NOTICE: TFN has now reinstalled SpamAssassin: To that end, I am now updating the Helplink File relating to its use on TFN --Buddy.

The Instructions below are provided for those interested in how SA is configured. There have been individuals who have written us stating that there was a markedincrease in disk usage because of the way the .procmailrc had been configured. This information was orgiginally provided to users who wanted to use SA on an individual basis, after TFN was receiving more false-positive spam reports then usual. At that time, the use of SA was disabled system-wide (2002) and users were provided these instructions to enable it on an individual basis. As of June, 2006, it is believed that users can choose whether or not to enable SA on thier accounts, because it has not been implemented system wide as of the time of this writing. --Buddy

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A BRIEF HISTORY ABOUT THE USE OF SPAMASSASSIN (SA) ON TFN

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Back in 2002, TFN began experimenting with SA. They wanted to see if they could reduce the number of Unsollicted Commercial Emails that were being received. TFN was being hammered by spammers, so the decision was made to install SA, and test it to see if it was going to take out as much spam as possible. Because of the ratio of false-positive hits to legit spam hits, it was disabled system wide in 2002, and users could then decide if they wanted to use SA on a per user basis.It was then reenabled in November 2003 system wide, as a way to reduce UCE.

However, it was later determined by TFN Volunteers that the previous instructions provided by TFN admins had an error in the .procmailrc file that created a bunch of folders in the user's mail/ directory such as:

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backup/, From/, Cur/, temp/ within the user mail/ directory

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It was later determined that SA was backing up messages in mail/ TWICE, which increased disk usage, because users were also "catching" spam in "caughtspam" as well as getting it in thier INBOX.
To Stop this behavior, users were advised to DELETE the part of .procmailrc that said [LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/from] and to comment out the lines that said: NOTE: [] are placed around the lines to delete

[##:0 c backup] and [##:0 ic | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed -e 1,32d`]

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SA: THE NEW WAY TO PLAY THE GAME

Of Course, the problem of the backup directory was fixed by emptying it, and deleting it as well. The New way to play for SA involves a little different setup, which will eliminate MOST of the bad spam on TFN. The old way "caught spam" in a folder in your mail/ directory, and was backing up mail and wasting space. The New way, However, will delete spam before it hits your mailbox.

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Notice: It should be noted that NOT ALL SPAM will be eliminated by the method below, but that you may still receive some spam messages. TFN has set the threshold for 5.0 "hits", which means that mail that is received by TFN that has a threshold lower then that will not be marked as SPAM. Only messages that hit the 5.0 or ABOVE that threshold will be deleted automatically by this method

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SETTING UP SA ON USER ACCOUNTS

First, login to your account on tfn. Once that is done, from your shell, you need to create a directory called backup/ which stores the first 32 messgaes recieved in case you want to retrieve them. to do this from the shell prompt type 'mkdir backup' (without quotes) and press enter. Then, you need to create 2 files. One of these is called .qmail, and the other is called .procmailrc.

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CREATE .qmail FILE

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1. from your shell, type 'pico .qmail' (without quotes) (The dot is significant)

2. from within pico, type (without quotes and EXACTLY as shown:
'| preline /usr/bin/procmail' (on the same lime, so that there is only one line of text)

3. Press control+x and save changes to your .qmail file by answering "y" and accept the name .qmail.

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CREATE .procmailrc FILE

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1. from your shell, type 'pico .procmailrc' (without quotes) (The dot is significant)

2. Once you have pico open, type the following:EXACTLY AS SHOWN

:0 c
backup
:0 ic
| cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed -e 1,32d`
:0fw
| /usr/bin/spamc
:0:
* ^X-Spam-Flag: Yes
/dev/null
:0
Mailbox

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3. When you are done, Press Control+x to save the file: answer "Y" to save the changes, and accept the name ,procmailrc.

4. Logout of your TFN session. Then, log back on, and your SPAM should start going to /dev/null/ which is like saying it will not go to your Mailbox anymore.

This configuration sends only the first 32 messages to the backup/ directory, so as newer messages come in, the older ones are deleted. NOTICE: TFN has made the decision to lower the systemwide spam level. Originally, any Spam that was 5.0 Hits or over would not get to you, because it is filtered by .promailrc, and the remainder of the mail goes to Mailbox, which is your inbox for mail on TFN. As of 12/15/2006, the systemwide threshhold has been lowered from 5.0 "hits" to 3.0 "hits." This should decrease spam that used to get past the filters that was marked at 4.0 or below. --Buddy Any User who may need thier threshold adjusted should contact the the problems team for assistance.

NOTICE:It should be noted that users who cannot login, that want SA enabled on thir account, can Mail The Problems Team and request that SA be enabled for them. An Admin will then enter your home directory, and make the necessary changes to your account, as stated in this Helplink File --Buddy

If you have any problems configuring SA, Mail The Problems Team