1MAILDROPEX(7) Double Precision, Inc. MAILDROPEX(7)
2
6 maildropex - maildrop filtering language examples
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9 $HOME/.mailfilter, $HOME/.mailfilters/*
10
12 If $HOME/.mailfilter exists, filtering instructions in this file will
13 be carried out prior to delivering the message. The filtering
14 instructions may instruct maildrop to discard the message, save the
15 message in a different mailbox, or forward the message to another
16 address. If $HOME/.mailfilter does not exist, or does not provide
17 explicit delivery instructions, maildrop delivers the message to the
18 user's system mailbox.
19 The files in $HOME/.mailfilters are used when maildrop is invoked in
21 embedded mode.
22
24 Take all mail that's sent to the 'auto' mailing list, and save it in
25 Mail/auto. The 'auto' mailing list software adds a "Delivered-To:
26 auto@domain.com" header to all messages:
27 if (/^Delivered-To: *auto@domain\.com$/)
29 to Mail/auto
30 After the to command delivers the message, maildrop automatically stops
32 filtering and terminates without executing the subsequent instructions
33 in the filter file.
34 Take all mail from <boss@domain.com> about the current project status,
36 save it in Mail/project, then forward a copy to John:
37 if (/^From: *boss@domain\.com/ \
39 && /^Subject:.*[:wbreak:]project status[:wbreak:]/)
40 {
41 cc "!john"
42 to Mail/project
43 }
44 Note that it is necessary to use a backslash in order to continue the
46 if statement on the next line.
47 Keep copies of the last 50 messages that you received in the maildir
49 directory 'backup'. NOTE: 'backup' must be a maildir directory, not a
50 mailbox. You can create a maildir using the maildirmake command.
51 cc backup
53 `cd backup/new && rm -f dummy \`ls -t | sed -e 1,50d\``
54 Put this at the beginning of your filter file, before any other
56 filtering instructions. This is a good idea to have when you are
57 learning maildrop. If you make a mistake and accidentally delete a
58 message, you can recover it from the backup/new subdirectory.
59 Save messages that are at least 100 lines long (approximately) into
61 Mail/IN.Large::
62 if ( $LINES > 100 )
64 to Mail/IN.Large
65 Send messages from the auto mailing list to the program 'archive',
67 using a lock file to make sure that only one instance of the archive
68 program will be running at the same time:
69 if (/^Delivered-To: *auto@domain\.com$/)
71 dotlock "auto.lock" {
72 to "|archive"
74 }
75 Check if the Message-ID: header in the message is identical to the same
77 header that was recently seen. Discard the message if it is, otherwise
78 continue to filter the message:
79 `reformail -D 8000 duplicate.cache`
81 if ( $RETURNCODE == 0 )
82 exit
83 The reformail[1] command maintains a list of recently seen Message-IDs
85 in the file duplicate.cache.
86 Note
88 Unlike a similar feature in the formail command, reformail[1] takes
89 care of locking the file, so it's not necessary to implement your
90 own locking mechanism for this option.
91 Here's a more complicated example. This fragment is intended to go
93 right after the message has been filtered according to your regular
94 rules, and just before the message should be saved in your mailbox:
95 cc $DEFAULT
97 xfilter "reformail -r -t"
98 /^To:.*/
99 getaddr($MATCH) =~ /^.*/;
100 MATCH=tolower($MATCH)
102 flock "vacation.lock" {
103 `fgrep -iqx "$MATCH" vacation.lst 2>/dev/null || { \
104 echo "$MATCH" >>vacation.lst ; \
105 exit 1 ; \
106 } `
107 }
108 if ( $RETURNCODE == 0 )
109 exit
110 to "| ( cat - ; echo ''; cat vacation.msg) | $SENDMAIL"
111 This code maintains a list of everyone who sent you mail in the file
113 called vacation.lst. When a message is received from anyone that is not
114 already on the list, the address is added to the list, and the contents
115 of the file vacation.msg are mailed back to the sender. This is
116 intended to reply notify people that you will not be answering mail for
117 a short period of time.
118 The first statement saves the original message in your regular mailbox.
120 Then, xfilter[2] is used to generate an autoreply header to the sender.
121 The To: header in the autoreply - which was the sender of the original
122 message - is extracted, and the getaddr[3] function is used to strip
123 the person's name, leaving the address only. The file vacation.lst is
124 checked, using a lock file to guarantee atomic access and update
125 (overkill, probably). Note that the backslashes are required.
126 If the address is already in the file, maildrop exits, otherwise the
128 contents of vacation.msg are appended to the autoreply header, and
129 mailed out.
130 Note
132 An easier to make a vacation script is with mailbot(1)[4].
133 Here's a version of the vacation script that uses a GDBM database file
135 instead. The difference between this script and the previous script is
136 that the previous script will send a vacation message to a given E-mail
137 address only once. The following script will store the time that the
138 vacation message was sent in the GDBM file. If it's been at least a
139 week since the vacation message has been sent to the given address,
140 another vacation message will be sent.
141 Even though a GDBM database file is used, locking is still necessary
143 because the GDBM library does not allow more than one process to open
144 the same database file for writing:
145 cc $DEFAULT
147 xfilter "reformail -r -t"
148 /^To:.*/
149 getaddr($MATCH) =~ /^.*/;
150 MATCH=tolower($MATCH)
151 flock "vacation.lock" {
152 current_time=time;
153 if (gdbmopen("vacation.dat", "C") == 0)
154 {
155 if ( (prev_time=gdbmfetch($MATCH)) ne "" && \
156 $prev_time >= $current_time - 60 * 60 * 24 * 7)
157 {
158 exit
159 }
160 gdbmstore($MATCH, $current_time)
161 gdbmclose
162 }
163 }
164 to "| ( cat - ; echo ''; cat vacation.msg) | $SENDMAIL"
165 This script requires that maildrop must be compiled with GDBM support
167 enabled, which is done by default if GDBM libraries are present.
168 After you return from vacation, you can use a simple Perl script to
170 obtain a list of everyone who sent you mail (of course, that can also
171 be determined by examining your mailbox).
172
174 maildrop(1)[5], maildropfilter(7)[6], reformail(1)[1], mailbot(1)[4],
175 egrep(1), grep(1), sendmail(8).
176
178 Sam Varshavchik
179 Author
180
182 1. reformail
183 http://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/reformail.html
184 2. xfilter
186 http://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/maildropfilter.html#xfilter
187 3. getaddr
189 http://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/maildropfilter.html#getaddr
190 4. mailbot(1)
192 http://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/mailbot.html
193 5. maildrop(1)
195 http://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/maildrop.html
196 6. maildropfilter(7)
198 http://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/maildropfilter.html
199Courier Mail Server 11/04/2020 MAILDROPEX(7)