Re: sympa mailing list manager

Tom et al,

I run about 10 mailing lists on my FreeBSD 13.1 box.

I used to run Mailman 2, but it depends on Python 2.7, which EOL'd over a
year ago,
so I stopped using it.  On reflection, this may have been an over-reaction
(see below).

So I tried Sympa, and found it difficult to get working, and fragile to
keep working.
I don't remember the details because it was at least a year ago.  I tore it
out
and moved to mlmmj.  The base package mlmmj is very stripped down, with
no web interface to administer it.  However, there's this:

https://codeberg.org/bapt/mlmmj-webview

I didn't try that, because I didn't find it in time.  Instead, I wrote my
own tools to admin mlmmj
in Perl (cgi scripts, so a administered via the web).

I'd recommend that you install Python 2.7, despite it being EOL, and then
install
and run Mailman 2, which is fabulous.  It's stable, has a zillion
configuration parameters,
all controllable via a well done web interface.  I don't know if you can
install Python 2.7
from a pkg, but you can always download the source and build it from that.

Oh - one more thing: if the list you want to administer has less than 100
members, you can
host it for free on groups.io.  I moved many of my mailing lists to
groups.io to get them off
my server.  The only drawback with groups.io is that it is "invite only",
so you have to send
all the prospective members an invite, and they have to opt in.  This can
be difficult if
the list members are old farts who don't do email and/or are afraid of the
computer.

Good luck with it.

Bill Dudley

This email is free of malware because I run Linux.


On Thu, Jul 27, 2023 at 12:33 PM Tom Browder <tom.browder@gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to have an email list manager like Sympa and wonder if
> the Sympa port provides nearly a turnkey solution ready to add lists.
>
> Note I have been a Debian user for many years but have essentially no
> BSD experience. If the Sympa port is a good start, I will probably
> attempt a single-use server on Digital Ocean or Vultr.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Cheers!
>
> -Tom
>
>