- Mailman-users - lists.mailman3.org

urls.py location on venv install
by Torsten Aug. 12, 2026

Aug. 12, 2026

Hey all together, I have just nearly finished the migration of Mailman 3 from Debian packages to venv and mailman (master and runner) is up and running and uwsgi is also up and running. Just when I go to the web page https://<mydomain.tld>/mailman3 I get a server error and looking at the mailman web log I see that the ROOT_URLCONF seems to be missing. Following this thread: https://lists.mailman3.org/archives/list/mailman-users@mailman3.org/thread/… I added urls.py to /etc/mailman3 together with the other configuration files (settings.py, mailman.cfg and uwsgi.ini) and have added ROOT_URLCONF = 'urls' to /etc/settings.py but after restarting mailman (core) and mailman (web) the error is still there. What am I missing? TIA Torsten

4 16

List Message Acceptance and Spam Filtering
by Washington Odhiambo Aug. 12, 2026

Aug. 12, 2026

Hello Admins, I am running MM3 3.3.11b3. The issue at hand also applies to 3.3.10. In my list setting, I have set "Default action to take when a non-member posts to the list" = Discard (no notification). In /etc/mailman3/mailman.cfg I have: [antispam] header_checks: X-Spam-Score: ^[4-9]\. Authentication-Results: dkim=neutral jump_chain: hold I am running rspamd on the host for Spam filtering. Now, I have a number of spam being sent to the list by non-members. The antispam rule in mailman.cfg matches and holds the email for moderation. I am failing to wrap my head around this behaviour. I was expecting that: 1. Any posts from non-members would be discarded 2. Mail classified as spam (from members) would be held for inspection by the list administrator. Can someone please help me untangle my thinking? -- 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]

2 1

Authentication of posts to a Mailman installation
by Steve Brown Aug. 12, 2026

Aug. 12, 2026

I have a suspect post that appears to be from a member but has a link to a potential scam site. I am not knowledgeable about spoofed addresses in the header; can a hacker simply put someone else's address somewhere in the header and have the message accepted if that address appears in the list of members? Steve Brown, administrator of a small list.

4 5

hyperkitty not archiving new mail
by Jaldhar H. Vyas Aug. 7, 2026

Aug. 7, 2026

Hello all, Mailman 3.3.10 on Debian 13. I recently upgraded from a well-running installation of Mailman2. Importing the existing mailing lists went well but I'm having problems with hyperkitty. First it was complaining that I didn't have a valid SSL certificate for localhost. I rectified that but in the mean time I ended up with some .pck files in /var/lib/mailman3/archives/hyperkitty/spool . Inspecting these with mailman-wrapper qfile reveals that they are messages which have been sent since the import. How do I reindex just those messages? I tried update_index and rebuild_index but apart from taking forever, they don't seem to help.

2 3

Re: Thank you for the tips a year ago! Please help me gather other use-cases
by Archie Singh Aug. 7, 2026

Aug. 7, 2026

Hello, I am glad you asked these questions, as this can help anyone who will later wish to use the dynamic sublists feature for team collaboration when it is merged into Mailman 3. What does your suggested implementation look like? Would it be something > like main+sub-topic(a)example.com which would create a sub list called > “sub-topic” with inherited permissions from “main”? > Your guess is actually very close because a user will send a mail to a special alias, in your case main-new(a)example.com (with the -new command as a suffix to the parent list main(a)example.com) Then Mailman takes the message-ID, generates a database serial number, and using Base32 encoding generates a unique address for the child list (e.g., main-ab(a)example.com) And indeed because the child list is linked in the database via the parent_id, it inherits its settings from the parent list itself. What would that bring on top of including [sub-topic] in the subject or > body? It reduces inbox flooding :) When you use a subject tag on a mailing list it still follows the broadcast model; if a specific thread for troubleshooting or a specific project gets more replies, every single person on the main list will receive that many emails regardless of whether it was relevant to them or not. And thus, dynamic sublists is an opt-in thread model; the -new email is broadcast both to the main list (main(a)example.com) and the newly made child list ( main-ab(a)example.com) Mailman will send a separate announcement to the main list containing the -join and -leave addresses for the new child list. Also, the creator is automatically subscribed to the new child list and anyone else who is interested can opt-in. All the incoming replies from then on are routed to the child list. > I’m glad our little exchange on the MM3 list was helpful. A great example > of the power of searchable archives of such exchanges. Indeed :D Thanks again! Regards Archie On Fri, Aug 7, 2026 at 4:55 PM Rodrigo Camacho <rodrigo(a)vitz.fr> wrote: > > > > On 7 Aug 2026, at 13:09, Archie Singh <archie.singh2610(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > > > I am Archie, a Google Summer of Code contributor for GNU Mailman and I > am working on implementing Dynamic Sublists, a type of conversation/thread > model into MM3. > > This sounds like a way to group a set of threads together through a > dynamically created list. > Today a similar result can be obtained (and often is) by adding something > like [UNIQUE ID OF TOPIC] to the subject or even the body of a set of > threads sent to one list. > > What does your suggested implementation look like? Would it be something > like main+sub-topic(a)example.com which would create a sub list called > “sub-topic” with inherited permissions from “main”? > What would that bring on top of including [sub-topic] in the subject or > body? > > > I wanted to let you know that your entire discussion thread was > something I wrote a blog about to explain (dated: 5th May 2026, > https://archiegnumailman.hashnode.dev/a-foundational-approach-to-replacing-…) > one of the use-cases of dynamic sublists and in fact if this feature was > present earlier in Mailman 3 you would have been able to utilize it for > your work :D > > I’m glad our little exchange on the MM3 list was helpful. A great example > of the power of searchable archives of such exchanges.

1 0

New attack in progress
by Paul Tomblin Aug. 5, 2026

Aug. 5, 2026

Judging by the bounce messages I’m seeing, somebody or somebodies are trying to sign up for accounts on my Mailman instance using fake email addresses. Can’t imagine what the end game is, other than annoying people with “please confirm your email address” emails when they use a real address. -- Paul Tomblin

5 4

Mass change Digest delivery mode
by iMark Aug. 5, 2026

Aug. 5, 2026

Hi All, Using the Mailman shell, can the delivery mode of Digests be changed to 'Plain text' for all users on just one list ? If it is, could someone tell me how that's done. Thanks, iMark

4 11

How can we solve ZoneInfoNotFoundError
by Markus Grandpré Aug. 5, 2026

Aug. 5, 2026

Dear list members A user of our Mailman system reports having trouble logging in to access a mailing list archive. In the error messages that the Mailman system sends via email, we find: ... Internal Server Error: /mailman3/accounts/login/ ZoneInfoNotFoundError at /accounts/login/ 'No time zone found with key US/Eastern' Request Method: POST Request URL: https://mailman.uni-konstanz.de/mailman3/accounts/login/ Django Version: 4.2.28 Python Executable: /usr/bin/uwsgi-core Python Version: 3.13.5 ... Exception Type: ZoneInfoNotFoundError at /accounts/login/ Exception Value: 'No time zone found with key US/Eastern' Raised during: allauth.account.views.LoginView Request information: USER: **** GET: No GET data POST: csrfmiddlewaretoken = 'E6IT1iObdZYMyGKUgAHSxJ6LCzSZPDOKZmgVCaN9Kaae3s5gJy75Dwh8ptWjzcdI' login = '****' password = '****' next = '/mailman3/hyperkitty/list/basex-talk(a)mailman.uni-konstanz.de/' FILES: No FILES data COOKIES: csrftoken = '********************' ... (full error stack is attached to this email) Is there a server-side solution available for our GNU Mailman system 3.3.10 (Tom Sawyer), which runs on Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)? Best regards, Markus Grandpré -- Markus Grandpré (he/him) Universität Konstanz Kommunikations-, Informations- und Medienzentrum (KIM) Abteilung IT-Dienste Forschung, Lehre und Infrastruktur Sachgebiet Diensteadministration 78457 Konstanz Tel: +49 7531 88-4342D

3 6

Mailman 3.3.4 logging behaviour, mixed log formats, and REST API error
by Henrik Rasmussen Aug. 4, 2026

Aug. 4, 2026

Hello, I have been chatting with Copilot AI for some days to get help investigating some logging-related issues in a Mailman 3.3.4 Docker installation and, so I would appreciate any guidance. We are working on a long needed upgrade, but for now I need the logs in Elasticsearch, and they are aweful. Environment * GNU Mailman 3.3.4 (Tom Sawyer) * Python 3.8.10 * Docker-based installation * Test environment with a single mailing list: listname(a)example.com<mailto:listname@example.com> Logging configuration I've configured dedicated log files for most logging channels. For example, [logging.http] is configured with format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s, datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N, propagate: no, level: debug, and path: http.log. All [logging.*] sections in the generated /etc/mailman-extra.cfg use the same datefmt. format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: info path: mailman.log [logging.archiver] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: archiver.log [logging.bounce] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: bounce.log [logging.config] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: config.log [logging.database] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: database.log [logging.debug] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: debug.log [logging.error] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: error.log [logging.fromusenet] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: fromusenet.log [logging.http] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: http.log [logging.locks] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: locks.log [logging.mischief] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: mischief.log [logging.plugins] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: plugins.log [logging.runner] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: info path: runner.log [logging.smtp] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: info path: smtp.log [logging.smtp-failure] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: smtp-failure.log [logging.subscribe] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: subscribe.log [logging.vette] format: %(asctime)s (%(process)d) %(message)s datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N propagate: no level: debug path: vette.log Issue 1: Mixed log formats Despite configuring all logging sections with datefmt: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S.%3N, I still see multiple timestamp formats in mailman.log, for example: * [30/Jul/2026:12:00:03 +0000] "GET /3.1/lists?count=10&page=1 HTTP/1.1" 200 90 "-" "GNU Mailman REST client v3.3.3" * [2026-07-30 12:32:15 +0000] [36] [INFO] Shutting down: Master * Jul 30 12:32:14 2026 (1) Master watcher caught SIGTERM. Exiting This suggests that multiple logging systems may be writing to the same log file. Issue 2: Runner debug noise With logging level set to debug, mailman.log contains a large number of entries such as: * Jul 31 07:58:12 2026 (33) [PipelineRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:12 2026 (33) [PipelineRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:12 2026 (26) [ArchiveRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:12 2026 (26) [ArchiveRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:12 2026 (29) [IncomingRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:12 2026 (29) [IncomingRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (28) [CommandRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (36) [VirginRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (36) [VirginRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (28) [CommandRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (37) [DigestRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (37) [DigestRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (31) [NNTPRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (32) [OutgoingRunner] starting oneloop * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (31) [NNTPRunner] ending oneloop: 0 * Jul 31 07:58:13 2026 (32) [OutgoingRunner] ending oneloop: 0 Is there a recommended way to suppress these internal runner loop messages while retaining useful operational logging? Issue 3: HTTP request logging I intentionally keep [logging.http] at level: debug because I want to see which REST endpoints are called. Examples: * [2026-08-03 12:10:28 +0000] [51] [DEBUG] GET /3.1/lists/listname(a)example.com<mailto:/3.1/lists/listname@example.com> * [2026-08-03 12:15:29 +0000] [52] [DEBUG] GET /3.1/lists/listname(a)example.com<mailto:/3.1/lists/listname@example.com> * [2026-08-03 13:00:03 +0000] [53] [DEBUG] GET /3.1/lists My goal is to keep these request entries. Issue 4: Falcon tracebacks in http.log The same http.log also contains Falcon tracebacks. One example is: 2026-08-03 12:10:29 [FALCON] [ERROR] GET /3.1/lists/listname(a)example.com/config<mailto:/3.1/lists/listname@example.com/config> => Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/result.py", line 779, in _getter getter = self._metadata._getter AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute '_getter' The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/falcon/app.py", line 361, in call responder(req, resp, **params) File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/mailman/rest/listconf.py", line 282, in on_get value = getter.get(self._mlist, attribute) File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/mailman/rest/listconf.py", line 52, in get return sorted(aliases.aliases) File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/mailman/model/mailinglist.py", line 565, in aliases for alias in aliases File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/orm/loading.py", line 100, in instances cursor.close() File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/util/langhelpers.py", line 68, in exit compat.raise_( File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/util/compat.py", line 182, in raise_ raise exception File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/orm/loading.py", line 58, in instances *[ File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/orm/loading.py", line 59, in query_entity.row_processor(query, context, cursor) File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/orm/query.py", line 4422, in row_processor _instance = loading._instance_processor( File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/orm/loading.py", line 421, in _instance_processor getter = result._getter(col, False) File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/result.py", line 781, in _getter return self._non_result(None, err) File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/result.py", line 1236, in non_result util.raise( File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/sqlalchemy/util/compat.py", line 182, in raise_ raise exception sqlalchemy.exc.ResourceClosedError: This result object does not return rows. It has been closed automatically. Is it possible to: 1. Continue logging HTTP GET requests to http.log 2. Send Falcon tracebacks and REST API errors to a separate log file At the moment, both request logging and tracebacks appear in the same file. Issue 5: Worker timeout After the traceback above, I consistently see: * [2026-08-03 12:21:29 +0000] [34] [CRITICAL] WORKER TIMEOUT (pid:52) * [2026-08-03 12:21:30 +0000] [53] [INFO] Booting worker with pid: 53 This appears to indicate that the worker handling GET /3.1/lists/listname(a)example.com/config<mailto:/3.1/lists/listname@example.com/config> times out and is restarted. Additional observations error.log contains Mailman Core exceptions such as: (52) deque: subscribe_from_restored Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/mailman/app/workflow.py", line 69, in next return step() File "/usr/lib/python3.8/site-packages/mailman/app/subscriptions.py", line 341, in _step_get_moderator_approval raise StopIteration StopIteration However, the Falcon/REST traceback shown above does not appear in error.log. This suggests that: * error.log receives Mailman Core exceptions. * http.log receives REST API/Falcon exceptions. * The two do not appear to be linked. Questions 1. Is the mixed timestamp formatting expected in Mailman 3.3.4 Docker deployments? 2. Which component produces the starting oneloop / ending oneloop runner messages? 3. Can HTTP request logging and Falcon tracebacks be directed to separate log files? 4. Is ResourceClosedError when accessing GET /3.1/lists/listname(a)example.com/config<mailto:/3.1/lists/listname@example.com/config> a known Mailman 3.3.4 issue? 5. Is there a recommended logging configuration that preserves REST API access logging while reducing runner/debug noise? Thanks in advance. Best regards, Henrik

2 1

Advice on upgrading..
by Stephen Daniel Aug. 4, 2026

Aug. 4, 2026

Mailman 3 people -- I am planning an upgrade for my Mailman 3 system, and I have a couple of questions. I am currently running an old install of Mailman 3.3.5 on Debian Bullseye. Rather than trying to upgrade this now ancient VM, my plan is to create a new VM and perform a fresh install of Mailman 3.3.10 on Debian Trixie. I'd like advice on how to migrate mailing lists and archives from the old install to the new one. Is there a standard procedure? My current implementation uses the Python venv installation method. I'd prefer a more container-focused installation, but since I don't believe Mailman 3 has official container images yet, I plan to continue with the venv approach. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks! -- Stephen Daniel

4 3

Find a smtp server to send out emails
by Leon Aug. 1, 2026

Aug. 1, 2026

Hi, This problem is not caused by mailman, but I still want to give it a shot here. I'm hosting a mailing list on top of mailman3. Emails are supposed to be sent out by AWS ses. However, ses requires that sender address must be verified, which leads to a problem that emails sent by subscribers to mailing list cannot be sent to other subcirbers, since their addresses are not verified. And it is impossible to verified every subscriber. Are there smtp service providers allowing unverified email address to send out emails, or do I have other solutions? Thanks. -- Best wishes, Leon

4 4

FutureWarning: Use `header_id_prefix` instead
by Andreas Vetter July 28, 2026

July 28, 2026

Hi, after a recent update of the prerequisites using: pip install -U --upgrade-strategy eager mailman postorius django-mailman3 hyperkitty mailman-web I get warnings from the cronjobs: /opt/mailman/venv/lib64/python3.11/site-packages/readme_renderer/ markdown.py:44: FutureWarning: Use `header_id_prefix` instead gfm_extension_options.header_ids = _HEADER_ID_PREFIX What would be the best way to silence the warnings? Google does not find the warning message yet. Cheers, Andreas

1 2

Disable signup-requests for mailman3 via e-mail
by Stefan Bauer July 24, 2026

July 24, 2026

Hi Mailman-Experts, how can i completely disable/block list-signup-requests for specific lists via e-mail? i have some announce-only mailinglists i do not want to allow users to signup at all via e-mail. I'm aware of the subscription policies but there is no block or reject/discard option. Thank you. Stefan

3 2

Shutdown problem
by Lars Bjørndal July 23, 2026

July 23, 2026

Sometimes when I reboot the machine, I experience that mailman doesn't start because the files /opt/mailman3/mm/var/locks/master.lck* isn't deleted during shutdown. Maybe one way to solve this could be to use ExecStartPre directive in the systemd service to remove the lock files. What's the best practice to solve this problem? BTW I've noticed that doing `systemctl stop mailman3` takes a very long time, 45 secs. or something like that. - Mailman 3.3.10 - Python 3.12.13 ``` /etc/systemd/system/mailman3.service [Unit] Description=GNU Mailing List Manager After=syslog.target network.target postgresql.service [Service] Type=forking PIDFile=/opt/mailman3/mm/var/master.pid User=mailman3 Group=mailman3 Environment="MAILMAN_CONFIG_FILE=/etc/mailman3/mailman.cfg" ExecStart=/opt/mailman3/venv/bin/mailman start ExecReload=/opt/mailman3/venv/bin/mailman restart ExecStop=/opt/mailman3/venv/bin/mailman stop # Tested, but have no effect on deletion of the lock file. #Restart=on-failure #RestartSec=15 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ``` Lars

6 17

Using Hyperkitty to Create Archive from mbox file
by jason＠glazer350.com July 16, 2026

July 16, 2026

My web host provider (Dreamhost) is shutting down support for Mailman 2. I am planning on transitioning some of the active mailing lists, but for the older ones, I was hoping to create archives of them. I am considering just making a mirror of the "pipermail" archives, using MHonarc, or trying to use Hyperkitty. I am most impressed by the layout and usability of Hyperkitty archives and would like to go that route if it is not too difficult. What would I need to do to take the mbox archive from a mailing list and convert it into an archive using Hyperkitty? Jason

3 3

Find all mailing lists a user is subscribed to
by Rodolfo Pilas July 10, 2026

July 10, 2026

Hi, I administer a Mailman 3 server with more than 50 mailing lists. All subscribers belong to the same organization. Occasionally I need to answer questions such as: “Which mailing lists is user(a)example.com subscribed to?” At the moment I iterate over every mailing list, list its members, and grep for the email address. It works, but it is inefficient. Is there a supported way (CLI, REST API, or Postorius) to retrieve all the mailing lists a particular email address is subscribed to, without having to inspect every list individually? Rodolfo Pilas

2 1

Odd behavior: notifications for list membership, etc. from "owner user" sent as "owner user"?
by Thomas Ward July 10, 2026

July 10, 2026

Tracing down an issue of "why are we no longer receiving owner notices" such as list membership changes, moderation list items, etc. we are seeing errors in MS365 side of things about "failing to deliver". Upon deeper trackdown of this, our owner user mailman(a)example.com is seeing messages sent to it from @lists.example.com and @distro.example.com from mailman(a)example.com (despite the From in the envelope being list-bounces+mailman=example.com(a)[lists|distro].example.com) Is there any specific reason for this? Is it because the MS365 side is ignoring the Envelope's From address and relying on the actual *from* field which is breaking things because MS365 users are "not allowed to send as [lists|distro].example.com"? This seems highly suspicious if this is the case, and I want to see if there's anything we can do on the Mailman side of things to make this 'work' for the 365 recipient (mailman(a)example.com is a shared mailbox for the IT team in this case, so it's a legitimate user).

3 6

Nested lists possible
by Flo July 10, 2026

July 10, 2026

There are two kind of members of an organization, general and inner ones. There is a list for the inner members and I don't want to duplicate their names in the general list. I have already put the inner list as member of the general list and it works, however, the subject includes both prefixes and there are also both footers. So, the result is not really acceptable. Are there any other possibilities? Thank you in advance for your help. Flo

3 2

Can disabled users enable themself?
by Flo July 9, 2026

July 9, 2026

Hi, users can get disabled if there are too many bounces. Is there an easy possibility for the disabled users to enable themself on their own? I checked the email they get, however, there is no link. Only the owner's email address. What is the solution in such a case? Thank you for the information. Flo

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Re: Why is it VERPing every message?
by Paul Tomblin June 25, 2026

June 25, 2026

On Tue, Jun 23, 2026, at 8:48 PM, Mark Sapiro wrote: > I don't know what the issue is, but even if you have personalization > off, try setting `verp_personalized_deliveries: no` in case there's some > issue there. Ok, that's weird. `mailman conf -s mta` said it was already set to no, but I added it to /etc/mailman3/mailman.cfg and now it's sending in big chunks. Which now RoadRunner is rejecting because of too many recipients in one message instead of too many simultaneous connections. Can't win with these idiots, can I? -- Paul Tomblin

3 4

Mass subscription: HTTP Error 400: 'pathlib._local.PosixPath' object does not support the context manager protocol
by Flo June 24, 2026

June 24, 2026

Hi, Debian trixie, virtualenv installation: When I entered addresses at the mass subscription field I got: HTTP Error 400: 'pathlib._local.PosixPath' object does not support the context manager protocol The addresses were subscribed though. How can I have subscription working correctly? I haven't found anything reasonable on the Internet. Thank you for your help! Flo

3 6

Why is it VERPing every message?
by Paul Tomblin June 24, 2026

June 24, 2026

So i was going down the rabbit hole of why every outgoing message for a certain 500+ member list is being VERPed, which lead to RoadRunner/Spectrum complaining about too many connections, and I tried to look at the verp configuration: (venv) *mailman@mail*:*~*$ mailman conf |grep verp [mta] verp_confirm_format: $address+$cookie [mta] verp_confirm_regexp: ^(.*<)?(?P<addr>[^+]+?)\+(?P<cookie>[^@]+)@.*$ [mta] verp_confirmations: yes [mta] verp_delimiter: + [mta] verp_delivery_interval: 1 [mta] verp_format: ${bounces}+${local}=${domain} [mta] verp_owner_notifications: yes [mta] verp_personalized_deliveries: yes [mta] verp_probe_format: $bounces+$token@$domain [mta] verp_probe_regexp: ^(?P<bounces>[^+]+?)\+(?P<token>[^@]+)@.*$ [mta] verp_probes: no [mta] verp_regexp: ^(?P<bounces>[^+]+?)\+(?P<local>[^=]+)=(?P<domain>[^@]+)@.*$ I'm quite confused about why verp_delivery_interval is 1 instead of the default 0, and why verp_probes is no. I did make sure that "Personalize" was set to None. I tried to override them in mm/var/etc/mailman.cfg, but it seems to be having no effect, even after restarting mailman. Is this not the correct syntax: [mta] verp_delivery_interval: 0 verp_probes: yes Is something else overriding my mailman.cfg setting? I do have a list:member:regular:footer but it doesn't have any user information in it, so that shouldn't cause it to do the messages individually, should it? ----------------------------- This is the ${list_name} mailing list Description: ${description} To unsubscribe send an email to ${list_name}-unsubscribe(a)browncroftna.org This message in the archives is: $hyperkitty_url -- Paul Tomblin

2 1

mailman command line?
by Paul Tomblin June 24, 2026

June 24, 2026

If I type `mailman` with no arguments, I get the whole (venv) *mailman@mail*:*~*$ mailman Usage: mailman [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]... *a* The GNU Mailman mailing list management system https://www.list.org Options: --version Show the version and exit. --run-as-root Running mailman commands as root is not recommended and mailman will refuse to run as root unless this option is specified. -C, --config FILE Configuration file to use. If not given, the environment variable MAILMAN_CONFIG_FILE is consulted and used if set. If neither are given, a default configuration file is loaded. -h, --help Show this message and exit. --- etc --- But if I type `mailman -h`, as it says in that page, I get a massive stack dump starting with File "/opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1161, in __call__ return self.main*(*args, **kwargs)* ~~~~~~~~~*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^* File "/opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 1081, in main with self.make_context*(prog_name, args, **extra)* as ctx: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^* File "/opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/click/core.py", line 949, in make_context self.parse_args*(ctx, args)* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*^^^^^^^^^^^* and ending with File "/opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/mailman/utilities/modules.py", line 181, in find_pluggable_components for name, plugin_config in config.plugin_configs: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.13/site-packages/mailman/config/config.py", line 291, in plugin_configs plugin_sections = self._config.getByCategory('plugin', []) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'getByCategory' (venv) *mailman@mail*:*~*$ mailman --version GNU Mailman 3.3.11b1 (Tom Sawyer) -- Paul Tomblin

2 1

Server error,An error occurred while processing your request. - SITE_ID
by Flo June 23, 2026

June 23, 2026

Hi, I did the virtualenv installation on Debian trixie. I got mailmanweb running, created a superuser, could login into https://my.site.net/admin (after resolving CSRF errors). I created a new site (my.site.net) in Django, deleted example.com and changed SITE_ID to 0 in /etc/mailman3/settings.py . After restarting mailman3 and mailmanweb services I get Server error,An error occurred while processing your request. when I call https://my.site.net/admin again. Even if I change SITE_ID back to 1 there is no change. What have I done wrong? I haven't found any solution on the internet. And, even more important, how get I get it working again? Thank you for your help. Flo.

3 5

postfix_lmtp doesn't exist
by Flo June 17, 2026

June 17, 2026

Dear all, I am running Debian Trixie with Postfix. Now I want to install Mailman via virtualenv. All looks fine so far but when I insert transport_maps = hash:/home/mailman_var/data/postfix_lmtp local_recipient_maps = hash:/home/mailman_var/data/postfix_lmtp relay_domains = hash:/home/mailman_var/data/postfix_domains to main.cf I get an error when sending emails. Understandable, because there is no postfix_lmtp available. When will it be created? I haven't observed any error at the installation up to that point. Thanks for your help, Flo PS: I changed var_dir to /home/mailman_var because I thought data should be better at the home partition, especially as I was afraid they might take a lot of space and there is not a lot available at the root partition. I don't know if this is a good idea.

2 3

Possibly more a Postfix question than a mailman one one but...
by Paul Tomblin June 15, 2026

June 15, 2026

I want to limit the number of simultanous connections for one domain that I send email to. According ot what i've managed to find on-line, I need to put in a transport map in Postfix for that. But Mailman appears to already be using the transport map for routing incoming mail: > > transport_maps = > hash:/opt/mailman/mm/var/data/postfix_lmtp > local_recipient_maps = > proxy:unix:passwd.byname, $alias_maps, hash:/opt/mailman/mm/var/data/postfix_lmtp > relay_domains = > hash:/opt/mailman/mm/var/data/postfix_domains Can i append or pre-pend another transport file in the transport_maps listing and put in the entry for this domain that's been bouncing people off my list because of too many simultaneous connections? -- Paul Tomblin

3 7

Why aren't I getting bounce texts any more?
by Paul Tomblin June 9, 2026

June 9, 2026

I swear I used to get the exactly text of the bounce message when email to a list member bounced, but I'm not seeing it any more. Is there a setting I've overlooked? I've turned on "*Notify owner on bounce increment"* which was off for some reason. I just had 24 users bounced off a mailing list this morning for excessive bounces, and I can only think their ISP suddenly took exception to my setup somehow. It would have been nice to have to a warning when the first bounce happened. -- Paul Tomblin

3 5

Generic Cannot connect to SMTP server error, no outgoing smtp connections
by Stefan Bauer June 4, 2026

June 4, 2026

Dear Users, I'm debugging since several days a mailman3 installation and can not get mailman to deliver mails to list members. Mailman logs Cannot connect to SMTP server, however the server is listening, but i see no connection attempts. In queue/out, i see changing files all the time: drwxrwx--- 2 mailman nogroup 4.0K Jun 4 13:04 . drwxr-xr-x 15 mailman nogroup 4.0K Jun 4 08:22 .. -rw-rw---- 1 mailman nogroup 6.1K Jun 4 12:22 1780575734.9281623+0ad5f564c9fc5f27750a09b948f3480d9047cbaa.pck.tmp -rw-rw---- 1 mailman nogroup 6.1K Jun 4 13:04 1780578250.2070453+752ca17af5c64af7aab5f0fc61ac2ea28b091825.bak 038b90c74d8d:/opt/mailman/var/queue/out# ls -alh total 24K drwxrwx--- 2 mailman nogroup 4.0K Jun 4 13:04 . drwxr-xr-x 15 mailman nogroup 4.0K Jun 4 08:22 .. -rw-rw---- 1 mailman nogroup 6.1K Jun 4 12:22 1780575734.9281623+0ad5f564c9fc5f27750a09b948f3480d9047cbaa.pck.tmp -rw-rw---- 1 mailman nogroup 6.1K Jun 4 13:04 1780578250.7552953+6350a013583657c317c0a64b9cf2039dca645974.bak 038b90c74d8d:/opt/mailman/var/queue/out# SMTP/DEBUG-Log is flooded with over and over same attempts: ==> /opt/mailman/core/var/logs/smtp.log <== Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) Using agent: <mailman.mta.deliver.Deliver object at 0x79ed98555310> Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) IndividualDelivery to: cubewerk(a)gmail.com ==> /opt/mailman/core/var/logs/debug.log <== Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (31) [VirginRunner] starting oneloop Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (31) [VirginRunner] ending oneloop: 0 Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] finishing filebase: 1780578286.711373+091038a49a00758fdd2ba5265714e2fa31ea4843 Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] doing periodic Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] committing transaction Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] checking short circuit Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] ending oneloop: 1 Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] starting oneloop Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] processing filebase: 1780578286.7329357+2ec378350ee99307adc287fc8727fb9120a385d3 Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [OutgoingRunner] processing onefile Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) [outgoing] <function deliver at 0x79ed98b85d00>: <gxZS.-LyKCSHn9UWsyVepCakA9g(a)flTQyy2_BUC0KFtMliiieCkabFXP1SdNnP1xIyNQp-k.xz> ==> /opt/mailman/core/var/logs/smtp.log <== Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) Using agent: <mailman.mta.deliver.Deliver object at 0x79ed98a43bf0> Jun 04 13:04:46 2026 (26) IndividualDelivery to: cubewerk(a)gmail.com If i restart the docker-core container, i see a single time the error "Cannot connect to SMTP server 172.17.0.1 on port 587". my config: [runner.retry] sleep_time: 10s [webservice] hostname: 172.18.0.2 port: 8001 admin_user: restadmin admin_pass: restpass configuration: /etc/gunicorn.cfg [mta] incoming: mailman.mta.postfix.LMTP outgoing: mailman.mta.deliver.deliver lmtp_host: 172.18.0.2 lmtp_port: 8024 smtp_host: 172.17.0.1 smtp_port: 587 smtp_user: smtp_pass: smtp_secure_mode: starttls smtp_verify_hostname: false smtp_verify_cert: false configuration: /etc/postfix-mailman.cfg [logging.smtp] level: debug [logging.error] level: debug [logging.debug] level: debug [archiver.mail_archive] enable: no configuration: /opt/mailman/mail_archive_dummy.cfg [archiver.hyperkitty] class: mailman_hyperkitty.Archiver enable: yes configuration: /etc/mailman-hyperkitty.cfg Any helps is greatly appreciated. thank you. Stefan

4 5

Kind of off-topic, but Mailman related
by Paul Tomblin May 30, 2026

May 30, 2026

I back up my server using "borg" to send it to a different server. I keep 7 dailies, 4 weeklies and 6 monthlies. When I used Mailman 2, my borg backup size stabilized and never seemed to grow much. But since switching to Mailman 3, my backup size has been growing, seemingly without bounds, even though the amount of disk space I'm using on the Mailman server isn't growing much. I suspect this might be because of the way it's storing stuff in PostgreSQL instead of in the file system is fooling borg's deduplication methodology. Does anybody else have any experience with borg and Mailman 3? Should I exclude postgreSQL from the backup and do a separate pg_dumpall? -- Paul Tomblin

2 3

Thank you for the tips a year ago! Please help me gather other use-cases
by Rodrigo Camacho May 29, 2026

May 29, 2026

Hello fellow mailing list users and enthusiasts. About a year ago I posted this thread: https://lists.mailman3.org/archives/list/mailman-users@mailman3.org/thread/… We are now using mailing lists as our only form of collaboration. Overall, the change has been super positive. We have become more productive and importantly our quality of life has increased. So much so, that I have built a site explaining some of the changes we have made to help other entrepreneurs get control of their lives by spending less money and time on specialized SaaS tools and sticking to standards. I have posted my particular use-case here: https://standardit.org/lanao.html I am posting this because there might be some interesting use cases amongst the users of this list. I aim at adding various use cases so that more business owners can identify themselves and think that this change is possible. If you think your use case could be of use, feel free to add here. I will include it in the site. Rodrigo succulentoats.com

1 0

Residual signature?
by Paul Tomblin May 28, 2026

May 28, 2026

One of my mailing lists that I converted over from my Mailman 2 instance doesn’t get used much. Well, something momentous happened and it got several messages overnight, and I noticed something odd about them. Every one has the signature “— \nAdministration:”. This looks like a fragment of the signature that Mailman 2 used to put on them, but I can’t figure out where it’s configured. There’s nothing in the list or domain template list that would do that. How can I stop it doing that? -- Paul Tomblin

3 7

Trip report -- setting up mailman3 in gcloud
by Stephen Daniel May 24, 2026

May 24, 2026

Mailman people -- I've been running mailman3 in production in Google's cloud for about 4 years now. Recently I started seeing many bounces from members who subscribe from yahoo, aol, bellsouth, or verizon. The bounces were triggered by DKIM failures. DKIM failures in my setup are apparently not new. Some spelunking revealed I've had outbound DKIM failures for years. It is possible my system has never properly signed outbound emails. But now it matters to these email providers. I decided to spin up a dev/test instance. I installed mailman3 from scratch in a venv environment on Debian 12. I used these excellent instructions: https://docs.list.org/en/latest/install/virtualenv.html#virtualenv-install I got this: GNU Mailman 3.3.10 (Tom Sawyer) Python 3.11.2 (main, Apr 8 2026, 01:58:00) [GCC 12.2.0] What I learned (relearned from 4 years ago): - Getting mailman up is easy. - The hard part is getting traffic in and out. Postfix is complicated to set up in this environment. Getting all the DNS and multiple layers of proxies set up to access Postorius/Django/Gunicorn is not simple. - I took lots of snapshots along the way. I used those snapshots to back out of a couple of dead ends. Highly recommended. I have only one open issue. Shortly after I start mailman I get this warning: /opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/falcon/request.py:2483: DeprecatedWarning: The RequestOptions.auto_parse_form_urlencoded option is deprecated. Please use Request.get_media() to consume the submitted URL-encoded form instead. warnings.warn( I am ignoring this. Is there something I should do about this? In the end, after experimenting with many possible solutions (including installing openDKIM), the solution was simple. I added this line to my mailman.cfg: remove_dkim_headers: yes Once the DKIM headers were removed, my outbound SMTP relay happily signs the emails and all is well. (Or it least it is after hours spent learning how to configure the outbound relay properly.) Someday soon I need to completely reinstall my production environment, but for now, I'm continuing on. Thanks to this community for all you do. -- Stephen Daniel

2 1

Howto discard all pending unsubscription requests in a list?
by Andreas Vetter May 20, 2026

May 20, 2026

Hi, a moderator managed to remove almost 2000 members from a list. Luckily unsubscription is set to moderated. Is there a script to discard all tose requests and get the members back on the list? I found https://lists.mailman3.org/archives/list/mailman-users@mailman3.org/ thread/UB6HHD4Q2GQ5XSDDXWMKJHTTADXFT46L/#DNV6AU4E3EBS2JUTZQD64GBJM7JHT3WP but this is meant for single request and involves manual finding a token. My python skills are not existent, so I don't know how to use that for my situation. Any hints appreciated. TIA, Andreas

3 4

Missing bits of French translation
by iMark May 13, 2026

May 13, 2026

Hi, I have a list set with "French" as its preferred language. The default emails such as the Confimation and Welcome get sent French. My browser (Chrome) has its default language set as French, and my PC's region and language are set as French. When I view the list's "Info" Postorius page I see some parts translated ... 1. Menu and button words are translated okay. eg: ENGLISH: Sign In FRENCH: S'identifier 2. Page heading words are translated okay. eg: ENGLISH: Subscription / Unsubscription FRENCH: Abonnement / désabonnement 3. Page text fails. eg. ENGLISH: You have to sign in to visit the archives of this list. FRENCH: Is in English. Looking at the .po file ... /opt/mailman/venv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mailman/messages/fr/LC_MESSAGES/mailman.po "PO-Revision-Date: 2024-06-25 17:09+0000\n" None of the msgid strings for the 3 examples appear in the mailman.po file. So, as some strings are translated and others not (yet none appear in the mailman.po file), I'm thinking that either there is another translation file somewhere for Postorius that needs updating, or the missing msgid s were not included in the original .pot file. Am I on the right track?

2 2

How to debug bounces?
by Stephen Daniel May 7, 2026

May 7, 2026

Colleagues -- I run a small mailman3 server with perhaps 10 lists. All the lists are small. Over the past two days about a third of the users in my most active list have been disabled by bounces. I assume the problem is with my setup, not with all of those users. How do I debug this? Can I see the text of any of the bounce messages to understand why the emails bounced? This issue might stem from my running somewhat old software. Currently running mailman 3.3.5. Thanks! -- Stephen Daniel

5 7

How to build docs and how to contribute documentation
by mailman26＠xse.com May 6, 2026

May 6, 2026

I have mailman 3 working with sendmail (FreeBSD system) and when I was setting this up I found the "Sendmail" section of the docs to be somewhat thin: https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/mailman/en/latest/src/mailman/docs/mta.h… It points to two different versions of the mailertable hack: https://gist.github.com/Maeglin73/72eb5b1e4ee66a383c2aa454726be9a5 https://gitlab.com/mailman/mailman/-/work_items/307#note_632495542 I got a version of this to work but was not satisfied because it required hacking either mailman or sendmail config to cleanup the domain in the recipient address. Eventually I realized that "mailman inject" could be use in very similar way to how mailman 2 lists work with sendmail (alias pipe to a command). This provides a path to submit messages without using LMTP. First, how does one build the mailman 3 documentation? I am mildly experienced with sphinx so the actual changes are not an issue. But I was only able to build mailman-suite-doc documentation; it wasn't obvious to me now to build docs for mailman core (let alone an of the other pages I find on docs.mailman3.org) Next, how are code and documentation contributions submitted for consideration? I'm a lot more familiar with github than gitlab and know how to fork but it didn't look like I would be able to submit a pull request. Craig

3 3

captcha for subscription and account registration forms
by Johannes Rohr May 2, 2026

May 2, 2026

Dear all, in mailman installed in venv is there really no canonical way of integrating a captcha into postorius' subscription and account registration forms? We are increasingly getting hammered by spambots, and a captcha would seem like a simple and effective solution. Thanks for any suggestions! Johannes

4 7

An introduction to Dynamic Sublists (Conversations) - GSoC 2026
by Archie Singh May 1, 2026

May 1, 2026

Hello everyone I am Archie Singh, a Computer Science Engineering student from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jodhpur. I am elated to announce that I have been selected as a contributor for Google Summer of Code 2026. I will be implementing Dynamic Sublists into the Mailman 3 Suite this summer. Mailing lists are essential for broadcasting, but high-traffic lists frequently fill up inboxes with replies to specific topics users might not be interested in. This project transforms this rigid broadcast model into an opt-in thread model. The goal is to ensure only the root email of a new topic is broadcast to the main mailing list. If the topic diverges into a specific task or discussion, subsequent replies will route strictly to a child list, delivering mail only to users who have explicitly opted in via email commands. I would love to hear your thoughts. Would an opt-in thread model be useful for specific topics? How do you folks handle email overloads? I will be updating more on: Blog <https://hashnode.com/@archiesingh> Thank you Regards Archie Singh

1 0

Introducing my GSoC 2026 project: Domain Administration in Postorius
by Khushal A May 1, 2026

May 1, 2026

Hi everyone, I'm Khushal, a final year Computer Science student from R V College of Engineering, India. I've been selected for Google Summer of Code 2026 with GNU Mailman project. I'll be working on Domain Administration in Postorius. Right now, Mailman has roles like site admins and list owners, but domain level management is still limited. The idea of this project is to make the domain owner role actually usable. A domain owner should be able to create lists in their domain, manage those lists with the same permissions as a list owner, and edit domain level settings for their domain. For example, if multiple domains are hosted on the same Mailman instance, each domain can be managed independently by its own owner without needing full admin access. Would love to hear how you currently manage domains and if there are any pain points. I’ll be sharing updates here: https://hashnode.com/@a-khushal Thanks, Khushal (a-khushal)

1 0

Mass subscribe operation fails with http error
by b.watts＠ucl.ac.uk April 30, 2026

April 30, 2026

Hi, We have a mailing list where the admin has configured a custom template: [list:user:action:invite] When inviting a user using Mass Subscribe, the operation fails with the error: HTTP Error 400: ('Connection aborted.', ConnectionResetError(104, 'Connection reset by peer')) I have reviewed similar threads, including: https://lists.mailman3.org/archives/list/mailman-users@mailman3.org/thread/… I have updated the config in: /etc/mailman3/settings.py to contain: POSTORIUS_TEMPLATE_BASE_URL = 'https://mailinglists.ucl.ac.uk' After adding that item, I've recreated the template and resubmitted the subscribe. But still get the same error. What could I try next? Regards, Brian Senior Systems Administrator, UCL ISD

3 2

How to configure an announce-only list?
by mailman26＠xse.com April 29, 2026

April 29, 2026

I want to create a mailing list that is used for announcements only. I'd like attempts to post to be rejected with a notification. I was able to set the list pw and verify it works with the Approved header using this reference: https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/mailman/en/latest/src/mailman/rules/docs… I find that if both: Default action to take when a member posts to the list Default action to take when a non-member posts to the list are set to "reject (with notification)", the approved header is ignored and messages are always rejected (posted via "mailman inject") Would it be bad to test the approved header before rejecting a message? Essentially always accept a message with a valid approved header? Is there another way for me to achieve this? On another front, I'm unable to have messages posted via "mailman inject" use postorius created list templates. Would it be difficult to add this functionality?

2 3

dmarc_mitigate_unconditionally vs. mitigate_owner_mail
by Lichtinger, Bernhard April 28, 2026

April 28, 2026

Hello, We stumbled over an interesting problem with latest mailman-core from git if the setup matches some criteria: 1. Config of mailman3: mitigate_owner_mail = no (default) 2. Config of list: dmarc_mitigate_unconditionally = yes AND dmarc_mitigate_action = munge_from 3. Owner of list has an automatic out-of-office reply enabled 4. Owner is allowed to post on list 5. Somebody writes to list-owner@mailman ==> Result: Somebody's mail gets treated with munged_from and the owner's out-of-office reply is sent to the list and distributed to all members. I expected that with "mitigate_owner_mail = no" there would be no munge_from for mails to list-owner@mailman. But in the end "dmarc_mitigate_unconditionally = yes" has higher precedence than "mitigate_owner_mail = no" in handlers/dmarc.py. I am not sure if this is a bug or a feature ;) As a quick workaround to prevent out-of-office replies going to the list, we configured our postfix to add a "precedence: list" header to all mails sent to an -owner address to prevent to trigger an auto reply. We set dmarc_mitigate_unconditionally = yes AND dmarc_mitigate_action = munge_from to prevent confusing our users if the mails from the list look different dependent on the sender's DMARC policy. And we also don't have to worry about adding tags to the subject or adding headers/footers. With munge_from our DKIM signature is always aligned with the header from domain and gmail, yahoo, etc. are happy. While thinking about our situation I came up with some more thoughts: With mitigate_owner_mail = yes and munge_from is the list posting address really a good choice for the new header from address? Not only auto replies but also owners who click "reply all" without thinking will post to the list. But using the list-owner as new header from would also have some drawbacks, e.g. the possibility of an endless loop of auto replies. Adding the "precedence: list" header also to mails sent to the list-owner might prevent this in most cases at least. But this feels like putting more tape on the problem. In my opinion the least bad solution would be to give "mitigate_owner_mail = no" higher precedence than "dmarc_mitigate_unconditionally = yes". Then the site admin can overrule the list admin. Or will this break other uses cases I did not think about? Regards, Bernhard

2 1

Re: Incorrect error log message in OutgoingRunner._dispose()
by Mark Sapiro April 26, 2026

April 26, 2026

On 4/26/26 10:42 AM, Craig Leres wrote: > On 4/26/26 06:52, Mark Sapiro wrote: >> >> Did you by chance run import21 as root or another non-mailman user >> resulting in template files unreadable by Mailman? > > Yes and no. I ran it as a user in group mailman; the template files are > owned by the user but are group mailman read/write... Then those templates in Mailman's var/templates/LIST-ID/LC/ should be used for the list for that language as long as they are readable and not overridden by a Postorius template or other URI for the list in the template table in the database. Was there anything in mailman.log prior to your defining a Postorius template indicating why they weren't used? >>> Apr 25 12:32:22 2026 (82977) Cannot connect to SMTP server >>> 127.0.0.1 on port 25 >> >> This is a well known issue. See <https://gitlab.com/mailman/mailman/-/ >> work_items/582> and related issues referenced therein. > ... > What really bothers me about the error message is that it's reporting a > SMTP connection failure when what really happened was a HTTP connection > failure. That is all part of the above referenced issues. It is a bug and should be fixed but hasn't been yet. It is caused by the low level socket error upon trying to fetch the template, ultimately being caught by the try/except in outgoing runner's sending of the message. >>> I'm using the default webservice port (8001) so I would not expect >>> anything to ever be listening on 8000. >> >> The default web service port (Postorius and HyperKitty) is 8000. Port >> 8001 is Mailman core's rest api. > > Ah. I never noticed anything telling me the apache config needed to also > listen on 8000. It's also confusing to me to call the rest api port the > "web service port" (Also, I'm not running hyperkitty.) Apache doesn't listen on port 8000. The WSGI server (uWsgi or Gunicorn or ...) listens on port 8000 and Apache listens on ports 80 and 443 as normal and proxies the mailman requests to port 8000. > Ok, I added apache config to handle 127:0.0.1:8000 and that solves the > "SMTP" (HTTP) connection error and cpu bound runner. I don't know what you did, but see <https://docs.mailman3.org/en/latest/install/virtualenv.html#apache-configur…> for how Apache should proxy to port 8000. > I still can't get templates to work but I'll debug further and ask for > help later if I still can't get it to work. Do you have a WSGI server running and listening on port 8000? See <https://docs.mailman3.org/en/latest/install/virtualenv.html#setting-up-a-ws…>. You need this for Postorius as Postorius is a Django project and Django is a WSGI application. -- Mark Sapiro <mark(a)msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan

1 0

Incorrect error log message in OutgoingRunner._dispose()
by mailman26＠xse.com April 26, 2026

April 26, 2026

I'm trying to bring up mailman 3 in a spare vm prior to upgrading a production system from mailman 2. One feature the existing mailman 2 lists uses that I can't get working with mailman 3 are templates. After using "mailman import21" I found files with names such as list:member:regular:footer.txt in the list tree. However they were ignored so I removed them I tried tried creating a template using the web postorius gui. When a message is injected, I see an error log from the out runner: Apr 25 12:32:22 2026 (82977) Cannot connect to SMTP server 127.0.0.1 on port 25 Following the error message, the out runner goes cpu bound, creating and deleting queue files in queue/out with .pck and .bak extensions, very quickly. I updated the code to print the exception and it tells a completely different story: Apr 25 12:38:15 2026 (83339) Cannot connect to SMTP server 127.0.0.1 on port 25 (HTTPConnectionPool(host='localhost', port=8000): Max retries exceeded with url: /api/templates/list/test.example.com/list:member:regular:footer (Caused by NewConnectionError("HTTPConnection(host='localhost', port=8000): Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 61] Connection refused"))) I'm using the default webservice port (8001) so I would not expect anything to ever be listening on 8000. When I stop the runners, the problematic queue file is moved to the shunt queue. Here's what I changed to get the exception detail: mm 287 # pwd /usr/local/lib/python3.11/site-packages/mailman/runners mm 288 # diff -c /var/tmp/outgoing.py outgoing.py *** /var/tmp/outgoing.py Thu Apr 23 14:26:22 2026 --- outgoing.py Sat Apr 25 12:34:33 2026 *************** *** 110,116 **** self._func, msg.get('message-id', 'n/a'))) self._func(mlist, msg, msgdata) self._logged = False ! except socket.error: # There was a problem connecting to the SMTP server. Log this # once, but crank up our sleep time so we don't fill the error # log. --- 110,116 ---- self._func, msg.get('message-id', 'n/a'))) self._func(mlist, msg, msgdata) self._logged = False ! except socket.error as e: # There was a problem connecting to the SMTP server. Log this # once, but crank up our sleep time so we don't fill the error # log. *************** *** 118,125 **** if port == 0: port = 'smtp' # Log this just once. if not self._logged: ! log.error('Cannot connect to SMTP server %s on port %s', ! config.mta.smtp_host, port) self._logged = True return True except SomeRecipientsFailed as error: --- 118,125 ---- if port == 0: port = 'smtp' # Log this just once. if not self._logged: ! log.error('Cannot connect to SMTP server %s on port %s (%s)', ! config.mta.smtp_host, port, e) self._logged = True return True except SomeRecipientsFailed as error:

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Command Emails not Working
by Brinson, Jason T April 24, 2026

April 24, 2026

Hello, I have an issue where command emails (-join, -request, etc.) are getting routed to the list itself (and being moderated). I have my postfix configured according to the instructions here: https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/mailman/en/latest/src/mailman/docs/mta.h… And here (for an alias domain): https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/mailman/en/latest/src/mailman/docs/mta.h… Any insights would be appreciated. ----------------- Jason "Shae" Brinson (They/Them) IT Support Professional Sr. Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing 801 Atlantic Drive NW Atlanta, GA 30332 Phone: 404-894-7065 Email: jason.brinson(a)cc.gatech.edu<mailto:jason.brinson@cc.gatech.edu>

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Guidance Request: Migrating Existing Mailman 3 Installation to Docker-Based Deployment
by Prasanth Nair April 20, 2026

April 20, 2026

Hi all, I am currently running a Mailman 3 setup on a standalone server and planning to migrate it to a Docker-based deployment using the official Docker Mailman images. I would appreciate your guidance on the recommended approach for this migration. *Current (existing) setup:* - Mailman Core: 3.3.5 - Postorius: 1.3.6 - HyperKitty: 1.3.5 - PostgreSQL: 12.22 (Ubuntu) - Host-based installation (non-Docker) - Postfix used as the MTA - Active mailing lists with members and archives - Apache reverse proxy in front *Target (new) setup:* - Docker-based Mailman 3 (mailman-core, mailman-web, PostgreSQL containers) - Based on the official Docker Mailman repository - Postfix as the MTA - Apache reverse proxy in front I would like to migrate the following components safely: - Mailing lists and their configurations - Subscribers and roles - HyperKitty archives - Postorius/web data (users, preferences, etc.) I have a few specific questions: 1. What is the recommended migration approach from a host-based Mailman 3 installation to the Docker-based setup? 2. Is it safe to directly restore the PostgreSQL databases into the Docker environment, or is there a preferred migration method? 3. Are there any version compatibility considerations when migrating from Mailman Core 3.3.5 / Postorius 1.3.6 / HyperKitty 1.3.5 to the versions used in the current Docker images? 4. How to migrate archives? 5. The official Docker Compose file references `postgres:12-alpine`. Is it recommended to stay on PostgreSQL 12 for compatibility, or is it supported to use a newer PostgreSQL version (for example, PostgreSQL 18) with the Docker Mailman setup? 6. Are there any common pitfalls or best practices you would recommend for ensuring a smooth migration? Any guidance or documentation you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and support. Kind regards, Prasanth Nair

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request to held messages yields set of email addresses
by Thomas Krichel April 16, 2026

April 16, 2026

Hi gang, I probably have already developed an uneviable reputation of being able to produce the finest of mess. I stay true to form here. In my 3.12 installation when my admin clicks to view the held messages, he gets an internal server error. The error comes from postorius, where the log entry is 2026-04-15 12:45:25 [FALCON] [ERROR] GET /3.1/lists/bibnez(a)folks.email/held => Traceback (most recent call last): File "falcon/app.py", line 440, in falcon.app.App.__call__ File "/usr/local/mailman/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mailman/rest/post_moderation.py", line 194, in on_get resource = self._make_collection(request) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/local/mailman/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mailman/rest/helpers.py", line 189, in _make_collection [etag(resource) for resource in entries] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/local/mailman/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mailman/rest/helpers.py", line 104, in etag return json.dumps(resource, cls=ExtendedEncoder, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.12/json/__init__.py", line 238, in dumps **kw).encode(obj) ^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.12/json/encoder.py", line 200, in encode chunks = self.iterencode(o, _one_shot=True) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.12/json/encoder.py", line 258, in iterencode return _iterencode(o, 0) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/local/mailman/venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mailman/rest/helpers.py", line 68, in default return super().default(obj) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ File "/usr/lib/python3.12/json/encoder.py", line 180, in default raise TypeError(f'Object of type {o.__class__.__name__} ' TypeError: Object of type set is not JSON serializable Checking the actual set that is returned, by converting the set into a string and writing it to a file (by enhancing helpers.py), I discover that what is returned is as set of 53 email addresses, not of 24 messages as the web interface suggests. Intrestingly, my admin reports that the he is correctly informed about the held messages via email. The then forwards those that need posting to the list. I suspect that to get to the bottom of this problem, I need to use the low-level postorious functions that actually access the parse the held message data. -- Written by Thomas Krichel http://openlib.org/home/krichel on his 22230th day.

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Changing default language for lists
by Wessel Kraaij April 13, 2026

April 13, 2026

How can I change the default language for lists (and other defaults)? I changed it in mailman-core but Postorius overrides these core defaults with a patch. I am using the docker version of maxking Wessel

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Why is it so difficult to setup Mailman3?
by htfoot＠gmail.com April 11, 2026

April 11, 2026

I've been using Mailman2 for probably 20 years, and recently I've been looking to move up to Mailman3 on an Ubuntu system. I think I've got the mailing list core part working, but the instructions for setting up the web part(s) are either inscrutable or incomplete, if not both. Is this just a rite of passage?

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broken route to accounts
by Thomas Krichel April 10, 2026

April 10, 2026

I am using apache to run the web interface, and my Postel port, and I have the proxy routs ProxyPass "/mailman3" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/mailman3" works ProxyPass "/archives" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/archives" works ProxyPass "/accounts" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/accounts" is broken ProxyPass "/admin" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/admin" works ProxyPass "/user-profile" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/user-profile" works What does "is broken" mean here? Well, since I have debug on, GET "http://127.0.0.1:4386/accounts" yields something like (shortened to cut to the salient matter) | <body> | <p> | Using the URLconf defined in <code>mailman_web.urls</code>, | Django tried these URL patterns, in this order: | </p> | <ol> | <li>postorius/</li> | <li>hyperkitty/</li> | <li>mailman3/</li> | <li>archives/</li> | <li>^user-profile/delete$ | [name='mm_user_account_delete']</li> | <li>^user-profile/$ | [name='mm_user_profile']</li> | <li>accounts/</li> | <li>admin/</li> | </ol> | <p> | The current path, <code>accounts</code>, didn’t match any of these. | </p> | </body> Sure I have accounts/ rather than accounts, but neither are working routes endowed with a trailing slash. Digging for mailman_web.urls, I am lead to believe this is related to my settings, and as I inspect them, I am reminded that I appended del ACCOUNT_AUTHENTICATION_METHOD ACCOUNT_LOGIN_METHODS = {'email', 'username'} del ACCOUNT_EMAIL_REQUIRED ACCOUNT_SIGNUP_FIELDS = ['email*', 'username*', 'password1*', 'password2*'] to my settings file. Commenting these lines out, restarting mailmanweb, still the same error. Ideally an error like this should be shown to the user. Instead it leads to a endlessly repeated requests for users to verify their email address, as seen in my live system at say https://lists.repec.info/accounts/confirm-email/ These have no CSS, pointing to an apache missconfiguration For what it's worth, here is my current apache configuration | <VirtualHost *:443> | ServerName lists.repec.info | ServerAlias www.lists.repec.info | ServerAlias list.repec.info | ServerAlias www.list.repec.info | ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost | | RewriteEngine On | RewriteRule "^/?$" "https://lists.repec.info/mailman3/lists/" [R] | | Alias /static "/usr/local/mailman/web/static" | <Directory "/usr/local/mailman/web/static"> | Require all granted | </Directory> | | Alias /favicon.ico "/usr/local/mailman/web/static/postorius/img/favicon.ico" | | <IfModule mod_headers.c> | RequestHeader unset X-Forwarded-Proto | <If "%{HTTPS} =~ /on/"> | RequestHeader set X-Forwarded-Proto "https" | </If> | </IfModule> | | <IfModule mod_proxy.c> | ProxyPreserveHost On | ProxyPassMatch ^/static/ ! | ProxyPass "/mailman3" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/mailman3" | ProxyPass "/archives" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/archives" | ProxyPass "/accounts" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/accounts" | ProxyPass "/admin" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/admin" | ProxyPass "/user-profile" "http://127.0.0.1:4386/user-profile" | </IfModule> | | LogLevel debug | ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/lists.repec.info_error.log | | CustomLog /var/log/apache2/lists.repec.info_access.log combined | ServerSignature On | | Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf | SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/opt/live/repec.info/fullchain.pem | SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/opt/live/repec.info/privkey.pem | | </VirtualHost> -- Written by Thomas Krichel http://openlib.org/home/krichel on his 22209th day.

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