Installing Mailman3 on Ubuntu 18.04 with MariaDB

HOWTO.md

Installing Mailman3 on Ubuntu 18.04 with MariaDB

Installing Mailman3 on Ubuntu 18.04 was surprisingly difficult, that's why I want to share my experiences with the world. Here you are:

First install MariaDB

apt install mariadb-server

Add to [mysqld] in /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf:

innodb_file_format = Barracuda
innodb_default_row_format = dynamic
innodb_file_per_table = 1
innodb_large_prefix = 1

Restart MariaDB:

systemctl restart mariadb

Grant database access rights:

mysql -uroot

grant all privileges on mailman3.* to mailman3@localhost identified by 'securepassword';
grant all privileges on mailman3web.* to mailman3@localhost identified by 'securepassword';

Install Mailman3

apt install mailman3-full dbconfig-mysql python-pymysql python3-pymysql

• Configure mailman3 and mailman3-web:
  • Configure database with dbconfig-common -> yes
  • MySQL application password: securepassword
  • Connection method: Unix socket
  • Database name: mailman3
  • Mysql username: mailman3@localhost
  • Mysql administrative user: root
  • Add HyperKitty: Yes

Add the following lines to /etc/postfix/main.cf:

transport_maps = hash:/var/lib/mailman3/data/postfix_lmtp
local_recipient_maps = hash:/var/lib/mailman3/data/postfix_lmtp
relay_domains = hash:/var/lib/mailman3/data/postfix_domains

Restart postfix:

systemctl restart postfix

Install Apache2 for web access

apt install apache2
ln -s /etc/mailman3/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf-enabled/mailman3.conf
a2enmod proxy_uwsgi
systemctl restart apache2

• In a browser, open http://localhost/mailman3
• Create a new user (admin)
• Hopefully receive the confirmation email, open the link (you might need to replace https://localhost by http://localhost).

As the newly created user is not an admin user, use the MySQL database to give administration rights:

mysql -uroot mailman3web

update auth_user set is_superuser=true, is_staff=true where username='admin';

• Now, you should be able to configure domains and mailinglists in the web frontend.
• Visit http://localhost/mailman3/admin for the administration backend

LDAP authentication (optional)

Edit /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.py, add the following lines:

AUTH_LDAP_SERVER_URI = "ldap://ldap.example.com"
AUTH_LDAP_USER_DN_TEMPLATE = "uid=%(user)s,ou=people,dc=example,dc=com"
AUTH_LDAP_BIND_DN = ""
AUTH_LDAP_BIND_PASSWORD = ""
AUTH_LDAP_USER_ATTR_MAP = {"first_name": "givenName", "last_name": "sn", "email": "mail"}

AUTHENTICATION_BACKENDS = (
    'django.contrib.auth.backends.ModelBackend',
    'django_auth_ldap.backend.LDAPBackend',
)

Install & Restart:

apt install python-django-auth-ldap
systemctl restart mailman3-web

• If you want to disable the Fedora login button, uncomment the line 'django_mailman3.lib.auth.fedora' of the INSTALLED_APPS parameter in /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.conf.

• If you want to disable sign-up, add the following lines to /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.conf (TODO: this still shows a 'Sign up' link and will produce a 500 Internal Server Error on click; didn't find a disable yet).

ACCOUNT_FORMS = {
    'signup': False
}

• If you want to disable email verification (we can assume that email addresses in LDAP are correct), add ACCOUNT_EMAIL_VERIFICATION = 'none' to /etc/mailman3/mailman-web.conf.

• Further options: https://django-allauth.readthedocs.io/en/latest/configuration.html