Topic: Unknown qmail logs entries - anyone seen this before?

[chris burnat]

I am getting many such entries over past few days, not sure what it is all about. 

2010-10-18 17:25:26.697797500 delivery 5: success: Invalid_regular_expression,_offset_7_of:_^From.**.ft.com:_nothing_to_repeat/.mailfilter(33):_Syntax_error_in_/pattern/.//Invalid_regular_expression,_offset_7_of:_^From.**@uk.update.ft.com:_nothing_to_repeat/.mailfilter(58):_Syntax_error_in_/pattern/.//did_0+0+2/
2010-10-18 17:25:26.697804500 status: local 0/10 remote 0/20
2010-10-18 17:25:26.697808500 end msg 6029324

Thanks for any pointer.

[cactus]

I am guessing that is the qmail log file, right? Is this the unmodified log entry?

Are you using local e-mail filtering? Did you modify anything recently?

[chris burnat]

I am guessing that is the qmail log file, right? Is this the unmodified log entry?

Are you using local e-mail filtering? Did you modify anything recently?

- Yes, it is qmail.
Now the penny drops...
I am using local filtering (maildrop) and have a rule like this:

if ( /^From.**@uk.update.ft.com/ )
{
log "--------- match user rule -- "
log "--------- From *@uk.update.ft.com -- "
log " --deleted --"
log ""
exit

This mob s just hammering me.  LOL.  At least 20 mails a day.  I blocked them months ago and forgot.

Thanks Cactus.

[CharlieBrady]

You are seeing error messages from your local delivery mail filtering application. Presumably there is an invalid regular expression in one of its patterns (since that is what it is telling you).

[cactus]

- Yes, it is qmail.
- I do not understnd what you mean by unmodified log entry

Did you obfuscate the entry (I see some *-es) or is this the entry verbatim as it is displayed in your logfile?

- I do not understand local e-mail filtering

Are you using a contrib or a script to filter your messages on your server?

- no changes as far as I know for months

Strange... to me this indicates something local. Do you have SSH enabled and are you using simple password perhaps? It seems to me something might have changed, if you did not do it, it might perhaps be some unwanted external factor.

[cactus]

if ( /^From.**@uk.update.ft.com/ )

If this is line 18 from the mailfilter file, the error is at column 7 of your regexp, which is the second *. If you try to match everything between From (starting at the beginning of the line) and @ it should read like this IMHO:

Code: [Select]

if ( /^From.*@uk.update.ft.com/ )
N.B. Nice to see I can jog your memory!

[chris burnat]

Charlie and Cactus, thanks for your time.  I use a contrib to filter, and this contrib was updated a month or so ago AFAI can recall. I will flag some possible minor error to the author.  At leadst now I know what is happening, just got jolted when I seen this in my logs, did not ring a bell. Thanks again. All good.

[CharlieBrady]

If this is line 18 from the mailfilter file, the error is at column 7 of your regexp, which is the second *. If you try to match everything between From (starting at the beginning of the line) and @ it should read like this IMHO:

Code: [Select]

if ( /^From.*@uk.update.ft.com/ )

No, you want \@ where @ appears. Hence:

Code: [Select]

if ( /^From.*\@uk.update.ft.com/ )


[cactus]

No, you want \@ where @ appears. Hence:

Code: [Select]

if ( /^From.*\@uk.update.ft.com/ )


Yes, you're right, thanks for drawing our attention.On second thought I think you might be wrong. I have seen a lot of regexp's but AFAICT the @ sign has no special meaning and does not need to be escaped. I also do not see them in the examples in this cheatsheet: http://www.addedbytes.com/cheat-sheets/regular-expressions-cheat-sheet/

[CharlieBrady]

I stand corrected. It's in perl variable assignments that @ should be escapted, e.g.:

my $re = "From.*\@uk.update.ft.com";

[janet]

CharlieBrady

I stand corrected....

Sorry couldn't resist this. Charlie is usually right, most of the time, although moreso than some others on this forum ! giggle