Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-02-10 Thread Geoff Mayes
It's been a few weeks since the last posting to this thread, but I nonetheless 
wanted to follow up to provide some sort of closure around one organization's 
mailing list migration efforts from Majordomo and to also hopefully provide a 
few interesting tidbits of information to others.

Based in part on the incredible responsiveness and assistance from this thread, 
we have decided to go with Mailman instead of Sympa.

We took a few measures to lock down our instance, including all of the 
following:
- Centralized LDAP authentication via Apache's mod_authnz_ldap 
(http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_authnz_ldap.html)
- Removed all subscriber password form fields from the UI so that only 
auto-generated passwords are used for subscribers (templates/en/listinfo.html 
and templates/en/options.html)
- Changed the back-end for subscriber passwords too so that a form/CGI password 
can never become the subscriber password (Mailman/Cgi/subscribe.py)
- Removed the auto-generate password option from the Create a New List form 
so that users had to choose a password, and then removed the password string 
from the Your list has been created emails (templates/en/newlist.txt)
- Change the Password Reminder text to Password Reset and auto-generate a 
new random password before emailing the subscriber their password 
(Mailman/Cgi/options.py)
- Don't require a Mailman list creator password when creating a new list 
because the site is already locked down via an Apache LDAP module 
(Mailman/Cgi/create.py)

I also wrote an import script from Majordomo into Mailman, thoroughly 
referencing the excellent contrib/majordomo2mailman.pl script written in 2002 
by Heiko that currently lives in the Mailman2 tarball.  I was able to translate 
most Majordomo settings into Mailman.  The script also has a --stats option if 
you just want to get a sense of the distribution of values across all of your 
Majordomo lists.  The script is only on GitHub right now 
(https://github.com/mayesgr/import_majordomo_into_mailman), but I plan to post 
it to Mailman's bug tracker once I'm 100% satisfied with it, in the hopes that, 
if others find it useful, it makes its way into the tarball as well.  If you'd 
like the script improved in any way, please feel free to let me know.  
(Apologies to all pythonistas, myself included: the script started out as 
import_majordomo_into_sympa.pl, which are both written in Perl, and then we 
changed gears when we decided to go with Mailman instead.)

Thanks again to everyone for all of your great information and help,

Geoff Mayes

 -Original Message-
 From: mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org
 [mailto:mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org] On
 Behalf Of Geoff Mayes
 Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 10:32 AM
 To: mailman-users@python.org
 Subject: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of
 Sympa (from Majordomo)
 
 Hello Mailman gurus,
 
 I hope a general question about Mailman's features and future direction
 (along with some Sympa comparisons) are appropriate for this list.
 
 The University of Oregon is migrating away from Majordomo.  We decided
 on Sympa because Mailman sends passwords over email while Sympa
 provides centralized (e.g. Shibboleth, LDAP, etc) authentication.  If Mailman
 provided a way around the passwords in the clear issue, I'm pretty sure we'd
 go with Mailman because:
 - Mailman is more thoroughly used and thus tested (one stat that gets at this
 is Alexa Traffic Rank: 165,692 vs 749,729 for Sympa)
 - Mailman is more mature (the max bug ID for mailman in its issue-tracking
 system is ~913,400; the max bug ID for Sympa is 8,117 and there is still no 
 bug
 category for Sympa's latest version -- 6.1.7 -- even though it has been out 
 for
 over 4 months)
 - Mailman has greater branch stability and code reliability (I noticed that 
 Barry
 ran a pre-checkin acceptance suite for the Postgres patch for Mailman 3
 before he checked it in)
 - Mailman has a bright and well-documented future (Mailman 3 and its bug
 tracker, source code, milestones, etc)
 - Mailman has a more active and supportive community, which is very
 important in resolving future issues (Mailman had 150 list postings in
 December and through mid-January while Sympa had 44; I've been
 impressed with Mark Sapiro's responsiveness on this list)
 
 Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman,
 clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?  I've
 written a number of Django apps using my own LDAP module, so I was also
 wondering if folks think now is a mature-enough time to perhaps grab
 Mailman 3, its Django front-end, and hack together what I'm after?  A final,
 random question: Mailman 3 is still in alpha, but is it stable given that it's
 almost been in alpha for 4 years?
 
 Many, many thinks for any help, pointers, or information,
 
 Geoff Mayes
 --
 Mailman-Users

Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Mailman Admin
On 2012-01-19 19:32, Geoff Mayes wrote:
 
 I hope a general question about Mailman's features and future
 direction (along with some Sympa comparisons) are appropriate for
 this list.
 
 The University of Oregon is migrating away from Majordomo.  We
 decided on Sympa because Mailman sends passwords over email
... 
 Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman,
 clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?
 
You can stop the cronjob used to email reminders.
With this you don't email them to the users, but they will still be
saved in clear text in Mailman.

 I've written a number of Django apps using my own LDAP module, so I
 was also wondering if folks think now is a mature-enough time to
 perhaps grab Mailman 3, its Django front-end, and hack together what
 I'm after?
 A final, random question: Mailman 3 is still in alpha, but is it
 stable given that it's almost been in alpha for 4 years?
 

Didn't test it yet, so no comment from me.


Kind regards,
Christian Mack
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Adam McGreggor
On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 10:05:20AM +0100, Mailman Admin wrote:
 On 2012-01-19 19:32, Geoff Mayes wrote:
  
  I hope a general question about Mailman's features and future
  direction (along with some Sympa comparisons) are appropriate for
  this list.
  
  The University of Oregon is migrating away from Majordomo. 

Hurrah! ;o)

  We
  decided on Sympa because Mailman sends passwords over email
 ... 
  Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman,
  clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?
  
 You can stop the cronjob used to email reminders.

+1

 With this you don't email them to the users, but they will still be
 saved in clear text in Mailman.

Another way could be to make the 'don't use a valuable password' text
more prominent, or enforce some password complexity test.

There is the LDAP extension, YMMV.

  I've written a number of Django apps using my own LDAP module, so I
  was also wondering if folks think now is a mature-enough time to
  perhaps grab Mailman 3, its Django front-end, and hack together what
  I'm after?
  A final, random question: Mailman 3 is still in alpha, but is it
  stable given that it's almost been in alpha for 4 years?

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-announce/2011-September/000164.html
seems to be the latest update. IIRC, Barry's not on -users, but does
post on -developers.

(There was an update, but I can't quickly find it)

I could be wrong on that, though/


-- 
I try not to get drunk at lunchtime any earlier in the week than
 Thursday.
-- Giles Coren
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Carl Zwanzig

On 1/20/2012 1:05 AM, Mailman Admin wrote:

On 2012-01-19 19:32, Geoff Mayes wrote:

Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman,
clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?


You can stop the cronjob used to email reminders.
With this you don't email them to the users, but they will still be
saved in clear text in Mailman.


You can also easily change the code to leave it out of the reminder.

z!
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread C Nulk
On 1/20/2012 8:48 AM, Carl Zwanzig wrote:
 On 1/20/2012 1:05 AM, Mailman Admin wrote:
 On 2012-01-19 19:32, Geoff Mayes wrote:
 Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman,
 clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?

 You can stop the cronjob used to email reminders.
 With this you don't email them to the users, but they will still be
 saved in clear text in Mailman.

 You can also easily change the code to leave it out of the reminder.

Or simplest of all, use the option on the General Settings page (under
Notifications) and turn off the monthly reminders.

Chris


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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Geoff Mayes
Thank you everyone for your help and sharing all of this information.  I found 
it very useful and further proof of the active and supportive Mailman community.

It sounds like, to summarize, the Mailman2 branch can lock down its passwords 
by:
1. disabling cron password reminders
2. increasing the warning in the UI about not using valuable passwords

Mailman2 cannot change the following, however, without code changes:
a. storing passwords unencrypted
b. sending password reminder emails to list subscribers who request a reminder 
via the UI (is that right?).

I'm not worried about (a), just trying to be thorough.

Question:
Can list admins request a password reminder email via the UI?  In the UI I see 
that subscribers can but it doesn't look like list admins can.  If that is true 
and a list admin/owner loses their password, does the Mailman site 
administrator have to fetch it for them?  I'm thinking about the extra work 
(however small, as others have pointed out that admins rarely change their 
settings) this will put on our mailman administrator if there are 2k+ lists.

Thanks to all for your prompt and wonderful responses, Geoff Mayes

 -Original Message-
 From: mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org
 [mailto:mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org] On
 Behalf Of C Nulk
 Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 9:39 AM
 To: mailman-users@python.org
 Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead
 of Sympa (from Majordomo)
 
 On 1/20/2012 8:48 AM, Carl Zwanzig wrote:
  On 1/20/2012 1:05 AM, Mailman Admin wrote:
  On 2012-01-19 19:32, Geoff Mayes wrote:
  Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in
  Mailman, clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's
 release?
 
  You can stop the cronjob used to email reminders.
  With this you don't email them to the users, but they will still be
  saved in clear text in Mailman.
 
  You can also easily change the code to leave it out of the reminder.
 
 Or simplest of all, use the option on the General Settings page (under
 Notifications) and turn off the monthly reminders.
 
 Chris
 
 
 --
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 http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users
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 http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-
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 Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread C Nulk
On 1/20/2012 10:06 AM, Geoff Mayes wrote:
 Thank you everyone for your help and sharing all of this information.  I 
 found it very useful and further proof of the active and supportive Mailman 
 community.

 It sounds like, to summarize, the Mailman2 branch can lock down its passwords 
 by:
 1. disabling cron password reminders
 2. increasing the warning in the UI about not using valuable passwords

 Mailman2 cannot change the following, however, without code changes:
 a. storing passwords unencrypted
 b. sending password reminder emails to list subscribers who request a 
 reminder via the UI (is that right?).

 I'm not worried about (a), just trying to be thorough.

 Question:
 Can list admins request a password reminder email via the UI?  In the UI I 
 see that subscribers can but it doesn't look like list admins can.  If that 
 is true and a list admin/owner loses their password, does the Mailman site 
 administrator have to fetch it for them?  I'm thinking about the extra work 
 (however small, as others have pointed out that admins rarely change their 
 settings) this will put on our mailman administrator if there are 2k+ lists.

 Thanks to all for your prompt and wonderful responses, Geoff Mayes

I don't believe the List Administrator/owner can have the list admin
password sent to them.  I don't think the site administrator can do it
either.  The only solution is to have the Site Admin change the list
administrator password or if there are multiple list admins, have them
tell the other admins for the list what the password is or change the
password and then let the other know (if any).

But I could be wrong.  We don't have 2+k lists so having the Site Admin
change a list admin password is not a problem.  Then again, since we
started using Mailman, that has happened maybe three or four times.  The
student government moderates their own list for the undergraduate
student population and sometimes they forget to let the incoming
government people know the moderator password.

Chris

 -Original Message-
 From: mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org
 [mailto:mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org] On
 Behalf Of C Nulk
 Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 9:39 AM
 To: mailman-users@python.org
 Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead
 of Sympa (from Majordomo)

 On 1/20/2012 8:48 AM, Carl Zwanzig wrote:
 On 1/20/2012 1:05 AM, Mailman Admin wrote:
 On 2012-01-19 19:32, Geoff Mayes wrote:
 Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in
 Mailman, clever hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's
 release?
 You can stop the cronjob used to email reminders.
 With this you don't email them to the users, but they will still be
 saved in clear text in Mailman.
 You can also easily change the code to leave it out of the reminder.
 Or simplest of all, use the option on the General Settings page (under
 Notifications) and turn off the monthly reminders.

 Chris


 --
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 http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users
 Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy:
 http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-
 archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/
 Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-
 users/gmayes%40uoregon.edu
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Barry Warsaw
On Jan 19, 2012, at 06:32 PM, Geoff Mayes wrote:

 Mailman is more mature (the max bug ID for mailman in its issue-tracking
 system is ~913,400; the max bug ID for Sympa is 8,117 and there is still no
 bug category for Sympa's latest version -- 6.1.7 -- even though it has been
 out for over 4 months)

I'm not sure bug numbers are a good indication.  Launchpad has one namespace
for all bugs, so the maximum number reflects bugs reported across all hosted
upstream projects *and* all Ubuntu bugs.

OTOH, Mailman has been around since the mid-90's.  That's good because the key
parts of the code are heavily battle-tested and (IMO) very stable.  It's bad
because some things like the web ui really need  a good updating (and this is
going on in the web-ui project for Mailman 3).

 Mailman has greater branch stability and code reliability (I noticed that
 Barry ran a pre-checkin acceptance suite for the Postgres patch for Mailman
 3 before he checked it in)

Yep.  I have a strict testing policy for mm3 code.

 Mailman has a bright and well-documented future (Mailman 3 and its bug
 tracker, source code, milestones, etc)

I think so too!

 Mailman has a more active and supportive community, which is very important
 in resolving future issues (Mailman had 150 list postings in December and
 through mid-January while Sympa had 44; I've been impressed with Mark
 Sapiro's responsiveness on this list)

Mark is *awesome*.

Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman, clever
hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?

As I think others have pointed out, individual users can disable password
reminders, list admins can disable them for their lists, and site admins can
disable them for the entire site (by turning off the cron job).

As for mm3 release, well, I think now that I'll be giving a talk at Pycon 2012
on it, I *have* to release it before then!  There are two blockers, that I am
attempting to solve before going into beta.  1) the REST API needs an
authentication/authorization framework; 2) we need some kind of schema
migration approach.  Come on over to mailman-developers@ if you want to
participate.

I know there is at least one site using mm3 in production today.  I have some
patches that need to be applied to improve the API performance, but I'm
confident the core engine is pretty solid.

I've written a number of Django apps using my own LDAP module, so I was also
wondering if folks think now is a mature-enough time to perhaps grab Mailman
3, its Django front-end, and hack together what I'm after?

Yes, I think now is a great time to do that.  The API is fleshed out enough
that you should be able to build a web-ui to communicate with it, or you can
help Florian and Terri drive the official web-ui toward release.

A final, random question: Mailman 3 is still in alpha, but is it stable given
that it's almost been in alpha for 4 years?

Nothing can replace actual field testing under real world conditions, but I'm
pretty confident about the core engine.  As I mentioned above, one way or
another it has to go to beta before Pycon. :)

-Barry
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Larry Stone

On Thu, 19 Jan 2012, Geoff Mayes wrote:

If Mailman 
provided a way around the passwords in the clear issue, I'm pretty sure 
we'd go with Mailman ...


My personal opionion is Mailman passwords are so insignificant that it 
really shouldn't be an issue. On the other hand, I recognize that you may 
have direction from above that because it's called a password, it needs 
to be ulta-secure (there are, unfortunately, too many bosses who don't 
understand security and don't understand that different types of systems 
have different security needs). How much damage could be done if a Mailman 
user password was compromised? How much damage could be done if my on-line 
banking password was compromised? The answers are very different yet there 
are many who want them secured in the same way.


I so rarely use a Mailman password that I don't even try to remember it. 
If I need to use it on a Mailman system, I have it send it to me, use it, 
then forget it.


If someone wants to mess up my subscription on a Mailman system, well, go 
ahead. I have far more important things in life to worry about.


Also, consider how many other times passwords are sent in the clear, just 
not in email. A snail mail with a password is also a password sent in the 
clear yet few seem to have a problem with that. Maybe because I practice 
good password managment, I am less concerned about an email being snooped 
than I am about snail mail theft or privileged access abuses.


I would not worry about Mailman passwords being sent in the clear and 
instead, urge users to use good password practices. For Mailman, encourage 
them to let Mailman assign a password (and thereby, not reuse a PW). 
Because no matter what you do, people will reuse passwords, use the same 
password for low and high security needs, use easy-to-guess passwords, 
write them down, and other things that just make Mailman's password 
concerns the least of your organization's security concerns.


-- Larry Stone
   lston...@stonejongleux.com
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Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-20 Thread Geoff Mayes
Larry,

I think you closed our security hole!  You're right that someone else getting 
their hands on your mailman password is incredibly minor.  The issue is when 
individuals subscribe to lists using their central LDAP/AD password as their 
Mailman list password.  In that case password interception is a bigger deal.

As you recommend in your paragraph on password best practices, people should 
let Mailman2 auto-generate a password.  And it looks like this can easily be 
enforced by simply removing the Pick a password and Reenter password to 
confirm fields from the list subscription page.  Mailman will then 
auto-generate all passwords.  Voila!  Unique passwords that only exist in 
Mailman.  (Now if someone chooses to start using their Mailman list password as 
their LDAP password...)   :)

The annoying issue that remains is that Mailman2 cannot be brought under 
centralized authorization and users have yet another password to maintain.  But 
as you and others have pointed out, list owners and list subscribers rarely 
interact with Mailman.  And MM3 is on the horizon...

This is great.  Thanks, Geoff

 -Original Message-
 From: mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org
 [mailto:mailman-users-bounces+gmayes=uoregon@python.org] On
 Behalf Of Larry Stone
 Sent: Friday, January 20, 2012 1:18 PM
 To: mailman-users@python.org
 Subject: Re: [Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead
 of Sympa (from Majordomo)
 
 On Thu, 19 Jan 2012, Geoff Mayes wrote:
 
  If Mailman
  provided a way around the passwords in the clear issue, I'm pretty
  sure we'd go with Mailman ...
 
 My personal opionion is Mailman passwords are so insignificant that it really
 shouldn't be an issue. On the other hand, I recognize that you may have
 direction from above that because it's called a password, it needs to be
 ulta-secure (there are, unfortunately, too many bosses who don't
 understand security and don't understand that different types of systems
 have different security needs). How much damage could be done if a
 Mailman user password was compromised? How much damage could be
 done if my on-line banking password was compromised? The answers are
 very different yet there are many who want them secured in the same way.
 
 I so rarely use a Mailman password that I don't even try to remember it.
 If I need to use it on a Mailman system, I have it send it to me, use it, then
 forget it.
 
 If someone wants to mess up my subscription on a Mailman system, well, go
 ahead. I have far more important things in life to worry about.
 
 Also, consider how many other times passwords are sent in the clear, just
 not in email. A snail mail with a password is also a password sent in the 
 clear
 yet few seem to have a problem with that. Maybe because I practice good
 password managment, I am less concerned about an email being snooped
 than I am about snail mail theft or privileged access abuses.
 
 I would not worry about Mailman passwords being sent in the clear and
 instead, urge users to use good password practices. For Mailman, encourage
 them to let Mailman assign a password (and thereby, not reuse a PW).
 Because no matter what you do, people will reuse passwords, use the same
 password for low and high security needs, use easy-to-guess passwords,
 write them down, and other things that just make Mailman's password
 concerns the least of your organization's security concerns.
 
 -- Larry Stone
 lston...@stonejongleux.com
 --
 Mailman-Users mailing list Mailman-Users@python.org
 http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-users
 Mailman FAQ: http://wiki.list.org/x/AgA3 Security Policy:
 http://wiki.list.org/x/QIA9 Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-
 archive.com/mailman-users%40python.org/
 Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-
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[Mailman-Users] Thoughts about migrating to Mailman instead of Sympa (from Majordomo)

2012-01-19 Thread Geoff Mayes
Hello Mailman gurus,

I hope a general question about Mailman's features and future direction (along 
with some Sympa comparisons) are appropriate for this list.

The University of Oregon is migrating away from Majordomo.  We decided on Sympa 
because Mailman sends passwords over email while Sympa provides centralized 
(e.g. Shibboleth, LDAP, etc) authentication.  If Mailman provided a way around 
the passwords in the clear issue, I'm pretty sure we'd go with Mailman because:
- Mailman is more thoroughly used and thus tested (one stat that gets at this 
is Alexa Traffic Rank: 165,692 vs 749,729 for Sympa)
- Mailman is more mature (the max bug ID for mailman in its issue-tracking 
system is ~913,400; the max bug ID for Sympa is 8,117 and there is still no bug 
category for Sympa's latest version -- 6.1.7 -- even though it has been out for 
over 4 months)
- Mailman has greater branch stability and code reliability (I noticed that 
Barry ran a pre-checkin acceptance suite for the Postgres patch for Mailman 3 
before he checked it in)
- Mailman has a bright and well-documented future (Mailman 3 and its bug 
tracker, source code, milestones, etc)
- Mailman has a more active and supportive community, which is very important 
in resolving future issues (Mailman had 150 list postings in December and 
through mid-January while Sympa had 44; I've been impressed with Mark Sapiro's 
responsiveness on this list)

Does anyone know a way around the emailed passwords issue in Mailman, clever 
hacks, certain plugins, or a timeline for Mailman 3's release?  I've written a 
number of Django apps using my own LDAP module, so I was also wondering if 
folks think now is a mature-enough time to perhaps grab Mailman 3, its Django 
front-end, and hack together what I'm after?  A final, random question: Mailman 
3 is still in alpha, but is it stable given that it's almost been in alpha for 
4 years?

Many, many thinks for any help, pointers, or information,

Geoff Mayes
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