On Mon, Feb 2, 2026 at 4:56 PM Stephen J. Turnbull <steve@turnbull.jp> wrote:
Chihurumnaya Ibiam via Mailman-users writes:
On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 7:25?AM Stephen J. Turnbull <steve@turnbull.jp> wrote:
Is this a separate host (hardware, VM, or container) that handles ONLY mailman lists?
Yes, it's a separate host that handles only mailman lists, it doesn't handle other incoming mail.
I'll remove dovecot, and report back.
Good, that will make getting set up easier.
I've removed this, and it does seem like dovecot still runs when mailman hands mail to lmtp, but I don't see any authentication issues, the logs show this;
lists postfix/lmtp[1376243]: 458381A894B: to=<mailman@lists.sugarlabs.org>, orig_to=<mailman>, relay=localhost[127.0.0.1]:24, delay=0.03, delays=0.02/0/0.01/0, dsn=5.1.1, status=bounced (host localhost[127.0.0.1] said: 550 5.1.1 <mailman@lists.sugarlabs.org> User doesn't exist: mailman@lists.sugarlabs.org (in reply to RCPT TO command))
The user does exist, which is the weird part.
I recommend that you NOT have Mailman pass through Dovecot, because it will be confusing to anyone familiar with Mailman operations trying to help you. Normally, Mailman listens on 8024, which is routed directly by the MTA (Postfix, in your case).
I don't see mailman listening on 8024 from my end, the port isn't open.
Hm. Did you start Mailman?
If Mailman is started, what port is in your mailman.cfg file? (Search for "lmtp" (without the quotes) in that file, it will say what host and port Mailman is listening on.) Do not assume you know where that file is (normally /etc/mailman3/mailman.cfg). If you are starting Mailman via systemd, check the service file for a "-C conffile" option in the start command. If you are using the 'mailman' utility, cd to the directory where you normally start Mailman, and use "mailman info" to find out where the running Mailman thinks the configuration file is.
I'm starting mailman via systemd, and the mailman config was passed through an environment variable - MAILMAN_CONFIG_FILE -.
The installation instructions <https://docs.mailman3.org/en/latest/install/install.html> don't say anything about mailman listening on a port
Too many things can go wrong. I recommend that you disable all the authentication until you have all mail flows working without authentication, then add authentication as you require for your applications.
I'll try this, thank you!
OK, let us know!
You mentioned that you wanted Dovecot to do authentication. I don't know if Mailman can do authentication itself. I think the Python module can, but I don't know how to set it up. I personally don't think it's necessary on a dedicated host where Mailman and the MTA can communicate over the loopback address, but if you do, let me know and I'll see what we can do.
I've removed authentication and the only error in the log is the one I shared above, although there are some errors in mailman smtp logs;
1551 Jan 31 12:44:03 2026 (4128778) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 0.009501457214355469 seconds 1552 Jan 31 12:44:03 2026 (4128778) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes, 1 failures 1553 Jan 31 12:44:03 2026 (4128778) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> delivery to sarthakkad2005@gmail.com failed with code 444, SMTP AUTH extension not supported by server. 1554 Feb 02 06:57:21 2026 (4128778) while connecting to SMTP: 1555 Feb 02 06:59:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> low level smtp error: [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1556 Feb 02 06:59:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 130.81689381599426 seconds 1557 Feb 02 06:59:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes, 1 failures 1558 Feb 02 06:59:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> delivery to sarthakkad2005@gmail.com failed with code 444, [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1559 Feb 02 07:14:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> low level smtp error: [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1560 Feb 02 07:14:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 130.05159902572632 seconds 1561 Feb 02 07:14:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes, 1 failures 1562 Feb 02 07:14:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> delivery to sarthakkad2005@gmail.com failed with code 444, [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1563 Feb 02 07:29:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> low level smtp error: [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1564 Feb 02 07:29:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 131.08647632598877 seconds 1565 Feb 02 07:29:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes, 1 failures 1566 Feb 02 07:29:37 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> delivery to sarthakkad2005@gmail.com failed with code 444, [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1567 Feb 02 07:44:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> low level smtp error: [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1568 Feb 02 07:44:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 130.05518007278442 seconds 1569 Feb 02 07:44:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes, 1 failures 1570 Feb 02 07:44:36 2026 (664714) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> delivery to sarthakkad2005@gmail.com failed with code 444, [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1571 Feb 02 07:48:32 2026 (678685) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> low level smtp error: [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1572 Feb 02 07:48:32 2026 (678685) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 130.0330526828766 seconds 1573 Feb 02 07:48:32 2026 (678685) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes, 1 failures 1574 Feb 02 07:48:32 2026 (678685) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> delivery to sarthakkad2005@gmail.com failed with code 444, [Errno 110] Connection timed out 1575 Feb 02 07:59:31 2026 (683226) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> smtp to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 0.05027198791503906 seconds 1576 Feb 02 07:59:31 2026 (683226) <176979064563.3611678.6370323034981829398@lists> post to sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org from sugar-devel-confirm+edc5e1df6d76fe7955475023efd08101ed2edb17@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1707 bytes 1577 Feb 03 03:10:07 2026 (683226) <177011700641.683263.16748966738137655513@localhost.localdomain> smtp to gsoc@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 0.04062008857727051 seconds 1578 Feb 03 03:10:07 2026 (683226) <177011700641.683263.16748966738137655513@localhost.localdomain> post to gsoc@lists.sugarlabs.org from gsoc-confirm+423bc3fbc7ece192437c9d571b798025137b3f95@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1635 bytes 1579 Feb 03 03:10:19 2026 (683226) <177011701801.683263.13618900516538057849@localhost.localdomain> smtp to bugs@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 0.025012493133544922 seconds 1580 Feb 03 03:10:19 2026 (683226) <177011701801.683263.13618900516538057849@localhost.localdomain> post to bugs@lists.sugarlabs.org from bugs-confirm+f896a698312c25195fa072104d42dd324badddbf@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1652 bytes 1581 Feb 03 23:41:25 2026 (683226) <177019088335.683263.8347259112808463258@localhost.localdomain> smtp to gsoc@lists.sugarlabs.org for 1 recips, completed in 0.037694454193115234 seconds 1582 Feb 03 23:41:25 2026 (683226) <177019088335.683263.8347259112808463258@localhost.localdomain> post to gsoc@lists.sugarlabs.org from gsoc-confirm+b6aea46ef8d420e6ca3047abe1f44230725a6c5d@lists.sugarlabs.org, 1630 bytes
I don't know why the connection timed out when it did, I'll assume it was an issue with smtp, but that's about the only time it happened.
I also commented out the smtp_user and smtp_pass details from mailman.cfg because of the error about the user not existing, just to see if I'll get a different error but I still get the same error, I've uncommented it out though.
I'm using port 25 for smtp, I wasn't sure I'll need submission because I'd done that earlier and it didn't seem to change anything, does mailman need submission?
-- GNU Mailman consultant (installation, migration, customization) Sirius Open Source https://www.siriusopensource.com/ Software systems consulting in Europe, North America, and Japan
--
Ibiam Chihurumnaya ibiamchihurumnaya@gmail.com