How to Install Mailman on macOS

Mailman is a free and open-source software for managing electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of installing Mailman on macOS.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, you need to ensure that you have the following prerequisites:

  • A macOS operating system with administrative access.
  • A stable internet connection.

Installation Steps

  1. Download the Mailman source code

    • Go to the official Mailman website and download the latest Mailman source code.
    • Open your Terminal application and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the Mailman source code.

  2. Install the dependencies

    • Mailman requires several dependencies, including Python and Postfix

    • Install Python3 and Postfix by running the following command in your Terminal: 

      brew install python3 postfix

    • If you don't have Homebrew installed, you can download it from https://brew.sh/.

  3. Install virtualenv

    • Mailman requires virtualenv to create and manage a separate environment with its own set of dependencies.

    • Run the following command in your Terminal to install virtualenv:

      sudo pip3 install virtualenv

  4. Create a virtual environment

    • Create a virtual environment to install Mailman and its dependencies.

    • Run the following command in your Terminal to create the virtual environment:

      virtualenv -p python3.7 mailman

      (Replace python3.7 with the version of Python you installed in previous steps)

  5. Activate the virtual environment

    • Activate the virtual environment by running the following command in your Terminal:

      source mailman/bin/activate

  6. Install Mailman

    • You can now install Mailman inside the virtual environment.

    • Install Mailman by running the following command in your Terminal:

      pip3 install mailman==3.3.2

      (Replace 3.3.2 with the version of Mailman you downloaded in step 1)

  7. Configure Mailman

    • Mailman uses a configuration file to set up various options such as SMTP, Domain etc.

    • Run the following command in your Terminal to generate a default mm_cfg.py configuration file:

      mailman info | sudo tee /usr/local/mailman/mm_cfg.py >/dev/null

  8. Install and configure Apache

    • Apache is needed to make the web interface work.

    • Install Apache by running the following command in your Terminal:

      brew install httpd

    • After installing Apache, enable its configuration file for Mailman by adding the following lines to the end of the /usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf file:

      LoadModule cgi_module libexec/apache2/mod_cgi.so
ScriptAlias /mailman/ /Library/WebServer/CGI-Executables/mailman/

  9. Launch Mailman Interface

    • You can now launch the Mailman interface by visiting the following link:

      http://localhost/mailman/admin

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Mailman on macOS. You can now manage electronic mail discussion and e-newsletter lists with ease. If you have any questions or issues while following these steps, feel free to comment below.