To install apache2 you refer to HTTPD Installation section for details.

For instructions on installing and configuring Postfix refer to „Postfix”

To install Exim4 refer to „Exim4”.

Once exim4 is installed, the configuration files are stored in the /etc/exim4 directory. In Ubuntu, by default, the exim4 configuration files are split across different files. You can change this behavior by changing the following variable in the /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf file:

To install Mailman, run following command at a terminal prompt:

sudo apt-get install mailman 

It copies the installation files in /var/lib/mailman directory. It installs the CGI scripts in /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman directory. It creates list linux user. It creates the list linux group. The mailman process will be owned by this user.

An example Apache configuration file comes with Mailman and is placed in /etc/mailman/apache.conf. In order for Apache to use the config file it needs to be copied to /etc/apache2/sites-available:

sudo cp /etc/mailman/apache.conf /etc/apache2/sites-available/mailman.conf

This will setup a new Apache VirtualHost for the Mailman administration site. Now enable the new configuration and restart Apache:

sudo a2ensite mailman.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Mailman uses apache2 to render its CGI scripts. The mailman CGI scripts are installed in the /usr/lib/cgi-bin/mailman directory. So, the mailman url will be http://hostname/cgi-bin/mailman/. You can make changes to the /etc/apache2/sites-available/mailman.conf file if you wish to change this behavior.

For Postfix integration, we will associate the domain lists.example.com with the mailing lists. Please replace lists.example.com with the domain of your choosing.

You can use the postconf command to add the necessary configuration to /etc/postfix/main.cf:

sudo postconf -e 'relay_domains = lists.example.com'
sudo postconf -e 'transport_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/transport'
sudo postconf -e 'mailman_destination_recipient_limit = 1'

In /etc/postfix/master.cf double check that you have the following transport:

mailman   unix  -       n       n       -       -       pipe
  flags=FR user=list argv=/usr/lib/mailman/bin/postfix-to-mailman.py
  ${nexthop} ${user}

It calls the postfix-to-mailman.py script when a mail is delivered to a list.

Associate the domain lists.example.com to the Mailman transport with the transport map. Edit the file /etc/postfix/transport:

lists.example.com      mailman:

Now have Postfix build the transport map by entering the following from a terminal prompt:

sudo postmap -v /etc/postfix/transport

Then restart Postfix to enable the new configurations:

sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart

Once Exim4 is installed, you can start the Exim server using the following command from a terminal prompt:

sudo /etc/init.d/exim4 start

In order to make mailman work with Exim4, you need to configure Exim4. As mentioned earlier, by default, Exim4 uses multiple configuration files of different types. For details, please refer to the Exim web site. To run mailman, we should add new a configuration file to the following configuration types:

Exim creates a master configuration file by sorting all these mini configuration files. So, the order of these configuration files is very important.

All the configuration files belonging to the main type are stored in the /etc/exim4/conf.d/main/ directory. You can add the following content to a new file, named 04_exim4-config_mailman:

# start
# Home dir for your Mailman installation -- aka Mailman's prefix
# directory.
# On Ubuntu this should be "/var/lib/mailman"
# This is normally the same as ~mailman
MM_HOME=/var/lib/mailman
#
# User and group for Mailman, should match your --with-mail-gid
# switch to Mailman's configure script.  Value is normally "mailman"
MM_UID=list
MM_GID=list
#
# Domains that your lists are in - colon separated list
# you may wish to add these into local_domains as well
domainlist mm_domains=hostname.com
#
# -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
#
# These values are derived from the ones above and should not need
# editing unless you have munged your mailman installation
#
# The path of the Mailman mail wrapper script
MM_WRAP=MM_HOME/mail/mailman
#
# The path of the list config file (used as a required file when
# verifying list addresses)
MM_LISTCHK=MM_HOME/lists/${lc::$local_part}/config.pck
# end

All the configuration files belonging to transport type are stored in the /etc/exim4/conf.d/transport/ directory. You can add the following content to a new file named 40_exim4-config_mailman:

  mailman_transport:
   driver = pipe
   command = MM_WRAP \
               '${if def:local_part_suffix \
                     {${sg{$local_part_suffix}{-(\\w+)(\\+.*)?}{\$1}}} \
                     {post}}' \
               $local_part
    current_directory = MM_HOME
    home_directory = MM_HOME
    user = MM_UID
    group = MM_GID

All the configuration files belonging to router type are stored in the /etc/exim4/conf.d/router/ directory. You can add the following content in to a new file named 101_exim4-config_mailman:

  mailman_router:
   driver = accept
   require_files = MM_HOME/lists/$local_part/config.pck
   local_part_suffix_optional
   local_part_suffix = -bounces : -bounces+* : \
                       -confirm+* : -join : -leave : \
                       -owner : -request : -admin
   transport = mailman_transport

Once mailman is installed, you can run it using the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/mailman start

Once mailman is installed, you should create the default mailing list. Run the following command to create the mailing list:

sudo /usr/sbin/newlist mailman

  Enter the email address of the person running the list: bhuvan at ubuntu.com
  Initial mailman password:
  To finish creating your mailing list, you must edit your /etc/aliases (or
  equivalent) file by adding the following lines, and possibly running the
  `newaliases' program:

  ## mailman mailing list
  mailman:              "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman post mailman"
  mailman-admin:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman admin mailman"
  mailman-bounces:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman bounces mailman"
  mailman-confirm:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman confirm mailman"
  mailman-join:         "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman join mailman"
  mailman-leave:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman leave mailman"
  mailman-owner:        "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman owner mailman"
  mailman-request:      "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman request mailman"
  mailman-subscribe:    "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman subscribe mailman"
  mailman-unsubscribe:  "|/var/lib/mailman/mail/mailman unsubscribe mailman"

  Hit enter to notify mailman owner...

  # 

We have configured either Postfix or Exim4 to recognize all emails from mailman. So, it is not mandatory to make any new entries in /etc/aliases. If you have made any changes to the configuration files, please ensure that you restart those services before continuing to next section.