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Download
the needed files from SourceForge.
Untar and
unzip the evochallenge tar file. Inside the evochallenge
directory, you'll find four perl scripts: evochallenge.pl,
evo-whitelist.pl, evo-strip-vcf.pl and evo-smtp-client.pl. Copy
these to /usr/bin.
Then,
add a new filter to Evolution to execute the evochallenge.pl
script. Under the edit menu, select "Message Filters".
Then, add a new filter. Where it says "Sender" followed by
"Contains", change "Sender" to "Pipe to Program". In the text box
after that, put "/usr/bin/evochallenge.pl". For an
action, I created a "Holding" folder, and had e-mails where
evochallenge.pl returns non-0 moved there. My filter looks like:
Next, create a .whitelist file in your home directory. It should look like:
# The maximum number of days we hold mail.
#max-age 30.0
# If you want to truely verify that a real person is trying to contact you,
# uncomment the question and awnser fields, and make up your own.
# The user will have to reply with an e-mail containing the answer
# to get white-listed.
#question What color is the sky on a clear day?
#answer blue
# This example allows mail from bill@billrocks.org through.
#from bill@billrocks.org
# This example allows mail sent to sourforge.net lists to get through.
#to .sourceforge.net
# Set these options in order for your mail to be forwarded to you
# when authorised. You must at least set the SMTP host.
smtp-host <your SMTP host> #Host name or address of the SMTP server.
#smtp-port
25
#Port where the SMTP server is listening.
#smtp-hello-host
EHLO
#String to use in the EHLO/HELO command.
#smtp-disable-ehlo
#Don't use ESMTP EHLO command, only HELO.
#smtp-force-ehlo
#Use EHLO even if server doesn't say ESMTP.
#smtp-disable-starttls
#Don't use encryption even if the remote
#host offers it.
#smtp-enable-auth
#Enable all methods of SMTP authentication.
#smtp-auth-login
#Enable only AUTH LOGIN method.
#smtp-auth-plain
#Enable only AUTH PLAIN method.
#smtp-auth-cram-md5
#Enable only AUTH CRAM-MD5 method.
#smtp-user
<username>
#Username for SMTP authentication.
#smtp-pass <password> #Corresponding password.
You
must set the smtp-host to the name of your SMTP server. If your
SMTP server requires authentication, uncomment smtp-user and smtp-pass,
and set <username> and <password> to the username and
password your SMTP host expects. Chances are that your sever uses
plain text passwords, so try uncommenting smtp-auth-plain.
Evochallenge
also includes an outgoing mail filter script called
"evo-whitelist.pl". If you create an outgoing mail filter that pipes
to this command, it will automatically add outgoing e-mail recipients
to the whitelist. Be sure to select "Outgoing" filters in the
filter dialog box. It's at the top:
Then, build the outgoing white list filter. Mine looks like:
Once all this is working, you're in good shape, and people will start being challenged before they can send e-mail to you.
That's all that's required to start using Evochallenge. Enjoy killing spam!
The Whitelist
If you're like me, you already have a ton of contacts in your
address book, and you'd like them to automatically be white-listed. To
add contacts from your address book to your whitelist, go to your
contact list, and do a "File/Save Address Book As VCard". This
will create a list.vcf text file that has your e-mails listed in
it. The perl script "evo-strip-vcf.pl" can be used to help extract the
e-mails from this file. To use it, save your list.vcf file, and
type:
evo-strip-vcf.pl < list.vcf | sort -u >> ~/.whitelist
You
should maintain your .whitelist file carefully to allow your real
contacts through. By default, Evochallenge will create a
.whitelist file in your home directory that looks like:
# You must specify your e-mail address here.
my-email bill@viasic.com
# The maximum number of days we hold mail.
max-age 30.0
# This example allows mail from bill@billrocks.org through.
#from bill@billrocks.org
# This example allows mail sent to sourforge.net lists to get through.
#to .sourceforge.net
# Set these options in order for your mail to be forwarded to you
# when authorised. You must at least set the SMTP host.
smtp-host
mail.bellsouth.net
#Host name or address of the SMTP server.
#smtp-port
25
#Port where the SMTP server is listening.
#smtp-hello-host
EHLO
#String to use in the EHLO/HELO command.
#smtp-disable-ehlo
#Don't use ESMTP EHLO command, only HELO.
#smtp-force-ehlo
#Use EHLO even if server doesn't say ESMTP.
#smtp-disable-starttls
#Don't use encryption even if the remote
#host offers it.
#smtp-enable-auth
#Enable all methods of SMTP authentication.
#smtp-auth-login
#Enable only AUTH LOGIN method.
#smtp-auth-plain
#Enable only AUTH PLAIN method.
#smtp-auth-cram-md5
#Enable only AUTH CRAM-MD5 method.
#smtp-user
<username>
#Username for SMTP authentication.
#smtp-pass <password> #Corresponding password.
Make sure to specify your own e-mail address with the 'my-email'
declaration. This tells Evochallenge where to forward held mail, and is
used in the challenge e-mails. Also be sure to set your smtp-host, and if required, your smtp user and password.
If
the "TO:" or "FROM:" lines in an e-mail are matched by a "to" or "from"
declaration, they will be allowed. Otherwise, a challenge e-mail
is sent to the sender. If he replies, his e-mail will be added to
the .whitelist file, and future e-mails will come right through.
Otherwise, the filter will move his e-mails to your "Holding" directory
(or whatever you called it). The patterns listed in "to" and
"from" declarations match if they are are found as a substring in an
e-mail address, and matching is case insensitive. So, "from
@billrocks.org" matches anyone from billrocks.org, and "IBM.com"
matches tom@ibm.com, but also fred@i_am_not_ibm.com.
By
default, Evochallenge holds mail in ~/.heldmail for 30 days while
waiting for authorization. After that, the e-mails are
deleted. If you want to change the default, use the max-age
declaration.
Reducing Junk in Your Holding Folder
Evolution
has a pretty good spam filter built into it. With Evochallenge installed, you may noticed that you get a lot more
spam in your Holding folder than you ever got in your Inbox. That's because
the Evochallenge filter runs before Evolution's junk test. If you
occasionally scan your Holding folder, you may
want less spam there.
The
following "Junk" filter should be listed at the very top of your filter
list. That way, junk gets deleted, and never has a change to
match any of your e-mail filters.
Be
sure to set "If any criteria are met". The first test runs
Evolution's built-in junk test. The second test executes
evo-bounce.pl, which tries to determine if the e-mail is a bounced
response to a challenge. Challenges to most spammers simply does
bounce, so there's no point filling up your Holding folder with bounce
messages. The "Delete" action marks the message for deletion, so
it will be moved to your Trash folder. The "Stop Processing"
action is required to keep the Challenge-response message filter from
overriding and having mail moved to Holding.
Be
sure to list the Junk test first. Here's an image of my own
filter list. Note that I moved "Junk" to the top using the "Up"
button repeatedly.
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