Note
This might differ on different systems - I was testing Ubuntu 11.04 natty and needed to install Postfix before running the installation.
Download or branch Mailman3a7 from http://launchpad.net/mailman/3.0/3.0.0a7/+download/mailman-3.0.0a7.tar.gz and unpack it.
Note
Please be aware that the following steps only work if you’re really in that DIR. If you consider adding a subfolder name to the commands those woun’t work !
Run the Installation from a Shell (not Python)
$ bootstrap.py $ bin/buildout
Vertify that everything was setup correclty and your branch fullfills the version requirements by running it’s own test module
$ bin/test
Now you’re able to run mailman using
$ bin/mailman
Next thing you need to do is installing the Plugin used for communication with non-mailman-code parts like our WebUI. Within the Client Branch we’ve put both, Classes to access the Core which are run as a Plugin and some Python Bindings. The Python Bindings were used later on within our Django Application to access the Server. Failing to install the Client would result in an offline version of WebUI
Once again start by branching the code which is on Launchpad
$ bzr branch lp:mailman.client
Note
We’ve successfully tested our functionality with Revision 16 - In case the Client gets updated which it surely will in future we can’t guarentee that it is compatible anymore.
As you only want to run the Client and not modify it’s code you’re fine with running the install command from within the directory. At the moment this requires Sudo Priveledges as files will copied to the Python Site-Packages Directory which is available to all users.
$ sudo python setup.py install
Note
If you want to change parts of the Client you can use the development option which will create a Symlink instead of a Hardcopy of all files:
$ sudo python setup.py develop
All changes will apply once you restart Mailman itself.
During our development we started a Django Site based on the 1.2 Version which is included into Ubuntu’s repositorys. This made the installation easy but we ended up having some points which would get a much better code when using some elements introducing in 1.3. As Mailman is supposed to be long-time stable - or however you call it - we decided that we should stick to the latest stable version right away. For this reason you’re required to install Django 1.3+ which is descriped on their Website. (https://www.djangoproject.com/download/)
Note
Please be Aware that it’s not recommended to run both 1.2 and 1.3 at the same time
In Django you’ve got 3 different levels of data. - Django Installation Files - Django Site - Django Apps usually you don’t see the Installation as it’s hidden somewhere within the System and the Apps are simply included into The Site Directory. As we wanted to have the possibility to include the App into any Django Site which might already exist we decided to keep Site and App seperated.
During GSoC we’ve used different branches for this: - lp:mailmanwebgsoc2011 - lp:mailmanwebgsoc2011/django-site-0.1
We’ve created this branch for quick development - everyone is free to use his own Django site, but this one already includes a couple of modifications we’ve made that will allow running the Development Server just a few seconds after Branching both Site and App.
As far as I know at the moment we’ve made the following alignments: (All of these are in the settings.py file of the Django Site)
REST_SERVER = ‘localhost:8001’ API_USER = ‘restadmin’ API_PASS = ‘restpass’
Note
These are the default values used by the Mailman Client we’ve installed earlier. Feel free to modify the password and username if you need to.
MAILMAN_TEST_BINDIR = ‘/home/benste/Projects/Gsoc_mailman/mailman-3.0.0a7/bin’ #/home/florian/Development/mailman/bin’
Note
Running the test modules requires to launch a special version of mailman with it’s own testing DB otherwise you’d destroy you’re sites content during testing. This Path needs to point to YOUR own installation of mailman.
MAILMAN_THEME = “default”
Note
We decided to allow simple Appearance Modifications, to use a custom CSS you could simply add a Directory within the media directory of the app and Link it’s name here. All HTML Pages will use the Styles from the Directory mentioned in here
PROJECT_PATH = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)) MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(os.path.split(PROJECT_PATH)[0], “mailman_django/media/mailman_django/”)
Note
Absolute path to the directory that holds media. Example: “/home/media/media.lawrence.com/”
MEDIA_URL = ‘/mailman_media/’
Note
URL that handles the media served from MEDIA_ROOT. Make sure to use a trailing slash if there is a path component (optional in other cases).Examples: “http://media.lawrence.com“, “http://example.com/media/“
‘mailman_django.auth.restbackend.RESTBackend’, ‘django.contrib.auth.backends.ModelBackend’ )
Note
This creates a connection in between Djangos Login and Permission Decorators which we use for authentification and a custom Backend which we created in Preparation to work together with the REST API or an upcoming Middleware. You need to keep the Django one for testing fallback.
“django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth”, “django.core.context_processors.debug”, “django.core.context_processors.i18n”, “django.core.context_processors.media”, “django.core.context_processors.csrf”, “django.contrib.messages.context_processors.messages”, “mailman_django.context_processors.lists_of_domain”, “mailman_django.context_processors.render_MAILMAN_THEME”, “mailman_django.context_processors.extend_ajax”
Note
We’re using Context Processors to easily render value which we need in nearly every view.
ROOT_URLCONF = ‘mailman_django.urls’
Note
This is where our URL Config is - if you run your own site with other Apps as well you might want to adjust this to your urls.py which includes our file.
os.path.join(PROJECT_PATH, “mailman_django/templates”),
Note
Adds our own Templates
‘django.contrib.auth’, ‘django.contrib.contenttypes’, ‘django.contrib.sessions’, ‘django.contrib.sites’, ‘django.contrib.admin’, ‘mailman_django’,
Note
Makes sure that Django knows about our directory as an App and creates needed Tables () when running
$ python manage.py syncdb
Now that you know about all these you might start the development server. As usual in Django this is done by running
$ python manage.py runserver
within the Django Site Directory - as usual the default address is localhost:8000 Of course it will only be able to start once our app is in place as well.
First get the files, and make sure you paste them into your Project directory and adjust it’s name to the appropriate configuration you’ve made earlier in the Django Site. Remeber our default is mailman_django
$ bzr branch lp:mailmanwebgsoc2011
Note
We’ve tested Revision 172
Note
We’re planning to ease up installation by creating an egg