- Mailman-users - lists.mailman3.org

Internal server error instead of web interface
by Christian H. Kuhn March 22, 2026

March 22, 2026

Hi all, https://lists.qno.de/mailman3 shows an internal server error. I followed https://docs.mailman3.org/en/latest/install/virtualenv.html with MariaDB instead of PostgreSQL. Python 3.13.0 pip 25.3 mailman 3.3.11b mailman-web 0.0.10.dev14?g0997bd postorius 1.3.13 Services mailman3, mailmanweb, apache2, uwsgi up and running. uwsgi listens on [::1]:8000, apache2 is configured accordingly. Ports show up in netstat. No errors show in logs. If /mailman3 was a directory, i would have thought of user permission problems. But not with TCP ports. As :8000 is available, i would have thought that there is a problem with uwsgi. Requests arrive there and are processed: [pid: 3185672|app: 0|req: 10/17] ::1 () {28 vars in 409 bytes} [Mon Nov 3 13:24:05 2025] GET /mailman3/ => generated 5038 bytes in 28 msecs (HTTP/1.0 200) 8 headers in 261 bytes (1 switches on core 0) So uwsgi gets the request and delivers data. The problem seems that apache2 does not get the result, and i cannot find any reason. Any help? TIA QNo

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starting mailman2 under Debian
by Thomas Krichel March 22, 2026

March 22, 2026

It took me several hours to figure out how to start Mailman2.1 on a Debian system, where it is package is run as list. It complained it could not open the pid file. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## file: /etc/systemd/system/mailman.service [Unit] Description=GNU Mailman Mailing List Manager After=syslog.target network.target [Service] Type=forking User=list Group=list RuntimeDirectory=mailman PIDFile=/run/mailman/mailman.pid ExecStart=/usr/lib/mailman/bin/mailmanctl -s start ExecStop=/usr/lib/mailman/bin/mailmanctl stop [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hopefully this will save some good folks' time! -- Written by Thomas Krichel http://openlib.org/home/krichel on his 22206th day.

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list not found
by Thomas Krichel March 18, 2026

March 18, 2026

I am very sorry to you folks for not getting back on the problems I am having to install on Debian testing. There are two reasons. One is that I have been much offline for personal reasons. The other is that I have another machine called tagol where I have been running Mailman3 for about three years, using the Debian packet on Debian testing. As testing move to 3.13 this installation could not run. I replaced mailman-core with a 3.12 venv install, but left the mailman3-web package of Debian. This half-arsed job held up for a long time but two weeks ago collapsed. No email went through. I have been trying to switch to a full venv version, still staying with 3.12. Tagol hosts a single list mailman@tagol:~$ mailman lists 1 matching mailing lists found: bibnez(a)folks.email I have some bad queue files. Let's look at the oldest mailman@tagol:~$ ls -lt /var/lib/mailman3/queue/bad/ | tail -1 -rw-rw---- 1 mailman mailman 8579 Mar 11 14:32 1773239548.2417333+451b61b8707218b4dc3d0864eb4ee0172bd21d71.psv Write a script "test_bad" to submit this back. mailman@tagol:~$ cat test_bad #!/bin/bash base=/var/lib/mailman3/queue/bad/1773239548.2417333+451b61b8707218b4dc3d0864eb4ee0172bd21d71 psv=$base.psv pck=$base.pck cp $psv $pck mailman unshunt mailman@tagol:~$ When I run this script, I get in my log Mar 15 05:40:46 2026 (2658932) <a930211e778a4aa0829cee5b2a9e7db9(a)kbs-mg.de> runner "in" shunting message for missing list: <object object at 0x7fb1ad1ad730> I suspect mailman does not see the database. But mailman@tagol:~$ mailman info | grep -v credent GNU Mailman 3.3.10 (Tom Sawyer) Python 3.12.9 (main, Feb 5 2025, 01:31:18) [GCC 14.2.0] config file: /etc/mailman3/mailman.cfg db url: sqlite:////var/lib/mailman3/data/mailman.db devmode: DISABLED REST root url: http://localhost:8001/3.1/ The file exists mailman@tagol:~$ ls -l /var/lib/mailman3/data/mailman.db -rw-rw---- 1 mailman mailman 4825088 Mar 15 05:20 /var/lib/mailman3/data/mailman.db I have no idea where to look next. Thanks and cheers! -- Written by Thomas Krichel http://openlib.org/home/krichel on his 22199th day.

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alembic version
by Thomas Krichel March 17, 2026

March 17, 2026

On my fresh install I am running into problems with the alembic number. root@darni ~ # systemctl restart mailman3 ; systemctl restart mailmanwebq Job for mailman3.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status mailman3.service" and "journalctl -xeu mailman3.service" for details. Failed to restart mailmanwebq.service: Unit mailmanwebq.service not found. root@darni ~ # systemctl status mailman3.service × mailman3.service - GNU Mailing List Manager Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/mailman3.service; enabled; preset: enabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2026-03-07 07:01:03 UTC; 2s ago Duration: 23h 33min 7.258s Invocation: dde1db5581914d96b1da564d537df84a Process: 1209747 ExecStart=/usr/local/mailman/venv/bin/mailman start (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Mem peak: 64.8M CPU: 681ms Mar 07 07:01:03 darni mailman[1209747]: File "/usr/lib/python3.13/contextlib.py", line 162, in __exit__ Mar 07 07:01:03 darni mailman[1209747]: self.gen.throw(value) Mar 07 07:01:03 darni mailman[1209747]: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^ Mar 07 07:01:03 darni mailman[1209747]: File "/usr/local/mailman/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/alembic/script/base.py", line 245, in _catch_revision_errors Mar 07 07:01:03 darni mailman[1209747]: raise util.CommandError(resolution) from re Mar 07 07:01:03 darni mailman[1209747]: alembic.util.exc.CommandError: Can't locate revision identified by '8cc1f79f4459' Mar 07 07:01:03 darni systemd[1]: mailman3.service: Control process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE Mar 07 07:01:03 darni systemd[1]: mailman3.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Mar 07 07:01:03 darni systemd[1]: Failed to start mailman3.service - GNU Mailing List Manager. Mar 07 07:01:03 darni systemd[1]: mailman3.service: Consumed 681ms CPU time over 727ms wall clock time, 64.8M memory peak. Indeed: root@darni ~ # sudo -u postgres psql -d mailman3 psql (18.2 (Debian 18.2-1)) Type "help" for help. mailman3=# SELECT version_num FROM alembic_version; version_num -------------- 8cc1f79f4459 (1 row) Setting the number to say 0 mailman3=# update alembic_version set version_num=0; UPDATE 1 and repeating the restart yields the same problem. -- Written by Thomas Krichel http://openlib.org/home/krichel on his 22191st day.

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Subscription confirmation email
by Eric Broens March 15, 2026

March 15, 2026

While doing some tests I subscribed to a mailinglist by sending an email to <list>-join@<domain> Mailman correctly emailed the confirmation request, and the mail was accepted by my ISP. For some reason the confirmation mail did not arrive in my mailbox nor in my spam folder, it seems to have been silently dropped. A day later, I again sent a subscription request to <list>-join@<domain>, and I received a mail from <list>-bounces@<domain> with subject "The results of your email commands" saying that I have a pending subscription for that mailinglist. However, no confirmation link is included, nor instructions to visit the website to confirm the subscription. Am I missing something in the configuration? I would expect that a confirmation request is mailed again to the subscriber. Most subscribers don't use the web interface to manage their subscriptions. The versions running with Maxking's docker-mailman and postfix are: Mailman Core versie GNU Mailman 3.3.10 (Tom Sawyer) Mailman Core API versie 3.1 Mailman Core Python versie 3.12.7 (main, Oct 7 2024, 11:30:19) [GCC 13.2.1 20240309] Best regards, Eric

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Footer variables
by Washington Odhiambo March 14, 2026

March 14, 2026

In my /opt/mailman/mm/var/templates/lists/ kictanet.lists.kictanet.or.ke/en/list:member:regular:footer.txt, I have: Archived at: ${hyperkitty_url I was hoping that variable would be replaced with what I see in this list, i.e. - Archived at: https://lists.mailman3.org/archives/list/mailman-users @mailman3.org/message/HX6NZKICL7V2QWE2V4YNKIMSMQHARPUV/ However, in my posts, it's blank. What am I missing? -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 In an Internet failure case, the #1 suspect is a constant: DNS. "Oh, the cruft.", egrep -v '^$|^.*#' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :-) [How to ask smart questions: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html]

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[GSoC 2026] [Feature Proposal] Per-List Backup and Restore Support
by sonika gutha March 14, 2026

March 14, 2026

*Introduction: * My name is *Sonika Chowdary Gutha*, and I am a *second-year Computer Science undergraduate at BITS Pilani, India*. I recently completed a *6-month internship in Backend Development using Python and Django*, where I gained experience in building backend systems and working with REST APIs.I am also familiar with the *MERN stack and the Flutter framework*, and I have experience developing both web and mobile applications. In addition I have been introduced to the fundamentals of several programming languages, including *Python, C++, and JavaScript*. I am exploring the possibility of implementing a *per-list backup and restore feature* for Mailman. The goal of this feature is to allow list administrators or owners to *export the configuration and membership data of a specific mailing list into a portable backup file and restore it later when needed*. This could be useful in situations such as: - Migrating lists between servers - Recovering from configuration mistakes - Replicating list setups across environments *Implementation:* The following diagram provides a visual representation of the proposed backup and restore workflow <https://excalidraw.com/#json=PhUB9tdMrupMfpx7O6_i6,OLBUtBJjL5_sCR-UokrNHw> .: I plan to implement this feature in two parts. The main backup and restore logic should live in *Mailman Core*, since that is where the actual list configuration and membership data are stored. My idea is to define a *versioned JSON format* that captures the important per-list data such as list settings, members, owners, moderators, and relevant subscription preferences. On the export side, Core would gather this data and write it into a portable backup file. On the restore side, it would read the file, validate its contents, recreate the list if necessary, and restore the saved settings and memberships. On the *Postorius* side, I would implement the user-facing workflow for this feature. This would include an option for list owners or administrators to download a backup file for a specific list, as well as a page where they can upload and restore that file when needed. For the initial version, I plan to keep the feature focused and reliable by covering configuration and membership data first, while leaving more complex areas such as archives or other external components out of scope unless they are explicitly expected. *Questions:* 1. For the first version, what exactly should be included in the per-list backup: only settings and memberships, or also items like templates, ban lists, and member preferences? 2. Should the main export and restore implementation live in Mailman Core, with Postorius mainly responsible for the UI and workflow? 3. Is a *versioned JSON format* the preferred choice for the backup file? 4. Should restore only support creating or recreating a list from backup, or should it also support restoring into an already existing list?Thank you for your time and feedback. Please feel free to *suggest any changes or improvements to the proposed implementation*, also if possible hope i can get answers for the above questions which will be helpful for my proposal, I would be happy to incorporate them.:) Best regards, Sonika

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venv and upgrade from python 3.11 to 3.13 because of OS-upgrade
by Andreas Vetter March 13, 2026

March 13, 2026

Hi, I have a venv installation (mailman postorius django-mailman3 hyperkitty mailman-web) with python 3.11 from the Linux distribution. Since distribution EOL nears, I checked python version in next distribution and it is python 3.13. So my guess is, after distro upgrade, this will stop working. How should I upgrade? -- Mit freundlichen Gruessen, Andreas Vetter

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Where to start looking?
by Paul Tomblin March 12, 2026

March 12, 2026

So I imported all our mailman2 lists into mailman3, and it appears it didn't preserve passwords. So my wife (who administers 3 lists of her own) tried to use the reset password link (multiple times) but she never gets the email. I don't see any outgoing email to her in mail.log, or any of the mailman logs. I do the exact same thing as her and I get the email. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for? -- Paul Tomblin

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Accept these non-members
by Lars Bjørndal March 10, 2026

March 10, 2026

Hi, list! I have an announce only Mailman3 list. When I log into the web interface as an admin user, and go to the specified list, and choose Settings, I find the Message Acceptance tab. There, I find the edit field Accept these non-members. But this field is empty, although I know that some people have permissions and are able to post to this list. How can I find the list of these non-members and add more people or delete someone? I'm running Mailman version 3.3.10, and mailman-web version 4.2.21. Any hints? Thanks, Lars

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