Mailman 3 April 2019 - Mailman-Users

Installing Mailman on a Debian system with Apache 2.4.2, CGI error!
by Jayson Smith Dec. 5, 2019

Dec. 5, 2019

Hi, This is a weird one. I think of myself as knowing my way around Mailman pretty well for a user/admin/installer/upgrader. I'm upgrading to a Debian 9 system from CentOS 6.5. Debian's Apache configs took a bit of getting used to, but I actually like them better. It uses Apache 2.4.2. I wanted to install Mailman from source, since the latest version is 2.1.26, Debian has 2.1.23, and IIRC that's too old to have some screen reader optimizations I want. So I built, installed, all working well. I copied over the Mailman config from my CentOS system to use in Apache, making some changes so it'd work under 2.4.2. Here it is: -------------------- # # httpd configuration settings for use with mailman. # ScriptAlias /mailman/ /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/ <Directory /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/> AllowOverride None Options ExecCGI Require all granted </Directory> Alias /pipermail/ /var/lib/mailman/archives/public/ <Directory /var/lib/mailman/archives/public> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Require all granted AddDefaultCharset Off </Directory> # Uncomment the following line, to redirect queries to /mailman to the # listinfo page (recommended). # RedirectMatch ^/mailman[/]*$ /mailman/listinfo -------------------- The problem is that the CGI isn't working. If I go to http://temphostname/mailman/listinfo/mailman for example, Apache says /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo/mailman doesn't exist. If I just go to /mailman/listinfo I get an Elf binary thrown at me, rather than the page saying there are no advertised lists. If I do the same thing from the server using the Lynx web browser, I get the same binary thrown at me, with a page title, "Mailman CGI error!" It sounds to me like Apache 2.4.2 isn't seeing that /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin is, in fact, CGI scripts, and is trying to treat them like regular files. Has something else changed between Apache versions? Thanks, Jayson

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mailman on google comput engine
by 황병희 Oct. 8, 2019

Oct. 8, 2019

i just did make one vm instance Ubuntu 18.04 on google compute engine. barely i did install postfix at there. hmm if possible, i wish to run mailing service for my family and me -- it needs a little bit some comunication plus some records about family history. yes i want GNU Mailman very much!!! google compute engine blocked port 25 by default. in this case i can run mailman with other port (example 625)? again question, Mailman can act with 625 or 1625 or 2625, ...? Sincerely, Byung-Hee from South Korea. -- ^고맙습니다 _地平天成_ 감사합니다_^))//

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Debugging mass invitations using web page interface...
by The Mailing List Server Admin Sept. 5, 2019

Sept. 5, 2019

Dear Mailman Cognoscenti, I'm helping one of my list owners send out 5K plus invitations to students to subscribe to his mailing list. Our current configuration: Mailman v2.1.20 RHEL v5.11 Semdmail v8.13.8 Apache v2.2.3 Since this was the first time doing this, I suggested breaking the batch input into 3 groups, 50, 500, and the rest. The 50 went fine, as did the 500, but the largest batch gave him a generic web server error: > Internal Server Error > > The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was > unable to complete your request. > > Please contact the server administrator, root(a)conundrum.unh.edu and > inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might > have done that may have caused the error. > > More information about this error may be available in the server > error log. I looked at the logs and I couldn't find anything that hinted at what went wrong. So I asked the owner to send me the last back and I'd give it a try. I wrote a script that removed folks already subscribed to his list and split the remaining subscribers up into 6 files with a thousand records each. I just tried uploading the 1st batch of 1K, with the following options: Subscribe these users now... (*) Invite Send welcome message... (*) No Send notifications... (*) No And entered a 7 line paragraph explaining the invitation. I ended up having the same error happen. Looking at the Mailman logs, I can't see any difference before or after my submission. In the HTTPD logs, I see: >> [Fri Aug 26 19:59:23 2016] [warn] [client 132.177.215.132] Timeout >> waiting for output from CGI script >> /usr/local/mailman/cgi-bin/admin, referer: >> https://lists.unh.edu/mailman/admin/campus.connection/members/add >> [Fri Aug 26 19:59:23 2016] [error] [client 132.177.215.132] >> Premature end of script headers: admin, referer: >> https://lists.unh.edu/mailman/admin/campus.connection/members/add So is there an inherent limit to the number of invites that can be submitted via the web form? As a work around, how would I do large invites on behalf of the owner from the command line, including the 'extra text' that is allowed via the web interface? -- Cordially, the UNH Mailing List Server Admins Bill Costa, senior admin (603) 862-3056

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Re: [Mailman-Users] Bulk subscription with specific password
by Drew Tenenholz April 29, 2019

April 29, 2019

..... thinking out loud.... We usually send an email to mailman (which includes the pre-defined password) for each subscription and use the 'confirm' option in mailman so the user gets a confirming email and I know their password. But, would it work to reset the list to 'approve', send the email command, and then 'approve all'? Sure, that would be two steps, but if they are two steps that can act upon the entire subset of new subscribers, that would be a lot fewer steps than changing 900+ passwords individually. -- Drew

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Bulk subscription with specific password
by Drew Tenenholz April 29, 2019

April 29, 2019

All -- You know how, despite insisting that you really need to upgrade and reconfigure some critical systems, there is always something even more pressing so it doesn't get done and then the whole thing catches on fire? That's what has happened to our custom-build Mailman subscription system. We had (and will soon have restored) a setup that allows people to choose from our 10+ announce-only style lists that takes care of some of the mundane details and records their mailman 2.x list memberships in a central database. While the system has been offline for the past few weeks, we did set up a simple 'web survey form' to allow people to at least tell us which list(s) they wanted to get on or off of. Processing the removals was pretty simple, but processing the new subscriptions is going to be more difficult. From the 900+ responses collected, I can generate a list of email addresses that are to be added to a specific list (one set for nodigest, one set for digest) and can see some ways to add them, but nothing is fully satisfactory, and I could use some suggestions. I could use the built-in web management page to 'mass subscribe'. This is straightforward, and allows users to skip the 'confirm' step which is a usual part of the subscription process. I suppose I can set the list default option to 'digest', then add that set and switch it back to the 'nodigest' option and import that set to get the correct subscribers. The problem is that the custom process assigns a password to the user which is also stored in the database system so that when they return to the signup, I can have the database send emails to mailman on the user's behalf. If I mass subscribe, each user gets a random (and unknown) password. I know I can use some scripts from .../mailman/bin/ to change passwords for ALL subscribers and set them to specific values, but that will break pre-existing subscribers' passwords, and I can't do that. I know I could walk through each subscription from the admin interface and set the password. That's going to be 3-4 clicks for well over 1000 subscription requests. Doable but tedious and ripe for human error. Does anyone have a script or tool that would allow me to add a set of users and their passwords all at once? Thanks, Drew

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Frustrating web page issues
by Mark J Bradakis April 28, 2019

April 28, 2019

So a couple of days ago I had a server just up and die. It was put in place about 12 years ago, if not more. Luckily I was working on replacing it, so I had a new box under construction almost ready to take its place. But the old server dies before I could make a smooth transition and get everything working on the new server. Got the new server on line, up and running, the email lists are doing just fine. But for some reason there are problems with the web pages, like http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo will not work. And I don't know why. Here's the relevant lines from the httpd config file: ScriptAlias /mailman/ "/local/mailman/teamnet/cgi-bin/" <Directory "/local/mailman/teamnet/cgi-bin/"> Require all granted Options ExecCGI </Directory> This was enough to work on the old server. New server is Fedora 29, mailman version is mailman-2.1.29, Apache: Server version: Apache/2.4.39 (Fedora) I have gone over the mailman installation instructions, and can't figure out what is going on. I must be missing something really basic and obvious, but what? Maybe I am just getting old and senile, I solved problems like this for a quarter of a century as a sys admin at the U of Utah Computer Science department, must be really rusty and out of practice. Fun fun fun. mjb.

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archtoc and archtocnombox
by Mark Dale April 24, 2019

April 24, 2019

Hi All, Small archives seem to use "archtoc.html" which has the link to download the full raw archive (mbox). Larger lists appear to use "archtocnombox.html" which is minus the link. Is there a threshold (filesize) somewhere that determines which gets used? or am I barking up the wrong tree completely? /etc/mailman/en/archtoc.html You can get [more information about this list] or you can [download the full raw archive] (). /etc/mailman/en/archtocnombox.html You can get [more information about this list]. Thanks, Mark

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authorizing posts to a moderated list
by Bernie Cosell April 24, 2019

April 24, 2019

I've discovered that putting someone in the "approved to post" in the list config doesn't override the fact that the email is still MOD in the members list prevents them from posting. seems that it'd be more convenient to have the configuration setting override the list member list. as it is, as i authorize and deauthorize people i have to mess with both and that feels like unnecessary work. /b\ Bernie Cosell bernie@fantasyfarm. com — Too many people, too few sheep —

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REST API get template contents
by Kiffin Gish April 24, 2019

April 24, 2019

Is it possible to use the Mailman REST API to query the contents of a given template? For example: GET /api/domains/example.org/templates/lang/list:user:action:subscribe I would like to do this to allow the administrator to edit existing as a reference point. -- Kiffin Gish Gouda, The Netherlands

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Prevent users from changing email address
by Kiffin Gish April 24, 2019

April 24, 2019

Is it possible to configure mailman so that it is not possible for users to change their email address, e.g. disabling the option and including the service desk contact information instead? -- Kiffin Gish Gouda, The Netherlands

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