[Mailman-Users] Rather perplexing set of problems with a new 2.1.14vhost install on a DirectAdmin box -- and I'm new to Mailman

[Christopher Woods (CustomMade)]

> If you really need the vhosts branch, I'll work with you on 
> the problems, but if you can live with globally unique list 
> names, I suggest you update your Python to 2.6.x and install 
> either the
> 2.1.14-1 tarball from 
> <https://launchpad.net/mailman/+download> or the head of the 
> branch at <https://code.launchpad.net/~mailman-coders/mailman/2.1>.

Crikey Mark, thanks for your great response especially given my inaugural
post only made the list a couple of hours ago. Have to cop to it - part of
the reason I went with that specific install guide was because I'm working
in a DA environment (a little nonstandard to begin with). I was also, as you
say, angling towards a setup where I could reuse list names -- or rather,
not have to worry about clashes (long run, they'll be used for various promo
and mailout lists to industry contacts which may well be the same). This VPS
is a shared hosting environment too so I didn't think I could justify
potentially denying another user a list name if it was common. However, if
things just aren't working I see no reason in swimming through treacle until
I have a slightly better understanding of Mailman's innards :-)

Wondering if part of the problems are due to the OS (CentOS)... This VPS
came specced with it, and I went along with the choice. Little was I aware
of the development approach with regards to new and shiny... (this is your
cue to all have a chuckle at my expense ;-) My installed Python is 2.4;
python-devel was installed new today - but, of course, is still old.
Installing the vhosts branch (via bazaar) did initially abort, prompt me to
include the toolkit (available in the -devel branch) which I installed fresh
before running make install for a second time. Trying yum update python just
now, of course, it didn't offer me anything above what I already had --
because this is an old issue which I had no idea about (still on the uphill
climb on the learning curve). Discussed here:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1465036/install-python-2-6-in-centos.
Essentially for those unaware (probably just me), CentOS doesn't really like
officially supporting latest versions of established software, opting
instead for stability over new features (and backporting security fixes).
Wreaks havoc if you want to use Python 2.6 because many parts of the OS
depend on older versions of packages, including Python 2.4.

>From quickly skimreading the SO thread, it seems building python26 from
source will be the simplest way... but will Mailman work fine if 2.6 is
installed to coexist with 2.4 (which I'm reading is a dependency for things
like yum?)

I'm on the road all day tomorrow but I'll have a play, get 2.6 installed and
then see what happens when I prod the current install. Failing that, I'll
ditch it (thanking myself I backed up things like exim confs ;-) and try
Mailman's standard flavour.

Thanks so far, feel like I'm slowly making progress. (and I'll be glad to
bid adieu to Majordomo)
Chris

--
Epilogue

My reading for tomorrow evening so far is as follows: 
1. http://chrislea.com/2009/09/09/easy-python-2-6-django-on-centos-5/
2.
http://www.geekymedia.com/tech-articles/rhel5-centos5-rpms-for-python-2-5-an
d-2-6/
3. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL

If you have any more I should check out / bear in mind prior to additional
fiddling I'll appreciate any gentle shepherding in the right direction.