Mailman - Mailing List Utility

Mailman for the Virtual Private Server helps manage E-Mail discussion lists and provides simple list management on the Web. Mailman was written in Python, with some sections in C for security purposes. Mailman features include support for the following:

• Various types of lists, including moderated ones

• Web-based list administration for most tasks including list configuration, moderation (post approvals), and user account management

• Integrated bounce detection within an extensible framework

• Automatic disposition of bouncing addresses (disable, unsubscribe)

• User configuration management, including Web-based subscribing and unsubscribing

• List options that can be easily set through a remotely editable configuration file

• Regular delivery, plain digests, and MIME digests

• Archival and remote retrieval of messages

• Integrated spam filtering and auto-replies

Installation

To install Mailman on your VPS, connect via Telnet or SSH. if you don't already have it installed, install python2, then issue these commands:

% vinstall mailman

% rehash

The rehash command relinks the wrapper scripts, such as the newlist comand, and links any new commands that may have been installed. If you want to change your administrative password, use the mmsitepass command.

% mmsitepass NEW-PASSWORD

To start the Mailman daemon, run the following command (you may want to include this command in your ~/etc/rc file to start Mailman whenever the server reboots):

% virtual /usr/local/mailman/scripts/mailman start

Mailman uses a number of cron commands to manage the mailing lists. These are loaded into your crontab by default when Mailman is installed. If you have other cronjobs, you may want to insert the Mailman cronjobs into your custom cron file. To do this, copy the lines from the Mailman cronfile into your custom cronfile, then load that file into cron. You can find the Mailman cronfile in the following file on your Virtual Private Server.

~/usr/local/mailman/cron/crontab.in

Mailing Lists

To create a mailing list:

1. Type newlist at the command prompt.

   1. Type the name of the list as a fully qualified E-Mail address (e.g. listname@MY-DOMAIN.NAME).

   2. Type the email address of the administrator of the list.

   3. Type the initial mailing list name password.

2. When you run the newlist command, a list of E-Mail Aliases will be generated that you need to add to the ~/etc/aliases file on your server. These aliases must be added before Mailman will function properly. In addition to the aliases, which will be displayed with the output of the newlist program, you will receive instructions at your administrator E-Mail address about how to access the new list of aliases.

3. Start your Web browser. To access and administer your mailing list, go to:

   http://YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME/mailman/admin/

4. Select your mailing list.

5. Type your password in the text box; then click Let Me In.

More Information

To ensure that you have current information about Mailman, subscribe to one of the Mailman Mailing Lists.