SpamAssassin Learning Script

This script automates the process of teaching SpamAssassin to recognize spam and ham (non-spam) messages from users' mailboxes, while allowing for specific home directories to be excluded from processing using a skip list file.

How It Works

1. Skip List File:

   • The script reads a file named skip_folders.txt, which should be placed in the same directory as the script.
   • The skip_folders.txt file contains a list of home folder names (one per line) that should be excluded from processing.
   • If no skip list file is found, the script will process all home directories.

2. Spam and Ham Classification:

   • For each user's home directory (except those listed in the skip list), the script processes two mail folders:
     • Maildir/.Junk: Messages in this folder are learned as spam using sa-learn --spam.
     • Maildir/cur: Messages in this folder are learned as ham (non-spam) using sa-learn --ham.

3. Skipped Folders:

   • Any home folder listed in the skip_folders.txt file is skipped during processing.
   • After processing, the script outputs a list of skipped folders.

4. Synchronization:

   • After processing all folders, the script synchronizes the SpamAssassin Bayes database using sa-learn --sync.

Example skip_folders.txt:

user3
lost+found

Prerequisites

• SpamAssassin must be installed and configured on the system.
• Mail folders should be in the default Maildir format under each user's home directory.

Usage

1. Clone the repository or download the script.
2. Ensure the skip_folders.txt file is in the same directory as the script.
3. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x script_name.sh

4. Run the script as a superuser (root) to process all home directories: sudo ./script_name.sh

Output

• The script prints progress as it processes each folder, including spam/ham learning status.
• At the end of the run, it lists any folders that were skipped based on the skip_folders.txt file.
• The script also outputs when the SpamAssassin database is synchronized.

Example Output

Entering /home/user1
Processing /home/user1/Maildir/.Junk
Learning messages as spam
Processing /home/user1/Maildir/cur
Learning messages as ham (non-spam)


Entering /home/user2
Processing /home/user2/Maildir/.Junk
Learning messages as spam
Processing /home/user2/Maildir/cur
Learning messages as ham (non-spam)


The following folders were skipped due to exclusion in /path/to/skip_folders.txt:
user3
lost+found

Synchronizing the database and the journal
Done :)