Spamassassin: eval/lookup failed: available_nameservers: No DNS servers available!

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So what we got here. A lot of spam and error message in mail.log:

May 12 07:02:04 venus spamd[6392]: spamd: connection from localhost [127.0.0.1]:38665 to port 783, fd 5
May 12 07:02:04 venus spamd[6392]: spamd: checking message <l337@example.com> for qscand:1019
May 12 07:02:04 venus spamd[6392]: plugin: eval failed: available_nameservers: No DNS servers available!
May 12 07:02:04 venus spamd[6392]: spf: lookup failed: available_nameservers: No DNS servers available!

Turns out spamd was not doing fully its job due to DNS failures. DNS was well configured and connection to the internet available.
There is a bug in Net::DNS and the solution was provided on SpamAssassin's bug tracker page: https://bz.apache.org/SpamAssassin/show_bug.cgi?id=7057 .

Steps followed

Backed up the current DnsResolver.pm:

venus:~# cp /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.0/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.0/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm.

Saved the patch lines found in the solution page in a file:
NOTE: "-" means that line will be removed from file and "+" means that line will be added.

venus:~# cat dns_resolver.patch
--- spamassassin/trunk/lib/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm	2014/06/18 16:47:04	1603517
+++ spamassassin/trunk/lib/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm	2014/06/18 16:48:04	1603518
@@ -204,8 +204,10 @@
     @ns_addr_port = @{$self->{conf}->{dns_servers}};
     dbg("dns: servers set by config to: %s", join(', ',@ns_addr_port));
   } elsif ($res) {  # default as provided by Net::DNS, e.g. /etc/resolv.conf
-    @ns_addr_port = map(untaint_var("[$_]:" . $res->{port}),
-                        @{$res->{nameservers}});
+    my @ns = $res->UNIVERSAL::can('nameservers') ? $res->nameservers
+                                                 : @{$res->{nameservers}};
+    my $port = $res->UNIVERSAL::can('port') ? $res->port : $res->{port};
+    @ns_addr_port = map(untaint_var("[$_]:" . $port), @ns);
     dbg("dns: servers obtained from Net::DNS : %s", join(', ',@ns_addr_port));
   }
   return @ns_addr_port;

Patched DnsResolver.pm:

venus:~# patch -p0 < dns_resolver.patch
can't find file to patch at input line 3
Perhaps you used the wrong -p or --strip option?
The text leading up to this was:
--------------------------
|--- spamassassin/trunk/lib/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm	2014/06/18 16:47:04	1603517
|+++ spamassassin/trunk/lib/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm	2014/06/18 16:48:04	1603518
--------------------------
File to patch: /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.0/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm
patching file /usr/local/share/perl/5.10.0/Mail/SpamAssassin/DnsResolver.pm

Spamassassin restarted:

venus:~# /etc/init.d/spamd restart
Restarting SpamAssassin Mail Filter Daemon: spamd.

Now, error is gone and most important: no more spam again!

Thou shalt not steal!

If you want to use this information on your own website, please remember: by doing copy/paste entirely it is always stealing and you should be ashamed of yourself! Have at least the decency to create your own text and comments and run the commands on your own servers and provide your output, not what I did!

Or at least link back to this website.

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