Mail::...tRegex(3pm)

💖 Mail::Milter::Module::ConnectRegex — the manual, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the Mail::Milter::Module::ConnectRegex page, straight out of the User Contributed Perl Documentation pile. the header up top is a little truncated situation (it literally says Mail::...tRegex(3pm), no cap), but we all know who she is. let's get into it. 🦋

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✨ NAME ✨

Mail::Milter::Module::ConnectRegex — a milter that accepts or rejects connecting hosts when they match your regex(es). she's giving gatekeeper. 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

use Mail::Milter::Module::ConnectRegex;

my $milter = new Mail::Milter::Module::ConnectRegex('^foo$');

my $milter2 = &ConnectRegex(qw{^foo$ ^bar$}); # convenience

$milter2->set_message('Connections from %H disallowed');

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so basically: this milter module rejects any connecting host whose hostname or IP address matches the regular expressions you hand her. she's very picky. very discerning. very "you're not on the list". 🚫

and plot twist — she can also serve as a whitelisting Chain element instead, so she's not just a hater, she's flexible. see accept_match() below for that whole situation. 👑

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🎀 METHODS 🎀

⭐ new(REGEX[, ...])

takes one or more regular expressions, either as plain strings or as qr// precompiled regexes. she tests them in sequence, and the first match terminates checking — no second chances, no do-overs, periodt.

⚠️ important bestie note: all IP address literals get wrapped in [square brackets]. so if you wanna test an IP address instead of a hostname, you gotta make sure those brackets are actually there:

^\[ADDRESS\]$

🦋 accept_match(FLAG)

• if FLAG is 0 (which is the default), a matching regex means the connection gets rejected. bye. 👋
• if FLAG is 1, a matching regex makes this module return SMFIS_ACCEPT instead. this is the glow-up that lets a ConnectRegex live inside a Mail::Milter::Chain container (in accept_break(1) mode) and function as a whitelist rather than a blacklist. she's on your side now. 🫶

this method returns a reference to the object itself, so you can chain the method calls together. so convenient of her. ✨

🌈 set_message(MESSAGE)

sets the message used when rejecting connections. this string may contain the substring %H, which gets replaced by the matching hostname or IP address. very personalized. very bespoke. 💖

this method also returns a reference to the object itself, so yes, chaining again. she loves a chain. ⛓️✨

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💀 BUGS 💀

in Sendmail 8.11 and 8.12, a milter rejection at the connect stage does not allow the reply message to be set — it just becomes "not accepting messages". tragic. but this module still attempts to set the reply code and message anyway, in the hope that this will be fixed someday. she's manifesting. 🙏✨

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Todd Vierling, <tv@duh.org> <tv@pobox.com>

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🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

• Mail::Milter::Object

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🙈 POD ERRORS 🙈

hey! the above document had some coding errors, which are explained below:

Around line 71:

You can't have =items (as at line 83) unless the first thing after the =over is an =item

(not me snitching on the pod, but okay, we report the errors around here. 💀)

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and that's the whole page, bestie! this was perl v5.36.0, dated 2023-01-22, and the footer was out here calling her Mail::...tRegex(3pm) one more time for the road. mwah. 💅💖✨