Virtual domain not quite working on HTTP (but fine on SMTP)
Greetings, good people. Problem summary: After server rebuild, virtual hosts work for SMTP, but Mailman's Web pages are appearing for the main host only and _not_ the virtual host.
Details:
I've had Mailman running on Debian (serving up mailing lists for both "linuxmafia.com" and "lists.linuxgazette.net") since, oh, God was a teenager, but a power spike destroyed my somewhat antique hardware in April. I hastily deployed Debian "lenny" 5.0 on a spare box the same day, and then copied back down my latest backup data and madly worked to recreate the prior config.
That data restore including dropping back into place the former entire /var/lib/mailman/lists/ tree (mailing list definitions), the /var/lib/mailman/archives/ tree, etc. (As noted below, this data restore was correct to the extent of making Mailman able to handle both domains' mailing lists correctly concerning SMTP operation, and linuxmafia.com's mailing lists concerning Mailman Web pages.)
Relevant package versions:
:r! dpkg -l | egrep 'mailman|apache2-mpm-prefork|exim4-base'
ii apache2-mpm-prefork 2.2.8-1 Traditional model for Apache HTTPD ii exim4-base 4.69-9 support files for all Exim MTA (v4) packages ii mailman 1:2.1.10~b3-1 Powerful, web-based mailing list manager
Things are oddly different from Pleistocene times when I did the job before (not a complaint!).
After some fussing about concerning exim4/mailman integration, I stumbled on details about POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS and its use even with non-Postfix MTAs. (I put the required plumbing into /etc/exim4/conf.d/*. It works.) I did read the Debian folks' /usr/share/doc/mailman/README.Exim4.Debian , which includes in part:
Here's a way to integrate mailman with Exim4 that will automatically play nice with mailman's virtual domains support and VERP. It does not require dedicating domain(s) to mailman.
Configure your Mailman (in /etc/mailman/mm_cfg.py) with:
MTA = 'Postfix' POSTFIX_ALIAS_CMD = '/bin/true' POSTFIX_MAP_CMD = 'chgrp Debian-exim'
and list all your Mailman domains in "POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS".
Please note that the chgrp command above will not work when creating a list in the web interface: the user www-data will not be allowed to do this. You can circumvent this problem by creating new lists with the 'newlist' command line command or using instead: POSTFIX_MAP_CMD = 'chmod o+r' This will allow local users (with shell access to the list server) to see the list of all Mailman mailing lists, but not much more.
I also noted what appeared to be good advice at http://files.technomage.net/postfix_mailman.txt -- and, consequently, completed Exim integration by running /var/lib/mailman/bin/genaliases, and, lo! /var/lib/mailman/data/{aliases|virtual-mailman} came into existence, and Exim stopped generating errors. More important, the Exim/Mailman jointly [re-]started processing mail for the mailing lists within both domains. Life was good. Almost.
There remains the matter of Mailman's Web pages: Those for domain linuxmafia.com are present. (See: http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/) Those for domain lists.linuxgazette.net are not. See: http://lists.linuxgazette.net/mailman/listinfo/ -- as you'll notice, Apache2 does recognise the domain. The Apache document root for that location, /var/www/gazette, has an .htaccess file in it, as follows:
# cat /var/www/gazette/.htaccess redirect 301 /index.html http://lists.linuxgazette.net/mailman/listinfo/
If I mv .htaccess to .htacces-save for diagnostic purposes, I _do_ see the contents of /var/www/gazette/ in my browser, so this is not an Apache vhost problem.
Here is what I imagine is the relevant part of my current /var/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py :
# Default domain for email addresses of newly created MLs DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'linuxmafia.com' #------------------------------------------------------------- # Default host for web interface of newly created MLs DEFAULT_URL_HOST = 'linuxmafia.com' #------------------------------------------------------------- # Required when setting any of its arguments. add_virtualhost(DEFAULT_URL_HOST, DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST) add_virtualhost('lists.linuxgazette.net', 'lists.linuxgazette.net') [...] # Uncomment if you use Postfix virtual domains, but be sure to # see /usr/share/doc/mailman/README.Debian first. # MTA='Postfix' MTA = 'Postfix' POSTFIX_ALIAS_CMD = '/bin/true' POSTFIX_MAP_CMD = 'chgrp Debian-exim' POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = ['linuxmafia.com', 'lists.linuxgazette.net'] VIRTUAL_HOSTS = {'lists.linuxgazette.net':'lists.linuxgazette.net'} VIRTUAL_HOST_OVERVIEW = 1
Here is what I imagine is the relevant part of my current /var/lib/mailman/Mailman/Default.py:
#### # Virtual domains #####
# Set up your virtual host mappings here. This is primarily used for the # thru-the-web list creation, so its effects are currently fairly limited. # Use add_virtualhost() call to add new mappings. The keys are strings as # determined by Utils.get_domain(), the values are as appropriate for # DEFAULT_HOST_NAME. VIRTUAL_HOSTS = {'lists.linuxgazette.net':'lists.linuxgazette.net'}
# When set to Yes, the listinfo and admin overviews of lists on the machine # will be confined to only those lists whose web_page_url configuration option # host is included within the URL by which the page is visited - only those # "on the virtual host". When set to No, all advertised (i.e. public) lists # are included in the overview. VIRTUAL_HOST_OVERVIEW = On
# Helper function; use this in your mm_cfg.py files. If optional emailhost is # omitted it defaults to urlhost with the first name stripped off, e.g. # # add_virtualhost('www.dom.ain') # VIRTUAL_HOST['www.dom.ain'] # ==> 'dom.ain' # def add_virtualhost(urlhost, emailhost=None): DOT = '.' if emailhost is None: emailhost = DOT.join(urlhost.split(DOT)[1:]) VIRTUAL_HOSTS[urlhost.lower()] = emailhost.lower()
# And set the default add_virtualhost(DEFAULT_URL_HOST, DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST) add_virtualhost('lists.linuxgazette.net', 'lists.linuxgazette.net')
# Note that you will want to run bin/fix_url.py to change the domain of an # existing list. bin/fix_url.py must be run within the bin/withlist script, # like so: bin/withlist -l -r bin/fix_url.py <listname> [...] # MTA should name a module in Mailman/MTA which provides the MTA specific # functionality for creating and removing lists. Some MTAs like Exim can be # configured to automatically recognize new lists, in which case the MTA # variable should be set to None. Use 'Manual' to print new aliases to # standard out (or send an email to the site list owner) for manual twiddling # of an /etc/aliases style file. Use 'Postfix' if you are using the Postfix # MTA -- but then also see POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS. # MTA = 'Manual' MTA = 'Postfix'
# If you set MTA='Postfix', then you also want to set the following variable, # depending on whether you're using virtual domains in Postfix, and which # style of virtual domain you're using. Set this to the empty list if you're # not using virtual domains in Postfix, or if you're using Sendmail-style # virtual domains (where all addresses are visible in all domains). If you're # using Postfix-style virtual domains, where aliases should only show up in # the virtual domain, set this variable to the list of host_name values to # write separate virtual entries for. I.e. if you run dom1.ain, dom2.ain, and # dom3.ain, but only dom2 and dom3 are virtual, set this variable to the list # ['dom2.ain', 'dom3.ain']. Matches are done against the host_name attribute # of the mailing lists. See the Postfix section of the installation manual # for details. #POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = [] POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = ['linuxmafia.com', 'lists.linuxgazette.net'
qrunner has been HUPed (many times) since setting the above config, but no go. What am I so far missing, in getting Mailman to serve up Web pages for the lists.linuxgazette.net mailing lists?
Thanks.
-- Cheers, Notice: The value of your Hofstadter's Constant Rick Moen (the average amount of time you spend each month rick@linuxmafia.com thinking about Hofstadter's Constant) has just McQ! (4x80) been adjusted upwards.
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 11:37:30PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
[...]
I would not touch that. Even with the travesty that is Pkg-exim4, I still use something along the lines (pretty much) of that per <http://exim.org/howto/mailman21.html>
My kludges don't care about subdomains/"list only" domains.
IMO, life's waaay too short to genaliases. the configs in Nigel's doc makes that a thing of the past (it's probably worth noting, I am a lazy sysadmin, and i automate as much as possible, and just couldn't make sense of Postfix when i inherited a box with postfix as its MTA: that got changed).
that 404's for me: have you got the Mailman Apache stanzas set-up in lists.linuxgazette.net's vhost config? I've not had issues using ServerAlias directives, fwiw.
[...]
You may need a 'clear' clause before the line below: search the archives of this list for discussions/thoughts/advice thereto.
VIRTUAL_HOSTS = {'lists.linuxgazette.net':'lists.linuxgazette.net'} [...]
MTA = 'Postfix'
I'd change that, as you're using Exim.
HTH
-- "We used to quip that "password" is the most common password. Now it's "password1." Who said users haven't learned anything about security?" (Bruce Schneier, December 2006)
Quoting Adam McGreggor (adam-mailman@amyl.org.uk):
Um, that's not 404, you're being 301-redirected by the .htaccess file to a URL that _is_ 404 on account of Mailman not providing the virthost there. Here, let's temporarily disable the .htaccess file, and see:
# cd /var/www/gazette/ linuxmafia:/var/www/gazette# mv .htaccess .htaccess-save linuxmafia:/var/www/gazette# touch HELLO-WORLD
You'll please note that http://lists.linuxgazette.net/ (and http://lists.linuxgazette.net/HELLO-WORLD ) are not, in fact, 404.
But anyway, since you ask, here's the relevant excerpt from the Apache config:
<VirtualHost lists.linuxgazette.net:80> DocumentRoot /var/www/gazette </VirtualHost>
<Directory /var/www/gazette/> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory>
You know, that is very likely what I did in the prior incarnation of my machine, and I'd certainly consider doing it again -- but being very careful, because this is a production system. I'm glad to go with anything that works: Trying first what the package maintainers and Debian people recommend seemed worthwhile. In any event, the current setup is just one small problem (http on the virthost) away from 100% success, so maybe it can be debugged.
Also, since Exim-Mailman integration is working fine, and it's Mailman's virthost communication with Apache that's broken, I'm not sure switching to the admittedly far more elegant approach of http://exim.org/howto/mailman21.html would address my current problem.
Thanks. I'll try that.
(After restarting qrunning:) Nope. That didn't do it.
MTA = 'Postfix'
I'd change that, as you're using Exim.
I don't believe that's really right. The keyword "Postfix" in that context just means "use Postfix-style domain semantics", which are not in any way Postfix-specific but are just a particular way of dealing with aliases, if I understand correctly.
Rick Moen wrote:
Yes it is. 'listinfo' is a CGI. You need a
ScriptAlias /mailman/ "/usr/local/mailman/cgi-bin/"
(or whatever the correct path is) in your httpd.conf where it will apply to the lists.linuxgazette.net host. I.e. it needs to be in the VirtualHost block for each host with lists or it needs to be outside of the virtual hosts section so it applies globally.
This looks good, but is not relevant to your issue, at least not until you fix Apache so that http://lists.linuxgazette.net/mailman/listinfo/ gets you to the Mailman listinfo CGI.
Get rid of the above line. It undoes everything you did with add_virtualhost directives above.
Where did this come from. If you put it there, you shouldn't be changing Defaults.py at all. If it's part of the Debian package, I don't know what to say.
[...]
# MTA = 'Manual' MTA = 'Postfix'
[...]
#POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = [] POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = ['linuxmafia.com', 'lists.linuxgazette.net'
DON'T CHANGE Defaults.py
Make all your changes in mm_cfg.py.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
Quoting Mark Sapiro (mark@msapiro.net):
Yes it is. 'listinfo' is a CGI. You need a ScriptAlias /mailman/ "/usr/local/mailman/cgi-bin/"
The Apache conf has: ScriptAlias /mailman/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman/
I didn't harp on that in either of my posts because I _had_ pointed out that the Mailman Web pages _do work_ for the default host -- and also invited people to have a look at http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo and subpages thereof, if they had any doubts.
-=but=-, the above ScriptAlias was neatly tucked into the stanza for the default host. And:
That was it! Fixed, now.
Damn. Bear in mind, I've just had a forced transition from Apache 1.3.x to Apache2 (on account of sudden destruction of the old box), so my excuse is that Debian's Apache2 conffile setup is rather different from what I was used to.
Thank you, Mark. And thank you, good gentleman all.
-- Cheers, Notice: The value of your Hofstadter's Constant Rick Moen (the average amount of time you spend each month rick@linuxmafia.com thinking about Hofstadter's Constant) has just McQ! (4x80) been adjusted upwards.
On Tue, Jun 16, 2009 at 11:37:30PM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
[...]
I would not touch that. Even with the travesty that is Pkg-exim4, I still use something along the lines (pretty much) of that per <http://exim.org/howto/mailman21.html>
My kludges don't care about subdomains/"list only" domains.
IMO, life's waaay too short to genaliases. the configs in Nigel's doc makes that a thing of the past (it's probably worth noting, I am a lazy sysadmin, and i automate as much as possible, and just couldn't make sense of Postfix when i inherited a box with postfix as its MTA: that got changed).
that 404's for me: have you got the Mailman Apache stanzas set-up in lists.linuxgazette.net's vhost config? I've not had issues using ServerAlias directives, fwiw.
[...]
You may need a 'clear' clause before the line below: search the archives of this list for discussions/thoughts/advice thereto.
VIRTUAL_HOSTS = {'lists.linuxgazette.net':'lists.linuxgazette.net'} [...]
MTA = 'Postfix'
I'd change that, as you're using Exim.
HTH
-- "We used to quip that "password" is the most common password. Now it's "password1." Who said users haven't learned anything about security?" (Bruce Schneier, December 2006)
Quoting Adam McGreggor (adam-mailman@amyl.org.uk):
Um, that's not 404, you're being 301-redirected by the .htaccess file to a URL that _is_ 404 on account of Mailman not providing the virthost there. Here, let's temporarily disable the .htaccess file, and see:
# cd /var/www/gazette/ linuxmafia:/var/www/gazette# mv .htaccess .htaccess-save linuxmafia:/var/www/gazette# touch HELLO-WORLD
You'll please note that http://lists.linuxgazette.net/ (and http://lists.linuxgazette.net/HELLO-WORLD ) are not, in fact, 404.
But anyway, since you ask, here's the relevant excerpt from the Apache config:
<VirtualHost lists.linuxgazette.net:80> DocumentRoot /var/www/gazette </VirtualHost>
<Directory /var/www/gazette/> Options Indexes MultiViews FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory>
You know, that is very likely what I did in the prior incarnation of my machine, and I'd certainly consider doing it again -- but being very careful, because this is a production system. I'm glad to go with anything that works: Trying first what the package maintainers and Debian people recommend seemed worthwhile. In any event, the current setup is just one small problem (http on the virthost) away from 100% success, so maybe it can be debugged.
Also, since Exim-Mailman integration is working fine, and it's Mailman's virthost communication with Apache that's broken, I'm not sure switching to the admittedly far more elegant approach of http://exim.org/howto/mailman21.html would address my current problem.
Thanks. I'll try that.
(After restarting qrunning:) Nope. That didn't do it.
MTA = 'Postfix'
I'd change that, as you're using Exim.
I don't believe that's really right. The keyword "Postfix" in that context just means "use Postfix-style domain semantics", which are not in any way Postfix-specific but are just a particular way of dealing with aliases, if I understand correctly.
Rick Moen wrote:
Yes it is. 'listinfo' is a CGI. You need a
ScriptAlias /mailman/ "/usr/local/mailman/cgi-bin/"
(or whatever the correct path is) in your httpd.conf where it will apply to the lists.linuxgazette.net host. I.e. it needs to be in the VirtualHost block for each host with lists or it needs to be outside of the virtual hosts section so it applies globally.
This looks good, but is not relevant to your issue, at least not until you fix Apache so that http://lists.linuxgazette.net/mailman/listinfo/ gets you to the Mailman listinfo CGI.
Get rid of the above line. It undoes everything you did with add_virtualhost directives above.
Where did this come from. If you put it there, you shouldn't be changing Defaults.py at all. If it's part of the Debian package, I don't know what to say.
[...]
# MTA = 'Manual' MTA = 'Postfix'
[...]
#POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = [] POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = ['linuxmafia.com', 'lists.linuxgazette.net'
DON'T CHANGE Defaults.py
Make all your changes in mm_cfg.py.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
Quoting Mark Sapiro (mark@msapiro.net):
Yes it is. 'listinfo' is a CGI. You need a ScriptAlias /mailman/ "/usr/local/mailman/cgi-bin/"
The Apache conf has: ScriptAlias /mailman/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman/
I didn't harp on that in either of my posts because I _had_ pointed out that the Mailman Web pages _do work_ for the default host -- and also invited people to have a look at http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo and subpages thereof, if they had any doubts.
-=but=-, the above ScriptAlias was neatly tucked into the stanza for the default host. And:
That was it! Fixed, now.
Damn. Bear in mind, I've just had a forced transition from Apache 1.3.x to Apache2 (on account of sudden destruction of the old box), so my excuse is that Debian's Apache2 conffile setup is rather different from what I was used to.
Thank you, Mark. And thank you, good gentleman all.
-- Cheers, Notice: The value of your Hofstadter's Constant Rick Moen (the average amount of time you spend each month rick@linuxmafia.com thinking about Hofstadter's Constant) has just McQ! (4x80) been adjusted upwards.
participants (3)
-
Adam McGreggor -
Mark Sapiro -
Rick Moen