Mailman 3 November 2012 - Mailman-Users

Editing Mailman's text files
by Pete Bell 08 May '24

08 May '24

Hi. I'm a new member of this group but have been running an email list with Mailman for a long time. I am now setting a list up again and want to give a "look and feel" to the list which has more branding of my user group as a whole, and less of a Mailman-feel. I seem to remember that besides editing the public HTML pages, it is possible to edit the text files which Mailman automatically sends out for certain needs (such as 'approve.txt', 'adminsubscribeack.txt', 'invite.txt', and so on). A. Is this still the case? B. If so, where can I find them? (in case they've changed from the ones I have from long ago). C. Where do they need putting, so that Mailman can use them again? It's important that I should tell you that Mailman on my webhosts servers is a "server-wide" installation, and I don't get to edit anything which other clients to their servers need. This would be only for my own use, and as such I need to know where these files go in my own webspace, and how to get Mailman to use them instead of the default ones. I should also say that I have done this before, so unless the facility to do this has been ditched in recent years, I *should* still be able to do it ! Does Mailman perhaps look for these files somewhere in my webspace (which I have to give a specific name), and if it doesn't find them it goes on to find its default versions of these files? Thanks in advance for your help. Pete Bell, UK

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Running two list with same email prefix
by Andrea Cappelli 27 Feb '24

27 Feb '24

Hi all, I'm running a mail server with Debian Lenny, MTA is Postfix and i will use postfix-to-mailma.py script to run list I would set up Mailman for running mailing list with same email prefix on different domains, obvious with different list names For example we have ml.domain1.com and ml.domain2.net, i would like to have LISTADDRESS LISTNAME tech(a)ml.domain1.com tech-ml.domain1.com tech(a)ml.domain.2.net tech-ml.domain2.net In this way i can have the same address on differente domains and Mailman (my version is 2.1.11) can distinguish between lists because the list name is different. The list name will be also used to access web interface, so we have http://ml.domain1.com/mailman/admin/tech-ml.domain1.com http://ml.domain2.net/mailman/admin/tech-ml.domain2.net Is possible to accomplish this task? Any idea?

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Hide list address?
by Ricardo Kleemann 17 Nov '23

17 Nov '23

Hi, Is there any way to configure Mailman such that, for an announcement-only type list, when a message is sent to the list, the To: shows the member's address, rather than the list address? Some list software allows the ability to hide the list address itself, so that address is not advertised. I couldn't find any configuration specific to that.

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Add "sender's name/email" to BODY of mail as header?
by Mal 17 Feb '21

17 Feb '21

I want all mails sent to the list to come from the list's email address... But, in this case, if the user forgets to sign their name at the bottom of their mail body, effectively the mail to the list is anonymous...! Is there a way to add the user name (or email address) to the top of each mail so that the mails have the name of the sender, while the mail itself comes from the list address? I have looked high and low for an answer, but noone seems to have the solution. Thank you! Mal

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Mailman CGI Error-Group mismatch error
by Wang, Mary Y 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

Hi, I received the following error this morning. So I rerun configure again with the following command: ./configure --with-cgi-id=apache --prefix=/var/mailman. I'm still getting the same error. Is there any place that I can look for so that I can debug this problem better? Perhaps, looking at the config history file or something. Any other places that I can check the cause of this error? "Mailman CGI error!!! The Mailman CGI wrapper encountered a fatal error. This entry is being stored in your syslog: Group mismatch error. Mailman expected the CGI wrapper script to be executed as group "nobody", but the system's web server executed the CGI script as group "apache". Try tweaking the web server to run the script as group "nobody", or re-run configure, providing the command line option `--with-cgi-gid=apache'." Thanks Mary

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MM-2.1.15: Small bug regarding the "request forgery check"
by Ralf Hildebrandt 12 May '14

12 May '14

Today I check the subscribers list ("Membership Management... Section") on one of our lists and called up the legend using "Click here to include the legend for this table." After clicking on that link, the page did indeed display the legend, but the page now starts with: Error: The form lifetime has expired. (request forgery check) -- Ralf Hildebrandt Charite Universitätsmedizin Berlin ralf.hildebrandt(a)charite.de Campus Benjamin Franklin http://www.charite.de Hindenburgdamm 30, 12203 Berlin Geschäftsbereich IT, Abt. Netzwerk fon: +49-30-450.570.155

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Simplified mailman installation setup for corporate internal list server
by Sriram Karra 18 Dec '12

18 Dec '12

Hi, I am exploring deploying a simple mailman setup for the small company I work at. By simplified I mean the following: 1. All users are authenticated already using a single sign on. No password should be required for any activity. 2. Any user should be able to create lists (only owners can administer lists). We will still have private and public lists. 3. A user on logon should be able to manage her subscriptions using a simple "on/off" click, without per-list passwords, or confirmation emails and stuff. Another way to put it is I want a "/mailman/userinfo" script in addition to the /mailman/listinfo interface. I am quite sure someone else has also thought of this sort of a deployment. Is there any code or customization sample I can look and explore. If no such instances are known, what do you think is the best way for me to start exploring my own implementation. I can hack a little python. Regards, Karra

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Re: [Mailman-Users] Automated Subscription Bots Inundating List Owners With Subscription Requests
by Petersen, Kirsten J - NET 09 Dec '12

09 Dec '12

Gary, et al: The Mailman lists at Oregon State University have been receiving excessive request for subscriptions since mid-October as well. Our list administrators were suspicious because often the names on the requests did not match the email addresses. Also, many lists that had been defunct for years were receiving requests, too. I spent some time trying to figure out what the lists that were being hit had in common. Not all of the lists receiving requests were advertised on the listinfo page. Today I realized that all of the lists involved in this attack have their subscribe_policy set to just "require approval" rather "confirm" or "confirm and approve". So I think the theory that spammers were just trying to get on the lists to harvest member addresses is probably correct. My folks are beating down my door for a solution, too, and I can't think of a good one. We host lists for the international community, so any measure I take that makes it harder for external people to subscribe will negatively impact intended use. I am going to advise my list admins to enable confirmation, which should discourage these attempts. It also occurred to me that I could write a script to monitor the vette log and purge requests that look suspicious - mainly based on the same email address attempting to subscribe to multiple unrelated lists at the same time. If anyone else has any bright ideas about this problem, I would love to hear it. -Kirsten Petersen Network Services, Oregon State University http://oregonstate.edu/is/services/network-services net(a)oregonstate.edu<mailto:net@oregonstate.edu> (7-HELP, option 2) itconsult(a)oregonstate.edu<mailto:itconsult@oregonstate.edu> (7-4710)

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Mailman needs 20 seconds to complete per email
by Karsten Becker 04 Dec '12

04 Dec '12

Hi there, I'm running an Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) with the repository mailman in version > ii mailman 1:2.1.13-1ubuntu0.2 Powerful, web-based mailing list manager Everything is running fine, so emails arriving at postfix get transfered nearby immediate towards mailman and vice-versa. I'm running Mailman in a multi-domain-MySQL-based setup, as we have to run a lot of different domains in our company. But as said above, this all works. The problem is, that if Mailman gets an email from Postfix, it sits down and does "something" for roundabout 20 seconds. Then it sends out the emails towards Postfix, and Postfix delivers. For normal mailing list operation this is not a problem as it sends out one bulk email out to Postfix - but when I do a mass subscription of for example 100 people, Mailman will start to send out the personalized welcome emails one after another - and will also need 20 seconds per email. So it takes 100x 20 seconds = 2000 seconds = 33 minutes till everybody gets his/her welcome email. Is this usual behaviour of Mailman to do "something" that long? The server is a powerful one with plenty of GHz and RAM. What the hell could this "something" be? :-) Following you will find my configuration file and the smtp log of mailman: /etc/mailman/mm_cfg.py: > from Defaults import * > MAILMAN_SITE_LIST = 'mailman' > DEFAULT_URL_PATTERN = 'http://%s/mailman/' > PRIVATE_ARCHIVE_URL = '/mailman/private' > IMAGE_LOGOS = '/mailman/images/mailman/' > SHORTCUT_ICON = 'favicon.ico' > DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'lists.mycompany.eu' > DEFAULT_URL_HOST = 'lists.mycompany.eu' > add_virtualhost(DEFAULT_URL_HOST, DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST) > DEFAULT_SERVER_LANGUAGE = 'en' > USE_ENVELOPE_SENDER = 0 # Still used? > DEFAULT_SEND_REMINDERS = 0 > MTA='Postfix' > SMTPHOST = 'localhost' > SMTPPORT = 10030 > POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = ['lists.mycompany.eu', 'lists.myothercompany.org', 'lists.mythirdcompany.eu'] > add_virtualhost('lists.myothercompany.org', 'lists.myothercompany.org') > add_virtualhost('lists.mythirdcompany.eu', 'lists.mythirdcompany.eu') > DEB_LISTMASTER = 'postmaster(a)mycompany.eu' > DEFAULT_ARCHIVE_PRIVATE = 1 > MEMBER_PASSWORD_LENGTH = 15 > ADMIN_PASSWORD_LENGTH = 20 > DEFAULT_LIST_ADVERTISED = No > DEFAULT_MAX_NUM_RECIPIENTS = 10 > DEFAULT_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE = 250 # KB > DEFAULT_MAX_DAYS_TO_HOLD = 7 > DEFAULT_GENERIC_NONMEMBER_ACTION = 2 > DEFAULT_SUBSCRIBE_POLICY = 3 /var/log/mailman/smtp > Nov 27 08:00:22 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1353999601.22399.carbonmarkets(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to carbonmarkets for 1 recips, completed in 21.021 seconds > Nov 27 08:00:43 2012 (10393) <mailman.1.1353999601.22399.agriculture(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to agriculture for 1 recips, completed in 21.013 seconds > Nov 27 08:01:04 2012 (10393) <mailman.2.1353999601.22399.wimix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to wimix for 1 recips, completed in 21.007 seconds > Nov 27 08:01:25 2012 (10393) <mailman.3.1353999601.22399.out-of-pfalzburger(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to out-of-pfalzburger for 1 recips, completed in 21.006 seconds > Nov 27 08:01:46 2012 (10393) <mailman.4.1353999601.22399.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 1 recips, completed in 21.018 seconds > Nov 27 08:02:07 2012 (10393) <mailman.5.1353999601.22399.energy(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to energy for 1 recips, completed in 21.006 seconds > Nov 27 08:02:28 2012 (10393) <mailman.6.1353999601.22399.china(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to china for 1 recips, completed in 21.008 seconds > Nov 27 08:02:49 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1353999601.22399.carbonmarkets(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to carbonmarkets for 2 recips, completed in 21.007 seconds > Nov 27 08:03:10 2012 (10393) <mailman.1.1353999601.22399.agriculture(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to agriculture for 3 recips, completed in 21.005 seconds > Nov 27 08:03:31 2012 (10393) <mailman.2.1353999601.22399.wimix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to wimix for 2 recips, completed in 21.007 seconds > Nov 27 08:04:13 2012 (10393) <mailman.4.1353999601.22399.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 2 recips, completed in 21.011 seconds > Nov 27 08:04:34 2012 (10393) <mailman.5.1353999601.22399.energy(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to energy for 2 recips, completed in 21.007 seconds > Nov 27 08:04:55 2012 (10393) <mailman.6.1353999601.22399.china(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to china for 2 recips, completed in 21.006 seconds > Nov 27 09:01:20 2012 (10393) <50B47339.6040405(a)mycompany.eu> smtp to energy for 61 recips, completed in 21.124 seconds > Nov 27 09:18:43 2012 (10393) <50B4774C.1030707(a)mycompany.eu> smtp to berlinix for 101 recips, completed in 21.126 seconds > Nov 27 09:51:29 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1354006267.31674.china(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to china for 1 recips, completed in 21.022 seconds > Nov 27 10:27:04 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1354008402.6430.carbonmarkets(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to carbonmarkets for 1 recips, completed in 21.029 seconds > Nov 27 10:27:25 2012 (10393) <mailman.1.1354008402.6430.carbonmarkets(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to carbonmarkets for 1 recips, completed in 21.004 seconds > Nov 27 10:33:09 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1354008767.9391.energy(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to energy for 1 recips, completed in 21.022 seconds > Nov 27 11:45:19 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1354013097.25318.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 1 recips, completed in 21.023 seconds > Nov 27 11:49:32 2012 (10393) <mailman.14.1354013350.10391.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 1 recips, completed in 21.018 seconds > Nov 27 11:49:54 2012 (10393) <mailman.16.1354013350.10391.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 1 recips, completed in 21.815 seconds > Nov 27 11:50:18 2012 (10393) <mailman.16.1354013350.10391.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 2 recips, completed in 21.391 seconds > Nov 27 12:20:17 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1354015196.1021.confix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to confix for 1 recips, completed in 21.015 seconds > Nov 27 12:21:05 2012 (10393) <mailman.0.1354015243.1152.wimix(a)lists.mycompany.eu> smtp to wimix for 1 recips, completed in 21.001 seconds > Nov 27 12:40:52 2012 (10393) <50B4A6AD.40705(a)mycompany.eu> smtp to ecologix for 123 recips, completed in 21.235 seconds Regards Karsten

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Reply-to and subscribing
by dries annaert 29 Nov '12

29 Nov '12

I've setup the dreamhost implementation of mailman succesfully but I'm facing a problem with the subscriptions. What I want to try is to manage (un-)subscriptions through a drupal website where (if the name of the list is checked) a mail is being sent to the list-join address of the list. However, to avoid being marked as spam by dreamhost, I have to sent the message with the actual subscribing address in the reply-to field. However, I can't find if it's possible (and if so, how?) to look into the reply-to field for (un-)subscriptions. Anyone has an idea if and how this can be done? Best regards, Dries

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