Distribution list?

[Knute Johnson]

I need to set up a distribution list. Where one email is sent to one
user and it is then sent to multiple other users. They are all local
users although that might change. I know that I can make a large entry
in /etc/aliases but is there a more common or better way of doing this?

--

Knute Johnson

[Martin Neitzel]

Knute Johnson <knut...@585ranch.com> wrote:
> I need to set up a distribution list. [...] I know that I can make a

> large entry in /etc/aliases but is there a more common or better way of
> doing this?

/etc/aliases is just fine. I don't hesitate to put alias lists in there
with, say, twenty users. Note that you can also define an alias with

somelist :include:/file/name

mechanism to delegate the address list (and their maintainance) to
somewhere else. (In fact, most mailing list software is using exactly
this mechanism.)

As long as the distribution list is for a very small, tightly knit group,
and senders care about reaching *all* other member, the users will probably
prefer to receive bounce messages directly. (An internal distribution
list for some project team, or the list for my six fellow road byciclists
work good this way.)

Whenever senders don't really care about who exactly is on the list
("support@...") then bounces should go to whoever is maintaining the
/etc/alias entry or the :included: address list. In that case, simply
add a corresponding "owner-" alias"

owner-somelist: postmaster

This will cause the envelope-sender to be changes, and thusly the address
bounces will go to. This also is a MUST as soon as you add external
addresses to the list. (Otherwise, you'll probably violat a sender's
SPF restrictions.)

Martin Neitzel

[Marco Moock]

If you want a more flexible way, use a mailing list software like
Mailman, Listserv or Sympa.

--
kind regards
Marco

Send spam to muel...@cartoonies.org

[Mike Scott]

On 20/02/2024 06:41, Marco Moock wrote:
> On 19.02.2024 um 11:47 Uhr Knute Johnson wrote:
>
>> I need to set up a distribution list. Where one email is sent to one
>> user and it is then sent to multiple other users. They are all local
>> users although that might change. I know that I can make a large
>> entry in /etc/aliases but is there a more common or better way of
>> doing this?
>
> If you want a more flexible way, use a mailing list software like
> Mailman, Listserv or Sympa.

IIRC the latest mailman doesn't really support sendmail. mailman2 used
to, but uses python2 so is rather obsolete, although not hard to set up
and use.

spf and dkim have rather messed up a simple approach :-{

I've been hoping to find a simple internet service for this job, but
haven't seen anything obvious (plenty of commercial "mailing list
managers" that seem oriented around using a web service to send business
material, which isn't what's wanted here). Does anyone know of any such?
>

--
Mike Scott
Harlow, England

[Marco Moock]

On 20.02.2024 um 09:35 Uhr Mike Scott wrote:

> On 20/02/2024 06:41, Marco Moock wrote:
> > On 19.02.2024 um 11:47 Uhr Knute Johnson wrote:
> >
> >> I need to set up a distribution list. Where one email is sent to
> >> one user and it is then sent to multiple other users. They are
> >> all local users although that might change. I know that I can
> >> make a large entry in /etc/aliases but is there a more common or
> >> better way of doing this?
> >
> > If you want a more flexible way, use a mailing list software like
> > Mailman, Listserv or Sympa.
>
> IIRC the latest mailman doesn't really support sendmail.

https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/mailman/en/latest/src/mailman/docs/mta.html

Sendmail support LMTP.
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/sendmail-3rd-edition/1565928393/re166.html

> spf and dkim have rather messed up a simple approach :-{

As long as you don't change the message, DKIM will be fine.
MAIL FROM must be set to the listserver address, so it can process
bounces.
That makes SPF work.

The problem is DMARC alignment because now SPF domain and DKIM domain
aren't the same in some situations.

> I've been hoping to find a simple internet service for this job, but
> haven't seen anything obvious (plenty of commercial "mailing list
> managers" that seem oriented around using a web service to send
> business material, which isn't what's wanted here). Does anyone know
> of any such?

Mailman and Sympa are for free.
Sympa can be used by stdin, so aliases/virtuser-aliases can be used and
it supports creating those files automatically.

[Mike Scott]

On 20/02/2024 10:40, Marco Moock wrote:
....

>> IIRC the latest mailman doesn't really support sendmail.
>
> https://docs.mailman3.org/projects/mailman/en/latest/src/mailman/docs/mta.html
>
> Sendmail support LMTP.
> https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/sendmail-3rd-edition/1565928393/re166.html
>
>> spf and dkim have rather messed up a simple approach :-{
>
> As long as you don't change the message, DKIM will be fine.
> MAIL FROM must be set to the listserver address, so it can process
> bounces.
> That makes SPF work.
>
> The problem is DMARC alignment because now SPF domain and DKIM domain
> aren't the same in some situations.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm afraid I got my setup to work,
somehow, a few years ago. I've rather forgotten the details.

>
>> I've been hoping to find a simple internet service for this job, but
>> haven't seen anything obvious (plenty of commercial "mailing list
>> managers" that seem oriented around using a web service to send
>> business material, which isn't what's wanted here). Does anyone know
>> of any such?
>
> Mailman and Sympa are for free.
> Sympa can be used by stdin, so aliases/virtuser-aliases can be used and
> it supports creating those files automatically.
>

Thanks for the reply.

I was running mailman2 at home on behalf of a local choir; I stopped a
couple of years ago when the choir reduced its activities somewhat.

I'm really looking for a way to avoid running a "private" mail server at
all - I need a way to provide a members' mail list for a local church
without needing a server that will need someone to manage it. I'm
surprised not to find cheap (free even?) mail list exploder services around.

[Marco Moock]

On 20.02.2024 um 10:55 Uhr Mike Scott wrote:

> I'm really looking for a way to avoid running a "private" mail server
> at all - I need a way to provide a members' mail list for a local
> church without needing a server that will need someone to manage it.
> I'm surprised not to find cheap (free even?) mail list exploder
> services around.

You can rent such services:
https://theworld.com/world/about/rates_schedule

[Grant Taylor]

On 2/20/24 03:35, Mike Scott wrote:
> spf and dkim have rather messed up a simple approach :-{

SRS seems to work just fine for me.



Grant. . . .

[Knute Johnson]

Pardon my ignorance but what is SRS?

--

Knute Johnson

[Marco Moock]

On 21.02.2024 um 11:01 Uhr Knute Johnson wrote:

> Pardon my ignorance but what is SRS?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_Rewriting_Scheme

[Grant Taylor]

On 2/21/24 11:01, Knute Johnson wrote:
> Pardon my ignorance but what is SRS?

There's nothing to pardon. Being ignorant of something is a starting
place. Asking questions and wanting to learn to change ignorance into
knowledge is a good thing. :-)



--
Grant. . . .

[Knute Johnson]

On 2/21/24 13:51, Marco Moock wrote:
> On 21.02.2024 um 11:01 Uhr Knute Johnson wrote:
>
>> Pardon my ignorance but what is SRS?
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_Rewriting_Scheme
>

That's really interesting but I'm not sure I understand it. It does
bring up another couple of questions which I will put in another post.

Thanks,

--

Knute Johnson