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();

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 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_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.

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)

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).

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. Defaults to "@@LOCAL_STATE_DIR@@".

parse($message, $parse_now)

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 of the entire message, an array reference of the message with 1 line per array element, or a file glob which holds the entire contents of the message; and $parse_now, which specifies whether or not to create the 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.

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.

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)

Given a string containing an email address, add it to the automatic whitelist database.

$f->add_all_addresses_to_whitelist ($mail)

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.

$f->remove_address_from_whitelist ($addr)

Given a string containing an email address, remove it from the automatic whitelist database.

$f->remove_all_addresses_from_whitelist ($mail)

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.

$f->add_address_to_blacklist ($addr)

Given a string containing an email address, add it to the automatic whitelist database with a high score, effectively blacklisting them.

$f->add_all_addresses_to_blacklist ($mail)

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.

$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.

$f->read_scoreonly_config ($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 paramaters 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 paramaters 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 straightaway, 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.

PREREQUISITES

HTML::Parser Sys::Syslog

BUGS

See <http://issues.apache.org/SpamAssassin/>

AUTHORS

The SpamAssassin(tm) Project <http://spamassassin.apache.org/>

COPYRIGHT

SpamAssassin is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, as described in the file LICENSE included with the distribution.

AVAILABILITY

The latest version of this library is likely to be available from CPAN as well as:

E<lt>http://spamassassin.apache.org/E<gt>

To install Mail::SpamAssassin, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Mail::SpamAssassin

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Mail::SpamAssassin

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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