spamassassin(1)
NAME
spamassassin - extensible email filter used to identify spam
DESCRIPTION
SpamAssassin is an intelligent email filter which uses a diverse range
of tests to identify unsolicited bulk email, more commonly known as
"spam". These tests are applied to email headers and content to classify email using advanced statistical methods. In addition, SpamAssassin has a modular architecture that allows other technologies to be
quickly wielded against spam and is designed for easy integration into
virtually any email system.
SYNOPSIS
For ease of access, the SpamAssassin manual has been split up into several sections. If you're intending to read these straight through for the first time, the suggested order will tend to reduce the number of forward references. Extensive additional documentation for SpamAssassin is available, primarily on the SpamAssassin web site and wiki. You should be able to view SpamAssassin's documentation with your man(1) program or perldoc(1). OVERVIEW spamassassin SpamAssassin overview (this section) CONFIGURATION Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf SpamAssassin configuration files USAGE spamassassin-run "spamassassin" front-end filtering script sa-learn train SpamAssassin's Bayesian classifier spamc client for spamd (faster than spamassassin) spamd spamassassin server (needed by spamc) DEFAULT PLUGINS Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Hashcash Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::URIDNSBL
WEB SITES
SpamAssassin web site: http://spamassassin.apache.org/
Wiki-based documentation: http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/
USER MAILING LIST
A users mailing list exists where other experienced users are often
able to help and provide tips and advice. Subscription instructions
are located on the SpamAssassin web site.
CONFIGURATION FILES
The SpamAssassin rule base, text templates, and rule description text
are loaded from configuration files.
Default configuration data is loaded from the first existing directory
in:
/var/lib/spamassassin/3.002005
/usr/share/spamassassin
/usr/share/spamassassin
/usr/local/share/spamassassin
/usr/share/spamassassin
Site-specific configuration data is used to override any values which
had already been set. This is loaded from the first existing directory
in:
/etc/mail/spamassassin
/usr/etc/mail/spamassassin
/usr/etc/spamassassin
/usr/local/etc/spamassassin
/usr/pkg/etc/spamassassin
/usr/etc/spamassassin
/etc/mail/spamassassin
/etc/spamassassin
From those three directories, SpamAssassin will first read files ending
in ".pre" in lexical order and then it will read files ending in ".cf"
in lexical order (most files begin with two numbers to make the sorting
order obvious).
In other words, it will read init.pre first, then 10_default_prefs.cf
before 50_scores.cf and 20_body_tests.cf before 20_head_tests.cf.
Options in later files will override earlier files.
Individual user preferences are loaded from the location specified on
the "spamassassin", "sa-learn", or "spamd" command line (see respective
manual page for details). If the location is not specified, ~/.spamassassin/user_prefs is used if it exists. SpamAssassin will create that
file if it does not already exist, using user_prefs.template as a template. That file will be looked for in:
/etc/mail/spamassassin
/usr/etc/mail/spamassassin
/usr/share/spamassassin
/etc/spamassassin
/etc/mail/spamassassin
/usr/local/share/spamassassin
/usr/share/spamassassin
TAGGING
The following two sections detail the default tagging and markup that
takes place for messages when running "spamassassin" or "spamc" with
"spamd" in the default configuration.
Note: before header modification and addition, all headers beginning
with "X-Spam-" are removed to prevent spammer mischief and also to
avoid potential problems caused by prior invocations of SpamAssassin.
TAGGING FOR SPAM MAILS
By default, all messages with a calculated score of 5.0 or higher are
tagged as spam.
If an incoming message is tagged as spam, instead of modifying the
original message, SpamAssassin will create a new report message and
attach the original message as a message/rfc822 MIME part (ensuring the
original message is completely preserved and easier to recover).
The new report message inherits the following headers (if they are
present) from the original spam message:
From: header
To: header
Cc: header
Subject: header
Date: header
Message-ID: header
The above headers can be modified if the relevant "rewrite_header"
option is given (see "Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf" for more information).
By default these message headers are added to spam:
- X-Spam-Flag: header
- Set to "YES".
- The headers that added are fully configurable via the "add_header"
option (see "Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf" for more information). - spam mail body text
- The SpamAssassin report is added to top of the mail message body,
if the message is marked as spam. - DEFAULT TAGGING FOR ALL MAILS
- These headers are added to all messages, both spam and ham (non-spam).
- X-Spam-Checker-Version: header
- The version and subversion of SpamAssassin and the host where SpamAssassin was run.
- X-Spam-Level: header
- A series of "*" charactes where each one represents a full score
point. - X-Spam-Status: header
- A string, "(Yes|No), score=nn required=nn tests=xxx,xxx
autolearn=(ham|spam|no|unavailable|failed)" is set in this header
to reflect the filter status. For the first word, "Yes" means spam and "No" means ham (non-spam). - The headers that added are fully configurable via the "add_header"
option (see "Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf" for more information).
INSTALLATION
The spamassassin command is part of the Mail::SpamAssassin Perl module.
Install this as a normal Perl module, using "perl -MCPAN -e shell", or
by hand.
Note that it is not possible to use the "PERL5LIB" environment variable
to affect where SpamAssassin finds its perl modules, due to limitations
imposed by perl's "taint" security checks.
For further details on how to install, please read the "INSTALL" file
from the SpamAssassin distribution.
DEVELOPER DOCUMENTATION
- Mail::SpamAssassin
- Spam detector and markup engine
- Mail::SpamAssassin::ArchiveIterator
- find and process messages one at a time
- Mail::SpamAssassin::AutoWhitelist
- auto-whitelist handler for SpamAssassin
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Bayes
- determine spammishness using a Bayesian classifier
- Mail::SpamAssassin::BayesStore
- Bayesian Storage Module
- Mail::SpamAssassin::BayesStore::SQL
- SQL Bayesian Storage Module Implementation
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf::LDAP
- load SpamAssassin scores from LDAP database
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf::Parser
- parse SpamAssassin configuration
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf::SQL
- load SpamAssassin scores from SQL database
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Message
- decode, render, and hold an RFC-2822 message
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Message::Metadata
- extract metadata from a message
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Message::Node
- decode, render, and make available MIME message parts
- Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgLearner
- per-message status (spam or not-spam)
- Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgStatus
- per-message status (spam or not-spam)
- Mail::SpamAssassin::PersistentAddrList
- persistent address list base class
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin
- SpamAssassin plugin base class
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Hashcash
- perform hashcash verification tests
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::RelayCountry
- add message metadata indicating the country code of each relay
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF
- perform SPF verification tests
- Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::URIDNSBL
- look up URLs against DNS blocklists
- Mail::SpamAssassin::SQLBasedAddrList
- SpamAssassin SQL Based Auto Whitelist
BUGS
See <http://issues.apache.org/SpamAssassin/>
AUTHORS
The SpamAssassin(tm) Project <http://spamassassin.apache.org/>
COPYRIGHT
- SpamAssassin is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, as
described in the file "LICENSE" included with the distribution.