Simon Wilson wrote:
could you, please, finally, describe what does this module do,
here to the list and/or to the wiki?
the description there is too hard to understand, epecially at the
beginning,
and I couldn't force myself to understand it (multiple times).
Maybe you should start with the easy parts and follow with those more
compliated functionality, because I feel the description starts with
thelatter.
I'm guessing from the silence in response that this will remain a mystery.
Simon.
___________
Simon Wilson
M: 0400 12 11 16
Reads perfectly well to me. I guess to be compatible with any other
plugin, I must delete all documentation entirely :)
Seriously, every single rule that this module can generate is listed.
That's a good start, comparatively.
I answer, and have answered, all questions regarding this module.
Open-ended questions, or questions that are vague and ambiguous, are
ignored. For instance, "Maybe you should start with easy parts"? OK,
what's easy? I'm reminded of an old Star Trek episode where Dr. McCoy
is reattaching Spock's brain. "It's so easy. A child can do it", he
muses. Questions have value. Statements less so.
This module has some unique stuff that CANNOT be done in a pure
SpamAssassin environment. It also has stuff that can be replicated
using standard rules.
1) The module, if installed and using the config file as is, does no
harm at all. It will merely generate rules based upon what it finds.
These are all scored at the low rate of 0.01. It's up to the user to
decide what to with them. They can wrap up a generated rule in a meta
rule. Example:
meta JR_HATES_BEENTHERE (JR_X_BEENTHERE)
score JR_HATES_BEENTHERE 8.0
||
2) Via a configuration file option, "chaos_mode", the module can be set
to automatically score its rules.
chaos_mode AutoISP
It will still run along with existing files, cranking out higher scores
for those rules marked with an asterisk. That is still probably
acceptable for most people. But it can cause problems. The popular KAM
ruleset scores SendGrid Emails with a high value. Mine is split into two
different values that are scored differently. While they are both lower
than KAM's, combined, I see that as a potential problem. I have no
knowledge of what somebody's rules are at any given moment. Caveat
Emptor. There I go again with the Latin :)
2A) What values do I set for these rules? As a percentage of another
configuration file option, "chaos_tag":
chaos_tag 7
Per the example above JR_X_BEENTHERE is a rule that is Auto-Scored. If
you lower the chaos_tag value, the score for this rule would be
reduced. If I increase the chaos_tag value, the score produced by this
rule is raised.
2B) The AutoISP mode, as is, should be fine for anybody running a spam
tag level of 8 to 12.
2C) The initial release of CHAOS.pm did all kinds of scoring. One of
the knocks I have about SpamAssassin is that is does not maintain counts
of hits. My complaints about this go all the way back to 2010. Counts
and Amounts. SA is great with Amounts. It sucks with Counts. To the
SA Development crew's credit, somewhere along the way, tflags were added
to allow that functionality in a very primitive fashion. Many people
are happy with that. I'm just not one of them.
I read somewhere, while looking at META rules that SA internally builds
an array of the rules hit. That way, as rules hit, METAs are then
appropriately updated. Gee, an array. Maybe we could add a count to
that array if the user wishes to? I think that it is a lot of
development; not so much the actual process of doing it, but updating
all the User handling thereof. Alas, It is what it is *SIGH*
2D) One thing about running AutoISP mode is that you can change a Rule's
name in the configuration file and not matter what, you'll get the
Rulename that's hard-coded into the program. When a Eval plugin
function is called, SA passes the rule name to the plugin. Most plugins
just ignore it, and simply return a Hit/Miss value for the Rulename. I
ignore that completely.
2E) When I first released CHAOS, all it did was Automatic Scoring. And I
used all kinds of fancy algorithms, even logarithmic, to demonstrate
that. That was pointless, as many pointed out at the time. I don't do
that stuff anymore.
2F) Still, as is, AutoISP will still work great for most people.
3) As the first release of CHAOS was about as successful as the
Hindenburg, I added the concept of Manual scoring. This works in the
same fashion as most people are accustomed to. This is set in the
configuration file:
chaos_mode Manual
There are currently two exceptions in Manual mode. I don't allow
changing Rulenames for the mailer_check() and id_attachments() Eval
functions. The reason is that these Evals can produce a lot of Rule
outputs.
OK, are you still with me? If not, just implement Step 1) above.
4) Regarding overall development, rules, rules, rules, and
documentation, my priorities are this:
1) Bug fixes, first and foremost
2) New Stuff that's easy
3) New Stuff that's hard
4) Existing stuff that I'm committed to change
5) Standard rules distribution
6) CHAOS meta rules (using rules from #5 above)
7) Rework Documentation
5) Suggestions and comments are always welcome. The "Hi
{emailuserpart}" development was the result of a need expressed here on
SA-Users. When I first released CHAOS, I got a lot of criticism by many
senior people on this list. I deserved it and I expected it. These are
professionals that took the time to load the plugin to see what it is
about. I adapted, made changes and came out better and wiser. My
respect for these people increased 100 fold. That's how I roll.
But if you're going to sit on the sidelines and complain, I have bad
news for you. There's no shortage of stuff I can shove into /dev/null.
$0.02,
-- Jared Hall
