SENDMAIL.CF(5,F) AIX Technical Reference SENDMAIL.CF(5,F)
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sendmail.cf
PURPOSE
Contains sendmail configuration file data.
DESCRIPTION
The configuration file contains the configuration information for the sendmail
program. The configuration information includes such items as the host name
and domain and the sendmail rule sets. If you have TCF installed, the cluster
name is also defined in this file.
The configuration file has three major purposes:
o To initialize the environment for sendmail by setting the options
o To rewrite addresses in messages by first mapping the addresses from any
format into a canonical form and then mapping the canonical form into the
appropriate syntax for the receiving mailer.
o To translate the address into the set of instructions needed to deliver the
message.
The configuration file entries consist of lines, each of which begins with a
single character command. Entries can continue onto multiple lines by placing
blanks at the beginning of each subsequent line. Comments are included on
lines beginning with the # (sharp sign). The commands and operands are:
CX word1 word2 ...
Defines the class, specified by X, of words to match on the left hand side
of rewriting rules. Class specifiers may be any of the uppercase letters
from the ASCII character set. Lowercase letters and special characters are
reserved for system use.
DX value
Defines the macro specified by X and its associated value. A macro is named
using a single character. The character may be any character from the ASCII
character set, but user-defined macros can only use the uppercase letters.
Lowercase letters and special characters are reserved for system use.
Macros can be interpolated in most places using the escape sequence $x. See
"Special Macros" for additional information.
FX filename [format]
Reads the elements of the class specified by X from filename using an
optional scanf format specifier.
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H[?mflags?]hdrname: htemplate
Defines the header format the sendmail program inserts into a message.
Continuation lines are a part of the definition and write into the outgoing
message. The htemplate is macro expanded before insertion into the message.
If the mflags are specified, at least one of the specified flags must be
stated in the mailer definition for this header to be automatically output.
If one of these headers is in the input, the header writes into the output
message regardless of these flags.
Mname, [field=value]*
Defines a mailer where name is the name of the mailer (used internally only)
and field=value defines attributes of the mailer. Allowable fields and
values are:
P=value Defines the path name of the mailer, where value is the path
name. SMTP internal mail uses a value of [IPC].
F=value Defines the special flags for this mailer, where value can be a
string composed of the following:
C Saves the sender domain. For this function only, the
sender domain is defined to be everything from the first
@ (at sign) to the end of the sender address. This
string is appended to header addresses which contain no @
whenever mail is sent to any mailer. This also applies
to calculation of the $g macro and everything dependent
on it. This flag offsets the SMTP mail and rcpt
commands.
D Requires a "Date" header line.
e This mailer is expensive to connect to. Avoid connecting
normally. Any necessary connection will occur during a
queue run. See the c option on 4.
E Escape "From" lines to >"From" in message bodies.
f The mailer wants a -f (from) flag only if this is a
network forward operation (for example, the mailer gives
an error if the executing user does not have special
permissions).
F Requires a "From" header line.
h Preserves uppercase in host names for this mailer.
I Uses SMTP to communicate with another sendmail and can
use special protocol features.
l This mailer is local; final delivery is performed.
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L Limits the line length of a text line to less than 1000
characters. Any leading dot duplicated due to the X flag
is not included in the count. Only allows 7-bit data to
pass either way through the mailer.
m This mailer can send to multiple users on the same host
in one transaction. When a $u macro occurs in the A part
of the mailer definition, that field will be repeated as
necessary for all qualifying users.
M Requires a "Message_ID" header line.
n The AIX-style "From" line on the front of the message is
not inserted.
N International Character Support. Only has meaning when
used with the L flag. Allows 8-bit data to pass.
p Uses the return-path in the SMTP MAIL FROM: command
rather than just the return address.
P Requires a "Return_Path" header line.
r Same as option f except a -r flag is generated.
s Strips quote characters off of the address before calling
the mailer.
S User ID is not reset before calling the mailer.
u Preserves uppercase in users names for this mailer.
U Requires "From" lines with UUCP-style remote from host on
the end.
x Requires a "Full_Name" header line.
X This mailer uses the hidden-dot algorithm. (Any line
beginning with a dot has an extra dot prepended. This
ensures that the lines in the message containing a
leading dot will not terminate the message prematurely.
See the sendmail -i flag or the config option.
S=value The rewriting rule set to be used for sender addresses, where
value is the rewriting rule set number.
R=value The rewriting rule set to be used for recipient addresses, where
value is the rewriting rule set number.
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A=arg Defines the argument string arg to exec the mailer with.
Embedded spaces may be included. If embedded spaces are used,
enclose the argument string with " (double quotes). For an SMTP
mailer, A=[IPC].
E=string Defines the string to use as an end-of-line indication. A
string containing only new-line is the default.
M=length Defines the maximum message length to be sent to the mailer.
Ox[value]
Sets option x to value. If the option is a valued option, you must also
specify value. Options may also be selected from the command using the -o
flag of the sendmail command. The options and the possible values are
described as follows:
Afile Uses the named file as the alias file.
Bc Sets the blank substitution character to the character specified
in the parameter c. The sendmail program replaces unquoted
spaces in addresses with this character. The supplied
configuration file uses the . (period) for this character.
c If an outgoing mailer is marked as being expensive to use, this
option causes sendmail to queue messages for that mailer program
without sending them. The queue can be run later when costs are
lowest or when the queue is large enough to send the message
efficiently.
dx Sets the delivery mode to x. Valid modes are:
b Deliver in background (asynchronously). This is the default
setting.
i Deliver interactively (synchronously)
q Queue the message only and deliver during queue run.
ex Sets error processing to mode x. Valid modes are:
e Mails the error message to the user's mail box, but always
exits with a 0 exit status (normal return).
m Mails the error message to the user's mail box.
p Displays the error message on the terminal (default).
q Discards the error message and returns the exit status only.
w Writes the error message to the terminal or mails it if the
user is not logged in.
f Saves "From" lines at the front of messages. These lines are
normally discarded. Causes all other headers to be regarded as
part of the message body.
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gN Sets the default group ID to use when calling mailers to the
value specified by N.
hdir If TCF is installed, this defines the master spool directory.
Hfile Specifies the name of the SMTP help file.
i Does not interpret a . (period) on a line by itself as a message
terminator. Removes the excess dot inserted by a remote mailer
at the beginning of a line, if mail is received through SMTP. In
addition, if receiving mail through SMTP, any dot at the front of
a line followed by another dot is removed. This is the opposite
of the action performed by the X mailer flag.
Ix Allows spaces as well as tabs to separate the LHS and RHS of
rewrite rules. In both the LHS and RHS, x must be used in place
of embedded spaces. The default for x is _ (underscore). All
instances of x are changed to spaces after the LHS and RHS are
separated by the sendmail program. This option allows rewrite
rules to be modified using an editor that replaces tabs with
spaces.
Ln Specifies the log level to be the value supplied in the n
parameter. Each number in the following list includes the
activities of all numbers of lesser value and adds the activity
that it represents. Valid levels and the activities they
represent are:
0 No logging
1 Major problems only
2 Message collections and failed deliveries
3 Successful deliveries
4 Messages being deferred
5 Placing messages in the queue
6 Unusual but benign incidents
9 Log internal queue ID to external message ID mappings
12 Several messages that are of interest when debugging
16 Verbose information regarding the queue.
m If the sender is in an alias expansion, also send to the sender.
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Mx value Defines macro x to have value. This option is normally used only
from the sendmail command line.
n Validates the RHS of aliases when performing the newaliases
function.
Nnetname Sets the name of the host network to netname. The sendmail
program compares the argument of an SMTP HELO command to
hostname.netname (value of hostname comes from the kernel). If
these values do not match, it adds the hostname.netname string to
the "Received:" line in the message so that messages can be
traced accurately.
o Indicates that this message may have old style headers. Without
this option, the message has new style headers (commas instead of
spaces between addresses). If this option is set, an adaptive
algorithm correctly determines the header format in most cases.
Paddress Identifies the person who is to receive a copy of all returned
mail.
qfactor Use factor to decide when to queue messages rather than send
them. This value is divided by the difference between the
current load average and the load average limit (see the x option
below) to determine the maximum message priority that will be
sent. The default value is 10000.
Qdir Sets the directory in which to queue messages. The directory
will be created if it does not exist.
rtime Sets the timeout for reads from a mailer program to the value
specified by time. If no timeout value is set, sendmail waits
indefinitely for a mailer to respond.
Sfile Sets the mail statistics file to the file. Statistics are only
collected if the file exists. This file must be created by the
user.
s Enqueues before delivery, even when in immediate delivery mode.
Ttime Sets the timeout on messages in the queue to the specified time.
After this interval, sendmail returns the message to the sender.
The default is three days.
uN Sets the default user ID to use when calling mailers to the value
specified by N.
v Run in verbose mode.
xlavg When the system load average exceeds lavg, queue messages instead
of sending them. The default value is 8.
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Xlavg When the system load average exceeds lavg, incoming SMTP
connections are refused. The default value is 12.
yfactor factor is added to the priority of the message once for each
recipient (lowering the priority of the message). Messages with
many recipients are thus penalized. The default value is 1000.
Y The sendmail program delivers each message in the mail queue from
a separate process. This option is not required and may increase
overhead in the AIX environment.
zfactor factor is multiplied by the message class (determined by the
Precedence: field in the header and the P lines in the
configuration file) and subtracted from the message priority.
Thus, messages with higher Precedence: values are favored.
Zfactor factor is added to the message priority every time a message is
processed, decreasing its priority. In most situations, factor
should be positive, since hosts that are down are usually down
for a long time. The default value is 9000.
Pname=num
Defines values for the Precedence: field. When name is found in a
Precedence: field, the message class is set to num. Higher numbers indicate
higher precedence. Negative numbers indicate that error messages are not
returned. The default num is 0. The precedence of mail is defined by a
header of that name within the mail.
Rlhs rhs comments
Defines a rewriting rule. One or more tab characters separate the three
fields of this command. If space characters are to be used, the
configuration option I must be set. The fields may contain embedded spaces,
unless the I option is set. If the I option is set, the embedded spaces
must be represented by the character defined in I. After the fields are
separated, the character representing the space is changed to an actual
space.
Sx
Begins the definition of a rule set. If a rule set definition is begun more
than once, the new definition overwrites the old one.
Tuser1 user2...
Defines system administrative (trusted) user IDs. These IDs have permission
to override the sender address using the -f flag. There may be more than
one ID specified per line.
SPECIAL MACROS
Macros are interpolated using the construct $x, where x is the name of the
macro to be interpolated. Lowercase letters are reserved to have special
semantics, used to pass information in or out of the sendmail program.
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The following macros must be defined to transmit information into the sendmail
program.
e The SMTP entry message. This message is sent by the SMTP handler in the
sendmail domain when the host connects to it.
j The official domain name for the site. This must be the first word in
the $e macro. The domain name is a sequence of domain element strings,
ordered from the most specific to the most general, separated by
periods. The use of nicknames or aliases is not allowed. The maximum
domain name length is 64 characters. The $j macro should use this
format.
l The format of the AIX "From" line. This macro is usually a constant.
n The name of the daemon (for error messages). This macro is usually a
constant.
o The set of operators in addresses. This macro consists of a list of
characters considered to be tokens and separates tokens during parsing.
For example, if r exists in the $o macro, the input, "address", parses
into three tokens: "add, r," and "ess". There are many internal
hard-coded delimiters added to this list by sendmail. It is recommended
that this list not be changed.
q The default format of the sender address.
Sendmail defines some macros for interpolation into argument variables for
mailers or for other contexts. These macros are:
a The origination date in Arpanet form. $a contains the time extracted
from the "Date" line of the message (if there is one). If the incoming
message has no "Date:" line, the $a macro contains the current time.
b The current date in Arpanet form. $b equals the current date and time
(used for postmarks).
c The hop count. The hop count is the number of times the message has
been processed. The -h flag of the command line or the number of
"Received:" headers in the message determine the hop count.
d The date in AIX (ctime) format.
f The sender (from) address. The $f macro is the sender address as seen
from the current host.
g The sender address relative to the receiver. When mailing to a specific
host, the $g macro contains the address of the sender relative to the
receiver. For example, if the user, "newton", at system, "appletree",
sends a message to "chopin@piano", the $f macro equals "newton" and the
$g macro equals "newton@appletree".
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h The receiving host.
i The queue ID of the host. The $i macro is useful for tracking messages
if put into the message ID line.
p The process ID of sendmail. $p and $t are used to create unique strings
for the "Message_ID" field.
s The host name of the sender.
t A numeric representation of the current time. The macros, $p and $t,
are used to create unique strings for the "Message_ID" field.
u The receiving user
v The version number of the sendmail program. The $v macro can be found
in "Received:" header messages and is useful for debugging.
w The hostname of the local site and, if present, the address.
x The full name of the sender. The name is determined by one of the
following: the full name passed as a flag to sendmail, the value found
in the "Full_Name" line of the header, the value found in the comment
field of a "From" line, or if the message originates locally, the full
name found in /etc/passwd.
y The terminal ID of the sender.
z The home directory of the receiver.
FILES
/usr/lib/sendmail.cf
The sendmail configuration file.
/usr/lib/sendmail.cfDB
The compiled version of the sendmail configuration file.
RELATED INFORMATION
The sendmail command in AIX Operating System Commands Reference.
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