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[unix-history] / usr / src / usr.sbin / sendmail / src / sendmail.8
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b42074ab 1.\" Copyright (c) 1988, 1991 The Regents of the University of California.
08e47b66 2.\" All rights reserved.
5412ac7d 3.\"
a280d268 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man%
08e47b66 5.\"
b42074ab 6.\" @(#)sendmail.8 6.5 (Berkeley) %G%
5412ac7d 7.\"
b42074ab
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8.Dd
9.Dt SENDMAIL 8
10.Os BSD 4
11.Sh NAME
12.Nm sendmail
13.Nd send mail over the internet
14.Sh SYNOPSIS
15.Nm sendmail
16.Op Ar flags
17.Op Ar address ...
18.Nm newaliases
19.Nm mailq
20.Op Fl v
21.Sh DESCRIPTION
22.Nm Sendmail
8e8bec7f 23sends a message to one or more
b42074ab 24.Em recipients ,
8de6f6c6 25routing the message over whatever networks
5412ac7d 26are necessary.
b42074ab 27.Nm Sendmail
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28does internetwork forwarding as necessary
29to deliver the message to the correct place.
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30.Pp
31.Nm Sendmail
5412ac7d 32is not intended as a user interface routine;
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33other programs provide user-friendly
34front ends;
b42074ab 35.Nm sendmail
8de6f6c6 36is used only to deliver pre-formatted messages.
b42074ab 37.Pp
8de6f6c6 38With no flags,
b42074ab 39.Nm sendmail
5412ac7d 40reads its standard input
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41up to an end-of-file
42or a line consisting only of a single dot
43and sends a copy of the message found there
5412ac7d 44to all of the addresses listed.
8e8bec7f 45It determines the network(s) to use
8de6f6c6 46based on the syntax and contents of the addresses.
b42074ab 47.Pp
5412ac7d 48Local addresses are looked up in a file
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49and aliased appropriately.
50Aliasing can be prevented by preceding the address
8de6f6c6 51with a backslash.
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52Normally the sender is not included in any alias
53expansions, e.g.,
54if `john' sends to `group',
55and `group' includes `john' in the expansion,
56then the letter will not be delivered to `john'.
b42074ab 57.Pp
8de6f6c6 58Flags are:
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59.Bl -tag -width Fl
60.It Fl ba
61Go into
62.Tn ARPANET
63mode.
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64All input lines must end with a CR-LF,
65and all messages will be generated with a CR-LF at the end.
66Also,
67the ``From:'' and ``Sender:''
68fields are examined for the name of the sender.
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69.It Fl bd
70Run as a daemon. This requires Berkeley
71.Tn IPC .
72.Nm Sendmail
8e8bec7f 73will fork and run in background
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74listening on socket 25 for incoming
75.Tn SMTP
76connections.
8e8bec7f 77This is normally run from
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78.Pa /etc/rc .
79.It Fl bi
8de6f6c6 80Initialize the alias database.
b42074ab 81.It Fl bm
8de6f6c6 82Deliver mail in the usual way (default).
b42074ab 83.It Fl bp
8de6f6c6 84Print a listing of the queue.
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85.It Fl bs
86Use the
87.Tn SMTP
88protocol as described in
89.Tn RFC821
8e8bec7f 90on standard input and output.
8de6f6c6 91This flag implies all the operations of the
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92.Fl ba
93flag that are compatible with
94.Tn SMTP .
95.It Fl bt
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96Run in address test mode.
97This mode reads addresses and shows the steps in parsing;
98it is used for debugging configuration tables.
b42074ab 99.It Fl bv
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100Verify names only \- do not try to collect or deliver a message.
101Verify mode is normally used for validating
102users or mailing lists.
b42074ab 103.It Fl bz
8de6f6c6 104Create the configuration freeze file.
b42074ab 105.It Fl C Ns Ar file
8de6f6c6 106Use alternate configuration file.
b42074ab 107.Nm Sendmail
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108refuses to run as root if an alternate configuration file is specified.
109The frozen configuration file is bypassed.
b42074ab 110.It Fl d Ns Ar X
8de6f6c6 111Set debugging value to
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112.Ar X .
113.It Fl F Ns Ar fullname
8de6f6c6 114Set the full name of the sender.
b42074ab 115.It Fl f Ns Ar name
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116Sets the name of the ``from'' person
117(i.e., the sender of the mail).
b42074ab 118.Fl f
8de6f6c6 119can only be used
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120by ``trusted'' users
121(normally
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122.Em root ,
123.Em daemon ,
5412ac7d 124and
b42074ab 125.Em network )
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126or if the person you are trying to become
127is the same as the person you are.
b42074ab 128.It Fl h Ns Ar N
8de6f6c6 129Set the hop count to
b42074ab 130.Ar N .
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131The hop count is incremented every time the mail is
132processed.
133When it reaches a limit,
134the mail is returned with an error message,
135the victim of an aliasing loop.
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136If not specified,
137``Received:'' lines in the message are counted.
b42074ab 138.It Fl n
8de6f6c6 139Don't do aliasing.
b42074ab 140.It Fl o Ns Ar x Em value
8de6f6c6 141Set option
b42074ab 142.Ar x
8de6f6c6 143to the specified
b42074ab 144.Em value .
8de6f6c6 145Options are described below.
b42074ab 146.It Fl q Ns Bq Ar time
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147Processed saved messages in the queue at given intervals.
148If
b42074ab 149.Ar time
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150is omitted,
151process the queue once.
b42074ab 152.Xr Time
8de6f6c6 153is given as a tagged number,
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154with
155.Ql s
156being seconds,
157.Ql m
158being minutes,
159.Ql h
160being hours,
161.Ql d
162being days,
8de6f6c6 163and
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164.Ql w
165being weeks.
8de6f6c6 166For example,
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167.Ql \-q1h30m
168or
169.Ql \-q90m
8de6f6c6 170would both set the timeout to one hour thirty minutes.
8e8bec7f 171If
b42074ab 172.Ar time
8e8bec7f 173is specified,
b42074ab 174.Nm sendmail
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175will run in background.
176This option can be used safely with
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177.Fl bd .
178.It Fl r Ns Ar name
8de6f6c6 179An alternate and obsolete form of the
b42074ab 180.Fl f
8de6f6c6 181flag.
b42074ab 182.It Fl t
8de6f6c6 183Read message for recipients.
8e8bec7f 184To:, Cc:, and Bcc: lines will be scanned for recipient addresses.
8de6f6c6 185The Bcc: line will be deleted before transmission.
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186Any addresses in the argument list will be suppressed,
187that is,
188they will
b42074ab 189.Em not
8e8bec7f 190receive copies even if listed in the message header.
b42074ab 191.It Fl v
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192Go into verbose mode.
193Alias expansions will be announced, etc.
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194.El
195.Pp
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196There are also a number of processing options that may be set.
197Normally these will only be used by a system administrator.
198Options may be set either on the command line
199using the
b42074ab 200.Fl o
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201flag
202or in the configuration file.
203These are described in detail in the
b42074ab 204.%T Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide.
8de6f6c6 205The options are:
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206.Bl -tag -width Fl
207.It Li A Ns Ar file
8de6f6c6 208Use alternate alias file.
b42074ab 209.It Li c
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210On mailers that are considered ``expensive'' to connect to,
211don't initiate immediate connection.
212This requires queueing.
b42074ab 213.It Li d Ns Ar x
8de6f6c6 214Set the delivery mode to
b42074ab 215.Ar x .
8de6f6c6 216Delivery modes are
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217.Ql i
218for interactive (synchronous) delivery,
219.Ql b
220for background (asynchronous) delivery,
8de6f6c6 221and
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222.Ql q
223for queue only \- i.e.,
8de6f6c6 224actual delivery is done the next time the queue is run.
b42074ab 225.It Li D
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226Try to automatically rebuild the alias database
227if necessary.
b42074ab 228.It Li e Ns Ar x
8de6f6c6 229Set error processing to mode
b42074ab 230.Ar x .
8de6f6c6 231Valid modes are
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232.Ql m
233to mail back the error message,
234.Ql w
235to ``write'' back the error message
8de6f6c6 236(or mail it back if the sender is not logged in),
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237.Ql p
238to print the errors on the terminal
8de6f6c6 239(default),
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240.Ql q
241to throw away error messages
8de6f6c6 242(only exit status is returned),
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243and
244.Ql e
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245to do special processing for the BerkNet.
246If the text of the message is not mailed back
247by
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248modes
249.Ql m
250or
251.Ql w
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252and if the sender is local to this machine,
253a copy of the message is appended to the file
b42074ab 254.Pa dead.letter
5412ac7d 255in the sender's home directory.
b42074ab 256.It Li F Ns Ar mode
8de6f6c6 257The mode to use when creating temporary files.
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258.It Li f
259Save
260.Tn UNIX Ns \-style
261From lines at the front of messages.
262.It Li g Ar N
8de6f6c6 263The default group id to use when calling mailers.
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264.It Li H Ns Ar file
265The
266.Tn SMTP
267help file.
268.It Li i
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269Do not take dots on a line by themselves
270as a message terminator.
b42074ab 271.It Li L Ns Ar n
8de6f6c6 272The log level.
b42074ab 273.It Li m
8de6f6c6 274Send to ``me'' (the sender) also if I am in an alias expansion.
b42074ab 275.It Li o
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276If set, this message may have
277old style headers.
278If not set,
279this message is guaranteed to have new style headers
280(i.e., commas instead of spaces between addresses).
281If set, an adaptive algorithm is used that will correctly
282determine the header format in most cases.
b42074ab 283.It Li Q Ns Ar queuedir
8de6f6c6 284Select the directory in which to queue messages.
b42074ab 285.It Li r Ns Ar timeout
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286The timeout on reads;
287if none is set,
b42074ab 288.Nm sendmail
8de6f6c6 289will wait forever for a mailer.
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290This option violates the word (if not the intent) of the
291.Tn SMTP
292specification,
8e8bec7f 293show the timeout should probably be fairly large.
b42074ab 294.It Li S Ns Ar file
8de6f6c6 295Save statistics in the named file.
b42074ab 296.It Li s
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297Always instantiate the queue file,
298even under circumstances where it is not strictly necessary.
8e8bec7f 299This provides safety against system crashes during delivery.
b42074ab 300.It Li T Ns Ar time
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301Set the timeout on undelivered messages in the queue to the specified time.
302After delivery has failed
303(e.g., because of a host being down)
304for this amount of time,
305failed messages will be returned to the sender.
8de6f6c6 306The default is three days.
b42074ab 307.It Li t Ns Ar stz , Ar dtz
8de6f6c6 308Set the name of the time zone.
b42074ab 309.It Li u Ns Ar N
8de6f6c6 310Set the default user id for mailers.
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311.El
312.Pp
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313In aliases,
314the first character of a name may be
315a vertical bar to cause interpretation of
316the rest of the name as a command
5412ac7d 317to pipe the mail to.
8e8bec7f 318It may be necessary to quote the name
5412ac7d 319to keep
b42074ab 320.Nm sendmail
5412ac7d 321from suppressing the blanks from between arguments.
8e8bec7f 322For example, a common alias is:
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323.Pp
324.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
325msgs: "|/usr/bin/msgs -s"
326.Ed
327.Pp
328Aliases may also have the syntax
329.Dq :include: Ns Ar filename
8e8bec7f 330to ask
b42074ab 331.Xr sendmail
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332to read the named file for a list of recipients.
333For example, an alias such as:
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334.Pp
335.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
336poets: ":include:/usr/local/lib/poets.list"
337.Ed
338.Pp
8e8bec7f 339would read
b42074ab 340.Pa /usr/local/lib/poets.list
8e8bec7f 341for the list of addresses making up the group.
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342.Pp
343.Nm Sendmail
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344returns an exit status
345describing what it did.
8de6f6c6 346The codes are defined in
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347.Aq Pa sysexits.h :
348.Bl -tag -width EX_UNAVAILABLE -compact -offset indent
349.It Dv EX_OK
350Successful completion on all addresses.
351.It Dv EX_NOUSER
352User name not recognized.
353.It Dv EX_UNAVAILABLE
354Catchall meaning necessary resources
5412ac7d 355were not available.
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356.It Dv EX_SYNTAX
357Syntax error in address.
358.It Dv EX_SOFTWARE
359Internal software error,
5412ac7d 360including bad arguments.
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361.It Dv EX_OSERR
362Temporary operating system error,
363such as
364.Dq cannot fork .
365.It Dv EX_NOHOST
366Host name not recognized.
367.It Dv EX_TEMPFAIL
368Message could not be sent immediately,
8de6f6c6 369but was queued.
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370.El
371.Pp
8de6f6c6 372If invoked as
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373.Nm newaliases ,
374.Nm sendmail
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375will rebuild the alias database.
376If invoked as
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377.Nm mailq ,
378.Nm sendmail
8de6f6c6 379will print the contents of the mail queue.
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380.Sh FILES
381Except for the file
382.Pa /etc/sendmail.cf
383itself,
384the following pathnames are all specified in
385.Pa /etc/sendmail.cf.
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386Thus,
387these values are only approximations.
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388.Pp
389.Bl -tag -width /usr/lib/sendmail.fc -compact
390.It Pa /etc/aliases
391raw data for alias names
392.It Pa /etc/aliases.pag
393.It Pa /etc/aliases.dir
394data base of alias names
395.It Pa /etc/sendmail.cf
396configuration file
397.It Pa /etc/sendmail.fc
398frozen configuration
399.It Pa /etc/sendmail.hf
400help file
401.It Pa /var/log/sendmail.st
402collected statistics
403.It Pa /var/spool/mqueue/*
404temp files
405.El
406.Sh SEE ALSO
407.Xr binmail 1 ,
408.Xr mail 1 ,
409.Xr rmail 1 ,
410.Xr syslog 3 ,
411.Xr aliases 5 ,
412.Xr mailaddr 7 ,
413.Xr rc 8 ;
414.Pp
415DARPA
416Internet Request For Comments
417.%T RFC819 ,
418.%T RFC821 ,
419.%T RFC822 .
420.Rs
421.%T Sendmail \- An Internetwork Mail Router
422.%V SMM
423.%N \&No. 9
424.Re
425.Rs
426.%T Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide
427.%V SMM
428.%N \&No. 8
429.Re
430.Sh HISTORY
431The
432.Nm
433command appeared in
434.Bx 4.2 .