webmlmd - Online in the Cloud

PROGRAM:

NAME

webmlmd - WebMLM interface to couriermlm

SYNOPSIS

cp /usr/lib/courier/courier/webmail/webmlm /var/www/cgi-bin

webmlmd {[start] | [restart] | [stop]} {/etc/courier/webmlmrc}

DESCRIPTION

WebMLM is a service that offers an alternative web-based access to some couriermlm
commands, as an alternative to submitting them via E-mail.

At this time, WebMLM implements requests to subscribe and unsubscribe from the mailing
list, and configuration of basic mailing list settings.

Before configuring WebMLM, the mailing list must be set up using couriermlm(1). WebMLM is
not a separate application, it is an add-on to couriermlm. WebMLM will not work correctly
until the mailing list is fully configured, and all .courier files, that correspond to
this list, are installed.

OVERVIEW

WebMLM consists of three parts:

· A configuration file, (default: /etc/courier/webmlmrc) that enumerates all
couriermlm-created mailing list directories for which WebMLM will offer its services
(a single instance of WebMLM can support multiple mailing list directories). The
configuration file also specifies the name of a local filesystem socket (a named pipe)
where webmlm and webmlmd programs talk to each other, and several other configuration
parameters.

· webmlmd is a background daemon process that reads the configuration file, creates the
communication socket specified by the configuration file, and listens for web
requests.

· webmlm is a small stub program which must be installed as a script in Apache http
server's cgi-bin directory. Apache runs the script to process every request received
from a web client/browser. webmlm reads web browser's request, reads the
configuration file, opens the communication socket file specified in the configuration
file, sends the request to the webmlmd daemon process, and waits for webmlmd's
response, which is forwarded to the web browser/client.

Note
webmlm is originally installed in the /usr/lib/courier/courier/webmail directory,
and must be manually copied to Apache's cgi-bin directory. Most installable
Courier packages (including the Courier RPM package built using its default RPM
build script) have a separate subpackage that installs webmlm directly into the
cgi-bin directory. Installing the subpackage is all that's needed in those cases.

Use the following process to web-enable couriermlm-managed mailing lists:

1. Configure the LISTNAME, LISTDESCR, LISTPW and URL couriermlm list options.

2. Set up the webmlmrc configuration file.

3. Start webmlmd, and arrange start it automatically during the system boot.

4. Install webmlm in your web server's cgi-bin directory.

CONFIGURE COURIERMLM LIST OPTIONS

Use the “couriermlm set directory name=value” command, for each couriermlm list directory
to set the following settings:

LISTNAME
The mailing list's short title, or caption. Example: “The courier-users mailing list”.

LISTDESCR
This is a longer, more verbose description of this mailing list. This setting is
displayed, as raw HTML, on the list's main page. This is an optional setting.

URL
The URL to the main page for this mailing list. You'll need to figure out what this
URL should be set to by planning ahead where webmlm gets installed, in the last step
in this installation process.

After installing webmlm in Apache's cgi-bin directory, the URL for the webmlm command
would probably be something like “http://servername/cgi-bin/webmlm”. The list's URL is
the name of the list's directory appended to webmlm's URL.

For example, if the couriermlm mailing list directory is /var/lists/devel-list, its
URL MUST be “http://servername/cgi-bin/webmlm/devel-list”.

LISTPW
This is the password to the mailing list administration screen. The password must be
set using the couriermlm command.

Note
We are not talking military-grade security, here! Do not recycle sensitive
passwords for this purpose. The password is saved, in plain text, in the options
file in the mailing list directory. You should consider removing the world read
and execute permissions on the mailing list directory. Changing the permissions on
the options file is ineffective, it will be restored the next time any
configuration setting is changed.

Furthermore, authorization for the administration screen is provided by storing
the list password in a browser cookie, which also gets transmitted over the
network, in the clear. Consider using SSL with webmlmd.

This is a simple password-based implementation. High levels of security require a
lot of care to set up, and are usually somewhat complicated to implement and
manage. Keep that in mind.

Put apostrophes around each option setting when running couriermlm. Most of these
configuration settings (especially LISTDESCR) contain special shell characters and must be
quoted.

SETTING UP THE WEBMLMRC CONFIGURATION FILE

A default webmlmd configuration file is installed as /etc/courier/webmlmrc. The file
contains a description of each required configuration setting. Briefly:

PORT
The filesystem socket port file. This is a local filesystem socket that's used to
process web requests. The directory that contains the filesystem socket must either be
owned by the same userid that owns the couriermlm mailing list directory, or webmlmd
must be started as root (in the next step of this installation process). The default
/etc/courier/webmlmrc configuration file sets the filesystem socket file to a Courier
directory that's only writable by root, so webmlmd needs to be started by root, in the
step step, in the default configuration.

Additionally, the filesystem socket port file must be accessible by the userid that
executes web cgi-bin scripts. This is the nobody user, in Apache's default
configuration.

LISTS
A colon-separated list of couriermlm mailing list directories, as absolute paths. A
single instance of WebMLM is capable of handling multiple lists, provided that:

1. The names of all mailing list directories, the last components of all directories,
are unique.

2. All mailing list directories are owned by the same userid and groupid.

Otherwise, multiple, separate instances of WebMLM must be set up.

STARTING WEBMLMD

The following command starts webmlmd:

webmlmd start configfile

This command should be added to your system start up script (replacing configfile with the
absolute pathname to the configuration file).

Note
Most installable Courier packages (including the Courier RPM package built using its
default RPM build script) install a system startup script. The script invokes the
appropriate magical incantation if the configuration file (/etc/courier/webmlmrc) has
a non-empty LISTS setting. Initially, LISTS is empty and nothing happens. Once the
mailing list directories are defined, the startup script will take care of starting
webmlmd.

The webmlmd command returns immediately, it continues to run as a background daemon
process). To stop the daemon process:

webmlmd stop configfile

As mentioned previously, webmlmd must be either invoked as root, or under the same userid
that owns the mailing list directories, provided that PORT's directory is writable by the
userid.

INSTALLING WEBMLM

Install the webmlm program by either manually copying it from the
/usr/lib/courier/courier/webmail directory to your Apache's cgi-bin directory. Most
pre-built Courier packages typically do not have a /usr/lib/courier/courier/webmail
directory, but have have an optional subpackage that installs webmlm directly into the
cgi-bin directory

MULTIPLE WEBMLM INSTANCES

Sometimes, very specialized environments may require multiple instances of WebMLM. For
example, to support mailing list directories that are owned by different userids. This may
not be supported by most generic, pre-built, Courier packages, and must be done manually.

Install multiple copies of webmlm
Make separate copies of the webmlm program, one for each instance of WebMLM. Install them
all in your web server's cgi-bin directory. This can be done with soft or hard links, but
there must be separate instances of webmlm.

Each instance of webmlm reads a configuration file whose name is formed by appending “rc”
to the command, and looking for the file in /etc/courier. For example, the unmodified
webmlm reads /etc/courier/webmlmrc. If a second copy named webmlm2 exists, it will read
/etc/courier/webmlm2rc.

Additionally, the optional WEBMLMRC_DIR environment variable overrides the /etc/courier
portion of the configuration filename. If webmlm finds that this environment variable is
set, its contents replace the “/etc/courier” portion. For example, a webmlm that reads
“/etc/lists” from WEBMLMRC_DIR will open the /etc/lists/webmlmrc configuration file.
Similarly, if its own name, in the web server's script directory, is webmlm2, it will open
/etc/lists/webmlm2rc.

Use Apache's “SetEnv” directory to set environment variables:

SetEnv WEBMLMRC_DIR /etc/lists

Use whatever mechanism makes sense for you to arrange a unique configuration file for each
copy of the webmlm command.

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