to go their directly.

Changes Made

Remove New Topic Links

We don't allow people to create new topics. However, Nabble still displays
a link that says *New Topic*. If you click on it, it tells you "You cannot
post here"

On Forum Landing Page

   1.

   *Click* on *See how NAML generates this page*
   2.

   *Click* on *view_standard_page*
   3.

   *Click* on *Override this macro*
   4.

   *Delete* the line (about line 9) that says *<n.new_topic_action_link/>*
   5.

   *Click* on *Save Changes*
   6.

   Test it. The *New Topic* link should no longer appear.

Replace Subscribe Links

Nabble's default subscribe links do a pseudo-subscribe where the user is
not actually subscribed in Mailman. This is evil. Instead replace those
links with links to the Mailman subscribe page.

On Forum Landing Page

   1.

   *Click* on *See how NAML generates this page*
   2.

   *Click* on *view_standard_page*
   3.

   *Click* on *options_action_menu*
   4.

   *Click* on *app_dropdown*
   5.

   *Click* on *menu_subscription*
   6.

   *Click* on *subscribe_link*
   7.

   *Click* on *Override this macro*
   8.

   *Replace* this line (line 2):
   -

      <a href="[n.subscribe_path/]" class="[n.class/]" rel="nofollow"
      title="[n.title/]"><n.default. to="[t]Subscribe via
      email[/t]"><n.text/></n.default.></a>
      with this line:
      -

      <a href="http://lists.bx.psu.edu/listinfo/galaxy-announce"
      class="[n.class/]" rel="nofollow" title="[n.title/]"><n.default.
      to="[t]Subscribe to Galaxy-Announce[/t]"><n.text/></n.default.></a>
      9.

   *Click* on *Save Changes*
   10.

   Test it. The *Options → Subscribe via email* link should now be *Options
   → Subscribe to Galaxy-Announce* and should link to Mailman.

On Other Pages

Updating the *subscribe_link* macro above has the miraculous property of
fixing the link everywhere. God bless those Nabble folk.

Remove Reply links on thread pages

   1.

   *Click* on *See how NAML generates this page* from any page
   2.

   *Click* on the *Cog Pulldown* near the top of the page and *select* *Search
   Macros*
   3.

   *Enter* reply_link in the search box.
   4.

   *Click* on *reply_link* and then *Override this macro*
   5.

   *Delete* the body of the Macro leaving the start and finish lines.



-- 
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