How to setup Mailman in RedHat Filed under ( Mailman )

Note : Tested on RHEL Server release 5.2 using Mailman 2.1.9

1. yum install mailman

2. Edit /etc/mailman/mm_cfg.py and fix these lines :

- DEFAULT_URL_HOST = 'fqdn'
- DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'fqdn'

3. Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/mailman.conf

- #RedirectMatch ^/mailman[/]*$ http://your.domain.com/mailman
/listinfo

- Uncomment these line and edit your.domain.com as your
preferences.

4. Restart your apache service

- /etc/init.d/httpd restart or service httpd restart

5. Set your mailman password at /usr/lib/mailman/bin/

- Run mmsitepass to set your password

6. Set a newlist for your mailman at /usr/lib/mailman/bin/

- Run newlist and follow the prompts

- If required just add the output of aliases in /etc/aliases

7. Start your mailman service

- /etc/init.d/mailman start

8. Now you point to browser -> http://your.domain.com/mailman/listinfo

9. You can create the mailing lists via web browser.


Problems & Solutions during the Mailman set up.

Problem 1 :
Starting mailman: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/mailman/bin/mailmanctl", line 109, in ?
from Mailman import mm_cfg
File "/usr/lib/mailman/Mailman/mm_cfg.py", line 81, in ?
DEFAULT_URL_HOST = lists.oscc.org.my
NameError: name 'lists' is not defined

Solution
vi /etc/mailman/mm_cfg.py

DEFAULT_URL_HOST = 'fqdn'
DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'fqdn'
(Don't leave out the single quotation mark)


Problem 2 :
Failure in starting mailman
Starting mailman: Site list is missing: mailman

Solution
At /usr/lib/mailman/bin/

Run newlist , assign the sitelist name as mailman and follow the prompts


Problem 3 :
Bug in Mailman version 2.1.9
We're sorry, we hit a bug!
Please inform the webmaster for this site of this problem. Printing of traceback and other system information has been explicitly inhibited, but the webmaster can find this information in the Mailman error logs.

Solution
Check the permissions of files : /usr/lib/mailman/bin/ check_perms

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.
/usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo must be set-gid
/usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/rmlist must be set-gid
/usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/subscribe must be set-gid
/usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/private must be set-gid

Change the permission

chmod 2555 /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/listinfo
chmod 2555 /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/rmlist
chmod 2555 /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/subscribe
chmod 2555 /usr/lib/mailman/cgi-bin/private

Problem 4 :
Don't have permission for /pipermail/archieves

Change the permission of /var/lib/mailman/archives

chmod -R 2771 /var/lib/mailman/archives/private
chmod -R 2775 /var/lib/mailman/archives/private