[Mailman-Users] mailman 2.1.5 and Debian upgrades

[Dan MacNeil]

Alan McConnell wrote:
> Dear Helpful Experts,

I am hardly an expert, though I do aspire to be helpful.

 > Can I, again, have the Assembled Wisdom(TM) tell me, and
 > the PatriotNet staff, how to proceed to upgrade the MM
 > install from 2.1.5 to 2.1.9?

By coincidence, we are a tiny ISP for non-profits. Last night we 
upgraded our mailman/amavis/postfix server to move from mailman 2.1.5 to 
2.1.9 (we also moved from Sarge to Etch)

	# to replace "sarge" with "etch",
	$EDITOR /etc/apt/sources.list

	sudo apt-get update;
	sudo apt-get dist-upgrade --download-only
	sudo apt-get dist-upgrade;
	# remove shunt files from mailman

As usual, mailman didn't upgrade until I emptied the shunt directory, 
but the upgrade scripts made it very clear what the issue was.

There were no other problems upgrading mailman. The configuration file 
setup for amavis change so I spent a bit of time moving things around. 
--I was surprised at how stock our setup was.

The big unresolved problem is that rdiff-backup on the Etch machine now 
can't talk to the backup repository  running sarge rdiff-backup

 > And a few words of wisdom about why this is advisable would also be
 > appreciated.

In our case, an important customer wanted friendly VERP subject lines in 
confirmation email messages generated in reply to 
listname-join at lists.orgainzation.org

We know we will have to move to Etch some day soon in any event and this 
was a relatively low risk start.

##########

> 
> Please have patience!  I'll try to make this the last revisit of this
> subject.
> 
> I am the admin of a four-month old Mailman E-list, running on my ISP,
> PatriotNet.
> 
> The people actually responsible for Tech Support at PatriotNet are very
> reliant on Debian.  They are running Debian Sarge, because that is the
> latest "stable" Debian release(coincidentally, so am I, at home).
> Debian Sarge provides MM 2.1.5, which Brad and Mark have criticized in
> rather scathing terms; unfortunately, I've lost/misplaced the exact
> E-mails saying this.
> 
> Can I, again, have the Assembled Wisdom(TM) tell me, and the PatriotNet
> staff, how to proceed to upgrade the MM install from 2.1.5 to 2.1.9?
> And a few words of wisdom about why this is advisable would also be
> appreciated.
> 
> I have spelled out, chapter and verse, all the problems that I have been
> having with 2.1.5.  But heck, what do I know?  I'm just a customer,
> and who pays attention to them?
> 
> Again apologies for repeat request, and thanks for your anticipated
> assistance.
> 
> A grateful Alan
>