GNU Mailman explained

GNU Mailman
Screenshot Size:	270px
Developer:	Abhilash Raj
Released:	^[1]
Programming Language:	Mostly Python, some C
Operating System:	Unix-like
Language:	Many languages
Genre:	Mailing list management software
License:	3: GPL-3.0-or-later 2: GPL-2.0-or-later

GNU Mailman is a computer software application from the GNU Project for managing electronic mailing lists.^{[2] [3]} Mailman is coded primarily in Python and currently maintained by Abhilash Raj.^[4] Mailman is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License.^[3]

History

A very early version of Mailman was written by John Viega while a graduate student, who then lost his copy of the source in a hard drive crash sometime around 1998.^[5] Ken Manheimer at CNRI, who was looking for a replacement for Majordomo, then took over development. When Manheimer left CNRI, Barry Warsaw took over. Mailman 3—the first major new version in over a decade—was released in April 2015.^[6]

Features

Mailman runs on most Unix-like systems, including Linux. Since Mailman 3.0 it has required python-3.4 or newer.^[7] It works with Unix-style mail servers such as Exim, Postfix, Sendmail and qmail. Features include:

• A customizable publicly-accessible web page for each maillist.
• Web application for list administration, archiving of messages, spam filtering, etc. Separate interfaces are available for users (for self-administration), moderators (to accept/reject list posts), and administrators.
• Support for multiple administrators and moderators for each list.
• Per-list privacy features, such as closed-subscriptions, private archives, private membership rosters, and sender-based posting rules.
• Integrated bounce detection and automatic handling of bouncing addresses.
• Integrated spam filters
• Majordomo-style email based commands.
• Support for virtual domains.
• List archiving. The default archiver provided with Mailman 2 is Pipermail,^[8] although other archivers can be used instead. The archiver for Mailman 3 is HyperKitty.^[9]

See also

• List of mailing list software
• Electronic mailing list

Further reading

Reviews

• Mailing List Management Made Easy

Other resources

• List Administrator's Guide
• "Mailman – An Extensible Mailing List Manager Using Python"; Ken Manheimer, Barry Warsaw, John Viega; presented at the 7th International Python Conference, Nov 10–13, 1998
• "Mailman: The GNU Mailing List Manager"; John Viega, Barry Warsaw, Ken Manheimer; presented at the 12th Usenix Systems Administration Conference (LISA '98), Dec 9, 1998
• GNU Mailman chapter in The Architecture of Open Source Applications Volume 2
• Barry Warsaw presentation on Mailman 3 at PyCon US 2012

External links

• • Mailman Documentation
• Mailman support mailing lists

Notes and References

1. Mailman 1.0 . Barry A. . Warsaw . 30 July 1999 . 2008-12-09 . mailman-announce .
2. Web site: freshmeat.net: Project details for GNU Mailman . 2009-02-11 .
3. Web site: Mailman, the GNU Mailing List Manager . 2009-02-11 .
4. Time Stand Still. en. 5 September 2018. Barry. Warsaw. 23 November 2017. Mailman-Announce.
5. Web site: MyMailmanRole — Myriadicity Dot. 2009-02-11 .
6. Web site: Mailman 3.0 to modernize mailing lists . lwn.net . 27 March 2015 . 15 October 2015.
7. Web site: Getting started with GNU Mailman . mailman.readthedocs.org . 14 October 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151013205802/http://mailman.readthedocs.org/en/latest/src/mailman/docs/START.html#requirements . 13 October 2015 .
8. Web site: Pipermail . https://web.archive.org/web/20010213235121/http://amk.ca/python/unmaintained/pipermail.html . amk.ca . dead . 13 February 2001 . 2 February 2017.
9. Web site: Developer Resources . gnu.org . 26 November 2015.