1 $Cambridge: exim/doc/doc-txt/experimental-spec.txt,v 1.11 2008/02/12 12:52:51 nm4 Exp $
3 From time to time, experimental features may be added to Exim.
4 While a feature is experimental, there will be a build-time
5 option whose name starts "EXPERIMENTAL_" that must be set in
6 order to include the feature. This file contains information
7 about experimenatal features, all of which are unstable and
8 liable to incompatibile change.
12 --------------------------------------------------------------
14 DKIM support is implemented via libdkim. A compatible version
17 http://duncanthrax.net/exim-experimental/libdkim-1.0.15-tk.tar.gz
19 Build the lib according to the instructions in the enclosed
22 To build Exim with DKIM support, specify this in Local/Makefile:
25 CFLAGS += -I/home/tom/libdkim/include
26 LDFLAGS += -ldkim -lssl -lstdc++ -L/home/tom/libdkim/lib
28 Remember to tweak the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS lines to match the
29 location of the libdomainkeys includes and lib on your system.
31 The current experimental implementation supports two independent
34 o Validate incoming DKIM-signed email.
35 o Sign outgoing email with DKIM.
37 The former is implemented in the ACLs for SMTP, the latter as
38 an extension to the SMTP transport. That means both facilities
39 are limited to SMTP I/O.
42 1) Validate incoming email
44 Incoming messages are fed to the DKIM validation process as they
45 are received "on the wire". This happens synchronously to Exim's
46 buffering of the message in the spool.
48 You must set "control = dkim_verify" in one of the ACLs preceding
49 DATA (you will typically use acl_smtp_rcpt), at a point where
50 non-local, non-relay, non-submission mail is processed. If that
51 control flag is not set, the message will NOT be verified.
55 warn log_message = Feeding message to DKIM validator.
58 You can then check for DKIM signatures in the ACL after data
59 (acl_smtp_data), using the 'dkim' query-style lookup type. The
60 query string should be a domain or DKIM identity:
62 ${lookup dkim{domain.example}}
64 Such a lookup will yield one of the following strings:
66 unverified: Exim did not (yet) verify the eventual DKIM
67 signatures in this message. This may happen
68 if a) You did not use control=dkim_verify
69 or b) You are using the lookup before
72 unsigned: The message does not have a signature from
75 good: The message has a signature from the specified
76 domain, and it verified successfully.
78 bad: The message has a signature from the specified
79 domain, but it did not verify.
81 defer: A temporary DNS problem was encountered while
82 trying to verify the signature.
86 2) Sign outgoing email with DKIM
88 Outgoing messages are signed just before Exim puts them "on
89 the wire". The only thing that happens after DKIM signing is
90 eventual TLS encryption.
92 Signing is implemented by setting private options on the SMTP
93 transport. These options take (expandable) strings as
96 dkim_domain = <expanded string> [MANDATORY]
98 The domain you want to sign with. Should optimally match
99 the domain in the "From:" header of the message, but
100 does not necessarily have to. The result of this expanded
101 option is put into the $dkim_domain expansion variable.
103 dkim_selector = <expanded string> [MANDATORY]
105 This sets the key selector string. You can use the
106 $dkim_domain expansion variable to look up a matching
107 selector. The result is put in the expansion variable
108 $dkim_selector which should be used in the dkim_private_key
109 option along with $dkim_domain.
111 dkim_private_key = <expanded string> [MANDATORY]
113 This sets the private key to use. You can use the
114 $dkim_domain and $dkim_selector expansion variables to
115 determine the private key to use. The result can either
117 o be a valid RSA private key in ASCII armor, including
119 o start with a slash, in which case it is treated as
120 a file that contains the private key.
121 o be "0", "false" or the empty string, in which case
122 the message will not be signed. This case will not
123 result in an error, even if dkim_strict is set.
125 dkim_canon = <expanded string> [OPTIONAL]
127 This option sets the canonicalization method used when
128 signing a message. The DKIM RFC currently supports two
129 methods: "simple" and "relaxed". The option defaults to
130 "relaxed" when unset. Note: the current implementation
131 only support using the same canonicalization method for
132 both headers and body.
134 dkim_strict = <expanded string> [OPTIONAL]
136 This option defines how Exim behaves when signing a
137 message that should be signed fails for some reason. When
138 the expansion evaluates to either "1" or "true", Exim will
139 defer. Otherwise Exim will send the message unsigned. You
140 can use the $dkim_domain and $dkim_selector expansion
143 dkim_sign_headers = <expanded string> [OPTIONAL]
145 When set, this option must expand to (or be specified as)
146 a colon-separated list of header names. These headers will
147 be included in the message signature. When unspecified,
148 the recommended headers will be used. Currently, these
151 from:sender:reply-to:subject:date:
152 message-id:to:cc:mime-version:content-type:
153 content-transfer-encoding:content-id:
154 content-description:resent-date:resent-from:
155 resent-sender:resent-to:resent-cc:resent-message-id:
156 in-reply-to:references:
157 list-id:list-help:list-unsubscribe:
158 list-subscribe:list-post:list-owner:list-archive
163 1. Yahoo DomainKeys support
164 --------------------------------------------------------------
166 DomainKeys (DK) support is built into Exim using the
167 "libdomainkeys" reference library implementation. It is
170 http://domainkeys.sf.net
172 You must build this library on your system and compile Exim
173 against it. To build Exim with DK support, add these lines to
176 EXPERIMENTAL_DOMAINKEYS=yes
177 CFLAGS += -I/home/tom/exim-cvs/extra/libdomainkeys
178 LDFLAGS += -ldomainkeys -L/home/tom/exim-cvs/extra/libdomainkeys
180 Remember to tweak the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS lines to match the
181 location of the libdomainkeys includes and lib on your system.
183 The current experimental implementation supports two
184 independent functions:
186 o Validate incoming DK-signed email.
187 o Sign outgoing email with DK.
189 The former is implemented in the ACLs for SMTP, the latter as
190 an extension to the SMTP transport. That means both facilities
191 are limited to SMTP I/O.
195 1) Validate incoming email
197 Incoming messages are fed to the DK validation process as they
198 are received "on the wire". This happens synchronously to
199 Exim's buffering of the message in the spool.
201 You must set "control = dk_verify" in one of the ACLs
202 preceding DATA (you will typically use acl_smtp_rcpt), at a
203 point where non-local, non-relay, non-submission mail is
204 processed. If that control flag is not set, the message will
209 warn log_message = Feeding message to DK validator.
212 You can check for the outcome of the DK check in the ACL after
213 data (acl_smtp_data), using a number of ACL conditions and/or
218 1.1.) DK ACL conditions
220 dk_sender_domains = <domain list>
222 This condition takes a domainlist as argument and
223 succeeds if the domain that DK has been verifying for is
227 dk_senders = <address list>
229 This condition takes an addresslist as argument and
230 succeeds if the address that DK has been verifying for
231 is found in the list.
234 dk_sender_local_parts = <local part list>
236 This condition takes a local_part list as argument
237 and succeeds if the domain that DK has been
238 verifying for is found in the list.
241 dk_status = <colon separated list of keywords>
243 This condition takes a list of keywords as argument, and
244 succeeds if one of the listed keywords matches the outcome
245 of the DK check. The available keywords are:
247 good DK check succeeded, mail is verified.
249 no signature Mail is not signed with DK.
250 no key Public key missing in target domain DNS.
251 bad format Public key available, but unuseable.
252 non-participant Target domain states not to participate in DK.
253 revoked The signing key has been revoked by the domain.
256 dk_policy = <colon separated list of keywords>
258 This condition takes a list of keywords as argument, and
259 succeeds if one of the listed keywords matches the policy
260 announced by the target domain. The available keywords
263 signsall The target domain signs all outgoing email.
264 testing The target domain is currently testing DK.
267 dk_domain_source = <colon separated list of keywords>
269 This condition takes a list of keywords as argument, and
270 succeeds if one of the listed keywords matches the
271 location where DK found the sender domain it verified for.
272 The available keywords are:
274 from The domain came from the "From:" header.
275 sender The domain came from the "Sender:" header.
276 none DK was unable to find the responsible domain.
280 1.2.) DK verification expansion variables
284 Contains the domain that DK has verified for.
289 Contains the address that DK has verified for.
292 $dk_sender_local_part
294 Contains the local part that DK has verified for.
299 Contains the "source" of the above three variables, one of
301 "from" The address came from the "From:" header.
302 "sender" The address came from the "Sender:" header.
304 When DK was unable to find a valid address, this variable
310 Is "1" if the target domain signs all outgoing email,
316 Is "1" if the target domain is testing DK, "0" otherwise.
321 Is "1" if the message is signed, "0" otherwise.
326 Contains the outcome of the DK check as a string, commonly
327 used to add a "DomainKey-Status:" header to messages. Will
330 good DK check succeeded, mail is verified.
332 no signature Mail is not signed with DK.
333 no key Public key missing in target domain DNS.
334 bad format Public key available, but unuseable.
335 non-participant Target domain states not to participate in DK.
336 revoked The signing key has been revoked by the domain.
341 Contains a human-readable result of the DK check, more
342 verbose than $dk_status. Useful for logging purposes.
346 2) Sign outgoing email with DK
348 Outgoing messages are signed just before Exim puts them "on
349 the wire". The only thing that happens after DK signing is
350 eventual TLS encryption.
352 Signing is implemented by setting private options on the SMTP
353 transport. These options take (expandable) strings as
354 arguments. The most important variable to use in these
355 expansions is $dk_domain. It contains the domain that DK wants
359 dk_selector = <expanded string> [MANDATORY]
361 This sets the key selector string. You can use the
362 $dk_domain expansion variable to look up a matching
363 selector. The result is put in the expansion variable
364 $dk_selector which should be used in the dk_private_key
365 option along with $dk_domain.
368 dk_private_key = <expanded string> [MANDATORY]
370 This sets the private key to use. You SHOULD use the
371 $dk_domain and $dk_selector expansion variables to
372 determine the private key to use. The result can either
374 o be a valid RSA private key in ASCII armor, including
376 o start with a slash, in which case it is treated as
377 a file that contains the private key.
378 o be "0", "false" or the empty string, in which case
379 the message will not be signed. This case will not
380 result in an error, even if dk_strict is set.
383 dk_canon = <expanded string> [OPTIONAL]
385 This option sets the canonicalization method used when
386 signing a message. The DK draft currently supports two
387 methods: "simple" and "nofws". The option defaults to
391 dk_strict = <expanded string> [OPTIONAL]
393 This option defines how Exim behaves when signing a
394 message that should be signed fails for some reason. When
395 the expansion evaluates to either "1" or "true", Exim will
396 defer. Otherwise Exim will send the message unsigned. You
397 can and should use the $dk_domain and $dk_selector
398 expansion variables here.
401 dk_domain = <expanded string> [NOT RECOMMENDED]
403 This option overrides DKs autodetection of the signing
404 domain. You should only use this option if you know what
405 you are doing. The result of the string expansion is also
411 2. Brightmail AntiSpam (BMI) suppport
412 --------------------------------------------------------------
414 Brightmail AntiSpam is a commercial package. Please see
415 http://www.brightmail.com for more information on
416 the product. For the sake of clarity, we'll refer to it as
420 0) BMI concept and implementation overview
422 In contrast to how spam-scanning with SpamAssassin is
423 implemented in exiscan-acl, BMI is more suited for per
424 -recipient scanning of messages. However, each messages is
425 scanned only once, but multiple "verdicts" for multiple
426 recipients can be returned from the BMI server. The exiscan
427 implementation passes the message to the BMI server just
428 before accepting it. It then adds the retrieved verdicts to
429 the messages header file in the spool. These verdicts can then
430 be queried in routers, where operation is per-recipient
431 instead of per-message. To use BMI, you need to take the
434 1) Compile Exim with BMI support
435 2) Set up main BMI options (top section of Exim config file)
436 3) Set up ACL control statement (ACL section of the config
438 4) Set up your routers to use BMI verdicts (routers section
440 5) (Optional) Set up per-recipient opt-in information.
442 These four steps are explained in more details below.
444 1) Adding support for BMI at compile time
446 To compile with BMI support, you need to link Exim against
447 the Brighmail client SDK, consisting of a library
448 (libbmiclient_single.so) and a header file (bmi_api.h).
449 You'll also need to explicitly set a flag in the Makefile to
450 include BMI support in the Exim binary. Both can be achieved
451 with these lines in Local/Makefile:
453 EXPERIMENTAL_BRIGHTMAIL=yes
454 CFLAGS=-I/path/to/the/dir/with/the/includefile
455 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/path/to/the/dir/with/the/library -lbmiclient_single
457 If you use other CFLAGS or EXTRALIBS_EXIM settings then
458 merge the content of these lines with them.
460 Note for BMI6.x users: You'll also have to add -lxml2_single
461 to the EXTRALIBS_EXIM line. Users of 5.5x do not need to do
464 You should also include the location of
465 libbmiclient_single.so in your dynamic linker configuration
466 file (usually /etc/ld.so.conf) and run "ldconfig"
467 afterwards, or else the produced Exim binary will not be
468 able to find the library file.
471 2) Setting up BMI support in the Exim main configuration
473 To enable BMI support in the main Exim configuration, you
474 should set the path to the main BMI configuration file with
475 the "bmi_config_file" option, like this:
477 bmi_config_file = /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg
479 This must go into section 1 of Exim's configuration file (You
480 can put it right on top). If you omit this option, it
481 defaults to /opt/brightmail/etc/brightmail.cfg.
483 Note for BMI6.x users: This file is in XML format in V6.xx
484 and its name is /opt/brightmail/etc/bmiconfig.xml. So BMI
485 6.x users MUST set the bmi_config_file option.
488 3) Set up ACL control statement
490 To optimize performance, it makes sense only to process
491 messages coming from remote, untrusted sources with the BMI
492 server. To set up a messages for processing by the BMI
493 server, you MUST set the "bmi_run" control statement in any
494 ACL for an incoming message. You will typically do this in
495 an "accept" block in the "acl_check_rcpt" ACL. You should
496 use the "accept" block(s) that accept messages from remote
497 servers for your own domain(s). Here is an example that uses
498 the "accept" blocks from Exim's default configuration file:
501 accept domains = +local_domains
506 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
511 If bmi_run is not set in any ACL during reception of the
512 message, it will NOT be passed to the BMI server.
515 4) Setting up routers to use BMI verdicts
517 When a message has been run through the BMI server, one or
518 more "verdicts" are present. Different recipients can have
519 different verdicts. Each recipient is treated individually
520 during routing, so you can query the verdicts by recipient
521 at that stage. From Exim's view, a verdict can have the
524 o deliver the message normally
525 o deliver the message to an alternate location
526 o do not deliver the message
528 To query the verdict for a recipient, the implementation
529 offers the following tools:
532 - Boolean router preconditions. These can be used in any
533 router. For a simple implementation of BMI, these may be
534 all that you need. The following preconditions are
537 o bmi_deliver_default
539 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
540 recipient is to deliver the message normally. If the
541 message has not been processed by the BMI server, this
542 variable defaults to TRUE.
544 o bmi_deliver_alternate
546 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
547 recipient is to deliver the message to an alternate
548 location. You can get the location string from the
549 $bmi_alt_location expansion variable if you need it. See
550 further below. If the message has not been processed by
551 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
555 This precondition is TRUE if the verdict for the
556 recipient is NOT to deliver the message to the
557 recipient. You will typically use this precondition in a
558 top-level blackhole router, like this:
560 # don't deliver messages handled by the BMI server
566 This router should be on top of all others, so messages
567 that should not be delivered do not reach other routers
568 at all. If the message has not been processed by
569 the BMI server, this variable defaults to FALSE.
572 - A list router precondition to query if rules "fired" on
573 the message for the recipient. Its name is "bmi_rule". You
574 use it by passing it a colon-separated list of rule
575 numbers. You can use this condition to route messages that
576 matched specific rules. Here is an example:
578 # special router for BMI rule #5, #8 and #11
582 data = postmaster@mydomain.com
585 - Expansion variables. Several expansion variables are set
586 during routing. You can use them in custom router
587 conditions, for example. The following variables are
590 o $bmi_base64_verdict
592 This variable will contain the BASE64 encoded verdict
593 for the recipient being routed. You can use it to add a
594 header to messages for tracking purposes, for example:
599 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Verdict: $bmi_base64_verdict
600 transport = local_delivery
602 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
603 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
605 o $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
607 This variable will contain a BASE64 encoded subset of
608 the verdict information concerning the "rules" that
609 fired on the message. You can add this string to a
610 header, commonly named "X-Brightmail-Tracker". Example:
615 headers_add = X-Brightmail-Tracker: $bmi_base64_tracker_verdict
616 transport = local_delivery
618 If there is no verdict available for the recipient being
619 routed, this variable contains the empty string.
623 If the verdict is to redirect the message to an
624 alternate location, this variable will contain the
625 alternate location string returned by the BMI server. In
626 its default configuration, this is a header-like string
627 that can be added to the message with "headers_add". If
628 there is no verdict available for the recipient being
629 routed, or if the message is to be delivered normally,
630 this variable contains the empty string.
634 This is an additional integer variable that can be used
635 to query if the message should be delivered at all. You
636 should use router preconditions instead if possible.
638 $bmi_deliver is '0': the message should NOT be delivered.
639 $bmi_deliver is '1': the message should be delivered.
642 IMPORTANT NOTE: Verdict inheritance.
643 The message is passed to the BMI server during message
644 reception, using the target addresses from the RCPT TO:
645 commands in the SMTP transaction. If recipients get expanded
646 or re-written (for example by aliasing), the new address(es)
647 inherit the verdict from the original address. This means
648 that verdicts also apply to all "child" addresses generated
649 from top-level addresses that were sent to the BMI server.
652 5) Using per-recipient opt-in information (Optional)
654 The BMI server features multiple scanning "profiles" for
655 individual recipients. These are usually stored in a LDAP
656 server and are queried by the BMI server itself. However,
657 you can also pass opt-in data for each recipient from the
658 MTA to the BMI server. This is particularly useful if you
659 already look up recipient data in Exim anyway (which can
660 also be stored in a SQL database or other source). This
661 implementation enables you to pass opt-in data to the BMI
662 server in the RCPT ACL. This works by setting the
663 'bmi_optin' modifier in a block of that ACL. If should be
664 set to a list of comma-separated strings that identify the
665 features which the BMI server should use for that particular
666 recipient. Ideally, you would use the 'bmi_optin' modifier
667 in the same ACL block where you set the 'bmi_run' control
668 flag. Here is an example that will pull opt-in data for each
669 recipient from a flat file called
670 '/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data'.
674 user1@mydomain.com: <OPTIN STRING1>:<OPTIN STRING2>
675 user2@thatdomain.com: <OPTIN STRING3>
680 accept domains = +relay_to_domains
683 bmi_optin = ${lookup{$local_part@$domain}lsearch{/etc/exim/bmi_optin_data}}
686 Of course, you can also use any other lookup method that
687 Exim supports, including LDAP, Postgres, MySQL, Oracle etc.,
688 as long as the result is a list of colon-separated opt-in
691 For a list of available opt-in strings, please contact your
692 Brightmail representative.
697 3. Sender Policy Framework (SPF) support
698 --------------------------------------------------------------
700 To learn more about SPF, visit http://www.openspf.org. This
701 document does not explain the SPF fundamentals, you should
702 read and understand the implications of deploying SPF on your
703 system before doing so.
705 SPF support is added via the libspf2 library. Visit
707 http://www.libspf2.org/
709 to obtain a copy, then compile and install it. By default,
710 this will put headers in /usr/local/include and the static
711 library in /usr/local/lib.
713 To compile Exim with SPF support, set these additional flags in
717 CFLAGS=-DSPF -I/usr/local/include
718 EXTRALIBS_EXIM=-L/usr/local/lib -lspf2
720 This assumes that the libspf2 files are installed in
721 their default locations.
723 You can now run SPF checks in incoming SMTP by using the "spf"
724 ACL condition in either the MAIL, RCPT or DATA ACLs. When
725 using it in the RCPT ACL, you can make the checks dependend on
726 the RCPT address (or domain), so you can check SPF records
727 only for certain target domains. This gives you the
728 possibility to opt-out certain customers that do not want
729 their mail to be subject to SPF checking.
731 The spf condition takes a list of strings on its right-hand
732 side. These strings describe the outcome of the SPF check for
733 which the spf condition should succeed. Valid strings are:
735 o pass The SPF check passed, the sending host
736 is positively verified by SPF.
737 o fail The SPF check failed, the sending host
738 is NOT allowed to send mail for the domain
739 in the envelope-from address.
740 o softfail The SPF check failed, but the queried
741 domain can't absolutely confirm that this
743 o none The queried domain does not publish SPF
745 o neutral The SPF check returned a "neutral" state.
746 This means the queried domain has published
747 a SPF record, but wants to allow outside
748 servers to send mail under its domain as well.
749 o err_perm This indicates a syntax error in the SPF
750 record of the queried domain. This should be
752 o err_temp This indicates a temporary error during all
753 processing, including Exim's SPF processing.
754 You may defer messages when this occurs.
756 You can prefix each string with an exclamation mark to invert
757 is meaning, for example "!fail" will match all results but
758 "fail". The string list is evaluated left-to-right, in a
759 short-circuit fashion. When a string matches the outcome of
760 the SPF check, the condition succeeds. If none of the listed
761 strings matches the outcome of the SPF check, the condition
764 Here is an example to fail forgery attempts from domains that
768 deny message = $sender_host_address is not allowed to send mail from ${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address_domain}{$sender_helo_name}}. \
769 Please see http://www.openspf.org/Why?scope=${if def:sender_address_domain {mfrom}{helo}};identity=${if def:sender_address_domain {$sender_address}{$sender_helo_name}};ip=$sender_host_address
771 --------------------- */
773 You can also give special treatment to specific domains:
776 deny message = AOL sender, but not from AOL-approved relay.
777 sender_domains = aol.com
779 --------------------- */
781 Explanation: AOL publishes SPF records, but is liberal and
782 still allows non-approved relays to send mail from aol.com.
783 This will result in a "neutral" state, while mail from genuine
784 AOL servers will result in "pass". The example above takes
785 this into account and treats "neutral" like "fail", but only
786 for aol.com. Please note that this violates the SPF draft.
788 When the spf condition has run, it sets up several expansion
792 This contains a human-readable string describing the outcome
793 of the SPF check. You can add it to a custom header or use
794 it for logging purposes.
797 This contains a complete Received-SPF: header that can be
798 added to the message. Please note that according to the SPF
799 draft, this header must be added at the top of the header
800 list. Please see section 10 on how you can do this.
802 Note: in case of "Best-guess" (see below), the convention is
803 to put this string in a header called X-SPF-Guess: instead.
806 This contains the outcome of the SPF check in string form,
807 one of pass, fail, softfail, none, neutral, err_perm or
811 This contains a string that can be used in a SMTP response
812 to the calling party. Useful for "fail".
814 In addition to SPF, you can also perform checks for so-called
815 "Best-guess". Strictly speaking, "Best-guess" is not standard
816 SPF, but it is supported by the same framework that enables SPF
817 capability. Refer to http://www.openspf.org/FAQ/Best_guess_record
818 for a description of what it means.
820 To access this feature, simply use the spf_guess condition in place
821 of the spf one. For example:
824 deny message = $sender_host_address doesn't look trustworthy to me
826 --------------------- */
828 In case you decide to reject messages based on this check, you
829 should note that although it uses the same framework, "Best-guess"
830 is NOT SPF, and therefore you should not mention SPF at all in your
833 When the spf_guess condition has run, it sets up the same expansion
834 variables as when spf condition is run, described above.
836 Additionally, since Best-guess is not standarized, you may redefine
837 what "Best-guess" means to you by redefining spf_guess variable in
838 global config. For example, the following:
841 spf_guess = v=spf1 a/16 mx/16 ptr ?all
842 --------------------- */
844 would relax host matching rules to a broader network range.
847 4. SRS (Sender Rewriting Scheme) Support
848 --------------------------------------------------------------
850 Exiscan currently includes SRS support via Miles Wilton's
851 libsrs_alt library. The current version of the supported
854 In order to use SRS, you must get a copy of libsrs_alt from
856 http://srs.mirtol.com/
858 Unpack the tarball, then refer to MTAs/README.EXIM
859 to proceed. You need to set
863 in your Local/Makefile.
866 --------------------------------------------------------------
868 --------------------------------------------------------------