[Fwd: SpamAssassin 3.0.0-pre1 is released!]

Michele Neylon michele at BLACKNIGHTSOLUTIONS.COM
Sun Jun 20 03:38:44 IST 2004


-----Forwarded Message-----
> From: Daniel Quinlan <quinlan at pathname.com>
> To: spamassassin-users at incubator.apache.org
> Subject: SpamAssassin 3.0.0-pre1 is released!
> Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 19:11:02 -0700
>
> *** THIS IS A PRE-RELEASE ONLY, NOT THE FINAL 3.0.0 RELEASE ***
>
> SpamAssassin 3.0.0-pre1 is released!  SpamAssassin 3.0 is a major update
> and includes a number of new email and anti-spam technologies.
>
> SpamAssassin is a mail filter which uses advanced statistical and
> heuristic tests to identify spam (also known as unsolicited bulk email).
>
> Highlights of the release
> -------------------------
>
>  - SpamAssassin is now part of the Apache Software Foundation, bringing an
>    improved and clearer software license, the 2.0 version of the Apache
>    License.
>
>  - We added a new architecture which allows third-parties to easily add
>    plugin modules.
>
>  - There is now SQL database support for both the Bayes and auto-whitelist
>    subsystems, allowing more large sites to easily deploy SpamAssassin.
>
>  - A more accurate simulation of email client handling of MIME and HTML
>    improves our accuracy.  In addition, there is better detection and
>    handling of spammer techniques used to trick email clients and filters.
>
>  - Web sites contained in the message body are checked against network
>    databases of domains that advertise with spam.
>
>  - SpamAssassin now includes support for SPF (the Sender Policy Framework,
>    http://spf.pobox.com/).
>
> Downloading
> -----------
>
> Pick it up from:
>
>   http://SpamAssassin.org/released/Mail-SpamAssassin-3.0.0-pre1.tar.gz
>   http://SpamAssassin.org/released/Mail-SpamAssassin-3.0.0-pre1.tar.bz2
>   http://SpamAssassin.org/released/Mail-SpamAssassin-3.0.0-pre1.zip
>
> md5sum:
>
>   bb42ada117c965bfa5b63046173cc4e0  Mail-SpamAssassin-3.000000-pre1.tar.gz
>   53ebc4b0527d8f99d9fc3b52781a8100  Mail-SpamAssassin-3.000000-pre1.tar.bz2
>   5f23d79ceaaa60ba4017cb067414dd01  Mail-SpamAssassin-3.000000-pre1.zip
>
> sha1sum:
>
>   9b1e02af2ecc79fc8149f399fad4090bfb981767  Mail-SpamAssassin-3.000000-pre1.tar.gz
>   fb7fafb039dabba4d644d604c7a9dc056bd8b1b0  Mail-SpamAssassin-3.000000-pre1.tar.bz2
>   1f152f1834e8611dc47350594e920d65fef1143d  Mail-SpamAssassin-3.000000-pre1.zip
>
> The release files also have a .asc accompanying them.  The file serves
> as an external GPG signature for the given release file.  The signing
> key is available via the wwwkeys.pgp.net key server, as well as
> http://www.spamassassin.org/released/GPG-SIGNING-KEY
>
> The key information is:
>
> pub  1024D/265FA05B 2003-06-09 SpamAssassin Signing Key <release at spamassassin.org>
>      Key fingerprint =3D 26C9 00A4 6DD4 0CD5 AD24  F6D7 DEE0 1987 265F A05B
>
> Important installation notes
> ----------------------------
>
> - The SpamAssassin 2.6x release series was the last set of releases to
>   officially support perl versions earlier than perl 5.6.1.  If you are
>   using an earlier version of perl, you will need to upgrade before you
>   can use the 3.0.0 version of SpamAssassin.
>
> - SpamAssassin 3.0.0 has a significantly different API (Application
>   Program Interface) from the 2.x series of code.  This means that if you
>   use SpamAssassin through a third-party utility (milter, etc,) you need
>   to make sure you have an updated version which supports 3.0.0.
>
> - The --auto-whitelist and -a options for "spamd" and "spamassassin" to
>   turn on the auto-whitelist have been removed and replaced by the
>   "use_auto_whitelist" configuration option which is also now turned on by
>   default.
>
> - The "rewrite_subject" configuration setting was deprecated and is now
>   removed. Instead, using "rewrite_header Subject [your desired setting]".
>   e.g.
>
>     rewrite_subject ****SPAM(_SCORE_)****
>
>   becomes
>
>     rewrite_header Subject ****SPAM(_SCORE_)****
>
> - The Bayesian storage modules have been completely re-written and now
>   include Berkeley DB (DBM) storage as well as SQL based storage (see
>   sql/README.bayes for more information).  In addition, a new format has
>   been introduced for the bayes database that stores tokens in fixed
>   length hashes.  All DBM databases should be automatically converted to
>   this new format the first time they are opened for write.  You can
>   manually perform the upgrade by running "sa-learn --sync" from the
>   command line.
>
>   The "sa-learn --rebuild" command has been deprecated; please use
>   "sa-learn --sync" instead.  The --rebuild option will remain temporarily
>   for backwards compatibility.
>
> - "spamd" now has a default max-children setting of 5; no more than 5
>   child scanner processes will be run in parallel.  Previously, there was
>   no default limit unless you specified the "-m" switch when starting
>   spamd.
>
> - If you are using a UNIX machine with all database files on local disks,
>   and no sharing of those databases across NFS filesystems, you can use a
>   more efficient, but non-NFS-safe, locking mechanism.   Do this by adding
>   the line "lock_method flock" to the /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf
>   file. This is strongly recommended if you're not using NFS, as it is
>   much faster than the NFS-safe locker.
>
> - Please note that the use of the following command line parameters for
>   spamassassin and spamd have been deprecated and are now removed.  If you
>   currently use these flags, please remove them:
>
>     in the 2.6x series: --add-from, --pipe, -F, -P, --stop-at-threshold, -S
>     in the 3.0.x series: --auto-whitelist, -a
>
> - The following flags are deprecated and will be removed in a future major
>   release: --whitelist-factory, -M, --warning-from, -w, --log-to-mbox, -l.
>
> - SpamAssassin runs in "taint mode" by default for improved security.
>   Certain third-party modules, such as Razor v2, may be incompatible with
>   taint mode. For Razor v2, you will need to be using v2.40 of
>   razor-agents or higher which allows taint mode by default.  Earlier
>   versions which are patched to allow taint mode may be used as well.
>
> - Finally, 2.6x deprecated the use of the "check_bayes_db" script, and it
>   is now no longer available.  Please see the sa-learn man/pod
>   documentation for more info.
>
> Summary of major changes since 2.6x
> -----------------------------------
>
> Licensing:
>
>   - Relicensed using Apache License v2.0, instead of dual GPL/PAL licensing,
>     since we are now an Apache Incubator project.
>
> New rules:
>
>   - SPF testing, if the Mail::SPF::Query module is installed.
>
>   - added new rules and code to combat Bayes poisoning text and random
>     hash-busters; Habeas rules now verify against the Habeas user
>     list, to combat forged marks used in spam.
>
>   - URIDNSBL rules.  These do DNSBL lookups on URLs, allowing URLs found
>     in the message body to be used in spam determination.  Added the SURBL
>     blocklist (http://www.surbl.org/).
>
>   - Spamhaus XBL and a variety of new DNSBL rules
>
>   - Hashcash support.
>
>   - added Bob Menschel's 'longwords' rules
>
>   - added 'backhair' rule, technique based on Jennifer Wheeler's ruleset
>
>   - added Matt Kettler's 'antidrug' ruleset
>
>   - added anti-fraud rules from Matt Yackley
>
>   - added some hostname-based blocklist tests based on the envelope
>     sender address.
>
>   - a *lot* of other new rules, too many to detail here
>
> Spamd:
>
>   - spamd now uses a 'preforking' model instead of 'fork per message'.
>
>   - new log format, detailing message-id, resent-message-id, the tests hit,
>     autolearn status, and several other things in a mass-check compatible
>     format, to provide more information for spamd log-summarizer scripts.
>
> Infrastructure:
>
>   - Plugins.  Third-party modules can now be written and loaded dynamically
>     from inside SpamAssassin, to provide support for entirely new rule types
>     or eval tests.
>
>   - SQL support for Bayes and AWL storage, thanks to Michael Parker.
>     See sql/README.bayes and sql/README.awl for additional information.
>
>   - ground-up rewrite of the MIME parser.  Now deals correctly with complex
>     MIME structures, including entire message/rfc822 message attachments.
>
>   - rules can now test the "MAIL FROM:" address used in the SMTP transaction,
>     if it was logged to the message headers, using the "EnvelopeFrom"
>     pseudoheader.  This allows rules such as SPF to be applied.
>
>   - Added optional faster but NFS-unsafe Bayes locking mechanism, using
>     "lock_method flock"
>
>   - support for parsing mbx mailboxes, as used by UW IMAP. Thanks to John
>     Newman for this patch.
>
>   - refactored configuration parser to split parser code from configuration
>     settings.
>
>   - Bayes databases can now be backed up and restored using --backup and
>     --restore.
>
>   - Config files can now include other files using the "include" command.
>
>   - replaced GA-based evolver with fast Perceptron score generation tool by
>     Henry Stern; scores can now be generated much more quickly.
>
>   - The "spamassassin" script can now check collections of mail en masse.  This
>     lets us do things like 'spamassassin -d --mbox file1' and have the
>     functionality go over the entire mbox file. same for checks, adding to
>     white/black-lists, etc.
>
> Translations:
>
>   - Dutch translation, thanks to Jesse Houwing
>
>   - Polish translations from Jerzy Szczudlowski and radek at alter dot pl
>
>   - French translations, Michel Bouissou
>
>   - German translations, Daniel Roethlisberger
>
> --
> Daniel Quinlan
> http://www.pathname.com/~quinlan/
--
Mr. Michele Neylon
Blacknight Internet Solutions Ltd
http://www.blacknight.ie/
+353 59 913 7101

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