It sounds like you still have a working postfix+dovecot setup. :-)

Yes, I suppose so! But I keep poking at it so much, I worry :)

...

Indeed I wouldn't expect dovecot to know any such user, so I'm not sure what step I've missed...

In my postfix main.cf I have:

Unfortunately, you've left out the critical information: dovecot routing. Clearly, dovecot has a relatively high-priority routing for local traffic, and it's sucking up everything addressed to your host before Mailman gets a whack at it. There are several possibilities, so it doesn't make sense for me to guess.

Hmm, the dovecot-related settings in main.cf seem to be:

mailbox_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp
smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes
smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot
smtpd_sasl_path = private/auth
smtpd_sasl_local_domain=$myhostname
smtpd_sender_login_maps = 
hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/smtpd_sender_login_maps.txt
virtual_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp

Do those give a clue?

Sean

On 5/12/25 12:41, Sean McBride wrote:

Hmm, the dovecot-related settings in main.cf seem to be:

mailbox_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp

This sends all local deliveries to dovecot before consulting aliases.

smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot smtpd_sasl_path = private/auth smtpd_sasl_local_domain=$myhostname smtpd_sender_login_maps = hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/smtpd_sender_login_maps.txt virtual_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp

and this sends all virtual mailbox deliveries to dovecot. I'm not sure if this trumps virtual_alias_maps, but it doesn't matter because virtual_alias_maps will map a virtual alias list address to a local address in alias_maps and mailbox_transport will send that to dovecot.

I can't recall if there is a resolution to a MM 2.1 configuration with dovecot, but this search https://mail.python.org/archives/search?mlist=mailman-users%40python.org&q=dovecot may turn something up. I think the answer, if there is one, is to somehow configure dovecot to be aware of the mailman lists and route those addresses to mailman.

-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan

Sean McBride writes:

Hmm, the dovecot-related settings in main.cf seem to be:

There are two more settings that are possibly relevant: virtual_mailbox_domains and virtual_alias_domains. These:

smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot smtpd_sasl_path = private/auth smtpd_sasl_local_domain=$myhostname smtpd_sender_login_maps = hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/smtpd_sender_login_maps.txt

aren't relevant to routing. These apply to all incoming connections that try to authenticate (when and why authentication happens in email is not something a sane person can think about without risking their sanity).

mailbox_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp virtual_transport = lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp

Do those give a clue?

Yes. Each of those unconditionally sends a whole class of mail to Dovecot. Which is used will depend on the settings of the virtual_*_domains variables. Both have *_maps versions, which allow setting precedence of transports. I *think* that setting those to

mailbox_transport_maps = hash:/usr/local/mailman/data/virtual-mailman lmtp:unix:private/dovecot-lmtp virtual_transport_maps = $mailbox_transport_maps

might work, although I'm not sure that the virtual-mailman alias format is compatible with transport_maps variables.

It is probably a bad idea (asking for future iterations of this issue) to have both mailbox_transport_maps and virtual_transport_maps set if you ever want to expand the kinds of virtual services you provide on your server (for example, forwarding messages for family and friends to Gmail). You should need only one, probably mailbox_transport_maps since both Dovecot and Mailman 2 are local recipients. (From the point of view of Postfix, Mailman 2 is a final delivery, and each post distributed outward is a message created and submitted by Mailman -- Postfix keeps no operational records of mail delivered to Mailman after Mailman accepts it.)

-- GNU Mailman consultant (installation, migration, customization) Sirius Open Source https://www.siriusopensource.com/ Software systems consulting in Europe, North America, and Japan

Guy,

Thanks for your reply.

In /usr/local/mailman/data/virtual-mailman I have entries like:

test9@example.com test9 test9-admin@example.com test9-admin

and in /usr/local/mailman/data/aliases I have entries like:

test9: "|/usr/local/mailman/mail/mailman post test9" test9-admin: "|/usr/local/mailman/mail/mailman admin test9"

I believe I'm pointing to both those files with virtual_alias_maps and alias_maps as quoted below.

Thanks,

Sean

On 12 May 2025, at 20:05, Guy B. Purcell wrote:

Do you actually have the alias for testlist@example.com in either of your aliases files (most probably should be /usr/local/mailman/data/aliases)? The only way postfix will know what to do with that address is via an alias directing it to call a MM function that posts the message to the list. Despite my better judgement, I’m still on v2 & such an entry looks like:

testlist: “|/path_to_mailman/mail/mailman post testlist”

Been *many* years, but IIRC the docs note how to set those up properly & it was a manual process (but once you have the set for one list, copy/pasta + a little search/replace will get you the rest).

-Guy

...

On 2025 May 12, at 10:08, Sean McBride <sean@rogue-research.com> wrote:

Hi all,

So I have/had a working postfix+dovecot setup, and then I installed mailman2.

It largely works. The web interface works, I can create lists, list creation emails are sent to the admin (me), but trying to write to a list (as a member) fails with a bounce. My maillog shows:

May 12 12:19:48 hostname postfix/lmtp[83792]: ED07A32156: 
to=<testlist@example.com>, 
relay=mx.example.com[private/dovecot-lmtp], delay=0.6, 
delays=0.59/0/0/0.01, dsn=5.1.1, status=bounced (host 
mx.example.com[private/dovecot-lmtp] said: 550 5.1.1 
<testlist@example.com> User doesn't exist: testlist@example.com (in 
reply to RCPT TO command))

Indeed I wouldn't expect dovecot to know any such user, so I'm not sure what step I've missed...

In my postfix main.cf I have:

mydomain = example.com
myhostname = mx.example.com
mydestination = $myhostname localhost.$mydomain localhost
myorigin = $mydomain
virtual_alias_maps = hash:/usr/local/etc/postfix/virtual-aliases, 
hash:/usr/local/mailman/data/virtual-mailman
alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases, hash:/usr/local/mailman/data/aliases

In my mm_cfg.py I have:

MTA = "Postfix"
POSTFIX_STYLE_VIRTUAL_DOMAINS = ['example.com']
DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'example.com'
DEFAULT_URL_HOST = 'mailman.example.com'
VIRTUAL_HOSTS.clear()
add_virtualhost(DEFAULT_URL_HOST, DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST)

Any clues would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Sean

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