How to Install Mailman on NixOS Latest

Mailman is a popular open source mailing list management software. In this tutorial, we will guide you through the installation process of Mailman on NixOS latest.

Prerequisites

• A server or personal computer
• Installed and configured NixOS

Step 1: Installation of Mailman

To install Mailman on NixOS latest, we will use the Nix package manager.

Use the following commands to do so:

$ nix-shell -p python27 python38 python39 python2Packages.mailman python3Packages.mailman

Step 2: Configuration of Mailman

Add Mailman User & Group

Create a new group called mailman and a new user called mailman with this group.

Use the following commads to do so:

$ sudo groupadd mailman
$ sudo useradd -g mailman -ms /bin/bash mailman

Create Directories

Create the required directories for Mailman.

Use the following commands to do so:

$ sudo mkdir /var/log/mailman
$ sudo mkdir /var/mailman
$ sudo chown mailman:mailman /var/log/mailman
$ sudo chown mailman:mailman /var/mailman

Generate default Mailman Configuration File

Run the following command to generate the default configuration file.

$ sudo -u mailman /nix/store/hc4h4bfzcw4yzjqn7j8l1bjyvnlnbfc4-mailman-2.1.29/bin/mkconfig.py > /etc/mailman.cfg

Generate Initial Database Files

Run the following commands to generate a site-wide password and initial database files:

$ sudo -u mailman /nix/store/lwl6kbvz6i1an6l9nk8qj3n0v88w2mv0-mailman-2.1.29/bin/mmsitepass
$ sudo /nix/store/lwl6kbvz6i1an6l9nk8qj3n0v88w2mv0-mailman-2.1.29/bin/newlist mailman

Step 3: Start Mailman Service

Run the following command to start the Mailman service.

$ sudo /nix/store/lwl6kbvz6i1an6l9nk8qj3n0v88w2mv0-mailman-2.1.29/bin/mailmanctl start

Conclusion

This completes the installation of Mailman on NixOS latest. You can now start using Mailman to manage your mailing lists.

Happy Mailing!