Autoresponder for mail sent to bug-sh-utils, and other obsolete lists

[James Youngman]

Coreutils enthusiasts,

With help from Justin Baugh, I have now set up the
bug-obsolete-packages mailing list.  It functions as an autoresponder
for mail sent to bug-sh-utils, bug-textutils and bug-fileutils.  The
point of doing this is that anybody using those mailing list names is
almost certainly using very old versions of the software (probably 6+
years old).  They should probably try to reproduce their problem with
a newer version of coreutils before mailing bug-coreutils about their
problem.

So the idea is to change those old mailing lists into aliases which
point at bug-obsolete-paclages.  The latter mailing list has no
subscribers and will just send an autoresponse.  My proposed text for
the autoresponse is this:

---8<---
Thanks for your mail about GNU software.  Unfortunately, you have sent
email to an out-of-date mailing list name.   The mailing list has been
renamed because the package itself has been renamed.

The fact that you are using an out-of-date list (and package) name
implies that the software you have been using is now very out of date.
If you are writing to report a bug, please take the time to download
the updated version of the software.   It is likely that your problem
has already been fixed in the updated version of the software.

If your original email was to one of these lists ...

  address@hidden
  address@hidden
  address@hidden

... then you should download a copy of GNU coreutils, which replaced
the three packages textutils, sh-utils and fileutils on 2002-09-01.

GNU coreutils is available from ftp://ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/coreutils.
GNU coreutils is under active maintenance and enhancement, while the
software version you appear to be using is at least 6 years old.
Within the coreutils source distribution is a file called
README-package-renamed-to-coreutils.  That file contains pointers to
the replacement mailing list.  It also contains pointers to list
archives; you may even find an answer to your question or a solution
to your problem by searching it.

If the problem you are having is not fixed by upgrading the software,
you may in fact find that the GNU coreutils Frequently Asked Questions
list (http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/faq/coreutils-faq.html)
contains the information you need.

Thanks,
The GNU coreutils community
---8<---


Suggestions/corrections?   If the eventual plan is to point the old
lists at this one in order to get the autoresponse, what testing
should we do before switching over?

James.