Avoiding Spam [ was Re: list archive updates ]

[M. Hornung]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2002 at 14:42, Ethan Merritt wrote:

|I didn't know one could run or install things on a deskmail account.
|How would I go about doing that?  So far as I know I have no way
|to log in to it at all.

You need a computer of similar architecture with a compiler...if you're a
student use goodall.u.washington.edu.  If you're staff, faculty, or grad
student use mead.u.washington.edu.  Compile spamassassin and set it up to
run from within your account.  If you don't want to use 'mailfilt' for 
some reason then you can install 'procmail' in your account too.  Once 
everything's set up, just use 'scp' to copy it all over to your deskmail 
account.  You need at least the following to use spamassassin:

spamassassin binary
spamassassin rules
..forward file

It's not immediately obvious how you can change the shell on your deskmail
account.  Here's one way you can do so.  This only matters if 'gpw' says
your deskmail account is using the padded shell (psh).  If you run 'host
myuwnetid.deskmail.washington.edu' you'll see which system is your
"deskmail account".  For example:

	% host mtest2.deskmail.washington.edu
	mailer33.u.washington.edu is 140.142.16.24,  Aliases:  mtest2.deskmail.washington.edu

What is my current shell situation?

	% gpw       
	    Uid  User    PW  Home                  Shell               Name
	@157573  mtest2  p0  /mailer33/d51/mtest2  /usr/local/bin/psh
	H                p1  /ua12/d53/mtest2      /usr/local/bin/psh
	M                p2  /ua12/d53/mtest2      /bin/csh          

Now let's change my shell on mailer33 to something like bash (which is in
/etc/shells).  Note an important bit of weirdness here - after you run the
remote 'chsh' command, 'ssh' will appear to hang.  It's not hung.  'chsh'
is waiting for input which you don't see since you haven't made a truly
interactive session, so give it the name of the shell you want.  In a
moment it should proceed and return you back to your shell on homer/dante
at which point you should be able to 'ssh' to your deskmail box.

	% ssh mailer33 /usr/local/bin/chsh
	/usr/local/bin/bash
	Changing login shell for mtest2.
	Old shell: /usr/local/bin/psh
	New shell: homer28%


DISCLAIMERS - while you're playing with this stuff there's a possibility
you could lose mail, so be careful.  Tinkering around on your deskmail
account is completely unsupported by C&C.  In fact, they don't take well
to the idea that you might be toying with things that might potentially
cause trouble.  It's all too easy for people to blame their own mistakes
on others.  Last but not least, your particular deskmail computer can and
likely will change over time.  That means if you make scripts or anything
that rely on the name of your deskmail server, use
"myuwnetid.deskmail.washington.edu" instead.  There are probably more
warnings to be made here, so basically proceed with caution.  If anything 
fails it's your fault and not C&C's.

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