[Mailman-Users] mailman returns "user unknown"

[Mark Sapiro]

Richard Gillman wrote:

>I'm transferring an existing mailman installation from one Solaris 9 box 
>to another. Both run sendmail; /etc/sendmail.cf on new is an edited 
>version of sendmail.cf on old. I'm using the opportunity to upgrade from 
>2.0.8 to 2.1.5. Python is 2.2 in both cases.
>
>mailman-new is a virtual host on biwebs1. As a test, I'm using the 
>"carshare" list.  In /etc/mail/aliases, I've got, for example,
>
>biwebs1% grep carsh /etc/mail/aliases
>## carshare mailing list
>carshare:                "|/local/data/mailman/mail/mailman post carshare"
>carshare-admin:          "|/local/data/mailman/mail/mailman mailowner 
>carshare"
>carshare-request:        "|/local/data/mailman/mail/mailman mailcmd 
>carshare"
>carshare-owner:          carshare-admin
>biwebs1%


These aliases are wrong for Mailman 2.1.x. The basic post alias is OK,
but the others aren't. In addition to

carshare:    "|/local/data/mailman/mail/mailman post carshare"

you need nine more of the form:

carshare-xxx:  "|/local/data/mailman/mail/mailman xxx carshare"

where xxx is admin, bounces, confirm, join, leave, owner, request,
subscribe and unsubscribe in both places.


>(on the old system, it is "|/local/data/mailman/mail/wrapper post carshare")
>Database has been recreated by makemap hash aliases < aliases
>
>If I
>
>biwebs1 logs $ telnet mailman-new.nerc-liv.ac.uk 25
>Trying 192.171.196.100...
>Connected to biwebs1-2.
>Escape character is '^]'.
>220 biwebs1.nerc-liv.ac.uk ESMTP Sendmail 8.12.5+Sun/8.11.1; Tue, 1 Nov 
>2005 12:45:16 GMT
>helo nerc.ac.uk
>250 biwebs1.nerc-liv.ac.uk Hello biwebs1-2 [192.171.196.100], pleased to 
>meet you
>mail from: R.Gillman at nerc.ac.uk
>250 2.1.0 R.Gillman at nerc.ac.uk... Sender ok
>rcpt to: carshare at mailman-new.nerc-liv.ac.uk
>
>(my comment...long delay)
>
>550 5.1.1 carshare at mailman-new.nerc-liv.ac.uk... User unknown
>rcpt to: carshare at biwebs1.nerc-liv.ac.uk
>
>(my comment...no long delay this time)
>
>550 5.1.1 carshare at biwebs1.nerc-liv.ac.uk... User unknown
>quit


The missing/wrong aliases don't explain this, since the only alias that
comes into play is the one correct one. Sendmail must not be seeing
the aliases at all. I don't know why. Are the ownership and
permissions OK on aliases.db? Does sendmail need to be told about it?


>If I do the same telnet to port 25 on the old system, I do not get this 
>error message.
>
>Is there any way I can find out what /local/data/mailman/mail/mailman is 
>doing?


Yes - it's not doing anything because the message doesn't get that far.
If the wrapper were invoked, it would either accept and queue the
message or it would complain and you would see its complaint from
sendmail instead of "User unknown".


>Is there a debug switch on mailman? There is nothing in the 
>mailman logs.


Again - the message never gets to Mailman. (And no, there's no debug
switch).


>sendmail log contains
>
>Nov  1 12:55:37 biwebs1 sendmail[29557]: [ID 702911 mail.info] alias 
>database /etc/mail/aliases.db out of date

Is this a clue?


>Nov  1 12:55:37 biwebs1 sendmail[29557]: [ID 801593 mail.notice] 
>jA1CjGP4029557: carshare at mailman-new.nerc-liv.ac.uk... User unknown
>Nov  1 12:55:48 biwebs1 sendmail[29557]: [ID 801593 mail.notice] 
>jA1CjGP4029557: carshare at biwebs1.nerc-liv.ac.uk... User unknown
>Nov  1 12:56:02 biwebs1 sendmail[29557]: [ID 801593 mail.info] 
>jA1CjGP4029557: from=R.Gillman at nerc.ac.uk, size=0, class=0, nrcpts=0, 
>proto=SMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=biwebs1-2 [192.171.196.100]
>Nov  1 13:07:10 biwebs1 sendmail[29973]: [ID 702911 mail.info] alias 
>database /etc/mail/aliases.db out of date

Here it is again. I'd say aliases.db hasn't been updated.


>Nov  1 13:07:10 biwebs1 sendmail[29973]: [ID 801593 mail.notice] 
>jA1CuhP4029973: carshare at biwebs1.nerc-liv.ac.uk... User unknown

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