[Mailman-Users] Transferring a Mailman list from one web host to another

[IOhannes m zmölnig]

hi

i have done something similar last month (but in my case it also 
included upgrading from debain/woody (2.0.11) to debian/sarge (2.1.5)

anyhow it worked like a charm (but of course you should do backups and 
everything...)

note: below i am referring to standard paths of a debian installation 
(the paths might differ on your system)



Stephan Golux wrote:
> 
> 1.  How do you transfer the list archives, so they remain usable on the 
> new host as they were on the old?

well, i would use tar on /var/lib/mailman/archives/private/MYLIST and 
unpack it on the new machine
(honestly: i last time i did this, i only moved the mbox-files to the 
new server and rebuilt the archives; this might be not feasible for you)

> 
> 2.  How do you transfer the list characteristics, so that it operates in 
> the same fashion without having to retype and re-enter everything?

i used tar on /var/lib/mailman/lists/MYLIST and unpacked it on the new 
machine

> 
> 3.  How do you transfer the list membership, with everyone keeping their 
> passwords and their own preferences?

see 2) (_everything_ (but the archives) is stored in the db-files within 
  /var/lib/mailman/lists/MYLIST

> 
> 4.  IMPORTANT:  If there is no way to do this automatically, it is STILL 
> a problem to do by hand, and I would like further elucidation.  Assume 

i cannot point you to some faq-entries as seems to be usus here, but i 
recommend reading the man-pages for "config_list"

you can extract the complete configuration of a list into a human 
readable file with that tools.
what is more you can write it back, or (and that is best) only parts of 
it. strip down the file to the 2 entries you want to change and write 
the configuration to the list...

the entry "host_name" will allow you to set the hostname of the list, e.g:
host_name=new.ip.address

if you want different addresses for your mailing-list address and your 
webinterface (e.g. MYLIST at mail.server.my vs http://lists.server.my/...), 
  i have found the option "web_page_url" very useful (i haven't found it 
in the documentation for 2.1.x and it complains about a "non-standard" 
option but it works)



mfg.adr
IOhannes