This method uses a 'Postfix' workaround.
See also Integrating Mailman with Sendmail - Method 1 which uses mm-handler.
Introduction
To be read in conjunction with the mailman installation instructions at <http://www.list.org/mailman-install/index.html> and the post by Ed Greenberg at <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2004-June/037518.html>
Step 1 - Installation requirements
I'm using Apache2, Mailman 2.19 and FreeBSD4 and Python 2.4
Step 2 - Set Up Your System
As root \#adduser I used -> user: mailman, group:mailman, password: n
Step 3 - Build and Install Mailman
create Installation Directory (as root) su# cd /usr/local/ su# mkdir mailman su# chown mailman mailman su# su mailman su# cd mailman su# chgrp mailnull . su# chmod a+rx,g+ws .
Now, go to the directory where you have downloaded mailman
su# cd /usr/home/xxxxx/mailman-2.1.9
Change back to user root su# su root
You can ascertain the correct option for --with-mail-gid from /etc/ mail/sendmail.cf su# grep "DefaultUser" /etc/mail/sendmail.cf => #O DefaultUser=mailnull So use mailnull
su# su root su# make clean su# configure --with-mail-gid=mailnull I'm on FreeBSD so use this command su# make DIRSETGID=: install
Now check permissions su# cd /usr/local/mailman su# bin/check_perms -f
My webserver runs as nobody (check httpd.conf on your system to confirm) su# grep "User " /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf => User nobody
su# cd archives su# chown nobody private su# chmod o-x private
Step 4 - Check your installation
su# cd /usr/local/mailman su# bin/check_perms -f
Step 5 - Set up your webserver
Add this to your httpd-vhosts.conf, or httpd.conf depending on which version of Apache you are using
<VirtualHost *:80> ServerName lists.practiceimprovement.com.au TransferLog /dev/null DocumentRoot /usr/home/lists/htdocs/ ScriptAlias /mailman/ /usr/local/mailman/cgi-bin/ Alias /pipermail/ /usr/local/mailman/archives/public/ </VirtualHost>
and restart apache
Step 6 - Integrating sendmail and mailman
Integrating sendmail and mailman
mm-handler would not work for me (after considerable amount of time trying) - I think because by server was medicine.net.au and the address I wanted to use was practiceimprovement.org.au, even though practiceimprovement.org.au was correctly set up on dns to be delegated to the right server.
So I used Ed Greenberg's clever approach at <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2004-June/037518.html> which seems better to me anyway.
Note: On Freebsd I first had to build sudo!
create the file /usr/sbin/mailman.aliases c su# pico /usr/bin/mailman.aliases containing the lines below =>
/bin/cp /usr/local/mailman/data/aliases /etc/mail/mailman.aliases /usr/bin/newaliases
Note: I spent a lot of time bug testing as I used 'cp' in the mailman.aliases script rather than /usr/cp (it worked from the command line but not the web interface)
make it executable su# chmod 755 /usr/sbin/mailman.aliases
Change your sendmail.cf file to include the new alias file (for me, add this to medicine.net.au.mc) define(ALIAS_FILE', /etc/mail/aliases,/etc/mail/mailman.aliases') (and then as root) su# /etc/mail/make install restart
Update your sudoers file ('nobody' is the user apache runs under - check your httpd.conf) su# visudo add=> nobody ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/local/sbin/mailman.aliases mailman ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/local/sbin/mailman.aliases
Step 7 - Review your site defaults
my mm_cfg.py has these added
DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'practiceimprovement.com.au' DEFAULT_URL_HOST = 'lists.practiceimprovement.com.au' DEFAULT_URL_PATTERN = 'http://%s/mailman/' add_virtualhost(DEFAULT_URL_HOST, DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST) IMAGE_LOGOS = '/images/' MTA='Postfix' POSTFIX_ALIAS_CMD = '/usr/local/bin/sudo /usr/local/sbin/ mailman.aliases' POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = []
Steps 8 - 15
Follow the rest of the instructions from step 8 on at -> <http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-install/index.html>
Testing
When you create a list using /bin/newlist, you should find that the file /etc/mail/mailman.aliases has been created / updated. (I had some permissions to sort out in a few directories before it all worked smoothly) The error log is helpful at /usr/local/mailman/logs/error
These commands can be helpful for troubleshooting, after you have successfully created a testlist and subscribed yourself to that list
To test mailman
su# echo "From: tony@pi.com.au To: testlist@pi.com.au Subject: Happy New Year test mail body " \| /usr/local/mailman/mail/mailman post testlist
If that works, use this to test your sendmail/mailman integration
su# echo "From: tony@pi.com.au To: testlist@pi.com.au Subject: Merry Xmas test mail body " \| /bin/sendmail -tony@pi.com.au testlist@pi.com.au
Hope this helps someone and would welcome corrections or improvements.