Mailman 3 - Mailman-announce

Welcome to Mailman 2.1
by barry＠python.org 28 Oct '02

28 Oct '02

Hi folks, Just a quick note to let you know that I moved these four lists to Mailman 2.1b4+. Things seem to be working okay, but of course, now the fun begins. I'll be watching the logs, but please do let me know if you notice anything strange. -Barry P.S. to mailman-users-owner... Hope you like the new moderation interface!

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RELEASED Mailman 2.1 beta 4
by barry＠python.org 26 Oct '02

26 Oct '02

I've released Mailman 2.1 beta 4; see below for a list of changes since version 2.1 beta 2. There have been tons of bug fixes, added support for Swedish, and some minor new features. Remember that discussions about version 2.1 are still preferred on mailman-developers. It's also not a bad idea to follow the cvs checkins if you're using 2.1b4. I plan on moving the remaining Mailman discussion lists (mailman-users, mailman-announce, mailman-i18n, mailman-docs, and mailman-checkins) over to the new version asap. I'm also hoping that this will be the last beta release. I've gotten tons of great feedback since 2.1b3, and there are still a bunch of mostly minor bugs to fix, but it's great to see more and more people testing and deploying the new version. I think we're getting really close. Enjoy, -Barry -------------------- snip snip -------------------- 2.1 beta 4 (26-Oct-2002) The usual assortment of bug fixes and language updates, some u/i tweaks, as well as the following: - Configuring / building / installing o Tightened up some configure checks; it will now bark loudly if you don't have the Python distutils package available (some Linux distros only include distutils in their "devel" packages). o Mailman's username/group security assertions are now done by symbolic name instead of numeric id. This provides a level of indirection that makes it much easier to move or package Mailman. --with-mail-gid and --with-cgi-gid are retained, but they control the group names used instead. - Command line scripts o A new script, bin/transcheck that language teams can use to check their .po files. o bin/list_members grew a --fullnames/-f option to print the full names along with the addresses. o cron/senddigests grew --help/-h and --listname/-l options. o bin/fix_url.py grew some command line options to support moving a list to a specific virtual domain. - Pipermail / archiving o Reworked the directory layout for archive attachments to be less susceptible to inode overload. Attachments are now placed in archives/private/<listname>/attachments/<YYYYMMDD>/<msgidhash> o Internationalization support in the archiver has been improved. - Internationalization o New languages: Swedish. - Mail handling o Content filtering now has a pass_mime_type variable, which is a whitelist of MIME types to allow in postings. See the details of the variable in the Content Filtering category for more information. o If a member has enabled their DontReceiveDuplicates option, we'll also strip their addresses from the Cc headers in the copy of the message sent to the list. This helps keep the Cc lines from growing astronomically. o Bounce messages are now forwarded to the list administrators both if they are unrecognized, and if no list member's address could be extracted. o Content filtering now has a filter_action variable which controls what happens when a message matches the content filter rules. The default is still to discard the message. o When searching for an Approve/Approved header, the first non-whitespace line of the body of the message is also checked, if the body has a MIME type of text/plain. o If a list is personalized, and the list's posting address is not included in a Reply-To header, the posting address is copied into a Cc header, otherwise there was no (easy) way a recipient could reply back to the list. o Added a MS Exchange bounce recognizer. o New configuration variable news_moderation which allows the mail->news gateway to properly post to moderated newsgroups. o Messages sent to a list's owners now comes from the site list to prevent mail loops when list owners or moderators having bouncing addresses. - Miscellaneous o mailanctl prevents runaway restarts by imposing a maximum restart value (defaulting to 10) for restarting the qrunners. If you hit this limit, do "mailmanctl stop" followed by "mailmanctl start". o The Membership Management page's search feature now includes searching on members real names. o The start of a manual for list administrators is given in Python HOWTO format (LaTeX). It's in doc/mailman-admin.tex but it still needs lots of fleshing out. o More protections against creating a list with an invalid name.

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RELEASED Mailman 2.1 beta 3
by barry＠python.org 10 Aug '02

10 Aug '02

I've released Mailman 2.1 beta 3; see below for a list of changes since version 2.1 beta 2. There have been lots of bug fixes, two new languages (Dutch and Brazilian Portuguese), and a couple of minor new features. Remember that discussions about version 2.1 are still preferred on mailman-developers. I plan on moving the remaining Mailman discussion lists (mailman-users, mailman-announce, mailman-i18n, mailman-docs, and mailman-checkins) over to the new version later this weekend. Enjoy, -Barry -------------------- snip snip -------------------- 2.1 beta 3 (09-Aug-2002) The usual assortment of bug fixes and language updates. - New languages: Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil) - New configure script options: --with-mailhost, --with-urlhost, --without-permcheck. See ./configure --help for details. - The encoding of Subject: prefixes is controlled by a new list option encode_ascii_prefixes. This is useful for languages with character sets other than us-ascii. See the Languages admin page for details. - A new list option news_prefix_subject_too controls whether postings gated from mail to news should have the subject prefix added to their Subject: header. - The algorithm for upgrading the moderation controls for a Mailman 2.0.x list has changed. The change should be transparent, but you'll want to double check the moderation controls after upgrading from MM2.0.x. This should have no effect for upgrades from a previous MM2.1 beta. See the UPGRADING file for details. - On the Mass Subscribe admin page, a text box has been added so that the admin can add a custom message to be prepended to the welcome/invite notification. - On the admindb page, a link is included to more easily reload the page. - The Sendmail.py delivery module is sabotaged so that it can't be used naively. You need to read the comments in the file and edit the code to use this unsafe module. - When a member sends a `help' command to the request address, the url to their options page is included in the response. - Autoresponses, -request command responses, and posting hold notifications are inhibited for any message that has a Precedence: {bulk|list|junk} header. This is to avoid mail loops between email 'bots. If the original message has an X-Ack: yes header, the response is sent. Responses are also limited to a maximum number per day, as defined in the site variable MAX_AUTORESPONSES_PER_DAY. This is another guard against 'bot loops, and it defaults to 10. - When a Reply-To: header is munged to include both the original and the list address, the list address is always added last. - The cron/mailpasswds script has grown a -l/--listname option. - The cron/disabled script has grown options to send out notifications for reasons other than bounce-disabled. It has also grown a -f/--force option. See cron/disabled --help for details. - The bin/dumpdb script has grown a -n/--noprint option. - An experimental new mechanism for processing incoming messages has been added. If you can configure your MTA to do qmail-style Maildir delivery, Mailman now has a MaildirRunner qrunner. This may turn out to be much more efficient and scalable, but for MM2.1, it will not be officially supported. See Defaults.py.in and Mailman/Queue/MaildirRunner.py for details.

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Unofficial patches pages
by barry＠python.org 08 Aug '02

08 Aug '02

I've created a couple of pages off the Mailman wiki: http://www.zope.org/Members/bwarsaw/MailmanDesignNotes/FrontPage for collecting unofficial patches. SourceForge's patch manager is fine for managing the patches (uploading, updating, describing, commenting on, etc.), but really lousy for collecting them. I need to start closing patches which clearly aren't under consideration, either because they're against MM2.0.x, or because I'm pushing them back to a future release. The wiki pages should be used to describe the patch, and may include a link to the SF patch manager, or to some other location containing the patch (you could also add the patch to a sub-wiki page). SourceForge links will be fine even if the patch itself is closed. Anybody can add patch summaries to this page, although I may go back later and edit them. Please do /not/ add patches to the wiki in-line, that'll just make for an unreadable wiki. Please /do/ include an email address that users of your patch can contact you with. I've seeded the pages with a link to Richard Barrett's ht://Dig patch, for which he's included both a MM2.0.x and an MM2.1 patch. Questions, comments? -Barry

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RELEASED Mailman 2.0.13
by barry＠zope.com 29 Jul '02

29 Jul '02

I've released Mailman 2.0.13 which fixes some incompatibilties with Python 1.5.2 that crept into Mailman 2.0.12. This also fixes a minor configure incompatibility on Solaris platforms (and possibly others). If you're using Python 1.5.2 with Mailman 2.0.12 you should definitely upgrade. The upgrade is safe if you're using newer Python versions too. See the NEWS file excerpt below. As usual, I've made both full source tarballs and patches available. See http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=103 for links to download all the patches and the source tarball. If you decide to install the patches, please do read the release notes first: http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=97760 See also: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman http://www.list.org http://mailman.sf.net Cheers, -Barry -------------------- snip snip -------------------- 2.0.13 (29-Jul-2002) - Fixed some Python 1.5.2 compatibility problems that crept into Mailman 2.0.12. - Fixed some configure script incompatibilities on certain platforms.

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Candidate Mailman 2.0.13 patch
by barry＠zope.com 24 Jul '02

24 Jul '02

As some of you have noticed, Mailman 2.0.12 has some compatibility problems with Python 1.5.2. In order to correct this, and a few other minor problems, I want to soon release a version 2.0.13. This time, however I'd like to enlist your help. ;) I have uploaded a candidate patch for 2.0.12 -> 2.0.13 at this url: http://sf.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=585643&group_id=103&atid=30… I would appreciate it if someone (or a few someones) could give this patch a try. I'm essentially running it on python.org/zope.org, however I'm using Python 2.1.3 in my production environment. I have done some limited testing with Python 1.5.2 and this patch and it seems to go okay. I'd especially like to hear from those of you experiencing problems with MailCommandHandler, if you are running MM2.0.12 with Python 1.5.2. Does this patch fix things for you? Does it produce any other tracebacks or warnings in logs/error? Thanks for any feedback you can provide. If I get some positive feedback (or at least, no negative feedback) in a few days, I'd do a formal release. I expect that to be largely similar to this patch, with perhaps some documentation updates, unless other problems are uncovered by your testing. Thanks! -Barry

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RELEASED Mailman 2.0.12
by barry＠zope.com 11 Jul '02

11 Jul '02

I' released Mailman 2.0.12 which fixes a cross-site scripting vulnerability, among other changes. I recommend that folks upgrade their 2.0.x systems to this new version. See below for a NEWS file excerpt. As usual, I've made both full source tarballs and patches available. See http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=103 for links to download all the patches and the source tarball. If you decide to install the patches, please do read the release notes first: http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=97760 See also: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman http://www.list.org http://mailman.sf.net Cheers, -Barry -------------------- snip snip -------------------- 2.0.12 (02-Jul-2002) - Implemented a guard against some reply loops and 'bot subscription attacks. Specifically, if a message to -request has a Precedence: bulk (or list, or junk) header, the command is ignored. Well-behaved 'bots should always include such a header. - Changes to the configure script so that you can pass in the mail host and web host by setting the environment variables MAILHOST and WWWHOST respectively. configure will also exit if it can't figure out these values (usually due to broken dns). - Closed another minor cross-site scripting vulnerability.

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RELEASED Mailman 2.0.11
by barry＠zope.com 20 May '02

20 May '02

I'm announcing the release of Mailman 2.0.11 which fixes two cross-site scripting exploits, one reported by "office" in the admin login page, and another reported by Tristan Roddis in the Pipermail index summaries. It is recommended that all sites upgrade their 2.0.x systems to this version. As usual, I've made both full source tarballs and patches available. See http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=103 for links to download all the patches and the source tarball. If you decide to install the patches, please do read the release notes first: http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=63042 See also: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman http://www.list.org http://mailman.sf.net Cheers, -Barry

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RELEASED Mailman 2.1 beta 2
by barry＠zope.com 06 May '02

06 May '02

I've released Mailman 2.1 beta 2; see below for a list of changes since version 2.1 beta 1. There have been lots of bug fixes, Korean language support aded, and a couple of new features (a bit of a thaw in the feature freeze ;). Remember that discussions about version 2.1 are preferred on mailman-developers. I plan on moving mailman-developers over to the new version tomorrow, and if that works well, the other mailman-* mailing lists at python.org too. Enjoy, -Barry 2.1 beta 2 (05-May-2002) Lots of bug fixing, and the following new features and changes: - A "de-mime" content filter feature has been added. This oft-requested feature allows you to specify MIME types that Mailman should strip off of any messages before they're posted to the list. You can also optionally convert text/html to text/plain (by default, through lynx if it's available). - Changes to the way the RFC 2919 and 2369 headers (i.e. the List-*: headers) are added: o List-Id: is always added o List-Post:, List-Help:, List-Subscribe:, List-Unsubscribe:, and List-Archive: are only added to posting messages. o X-List-Administrivia: is only added to messages Mailman creates and sends out of its own accord. Also, if the site administrator allows it, list owners can suppress the addition of all the List-*: headers. List owners can also separately suppress the List-Post: header for announce-only lists. - A new framework for email commands has been added. This allows you to easily add, delete, or change the email commands that Mailman understands, on a per-site, per-list, or even per-user basis. - Users can now change their digest delivery type from MIME to plain text globally, for all lists they are subscribed to. - No language select pulldowns are shown if the list only supports one language. - More mylist-admin eradication. - Several performance improvements in the bounce qrunner, one of which is to make it run only once per minute instead of once per second. - Korean language support as been added. - Gatewaying from news -> mail uses its connections to the nntpd more efficiently. - In bin/add_members, -n/--non-digest-members-file command line switch is deprecated in favor of -r/--regular-members-file. - bin/sync_members grew a -g/--goodbye-msg switch.

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RELEASED Mailman 2.0.10
by barry＠zope.com 18 Apr '02

18 Apr '02

Hot on the heels of the last release, I'm announcing Mailman 2.0.10 which fixes a few minor problems. See the NEWS file entries below. This is not a critical fix, although it will eliminate a confusing (but harmless) error message, and could provide better support for sites which use the qmail MTA. As usual, I've made both full source tarballs and patches available. See http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=103 for links to download all the patches and the source tarball. If you decide to install the patches, please do read the release notes first: http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=63042 See also: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman http://www.list.org http://mailman.sf.net Cheers, -Barry 2.0.10 (09-Apr-2002) - Closed another small race condition. - Add the RFC-2822 recommended Message-ID: header on internally generated outgoing messages. Not all MTAs add this field if missing (read: Qmail).

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