[Mailman-Users] doc patch for postfix virtual domain config

[Paul Fox]

hi -- i'm new at both mailman and postfix, but i thought i'd
try and reduce someone else's pain when trying to do what i've
been trying to do.

i spent a bunch of time last night very confused because i couldn't
do a configuration of a mailman list in a postfix virtual domain.
from what i read in the docs, it seemed like it should "Just Work".
and it would have, except i made one crucial mistake.

it turns out that the information i needed to do it right was in the
output of "bin/newlist -h", but not in any other doc that i found.
(it may be elsewhere, i just didn't find it elsewhere, even after
a lot of searching.)  the missing piece was that when setting up
the list, _that's_ when you have to declare it as being in a virtual
domain.  not later.  and while there's an oblique reference in
section 6.1.2 to the "host_name attribute" of a list, this didn't
jump out at me, and it might not have helped -- it's the only
reference in the docs.

here's a doc patch that would have helped me a lot.  (i don't have
tex or texinfo installed, so i wasn't able to actually try this
patch.)

it might also be worth adding mention of the postfix-to-mailman-2.1.py
script that's fairly widely found when googling, if only to explain
why one doesn't need it.  i understand that while this works (and
i assume is similar to fil at rezo.net's technique, referenced in
the docs), it's sub-optimal especially in the face of spam
dictionary attacks.  (at least, i read that somewhere on the
internet last night -- so it must be true!)  anyway, i didn't add
anything about this, because i don't really feel qualified, but again,
it would have helped.

thanks,
paul

--- mailman-install.tex.orig	Sat Jan 20 14:46:39 2007
+++ mailman-install.tex	Sat Jan 20 15:03:19 2007
@@ -555,6 +555,23 @@
 against the \var{host_name} attribute of mailing lists objects, and must be an
 exact match.
 
+Note that virtual alias mappings will only be created (obviously) by
+\program{bin/genaliases} for lists which are addressed in a virtual domain. 
+Thus, if you ran
+\begin{verbatim}
+    % bin/newlist mylist
+\end{verbatim}
+then you will not get virtual alias mappings in
+\file{/usr/local/mailman/data/virtual-mailman}, but if you ran
+\begin{verbatim}
+    % bin/newlist mylist at dom2.ain
+\end{verbatim}
+(which will set the \var{host_name} attribute for the list) then
+you will.  (You will, however, get direct alias entries, i.e. in
+\file{/usr/local/mailman/data/aliases}, for both virtual and non-virtual
+lists -- both sets of entries are necessary for lists in virtual
+domains to work.)
+
 Here's an example.  Say that Postfix is configured to handle the virtual
 domains \code{dom1.ain}, \code{dom2.ain}, and \code{dom3.ain}, and further
 that in your \file{main.cf} file you've got the following settings:



=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at foxharp.boston.ma.us (arlington, ma, where it's 21.0 degrees)