PSCS Wiki

Spam Filter Rules: DefineRule

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spam Filter Rules: DefineRule Statement DefineRule Version 2.1.9+ Purpose Defines a rule name, default weighting and description. See Rule names and weights The DefineRule statement requires a name, default weight and description, in the format DefineRule "" ""

Settings -> Local Mail -> General

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Settings -> Local Mail -> General The Local Mail -> General page allows you to configure a few simple, but fundamentally important settings. Default Domain In the majority† of cases, this is the domain name that VPOP3 will use when sending automated messages; for instance, users may receive a message from

SMTP Server Lua Scripting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-05-08T08:23:35+00:00

SMTP Server Lua Scripting The SMTP Server Lua Script is called SMTPSVR.LUA and can be edited from the Settings -> Scripts page in the VPOP3 settings. This script is called whenever an instance of the VPOP3 SMTP server is launched - ie whenever someone opens a connection to port 25 on the VPOP3 server to send it a message, whether from a local user or an incoming SMTP message.

Misc -> Advanced Tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Misc -> Advanced Tab Settings -> Misc Settings -> Advanced You will normally not need to change any settings on this page unless VPOP3 technical support have suggested it. If you do make changes, and want to go back to the original settings, the Restore Defaults button will restore the settings to their defaults.

Connections

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Connections In VPOP3 a Connection tells VPOP3 how to 'connect' to the Internet. VPOP3 supports up to 10 Connections, which can be either network connections or Dial-Up connections (using a modem) A Connection is linked to one Mail Sender and zero or more Mail Collectors.

Settings -> Diagnostics

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Settings -> Diagnostics The Diagnostics page allows you to enable, configure and disable various methods of diagnostic logging, within VPOP3. Log file overview By default, VPOP3 will keep two copies of most log files: * The current log file, with a

Address Book tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Address Book tab The Address Book tab within VPOP3 webmail enables you to manage your lists of contacts and add those contacts into a new or existing message. Substantial alterations to the interface were introduced in version 5. Both interfaces are documented.

Settings -> Attachment Processing

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Settings -> Attachment Processing The Attachment Processing page allows you to configure VPOP3 to perform two distinct functions on messages that contain attachments: * * Filtering The Filtering tab is divided into four main sections: Attachment Filtering

Autoresponder Commands

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Autoresponder Commands This article only applies to VPOP3 v4 and earlier A VPOP3 autoresponder can contain special text strings to create special behaviour, in addition to plain text as part of the response. There are three types of 'command' *

Database schema used in VPOP3 5.x

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Database schema used in VPOP3 5.x Note that all information in this section is subject to change. We do not guarantee that the database schema will remain constant, even between minor upgrade versions, so use this information at your own risk. Do not alter the database schema used by VPOP3 (including indexes, triggers & functions) or your whole VPOP3 data store may collapse.

Lua SMTP MX Control

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-02-24T15:49:48+00:00

Lua SMTP MX Control Every time VPOP3 is going to send messages using direct MX sending, it runs a script called mxout.lua which can be created/edited in Settings -> Scripts (or in the VPOP3 directory in VPOP3 v6.6 or earlier). Global Variables Starting with v8.8, the following global variables are defined:

Lua SMTP MX Server Rules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-02-24T15:50:03+00:00

Lua SMTP MX Server Rules Every time VPOP3 checks for remote MX server for sending messages using direct MX sending, it runs a script called mxserverrules.lua which can be created/edited in Settings -> Scripts (or in the VPOP3 directory in VPOP3 v6.6 or earlier).

Mappings

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Mappings In VPOP3, Mappings are a way of explicitly linking an email address to a user or list. They can also be used to indicate that an email address is remote, even though it would otherwise appear to be a local email address. In other email servers, a similar feature may be called 'aliases'

Mail Sender Advanced Relay Settings

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Mail Sender Advanced Relay Settings SMTP Return Address The SMTP Return Address (or Return Path) is a hidden part of a message which says where bounce messages (and other automated responses) should be sent. (It is not the same as the Reply address

Spam Filter Rules: DefineSetting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spam Filter Rules: DefineSetting Statement DefineSetting Version 2.1.9+ Purpose Defines a generic setting, the default value and description The DefineSetting statement requires a name, default value and description, in the format DefineSetting "" ""

Autoresponder Global Scripting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-03-23T15:29:29+00:00

Autoresponder Global Scripting For scripting to modify the autoresponder text which is embedded in the autoresponder itself, see Autoresponder Scripting The Autoresponder Global Script is executed for every autoresponse. It is stored in the 'Autoresponder.lua' script in Settings → Scripts

Database -> Backups Tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Database -> Backups Tab The Backups tab lets you specify how VPOP3 will make its daily backup of its database. We strongly recommend that you backup the database regularly in case of disk problems or file corruption. You can use the VPOP3 backup feature, or manually backup the PostgreSQL database using the pg_dump command, or use another program to backup the PostgreSQL database if you wish. Note that a simple disk copy will

DMARC Reporter Script

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-12T09:51:40+00:00

DMARC Reporter Script (from VPOP3 v8.6 onwards) This script lets you customise how VPOP3 sends DMARC reports to the sending domain. This can be useful in case the sending domain's DMARC configuration is incorrect as that can cause errors sending the reports or cause messages to be 'stuck' in VPOP3's Outqueue. These problems won't cause any lasting damage, but may be inconvenient or annoying, so you can alter the behaviour using Lua scripting

IMAP4 Server Scripting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-06-23T10:51:46+00:00

IMAP4 Server Scripting (Added in V6.12) DoCapability function When the IMAP4 CAPABILITY command is received, VPOP3 generates a capability string based on settings, then calls DoCapability(ipaddr, capabilities) * ipaddr = IP address of the client computer

POP3 Server -> General Tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

POP3 Server -> General Tab Services -> POP3 Server -> General tab This page sets the general settings for the POP3 service component in VPOP3. The POP3 service is how users collect their email from VPOP3 using a POP3 email client Service Name The Service Name is a name you give the service for your reference. It is only used in administrative displays and logging, so the name doesn't matter. Most people leave it at the default.

Route incoming POP3 mail by parsing message headers

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Route incoming POP3 mail by parsing message headers This routing method is generally used if you have a catch-all or 'multi-catch' mailbox with your Internet provider. With this method, VPOP3 will look at the To/Cc and other fields in the message headers to try to work out who the message is for. If the recipient is not listed in the headers (eg for BCCd mail) it may not be able to automatically detect who the message is for.

SMTP -> General tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

SMTP -> General tab This page is reached from Services -> SMTP Server, then the General tab. This page lets you set general settings for the SMTP service component of VPOP3. The SMTP service is how users send outgoing mail, and how incoming SMTP messages arrive. Service Name

Spam Filter Rules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-01-18T15:57:13+00:00

Spam Filter Rules VPOP3 Versions 2.1.7 and later have a built-in spam filter system which supports a simple script language optimised for content- and spam-filtering of email messages. This reference contains a definition of the spam filtering script language supported by VPOP3. Note that as later versions of VPOP3 are released, more language features may be added, so this reference indicates in which version of VPOP3 a particular feature was added.

Spamfilter Script Configuration tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spamfilter Script Configuration tab You reach this tab by going to Settings --> Spam Filter -> General, and then choose the General tab. The Spamfilter script has various settings that can be changed to alter the behaviour of the spamfilter. These are defined in the script, so may change with different versions of the script. The settings are currently:

Prune Rules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Prune Rules The Edit User -> Prune Rules tab can be used to create/edit rules which cause messages to be automatically deleted according to specified criteria. To add or edit a “prune rule”, press the Add Rule button. This will add a new rule to the table, with a set of default settings. Don't worry, this rule doesn't take effect until you press the Submit button.

Spamfilter White/Blacklists

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spamfilter White/Blacklists This lets you set whitelists & blacklists for the spam filter. There are four lists you can manage. The Whitelist Addresses & Blacklist Addresses lists let you specify sender email addresses to check. With the default rule weights, if a sender's address is on the Whitelist, it will be allowed through the spam filter, and if it is on the Blacklist it will be blocked. If an address is on both the Whitelist and the Blacklist, they will cancel each other out, and the me…

Settings -> Admin Settings

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Settings -> Admin Settings The Admin Settings page allows you to perform three key functions: * * * Choosing a Main Administrator The Main Administrator receives notification emails, such as daily reports and errors/problems which may require manual intervention.

Bulk Add Users

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Bulk Add Users VPOP3 contains a feature to quickly create several users, with default settings. From the Administration Settings -> Users page, you can click Bulk Add Users to launch a new window. You can then enter up to 10 users at a time, by specifying their usernames and passwords.

Database -> Message Store Tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Database -> Message Store Tab This tab says how VPOP3 handles its message store Message Store The Delay while moving messages setting tells VPOP3 how quickly to import messages into the new database structure if it was upgraded from version 2.x or earlier. Usually this is OK to be left as it is, but if there is some special requirement to import the messages more quickly, you can decrease this number, but that will increase the load on the server.

Error Handling Scripting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-11-20T10:18:01+00:00

Error Handling Scripting For most error messages that VPOP3 generates, it allows control of error messages, eg to limit the frequency of error messages if they would be generated repeatedly. These limits are set in Settings -> Admin Settings -> Message Control. However, if you want more granular control, you can use Lua scripting for more fine-grained control

Settings -> Global Address Book

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Settings -> Global Address Book The VPOP3 global address book allows users to access a shared address book from any email client which supports the 'LDAP' protocol (most modern email clients do, but they may call it 'directory service' Importing Entries

Import Users From File

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Import Users From File VPOP3 supports the importation and exportation of users, via a CSV file (see for a specification of the CSV file format). NOTE: This process is not designed to provide a complete backup of user data, nor is it intended to facilitate moving VPOP3 to a new computer. Instead, see the following relevant pages:

Database query to list failed message sends

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Database query to list failed message sends This will list failed outgoing messages from the last 3 days (with the default VPOP3 settings) At a command prompt in the VPOP3 directory run psql (The password is 'vpop3pass') Then, type select created,returnpath,subject,username || '@' || domain as recipient, latesterror from outqueue.outrecipients inner join outqueue.outmessages using(msgid) where failedtime is not null order by created desc;

ListServer Settings

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

ListServer Settings Settings -> ListServer Settings In VPOP3, the ListServer is an automated 'user' which handles mailing list requests, such as subscribe & unsubscribe commands. Anyone can send an email to the ListServer to subscribe to (public) mailing lists, or unsubscribe from mailing lists they are on, or see a list of public mailing lists etc.

Logging

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Logging Activity Summary Reports You can tell VPOP3 to send you a daily summary report each day. To do this check the box to say Send daily summary logs to, and choose the appropriate user (or “Main Administrator” if you want the reports to be sent to the

Lua Scripting

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2026-03-26T23:49:01+00:00

Lua Scripting Lua is a simple scripting programming language often used for embedding in other applications. VPOP3 uses it to customise behaviour in places where most people will be happy with the default behaviour, but occasionally people will want to do something more complicated. Rather than having lots of extra options to complicate things for most users, we have opted to go for a more flexible scripting facility.

Lua SMTP Relay Control

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2025-08-14T09:24:55+00:00

Lua SMTP Relay Control Every time VPOP3 is going to send messages via SMTP Relay, it runs a script called relayout.lua in the VPOP3 directory. Global Variables This script may have global variables, depending on your version of VPOP3. In VPOP3 3.0.0L and later, there are two read-only global variables set at the start of the script:

Mail tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Mail tab The Mail tab within VPOP3 webmail enables you to manage your sent and received messages. As you can see from the screenshot, the page is divided into three main sections: Menu bar General tab bar Status bar [Mail tab - VPOP3 Version 5 Webmail] Page structure Mail toolbar The Mail toolbar contains the following buttons:

Message Headers

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Message Headers This article describes some of the headers which VPOP3 can add to messages. Note that some of these may be added by customisable scripts used by VPOP3, so may not match exactly, but the descriptions below are for the defaults distributed with VPOP3.

Quarantine tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Quarantine tab The Quarantine tab within VPOP3 webmail is where you view and manage messages that have been quarantined by VPOP3's spam filter. As you can see from the screenshot, unlike many of the other webmail tabs, it is not divided into multiple sections:

Mail Connectors -> Connector Schedule

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Mail Connectors -> Connector Schedule The Connector Schedule tells VPOP3 when to connect to send mail using Mail Senders and collect mail using Mail Collectors. It does not affect incoming SMTP over a permanent connection, or LAN Forwarding. The connection schedule also tells VPOP3 when to check for updates to the

Mail Sender Advanced Settings

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Mail Sender Advanced Settings Mail Connectors -> Mail Senders -> (name) -> Advanced Advanced Domain Filtering For VPOP3 v6.11 and later, see the Domain Filtering section of the user manual. The Domain Filtering box lets you restrict which email messages are sent via this Mail Sender. You specify each rule on a separate line, and the message will be sent if it matches any sender rule

SMTP Server -> IDS/IPS

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

SMTP Server -> IDS/IPS The IDS/IPS tab lets you set logging and automatic blocking parameters for the IDS (Intrusion Detection System) and IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) component of the SMTP server. SMTP servers are regularly attacked, both by incoming mail attacks (spam/viruses etc) and relay attacks (by spammers and other malware distributors trying to send mail through them). Because of this, there is a system in VPOP3 which will track attack attempts on the SMTP service and can automat…

Spamfilter Rule Weights

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spamfilter Rule Weights To edit the spamfilter rule weights, go to Settings -> Spamfilter -> General -> Rule Weights The VPOP3 spamfilter contains several rules which test for certain things, eg 'adult words', or entries in real-time blacklist databases, or whitelisted email addresses etc.

Increase the spam score for certain recipients

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Increase the spam score for certain recipients This script is for the case where you want certain recipients to have a weighted score. For instance if you have users who have left and who mostly receive spam, but you don't want to reject their mail totally.

Increase the spam score for header marker

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2020-10-05T16:14:12+00:00

Increase the spam score for header marker This script is for the case where your ISP adds a header eg 'X-Spam: Yes' to the message header, and you want the VPOP3 spamfilter to quarantine messages with that marker. Add the following to the spamrules_userchecks.txt file. This script file only gets processed on incoming messages (the spamrules_localmail.txt script ends the processing of locally sent messages)

Spamrules example - increase spam score for long sender domain

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spamrules example - increase spam score for long sender domain This script is for the case where you to increase the spamminess of emails where the sender's email address contains a long domain. In this case we'll say if the sender's domain has 20 or more characters in the first section (between the @ and first .). Note that we do not necessarily recommend that you do this as it is not a very good indicator of spam, but it is something we've been asked for, so here it is.

Spamrules example - increase spam score if there are many links in the email

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spamrules example - increase spam score if there are many links in the email This script is for the case where you to increase the spamminess of emails where the email contains many links - in this case we'll say if the email contains 10 or more links. Note that we do not necessarily recommend that you do this as it is not a very good indicator of spam, and will probably catch a lot of newsletter type emails, but it is something we've been asked for, so here it is.

Spam Filter Rules: IfMatch

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Spam Filter Rules: IfMatch Statement IfMatch Version 2.1.7+ Purpose Allows you to perform a regular or substring match on a variable or part of the message being processed IfMatch statements require a data parameter and a search value, in the format

Increase the spam score for subject marker

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Increase the spam score for subject marker This script is for the case where your ISP adds a marker eg '[spam]' to the message subject, and you want the VPOP3 spamfilter to quarantine messages with that marker. Add the following to the spamrules_userchecks.txt file. This script file only gets processed on incoming messages (the spamrules_localmail.txt script ends the processing of locally sent messages)

Spam Filter Rules: Variables

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2023-08-14T16:01:01+00:00

Spam Filter Rules: Variables The VPOP3 spam filter script language supports simple variables. In most places these are specified as ${}, but in some places they are just specified as - for instance where a statement always puts its result into a variable.

Autoresponder

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Autoresponder An autoresponder is a way of automatically replying to messages as they arrive in a user's mailbox. In VPOP3, an incoming message must arrive in a user's mailbox for the autoresponder to trigger. If you use forwards, assistants, mappings, etc to divert a message before it arrives in the mailbox, the autoresponder will never trigger. If you want to use an autoresponder, but not keep the original message, then make sure the message arrives in the mailbox (eg by using an 'Assistant'…

Message Rules

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Message Rules The Edit User -> Message Rules tab can be used to create/edit rules which are processed when messages arrive in a User's mailbox. They can be used to copy messages, mark them as read, delete them, etc VPOP3 will process Message Rules in the order they appear in the list. If you want to change the order of the rules, you can drag & drop them into the correct order. Usually when VPOP3 has processed a rule, it will go on to check further rules, but you can use the

Permissions

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Permissions This section lets you configure the permissions that a particular user has. Allowed Protocols The Allowed Protocols section lets you specify which services this user has access to. Note that these settings affect access to the whole service. If you want users to be able to access a service from some IP addresses, but not from others, then use the

Users.Autoresponders table

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Users.Autoresponders table The Users.Autoresponders table contains the users' autoresponder definitions Columns * autoresponderid - this is a numeric id of the autoresponder entry (primary key) * owneruser - this is the numeric id of the user which the autoresponder belongs to (or 0 for a 'template' autoresponder)

Webmail -> Advanced tab

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Webmail -> Advanced tab This page is reached from Services -> Webmail Server, then the Advanced tab. Here you can set various options for the VPOP3 Webmail/settings service. Allow Password in URL If you check this option, then you can specify the user's password in a

Webmail Tabs

Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) — 2018-11-14T10:45:49+00:00

Webmail Tabs From version 4 onwards, VPOP3 webmail has a tabbed structure, which enables you to move between various screens with minimal effort. By using tabs, the entire webmail can be loaded in one go - so there is no need to waste time and bandwidth by downloading the same key components each time you switch between the various parts of the webmail.