Mailman-Users September 1999

mailman-users@python.org

98 participants
130 discussions

admin passwords rejected
by Chris Albone 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

Hi All, my mailman installation is causing me some grief. We've been running mailman 1.0 quite happily on a Linux redhat 5.2 box pretty much from the time that it was released. Recently, for a variety of reasons, the server was upgraded to redhat 6.0 - which also means that python was upgraded. Once python was upgraded, admin passwords stopped working. Or, to be more correct, lists that already exist can still be administered via the web interface, but any new lists that are created cannot. Any advice? peace Chris

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Attachments not making it to the list (revisited)
by George Ellenburg 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

Greetings, Just in case, I upgraded Postfix to the latest stable version on my mail server here - thinking that might have been the bottleneck - but am still having problems trying to Email a 78k word document to a test list. There are *no* limits on the list as far as message sizes go and Postfix's max message size is set to 25mb. Here's what I'm seeing in the logs: /home/mailman/logs/smtp-failures: Sep 23 10:02:40 1999 TrySMTPDelivery: To ['gellenburg(a)s1.com', 'george.ellenburg(a)s1.com', 'gme(a)s1.com']: Sep 23 10:02:40 1999 TrySMTPDelivery: Mailman.pythonlib.smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected / Connection unexpectedly closed (dequeued) Sep 23 10:02:40 1999 TrySMTPDelivery: To ['gabofh(a)yahoo.com']: Sep 23 10:02:40 1999 TrySMTPDelivery: Mailman.pythonlib.smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected / Connection unexpectedly closed (dequeued) Sep 23 10:02:40 1999 TrySMTPDelivery: To ['lnbrg(a)mars.he.net']: Sep 23 10:02:40 1999 TrySMTPDelivery: Mailman.pythonlib.smtplib.SMTPServerDisconnected / Connection unexpectedly closed (dequeued) /home/mailman/logs/post: Sep 23 09:57:34 1999 post to test from gme(a)s1.com size=105589 /home/mailman/logs/digest: Sep 23 09:57:33 1999 Test v 1 - 1 msgs 0 dgstrs: 0 m 0 non 0 dis /home/mailman/logs/error: <empty> /home/mailman/logs/vette: <empty> /home/mailman/logs/bounce: <empty> /var/log/maillog: Sep 23 09:57:30 daffy postfix/smtpd[32090]: D22231EC11: client=d10-75-20-70.s1.com[10.75.20.70] Sep 23 09:57:30 daffy postfix/cleanup[31963]: D22231EC11: message-id=<000a01bf05cb$766fed90$46144b0a(a)s1.com> Sep 23 09:57:33 daffy postfix/qmgr[31962]: D22231EC11: from=<gme(a)s1.com>, size=107588 (queue active) Sep 23 10:02:40 daffy postfix/local[32046]: D22231EC11: to=<test(a)s1.com>, relay=local, delay=310, status=sent ("|/home/mailman/mail/wrapper post test") ls -al /home/mailman/mail/ : # ls -al total 19 drwxrwsr-x 2 mailman mailman 512 Aug 21 07:47 . drwxrwsr-x 17 mailman mailman 512 Sep 20 07:37 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 root mailman 1521 Aug 21 07:47 paths.py -rw-r--r-- 1 mailman mailman 270 Aug 21 07:47 paths.pyc -rwxr-sr-x 1 root mailman 14047 Aug 21 07:47 wrapper # Does anyone have any suggestions or clues? Many thanks! ----- George M. Ellenburg -- Unix Administrator Security First Technology Center -- Norcross, Ga Tel: +1 678 421 4805 -- Pager: +1 888 463 5585 gme(a)s1.com -- http://www.s1.com/

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mail2news by itself?
by Bek Oberin 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

Is it possible to use the mail<=>news gateway part of mailman by itself? We pipe several outside mailing lists (eg bugtraq) to internal newsgroups for the convenience of staff and have noticed that mailman's gatewaying is superior to the homebrew we use for the outside lists ... short of setting up a mailing list for each newsgroup and doing it that way, can this be done? bekj -- : --Hacker-Neophile-Eclectic-Geek-Grrl-Queer-Disabled-Boychick-- : gossamer(a)tertius.net.au http://www.tertius.net.au/~gossamer/ : Trust your hunches. They're usually right. They're usually : based on facts filed away just below the conscious level. : -- Dr Joyce Brothers

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Re: [AROS-Dev] Possible problem with menus and simple refresh windows
by Stefan Berger 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

-- Aaron "Optimizer" Digulla Team AMIGA AROS Head of Development Author of XDME, ResTrackLib, CInt. <http://www.aros.org/> "(to) optimize: Make a program faster by improving the algorithms rather than by buying a faster machine." <digulla(a)hepe.com>

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Hypermail to Pipermail
by Erik Parker 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

Hello list, just subscribed.. I looked through the (what seem to be) unsearchable archives at python.org, and couldn't really find anything. I also downloaded every gzip and grep'd for an answer, couldn't find anything that way either. Is there a faq file, or an email you could give me to reference on exactly how to take all of my hypermail archives (a couple years worth) and convert them over to pipermail? We run a very large list, doing about 2000 posts a day, to 700 subscribers, for the Pentax camera discussion list. We are switching from Majordomo to mailman, for it to be easier for them to use from a user standpoint, as well as being able to let our helpdesk people administrate the list. We have it running on a dual piii-550, with 512 megs of ram.. In my load testing Mailman has done great, except it buckles when it gets 50 2 meg messages all within in a couple of minutes, and has to resend that to 100 users. It is python using up all of the resources, I think it might be from writing the archive, and not actually from sending out the emails. I am unsure. Thank you in advance. Erik Parker eparker(a)mindsec.com

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Re: [Mailman-Users] Creating New List via Web Interface
by J C Lawrence 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

On Wed, 22 Sep 1999 18:29:04 -0400 Ron Jarrell <jarrell(a)vt.edu> wrote: > At 12:15 PM 9/22/99 -0700, J C Lawrence wrote: >> The differences from a "real" list would be that no mail aliases >> would be created and config.db would contain a flag indicating >> that this is a proposed list rather than an instantiated list. >> The benefit of this approach is that very little would have to >> change in the rest of MailMan. All the normal admin and >> configuration interfaces would work just as per normal without a >> single line of source having to be touched, modulo the following >> exceptions: >> >> listinfo and admin would have to be touched to either not list >> proposed lists, or to list them seperately from the real lists. > Why a new flag? Just create it as a hidden list. That would work as well, except that users can then see that it is hidden and unhide it. Not Good. Using the method I propose (flag addition), the user sets his list up exactly the way he wants it and the admin then merely installs the aliases and removes the flag. -- J C Lawrence Life: http://www.kanga.nu/ Home: claw(a)kanga.nu ---------(*) Work (Linux/IA64): claw(a)varesearch.com ... Beware of cromagnons wearing chewing gum and palm pilots ...

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Re: [Mailman-Users] Creating New List via Web Interface
by J C Lawrence 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

On Wed, 22 Sep 1999 11:44:27 -0400 (EDT) The List Server Administrator at UNH <listadm(a)paradox.unh.edu> wrote: > Christopher Lindsey <lindsey(a)ncsa.uiuc.edu> posted (in part) a > while back: >> I would really prefer a model where the user can create a list on >> their own ... I personally find it easier to create a new list on >> the commandline, but I'd rather punt the entire job (except for >> aliases) to the end user. Otherwise I end up sending questions >> back and forth, etc... > J C Lawrence <claw(a)varesearch.com> followed-up (in part): >> How about the following approach: >> >> There is a web interface. >> >> It allows a list to be created and configured, but does not >> instantiate the aliases or anything else to actually make it >> "live". >> The nice thing about this approach is that it removes all the >> priviledged account problems, the "oh god someone hacked in and >> is running a warez list without me noticing" problem, and >> further, requires minimal changes to the current code (the admin >> interface would need to be touched to not publish lists "in >> edit"). > And Darren Boyd <dboyd(a)its.to> chimed in: >> I was thinking of something along these lines as well. A web >> page could allow a user to create a list, which doesn't get >> created. When they hit 'submit' mailman generates a script (sh or >> python or whatever) in the .../mailman/newlists/ directory. A >> mail is sent to the administrator who can then log into the box >> and run the script. The script then sets up the list and mails >> the owner. > This is, in effect, what we do here for setting up ListProc > lists. See: > http://listproc.unh.edu/New-lists > Anyone is welcome to try this out -- I'll just ignore your > requests. :-) I was thinking of something a little different: When you create a list thru the web interface I describe above, I actually does the normal "create a list" process, creating all the relevent directories, config.db etc. The wanna-be list owner can then use the normal MailMan web interface to configure his list in the normal fashion, just like it was a fully instantiated list. As such he really is creating a list, not just filling out a description of what he wants. The differences from a "real" list would be that no mail aliases would be created and config.db would contain a flag indicating that this is a proposed list rather than an instantiated list. The benefit of this approach is that very little would have to change in the rest of MailMan. All the normal admin and configuration interfaces would work just as per normal without a single line of source having to be touched, modulo the following exceptions: listinfo and admin would have to be touched to either not list proposed lists, or to list them seperately from the real lists. Not a big change for such a large feature. -- J C Lawrence Life: http://www.kanga.nu/ Home: claw(a)kanga.nu ---------(*) Work (Linux/IA64): claw(a)varesearch.com ... Beware of cromagnons wearing chewing gum and palm pilots ...

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is there a way to have the list password emailed to yourself?
by Listwrangler 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

Is there a way to have the administrator password mailed to yourself? Since the ISP was hit by the hurricane I haven't been able to get on -- it says 'sorry, wrong password' and the ISP isn't taking care of the problem for me. If there was an option for the list administrator to mail their password to themselves if they forgot it -- or had problems -- they could get it again. Sending monthly password reminders to the list administrators is not a bad idea, either. Especially if you hand off a list to a moderator and they change the password and forget to tell you. Gary Listwrangler listwrangler(a)iximd.com List administrator and webmaster ***************************** For help with subscribe/unsubscribe, troubleshooting, or more info about The American Boyz email lists, please visit: home.iximd.com/~amboyz/online.html, or request a copy of the Amboyz Elist Help File to be emailed to you. If you are familiar with Mailman, the following lists are implemented with Mailman and use standard Mailman features: Amboyz-Main, Amboyz-Announce, TrueSpirit, and ElderTG ***************************** The American Boyz, Inc. (not-for-profit) 212A S. Bridge St, #131, Elkton, MD, 21921 FAX: 410-620-2024; URL: home.iximd.com/~amboyz; EMAIL: amboyz(a)iximd.com

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ack! security bug and question.
by Listwrangler 23 Sep '99

23 Sep '99

While resetting my subscriptions to digest, I decided to experiment a bit. I notice that you only have to enter an email address in order to get access to the page of edit options -- no password needed. Thus if you're wondering if a particular individual is subscribed to a particular list, you can type in their name and get their edit page. Which is confirmation that they are subscribed. For certain lists, that would be a confidentiality issue. It is for several of my lists. I have set the configuration to hide membership list... But... I typed in the address of a person I know is subscribed, and poof! I got their edit page -- without having to enter a password. So now if I know an email addy I can confirm whether a person is a member of an email list or not -- even if the administrator has hidden the membership list. My question is this: if a user has clicked to hide his list membership, can somebody who knows their email addy click into their subscription page and see their info? My ISP flooded and burned and still hasn't fixed it so that I can get into the admin pages, so I can't fiddle around testing it. Since most users don't have this much subtlety when it comes to security, wouldn't it be better to require the password *before* allowing people to access their edit page? Basically, if you know some one's email, and have an idea of their area of interests, you can scope our their mailing list memberships. Most people don't care, but some do. I have members that do. They aren't technologically skilled enough to have detected this gap in their privacy, and I now have an ethical question: Tell them, and have them flip out? Or decide that understanding the software is their obligation, not mine, and it's not my responsibility to decide if their confidentiality needs have been met? So I really need to know exactly how this stuff works in order to make a management decision. I suppose some might think this is a trivial concern, but once in a while we do get somebody with a personal vendetta trying to cause crap for us or one of our users. In each case the malicious person was, in my humble opinion, a fruitcake, but one of them was actually a technically competent fruitcake. My organization operates in the field of mental health and civil rights, so lunatics and bigots are an occupational hazard. Prevention is the best disaster recovery plan of all. Gary Listwrangler listwrangler(a)iximd.com List administrator and webmaster ***************************** For help with subscribe/unsubscribe, troubleshooting, or more info about The American Boyz email lists, please visit: home.iximd.com/~amboyz/online.html, or request a copy of the Amboyz Elist Help File to be emailed to you. If you are familiar with Mailman, the following lists are implemented with Mailman and use standard Mailman features: Amboyz-Main, Amboyz-Announce, TrueSpirit, and ElderTG ***************************** The American Boyz, Inc. (not-for-profit) 212A S. Bridge St, #131, Elkton, MD, 21921 FAX: 410-620-2024; URL: home.iximd.com/~amboyz; EMAIL: amboyz(a)iximd.com

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MIME
by Paul Murphy 22 Sep '99

22 Sep '99

How do people handle MIME mail sent to mailman lists? I thought of writing a filter to turn incoming MIME messages into ASCII, but our users are now sending attachments and find that ability very useful, so that is no longer an option. I now think that MIME needs to be handled specially at the archiving level -- since MIME mail is illegible in an archive. Looking through the project's TODO list, I don't see any plans for this. Perhaps there's an obvious (or not so obvious) way of handling this now. Has anyone else dealt w/ this problem? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Many thanks. - Paul Murphy / murphy(a)niggle.com

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