C.3 Upgrading from 8.14 to 8.15

This release introduces certain changes that require the installer’s attention.

MFL file suffix changed

MFL source files now have the suffix ‘.mfl’ instead of ‘.mf’ which was used in previous versions. This is to avoid confusion with Metafont files, which also have suffix ‘.mf’.

All installed MFL module files have been renamed.

As of version 8.15, this change is of advisory nature, and the legacy ‘.mf’ suffix is still supported. Thus, for example if module ‘X’ was required and the file ‘X.mfl’ was not found, mailfromd will look for file ‘X.mf’. Nevertheless, module authors are urged to rename their module files accordingly.

In particular, the default script file is now named mailfromd.mfl. If it does not exist in the system configuration directory, then the file mailfromd.mf is looked up. Installers are advised to rename mailfromd.mf to mailfromd.mfl.

MFL module search path

Until now, mailfromd searched for module files in include search path, which was mostly due to historical reasons. Version 8.15 introduces a separate module search path for this purpose. See module search path, for details.

All modules shipped with mailfromd are installed to the new location: prefix/share/mailfromd/8.15.

For backward compatibility, if unable to find module file in the module search path, mailfromd retries the search using include search path, so that existing installation will still work. A warning message is issued for each module file found in include search path, to help you locate files that need moving to the new place.

This additional search phase will remain active during a transitional period of couple of new releases to help users accommodate to the change.

Special handlers

Special handlers (see begin/end) are defined using the same syntax as standard milter stage handlers, i.e.:

prog begin
do
  …
done

Old syntax (without the prog keyword) is still supported, but causes a deprecation warning. Module writers are advised to update their sources accordingly.

Two new special handlers are provided. See startup/shutdown, for details.

Deprecated features removed

Deprecated configuration statements lock-retry-count and lock-retry-timeout were removed in this version. Please use the locking statement instead. See Mailutils Configuration File in GNU Mailutils Manual, for a detailed decription. To make the long story short:

So that, instead of

lock-retry-count 10;
lock-retry-timeout 1;

you would write:

locking {
  retry-count 10;
  retry-sleep 1;
}