NAME
Mail::Log::Trace - Trace an email through the mailsystem logs.
SYNOPSIS
use Mail::Log::Trace;
my $tracer = Mail::Log::Trace::SUBCLASS->new({log_file => 'path/to/log'});
$tracer->set_message_id('message_id');
$tracer->find_message();
my $from_address = $tracer->get_from_address();
etc.DESCRIPTION
This is the root-level class for a mail tracer: It allows you to search for and find messages in maillogs. Accessors are provided for info common to most maillogs: Specific subclasses may have further accessors depending on their situation.
Probably the two methods most commonly used (and sort of the point of this module) are find_message and find_message_info. Both are simply stubs for subclasses to implement: The first is defined to find the first (or first from current location...) mention of the specified message in the log. Depending on the log format that may or may not be the only mention, and there may be information missing/incomplete at that point.
find_message_info should find all information about a specific message in the log. (Well, all information about a specific instance of the message: If there are multiple messages that would match the info provided it must find info on the first found.) That may mean searching through the log for other information.
If you just need to find if the message exists, use find_message: it will be faster (or at the least, the same speed. It should never be slower.)
USAGE
This is a an object-orientend module, with specific methods documented below.
The string coersion is overloaded to return the class name, and the file we are working with. Boolean currently checks to see if we were able to open the file. (Which is kinda silly, as we'd through an error if we couldn't.)
All times are expected to be in Unix epoc-time format.
new (constructor)
The base constructor for the Mail::Log::Trace classes. It takes inital values for the following in a hash: from_address, to_address, message_id, log_file. The only required value is the path to the logfile.
use Mail::Log::Trace;
my $object = Mail::Log::Trace->new({ from_address => 'from@example.com',
to_address => 'to@example.com',
message_id => 'messg.id.string',
log_file => 'path/to/log',
});SETTERS
set_from_address
Sets the from address of the message we are looking for.
set_message_id
Sets the message_id of the message we are looking for. (Check with the specific parser class for what that means in a particular log format.)
set_recieved_time
Sets the recieved time of the message we are looking for. (The time this machine got the message.)
set_sent_time
Sets the sent time of the message we are looking for. (The time this machine sent the message.)
set_relay_host
Sets the relay host of the message we are looking for. Commonly either the relay we recieved it from, or the relay we sent it to. (Depending on the logfile.)
set_subject
Sets the subject of the message we are looking for.
set_parser_class
Sets the parser class to use when searching the log file. A subclass will have a 'default' parser that it will normally use: This is to allow easy site-specific logfile formats based on more common formats. To use you would subclass the default parser for the log file format of the base program to handle the site's specific changes.
Takes the name of a class as a string, and will throw an exception (Mail::Log::Exceptions::InvalidParameter) if that class name doesn't start with Mail::Log::Parse.
set_log
Sets the log file we are searching throuh. Takes a full or relative path. If it doesn't exist, or can't be read by the current user, it will throw an exception. (Mail::Log::Exceptions::LogFile) Note that it does not try to open it immedeately. That will be done at first attempt to read from the logfile.
set_to_address
Sets the to address of the message we are looking for. Multiple addresses can be specified, they will all be added, with duplicates skipped. This method completely clears the array: there will be no addresses in the list except those given to it. Duplicates will be consolidated: Only one of any particular address will be in the final array.
As a special case, passing undef to this will set the array to undef.
add_to_address
Adds to the list of to addresses we are looking for. It does not delete the array first.
Duplicates will be consolidated, so that the array will only have one of any given address. (No matter the order they are given in.)
remove_to_address
Removes a single to address from the array.
GETTERS
get_from_address
Gets the from address. (Either as set using the setter, or as found in the log.)
get_to_address
Gets the to address array. (Either as set using the setters, or as found in the log.)
Will return a reference to an array, or 'undef' if the to address has not been set/found.
get_message_id
Gets the message_id. (Either as set using the setter, or as found in the log.)
get_subject
Gets the message subject. (Either as set using the setter, or as found in the log.)
get_recieved_time
Gets the recieved time. (Either as set using the setter, or as found in the log.)
get_sent_time
Gets the sent time. (Either as set using the setter, or as found in the log.)
get_relay_host
Gets the relay host. (Either as set using the setter, or as found in the log.)
get_log
Returns the path to the logfile we are reading.
get_connect_time
Returns the time the remote host connected to this host to send the message.
get_disconnect_time
Returns the time the remote host disconnected from this host after sending the message.
get_delay
Returns the total delay in this stage in processing the message.
get_all_info
Returns message info as returned from the parser, for more direct/complete access.
(It's probably a good idea to avoid using this, but it is useful and arguably needed under certain circumstances.)
Utility subroutines
clear_message_info
Clears all known information on the current message, but not on the log.
Use to start searching for a new message.
find_message
Finds the first/next occurance of a message in the log. Can be passed any of the above information in a hash format.
Default is to search forward in the log: If you have already done a search, this will start searching where the previous search ended. To start over at the beginning of the logfile, set from_start as true in the parameter hash.
This method needs to be overridden by the subclass: by default it will throw an Mail::Log::Exceptions::Unimplemented error.
find_message_info
Finds as much information as possible about a specific occurance of a message in the logfile. Acts much the same as find_message, other than the fact that once it finds a message it will do any searching necarry to find all information on that message connection.
(Also needs to be implemented by subclasses.)
BUGS
None known at the moment...
REQUIRES
Scalar::Util, Mail::Log::Exceptions.
Some subclass, and probably a Mail::Log::Parse class to be useful.
HISTORY
1.00.01 Dec 1, 2008 - Requirements fix, no code changes.
1.00.00 Nov 28, 2008 - original version.
AUTHOR
Daniel T. Staal
CPAN ID: DSTAAL
dstaal@usa.netCOPYRIGHT
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
This licence will expire in 30 years, or five years after the author's death, whichever occurs last.