bhmail.py

version: 1.0.0

usage: bhmail.py [options]

Send email regarding BlockHosts blocked IP addresses

options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -q, --quiet           Be as quiet as possible - only print out error
                        messages
  -v, --verbose         Be verbose - print errors, warnings, and info messages
  -g, --debug           Be chatty - print out debug level messages also
  --dry-run             Don't send any email, just print out email body to
                        stdout instead (False)
  --check-ip=IPADDRESS  Instead of mailing entire list of blocked address,
                        just send email if given IP address is being blocked
                        ("")
  --echo=TAG            Prints TAG on stderr and syslog, may be used to
                        identify a run of bhmail ()

  Configuration Options:
    Hard-coded defaults can be overridden by the values in the config file
    - if it exists at /etc/blockhosts.cfg, and those values can be
    overriden by using the command-line options.  The current values are
    shown in () below. This program uses a section in the block file
    (/etc/hosts.allow) to find blockhosts data. This section is demarcated
    by two identical marker lines, with this text - without the quotes:
    "#---- BlockHosts Additions". Also see the "INSTALL" file in the
    blockhosts source package for a detailed example of the block file.

    --blockfile=FILE    Name of hosts-block-file to read (/etc/hosts.allow)
    --notify-address=ADDRESS
                        Address to send notification emails to
                        ("root@localhost.localdomain")
    --sender-address=ADDRESS
                        Address appearing as sender address in notification
                        emails ("BlockHosts
                        ")
    --smtp-server=HOST  SMTP server to send notification emails through
                        ("localhost")
    --smtp-user=USERNAME
                        If SMTP authentication is required, use this username
                        ("")
    --smtp-passwd=PASSWORD
                        If SMTP authentication is required, use this password
                        ("")

DETAILS

    Sends email if a given IP address is being blocked by blockhosts,
    and includes all currently blocked IP addresses in the email message.
    Will not send email if given IP address is not yet blocked, or if not a
    single address is being blocked.
    
    SMTP is required, it is used for sending email; email header data can be
    specified as arguments at run-time, or in the same config file as used by
    blockhosts. Defaults can be seen by running with the --help argument, if
    you have email setup to receive at root@localhost.localdomain, with
    SMTP available at localhost, the defaults might be sufficient to make
    this work. Otherwise, edit the section named [bhmail] in the blockhosts.cfg
    config file.
    
    This script can be run sequentially after each run of blockhosts.py (to
    get notification if currently connecting IP address will be blocked in
    future), or can be run periodically using cron (to get list of all
    blocked addresses).
    
    Example hosts.allow script:
    (/usr/bin/blockhosts.py --echo "%c-%s" ; /usr/bin/bhmail.py --check-ip "%h" --echo "%h")
    
    Example cron run:
    /usr/bin/bhmail.py --echo "cron"
    
    ====
    Based on 29/12/06 patch by Erik Ljungström      erik [-at-] ibiblio dot 0rg
        http://www.aczoom.com/cms/forums/blockhosts/patch-enabling-email-alerts
    
    ====
    bhmail.py Script License
    This work is hereby released into the Public Domain.
    To view a copy of the public domain dedication, visit
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/ or send a letter to
    Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
    
    Author: Avinash Chopde 
    Created: February 2007
    http://www.aczoom.com/cms/blockhosts/
    
    
See file INSTALL for installation instructions.

See file blockhosts.cfg for site configuration parameters.

Visit blockhosts home page and forum for details and discussions.