Problem with exim filters

Hello

I use a exim 3.3 precompiled installation on my debian system. I try to make
my first steps with exim filter rules.
To save all the outgoing messages in a directory, which I can access by my
IMAP server i put the following rule into exim.conf:

# Exim Filter

if $header_from: contains "@rss-global.com" then
save ${home}/Maildir
finish
endif

But the damned daemon tells me: option "if" unknown

What do i wrong in the use of of filters; can anybody show me a complete
example?

thanks

Carsten

Carsten Frank wrote:

> I use a exim 3.3 precompiled installation on my debian system. I try to make
> my first steps with exim filter rules.

Which is quite old and outdated. The current version is 4.51.

> To save all the outgoing messages in a directory, which I can access by my
> IMAP server i put the following rule into exim.conf:

RTFM. Filters don't go into exim.conf, but into an extra file, which you
reference in exim.conf, message_filter option.

see http://exim.org/exim-html-3.30/doc/html/spec_47.html for more details.

Hi there


Jakob Hirsch wrote:

> Which is quite old and outdated. The current version is 4.51.

There is a Woody backport; exim4-daemon-heavy
It contains the Exiscan patch and a lot of other nice stuff.

> RTFM. Filters don't go into exim.conf, but into an extra file, which you
> reference in exim.conf, message_filter option.
>
> see http://exim.org/exim-html-3.30/doc/html/spec_47.html for more details.

One should use a setup which doesn't generate bounces when one actually
should reject.


Regards,
Rob
--
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| De SGP is een gevaar voor de rechtsorde |
| http://www.democratie-ja.nl/ |
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Rob van der Putten wrote:

>>RTFM. Filters don't go into exim.conf, but into an extra file, which you
>>reference in exim.conf, message_filter option.
>>see http://exim.org/exim-html-3.30/doc/html/spec_47.html for more details.
> One should use a setup which doesn't generate bounces when one actually
> should reject.

What do you mean?

Hi there


Jakob Hirsch wrote:

> Rob van der Putten wrote:
>
> > One should use a setup which doesn't generate bounces when one actually
> > should reject.

> What do you mean?

You should only generate bounces for your own users.
This means that when you receive mail, you should decide wether you want
the mail or not within that SMTP session [1] (accept, defer or reject).
You should not first accept mail and then change your mind and generate
a bounce message.
This reduces the number of joe job bounces. And the remaining joe job
bounces will not be generated by your system.
Joe job bounces are rather annoying and should be avoided whenever
possible.

AFAIK [1] doesn't work with system filters. It does work with Exim 4 +
Exiscan patch. Filters can be used for other purposes of course.
However, the use of Woody Exim 3 in combination with virus or spam
filtering is problematic.


Regards,
Rob
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rob van der Putten, rob@sput.nl |
| http://www.sput.nl/spam/spam-policy.html |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Rob van der Putten wrote:

>>>One should use a setup which doesn't generate bounces when one actually
>>>should reject.
>>What do you mean?
> You should only generate bounces for your own users.
[...]

I know, thanks.

But what's the relation to the subject? It was never about bounces or
something, the $OP just wanted to save his outgoing mails in a folder.

> AFAIK [1] doesn't work with system filters. It does work with Exim 4 +

yes, the system filter is run for every delivery, not when accepting mail.

Hi there


Jakob Hirsch wrote:

> I know, thanks.
>
> But what's the relation to the subject? It was never about bounces or
> something, the $OP just wanted to save his outgoing mails in a folder.

It was about Exim 3.
There is no reason to run Exim 3 on a Debian Woody system. And some very
good reasons not to.

> yes, the system filter is run for every delivery, not when accepting mail.


Regards,
Rob
--
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| De SGP is een gevaar voor de rechtsorde |
| http://www.democratie-ja.nl/ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+