sa-update1p

Usage

Overview

sa-update automates the process of downloading and installing new rules and configuration, based on channels. The default channel is updates.spamassassin.org, which has updated rules since the previous release.

NOTE: channel names are domain names, but DO NOT typically have any DNS records other than (maybe) NS records. There is a tree of records below that name which denote the SpamAssassin version and resolve that name to the version number of the latest rules, e.g. to find the latest update version number for SpamAssassin v4.0.0:

  $ host -t txt 0.0.4.updates.spamassassin.org 
  0.0.4.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for 3.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org.
  3.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1907730"

That also illuminates the fact that the current ruleset is supposed to be backward-compatible to v3.3.3.

Update archives are verified using GPG signatures by default. If GPG is disabled (not recommended), file integrity is checked with SHA512 or SHA256 checksums.

Note that "sa-update" will not restart "spamd" or otherwise cause a scanner to reload the now-updated ruleset automatically. Instead, "sa-update" is typically used in something like the following manner:

        sa-update && /etc/init.d/spamassassin reload

This works because "sa-update" only returns an exit status of 0 if it has successfully downloaded and installed an updated ruleset.

The program sa-update uses the underlying operating system umask for the updated rule files it installs. You may wish to run sa-update from a script that sets the umask prior to calling sa-update. For example:

        #!/bin/sh
        umask 022
        sa-update

Options

--channel

sa-update can update multiple channels at the same time. By default, it will only access "updates.spamassassin.org", but more channels can be specified via this option. If there are multiple additional channels, use the option multiple times, once per channel. i.e.:

        sa-update --channel foo.example.com --channel bar.example.com

--channelfile

Similar to the --channel option, except specify the additional channels in a file instead of on the commandline. This is useful when there are a lot of additional channels.

--checkonly

Only check if an update is available, don't actually download and install it. The exit code will be 0 or 1 as described below.

--install

Install updates "offline", from the named tar.gz file, instead of performing DNS lookups and HTTP invocations.

Files named file.asc, file.sha512, or file.sha256 will be used for GPG signature, and the SHA256 and SHA512 checksums, respectively. The filename provided must contain a version number of at least 3 digits, which will be used as the channel's update version number.

Multiple --channel switches cannot be used with --install. To install multiple channels from tarballs, run "sa-update" multiple times with different --channel and --install switches, e.g.:

        sa-update --channel foo.example.com --install foo-34958.tgz
        sa-update --channel bar.example.com --install bar-938455.tgz

--allowplugins

Allow downloaded updates to activate plugins. The default is not to activate plugins; any "loadplugin" or "tryplugin" lines will be commented in the downloaded update rules files.

You should never enable this for 3rd party update channels, since plugins can execute unrestricted code on your system, even possibly as root! This includes spamassassin official updates, which have no need to include running code.

Use --reallyallowplugins option to bypass warnings and make it work.

--gpg, --nogpg

sa-update by default will verify update archives by use of GPG signature.

If you wish to skip GPG verification (very unsafe), you can use the --nogpg option to disable its use. Use of the following gpgkey-related options will override --nogpg and keep GPG verification enabled.

If GPG is disabled, only SHA512 or SHA256 checksums are used to verify whether or not the downloaded archive has been corrupted, but it does not offer any form of security regarding whether or not the downloaded archive is legitimate (aka: non-modifed by evildoers).

Note: Only GnuPG is supported (ie: not any other PGP software).

--gpgkey

sa-update has the concept of "release trusted" GPG keys. When an archive is downloaded and the signature verified, sa-update requires that the signature be from one of these "release trusted" keys or else verification fails. This prevents third parties from manipulating the files on a mirror, for instance, and signing with their own key.

By default, sa-update trusts key ids "24F434CE" and "5244EC45", which are the standard SpamAssassin release key and its sub-key. Use this option to trust additional keys. See the --import option for how to add keys to sa-update's keyring. For sa-update to use a key it must be in sa-update's keyring and trusted.

For multiple keys, use the option multiple times. i.e.:

        sa-update --gpgkey E580B363 --gpgkey 298BC7D0

Note: use of this option automatically enables GPG verification.

--gpgkeyfile

Similar to the --gpgkey option, except specify the additional keys in a file instead of on the commandline. This is extremely useful when there are a lot of additional keys that you wish to trust.

--gpghomedir

Specify a directory path to use as a storage area for the "sa-update" GPG keyring. By default, this is

        /etc/mail/spamassassin/sa-update-keys

--import

Use to import GPG key(s) from a file into the sa-update keyring which is located in the directory specified by --gpghomedir. Before using channels from third party sources, you should use this option to import the GPG key(s) used by those channels. You must still use the --gpgkey or --gpgkeyfile options above to get sa-update to trust imported keys.

To import multiple keys, use the option multiple times. i.e.:

        sa-update --import channel1-GPG.KEY --import channel2-GPG.KEY

Note: use of this option automatically enables GPG verification.

--refreshmirrors

Force the list of sa-update mirrors for each channel, stored in the MIRRORED.BY file, to be updated. By default, the MIRRORED.BY file will be cached for up to 7 days after each time it is downloaded.

--forcemirror

Force the download from a specific host instead of relying on mirrors listed in MIRRORED.BY.

--updatedir

By default, "sa-update" will use the system-wide rules update directory:

        /var/lib/spamassassin/4.000002

If the updates should be stored in another location, specify it here.

Note that use of this option is not recommended; if you're just using sa-update to download updated rulesets for a scanner, and sa-update is placing updates in the wrong directory, you probably need to rebuild SpamAssassin with different "Makefile.PL" arguments, instead of overriding sa-update's runtime behaviour.

-D [area,...], --debug [area,...]

Produce debugging output. If no areas are listed, all debugging information is printed. Diagnostic output can also be enabled for each area individually; area is the area of the code to instrument. For example, to produce diagnostic output on channel, gpg, and http, use:

        sa-update -D channel,gpg,http

For more information about which areas (also known as channels) are available, please see the documentation at <https://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/DebugChannels>.

-h, --help

Print help message and exit.

-V, --version

Print sa-update version and exit.

Exit status

In absence of a --checkonly option, an exit code of 0 means: an update was available, and was downloaded and installed successfully. If --checkonly was specified, an exit code of 0 means: an update was available.

An exit code of 1 means no fresh updates were available.

An exit code of 2 means that at least one update is available but that a lint check of the site pre files failed. The site pre files must pass a lint check before any updates are attempted.

An exit code of 3 means that at least one update succeeded while other channels failed. If using sa-compile, you should proceed with it.

An exit code of 4 or higher, indicates that errors occurred while attempting to download and extract updates, and no channels were updated.

Prerequisites

"Mail::SpamAssassin"

License and copyright

SpamAssassin is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, as described in the file "LICENSE" included with the distribution.

Copyright (C) 2015 The Apache Software Foundation