I moved my email handling to a new server a month or so ago and since them I’ve noticed a larger than usual amount of spam getting into my inbox rather than being caught by Spamassassin. Today I decided that enough was enough and that I’d investigate further.
My first theory was that in moving my configuration onto the new server, I’d somehow lost my database of Bayesian scores but no, that still seemed to be be intact.
Then I checked the spam score on on of the spam mails that had found its way into my inbox. It was 6.5. And everything over 5 is supposed to be identified as spam. Except on this box it wasn’t. I’d installed Spamassassin from an RPM file provided by Fedora. And they had changed the default spam score from 5 to 7.
And guess what. Every piece of spam that found its way into my inbox has a spam score of between 5 and 7.
So a quick edit to /etc/mail/spamassassin/local.cf and everything seems to be back to normal.
Which makes me wonder why the Fedora people decided to mess with the defaults. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Update: If you’re on a Fedora system and you’re having the same problem, don’t forget to run “service spamassassin restart” in order for your changes to be registered.
I have absolutely no idea how you have a 7 in your local.cf. Fedora has never shipped spamassassin with a changed default. You are either using a package from elsewhere, or some other software has modified your local.cf for some odd reason.
My Fedora core 4 has spam assassin with a default of 7 aslo. Thanks for the handy tip