Hi there, we just installed mailman in our internal environment and want to use our own mailserver for sending the mails. Can someone explain which configuration i have to make in my mailman.cfg? I just set smtp_host and smtp_port which seems to work as the mailman server connects to my mailserver but it generates e-mails with blank recipients and headers. Maybe someone can give me a hint? Thanks and regards
johannes.wolf--- via Mailman-users writes:
we just installed mailman in our internal environment and want to use our own mailserver for sending the mails. Can someone explain which configuration i have to make in my mailman.cfg? I just set smtp_host and smtp_port
That's all you need to do, since it's working.
but it generates e-mails with blank recipients and headers.
We generally use "generates" to mean notifications that Mailman creates and sends, such as address confirmation when signing up, or moderation requests to administrators. I assume that is not the case here. That is, you're talking about emails posted to the list and redistributed to subscribers by Mailman. If it is, please let me know.
First, try sending mail to both the list and a member by their address in Cc, and compare the header fields. It's unlikely, but we should check that this is not something that's happening at the sender.
Second, what do you mean by "blank recipients and headers"? That To: and/or Cc: are present but empty? That To: and/or Cc: are missing? If not, what do you think is missing? What other headers are blank?
Steve
-- GNU Mailman consultant (installation, migration, customization) Sirius Open Source https://www.siriusopensource.com/ Software systems consulting in Europe, North America, and Japan
Thanks for your answer.
I am referring to the emails confirming the subscription or the approval notification to the list administrator. These emails are generated during the respective actions, but when I look at the log on my mail server, some of the emails only have a sender but no recipient. Shouldn't the Postfix service on the Mailman server simply forward the email to the “external” mail server for sending?
On 11/26/25 11:54 AM, johannes.wolf--- via Mailman-users wrote:
I am referring to the emails confirming the subscription or the approval notification to the list administrator. These emails are generated during the respective actions, but when I look at the log on my mail server, some of the emails only have a sender but no recipient.
I don't know any circumstance where Mailman would send a message with no recipients.
What are the actual log messages in the Postfix log? Also, what's in Mailman's smtp.log?
Shouldn't the Postfix service on the Mailman server simply forward the email to the “external” mail server for sending? That's up to your Postfix configuration.
-- Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
johannes.wolf--- via Mailman-users writes:
I am referring to the emails confirming the subscription or the approval notification to the list administrator. These emails are generated during the respective actions, but when I look at the log on my mail server, some of the emails only have a sender but no recipient.
Postfix is a multi-daemon system. Log messages like this:
Dec 01 14:05:01 turnbull.jp postfix/qmgr[731085]: C8CC22032D:
from=<steve@turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp>, size=4005, nrcpt=4
(queue active)are common for the 'qmgr' daemon. But the 'smtpd' daemon's messages usually has both "from=" and "to=" phrases. (This is just from a quick look at my own logs, not reliable except that I'm not surprised that some log messages had no explicit recipient.)
As Mark says, you should provide examples of the log messages you're describing.
Shouldn't the Postfix service on the Mailman server simply forward the email to the “external” mail server for sending?
That depends on what else it is doing. If there are ordinary users or certain daemons sending email offsite, there should be spam checking. In an enterprise setting, there might be checks for data exfiltration or insertion of legal disclaimers.
Steve
-- GNU Mailman consultant (installation, migration, customization) Sirius Open Source https://www.siriusopensource.com/ Software systems consulting in Europe, North America, and Japan
participants (3)
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johannes.wolf＠kaaw.de -
Mark Sapiro -
Stephen J. Turnbull