[Mailman-Users] Adding users with cron - permission problems

[Phil Ewels]

Hi all,

I have a registration form where users, amongst other things, choose a 
number of mailing lists to sign up to. I don't want users to have to go 
and individually sign up to each list, so I'm trying to automate the 
signup process.

After doing a bit of reading around, the closest I've got is to generate 
a plaintext file of email addresses for each newsletter and then use a 
cron command to sign these up, using the add_users program.

To test, I've been running this cron command:

echo test at testing.co.uk | 
/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/add_members -r - info

Where info is the listname (info at nanotp.org)

I get the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/add_members", line 258, in ?
     main()
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/add_members", line 211, 
in main
     mlist = MailList.MailList(listname)
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/Mailman/MailList.py", line 
128, in __init__
     self.Lock()
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/Mailman/MailList.py", line 
161, in Lock
     self.__lock.lock(timeout)
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/Mailman/LockFile.py", line 
243, in lock
     self.__write()
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/Mailman/LockFile.py", line 
422, in __write
     fp = open(self.__tmpfname, 'w')
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 
'/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/locks/info.lock.hephaestus.safeukdns.net.24247.0'

I tried check_perms -f and get the same error:

/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/check_perms -f

Warning: Private archive directory is other-executable (o+x).
          This could allow other users on your system to read private 
archives.
          If you're on a shared multiuser system, you should consult the
          installation manual on how to fix this.
Traceback (most recent call last):
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/check_perms", line 399, in ?
     checkarchivedbs()
   File "/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/bin/check_perms", line 258, 
in checkarchivedbs
     for dir in os.listdir(mm_cfg.PRIVATE_ARCHIVE_FILE_DIR):
OSError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 
'/usr/local/cpanel/3rdparty/mailman/archives/private'


Can anyone suggest a way to get around this problem? Or an alternative 
method of automating signups (they can be totally silent). I have tried 
a similar method using the PHP exec() command to hit the same program 
but had similar permission problems.

Cheers,

Phil