.\" @(#)sendmail.8 3.8 12/14/82
sendmail \- send mail over the internet
sends a message to one or more people,
routing the message over whatever networks
does internetwork forwarding as necessary
to deliver the message to the correct place.
is not intended as a user interface routine;
other programs provide user-friendly
is used only to deliver pre-formatted messages.
or a line with a single dot
and sends a copy of the letter found there
to all of the addresses listed.
It determines the network to use
based on the syntax and contents of the addresses.
Local addresses are looked up in a file
and aliased appropriately.
Aliasing can be prevented by preceding the address
Normally the sender is not included in any alias
if `john' sends to `group',
and `group' includes `john' in the expansion,
then the letter will not be delivered to `john'.
Go into \s-1ARPANET\s0 mode.
All input lines must end with a CR-LF,
and all messages will be generated with a CR-LF at the end.
the ``From:'' and ``Sender:''
fields are examined for the name of the sender.
Run as a daemon. This requires Berkeley IPC.
Initialize the alias database.
Deliver mail in the usual way (default).
Use the \s-2SMTP\s0 protocol as described in RFC821.
This flag implies all the operations of the
flag that are compatible with \s-2SMTP\s0.
Run in address test mode.
This mode reads addresses and shows the steps in parsing;
it is used for debugging configuration tables.
Verify names only \- do not try to collect or deliver a message.
Verify mode is normally used for validating
Create the configuration freeze file.
Use alternate configuration file.
Set the full name of the sender.
Sets the name of the ``from'' person
(i.e., the sender of the mail).
or if the person you are trying to become
is the same as the person you are.
The hop count is incremented every time the mail is
the mail is returned with an error message,
the victim of an aliasing loop.
Options are described below.
Processed saved messages in the queue at given intervals.
is given as a tagged number,
``\-q1h30m'' or ``\-q90m''
would both set the timeout to one hour thirty minutes.
An alternate and obsolete form of the \-f flag.
Read message for recipients.
To:, Cc:, and Bcc: lines will be scanned for people to send to.
The Bcc: line will be deleted before transmission.
Any addresses in the argument list will be suppressed.
Alias expansions will be announced, etc.
There are also a number of processing options that may be set.
Normally these will only be used by a system administrator.
Options may be set either on the command line
or in the configuration file.
These are described in detail in the
Installation and Operation Guide.
Use alternate alias file.
On mailers that are considered ``expensive'' to connect to,
don't initiate immediate connection.
`i' for interactive (synchronous) delivery,
`b' for background (asynchronous) delivery,
`q' for queue only \- i.e.,
actual delivery is done the next time the queue is run.
Try to automatically rebuild the alias database
Set error processing to mode
`m' to mail back the error message,
`w' to ``write'' back the error message
(or mail it back if the sender is not logged in),
`p' to print the errors on the terminal
`q' to throw away error messages
(only exit status is returned),
to do special processing for the BerkNet.
If the text of the message is not mailed back
and if the sender is local to this machine,
a copy of the message is appended to the file
in the sender's home directory.
The mode to use when creating temporary files.
Save UNIX-style From lines at the front of messages.
The default group id to use when calling mailers.
Do not take dots on a line by themselves
Send to ``me'' (the sender) also if I am in an alias expansion.
If set, this message may have
this message is guaranteed to have new style headers
(i.e., commas instead of spaces between addresses).
If set, an adaptive algorithm is used that will correctly
determine the header format in most cases.
Select the directory in which to queue messages.
will wait forever for a mailer.
Save statistics in the named file.
Always instantiate the queue file,
even under circumstances where it is not strictly necessary.
Set the timeout on messages in the queue to the specified time.
After sitting in the queue for this amount of time,
they will be returned to the sender.
The default is three days.
Set the name of the time zone.
Set the default user id for mailers.
If the first character of the user name
the rest of the user name is used as the name of a program
It may be necessary to quote the name of the user
from suppressing the blanks from between arguments.
The codes are defined in <sysexits.h>
.ta 3n +\w'EX_UNAVAILABLE'u+3n
.in +\w'EX_UNAVAILABLE'u+6n
EX_OK Successful completion on all addresses.
EX_NOUSER User name not recognized.
EX_UNAVAILABLE Catchall meaning necessary resources
EX_SYNTAX Syntax error in address.
EX_SOFTWARE Internal software error,
EX_OSERR Temporary operating system error,
such as \*(lqcannot fork\*(rq.
EX_NOHOST Host name not recognized.
EX_TEMPFAIL Message could not be sent immediately,
will rebuild the alias database.
will print the contents of the mail queue.
these pathnames are all specified in
these values are only approximations.
/usr/lib/aliases raw data for alias names
/usr/lib/aliases.dir data base of alias names
/usr/lib/sendmail.cf configuration file
/usr/lib/sendmail.fc frozen configuration
/usr/lib/sendmail.hf help file
/usr/lib/sendmail.st collected statistics
/usr/bin/uux to deliver uucp mail
/usr/net/bin/v6mail to deliver local mail
/usr/net/bin/sendberkmail to deliver Berknet mail
/usr/lib/mailers/arpa to deliver ARPANET mail
/usr/spool/mqueue/* temp files
biff(1), binmail(1), mail(1), aliases(5), sendmail.cf(5),
Sendmail \- An Internetwork Mail Router,
Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide.
converts blanks in addresses to dots.
This is incorrect according to the
mail protocol RFC733 (NIC 41952),
but is consistent with the