path: root/README

Mailman - The GNU Mailing List Management System
Copyright (C) 1998-2004 by the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA

INTRODUCTION

    This is GNU Mailman, a mailing list management system distributed
    under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).  The name
    of this software is spelled "Mailman" with a leading capital `M'
    but with a lower case second `m'.  Any other spelling is
    incorrect.

    Mailman is written primarily in Python, a free object-oriented
    scripting language.  There is some ANSI C code for security
    purposes.

    Mailman was originally developed by John Viega.  Subsequent
    development (through version 1.0b3) was by Ken Manheimer.  Further
    work towards the 1.0 final release was a group effort, with the
    core contributors being: Barry Warsaw, Ken Manheimer, Scott
    Cotton, Harald Meland, and John Viega.  Version 1.0 and beyond
    have been primarily maintained by Barry Warsaw with contributions
    from many; see the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS file for details.  Jeremy
    Hylton helped considerably with the Pipermail code in Mailman 2.0.

    The Mailman home page is

        http://www.list.org

    with mirrors at

        http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman
        http://mailman.sf.net

    Mailman 2.1 requires Python 2.1.3 or greater, which can be
    downloaded from

        http://www.python.org

    It is recommended that you use Python 2.3.3, the latest release as
    of this writing (31-Dec-2003).  Mailman will work with Python
    2.2.3 as well, which is the latest release on the Python 2.2 branch.
    Mailman 2.1 is not compatible with Python 2.0 or any earlier
    version.

    You will also need an ANSI C compiler to build both Python and
    Mailman; gcc (the GNU C compiler) works just fine.  Mailman
    currently works only on GNU/Linux and other Unix-like operating
    systems (e.g. Solaris, *BSD, MacOSX, etc.).  It does not run on
    Windows, although web and mail clients on any platform should be
    able to interact with Mailman just fine.

    See the INSTALL file for installation instructions.  If you are
    upgrading from a previous version of Mailman, you need to read the
    UPGRADING file for important information.


FEATURES

    Read the NEWS file for a list of changes since version 0.9.  Read
    the TODO file for our (extensive) wish list.  You can see Mailman
    2.1 in action at

        http://mail.python.org/mailman-21/listinfo

    Mailman has most of the standard features you'd expect in a
    mailing list manager, and more:

    - Web based list administration for nearly all tasks.  Web based
      subscriptions and user configuration management.  A customizable
      "home page" for each mailing list.

    - Privacy features such as moderation, open and closed list
      subscription policies, private membership rosters, and
      sender-based filters.

    - Automatic web based archiving built-in with support for private
      and public archives, and hooks for external archivers.

    - Per-user configuration optional digest delivery for either
      MIME-compliant or RFC 1153 style "plain text" digests.

    - Integrated mail/Usenet gateways.

    - Integrated auto-replies.

    - Majordomo-style email based commands.

    - Integrated bounce detection within an extensible framework.

    - Integrated spam detection, and MIME-based content filtering.

    - An extensible mail delivery pipeline.

    - Support for virtual domains.


REQUIREMENTS

    The default mail delivery mechanism uses a direct SMTP connection to
    whatever mail transport agent you have running on port 25.  You can thus
    use Mailman with any such MTA, however with certain MTAs (e.g. Exim and
    Postfix), Mailman will support thru-the-web creation and removal of
    mailing lists.

    Mailman works with any web server that supports CGI/1.1.  The HTML it
    generates is quite pedestrian and stingy on the graphics so it should be
    friendly to most web browsers and network connections.

    You will need root access on the machine hosting your Mailman installation
    in order to complete some of the configuration steps.  See the INSTALL
    file for details.

    Mailman's web and email user interface should be compatible with just
    about any mail reader or web browser, although a mail reader that is MIME
    aware will be a big help.  You do not need Java, JavaScript, or any other
    fancy plugins.


CREATE YOUR FIRST LIST

    These instructions assume that you've installed and configured Mailman
    according to the instructions in the INSTALL file.  To create and test
    your first list, try the following:

    - First, initialize the site administrator's password by cd'ing to the
      install directory (by default /usr/local/mailman) and typing

      % bin/mmsitepass
      New site password: [yourpassword]
      Again to confirm password: [yourpassword]
      Password changed.

    - Visit the url

        http://my.dom.ain/mailman/create

      Fill out the form as described in the on-screen instructions, and in the
      "List creator's password" field, type the password you entered above.
      Type your own email address for the "Initial list owner address", and
      select "Yes" to notify the list administrator.

    - Hit "Create List"

    - Check your email for a message from Mailman informing you that your new
      mailing list was created.

    - NOTE: You should consult the README for the specific MTA you are using.
      Most can be set up to provide through-the-web creation of mailing lists,
      but each configuration is different.

    - Now visit the list's admin page (either by following the link on the web
      page or entering the link from the email Mailman just sent you).
      Typically the url will be something like

        http://my.dom.ain/mailman/admin/mysitelist

      Type in the list's password and click on "Let me in..."

    - Click on "Membership Management" and then on "Mass Subscription".

    - Enter your email address in the big text field, and click on "Submit
      Your Changes"

    - Now go to your email and send a message to yourlist@my.dom.ain.  Within
      a minute or two you should see your message reflected back to you via
      Mailman.

    Congratulations!  You've just set up and tested your first Mailman mailing
    list.  If you had any problems along the way, please see the section below
    on FOR MORE INFORMATION.


FOR MORE INFORMATION

    The online documentation can be found in

        file:admin/www/index.html

    in the directory in which you unpacked Mailman.

    Chris Kolar has made a list owner-oriented manual available from
    the following URL

        http://www.imsa.edu/~ckolar/mailman/

    There are also several mailing lists that can be used as resources
    to help you get going with Mailman.

    Mailman-Users
        An list for users of Mailman, for posting questions or problems
        related to installation, use, etc.  We'll try to keep the deep
        technical discussions off this list.

        http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users

    Listowners
        This mailing list with a non-technical focus, specifically for
        discussions from the perspective of listowners and moderators who do
        not have "shell access" to the mailing list server where the Mailman
        software runs.

        http://listowner.org

    Mailman-Announce
        A read-only list for release announcements an other important news.

        http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-announce

    Mailman-Developers
        A list for those of you interested in helping develop Mailman 2's
        future direction.  This list will contain in-depth technical
        discussions.

        http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-developers

    Mailman3-Dev
        Get involved now in the development of Mailman 3!

        http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman3-dev

    Mailman-I18N
        A list for the discussion of the Mailman internationalization
        effort.  Mailman 2.1 is fully multi-lingual.

        http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-i18n

    Mailman-Checkins
        A read-only list which is an adjunct to the public anonymous CVS
        repository.  You can stay on the bleeding edge of Mailman development
        by subscribing to this list.

        http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-checkins

    The Mailman project is coordinated on SourceForge at

        http://sf.net/projects/mailman

    You should use SourceForge to report bugs and to upload patches.



Local Variables:
mode: indented-text
indent-tabs-mode: nil
End: