.\" $Id$
.\""
.TH MIMEDEFANG.PL 8 "8 February 2005"
.UC 4

.SH NAME
mimedefang.pl \- Perl script to scan MIME messages.

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B mimedefang.pl [-f \fIfilter\fR] \fIdir\fR

.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBmimedefang.pl\fR is a Perl script designed to work with
\fBmimedefang\fR(8).  It takes a single argument which is a directory
which should contain files laid out as described in \fBmimedefang\fR(8).

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-f \fIfilter\fR
Specifies the name of the file containing the filter.  If this option is
omitted, the default filter \fB/etc/mimedefang-filter\fR is used.

.SH OPERATION

\fBmimedefang.pl\fR evaluates the file \fB/etc/mimedefang-filter\fR
as a Perl fragment.  This file should define the \fBfilter\fR procedure.
For each part of a MIME message, \fBmimedefang.pl\fR calls \fBfilter\fR and
disposes of the part as instructed by the filter.  The various modes
of disposition are described in \fBmimedefang-filter\fR(5).

.SH TESTING FILTERS

You are \fIstrongly\fR recommended to test your filter before installing
it in \fB/etc/mimedefang-filter\fR.  To test the filter, save it
in a file (e.g. \fBtest-filter\fR) and run this command:

.nf
	mimedefang.pl -f test-filter -test
.fi

This tests the filter for syntactic correctness.  If it passes, you can
install it as a production filter.  (Note that the test tests only for
correct Perl syntax; it doesn't make sure your filter does something
sensible.)

.SH MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

There are a few other ways to invoke mimedefang.pl:

.nf
	mimedefang.pl -features
.fi

prints a list of detected optional Perl modules.  The output looks something
like this:

.nf
	SpamAssassin: yes
.fi

.PP
.nf
	mimedefang.pl -validate
.fi

calls the function filter_validate, if it is defined in your filter.
filter_validate should return an integer; this becomes the exit code.
If filter_validate does not exist, an error message is printed and
\fBmimedefang.pl\fR exits with an exit code of 1.

.SH AUTHOR
\fBmimedefang.pl\fR was written by Dianne Skoll <dfs@roaringpenguin.com>.
The \fBmimedefang\fR home page is \fIhttp://www.mimedefang.org/\fR.

.SH SEE ALSO
mimedefang(8), mimedefang-filter(5), mimedefang-protocol(7)


