Mailing lists

The REST API can be queried for the set of known mailing lists. There is a top level collection that can return all the mailing lists. There aren’t any yet though.

>>> from mailman.testing.documentation import dump_json
>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists')
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 0

Create a mailing list in a domain and it’s accessible via the API.

>>> from mailman.app.lifecycle import create_list
>>> mlist = create_list('ant@example.com')
>>> from mailman.config import config
>>> transaction = config.db
>>> transaction.commit()

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists')
entry 0:
    advertised: True
    description:
    display_name: Ant
    fqdn_listname: ant@example.com
    http_etag: "..."
    list_id: ant.example.com
    list_name: ant
    mail_host: example.com
    member_count: 0
    self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/ant.example.com
    volume: 1
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 1

You can also query for lists from a particular domain.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/domains/example.com/lists')
entry 0:
    advertised: True
    description:
    display_name: Ant
    fqdn_listname: ant@example.com
    http_etag: "..."
    list_id: ant.example.com
    list_name: ant
    mail_host: example.com
    member_count: 0
    self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/ant.example.com
    volume: 1
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 1

Advertised lists can be filtered using the advertised query parameter.

>>> mlist = create_list('elk@example.com')
>>> mlist.advertised = False
>>> transaction.commit()

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists?advertised=true')
entry 0:
    ...
    list_id: ant.example.com
    ...
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 1

The same applies to lists from a particular domain.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/domains/example.com'
...           '/lists?advertised=true')
entry 0:
    ...
    list_id: ant.example.com
    ...
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 1

Finding Lists

You can find a specific list based on their subscribers and their roles. For example, we can search for all related lists of a particular address.:

>>> from zope.component import getUtility
>>> from mailman.interfaces.usermanager import IUserManager
>>> user_manager = getUtility(IUserManager)
>>> gwen = user_manager.create_address('gwen@example.com', 'Gwen Person')

>>> mlist.subscribe(gwen)
<Member: Gwen Person <gwen@example.com> on elk@example.com as MemberRole.member>
>>> transaction.commit()
>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.1/lists/find', {
...           'subscriber': 'gwen@example.com'})
entry 0:
    advertised: False
    description:
    display_name: Elk
    fqdn_listname: elk@example.com
    http_etag: "..."
    list_id: elk.example.com
    list_name: elk
    mail_host: example.com
    member_count: 1
    self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.1/lists/elk.example.com
    volume: 1
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 1

You can filter lists based on specific roles of a subscriber too.:

>>> from mailman.interfaces.member import MemberRole
>>> owner_addr = user_manager.create_address('owner@example.com')
>>> mlist.subscribe(owner_addr, role=MemberRole.owner)
<Member: owner@example.com on elk@example.com as MemberRole.owner>
>>> transaction.commit()
>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.1/lists/find', {
...           'subscriber': 'owner@example.com',
...           'role':'owner'})
entry 0:
    advertised: False
    description:
    display_name: Elk
    fqdn_listname: elk@example.com
    http_etag: "..."
    list_id: elk.example.com
    list_name: elk
    mail_host: example.com
    member_count: 1
    self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.1/lists/elk.example.com
    volume: 1
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 1

Paginating over list records

Instead of returning all the list records at once, it’s possible to return them in pages by adding the GET parameters count and page to the request URI. Page 1 is the first page and count defines the size of the page.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/domains/example.com/lists'
...           '?count=1&page=1')
entry 0:
    advertised: True
    description:
    display_name: Ant
    fqdn_listname: ant@example.com
    http_etag: "..."
    list_id: ant.example.com
    list_name: ant
    mail_host: example.com
    member_count: 0
    self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/ant.example.com
    volume: 1
http_etag: "..."
start: 0
total_size: 2

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/domains/example.com/lists'
...           '?count=1&page=2')
entry 0:
    advertised: False
    description:
    display_name: Elk
    fqdn_listname: elk@example.com
    http_etag: "..."
    list_id: elk.example.com
    list_name: elk
    mail_host: example.com
    member_count: 1
    self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/elk.example.com
    volume: 1
http_etag: "..."
start: 1
total_size: 2

Creating lists via the API

New mailing lists can also be created through the API, by posting to the lists URL.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists', {
...           'fqdn_listname': 'bee@example.com',
...           })
content-length: 0
content-type: application/json
date: ...
location: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/bee.example.com
...

The mailing list exists in the database.

>>> from mailman.interfaces.listmanager import IListManager
>>> from zope.component import getUtility
>>> list_manager = getUtility(IListManager)

>>> bee = list_manager.get('bee@example.com')
>>> bee
<mailing list "bee@example.com" at ...>

The mailing list was created using the default style, which allows list posts.

>>> bee.allow_list_posts
True

It is also available in the REST API via the location given in the response.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/bee.example.com')
advertised: True
description:
display_name: Bee
fqdn_listname: bee@example.com
http_etag: "..."
list_id: bee.example.com
list_name: bee
mail_host: example.com
member_count: 0
self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/bee.example.com
volume: 1

Normally, you access the list via its RFC 2369 list-id as shown above, but for backward compatibility purposes, you can also access it via the list’s posting address, if that has never been changed (since the list-id is immutable, but the posting address is not).

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/bee@example.com')
advertised: True
description:
display_name: Bee
fqdn_listname: bee@example.com
http_etag: "..."
list_id: bee.example.com
list_name: bee
mail_host: example.com
member_count: 0
self_link: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/bee.example.com
volume: 1

Apply a style at list creation time

List styles allow you to more easily create mailing lists of a particular type, e.g. discussion lists. We can see which styles are available, and which is the default style.

>>> from mailman.testing.documentation import call_http
>>> json = call_http('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/styles')
>>> json['default']
'legacy-default'
>>> for style in json['styles']:
...     print('{}: {}'.format(style['name'], style['description']))
legacy-announce: Announce only mailing list style.
legacy-default: Ordinary discussion mailing list style.
private-default: Discussion mailing list style with private archives.

When creating a list, if we don’t specify a style to apply, the default style is used. However, we can provide a style name in the POST data to choose a different style.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists', {
...           'fqdn_listname': 'cat@example.com',
...           'style_name': 'legacy-announce',
...           })
content-length: 0
content-type: application/json
date: ...
location: http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/cat.example.com
...

We can tell that the list was created using the legacy-announce style, because announce lists don’t allow posting by the general public.

>>> cat = list_manager.get('cat@example.com')
>>> cat.allow_list_posts
False

Deleting lists via the API

Existing mailing lists can be deleted through the API, by doing an HTTP DELETE on the mailing list URL.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/bee.example.com',
...           method='DELETE')
date: ...
server: ...
status: 204

The mailing list does not exist.

>>> print(list_manager.get('bee@example.com'))
None

For backward compatibility purposes, you can delete a list via its posting address as well.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/ant@example.com',
...           method='DELETE')
date: ...
server: ...
status: 204

The mailing list does not exist.

>>> print(list_manager.get('ant@example.com'))
None

Managing mailing list archivers

The Mailman system has some site-wide enabled archivers, and each mailing list can enable or disable these archivers individually. This gives list owners control over where traffic to their list is archived. You can see which archivers are available, and whether they are enabled for this mailing list.

>>> mlist = create_list('dog@example.com')
>>> transaction.commit()

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/dog@example.com/archivers')
http_etag: "..."
mail-archive: True
mhonarc: True

You can set all the archiver states by putting new state flags on the resource.

>>> dump_json(
...     'http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/dog@example.com/archivers', {
...         'mail-archive': False,
...         'mhonarc': True,
...         }, method='PUT')
date: ...
server: ...
status: 204

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/dog@example.com/archivers')
http_etag: "..."
mail-archive: False
mhonarc: True

You can change the state of a subset of the list archivers.

>>> dump_json(
...     'http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/dog@example.com/archivers', {
...         'mhonarc': False,
...         }, method='PATCH')
date: ...
server: ...
status: 204

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/dog@example.com/archivers')
http_etag: "..."
mail-archive: False
mhonarc: False

List digests

A list collects messages and prepares a digest which can be periodically sent to all members who elect to receive digests. Digests are usually sent whenever their size has reached a threshold, but you can force a digest to be sent immediately via the REST API.

Let’s create a mailing list that has a digest recipient.

>>> from mailman.interfaces.member import DeliveryMode
>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import subscribe
>>> emu = create_list('emu@example.com')
>>> emu.send_welcome_message = False
>>> anne = subscribe(emu, 'Anne')
>>> anne.preferences.delivery_mode = DeliveryMode.plaintext_digests

The mailing list has a fairly high size threshold so that sending a single message through the list won’t trigger an automatic digest. The threshold is the maximum digest size in kibibytes (1024 bytes).

>>> emu.digest_size_threshold = 100
>>> transaction.commit()

We send a message through the mailing list to start collecting for a digest.

>>> from mailman.runners.digest import DigestRunner
>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import make_testable_runner
>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import (specialized_message_from_string
...   as message_from_string)
>>> msg = message_from_string("""\
... From: anne@example.com
... To: emu@example.com
... Subject: Message #1
...
... """)
>>> from mailman.config import config
>>> config.handlers['to-digest'].process(emu, msg, {})
>>> runner = make_testable_runner(DigestRunner, 'digest')
>>> runner.run()

No digest was sent because it didn’t reach the size threshold.

>>> from mailman.testing.helpers import get_queue_messages
>>> len(get_queue_messages('virgin'))
0

By POSTing to the list’s digest end-point with the send parameter set, we can force the digest to be sent.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/emu.example.com/digest', {
...           'send': True,
...           })
content-length: 0
content-type: application/json
date: ...

Once the runner does its thing, the digest message will be sent.

>>> runner.run()
>>> items = get_queue_messages('virgin')
>>> len(items)
1
>>> print(items[0].msg)
From: emu-request@example.com
Subject: Emu Digest, Vol 1, Issue 1
To: emu@example.com
...
From: anne@example.com
Subject: Message #1
To: emu@example.com
...
End of Emu Digest, Vol 1, Issue 1
*********************************

Digests also have a volume number and digest number which can be bumped, also by POSTing to the REST API. Bumping the digest for this list will increment the digest volume and reset the digest number to 1. We have to fake that the last digest was sent a couple of days ago.

>>> from datetime import timedelta
>>> from mailman.interfaces.digests import DigestFrequency
>>> emu.digest_volume_frequency = DigestFrequency.daily
>>> emu.digest_last_sent_at -= timedelta(days=2)
>>> transaction.commit()

Before bumping, we can get the next digest volume and number. Doing a GET on the digest resource is just a shorthand for getting some interesting information about the digest. Note that volume and next_digest_number can also be retrieved from the list’s configuration resource.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/emu.example.com/digest')
http_etag: ...
next_digest_number: 2
volume: 1

Let’s bump the digest.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/emu.example.com/digest', {
...           'bump': True,
...           })
content-length: 0
content-type: application/json
date: ...

And now the next digest to be sent will have a new volume number.

>>> dump_json('http://localhost:9001/3.0/lists/emu.example.com/digest')
http_etag: ...
next_digest_number: 1
volume: 2