Topic: Mailman lists > need to move or restore them?

[Craig Jensen]

From my previous post:
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=18289.msg71789#msg71789

Mailman mailing-list and how I fixed errors that drove me nutts!

This is for reference for those who may need to re-install their server/ move their settings after a fresh install/ or just move mailman from one to another server.

I received errors such as:
-------------------------------------------------error-log------------------------------------------
when sending email to my mailing lists, I get them bounced back with:

<'my-list-name'@sme-gateway.acenet-tech.org>:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)
------------------------------------------------/error-log------------------------------------------

I also received a butt-load of admin e-mails refering to the same errors on all mailings to the lists.  In essence, my aliases were all screwed up and consequently my lists and their function were dead.

The fix:

Shutdown mailman:
[root@sme-gateway /]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/mailman stop

Save your archives and lists (the lists folder saves your memberlists, etc):
archives...
[root@sme-gateway /]# cd /opt/mailman/archives
[root@sme-gateway /archives]# tar -zcf archives.tar.gz private
[root@sme-gateway /archives]# cp archives.tar.gz /my/backup/destination

lists...
[root@sme-gateway /]# cd /opt/mailman/lists
[root@sme-gateway /lists]# tar -zcf lists.tar.gz listname1 listname2 listname3 etc...
[root@sme-gateway /lists]# cp lists.tar.gz /my/backup/destination
**No need to save the 'public' folder as it is merely symlinks to the 'private' folder**

Remove each list with:
[root@sme-gateway /]# /opt/mailman/bin/rmlist listname
...repeat for each list

Create each list freshly from within the mailman web interface.

Place archives you saved in their correct place /opt/mailman/archives:
 cp /my/backup/destination/archives.tar.gz /opt/mailman/archives
 tar zxvf archives.tar.gz
**If you are worried about what you are overwriting. do this with mc from another directory and note what dir differences are there before copying over**

Place the lists in their correct place /opt/mailman/lists:
 cp /my/backup/destination/lists.tar.gz /opt/mailman/lists
 tar zxvf lists.tar.gz
**Refer to above if worried about what get's overwritten**

Restart mailman:
[root@sme-gateway /]# /etc/rc.d/init.d/mailman start

Refresh your view of the mailman/listname page of one of your lists to ensure all came over.

permissions problems:
[root@sme-gateway /]# cd /opt/mailman/bin
[root@sme-gateway /bin]# ./check_perms

I left the 'data' folder alone, having already installed mailman and created a site password.  Saving this as well could be a desire depending on what you are hoping to end up with.  I just needed my mailing-lists back... functioning, and with the archives/member-lists intact.

After these steps, my lists are back up, my /var/log/mailman/error file seems to have lost it's appetite, and my mailbox is free from the errors and bounced messages

This fixed what had become a very frustrating and elusive (at least to me at the time) resolution.  Thanks to Shad Lords for this contrib and for his help in solving this issue.

Hope this helps someone else in the future.


Craig Jensen