can I use a mailman list address as a (qmail) sender address?
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
scenario:
I run a discussion forum and we have a closed list where the members are the moderators of the forum. Forum users can write to all moderators through this list's address. Let's say the address is mods@myforum.mydomain.com
Now I would like to be able to create also a *real* mail account with the same address, for SENDING (outgoing mail) only. Each moderator is then able to send mail though this mail account so that the sender of their mails is the (anonymous!) list address mods@myforum.mydomain.com -- incoming mail for this address should be ignored by our MTA (qmail) so that mailman correctly takes it.
Is this possible and how must mailman and qmail be set up? We are using Plesk but we also have root access if Plesk is not capable of configuring this.
Thanks for any help!
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/334b870d5b26878a79b2dc4cfcc500bc.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) writes:
I think all you need to do is create the mailing list as usual, and then create the system user with the same name. The mailing list's explicit alias should take precedence.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Stephen J. Turnbull writes:
I was finally able to try it and did not succeed.
I created the mailing list address dtest@mydomain.com (using my real domain instead of mydomain, of course) and when I tried to add an email address with the same name through PLESK I got an error message telling me that the email address already existed.
Then I tried to add an account (role: mail user) with this email address through PLESK then I got the explicit message that a mailing list with this name already existed in this domain.
Anyone another idea? Again,I need the VERY SAME address for the SMTP account because only then will replies to incoming messages (through the mailing list) automatically select the correct sender profile in Thunderbird and other mailers. If I use a different name for the SMTP account, the mailers of the list users will always select the default profile for replies which is exactly what I want to avoid.
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
See the FAQ at <http://wiki.list.org/display/DOC/Mailman+and+Plesk>.
How is it that my MUA is going to select a profile for a reply to a list message based on whether or not the list address is a user on your server? How does my MUA even know whether an address like dtest@mydomain.com is a real user or a Mailman list?
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Mark Sapiro wrote:
You misunderstood me -- incoming messages (through the list) have the to-header set to the list address. If I have my MUA set up with a profile that has the *same* email address, then any reply to list messages are sent with this profile. If I really can not create a mail user with the same address on my system (for sending the replies) then the profile is not selected automtically, instead the default profile is used, no matter how "similar" the addresses for sending and receiving are.
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 2/6/2012 9:57 AM, Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
Exactly.
I do not understand why this would be true? How does your MUA know that the list address is or is not a 'mail user' on your system?
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Mark Sapiro wrote:
I do not understand why this would be true? How does your MUA know that the list address is or is not a 'mail user' on your system?
My MUA does not know about the server, my MUA knows about its own mail profiles. If mails are addressed to the list and come in on my PC and I hit "reply" then the MUA looks if it has a mail profile with the very same email address. But if I can not use this email address for *sending* because I can not create this user on my server then this profile is useless and I have to create a different sending address which is not selected by the MUA automatically (instead the default mail profile is selected).
In the meantime I found out that despite the error message from PLESK the mail user with the same name as the mailing address was created anyway! It seems I get it to work...
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1c4a4096ba25b08fbf1a8cb1c4bf9fcb.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Tue, 7 Feb 2012, Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
I think there are a couple of issues that are leaving many of us confused. Why do you want to reply to email addressed to the list as the list rather than as you. That is not the way lists are normally used (e.g. I am replying to mail sent to this list as myself, not as the list).
Why does the list email address have to exist as a local user for you to send as it? Is your mail server doing a check to prevent mail being sent as from a non-existant user? While such checks (misguided in many cases, IMHO) can be set in many mail servers, it's not the default from my experience. If you have such checks, are they really needed? I don't recall if you described your environment but if it's one where you know all the users (as opposed to a public ISP), you probably don't need such checks.
-- Larry Stone lstone19@stonejongleux.com
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/334b870d5b26878a79b2dc4cfcc500bc.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Larry Stone writes:
Yup. But he explained this. The list is the public face of a committee, and at least some outgoing mail should appear to be from the committee.
Whether that's a good idea or not, well, mostly I'd say "not a great idea". But that's for him to decide.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1c4a4096ba25b08fbf1a8cb1c4bf9fcb.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Wed, 8 Feb 2012, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
I must have missed where he mentioned that.
I started to wonder about about setting it as an anonymous list but that would affect all posts - both from user to the committee as well as responses from the committee. But maybe something could be done with two lists - one for the users to send to that is normal and a second that the committee replies via that is anonymous and has the main list as its only member (I think this is an umbrella list but having never used umbrella lists, I'm unsure).
-- Larry Stone lstone19@stonejongleux.com
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/334b870d5b26878a79b2dc4cfcc500bc.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Geoff Shang writes:
Sure. The question is whether the committee members can reasonably asked to do that. A lot of software doesn't make that easy; it might be easier to log in to a common account and send from there.
As I implied earlier, I don't really think this is a good idea, but without more information from the OP, it's hard to recommend something better.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/2d8b084fbf3bb480d8a3b6233b498f4f.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 2/6/12 12:57 PM, Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
You can set up a profile in your MUA with the address of the mailing list without the MTA having an account by that address. You will just need to manually config the SMTP authorization for an account that does exist. This is common enough of a situation that I would expect most MUAs to allow this sort of customization (if only because you need at least to be able to select whether the username for authentication includes the domain or not). Unless your MTA is VERY locked down and doesn't allow for From != Authentication, this should work (and if it was locked down this hard, mailing list mail would be having problems too). Even if it does default to this sort of restriction, it should have some way to override it, but that may not be exposed in the PLESK control panel.
-- Richard Damon
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/334b870d5b26878a79b2dc4cfcc500bc.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) writes:
I think all you need to do is create the mailing list as usual, and then create the system user with the same name. The mailing list's explicit alias should take precedence.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Stephen J. Turnbull writes:
I was finally able to try it and did not succeed.
I created the mailing list address dtest@mydomain.com (using my real domain instead of mydomain, of course) and when I tried to add an email address with the same name through PLESK I got an error message telling me that the email address already existed.
Then I tried to add an account (role: mail user) with this email address through PLESK then I got the explicit message that a mailing list with this name already existed in this domain.
Anyone another idea? Again,I need the VERY SAME address for the SMTP account because only then will replies to incoming messages (through the mailing list) automatically select the correct sender profile in Thunderbird and other mailers. If I use a different name for the SMTP account, the mailers of the list users will always select the default profile for replies which is exactly what I want to avoid.
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
See the FAQ at <http://wiki.list.org/display/DOC/Mailman+and+Plesk>.
How is it that my MUA is going to select a profile for a reply to a list message based on whether or not the list address is a user on your server? How does my MUA even know whether an address like dtest@mydomain.com is a real user or a Mailman list?
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Mark Sapiro wrote:
You misunderstood me -- incoming messages (through the list) have the to-header set to the list address. If I have my MUA set up with a profile that has the *same* email address, then any reply to list messages are sent with this profile. If I really can not create a mail user with the same address on my system (for sending the replies) then the profile is not selected automtically, instead the default profile is used, no matter how "similar" the addresses for sending and receiving are.
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/56f108518d7ee2544412cc80978e3182.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 2/6/2012 9:57 AM, Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
Exactly.
I do not understand why this would be true? How does your MUA know that the list address is or is not a 'mail user' on your system?
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/198573b992fd683d3393ebd69ac50490.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Mark Sapiro wrote:
I do not understand why this would be true? How does your MUA know that the list address is or is not a 'mail user' on your system?
My MUA does not know about the server, my MUA knows about its own mail profiles. If mails are addressed to the list and come in on my PC and I hit "reply" then the MUA looks if it has a mail profile with the very same email address. But if I can not use this email address for *sending* because I can not create this user on my server then this profile is useless and I have to create a different sending address which is not selected by the MUA automatically (instead the default mail profile is selected).
In the meantime I found out that despite the error message from PLESK the mail user with the same name as the mailing address was created anyway! It seems I get it to work...
Best regards, Stefan.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1c4a4096ba25b08fbf1a8cb1c4bf9fcb.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Tue, 7 Feb 2012, Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
I think there are a couple of issues that are leaving many of us confused. Why do you want to reply to email addressed to the list as the list rather than as you. That is not the way lists are normally used (e.g. I am replying to mail sent to this list as myself, not as the list).
Why does the list email address have to exist as a local user for you to send as it? Is your mail server doing a check to prevent mail being sent as from a non-existant user? While such checks (misguided in many cases, IMHO) can be set in many mail servers, it's not the default from my experience. If you have such checks, are they really needed? I don't recall if you described your environment but if it's one where you know all the users (as opposed to a public ISP), you probably don't need such checks.
-- Larry Stone lstone19@stonejongleux.com
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/334b870d5b26878a79b2dc4cfcc500bc.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Larry Stone writes:
Yup. But he explained this. The list is the public face of a committee, and at least some outgoing mail should appear to be from the committee.
Whether that's a good idea or not, well, mostly I'd say "not a great idea". But that's for him to decide.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/1c4a4096ba25b08fbf1a8cb1c4bf9fcb.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Wed, 8 Feb 2012, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
I must have missed where he mentioned that.
I started to wonder about about setting it as an anonymous list but that would affect all posts - both from user to the committee as well as responses from the committee. But maybe something could be done with two lists - one for the users to send to that is normal and a second that the committee replies via that is anonymous and has the main list as its only member (I think this is an umbrella list but having never used umbrella lists, I'm unsure).
-- Larry Stone lstone19@stonejongleux.com
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/334b870d5b26878a79b2dc4cfcc500bc.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Geoff Shang writes:
Sure. The question is whether the committee members can reasonably asked to do that. A lot of software doesn't make that easy; it might be easier to log in to a common account and send from there.
As I implied earlier, I don't really think this is a good idea, but without more information from the OP, it's hard to recommend something better.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/2d8b084fbf3bb480d8a3b6233b498f4f.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On 2/6/12 12:57 PM, Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com) wrote:
You can set up a profile in your MUA with the address of the mailing list without the MTA having an account by that address. You will just need to manually config the SMTP authorization for an account that does exist. This is common enough of a situation that I would expect most MUAs to allow this sort of customization (if only because you need at least to be able to select whether the username for authentication includes the domain or not). Unless your MTA is VERY locked down and doesn't allow for From != Authentication, this should work (and if it was locked down this hard, mailing list mail would be having problems too). Even if it does default to this sort of restriction, it should have some way to override it, but that may not be exposed in the PLESK control panel.
-- Richard Damon
participants (6)
-
Geoff Shang
-
Larry Stone
-
Mark Sapiro
-
Richard Damon
-
Stefan P. Wolf (NassRasur.com)
-
Stephen J. Turnbull