hi, i''n new to this list, as i am to exim config. i know to admin debian systems since (1.1, but currently only medium level) and used to setup/run a sendmail system with heavy traffic some years ago. now i support admins on a non-profit site, running exim. so, let me get into exim and my question. upon your agreement i''ll ask probabely more later. :-) on a sarge with current exim4-heavy, i wanted to set headers_check_syntax, since i read (somewhere?) it helps to reduce those bounce errors and the like... (an there is about 9k frozen mails, mostly due to misc spam related errors, on my task list). but i cannot find this documentet at goole (exept older security bulletins) or exims doc. So i just did put it in exim.conf, praying... system worked without further trouble, but since my test failed with paniclog for unknown option i ask for your help now. on the other side i found "verify = header_syntax" on exim.org. is this its successor? it belongs to acl config? found ther only ".ifdef CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX ..." so, what''s the real syntx for and benefit of this option? guess, i don''t know how exim config works. how can i read into this? whole specs (which takes lot of time, an will not help me _now_) or is there a ''quickread'' somewhere? so, can you help a litte? of course i need to do the work and will need to read a lot for that. but help helps. ;-) tia gerhard ah, one more: ther are some "hooks" for user config, blacklists and so on... is this somehow listed in an easy manner somewhere? and which are realy configured/active in sarges exim? there are no dummy/template files, and since i can''t yet read configs...
On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 09:14:22PM +0100, Gerhard Kroder wrote:> on a sarge with current exim4-heavy, i wanted to set > headers_check_syntax, since i read (somewhere?) it helps to reduce those > bounce errors and the like...That "somewhere" has been outdated for years. h_c_s is an exim 3 configuration option which has been migrated to exim4''s ACLs.> on the other side i found "verify = header_syntax" on exim.org. is this > its successor?I suspect that, yes.> it belongs to acl config?Yes.> found ther only ".ifdef > CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX ..." so, what''s the real syntx for and > benefit of this option?It sometimes helps to read beyond what grep outputs, and it should be clear that .ifdef CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX enables some checks which will deny with a message called "Message headers fail syntax check" on some condition. Unfortunately, one needs context information about your configuration to tell you where to activate that macro, and since this question is asked so often, it is explained quite verbosely in README.Debian.gz.> guess, i don''t know how exim config works. how can i read into this? > whole specs (which takes lot of time, an will not help me _now_) or is > there a ''quickread'' somewhere?The book by Philip Hazel is a good tutorial, but you would need to buy it. The spec.txt file is a good reference, but admittedly hard reading. Maybe it''s a good idea to start reading spec.txt chapters 1, 2, 3 and 6 to get a rough impression of how exim works, and then to work yourself through our configuration file, looking up the meaning of the options that we actually use.> ah, one more: ther are some "hooks" for user config, blacklists and so > on... is this somehow listed in an easy manner somewhere? and which are > realy configured/active in sarges exim? there are no dummy/template > files, and since i can''t yet read configs...The default configuration is rather verbosely commented, but the comments expect some basic understanding of exim''s concepts. Greetings Marc -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marc Haber | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse im Header Mannheim, Germany | lose things." Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 72739834 Nordisch by Nature | How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 72739835
Marc Haber wrote:> On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 09:14:22PM +0100, Gerhard Kroder wrote: >>> That "somewhere" has been outdated for years. h_c_s is an exim 3 > configuration option which has been migrated to exim4''s ACLs.ouch, getting hard times, when g**lge doesn''t help anymore... ;-)>>found ther only ".ifdef >>CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX ..." so, what''s the real syntx for and >>benefit of this option? > > > It sometimes helps to read beyond what grep outputs,ah, new point to me> and it should be > clear that .ifdef CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX enables some checks > which will deny with a message called "Message headers fail syntax > check" on some condition.?? guess this is documented, too.> Unfortunately, one needs context information about your configuration > to tell you where to activate that macro,didn''t i mention standard sarge/exim4-heavy?> and since this question is > asked so often, it is explained quite verbosely in README.Debian.gz.ok, knowing a little more now what to look for, i''ll check that again.> The book by Philip Hazel is a good tutorial, but you would need to buy > it.not yet..> Maybe it''s a good idea to start reading spec.txt chapters 1, 2, 3 and > 6 to get a rough impression of how exim works,ok, looks like a usable road map to me> and then to work > yourself through our configuration file, looking up the meaning of the > options that we actually use.if [1-3,6] enables understanding, i''ll get it>>ah, one more: ther are some "hooks" for user config, blacklists and so >>on... is this somehow listed in an easy manner somewhere? and which are >>realy configured/active in sarges exim? there are no dummy/template >>files, and since i can''t yet read configs... > > > The default configuration is rather verbosely commented, but the > comments expect some basic understanding of exim''s concepts.that''s why i asked. once i can read config properly it will help me just to answer "look at xxx". but tnx anyway. gerhard
On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 11:06:43PM +0100, Gerhard Kroder wrote:> Marc Haber wrote: > >and it should be > >clear that .ifdef CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX enables some checks > >which will deny with a message called "Message headers fail syntax > >check" on some condition. > > ?? guess this is documented, too.Unfortunately, not too well. Patches accepted. The only documentation for that feature are the few lines of comment preceding it.> >Unfortunately, one needs context information about your configuration > >to tell you where to activate that macro, > > didn''t i mention standard sarge/exim4-heavy?split-config? non-split config? Or something hand-written? Sometimes it''s a disadvantage to be -that- flexible.> >and then to work > >yourself through our configuration file, looking up the meaning of the > >options that we actually use. > > if [1-3,6] enables understanding, i''ll get itI think, that 1-3, 6 will help you. I don''t know whether it''ll be enough. To understand a basic exim config file, you do not need to know how to build exim, you don''t need to know about the command line options, and you do not need to read an alphabetically sorted list of all available options from beginning to end. Greetings Marc -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marc Haber | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse im Header Mannheim, Germany | lose things." Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 72739834 Nordisch by Nature | How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 72739835
Marc Haber wrote:> On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 11:06:43PM +0100, Gerhard Kroder wrote:>>>clear that .ifdef CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX enables some checks >>>which will deny with a message called "Message headers fail syntax >>>check" on some condition. >> >>?? guess this is documented, too. > > > Unfortunately, not too well. Patches accepted. The only documentation > for that feature are the few lines of comment preceding it.so one needs to go into source to find out what happens to document it?? :-( task_doc | $programmer ;-)> split-config? non-split config? Or something hand-written?ah, to mee split/non-split seemes to be the same as far as i understand currently. isn''t (cat $split-config >> non-split-config) ? so i saw no need to tell. and no hand-written. basicly there is a nonsplit config file, getting generated by an other custom script from exim.config-template, that pipes in some values for host/domainnames and the like, just as one would with vi. so there is a stable setup, when changing simple values.> Sometimes it''s a disadvantage to be -that- flexible.jeah, when you need to find which config is used.... went through that already ;-)> I think, that 1-3, 6 will help you. I don''t know whether it''ll be > enough.i''ll see then. i may come ask again... :-) tnx gerhard
On Thu, Nov 24, 2005 at 12:10:22AM +0100, Gerhard Kroder wrote:> Marc Haber wrote: > >On Wed, Nov 23, 2005 at 11:06:43PM +0100, Gerhard Kroder wrote: > >>>clear that .ifdef CHECK_DATA_VERIFY_HEADER_SYNTAX enables some checks > >>>which will deny with a message called "Message headers fail syntax > >>>check" on some condition. > >> > >>?? guess this is documented, too. > > > >Unfortunately, not too well. Patches accepted. The only documentation > >for that feature are the few lines of comment preceding it. > > so one needs to go into source to find out what happens to document it?? > :-( task_doc | $programmer ;-)No. I am talking about comments in the configuration file.> >split-config? non-split config? Or something hand-written? > > ah, to mee split/non-split seemes to be the same as far as i understand > currently. isn''t (cat $split-config >> non-split-config) ?Yes, but that''s done on build time. Unfortunately, this proves that you didn''t read the README.Debian file. Please do that _now_.> so i saw no > need to tell. and no hand-written. basicly there is a nonsplit config > file, getting generated by an other custom script from > exim.config-template, that pipes in some values for host/domainnames and > the like, just as one would with vi. so there is a stable setup, when > changing simple values.grep split /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf, please Greetings Marc -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marc Haber | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse im Header Mannheim, Germany | lose things." Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 72739834 Nordisch by Nature | How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 72739835
On 2005-11-23 Gerhard Kroder <gerhard.kroder@t-online.de> wrote: [...]> on a sarge with current exim4-heavy, i wanted to set > headers_check_syntax, since i read (somewhere?) it helps to reduce those > bounce errors and the like... (an there is about 9k frozen mails, > mostly due to misc spam related errors, on my task list).[...] In my experience the syntax check used to catch lots of spams and other unwanted e-mail, but nowadays spam is usually correct in this aspect. cu and- keeping it on nevertheless - reas -- The ''Galactic Cleaning'' policy undertaken by Emperor Zhark is a personal vision of the emperor''s, and its inclusion in this work does not constitute tacit approval by the author or the publisher for any such projects, howsoever undertaken. (c) Jasper Ffforde