definition update frequency?
Hi, I have been using SpamAssassin for a while on Debian Squeeze and recently upgraded to Wheezy with the provided Spamassassin packge 3.3.2 (don't mention Jessie!). I have noticed though that we have not received any definition updates from update.spamassassin.org channel since the 21st May with serial no: 1680203 It seems a little odd that sa-update has not picked up any newer updates unless of course no newer updates have been published since. To be fair a DNS txt lookup reveals: # host -t txt 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1680203" and for newer release: # host -t txt 2.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org 2.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for 0.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org. 0.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org. 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1680203" Which suggests that things may be up to date and I am being a bit paranoid, but it does seem a bit odd to me that it has been a couple of weeks since there were any updates. Can someone confirm whether updates to that channel have since taken place, the serial no and maybe an indication of how frequently I should be expecting updates from that channel? Many thanks Paul
Re: definition update frequency?
Am 04.06.2015 um 12:25 schrieb Osborne, Paul (paul.osbo...@canterbury.ac.uk): I have been using SpamAssassin for a while on Debian Squeeze and recently upgraded to Wheezy with the provided Spamassassin packge 3.3.2 (don't mention Jessie!). I have noticed though that we have not received any definition updates from update.spamassassin.org channel since the 21st May with serial no: 1680203 It seems a little odd that sa-update has not picked up any newer updates unless of course no newer updates have been published since. To be fair a DNS txt lookup reveals: # host -t txt 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1680203" and for newer release: # host -t txt 2.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org 2.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for 0.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org. 0.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org. 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1680203" Which suggests that things may be up to date and I am being a bit paranoid yes you are, frankly what do you imagine to update each and every day besides bayes which is not part of sa-update? [root@mail-gw:~]$ cat /var/log/sa-update.log 02-Jun-2015 01:25:48: SpamAssassin: No update available 03-Jun-2015 00:30:10: SpamAssassin: No update available 04-Jun-2015 01:31:30: SpamAssassin: No update available signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature
Re: definition update frequency?
On Thu, Jun 04, 2015 at 10:25:41AM +, Osborne, Paul (paul.osbo...@canterbury.ac.uk) wrote: > I have noticed though that we have not received any definition updates from > update.spamassassin.org channel since the 21st May with serial no: 1680203 [...] > Can someone confirm whether updates to that channel have since taken place, > the serial no and maybe an indication of how frequently I should be expecting > updates from that channel? I can confirm that no updates seem to have been published since May 21, and my systems are on update version 1680203, too. If I understand correctly, updates should be published daily as long as everything is running smoothly, including mass-checks which are required for assigning scores to updated rules. However, mass-checks seem to have been insufficient during the last two weeks. If they are kept up at the current level, we should be able to expect an update at the weekend. To answer Harald's question: Even if there are no new rules, updates will still be published with current scores in order to better cope with the kind of spam that is being sent right now. After all, spammers keep adapting their tactics. Regards, Marc
Re: definition update frequency?
Marc, That is very helpful. Thank you. Paul From: Marc Selig Sent: 04 June 2015 12:08 To: users@spamassassin.apache.org Subject: Re: definition update frequency? On Thu, Jun 04, 2015 at 10:25:41AM +, Osborne, Paul (paul.osbo...@canterbury.ac.uk) wrote: > I have noticed though that we have not received any definition updates from > update.spamassassin.org channel since the 21st May with serial no: 1680203 [...] > Can someone confirm whether updates to that channel have since taken place, > the serial no and maybe an indication of how frequently I should be expecting > updates from that channel? I can confirm that no updates seem to have been published since May 21, and my systems are on update version 1680203, too. If I understand correctly, updates should be published daily as long as everything is running smoothly, including mass-checks which are required for assigning scores to updated rules. However, mass-checks seem to have been insufficient during the last two weeks. If they are kept up at the current level, we should be able to expect an update at the weekend. To answer Harald's question: Even if there are no new rules, updates will still be published with current scores in order to better cope with the kind of spam that is being sent right now. After all, spammers keep adapting their tactics. Regards, Marc
Re: definition update frequency?
Updates were broken by two issues. 1st, there is a bug in svn with files with spaces with mod svn. I introduced a file with a space while preparing the 3.4.1 release. 2nd, the Svn bug caused the ruleqa server which tests rules to spiral out of diskspace. I fixed that a few days ago. Now the system should produce rules again in the next few days. We are over the threshold and the system is processing the mass checks. But we likely need the net mass check that happens on weekends first. Fingers crossed because it broke a number of intertwining systems. Regards, KAM On June 4, 2015 6:25:41 AM EDT, "Osborne, Paul (paul.osbo...@canterbury.ac.uk)" wrote: >Hi, > >I have been using SpamAssassin for a while on Debian Squeeze and >recently upgraded to Wheezy with the provided Spamassassin packge 3.3.2 > (don't mention Jessie!). > >I have noticed though that we have not received any definition updates >from update.spamassassin.org channel since the 21st May with serial no: > 1680203 > >It seems a little odd that sa-update has not picked up any newer >updates unless of course no newer updates have been published since. > >To be fair a DNS txt lookup reveals: > ># host -t txt 2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org >2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1680203" > >and for newer release: > ># host -t txt 2.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org >2.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for >0.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org. >0.4.3.updates.spamassassin.org is an alias for >2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org. >2.3.3.updates.spamassassin.org descriptive text "1680203" > >Which suggests that things may be up to date and I am being a bit >paranoid, but it does seem a bit odd to me that it has been a couple of >weeks since there were any updates. > >Can someone confirm whether updates to that channel have since taken >place, the serial no and maybe an indication of how frequently I should >be expecting updates from that channel? > >Many thanks > >Paul
Re: definition update frequency?
On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 8:08 AM, Kevin A. McGrail wrote: > Updates were broken by two issues. 1st, there is a bug in svn with files > with spaces with mod svn. I introduced a file with a space while preparing > the 3.4.1 release. Forgive me if this sounds incendiary, it's not meant to be.At what point did someone realize updates were broken? Is the catalyst for investigation/monitoring inquiries on this list? If not, would it be possible to send this list an email at the point when it is determined updates are broken and may take days/weeks to resolve? -Jim P.
Re: definition update frequency?
On 6/4/2015 10:24 AM, Jim Popovitch wrote: On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 8:08 AM, Kevin A. McGrail wrote: Updates were broken by two issues. 1st, there is a bug in svn with files with spaces with mod svn. I introduced a file with a space while preparing the 3.4.1 release. Forgive me if this sounds incendiary, it's not meant to be.At what point did someone realize updates were broken? Is the catalyst for investigation/monitoring inquiries on this list? If not, would it be possible to send this list an email at the point when it is determined updates are broken and may take days/weeks to resolve? -Jim P. No, this list is not the catalyst for investigating the issue. It's been researched for quite a bit longer than that (at least a week). I realized updates where broken from emails (and a lack of emails) on the dev@ list which combined with the ruleqa@ list is the place where the updates are monitored. This outage was longer than most due to a comedy of errors including mailing list moderation problems caused by ASF infrastructure changes (https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/INFRA-9744) and my inability to read a SunOS 5 df output properly... ;-) But beyond that, please realize that this is a volunteer driven project where a lot of people donate a lot of time & resources to make things happen. And while I do monitor users@ for issues, a lack of updates does not present a user issue. It is my opinion that if an admin is concerned about rules updates, they should be monitoring dev@ and/or ruleqa@. We also always welcome volunteers and the monitoring script could use improvement. See https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=7121 Regards, KAM
Re: definition update frequency?
On 04/06/2015 16:06, Kevin A. McGrail wrote: a lack of updates does not present a user issue. It is my opinion that if an admin is concerned about rules updates, they should be monitoring dev@ and/or ruleqa@. Lack of updates seems to be to be important enough to merit a little post to users@ As for monitoring dev@ and/or ruleqa@ some of us a combination of (a) a life (b) busy work inboxes (c) may already be subscribed to half a dozen mailing-lists from a handful of other open-source projects, I don't know about anyone else, but I don't subscribe to more than one mailing list for any project unless there's a very good reason and the additional traffic is guaranteed to be low-volume (e.g. sec-announce type lists). The words "information overload" come to mind when you start telling me I should be monitoring yet another mailing list, or in your case, telling me I should be ideally monitoring TWO additional lists !
Re: definition update frequency?
On 6/4/2015 11:33 AM, Ben wrote: Lack of updates seems to be to be important enough to merit a little post to users@ We'll agree to disagree but if you volunteer the time and improve https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=7121, I'm open to the script emailing users@ instead of dev@ assuming there isn't mass outcry. regards, KAM
Re: definition update frequency?
And while I do monitor users@ for issues, a lack of updates does not present a user issue. It is my opinion that if an admin is concerned about rules updates, they should be monitoring dev@ and/or ruleqa@. Plus, let's have a look at the definitions of aforementioned lists : Dev Unless you are working on a patch to SpamAssassin, this is probably not a list you need to use. If you're not already on the general users list, you should probably go there first RuleQA The RuleQA list is for people involved in the project's automated rule generation and related technologies including masscheck. So... I'm not "working on a patch" and I'm not "involved in automated rule generation", therefore as far as I'm concerned the need for me to suscribe to either is not there. Perhaps its time for a low-volume announce type list? You don't seem to have one of those unless I missed it in my quick scan over your lists page ?
Re: definition update frequency?
On 6/4/2015 11:40 AM, Ben wrote: Perhaps its time for a low-volume announce type list? You don't seem to have one of those unless I missed it in my quick scan over your lists page ? We have an announce list but I don't think subscribers would expect to get daily updates on rule updates. As noted, I think the users@ might welcome the information especially if it is filterable. But someone will have to step up and work on that script. regards, KAM
Re: definition update frequency?
On Thu, 04 Jun 2015 16:33:43 +0100 Ben wrote: > > On 04/06/2015 16:06, Kevin A. McGrail wrote: > > a lack of updates does not present a user issue. It is my opinion > > that if an admin is concerned about rules updates, they should be > > monitoring dev@ and/or ruleqa@. > > Lack of updates seems to be to be important enough to merit a little > post to users@ Is there any practical use to which you would put this information? > The words "information overload" come to mind when you start telling > me I should be monitoring yet another mailing list, ...
Re: definition update frequency?
On 05/06/2015 01:38, Kevin A. McGrail wrote: > On 6/4/2015 11:33 AM, Ben wrote: > >> Lack of updates seems to be to be important enough to merit a little post to >> users@ > We'll agree to disagree but if you volunteer the time and improve > https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=7121 [1], I'm open to the > script emailing users@ instead of dev@ assuming there isn't mass outcry. > > regards, > KAM Bad idea... I can see this causing more problems than what its worth, I can envisage mass postings of "is anybody looking into this" "when will this be fixed" blah blah blah... :) Links: -- [1] https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=7121
Re: definition update frequency?
Le 04/06/2015 17:47, Kevin A. McGrail a écrit : As noted, I think the users@ might welcome the information especially if it is filterable. But someone will have to step up and work on that script. If someone does see the need for this and volunteer to improve the script, perhaps it could be configured to send to users@ only if there have been no updates for a number of days. And the message should probably include explanatory text to say that the problem is already being investigated. -- John