Justin Mason wrote: > Hi Daryl --
I've been thinking about this -- the ability for plugins to add headers.
If a plugin can add new template-tags (as described in Mail::SpamAssassin::Conf), and the plugin's config file then sets them using add_header, that should work, right? That would be the best way to do it I think.
- --j.
(briefer this time, $%#* Thunderbird crashed again -- I think I'll go back to Pine)
Using add_header makes adding static headers easier (well fewer keystrokes anyway) than editing the header hashes directly, but it doesn't offer any protection from two plugins trying to add the same header (say if I were to use a ClamAV and an F-Prot plugin, both might want to use X-Spam-Virus). There are one, maybe two problems with a plugin using add_header:
1) If two plugins add the same header, the last one wins (overwriting the first one's header data).
2) I haven't really looked into this since I haven't had a use for it myself, but I don't immediately see a way to add _custom_ dynamic data to a custom header (without editing the hashes directly).
Provided I'm not missing something, two solutions may be:
1) On a per message basis, a plugin requests a header name, and is returned a header name (either the header it wanted, or that header with an integer appended). This will ensure that there aren't conflicts between plugins, but it makes the header name unpredictable.
2) A note could be made in the wiki and pod that sets a standard way of naming a plugin's headers. I suggest that the standard way would be: X-Spam-PluginName: or X-Spam-PluginName-Blah: (either would be acceptable to use).
I think #2 would be the best solution (or #2 in addition to #1). #2 would work with the current code, and we'd only have to threaten to make fun of people, or force them to drink American beer, if they don't adbide by it.
Actually, now that I think of it, a 'plugin_add_header' method for use by plugins, that enforced #2, would probably be the best idea. This method would work like this:
plugin_add_header(name, spam|ham|all, data)
If a plugin were named 'CoolPlugin' you'd get the following headers, using the following name values.
name = '' X-Spam-CoolPlugin:
name = 'Virus' X-Spam-CoolPlugin-Virus:
Anyway... maybe this isn't really an issue. Plugins, at least public ones, don't seem to be too popular as of yet, so conflicts aren't really an issue right now.
Daryl
