[Spambayes] SpamBayes for Outlook 2000 over IMAP?

[Christian Gilbert]

Tony,

Thank you, thank you, *thank you* for your help.  Ack, I think I have
it watching the wrong Inbox!  Your reply gives me many new things to
try.  I appreciate your help.

And the 1.0.4 Windows source .ZIP, as downloaded by IE 6 SP1 from the
Arizona mirror, wouldn't uncompress on WinZip8 or an older version of
WinRAR on two different machines.  Knowing me, I was probably trying
to unzip the .EXE or something.  Thanks again.
-
CG

On 5/23/05, Tony Meyer <tameyer at ihug.co.nz> wrote:
> > What I've determined so far.  Please help correct my confusion:
> >
> > - The SB Outlook plugin does not filter IMAP.
> 
> Incorrect.  The SpamBayes Outlook plug-in filters any incoming mail in
> Outlook.  It doesn't know or care what sort of store (IMAP, pst, Exchange,
> Hotmail) the mail is on.
> 
> > - The SB 1.0.4 Windows install exe does not include
> > "applications suitable for almost all email clients" like the
> > download page says under the Windows heading.  It only
> > contains the Outlook plugin.
> 
> Incorrect.  It contains both the Outlook plug-in and sb_server, which covers
> Outlook and basically any mail clients that are using POP3 (not IMAP).  It
> doesn't contain the SpamBayes IMAP filter (sb_imapfilter); 1.1 (currently in
> alpha) does, however.
> 
> > - So, I need Python and the SB source for Windows.
> 
> Nope; you'll be fine with the installer and the Outlook plug-in.
> 
> > The 1.0.4 .zip package does not decompress in WinZip 8.
> 
> Are you certain that you downloaded it correctly?  I would be very surprised
> if this was the case.  I have WinZip 9, so can't tell for sure, but it seems
> very unlikely.  Check that the file size matches that on the download page.
> 
> > - FAQ item 1.5 describes the POP proxy and web interface,
> > both of which I'm afraid to run on a non-NAT'ed machine.
> 
> You shouldn't be (and you needn't use the POP3 proxy if your mail is
> retrieved via IMAP).  By default the web interface only accepts connections
> from the local machine.  You can unrestrict this if you wish, allowing
> connections from specific IPs (or from anywhere, if you really want).  You
> can also require the web interface to ask for authentication, although this
> isn't enabled by default.  If you're connecting to the web interface from
> the machine it's running on, no traffic should be sent outside that machine
> (unless you have a really weird network configuration).
> 
> > - Something (the "IMAP Filter" section of the readme?)
> > clarified that sb_imapfilter.py is not a proxy, but connects
> > to the IMAP server independantly of your e-mail client and
> > scores/filters your mail at certain time intervals.
> 
> That's correct.  Again, you don't have to use this, since you can use the
> Outlook plug-in.
> 
> > - Running sb_imapfilter.py starts the web interface and lets
> > my machine listen for HTTP on port 8880.
> 
> Correct again.
> 
> > - sb_imapfilter.py does not use the Bayesian database from
> > the Outlook plugin.
> 
> By default sb_imapfilter.py (and sb_server.py) uses a different filename for
> the database, yes.  It is the same format, though, so you can interchange
> them if you want to.  Or you can point sb_imapfilter.py (or the Outlook
> plug-in) at the other database, and share them.  (Concurrent access is *not*
> supported, however).
> 
> > Now, the questions, in addition to "Are the above is correct?":
> >
> > - Can I run sb_imapfilter.py without it starting the web interface?
> > Let me configure using interface once, then never run it
> > again; thus never opening up port 8880 for listening.
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > - When I first have sb_imapfilter.py connect to my IMAP
> > server, will it score every message in my Inbox?
> 
> Every undeleted message, yes.
> 
> > Will that
> > erase them all and recreate them (slightly noted somewhere in
> > the FAQ)?
> 
> Yes.  You can't modify IMAP messages (it's a really crap protocol), only
> create new copies of them.  So it has to do this.  Again, you can just use
> the Outlook plug-in.
> 
> > Will it change their read/unread status (which I
> > rely on desperately)?
> 
> No.
> 
> > - Does spam sit in my Inbox until sb_imapfilter.py does its
> > periodic sweep?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > Or does sb_imapfilter.py detect new mail as
> > it arrives, score it, and filter as necessary (elluded to in
> > the FAQ 1.5.8 overview)?
> 
> No.
> 
> > - Each time sb_imapfilter.py checks my IMAP Inbox, will it
> > score only new mail since its last check?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > If so, can I avoid
> > the initial scoring (and potential delete/recreate and
> > read-status change) by tricking it somehow?
> 
> Yes, but that would be very complicated.
> 
> > - Since I don't have cron on Windows, how can I set
> > sb_imapfilter.py to run periodically?
> 
> You can use the -l switch, in which case it will do it itself.
> 
> > Task Scheduler?
> 
> You can do this instead if you prefer.
> 
> > Leaving a cmd window open all day?
> 
> If you run sb_imapfilter.py with pythonw.exe instead of python.exe a cmd
> window will not be opened.
> 
> > - Does the web interface really keep full-text copies of all
> > my mail (suggested in FAQ 1.5.5), even those 1+meg
> > attachments people sometimes send?
> 
> No.  The POP3 proxy does this.  It's a necessary part of how it operates (I
> can elaborate if you wish).  Messages expire from the cache after a certain
> amount of time (default 7 days).
> 
> > Can I disable that,
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > or is
> > that the only way to train the system
> 
> It's the preferred way to train the POP3 proxy.  It has nothing to do with
> the IMAP filter, or the Outlook plug-in (which you should use).
> 
> > without opening the spam (triggering spammer alerts)
> 
> I don't know what you mean by "opening" here.
> 
> > and forwarding it to localhost:8880 (which I'd rather not run)?
> 
> Only sb_upload.py "forwards" mail to the web interface, and it's extremely
> unlikely that you'd want to use that.  The web interface isn't used for
> training by sb_imapfilter or the Outlook plug-in.
> 
> > All my reading and testing culminated in me running
> > sb_imapfilter.py, putting my config info in the web
> > interface, then clicking "Save and Shutdown" and having it do
> > nothing but spin the IE page-loading globe endlessly.
> > Killing the python.exe process ended it.
> 
> I don't know what happened here, but since you ought to be using the Outlook
> plug-in, I won't bother to try and figure it out, unless you do actually
> want to use sb_imapfilter.py.
> 
> =Tony.Meyer
> 
> --
> Please always include the list (spambayes at python.org) in your replies
> (reply-all), and please don't send me personal mail about SpamBayes.
> http://www.massey.ac.nz/~tameyer/writing/reply_all.html explains this.
> 
>