amavisd-new consists of the daemon, and optionally some helper programs,
which are only needed in setups with certain mail transport agents (MTA).
Obtaining the software:
=======================
Fetch the tarball and unpack it:
wget http://www.ijs.si/software/amavisd/amavisd-new-<version>.tar.gz
gzip -d -c amavisd-new-<version>.tar.gz | tar xvf -
cd amavisd-new-<version>
Checking the web page http://www.ijs.si/software/amavisd/ if there are
any any required patches, fetch and apply them, e.g.:
wget http://www.ijs.si/software/amavisd/amavisd-new-<version>-1.patch
patch < amavisd-new-<version>-1.patch
(or grab the tar file with patches already applied, if available).
The most important files you obtained (and patched if necessary)
are amavisd and amavisd.conf.
Start reading with AAAREADME.first, then RELEASE_NOTES and INSTALL.
Prerequisites:
==============
file(1) utility is required
(please use file(1) 3.41 or later for security reasons!)
Archive::Tar (Archive-Tar-x.xx)
Archive::Zip (Archive-Zip-x.xx)
Compress::Zlib (Compress-Zlib-x.xx)
Convert::TNEF (Convert-TNEF-x.xx)
Convert::UUlib (Convert-UUlib-x.xxx)
MIME::Base64 (MIME-Base64-x.xx)
MIME::Parser (MIME-Tools-x.xxxx)
( the patched MIME-tools by David F. Skoll is recommended over 5.411,
as it better handles broken/bad MIME syntax:
http://www.mimedefang.org/ -> Download section )
Mail::Internet (MailTools-1.58 or later have workarounds for Perl 5.8.0 bugs)
Net::Server (Net-Server-x.xx)
Net::SMTP (libnet-x.xx)
Digest::MD5 (Digest-MD5-x.xx)
IO::Stringy (IO-stringy-x.xxx)
Time::HiRes (Time-HiRes-x.xx)
Unix::Syslog (Unix-Syslog-x.xxx)
The following external programs are used for decoding/unarchiving
if they are available:
compress, gzip, bzip2, nomarch (or arc), lha, arj (or unarj), rar (unrar),
zoo, cpio, lzop, freeze (or unfreeze or melt).
optional:
virus scanners for doing virus scanning
Mail::SpamAssassin for doing spam scanning
DBI with appropriate DBD::* if using SQL lookups
Net::LDAP if using LDAP lookups
Installing the daemon:
======================
- Perl version 5.005 or later is needed. At the moment Perl 5.6.1
seems the most predictable. If UTF8/Unicode Perl support is needed,
use 5.8.0 (or later), and make sure to use the most recent MailTools).
- create (or choose) a Unix group dedicated to run amavisd daemon
and possibly some virus scanners. This should NOT be one of the
user or system groups, and not shared with your mailer. It is
customary to name the group 'amavis' (or perhaps 'sweep');
(edit /etc/group, or use system-specific tools, such as vigr)
- create (or choose) a Unix account (username and its UID) dedicated to run
amavisd daemon and possibly some virus scanners. This should NOT be one
of the system or regular user accounts, and not shared with your mailer
(most certainly do not use "root", and do not use "nobody" or account used
by your mailer, such as "postfix", "smmsp" or "mailnull"). It is customary
to name the user 'amavis' or 'vscan';
Choose a home directory (e.g. /var/amavis or /var/lib/amavis) for this user.
(use vipw, or system-specific tools to add a user)
Create its home directory, unless account creation procedure already did it.
mkdir /var/amavis
Check or set the ownership and protection of the directory to be readable
and writable by the chosen UID, and not writable by other non-privileged
users;
chown amavis:amavis /var/amavis
chmod 750 /var/amavis
- unpack the source distribution (see 'Obtaining the software' above),
and cd to the created directory;
- copy file amavisd to wherever you want it to reside,
such as /usr/local/sbin, and make sure its protection setting allows it
to be executed, but not overwritten by nonprivileged users.
This is a Perl source, so it is readable by any text viewer if needed.
It is heavily commented, in case you would need more information.
cp amavisd /usr/local/sbin/
chown root /usr/local/sbin/amavisd
chmod 755 /usr/local/sbin/amavisd
- copy file amavisd.conf to whereever you want it to reside,
such as /etc/, and make sure it is not writable by non-privileged users;
cp amavisd.conf /etc/
chown root /etc/amavisd.conf
chmod 644 /etc/amavisd.conf
Some sites prefer the location /etc/amavis/amavisd.conf. If using a
non-default location, one may use the command line option -c when
starting the daemon to specify a non-default configuration file.
- create a directory (e.g. /var/virusmails) to be used by amavisd-new
as a quarantine area (if you want a virus or spam quarantine).
Set the ownership and protection of the directory to be readable
and writable by the chosen UID, and not writable by other nonprivileged
users;
mkdir /var/virusmails
chown amavis:amavis /var/virusmails
chmod 750 /var/virusmails
- edit file /etc/amavisd.conf and adjust variables $daemon_group
and $daemon_user to match the chosen group and user name,
adjust variables $MYHOME, $TEMPBASE and $QUARANTINEDIR to match
the directories just created, then check/adjust other variables,
especially those in 'Section I', including $mydomain.
- install virus scanners (if you will be using them), and Perl module
SpamAssassin (if you want it), and adjust variables in /etc/amavisd.conf,
especially in the last section 'Section VII'; There are several other
Perl modules needed by amavisd daemon (see 'Prerequisites') - if you
don't already have them installed you will get a list of missing modules
when amavisd is started;
- start the program 'amavisd', either as root, or with su(1) as the user
chosen above. It should start up and (if root) change its GID/UID to the
value you provided. It is wise to start it up for the first time with
a 'debug' option:
/usr/local/sbin/amavisd debug
- later when everything has been tested and works, you may use the shell
script amavisd_init.sh to be invoked at system startup/shutdown time;
- you may find the utility program 'amavisdconf' useful, especially
if you are accustomed to the Postfix utility 'postconf' (sorry, not
available with all versions);
- depending on the mailer you use, read the appropriate README.* file
and follow instructions there. With some mailers (Postfix, Exim V4
or a dual-MTA setup with any SMTP-capable mailers, including sendmail)
you don't need anything else (no helper programs).
With some other mailers (sendmail milter, or historical sendmail invoking
content filter via local delivery agent) you need additional helper
programs: amavisd-milter.c, or amavis.c respectively. They are available
from the helper-progs subdirectory.
Testing the daemon:
===================
First checkout is described in MTA-specific README.* file,
please follow the instructions there.
When you think you have a working installation, go to a subdirectory
test-messages, which contains a couple of sample mail messages,
and follow the instructions in README there.