[Mailman-Users] no mail delivery to site list

[Mark Sapiro]

On 05/10/2013 06:03 AM, Larry Kuenning wrote:
> On 5/9/2013 9:43 PM, Mark Sapiro wrote:
> 
>> If those plain text files aren't in the same directory, they are
>> somewhere, but I can't imagine why they're not there. You might try
>> locate or find to find them.
> 
> They're not there, or anywhere else.  Or rather they weren't there until
> I created them using postalias as pointed out by David Benfell.
> 
> I'm guessing this means that Plesk creates the .db files directly
> without using text files.  Ugh.  Now I wonder, if I use postalias to
> update the .db files after editing my newly created text files, will
> Plesk eventually overwrite my work, say the next time I create a mailbox
> or an e-mail alias?  I guess the way to find out is to try.


I'm guessing Plesk doesn't create the .db files directly, but rather
creates/updates some plain text file and invokes postmap/postalias to
create the .db files, but whether and why it hides the text files with a
different name or doesn't keep them, I have no idea.

Anyway, if you make changes to the aliases.db, virtual.db and/or
transport.db files, Plesk will overwrite them unless it actually uses
these files as the starting point when it adds/deletes info for a list.

Trying will tell.


> The aliases file tells us nothing to the point (except that it contains
> one example of delivery to a program, which I had tried unsuccessfully
> to do in /etc/aliases -- now I know where to try again).


Aliases in /etc/aliases for the 'mailman' list should work, but you also
in your case need virtual mappings to map the 'mailman' list addresses
in the virtual domain to local addresses.


> The transport file shows that Plesk's transport for Mailman is being
> applied to my successfully working lists but not to the site list:
> 
> # grep test transport
> test at qhpress.org        mailman:post
> test-admin at qhpress.org  mailman:admin
> test-bounces at qhpress.org        mailman:bounces
> test-leave at qhpress.org  mailman:leave
> test-owner at qhpress.org  mailman:owner
> test-request at qhpress.org        mailman:request
> test-unsubscribe at qhpress.org    mailman:unsubscribe
> test-confirm at qhpress.org        mailman:confirm
> test-join at qhpress.org   mailman:join
> test-subscribe at qhpress.org      mailman:subscribe
> # grep 'mailman[@-]' transport
> [no output]
> 
> The virtual file shows virtually the same thing:
> 
> # grep test virtual
> test at qhpress.org        test at qhpress.org
> test-admin at qhpress.org  test-admin at qhpress.org
> test-bounces at qhpress.org        test-bounces at qhpress.org
> test-leave at qhpress.org  test-leave at qhpress.org
> test-owner at qhpress.org  test-owner at qhpress.org
> test-request at qhpress.org        test-request at qhpress.org
> test-unsubscribe at qhpress.org    test-unsubscribe at qhpress.org
> test-confirm at qhpress.org        test-confirm at qhpress.org
> test-join at qhpress.org   test-join at qhpress.org
> test-subscribe at qhpress.org      test-subscribe at qhpress.org


Actually, the mapings above don't make sense. They map, e.g., the
virtual domain address test at qhpress.org to the same address,
test at qhpress.org. If this were actually used by Postfix, it would be a
loop. Thus, I think qhpress.org must actually be a Postfix local domain.

But, if that is the case, putting the appropriate

mailman:             "|/path/to/mailman/mail/mailman post mailman"
mailman-admin:       "|/path/to/mailman/mail/mailman admin mailman"
mailman-bounces:     "|/path/to/mailman/mail/mailman bounces mailman"
...

entries in /etc/aliases and reloading Postfix should work, assuming
there is a mailman/mail/mailman wrapper and it doesn't result in a group
mismatch error <http://wiki.list.org/x/tYA9>.


> # grep mailman virtual
> mailman-loop at qhpress.org        mailman-loop at localhost.localdomain
> 
> My current idea is to add "mailman" lines similar to all the "test"
> lines in transport and virtual and then update transport.db and
> virtual.db with postmap.  (After first making backups of the current
> forms!)  If this creates valid files, will Postfix start using the new
> versions immediately, or do I need to do something else to draw its
> attention to the changes?


That should work, and Postfix will use it more or less immediately (it
detects the change). However, Plesk may reverse it the next time it
makes a change.


> I see cron/mailpasswds is supposed to run on the first of each month. It
> wasn't done this month (which was the only opportunity so far).  I guess
> that was because it couldn't use the site list.


I don't think so. I don't think the list address has to work. The list
only has to exist. But, check the cron log (maybe /var/log/cron or a
rotated older one) to see if there's anything there. Also, it is a good
idea to put a MAILTO= with a good address in Mailman's crontab. Without
it, cron errors probably get mailed to 'mailman' which in your case
doesn't work, and even if it does, the list may not be configured to
accept them even though it should be.

I suspect you'll finally end up deleting the 'mailman' list with
bin/rmlist and then recreating it with Plesk.

The real question is why a Plesk Mailman doesn't have the site list
deliverable in the first place.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <mark at msapiro.net>        The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan