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Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf(3)
NAME
Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf - SpamAssassin configuration file
SYNOPSIS
# a comment
rewrite_header Subject *****SPAM*****
full PARA_A_2_C_OF_1618 /Paragraph .a.{0,10}2.{0,10}C. of S. 1618/i
describe PARA_A_2_C_OF_1618 Claims compliance with senate bill 1618
header FROM_HAS_MIXED_NUMS From =~ /\d+[a-z]+\d+\S*@/i
describe FROM_HAS_MIXED_NUMS From: contains numbers mixed in with letters
score A_HREF_TO_REMOVE 2.0
lang es describe FROM_FORGED_HOTMAIL Forzado From: simula ser de hotmail.com
lang pt_BR report O programa detetor de Spam ZOE [...]
DESCRIPTION
SpamAssassin is configured using traditional UNIX-style configuration files, loaded from the "/usr/share/spamassassin"
and "/etc/mail/spamassassin" directories.
The following web page lists the most important configuration settings used to configure SpamAssassin; novices are
encouraged to read it first:
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/ImportantInitialConfigItems
FILE FORMAT
The "#" character starts a comment, which continues until end of line. NOTE: if the "#" character is to be used as part
of a rule or configuration option, it must be escaped with a backslash. i.e.: "\#"
Whitespace in the files is not significant, but please note that starting a line with whitespace is deprecated, as we
reserve its use for multi-line rule definitions, at some point in the future.
Currently, each rule or configuration setting must fit on one-line; multi-line settings are not supported yet.
File and directory paths can use "~" to refer to the user's home directory, but no other shell-style path extensions such
as globing or "~user/" are supported.
Where appropriate below, default values are listed in parentheses.
USER PREFERENCES
The following options can be used in both site-wide ("local.cf") and user-specific ("user_prefs") configuration files to
customize how SpamAssassin handles incoming email messages.
SCORING OPTIONS
required_score n.nn (default: 5)
Set the score required before a mail is considered spam. "n.nn" can be an integer or a real number. 5.0 is the
default setting, and is quite aggressive; it would be suitable for a single-user setup, but if you're an ISP
installing SpamAssassin, you should probably set the default to be more conservative, like 8.0 or 10.0. It is not
recommended to automatically delete or discard messages marked as spam, as your users will complain, but if you
choose to do so, only delete messages with an exceptionally high score such as 15.0 or higher. This option was
previously known as "required_hits" and that name is still accepted, but is deprecated.
score SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME n.nn [ n.nn n.nn n.nn ]
Assign scores (the number of points for a hit) to a given test. Scores can be positive or negative real numbers or
integers. "SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME" is the symbolic name used by SpamAssassin for that test; for example,
'FROM_ENDS_IN_NUMS'.
If only one valid score is listed, then that score is always used for a test.
If four valid scores are listed, then the score that is used depends on how SpamAssassin is being used. The first
score is used when both Bayes and network tests are disabled (score set 0). The second score is used when Bayes is
disabled, but network tests are enabled (score set 1). The third score is used when Bayes is enabled and network
tests are disabled (score set 2). The fourth score is used when Bayes is enabled and network tests are enabled (score
set 3).
Setting a rule's score to 0 will disable that rule from running.
If any of the score values are surrounded by parenthesis '()', then all of the scores in the line are considered to
be relative to the already set score. ie: '(3)' means increase the score for this rule by 3 points in all score
sets. '(3) (0) (3) (0)' means increase the score for this rule by 3 in score sets 0 and 2 only.
If no score is given for a test by the end of the configuration, a default score is assigned: a score of 1.0 is used
for all tests, except those whose names begin with 'T_' (this is used to indicate a rule in testing) which receive
0.01.
Note that test names which begin with '__' are indirect rules used to compose meta-match rules and can also act as
prerequisites to other rules. They are not scored or listed in the 'tests hit' reports, but assigning a score of 0
to an indirect rule will disable it from running.
WHITELIST AND BLACKLIST OPTIONS
whitelist_from userATexample.com
Used to whitelist sender addresses which send mail that is often tagged (incorrectly) as spam.
Use of this setting is not recommended, since it blindly trusts the message, which is routinely and easily forged by
spammers and phish senders. The recommended solution is to instead use "whitelist_auth" or other authenticated
whitelisting methods, or "whitelist_from_rcvd".
Whitelist and blacklist addresses are now file-glob-style patterns, so "friendATsomewhere.com", "*@isp.com", or
"*.domain.net" will all work. Specifically, "*" and "?" are allowed, but all other metacharacters are not. Regular
expressions are not used for security reasons.
Multiple addresses per line, separated by spaces, is OK. Multiple "whitelist_from" lines is also OK.
The headers checked for whitelist addresses are as follows: if "Resent-From" is set, use that; otherwise check all
addresses taken from the following set of headers:
Envelope-Sender
Resent-Sender
X-Envelope-From
From
In addition, the "envelope sender" data, taken from the SMTP envelope data where this is available, is looked up.
See "envelope_sender_header".
e.g.
whitelist_from joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
whitelist_from *@example.com
unwhitelist_from userATexample.com
Used to override a default whitelist_from entry, so for example a distribution whitelist_from can be overridden in a
local.cf file, or an individual user can override a whitelist_from entry in their own "user_prefs" file. The
specified email address has to match exactly the address previously used in a whitelist_from line.
e.g.
unwhitelist_from joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
unwhitelist_from *@example.com
whitelist_from_rcvd addrATlists.net sourceforge.net
Works similarly to whitelist_from, except that in addition to matching a sender address, a relay's rDNS name must
match too for the whitelisting rule to fire. The first parameter is an address to whitelist, and the second is a
string to match the relay's rDNS.
This string is matched against the reverse DNS lookup used during the handover from the internet to your internal
network's mail exchangers. It can either be the full hostname, or the domain component of that hostname. In other
words, if the host that connected to your MX had an IP address that mapped to 'sendinghost.spamassassin.org', you
should specify "sendinghost.spamassassin.org" or just "spamassassin.org" here.
Note that this requires that "internal_networks" be correct. For simple cases, it will be, but for a complex network
you may get better results by setting that parameter.
It also requires that your mail exchangers be configured to perform DNS reverse lookups on the connecting host's IP
address, and to record the result in the generated Received: header.
e.g.
whitelist_from_rcvd joeATexample.com example.com
whitelist_from_rcvd *@axkit.org sergeant.org
def_whitelist_from_rcvd addrATlists.net sourceforge.net
Same as "whitelist_from_rcvd", but used for the default whitelist entries in the SpamAssassin distribution. The
whitelist score is lower, because these are often targets for spammer spoofing.
whitelist_allows_relays userATexample.com
Specify addresses which are in "whitelist_from_rcvd" that sometimes send through a mail relay other than the listed
ones. By default mail with a From address that is in "whitelist_from_rcvd" that does not match the relay will trigger
a forgery rule. Including the address in "whitelist_allows_relay" prevents that.
Whitelist and blacklist addresses are now file-glob-style patterns, so "friendATsomewhere.com", "*@isp.com", or
"*.domain.net" will all work. Specifically, "*" and "?" are allowed, but all other metacharacters are not. Regular
expressions are not used for security reasons.
Multiple addresses per line, separated by spaces, is OK. Multiple "whitelist_allows_relays" lines is also OK.
The specified email address does not have to match exactly the address previously used in a whitelist_from_rcvd line
as it is compared to the address in the header.
e.g.
whitelist_allows_relays joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
whitelist_allows_relays *@example.com
unwhitelist_from_rcvd userATexample.com
Used to override a default whitelist_from_rcvd entry, so for example a distribution whitelist_from_rcvd can be
overridden in a local.cf file, or an individual user can override a whitelist_from_rcvd entry in their own
"user_prefs" file.
The specified email address has to match exactly the address previously used in a whitelist_from_rcvd line.
e.g.
unwhitelist_from_rcvd joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
unwhitelist_from_rcvd *@axkit.org
blacklist_from userATexample.com
Used to specify addresses which send mail that is often tagged (incorrectly) as non-spam, but which the user doesn't
want. Same format as "whitelist_from".
unblacklist_from userATexample.com
Used to override a default blacklist_from entry, so for example a distribution blacklist_from can be overridden in a
local.cf file, or an individual user can override a blacklist_from entry in their own "user_prefs" file. The
specified email address has to match exactly the address previously used in a blacklist_from line.
e.g.
unblacklist_from joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
unblacklist_from *@spammer.com
whitelist_to userATexample.com
If the given address appears as a recipient in the message headers (Resent-To, To, Cc, obvious envelope recipient,
etc.) the mail will be whitelisted. Useful if you're deploying SpamAssassin system-wide, and don't want some users
to have their mail filtered. Same format as "whitelist_from".
There are three levels of To-whitelisting, "whitelist_to", "more_spam_to" and "all_spam_to". Users in the first
level may still get some spammish mails blocked, but users in "all_spam_to" should never get mail blocked.
The headers checked for whitelist addresses are as follows: if "Resent-To" or "Resent-Cc" are set, use those;
otherwise check all addresses taken from the following set of headers:
To
Cc
Apparently-To
Delivered-To
Envelope-Recipients
Apparently-Resent-To
X-Envelope-To
Envelope-To
X-Delivered-To
X-Original-To
X-Rcpt-To
X-Real-To
more_spam_to userATexample.com
See above.
all_spam_to userATexample.com
See above.
blacklist_to userATexample.com
If the given address appears as a recipient in the message headers (Resent-To, To, Cc, obvious envelope recipient,
etc.) the mail will be blacklisted. Same format as "blacklist_from".
whitelist_auth userATexample.com
Used to specify addresses which send mail that is often tagged (incorrectly) as spam. This is different from
"whitelist_from" and "whitelist_from_rcvd" in that it first verifies that the message was sent by an authorized
sender for the address, before whitelisting.
Authorization is performed using one of the installed sender-authorization schemes: SPF (using
"Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::SPF"), or DKIM (using "Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::DKIM"). Note that those plugins must
be active, and working, for this to operate.
Using "whitelist_auth" is roughly equivalent to specifying duplicate "whitelist_from_spf", "whitelist_from_dk", and
"whitelist_from_dkim" lines for each of the addresses specified.
e.g.
whitelist_auth joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
whitelist_auth *@example.com
def_whitelist_auth userATexample.com
Same as "whitelist_auth", but used for the default whitelist entries in the SpamAssassin distribution. The whitelist
score is lower, because these are often targets for spammer spoofing.
unwhitelist_auth userATexample.com
Used to override a "whitelist_auth" entry. The specified email address has to match exactly the address previously
used in a "whitelist_auth" line.
e.g.
unwhitelist_auth joeATexample.com fredATexample.com
unwhitelist_auth *@example.com
BASIC MESSAGE TAGGING OPTIONS
rewrite_header { subject | from | to } STRING
By default, suspected spam messages will not have the "Subject", "From" or "To" lines tagged to indicate spam. By
setting this option, the header will be tagged with "STRING" to indicate that a message is spam. For the From or To
headers, this will take the form of an RFC 2822 comment following the address in parantheses. For the Subject header,
this will be prepended to the original subject. Note that you should only use the _REQD_ and _SCORE_ tags when
rewriting the Subject header if "report_safe" is 0. Otherwise, you may not be able to remove the SpamAssassin markup
via the normal methods. More information about tags is explained below in the TEMPLATE TAGS section.
Parentheses are not permitted in STRING if rewriting the From or To headers. (They will be converted to square
brackets.)
If "rewrite_header subject" is used, but the message being rewritten does not already contain a "Subject" header, one
will be created.
A null value for "STRING" will remove any existing rewrite for the specified header.
add_header { spam | ham | all } header_name string
Customized headers can be added to the specified type of messages (spam, ham, or "all" to add to either). All
headers begin with "X-Spam-" (so a "header_name" Foo will generate a header called X-Spam-Foo). header_name is
restricted to the character set [A-Za-z0-9_-].
The order of "add_header" configuration options is preserved, inserted headers will follow this order of
declarations. When combining "add_header" with "clear_headers" and "remove_header", keep in mind that "add_header"
appends a new header to the current list, after first removing any existing header fields of the same name. Note also
that "add_header", "clear_headers" and "remove_header" may appear in multiple .cf files, which are interpreted in
alphabetic order.
"string" can contain tags as explained below in the TEMPLATE TAGS section. You can also use "\n" and "\t" in the
header to add newlines and tabulators as desired. A backslash has to be written as \\, any other escaped chars will
be silently removed.
All headers will be folded if fold_headers is set to 1. Note: Manually adding newlines via "\n" disables any further
automatic wrapping (ie: long header lines are possible). The lines will still be properly folded (marked as
continuing) though.
You can customize existing headers with add_header (only the specified subset of messages will be changed).
See also "clear_headers" and "remove_header" for removing headers.
Here are some examples (these are the defaults, note that Checker-Version can not be changed or removed):
add_header spam Flag _YESNOCAPS_
add_header all Status _YESNO_, score=_SCORE_ required=_REQD_ tests=_TESTS_ autolearn=_AUTOLEARN_ version=_VERSION_
add_header all Level _STARS(*)_
add_header all Checker-Version SpamAssassin _VERSION_ (_SUBVERSION_) on _HOSTNAME_
remove_header { spam | ham | all } header_name
Headers can be removed from the specified type of messages (spam, ham, or "all" to remove from either). All headers
begin with "X-Spam-" (so "header_name" will be appended to "X-Spam-").
See also "clear_headers" for removing all the headers at once.
Note that X-Spam-Checker-Version is not removable because the version information is needed by mail administrators
and developers to debug problems. Without at least one header, it might not even be possible to determine that
SpamAssassin is running.
clear_headers
Clear the list of headers to be added to messages. You may use this before any add_header options to prevent the
default headers from being added to the message.
"add_header", "clear_headers" and "remove_header" may appear in multiple .cf files, which are interpreted in
alphabetic order, so "clear_headers" in a later file will remove all added headers from previously interpreted
configuration files, which may or may not be desired.
Note that X-Spam-Checker-Version is not removable because the version information is needed by mail administrators
and developers to debug problems. Without at least one header, it might not even be possible to determine that
SpamAssassin is running.
report_safe ( 0 | 1 | 2 ) (default: 1)
if this option is set to 1, 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, not easily opened, and easier to recover).
If this option is set to 2, then original messages will be attached with a content type of text/plain instead of
message/rfc822. This setting may be required for safety reasons on certain broken mail clients that automatically
load attachments without any action by the user. This setting may also make it somewhat more difficult to extract or
view the original message.
If this option is set to 0, incoming spam is only modified by adding some "X-Spam-" headers and no changes will be
made to the body. In addition, a header named X-Spam-Report will be added to spam. You can use the remove_header
option to remove that header after setting report_safe to 0.
See report_safe_copy_headers if you want to copy headers from the original mail into tagged messages.
LANGUAGE OPTIONS
ok_locales xx [ yy zz ... ] (default: all)
This option is used to specify which locales are considered OK for incoming mail. Mail using the character sets that
are allowed by this option will not be marked as possibly being spam in a foreign language.
If you receive lots of spam in foreign languages, and never get any non-spam in these languages, this may help. Note
that all ISO-8859-* character sets, and Windows code page character sets, are always permitted by default.
Set this to "all" to allow all character sets. This is the default.
The rules "CHARSET_FARAWAY", "CHARSET_FARAWAY_BODY", and "CHARSET_FARAWAY_HEADERS" are triggered based on how this is
set.
Examples:
ok_locales all (allow all locales)
ok_locales en (only allow English)
ok_locales en ja zh (allow English, Japanese, and Chinese)
Note: if there are multiple ok_locales lines, only the last one is used.
Select the locales to allow from the list below:
en - Western character sets in general
ja - Japanese character sets
ko - Korean character sets
ru - Cyrillic character sets
th - Thai character sets
zh - Chinese (both simplified and traditional) character sets
normalize_charset ( 0 | 1) (default: 0)
Whether to detect character sets and normalize message content to Unicode. Requires the Encode::Detect module,
HTML::Parser version 3.46 or later, and Perl 5.8.5 or later.
NETWORK TEST OPTIONS
trusted_networks ip.add.re.ss[/mask] ... (default: none)
What networks or hosts are 'trusted' in your setup. Trusted in this case means that relay hosts on these networks
are considered to not be potentially operated by spammers, open relays, or open proxies. A trusted host could
conceivably relay spam, but will not originate it, and will not forge header data. DNS blacklist checks will never
query for hosts on these networks.
See "http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/TrustPath" for more information.
MXes for your domain(s) and internal relays should also be specified using the "internal_networks" setting. When
there are 'trusted' hosts that are not MXes or internal relays for your domain(s) they should only be specified in
"trusted_networks".
If a "/mask" is specified, it's considered a CIDR-style 'netmask', specified in bits. If it is not specified, but
less than 4 octets are specified with a trailing dot, that's considered a mask to allow all addresses in the
remaining octets. If a mask is not specified, and there is not trailing dot, then just the single IP address
specified is used, as if the mask was "/32".
If a network or host address is prefaced by a "!" the network or host will be excluded (or included) in a first
listed match fashion.
Note: 127/8 and ::1 are always included in trusted_networks, regardless of your config.
Examples:
trusted_networks 192.168/16 # all in 192.168.*.*
trusted_networks 212.17.35.15 # just that host
trusted_networks !10.0.1.5 10.0.1/24 # all in 10.0.1.* but not 10.0.1.5
trusted_networks DEAD:BEEF::/32 # all in that ipv6 prefix
This operates additively, so a "trusted_networks" line after another one will append new entries to the list of
trusted networks. To clear out the existing entries, use "clear_trusted_networks".
If "trusted_networks" is not set and "internal_networks" is, the value of "internal_networks" will be used for this
parameter.
If neither "trusted_networks" or "internal_networks" is set, a basic inference algorithm is applied. This works as
follows:
o If the 'from' host has an IP address in a private (RFC 1918) network range, then it's trusted
o If there are authentication tokens in the received header, and the previous host was trusted, then this host is
also trusted
o Otherwise this host, and all further hosts, are consider untrusted.
clear_trusted_networks
Empty the list of trusted networks.
internal_networks ip.add.re.ss[/mask] ... (default: none)
What networks or hosts are 'internal' in your setup. Internal means that relay hosts on these networks are
considered to be MXes for your domain(s), or internal relays. This uses the same format as "trusted_networks",
above.
This value is used when checking 'dial-up' or dynamic IP address blocklists, in order to detect direct-to-MX
spamming.
Trusted relays that accept mail directly from dial-up connections (i.e. are also performing a role of mail submission
agents - MSA) should not be listed in "internal_networks". List them only in "trusted_networks".
If "trusted_networks" is set and "internal_networks" is not, the value of "trusted_networks" will be used for this
parameter.
If neither "trusted_networks" nor "internal_networks" is set, no addresses will be considered local; in other words,
any relays past the machine where SpamAssassin is running will be considered external.
Every entry in "internal_networks" must appear in "trusted_networks"; in other words, "internal_networks" is always a
subset of the trusted set.
Note: 127/8 and ::1 are always included in internal_networks, regardless of your config.
clear_internal_networks
Empty the list of internal networks.
msa_networks ip.add.re.ss[/mask] ... (default: none)
The networks or hosts which are acting as MSAs in your setup (but not also as MX relays). MSA means that the relay
hosts on these networks accept mail from your own users and authenticates them appropriately. These relays will
never accept mail from hosts that aren't authenticated in some way. Examples of authentication include, IP lists,
SMTP AUTH, POP-before-SMTP, etc.
All relays found in the message headers after the MSA relay will take on the same trusted and internal
classifications as the MSA relay itself, as defined by your trusted_networks and internal_networks configuration.
For example, if the MSA relay is trusted and internal so will all of the relays that precede it.
When using msa_networks to identify an MSA it is recommended that you treat that MSA as both trusted and internal.
When an MSA is not included in msa_networks you should treat the MSA as trusted but not internal, however if the MSA
is also acting as an MX or intermediate relay you must always treat it as both trusted and internal and ensure that
the MSA includes visible auth tokens in its Received header to identify submission clients.
Warning: Never include an MSA that also acts as an MX (or is also an intermediate relay for an MX) or otherwise
accepts mail from non-authenticated users in msa_networks. Doing so will result in unknown external relays being
trusted.
clear_msa_networks
Empty the list of msa networks.
originating_ip_headers header ... (default: X-Yahoo-Post-IP X-Originating-IP X-Apparently-From X-SenderIP)
A list of header field names from which an originating IP address can be obtained. For example, webmail servers may
record a client IP address in X-Originating-IP.
These IP addresses are virtually appended into the Received: chain, so they are used in RBL checks where appropriate.
Currently the IP addresses are not added into X-Spam-Relays-* header fields, but they may be in the future.
clear_originating_ip_headers
Empty the list of 'originating IP address' header field names.
always_trust_envelope_sender ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 0)
Trust the envelope sender even if the message has been passed through one or more trusted relays. See also
"envelope_sender_header".
skip_rbl_checks ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 0)
Turning on the skip_rbl_checks setting will disable the DNSEval plugin, which implements Real-time Block List (or:
Blackhole List) (RBL) lookups.
By default, SpamAssassin will run RBL checks. Individual blocklists may be disabled selectively by setting a score of
a corresponding rule to 0.
See also a related configuration parameter skip_uribl_checks, which controls the URIDNSBL plugin (documented in the
URIDNSBL man page).
dns_available { yes | test[: name1 name2...] | no } (default: test)
By default, SpamAssassin will query some default hosts on the internet to attempt to check if DNS is working or not.
The problem is that it can introduce some delay if your network connection is down, and in some cases it can wrongly
guess that DNS is unavailable because the test connections failed. SpamAssassin includes a default set of 13
servers, among which 3 are picked randomly.
You can however specify your own list by specifying
dns_available test: domain1.tld domain2.tld domain3.tld
Please note, the DNS test queries for NS records.
dns_test_interval n (default: 600 seconds)
If dns_available is set to 'test' (which is the default), the dns_test_interval time in number of seconds will tell
SpamAssassin how often to retest for working DNS.
dns_options rotate (default: empty)
If set to 'rotate', this causes SpamAssassin to choose a DNS server at random from all servers listed in
"/etc/resolv.conf" every 'dns_test_interval' seconds, effectively spreading the load over all currently available DNS
servers when there are many spamd workers.
LEARNING OPTIONS
use_learner ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 1)
Whether to use any machine-learning classifiers with SpamAssassin, such as the default 'BAYES_*' rules. Setting this
to 0 will disable use of any and all human-trained classifiers.
use_bayes ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 1)
Whether to use the naive-Bayesian-style classifier built into SpamAssassin. This is a master on/off switch for all
Bayes-related operations.
use_bayes_rules ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 1)
Whether to use rules using the naive-Bayesian-style classifier built into SpamAssassin. This allows you to disable
the rules while leaving auto and manual learning enabled.
bayes_auto_learn ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 1)
Whether SpamAssassin should automatically feed high-scoring mails (or low-scoring mails, for non-spam) into its
learning systems. The only learning system supported currently is a naive-Bayesian-style classifier.
See the documentation for the "Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::AutoLearnThreshold" plugin module for details on how Bayes
auto-learning is implemented by default.
bayes_ignore_header header_name
If you receive mail filtered by upstream mail systems, like a spam-filtering ISP or mailing list, and that service
adds new headers (as most of them do), these headers may provide inappropriate cues to the Bayesian classifier,
allowing it to take a "short cut". To avoid this, list the headers using this setting. Example:
bayes_ignore_header X-Upstream-Spamfilter
bayes_ignore_header X-Upstream-SomethingElse
bayes_ignore_from userATexample.com
Bayesian classification and autolearning will not be performed on mail from the listed addresses. Program "sa-learn"
will also ignore the listed addresses if it is invoked using the "--use-ignores" option. One or more addresses can
be listed, see "whitelist_from".
Spam messages from certain senders may contain many words that frequently occur in ham. For example, one might read
messages from a preferred bookstore but also get unwanted spam messages from other bookstores. If the unwanted
messages are learned as spam then any messages discussing books, including the preferred bookstore and antiquarian
messages would be in danger of being marked as spam. The addresses of the annoying bookstores would be listed.
(Assuming they were halfway legitimate and didn't send you mail through myriad affiliates.)
Those who have pieces of spam in legitimate messages or otherwise receive ham messages containing potentially spammy
words might fear that some spam messages might be in danger of being marked as ham. The addresses of the spam
mailing lists, correspondents, etc. would be listed.
bayes_ignore_to userATexample.com
Bayesian classification and autolearning will not be performed on mail to the listed addresses. See
"bayes_ignore_from" for details.
bayes_min_ham_num (Default: 200)
bayes_min_spam_num (Default: 200)
To be accurate, the Bayes system does not activate until a certain number of ham (non-spam) and spam have been
learned. The default is 200 of each ham and spam, but you can tune these up or down with these two settings.
bayes_learn_during_report (Default: 1)
The Bayes system will, by default, learn any reported messages ("spamassassin -r") as spam. If you do not want this
to happen, set this option to 0.
bayes_sql_override_username
Used by BayesStore::SQL storage implementation.
If this options is set the BayesStore::SQL module will override the set username with the value given. This could be
useful for implementing global or group bayes databases.
bayes_use_hapaxes (default: 1)
Should the Bayesian classifier use hapaxes (words/tokens that occur only once) when classifying? This produces
significantly better hit-rates, but increases database size by about a factor of 8 to 10.
bayes_journal_max_size (default: 102400)
SpamAssassin will opportunistically sync the journal and the database. It will do so once a day, but will sync more
often if the journal file size goes above this setting, in bytes. If set to 0, opportunistic syncing will not occur.
bayes_expiry_max_db_size (default: 150000)
What should be the maximum size of the Bayes tokens database? When expiry occurs, the Bayes system will keep either
75% of the maximum value, or 100,000 tokens, whichever has a larger value. 150,000 tokens is roughly equivalent to a
8Mb database file.
bayes_auto_expire (default: 1)
If enabled, the Bayes system will try to automatically expire old tokens from the database. Auto-expiry occurs when
the number of tokens in the database surpasses the bayes_expiry_max_db_size value.
bayes_learn_to_journal (default: 0)
If this option is set, whenever SpamAssassin does Bayes learning, it will put the information into the journal
instead of directly into the database. This lowers contention for locking the database to execute an update, but
will also cause more access to the journal and cause a delay before the updates are actually committed to the Bayes
database.
MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
time_limit n (default: 300)
Specifies a limit on elapsed time in seconds that SpamAssassin is allowed to spend before providing a result. The
value may be fractional and must not be negative, zero is interpreted as unlimited. The default is 300 seconds for
consistency with the spamd default setting of --timeout-child .
This is a best-effort advisory setting, processing will not be abruptly aborted at an arbitrary point in processing
when the time limit is exceeded, but only on reaching one of locations in the program flow equipped with a time test.
Currently equipped with the test are the main checking loop, asynchronous DNS lookups, plugins which are calling
external programs. Rule evaluation is guarded by starting a timer (alarm) on each set of compiled rules.
When a message is passed to Mail::SpamAssassin::parse, a deadline time is established as a sum of current time and
the "time_limit" setting.
This deadline may also be specified by a caller through an option 'master_deadline' in $suppl_attrib on a call to
parse(), possibly providing a more accurate deadline taking into account past and expected future processing of a
message in a mail filtering setup. If both the config option as well as a 'master_deadline' option in a call are
provided, the shorter time limit of the two is used (since version 3.3.2). Note that spamd (and possibly third-party
callers of SpamAssassin) will supply the 'master_deadline' option in a call based on its --timeout-child option (or
equivalent), unlike the command line "spamassassin", which has no such command line option.
When a time limit is exceeded, most of the remaining tests will be skipped, as well as auto-learning. Whatever tests
fired so far will determine the final score. The behaviour is similar to short-circuiting with attribute 'on', as
implemented by a Shortcircuit plugin. A synthetic hit on a rule named TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED with a near-zero default
score is generated, so that the report will reflect the event. A score for TIME_LIMIT_EXCEEDED may be provided
explicitly in a configuration file, for example to achieve whitelisting or blacklisting effect for messages with long
processing times.
The "time_limit" option is a useful protection against excessive processing time on certain degenerate or unusually
long or complex mail messages, as well as against some DoS attacks. It is also needed in time-critical pre-queue
filtering setups (e.g. milter, proxy, integration with MTA), where message processing must finish before a SMTP
client times out. RFC 5321 prescribes in section 4.5.3.2.6 the 'DATA Termination' time limit of 10 minutes, although
it is not unusual to see some SMTP clients abort sooner on waiting for a response. A sensible "time_limit" for a pre-
queue filtering setup is maybe 50 seconds, assuming that clients are willing to wait at least a minute.
lock_method type
Select the file-locking method used to protect database files on-disk. By default, SpamAssassin uses an NFS-safe
locking method on UNIX; however, if you are sure that the database files you'll be using for Bayes and AWL storage
will never be accessed over NFS, a non-NFS-safe locking system can be selected.
This will be quite a bit faster, but may risk file corruption if the files are ever accessed by multiple clients at
once, and one or more of them is accessing them through an NFS filesystem.
Note that different platforms require different locking systems.
The supported locking systems for "type" are as follows:
nfssafe - an NFS-safe locking system
flock - simple UNIX "flock()" locking
win32 - Win32 locking using "sysopen (..., O_CREAT|O_EXCL)".
nfssafe and flock are only available on UNIX, and win32 is only available on Windows. By default, SpamAssassin will
choose either nfssafe or win32 depending on the platform in use.
fold_headers ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 1)
By default, headers added by SpamAssassin will be whitespace folded. In other words, they will be broken up into
multiple lines instead of one very long one and each continuation line will have a tabulator prepended to mark it as
a continuation of the preceding one.
The automatic wrapping can be disabled here. Note that this can generate very long lines. RFC 2822 required that
header lines do not exceed 998 characters (not counting the final CRLF).
report_safe_copy_headers header_name ...
If using "report_safe", a few of the headers from the original message are copied into the wrapper header (From, To,
Cc, Subject, Date, etc.) If you want to have other headers copied as well, you can add them using this option. You
can specify multiple headers on the same line, separated by spaces, or you can just use multiple lines.
envelope_sender_header Name-Of-Header
SpamAssassin will attempt to discover the address used in the 'MAIL FROM:' phase of the SMTP transaction that
delivered this message, if this data has been made available by the SMTP server. This is used in the "EnvelopeFrom"
pseudo-header, and for various rules such as SPF checking.
By default, various MTAs will use different headers, such as the following:
X-Envelope-From
Envelope-Sender
X-Sender
Return-Path
SpamAssassin will attempt to use these, if some heuristics (such as the header placement in the message, or the
absence of fetchmail signatures) appear to indicate that they are safe to use. However, it may choose the wrong
headers in some mailserver configurations. (More discussion of this can be found in bug 2142 and bug 4747 in the
SpamAssassin BugZilla.)
To avoid this heuristic failure, the "envelope_sender_header" setting may be helpful. Name the header that your MTA
or MDA adds to messages containing the address used at the MAIL FROM step of the SMTP transaction.
If the header in question contains "<" or ">" characters at the start and end of the email address in the right-hand
side, as in the SMTP transaction, these will be stripped.
If the header is not found in a message, or if it's value does not contain an "@" sign, SpamAssassin will issue a
warning in the logs and fall back to its default heuristics.
(Note for MTA developers: we would prefer if the use of a single header be avoided in future, since that precludes
'downstream' spam scanning. "http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/EnvelopeSenderInReceived" details a better
proposal, storing the envelope sender at each hop in the "Received" header.)
example:
envelope_sender_header X-SA-Exim-Mail-From
describe SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME description ...
Used to describe a test. This text is shown to users in the detailed report.
Note that test names which begin with '__' are reserved for meta-match sub-rules, and are not scored or listed in the
'tests hit' reports.
Also note that by convention, rule descriptions should be limited in length to no more than 50 characters.
report_charset CHARSET (default: unset)
Set the MIME Content-Type charset used for the text/plain report which is attached to spam mail messages.
report ...some text for a report...
Set the report template which is attached to spam mail messages. See the "10_default_prefs.cf" configuration file in
"/usr/share/spamassassin" for an example.
If you change this, try to keep it under 78 columns. Each "report" line appends to the existing template, so use
"clear_report_template" to restart.
Tags can be included as explained above.
clear_report_template
Clear the report template.
report_contact ...text of contact address...
Set what _CONTACTADDRESS_ is replaced with in the above report text. By default, this is 'the administrator of that
system', since the hostname of the system the scanner is running on is also included.
report_hostname ...hostname to use...
Set what _HOSTNAME_ is replaced with in the above report text. By default, this is determined dynamically as
whatever the host running SpamAssassin calls itself.
unsafe_report ...some text for a report...
Set the report template which is attached to spam mail messages which contain a non-text/plain part. See the
"10_default_prefs.cf" configuration file in "/usr/share/spamassassin" for an example.
Each "unsafe-report" line appends to the existing template, so use "clear_unsafe_report_template" to restart.
Tags can be used in this template (see above for details).
clear_unsafe_report_template
Clear the unsafe_report template.
RULE DEFINITIONS AND PRIVILEGED SETTINGS
These settings differ from the ones above, in that they are considered 'privileged'. Only users running "spamassassin"
from their procmailrc's or forward files, or sysadmins editing a file in "/etc/mail/spamassassin", can use them.
"spamd" users cannot use them in their "user_prefs" files, for security and efficiency reasons, unless "allow_user_rules"
is enabled (and then, they may only add rules from below).
allow_user_rules ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 0)
This setting allows users to create rules (and only rules) in their "user_prefs" files for use with "spamd". It
defaults to off, because this could be a severe security hole. It may be possible for users to gain root level access
if "spamd" is run as root. It is NOT a good idea, unless you have some other way of ensuring that users' tests are
safe. Don't use this unless you are certain you know what you are doing. Furthermore, this option causes spamassassin
to recompile all the tests each time it processes a message for a user with a rule in his/her "user_prefs" file,
which could have a significant effect on server load. It is not recommended.
Note that it is not currently possible to use "allow_user_rules" to modify an existing system rule from a
"user_prefs" file with "spamd".
redirector_pattern /pattern/modifiers
A regex pattern that matches both the redirector site portion, and the target site portion of a URI.
Note: The target URI portion must be surrounded in parentheses and
no other part of the pattern may create a backreference.
Example: http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/whatever/spammer.domain/yo/dude
redirector_pattern /^https?:\/\/(?:opt\.)?chkpt\.zdnet\.com\/chkpt\/\w+\/(.*)$/i
header SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME header op /pattern/modifiers [if-unset: STRING]
Define a test. "SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME" is a symbolic test name, such as 'FROM_ENDS_IN_NUMS'. "header" is the name of a
mail header field, such as 'Subject', 'To', 'From', etc. Header field names are matched case-insensitively
(conforming to RFC 5322 section 1.2.2), except for all-capitals metaheader fields such as ALL, MESSAGEID, ALL-
TRUSTED.
Appending a modifier ":raw" to a header field name will inhibit decoding of quoted-printable or base-64 encoded
strings, and will preserve all whitespace inside the header string. The ":raw" may also be applied to pseudo-headers
e.g. "ALL:raw" will return a pristine (unmodified) header section.
Appending a modifier ":addr" to a header field name will cause everything except the first email address to be
removed from the header field. It is mainly applicable to header fields 'From', 'Sender', 'To', 'Cc' along with
their 'Resent-*' counterparts, and the 'Return-Path'.
Appending a modifier ":name" to a header field name will cause everything except the first display name to be removed
from the header field. It is mainly applicable to header fields 'From' and 'Resent-From'.
It is syntactically permitted to append more than one modifier to a header field name, although currently most
combinations achieve no additional effect, for example "From:addr:raw" or "From:raw:addr" is currently the same as
"From:addr" .
example@foo
example@foo (Foo Blah)
example@foo, example@bar
display: example@foo (Foo Blah), example@bar ;
Foo Blah <example@foo>
"Foo Blah" <example@foo>
"'Foo Blah'" <example@foo>
Appending ":name" to the header name will cause everything except the first real name to be removed from the header.
For example, all of the following will result in "Foo Blah"
example@foo (Foo Blah)
example@foo (Foo Blah), example@bar
display: example@foo (Foo Blah), example@bar ;
Foo Blah <example@foo>
"Foo Blah" <example@foo>
"'Foo Blah'" <example@foo>
There are several special pseudo-headers that can be specified:
"ALL" can be used to mean the text of all the message's headers. Note that all whitespace inside the headers, at line
folds, is currently compressed into a single space (' ') character. To obtain a pristine (unmodified) header section,
use "ALL:raw" - the :raw modifier is documented above.
"ToCc" can be used to mean the contents of both the 'To' and 'Cc' headers.
"EnvelopeFrom" is the address used in the 'MAIL FROM:' phase of the SMTP transaction that delivered this message, if
this data has been made available by the SMTP server. See "envelope_sender_header" for more information on how to
set this.
"MESSAGEID" is a symbol meaning all Message-Id's found in the message; some mailing list software moves the real
'Message-Id' to 'Resent-Message-Id' or to 'X-Message-Id', then uses its own one in the 'Message-Id' header. The value
returned for this symbol is the text from all 3 headers, separated by newlines.
"X-Spam-Relays-Untrusted", "X-Spam-Relays-Trusted", "X-Spam-Relays-Internal" and "X-Spam-Relays-External" represent a
portable, pre-parsed representation of the message's network path, as recorded in the Received headers, divided into
'trusted' vs 'untrusted' and 'internal' vs 'external' sets. See "http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/TrustedRelays"
for more details.
"op" is either "=~" (contains regular expression) or "!~" (does not contain regular expression), and "pattern" is a
valid Perl regular expression, with "modifiers" as regexp modifiers in the usual style. Note that multi-line rules
are not supported, even if you use "x" as a modifier. Also note that the "#" character must be escaped ("\#") or
else it will be considered to be the start of a comment and not part of the regexp.
If the "[if-unset: STRING]" tag is present, then "STRING" will be used if the header is not found in the mail
message.
Test names must not start with a number, and must contain only alphanumerics and underscores. It is suggested that
lower-case characters not be used, and names have a length of no more than 22 characters, as an informal convention.
Dashes are not allowed.
Note that test names which begin with '__' are reserved for meta-match sub-rules, and are not scored or listed in the
'tests hit' reports. Test names which begin with 'T_' are reserved for tests which are undergoing QA, and these are
given a very low score.
If you add or modify a test, please be sure to run a sanity check afterwards by running "spamassassin --lint". This
will avoid confusing error messages, or other tests being skipped as a side-effect.
header SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME exists:name_of_header
Define a header existence test. "name_of_header" is the name of a header field to test for existence. This is just
a very simple version of the above header tests.
header SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:name_of_eval_method([arguments])
Define a header eval test. "name_of_eval_method" is the name of a method on the "Mail::SpamAssassin::EvalTests"
object. "arguments" are optional arguments to the function call.
header SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:check_rbl('set', 'zone' [, 'sub-test'])
Check a DNSBL (a DNS blacklist or whitelist). This will retrieve Received: headers from the message, extract the IP
addresses, select which ones are 'untrusted' based on the "trusted_networks" logic, and query that DNSBL zone.
There's a few things to note:
duplicated or private IPs
Duplicated IPs are only queried once and reserved IPs are not queried. Private IPs are those listed in
<http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space>;, <http://duxcw.com/faq/network/privip.htm>;,
<http://duxcw.com/faq/network/autoip.htm>;, or <ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc3330.txt>; as private.
the 'set' argument
This is used as a 'zone ID'. If you want to look up a multiple-meaning zone like NJABL or SORBS, you can then
query the results from that zone using it; but all check_rbl_sub() calls must use that zone ID.
Also, if more than one IP address gets a DNSBL hit for a particular rule, it does not affect the score because
rules only trigger once per message.
the 'zone' argument
This is the root zone of the DNSBL, ending in a period.
the 'sub-test' argument
This optional argument behaves the same as the sub-test argument in "check_rbl_sub()" below.
selecting all IPs except for the originating one
This is accomplished by placing '-notfirsthop' at the end of the set name. This is useful for querying against
DNS lists which list dialup IP addresses; the first hop may be a dialup, but as long as there is at least one
more hop, via their outgoing SMTP server, that's legitimate, and so should not gain points. If there is only one
hop, that will be queried anyway, as it should be relaying via its outgoing SMTP server instead of sending
directly to your MX (mail exchange).
selecting IPs by whether they are trusted
When checking a 'nice' DNSBL (a DNS whitelist), you cannot trust the IP addresses in Received headers that were
not added by trusted relays. To test the first IP address that can be trusted, place '-firsttrusted' at the end
of the set name. That should test the IP address of the relay that connected to the most remote trusted relay.
Note that this requires that SpamAssassin know which relays are trusted. For simple cases, SpamAssassin can make
a good estimate. For complex cases, you may get better results by setting "trusted_networks" manually.
In addition, you can test all untrusted IP addresses by placing '-untrusted' at the end of the set name.
Important note -- this does NOT include the IP address from the most recent 'untrusted line', as used in
'-firsttrusted' above. That's because we're talking about the trustworthiness of the IP address data, not the
source header line, here; and in the case of the most recent header (the 'firsttrusted'), that data can be
trusted. See the Wiki page at "http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/TrustedRelays" for more information on this.
Selecting just the last external IP
By using '-lastexternal' at the end of the set name, you can select only the external host that connected to your
internal network, or at least the last external host with a public IP.
header SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:check_rbl_txt('set', 'zone')
Same as check_rbl(), except querying using IN TXT instead of IN A records. If the zone supports it, it will result
in a line of text describing why the IP is listed, typically a hyperlink to a database entry.
header SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:check_rbl_sub('set', 'sub-test')
Create a sub-test for 'set'. If you want to look up a multi-meaning zone like relays.osirusoft.com, you can then
query the results from that zone using the zone ID from the original query. The sub-test may either be an IPv4
dotted address for RBLs that return multiple A records or a non-negative decimal number to specify a bitmask for RBLs
that return a single A record containing a bitmask of results, a SenderBase test beginning with "sb:", or (if none of
the preceding options seem to fit) a regular expression.
Note: the set name must be exactly the same for as the main query rule, including selections like '-notfirsthop'
appearing at the end of the set name.
body SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME /pattern/modifiers
Define a body pattern test. "pattern" is a Perl regular expression. Note: as per the header tests, "#" must be
escaped ("\#") or else it is considered the beginning of a comment.
The 'body' in this case is the textual parts of the message body; any non-text MIME parts are stripped, and the
message decoded from Quoted-Printable or Base-64-encoded format if necessary. The message Subject header is
considered part of the body and becomes the first paragraph when running the rules. All HTML tags and line breaks
will be removed before matching.
body SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:name_of_eval_method([args])
Define a body eval test. See above.
uri SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME /pattern/modifiers
Define a uri pattern test. "pattern" is a Perl regular expression. Note: as per the header tests, "#" must be
escaped ("\#") or else it is considered the beginning of a comment.
The 'uri' in this case is a list of all the URIs in the body of the email, and the test will be run on each and every
one of those URIs, adjusting the score if a match is found. Use this test instead of one of the body tests when you
need to match a URI, as it is more accurately bound to the start/end points of the URI, and will also be faster.
rawbody SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME /pattern/modifiers
Define a raw-body pattern test. "pattern" is a Perl regular expression. Note: as per the header tests, "#" must be
escaped ("\#") or else it is considered the beginning of a comment.
The 'raw body' of a message is the raw data inside all textual parts. The text will be decoded from base64 or quoted-
printable encoding, but HTML tags and line breaks will still be present. Multiline expressions will need to be used
to match strings that are broken by line breaks.
rawbody SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:name_of_eval_method([args])
Define a raw-body eval test. See above.
full SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME /pattern/modifiers
Define a full message pattern test. "pattern" is a Perl regular expression. Note: as per the header tests, "#" must
be escaped ("\#") or else it is considered the beginning of a comment.
The full message is the pristine message headers plus the pristine message body, including all MIME data such as
images, other attachments, MIME boundaries, etc.
full SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME eval:name_of_eval_method([args])
Define a full message eval test. See above.
meta SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME boolean expression
Define a boolean expression test in terms of other tests that have been hit or not hit. For example:
meta META1 TEST1 && !(TEST2 || TEST3)
Note that English language operators ("and", "or") will be treated as rule names, and that there is no "XOR"
operator.
meta SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME boolean arithmetic expression
Can also define an arithmetic expression in terms of other tests, with an unhit test having the value "0" and a hit
test having a nonzero value. The value of a hit meta test is that of its arithmetic expression. The value of a hit
eval test is that returned by its method. The value of a hit header, body, rawbody, uri, or full test which has the
"multiple" tflag is the number of times the test hit. The value of any other type of hit test is "1".
For example:
meta META2 (3 * TEST1 - 2 * TEST2) > 0
Note that Perl builtins and functions, like "abs()", can't be used, and will be treated as rule names.
If you want to define a meta-rule, but do not want its individual sub-rules to count towards the final score unless
the entire meta-rule matches, give the sub-rules names that start with '__' (two underscores). SpamAssassin will
ignore these for scoring.
reuse SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME [ OLD_SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME_1 ... ]
Defines the name of a test that should be "reused" during the scoring process. If a message has an X-Spam-Status
header that shows a hit for this rule or any of the old rule names given, a hit will be added for this rule when
mass-check --reuse is used. Examples:
"reuse SPF_PASS"
"reuse MY_NET_RULE_V2 MY_NET_RULE_V1"
The actual logic for reuse tests is done by Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Reuse.
tflags SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME [ {net|nice|learn|userconf|noautolearn|multiple} ]
Used to set flags on a test. These flags are used in the score-determination back end system for details of the
test's behaviour. Please see "bayes_auto_learn" for more information about tflag interaction with those systems. The
following flags can be set:
net The test is a network test, and will not be run in the mass checking system or if -L is used, therefore its score
should not be modified.
nice
The test is intended to compensate for common false positives, and should be assigned a negative score.
userconf
The test requires user configuration before it can be used (like language- specific tests).
learn
The test requires training before it can be used.
noautolearn
The test will explicitly be ignored when calculating the score for learning systems.
multiple
The test will be evaluated multiple times, for use with meta rules. Only affects header, body, rawbody, uri, and
full tests.
priority SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME n
Assign a specific priority to a test. All tests, except for DNS and Meta tests, are run in increasing priority value
order (negative priority values are run before positive priority values). The default test priority is 0 (zero).
The values <-99999999999999> and <-99999999999998> have a special meaning internally, and should not be used.
ADMINISTRATOR SETTINGS
These settings differ from the ones above, in that they are considered 'more privileged' -- even more than the ones in
the PRIVILEGED SETTINGS section. No matter what "allow_user_rules" is set to, these can never be set from a user's
"user_prefs" file when spamc/spamd is being used. However, all settings can be used by local programs run directly by
the user.
version_tag string
This tag is appended to the SA version in the X-Spam-Status header. You should include it when modify your ruleset,
especially if you plan to distribute it. A good choice for string is your last name or your initials followed by a
number which you increase with each change.
The version_tag will be lowercased, and any non-alphanumeric or period character will be replaced by an underscore.
e.g.
version_tag myrules1 # version=2.41-myrules1
test SYMBOLIC_TEST_NAME (ok|fail) Some string to test against
Define a regression testing string. You can have more than one regression test string per symbolic test name. Simply
specify a string that you wish the test to match.
These tests are only run as part of the test suite - they should not affect the general running of SpamAssassin.
rbl_timeout t [t_min] [zone] (default: 15 3)
All DNS queries are made at the beginning of a check and we try to read the results at the end. This value specifies
the maximum period of time (in seconds) to wait for a DNS query. If most of the DNS queries have succeeded for a
particular message, then SpamAssassin will not wait for the full period to avoid wasting time on unresponsive
server(s), but will shrink the timeout according to a percentage of queries already completed. As the number of
queries remaining approaches 0, the timeout value will gradually approach a t_min value, which is an optional second
parameter and defaults to 0.2 * t. If t is smaller than t_min, the initial timeout is set to t_min. Here is a chart
of queries remaining versus the timeout in seconds, for the default 15 second / 3 second timeout setting:
queries left 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
timeout 15 14.9 14.5 13.9 13.1 12.0 10.7 9.1 7.3 5.3 3
For example, if 20 queries are made at the beginning of a message check and 16 queries have returned (leaving 20%),
the remaining 4 queries should finish within 7.3 seconds since their query started or they will be timed out. Note
that timed out queries are only aborted when there is nothing else left for SpamAssassin to do - long evaluation of
other rules may grant queries additional time.
If a parameter 'zone' is specified (it must end with a letter, which distinguishes it from other numeric parametrs),
then the setting only applies to DNS queries against the specified DNS domain (host, domain or RBL (sub)zone).
Matching is case-insensitive, the actual domain may be a subdomain of the specified zone.
util_rb_tld tld1 tld2 ...
This option allows the addition of new TLDs to the RegistrarBoundaries code. Updates to the list usually happen when
new versions of SpamAssassin are released, but sometimes it's necessary to add in new TLDs faster than a release can
occur. TLDs include things like com, net, org, etc.
util_rb_2tld 2tld-1.tld 2tld-2.tld ...
This option allows the addition of new 2nd-level TLDs (2TLD) to the RegistrarBoundaries code. Updates to the list
usually happen when new versions of SpamAssassin are released, but sometimes it's necessary to add in new 2TLDs
faster than a release can occur. 2TLDs include things like co.uk, fed.us, etc.
util_rb_3tld 3tld1.some.tld 3tld2.other.tld ...
This option allows the addition of new 3rd-level TLDs (3TLD) to the RegistrarBoundaries code. Updates to the list
usually happen when new versions of SpamAssassin are released, but sometimes it's necessary to add in new 3TLDs
faster than a release can occur. 3TLDs include things like demon.co.uk, plc.co.im, etc.
bayes_path /path/filename (default: ~/.spamassassin/bayes)
This is the directory and filename for Bayes databases. Several databases will be created, with this as the base
directory and filename, with "_toks", "_seen", etc. appended to the base. The default setting results in files
called "~/.spamassassin/bayes_seen", "~/.spamassassin/bayes_toks", etc.
By default, each user has their own in their "~/.spamassassin" directory with mode 0700/0600. For system-wide
SpamAssassin use, you may want to reduce disk space usage by sharing this across all users. However, Bayes appears
to be more effective with individual user databases.
bayes_file_mode (default: 0700)
The file mode bits used for the Bayesian filtering database files.
Make sure you specify this using the 'x' mode bits set, as it may also be used to create directories. However, if a
file is created, the resulting file will not have any execute bits set (the umask is set to 111). The argument is a
string of octal digits, it is converted to a numeric value internally.
bayes_store_module Name::Of::BayesStore::Module
If this option is set, the module given will be used as an alternate to the default bayes storage mechanism. It must
conform to the published storage specification (see Mail::SpamAssassin::BayesStore). For example, set this to
Mail::SpamAssassin::BayesStore::SQL to use the generic SQL storage module.
bayes_sql_dsn DBI::databasetype:databasename:hostname:port
Used for BayesStore::SQL storage implementation.
This option give the connect string used to connect to the SQL based Bayes storage.
bayes_sql_username
Used by BayesStore::SQL storage implementation.
This option gives the username used by the above DSN.
bayes_sql_password
Used by BayesStore::SQL storage implementation.
This option gives the password used by the above DSN.
bayes_sql_username_authorized ( 0 | 1 ) (default: 0)
Whether to call the services_authorized_for_username plugin hook in BayesSQL. If the hook does not determine that
the user is allowed to use bayes or is invalid then then database will not be initialized.
NOTE: By default the user is considered invalid until a plugin returns a true value. If you enable this, but do not
have a proper plugin loaded, all users will turn up as invalid.
The username passed into the plugin can be affected by the bayes_sql_override_username config option.
user_scores_dsn DBI:databasetype:databasename:hostname:port
If you load user scores from an SQL database, this will set the DSN used to connect. Example:
"DBI:mysql:spamassassin:localhost"
If you load user scores from an LDAP directory, this will set the DSN used to connect. You have to write the DSN as
an LDAP URL, the components being the host and port to connect to, the base DN for the search, the scope of the
search (base, one or sub), the single attribute being the multivalued attribute used to hold the configuration data
(space separated pairs of key and value, just as in a file) and finally the filter being the expression used to
filter out the wanted username. Note that the filter expression is being used in a sprintf statement with the
username as the only parameter, thus is can hold a single __USERNAME__ expression. This will be replaced with the
username.
Example: "ldap://localhost:389/dc=koehntopp,dc=de?saconfig?uid=__USERNAME__"
user_scores_sql_username username
The authorized username to connect to the above DSN.
user_scores_sql_password password
The password for the database username, for the above DSN.
user_scores_sql_custom_query query
This option gives you the ability to create a custom SQL query to retrieve user scores and preferences. In order to
work correctly your query should return two values, the preference name and value, in that order. In addition, there
are several "variables" that you can use as part of your query, these variables will be substituted for the current
values right before the query is run. The current allowed variables are:
_TABLE_
The name of the table where user scores and preferences are stored. Currently hardcoded to userpref, to change
this value you need to create a new custom query with the new table name.
_USERNAME_
The current user's username.
_MAILBOX_
The portion before the @ as derived from the current user's username.
_DOMAIN_
The portion after the @ as derived from the current user's username, this value may be null.
The query must be one continuous line in order to parse correctly.
Here are several example queries, please note that these are broken up for easy reading, in your config it should be
one continuous line.
Current default query:
"SELECT preference, value FROM _TABLE_ WHERE username = _USERNAME_ OR username = '@GLOBAL' ORDER BY username ASC"
Use global and then domain level defaults:
"SELECT preference, value FROM _TABLE_ WHERE username = _USERNAME_ OR username = '@GLOBAL' OR username =
'@~'||_DOMAIN_ ORDER BY username ASC"
Maybe global prefs should override user prefs:
"SELECT preference, value FROM _TABLE_ WHERE username = _USERNAME_ OR username = '@GLOBAL' ORDER BY username
DESC"
user_scores_ldap_username
This is the Bind DN used to connect to the LDAP server. It defaults to the empty string (""), allowing anonymous
binding to work.
Example: "cn=master,dc=koehntopp,dc=de"
user_scores_ldap_password
This is the password used to connect to the LDAP server. It defaults to the empty string ("").
loadplugin PluginModuleName [/path/module.pm]
Load a SpamAssassin plugin module. The "PluginModuleName" is the perl module name, used to create the plugin object
itself.
"/path/to/module.pm" is the file to load, containing the module's perl code; if it's specified as a relative path,
it's considered to be relative to the current configuration file. If it is omitted, the module will be loaded using
perl's search path (the @INC array).
See "Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin" for more details on writing plugins.
tryplugin PluginModuleName [/path/module.pm]
Same as "loadplugin", but silently ignored if the .pm file cannot be found in the filesystem.
ignore_always_matching_regexps (Default: 0)
Ignore any rule which contains a regexp which always matches. Currently only catches regexps which contain '||', or
which begin or end with a '|'. Also ignore rules with "some" combinatorial explosions.
PREPROCESSING OPTIONS
include filename
Include configuration lines from "filename". Relative paths are considered relative to the current configuration
file or user preferences file.
if (boolean perl expression)
Used to support conditional interpretation of the configuration file. Lines between this and a corresponding "else"
or "endif" line will be ignored unless the expression evaluates as true (in the perl sense; that is, defined and
non-0 and non-empty string).
The conditional accepts a limited subset of perl for security -- just enough to perform basic arithmetic comparisons.
The following input is accepted:
numbers, whitespace, arithmetic operations and grouping
Namely these characters and ranges:
( ) - + * / _ . , < = > ! ~ 0-9 whitespace
version
This will be replaced with the version number of the currently-running SpamAssassin engine. Note: The version
used is in the internal SpamAssassin version format which is "x.yyyzzz", where x is major version, y is minor
version, and z is maintenance version. So 3.0.0 is 3.000000, and 3.4.80 is 3.004080.
plugin(Name::Of::Plugin)
This is a function call that returns 1 if the plugin named "Name::Of::Plugin" is loaded, or "undef" otherwise.
can(Name::Of::Package::function_name)
This is a function call that returns 1 if the perl package named "Name::Of::Package" includes a function called
"function_name", or "undef" otherwise. Note that packages can be SpamAssassin plugins or built-in classes,
there's no difference in this respect.
If the end of a configuration file is reached while still inside a "if" scope, a warning will be issued, but parsing
will restart on the next file.
For example:
if (version > 3.000000)
header MY_FOO ...
endif
loadplugin MyPlugin plugintest.pm
if plugin (MyPlugin)
header MY_PLUGIN_FOO eval:check_for_foo()
score MY_PLUGIN_FOO 0.1
endif
ifplugin PluginModuleName
An alias for "if plugin(PluginModuleName)".
else
Used to support conditional interpretation of the configuration file. Lines between this and a corresponding "endif"
line, will be ignored unless the conditional expression evaluates as false (in the perl sense; that is, not defined
and not 0 and non-empty string).
require_version n.nnnnnn
Indicates that the entire file, from this line on, requires a certain version of SpamAssassin to run. If a different
(older or newer) version of SpamAssassin tries to read the configuration from this file, it will output a warning
instead, and ignore it.
Note: The version used is in the internal SpamAssassin version format which is "x.yyyzzz", where x is major version,
y is minor version, and z is maintenance version. So 3.0.0 is 3.000000, and 3.4.80 is 3.004080.
TEMPLATE TAGS
The following "tags" can be used as placeholders in certain options. They will be replaced by the corresponding value
when they are used.
Some tags can take an argument (in parentheses). The argument is optional, and the default is shown below.
_YESNO_ "Yes" for spam, "No" for nonspam (=ham)
_YESNO(spam_str,ham_str)_ returns the first argument ("Yes" if missing)
for spam, and the second argument ("No" if missing) for ham
_YESNOCAPS_ "YES" for spam, "NO" for nonspam (=ham)
_YESNOCAPS(spam_str,ham_str)_ same as _YESNO(...)_, but uppercased
_SCORE(PAD)_ message score, if PAD is included and is either spaces or
zeroes, then pad scores with that many spaces or zeroes
(default, none) ie: _SCORE(0)_ makes 2.4 become 02.4,
_SCORE(00)_ is 002.4. 12.3 would be 12.3 and 012.3
respectively.
_REQD_ message threshold
_VERSION_ version (eg. 3.0.0 or 3.1.0-r26142-foo1)
_SUBVERSION_ sub-version/code revision date (eg. 2004-01-10)
_HOSTNAME_ hostname of the machine the mail was processed on
_REMOTEHOSTNAME_ hostname of the machine the mail was sent from, only
available with spamd
_REMOTEHOSTADDR_ ip address of the machine the mail was sent from, only
available with spamd
_BAYES_ bayes score
_TOKENSUMMARY_ number of new, neutral, spammy, and hammy tokens found
_BAYESTC_ number of new tokens found
_BAYESTCLEARNED_ number of seen tokens found
_BAYESTCSPAMMY_ number of spammy tokens found
_BAYESTCHAMMY_ number of hammy tokens found
_HAMMYTOKENS(N)_ the N most significant hammy tokens (default, 5)
_SPAMMYTOKENS(N)_ the N most significant spammy tokens (default, 5)
_DATE_ rfc-2822 date of scan
_STARS(*)_ one "*" (use any character) for each full score point
(note: limited to 50 'stars')
_RELAYSTRUSTED_ relays used and deemed to be trusted (see the
'X-Spam-Relays-Trusted' pseudo-header)
_RELAYSUNTRUSTED_ relays used that can not be trusted (see the
'X-Spam-Relays-Untrusted' pseudo-header)
_RELAYSINTERNAL_ relays used and deemed to be internal (see the
'X-Spam-Relays-Internal' pseudo-header)
_RELAYSEXTERNAL_ relays used and deemed to be external (see the
'X-Spam-Relays-External' pseudo-header)
_LASTEXTERNALIP_ IP address of client in the external-to-internal
SMTP handover
_LASTEXTERNALRDNS_ reverse-DNS of client in the external-to-internal
SMTP handover
_LASTEXTERNALHELO_ HELO string used by client in the external-to-internal
SMTP handover
_AUTOLEARN_ autolearn status ("ham", "no", "spam", "disabled",
"failed", "unavailable")
_AUTOLEARNSCORE_ portion of message score used by autolearn
_TESTS(,)_ tests hit separated by "," (or other separator)
_TESTSSCORES(,)_ as above, except with scores appended (eg. AWL=-3.0,...)
_SUBTESTS(,)_ subtests (start with "__") hit separated by ","
(or other separator)
_DCCB_ DCC's "Brand"
_DCCR_ DCC's results
_PYZOR_ Pyzor results
_RBL_ full results for positive RBL queries in DNS URI format
_LANGUAGES_ possible languages of mail
_PREVIEW_ content preview
_REPORT_ terse report of tests hit (for header reports)
_SUMMARY_ summary of tests hit for standard report (for body reports)
_CONTACTADDRESS_ contents of the 'report_contact' setting
_HEADER(NAME)_ includes the value of a message header. value is the same
as is found for header rules (see elsewhere in this doc)
_TIMING_ timing breakdown report
_ADDEDHEADERHAM_ resulting header fields as requested by add_header for spam
_ADDEDHEADERSPAM_ resulting header fields as requested by add_header for ham
_ADDEDHEADER_ same as ADDEDHEADERHAM for ham or ADDEDHEADERSPAM for spam
If a tag reference uses the name of a tag which is not in this list or defined by a loaded plugin, the reference will be
left intact and not replaced by any value.
The "HAMMYTOKENS" and "SPAMMYTOKENS" tags have an optional second argument which specifies a format. See the
HAMMYTOKENS/SPAMMYTOKENS TAG FORMAT section, below, for details.
HAMMYTOKENS/SPAMMYTOKENS TAG FORMAT
The "HAMMYTOKENS" and "SPAMMYTOKENS" tags have an optional second argument which specifies a format:
"_SPAMMYTOKENS(N,FMT)_", "_HAMMYTOKENS(N,FMT)_" The following formats are available:
short
Only the tokens themselves are listed. For example, preference file entry:
"add_header all Spammy _SPAMMYTOKENS(2,short)_"
Results in message header:
"X-Spam-Spammy: remove.php, UD:jpg"
Indicating that the top two spammy tokens found are "remove.php" and "UD:jpg". (The token itself follows the last
colon, the text before the colon indicates something about the token. "UD" means the token looks like it might be
part of a domain name.)
compact
The token probability, an abbreviated declassification distance (see example), and the token are listed. For
example, preference file entry:
"add_header all Spammy _SPAMMYTOKENS(2,compact)_"
Results in message header:
"0.989-6--remove.php, 0.988-+--UD:jpg"
Indicating that the probabilities of the top two tokens are 0.989 and 0.988, respectively. The first token has a
declassification distance of 6, meaning that if the token had appeared in at least 6 more ham messages it would not
be considered spammy. The "+" for the second token indicates a declassification distance greater than 9.
long
Probability, declassification distance, number of times seen in a ham message, number of times seen in a spam
message, age and the token are listed.
For example, preference file entry:
"add_header all Spammy _SPAMMYTOKENS(2,long)_"
Results in message header:
"X-Spam-Spammy: 0.989-6--0h-4s--4d--remove.php, 0.988-33--2h-25s--1d--UD:jpg"
In addition to the information provided by the compact option, the long option shows that the first token appeared in
zero ham messages and four spam messages, and that it was last seen four days ago. The second token appeared in two
ham messages, 25 spam messages and was last seen one day ago. (Unlike the "compact" option, the long option shows
declassification distances that are greater than 9.)
LOCALI[SZ]ATION
A line starting with the text "lang xx" will only be interpreted if the user is in that locale, allowing test
descriptions and templates to be set for that language.
The locales string should specify either both the language and country, e.g. "lang pt_BR", or just the language, e.g.
"lang de".
SEE ALSO
"Mail::SpamAssassin" "spamassassin" "spamd"
perl v5.12.4 2011-06-06 Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf(3)
