Upgrading SpamAssassin?
-----------------------
Please be sure to read the UPGRADE file for important changes that
have been made since previous versions.
Installing or Upgrading SpamAssassin
------------------------------------
Using CPAN via CPAN.pm:
perl -MCPAN -e shell [as root]
o conf prerequisites_policy ask
install Mail::SpamAssassin
quit
Using Linux:
Debian unstable: apt-get install spamassassin
Gentoo: emerge mail-filter/spamassassin
Alternatively download the tarfile, zipfile, or Fedora Core RPM from
http://spamassassin.apache.org/ and install that, like so:
[unzip/untar the archive]
cd Mail-SpamAssassin-*
perl Makefile.PL
[option: add -DSPAMC_SSL to $CFLAGS to build an SSL-enabled spamc]
make
make install [as root]
To install as non-root, see the directions below.
If you are running AFS, you may also need to specify INSTALLSITELIB and
SITELIBEXP.
Note that you can upgrade SpamAssassin using these instructions, as long
as you take care to read the caveats in the file UPGRADES. Upgrading
will not delete your learnt Bayes data or local rule modifications.
If you're using SunOS 4.1.x, see
http://wiki.spamassassin.org/w/BuildingOnSunOS4 for build tips.
Note for Perl 5.8 Users (incl Red Hat 8)
----------------------------------------
Perl 5.8 now uses Unicode internally by default, which causes trouble for
SpamAssassin (and almost all other reasonably complex pieces of perl
code!).
We've worked around this in most places, as far as we know, but there may
still be some issues. In addition, there is a speed hit, which it would
be nice to avoid.
Setting the LANG environment variable before any invocation of
SpamAssassin sometimes seems to help fix it, like so:
export LANG=en_US
Notably, the LANG setting must not include "utf8". However, some folks
have reported that this makes no difference. ;)
Installing SpamAssassin for Personal Use (Not System-Wide)
----------------------------------------------------------
These steps assume the following, so substitute as necessary:
- Your UNIX login is "user"
- Your home directory is /home/user
- The location of the procmail executable is /usr/bin/procmail
Many more details of this process are at
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/SingleUserUnixInstall
1. Uncompress and extract the SpamAssassin archive, using "unzip" or "tar
xvfz", in a temporary directory.
2. change directory into it:
cd Mail-SpamAssassin-*
3. Make SpamAssassin as normal, but using your home directory as the
target:
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=$HOME
make
make install
Please see the file PACKAGING, sections "Changing paths in the Makefile"
and "Setting further options on the command line" for more informations
on available command line variables.
4. If you already use procmail, skip to step 6. If not, ensure procmail
is installed using "which procmail" or install it from www.procmail.org.
5. Create a .forward file in your home directory containing the below
lines:
"|IFS=' ' && exec /usr/bin/procmail -f- || exit 75 #user"
6. Edit or create a .procmailrc file in your home directory containing the
below lines. If you already have a .procmailrc file, add the lines to the
top of your .procmailrc file:
:0fw: spamassassin.lock
| /home/user/bin/spamassassin
The above line filters all incoming mail through SpamAssassin and tags
probable spam with a unique header. If you would prefer to have spam
blocked and saved to a file called "caughtspam" in your home directory,
instead of passed through and tagged, append this directly below the above
lines:
:0:
* ^X-Spam-Status: Yes
caughtspam
Also, see the file procmailrc.example and
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/UsedViaProcmail
7. Now, you should be ready to send some test emails and ensure everything
works as expected. First, send yourself a test email that doesn't contain
anything suspicious. You should receive it normally, but there will be a
header containing "X-Spam-Status: No". If you are only tagging your spam,
send yourself a copy of the GTUBE test string to check to be sure it is
marked as spam. GTUBE is located in the sample-spam.txt message
distributed with SpamAssassin and also at:
http://spamassassin.apache.org/gtube/
If your test emails don't get through to you, immediately rename your
.forward file until you figure out cause of the the problem, so you don't
lose incoming email.
Note: one possible cause for this is the use of smrsh on the MTA system;
see http://wiki.spamassassin.org/w/ProcmailVsSmrsh for details.
CPAN
----
Most of the modules listed below are available via the Comprehensive
Perl Archive Network (CPAN, http://www.cpan.org/). While each module
is different, most can be installed via a few simple commands such as:
$ perl -MCPAN -e shell
cpan> o conf prerequisites_policy ask
cpan> install Module::Name
cpan> quit
If there are problems or questions regarding the installation any of
the modules, please see the module's documentation for more information.
We can't provide documentation or installation support for third party
modules.
Also, more information about the CPAN module is available via "perldoc
CPAN".
Most Linux distributions also offer the CPAN modules in their own
native formats (RPMs, as apt-gettable packages, etc.), so you should
be able to find these through those mechanisms, too, if you prefer.
Required Perl Interpreter
-------------------------
Perl 5.6.1 or a later version is required.
Required Perl Modules
---------------------
In addition to the modules associated with Perl, some additional modules
need to be installed or upgraded depending on the version of Perl that you
are running.
The list of required modules that do not ship with Perl and must be
installed:
- Digest::SHA1 (from CPAN)
The Digest::SHA1 module is used as a cryptographic hash for some
tests and the Bayes subsystem. It is also used by Razor2.
Debian: apt-get install libdigest-sha1-perl
Gentoo: emerge dev-perl/Digest-SHA1
- HTML::Parser >= 3.24 (from CPAN)
Version 3.31 or later is recommended.
HTML is used for an ever-increasing amount of email so this dependency
is unavoidable. Run "perldoc -q html" for additional information.
Debian: apt-get install libhtml-parser-perl
Gentoo: emerge dev-perl/HTML-Parser
- Storable (from CPAN)
This is a required module if you use spamd and allow children to
handle more than one client connection before quitting. Third
party utilities may also require this module for the same
functionality. Storable is used to shift configuration when a
spamd process switches between users.
Debian: apt-get install libstorable-perl
Gentoo: emerge dev-perl/Storable
Optional Modules
----------------
In addition, the following modules will be used for some checks, if
available and the version is high enough. If they are not available or if
their version is too low, SpamAssassin will still work, just not as
effectively because some of the spam-detection tests will have to be
skipped.
Note: SpamAssassin will not warn you if these are installed, but the
version is too low for them to be used.
- MIME::Base64
This module is highly recommended to increase the speed with which
Base64 encoded messages/mail parts are decoded.
- DB_File (from CPAN, included in many distributions)
Used to store data on-disk, for the Bayes-style logic and
auto-whitelist. *Much* more efficient than the other standard Perl
database packages. Strongly recommended.
There seems to be a bug in libdb 4.1.25, which is
distributed by default on some versions of Linux. See
http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/DbFileSleepBug for details.
- Net::DNS (from CPAN)
Used for all DNS-based tests (SBL, XBL, SpamCop, DSBL, etc.),
perform MX checks, and is also used when manually reporting spam to
SpamCop. Recommended.
If this is installed and you are using network tests of any variety
(which is the default), then you need to make sure the Net::DNS
version is sufficiently up-to-date:
- version 0.34 or higher on Unix systems
- version 0.46 or higher on Windows systems
- Net::SMTP (from CPAN)
Used when manually reporting spam to SpamCop.
- Mail::SPF::Query (from CPAN)
Used to check DNS Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records to fight email
address forgery and make it easier to identify spams.
Net::DNS version 0.34 or higher is required to use Mail::SPF::Query.
- IP::Country::Fast (from CPAN)
Used by the RelayCountry plugin (not enabled by default) to determine
the domain country codes of each relay in the path of an email.
- Razor (from http://razor.sourceforge.net/)
Used to check message signatures against Vipul's Razor collaborative
filtering network. Razor is not available from CPAN -- you have to
download it from the URL above.
Razor has a large number of dependencies on CPAN modules. Feel free
to skip installing it, if this makes you nervous; SpamAssassin will
still work well without it.
Note that Razor support does not seem to work on Windows systems.
Win32 users should disable the Razor tests using "score RAZOR2_CHECK 0".
You (and any users who use Razor) will need to register an account
to do so, like this:
razor-client [creates symbolic links]
razor-admin -create [creates the razor home]
razor-admin -register [registers an account]
To use Razor with SpamAssassin, you will need to be using v2.40 or
higher. v2.61 or higher is recommended.
More info is at http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/UsingRazor
- Net::Ident (from CPAN)
If you plan to use the --auth-ident option to spamd, you will need
to install this module.
- IO::Socket::SSL (from CPAN)
If you wish to use SSL encryption to communicate between spamc and
spamd (the --ssl option to spamd), you need to install this
module. (You will need the OpenSSL libraries and use the
ENABLE_SSL="yes" argument to Makefile.PL to build and run an SSL
compatibile spamc.)
- Time::HiRes (from CPAN)
If this module is installed, the processing times are logged/reported
more precisely.
- DBI *and* DBD driver/modules for your database (from CPAN)
If you intend to use SpamAssassin with an SQL database backend for
user configuration data, Bayes storage, or AWL storage, you will need
to have these installed; both the basic DBI module and the driver for
your database.
Optional Programs
-----------------
These are non-Perl programs that can increase the overall effectiveness of
SpamAssassin if they are installed.
- DCC (from http://www.rhyolite.com/anti-spam/dcc/)
DCC (Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse) is a system similar to Razor.
It supports fuzzy checksums and therefore detects some more spams than
Razor does at the moment.
To install it, perform the following steps:
wget http://www.dcc-servers.net/dcc/source/dcc-dccproc.tar.Z
tar xfvz dcc-dccproc.tar.Z
cd dcc-dccproc-*
./configure && make && make install
You might want to replace the configure call with something like this to
get an FHS compliant install:
./configure \
--bindir=$(PREFIX)/bin \
--libexecdir=$(PREFIX)/lib/dcc \
--mandir=$(PREFIX)/man \
--homedir=/var/lib/dcc
Finally call cdcc:
cdcc info
The last command will give some output. The output should contain lines
like this:
dcc1.dcc-servers.net,- RTT+0 ms anon
dcc2.dcc-servers.net,- RTT+0 ms anon
...
There should be *at least one*, preferably more than half a dozen, of
the public DCC servers listed. If this is not the case, a likely
cause is an interfering firewall (see below).
Note that MIMEDefang users may need to set the 'dcc_path'
configuration setting, since MIMEDefang does not set a PATH by
default. See also 'perldoc Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf'.
Also note that DCC requires that you open your firewall for DCC reply
packets on UDP port 6277. DCC uses UDP packets when replying, which
are blocked by most firewalls by default. As a result, it requires
that you open your firewall for DCC reply packets on UDP port 6277.
Here's sample firewall rules required:
allow udp local gt 1023 to remote 6277
allow udp remote 6277 to local gt 1023
If you're running a large site, processing upwards of tens of
thousands of messages a day, the DCC maintainers have requested that
you consider setting up your own DCC server as described in dccd(8),
and arrange to peer with the rest of the public servers, to reduce
their load.
More info is at http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/UsingDcc
- Pyzor (from http://pyzor.sourceforge.net/)
Used to check message signatures against the Pyzor collaborative
filtering network. Pyzor was initially "a Python implementation of
Razor", but now also uses its own (free) server architecture and is
"based upon a new, lighter, more language-independent protocol."
Pyzor requires at least Python 2.2.1 which can be found at
http://www.python.org/ .
To install Pyzor, download the latest revision from
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=50000 and
perform the following steps:
tar xvfj pyzor-*.tar.bz2
cd pyzor-*
python setup.py build
python setup.py install
For a single user installation, change the last line to
python setup.py install --home=$HOME
Note that your system might install the modules and scripts with
non-world-readable permissions. Correct this with a command such as:
chmod -R a+rX /usr/share/doc/pyzor \
/usr/lib/python2.2/site-packages/pyzor \
/usr/bin/pyzor /usr/bin/pyzord
Read the INSTALL document if you want to setup your own Pyzor server and
signature store. Otherwise, you can just use the public servers.
Note that MIMEDefang users may need to set the 'pyzor_path'
configuration setting, since MIMEDefang does not set a PATH by
default.
More info is at http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/UsingPyzor
What Next?
----------
Take a look at the USAGE document for more information on how to
use SpamAssassin.
(end of INSTALL)
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