[Mailman-Users] FYI -- Re: migrating Mailman server

[Raquel]

On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 12:37:24 -0800
Mark Sapiro <msapiro at value.net> wrote:

> Hank van Cleef wrote:
> 
> >I have just moved a 9-year-old list from another installation to
> >mine, and have a draft how-to faq on how I did it that isn't
> >quite ready for prime time.  Since I know there isn't any clear
> >information on this in the current mailman FAQ tree, I'll give
> >the salient points fairly briefly.   I'm sure that the Mailman
> >developers will want to comment, so I'll let them do the talking
> >after posting this.
> 
> 
> I have a few initial remarks interspersed below.
> 
> 
> >It's fairly easy to do a seamless migration of an old Mailman
> >list's personality and history into a new Mailman install.  Based
> >on a migration from Mailman 2.1.4 to 2.1.9, what you need from
> >the old  installation are:
> >
> >(base directory is the old mailman tree, typically
> >/usr/local/mailman)
> >
> >1. All of the files under the ./lists/<listname> directory.
> >2. All of the files under the ./archives/private/<listname>
> >directory. 3. ./Mailman/mm_cfg.py
> >4. Any other files in the ./archives directory with <listname> in
> >their names.
> 
> 
> Depending on how you do archives, you *may* not need 2. You may
> just need the ./archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox
> files.
> 
> 
> >A tar of those directory trees plus the mm_cfg.py file gives you
> >the old list's configuration, personality, membership data base,
> >and archives.  
> >
> >On your new system, do a new installation of Mailman at the
> >revision level that the old list was running on.  I was moving
> >from a 2.1.4 installation, and building from source, so had to
> >get the Mailman 2.1.4 sources.  Follow the instructions in the
> >build and installation guide on the Mailman web site exactly
> >(don't plan on just running configure and doing a make---there is
> >a lot more you need to do).
> 
> 
> It should not be necessary to install the "same" version and then
> upgrade. In this example, it should be OK to just install Mailman
> 2.1.9 directly on the new system.
> 
> Mailman is aware enough to update a newly encountered, older
> version config.pck (or even config.db from 2.0.x) to the current
> format. A lot of what bin/update does when you update to a new
> release is stuff that Mailman will do on the fly when you drop an
> 'old' list into a working Mailman, or it is generic stuff having
> to do with file locations, queue entry formats and other things
> not directly relevant to a list.
> 
> Thus, it is normally just fine to drop a 2.1.4 config.pck into a
> working 2.1.9 installation.
> 
> 
> >On the fresh installation, create a new list with the same name
> >as the one you are moving.  For example, if you're moving from
> >"waffles at wafflehaus.org," create a new "waffles" list.  Use that 
> >newly-created list to check out your installation.  You can add a
> >few local list member names to convenient mail addresses on your
> >site, and use this to check out the integration with your mailer
> >and web server. Use the old list's mm_cfg.py as a guide in
> >chosing what to put in  your installation's mm_cfg.py.  
> >
> >Once you have your installation running, take a look in the
> >./list/<listname directory>.  You'll find config.pck.  Check its
> >owner/group and permissions.  Copy the old list's config.pck file
> >into the new installation's directory and set its owner/group and
> >permissions to match.  Run the fix_url script as needed to get
> >the  correct URL for your new installation installed.  If there
> >are html files in the old list's list/<listname> directory
> >(template file overlays), copy them over as well.  
> >
> >You should now be able to go to the listinfo page for the list,
> >go into the mailman administrator options page, and review such
> >things as the administrator/moderator addresses and settings,
> >list mailto address, etc.  Double check that the link-across
> >URL's between pages are correct for your installation.  
> >
> >Populate the archives directories.  I still haven't worked out
> >the best way for doing this, but you'll need the pipermail
> >archives directories and files, and control files that the old
> >Mailman created. The ./bin/check_perms script will help you
> >getting all the owner/group and permissions set properly (Mailman
> >is quite fussy about these).  
> 
> 
> Assuming you have a complete
> archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox from the old
> installation, you can completely build the pipermail archive on
> the new installation by the following process.
> 
> 0) Migrate the list and run fix_url if needed.
> 1) Copy the archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox to
> the new installation.
> 2) Run 
>   bin/cleanarch -n <
>   archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox
> to help find any unescaped 'From ' lines in the .mbox file. If
> that finds any problems, run
>   bin/cleanarch < archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox
> tmp
>   cp tmp archives/private/<listname>.mbox/<listname>.mbox
> 3) Run
>   bin/arch --wipe <listname>
> to build the new archive. If the .mbox is large, this may choke in
> which case, run for example:
>   bin/arch --wipe --end=1000 <listname>
> followed by
>   bin/arch --start=1001 --end=2000 <listname>
> etc.
> 
> Note --wipe on first bin/arch only. Do not try to run the above in
> parallel - locks will prevent it anyway.
> 
> 
> >You should now have your old list completely installed on your
> >new site.  From there, you can build the current versions of
> >Python (2.5), Mailman (2.1.9) and do an upgrade installation.  
> 
> 
> As I indicate above, it is OK to start with an up-to-date
> installation and avoid the upgrade step.
> 
> -- 
> Mark Sapiro

Just to let everyone know ... I moved some lists from an old server
to a new server using the above.  It worked very well, except for a
few things I had to clean up under sendmail.  Thank you for the good
map to follow!

-- 
Raquel
============================================================
This above all: to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as
the night the day; Thou canst not then be false to any man.
  --William Shakespeare