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3.16 Testing Filter Scripts

It is important to check your filter script before actually starting to use it. There are several ways to do so.

To test the syntax of your filter script, use the --lint option. It will cause mailfromd to exit immediately after attempting to compile the script file. If the compilation succeeds, the program will exit with code 0. Otherwise, it will exit with error code 78 (‘configuration error’). In the latter case, mailfromd will also print a diagnostic message, describing the error along with the exact location where the error was diagnosed, for example:

mailfromd: /etc/mailfromd.mfl:39: syntax error, unexpected reject

The error location is indicated by the name of the file and the number of the line when the error occurred. By using the --location-column option you instruct mailfromd to also print the column number. E.g. with this option the above error message may look like:

mailfromd: /etc/mailfromd.mfl:39.12 syntax error, unexpected reject

Here, ‘39’ is the line and ‘12’ is the column number.

For complex scripts you may wish to obtain a listing of variables used in the script. This can be achieved using --xref command line option:

The output it produces consists of four columns:

Variable name
Data type

Either number or string.

Offset in data segment

Measured in words.

References

A comma-separated list of locations where the variable was referenced. Each location is represented as file:line. If several locations pertain to the same file, the file name is listed only once.

Here is an example of the cross-reference output:

$ mailfromd --xref
Cross-references:
-----------------
cache_used               number 5   /etc/mailfromd.mfl:48
clamav_virus_name        string 9   /etc/mailfromd.mfl:240,240
db                       string 15  /etc/mailfromd.mfl:135,194,215
dns_record_ttl           number 16  /etc/mailfromd.mfl:136,172,173
ehlo_domain              string 11
gltime                   number 13  /etc/mailfromd.mfl:37,219,220,222,223
greylist_seconds_left    number 1   /etc/mailfromd.mfl:220,226,227
last_poll_host           string 2

If the script passes syntax check, the next step is often to test if it works as you expect it to. This is done with --test (-t) command line option. This option runs the envfrom handler (or another one, see below) and prints the result of its execution.

When running your script in test mode, you will need to supply the values of Sendmail macros it needs. You do this by placing the necessary assignments in the command line. For example, this is how to supply initial values for f and client_addr macros:

$ mailfromd --test f=gray@gnu.org client_addr=127.0.0.1

You may also need to alter initial values of some global variables your script uses. To do so, use -v (--variable) command line option. This option takes a single argument consisting of the variable name and its initial value, separated by an equals sign. For example, here is how to change the value of ehlo_domain global variable:

$ mailfromd -v ehlo_domain=mydomain.org

The --test option is often useful in conjunction with options --debug, --trace and --transcript (see Logging and Debugging. The following example shows what the author got while debugging the filter script described in Filter Script Example:

$ mailfromd --test --debug=50 f=gray@gnu.org client_addr=127.0.0.1
MX 20 mx20.gnu.org
MX 10 mx10.gnu.org
MX 10 mx10.gnu.org
MX 20 mx20.gnu.org
getting cache info for gray@gnu.org
found status: success (0), time: Thu Sep 14 14:54:41 2006
getting rate info for gray@gnu.org-127.0.0.1
found time: 1158245710, interval: 29, count: 5, rate: 0.172414
rate for gray@gnu.org-127.0.0.1 is 0.162162
updating gray@gnu.org-127.0.0.1 rates
SET REPLY 450 4.7.0 Mail sending rate exceeded.  Try again later
State envfrom: tempfail

If your script uses echo statements (see Echo), they will print their output on standard error. To direct them to the standard output, use the --echo option. You can also redirect the echo output to arbitrary file, by supplying its name as argument, as in: --echo=file. see echo option.

To test any handler, other than ‘envfrom’, give its name as the argument to --test option. Since this argument is optional, it is important that it be given immediately after the option, without any intervening white space, for example mailfromd --test=helo, or mailfromd -thelo.

This method allows to test one handler at a time. To test the script as a whole, use mtasim utility. When started it enters interactive mode, similar to that of sendmail -bs, where it expects SMTP commands on its standard input and sends answers to the standard output. The --port=auto command line option instructs it to start mailfromd and to create a unique socket for communication with it. For the detailed description of the program and the ways to use it, See mtasim.


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