GNU Mailman
Encyclopedia
GNU Mailman is a computer software application from the GNU project
for managing electronic mailing list
s.
Mailman is coded primarily in Python
and currently maintained by Barry Warsaw. Mailman is free software
, distributed under the GNU General Public License
.
while a grad student, who then lost his copy of the source in a hard drive crash sometime around 1998 Ken Manheimer
at CNRI, who was looking for a replacement for Majordomo
, then took over development. When Ken left CNRI, Barry Warsaw took over.
style mail servers such as Postfix
, Sendmail
and qmail
.
Features include:
GNU Project
The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project, announced on September 27, 1983, by Richard Stallman at MIT. It initiated GNU operating system development in January, 1984...
for managing electronic mailing list
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
s.
Mailman is coded primarily in Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
and currently maintained by Barry Warsaw. Mailman is free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
, distributed under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
History
A very early version of Mailman was written by John ViegaJohn Viega
John Viega is a computer security specialist in the United States.-Books:He is the co-author of a number of books on computer security, including The Myths of Security , Beautiful Security, Building Secure Software , Network Security with OpenSSL , the Secure Programming Cookbook and the 19 Deadly...
while a grad student, who then lost his copy of the source in a hard drive crash sometime around 1998 Ken Manheimer
Ken Manheimer
Ken Manheimer has been a prominent software developer of Zope and GNU Mailman who worked for NIST, CNRI, Digital Creations and Zope Corporation. He's been listed by Guido van Rossum together with Barry Warsaw as the probable inventor of the term Benevolent Dictator For Life .-References:...
at CNRI, who was looking for a replacement for Majordomo
Majordomo (software)
Majordomo is a mailing list manager developed by Brent Chapman of Great Circle Associates. It is written in Perl and works in conjunction with sendmail on UNIX and related operating systems...
, then took over development. When Ken left CNRI, Barry Warsaw took over.
Features
Mailman is free software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. It runs on GNU/Linux and most Unix-like systems, and requires Python 2.1.3 or newer. GNU Mailman works with UnixUnix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
style mail servers such as Postfix
Postfix (software)
In computing, Postfix is a free and open-source mail transfer agent that routes and delivers electronic mail. It is intended as a fast, easier-to-administer, and secure alternative to the widely-used Sendmail MTA....
, Sendmail
Sendmail
Sendmail is a general purpose internetwork email routing facility that supports many kinds of mail-transfer and -delivery methods, including the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol used for email transport over the Internet....
and qmail
Qmail
qmail is a mail transfer agent that runs on Unix. It was written, starting December 1995, by Daniel J. Bernstein as a more secure replacement for the popular Sendmail program...
.
Features include:
- A Web browserWeb browserA web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
interface for list administration, archiving of messages, spamE-mail spamEmail spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
filtering. - A customizable home page for each mailing listMailing listA mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as "the mailing list", or simply "the...
. - Integrated bounce detection and automatic handling of bouncing addresses.
- Integrated spamE-mail spamEmail spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
filters - MajordomoMajordomo (software)Majordomo is a mailing list manager developed by Brent Chapman of Great Circle Associates. It is written in Perl and works in conjunction with sendmail on UNIX and related operating systems...
-style email based commands. - Multiple list owners and moderators.
- Per-list privacy featurePrivacyPrivacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
s, such as closed-subscriptions, private archives, private membership rosters, and sender-based posting rules. - Support for virtual domains.
- Web based subscribing and unsubscribing. Users can temporarily disable their accounts, select email digestEmail digestAn email digest is an email that is automatically generated by an electronic mailing list and which combines all exchanged emails during a time period or when a volume limit is reached An email digest is an email that is automatically generated by an electronic mailing list and which combines all...
modes, hide their email addresses from other members, etc. - Mailing list archiver (Pipermail, the name is visible in the URLs ) inside the mailing list manager.
See also
- Dada MailDada MailDada Mail is a web-based electronic mailing list management system that can be used for announcement lists. It can also be used to create and manage discussion lists, if you activate and configure an included plug-in called Dada Bridge, for which you will need to set a cron task.Dada Mail is free...
- Electronic mailing listElectronic mailing listAn electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
- ezmlmEzmlmezmlm is a software package for managing electronic mailing lists by Daniel J. Bernstein. It is similar to GNU Mailman and Majordomo but only works with the qmail mail transfer agent. It is released into the public domain....
- LISTSERVLISTSERVLISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...
- Mailing listMailing listA mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as "the mailing list", or simply "the...
- Majordomo (software)Majordomo (software)Majordomo is a mailing list manager developed by Brent Chapman of Great Circle Associates. It is written in Perl and works in conjunction with sendmail on UNIX and related operating systems...
- RegroupRegroupRegroup is a communications platform for organizations that offers forums, group management, mailing list management, intranet, emergency messaging, group SMS, text messages, and social media....
- SympaSympaSympa is an open source mailing list management software. Its name, which is an acronym for Systeme de Multi-Postage Automatique Sympa is an open source (GNU GPL) mailing list management (MLM) software. Its name, which is an acronym for Systeme de Multi-Postage Automatique Sympa is an open source...
Reviews
Other resources
- List Administrator's Guide
- "Mailman – An Extensible Mailing List Manager Using Python"; Ken Manheimer, Barry Warsaw, John Viega; presented at the 7th Internation 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
- Mailman Users Guide