path: root/src/mailman/docs/NEWS.txt

================================================
Mailman - The GNU Mailing List Management System
================================================

Copyright (C) 1998-2010 by the Free Software Foundation, Inc.
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA

Here is a history of user visible changes to Mailman.


3.0 alpha 6 -- "Cut to the Chase"
=================================
(2010-09-07)

Commands
--------
 * The functionality of 'bin/list_members' has been moved to
   'bin/mailman members'.
 * 'bin/mailman info' -v/--verbose output displays the file system
   layout paths Mailman is currently configured to use.

Configuration
-------------
 * You can now configure the paths Mailman uses for queue files, lock files,
   data files, etc. via the configuration file.  Define a file system 'layout'
   and then select that layout in the [mailman] section.  Default layouts
   include 'local' for putting everything in /var/tmp/mailman, 'dev' for local
   development, and 'fhs' for Filesystem Hierarchy Standard 2.3 (LP #490144).
 * Queue file directories now live in $var_dir/queues.

REST
----
 * lazr.restful has been replaced by restish as the REST publishing technology
   used by Mailman.
 * New REST API for getting all the members of a roster for a specific mailing
   list.
 * New REST API for getting and setting a mailing list's configuration.  GET
   and PUT are supported to retrieve the current configuration, and set all
   the list's writable attributes in one request.  PATCH is supported to
   partially update a mailing list's configuration.  Individual options can be
   set and retrieved by using subpaths.
 * Subscribing an already subscribed member via REST now returns a 409 HTTP
   error.  LP: #552917
 * Fixed a bug when deleting a list via the REST API.  LP: #601899

Architecture
------------
 * X-BeenThere header is removed.
 * Mailman no longer touches the Sender or Errors-To headers.
 * Chain actions can now fire Zope events in their _process()
   implementations.
 * Environment variable $MAILMAN_VAR_DIR can be used to control the var/
   directory for Mailman's runtime files.  New environment variable
   $MAILMAN_UNDER_MASTER_CONTROL is used instead of the qrunner's --subproc/-s
   option.

Miscellaneous
-------------
 * Various test failure fixes.  LP: #543618, LP: #544477
 * List-Post header is retained in MIME digest messages.  LP: #526143
 * Importing from a Mailman 2.1.x list is partially supported.


3.0 alpha 5 -- "Distant Early Warning"
======================================
(2010-01-18)

REST
----
 * Add REST API for subscription services.  You can now:

   - list all members in all mailing lists
   - subscribe (and possibly register) an address to a mailing list
   - unsubscribe an address from mailing list

Commands
--------
 * 'bin/dumpdb' is now 'bin/mailman qfile'
 * 'bin/unshunt' is now 'bin/mailman unshunt'
 * Mailman now properly handles the '-join', '-leave', and '-confirm' email
   commands and sub-addresses.  '-subscribe' and '-unsubscribe' are aliases
   for '-join' and '-leave' respectively.

Configuration
-------------
 * devmode settings now live in their own [devmode] section.
 * Mailman now searches for a configuration file using this search order.  The
   first file that exists is used.

   - -C config command line argument
   - $MAILMAN_CONFIG_FILE environment variable
   - ./mailman.cfg
   - ~/.mailman.cfg
   - /etc/mailman.cfg


3.0 alpha 4 -- "Vital Signs"
============================
(2009-11-28)

Commands
--------
 * 'bin/inject' is now 'bin/mailman inject', with some changes
 * 'bin/mailmanctl' is now 'bin/mailman start|stop|reopen|restart'
 * 'bin/mailman version' is added (output same as 'bin/mailman --version')
 * 'bin/mailman members' command line arguments have changed.  It also
   now ignores blank lines and lines that start with #.  It also no longer
   quits when it sees an address that's already subscribed.
 * 'bin/withlist' is now 'bin/mailman withlist', and its command line
   arguments have changed.
 * 'bin/mailman lists' command line arguments have changed.
 * 'bin/genaliases' is now 'bin/mailman aliases'

Architecture
------------
 * A near complete rewrite of the low-level SMTP delivery machinery.  This
   greatly improves readability, testability, reuse and extensibility.  Almost
   all the old functionality has been retained.  The smtp_direct.py handler is
   gone.
 * Refactor model objects into the mailman.model subpackage.
 * Refactor most of the i18n infrastructure into a separate flufl.i18n package.
 * Switch from setuptools to distribute.
 * Remove the dependency on setuptools_bzr
 * Do not create the .mo files during setup.

Configuration
-------------
 * All log files now have a '.log' suffix by default.
 * The substitution placeholders in the verp_format configuration variable
   have been renamed.
 * Add a devmode configuration variable that changes some basic behavior.
   Most importantly, it allows you to set a low-level SMTP recipient for all
   mail for testing purposes.  See also devmode_recipient.


3.0 alpha 3 -- "Working Man"
============================
(2009-08-21)

Configuration
-------------
 * Configuration is now done through lazr.config.  Defaults.py is
   dead.  lazr.config files are essentially hierarchical ini files.
 * Domains are now stored in the database instead of in the configuration file.
 * pre- and post- initialization hooks are now available to plugins.  Specify
   additional hooks to run in the configuration file.
 * Add the environment variable $MAILMAN_CONFIG_FILE which overrides the -C
   command line option.
 * Make LMTP more compliant with Postfix docs (Patrick Koetter)
 * Added a NullMTA for mail servers like Exim which just work automatically.

Architecture
------------
 * 'bin/mailman' is a new super-command for managing Mailman from the command
   line.  Some older bin scripts have been converted, with more to come.
 * Mailman now has an administrative REST interface which can be used to get
   information from and manage Mailman remotely.
 * Back port of Mailman 2.1's limit on .bak file restoration.  After 3
   restores, the file is moved to the bad queue, with a .psv extension. (Mark
   Sapiro)
 * Digest creation is moved into a new queue runner so it doesn't block main
   message processing.

Other changes
-------------
 * bin/make_instance is no longer necessary, and removed
 * The debug log is turned up to info by default to reduce log file spam.

Building and installation
-------------------------
 * All doc tests can now be turned into documentation, via Sphinx.  Just run
   bin/docs after bin/buildout.


3.0 alpha 2 -- "Grand Designs"
==============================
(03-Jan-2009)

Licensing
---------

 * Mailman 3 is now licensed under the GPLv3.

Bug fixes
---------

 * Changed bin/arch to attempt to open the mbox before wiping the old
   archive. Launchpad bug #280418.

 * Added digest.mbox and pending.pck to the 'list' files checked by
   check_perms. Launchpad bug #284802.

Architecture
------------

 * Converted to using zope.testing as the test infrastructure.  Use bin/test
   now to run the full test suite.
   <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/zope.testing/3.7.1>
 * Partially converted to using lazr.config as the new configuration
   regime.  Not everything has been converted yet, so some manual editing
   of mailman/Defaults.py is required.  This will be rectified in future
   versions.  <http://launchpad.net/lazr.config>
 * All web-related stuff is moved to its own directory, effectively moving
   it out of the way for now.
 * The email command infrastructure has been reworked to play more nicely
   with the plug-in architecture.  Not all commands have yet been
   converted.

Other changes
-------------

 * The LMTP server now properly calculates the message's original size.
 * For command line scripts, -C names the configuration file to use.  For
   convenient testing, if -C is not given, then the environment variable
   MAILMAN_CONFIG_FILE is consulted.
 * Support added for a local MHonArc archiver, as well as archiving
   automatically in the remote Mail-Archive.com service.
 * The permalink proposal for supporting RFC 5064 has been adopted.
 * Mailing lists no longer have a .web_page_url attribute; this is taken from
   the mailing list's domain's base_url attribute.
 * Incoming MTA selection is now taken from the config file instead of
   plugins.  An MTA for Postfix+LMTP is added.  bin/genaliases works again.
 * If a message has no Message-ID, the stock archivers will return None for
   the permalink now instead of raising an assertion.
 * IArchiver no longer has an is_enabled property; this is taken from the
   configuration file now.

Installation
------------

 * Python 2.6 is the minimal requirement.
 * Converted to using zc.buildout as the build infrastructure.  See
   docs/ALPHA.txt for details.
   <http://pypi.python.org/pypi/zc.buildout/1.1.1>


3.0 alpha 1 -- "Leave That Thing Alone"
=======================================
(08-Apr-2008)

User visible changes
--------------------

 * So called 'new style' subject prefixing is the default now, and the only
   option.  When a list's subject prefix is added, it's always done so before
   any Re: tag, not after.  E.g. '[My List] Re: The subject'.
 * RFC 2369 headers List-Subscribe and List-Unsubscribe now use the preferred
   -join and -leave addresses instead of the -request address with a subject
   value.

Configuration
-------------

 * There is no more separate configure; make; make install step. Mailman 3.0
   is a setuptools package.
 * Mailman can now be configured via a 'mailman.cfg' file which lives in
   $VAR_PREFIX/etc.  This is used to separate the configuration from the
   source directory.  Alternative configuration files can be specified via
   -C/--config for most command line scripts.  mailman.cfg contains Python
   code.  mm_cfg.py is no more.  You do not need to import Defaults.py in
   etc/mailman.cfg.  You should still consult Defaults.py for the list of site
   configuration variables available to you.

   See the etc/mailman.cfg.sample file.
 * PUBLIC_ARCHIVE_URL and DEFAULT_SUBJECT_PREFIX now takes $-string
   substitutions instead of %-string substitutions.  See documentation in
   Defaults.py.in for details.
 * Message headers and footers now only accept $-string substitutions;
   %-strings are no longer supported.  The substitution variable
   '_internal_name' has been removed; use $list_name or $real_name
   instead.  The substitution variable $fqdn_listname has been added.
   DEFAULT_MSG_FOOTER in Defaults.py.in has been updated accordingly.
 * The KNOWN_SPAMMERS global variable is replaced with HEADER_MATCHES.  The
   mailing list's header_filter_rules variable is replaced with header_matches
   which has the same semantics as HEADER_MATCHES, but is list-specific.
 * DEFAULT_MAIL_COMMANDS_MAX_LINES -> EMAIL_COMMANDS_MAX_LINES
 * All SMTP_LOG_* templates use $-strings and all consistently write the
   Message-ID as the first item in the log entry.
 * DELIVERY_MODULE now names a handler, not a module (yes, this is a
   misnomer, but it will likely change again before the final release).

Architecture
------------

 * Internally, all strings are Unicodes.
 * Implementation of a chain-of-rules based approach for deciding whether a
   message should initially be accepted, held for approval, rejected/bounced,
   or discarded.  This replaces most of the disposition handlers in the
   pipeline.  The IncomingRunner now only processes message through the rule
   chains, and once accepted, places the message in a new queue processed by
   the PipelineRunner.
 * Substantially reworked the entire queue runner process management,
   including mailmanctl, a new master script, and the qrunners.  This should
   be much more robust and reliable now.
 * The Storm ORM is used for data storage, with the SQLite backend as the
   default relational database.
 * Zope interfaces are used to describe the major components.
 * Users are now stored in a unified database, and shared across all mailing
   lists.
 * Mailman's web interface is now WSGI compliant.  WSGI is a Python standard
   (PEP 333) allowing web applications to be (more) easily integrated with any
   number of existing Python web application frameworks.  For more information
   see:

   http://www.wsgi.org/wsgi
   http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0333/

   Mailman can still be run as a traditional CGI program of course.
 * Mailman now provides an LMTP server for more efficient integration with
   supporting mail servers (e.g. Postfix, Sendmail).  The Local Mail Transport
   Protocol is defined in RFC 2033:

   http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2033.html
 * Virtual domains are now fully supported in that mailing lists of the same
   name can exist in more than one domain.  This is accomplished by renaming
   the lists/ and archives/ subdirectories after the list's posting address.
   For example, data for list foo in example.com and list foo in example.org
   will be stored in lists/foo@example.com and lists/foo@example.org.

   For Postfix or manual MTA users, you will need to regenerate your mail
   aliases.  Use bin/genaliases.

   VIRTUAL_HOST_OVERVIEW has been removed, effectively Mailman now operates
   as if it were always enabled.  If your site has more than one domain,
   you must configure all domains by using add_domain() in your
   etc/mailman.cfg flie (see below -- add_virtual() has been removed).
 * If you had customizations based on Site.py, you will need to re-implement
   them.  Site.py has been removed.
 * The site list is no more.  You can remove your 'mailman' site list unless
   you want to retain it for other purposes, but it is no longer used (or
   required) by Mailman.  You should set NO_REPLY_ADDRESS to an address that
   throws away replies, and you should set SITE_OWNER_ADDRESS to an email
   address that reaches the person ultimately responsible for the Mailman
   installation.  The MAILMAN_SITE_LIST variable has been removed.
 * qrunners no longer restart on SIGINT; SIGUSR1 is used for that now.

Internationalization Big Changes
--------------------------------

 * Translators should work only on messages/<lang>/LC_MESSAGES/mailman.po.
   Templates files are generated from mailman.po during the build process.

New Features
------------

 * Confirmed member change of address is logged in the 'subscribe' log, and if
   admin_notify_mchanges is true, a notice is sent to the list owner using a
   new adminaddrchgack.txt template.
 * There is a new list attribute 'subscribe_auto_approval' which is a list of
   email addresses and regular expressions matching email addresses whose
   subscriptions are exempt from admin approval. RFE 403066.

Command line scripts
--------------------

 * Most scripts have grown a -C/--config flag to allow you to specify a
   different configuration file.  Without this, the default etc/mailman.cfg
   file will be used.
 * the -V/--virtual-host-overview switch in list_lists has been removed, while
   -d/--domain and -f/--full have been added.
 * bin/newlist is renamed bin/create_list and bin/rmlist is renamed
   bin/remove_list.  Both take fully-qualified list names now (i.e. the list's
   posting address), but also accept short names, in which case the default
   domain is used.  newlist's -u/--urlhost and -e/--emailhost switches have
   been removed.  The domain that the list is being added to must already
   exist.
 * Backport the ability to specify additional footer interpolation variables
   by the message metadata 'decoration-data' key.

Bug fixes and other patches
---------------------------

 * Removal of DomainKey/DKIM signatures is now controlled by Defaults.py
   mm_cfg.py variable REMOVE_DKIM_HEADERS (default = No).
 * Queue runner processing is improved to log and preserve for analysis in the
   shunt queue certain bad queue entries that were previously logged but lost.
   Also, entries are preserved when an attempt to shunt throws an exception
   (1656289).
 * The processing of Topics regular expressions has changed. Previously the
   Topics regexp was compiled in verbose mode but not documented as such which
   caused some confusion.  Also, the documentation indicated that topic
   keywords could be entered one per line, but these entries were not handled
   properly.  Topics regexps are now compiled in non-verbose mode and multi-
   line entries are 'ored'.  Existing Topics regexps will be converted when
   the list is updated so they will continue to work.
 * The List-Help, List-Subscribe, and List-Unsubscribe headers were
   incorrectly suppressed in messages that Mailman sends directly to users.
 * The 'adminapproved' metadata key is renamed 'moderator_approved'.