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# Here we go.... #
# my very own mail-mangler #
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# Updated to have working URLs and arbitrarily version-bumped #
# to 1.2 on the grounds it matched the mutt version. Very #
# little beyond URLs and list addresses has changed. #
# 2002-03-21. #
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# In the spirit of the net, 90% of this came from other people #
# and the remaining 10% might be from me. Most of the 90% #
# came from these sources: #
# #
# "Getting started with procmail" at #
# http://www.spambouncer.org/proctut.shtml #
# http://www.spambouncer.org/procmail.rc #
# ...by Catherine A. Hampton. #
# #
# man procmail (overview) #
# man procmailrc (writing the procmailrc) #
# man procmailex (example recipes) #
# man formail (especially for splitting digests) #
# #
# and .procmailrcs from several friends. Thanks, folks, #
# especially to the one who had more patterns which sent #
# things to /dev/null than to mailboxes, for showing me #
# what true impatience with email was like! #
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# Procmailrc files have two parts. First you tell it where #
# everything lives. Then you tell it the recipes. #
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##########################################
# Varibiggles and where everything lives #
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# All of these will work quite happily without changing for #
# Red Hat Linux 6.0 through to 7.2.They won't necessarily work #
# for other flavours without changing paths. See the "Getting #
# started with procmail" doc I mentioned above for the likely #
# settings for them in other environments. It has a list :) #
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# Since I installed procmail, I have changed from using #
# sendmail to using exim. Because I can understand the config #
# file. If you use exim, you may need to tweak the config file #
# as I did. If you do, then check you are reading the docs for #
# the right version of exim! This worked for me: #
# #
# http://www.exim.org/exim-html-3.20/doc/html/spec_18.html #
# and look for procmail. It's in the example for the 'pipe #
# transport'. Just paste it into /etc/exim.conf. #
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SHELL=/bin/bash
# Have to have this one (or whatever your shell is)
# Best bet is bash or sh.
LINEBUF=4096
# Magic. Apparently it burps on long lines if you don't
# put this in.
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin
# Where procmail looks for stuff. Works for RH 6.0, 6.1
# and most other Linux settings I've seen.
VERBOSE=off
# Change to 'on' to get _long_ procmail log.
# NB: if this is short, I don't want to see long: I get
# a one-line summary for every email procmail looks at!
MAILDIR=$HOME/Mail
# Not where your mail arrives on the machine. Where
# procmail will assume all the folders you mention in
# your recipes goes. Make sure your email-reading
# program also knows about it. (I understand $HOME/Mail
# is pretty standard, however.)
LOGFILE=$HOME/Mail/procmaillog
# I don't think this needs to be in your Mail folder,
# but my mail-reader (mutt) is great at different
# sorting, so I put the log into the mail directory :)
# Note learned through experience: if you leave this file
# too long, it will end up with tens of thousands of
# messages. Mutt is not always -that- good at sorting
# that lot quickly :)
FORMAIL=/usr/bin/formail
# 'formail'. Part of the procmail package. Correct
# the path if this isn't where it lives for you.
# ('which formail' may well tell you.)
SENDMAIL=/usr/sbin/sendmail
# As with formail, tells procmail where to look for
# sendmail. If sendmail isn't there, mail transfer
# might be handled by a different program. Ask
# your sysadmin :) If you are your own sysadmin,
# then I hope you know.
# Subsequent to writing that, I have learned that this
# file is provided (with this name) by other MTAs too.
# I now use Exim (see note above) and this file is still
# there, courtesy of exim.
############################
# The recipes - I hope... #
############################
################################################################
# Gods know how this works. But it's very useful. If you get #
# email that is sent simultaneously to you and to two other #
# lists, this will nuke two of those so that you only see it #
# once. Came from 'man procmail'. #
################################################################
# Nuke duplicate messages
:0 Wh: msgid.lock
| $FORMAIL -D 8192 msgid.cache
################################################################
# Next two are from the 'Getting started with procmail' doc. #
# I'm not too sure about how they work, but they look handy... #
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# Create a backup cache of 200 most recent messages in case of
# mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or 400 or whatever
# you want)
:0 c
backup
:0 ic
| cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed -e 1,200d`
# Regenerate "From" lines to make sure they are valid
:0 fhw
| formail -I "From " -a "From "
################################################################
# For testing shit - I picked a subject line that no-one would #
# send me and then tried different recipes on the results, and #
# then sent myself a whole pile of email about grobblefruit, #
# with different recipes here, to see what happened when I #
# tried different headers and so on. #
################################################################
:0:
* ^Subject: Test grobblefruit
IN.testing
################################################################
# Mailing lists #
# #
# I think this is the thing that most people who finally get #
# procmail want to know about: how to get different messages #
# from different mailing lists into different folders. This is #
# where all that MAILDIR stuff comes from. All the folders I #
# name in here are all created off whatever directory I filled #
# in as the MAILDIR at the start. And no, they don't suddenly #
# appear the instant you edit this file. They only appear when #
# procmail finds mail that should go in them. #
# #
# You can have more than one recipe sending email into the #
# same folder, btw, yes. #
# #
# General useful (?) comments: #
# The "^Resent-From: " pattern works wonderfully on #
# lists which generate it. #
# Making the folder not -quite- the list name means you #
# can save mail from it to a folder named for the list. Can #
# be handy. #
# Some lists are indeed a pig to catch everything with. #
# "TO" is different from "To" and you mustn't put a #
# a space after "TO". It catches "To: " and "Cc: ", I #
# think. Very handy. But it doesn't catch everything. If #
# it's a mailman list, don't use it and see below. #
# Mailman-run lists all seem to have a Sender: header #
# which is very useful to sort with. Just add -admin onto #
# the name of the mailing list. #
# Even more useful for mailman-run lists turns out to be #
# "X-BeenThere: listname@site.com" #
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# I hardly use TO now, but here's an example in case. #
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:0:
* ^TOlynx-dev@sig.net
IN.lynx-dev
###########
# bugtraq #
###########
:0:
* ^Sender:.*Bugtraq List
IN.bugtraq
#########################
# gnome CVS commit list #
#########################
:0:
* X-BeenThere: cvs-commits-list@gnome.org
IN.cvs-commits
##############
# gnome-list #
##############
:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: gnome-list@gnome.org
IN.gnome-list
##################
# gnome-doc-list #
##################
:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: gnome-doc-list@gnome.org
IN.gnome-doc-list
###############################################################
# linuxchix lists: there are several mailing lists here: see #
# the end of this file for the different ways to deal with #
# heavy traffic lists with digest options. #
###############################################################
:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: grrltalk@linuxchix.org
IN.linuxchix
:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: issues@linuxchix.org
IN.linuxchix
:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: techtalk@linuxchix.org
IN.linuxchix
#################################################
# This is what I consider advanced stuff: this #
# one doesn't put the digest straight into a #
# folder. Instead it runs 'formail +1 -ds', #
# which splits the digest into its original #
# messages, and then puts the results of that #
# into the folder. #
# #
# The address is way way out of date, but I am #
# not sure of the current digest address, so I #
# have left it. #
# #
# It is commented out because I actually read #
# the main list, not the digest, these days. #
#################################################
# :0:
# * ^TOgrrltalk-digest@hub.org
# | formail +1 -ds >> IN.linuxchix
##############
# mutt-users #
##############
:0:
* ^TOmutt-users@mutt.org
IN.mutt-users
:0:
* ^Sender: owner-mutt-users@mutt.org
IN.mutt-users
#################################################
# Procmail list #
# ...be aware that everyone on this list #
# seems to have monster spam filters and thus #
# to be completely unconcerned at the huge #
# amount of spam it gets: you will either need #
# spam filters or tolerance to find the good #
# stuff. (I am not subscribed now, but that was #
# the case when I was.) #
#################################################
:0:
* ^TOprocmail@Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE
IN.procmaillist
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# Red Hat announce -- very handy for security updates #
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:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: redhat-announce-list@redhat.com
IN.rh-announce
:0:
* ^X-BeenThere: redhat-watch-list@redhat.com
IN.rh-announce
#########################
# windowmaker: wm-users #
#########################
:0:
*^From wm-user-request@windowmaker.org
IN.wm-user
################################################################
# Splitting digests #
# #
# You don't need to do this, but this seems to be another very #
# popular thing to do with procmail. If you're on mailing #
# lists using the digest option, sometimes you may want to #
# split the digests back up into the original emails. There is #
# (of course) more than one way to do this: #
# #
# (1) don't bother: just read through all the digest in one #
# big lump. Simple, easy, and great until you find someone #
# sent a 500-line postscript file or a giant jpg which got #
# included into the digest :( #
# #
# (2) use a mail-reader such as mutt, and if you suddenly want #
# to split a digest up, then whilst reading the message, hit #
# | formail +1 -ds #
# which will put the results into your main inbox. If you want #
# it in a particular folder (like the one you're reading), do #
# | formail +1 -ds >> foldername #
# #
# (3) make procmail (or formail, actually), split it up ready #
# for you to read. #
# #
# So if you want to have each digest automatically split up #
# by procmail as it arrives, and to read each message #
# individually, then here's some examples of what you can put. #
# The first two lines are exactly the same. The third one has #
# a pipe (vertical line) symbol at the start, and then the #
# command you're piping it through. #
# #
# Yes, I picked a notoriously heavy-traffic one for the first #
# example... And it -should- work, but it's not a list I read, #
# sorry! #
# #
# Instead of this: #
# :0: #
# * ^Sender: owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu #
# IN.linux-kernel #
# ...you want this: #
# :0: #
# * ^Sender: owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu #
# | formail +1 -ds >> IN.linux-kernel #
# #
# Da-dah! That's all. #
# #
# And for those where the list name changes and that's what #
# you're matching patterns on, instead of this: #
# :0: #
# * ^TOgrrltalk@hub.org #
# IN.linuxchix #
# ...you want this: #
# :0: #
* ^TOgrrltalk-digest@hub.org #
# | formail +1 -ds >> IN.linuxchix #
# #
# Magic :) #
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# That's it. Any email that doesn't match any of the recipes #
# above goes into my usual place for email, which until I read #
# it is /var/spool/mail/hobbit. Procmail appears to know about #
# that without being told. #
# #
# Quick summary for adding your own or changing these: the #
# general format for putting an email into a folder and not #
# doing anything fancy to it first is: #
# #
# :0: #
# * <what you're looking for> #
# <where you're putting it> #
# #
# The ^ sign in my recipes is the sign procmail understands as #
# "start of the line", so "^From" matches the word "From" when #
# it's the start of a header. #
# #
# The "IN." at the start of folder names is not necessary: #
# that's just my naming system. Stolen, like everything else, #
# from a friend's example. It has the benefit that with my #
# mail-reader (mutt), which sorts alphabetically, all of them #
# show up first (capitals are earlier in the alphabet if #
# you're a computer...) and I can save them easily: from #
# IN.blah to blah. If you want to call the folders blah-spool, #
# or just blah, then cool. That'll work, too. #
# #
# It is possible that now you have everything in different #
# folders, you want to read with a cool program which does #
# cool things like display by thread or which understands you #
# when you tell it "These are mailing lists" and does handy #
# things as a result. If you do, and you discover Mutt, you #
# might want to look at my muttrc which is probably next to #
# this file. #
# #
# Have fun! #
# -- Telsa #
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