Mailman

Mailman is an open source program for managing electronic mail discussions and e-newsletter lists. Many open source mailing lists (including all the Ubuntu mailing lists) use Mailman as their mailing list software. It is powerful and easy to install and maintain.

Installation

Mailman provides a web interface for the administrators and users. So, it requires Apache with mod_perl support. Mailman uses an external mail server to send and receive emails. It works perfectly with the following mail servers:

  • Postfix

  • Exim

  • Sendmail

  • Qmail

We will see how to install and configure Mailman with, the Apache web server, and either the Postfix or Exim mail server. If you wish to install Mailman with a different mail server, please refer to the references section.

[Note]

You only need to install one mail server and Postfix is the default Ubuntu Mail Transfer Agent.

Apache2

To install apache2 you refer to HTTPD Installation section for details.

Postfix

For instructions on installing and configuring Postfix refer to the section called “Postfix”

Exim4

To install Exim4 refer to the section called “Exim4”.

Once exim4 is installed, the configuration files are stored in the /etc/exim4 directory. In Ubuntu, by default, the exim4 configuration files are split across different files. You can change this behavior by changing the following variable in the /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf file:

  • dc_use_split_config='true'

Mailman

To install Mailman, run following command at a terminal prompt:

sudo apt-get install mailman 

It copies the installation files in /var/lib/mailman directory. It installs the CGI scripts in /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman directory. It creates list linux user. It creates the list linux group. The mailman process will be owned by this user.

Configuration

This section assumes you have successfully installed mailman, apache2, and postfix or exim4. Now you just need to configure them.

Apache2

An example Apache configuration file comes with Mailman and is placed in /etc/mailman/apache.conf. In order for Apache to use the config file it needs to be copied to /etc/apache2/sites-available:

sudo cp /etc/mailman/apache.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/mailman.conf

This will setup a new Apache VirtualHost for the Mailman administration site. Now enable the new configuration and restart Apache:

sudo a2ensite mailman.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Mailman uses apache2 to render its CGI scripts. The mailman CGI scripts are installed in the /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman directory. So, the mailman url will be http://hostname/cgi-bin/mailman/. You can make changes to the /etc/apache2/sites-available/mailman.conf file if you wish to change this behavior.

Postfix

For Postfix integration, we will associate the domain lists.example.com with the mailing lists. Please replace lists.example.com with the domain of your choosing.

You can use the postconf command to add the necessary configuration to /etc/postfix/main.cf:

sudo postconf -e 'relay_domains = lists.example.com'
sudo postconf -e 'transport_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/transport'
sudo postconf -e 'mailman_destination_recipient_limit = 1'

In /etc/postfix/master.cf double check that you have the following transport:

mailman   unix  -       n       n       -       -       pipe
  flags=FR user=list argv=/usr/lib/mailman/bin/postfix-to-mailman.py
  ${nexthop} ${user}

It calls the postfix-to-mailman.py script when a mail is delivered to a list.

Associate the domain lists.example.com to the Mailman transport with the transport map. Edit the file /etc/postfix/transport:

lists.example.com      mailman:

Now have Postfix build the transport map by entering the following from a terminal prompt:

sudo postmap -v /etc/postfix/transport

Then restart Postfix to enable the new configurations:

sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart

Exim4

Once Exim4 is installed, you can start the Exim server using the following command from a terminal prompt:

sudo /etc/init.d/exim4 start

In order to make mailman work with Exim4, you need to configure Exim4. As mentioned earlier, by default, Exim4 uses multiple configuration files of different types. For details, please refer to the Exim web site. To run mailman, we should add new a configuration file to the following configuration types:

  • Main

  • Transport

  • Router

Exim creates a master configuration file by sorting all these mini configuration files. So, the order of these configuration files is very important.

Main

All the configuration files belonging to the main type are stored in the /etc/exim4/conf.d/main/ directory. You can add the following content to a new file, named 04_exim4-config_mailman:

# start
# Home dir for your Mailman installation -- aka Mailman's prefix
# directory.
# On Ubuntu this should be "/var/lib/mailman"
# This is normally the same as ~mailman
MM_HOME=/var/lib/mailman
#
# User and group for Mailman, should match your --with-mail-gid
# switch to Mailman's configure script.  Value is normally "mailman"
MM_UID=list
MM_GID=list
#
# Domains that your lists are in - colon separated list
# you may wish to add these into local_domains as well
domainlist mm_domains=hostname.com
#
# -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
#
# These values are derived from the ones above and should not need
# editing unless you have munged your mailman installation
#
# The path of the Mailman mail wrapper script
MM_WRAP=MM_HOME/mail/mailman
#
# The path of the list config file (used as a required file when
# verifying list addresses)
MM_LISTCHK=MM_HOME/lists/${lc::$local_part}/config.pck
# end

Transport

All the configuration files belonging to transport type are stored in the /etc/exim4/conf.d/transport/ directory. You can add the following content to a new file named 40_exim4-config_mailman:

  mailman_transport:
   driver = pipe
   command = MM_WRAP \
               '${if def:local_part_suffix \
                     {${sg{$local_part_suffix}{-(\\w+)(\\+.*)?}{\$1}}} \
                     {post}}' \
               $local_part
    current_directory = MM_HOME
    home_directory = MM_HOME
    user = MM_UID
    group = MM_GID

Router

All the configuration files belonging to router type are stored in the /etc/exim4/conf.d/router/ directory. You can add the following content in to a new file named 101_exim4-config_mailman:

  mailman_router:
   driver = accept
   require_files = MM_HOME/lists/$local_part/config.pck
   local_part_suffix_optional
   local_part_suffix = -bounces : -bounces+* : \
                       -confirm+* : -join : -leave : \
                       -owner : -request : -admin
   transport = mailman_transport

[Warning]

The order of main and transport configuration files can be in any order. But, the order of router configuration files must be the same. This particular file must appear before the 200_exim4-config_primary file. These two configuration files contain same type of information. The first file takes the precedence. For more details, please refer to the references section.

Mailman

Once mailman is installed, you can run it using the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/mailman start

Once mailman is installed, you should create the default mailing list. Run the following command to create the mailing list:

sudo /usr/sbin/newlist mailman
  Enter the email address of the person running the list: bhuvan at ubuntu.com
  Initial mailman password:
  To finish creating your mailing list, you must edit your /etc/aliases (or
  equivalent) file by adding the following lines, and possibly running the
  `newaliases' program:

  ## mailman mailing list
  mailman:              "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman post mailman"
  mailman-admin:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman admin mailman"
  mailman-bounces:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman bounces mailman"
  mailman-confirm:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman confirm mailman"
  mailman-join:         "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman join mailman"
  mailman-leave:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman leave mailman"
  mailman-owner:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman owner mailman"
  mailman-request:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman request mailman"
  mailman-subscribe:    "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman subscribe mailman"
  mailman-unsubscribe:  "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman unsubscribe mailman"

  Hit enter to notify mailman owner...

  # 

We have configured either Postfix or Exim4 to recognize all emails from mailman. So, it is not mandatory to make any new entries in /etc/aliases. If you have made any changes to the configuration files, please ensure that you restart those services before continuing to next section.

Administration

We assume you have a default installation. The mailman cgi scripts are still in the /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman/ directory. Mailman provides a web based administration facility. To access this page, point your browser to the following url:

http://hostname/cgi-bin/mailman/admin

The default mailing list, mailman, will appear in this screen. If you click the mailing list name, it will ask for your authentication password. If you enter the correct password, you will be able to change administrative settings of this mailing list. You can create a new mailing list using the command line utility (/usr/sbin/newlist). Alternatively, you can create a new mailing list using the web interface.

Users

Mailman provides a web based interface for users. To access this page, point your browser to the following url:

http://hostname/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo

The default mailing list, mailman, will appear in this screen. If you click the mailing list name, it will display the subscription form. You can enter your email address, name (optional), and password to subscribe. An email invitation will be sent to you. You can follow the instructions in the email to subscribe.