[Mailman-Users] Few questions for the Mailman list...

[Jon Carnes]

> I'm currently compiling a list of prospective MLM software for the QUT
> Messaging Project (redesigning the Queensland University of Technologies
> email systems).
>
> We are running a mail system for approx 53,000 users supporting approx
> 1,500 lists. The lists are generated by the Universities student
> database systems at this time.
>
> I was particulalry interested in:
> 1. How your software stores and accesses the mailing list information
> (List Members, Administrators, Moderators, Members).

The information for each list is stored in a large database file called
"config.db" which is stored in a directory ~mailman/lists/email-list-name.
The database stores the configuration of the list as well as the members and
the configuration of each member in that file in text format.
Mailman also maintains a backup copy of config.db in the file
"config.db.last".  This is a copy of "config.db" before the last time it was
changed.

> 2. What command line tools or non-web-broswer methods are available to
> administer the lists.

>From ~mailman/bin/...
===
  add_members:  add regular or digested users to a list.
  arch:  rebuild a mailing list's archives.
  check_db:  check a mailing list database for corruption.
  check_perms:  check the permissions on the Mailman installation.
  clone_member:  add a list member with identical settings as an existing
list member (including password).
  config_list:  change list configuration from the command line.
  digest_arch:  convert majordomo archives into mailbox format. Old program,
use with extreme care!
  dumpdb:  dump the contents of a Mailman .db file.
  find_member:  find all lists that a specified user is on.
  list_lists:  list all the Mailman mailing lists.
  list_members:  list all the members of a mailing list.
  mmsitepass:  set the site password, good for admin-ing any list.
  move_list:  move archives for a list you have renamed
  newlist:  create a new mailing list.
  remove_members:  remove specified members from a list.
  rmlist:  remove an old mailing list - does not remove the archives unless
you specify -a.
  sync_members:  synchronizes mailing list membership with a flat text file.
  update:  upgrade from previous version of Mailman to current version.
  version:  print out the version of Mailman you are using.
  withlist:  advanced interactions with mailing list objects.

  paths.py - module used by many Mailman scripts to tell it where its files
are stored.

> 3. What tools are available to make a mass upload of lists members and
> owner/moderator details?

You can load the members from the command line using "add_members" or
"sync_members", from the web interface you would simply cut and paste the
users into the add user box on the Membership Management page.

You can load the configuration from the command line using "config_list", or
you can use the web-based admin interface.

> 4. Can we link in authentication (C code) to authenticate to our
> password systems?

Feel free - it's open-source software.  Note, currently the passwords are
stored in the config.db database in text format.  The code used in the
scripts accesses that database and simply reads in the text based passwords
for comparison.  You would have to find the code in each script and re-write
it to use PAMS or whatever password authentication you want.

There are drop and insert modules which do just that: authenticate a
user/password combo against a remote or local password system.

> 5. Is there a webbased interface for administrator of the mail list
> service.

Yes, a very nice one.

> 6. I'd also like to know what way the lists are stored...
> Are they in a flat file/DB/Hash? How's this achieved for your product?

The lists are stored in a db format as part of the config.db file.  The data
is stored as text, and can be accessed and manipulated by any standard .db
access program.

> 7. And even though we can add our own adjustments to the code for the
> purposes of authentication, are there plans for adding support for
> industry supported authentication mechanisms such as Cyrus SASL?
> <http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/download/sasl/doc/>

Again, its open-source, so feel free.  I'm sure someone somewhere is looking
at the integration - if it's not already done.  Sure would be a good
Graduate project...

Hope this helps - Jon Carnes