INSTALL

Mailfilter INSTALL
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0.  REQUIREMENTS

To run Mailfilter it's best to have a Unix-like operating system, but
it also compiles fine with Windows 9x/NT/2000 if additional libraries
and tools are installed (e.g., Cygwin, or DJGPP).

0.1  ADD-ON LIBRARIES & TOOLS

To compile/install Mailfilter you also need to have a fairly recent
version of a C and C++ compiler (e.g., GCC >= 3.0) and your system must
support BSD-type sockets (in general, all Unix systems do meet this
criterion).  For compilation you will also need the programs flex and
bison.

NOTE: Please keep in mind that the GNU versions of flex and bison are
`somewhat' peculiar.  It is *highly* recommended to use your
distribution's very own releases of these tools, rather than compiling
from source (e.g. get them from the BSD-ports collection, or via apt).
However, if you must get the source for flex (e.g. because your
distribution ships a broken GNU flex), then use http://lex.sf.net/, but
*never* GNU flex!  It is broken!

0.2  SSL SUPPORT

Should SSL support be desired, the OpenSSL library (or, an equivalent
substitute) must be present.  Potential SSL support should then be
automatically detected by the configure script.


1.  CONFIGURE

If you have downloaded and installed a binary distribution of
Mailfilter, then there is no need to read the following instructions.
Continue with section 3 and 4 instead.

If you have downloaded a compressed source code archive, then please
proceed the following steps.  Change to the Mailfilter distribution
directory (where the INSTALL file can be found,
e.g. /home/tux/mailfilter-x.y.z) and run

      ./configure

For a list of available options for configuration, call configure with
the --help parameter.  Running configure creates a Makefile in your
source code directory.  If you like, have a look at it before you
continue, though this should not be necessary, unless you want to have
debugging information included or things like that.


2.  INSTALL

After configure has successfully guessed your system's specific
values, you can compile the Mailfilter source code with

      make

NOTE: On Linux systems make typically refers to GNU gmake.  However,
some operating systems (e.g., FreeBSD) ship with different versions of
make and you will need to explicitly use the command 'gmake' (and
later 'gmake install') in order to get Mailfilter compiled correctly.

If you have not changed any of the predefined values for configure
then Mailfilter will be installed in /usr/local/bin.  Become 'root'
now and run

      make install

That's it - you're done with the installation, but please read on to
find out what you have to do in order to make Mailfilter work.
(IMPORTANT!!)


3.  SET-UP MAILFILTER

Before you can execute the Mailfilter application you must create a
rcfile called

      .mailfilterrc

in your home directory, e.g. /home/tux/.mailfilterrc.  In this file
you must specify the accounts you want Mailfilter to check for spam.
Here is a very basic set of example rules you could use.  I suggest
you simply copy and paste it.  For further information and a list of
all supported key- words, please also read the mailfilterrc(5) and
mailfilterex(5) man pages.  More rcfiles are available in the doc/
directory of the Mailfilter distribution.


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Logile path (be sure you have write permission in this
# directory; you MUST specify a logfile)

LOGFILE = "$HOME/logs/mailfilter.log"


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Level of verbosity
#
#   0      Silent, show nothing at all
#   1      Only show errors
#   2      Only show "Deleted..." messages and errors
#   3      Default; Show "Deleted..." messages,  errors
#          and "Examining..." messages
#   4      Like (3), except this also shows the current
#          account's username
#   5      Like (4), except this also shows which filter
#          matched which string of an e-mail header
#   6      Debugging mode; prints almost everything

VERBOSE = 3


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Server list  (Do not change the order of the fields!!)
# Note: Port 110 is usually the port APOP and POP3 servers use,
# port 995 is required if (say) POP3/SSL is specified.

SERVER   = "pop.server.com"
USER     = "username"
PASS     = "password"
PROTOCOL = "pop3"
PORT     = 110

SERVER   = "pop.secondserver.com"
USER     = "anotherusername"
PASS     = "anotherusername"
PROTOCOL = "pop3/ssl"
PORT     = 995


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Do you want case sensitive e-mail filters? { yes | no }

REG_CASE = "no"


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Sets the type of Regular Expression used { extended | basic }
#
# (The default is 'basic', don't change unless you know what you
#  are doing. Extended REs are more complex to set up.)

REG_TYPE = "extended"


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Maximum e-mail size in bytes that should not be exceeded.

MAXSIZE_DENY = 1000000


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Set maximum line length of any field in the message header
 
MAXLENGTH = 998


# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Filter rules for detecting spam (each rule must be placed
# in a separate line)

# These filters detect certain unpleasant e-mail subjects:
DENY = "^Subject:.*Get penis enlargement"
DENY = "^Subject:.*WIN MONEY"

# This one filters mail from a certain person:
DENY = "^From:.*spammer@any_spam_organisation\.com"

# This one filters mail from everyone at a certain organisation:
DENY = "^From:.*@any_provider_that_spams\.org"

# We don't want any of those 'LEGAL' messages either
# while stuff with 'legal' in the subject still interests us:
DENY_CASE = "^Subject:.*LEGAL"


# -----------------------------------------------------------  
# Normalises the subject strings before parsing, e.g.
# ',L.E-G,A.L; ,C.A-B`L`E, +.B-O`X` ;D`E`S,C;R,A.MB;L,E.R-]'
# becomes 'LEGAL CABLE BOX DESCRAMBLER' which can be filtered.
# 
# If NORMAL is switched on, Mailfilter tries to apply filters
# to both the normalised and the original subject.

NORMAL = "yes"


# -----------------------------------------------------------
# The maximum e-mail size in bytes that messages from friends
# should not exceed. Set this to 0 if all your friends (ALLOW)
# can send messages as long as they want.

MAXSIZE_ALLOW = 0


# ----------------------------------------------------------
# Set list of friends that always pass, if they do not
# exceed the message length of MAXSIZE_ALLOW

# This rule allows all mail from a friend who was unlucky enough
# to have signed up with a spam organisation. With DENY we
# block everyone else from that domain though! See above!
ALLOW = "^From:.*a_friend_with_account@any_provider_that_spams.org"

# Of course we allow e-mail from anyone who has something to say about
# mailfilter:
ALLOW = "^Subject:.*mailfilter"

# We also let our girlfriend send any e-mail she wants:
ALLOW = "^From:.*my_girlfriend@any_provider\.com"


It is _very_ important to not change the order of the SERVER, USER,
PASS, PROTOCOL and PORT fields.  Generally the rcfile is not
case-sensitive, which means it does not matter whether the keywords
are spelled in capitals or not.  You can place white space characters
before and in between a command and its parameters, but usually not
after the parameter!

To find out how to set up more complex rules and options, please refer
to the man pages and the FAQ provided with the Mailfilter program, or
simply look up the webpage.  If you do not set up a .mailfilterrc
file, the program refuses to start.  It is also recommended to change
the permissions of this file to read-only, as it contains all your
passwords en clear.


4.  RUN MAILFILTER

Now try it out!  Mailfilter can be started with

      mailfilter

on the command line.  Be sure you have set up an individual rcfile
(e.g. $HOME/.mailfilterrc) in your home directory.  If you don't know
how to do this, please read section 3 of this document again, or
consult the Mailfilter FAQ in the doc/ directory for further
information.