[Mailman-Users] mm-handler same as postfix-to-mailman.py

[Jim Ziobro]

Mm-handler works well when mail-lists are in a separate domain.

I ran across postfix-to-mailman.py while researching mailman to postfix 
connections.  I realized it performs the same function as mm-handler.  I 
changed mm-handler to be a drop in as a replacement for 
postfix-to-mailman.py 
<https://github.com/fauria/docker-mailman/blob/master/centos7/postfix-to-mailman.py>. 
It is under:

http://sw.ziobro.info/mm-handler/

I did a test install of mailman with Postfix to test it.  It worked.

I also setup a Mailman to Postfix connection using the aliases method as 
described in the documentation.  That worked fine also. I don't use 
Postfix but using the postfix-to-mailman.py seemed a little more obvious 
than setting up through the aliases method. The Postfix package on 
CentOS 7 even had comments where the mailman transport entry would go. 
Configuring is especially tough if you are not familiar with Python. :-)

Setting up mailing lists in a separate domain has a nice administrative 
appeal.  I did a little more research to see how popular that method 
might be.  I got a list of 1922 US universities and 457 have a host 
"lists...." and 191 have a host "list..." in their DNS.  I surveyed a 
few and ran across: Mailman, Lyris, Sympa, Listserv, Majordomo, and 
Google groups.  Many universities outsource their Email to Outlook which 
has it own Group capability.

Running mail list software is clearly popular.  Both mm-handler and 
postfix-to-mailman.py are contributed code.  The folks who package the 
various tools add glue to make them easy to use.  It looks like both 
Sympa <https://sympa-community.github.io/manual/>and Mailman have very 
similar requirements.  Maybe time to work together?

I can hook up any mail system.  Just give me the list of mail-lists and 
tell me how to inject messages.  Glue will be more specific to a Mailer 
and OS than either Mailman or Sympa.  I think we get a benefit if we 
make a clean interface between Mailman and its feeding MTA.  We can then 
eliminate some of the hacks like mm-handler.

I have some ideas for Mailman2.  I'll follow up.

Ciao,
//Z\\
Jim Ziobro