Mail::SpamAssassin(3) User Contributed Perl DocumentationMail::SpamAssassin(3)
NAME
Mail::SpamAssassin - Spam detector and markup engine
SYNOPSIS
my $spamtest = Mail::SpamAssassin->new();
my $mail = $spamtest->parse($message);
my $status = $spamtest->check($mail);
if ($status->is_spam()) {
$message = $status->rewrite_mail();
}
else {
...
}
...
$status->finish();
$mail->finish();
$spamtest->finish();
DESCRIPTION
Mail::SpamAssassin is a module to identify spam using several methods
including text analysis, internet-based realtime blacklists,
statistical analysis, and internet-based hashing algorithms.
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
bulk email. Once identified as spam, the mail can then be tagged as
spam for later filtering using the user's own mail user agent
application or at the mail transfer agent.
If you wish to use a command-line filter tool, try the "spamassassin"
or the "spamd"/"spamc" tools provided.
METHODS
$t = Mail::SpamAssassin->new( { opt => val, ... } )
Constructs a new "Mail::SpamAssassin" object. You may pass a hash
reference to the constructor which may contain the following
attribute- value pairs.
debug
This is the debug options used to determine logging level. It
exists to allow sections of debug messages (called
"facilities") to be enabled or disabled. If this is a string,
it is treated as a comma-delimited list of the debug
facilities. If it's a hash reference, then the keys are
treated as the list of debug facilities and if it's a array
reference, then the elements are treated as the list of debug
facilities.
There are also two special cases: (1) if the special case of
"info" is passed as a debug facility, then all informational
messages are enabled; (2) if the special case of "all" is
passed as a debug facility, then all debugging facilities are
enabled.
rules_filename
The filename/directory to load spam-identifying rules from.
(optional)
site_rules_filename
The filename/directory to load site-specific spam-identifying
rules from. (optional)
userprefs_filename
The filename to load preferences from. (optional)
userstate_dir
The directory user state is stored in. (optional)
config_tree_recurse
Set to 1 to recurse through directories when reading
configuration files, instead of just reading a single level.
(optional, default 0)
config_text
The text of all rules and preferences. If you prefer not to
load the rules from files, read them in yourself and set this
instead. As a result, this will override the settings for
"rules_filename", "site_rules_filename", and
"userprefs_filename".
pre_config_text
Similar to "config_text", this text is placed before
config_text to allow an override of config files.
post_config_text
Similar to "config_text", this text is placed after config_text
to allow an override of config files.
force_ipv4
If set to 1, DNS or other network tests will prefer IPv4 and
not attempt to use IPv6. Use if the existing tests for IPv6
availability produce incorrect results or crashes.
force_ipv6
For symmetry with force_ipv4: if set to 1, DNS or other network
tests will prefer IPv6 and not attempt to use IPv4. Some
plugins may disregard this setting and use whatever protocol
family they are comfortable with.
require_rules
If set to 1, init() will die if no valid rules could be loaded.
This is the default behaviour when called by "spamassassin" or
"spamd".
languages_filename
If you want to be able to use the language-guessing rule
"UNWANTED_LANGUAGE_BODY", and are using "config_text" instead
of "rules_filename", "site_rules_filename", and
"userprefs_filename", you will need to set this. It should be
the path to the languages file normally found in the
SpamAssassin rules directory.
local_tests_only
If set to 1, no tests that require internet access will be
performed. (default: 0)
need_tags
The option provides a way to avoid more expensive processing
when it is known in advance that some information will not be
needed by a caller.
A value of the option can either be a string (a comma-delimited
list of tag names), or a reference to a list of individual tag
names. A caller may provide the list in advance, specifying his
intention to later collect the information through
$pms->get_tag() calls. If a name of a tag starts with a 'NO'
(case insensitive), it shows that a caller will not be
interested in such tag, although there is no guarantee it would
save any resources, nor that a tag value will be empty.
Currently no built-in tags start with 'NO'. A later entry
overrides previous one, e.g. ASN,NOASN,ASN,TIMING,NOASN is
equivalent to TIMING,NOASN.
For backward compatibility, all tags available as of version
3.2.4 will be available by default (unless disabled by NOtag),
even if not requested through need_tags option. Future versions
may provide new tags conditionally available.
Currently the only tag that needs to be explicitly requested is
'TIMING'. Not requesting it can save a millisecond or two - it
mostly serves to illustrate the usage of need_tags.
Example:
need_tags =>
'TIMING,noLANGUAGES,RELAYCOUNTRY,ASN,noASNCIDR', or:
need_tags => [qw(TIMING noLANGUAGES RELAYCOUNTRY ASN
noASNCIDR)],
ignore_site_cf_files
If set to 1, any rule files found in the "site_rules_filename"
directory will be ignored. *.pre files (used for loading
plugins) found in the "site_rules_filename" directory will
still be used. (default: 0)
dont_copy_prefs
If set to 1, the user preferences file will not be created if
it doesn't already exist. (default: 0)
save_pattern_hits
If set to 1, the patterns hit can be retrieved from the
"Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgStatus" object. Used for debugging.
home_dir_for_helpers
If set, the HOME environment variable will be set to this value
when using test applications that require their configuration
data, such as Razor, Pyzor and DCC.
username
If set, the "username" attribute will use this as the current
user's name. Otherwise, the default is taken from the runtime
environment (ie. this process' effective UID under UNIX).
skip_prng_reseeding
If skip_prng_reseeding is set to true, the SpamAssassin library
will not call srand() to reseed a pseudo-random number
generator (PRNG). The srand() Perl function should be called
during initialization of each child process, soon after
forking.
Prior to version 3.4.0, calling srand() was handled by the
SpamAssassin library.
This setting requires the caller to decide when to call
srand(). This choice may be desired to preserve the entropy of
a PRNG. The default value of skip_prng_reseeding is false to
maintain backward compatibility.
This option should only be set by a caller if it calls srand()
upon spawning child processes. Unless you are certain you need
it, leave this setting as false.
NOTE: The skip_prng_reseeding feature is implemented in spamd
as of 3.4.0 which allows spamd to call srand() right after
forking a child process.
If none of "rules_filename", "site_rules_filename",
"userprefs_filename", or "config_text" is set, the
"Mail::SpamAssassin" module will search for the configuration files
in the usual installed locations using the below variable
definitions which can be passed in.
PREFIX
Used as the root for certain directory paths such as:
'__prefix__/etc/mail/spamassassin'
'__prefix__/etc/spamassassin'
Defaults to "@@PREFIX@@".
DEF_RULES_DIR
Location where the default rules are installed. Defaults to
"@@DEF_RULES_DIR@@".
LOCAL_RULES_DIR
Location where the local site rules are installed. Defaults to
"@@LOCAL_RULES_DIR@@".
LOCAL_STATE_DIR
Location of the local state directory, mainly used for
installing updates via "sa-update" and compiling rulesets to
native code. Defaults to "@@LOCAL_STATE_DIR@@".
parse($message, $parse_now [, $suppl_attrib])
Parse will return a Mail::SpamAssassin::Message object with just
the headers parsed. When calling this function, there are two
optional parameters that can be passed in: $message is either undef
(which will use STDIN), a scalar - a string containing an entire
message, a reference to such string, an array reference of the
message with one line per array element, or either a file glob or
an IO::File object which holds the entire contents of the message;
and $parse_now, which specifies whether or not to create a MIME
tree at parse time or later as necessary.
The $parse_now option, by default, is set to false (0). This
allows SpamAssassin to not have to generate the tree of internal
data nodes if the information is not going to be used. This is
handy, for instance, when running "spamassassin -d", which only
needs the pristine header and body which is always parsed and
stored by this function.
The optional last argument $suppl_attrib provides a way for a
caller to pass additional information about a message to
SpamAssassin. It is either undef, or a ref to a hash where each
key/value pair provides some supplementary attribute of the
message, typically information that cannot be deduced from the
message itself, or is hard to do so reliably, or would represent
unnecessary work for SpamAssassin to obtain it. The argument will
be stored to a Mail::SpamAssassin::Message object as
'suppl_attrib', thus made available to the rest of the code as well
as to plugins. The exact list of attributes will evolve through
time, any unknown attribute should be ignored. Possible examples
are: SMTP envelope information, a flag indicating that a message as
supplied by a caller was truncated due to size limit, an already
verified list of DKIM signature objects, or perhaps a list of rule
hits predetermined by a caller, which makes another possible way
for a caller to provide meta information (instead of having to
insert made-up header fields in order to pass information), or
maybe just plain rule hits.
For more information, please see the "Mail::SpamAssassin::Message"
and "Mail::SpamAssassin::Message::Node" POD.
$status = $f->check ($mail)
Check a mail, encapsulated in a "Mail::SpamAssassin::Message"
object, to determine if it is spam or not.
Returns a "Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgStatus" object which can be
used to test or manipulate the mail message.
Note that the "Mail::SpamAssassin" object can be re-used for
further messages without affecting this check; in OO terminology,
the "Mail::SpamAssassin" object is a "factory". However, if you
do this, be sure to call the "finish()" method on the status
objects when you're done with them.
$status = $f->check_message_text ($mailtext)
Check a mail, encapsulated in a plain string $mailtext, to
determine if it is spam or not.
Otherwise identical to "check()" above.
$status = $f->learn ($mail, $id, $isspam, $forget)
Learn from a mail, encapsulated in a "Mail::SpamAssassin::Message"
object.
If $isspam is set, the mail is assumed to be spam, otherwise it
will be learnt as non-spam.
If $forget is set, the attributes of the mail will be removed from
both the non-spam and spam learning databases.
$id is an optional message-identification string, used internally
to tag the message. If it is "undef", the Message-Id of the
message will be used. It should be unique to that message.
Returns a "Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgLearner" object which can be
used to manipulate the learning process for each mail.
Note that the "Mail::SpamAssassin" object can be re-used for
further messages without affecting this check; in OO terminology,
the "Mail::SpamAssassin" object is a "factory". However, if you
do this, be sure to call the "finish()" method on the learner
objects when you're done with them.
"learn()" and "check()" can be run using the same factory.
"init_learner()" must be called before using this method.
$f->init_learner ( [ { opt => val, ... } ] )
Initialise learning. You may pass the following attribute-value
pairs to this method.
caller_will_untie
Whether or not the code calling this method will take care of
untie'ing from the Bayes databases (by calling
"finish_learner()") (optional, default 0).
force_expire
Should an expiration run be forced to occur immediately?
(optional, default 0).
learn_to_journal
Should learning data be written to the journal, instead of
directly to the databases? (optional, default 0).
wait_for_lock
Whether or not to wait a long time for locks to complete
(optional, default 0).
opportunistic_expire_check_only
During the opportunistic journal sync and expire check, don't
actually do the expire but report back whether or not it should
occur (optional, default 0).
no_relearn
If doing a learn operation, and the message has already been
learned as the opposite type, don't re-learn the message.
$f->rebuild_learner_caches ({ opt => val })
Rebuild any cache databases; should be called after the learning
process. Options include: "verbose", which will output diagnostics
to "stdout" if set to 1.
$f->finish_learner ()
Finish learning.
$f->dump_bayes_db()
Dump the contents of the Bayes DB
$f->signal_user_changed ( [ { opt => val, ... } ] )
Signals that the current user has changed (possibly using
"setuid"), meaning that SpamAssassin should close any per-user
databases it has open, and re-open using ones appropriate for the
new user.
Note that this should be called after reading any per-user
configuration, as that data may override some paths opened in this
method. You may pass the following attribute-value pairs:
username
The username of the user. This will be used for the "username"
attribute.
user_dir
A directory to use as a 'home directory' for the current user's
data, overriding the system default. This directory must be
readable and writable by the process. Note that the resulting
"userstate_dir" will be the ".spamassassin" subdirectory of
this dir.
userstate_dir
A directory to use as a directory for the current user's data,
overriding the system default. This directory must be readable
and writable by the process. The default is
"user_dir/.spamassassin".
$f->report_as_spam ($mail, $options)
Report a mail, encapsulated in a "Mail::SpamAssassin::Message"
object, as human-verified spam. This will submit the mail message
to live, collaborative, spam-blocker databases, allowing other
users to block this message.
It will also submit the mail to SpamAssassin's Bayesian learner.
Options is an optional reference to a hash of options. Currently
these can be:
dont_report_to_dcc
Inhibits reporting of the spam to DCC.
dont_report_to_pyzor
Inhibits reporting of the spam to Pyzor.
dont_report_to_razor
Inhibits reporting of the spam to Razor.
dont_report_to_spamcop
Inhibits reporting of the spam to SpamCop.
$f->revoke_as_spam ($mail, $options)
Revoke a mail, encapsulated in a "Mail::SpamAssassin::Message"
object, as human-verified ham (non-spam). This will revoke the
mail message from live, collaborative, spam-blocker databases,
allowing other users to block this message.
It will also submit the mail to SpamAssassin's Bayesian learner as
nonspam.
Options is an optional reference to a hash of options. Currently
these can be:
dont_report_to_razor
Inhibits revoking of the spam to Razor.
$f->add_address_to_whitelist ($addr, $cli_p)
Given a string containing an email address, add it to the automatic
whitelist database.
If $cli_p is set then underlying plugin may give visual feedback on
additions/failures.
$f->add_all_addresses_to_whitelist ($mail, $cli_p)
Given a mail message, find as many addresses in the usual headers
(To, Cc, From etc.), and the message body, and add them to the
automatic whitelist database.
If $cli_p is set then underlying plugin may give visual feedback on
additions/failures.
$f->remove_address_from_whitelist ($addr, $cli_p)
Given a string containing an email address, remove it from the
automatic whitelist database.
If $cli_p is set then underlying plugin may give visual feedback on
additions/failures.
$f->remove_all_addresses_from_whitelist ($mail, $cli_p)
Given a mail message, find as many addresses in the usual headers
(To, Cc, From etc.), and the message body, and remove them from the
automatic whitelist database.
If $cli_p is set then underlying plugin may give visual feedback on
additions/failures.
$f->add_address_to_blacklist ($addr, $cli_p)
Given a string containing an email address, add it to the automatic
whitelist database with a high score, effectively blacklisting
them.
If $cli_p is set then underlying plugin may give visual feedback on
additions/failures.
$f->add_all_addresses_to_blacklist ($mail, $cli_p)
Given a mail message, find addresses in the From headers and add
them to the automatic whitelist database with a high score,
effectively blacklisting them.
Note that To and Cc addresses are not used.
If $cli_p is set then underlying plugin may give visual feedback on
additions/failures.
$text = $f->remove_spamassassin_markup ($mail)
Returns the text of the message, with any SpamAssassin-added text
(such as the report, or X-Spam-Status headers) stripped.
Note that the $mail object is not modified.
Warning: if the input message in $mail contains a mixture of CR-LF
(Windows-style) and LF (UNIX-style) line endings, it will be
"canonicalized" to use one or the other consistently throughout.
$f->read_scoreonly_config ($filename)
Read a configuration file and parse user preferences from it.
User preferences are as defined in the "Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf"
manual page. In other words, they include scoring options, scores,
whitelists and blacklists, and so on, but do not include rule
definitions, privileged settings, etc. unless "allow_user_rules" is
enabled; and they never include the administrator settings.
$f->load_scoreonly_sql ($username)
Read configuration parameters from SQL database and parse scores
from it. This will only take effect if the perl "DBI" module is
installed, and the configuration parameters "user_scores_dsn",
"user_scores_sql_username", and "user_scores_sql_password" are set
correctly.
The username in $username will also be used for the "username"
attribute of the Mail::SpamAssassin object.
$f->load_scoreonly_ldap ($username)
Read configuration parameters from an LDAP server and parse scores
from it. This will only take effect if the perl "Net::LDAP" and
"URI" modules are installed, and the configuration parameters
"user_scores_dsn", "user_scores_ldap_username", and
"user_scores_ldap_password" are set correctly.
The username in $username will also be used for the "username"
attribute of the Mail::SpamAssassin object.
$f->set_persistent_address_list_factory ($factoryobj)
Set the persistent address list factory, used to create objects for
the automatic whitelist algorithm's persistent-storage back-end.
See "Mail::SpamAssassin::PersistentAddrList" for the API these
factory objects must implement, and the API the objects they
produce must implement.
$f->compile_now ($use_user_prefs, $keep_userstate)
Compile all patterns, load all configuration files, and load all
possibly-required Perl modules.
Normally, Mail::SpamAssassin uses lazy evaluation where possible,
but if you plan to fork() or start a new perl interpreter thread to
process a message, this is suboptimal, as each process/thread will
have to perform these actions.
Call this function in the master thread or process to perform the
actions straight away, so that the sub-processes will not have to.
If $use_user_prefs is 0, this will initialise the SpamAssassin
configuration without reading the per-user configuration file and
it will assume that you will call "read_scoreonly_config" at a
later point.
If $keep_userstate is true, compile_now() will revert any
configuration options which have a default with __userstate__ in it
post-init(), and then re-change the option before returning. This
lets you change $ENV{'HOME'} to a temp directory, have
compile_now() and create any files there as necessary without
disturbing the actual files as changed by a configuration option.
By default, this is disabled.
$f->debug_diagnostics ()
Output some diagnostic information, useful for debugging
SpamAssassin problems.
$failed = $f->lint_rules ()
Syntax-check the current set of rules. Returns the number of
syntax errors discovered, or 0 if the configuration is valid.
$f->finish()
Destroy this object, so that it will be garbage-collected once it
goes out of scope. The object will no longer be usable after this
method is called.
$fullpath = $f->find_rule_support_file ($filename)
Find a rule-support file, such as "languages" or "triplets.txt", in
the system-wide rules directory, and return its full path if it
exists, or undef if it doesn't exist.
(This API was added in SpamAssassin 3.1.1.)
$f->create_default_prefs ($filename, $username [ , $userdir ] )
Copy default preferences file into home directory for later use and
modification, if it does not already exist and "dont_copy_prefs" is
not set.
$f->copy_config ( [ $source ], [ $dest ] )
Used for daemons to keep a persistent Mail::SpamAssassin object's
configuration correct if switching between users. Pass an
associative array reference as either $source or $dest, and set the
other to 'undef' so that the object will use its current
configuration. i.e.:
# create object w/ configuration
my $spamtest = Mail::SpamAssassin->new( ... );
# backup configuration to %conf_backup
my %conf_backup;
$spamtest->copy_config(undef, \%conf_backup) ||
die "config: error returned from copy_config!\n";
... do stuff, perhaps modify the config, etc ...
# reset the configuration back to the original
$spamtest->copy_config(\%conf_backup, undef) ||
die "config: error returned from copy_config!\n";
Note that the contents of the associative arrays should be
considered opaque by calling code.
@plugins = $f->get_loaded_plugins_list ( )
Return the list of plugins currently loaded by this SpamAssassin
object's configuration; each entry in the list is an object of type
"Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin".
(This API was added in SpamAssassin 3.2.0.)
PREREQUISITES
"HTML::Parser" "Sys::Syslog"
MORE DOCUMENTATION
See also <https://spamassassin.apache.org/>; and
<https://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/>; for more information.
SEE ALSO
Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf(3) Mail::SpamAssassin::PerMsgStatus(3)
spamassassin(1) sa-update(1)
BUGS
See <https://issues.apache.org/SpamAssassin/>;
AUTHORS
The SpamAssassin(tm) Project <https://spamassassin.apache.org/>;
COPYRIGHT
SpamAssassin is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, as
described in the file "LICENSE" included with the distribution.
AVAILABILITY
The latest version of this library is likely to be available from CPAN
as well as:
<https://spamassassin.apache.org/>;
perl v5.26.3 2021-04-09 Mail::SpamAssassin(3)
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