null "Clean Header" multi-times gags sendmail
Julian Field
mailscanner at ecs.soton.ac.uk
Fri Jul 26 17:29:04 IST 2002
I'm afraid that isn't how it is implemented at all. Nice try though... :)
At 17:10 26/07/2002, you wrote:
>My take on this is that it is a minor bug in MS. It seems like the routine is
>printing the "X-MailScanner: " amd then printing the result with an endline.
>Would it fix the problem if you printed the newline after the result is
>printed? If this is unclear, I'm thinking of something like:
>
>print "X-MailScanner: ";
>if [ $ok ] then { print "$ok_string" }
> else { print "$dirty_string" }
>print "\n";
>
>instead of
>
>print "X-MailScanner: ";
>if [ $ok ] then { print "$ok_string\n" }
> else { print "$dirty_string\n" }
>
>I haven't looked at the code at all, but the description of the qf files would
>match my guess as to the code logic.
>
>On Friday 26 July 2002 08:22 am, Julian wrote:
> > At 16:03 26/07/2002, you wrote:
> > > I know, I know. My user community complained "what is this found to
> > >be clean clutter in my email messages?" after I started using mailscanner
> > >this Spring. So my quick fix was to null out the clean header message.
> > >A big chunk of my community uses Eudora, which shows the X-MailScanner
> > >message at the top as part of the mail message (Outlook doesn't as I
> > >remember, Pine doesn't either). At least the line "X-MailScanner:"
> > >tells *me* that mailscanner touched the message.
> > >
> > >Things worked fine until this week, when I went from sendmail 8.11.6 to
> > >8.12.5, and went from mailscanner 3.21.1 to 3.22.7. Then I started
> > >noticing this corner-case problem for stuff that goes thru our server
> > >twice. Sheesh, listen to user complaints and open up a can 'o worms.
> > >I don't know if you consider this a mailscanner bug or misuse on my
> > >part, but it did choke sendmail.
> >
> > I guess it's really a bug, but it's a pretty minor one :-)
> > The trouble is that it has taken many attempts and a lot of work to make
> > all versions of Perl accept the regular expressions I have to use in
> > AppendHeader() and ReplaceHeader(), I am extremely reluctant to change
> > them.
> >
> > How about you set the message to be "." or something like that?
> >
> > Personally, I would recommend advising your users that this extra header in
> > their mail messages is there to assure them that the mail has been
> > virus-checked, and that they should be wary of any email message they see
> > that does not have this header in it. If you sell it right, they should end
> > up being grateful for it. They certainly will the first time they get a
> > message that had a virus in it!
> >
> > >** Jeff A. Earickson, Ph.D PHONE: 207-872-3659
> > >** Senior UNIX Sysadmin, Information Technology EMAIL:
> > > jaearick at colby.edu ** Colby College, 4214 Mayflower Hill,
> > > FAX: 207-872-3076 ** Waterville ME, 04901-8842
> > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >--
> > >
> > >On Fri, 26 Jul 2002, Julian Field wrote:
> > > > Date: Fri, 26 Jul 2002 15:23:43 +0100
> > > > From: Julian Field <mailscanner at ECS.SOTON.AC.UK>
> > > > Reply-To: MailScanner mailing list <MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK>
> > > > To: MAILSCANNER at JISCMAIL.AC.UK
> > > > Subject: Re: null "Clean Header" multi-times gags sendmail
> > > >
> > > > I've never know anyone not want to tell their users that a message is
> > >
> > > clean.
> > >
> > > > If you don't mark it as clean, how is the recipient supposed to know
> > > > whether it has been scanned or not?
> > > > Setting this configuration option to nothing seems a mite strange to
> > > > me...
> > > >
> > > > At 14:39 26/07/2002, you wrote:
> > > > >Julian,
> > > > >
> > > > >Setup:
> > > > >------
> > > > >Solaris 8, sendmail 8.12.5, mailscanner 3.22-7, Sophos, spamassassin
> > > > >
> > > > >MailScanner Config Setting that triggers the problem:
> > > > >-----------------------------------------------------
> > > > >Changing the mailscanner.conf line
> > > > > Clean Header = Found to be clean
> > > > >to just be
> > > > > Clean Header =
> > > > >ie, nothing after the equals sign. Putting something after the
> > > > >equals sign fixes the problem, but there's a bug here.
> > > > >
> > > > >The Problem:
> > > > >------------
> > > > >Running a piece of email thru mailscanner multiple times
> > > > >with a blank "clean header" setup causes sendmail to give the
> > > > > following syslog complaints:
> > > > >
> > > > >SYSERR(root): readqf: ./qf.....: incomplete queue file read
> > > > >
> > > > >Any piece of email in /var/spool/mqueue generating this complaint will
> > > > >not be delivered by sendmail, but just sit there -- stuck.
> > > > >
> > > > >Analysis:
> > > > >---------
> > > > >I spent some time staring at the qf files for multi-scanned messages
> > > > >that ended up in /var/spool/mqueue, for both messages with a blank and
> > > > >nonblank "Clean Header" settings. For a blank "Clean Header" line,
> > > > >the bottom of the qf file looked like:
> > > > >
> > > > >H??X-MailScanner: , .
> > > > >
> > > > >For a qf file with a nonblank "Clean Header = ftbc" line, the bottom
> > >
> > > of the
> > >
> > > > >file looked like:
> > > > >
> > > > >H??X-MailScanner: ftbc, ftbc
> > > > >.
> > > > >
> > > > >Note the placement of the period, which signifies to sendmail where
> > > > > the end of the qf file is supposed to be. For the blank header, it
> > > > > does not end up by itself as the last line, hence sendmail complains
> > > > > that the queue file is incomplete. I found that I could unjam the
> > > > > problem qf files in my queue by editing them and sticking a period at
> > > > > the bottom, then rerunning the queue on that message by hand to get
> > > > > it delivered. And of course I can chase this problem away by making
> > > > > sure that "Clean Header" is not empty. But this looks like a
> > > > > mailscanner bug -- it puts the final period in the wrong place for
> > > > > multi-scanned messages and an empty "clean headers" setting.
> > > > >
> > > > >** Jeff A. Earickson, Ph.D PHONE: 207-872-3659
> > > > >** Senior UNIX Sysadmin, Information Technology EMAIL:
> > >
> > > jaearick at colby.edu
> > >
> > > > >** Colby College, 4214 Mayflower Hill, FAX: 207-872-3076
> > > > >** Waterville ME, 04901-8842
> > > > >----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > >-
> > >
> > > -----
> > >
> > > > --
> > > > Julian Field Teaching Systems Manager
> > > > jkf at ecs.soton.ac.uk Dept. of Electronics & Computer Science
> > > > Tel. 023 8059 2817 University of Southampton
> > > > Southampton SO17 1BJ
--
Julian Field Teaching Systems Manager
jkf at ecs.soton.ac.uk Dept. of Electronics & Computer Science
Tel. 023 8059 2817 University of Southampton
Southampton SO17 1BJ
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