scmail: a mail filter written in Scheme

Last Modified: 2003-03-21 (Since: 2002-10-24)


What's scmail?

scmail is a mail filter written in Scheme. scmail can filter an incoming mail when it is received and filter mails in a mailbox.

What's new?

Requirements

Characteristics

Installation

To install scmail, run the following commands.

% gzip -dc scmail-0.2.tar.gz | tar xvf - 
% cd scmail-0.2
Password: (enter root's password)
# make
# make install

Components

Configuration

Copy a sample file (scmailrc.sample) to ~/.scmailrc and edit it.

  ;; -*- scheme -*-
  (
   :log-file  "~/.scmail-log"
   :smtp-host "mailhost"      ; for mail forwarding
  
   ;; for MH
   :mailbox   "~/Mail"
   :inbox     "inbox"
   :mailbox-type  mh
  
   ;; for Maildir
   ;; :mailbox   "~/Maildir"
   ;; :inbox     ""
   ;; :mailbox-type  maildir
   )

Using scmail-deliver

scmail-deliver is a command to filter an incoming mail when it is received. scmail-deliver uses Filtering rules defined in ~/.scmailrc-deliver. You can copy a sample file (scmailrc-deliver.sample) to ~/.scmailrc-deliver.

If your mail server is Sendmail or Postfix, you can put the following ~/.forward file to filter an incoming mail when it is received.

| /usr/local/bin/scmail-deliver

If you are using fetchmail to fetch mails from a POP server, you can add the following code into your ~/.fetchmailrc file to use scmailrc-deliver.

poll pop3.example.org
     protocol apop
     user satoru
     mda "/usr/local/bin/scmail-deliver"
     no mimedecode

Using scmail-refile

scmail-refile is a command to filter mails in a mailbox. scmail-refile uses Filtering rules defined in ~/.scmailrc-refile. You can copy a sample file (scmailrc-refile.sample) to ~/.scmailrc-refile.

To use scmail-refile, run it on the command line like the following:

% scmail-refile
refile: inbox/93 -> ml/enkai@coboler/57
refile: inbox/94 -> ml/linux-zaurus/218
refile: inbox/98 -> ml/linux-zaurus/219
refile: inbox/99 -> ml/ming/42           

In this example, the first line in the output messages shows a mail 93 in inbox folder is refiled to ml/enkai@colber as a mail 57. ~/.scmail-log file contains the same report with time information.

% tail -5 ~/.scmail-log
2002-09-26T12:49:31: refile: inbox/93 -> ml/enkai@coboler/57  
2002-09-26T12:49:31: refile: inbox/94 -> ml/linux-zaurus/218  
2002-09-26T12:49:31: refile: inbox/98 -> ml/linux-zaurus/219
2002-09-26T12:49:31: refile: inbox/99 -> ml/ming/42

Filtering rules

You can edit sample files.

scmailrc-deliver.sample

  ;; -*- scheme -*-
  ;;
  ;; This sample file cointains Japanese EUC-JP characters.
  ;; Please remove unreadable rules if you don't want Japanese rules.
  ;;
  
  ;;
  ;; Copy all mails to "inbox-all" folder for backup.
  ;;
  (add-filter-rule!
   (lambda (config mail)
     (command-copy config mail "inbox-all")))
  
  (add-filter-rule!
   ;;
   ;; Forward a mail from "partner@example.net" to "mobile@example.com".
   ;;
   '(from
     ("partner@example.net" (forward "mobile@example.com")))
  
   ;;
   ;; Drop a mail writtein in unreadable charcodes to "junk".
   ;; For people who cannot read a mail written in Chinese and Korean.
   ;;
   '(content-type
     (#/gb2312|euc-kr|big5|gbk|ks_c_5601/i
               "junk"))
  
   ;;
   ;; Drop a Japanese junk mail to "junk" folder.
   ;;
   '(subject
     ((#/[̤Ëö]¾µ[ǧÂú]¹­¹ð[*¡ö¢¨]/ #/[¡ª!]¹­¹ð[¡ª!]/)
      "junk")))
  
  ;;
  ;; Drop a mail containing junk words in Subject: and "text/html" in the body
  ;; to "junk" folder.
  ;;
  (define junk-words
    '("money" "adult" "sex" "viagra"))
  
  (use srfi-13) ; string-contains-ci
  (use srfi-1)  ; find
  (add-filter-rule!
   (lambda (config mail)
     (if (and (find (lambda (word)
                      (string-contains-ci (mail-query mail 'subject)
                                          word))
                    junk-words)
              (string-contains-ci (mail-query mail 'body)
                                  "text/html"))
         (command-refile config mail "junk")
         :next)))
  

scmailrc-refile.sample

  ;; -*- scheme -*-
  
  (add-filter-rule!
   ;;
   ;; Refile a mail from "foo@example.jp" to "from/foo" folder.
   ;;
   '(from
     ("foo@example.jp" "from/foo"))
  
   ;;
   ;; Refile a mail to "admin@example.com" to "admin" folder.
   ;;
   '(to/cc
     ("admin@example.com" "admin"))
  
   ;;
   ;; Refile a mail from a mailing list according to List-Id header.
   ;; e.g. "List-Id: <ml.example.jp>" => "ml/ml.example.jp"
   ;;
   '(list-id
     (#/<([-.\w]+)>/  "ml/\\1"))
  
   ;;
   ;; Refile a mail from a mailing list according to X-ML-Name header.
   ;; e.g. "X-ML-Name: foo-ml" => "ml/foo-ml"
   ;;
   '(x-ml-name
     (#/([-.\w]+)/  "ml/\\1"))
  
   ;;
   ;; Refile a mail from satoru@example.jp or satoru@example.org
   ;; to "from/satoru" folder.
   ;;
   '(from
     (("satoru@example.jp" "satoru@example.org") "from/satoru")))
  
  ;; Replace unsafe characters with `-' in match data.
  (set-match-data-replace-rule! '(#/[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]/ "-"))

scmailrc-kill.sample

  spammer@example.com
  nasty-guy@example.net
  virus-sender@example.org

FAQ

What happens if a rule file has syntax errors?

scmail handle a broken rule file as an empty rule file. Messages of syntax errors are reported in ~/.scmail-log.

Download

scmail is a free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License.

References

Links


Satoru Takabayashi (satoru@namazu.org)