[Mailman-Users] change links in mail footer to https

[tlhackque]

On 10-Dec-17 19:24, Mark Sapiro wrote:
>
> Note that with this specific issue, I could expose a list's web_page_url
> in the web admin UI, but that wouldn't solve the problem. As Brian
> indicates, making Mailman use https involve more than that. It also
> requires certificates and web server configuration, and while I don't
> know, I suspect these things require a server admin, even on cPanel.
>

I'm not going to claim cPanel expertise - but in my experience a cPanel
admin can allow server admins access to SSL/TLS configuration.  Once I
had that enabled, I was able to just paste certificates/keys into the
cPanel UI, and apache is reconfigured behind the scenes.  It's pretty
good about decoding the certificate and telling you what it covers and
when it's valid.  I have heard that there's a let'sEncrypt module for
cPanel (my provider doesn't have it yet).

So the missing piece for allowing a MM admin to convert to (or from)
https is 'just' the web admin UI - and some documentation.  (Note: I
don't run Mailman under cPanel, so I don't know what else there may be.)

Of course MM is mostly a volunteer effort, and MM2.1 is on the back
burner.  Didn't mean to imply otherwise.

As I noted, whether or not the web admin UI is improved for 2.1, it
should be done for 3.

And the doc should clearly indicate that shell access is (currently) a
requirement post-install.  Apparently, cPanel does some
packaging/wrapping of Mailman - which I can't speak to.  But there
should be no need for root access for a private Mailman instance running
from a user directory.  Mailman does not run under root.  If you choose
to run mailing lists for multiple administrative domains under a single
instance, you would need access to the instance's mailman user.  And
that could be undesirable and/or complicated. 

Off the top of my head, the only system file access required for MM2.1
is to /etc/aliases -- presumably, the cPanel wrapper takes care of
updating it (and running newaliases) as lists are created/destroyed.  As
I said, the best solution is to provide all the MM admin functions from
the web admin UI.  (There are quite a few in mailman/bin.)  Not just for
this, but because as time passes, fewer mailing list admins are
comfortable at the command line.

Speaking of WordPress - I do run it in a cPanel -managed host.  WP is a
completely private install.  My VirtualHost has a complete copy of
WordPress in my_username/public_html - nothing is stored in a system
directory.  And no root access is required.  From a hosting provider's
point of view, this isn't as efficient as a shared install.  But they
can charge for the disk space and network/computes used to update each
instance, so it works out.  I don't see why Mailman couldn't be packaged
the same way.  TLS is configured by editing the WP config file for each
instance (using the cPanel editor that I mentioned).  And certificates
are installed for the VirtualHost using cPanel->Security->SSL/TLS. 
(There are also plugins for getting certificates from various CAs.)

Finally, I never said "all shared hosting providers are bad".  I said
"many don't provide shell access", and that Mailman currently requires
it for a number of post-install admin operations.  It would be good if
those requirements could be reduced.  If someone has the
need/inclination/energy.

But this has gone rather far afield.  I don't have this particular
problem, so I'm going to leave this here.  I hope these notes help those
who do.