<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><style xmlns="" type="text/css">
div.added { background-color: #ffff99; }
div.deleted { text-decoration: line-through;
background-color: #FF7F7F; }
div.changed { background-color: #99ff99; }
div.off { }
span.added { background-color: #ffff99; }
span.deleted { text-decoration: line-through;
background-color: #FF7F7F; }
span.changed { background-color: #99ff99; }
span.off { }
pre.literallayout {
background-color: #E8E8D0;
padding-left: 0.5cm;
padding-top: 5px;
padding-bottom: 5px;
}
div[class=changed] pre.literallayout {
background-color: #99ff99;
padding-left: 0.5cm;
padding-top: 5px;
padding-bottom: 5px;
}
div.literallayout {
background-color: #E8E8D0;
padding-left: 0.5cm;
padding-top: 5px;
padding-bottom: 5px;
}
div[class=changed] div.literallayout {
background-color: #99ff99;
padding-left: 0.5cm;
padding-top: 5px;
padding-bottom: 5px;
}
</style><title>5. The Exim command line</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.72.0" /><link rel="start" href="index.html" title="Specification of the Exim Mail Transfer Agent" /><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="Specification of the Exim Mail Transfer Agent" /><link rel="prev" href="ch04.html" title="4. Building and installing Exim" /><link rel="next" href="ch06.html" title="6. The Exim run time configuration file" /></head><body><div class="navheader">
<table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ch04.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center"> </th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch06.html">Next</a></td></tr></table></div>
<div class="chapter" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h2 class="title"><a href="index.html#toc0052" id="CHAPcommandline">5. The Exim command line</a></h2></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
<a id="IIDclo1" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="IIDclo2" class="indexterm"></a>
Exim’s command line takes the standard Unix form of a sequence of options,
each starting with a hyphen character, followed by a number of arguments. The
options are compatible with the main options of Sendmail, and there are also
some additional options, some of which are compatible with Smail 3. Certain
combinations of options do not make sense, and provoke an error if used.
The form of the arguments depends on which options are set.
</p>
<div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 xmlns="" class="title"><a xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" href="index.html#toc0053" id="SECID38">5.1 Setting options by program name</a></h3></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
<a id="id478137" class="indexterm"></a>
If Exim is called under the name <span class="emphasis"><em>mailq</em></span>, it behaves as if the option <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span>
were present before any other options.
The <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span> option requests a listing of the contents of the mail queue on the
standard output.
This feature is for compatibility with some systems that contain a command of
that name in one of the standard libraries, symbolically linked to
<em class="filename">/usr/sbin/sendmail</em> or <em class="filename">/usr/lib/sendmail</em>.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id478180" class="indexterm"></a>
If Exim is called under the name <span class="emphasis"><em>rsmtp</em></span> it behaves as if the option <span><strong class="option">-bS</strong></span>
were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The
<span><strong class="option">-bS</strong></span> option is used for reading in a number of messages in batched SMTP
format.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id478209" class="indexterm"></a>
If Exim is called under the name <span class="emphasis"><em>rmail</em></span> it behaves as if the <span><strong class="option">-i</strong></span> and
<span><strong class="option">-oee</strong></span> options were present before any other options, for compatibility with
Smail. The name <span class="emphasis"><em>rmail</em></span> is used as an interface by some UUCP systems.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id478241" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478253" class="indexterm"></a>
If Exim is called under the name <span class="emphasis"><em>runq</em></span> it behaves as if the option <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span>
were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span>
option causes a single queue runner process to be started.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id478281" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478293" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478308" class="indexterm"></a>
If Exim is called under the name <span class="emphasis"><em>newaliases</em></span> it behaves as if the option
<span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> were present before any other options, for compatibility with Sendmail.
This option is used for rebuilding Sendmail’s alias file. Exim does not have
the concept of a single alias file, but can be configured to run a given
command if called with the <span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> option.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 xmlns="" class="title"><a xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" href="index.html#toc0054" id="SECTtrustedadmin">5.2 Trusted and admin users</a></h3></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Some Exim options are available only to <span class="emphasis"><em>trusted users</em></span> and others are
available only to <span class="emphasis"><em>admin users</em></span>. In the description below, the phrases “<span class="quote">Exim
user</span>” and “<span class="quote">Exim group</span>” mean the user and group defined by EXIM_USER and
EXIM_GROUP in <em class="filename">Local/Makefile</em> or set by the <span><strong class="option">exim_user</strong></span> and
<span><strong class="option">exim_group</strong></span> options. These do not necessarily have to use the name “<span class="quote">exim</span>”.
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist">
<ul type="disc"><li><p>
<a id="id478393" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478407" class="indexterm"></a>
The trusted users are root, the Exim user, any user listed in the
<span><strong class="option">trusted_users</strong></span> configuration option, and any user whose current group or any
supplementary group is one of those listed in the <span><strong class="option">trusted_groups</strong></span>
configuration option. Note that the Exim group is not automatically trusted.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id478437" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478450" class="indexterm"></a>
Trusted users are always permitted to use the <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> option or a leading
“<span class="quote">From </span>” line to specify the envelope sender of a message that is passed to
Exim through the local interface (see the <span><strong class="option">-bm</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> options below).
See the <span><strong class="option">untrusted_set_sender</strong></span> option for a way of permitting non-trusted
users to set envelope senders.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id478486" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478500" class="indexterm"></a>
For a trusted user, there is never any check on the contents of the <span class="emphasis"><em>From:</em></span>
header line, and a <span class="emphasis"><em>Sender:</em></span> line is never added. Furthermore, any existing
<span class="emphasis"><em>Sender:</em></span> line in incoming local (non-TCP/IP) messages is not removed.
</p>
<p>
Trusted users may also specify a host name, host address, interface address,
protocol name, ident value, and authentication data when submitting a message
locally. Thus, they are able to insert messages into Exim’s queue locally that
have the characteristics of messages received from a remote host. Untrusted
users may in some circumstances use <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span>, but can never set the other values
that are available to trusted users.
</p>
</li><li><p>
<a id="id478553" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478568" class="indexterm"></a>
The admin users are root, the Exim user, and any user that is a member of the
Exim group or of any group listed in the <span><strong class="option">admin_groups</strong></span> configuration option.
The current group does not have to be one of these groups.
</p>
<p>
Admin users are permitted to list the queue, and to carry out certain
operations on messages, for example, to force delivery failures. It is also
necessary to be an admin user in order to see the full information provided by
the Exim monitor, and full debugging output.
</p>
<p>
By default, the use of the <span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span>, and <span><strong class="option">-S</strong></span> options to cause
Exim to attempt delivery of messages on its queue is restricted to admin users.
However, this restriction can be relaxed by setting the <span><strong class="option">prod_requires_admin</strong></span>
option false (that is, specifying <span><strong class="option">no_prod_requires_admin</strong></span>).
</p>
<p>
Similarly, the use of the <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span> option to list all the messages in the queue
is restricted to admin users unless <span><strong class="option">queue_list_requires_admin</strong></span> is set
false.
</p>
</li></ul></div>
<p>
<span class="bold"><strong>Warning</strong></span>: If you configure your system so that admin users are able to
edit Exim’s configuration file, you are giving those users an easy way of
getting root. There is further discussion of this issue at the start of chapter
<a href="ch06.html" title="6. The Exim run time configuration file">6</a>.
</p>
</div>
<div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 xmlns="" class="title"><a xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" href="index.html#toc0055" id="SECID39">5.3 Command line options</a></h3></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Exim’s command line options are described in alphabetical order below. If none
of the options that specifies a specific action (such as starting the daemon or
a queue runner, or testing an address, or receiving a message in a specific
format, or listing the queue) are present, and there is at least one argument
on the command line, <span><strong class="option">-bm</strong></span> (accept a local message on the standard input,
with the arguments specifying the recipients) is assumed. Otherwise, Exim
outputs a brief message about itself and exits.
</p>
<div class="variablelist">
<dl><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">--</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id478688" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478697" class="indexterm"></a>
This is a pseudo-option whose only purpose is to terminate the options and
therefore to cause subsequent command line items to be treated as arguments
rather than options, even if they begin with hyphens.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">--help</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id478728" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes Exim to output a few sentences stating what it is.
The same output is generated if the Exim binary is called with no options and
no arguments.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-B</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>type</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id478761" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478773" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478784" class="indexterm"></a>
This is a Sendmail option for selecting 7 or 8 bit processing. Exim is 8-bit
clean; it ignores this option.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id478814" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478825" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478836" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478851" class="indexterm"></a>
This option runs Exim as a daemon, awaiting incoming SMTP connections. Usually
the <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span> option is combined with the <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>time</em></span>> option, to specify
that the daemon should also initiate periodic queue runs.
</p>
<p>
The <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span> option can be used only by an admin user. If either of the <span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span>
(debugging) or <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span> (verifying) options are set, the daemon does not
disconnect from the controlling terminal. When running this way, it can be
stopped by pressing ctrl-C.
</p>
<p>
By default, Exim listens for incoming connections to the standard SMTP port on
all the host’s running interfaces. However, it is possible to listen on other
ports, on multiple ports, and only on specific interfaces. Chapter
<a href="ch13.html" title="13. Starting the daemon and the use of network interfaces">13</a> contains a description of the options that control this.
</p>
<p>
When a listening daemon
<a id="id478908" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478923" class="indexterm"></a>
is started without the use of <span><strong class="option">-oX</strong></span> (that is, without overriding the normal
configuration), it writes its process id to a file called <em class="filename">exim-daemon.pid</em>
in Exim’s spool directory. This location can be overridden by setting
PID_FILE_PATH in <em class="filename">Local/Makefile</em>. The file is written while Exim is still
running as root.
</p>
<p>
When <span><strong class="option">-oX</strong></span> is used on the command line to start a listening daemon, the
process id is not written to the normal pid file path. However, <span><strong class="option">-oP</strong></span> can be
used to specify a path on the command line if a pid file is required.
</p>
<p>
The SIGHUP signal
<a id="id478976" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id478987" class="indexterm"></a>
can be used to cause the daemon to re-execute itself. This should be done
whenever Exim’s configuration file, or any file that is incorporated into it by
means of the <span><strong class="option">.include</strong></span> facility, is changed, and also whenever a new version
of Exim is installed. It is not necessary to do this when other files that are
referenced from the configuration (for example, alias files) are changed,
because these are reread each time they are used.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bdf</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479027" class="indexterm"></a>
This option has the same effect as <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span> except that it never disconnects
from the controlling terminal, even when no debugging is specified.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479058" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479070" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479084" class="indexterm"></a>
Run Exim in expansion testing mode. Exim discards its root privilege, to
prevent ordinary users from using this mode to read otherwise inaccessible
files. If no arguments are given, Exim runs interactively, prompting for lines
of data. Otherwise, it processes each argument in turn.
</p>
<p>
If Exim was built with USE_READLINE=yes in <em class="filename">Local/Makefile</em>, it tries
to load the <span><strong class="option">libreadline</strong></span> library dynamically whenever the <span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span> option is
used without command line arguments. If successful, it uses the <em class="function">readline()</em>
function, which provides extensive line-editing facilities, for reading the
test data. A line history is supported.
</p>
<p>
Long expansion expressions can be split over several lines by using backslash
continuations. As in Exim’s run time configuration, white space at the start of
continuation lines is ignored. Each argument or data line is passed through the
string expansion mechanism, and the result is output. Variable values from the
configuration file (for example, <em class="varname">$qualify_domain</em>) are available, but no
message-specific values (such as <em class="varname">$sender_domain</em>) are set, because no message
is being processed (but see <span><strong class="option">-bem</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-Mset</strong></span>).
</p>
<p>
<span class="bold"><strong>Note</strong></span>: If you use this mechanism to test lookups, and you change the data
files or databases you are using, you must exit and restart Exim before trying
the same lookup again. Otherwise, because each Exim process caches the results
of lookups, you will just get the same result as before.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bem</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>filename</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479184" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479196" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479210" class="indexterm"></a>
This option operates like <span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span> except that it must be followed by the name
of a file. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bem /tmp/testmessage
</pre><p>
The file is read as a message (as if receiving a locally-submitted non-SMTP
message) before any of the test expansions are done. Thus, message-specific
variables such as <em class="varname">$message_size</em> and <em class="varname">$header_from:</em> are available. However,
no <span class="emphasis"><em>Received:</em></span> header is added to the message. If the <span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span> option is set,
recipients are read from the headers in the normal way, and are shown in the
<em class="varname">$recipients</em> variable. Note that recipients cannot be given on the command
line, because further arguments are taken as strings to expand (just like
<span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span>).
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bF</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>filename</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479288" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479299" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479314" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is the same as <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> except that it assumes that the filter being
tested is a system filter. The additional commands that are available only in
system filters are recognized.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>filename</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479352" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479364" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479378" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479393" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479407" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479422" class="indexterm"></a>
This option runs Exim in user filter testing mode; the file is the filter file
to be tested, and a test message must be supplied on the standard input. If
there are no message-dependent tests in the filter, an empty file can be
supplied.
</p>
<p>
If you want to test a system filter file, use <span><strong class="option">-bF</strong></span> instead of <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span>. You
can use both <span><strong class="option">-bF</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> on the same command, in order to test a system
filter and a user filter in the same run. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bF /system/filter -bf /user/filter </test/message
</pre><p>
This is helpful when the system filter adds header lines or sets filter
variables that are used by the user filter.
</p>
<p>
If the test filter file does not begin with one of the special lines
</p>
<pre class="literallayout"># Exim filter
# Sieve filter
</pre><p>
it is taken to be a normal <em class="filename">.forward</em> file, and is tested for validity under
that interpretation. See sections <a href="ch22.html#SECTitenonfilred" title="22.4 Items in a non-filter redirection list">22.4</a> to
<a href="ch22.html#SECTspecitredli" title="22.6 Special items in redirection lists">22.6</a> for a description of the possible contents of non-filter
redirection lists.
</p>
<p>
The result of an Exim command that uses <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span>, provided no errors are
detected, is a list of the actions that Exim would try to take if presented
with the message for real. More details of filter testing are given in the
separate document entitled <span class="emphasis"><em>Exim’s interfaces to mail filtering</em></span>.
</p>
<p>
When testing a filter file,
<a id="id479528" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479541" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479552" class="indexterm"></a>
the envelope sender can be set by the <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> option,
or by a “<span class="quote">From </span>” line at the start of the test message. Various parameters
that would normally be taken from the envelope recipient address of the message
can be set by means of additional command line options (see the next four
options).
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bfd</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>domain</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479597" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479609" class="indexterm"></a>
This sets the domain of the recipient address when a filter file is being
tested by means of the <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> option. The default is the value of
<em class="varname">$qualify_domain</em>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bfl</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>local part</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479648" class="indexterm"></a>
This sets the local part of the recipient address when a filter file is being
tested by means of the <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> option. The default is the username of the
process that calls Exim. A local part should be specified with any prefix or
suffix stripped, because that is how it appears to the filter when a message is
actually being delivered.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bfp</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>prefix</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479688" class="indexterm"></a>
This sets the prefix of the local part of the recipient address when a filter
file is being tested by means of the <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> option. The default is an empty
prefix.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bfs</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>suffix</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479724" class="indexterm"></a>
This sets the suffix of the local part of the recipient address when a filter
file is being tested by means of the <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> option. The default is an empty
suffix.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>IP address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id479760" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479772" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479786" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479801" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479815" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479830" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id479844" class="indexterm"></a>
This option runs a fake SMTP session as if from the given IP address, using the
standard input and output. The IP address may include a port number at the end,
after a full stop. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bh 10.9.8.7.1234
exim -bh fe80::a00:20ff:fe86:a061.5678
</pre><p>
When an IPv6 address is given, it is converted into canonical form. In the case
of the second example above, the value of <em class="varname">$sender_host_address</em> after
conversion to the canonical form is
<code class="literal">fe80:0000:0000:0a00:20ff:fe86:a061.5678</code>.
</p>
<p>
Comments as to what is going on are written to the standard error file. These
include lines beginning with “<span class="quote">LOG</span>” for anything that would have been logged.
This facility is provided for testing configuration options for incoming
messages, to make sure they implement the required policy. For example, you can
test your relay controls using <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>.
</p>
<p>
<span class="bold"><strong>Warning 1</strong></span>:
<a id="id479913" class="indexterm"></a>
You can test features of the configuration that rely on ident (RFC 1413)
information by using the <span><strong class="option">-oMt</strong></span> option. However, Exim cannot actually perform
an ident callout when testing using <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> because there is no incoming SMTP
connection.
</p>
<p>
<span class="bold"><strong>Warning 2</strong></span>: Address verification callouts (see section <a href="ch40.html#SECTcallver" title="40.41 Callout verification">40.41</a>)
are also skipped when testing using <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>. If you want these callouts to
occur, use <span><strong class="option">-bhc</strong></span> instead.
</p>
<p>
Messages supplied during the testing session are discarded, and nothing is
written to any of the real log files. There may be pauses when DNS (and other)
lookups are taking place, and of course these may time out. The <span><strong class="option">-oMi</strong></span> option
can be used to specify a specific IP interface and port if this is important,
and <span><strong class="option">-oMaa</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-oMai</strong></span> can be used to set parameters as if the SMTP
session were authenticated.
</p>
<p>
The <span class="emphasis"><em>exim_checkaccess</em></span> utility is a “<span class="quote">packaged</span>” version of <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> whose
output just states whether a given recipient address from a given host is
acceptable or not. See section <a href="ch50.html#SECTcheckaccess" title="50.8 Checking access policy (exim_checkaccess)">50.8</a>.
</p>
<p>
Features such as authentication and encryption, where the client input is not
plain text, cannot easily be tested with <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>. Instead, you should use a
specialized SMTP test program such as
<span class="bold"><strong><a href="http://jetmore.org/john/code/#swaks" target="_top">swaks</a></strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bhc</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>IP address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480040" class="indexterm"></a>
This option operates in the same way as <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>, except that address
verification callouts are performed if required. This includes consulting and
updating the callout cache database.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480071" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480082" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480097" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480108" class="indexterm"></a>
Sendmail interprets the <span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> option as a request to rebuild its alias file.
Exim does not have the concept of a single alias file, and so it cannot mimic
this behaviour. However, calls to <em class="filename">/usr/lib/sendmail</em> with the <span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> option
tend to appear in various scripts such as NIS make files, so the option must be
recognized.
</p>
<p>
If <span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> is encountered, the command specified by the <span><strong class="option">bi_command</strong></span>
configuration option is run, under the uid and gid of the caller of Exim. If
the <span><strong class="option">-oA</strong></span> option is used, its value is passed to the command as an argument.
The command set by <span><strong class="option">bi_command</strong></span> may not contain arguments. The command can
use the <span class="emphasis"><em>exim_dbmbuild</em></span> utility, or some other means, to rebuild alias files
if this is required. If the <span><strong class="option">bi_command</strong></span> option is not set, calling Exim with
<span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> is a no-op.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bm</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480190" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480202" class="indexterm"></a>
This option runs an Exim receiving process that accepts an incoming,
locally-generated message on the current input. The recipients are given as the
command arguments (except when <span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span> is also present – see below). Each
argument can be a comma-separated list of RFC 2822 addresses. This is the
default option for selecting the overall action of an Exim call; it is assumed
if no other conflicting option is present.
</p>
<p>
If any addresses in the message are unqualified (have no domain), they are
qualified by the values of the <span><strong class="option">qualify_domain</strong></span> or <span><strong class="option">qualify_recipient</strong></span>
options, as appropriate. The <span><strong class="option">-bnq</strong></span> option (see below) provides a way of
suppressing this for special cases.
</p>
<p>
Policy checks on the contents of local messages can be enforced by means of
the non-SMTP ACL. See chapter <a href="ch40.html" title="40. Access control lists">40</a> for details.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id480255" class="indexterm"></a>
The return code is zero if the message is successfully accepted. Otherwise, the
action is controlled by the <span><strong class="option">-oe</strong></span><span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span> option setting – see below.
</p>
<p>
The format
<a id="id480283" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480297" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480312" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480325" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480342" class="indexterm"></a>
of the message must be as defined in RFC 2822, except that, for
compatibility with Sendmail and Smail, a line in one of the forms
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">From sender Fri Jan 5 12:55 GMT 1997
From sender Fri, 5 Jan 97 12:55:01
</pre><p>
(with the weekday optional, and possibly with additional text after the date)
is permitted to appear at the start of the message. There appears to be no
authoritative specification of the format of this line. Exim recognizes it by
matching against the regular expression defined by the <span><strong class="option">uucp_from_pattern</strong></span>
option, which can be changed if necessary.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id480386" class="indexterm"></a>
The specified sender is treated as if it were given as the argument to the
<span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> option, but if a <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> option is also present, its argument is used in
preference to the address taken from the message. The caller of Exim must be a
trusted user for the sender of a message to be set in this way.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bnq</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480430" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480442" class="indexterm"></a>
By default, Exim automatically qualifies unqualified addresses (those
without domains) that appear in messages that are submitted locally (that
is, not over TCP/IP). This qualification applies both to addresses in
envelopes, and addresses in header lines. Sender addresses are qualified using
<span><strong class="option">qualify_domain</strong></span>, and recipient addresses using <span><strong class="option">qualify_recipient</strong></span> (which
defaults to the value of <span><strong class="option">qualify_domain</strong></span>).
</p>
<p>
Sometimes, qualification is not wanted. For example, if <span><strong class="option">-bS</strong></span> (batch SMTP) is
being used to re-submit messages that originally came from remote hosts after
content scanning, you probably do not want to qualify unqualified addresses in
header lines. (Such lines will be present only if you have not enabled a header
syntax check in the appropriate ACL.)
</p>
<p>
The <span><strong class="option">-bnq</strong></span> option suppresses all qualification of unqualified addresses in
messages that originate on the local host. When this is used, unqualified
addresses in the envelope provoke errors (causing message rejection) and
unqualified addresses in header lines are left alone.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bP</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480507" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480519" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480534" class="indexterm"></a>
If this option is given with no arguments, it causes the values of all Exim’s
main configuration options to be written to the standard output. The values
of one or more specific options can be requested by giving their names as
arguments, for example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bP qualify_domain hold_domains
</pre><p>
<a id="id480563" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480574" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480589" class="indexterm"></a>
However, any option setting that is preceded by the word “<span class="quote">hide</span>” in the
configuration file is not shown in full, except to an admin user. For other
users, the output is as in this example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">mysql_servers = <value not displayable>
</pre><p>
If <span><strong class="option">configure_file</strong></span> is given as an argument, the name of the run time
configuration file is output.
If a list of configuration files was supplied, the value that is output here
is the name of the file that was actually used.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id480632" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480645" class="indexterm"></a>
If <span><strong class="option">log_file_path</strong></span> or <span><strong class="option">pid_file_path</strong></span> are given, the names of the
directories where log files and daemon pid files are written are output,
respectively. If these values are unset, log files are written in a
sub-directory of the spool directory called <span><strong class="option">log</strong></span>, and the pid file is
written directly into the spool directory.
</p>
<p>
If <span><strong class="option">-bP</strong></span> is followed by a name preceded by <code class="literal">+</code>, for example,
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bP +local_domains
</pre><p>
it searches for a matching named list of any type (domain, host, address, or
local part) and outputs what it finds.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id480705" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480720" class="indexterm"></a>
If one of the words <span><strong class="option">router</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">transport</strong></span>, or <span><strong class="option">authenticator</strong></span> is given,
followed by the name of an appropriate driver instance, the option settings for
that driver are output. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bP transport local_delivery
</pre><p>
The generic driver options are output first, followed by the driver’s private
options. A list of the names of drivers of a particular type can be obtained by
using one of the words <span><strong class="option">router_list</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">transport_list</strong></span>, or
<span><strong class="option">authenticator_list</strong></span>, and a complete list of all drivers with their option
settings can be obtained by using <span><strong class="option">routers</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">transports</strong></span>, or
<span><strong class="option">authenticators</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480798" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480809" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480824" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests a listing of the contents of the mail queue on the
standard output. If the <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span> option is followed by a list of message ids,
just those messages are listed. By default, this option can be used only by an
admin user. However, the <span><strong class="option">queue_list_requires_admin</strong></span> option can be set false
to allow any user to see the queue.
</p>
<p>
Each message on the queue is displayed as in the following example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">25m 2.9K 0t5C6f-0000c8-00 <alice@wonderland.fict.example>
red.king@looking-glass.fict.example
<other addresses>
</pre><p>
<a id="id480872" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id480885" class="indexterm"></a>
The first line contains the length of time the message has been on the queue
(in this case 25 minutes), the size of the message (2.9K), the unique local
identifier for the message, and the message sender, as contained in the
envelope. For bounce messages, the sender address is empty, and appears as
“<span class="quote"><></span>”. If the message was submitted locally by an untrusted user who overrode
the default sender address, the user’s login name is shown in parentheses
before the sender address.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id480915" class="indexterm"></a>
If the message is frozen (attempts to deliver it are suspended) then the text
“<span class="quote">*** frozen ***</span>” is displayed at the end of this line.
</p>
<p>
The recipients of the message (taken from the envelope, not the headers) are
displayed on subsequent lines. Those addresses to which the message has already
been delivered are marked with the letter D. If an original address gets
expanded into several addresses via an alias or forward file, the original is
displayed with a D only when deliveries for all of its child addresses are
complete.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bpa</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480958" class="indexterm"></a>
This option operates like <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span>, but in addition it shows delivered addresses
that were generated from the original top level address(es) in each message by
alias or forwarding operations. These addresses are flagged with “<span class="quote">+D</span>” instead
of just “<span class="quote">D</span>”.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bpc</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id480997" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481009" class="indexterm"></a>
This option counts the number of messages on the queue, and writes the total
to the standard output. It is restricted to admin users, unless
<span><strong class="option">queue_list_requires_admin</strong></span> is set false.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bpr</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481044" class="indexterm"></a>
This option operates like <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span>, but the output is not sorted into
chronological order of message arrival. This can speed it up when there are
lots of messages on the queue, and is particularly useful if the output is
going to be post-processed in a way that doesn’t need the sorting.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bpra</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481083" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is a combination of <span><strong class="option">-bpr</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bpa</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bpru</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481116" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is a combination of <span><strong class="option">-bpr</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bpu</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bpu</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481149" class="indexterm"></a>
This option operates like <span><strong class="option">-bp</strong></span> but shows only undelivered top-level
addresses for each message displayed. Addresses generated by aliasing or
forwarding are not shown, unless the message was deferred after processing by a
router with the <span><strong class="option">one_time</strong></span> option set.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-brt</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481185" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481197" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481211" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is for testing retry rules, and it must be followed by up to three
arguments. It causes Exim to look for a retry rule that matches the values
and to write it to the standard output. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -brt bach.comp.mus.example
Retry rule: *.comp.mus.example F,2h,15m; F,4d,30m;
</pre><p>
See chapter <a href="ch32.html" title="32. Retry configuration">32</a> for a description of Exim’s retry rules. The first
argument, which is required, can be a complete address in the form
<span class="emphasis"><em>local_part@domain</em></span>, or it can be just a domain name. If the second argument
contains a dot, it is interpreted as an optional second domain name; if no
retry rule is found for the first argument, the second is tried. This ties in
with Exim’s behaviour when looking for retry rules for remote hosts – if no
rule is found that matches the host, one that matches the mail domain is
sought. Finally, an argument that is the name of a specific delivery error, as
used in setting up retry rules, can be given. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -brt haydn.comp.mus.example quota_3d
Retry rule: *@haydn.comp.mus.example quota_3d F,1h,15m
</pre></dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-brw</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481275" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481287" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481301" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is for testing address rewriting rules, and it must be followed by
a single argument, consisting of either a local part without a domain, or a
complete address with a fully qualified domain. Exim outputs how this address
would be rewritten for each possible place it might appear. See chapter
<a href="ch31.html" title="31. Address rewriting">31</a> for further details.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bS</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481340" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481351" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481366" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is used for batched SMTP input, which is an alternative interface
for non-interactive local message submission. A number of messages can be
submitted in a single run. However, despite its name, this is not really SMTP
input. Exim reads each message’s envelope from SMTP commands on the standard
input, but generates no responses. If the caller is trusted, or
<span><strong class="option">untrusted_set_sender</strong></span> is set, the senders in the SMTP MAIL commands are
believed; otherwise the sender is always the caller of Exim.
</p>
<p>
The message itself is read from the standard input, in SMTP format (leading
dots doubled), terminated by a line containing just a single dot. An error is
provoked if the terminating dot is missing. A further message may then follow.
</p>
<p>
As for other local message submissions, the contents of incoming batch SMTP
messages can be checked using the non-SMTP ACL (see chapter <a href="ch40.html" title="40. Access control lists">40</a>).
Unqualified addresses are automatically qualified using <span><strong class="option">qualify_domain</strong></span> and
<span><strong class="option">qualify_recipient</strong></span>, as appropriate, unless the <span><strong class="option">-bnq</strong></span> option is used.
</p>
<p>
Some other SMTP commands are recognized in the input. HELO and EHLO act
as RSET; VRFY, EXPN, ETRN, and HELP act as NOOP;
QUIT quits, ignoring the rest of the standard input.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id481424" class="indexterm"></a>
If any error is encountered, reports are written to the standard output and
error streams, and Exim gives up immediately. The return code is 0 if no error
was detected; it is 1 if one or more messages were accepted before the error
was detected; otherwise it is 2.
</p>
<p>
More details of input using batched SMTP are given in section
<a href="ch45.html#SECTincomingbatchedSMTP" title="45.11 Incoming batched SMTP">45.11</a>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bs</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481469" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481480" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481495" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes Exim to accept one or more messages by reading SMTP commands
on the standard input, and producing SMTP replies on the standard output. SMTP
policy controls, as defined in ACLs (see chapter <a href="ch40.html" title="40. Access control lists">40</a>) are applied.
Some user agents use this interface as a way of passing locally-generated
messages to the MTA.
</p>
<p>
In
<a id="id481520" class="indexterm"></a>
this usage, if the caller of Exim is trusted, or <span><strong class="option">untrusted_set_sender</strong></span> is
set, the senders of messages are taken from the SMTP MAIL commands.
Otherwise the content of these commands is ignored and the sender is set up as
the calling user. Unqualified addresses are automatically qualified using
<span><strong class="option">qualify_domain</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">qualify_recipient</strong></span>, as appropriate, unless the
<span><strong class="option">-bnq</strong></span> option is used.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id481558" class="indexterm"></a>
The
<span><strong class="option">-bs</strong></span> option is also used to run Exim from <span class="emphasis"><em>inetd</em></span>, as an alternative to
using a listening daemon. Exim can distinguish the two cases by checking
whether the standard input is a TCP/IP socket. When Exim is called from
<span class="emphasis"><em>inetd</em></span>, the source of the mail is assumed to be remote, and the comments
above concerning senders and qualification do not apply. In this situation,
Exim behaves in exactly the same way as it does when receiving a message via
the listening daemon.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481600" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481612" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481626" class="indexterm"></a>
This option runs Exim in address testing mode, in which each argument is taken
as a recipient address to be tested for deliverability. The results are
written to the standard output. If a test fails, and the caller is not an admin
user, no details of the failure are output, because these might contain
sensitive information such as usernames and passwords for database lookups.
</p>
<p>
If no arguments are given, Exim runs in an interactive manner, prompting with a
right angle bracket for addresses to be tested.
</p>
<p>
Unlike the <span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span> test option, you cannot arrange for Exim to use the
<em class="function">readline()</em> function, because it is running as <span class="emphasis"><em>root</em></span> and there are
security issues.
</p>
<p>
Each address is handled as if it were the recipient address of a message
(compare the <span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span> option). It is passed to the routers and the result is
written to the standard output. However, any router that has
<span><strong class="option">no_address_test</strong></span> set is bypassed. This can make <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span> easier to use for
genuine routing tests if your first router passes everything to a scanner
program.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id481694" class="indexterm"></a>
The return code is 2 if any address failed outright; it is 1 if no address
failed outright but at least one could not be resolved for some reason. Return
code 0 is given only when all addresses succeed.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id481717" class="indexterm"></a>
<span class="bold"><strong>Note</strong></span>: When actually delivering a message, Exim removes duplicate recipient
addresses after routing is complete, so that only one delivery takes place.
This does not happen when testing with <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span>; the full results of routing are
always shown.
</p>
<p>
<span class="bold"><strong>Warning</strong></span>: <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span> can only do relatively simple testing. If any of the
routers in the configuration makes any tests on the sender address of a
message,
<a id="id481756" class="indexterm"></a>
you can use the <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> option to set an appropriate sender when running
<span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span> tests. Without it, the sender is assumed to be the calling user at the
default qualifying domain. However, if you have set up (for example) routers
whose behaviour depends on the contents of an incoming message, you cannot test
those conditions using <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span>. The <span><strong class="option">-N</strong></span> option provides a possible way of
doing such tests.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bV</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481804" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481816" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes Exim to write the current version number, compilation
number, and compilation date of the <span class="emphasis"><em>exim</em></span> binary to the standard output.
It also lists the DBM library this is being used, the optional modules (such as
specific lookup types), the drivers that are included in the binary, and the
name of the run time configuration file that is in use.
</p>
<p>
As part of its operation, <span><strong class="option">-bV</strong></span> causes Exim to read and syntax check its
configuration file. However, this is a static check only. It cannot check
values that are to be expanded. For example, although a misspelt ACL verb is
detected, an error in the verb’s arguments is not. You cannot rely on <span><strong class="option">-bV</strong></span>
alone to discover (for example) all the typos in the configuration; some
realistic testing is needed. The <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-N</strong></span> options provide more
dynamic testing facilities.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id481881" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481893" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id481909" class="indexterm"></a>
This option runs Exim in address verification mode, in which each argument is
taken as a recipient address to be verified by the routers. (This does
not involve any verification callouts). During normal operation, verification
happens mostly as a consequence processing a <span><strong class="option">verify</strong></span> condition in an ACL
(see chapter <a href="ch40.html" title="40. Access control lists">40</a>). If you want to test an entire ACL, possibly
including callouts, see the <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bhc</strong></span> options.
</p>
<p>
If verification fails, and the caller is not an admin user, no details of the
failure are output, because these might contain sensitive information such as
usernames and passwords for database lookups.
</p>
<p>
If no arguments are given, Exim runs in an interactive manner, prompting with a
right angle bracket for addresses to be verified.
</p>
<p>
Unlike the <span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span> test option, you cannot arrange for Exim to use the
<em class="function">readline()</em> function, because it is running as <span class="emphasis"><em>exim</em></span> and there are
security issues.
</p>
<p>
Verification differs from address testing (the <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span> option) in that routers
that have <span><strong class="option">no_verify</strong></span> set are skipped, and if the address is accepted by a
router that has <span><strong class="option">fail_verify</strong></span> set, verification fails. The address is
verified as a recipient if <span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span> is used; to test verification for a sender
address, <span><strong class="option">-bvs</strong></span> should be used.
</p>
<p>
If the <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span> option is not set, the output consists of a single line for each
address, stating whether it was verified or not, and giving a reason in the
latter case. Without <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span>, generating more than one address by redirection
causes verification to end successfully, without considering the generated
addresses. However, if just one address is generated, processing continues,
and the generated address must verify successfully for the overall verification
to succeed.
</p>
<p>
When <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span> is set, more details are given of how the address has been handled,
and in the case of address redirection, all the generated addresses are also
considered. Verification may succeed for some and fail for others.
</p>
<p>
The
<a id="id482032" class="indexterm"></a>
return code is 2 if any address failed outright; it is 1 if no address
failed outright but at least one could not be resolved for some reason. Return
code 0 is given only when all addresses succeed.
</p>
<p>
If any of the routers in the configuration makes any tests on the sender
address of a message, you should use the <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> option to set an appropriate
sender when running <span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span> tests. Without it, the sender is assumed to be the
calling user at the default qualifying domain.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-bvs</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482079" class="indexterm"></a>
This option acts like <span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span>, but verifies the address as a sender rather
than a recipient address. This affects any rewriting and qualification that
might happen.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>filelist</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482115" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482127" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482142" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482153" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes Exim to find the run time configuration file from the given
list instead of from the list specified by the CONFIGURE_FILE
compile-time setting. Usually, the list will consist of just a single file
name, but it can be a colon-separated list of names. In this case, the first
file that exists is used. Failure to open an existing file stops Exim from
proceeding any further along the list, and an error is generated.
</p>
<p>
When this option is used by a caller other than root or the Exim user, and the
list is different from the compiled-in list, Exim gives up its root privilege
immediately, and runs with the real and effective uid and gid set to those of
the caller. However, if ALT_CONFIG_ROOT_ONLY is defined in
<em class="filename">Local/Makefile</em>, root privilege is retained for <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> only if the caller of
Exim is root.
</p>
<p>
That is, the Exim user is no longer privileged in this regard. This build-time
option is not set by default in the Exim source distribution tarbundle.
However, if you are using a “<span class="quote">packaged</span>” version of Exim (source or binary),
the packagers might have enabled it.
</p>
<p>
Setting ALT_CONFIG_ROOT_ONLY locks out the possibility of testing a
configuration using <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> right through message reception and delivery, even
if the caller is root. The reception works, but by that time, Exim is running
as the Exim user, so when it re-executes to regain privilege for the delivery,
the use of <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> causes privilege to be lost. However, root can test reception
and delivery using two separate commands (one to put a message on the queue,
using <span><strong class="option">-odq</strong></span>, and another to do the delivery, using <span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span>).
</p>
<p>
If ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX is defined <em class="filename">in Local/Makefile</em>, it specifies a
prefix string with which any file named in a <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> command line option
must start. In addition, the file name must not contain the sequence <code class="literal">/../</code>.
However, if the value of the <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> option is identical to the value of
CONFIGURE_FILE in <em class="filename">Local/Makefile</em>, Exim ignores <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> and proceeds as
usual. There is no default setting for ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX; when it is
unset, any file name can be used with <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span>.
</p>
<p>
ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX can be used to confine alternative configuration files
to a directory to which only root has access. This prevents someone who has
broken into the Exim account from running a privileged Exim with an arbitrary
configuration file.
</p>
<p>
The <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span> facility is useful for ensuring that configuration files are
syntactically correct, but cannot be used for test deliveries, unless the
caller is privileged, or unless it is an exotic configuration that does not
require privilege. No check is made on the owner or group of the files
specified by this option.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-D</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>macro</em></span>>=<<span class="emphasis"><em>value</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482308" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482320" class="indexterm"></a>
This option can be used to override macro definitions in the configuration file
(see section <a href="ch06.html#SECTmacrodefs" title="6.4 Macros in the configuration file">6.4</a>). However, like <span><strong class="option">-C</strong></span>, if it is used by an
unprivileged caller, it causes Exim to give up its root privilege.
If DISABLE_D_OPTION is defined in <em class="filename">Local/Makefile</em>, the use of <span><strong class="option">-D</strong></span> is
completely disabled, and its use causes an immediate error exit.
</p>
<p>
The entire option (including equals sign if present) must all be within one
command line item. <span><strong class="option">-D</strong></span> can be used to set the value of a macro to the empty
string, in which case the equals sign is optional. These two commands are
synonymous:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -DABC ...
exim -DABC= ...
</pre><p>
To include spaces in a macro definition item, quotes must be used. If you use
quotes, spaces are permitted around the macro name and the equals sign. For
example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim '-D ABC = something' ...
</pre><p>
<span><strong class="option">-D</strong></span> may be repeated up to 10 times on a command line.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>debug options</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482417" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482428" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482443" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes debugging information to be written to the standard
error stream. It is restricted to admin users because debugging output may show
database queries that contain password information. Also, the details of users’
filter files should be protected. If a non-admin user uses <span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span>, Exim
writes an error message to the standard error stream and exits with a non-zero
return code.
</p>
<p>
When <span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span> is used, <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span> is assumed. If <span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span> is given on its own, a lot of
standard debugging data is output. This can be reduced, or increased to include
some more rarely needed information, by directly following <span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span> with a string
made up of names preceded by plus or minus characters. These add or remove sets
of debugging data, respectively. For example, <span><strong class="option">-d+filter</strong></span> adds filter
debugging, whereas <span><strong class="option">-d-all+filter</strong></span> selects only filter debugging. Note that
no spaces are allowed in the debug setting. The available debugging categories
are:
</p>
<div class="literallayout">
<code class="literal">acl </code> ACL interpretation<br />
<code class="literal">auth </code> authenticators<br />
<code class="literal">deliver </code> general delivery logic<br />
<code class="literal">dns </code> DNS lookups (see also resolver)<br />
<code class="literal">dnsbl </code> DNS black list (aka RBL) code<br />
<code class="literal">exec </code> arguments for <em class="function">execv()</em> calls<br />
<code class="literal">expand </code> detailed debugging for string expansions<br />
<code class="literal">filter </code> filter handling<br />
<code class="literal">hints_lookup </code> hints data lookups<br />
<code class="literal">host_lookup </code> all types of name-to-IP address handling<br />
<code class="literal">ident </code> ident lookup<br />
<code class="literal">interface </code> lists of local interfaces<br />
<code class="literal">lists </code> matching things in lists<br />
<code class="literal">load </code> system load checks<br />
<code class="literal">local_scan </code> can be used by <em class="function">local_scan()</em> (see chapter <a href="ch42.html" title="42. Adding a local scan function to Exim">42</a>)<br />
<code class="literal">lookup </code> general lookup code and all lookups<br />
<code class="literal">memory </code> memory handling<br />
<code class="literal">pid </code> add pid to debug output lines<br />
<code class="literal">process_info </code> setting info for the process log<br />
<code class="literal">queue_run </code> queue runs<br />
<code class="literal">receive </code> general message reception logic<br />
<code class="literal">resolver </code> turn on the DNS resolver’s debugging output<br />
<code class="literal">retry </code> retry handling<br />
<code class="literal">rewrite </code> address rewriting<br />
<code class="literal">route </code> address routing<br />
<code class="literal">timestamp </code> add timestamp to debug output lines<br />
<code class="literal">tls </code> TLS logic<br />
<code class="literal">transport </code> transports<br />
<code class="literal">uid </code> changes of uid/gid and looking up uid/gid<br />
<code class="literal">verify </code> address verification logic<br />
<code class="literal">all </code> almost all of the above (see below), and also <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span><br />
</div>
<p>
The <code class="literal">all</code> option excludes <code class="literal">memory</code> when used as <code class="literal">+all</code>, but includes it
for <code class="literal">-all</code>. The reason for this is that <code class="literal">+all</code> is something that people
tend to use when generating debug output for Exim maintainers. If <code class="literal">+memory</code>
is included, an awful lot of output that is very rarely of interest is
generated, so it now has to be explicitly requested. However, <code class="literal">-all</code> does
turn everything off.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id482775" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482786" class="indexterm"></a>
The <code class="literal">resolver</code> option produces output only if the DNS resolver was compiled
with DEBUG enabled. This is not the case in some operating systems. Also,
unfortunately, debugging output from the DNS resolver is written to stdout
rather than stderr.
</p>
<p>
The default (<span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span> with no argument) omits <code class="literal">expand</code>, <code class="literal">filter</code>,
<code class="literal">interface</code>, <code class="literal">load</code>, <code class="literal">memory</code>, <code class="literal">pid</code>, <code class="literal">resolver</code>, and <code class="literal">timestamp</code>.
However, the <code class="literal">pid</code> selector is forced when debugging is turned on for a
daemon, which then passes it on to any re-executed Exims. Exim also
automatically adds the pid to debug lines when several remote deliveries are
run in parallel.
</p>
<p>
The <code class="literal">timestamp</code> selector causes the current time to be inserted at the start
of all debug output lines. This can be useful when trying to track down delays
in processing.
</p>
<p>
If the <span><strong class="option">debug_print</strong></span> option is set in any driver, it produces output whenever
any debugging is selected, or if <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span> is used.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-dd</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>debug options</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482911" class="indexterm"></a>
This option behaves exactly like <span><strong class="option">-d</strong></span> except when used on a command that
starts a daemon process. In that case, debugging is turned off for the
subprocesses that the daemon creates. Thus, it is useful for monitoring the
behaviour of the daemon without creating as much output as full debugging does.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-dropcr</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482944" class="indexterm"></a>
This is an obsolete option that is now a no-op. It used to affect the way Exim
handled CR and LF characters in incoming messages. What happens now is
described in section <a href="ch44.html#SECTlineendings" title="44.2 Line endings">44.2</a>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-E</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id482978" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id482990" class="indexterm"></a>
This option specifies that an incoming message is a locally-generated delivery
failure report. It is used internally by Exim when handling delivery failures
and is not intended for external use. Its only effect is to stop Exim
generating certain messages to the postmaster, as otherwise message cascades
could occur in some situations. As part of the same option, a message id may
follow the characters <span><strong class="option">-E</strong></span>. If it does, the log entry for the receipt of the
new message contains the id, following “<span class="quote">R=</span>”, as a cross-reference.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-e</strong></span><span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483034" class="indexterm"></a>
There are a number of Sendmail options starting with <span><strong class="option">-oe</strong></span> which seem to be
called by various programs without the leading <span><strong class="option">o</strong></span> in the option. For
example, the <span><strong class="option">vacation</strong></span> program uses <span><strong class="option">-eq</strong></span>. Exim treats all options of the
form <span><strong class="option">-e</strong></span><span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span> as synonymous with the corresponding <span><strong class="option">-oe</strong></span><span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span> options.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-F</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483096" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483107" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483122" class="indexterm"></a>
This option sets the sender’s full name for use when a locally-generated
message is being accepted. In the absence of this option, the user’s <span class="emphasis"><em>gecos</em></span>
entry from the password data is used. As users are generally permitted to alter
their <span class="emphasis"><em>gecos</em></span> entries, no security considerations are involved. White space
between <span><strong class="option">-F</strong></span> and the <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>> is optional.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483177" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483189" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483204" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483218" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483229" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483240" class="indexterm"></a>
This option sets the address of the envelope sender of a locally-generated
message (also known as the return path). The option can normally be used only
by a trusted user, but <span><strong class="option">untrusted_set_sender</strong></span> can be set to allow untrusted
users to use it.
</p>
<p>
Processes running as root or the Exim user are always trusted. Other
trusted users are defined by the <span><strong class="option">trusted_users</strong></span> or <span><strong class="option">trusted_groups</strong></span>
options. In the absence of <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span>, or if the caller is not trusted, the sender
of a local message is set to the caller’s login name at the default qualify
domain.
</p>
<p>
There is one exception to the restriction on the use of <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span>: an empty sender
can be specified by any user, trusted or not, to create a message that can
never provoke a bounce. An empty sender can be specified either as an empty
string, or as a pair of angle brackets with nothing between them, as in these
examples of shell commands:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -f '<>' user@domain
exim -f "" user@domain
</pre><p>
In addition, the use of <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> is not restricted when testing a filter file
with <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span> or when testing or verifying addresses using the <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span> or
<span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span> options.
</p>
<p>
Allowing untrusted users to change the sender address does not of itself make
it possible to send anonymous mail. Exim still checks that the <span class="emphasis"><em>From:</em></span> header
refers to the local user, and if it does not, it adds a <span class="emphasis"><em>Sender:</em></span> header,
though this can be overridden by setting <span><strong class="option">no_local_from_check</strong></span>.
</p>
<p>
White
<a id="id483345" class="indexterm"></a>
space between <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> and the <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>> is optional (that is, they can be
given as two arguments or one combined argument). The sender of a
locally-generated message can also be set (when permitted) by an initial
“<span class="quote">From </span>” line in the message – see the description of <span><strong class="option">-bm</strong></span> above – but
if <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span> is also present, it overrides “<span class="quote">From </span>”.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-G</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483400" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483411" class="indexterm"></a>
This is a Sendmail option which is ignored by Exim.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-h</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>number</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483447" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483459" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is accepted for compatibility with Sendmail, but has no effect. (In
Sendmail it overrides the “<span class="quote">hop count</span>” obtained by counting <span class="emphasis"><em>Received:</em></span>
headers.)
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-i</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483498" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483510" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483526" class="indexterm"></a>
This option, which has the same effect as <span><strong class="option">-oi</strong></span>, specifies that a dot on a
line by itself should not terminate an incoming, non-SMTP message. I can find
no documentation for this option in Solaris 2.4 Sendmail, but the <span class="emphasis"><em>mailx</em></span>
command in Solaris 2.4 uses it. See also <span><strong class="option">-ti</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483577" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483589" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483600" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483614" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to run a delivery attempt on each message in turn. If
any of the messages are frozen, they are automatically thawed before the
delivery attempt. The settings of <span><strong class="option">queue_domains</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">queue_smtp_domains</strong></span>,
and <span><strong class="option">hold_domains</strong></span> are ignored.
</p>
<p>
Retry
<a id="id483647" class="indexterm"></a>
hints for any of the addresses are overridden – Exim tries to deliver even if
the normal retry time has not yet been reached. This option requires the caller
to be an admin user. However, there is an option called <span><strong class="option">prod_requires_admin</strong></span>
which can be set false to relax this restriction (and also the same requirement
for the <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span>, and <span><strong class="option">-S</strong></span> options).
</p>
<p>
The deliveries happen synchronously, that is, the original Exim process does
not terminate until all the delivery attempts have finished. No output is
produced unless there is a serious error. If you want to see what is happening,
use the <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span> option as well, or inspect Exim’s main log.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mar</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483719" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483730" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483745" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to add the addresses to the list of recipients of the
message (“<span class="quote">ar</span>” for “<span class="quote">add recipients</span>”). The first argument must be a message
id, and the remaining ones must be email addresses. However, if the message is
active (in the middle of a delivery attempt), it is not altered. This option
can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-MC</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>transport</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>hostname</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>sequence number</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483801" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483813" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483828" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id483842" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim to invoke another instance of itself to deliver a waiting message using
an existing SMTP connection, which is passed as the standard input. Details are
given in chapter <a href="ch45.html" title="45. SMTP processing">45</a>. This must be the final option, and the caller
must be root or the Exim user in order to use it.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-MCA</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483879" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim in conjunction with the <span><strong class="option">-MC</strong></span> option. It signifies that the
connection to the remote host has been authenticated.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-MCP</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483911" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim in conjunction with the <span><strong class="option">-MC</strong></span> option. It signifies that the server to
which Exim is connected supports pipelining.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-MCQ</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>process id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>pipe fd</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483952" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim in conjunction with the <span><strong class="option">-MC</strong></span> option when the original delivery was
started by a queue runner. It passes on the process id of the queue runner,
together with the file descriptor number of an open pipe. Closure of the pipe
signals the final completion of the sequence of processes that are passing
messages through the same SMTP connection.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-MCS</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id483988" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim in conjunction with the <span><strong class="option">-MC</strong></span> option, and passes on the fact that the
SMTP SIZE option should be used on messages delivered down the existing
connection.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-MCT</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484020" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally
by Exim in conjunction with the <span><strong class="option">-MC</strong></span> option, and passes on the fact that the
host to which Exim is connected supports TLS encryption.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mc</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484062" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484073" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484090" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to run a delivery attempt on each message in turn,
but unlike the <span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span> option, it does check for retry hints, and respects any
that are found. This option is not very useful to external callers. It is
provided mainly for internal use by Exim when it needs to re-invoke itself in
order to regain root privilege for a delivery (see chapter <a href="ch52.html" title="52. Security considerations">52</a>).
However, <span><strong class="option">-Mc</strong></span> can be useful when testing, in order to run a delivery that
respects retry times and other options such as <span><strong class="option">hold_domains</strong></span> that are
overridden when <span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span> is used. Such a delivery does not count as a queue run.
If you want to run a specific delivery as if in a queue run, you should use
<span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> with a message id argument. A distinction between queue run deliveries
and other deliveries is made in one or two places.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mes</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484161" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484173" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484188" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to change the sender address in the message to the
given address, which must be a fully qualified address or “<span class="quote"><></span>” (“<span class="quote">es</span>” for
“<span class="quote">edit sender</span>”). There must be exactly two arguments. The first argument must
be a message id, and the second one an email address. However, if the message
is active (in the middle of a delivery attempt), its status is not altered.
This option can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mf</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484241" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484253" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484264" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to mark each listed message as “<span class="quote">frozen</span>”. This
prevents any delivery attempts taking place until the message is “<span class="quote">thawed</span>”,
either manually or as a result of the <span><strong class="option">auto_thaw</strong></span> configuration option.
However, if any of the messages are active (in the middle of a delivery
attempt), their status is not altered. This option can be used only by an admin
user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mg</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484317" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484329" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484340" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484355" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to give up trying to deliver the listed messages,
including any that are frozen. However, if any of the messages are active,
their status is not altered. For non-bounce messages, a delivery error message
is sent to the sender, containing the text “<span class="quote">cancelled by administrator</span>”.
Bounce messages are just discarded. This option can be used only by an admin
user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mmad</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484402" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484413" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to mark all the recipient addresses in the messages
as already delivered (“<span class="quote">mad</span>” for “<span class="quote">mark all delivered</span>”). However, if any
message is active (in the middle of a delivery attempt), its status is not
altered. This option can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mmd</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484466" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484477" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484492" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484506" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to mark the given addresses as already delivered
(“<span class="quote">md</span>” for “<span class="quote">mark delivered</span>”). The first argument must be a message id, and
the remaining ones must be email addresses. These are matched to recipient
addresses in the message in a case-sensitive manner. If the message is active
(in the middle of a delivery attempt), its status is not altered. This option
can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mrm</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484554" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484565" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484577" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484588" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to remove the given messages from the queue. No
bounce messages are sent; each message is simply forgotten. However, if any of
the messages are active, their status is not altered. This option can be used
only by an admin user or by the user who originally caused the message to be
placed on the queue.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mset</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484626" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484638" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484653" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is useful only in conjunction with <span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span> (that is, when testing
string expansions). Exim loads the given message from its spool before doing
the test expansions, thus setting message-specific variables such as
<em class="varname">$message_size</em> and the header variables. The <em class="varname">$recipients</em> variable is made
available. This feature is provided to make it easier to test expansions that
make use of these variables. However, this option can be used only by an admin
user. See also <span><strong class="option">-bem</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mt</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>> ...</span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484710" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484722" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484733" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484744" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484758" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests Exim to “<span class="quote">thaw</span>” any of the listed messages that are
“<span class="quote">frozen</span>”, so that delivery attempts can resume. However, if any of the
messages are active, their status is not altered. This option can be used only
by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mvb</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484802" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484814" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484829" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes the contents of the message body (-D) spool file to be
written to the standard output. This option can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mvc</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484864" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484876" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484890" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes a copy of the complete message (header lines plus body) to
be written to the standard output in RFC 2822 format. This option can be used
only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mvh</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id484926" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484938" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484953" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id484967" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes the contents of the message headers (-H) spool file to be
written to the standard output. This option can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Mvl</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>message id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485003" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485015" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485029" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes the contents of the message log spool file to be written to
the standard output. This option can be used only by an admin user.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-m</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485059" class="indexterm"></a>
This is apparently a synonym for <span><strong class="option">-om</strong></span> that is accepted by Sendmail, so Exim
treats it that way too.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-N</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485089" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485101" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485117" class="indexterm"></a>
This is a debugging option that inhibits delivery of a message at the transport
level. It implies <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span>. Exim goes through many of the motions of delivery –
it just doesn’t actually transport the message, but instead behaves as if it
had successfully done so. However, it does not make any updates to the retry
database, and the log entries for deliveries are flagged with “<span class="quote">*></span>” rather
than “<span class="quote">=></span>”.
</p>
<p>
Because <span><strong class="option">-N</strong></span> discards any message to which it applies, only root or the Exim
user are allowed to use it with <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> or <span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span>. In other
words, an ordinary user can use it only when supplying an incoming message to
which it will apply. Although transportation never fails when <span><strong class="option">-N</strong></span> is set, an
address may be deferred because of a configuration problem on a transport, or a
routing problem. Once <span><strong class="option">-N</strong></span> has been used for a delivery attempt, it sticks to
the message, and applies to any subsequent delivery attempts that may happen
for that message.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-n</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485192" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485204" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is interpreted by Sendmail to mean “<span class="quote">no aliasing</span>”. It is ignored
by Exim.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-O</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>data</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485244" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is interpreted by Sendmail to mean <code class="literal">set option</code>. It is ignored by
Exim.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oA</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>file name</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485281" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485292" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is used by Sendmail in conjunction with <span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> to specify an
alternative alias file name. Exim handles <span><strong class="option">-bi</strong></span> differently; see the
description above.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oB</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485336" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485348" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485362" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485377" class="indexterm"></a>
This is a debugging option which limits the maximum number of messages that can
be delivered down one SMTP connection, overriding the value set in any <span><strong class="command">smtp</strong></span>
transport. If <<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>> is omitted, the limit is set to 1.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485415" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485427" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485438" class="indexterm"></a>
This option applies to all modes in which Exim accepts incoming messages,
including the listening daemon. It requests “<span class="quote">background</span>” delivery of such
messages, which means that the accepting process automatically starts a
delivery process for each message received, but does not wait for the delivery
processes to finish.
</p>
<p>
When all the messages have been received, the reception process exits,
leaving the delivery processes to finish in their own time. The standard output
and error streams are closed at the start of each delivery process.
This is the default action if none of the <span><strong class="option">-od</strong></span> options are present.
</p>
<p>
If one of the queueing options in the configuration file
(<span><strong class="option">queue_only</strong></span> or <span><strong class="option">queue_only_file</strong></span>, for example) is in effect, <span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span>
overrides it if <span><strong class="option">queue_only_override</strong></span> is set true, which is the default
setting. If <span><strong class="option">queue_only_override</strong></span> is set false, <span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span> has no effect.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-odf</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485515" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485527" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485538" class="indexterm"></a>
This option requests “<span class="quote">foreground</span>” (synchronous) delivery when Exim has
accepted a locally-generated message. (For the daemon it is exactly the same as
<span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span>.) A delivery process is automatically started to deliver the message,
and Exim waits for it to complete before proceeding.
</p>
<p>
The original Exim reception process does not finish until the delivery
process for the final message has ended. The standard error stream is left open
during deliveries.
</p>
<p>
However, like <span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span>, this option has no effect if <span><strong class="option">queue_only_override</strong></span> is
false and one of the queueing options in the configuration file is in effect.
</p>
<p>
If there is a temporary delivery error during foreground delivery, the
message is left on the queue for later delivery, and the original reception
process exits. See chapter <a href="ch48.html" title="48. Using Exim as a non-queueing client">48</a> for a way of setting up a
restricted configuration that never queues messages.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-odi</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485610" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is synonymous with <span><strong class="option">-odf</strong></span>. It is provided for compatibility with
Sendmail.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-odq</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485640" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485652" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485664" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485678" class="indexterm"></a>
This option applies to all modes in which Exim accepts incoming messages,
including the listening daemon. It specifies that the accepting process should
not automatically start a delivery process for each message received. Messages
are placed on the queue, and remain there until a subsequent queue runner
process encounters them. There are several configuration options (such as
<span><strong class="option">queue_only</strong></span>) that can be used to queue incoming messages under certain
conditions. This option overrides all of them and also <span><strong class="option">-odqs</strong></span>. It always
forces queueing.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-odqs</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485718" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485730" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is a hybrid between <span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span>/<span><strong class="option">-odi</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-odq</strong></span>.
However, like <span><strong class="option">-odb</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-odi</strong></span>, this option has no effect if
<span><strong class="option">queue_only_override</strong></span> is false and one of the queueing options in the
configuration file is in effect.
</p>
<p>
When <span><strong class="option">-odqs</strong></span> does operate, a delivery process is started for each incoming
message, in the background by default, but in the foreground if <span><strong class="option">-odi</strong></span> is
also present. The recipient addresses are routed, and local deliveries are done
in the normal way. However, if any SMTP deliveries are required, they are not
done at this time, so the message remains on the queue until a subsequent queue
runner process encounters it. Because routing was done, Exim knows which
messages are waiting for which hosts, and so a number of messages for the same
host can be sent in a single SMTP connection. The <span><strong class="option">queue_smtp_domains</strong></span>
configuration option has the same effect for specific domains. See also the
<span><strong class="option">-qq</strong></span> option.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oee</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485812" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485824" class="indexterm"></a>
If an error is detected while a non-SMTP message is being received (for
example, a malformed address), the error is reported to the sender in a mail
message.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id485844" class="indexterm"></a>
Provided
this error message is successfully sent, the Exim receiving process
exits with a return code of zero. If not, the return code is 2 if the problem
is that the original message has no recipients, or 1 any other error. This is
the default <span><strong class="option">-oe</strong></span><span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span> option if Exim is called as <span class="emphasis"><em>rmail</em></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oem</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485888" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485900" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485914" class="indexterm"></a>
This is the same as <span><strong class="option">-oee</strong></span>, except that Exim always exits with a non-zero
return code, whether or not the error message was successfully sent.
This is the default <span><strong class="option">-oe</strong></span><span class="emphasis"><em>x</em></span> option, unless Exim is called as <span class="emphasis"><em>rmail</em></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oep</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id485960" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id485972" class="indexterm"></a>
If an error is detected while a non-SMTP message is being received, the
error is reported by writing a message to the standard error file (stderr).
<a id="id485989" class="indexterm"></a>
The return code is 1 for all errors.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oeq</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486020" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486032" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is supported for compatibility with Sendmail, but has the same
effect as <span><strong class="option">-oep</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oew</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486064" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486076" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is supported for compatibility with Sendmail, but has the same
effect as <span><strong class="option">-oem</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oi</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486108" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486120" class="indexterm"></a>
This option, which has the same effect as <span><strong class="option">-i</strong></span>, specifies that a dot on a
line by itself should not terminate an incoming, non-SMTP message. Otherwise, a
single dot does terminate, though Exim does no special processing for other
lines that start with a dot. This option is set by default if Exim is called as
<span class="emphasis"><em>rmail</em></span>. See also <span><strong class="option">-ti</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oitrue</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486163" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is treated as synonymous with <span><strong class="option">-oi</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>host address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486197" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486209" class="indexterm"></a>
A number of options starting with <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> can be used to set values associated
with remote hosts on locally-submitted messages (that is, messages not received
over TCP/IP). These options can be used by any caller in conjunction with the
<span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-be</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-bf</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-bF</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-bt</strong></span>, or <span><strong class="option">-bv</strong></span> testing options. In
other circumstances, they are ignored unless the caller is trusted.
</p>
<p>
The <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> option sets the sender host address. This may include a port
number at the end, after a full stop (period). For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bs -oMa 10.9.8.7.1234
</pre><p>
An alternative syntax is to enclose the IP address in square brackets,
followed by a colon and the port number:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -bs -oMa [10.9.8.7]:1234
</pre><p>
The IP address is placed in the <em class="varname">$sender_host_address</em> variable, and the
port, if present, in <em class="varname">$sender_host_port</em>. If both <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>
are present on the command line, the sender host IP address is taken from
whichever one is last.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMaa</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>name</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486322" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486334" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMaa</strong></span>
option sets the value of <em class="varname">$sender_host_authenticated</em> (the authenticator
name). See chapter <a href="ch33.html" title="33. SMTP authentication">33</a> for a discussion of SMTP authentication.
This option can be used with <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bs</strong></span> to set up an
authenticated SMTP session without actually using the SMTP AUTH command.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMai</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486400" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486412" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMai</strong></span>
option sets the value of <em class="varname">$authenticated_id</em> (the id that was authenticated).
This overrides the default value (the caller’s login id, except with <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>,
where there is no default) for messages from local sources. See chapter
<a href="ch33.html" title="33. SMTP authentication">33</a> for a discussion of authenticated ids.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMas</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486474" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486486" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMas</strong></span>
option sets the authenticated sender value in <em class="varname">$authenticated_sender</em>. It
overrides the sender address that is created from the caller’s login id for
messages from local sources, except when <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> is used, when there is no
default. For both <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-bs</strong></span>, an authenticated sender that is
specified on a MAIL command overrides this value. See chapter
<a href="ch33.html" title="33. SMTP authentication">33</a> for a discussion of authenticated senders.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMi</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>interface address</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486557" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486568" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMi</strong></span>
option sets the IP interface address value. A port number may be included,
using the same syntax as for <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span>. The interface address is placed in
<em class="varname">$received_ip_address</em> and the port number, if present, in <em class="varname">$received_port</em>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMr</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>protocol name</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486627" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486639" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486650" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMr</strong></span>
option sets the received protocol value that is stored in
<em class="varname">$received_protocol</em>. However, it does not apply (and is ignored) when <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>
or <span><strong class="option">-bs</strong></span> is used. For <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span>, the protocol is forced to one of the standard
SMTP protocol names (see the description of <em class="varname">$received_protocol</em> in section
<a href="ch11.html#SECTexpvar" title="11.9 Expansion variables">11.9</a>). For <span><strong class="option">-bs</strong></span>, the protocol is always “<span class="quote">local-</span>” followed by
one of those same names. For <span><strong class="option">-bS</strong></span> (batched SMTP) however, the protocol can
be set by <span><strong class="option">-oMr</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMs</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>host name</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486736" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486748" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMs</strong></span>
option sets the sender host name in <em class="varname">$sender_host_name</em>. When this option is
present, Exim does not attempt to look up a host name from an IP address; it
uses the name it is given.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oMt</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>ident string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486799" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486811" class="indexterm"></a>
See <span><strong class="option">-oMa</strong></span> above for general remarks about the <span><strong class="option">-oM</strong></span> options. The <span><strong class="option">-oMt</strong></span>
option sets the sender ident value in <em class="varname">$sender_ident</em>. The default setting for
local callers is the login id of the calling process, except when <span><strong class="option">-bh</strong></span> is
used, when there is no default.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-om</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486860" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486872" class="indexterm"></a>
In Sendmail, this option means “<span class="quote">me too</span>”, indicating that the sender of a
message should receive a copy of the message if the sender appears in an alias
expansion. Exim always does this, so the option does nothing.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oo</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486909" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486920" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is ignored. In Sendmail it specifies “<span class="quote">old style headers</span>”,
whatever that means.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oP</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>path</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id486960" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486972" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id486987" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is useful only in conjunction with <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span> or <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> with a time
value. The option specifies the file to which the process id of the daemon is
written. When <span><strong class="option">-oX</strong></span> is used with <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span>, or when <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> with a time is used
without <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span>, this is the only way of causing Exim to write a pid file,
because in those cases, the normal pid file is not used.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-or</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>time</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487045" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487057" class="indexterm"></a>
This option sets a timeout value for incoming non-SMTP messages. If it is not
set, Exim will wait forever for the standard input. The value can also be set
by the <span><strong class="option">receive_timeout</strong></span> option. The format used for specifying times is
described in section <a href="ch06.html#SECTtimeformat" title="6.15 Time intervals">6.15</a>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-os</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>time</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487103" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487115" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487129" class="indexterm"></a>
This option sets a timeout value for incoming SMTP messages. The timeout
applies to each SMTP command and block of data. The value can also be set by
the <span><strong class="option">smtp_receive_timeout</strong></span> option; it defaults to 5 minutes. The format used
for specifying times is described in section <a href="ch06.html#SECTtimeformat" title="6.15 Time intervals">6.15</a>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-ov</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487170" class="indexterm"></a>
This option has exactly the same effect as <span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-oX</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>number or string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487204" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487216" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487230" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487245" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is relevant only when the <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span> (start listening daemon) option
is also given. It controls which ports and interfaces the daemon uses. Details
of the syntax, and how it interacts with configuration file options, are given
in chapter <a href="ch13.html" title="13. Starting the daemon and the use of network interfaces">13</a>. When <span><strong class="option">-oX</strong></span> is used to start a daemon, no pid
file is written unless <span><strong class="option">-oP</strong></span> is also present to specify a pid file name.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-pd</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487294" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487306" class="indexterm"></a>
This option applies when an embedded Perl interpreter is linked with Exim (see
chapter <a href="ch12.html" title="12. Embedded Perl">12</a>). It overrides the setting of the <span><strong class="option">perl_at_start</strong></span>
option, forcing the starting of the interpreter to be delayed until it is
needed.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-ps</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487346" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487358" class="indexterm"></a>
This option applies when an embedded Perl interpreter is linked with Exim (see
chapter <a href="ch12.html" title="12. Embedded Perl">12</a>). It overrides the setting of the <span><strong class="option">perl_at_start</strong></span>
option, forcing the starting of the interpreter to occur as soon as Exim is
started.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-p</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>rval</em></span>>:<<span class="emphasis"><em>sval</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487407" class="indexterm"></a>
For compatibility with Sendmail, this option is equivalent to
</p>
<div class="literallayout">
<code class="literal">-oMr</code> <<span class="emphasis"><em>rval</em></span>> <code class="literal">-oMs</code> <<span class="emphasis"><em>sval</em></span>><br />
</div>
<p>
It sets the incoming protocol and host name (for trusted callers). The
host name and its colon can be omitted when only the protocol is to be set.
Note the Exim already has two private options, <span><strong class="option">-pd</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-ps</strong></span>, that refer
to embedded Perl. It is therefore impossible to set a protocol value of <code class="literal">p</code>
or <code class="literal">s</code> using this option (but that does not seem a real limitation).
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487485" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487497" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is normally restricted to admin users. However, there is a
configuration option called <span><strong class="option">prod_requires_admin</strong></span> which can be set false to
relax this restriction (and also the same requirement for the <span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span>, <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span>,
and <span><strong class="option">-S</strong></span> options).
</p>
<p>
<a id="id487532" class="indexterm"></a>
The <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> option starts one queue runner process. This scans the queue of
waiting messages, and runs a delivery process for each one in turn. It waits
for each delivery process to finish before starting the next one. A delivery
process may not actually do any deliveries if the retry times for the addresses
have not been reached. Use <span><strong class="option">-qf</strong></span> (see below) if you want to override this.
</p>
<p>
If
<a id="id487563" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487578" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487593" class="indexterm"></a>
the delivery process spawns other processes to deliver other messages down
passed SMTP connections, the queue runner waits for these to finish before
proceeding.
</p>
<p>
When all the queued messages have been considered, the original queue runner
process terminates. In other words, a single pass is made over the waiting
mail, one message at a time. Use <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> with a time (see below) if you want
this to be repeated periodically.
</p>
<p>
Exim processes the waiting messages in an unpredictable order. It isn’t very
random, but it is likely to be different each time, which is all that matters.
If one particular message screws up a remote MTA, other messages to the same
MTA have a chance of getting through if they get tried first.
</p>
<p>
It is possible to cause the messages to be processed in lexical message id
order, which is essentially the order in which they arrived, by setting the
<span><strong class="option">queue_run_in_order</strong></span> option, but this is not recommended for normal use.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>qflags</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
The <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> option may be followed by one or more flag letters that change its
behaviour. They are all optional, but if more than one is present, they must
appear in the correct order. Each flag is described in a separate item below.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-qq...</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487670" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487681" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487696" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487710" class="indexterm"></a>
An option starting with <span><strong class="option">-qq</strong></span> requests a two-stage queue run. In the first
stage, the queue is scanned as if the <span><strong class="option">queue_smtp_domains</strong></span> option matched
every domain. Addresses are routed, local deliveries happen, but no remote
transports are run.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id487739" class="indexterm"></a>
The hints database that remembers which messages are waiting for specific hosts
is updated, as if delivery to those hosts had been deferred. After this is
complete, a second, normal queue scan happens, with routing and delivery taking
place as normal. Messages that are routed to the same host should mostly be
delivered down a single SMTP
<a id="id487760" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487774" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487789" class="indexterm"></a>
connection because of the hints that were set up during the first queue scan.
This option may be useful for hosts that are connected to the Internet
intermittently.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q[q]i...</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487816" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487828" class="indexterm"></a>
If the <span class="emphasis"><em>i</em></span> flag is present, the queue runner runs delivery processes only for
those messages that haven’t previously been tried. (<span class="emphasis"><em>i</em></span> stands for “<span class="quote">initial
delivery</span>”.) This can be helpful if you are putting messages on the queue using
<span><strong class="option">-odq</strong></span> and want a queue runner just to process the new messages.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q[q][i]f...</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487877" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487889" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487904" class="indexterm"></a>
If one <span class="emphasis"><em>f</em></span> flag is present, a delivery attempt is forced for each non-frozen
message, whereas without <span class="emphasis"><em>f</em></span> only those non-frozen addresses that have passed
their retry times are tried.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q[q][i]ff...</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487939" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487951" class="indexterm"></a>
If <span class="emphasis"><em>ff</em></span> is present, a delivery attempt is forced for every message, whether
frozen or not.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q[q][i][f[f]]l</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id487984" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id487996" class="indexterm"></a>
The <span class="emphasis"><em>l</em></span> (the letter “<span class="quote">ell</span>”) flag specifies that only local deliveries are to
be done. If a message requires any remote deliveries, it remains on the queue
for later delivery.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>qflags</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>start id</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>end id</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488046" class="indexterm"></a>
When scanning the queue, Exim can be made to skip over messages whose ids are
lexically less than a given value by following the <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> option with a
starting message id. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -q 0t5C6f-0000c8-00
</pre><p>
Messages that arrived earlier than <code class="literal">0t5C6f-0000c8-00</code> are not inspected. If a
second message id is given, messages whose ids are lexically greater than it
are also skipped. If the same id is given twice, for example,
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -q 0t5C6f-0000c8-00 0t5C6f-0000c8-00
</pre><p>
just one delivery process is started, for that message. This differs from
<span><strong class="option">-M</strong></span> in that retry data is respected, and it also differs from <span><strong class="option">-Mc</strong></span> in
that it counts as a delivery from a queue run. Note that the selection
mechanism does not affect the order in which the messages are scanned. There
are also other ways of selecting specific sets of messages for delivery in a
queue run – see <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> and <span><strong class="option">-S</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>qflags</em></span>><<span class="emphasis"><em>time</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488141" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488156" class="indexterm"></a>
When a time value is present, the <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> option causes Exim to run as a daemon,
starting a queue runner process at intervals specified by the given time value
(whose format is described in section <a href="ch06.html#SECTtimeformat" title="6.15 Time intervals">6.15</a>). This form of the
<span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> option is commonly combined with the <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span> option, in which case a
single daemon process handles both functions. A common way of starting up a
combined daemon at system boot time is to use a command such as
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">/usr/exim/bin/exim -bd -q30m
</pre><p>
Such a daemon listens for incoming SMTP calls, and also starts a queue runner
process every 30 minutes.
</p>
<p>
When a daemon is started by <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> with a time value, but without <span><strong class="option">-bd</strong></span>, no
pid file is written unless one is explicitly requested by the <span><strong class="option">-oP</strong></span> option.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-qR</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488240" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is synonymous with <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span>. It is provided for Sendmail
compatibility.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-qS</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488278" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is synonymous with <span><strong class="option">-S</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488315" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488327" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488342" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488356" class="indexterm"></a>
The <<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> may be empty, in which case the white space before the string
is optional, unless the string is <span class="emphasis"><em>f</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>ff</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>r</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>rf</em></span>, or <span class="emphasis"><em>rff</em></span>,
which are the possible values for <<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>>. White space is required if
<<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> is not empty.
</p>
<p>
This option is similar to <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> with no time value, that is, it causes Exim to
perform a single queue run, except that, when scanning the messages on the
queue, Exim processes only those that have at least one undelivered recipient
address containing the given string, which is checked in a case-independent
way. If the <<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> start with <span class="emphasis"><em>r</em></span>, <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>> is interpreted as a
regular expression; otherwise it is a literal string.
</p>
<p>
If you want to do periodic queue runs for messages with specific recipients,
you can combine <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> with <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> and a time value. For example:
</p>
<pre class="literallayout">exim -q25m -R @special.domain.example
</pre><p>
This example does a queue run for messages with recipients in the given domain
every 25 minutes. Any additional flags that are specified with <span><strong class="option">-q</strong></span> are
applied to each queue run.
</p>
<p>
Once a message is selected for delivery by this mechanism, all its addresses
are processed. For the first selected message, Exim overrides any retry
information and forces a delivery attempt for each undelivered address. This
means that if delivery of any address in the first message is successful, any
existing retry information is deleted, and so delivery attempts for that
address in subsequently selected messages (which are processed without forcing)
will run. However, if delivery of any address does not succeed, the retry
information is updated, and in subsequently selected messages, the failing
address will be skipped.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id488462" class="indexterm"></a>
If the <<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> contain <span class="emphasis"><em>f</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>ff</em></span>, the delivery forcing applies to
all selected messages, not just the first; frozen messages are included when
<span class="emphasis"><em>ff</em></span> is present.
</p>
<p>
The <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> option makes it straightforward to initiate delivery of all messages
to a given domain after a host has been down for some time. When the SMTP
command ETRN is accepted by its ACL (see chapter <a href="ch40.html" title="40. Access control lists">40</a>), its default
effect is to run Exim with the <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> option, but it can be configured to run
an arbitrary command instead.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-r</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488527" class="indexterm"></a>
This is a documented (for Sendmail) obsolete alternative name for <span><strong class="option">-f</strong></span>.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-S</strong></span><<span class="emphasis"><em>rsflags</em></span>> <<span class="emphasis"><em>string</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488565" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488576" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488591" class="indexterm"></a>
This option acts like <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> except that it checks the string against each
message’s sender instead of against the recipients. If <span><strong class="option">-R</strong></span> is also set, both
conditions must be met for a message to be selected. If either of the options
has <span class="emphasis"><em>f</em></span> or <span class="emphasis"><em>ff</em></span> in its flags, the associated action is taken.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-Tqt</strong></span> <<span class="emphasis"><em>times</em></span>></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488642" class="indexterm"></a>
This an option that is exclusively for use by the Exim testing suite. It is not
recognized when Exim is run normally. It allows for the setting up of explicit
“<span class="quote">queue times</span>” so that various warning/retry features can be tested.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488674" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488686" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488701" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488714" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488727" class="indexterm"></a>
When Exim is receiving a locally-generated, non-SMTP message on its standard
input, the <span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span> option causes the recipients of the message to be obtained
from the <span class="emphasis"><em>To:</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>Cc:</em></span>, and <span class="emphasis"><em>Bcc:</em></span> header lines in the message instead of
from the command arguments. The addresses are extracted before any rewriting
takes place and the <span class="emphasis"><em>Bcc:</em></span> header line, if present, is then removed.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id488766" class="indexterm"></a>
If the command has any arguments, they specify addresses to which the message
is <span class="emphasis"><em>not</em></span> to be delivered. That is, the argument addresses are removed from
the recipients list obtained from the headers. This is compatible with Smail 3
and in accordance with the documented behaviour of several versions of
Sendmail, as described in man pages on a number of operating systems (e.g.
Solaris 8, IRIX 6.5, HP-UX 11). However, some versions of Sendmail <span class="emphasis"><em>add</em></span>
argument addresses to those obtained from the headers, and the O’Reilly
Sendmail book documents it that way. Exim can be made to add argument addresses
instead of subtracting them by setting the option
<span><strong class="option">extract_addresses_remove_arguments</strong></span> false.
</p>
<p>
<a id="id488807" class="indexterm"></a>
If there are any <span><strong class="option">Resent-</strong></span> header lines in the message, Exim extracts
recipients from all <span class="emphasis"><em>Resent-To:</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>Resent-Cc:</em></span>, and <span class="emphasis"><em>Resent-Bcc:</em></span> header
lines instead of from <span class="emphasis"><em>To:</em></span>, <span class="emphasis"><em>Cc:</em></span>, and <span class="emphasis"><em>Bcc:</em></span>. This is for compatibility
with Sendmail and other MTAs. (Prior to release 4.20, Exim gave an error if
<span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span> was used in conjunction with <span><strong class="option">Resent-</strong></span> header lines.)
</p>
<p>
RFC 2822 talks about different sets of <span><strong class="option">Resent-</strong></span> header lines (for when a
message is resent several times). The RFC also specifies that they should be
added at the front of the message, and separated by <span class="emphasis"><em>Received:</em></span> lines. It is
not at all clear how <span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span> should operate in the present of multiple sets,
nor indeed exactly what constitutes a “<span class="quote">set</span>”.
In practice, it seems that MUAs do not follow the RFC. The <span><strong class="option">Resent-</strong></span> lines
are often added at the end of the header, and if a message is resent more than
once, it is common for the original set of <span><strong class="option">Resent-</strong></span> headers to be renamed as
<span><strong class="option">X-Resent-</strong></span> when a new set is added. This removes any possible ambiguity.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-ti</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488911" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is exactly equivalent to <span><strong class="option">-t</strong></span> <span><strong class="option">-i</strong></span>. It is provided for
compatibility with Sendmail.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-tls-on-connect</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id488944" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488956" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id488970" class="indexterm"></a>
This option is available when Exim is compiled with TLS support. It forces all
incoming SMTP connections to behave as if the incoming port is listed in the
<span><strong class="option">tls_on_connect_ports</strong></span> option. See section <a href="ch13.html#SECTsupobssmt" title="13.4 Support for the obsolete SSMTP (or SMTPS) protocol">13.4</a> and chapter
<a href="ch39.html" title="39. Encrypted SMTP connections using TLS/SSL">39</a> for further details.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-U</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id489017" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id489028" class="indexterm"></a>
Sendmail uses this option for “<span class="quote">initial message submission</span>”, and its
documentation states that in future releases, it may complain about
syntactically invalid messages rather than fixing them when this flag is not
set. Exim ignores this option.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-v</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id489336" class="indexterm"></a>
This option causes Exim to write information to the standard error stream,
describing what it is doing. In particular, it shows the log lines for
receiving and delivering a message, and if an SMTP connection is made, the SMTP
dialogue is shown. Some of the log lines shown may not actually be written to
the log if the setting of <span><strong class="option">log_selector</strong></span> discards them. Any relevant
selectors are shown with each log line. If none are shown, the logging is
unconditional.
</p>
</dd><dt><span class="term"><span><strong class="option">-x</strong></span></span></dt><dd><p>
<a id="id489372" class="indexterm"></a>
AIX uses <span><strong class="option">-x</strong></span> for a private purpose (“<span class="quote">mail from a local mail program has
National Language Support extended characters in the body of the mail item</span>”).
It sets <span><strong class="option">-x</strong></span> when calling the MTA from its <span><strong class="option">mail</strong></span> command. Exim ignores
this option.
</p>
</dd></dl></div>
<p>
<a id="id489406" class="indexterm"></a>
<a id="id489418" class="indexterm"></a>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="navfooter">
<table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="ch04.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"> </td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch06.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top"> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> </td></tr></table></div>
</body></html>
