[Mailman-Users] need assistance upgrading Mailman

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Nina Nicholson writes:

 > Our listservs are hosted by MediaTemple which provides Mailman
 > ver. 2.1.9. I understand that if I were to upgrade to the latest
 > version there are new features that would solve this problem.

Yes.  They don't completely solve the problem, but they provide a
level of mitigation that is satisfactory for most lists.

 > I've found the upgrade instructions, but they are beyond my limited
 > Unix skills.  MediaTemple refuses to do the upgrade.
 >
 > I'm desperately looking for some guidance on how to get this taken
 > care of.

I assume you have the necessary access (a shell login account, and
permissions to install software) to the server to do the upgrade.  It
should be a straightforward operation for an experienced Mailman
admin, so hiring a consultant should be an inexpensive and quick way
to improve your service.

For the long run, I would suggest considering a specialist host if you
don't want to take on a permanent Unix admin or put a consultant on
retainer.  Mail services require quite a bit of finicky configuration,
more so than pretty much any other Internet service.  There is active
research on protecting mail service from spam and phishing going on,
and no guarantee that there won't be further adjustments needed in the
future.  There are plenty of inexpensive hosts out there, and you
don't necessarily need to move your other services.

Steve