[Mailman-Users] Rejecting on size before content-filters

[Bernie Cosell]

On 4 Jan 2009 at 8:18, Mark Sapiro wrote:

> Bernie Cosell wrote:
> 
> >Is it possible to change the testing-order so that the list size limit is 
> >tested [and generates an appropriate reject] *before* the content filters 
> >are processed?
> 
> 
> This is the way it's normally done. The usual request is to do it the
> other way around. See, e.g.,
> <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2008-December/064541.html>.

> Do you really mean "content filter" as in "Content filtering" or do you
> mean something else, perhaps header_filter_rules? "Content filtering"
> doesn't hold messages. It just removes parts, and perhaps does
> filter_action if it removes the entire message, but "hold' is not one
> of the actions.

My bad.. Sorry I'm new here and I don't get the terminology right.  The 
filter that tripped was in Privacy options/spam filters".

> You can rearrange the pipeline similarly to the suggestion in the above
> referenced post so that whatever handler was responsible for this hold
> comes after the Hold handler which processes the message size limit
> amongst others.

Ah, Ok -- I see the post and I'll try to figure it out and change the 
order...

> So, why was this message held. I.e., exactly what "content filter" did
> it "run afoul of"?

It was a little "spammy" by our spam filter [Barracuda].  The listmembers 
are *astoundingly* spam averse but [of course] I don't want to reject a 
lot of false positives, so what I've done is set it up so that 'vaguely 
spam-like' submissions are, in essence, moderated.  In addition to 
"hold"ing on "X-Barracuda-Spam-Status: Yes" I also hold on X-Barracuda-
Spam-Score: [other than zero].  This gets a LOT of false positives [a 
spam score of 1.2 isn't very spammy, but it *might* be spam], so I just 
send-em through if they're OK.  BUT: if the message is too large, then I 
don't want to send them through, even if the message was legit.  so I 
want the "you're too big" filter to bounce the message before the spam-
filter 'holds' it for me.

  /Bernie\
-- 
Bernie Cosell                     Fantasy Farm Fibers
mailto:bernie at fantasyfarm.com     Pearisburg, VA
    -->  Too many people, too few sheep  <--