Installing ezmlm on Debian squeeze with existing qmail and vpopmail system.

This is a quick explanation how to install and configure ezmlm-idx on Debian Squeeze on existing qmail/vpopmail installation.

Since ezmlm-idx is not on an official Debian release we need to build our own deb package. First we need to add experimental sources in /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb-src http://ftp.bg.debian.org/debian/ experimental main contrib non-free

Update and get the source:

# apt-get update
# apt-get source ezmlm-idx

Install additional packages needed by ezmlm-idx (if you are planning to use it with mysql/pgsql):

# apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev libpq-dev

There is a Debian specific bug (probably that is why ezmlm-idx is not in the official release) inside this package and it is path to qmail-queue program. The path to qmail-queue is hardcoded in file conf-qmail: "/var/lib/qmail" and ezmlm-manage tries to launch it from there. Solutions are either to edit conf-qmail file and change path to /usr/sbin or to make a link:

# mkdir /var/lib/qmail
# ln -s /usr/sbin /var/lib/qmail/bin

Now build the package:

# cd ezmlm-idx-7.1.1
# dpkg-buildpackage -uc -rfakeroot

If everything is ok there will be three new deb packages.

# ls -la
total 2232
drwxr-xr-x  3 root root    4096 Apr  8 11:58 .
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root    4096 Apr  8 11:50 ..
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root   24576 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx-7.1.1
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  104602 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx-mysql_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  105098 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx-pgsql_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    5508 Apr  8 11:57 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0.diff.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 root root     837 Apr  8 11:57 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0.dsc
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    2447 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.changes
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 1284294 Apr  8 11:58 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  718954 Apr 17  2012 ezmlm-idx_7.1.1.orig.tar.gz

Install it:

# dpkg -i ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb
Selecting previously deselected package ezmlm-idx.
(Reading database ... 42574 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking ezmlm-idx (from ezmlm-idx_7.1.1-1~exp0_i386.deb) ...
Setting up ezmlm-idx (7.1.1-1~exp0) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
#

Now we can make our mailing list. If vpopmail is installed in /home/vpopmail here is the command to make new mailing list:

# ezmlm-make /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/testlist /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/.qmail-testlist testlist lists.example.com

Change ownership of newly created files and directories.

# chown vpopmail:vchkpw  /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/* -R
# chown vpopmail:vchkpw  /home/vpopmail/domains/lists.example.com/.* -R

This will make mailing list "testlist" on domain lists.example.com. You can subscribe by sending mail at address testlist-subscribe@lists.example.com. For more information you can see man pages of ezmlm and by sending mail to testlist-help@lists.example.com.