codekasten/ezmlm-web/trunk/INSTALL

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

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

1.   Get ezmlm-web and extract the archive:
	tar xzf ezmlm-web-2.2.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.gi you can will probably 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.

     Finally, copy the ezmlmwebrc file and the "lang" directory to one of
     the following places:
	- /etc/ezmlm
	- the home directory of the user that runs ezmlm-web.cgi
	- the directory, that contains your ezmlm-web.cgi file

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
     the 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 (see
     chmod(1) for details). 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.   Test the installation through the web. 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 have any problems, then you can:
- take a look at https://systemausfall.org/toolforge/ezmlm-web
- send me an email: ezmlm-web@sumpfralle.de