confirm subject changed externally, inbound to mailman

[spm999]

We have an issue where due to (Aust.) Federal Govt. requirements (Don't ask == don't get me started...) all emails will typically have the text "[SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]" appended to the end of the Subject line.
This breaks mailman confirm processing and the users get a mailman usage message back, instead of a successful confirm.
Asking users to manually remove this is effectively impossible as the confirm emails will then be blocked within the users network. Sigh.

I'm investigating a pre-mailman altermime like stripper in the MTA itself of and for this unwelcome appendage, but the following patch *appears* to work for us. Not yet gone live into production.

Mailman v2.1.9

--- Mailman/Commands/cmd_confirm.py.ORG 2008-05-02 15:43:35.000000000 +1000
+++ Mailman/Commands/cmd_confirm.py 2008-05-02 15:43:44.000000000 +1000
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@

 def process(res, args):
     mlist = res.mlist
- if len(args) <> 1:
+ if len(args) > 2:
         res.results.append(_('Usage:'))
         res.results.append(gethelp(mlist))
         return STOP

[msapiro (msapiro-users)]

Logged In: YES
user_id=1123998
Originator: NO

Why not just set

VERP_CONFIRMATIONS = Yes

in mm_cfg.py? Then the subject of the message (which will be something like "Your confirmation is required...") is irrelevant in the reply because the From: which become the To: of the reply is "list-confirm+xxxxxxxxxxxx". The only requirement for this to work is that your MTA has to recognize that '+' is a suffix delimiter in the local part of the address.