SAUCE (paranoid anti-spam mailserver) 0.7.7 BETA released

[Ian Jackson]

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I am pleased to announce the first public BETA release of GNU SAUCE,
version 0.7.7.

This is the first version to be announced on info-gnu for some time;
0.7.x is much improved from previous 0.5.x and 0.6.x releases.  The
full list of improvements is too long to list here.  SAUCE was not
previously useful for most sites due to its poor configurability/
bypassability and poor logging.  It's much better now.

SAUCE (Software Against Unsolicited Commercial Email) is an SMTP
server that sits between the Internet and your actual mail software.
It was originally written to help in the fight against spam, but it
also helps encourage good configuration and administration in general.

SAUCE has various tactics for reducing incoming spam:
  * Extremely aggressive checks on incoming email and its sources.
    If any problems are discovered the mail is not accepted.
  * Spambait addresses: when mail is sent to a bait address its
    sources are blacklisted.
  * Mail from previously-unknown sources is delayed to give them a
    chance to try a bait address or get their account cancelled.

Pros:
  * SAUCE is very sucessful. It can cut spam by an order of magnitude.
  * Administrators using SAUCE have to deal with much less bounced mail.
  * SAUCE never bounces legitimate mail from correct, non-spamming sites.

Cons:
  * Most spam sources are misconfigured, but many other sites are too,
    and SAUCE will bounce their mail. SAUCE is not for you if clueless
    strangers often send you mail that's important to you.
  * SAUCE delays mail from new senders and sites.
  * SAUCE is something of a resource hog.
  * SAUCE is hard to install, especially if you're not using Debian.
  * SAUCE is controversial, because it deliberately rejects mail for
    technical deficiencies which wouldn't make it undeliverable.

SAUCE is not a mailer. You need existing SMTP software, which must
have standard anti-spam features such as relay prevention, checking
recipients during the SMTP conversation, etc. Currently you must be
using Exim.

For more information, including details of the mailing lists, CVS
repository, and distribution files, visit
  http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ian/sauce/
The source code is also available via the GNU FTP site and its
mirrors.  0.7.7 BETA should soon be available at most GNU mirrors.

If you have queries, please join the sauce-discuss mailing list in
preference to mailing the author.  Thank you.

Debian users can acquire the current version of SAUCE from the Debian
unstable distribution, and can use usual Debian support channels.

MD5 checksums:
f9910122f695ed2696c593ab1765a089  sauce-0.7.7.tar.gz
5c4c7c317e5a436a2c4a493bbc6e6fea  sauce_0.7.7.dsc
f19dc954d2ce731dc9f6a3e8b7b8b132  sauce_0.7.7_all.deb
a03aa5eea3b81867fcdebd55ed118d8a  sauce_0.7.7_i386.changes

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