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<h2><a name="SECTION0011530000000000000000">
15.3 MacOSX issues</a>
</h2>
<p>
Many people run Mailman on MacOSX. Here are some pointers that have been
collected on getting Mailman to run on MacOSX.
<p>
<ul>
<li>Jaguar (MacOSX 10.2) comes with Python 2.2. While this isn't the very
latest stable version of Python, it ought to be sufficient to run
Mailman 2.1.
<p>
</li>
<li>David B. O'Donnell has a web page describing his configuration of
Mailman 2.0.13 and Postfix on MacOSX Server.
<p>
<a class="url" href="http://www.afp548.com/Articles/mail/python-mailman.html">http://www.afp548.com/Articles/mail/python-mailman.html</a>
<p>
</li>
<li>Kathleen Webb posted her experiences in getting Mailman running on
Jaguar using Sendmail.
<p>
<a class="url" href="http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2002-October/022944.html">http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2002-October/022944.html</a>
<p>
</li>
<li>Panther server (MacOSX 10.3) comes with Mailman; Your operating system
should contain documentation that will help you, and Apple has a tech
document about a problem you might encounter running Mailman on Mac OS X
Server 10.3:
<p>
<a class="url" href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107889">http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107889</a>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Terry Allen provides the following detailed instructions on running Mailman on
the 'client' version of OSX, or in earlier versions of OSX:
<p>
Mac OSX 10.3 and onwards has the basics for a successful Mailman installation.
Users of earlier versions of Mac OSX contains Sendmail and those users should
look at the Sendmail installation section for tips. You should follow the
basic installation steps as described earlier in this manual, substituting as
appropriate, the steps outlined in this section.
<p>
By default, Mac OSX 10.3 'client' version does not have a fully functional
version of Postfix. Setting up a working MTA such as Postfix is beyond the
scope of this guide and you should refer to <a class="url" href="http://www.postfix.org">http://www.postfix.org</a> for
tips on getting Postfix running. An easy way to set Postfix up is to install
and run Postfix Enabler, a stand-alone tool for configuring Postfix on Mac
OSX, available from
<a class="url" href="http://www.roadstead.com/weblog/Tutorials/PostfixEnabler.html">http://www.roadstead.com/weblog/Tutorials/PostfixEnabler.html</a>.
<p>
Likewise, Mac OSX 'client' version from 10.1 onwards includes a working Apache
webserver. This is switched on using the System Preferences control panel
under the 'Sharing tab'. A useful tool for configuring the Apache on Mac OSX
is Webmin, which can be obtained from
<a class="url" href="http://www.webmin.com">http://www.webmin.com</a>.
<p>
Webmin can also perform configuration for other system tasks, including
Postfix, adding jobs to your crontab, adding user and groups, plus adding
startup and shutdown jobs.
<p>
In a stock installation of OSX, the requirement for Mailman is to have Python
installed. Python is not installed by default, so it is advised that you
install the developer's tools package, which may have been provided with your
system. It can also be downloaded from the Apple developer site at
<a class="url" href="http://connect.apple.com">http://connect.apple.com</a>. Not only is the developer tools package an
essential requirement for installing Mailman, but it will come in handy at a
later date should you need other tools. The developer's tools are also know
by the name XCode tools.
<p>
As a minimum, the Python version should be 2.2, but 2.3 is recommended.
<p>
If you wish to add a user and group using the command line in OSX instead of
via Webmin or another GUI interface, open your terminal application and follow
the commands as indicated below - do not type the comments following the
"<tt class="samp">#</tt>" since they are just notes:
<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
sudo tcsh
niutil -create / /users/mailman
niutil -createprop / /users/mailman name mailman
# Note that xxx is a free user ID number on your system
niutil -createprop / /users/mailman uid xxx
niutil -createprop / /users/mailman home /usr/local/mailman
mkdir -p /usr/local/mailman
niutil -createprop / /users/mailman shell /bin/tcsh
passwd mailman
# To prevent malicious hacking, supply a secure password here
niutil -create / /groups/mailman
niutil -createprop / /groups/mailman name mailman
# Note that xxx is a free group ID number on your system
niutil -createprop / /groups/mailman gid xxx
niutil -createprop / /groups/mailman passwd '*'
niutil -createprop / /groups/mailman users 'mailman'
chown mailman:mailman /usr/local/mailman
cd /usr/local/mailman
chmod a+rx,g+ws .
exit
su mailman
</pre></div>
<p>
For setting up Apache on OSX to handle Mailman, the steps are almost identical
and the configuration file on a stock Mac OSX Client version is stored in the
nearly standard location of <span class="file">/etc/httpd/httpd.conf</span>.
<p>
The <a class="ulink" href="http://www.afp548.com"
>AFP548.com</a> site has a time-saving automated startup item creator for
Mailman, which can be found at
<a class="url" href="http://www.afp548.com/Software/MailmanStartup.tar.gz">http://www.afp548.com/Software/MailmanStartup.tar.gz</a>
<p>
To install it, copy it into your <span class="file">/Library/StartupItems</span> directory. As
the root or superuser, from the terminal, enter the following:
<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
gunzip MailmanStartup.tar.gz
tar xvf MailmanStartup.tar
</pre></div>
<p>
It will create the startup item for you so that when you reboot, Mailman will
start up.
<p>
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<span class="release-info">Release 2.1, documentation updated on January 11, 2009.</span>
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