I find the whole clamav subsystem to be fragile. I think this is because it is written as a tool which stands on its own, but I’m only using it as a subsystem hung onto the side of amavisd. So there is some hand-waving and jiggery pokery with the sockets and the permissions to enable the two to communicate, which has to be done manually, and is not properly a part of either subsystem.

I have another article on setting up this subsystem here, which records some of the stuff being done. I think basically, amavisd has to know where the shared socket is, in order to send messages to clamav to check, and they have to agree on the ownership and permissions of the socket and its directory.

Once in a while that stuff gets crosswise, and since I only vaguely understood what was going on, and only did the hand-waving by rote, I got annoyed with it. I’ve grown used to being able to just have things slot in and work, without my having to actually dig in and understand them. The nerve of these people, to expect me to know what is going on in order to make it work! Irony intended. Continue reading Clamav and Amavisd →