Using with a database and *without* a webserver
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Hi,
I've been contracted to do a Mailman setup for a company that wants to set up a newsletter-type list. They'd like to use a database for the back-end and to hide as much of Mailman's internals as possible without creating too much work.
First, databases. We'd prefer to use PostgreSQL but I've not managed to find any code for doing this. We can use MySQL instead. I found a guide at http://loeki.tv/log/archives/81-Setting-up-Mailman-to-store-members-in-a-MyS... which references files at http://trac.rezo.net/trac/rezo/browser/Mailman/MySQLMemberAdaptor
Is this the best approach/patch to use? Do people doing this use something else?
As for the web stuff, are there things we need the web interface for or can we do everything via the command line? I'm thinking we probably need the web UI for some things but don't recall exactly what.
Thanks, Geoff.
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On Jun 29, 2012, at 1:29 PM, Geoff Shang wrote:
First, databases. We'd prefer to use PostgreSQL but I've not managed to find any code for doing this. We can use MySQL instead. I found a guide at http://loeki.tv/log/archives/81-Setting-up-Mailman-to-store-members-in-a-MyS... which references files at http://trac.rezo.net/trac/rezo/browser/Mailman/MySQLMemberAdaptor
Is this the best approach/patch to use? Do people doing this use something else?
So far as I know, there's no official way to use an SQL database with Mailman 2, although there is the MemberAdaptor that you found which is believed to work with MySQL. If you'd like to modify the code to work with PostgreSQL instead, that would be great!
Mailman 3 is intended to be the version that will officially integrate with other database technologies through standard Python interface, but it's still in early beta right now.
As for the web stuff, are there things we need the web interface for or can we do everything via the command line? I'm thinking we probably need the web UI for some things but don't recall exactly what.
Mailman was not designed to be used exclusively from the command line. There are lots of admin functions that can't be done, or can't be easily done, without access to a web server. Of course, that web server could always be locked away and accessible only to the admins, but then you kind of defeat the purpose of a lot of the Mailman self-provisioning functionality.
-- Brad Knowles <brad@shub-internet.org> LinkedIn Profile: <http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu>
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8381104a4d879780b22b7a0c595641c2.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Fri, 29 Jun 2012, Brad Knowles wrote:
I would love to! However, this is a time-sensitive deployment (they want it up by Monday), so making this change when we could simply just run MySQL instead doesn't really make sense.
Yeah. I'd love to run Mailman 3 up the stick and use that, but it's not quite ready and I'm certainly not ready enough to try to get it running reliably by Monday.
I thought as much. Without going into details however, there are security considerations etc, and apparently addressing these is not straight-forward or timely. So I may enable it and hide it away somewhere... I'll see what my employer wants.
Geoff.
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7bdecdef03708b218939094eb05e8b35.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Jun 29, 2012, at 1:29 PM, Geoff Shang wrote:
First, databases. We'd prefer to use PostgreSQL but I've not managed to find any code for doing this. We can use MySQL instead. I found a guide at http://loeki.tv/log/archives/81-Setting-up-Mailman-to-store-members-in-a-MyS... which references files at http://trac.rezo.net/trac/rezo/browser/Mailman/MySQLMemberAdaptor
Is this the best approach/patch to use? Do people doing this use something else?
So far as I know, there's no official way to use an SQL database with Mailman 2, although there is the MemberAdaptor that you found which is believed to work with MySQL. If you'd like to modify the code to work with PostgreSQL instead, that would be great!
Mailman 3 is intended to be the version that will officially integrate with other database technologies through standard Python interface, but it's still in early beta right now.
As for the web stuff, are there things we need the web interface for or can we do everything via the command line? I'm thinking we probably need the web UI for some things but don't recall exactly what.
Mailman was not designed to be used exclusively from the command line. There are lots of admin functions that can't be done, or can't be easily done, without access to a web server. Of course, that web server could always be locked away and accessible only to the admins, but then you kind of defeat the purpose of a lot of the Mailman self-provisioning functionality.
-- Brad Knowles <brad@shub-internet.org> LinkedIn Profile: <http://tinyurl.com/y8kpxu>
![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8381104a4d879780b22b7a0c595641c2.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
On Fri, 29 Jun 2012, Brad Knowles wrote:
I would love to! However, this is a time-sensitive deployment (they want it up by Monday), so making this change when we could simply just run MySQL instead doesn't really make sense.
Yeah. I'd love to run Mailman 3 up the stick and use that, but it's not quite ready and I'm certainly not ready enough to try to get it running reliably by Monday.
I thought as much. Without going into details however, there are security considerations etc, and apparently addressing these is not straight-forward or timely. So I may enable it and hide it away somewhere... I'll see what my employer wants.
Geoff.
participants (2)
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Brad Knowles
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Geoff Shang