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NAME

freshclam.conf - Configuration file for Clam AntiVirus database update tool

DESCRIPTION

The file freshclam.conf configures the Clam AntiVirus Database Updater, freshclam(1).

FILE FORMAT

The file consists of comments and options with arguments. Each line which starts with a hash (#) symbol is ignored by the parser. Options and arguments are case sensitive and of the form Option Argument. The arguments are of the following types:

DIRECTIVES

When an option is not used (hashed or doesn’t exist in the configuration file) freshclam takes a default action.
Example

If this option is set freshclam will not run.

LogFileMaxSize SIZE

Limit the size of the log file. The logger will be automatically disabled if the file is greater than SIZE. Value of 0 disables the limit.
Default: 1M

LogTime BOOL

Log time with each message.
Default: no

LogSyslog BOOL

Enable logging to Syslog. May be used in combination with UpdateLogFile.
Default: disabled.

LogFacility STRING

Specify the type of syslog messages - please refer to ’man syslog’ for facility names.
Default: LOG_LOCAL6

LogVerbose BOOL

Enable verbose logging.
Default: disabled

LogRotate BOOL

Rotate log file. Requires LogFileMaxSize option set prior to this option.
Default: no

PidFile STRING

Write the daemon’s pid to the specified file.
Default: disabled

DatabaseDirectory STRING

Path to a directory containing database files.
Default: /var/lib/clamav

Foreground BOOL

Don’t fork into background.
Default: no

Debug BOOL

Enable debug messages in libclamav.
Default: no

UpdateLogFile STRING

Enable logging to a specified file. Highly recommended.
Default: disabled.

DatabaseOwner STRING

When started by root, drop privileges to a specified user.
Default: clamav

Checks NUMBER

Number of database checks per day.
Default: 12

DNSDatabaseInfo STRING

Use DNS to verify the virus database version. FreshClam uses DNS TXT records to verify the versions of the database and software itself. With this directive you can change the database verification domain.
WARNING: Please don’t change it unless you’re configuring freshclam to use your own database verification domain.
Default: enabled, pointing to current.cvd.clamav.net

DatabaseMirror STRING

DatabaseMirror specifies to which mirror(s) freshclam should connect. You should have at least one entries: database.clamav.net. Now that CloudFlare is being used as our Content Delivery Network (CDN), this one domain name works world-wide to direct freshclam to the closest geographic endpoint.
Default: database.clamav.net

PrivateMirror STR

This option allows you to easily point freshclam to private mirrors. If PrivateMirror is set, freshclam does not attempt to use DNS to determine whether its databases are out-of-date, instead it will use the If-Modified-Since request or directly check the headers of the remote database files. For each database, freshclam first attempts to download the CLD file. If that fails, it tries to download the CVD file. This option overrides DatabaseMirror, DNSDatabaseInfo and ScriptedUpdates. It can be used multiple times to provide fall-back mirrors.
Default: disabled

MaxAttempts NUMBER

How many attempts (per mirror) to make before giving up.
Default: 3 (per mirror)

ScriptedUpdates BOOL

With this option you can control scripted updates. It’s highly recommended to keep it enabled.
Default: yes

TestDatabases BOOL

With this option enabled, freshclam will attempt to load new databases into memory to make sure they are properly handled by libclamav before replacing the old ones.
Default: enabled

CompressLocalDatabase BOOL

By default freshclam will keep the local databases (.cld) uncompressed to make their handling faster. With this option you can enable the compression; the change will take effect with the next database update.
Default: no

ExtraDatabase STRING

Download an additional 3rd party signature database distributed through the ClamAV mirrors. This option can be used multiple times.
Default: disabled

ExcludeDatabase STRING

Exclude a standard signature database (opt-out). This option can be used multiple times.
Default: disabled

DatabaseCustomURL STRING

With this option you can provide custom sources for database files. This option can be used multiple times. Support for:
http(s)://, ftp(s)://, or file:// Example usage:
DatabaseCustomURL https://myserver.com:4567/allow_list.wdb
Default: disabled

HTTPProxyServer STR, HTTPProxyPort NUMBER

Use given proxy server and TCP port for database downloads. The HTTPProxyServer may be prefixed with [scheme]:// to specify which kind of proxy is used.
http:// HTTP Proxy. Default when no scheme or proxy type is specified.
https:// HTTPS Proxy. (Added in 7.52.0 for OpenSSL, GnuTLS and NSS)
socks4:// SOCKS4 Proxy.
socks4a:// SOCKS4a Proxy. Proxy resolves URL hostname.
socks5:// SOCKS5 Proxy.
socks5h:// SOCKS5 Proxy. Proxy resolves URL hostname.

HTTPProxyUsername STR,HTTPProxyPassword STRING

Proxy usage is authenticated through given username and password.
Default: disabled

HTTPUserAgent STRING

If your servers are behind a firewall/proxy which applies User-Agent filtering, you can use this option to force the use of a different User-Agent header. As of ClamAV 0.103.3, this setting may not be used when updating from the clamav.net CDN and can only be used when updating from a private mirror.
Default: clamav/version_number

NotifyClamd STRING

Notify a running clamd(8) to reload its database after a download has occurred. The path for clamd.conf file must be provided.
Default: The default is to not notify clamd. See clamd.conf(5)’s option SelfCheck for how clamd(8) handles database updates in this case.

OnUpdateExecute STRING

Execute this command after the database has been successfully updated.
Default: disabled

OnErrorExecute STRING

Execute this command after a database update has failed.
Default: disabled

OnOutdatedExecute STRING

Execute this command when freshclam reports outdated version. In the command string %v will be replaced by the new version number.
Default: disabled

LocalIPAddress IP

Use IP as client address for downloading databases. Useful for multi homed systems.
Default: Use OS’es default outgoing IP address.

ConnectTimeout NUMBER

Timeout in seconds when connecting to database server.
Default: 10

ReceiveTimeout NUMBER

Maximum time in seconds for each download operation. 0 means no timeout.
Default: 0

Bytecode BOOL

This option enables downloading of bytecode.cvd, which includes additional detection mechanisms and improvements to the ClamAV engine.
Default: yes

FILES

/etc/clamav/freshclam.conf

AUTHOR

Thomas Lamy <thomas.lamy [AT] netwake.de>, Tomasz Kojm <tkojm [AT] clamav.net>, Kevin Lin <klin [AT] sourcefire.com>

SEE ALSO

freshclam(1), clamd.conf(5), clamd(8), clamscan(1)