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This file contains instructions for how to complete the installation |
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of mailman after you have installed the Red Hat mailman RPM. There are |
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certain items you will need to manually configure as the RPM is not |
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capable of doing every installation and confirguration task. |
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First, you should note that the RPM has installed mailman in the |
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following directory: |
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@prefix@ |
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You may want to examine this directory to find additional mailman |
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documentation, or other mailman files. |
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IMPORTANT NOTE FOR USERS UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS RED HAT MAILMAN |
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INSTALLATION OR THOSE FAMILAR WITH "STANDARD MAILMAN INSTALLATIONS" |
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Earlier Red Hat mailman rpms installed all of the mailman files under |
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/var/mailman. This did not conform to the Filesystem Hierarchy |
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Standard (FHS) and created security violations when SELinux is |
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enabled. As of mailman-2.1.5-21 the following directory and file |
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changes occurred: |
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variable data (e.g. lists) is in @VAR_PREFIX@, library code, |
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executables, and scripts are located in @prefix@, lock files are in |
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@LOCK_DIR@, the pid file is in @PID_DIR@, qfiles are in @QUEUE_DIR@, |
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and configuration files have been moved to the new @CONFIG_DIR@. |
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If you previously had mailman installed and have edited files in |
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/var/mailman (e.g. configuration) you will need to move those changes |
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to their new locations. |
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A script has been provided to aid in the task of migrating your |
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mailman datafiles, it is contrib/migrate-fhs, run with -h for help |
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information. |
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The mapping of old locations to new locations is as follows: |
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Directory Mapping: |
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/var/mailman --> /var/lib/mailman |
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/var/mailman/Mailman --> /usr/lib/mailman/Mailman |
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/var/mailman/archives --> /var/lib/mailman/archives |
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/var/mailman/bin --> /usr/lib/mailman/bin |
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/var/mailman/cgi-bin --> /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin |
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/var/mailman/cron --> /usr/lib/mailman/cron |
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/var/mailman/data --> /var/lib/mailman/data |
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/var/mailman/lists --> /var/lib/mailman/lists |
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/var/mailman/locks --> /var/lock/mailman |
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/var/mailman/logs --> /var/log/mailman |
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/var/mailman/mail --> /usr/lib/mailman/mail |
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/var/mailman/messages --> /usr/lib/mailman/messages |
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/var/mailman/pythonlib --> /usr/lib/mailman/pythonlib |
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/var/mailman/qfiles --> /var/spool/mailman |
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/var/spool/mailman/qfiles --> /var/spool/mailman |
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/var/mailman/scripts --> /usr/lib/mailman/scripts |
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/var/mailman/spam --> /var/lib/mailman/spam |
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/var/mailman/templates --> /usr/lib/mailman/templates |
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/var/mailman/tests --> /usr/lib/mailman/tests |
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File Mapping: |
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/var/mailman/data/adm.pw --> /etc/mailman/adm.pw |
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/var/mailman/data/creator.pw --> /etc/mailman/creator.pw |
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/var/mailman/data/aliases --> /etc/mailman/aliases |
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/var/mailman/data/virtual-mailman --> /etc/mailman/virtual-mailman |
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/var/mailman/data/sitelist.cfg --> /etc/mailman/sitelist.cfg |
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/var/mailman/data/master-qrunner.pid --> /var/run/mailman/master-qrunner.pid |
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Discussion of directory and file relocation: |
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Two new directories were created and three existing directories which |
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were hardcoded are now configurable. |
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PID_DIR is used to hold the process id and is new because FHS wants |
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pid files to be located in /var/run. The FHS says when there is only a |
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single pid file it should be located in /var/run/<name>.pid, and when |
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there are multiple pid's files they should be located together in a |
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subdirectory, /var/run/<name>/. Currently mailman only has a single |
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pid file, but it does have multiple processes (qrunners). Also SELinux |
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security policy is easier to write if processes are segregated into |
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individual subdirectories. Therefore we elected to place the mailman |
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pid file in its own subdirectory, there is some debate if this is 100% |
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FHS compliant because there is only currently a single pid file, but |
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this gives us greater future flexibility and is in the spirit of FHS. |
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CONFIG_DIR is used to hold the site configuration files. FHS wants |
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configuration files stored in /etc/mailman. Previously configuration |
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files were mixed in with data files in DATA_DIR and with the run-time |
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code (e.g. Mailman/mm_cfg.py). CONFIG_DIR continues to exist but is |
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now restricted to data files (e.g. python pickle files). The password |
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files, alias files, and .cfg (e.g. sitelist.cfg) files have been moved |
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to CONFIG_DIR. mm_cfg.py which is the primary mailman configuration |
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file was presented a bit of a dilemma. In theory it should be located |
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in /etc/mailman, however it is executable code which argues it should |
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be located with the other executable files, it has traditionally lived |
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in $PREFIX/Mailman and experienced mailman admins will expect to find |
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it there. Modifying all the mm_cfg import statements and paths.py was |
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believed to be too invasive a change, and technically its part of the |
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"Mailman" package and moving it would take it out of the package |
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(although currently I don't think that presents any known |
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issues). Instead a compromise approach was adopted, mm_cfg.py is |
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symbolically linked into the /etc/mailman directory pointing to |
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$PREFIX/Mailman/mm_cfg.py. Thus mm_cfg.py "appears" in the |
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configuration directory but retains its traditional location, this was |
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deemed a reasonable compromise for the mailman 2.1.x timeframe. |
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sitelist.cfg has a symbolic link in its old location in the DATA_DIR |
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pointing to its new location in the CONFIG_DIR. |
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New Directories (can be specified as parameter to configure): |
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CONFIG_DIR: default=$VAR_PREFIX/data FHS=/etc/mailman |
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PID_DIR default=$VAR_PREFIX/data FHS=/var/run/mailman |
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Existing directories that can now be specified as parameter to configure: |
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LOCK_DIR: default=$VAR_PREFIX/locks FHS=/var/lock/mailman |
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LOG_DIR: default=$VAR_PREFIX/logs FHS=/var/log/mailman |
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QUEUE_DIR default=$VAR_PREFIX/qfiles FHS=/var/spool/mailman |
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You can find addition documentation in the |
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@DOC_DIR@/README.* files and/or |
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@prefix@/README.* files. |
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Mailman is an open source project and full documentation, current |
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sources, patches, etc. can be found at the following official mailman |
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web sites: |
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http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman.html |
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http://www.list.org |
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1. Final installation instructions: |
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Congratulations! You've installed the Mailman software. To get |
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everything running you need to hook Mailman up to both your web |
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server and your mail system. |
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- If you plan on running your MTA and web server on different |
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machines, sharing Mailman installations via NFS, be sure that |
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the clocks on those two machines are synchronized closely. You |
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might take a look at the file Mailman/LockFile.py; the constant |
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CLOCK_SLOP helps the locking mechanism compensate for clock skew |
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in this type of environment. |
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- Configure your web server. The RPM has made the assumption you |
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are running the apache web server (httpd). The RPM has installed |
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a mailman config file (@HTTPD_CONF_FILE@) in @HTTPD_CONF_DIR@. |
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You should edit the file to set your domain, see the |
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instructions in the config file. |
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Now restart your web server so the new settings take effect: |
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% /sbin/service httpd restart |
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- Create the site password using: |
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% @prefix@/bin/mmsitepass <your-site-password> |
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This password can be used anywhere that individual user or |
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mailing list administrator passwords are required, giving the |
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mailman site administrator the ability to adjust these things |
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when necessary. |
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You may also want to create a password for the site-wide "list |
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creator" role (someone other than the site administrator who as |
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privileges to create and remove lists through the web). Use the |
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-c option to mmsitepass to set this. |
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- Set the values for DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST and DEFAULT_URL_HOST in |
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@prefix@/Mailman/mm_cfg.py file if the fqdn of the host you are |
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running mailman on is not the email and url host you need to use. |
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- Update Mailman list files to new verson by running: |
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@prefix@/bin/update |
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Users upgrading from previous releases of this package may need |
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to move their data or adjust the configuration files to point to |
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the locations where their data is. |
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- Create a "site-wide" mailing list (Note: this must be done |
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before starting the mailman daemon). This is the one that |
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password reminders will appear to come from. Usually this |
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should be the "mailman" mailing list, but if you need to change |
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this, be sure to change the MAILMAN_SITE_LIST variable in |
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mm_cfg.py (see below). |
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% @prefix@/bin/newlist mailman |
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Follow the prompts, and see the README file for more |
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information. |
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- Start the Mailman qrunner daemon |
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As of mailman version 2.1 mailman requires a service (daemon) to be |
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run for mailman to operate. RedHat does not ship RPM's that enable |
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services as part of package installation. You will need to enable |
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the mailman service if you want mailman to run. |
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To enable the mailman service after package installation you may run |
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the "serviceconf" GUI tool, or you may do the following on the |
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command line as root. |
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/sbin/service mailman start |
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To have the mailman service automatically start at certain run |
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levels (replace the runlevel below with your desired run levels, for |
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example to start mailman at run levels 3 and 5 runlevel would be 35: |
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/sbin/chkconfig --level runlevel mailman on |
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- You should then subscribe yourself to the mailman list. |
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2. Customize Mailman |
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You should do these steps using the account you installed Mailman |
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under in section 2 above. |
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- The file @prefix@/Mailman/Defaults.py contains a number of |
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defaults for your installation. If any of these are incorrect, |
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override them in @prefix@/Mailman/mm_cfg.py. |
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DO NOT EDIT Defaults.py! |
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Note: If you have upgraded your mailman installation RPM will |
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save a copy of your previous version of mm_cfg.py in |
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mm_cfg.py.rpmsave. |
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See the comments in Defaults.py for details. Once a list is |
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created, editing many of these variables will have no effect. |
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At that point, you'll need to configure your lists through the |
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web admin interface or through the command line script |
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@prefix@/bin/withlist or @prefix@/bin/config_list. |
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Note: Do *not* change HOME_DIR or MAILMAN_DIR. These are set |
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automatically by the configure script when the RPM was created. |
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- Create the site password using: |
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% @prefix@/bin/mmsitepass <your-site-password> |
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This password can be used anywhere that individual user or |
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mailing list administrator passwords are required, giving the |
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mailman site administrator the ability to adjust these things |
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when necessary. |
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You may also want to create a password for the site-wide "list |
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creator" role (someone other than the site administrator who as |
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privileges to create and remove lists through the web). Use the |
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-c option to mmsitepass to set this. |
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3. Troubleshooting |
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If you encounter problems with running Mailman, first check the |
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"Common Problems" section, below. If your problem is not covered |
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there, check both the FAQ file and the online FAQ Wizard. |
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Check for errors in the mailman log files which can be found in |
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@LOG_DIR@ |
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Mailman logs errors to this file: |
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@LOG_DIR@/error |
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If you encounter an error, send an error report to |
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mailman-users@python.org. Include a description of what you're |
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doing to cause the problem, and the relevant lines from your |
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syslog. Also include information on your operating system, which |
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version of Python you're using, and which version of Mailman |
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you're installing. |
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4. Common Problems |
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Problem: All Mailman web pages give a 404 File not found error. |
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Solution: Your web server has not been set up properly for handling |
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Mailman's cgi commands. Make sure you've: |
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1) Configured the web server to give permissions to |
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@prefix@/cgi-bin |
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2) Restarted the web server properly. |
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Consult your web server's documentation for instructions |
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on how to do these things. |
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Problem: All Mailman web pages give an "Internal Server Error". |
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Solution: The likely problem is that you are using the wrong GID or |
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UID for CGI scripts. Check your syslog. If you see, for |
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example, a line like: |
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Attempt to exec script with invalid gid 51, expected 99 |
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You need to reinstall Mailman, and specify $CGI_GID to be 51, |
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as described in the installation instructions. |
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Problem: I send mail to the list, and get back mail saying the |
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list is not found! |
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Solution: You probably didn't add the necessary aliases to the system |
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alias database, given to you when you ran the newlist |
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command. If you did add them, you likely did not update |
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the alias database, or your system requires you to run |
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newaliases explicitly. Refer to section 5 above for |
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more information. |
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Problem: I send mail to the list, and get back mail saying, |
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"unknown mailer error". |
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Solution: The likely problem is that you are using the wrong GID or |
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UID for mail. Check your syslog. If you see, for |
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example, a line like: |
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Attempt to exec script with invalid gid 51, expected 99 |
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You need to reinstall Mailman, and specify $MAIL_GID to |
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be 51, as described in the installation |
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instructions. see notes on Postfix below, as by default |
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it will create these problems on installation. |
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Problem: I use Postfix for my MTA and the mail wrapper programs |
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are logging complaints about the wrong GID. |
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Solution: Create a separate aliases file for Postfix in its |
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main.cf config file under the variable "alias_maps". Put |
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the file somewhere in Mailman's home directory, or |
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somewhere else where the user mailman has write access |
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to it; *as user mailman* call Postfix's "postalias" on the |
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alias file. |
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% postalias <the alias file> |
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Also as user mailman, run |
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% python -c'import os; print os.getgid()' |
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This should print out the group id that Mailman should |
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be configured to expect when the mail wrapper programs |
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are run. Call it "thegid". Rebuild Mailman with |
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% ./configure --with-mail-gid=thegid |
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See also the README.POSTFIX file for more information on |
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connecting Postfix and Mailman. |
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|
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Problem: I send mail to the list, and get back mail saying, |
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|
"sh: mailman not available for sendmail programs" |
| 351 |
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|
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|
Solution: Your system uses sendmail restricted shell (smrsh). You |
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|
need to configure smrsh by creating a symbolic link from |
| 354 |
|
|
the mail wrapper (@prefix@/mail/mailman) to the directory |
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|
identifying executables allowed to run under smrsh. |
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|
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|
Some common names for this directory are |
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|
|
/var/admin/sm.bin, /usr/admin/sm.bin or /etc/smrsh. |
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|
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|
|
Note that on Debian Linux, the system makes |
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|
/usr/lib/sm.bin, which is wrong, you will need to create |
| 362 |
|
|
the directory /usr/admin/sm.bin and add the link there. |
| 363 |
|
|
Note further any aliases newaliases spits out will need |
| 364 |
|
|
to be adjusted to point to the secure link to the |
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|
|
wrapper. |
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|
| 367 |
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|
| 368 |
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|
Problem: I messed up when I called configure. How do I clean |
| 369 |
|
|
things up and re-install? |
| 370 |
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|
|
| 371 |
|
|
Solution: % make clean |
| 372 |
|
|
% ./configure --with-the-right-options |
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|
|
% make install |
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|
|
|
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|
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|
| 376 |
|
|
-------------------- Other Useful Information ----------------- |
| 377 |
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|
| 378 |
|
|
RPM Preserves User Modified Files |
| 379 |
|
|
--------------------------------- |
| 380 |
|
|
|
| 381 |
|
|
The rpm during installation will preserve changes you have made to |
| 382 |
|
|
configuration files and templates from a previous installation. This |
| 383 |
|
|
is almost always what is desired. However you may want to check for |
| 384 |
|
|
the existence of files with either the .rpmsave or the .rpmnew |
| 385 |
|
|
extension and verify if any of these backup files created during the |
| 386 |
|
|
RPM install exist and if you are indeed using the version of the file |
| 387 |
|
|
you desire. |
| 388 |
|
|
|
| 389 |
|
|
Note: The installation directory for non-data files changed from |
| 390 |
|
|
@VAR_PREFIX@ to @prefix@ in mailman-2.1.5-20. Configuration files and |
| 391 |
|
|
templates that were user modified in a previous installation will need |
| 392 |
|
|
to manually move those changes from the earlier @VAR_PREFIX@ to the |
| 393 |
|
|
new @prefix@ installation directory. |
| 394 |
|
|
|
| 395 |
|
|
Here are a few commands that will aid you in this process: |
| 396 |
|
|
|
| 397 |
|
|
List any rpm backup files in the mailman installation directory: |
| 398 |
|
|
|
| 399 |
|
|
% find @prefix@ @VAR_PREFIX@ -name '*.rpm*' |
| 400 |
|
|
|
| 401 |
|
|
List any configuration files NOT in the mailman installation directory |
| 402 |
|
|
you might miss with the above command which also have the potental for |
| 403 |
|
|
backup copies. Given this short list you'll have to look for a |
| 404 |
|
|
matching backup file. |
| 405 |
|
|
|
| 406 |
|
|
% rpm -qc mailman | egrep -v '@prefix@|@VAR_PREFIX@' |
| 407 |
|
|
|
| 408 |
|
|
When rpm preserves a user modified file it installs the newest version |
| 409 |
|
|
of the file by appending the .rpmnew extension to the file name thus |
| 410 |
|
|
preserving the file but making the latest version avialable. If rpm |
| 411 |
|
|
replaces a user modified file the file being replaced is renamed to |
| 412 |
|
|
have the .rpmsave extension. RPM only performs these backup operations |
| 413 |
|
|
if the file is marked as being a configuration file in the rpm spec |
| 414 |
|
|
file, it is not performed in general on all files in the package. |
| 415 |
|
|
|
| 416 |
|
|
|
| 417 |
|
|
Mailman Cron Jobs: |
| 418 |
|
|
------------------ |
| 419 |
|
|
|
| 420 |
|
|
Mailman relies on the cron daemon to schedule periodic actions. These |
| 421 |
|
|
are contained in a crontab file. Previous versions of the mailman RPM |
| 422 |
|
|
from Red Hat created the cron jobs by running the crontab(1) command |
| 423 |
|
|
during the RPM installation phase. The cron jobs are now handled |
| 424 |
|
|
slightly differently. Rather than invoking crontab which loaded the |
| 425 |
|
|
cron jobs into a private cron file a mailman crontab file is installed |
| 426 |
|
|
into /etc/cron.d. The crontab file and the commands it runs were |
| 427 |
|
|
modified from the upstream distribution so these commands would run |
| 428 |
|
|
under the correct SELinux security profile. |
| 429 |
|
|
|
| 430 |
|
|
Previously the cron jobs were installed when the RPM was |
| 431 |
|
|
installed. This was less than optimal because the act of having the |
| 432 |
|
|
mailman RPM installed on a system should not cause the cron jobs to |
| 433 |
|
|
run. A better solution is to only run the mailman cron jobs if the |
| 434 |
|
|
mailman service is enabled. This is accomplished by installing the |
| 435 |
|
|
mailman crontab file in /etc/cron.d when the mailman service is |
| 436 |
|
|
started by mailman init.d script (e.g. either at boot time or via |
| 437 |
|
|
/sbin/service). When the mailman service is stopped the crontab file |
| 438 |
|
|
is removed from /etc/cron.d. The crontab file is copied from |
| 439 |
|
|
@prefix@/cron/crontab.in to /etc/cron.d/mailman. Thus if you edit the |
| 440 |
|
|
cron jobs you will need to edit the master copy in @prefix@/cron |
| 441 |
|
|
otherwise your edits will be lost the next time the mailman service is |
| 442 |
|
|
started or restarted. To pick up any changes made to the crontab file |
| 443 |
|
|
edit the master copy in @prefix@/cron and then use /sbin/service to |
| 444 |
|
|
restart mailman (e.g. /sbin/service mailman restart). Some may wonder |
| 445 |
|
|
why the crontab file in /etc/cron.d is not symbolically linked to the |
| 446 |
|
|
master copy when the service starts and unlinked when it stops. The |
| 447 |
|
|
reason is because newer versions of cron will refuse for security |
| 448 |
|
|
reasons to run any crontabs which are links to other files or |
| 449 |
|
|
writeable by anybody else except root. |
| 450 |
|
|
|
| 451 |
|
|
Choosing your MTA (sendmail or postfix) on Red Hat Systems: |
| 452 |
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------- |
| 453 |
|
|
|
| 454 |
|
|
Red Hat ships two different MTA's, sendmail and postfix. Because the |
| 455 |
|
|
sendmail and postfix rpms's share file names when installed the |
| 456 |
|
|
conflict is accomodated by utilizing the "alternatives" mechanism |
| 457 |
|
|
which manages a set of links. When one of the MTA's is selected via |
| 458 |
|
|
/usr/sbin/alternatives links are established which point to the |
| 459 |
|
|
correct files for that MTA. There are two ways to select your MTA: |
| 460 |
|
|
The system-switch-mail package contains a GUI front end to the |
| 461 |
|
|
alternatives mechanism and /usr/bin/system-switch-mail is an easy way |
| 462 |
|
|
to select your MTA, or you can invoke alternatives directly like this: |
| 463 |
|
|
|
| 464 |
|
|
% /usr/sbin/alternatives --config mta |
| 465 |
|
|
|
| 466 |
|
|
Note: Selecting your preferred MTA is distinct from configuring the |
| 467 |
|
|
MTA, you will need to consult the documentation for the MTA you |
| 468 |
|
|
selected for information on how to configure it. |
| 469 |
|
|
|
| 470 |
|
|
|
| 471 |
|
|
Local Variables: |
| 472 |
|
|
mode: indented-text |
| 473 |
|
|
indent-tabs-mode: nil |
| 474 |
|
|
End: |
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