Provided by: mimedefang_2.73-2build1_amd64 bug

NAME

       mimedefang-protocol  -  Conventions  used  by  mimedefang(8)  to  communicate  with filter
       programs.

DESCRIPTION

       mimedefang(8) and mimedefang-multiplexor(8) provide a  simplified  mechanism  for  hooking
       scripts and programs into Sendmail's milter API.

       The  milter  API  is  multi-threaded  and  written in C; mimedefang lets you write single-
       threaded filters written in the language of your choice.   Some  of  the  flexibility  and
       speed  of  milter is sacrificed, but the ease of writing filters more than compensates for
       this slight loss.

       This manual describes how mimedefang communicates with the filter program, and  gives  you
       enough  information to write your own filter program as a replacement for mimedefang.pl if
       you wish.

PROTOCOL OVERVIEW

       The protocol is a simple file-based protocol.  For each invocation of a filter, mimedefang
       creates  a  unique  working  directory  and populates it with files.  It calls the filter,
       which is expected to populate the working directory with more files, which communicate the
       scan results back to mimedefang.  This simple mechanism allows you to easily write filters
       in scripting languages without worrying about C-level details.

FILTER INVOCATION

       The filter program may be invoked in one of five ways:

       filter_prog directory
              If the program is invoked with a single argument which is  an  absolute  path  name
              (called the working directory, the program is expected to perform filtering in that
              directory and then exit.

       filter_prog -server
              If the program is invoked with the single argument -server, it is expected  to  run
              as a server.  See SERVER MODE for details.

       filter_prog -serveru
              If  the program is invoked with the single argument -serveru, it is expected to run
              as a server.  In addition, anything it prints to  file  descriptor  3  is  used  to
              update  the  "slave  status" field in the multiplexor.  This lets the filter inform
              administrators exactly what it  is  doing.   (See  the  -Z  option  to  mimedefang-
              multiplexor.)

       filter_prog -embserver
              Similar to -server, but used by the embedded Perl code.  The program should run any
              initialization routines and then exit.  The multiplexor will subsequently call  the
              Perl  routine do_main_loop when it is time for the slave to begin running in server
              mode.

       filter_prog -embserveru
              Similar to -embserver with the additional magic of updating the slave  status  from
              data written to file descriptor 3.

INITIAL FILE LAYOUT

       When  the filter begins a scan, it should change directories to the working directory.  In
       that directory, it will find the following files.

       INPUTMSG
              A file containing the complete input e-mail message, including headers.

       HEADERS
              A file containing just the headers, one per line.  Headers which are continued over
              several  lines  in  the  original  message are collapsed into a single line in this
              file.

       COMMANDS
              A file containing a list of commands.  Each command is a single letter and  may  be
              followed by arguments.  Each command is on its own line.

THE COMMANDS FILE

       All  commands have their arguments encoded as follows: All characters outside the range 33
       to 126 ASCII, as well as the characters "%", "\", "'" and double-quote, are replaced by  a
       percent  sign  followed by two hex digits specifying the character's numerical value.  The
       filter must un-escape the arguments when it reads the COMMANDS file.

       The commands from the C to Perl filters are:

       Ssender
              The sender of the message.

       sesmtp_arg
              An ESMTP argument associated with the sender (such as SIZE=54432).  There is one  s
              line for each ESMTP argument.

       Usubject
              The message subject.

       Xmessage_id
              The Message-ID.

       Rrecipient mailer host addr
              A  recipient.   There  is one R line for each recipient.  The mailer, host and addr
              parts of the line are the values of the  Sendmail  {rcpt_mailer},  {rcpt_host}  and
              {rcpt_addr} macros if they are available, or "?" if not.

       resmtp_arg
              An ESMTP argument associated with the most recent recipient (such as NOTIFY=never).
              There is one r line for each SMTP argument.

       !      If this command is present, there are suspicious characters in the message headers.

       ?      If this command is present, there are suspicious characters in the message body.

       Ihost_addr
              The SMTP relay host's IP address in dotted-quad notation.

       iidentifier
              An identifier generated by MIMEDefang.  On a given host, this  identifier  is  very
              likely to be unique over a timespan of about 24 years.

       Jhost_addr
              The  "real"  SMTP  relay  host's  IP  address in dotted-quad notation.  Multi-stage
              MIMEDefang relays can use a special IP validation header so that even the innermost
              MIMEDefang relay can see the "original" relay's IP address.

       Hhost_name
              The SMTP relay host name.

       Eargument
              The argument to the SMTP "EHLO" or "HELO" command.

       Qqid   The message's Sendmail queue-ID.

       =macro val
              Set  the  value  of  the  specified  Sendmail macro to val.  Both macro and val are
              percent-encoded, but the single space character between them is not.

FILTER OPERATION

       When the filter performs a scan, it can make use of  all  the  information  in  the  files
       mentioned  previously.   If  the  filter needs temporary working files, it should create a
       subdirectory under the working directory for its own use.  In this case, you do  not  have
       to  clean up your working files, because mimedefang deletes the working directory when the
       filter returns.

FINAL FILE LAYOUT

       The filter communicates the results of the scan back to mimedefang by creating  additional
       files  in  the  working  directory.   The  most  important  file is called RESULTS, and it
       contains a list of one-letter, one-line commands back to the filter.   As  usual,  command
       arguments are percent-escaped.  The commands from the filter back to mimedefang are:

       Bcode dsn reply_text
              Bounce  (reject) the message with the specified SMTP reply code, DSN code and reply
              text.

       D      Silently discard the message and pretend it was delivered.

       Tcode dsn reply_text
              Return an SMTP temporary failure code with the specified SMTP code, DSN  and  reply
              text.

       C      Replace  the  message  body.   If  this  command  is present, the file NEWBODY must
              contain the new message body.

       Mheader_val
              Replace the MIME Content-Type header  with  a  new  value.   Used  to  change  MIME
              boundaries or convert non-MIME to MIME messages.

       Hheader val
              Add  a  new  header  header with value val.  The header should not contain a colon.
              Each of header and val is percent-escaped, but the single  space  between  them  is
              not.

       Nheader index val
              Adds  a  new  header  header  with  value  val in position index.  An index of zero
              specifies that the new header should be prepended before all existing headers.

       Iheader index val
              Replace the index'th occurrence of header with value val.  The  index  is  1-based.
              The  header  should not contain a colon.  Each of header, index and val is percent-
              escaped, but the single space between them is not.

       Jheader index
              Delete the index'th occurrence of header.

       Rrecip Add a new recipient recip to the message.

       Srecip Delete recip from the list of message recipients.

       fsender
              Change the envelope sender to sender.  This is only supported  by  Sendmail  8.14.0
              and higher.

       F      Indicate  that  we  have  finished  issuing  commands.  Anything after an F line is
              ignored.

SERVER MODE

       In server mode, mimedefang-multiplexor runs the filter program continuously  in  a  server
       loop.   The  filter  program  reads  commands  from  standard input, and writes results to
       standard output.  The filter program must exit shortly after it sees EOF on  its  standard
       input.   If  it  does  not exit within 10 seconds, it will be terminated with SIGTERM.  If
       that still does not work, then after a further 10 seconds, it is killed with SIGKILL.

       SERVER COMMANDS

              All server commands are single line commands.  Each command is followed by a space-
              separated  list  of  arguments;  each  argument  is  percent-encoded.  The commands
              defined are:

       ping   Elicits a reply of "PONG" from the server.

       scan queue_id dir
              Run a scan for the mail identiefied  by  the  Sendmail  queue-ID  queue_id  in  the
              directory  dir.  The command is terminated with a newline.  The server must write a
              newline-terminated "ok" if the scan completed  successfully,  or  "error:  msg"  if
              something went wrong.

       relayok ip_addr hostname client_port daemon_ip daemon_port
              Test  whether  or  not  to accept a connection from the specified host.  The server
              must write "ok 1" if we will accept the connection, or  "ok  0  error_message  code
              dsn"  if  not.  It can indicate a temporary failure by writing "ok -1 error_message
              code dsn".  Note that even if the connection is accepted, a later  scan  can  still
              reject  the  message  based  on other criteria.  "ip_addr" is the IP address of the
              relay and "hostname" is the hostname (if it could be determined; otherwise, the  IP
              address in square brackets).

       helook ip_addr hostname helo_string client_port daemon_ip daemon_port
              Test  whether or not to accept the HELO/EHLO command.  The server must write "ok 1"
              if we will accept the mail attempt, or "ok 0 error_message code dsn" if  not.   "ok
              -1  error_message  code  dsn"  indicates  a  temporary failure.  helo_string is the
              argument to the HELO/EHLO command.  The remaining arguments have the  same  meaning
              as in relayok.

       senderok sender_addr ip_addr hostname helo_string dir queue_id [esmtp_args...]

              Test  whether  or  not  to  accept mail from the specified sender.  The server must
              write "ok 1" if we will accept the mail attempt, or "ok 0 error_message  code  dsn"
              if  not.   "ok -1 error_message code dsn" indicates a temporary failure.  Note that
              even if the sender is accepted, a later scan can still reject the message based  on
              other  criteria.   "sender_addr"  is the sender's e-mail address. The "ip_addr" and
              "hostname" arguments are as in relayok. "helo_string" is the argument to  the  SMTP
              HELO/EHLO  command.  "dir" is the MIMEDefang spool directory, and "queue_id" is the
              Sendmail queue identifier.

              The optional "esmtp_args"  are  space-separated,  percent-encoded  ESMTP  arguments
              supplied with the MAIL FROM: command.

       recipok  recip_addr  sender_addr  ip_addr  hostname  first_recip  helo_string dir queue_id
       [esmtp_args...]
              Test whether or not to accept mail for the specified recipient.   The  server  must
              write  "ok 1" if we will accept it, or "ok 0 error_message code dsn" if not.  ok -1
              error_message code dsn" indicates a temporary-failure.

              "recip_addr" is the argument to the RCPT TO:  command,  and  "first_recip"  is  the
              argument to the first RCPT TO: command for this message.  Other arguments are as in
              senderok.

       map map_name key
              If you are using a map socket (the -N option to mimedefang-multiplexor),  then  the
              server  should  look up the key key in the map map_name.  The server should print a
              single line to standard output.  The first word on the line should be  one  of  OK,
              NOTFOUND,  TEMP,  TIMEOUT  or  PERM, indicating a successful lookup, absence of the
              key, a temporary failure, a timeout or a  permanent  failure,  respectively.   This
              should  be  followed by a space and a percent-encoded string representing the value
              of the key (if it was found) or  an  optional  error  message  (if  something  went
              wrong.)

       tick band
              The  filter  should  run  filter_tick  with the specified band argument.  It should
              print a single line to standard output:

              tock band

       Additional Commands
              The filter can define a function filter_unknown_cmd that can  extend  the  list  of
              server  commands.   If  you  do  this, make sure all of your commands start with an
              upper-case letter to avoid conflicts if more built-in commands are defined  in  the
              future.

       SERVER REPLIES

              The reply codes are:

       ok [return_code] [parameters]
              The  operation  completed  successfully.  Some operations have an associated return
              code, and possibly other parameters as well.  See the  source  code  for  the  gory
              details.

       error: Message
              The operation failed.  Message may give additional details.

       In  server  mode,  you should not write anything to standard output except reply codes, or
       the multiplexor will become confused.  You should not  terminate  the  program  in  server
       mode; simply echo an error: reply and return to the server loop.

       When  you  send  a  reply  code  back  to  the multiplexor, be sure to terminate it with a
       newline, and to flush standard output.  If your program uses  the  Standard  I/O  library,
       standard  output  may  not  be  flushed  immediately, and mimedefang-multiplexor will wait
       forever for the filter's reply, and eventually kill the filter on the  assumption  it  has
       hung up.

       In  server  mode, if the filter program receives a SIGINT signal, it must terminate.  This
       is used by mimedefang-multiplexor to terminate slaves after they have  processed  a  given
       number of e-mail messages.

AUTHOR

       mimedefang  was  written  by David F. Skoll <dfs@roaringpenguin.com>.  The mimedefang home
       page is http://www.mimedefang.org/.

SEE ALSO

       mimedefang.pl(8), mimedefang(8), mimedefang-multiplexor(8), mimedefang-filter(5)