mm3: fill in more blanks in the docs (tpo/tpa/team#40471) (79834171) · Commits · The Tor Project / TPA / Wiki Replica

service/lists.md

+29 −16

Original line number	Diff line number	Diff line
		Our mailing list server, <https://lists.torproject.org>, is running an instance
		of Mailman.
		Our mailing list server, <https://lists.torproject.org>, is running an
		instance of Mailman.

		The "listmaster" team is responsible for configuring all lists as
		required. They make decisions about which lists to create and which
		@@ -13,11 +13,6 @@ coordinate with the admin team to have the list added and then
		configure it as needed. Don't forget to update the [list of mailing
		lists](#list-of-mailing-lists) (below) upon changes.

		IMPORTANT NOTE: the documentation here is going to become out of date
		quickly as we upgrade to Mailman 3, see
		<https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/tpa/team/-/issues/40471> for
		tracking this work, which includes updating this document.

		[[_TOC_]]

		# Tutorial
		@@ -320,13 +315,12 @@ through the web interface.

		## Upgrades

		<!-- how upgrades are performed. preferably automated through Debian -->
		<!-- packages, otherwise document how upgrades are performed. see also -->
		<!-- the Testing section below -->
		It's unclear how automated Mailman 3 upgrades will be, but right now
		we're relying on Debian packages for this.

		## SLA

		<!-- this describes an acceptable level of service for this service -->
		There's no SLA specifically associated with this service.

		## Design and architecture

		@@ -343,8 +337,6 @@ TODO mention zope and django in the same sentence

		## Services

		<!-- open ports, daemons, cron jobs -->

		As mentioned in the architecture, Mailman is made of different
		components who communicate over HTTP, typically. Cron jobs handle
		indexing lists for searching.
		@@ -359,14 +351,24 @@ conf`, but be careful as it outputs cleartext passwords.

		## Storage

		<!-- databases? plain text file? the frigging blockchain? memory? -->
		Most data is stored in a [PostgreSQL](howto/postgresql) database, apart from bounces
		which somehow seem to exist in [Python pickle files](https://docs.python.org/3/library/pickle.html) in
		`/var/lib/mailman3/queue/bounces`.

		A list of addresses is stored in `/var/spool/postfix/mailman3` for
		Postfix to know about mailing lists. There's the trace of a SQLite
		database there, but it is believed to be stale.

		## Queues

		<!-- email queues, job queues, schedulers -->
		Mailman seems to store Python objects of in-flight emails (like
		bounces to retry) in `/var/lib/mailman3/queue`.

		## List of mailing lists

		TODO: remove this entry. If a mailing list should be publicly listed,
		just list the damn thing already.

		### Discussion Lists

		The following are lists with subscriber generated threads.
		@@ -537,12 +539,23 @@ be used to operate the API, rather confusingly.

		## Authentication

		<!-- SSH? LDAP? standalone? -->
		Mailman has its own authentication database, isolated from all the
		others. Ideally it would reuse LDAP, and it might be possible to hook
		it to GitLab's OIDC provider.

		## Implementation

		<!-- programming languages, frameworks, versions, license -->

		Mailman 3 is one of the flagship projects implemented in
		Python 3. The web interface is built on top of [Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/), while the
		REST API is built on top of [Zope](https://zope.readthedocs.io/).

		Debian ships Mailman 3.3.8, a little behind the latest upstream
		3.3.10, released in October 2024.

		Mailman 3 is GPLv3.

		## Related services

		<!-- dependent services (e.g. authenticates against LDAP, or requires -->