mimedefang.pl - Perl script to scan MIME messages.

mimedefang.pl [-f filter] dir

mimedefang.pl is a Perl script designed to work with mimedefang(8). It takes a single argument which is a directory which should contain files laid out as described in mimedefang(8).

-f filter

Specifies the name of the file containing the filter. If this option is omitted, the default filter /etc/mimedefang-filter is used.

mimedefang.pl evaluates the file /etc/mimedefang-filter as a Perl fragment. This file should define the filter procedure. For each part of a MIME message, mimedefang.pl calls filter and disposes of the part as instructed by the filter. The various modes of disposition are described in mimedefang-filter(5).

You are strongly recommended to test your filter before installing it in /etc/mimedefang-filter. To test the filter, save it in a file (e.g. test-filter) and run this command:

	mimedefang.pl -f test-filter -test

This tests the filter for syntactic correctness. If it passes, you can install it as a production filter. (Note that the test tests only for correct Perl syntax; it doesn't make sure your filter does something sensible.)

There are a few other ways to invoke mimedefang.pl:

	mimedefang.pl -structure < mime_message

parses a message on stdin and prints lots of debugging information.

	mimedefang.pl -prettyprint < mime_message

parses a message on stdin and prints it in a "nice" format (depending on your definition of "nice".)

	mimedefang.pl -features

prints a list of detected optional Perl modules. The output looks something like this:

	File::Scan: no
	HTMLCleaner: no
	SpamAssassin: yes

	mimedefang.pl -validate

calls the function filter_validate, if it is defined in your filter. filter_validate should return an integer; this becomes the exit code. If filter_validate does not exist, an error message is printed and mimedefang.pl exits with an exit code of 1.

mimedefang.pl was written by David F. Skoll <dfs@roaringpenguin.com>. The mimedefang home page is http://www.mimedefang.org/.

mimedefang(8), mimedefang-filter(5), mimedefang-protocol(7)