NAME
spamassassin - mail filter to identify spam using text analysis
SYNOPSIS
spamassassin [options] < *mailmessage* > *output*
spamassassin -d < *mailmessage* > <output>
spamassassin -r [-w *addr*] < *mailmessage*
spamassassin -W|-R < *mailmessage*
Options:
-P, --pipe Deliver to STDOUT (now default)
-L, --local Local tests only (no online tests)
-r, --report Report message as spam
-w addr, --warning-from=addr Send a warning mail to sender from addr
-d, --remove-markup Remove spam reports from a message
-C file, --config-file=file Set configuration file
-p prefs, --prefs-file=file Set user preferences file
-x, --nouser-config Disable user config files
-e, --exit-code Exit with a non-zero exit code if the
tested message was spam
-l filename, --log-to-mbox=file Log messages to a mbox file
-t, --test-mode Pipe message through and add extra
report to the bottom
--lint Lint the rule set: report syntax errors
-a, --auto-whitelist Use auto-whitelists
-W, --add-to-whitelist Add addresses in mail to whitelist
--add-to-blacklist Add addresses in mail to blacklist
-R, --remove-from-whitelist Remove all addresses found in mail
from whitelist
--add-addr-to-whitelist=addr Add addr to whitelist
--add-addr-to-blacklist=addr Add addr to blacklist
--remove-addr-from-whitelist=addr Remove addr from whitelist
-M, --whitelist-factory Select whitelist factory
-D, --debug [area=n,...] Print debugging messages
-V, --version Print version
-h, --help Print usage message
OPTIONS
-P, --pipe
The -P parameter will cause SpamAssassin to pipe the output to
STDOUT. This is now the default mode of operation, so this switch is
obsolete, and should not be used anymore.
-a, --auto-whitelist, --whitelist
Use auto-whitelists. Auto-whitelists track the long-term average
score for each sender and then shift the score of new messages
toward that long-term average. This can increase or decrease the
score for messages, depending on the long-term behavior of the
particular correspondent. See the README file for more details.
-e, --error-code, --exit-code
Exit with a non-zero error code, if the message is determined to be
spam.
-h, --help
Print help message and exit.
-t, --test-mode
Test mode. Pipe message through and add extra report. Note that the
report text assumes that the message is spam, since in normal use it
is only visible in this case. Pay attention to the score instead.
If you run tests with the -a option, the scores will be added to the
AWL. This may not be what you want to do. If it is not, then don't
use -a -t.
-r, --report
Report this message as verified spam. This will submit the mail
message read from STDIN to various spam-blocker databases.
Currently, these are Vipul's Razor ( http://razor.sourceforge.net/ )
and the Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse (
http://www.rhyolite.com/anti-spam/dcc/ ).
If the message contains SpamAssassin markup, this will be stripped
out automatically before submission. The support modules for DCC and
Razor must be installed for spam to be reported to each service.
--lint
Syntax check (lint) the rule set and configuration files, reporting
typos and rules that do not compile correctly. Exits immediately
with 0 if there are no errors, or greater than 0 if any errors are
found.
-W, --add-to-whitelist
Add all email addresses, in the headers and body of the mail message
read from STDIN, to the automatic whitelist. Note that you must be
running "spamassassin" or "spamd" with the -a switch for this to
work.
--add-to-blacklist
Add all email addresses, in the headers and body of the mail message
read from STDIN, to the automatic whitelist with a high score
(ensuring they will be ''blacklisted''). Note that you must be
running "spamassassin" or "spamd" with the -a switch.
-R, --remove-from-whitelist
Remove all email addresses, in the headers and body of the mail
message read from STDIN, from the automatic whitelist. STDIN must
contain a full email message, so to remove a single address you
should use --remove-addr-from-whitelist instead.
Note that you must be running "spamassassin" or "spamd" with the -a
switch.
--add-addr-to-whitelist
Add the named email address to the automatic whitelist. Note that
you must be running "spamassassin" or "spamd" with the -a switch.
--add-addr-to-blacklist
Add the named email address to the automatic whitelist with a high
score (ensuring they will be ''blacklisted''). Note that you must be
running "spamassassin" or "spamd" with the -a switch.
--remove-addr-from-whitelist
Remove the named email address from the automatic whitelist. Note
that you must be running "spamassassin" or "spamd" with the -a
switch.
-w *fromaddr*, --warning-from=*fromaddr*
This flag is only useful in conjunction with -r. It will send a
reply mail to the sender of the tested mail, notifying them that
their message has been trapped as spam, from the address supplied in
*fromaddr*. See "SPAM TRAPPING".
-l *filename*, --log-to-mbox=*filename*
Log all mail messages that pass through the filter, to an
mbox-format file named by *filename*. Handy for use with -r and -w.
-L, --local
Do only the ''local'' tests, ones that do not require an internet
connection to operate. Normally, SpamAssassin will try to detect
whether you are connected to the net before doing these tests
anyway, but for faster checks you may wish to use this.
-d, --remove-markup
Remove SpamAssassin markup (the "SpamAssassin results" report,
X-Spam-Status headers, etc.) from the mail message. The resulting
message, which will be more or less identical to the original,
pre-SpamAssassin input, will be output to stdout.
(Note: the message will not be exactly identical; some headers will
be reformatted due to some features of the Mail::Internet package,
but the body text will be.)
-C *config*, --config-file=*config*, -c *config* (deprecated)
Read configuration from *config*.
-p *prefs*, --prefs-file=*prefs*
Read user score preferences from *prefs*.
-D [*area=n,...*], --debug [*area=n,...*]
Produce diagnostic output. The level of diagnostic output can be set
for each area separately; *area* is the area of the code to
instrument, and *n* is a positive or negative number indicating the
debug level or bitmask for that area of code. For example, to
produce diagnostic output on all rules that hit, use:
spamassassin -D rulesrun=255
-x, --nouser-config
Disable per-user configuration files.
-M *factory*, --whitelist-factory=*factory*
Select alternative whitelist factory.
DESCRIPTION
SpamAssassin is a mail filter to identify spam using text analysis and
several internet-based realtime blacklists.
Using its rule base, it uses a wide range of heuristic tests on mail
headers and body text to identify "spam", also known as unsolicited
commercial email.
Once identified, the mail is then tagged as spam for later filtering
using the user's own mail user-agent application.
SpamAssassin also includes support for reporting spam messages to
collaborative filtering databases, such as Vipul's Razor (
http://razor.sourceforge.net/ ).
The default tagging operations that take place are detailed in
"TAGGING".
CONFIGURATION FILES
The rule base, text templates, and rule description text are loaded from
the configuration files.
By default, configuration data is loaded from the first existing
directory in:
/usr/local/share/spamassassin;/usr/share/spamassassin;./rules;../rules
The configuration data in the first existing directory in:
/usr/local/etc/spamassassin;/usr/pkg/etc/spamassassin;/usr/etc/spamassas
sin;/etc/mail/spamassassin;/etc/spamassassin are used to override any
values which had already been set
Spamassassin will read *.cf in these directories, in alphanumeric order
within each directory (similar to SysV-style startup scripts). In other
words, it will read 10_misc.cf before 50_scores.cf and 20_body_tests.cf
before 20_head_test.cf. Options in later files will override earlier
files.
The user preferences (such as scores to attach to each rule), are loaded
from the file specified in the -p argument. If this is not specified,
~/.spamassassin/user_prefs is used if it exists. "spamassassin" will
create this file if it does not exist, using user_prefs.template as a
template. This file will be looked for in
/etc/spamassassin/user_prefs.template;/usr/local/share/spamassassin/user
_prefs.template;/usr/share/spamassassin/user_prefs.template
TAGGING
The following two sections detail the tagging that takes place for spam
messages, first of all, and for non-spam messages.
Note that if you use the -t argument, all mails will be tagged as if
they are spam messages.
TAGGING FOR SPAM MAILS
The modifications made are as follows:
Subject: header
The string "*****SPAM*****" is prepended to the subject, unless the
"rewrite_subject 0" configuration option is given.
X-Spam-Status: header
A string, "Yes, hits=nn required=nn" is set in this header to
reflect the filter status.
X-Spam-Flag: header
Set to "YES".
X-Spam-Report: header for spam mails
The SpamAssassin report is added to the mail header if the
"report_header 1" configuration option is given.
Content-Type: header
Set to "text/plain", in order to defang HTML mail or other active
content that could "call back" to the spammer.
spam mail body text
The SpamAssassin report is added to top of the mail message body,
unless the "report_header 1" configuration option is given.
TAGGING FOR NON-SPAM MAILS
X-Spam-Status: header
A string, "No, hits=nn required=nn" is set in this header to reflect
the filter status.
SPAM TRAPPING
Quite often, if you've been on the internet for a while, you'll have
accumulated a few old email accounts that nowadays get nothing but spam.
SpamAssassin lets you set them up as aliases, as follows:
spamtrap1: "| /path/to/spamassassin -r -w spamtrap1"
This will add any incoming mail messages straight into spam-tracking
databases, such as Vipul's Razor; send an explanatory reply message to
the sender, from the *spamtrap1* address; then drop the mail into the
bit-bucket.
The explanatory reply text is taken from the SpamAssassin configuration
file, where it is stored in the "spamtrap" lines.
If you want to keep a copy of the mails, use something like this:
spamtrap1: "| /path/to/spamassassin -r -w spamtrap1 -l /var/spam/caught"
It is suggested you familiarise yourself with how MTAs run programs
specified in aliases, if you plan to do this; for one thing,
spamassassin will not run under your user id in this case. If you are
nervous about this, create a user for spamtrapping, and set up
spamassassin in its .forward file.
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.
ENVIRONMENT
No environment variables, aside from those used by perl, are required to
be set.
SEE ALSO
Mail::SpamAssassin(3) Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf(3) Mail::Audit(3)
Razor(3)
AUTHOR
Justin Mason <jm /at/ jmason.org>
PREREQUISITES
"Mail::Audit"
COREQUISITES
"Net::DNS" "Razor"
