[[:TuxSoftware]]

(The following subject to correction)

====== SpamAssassin ======

===== Overview =====

  * Can run in various modes
  * For us, runs as a filter that MTA postfix uses
  * Permanently running spamd (daemon), transiently running spamc (clients)
  * SpamAssassin scores the email - something else can decide what to do with it
    * SpamAssassin adds a header with the score to the email itself
  * Mailman uses the Spamassassin score
    * score > 10 -> mailman discards automatically
    * score < 5 -> mailman accepts
    * 5 > score > 10 -> mailman submits to moderator for human decision

===== SpamAssassin docs =====

  * http://spamassassin.apache.org/doc.html
  * /usr/share/doc/spamassassin/

===== SpamAssassin - MTA - mailing list integration =====

  * We use postfix as our MTA
  * We use mailman as our mailing list manager

===== SpamAssassin - config =====

  * /etc/default/spamassassin
  * /old/etc/default/spamassassin
  * /etc/spamassassin/
  * /old/etc/spamassassin/
  * /old/var/lib/spamassassin/
  * I searched for "spamassassin configure debian postfix mailman"
    * found http://www.debuntu.org/postfix-and-pamassassin-how-to-filter-spam
    * http://workaround.org/articles/ispmail-sarge/
    * http://www.debian-administration.org/users/kaerast/weblog/1
    * http://www200.pair.com/mecham/spam/spamfilter20050626.htm
    * http://www.digital-experts.de/doc/mailman/README.Debian
  * and for reference:
    * http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/fhs/fhs-2.3.html#VARLIBVARIABLESTATEINFORMATION
    * and http://www.nl.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s9.1
  * Note that some of the above documents are "out of date". That's ok, - our distro is "out of date" too so these docs will match our setup
  * There's way too much here, some packages we don't use (yet? Amavis?) and some if the advice conflicts. Happy research.

update:

  * I searched for "mailman spamassassin debian" and found:
    * http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py?req=edit&file=faq04.023.htp
    * http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2005-January/041686.html
    * http://www.digital-experts.de/doc/mailman/README.Debian
    * http://groups.google.ca/group/linux.debian.bugs.dist/browse_thread/thread/5aedd1dc35926265/001ded10ef3f964c?lnk=st&q=mailman+spamassassin+debian&rnum=1&hl=en#001ded10ef3f964c

====== SpamAssassin Quick & Dirty Config ======

I found this and tried it out on our site: http://www.xnote.com/howto/postfix-spamassassin.html. It seems to have everything necessary and appears to be working. It's been edited to match what we have set up locally.

  * Install postfix and get it working for your domain. See http://www.postfix.org for details.
  * Install SpamAssassin. The easiest way to do this is with the command "perl -MCPAN -e 'install Mail::!SpamAssassin'" OR you can compile it. Another way is to use an RPM (!RedHat or Fedora) or "apt-get install postfix spamassassin spamc" (if you have debian)
  * As root, create a file at /usr/local/bin/spamfilter.sh with the following content:
<code>
    #!/bin/bash
    /usr/local/bin/spamc | /usr/sbin/sendmail -i "$@"
    exit $?
</code>

  * Run:
<code>
    chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/spamfilter.sh
</code>

   and make sure you have it executable:
<code>
    ls -als /usr/local/bin/spamfilter.sh
</code>

  * Create a user called 'spamfilter'. Make it a complete user, with home directory and shell. (set the shell to false)
<code>
    example: useradd -m -d /home/spamfilter -s /bin/false spamfilter
</code>

  * Run
<code>
chown spamfilter:users /usr/local/bin/spamfilter.sh
</code>

  * In /etc/postfix/master.cf in the "Services" section, alter the 'smtp' line as follows (the " -o con..." SHOULD be on the next line:

   //NOTE there are two lines that have smtp. Make sure it is the inet line (Usually the first occurrence)//

<code>
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    smtp inet n - n - - smtpd
        -o content_filter=spamfilter:dummy
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</code>

  * In /etc/postfix/master.cf in the "Interfaces to non-Postfix software" section add:
<code>
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    spamfilter unix - n n - - pipe
        flags=Rq user=spamfilter argv=/usr/local/bin/spamfilter.sh -f ${sender} -- ${recipient}
    # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</code>


  * Make sure that SpamAssassin is configured to run:
    * Edit /etc/default/spamassassin and change the enabled line to 1 from 0
    * Issue the command "/etc/init.d/spamassassin start" to get it started
    * Check /var/log/mail.log to see that the spamd process started
    * Make sure the symlinks are in the appropriate runlevel directories
  * Restart postfix and make sure you can still get email. Send a fake spam through the system (from an outside address) to verify that spam is marked as spam. For information on configuring SpamAssassin, go to http://www.spamassassin.org.