On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 12:37 PM, David <dave@fiteyes.com> wrote:

I know this is possibly both a stupid question and one that is subject to endless debate in the larger scope... but strictly from a Mailman point of view, where should I install Mailman 3.0?

The short answer is "Anywhere, as long as the relative positions of components are in the same place". Basically, just use "python setup.py install --prefix=$YOUR_PREFERENCE".

And no, it's not a stupid question. There's an annoying trap that's worth avoiding: mimicking distro layouts (see below).

My habit has always been to install my own application in /opt.

I don't see any reason to vary from that, it will just irritate you to some extent, and not help others advise you. The important issue is how things relate to each other under $prefix and in the related "var" hierarchy (where the config files and databases will be kept), and setup.py will handle that. Long experience with Mailman 2 is that if you're installing from source, there won't be conflicts with the distro anyway, and it's easier for all if everybody's layout is "standard".

Don't try to mimic Ubuntu's layout for Mailman 2. Distros often have layout policies that fit their tools, but these (and the sensibilities of Mailman developers) vary, so following a distro layout will likely cause yours to vary from the developers and other beta testers (who are an equally important source of advice).

Also, would you use a base directory named mailman or mailman-3.0.0b1? Thanks

I personally will be using "mailman3" as I will be running Mailman 2 and Mailman 3 in parallel for a while. If that doesn't apply to you, IMHO it's a matter of taste whether you use "bare" "mailman" or a name tagged with the version. Keeping older versions in their own installations occasionally saves work in recovering from a configuration error or software defect, but is a continual minor annoyance.

I do think it's important to be careful about the upgrade to 3.1. At that time it is likely that many new features will be added, and possibly some backward incompatible changes. If for some reason you want to revert to 3.0, up-to-date backups of the database and configuration files are very important. Whether to use conventional backup copies, VCS, or version-specific installations is a matter of taste IMO. I would use whatever you feel comfortable with.