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Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant?

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Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant?
SpamAssassin is used by a large community.
Many have additional rules added from third party sources.

My query is related to the Headers And Subject Of Mailings primarily:

Is the mailings sent out by LSQL Mailing component SpamAssassin compliant, taking into consideration the fact that certain essentials for compliance are adhered to and taken care of at core code level?.

If it is not SpamAssasin compliant (without tweaking rules to suit LSQL Mail headers etc), then when is it planned to be so?

This may sound trivial, but for some/many it may be a matter of concern.

HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
I don't know that there exists any "Spamassassin compliance" rules.

Spamassassin is to catch spams, even those with manipulated headers.
There is no any special requirement, for headers or subjects which will make an email acceptable for Spamassassin or not...

If you know any special rules, that makes an email header "Spamassassin compliant", let me know.

Best regards,
Webmaster33


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Re: [webmaster33] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Hi.

Sorry if my query was not clear. At the outset, LSQL mailings are not presumed to be Spam. But if small bits like Name Missing, Missing Message_ID, No X-Mailer issues all these add up onto SPAM Score...

At least from the headers of Mails sent out by LSQL Mailings, these should be complied to. I never really mentioned anything about body (as that can really vary from mailings to mailings)

Point that i perhaps failed to emphasise was does LSQL Mailing escape SA rules like Missing Content Type, Missing Message ID, No X-Mailer header, Missing Charset etc etc... which add small, bits and it's really not desireable from coding point of view. I am not aware so this question.

Perhaps i should have had a look at actual header of a mail sent out through LSQL mailings with SA Running and then come back with specifics...

Thanks
HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Quote:
Perhaps i should have had a look at actual header of a mail sent out through LSQL mailings
Yes, that would be a good idea.

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Webmaster33


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Re: [webmaster33] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
OK checked the same.
There are pretty obvious missing things in headers which leads to SA add to scores. And it's more to do with the way mails are being constructed at present.
A genuine mailing at least should not have any SA scores on account of headers at least ... and i consider a mailing from LSQL Admin as genuine...

HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Ok.
Could you list those 'missing things in headers'?
Also could you explain what you mean, by 'the way mails are being constructed'?

If more info is available, there may be possible to tell, if this situation can be fixed through a plugin or global.

Best regards,
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
I'll put it in our TODO to check and correct this.

Adrian
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Re: [webmaster33] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
The mails miss the following headers for a Newsletter Mail ,,, composed using the Box There and sent as HTML ...

0.3 RM_hm_EmptyMsgid Message ID is empty, or just spaces - probable spamsign
1.7 HTML_MIME_NO_HTML_TAG HTML-only message, but there is no HTML tag
0.7 MIME_HTML_NO_CHARSET RAW: Message text in HTML without charset
-----
2.7
-----

Validation Mails have certain additional headers missing. So this is what i meant by SA compliance as 2.7/5.0 is already on account of missing essentials attributable to the code.

Tools.pm is what gets these mailings done? May be wrong can't really say.
And since many paid/ free plugins are having same GT::Mail send sub taken from Tools.pm (apparently), all of them fair equally good (i am not allowed to say bad for obvious reasons) as far as SA Compliance on Headers is concerned. Contacting authors of such plugins would get :P even if it's *Not A Free Plugin*

Hope these things are taken care of (although should have been) not only in Lnks SQL but so also other missing header essentials in other GT softwares...

Thanks ...

HyTC
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Re: [brewt] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
How soon can the ironed out version be expected?

Thanks
HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Well, Adrian from the staff wrote that will check the problems, so there are not too much things left me to do.

Following modules are likely affected:
GT::Mail
GT::Mail::BulkMail
GT::Mail::Parts
GT::Mail::Editor::HTML
GT::Mail::Editor::Text
GT::Mail::Send
Links::MassMailer
Links::Tools

Well, Links::Tools seems to be also affected in email sending, but likely this is not the place where we will find the problem.

Quote:
And since many paid/ free plugins are having same GT::Mail send sub taken from Tools.pm (apparently), all of them fair equally good (i am not allowed to say bad for obvious reasons)
The problems are bhind the scene, as listed above, so you can't blame any plugin developers for using GT::Mail.

As a final request, I'm sure there would be helpful, if you would post some of those full headers, which was affected by SA.

BTW: as I see, most problems affects HTML emails. If plain text emails are used, SA would not complain, at least not so much.

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Webmaster33


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Re: [webmaster33] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Hmm. Seeing the expanse of the modules apparently adding up to the problem, I personally hope that the solution is made available on priority basis.

While on HTML Mails, again, yes HTML mails cause more scoring (due to more rules) SA. At the same time i hope that HTML Mail feature is not removed from LinksSQL. Moreover, i am just giving header of an Non LinksSQL Automated Mailings going through the same recepient server and it's all HTML Mail (7K) ... without images:

Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Delivery-Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2004 01:04:37 +0530
Message-Id: 11615246.1094672177411.JavaMail.root@fromsowhere.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
Envelope-To: myself@onmydomain.com
0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
0.1 MIME_HTML_ONLY BODY: Message only has text/html MIME parts
0.1 HTML_60_70 BODY: Message is 60% to 70% HTML
0.5 HTML_SHOUTING9 BODY: HTML has very strong "shouting" markup
0.7 MIME_HTML_NO_CHARSET RAW: Message text in HTML without charset
X-Spam-Score: 1.4

So five rules add up to 1.4
Links SQL 3 rules add upto 2.7

All references in headers which could cause discomfort has been edited...

What are the headers that you would need from LinksSQL Mailings?

[EDIT] On Plugins Issue I am not trying to put the blame on anyone. But it sometimes leads to *not so good experience* when you are showed the tongue either way Paid or free), unless you pay to correct those shortcomings which personally i would never envisage doing so, as otherwise every bug brought to fore would apparently imply that for getting it corrected it would have to be paid up for... or else be at the mercy of the one's responsible for it
[EDIT]

Thanks for bringing this thread to life :)

HyTC

Last edited by:

HyperTherm: Sep 10, 2004, 5:26 AM
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
I just took a look at this and the only Spam Assassin rules that match for me is the NO_REAL_NAME rule.

As for the ones that have been reported:
0.3 RM_hm_EmptyMsgid Message ID is empty, or just spaces - probable spamsign

This looks like a custom rule, but you're matching this rule because you're using an SMTP server to send rather than sendmail. It will be fixed in the next release.

1.7 HTML_MIME_NO_HTML_TAG HTML-only message, but there is no HTML tag
0.7 MIME_HTML_NO_CHARSET RAW: Message text in HTML without charset

These rules are due to you putting HTML in the email templates. They currently only support plain text.

Adrian
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Re: [brewt] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Hi Adrian

Quote:
As for the ones that have been reported:
0.3 RM_hm_EmptyMsgid Message ID is empty, or just spaces - probable spamsign

This looks like a custom rule, but you're matching this rule because you're using an SMTP server to send rather than sendmail. It will be fixed in the next release.

Actually No Message-ID/Date part is used by Exim users to filter out Mydoom Worm mails. The ACL that is used in DATA part is:

# Reject on no message-id/date from remote hosts
deny condition = ${if !def:h_Message-ID: {1}}
message = Message SHOULD have Message-ID: but does not
deny condition = ${if !def:h_Date: {1}}
message = Message SHOULD have Date: but does not

Now this woule mean that Any Mailings from LSQL with a Missing Message ID (and all derivatives of GT::MAIL::send call being used in third party plugins) would get blocked at SMTP level if this scheck is built in...

Quote:
These rules are due to you putting HTML in the email templates. They currently only support plain text
Actually Mass Email has the drop down of sending mail as HTML.

Thanx...
HyTC

Last edited by:

HyperTherm: Sep 27, 2004, 8:08 AM
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Re: [brewt] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Hi.

Almost a month later from when the thread started. Getting curious to know the release date for this fix.

Thanks
HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Hi.

Anyone from GT.
Any deadline?
I am sure that this does not fall in customization category.

HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
~Bump~

Frown

HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
Have these issues been addressed in Links SQL 2.2.1?
Just enquiring before really taking up the upgrades. Also, if upgrading, then this would be considered the latest wrt GT libs and also wrt startup.pl?

Thanks
HyTC

Thanks
HyTC
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Re: [HyperTherm] Are LSQL mailing SA Compliant? In reply to
GT::Mail has been modified to add in a Message-ID if it can.

Adrian