ezmlm-web/INSTALL

The following notes will guide you through the installation of ezmlm-web:

OVERVIEW:
  0 - important notes
  1 - get it
  2 - install executable
  3 - configuration file
  4 - compile cgi wrapper
  5 - install cgi wrapper
  6 - (optional) configure access control (http authentication)
  7 - css stylesheet file
  8 - final test


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0.   IMPORTANT: you need the perl module Mail::Ezmlm and others to use 
     ezmlm-web! The file README contains the complete list of necessary
     modules.

	 Additionally (since v3.0) you have to install clearsilver (a templating
	 engine). See INSTALL.clearsilver for details.


1.   Get ezmlm-web and extract the archive:
	tar xzf ezmlm-web-3.x.tar.gz


2.   Copy ezmlm-web.cgi to some publically readable directory. It does not
     have to be in a path accessible to your web server, but any user with a
     mailing list must be able to run it (Check the read and execute rights
     on both the file and directory). We put our copy in "/usr/local/bin".

     At the top of ezmlm-web.cgi you may have to change the $ENV{'PATH'}
	 variable. Be careful about what you set as the path. Too 
     much is a security risk and too little will cause the script to 
     malfunction. Version 2.0 requires that the following programs be 
     accessible in your path: mv, rm


3.   Edit the ezmlmwebrc file and alter the variables to suit your
     particular system.
     
     Be careful about the $LIST_DIR variable. This script assumes that all 
     users store their mailing lists in the same sub directory of the home 
     directory (eg ~/lists). You can override this for an individual user 
     by recompiling the C wrapper to call ezmlm-web.cgi with a -d option.

     Other configurable options are documented in the ezmlmwebrc file
     itself. I have tried to keep the amount of information that you need to
     supply to a minimum and also make reasonable guesses about default
     values.

     The directory containing ezmlm-web's language files should be something
     like '/usr/local/share/ezmlm-web/lang':
		mkdir -p /usr/local/share/ezmlm-web
		cp -r lang /usr/local/share/ezmlm-web
     You can change this default location in the ezmlmwebrc file.
	 Do the same with the template directory (e.g copy it
	 to /usr/local/share/ezmlm-web/template). Then you also have to
	 set the appropriate location in the ezmlmwebrc file.

     Finally, copy the ezmlmwebrc file to one of
     the following places:
	1) the home directory of the user that runs ezmlm-web.cgi (~/.ezmlmwebrc)
	2) the directory, that contains your cgi binary (index.cgi)
	3) /etc/ezmlm-web/ezmlmwebrc
	4) /etc/ezmlm/ezmlmwebrc [deprecated]
	 (ezmlm-web will look for it in these places in the given order)


4.   Edit the index.c file and change the path to the path of your copy
     of ezmlm-web.cgi. Then compile this file. You can do this by issuing
     this command:
     			gcc -o index.cgi index.c


5.   For every user/virtual host that needs to manage mailing lists, you
     need to create a SUID (user not root!!) copy of index.cgi (e.g
	 chmod 4755 index.cgi). These need to reside somewhere accessible by 
     the web server. I suggest that you put them in a sub directory (see 
     about security) of each user/virtual host's home directory (eg
     /home/luser/public_html/ezmlm for Apache on Redhat). 

     The copies don't actually have to be called index.cgi, but it is nice
     for web servers that can resolve a cgi script as an index page (see the
     srm.conf file in Apache). It is important to make sure that whichever
     directory you choose to put them can
	 	i: Execute CGI Scripts and
		ii: Be access controlled (here I mean both web and user access) by
			some method (eg .htaccess, access.conf for Apache).


6.   Install some method of securing access to the page. The following
     information is applicable to Apache web servers ... Detailed
     information on user authentication can be obtained from the Apache
     documentation (http://www.apache.org) and ApacheWeek
     (http://www.apacheweek.com/features/userauth)

6.1  Ensure that your Apache setup will allow .htaccess file to control
     access in the directory that contains. This is controlled by the
     AllowOverride tag in access.conf. (Also ensure you have the
     necessary Apache modules installed)

6.2  Create a htpasswd file. This is done using the htpasswd command that
     comes with Apache. Its command line syntax is;
     htpasswd [-c] passwordfile username
   
     You need to put the passwordfile somewhere that is not accessible by
     people through the web, and create an entry for each user you want
     to have access ... See the ApacheWeek article for more details.

6.3  Create a .htaccess file in the directory that contains index.cgi.
     Note that using Apache's built in access control, you can only control
     access to directories, not individual files, hence the need for a
     sub-directory in step 5.

     The format of the .htaccess file should be along the lines of this;

	AuthName EZ Mailing List Manager
	AuthType Basic
	AuthUserFile /path/to/passwordfile
	require valid-user      # or require user username

	Again, see the ApacheWeek article for details.


7.	You should copy the stylesheet file (css/default.css) to a location
	of your choice. It has to be accessible by an URL - maybe a place like
	"/var/www/ezmlm-web.css" could be appropriate.
	Now you may have to change the "HTML_CSS_FILE" setting in your
	ezmlmwebrc file. This value is a URL - not the local filename.


8.  Test the installation with your favourite web browser. You should be
	asked for a username and password (supplied in 6.2) and then be presented
	with a screen entitled "EZ Mailing List Manger". You can then try to
	create and edit mailing lists ... Have Fun :)

	If you do not see a colorful screen, then you did not set the HTML_CSS_FILE
	option correctly in ezmlmwebrc. Check it again.

	If anything failes - take a look at the web server's error log
	(e.g /var/log/apache/error.log).


If you have any problems, then you can:
- take a look at https://systemausfall.org/toolforge/ezmlm-web
- send me an email: ezmlm-web@sumpfralle.de
- subscribe to the mailinglist: ezmlm-web-subscribe@lists.systemausfall.org
- report a bug at https://systemausfall.org/trac/ezmlm-web