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GeoIP 2

Offline ReetP

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GeoIP 2
« on: December 18, 2018, 01:42:29 AM »
I have previously mentioned that the old GeoIP v1 databases that are currently used by the smeserver-geoip package are going EOL on the 1st Jan.

The DBs have not actually been updated since early this year and will be withdrawn shortly.

This means that if you use the contrib then geoipupdate may well start to complain it cannot find the databases online when it tries to update via cron. I know there are quite a few users out there.

Some while ago I updated the contrib to use the GeoIP v2 databases and I have been running it without issues on a few boxes for several months. I have even packaged the latest spamassasin (3.4.2) which is GeoIP 2 aware.

So why not just release it?

Ahhhh. That's where the fun starts.

The package requires a perl Maxmind package to read the databases, and that in turn requires an awful lot of other packages that are not in SME or any upstream repos as yet. The only place I could find them was in the openfusion repositories.

The intention for some time has been to see if we can import the source code into SME ourselves. I have been trying, and failing, to do that for a while. Spamassassin builds on my build server, and seems to run OK on my test VM, and is uploaded to buildsys, but it spectacularly fails to build for reasons unknown to me (awstats too). I'm unlikely at present to be able to get any perl packages imported (and it is a real rats nest too - nothing is ever easy)

Why has this happened?

Quite simply we are short of manpower. The most experienced people are busy with jobs and lives and earning a crust. A few of us with less experience and knowledge have done what we can do recently, but there is a limit to our knowledge and expertise, and we just don't have enough to fix this one. I have also spent way too much of my work time trying to figure it out.

There are also a number of other pressing code issues that need to be looked at too. We are currently too few to be able to do all that is required. My own time is now limited for the next few weeks too. Xmas, wife, family. All that jazz.

So, the upshot is this:

If you continue to use smeserver-geoip then geoipupdate will likely fail/complain sometime after 1st Jan. Don't raise a bug - it's already there - see below.

The DBs are already out of date and that will increase over time. If you have to reinstall there is a DB package with some old DBs that will get installed and it will continue to function, albeit with degraded capability. To stop errors from geoipupdate you will need to edit the crontab template and then hope that at some stage the packages get imported and updated on SME.

Alternatively use the test version. This is the relevant bug:

https://bugs.contribs.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9033

Essentially you need the openfusion repo:

https://wiki.contribs.org/Openfusion

Then:

Quote
yum --enablerepo=smetest,openfusion install smeserver-geoip

The installed version will be smeserver-geoip-1.2.3

DO NOT permanently enable the SMETEST repo - you may break your server with other packages that are in smetest.

You will have to make your own choice if you trust the openfusion repo, and the test package, and the fact that you are installing to a production server.

If you have a spare VM then do please test and give us feedback on the bug.

I'm really sorry that I can't do more. Quite frankly I feel pretty gutted and pissed off, but I know that at least I have tried and given it my best shot.

Happy Xmas and New Year to one and all.

May your servers continue to run 24/7

...
1. Read the Manual
2. Read the Wiki
3. Don't ask for support on Unsupported versions of software
4. I have a job, wife, and kids and do this in my spare time. If you want something fixed, please help.

Bugs are easier than you think: http://wiki.contribs.org/Bugzilla_Help

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