Topic: Spamfilter seems to have stopped working!

[Mjohnson]

And if I open a bug when it's just something on my machine, all the tech-nerds will call me an idiot.

That's not true.  I know because I AM an IDIOT and this is the only place they have been kind enough to not point that out!!!

[dave simmons]

I'm also an idiot, which is why I preferred to think that it was just a problem on my machine.

I have had bad experiences posting on other forums (notably Mandrake/Mandriva, which I no longer use), where some people took great delight in ridiculing requests for help.  I apologise to members of this forum if they have been offended by my comments.

I didn't think I know enough about the system to make a sensible contribution on the bug forum.

I have however, spent enough time fiddling with the system, to the point that it is probably easier (and safer) to do a compete reinstall.

[CharlieBrady]

I didn't think I know enough about the system to make a sensible contribution on the bug forum.

Only you know what you've seen with your eyes on your system. And that's all you need to know to report a problem via the bug tracker.

I have however, spent enough time fiddling with the system, to the point that it is probably easier (and safer) to do a compete reinstall.

That's how you "maintain" a Windows system. That's not the way to fix problems with linux systems. To fix, we first need to diagnose. That requires the evidence which you would destroy by re-installing.

[dave simmons]

OK, but what do I need to do?  I can't give any more descriptions than I already have.  I've looked at the bug tracker and it seems much less user-friendly than this forum.

I don't mind working together if it also helps others, and I've got the time (not too mobile after an accident).

Can you take the info I've already given, or say what extra I need to give.  I can run on the old server for a while.

Maybe you want to come take a look.  I've got some spare public ip addresses, if you want I can set the machine up on one of the free addresses.  You'll need to tell me what I have to do - ports open etc.  It's late here now (22.30) .  I don't know where you are in the world, but if you would like to do this I would prefer to do it tomorrow if that is convenient.

[CharlieBrady]

Can you take the info I've already given ...

Please provide all details via the Bug Tracker. Most developers don't read the forums (and I'd rather not too, as its such a waste of time, but people will insist on reporting problems in the forums, despite "Don't report problems here ..." in bright red letters).

[dave simmons]

Please provide all details via the Bug Tracker. Most developers don't read the forums (and I'd rather not too, as its such a waste of time......

Oops, that was maybe also a bit offensive?

I was still writing my last post - so I'll restate it - I can put the problem machine on a free public ip - if you would like to take a look for yourself.  I'm sure with your experience you'll find the problem very quickly.  You'll need to tell me if (and how) to open any ports you need.

[chris burnat]

I was still writing my last post - so I'll restate it - I can put the problem machine on a free public ip - if you would like to take a look for yourself.  I'm sure with your experience you'll find the problem very quickly.  You'll need to tell me if (and how) to open any ports you need.

Dave, please report your issue on the Bug Tracker.  In this way, the information you provide will be available to the ALL of the development team for consideration.  As soon as you have posted your report, a copy will be automatically forwarded to each member of the dev team, and so will be each reply to your post.  In this way, the investigative process is streamlined, removing the need to log onto the forum to access latest developments, etc.  This is by far the most efficient way to deal with potential bugs - the average traffic on Bugzilla can be anything from 20 to 100 items per day....  Besides, all findings are then on the records, again in a centralised location, making it easy to search at a later date, link similar topics, etc.
Thank you
chris

[raem]

dave simmons & others

there are 3 spam mails in the junk mails box, so the spam filter is doing something.
It's just not spam scoring very well...It seems therefore to be a question of spam scoring?

Having done all that has been done and still having that result is a reasonable indication that something is not right and not a case of operator error or similar, so please report it in the bug tracker.
Additionally there have been 3 reports (at least) of this behaviour.
I personally have not experienced it, so wasn't initially convinced it was a real bug as such, and as there were a few "user level" resolutions that had been presented in the forums, my inclination was to give troubleshooting tips.

Regarding the issue of trying to resolve problems in the forums or going straight to the bug tracker, this has been mentioned before and opinions vary slightly.

Of course "if something in sme just doesn't work", then that's a problem of some sort, and the bug tracker is the official place to start the resolution process. It might end up being determined to be operator error, or localised system changes that will be resolved as invalid or it might go on to be found to be a real bug in the software that needs fixing, and does get fixed.

There was some discusssion/suggestion that potential bugs could be filtered in the forums where users felt they wanted to do so, and if no resolution was forthcoming then send the reporter to the bug tracker. The forums would act as a bugzilla pre filter so to speak.

I wasn't following the above theory as such, I was just OK about contributing to this particular topic to see if there was an early resolution possible that was not actually a bug.

At the time Charlie made his request I was also going to say it's time to send this to the bug tracker as anything obvious has been "tested for" and not found to be an issue or found to resolve the problem.

[CharlieBrady]

There was some discusssion/suggestion that potential bugs could be filtered in the forums where users felt they wanted to do so, and if no resolution was forthcoming then send the reporter to the bug tracker. The forums would act as a bugzilla pre filter so to speak.

Those suggestions were vigourously resisted by all of us who actually track down and fix bugs. Please co-operate with us and send all "issues" into the Bug Tracker. And please come over into the Bug Tracker and help to investigate problems there.

[judgej]

Ray, please don't try to diagnose problems in the forum. Direct people to the bug tracker, and help to diagnose issues in the bug tracker.

This thread is great!

It is answering lots of questions I have, due to three SME servers having exactly the same problem - very bad spam scoring that started just a few weeks ago. Some of us non-delelopers *don't* read bug trackers at bedtime. This is the other half of the community talking Mr. Brady, helping each other

-- JJ

[dmajwool]

Check out bug 3351 for some help that may fix this problem for you..
HTH, David.

[raem]

The suggestion by Shad Lords from http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3351
that appears to resolve the issue (temporarily) is this:

I'd be interested to see if a simple:
sv t /service/spamd
on a broken system fixes the issue.  If it does then we just need to figure out
the best way to restart the daemon after a rules update.

and if that does not resolve the problem then:

- Take a message and send it through spamassassin and post the output along
with the time taken:

time spamc -R < ~user/Maildir/cur/message

- Then try ensuring you are fully updated and restart spamd:

/etc/cron.daily/sa_update
sv t /service/spamd
sv status /service/spamd

- And finally send the same message above through again and see if the score
changes:

time spamc -R < ~user/Maildir/cur/message


Would anyone who tries the above please update the bugtracker with your results.
http://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3351

The above steps will only fix the issue this time, and until the cause of the problem is fixed it may occur again with the next sa-update, so feedback to the bugtracker is important if you want a permanent fix.

[raem]

Charlie

Please co-operate with us and send all "issues" into the Bug Tracker. And please come over into the Bug Tracker and help to investigate problems there.

Yes Charlie, not a problem.
I realise/understand that making changes to a system in order to fix a problem does remove evidence needed to analyse & fix issues.
Your experience & knowledge puts you in a better position to more quickly judge what is likely to be a bug & what is not, and therefore when to give, & not give, troubleshooting advice in forums, versus doing so in the bugtracker.
If only we were all as knowledgeable & "on the ball" as you !

[swissis]

Same problem here.

I have read bugtracer 3304, 3350 and 3351 and can't make up whether it's solved or not and what to do.

Marcel

[raem]

swissis

Read my post two posts earlier, it's not yet permanently resolved, but there is a workaround suggested for immediate problems people are experiencing.
Try it and give feedback to the bug mentioned.
/etc/cron.daily/sa_update
sv t /service/spamd
sv status /service/spamd