4.4BSD/usr/share/man/cat8/sendmail.0
SENDMAIL(8) BSD System Manager's Manual SENDMAIL(8)
NNAAMMEE
sseennddmmaaiill - send mail over the internet
SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
sseennddmmaaiill [_f_l_a_g_s] [_a_d_d_r_e_s_s _._._.]
nneewwaalliiaasseess
mmaaiillqq [--vv]
DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
SSeennddmmaaiill sends a message to one or more _r_e_c_i_p_i_e_n_t_s, routing the message
over whatever networks are necessary. SSeennddmmaaiill does internetwork for-
warding as necessary to deliver the message to the correct place.
SSeennddmmaaiill is not intended as a user interface routine; other programs pro-
vide user-friendly front ends; sseennddmmaaiill is used only to deliver pre-
formatted messages.
With no flags, sseennddmmaaiill reads its standard input up to an end-of-file or
a line consisting only of a single dot and sends a copy of the message
found there to all of the addresses listed. It determines the network(s)
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 with a backslash.
Normally the sender is not included in any alias expansions, e.g., if
`john' sends to `group', and `group' includes `john' in the expansion,
then the letter will not be delivered to `john'.
PPaarraammeetteerrss
--BB_t_y_p_e Set the body type to _t_y_p_e. Current legal values 7BIT or
8BITMIME.
--bbaa Go into ARPANET mode. All input lines must end with a CR-LF,
and all messages will be generated with a CR-LF at the end.
Also, the ``From:'' and ``Sender:'' fields are examined for
the name of the sender.
--bbdd Run as a daemon. This requires Berkeley IPC. SSeennddmmaaiill will
fork and run in background listening on socket 25 for incom-
ing SMTP connections. This is normally run from _/_e_t_c_/_r_c.
--bbii Initialize the alias database.
--bbmm Deliver mail in the usual way (default).
--bbpp Print a listing of the queue.
--bbss Use the SMTP protocol as described in RFC821 on standard in-
put and output. This flag implies all the operations of the
--bbaa flag that are compatible with SMTP.
--bbtt Run in address test mode. This mode reads addresses and
shows the steps in parsing; it is used for debugging configu-
ration tables.
--bbvv Verify names only - do not try to collect or deliver a mes-
sage. Verify mode is normally used for validating users or
mailing lists.
--bbzz Create the configuration freeze file.
--CC_f_i_l_e Use alternate configuration file. SSeennddmmaaiill refuses to run as
root if an alternate configuration file is specified. The
frozen configuration file is bypassed.
--dd_X Set debugging value to _X.
--FF_f_u_l_l_n_a_m_e Set the full name of the sender.
--ff_n_a_m_e Sets the name of the ``from'' person (i.e., the sender of the
mail). --ff can only be used by ``trusted'' users (normally
_r_o_o_t, _d_a_e_m_o_n, and _n_e_t_w_o_r_k) or if the person you are trying to
become is the same as the person you are.
--hh_N Set the hop count to _N. The hop count is incremented every
time the mail is processed. When it reaches a limit, the
mail is returned with an error message, the victim of an
aliasing loop. If not specified, ``Received:'' lines in the
message are counted.
--nn Don't do aliasing.
--oo_x _v_a_l_u_e Set option _x to the specified _v_a_l_u_e. Options are described
below.
--pp_p_r_o_t_o_c_o_l Set the name of the protocol used to receive the message.
This can be a simple protocol name such as ``UUCP'' or a pro-
tocol and hostname, such as ``UUCP:ucbvax''.
--qq[_t_i_m_e] Processed saved messages in the queue at given intervals. If
_t_i_m_e is omitted, process the queue once. Time is given as a
tagged number, with `s' being seconds, `m' being minutes, `h'
being hours, `d' being days, and `w' being weeks. For exam-
ple, `-q1h30m' or `-q90m' would both set the timeout to one
hour thirty minutes. If _t_i_m_e is specified, sseennddmmaaiill will run
in background. This option can be used safely with --bbdd.
--rr_n_a_m_e An alternate and obsolete form of the --ff flag.
--tt Read message for recipients. To:, Cc:, and Bcc: lines will
be scanned for recipient addresses. The Bcc: line will be
deleted before transmission. Any addresses in the argument
list will be suppressed, that is, they will _n_o_t receive
copies even if listed in the message header.
--vv Go into verbose mode. Alias expansions will be announced,
etc.
OOppttiioonnss
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 using the --oo flag or in the configuration
file. This is a partial list; for a complete list (and details), consult
the _S_e_n_d_m_a_i_l _I_n_s_t_a_l_l_a_t_i_o_n _a_n_d _O_p_e_r_a_t_i_o_n _G_u_i_d_e. The options are:
A_f_i_l_e Use alternate alias file.
b_n_b_l_o_c_k_s The minimum number of free blocks needed on the spool
filesystem.
c On mailers that are considered ``expensive'' to connect to,
don't initiate immediate connection. This requires queueing.
C _N Checkpoint the queue file after every _N successful deliveries
(default 10). This avoids excessive duplicate deliveries
when sending to long mailing lists interrupted by system
crashes.
d_x Set the delivery mode to _x. Delivery modes are `i' for inter-
active (synchronous) delivery, `b' for background (asyn-
chronous) delivery, and `q' for queue only - i.e., actual de-
livery is done the next time the queue is run.
D Try to automatically rebuild the alias database if necessary.
e_x Set error processing to mode _x. Valid modes are `m' to mail
back the error message, `w' to ``write'' back the error mes-
sage (or mail it back if the sender is not logged in), `p' to
print the errors on the terminal (default), `q' to throw away
error messages (only exit status is returned), and `e' to do
special processing for the BerkNet. If the text of the mes-
sage is not mailed back by modes `m' or `w' and if the sender
is local to this machine, a copy of the message is appended
to the file _d_e_a_d_._l_e_t_t_e_r in the sender's home directory.
f Save UNIX-style From lines at the front of messages.
G Match local mail names against the GECOS portion of the pass-
word file.
g _N The default group id to use when calling mailers.
H_f_i_l_e The SMTP help file.
h _N The maximum number of times a message is allowed to ``hop''
before we decide it is in a loop.
i Do not take dots on a line by themselves as a message termi-
nator.
j Send error messages in MIME format.
K_t_i_m_e_o_u_t Set connection cache timeout.
k_N Set connection cache size.
L_n The log level.
l Pay attention to the Errors-To: header.
m Send to ``me'' (the sender) also if I am in an alias expan-
sion.
n Validate the right hand side of aliases during a newalias-
es(1) command.
o If set, this message may have old style headers. If not set,
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.
Q_q_u_e_u_e_d_i_r Select the directory in which to queue messages.
S_f_i_l_e Save statistics in the named file.
s Always instantiate the queue file, even under circumstances
where it is not strictly necessary. This provides safety
against system crashes during delivery.
T_t_i_m_e Set the timeout on undelivered messages in the queue to the
specified time. After delivery has failed (e.g., because of
a host being down) for this amount of time, failed messages
will be returned to the sender. The default is three days.
t_s_t_z, _d_t_z Set the name of the time zone.
U_u_s_e_r_d_a_t_a_b_a_s_e
If set, a user database is consulted to get forwarding infor-
mation. You can consider this an adjunct to the aliasing
mechanism, except that the database is intended to be dis-
tributed; aliases are local to a particular host. This may
not be available if your sendmail does not have the USERDB
option compiled in.
u_N Set the default user id for mailers.
Y Fork each job during queue runs. May be convenient on memo-
ry-poor machines.
7 Strip incoming messages to seven bits.
In aliases, the first character of a name may be a vertical bar to cause
interpretation of the rest of the name as a command to pipe the mail to.
It may be necessary to quote the name to keep sseennddmmaaiill from suppressing
the blanks from between arguments. For example, a common alias is:
msgs: "|/usr/bin/msgs -s"
Aliases may also have the syntax ``:include:_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e'' to ask sendmail to
read the named file for a list of recipients. For example, an alias such
as:
poets: ":include:/usr/local/lib/poets.list"
would read _/_u_s_r_/_l_o_c_a_l_/_l_i_b_/_p_o_e_t_s_._l_i_s_t for the list of addresses making up
the group.
SSeennddmmaaiill returns an exit status describing what it did. The codes are
defined in <_s_y_s_e_x_i_t_s_._h>:
EX_OK Successful completion on all addresses.
EX_NOUSER User name not recognized.
EX_UNAVAILABLE Catchall meaning necessary resources were not
available.
EX_SYNTAX Syntax error in address.
EX_SOFTWARE Internal software error, including bad arguments.
EX_OSERR Temporary operating system error, such as ``cannot
fork''.
EX_NOHOST Host name not recognized.
EX_TEMPFAIL Message could not be sent immediately, but was
queued.
If invoked as nneewwaalliiaasseess, sseennddmmaaiill will rebuild the alias database. If
invoked as mmaaiillqq, sseennddmmaaiill will print the contents of the mail queue.
FFIILLEESS
Except for the file _/_e_t_c_/_s_e_n_d_m_a_i_l_._c_f itself, the following pathnames are
all specified in _/_e_t_c_/_s_e_n_d_m_a_i_l_._c_f_. Thus, these values are only approxima-
tions.
/etc/aliases raw data for alias names
/etc/aliases.db data base of alias names
/etc/sendmail.cf configuration file
/etc/sendmail.fc frozen configuration
/etc/sendmail.hf help file
/var/log/sendmail.st collected statistics
/var/spool/mqueue/* temp files
/var/run/sendmail.pid
The process id of the daemon
SSEEEE AALLSSOO
binmail(1), mail(1), rmail(1), syslog(3), aliases(5), mailaddr(7),
rc(8);
DARPA Internet Request For Comments _R_F_C_8_1_9, _R_F_C_8_2_1, _R_F_C_8_2_2.
_S_e_n_d_m_a_i_l _- _A_n _I_n_t_e_r_n_e_t_w_o_r_k _M_a_i_l _R_o_u_t_e_r, No. 16, SMM.
_S_e_n_d_m_a_i_l _I_n_s_t_a_l_l_a_t_i_o_n _a_n_d _O_p_e_r_a_t_i_o_n _G_u_i_d_e, No. 7, SMM.
HHIISSTTOORRYY
The sseennddmmaaiill command appeared in 4.2BSD.
4th Berkeley Distribution June 16, 1993 5