upgrading spamassassin using ftp

[ccwebb]

I recently tried to upgrade spamassassin using instructions provided by jalal at http://www.gnomedia.com/cw/westhost/spamtips.php

The upgrade failed most likely caused by my unfamiliarity at doing unix commands thru SSH.

I am wondering if there is someone out there who could help me with an other approach.

First here is what I did. I tried doing the following commands from jalal's procedure:

$ mkdir src # if it doesn't exist
$ cd src
$ lynx www.spamassassin.org/downloads.html
$ # and download the latest file.
$ # After download
$ tar xzf Mail-SpamAssassin-2.60.tgz
$ cd Mail-SpamAssassin-2.60
$ perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/sa SYSCONFDIR=/saconf
$ make
$ make install

I did this thru PUTTY. Along the way there were some strange things that happened - perhaps due to my inexperience with unix - but the bottom line was that when I was finished I logged on via ftp and there were no directories name src, sa, or saconf at the "/" level.

So - here is what I am wondering - can't I set up directories (via ftp) named sa, saconfig at the "/" level?

Then download spamassassin to my pc. Then unzip it. Then upload via ftp the unzipped files to /sa and /saconf? Don't I end up the same way as the unix procedure above?

Now the only problem is - is that I do not know which files should end up in /sa and which in /saconf?

I also realize that I must do more work with procmail to get it to point to the upgraded version of spamassassin.

Help anyone?

Charlie

[jalal]

As far as I can tell, the main thing that the installation procedure takes care of above is the writing of the correct configuration into /sa/bin/spamassassin
The first dozen lines of that script setup where spamassassin finds its libraries and config files.
The bottom level of /sa contains:
drwxr-xr-x 2 mydomain vuser 4096 Dec 28 05:06 bin
drwxr-xr-x 4 mydomain vuser 4096 Nov 6 09:35 lib
drwxr-xr-x 4 mydomain vuser 4096 Nov 6 09:35 man
drwxr-xr-x 3 mydomain vuser 4096 Nov 6 09:35 share

and the /saconf contains:
/saconf/mail/spamassassin/local.cf

Otherwise, with the above caveats in mind, what you want to do should work.
I realized after I did my upgrade, that there many ways of doing it, yours being another possibility. It should also be possible to upgrade the installation using CPAN.
I noticed that CPAN has version 2.63 in there, so I may try upgrading using CPAN, as that would be simpler all round.
HTH

8)

[ccwebb]

I went back and tried the procedure one more time and still was unable to end up with /sa and /saconf directories.

Below is the error message I am getting from the Makefile.PL part of the procedure. This was trying to install version 2.63. Originally I tried 2.61. Anyone with any thoughts?

[congregationalchurch][~/src/Mail-SpamAssassin-2.63]$ perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/sa SYSCONFDIR=/saconf

************************************************** *********************
Your version of ExtUtils::MakeMaker does not support PM_FILTER.
The "make" process will almost certainly have many warnings and it is
very likely to fail.

You can use either the CPAN shell or go to
<http://search.cpan.org/search?module=ExtUtils::MakeMaker>
to get an up-to-date version.

Perl 5.6.1 and later versions also include recent versions by default.
************************************************** *********************

What email address or URL should be used in the suspected-spam report
text for users who want more information on your filter installation?
(In particular, ISPs should change this to a local Postmaster contact)
default text: [the administrator of that system]

Writing Makefile for Mail::SpamAssassin
Makefile written by ExtUtils::MakeMaker 5.45
[congregationalchurch][~/src/Mail-SpamAssassin-2.63]$

Charlie

[jalal]

Did you try installing the latest ExtUtils::MakeMaker?

Otherwise, it sounds like so far you have success.
Now run make.

[ccwebb]

Did you try installing the latest ExtUtils::MakeMaker?

I do not know how to do that

Now run make.

I did run make. and the next step. But I do not end up with /sa or /saconf.

Charlie

[akirby]

I am having the same problem that Charlie is/did have.
How do I install MakeMaker. I can go to site using lynx but not sure where to put or how to download.

Thanks,

[jalal]

Perl includes a tool for upgrading its modules. We call it CPAN (its a script really) and it can be used for installing and upgrading Perl modules such as SpamAssassin and MakeMaker (and hundreds of others).

A good starting place for learning about CPAN is the CPAN homepage found at: www.cpan.org. In particular, look at the FAQ pages for all your answers.

HTH

[akirby]

OK Finally done! but not without challenges. After going to CPAN and figuring out how to install ExtUtils::MakeMaker it did not work. (had to do with permissions at the root directory) When I reported this to Westhost Tech they suggested I send the situation in writing. The tech promised to look for my message and add comments to it to try to get some action. Well that didn't happen before another tech replied "sorry" MOL. I called back again the next night. After some discussion, the tech promised to forward my situation up line and see what could be done. The next morning I got a reply that they had upgraded MakeMaker to the current version, and that my system should be capable of additional upgrades when necessary.

Tonight I finished the upgrade to SpamAssassin 2.63. Guess I'll know by tomorrow if there is much of an improvement.

At this point, to make changes in the settings, I'll need to do "mannually" rather than on the WestHost control panel I guess?
Thanks for your help jalal.

Alan

[ccwebb]

Alan:

When Westhost host upgraded MakeMaker did they do that at the global level - so that it applied to all of us - or for just your copy of it?

After reading your post I tried to install 2.63 again and am still getting the message that ExtUtils::MakeMaker does not support PM_Filter and will probably fail...

Charlie

[akirby]

If you got the "will probably fail" message you don't have it.

My reply from WestHost was "The ExtUtils perl module has been upgraded for you and you will be able to upgrade in the future as well if necessary. If you need anything further, please let us know.
Best regards, Chris Simiskey"

Hope that helps.