[Mailman-Users] surely can install mailman without root?

[jidanni at jidanni.org]

Dudes, out of curiosity why can't mailman be totally installed and run
without involving root? Indeed maybe it would be a safer and more
portable installation.

E.g., who cares what MTA is installed when one can just use:

#Untested partial .procmailrc for a mailman list on a catchall mailbox
#for a domain. No need to have root adjust some MTA's configuration!
0:
LIST=nurds
*$^TO_ $LIST-\/(admin|bounces|confirm|join|leave|owner|request|subscribe|unsubscribe)
|mail/mailman $MATCH $LIST
0:
*$^TO_ $LIST
|mail/mailman post $LIST

And the mailman directory tree we just tailor in ./configure to match
the site's apache setup. No meddling with apache config files.

And sending mail we just send to port 25 or /usr/lib/sendmail.

I mean one can install e.g., MediaWiki with all the bells and whistles
without root.

Does mailman run setuid root? No. SetGID seems no big hurdle on most
unix accounts. CGI is a feature of most hosting accounts. Mailbox
forwarding and aliases are features of most hosting accounts.

There, see, I have rewritten your thinking: indeed a totally
non-root-involved installation keeps one insulated from (and meddling
with) the underlying details. Yes, rewritten your thinking, all
without testing. Hope it really works. "What could go wrong?"