File: //usr/share/man/man1/sa-compile.1
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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "SA-COMPILE 1"
.TH SA-COMPILE 1 "2026-03-06" "perl v5.26.3" "User Contributed Perl Documentation"
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.SH "NAME"
sa\-compile \- compile SpamAssassin ruleset into native code
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
\&\fBsa-compile\fR [options]
.PP
Options:
.PP
.Vb 10
\& \-\-list Output base string list to STDOUT
\& \-\-sudo Use \*(Aqsudo\*(Aq for privilege escalation
\& \-\-keep\-tmps Keep temporary files instead of deleting
\& \-C path, \-\-configpath=path, \-\-config\-file=path
\& Path to standard configuration dir
\& \-p prefs, \-\-prefspath=file, \-\-prefs\-file=file
\& Set user preferences file
\& \-\-siteconfigpath=path Path for site configs
\& (default: /usr/etc/mail/spamassassin)
\& \-\-updatedir=path Directory to place updates
\& (default: /var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/<perlversion>/4.000002)
\& \-\-cf=\*(Aqconfig line\*(Aq Additional line of configuration
\& \-D, \-\-debug [area=n,...] Print debugging messages
\& \-V, \-\-version Print version
\& \-h, \-\-help Print usage message
.Ve
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
sa-compile uses \f(CW\*(C`re2c\*(C'\fR to compile the site-wide parts of the SpamAssassin
ruleset. No part of user_prefs or any files included from user_prefs can be
built into the compiled set.
.PP
This compiled set is then used by the
\&\f(CW\*(C`Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Rule2XSBody\*(C'\fR plugin to speed up
SpamAssassin's operation, where possible, and when that plugin is loaded.
.PP
\&\f(CW\*(C`re2c\*(C'\fR can match strings much faster than perl code, by constructing a \s-1DFA\s0 to
match many simple strings in parallel, and compiling that to native object
code. Not all SpamAssassin rules are amenable to this conversion, however.
.PP
This requires \f(CW\*(C`re2c\*(C'\fR (see \f(CW\*(C`https://re2c.org/\*(C'\fR), and the C
compiler used to build Perl \s-1XS\s0 modules, be installed.
.PP
Note that running this, and creating a compiled ruleset, will have no
effect on SpamAssassin scanning speeds unless you also edit your \f(CW\*(C`v320.pre\*(C'\fR
file and ensure this line is uncommented:
.PP
.Vb 1
\& loadplugin Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Rule2XSBody
.Ve
.PP
Additionally, \*(L"sa-compile\*(R" will not restart \*(L"spamd\*(R" or otherwise cause a scanner to
reload the now-compiled ruleset automatically.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.IP "\fB\-\-list\fR" 4
.IX Item "--list"
Output the extracted base strings to \s-1STDOUT,\s0 instead of generating
the C extension code.
.IP "\fB\-\-sudo\fR" 4
.IX Item "--sudo"
Use \f(CWsudo(8)\fR to run code as 'root' when writing files to the compiled-rules
storage area (which is \f(CW\*(C`/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.026/4.000002\*(C'\fR by default).
.IP "\fB\-\-quiet\fR" 4
.IX Item "--quiet"
Produce less diagnostic output. Errors will still be displayed.
.IP "\fB\-\-keep\-tmps\fR" 4
.IX Item "--keep-tmps"
Keep temporary files after the script completes, instead of
deleting them.
.IP "\fB\-C\fR \fIpath\fR, \fB\-\-configpath\fR=\fIpath\fR, \fB\-\-config\-file\fR=\fIpath\fR" 4
.IX Item "-C path, --configpath=path, --config-file=path"
Use the specified path for locating the distributed configuration files.
Ignore the default directories (usually \f(CW\*(C`/usr/share/spamassassin\*(C'\fR or similar).
.IP "\fB\-\-siteconfigpath\fR=\fIpath\fR" 4
.IX Item "--siteconfigpath=path"
Use the specified path for locating site-specific configuration files. Ignore
the default directories (usually \f(CW\*(C`/etc/mail/spamassassin\*(C'\fR or similar).
.IP "\fB\-\-updatedir\fR" 4
.IX Item "--updatedir"
By default, \f(CW\*(C`sa\-compile\*(C'\fR will use the system-wide rules update directory:
.Sp
.Vb 1
\& /var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.026/4.000002
.Ve
.Sp
If the updates should be stored in another location, specify it here.
.Sp
Note that use of this option is not recommended; if sa-compile is placing the
compiled rules the wrong directory, you probably need to rebuild SpamAssassin
with different \f(CW\*(C`Makefile.PL\*(C'\fR arguments, instead of overriding sa-compile's
runtime behaviour.
.IP "\fB\-\-cf='config line'\fR" 4
.IX Item "--cf='config line'"
Add additional lines of configuration directly from the command-line, parsed
after the configuration files are read. Multiple \fB\-\-cf\fR arguments can be
used, and each will be considered a separate line of configuration.
.IP "\fB\-p\fR \fIprefs\fR, \fB\-\-prefspath\fR=\fIprefs\fR, \fB\-\-prefs\-file\fR=\fIprefs\fR" 4
.IX Item "-p prefs, --prefspath=prefs, --prefs-file=prefs"
Read user score preferences from \fIprefs\fR (usually
\&\f(CW\*(C`$HOME/.spamassassin/user_prefs\*(C'\fR) .
.IP "\fB\-D\fR [\fIarea,...\fR], \fB\-\-debug\fR [\fIarea,...\fR]" 4
.IX Item "-D [area,...], --debug [area,...]"
Produce debugging output. If no areas are listed, all debugging information is
printed. Diagnostic output can also be enabled for each area individually;
\&\fIarea\fR is the area of the code to instrument.
.Sp
For more information about which areas (also known as channels) are
available, please see the documentation at
<https://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/DebugChannels>.
.IP "\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR" 4
.IX Item "-h, --help"
Print help message and exit.
.IP "\fB\-V\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR" 4
.IX Item "-V, --version"
Print sa-compile version and exit.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\fBMail::SpamAssassin\fR\|(3)
\&\fBspamassassin\fR\|(1)
\&\fBspamd\fR\|(1)
.SH "PREREQUISITES"
.IX Header "PREREQUISITES"
\&\f(CW\*(C`Mail::SpamAssassin\*(C'\fR
\&\f(CW\*(C`re2c\*(C'\fR
\&\f(CW\*(C`Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Rule2XSBody\*(C'\fR
.SH "BUGS"
.IX Header "BUGS"
See <https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/>
.SH "AUTHORS"
.IX Header "AUTHORS"
The Apache SpamAssassin(tm) Project <https://spamassassin.apache.org/>
.SH "LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT"
SpamAssassin is distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0, as
described in the file \f(CW\*(C`LICENSE\*(C'\fR included with the distribution.
.PP
Copyright (C) 2015 The Apache Software Foundation