<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "XSLT-compat"> <html lang="en-GB"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../../common.css"> <meta name="author" content="The Exim Project. <http://www.exim.org/>"> <meta name="copyright" content="Copyright ©2010 The Exim Project. All rights reserved"> <meta name="description" content="Exim is a message transfer agent (MTA) developed at the University of Cambridge for use on Unix systems connected to the Internet."> <meta name="keywords" content="exim,smtp,mta,email"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp,noydir,index,follow"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"> <title>5. The Exim command line</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../../../doc/chapter.css"> <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.exim.org/exim-html-current/doc/html/spec_html/ch05.html"> </head> <body> <h1 id="header"><a href="../../../..">Exim Internet Mailer</a></h1> <div id="outer"> <ul id="nav_flow" class="nav"> <li><a href="../../../../index.html">Home</a></li> <li><a href="../../../../mirrors.html">Download</a></li> <li><a href="../../../../docs.html">Documentation</a></li> <li><a href="../../../../maillist.html">Mailing Lists</a></li> <li><a href="http://wiki.exim.org/">Wiki</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.exim.org/bugzilla/">Bugs</a></li> <li><a href="../../../../credits.html">Credits</a></li> <li class="search"><form action="http://www.google.com/search" method="get"> <span class="search_field_container"><input type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search Docs" class="search_field"></span><input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"><input type="hidden" name="ie" value="UTF-8"><input type="hidden" name="as_qdr" value="all"><input type="hidden" name="q" value="site:www.exim.org"><input type="hidden" name="q" value="inurl:exim-html-current"> </form></li> </ul> <div id="inner"><div id="content"> <a class="previous_page" href="ch04.html"><-previous</a><a class="next_page" href="ch06.html">next-></a><div id="chapter" class="chapter"> <h2 id="CHAPcommandline" class="">Chapter 5 - The Exim command line</h2> <p> 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"> <h3 id="SECID38" class="">1. Setting options by program name</h3> <p> If Exim is called under the name <span class="docbook_emphasis">mailq</span>, it behaves as if the option <span class="docbook_option">-bp</span> were present before any other options. The <span class="docbook_option">-bp</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 <span class="docbook_filename">/usr/sbin/sendmail</span> or <span class="docbook_filename">/usr/lib/sendmail</span>. </p> <p> If Exim is called under the name <span class="docbook_emphasis">rsmtp</span> it behaves as if the option <span class="docbook_option">-bS</span> were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The <span class="docbook_option">-bS</span> option is used for reading in a number of messages in batched SMTP format. </p> <p> If Exim is called under the name <span class="docbook_emphasis">rmail</span> it behaves as if the <span class="docbook_option">-i</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-oee</span> options were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The name <span class="docbook_emphasis">rmail</span> is used as an interface by some UUCP systems. </p> <p> If Exim is called under the name <span class="docbook_emphasis">runq</span> it behaves as if the option <span class="docbook_option">-q</span> were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The <span class="docbook_option">-q</span> option causes a single queue runner process to be started. </p> <p> If Exim is called under the name <span class="docbook_emphasis">newaliases</span> it behaves as if the option <span class="docbook_option">-bi</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 class="docbook_option">-bi</span> option. </p> </div> <div class="section"> <h3 id="SECTtrustedadmin" class="">2. Trusted and admin users</h3> <p> Some Exim options are available only to <span class="docbook_emphasis">trusted users</span> and others are available only to <span class="docbook_emphasis">admin users</span>. In the description below, the phrases “Exim user” and “Exim group” mean the user and group defined by EXIM_USER and EXIM_GROUP in <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span> or set by the <span class="docbook_option">exim_user</span> and <span class="docbook_option">exim_group</span> options. These do not necessarily have to use the name “exim”. </p> <ul> <li> <p> The trusted users are root, the Exim user, any user listed in the <span class="docbook_option">trusted_users</span> configuration option, and any user whose current group or any supplementary group is one of those listed in the <span class="docbook_option">trusted_groups</span> configuration option. Note that the Exim group is not automatically trusted. </p> <p> Trusted users are always permitted to use the <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> option or a leading “From ” line to specify the envelope sender of a message that is passed to Exim through the local interface (see the <span class="docbook_option">-bm</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> options below). See the <span class="docbook_option">untrusted_set_sender</span> option for a way of permitting non-trusted users to set envelope senders. </p> <p> For a trusted user, there is never any check on the contents of the <span class="docbook_emphasis">From:</span> header line, and a <span class="docbook_emphasis">Sender:</span> line is never added. Furthermore, any existing <span class="docbook_emphasis">Sender:</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 class="docbook_option">-f</span>, but can never set the other values that are available to trusted users. </p> </li> <li> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">admin_groups</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 class="docbook_option">-M</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-q</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-R</span>, and <span class="docbook_option">-S</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 class="docbook_option">prod_requires_admin</span> option false (that is, specifying <span class="docbook_option">no_prod_requires_admin</span>). </p> <p> Similarly, the use of the <span class="docbook_option">-bp</span> option to list all the messages in the queue is restricted to admin users unless <span class="docbook_option">queue_list_requires_admin</span> is set false. </p> </li> </ul> <p> <span class="docbook_emphasis">Warning</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"> <h3 id="SECID39" class="">3. Command line options</h3> <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 class="docbook_option">-bm</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> <dl> <dt><span class="docbook_option">--</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">--help</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">--version</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is an alias for <span class="docbook_option">-bV</span> and causes version information to be displayed. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-B</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">type</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-bd</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option runs Exim as a daemon, awaiting incoming SMTP connections. Usually the <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span> option is combined with the <span class="docbook_option">-q</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">time</span>> option, to specify that the daemon should also initiate periodic queue runs. </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span> option can be used only by an admin user. If either of the <span class="docbook_option">-d</span> (debugging) or <span class="docbook_option">-v</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 is started without the use of <span class="docbook_option">-oX</span> (that is, without overriding the normal configuration), it writes its process id to a file called <span class="docbook_filename">exim-daemon.pid</span> in Exim’s spool directory. This location can be overridden by setting PID_FILE_PATH in <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span>. The file is written while Exim is still running as root. </p> <p> When <span class="docbook_option">-oX</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 class="docbook_option">-oP</span> can be used to specify a path on the command line if a pid file is required. </p> <p> The SIGHUP signal 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 class="docbook_option">.include</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="docbook_option">-bdf</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option has the same effect as <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span> except that it never disconnects from the controlling terminal, even when no debugging is specified. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-be</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span>, it tries to load the <span class="docbook_option">libreadline</span> library dynamically whenever the <span class="docbook_option">-be</span> option is used without command line arguments. If successful, it uses the <span class="docbook_function">readline()</span> 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, $qualify_domain) are available, but no message-specific values (such as $sender_domain) are set, because no message is being processed (but see <span class="docbook_option">-bem</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-Mset</span>). </p> <p> <span class="docbook_emphasis">Note</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="docbook_option">-bem</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">filename</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option operates like <span class="docbook_option">-be</span> except that it must be followed by the name of a file. For example: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bem /tmp/testmessage </pre></div> <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 $message_size and $header_from: are available. However, no <span class="docbook_emphasis">Received:</span> header is added to the message. If the <span class="docbook_option">-t</span> option is set, recipients are read from the headers in the normal way, and are shown in the $recipients variable. Note that recipients cannot be given on the command line, because further arguments are taken as strings to expand (just like <span class="docbook_option">-be</span>). </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-bF</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">filename</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is the same as <span class="docbook_option">-bf</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="docbook_option">-bf</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">filename</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">-bF</span> instead of <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span>. You can use both <span class="docbook_option">-bF</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span> on the same command, in order to test a system filter and a user filter in the same run. For example: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bF /system/filter -bf /user/filter </test/message </pre></div> <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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> # Exim filter # Sieve filter </pre></div> <p> it is taken to be a normal <span class="docbook_filename">.forward</span> file, and is tested for validity under that interpretation. See sections <a href="ch22.html#SECTitenonfilred" title="22. The redirect router">22.4</a> to <a href="ch22.html#SECTspecitredli" title="22. The redirect router">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 class="docbook_option">-bf</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="docbook_emphasis">Exim’s interfaces to mail filtering</span>. </p> <p> When testing a filter file, the envelope sender can be set by the <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> option, or by a “From ” 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="docbook_option">-bfd</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">domain</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This sets the domain of the recipient address when a filter file is being tested by means of the <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span> option. The default is the value of $qualify_domain. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-bfl</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">local part</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This sets the local part of the recipient address when a filter file is being tested by means of the <span class="docbook_option">-bf</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="docbook_option">-bfp</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">prefix</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This sets the prefix of the local part of the recipient address when a filter file is being tested by means of the <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span> option. The default is an empty prefix. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-bfs</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">suffix</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This sets the suffix of the local part of the recipient address when a filter file is being tested by means of the <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span> option. The default is an empty suffix. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">IP address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bh 10.9.8.7.1234 exim -bh fe80::a00:20ff:fe86:a061.5678 </pre></div> <p> When an IPv6 address is given, it is converted into canonical form. In the case of the second example above, the value of $sender_host_address after conversion to the canonical form is <code class="docbook_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 “LOG” 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 class="docbook_option">-bh</span>. </p> <p> <span class="docbook_emphasis">Warning 1</span>: You can test features of the configuration that rely on ident (RFC 1413) information by using the <span class="docbook_option">-oMt</span> option. However, Exim cannot actually perform an ident callout when testing using <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> because there is no incoming SMTP connection. </p> <p> <span class="docbook_emphasis">Warning 2</span>: Address verification callouts (see section <a href="ch40.html#SECTcallver" title="40. Access control lists">40.42</a>) are also skipped when testing using <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span>. If you want these callouts to occur, use <span class="docbook_option">-bhc</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 class="docbook_option">-oMi</span> option can be used to specify a specific IP interface and port if this is important, and <span class="docbook_option">-oMaa</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-oMai</span> can be used to set parameters as if the SMTP session were authenticated. </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_emphasis">exim_checkaccess</span> utility is a “packaged” version of <span class="docbook_option">-bh</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. Exim utilities">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 class="docbook_option">-bh</span>. Instead, you should use a specialized SMTP test program such as <span class="docbook_emphasis"><a href="swaks">swaks</a></span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-bhc</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">IP address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option operates in the same way as <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span>, except that address verification callouts are performed if required. This includes consulting and updating the callout cache database. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bi</span></dt> <dd> <p> Sendmail interprets the <span class="docbook_option">-bi</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 <span class="docbook_filename">/usr/lib/sendmail</span> with the <span class="docbook_option">-bi</span> option tend to appear in various scripts such as NIS make files, so the option must be recognized. </p> <p> If <span class="docbook_option">-bi</span> is encountered, the command specified by the <span class="docbook_option">bi_command</span> configuration option is run, under the uid and gid of the caller of Exim. If the <span class="docbook_option">-oA</span> option is used, its value is passed to the command as an argument. The command set by <span class="docbook_option">bi_command</span> may not contain arguments. The command can use the <span class="docbook_emphasis">exim_dbmbuild</span> utility, or some other means, to rebuild alias files if this is required. If the <span class="docbook_option">bi_command</span> option is not set, calling Exim with <span class="docbook_option">-bi</span> is a no-op. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bm</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">-t</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 class="docbook_option">qualify_domain</span> or <span class="docbook_option">qualify_recipient</span> options, as appropriate. The <span class="docbook_option">-bnq</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> The return code is zero if the message is successfully accepted. Otherwise, the action is controlled by the <span class="docbook_option">-oe</span><span class="docbook_emphasis">x</span> option setting – see below. </p> <p> The format 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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> From sender Fri Jan 5 12:55 GMT 1997 From sender Fri, 5 Jan 97 12:55:01 </pre></div> <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 class="docbook_option">uucp_from_pattern</span> option, which can be changed if necessary. </p> <p> The specified sender is treated as if it were given as the argument to the <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> option, but if a <span class="docbook_option">-f</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="docbook_option">-bnq</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">qualify_domain</span>, and recipient addresses using <span class="docbook_option">qualify_recipient</span> (which defaults to the value of <span class="docbook_option">qualify_domain</span>). </p> <p> Sometimes, qualification is not wanted. For example, if <span class="docbook_option">-bS</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 class="docbook_option">-bnq</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="docbook_option">-bP</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bP qualify_domain hold_domains </pre></div> <p> However, any option setting that is preceded by the word “hide” 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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> mysql_servers = <value not displayable> </pre></div> <p> If <span class="docbook_option">configure_file</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> If <span class="docbook_option">log_file_path</span> or <span class="docbook_option">pid_file_path</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 class="docbook_option">log</span>, and the pid file is written directly into the spool directory. </p> <p> If <span class="docbook_option">-bP</span> is followed by a name preceded by <code class="docbook_literal">+</code>, for example, </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bP +local_domains </pre></div> <p> it searches for a matching named list of any type (domain, host, address, or local part) and outputs what it finds. </p> <p> If one of the words <span class="docbook_option">router</span>, <span class="docbook_option">transport</span>, or <span class="docbook_option">authenticator</span> is given, followed by the name of an appropriate driver instance, the option settings for that driver are output. For example: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bP transport local_delivery </pre></div> <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 class="docbook_option">router_list</span>, <span class="docbook_option">transport_list</span>, or <span class="docbook_option">authenticator_list</span>, and a complete list of all drivers with their option settings can be obtained by using <span class="docbook_option">routers</span>, <span class="docbook_option">transports</span>, or <span class="docbook_option">authenticators</span>. </p> <p> If invoked by an admin user, then <span class="docbook_option">macro</span>, <span class="docbook_option">macro_list</span> and <span class="docbook_option">macros</span> are available, similarly to the drivers. Because macros are sometimes used for storing passwords, this option is restricted. The output format is one item per line. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bp</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option requests a listing of the contents of the mail queue on the standard output. If the <span class="docbook_option">-bp</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 class="docbook_option">queue_list_requires_admin</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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> 25m 2.9K 0t5C6f-0000c8-00 <alice@wonderland.fict.example> red.king@looking-glass.fict.example <other addresses> </pre></div> <p> 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 “<>”. 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> If the message is frozen (attempts to deliver it are suspended) then the text “*** frozen ***” 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="docbook_option">-bpa</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option operates like <span class="docbook_option">-bp</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 “+D” instead of just “D”. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bpc</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">queue_list_requires_admin</span> is set false. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bpr</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option operates like <span class="docbook_option">-bp</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="docbook_option">-bpra</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is a combination of <span class="docbook_option">-bpr</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bpa</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bpru</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is a combination of <span class="docbook_option">-bpr</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bpu</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bpu</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option operates like <span class="docbook_option">-bp</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 class="docbook_option">one_time</span> option set. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-brt</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -brt bach.comp.mus.example Retry rule: *.comp.mus.example F,2h,15m; F,4d,30m; </pre></div> <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="docbook_emphasis">local_part@domain</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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -brt haydn.comp.mus.example quota_3d Retry rule: *@haydn.comp.mus.example quota_3d F,1h,15m </pre></div> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-brw</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-bS</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">untrusted_set_sender</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 class="docbook_option">qualify_domain</span> and <span class="docbook_option">qualify_recipient</span>, as appropriate, unless the <span class="docbook_option">-bnq</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> 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. SMTP processing">45.11</a>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bs</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 this usage, if the caller of Exim is trusted, or <span class="docbook_option">untrusted_set_sender</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 class="docbook_option">qualify_domain</span> and <span class="docbook_option">qualify_recipient</span>, as appropriate, unless the <span class="docbook_option">-bnq</span> option is used. </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-bs</span> option is also used to run Exim from <span class="docbook_emphasis">inetd</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="docbook_emphasis">inetd</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="docbook_option">-bmalware</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">filename</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This debugging option causes Exim to scan the given file, using the malware scanning framework. The option of <span class="docbook_option">av_scanner</span> influences this option, so if <span class="docbook_option">av_scanner</span>’s value is dependent upon an expansion then the expansion should have defaults which apply to this invocation. ACLs are not invoked, so if <span class="docbook_option">av_scanner</span> references an ACL variable then that variable will never be populated and <span class="docbook_option">-bmalware</span> will fail. </p> <p> Exim will have changed working directory before resolving the filename, so using fully qualified pathnames is advisable. Exim will be running as the Exim user when it tries to open the file, rather than as the invoking user. This option requires admin privileges. </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-bmalware</span> option will not be extended to be more generally useful, there are better tools for file-scanning. This option exists to help administrators verify their Exim and AV scanner configuration. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bt</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">-be</span> test option, you cannot arrange for Exim to use the <span class="docbook_function">readline()</span> function, because it is running as <span class="docbook_emphasis">root</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 class="docbook_option">-bv</span> option). It is passed to the routers and the result is written to the standard output. However, any router that has <span class="docbook_option">no_address_test</span> set is bypassed. This can make <span class="docbook_option">-bt</span> easier to use for genuine routing tests if your first router passes everything to a scanner program. </p> <p> 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> <span class="docbook_emphasis">Note</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 class="docbook_option">-bt</span>; the full results of routing are always shown. </p> <p> <span class="docbook_emphasis">Warning</span>: <span class="docbook_option">-bt</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, you can use the <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> option to set an appropriate sender when running <span class="docbook_option">-bt</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 class="docbook_option">-bt</span>. The <span class="docbook_option">-N</span> option provides a possible way of doing such tests. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bV</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option causes Exim to write the current version number, compilation number, and compilation date of the <span class="docbook_emphasis">exim</span> binary to the standard output. It also lists the DBM library that 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 class="docbook_option">-bV</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 class="docbook_option">-bV</span> alone to discover (for example) all the typos in the configuration; some realistic testing is needed. The <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-N</span> options provide more dynamic testing facilities. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bv</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">verify</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 class="docbook_option">-bh</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bhc</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 class="docbook_option">-be</span> test option, you cannot arrange for Exim to use the <span class="docbook_function">readline()</span> function, because it is running as <span class="docbook_emphasis">exim</span> and there are security issues. </p> <p> Verification differs from address testing (the <span class="docbook_option">-bt</span> option) in that routers that have <span class="docbook_option">no_verify</span> set are skipped, and if the address is accepted by a router that has <span class="docbook_option">fail_verify</span> set, verification fails. The address is verified as a recipient if <span class="docbook_option">-bv</span> is used; to test verification for a sender address, <span class="docbook_option">-bvs</span> should be used. </p> <p> If the <span class="docbook_option">-v</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 class="docbook_option">-v</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 class="docbook_option">-v</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 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 class="docbook_option">-f</span> option to set an appropriate sender when running <span class="docbook_option">-bv</span> tests. Without it, the sender is assumed to be the calling user at the default qualifying domain. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-bvs</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option acts like <span class="docbook_option">-bv</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="docbook_option">-C</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">filelist</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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, 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 a TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST file is defined in <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span>, that file contains a list of full pathnames, one per line, for configuration files which are trusted. Root privilege is retained for any configuration file so listed, as long as the caller is the Exim user (or the user specified in the CONFIGURE_OWNER option, if any), and as long as the configuration file is not writeable by inappropriate users or groups. </p> <p> Leaving TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST unset precludes the possibility of testing a configuration using <span class="docbook_option">-C</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 class="docbook_option">-C</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 class="docbook_option">-odq</span>, and another to do the delivery, using <span class="docbook_option">-M</span>). </p> <p> If ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX is defined <span class="docbook_filename">in Local/Makefile</span>, it specifies a prefix string with which any file named in a <span class="docbook_option">-C</span> command line option must start. In addition, the file name must not contain the sequence <code class="docbook_literal">/../</code>. However, if the value of the <span class="docbook_option">-C</span> option is identical to the value of CONFIGURE_FILE in <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span>, Exim ignores <span class="docbook_option">-C</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 class="docbook_option">-C</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 class="docbook_option">-C</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="docbook_option">-D</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">macro</span>>=<<span class="docbook_emphasis">value</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option can be used to override macro definitions in the configuration file (see section <a href="ch06.html#SECTmacrodefs" title="6. The Exim run time configuration file">6.4</a>). However, like <span class="docbook_option">-C</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 <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span>, the use of <span class="docbook_option">-D</span> is completely disabled, and its use causes an immediate error exit. </p> <p> If WHITELIST_D_MACROS is defined in <span class="docbook_filename">Local/Makefile</span> then it should be a colon-separated list of macros which are considered safe and, if <span class="docbook_option">-D</span> only supplies macros from this list, and the values are acceptable, then Exim will not give up root privilege if the caller is root, the Exim run-time user, or the CONFIGURE_OWNER, if set. This is a transition mechanism and is expected to be removed in the future. Acceptable values for the macros satisfy the regexp: <code class="docbook_literal">^[A-Za-z0-9_/.-]*$</code> </p> <p> The entire option (including equals sign if present) must all be within one command line item. <span class="docbook_option">-D</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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -DABC ... exim -DABC= ... </pre></div> <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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim '-D ABC = something' ... </pre></div> <p> <span class="docbook_option">-D</span> may be repeated up to 10 times on a command line. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-d</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">debug options</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">-d</span>, Exim writes an error message to the standard error stream and exits with a non-zero return code. </p> <p> When <span class="docbook_option">-d</span> is used, <span class="docbook_option">-v</span> is assumed. If <span class="docbook_option">-d</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 class="docbook_option">-d</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 class="docbook_option">-d+filter</span> adds filter debugging, whereas <span class="docbook_option">-d-all+filter</span> selects only filter debugging. Note that no spaces are allowed in the debug setting. The available debugging categories are: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> <code class="docbook_literal">acl </code> ACL interpretation <code class="docbook_literal">auth </code> authenticators <code class="docbook_literal">deliver </code> general delivery logic <code class="docbook_literal">dns </code> DNS lookups (see also resolver) <code class="docbook_literal">dnsbl </code> DNS black list (aka RBL) code <code class="docbook_literal">exec </code> arguments for <span class="docbook_function">execv()</span> calls <code class="docbook_literal">expand </code> detailed debugging for string expansions <code class="docbook_literal">filter </code> filter handling <code class="docbook_literal">hints_lookup </code> hints data lookups <code class="docbook_literal">host_lookup </code> all types of name-to-IP address handling <code class="docbook_literal">ident </code> ident lookup <code class="docbook_literal">interface </code> lists of local interfaces <code class="docbook_literal">lists </code> matching things in lists <code class="docbook_literal">load </code> system load checks <code class="docbook_literal">local_scan </code> can be used by <span class="docbook_function">local_scan()</span> (see chapter <a href="ch42.html" title="42. Adding a local scan function to Exim">42</a>) <code class="docbook_literal">lookup </code> general lookup code and all lookups <code class="docbook_literal">memory </code> memory handling <code class="docbook_literal">pid </code> add pid to debug output lines <code class="docbook_literal">process_info </code> setting info for the process log <code class="docbook_literal">queue_run </code> queue runs <code class="docbook_literal">receive </code> general message reception logic <code class="docbook_literal">resolver </code> turn on the DNS resolver’s debugging output <code class="docbook_literal">retry </code> retry handling <code class="docbook_literal">rewrite </code> address rewriting <code class="docbook_literal">route </code> address routing <code class="docbook_literal">timestamp </code> add timestamp to debug output lines <code class="docbook_literal">tls </code> TLS logic <code class="docbook_literal">transport </code> transports <code class="docbook_literal">uid </code> changes of uid/gid and looking up uid/gid <code class="docbook_literal">verify </code> address verification logic <code class="docbook_literal">all </code> almost all of the above (see below), and also <span class="docbook_option">-v</span> </pre></div> <p> The <code class="docbook_literal">all</code> option excludes <code class="docbook_literal">memory</code> when used as <code class="docbook_literal">+all</code>, but includes it for <code class="docbook_literal">-all</code>. The reason for this is that <code class="docbook_literal">+all</code> is something that people tend to use when generating debug output for Exim maintainers. If <code class="docbook_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="docbook_literal">-all</code> does turn everything off. </p> <p> The <code class="docbook_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 class="docbook_option">-d</span> with no argument) omits <code class="docbook_literal">expand</code>, <code class="docbook_literal">filter</code>, <code class="docbook_literal">interface</code>, <code class="docbook_literal">load</code>, <code class="docbook_literal">memory</code>, <code class="docbook_literal">pid</code>, <code class="docbook_literal">resolver</code>, and <code class="docbook_literal">timestamp</code>. However, the <code class="docbook_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="docbook_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 class="docbook_option">debug_print</span> option is set in any driver, it produces output whenever any debugging is selected, or if <span class="docbook_option">-v</span> is used. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-dd</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">debug options</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option behaves exactly like <span class="docbook_option">-d</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="docbook_option">-dropcr</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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. Message processing">44.2</a>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-E</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">-E</span>. If it does, the log entry for the receipt of the new message contains the id, following “R=”, as a cross-reference. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-e</span><span class="docbook_emphasis">x</span> </dt> <dd> <p> There are a number of Sendmail options starting with <span class="docbook_option">-oe</span> which seem to be called by various programs without the leading <span class="docbook_option">o</span> in the option. For example, the <span class="docbook_option">vacation</span> program uses <span class="docbook_option">-eq</span>. Exim treats all options of the form <span class="docbook_option">-e</span><span class="docbook_emphasis">x</span> as synonymous with the corresponding <span class="docbook_option">-oe</span><span class="docbook_emphasis">x</span> options. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-F</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_emphasis">gecos</span> entry from the password data is used. As users are generally permitted to alter their <span class="docbook_emphasis">gecos</span> entries, no security considerations are involved. White space between <span class="docbook_option">-F</span> and the <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>> is optional. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">untrusted_set_sender</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 class="docbook_option">trusted_users</span> or <span class="docbook_option">trusted_groups</span> options. In the absence of <span class="docbook_option">-f</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 class="docbook_option">-f</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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -f '<>' user@domain exim -f "" user@domain </pre></div> <p> In addition, the use of <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> is not restricted when testing a filter file with <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span> or when testing or verifying addresses using the <span class="docbook_option">-bt</span> or <span class="docbook_option">-bv</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="docbook_emphasis">From:</span> header refers to the local user, and if it does not, it adds a <span class="docbook_emphasis">Sender:</span> header, though this can be overridden by setting <span class="docbook_option">no_local_from_check</span>. </p> <p> White space between <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> and the <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</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 “From ” line in the message – see the description of <span class="docbook_option">-bm</span> above – but if <span class="docbook_option">-f</span> is also present, it overrides “From ”. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-G</span></dt> <dd> <p> This is a Sendmail option which is ignored by Exim. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-h</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">number</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is accepted for compatibility with Sendmail, but has no effect. (In Sendmail it overrides the “hop count” obtained by counting <span class="docbook_emphasis">Received:</span> headers.) </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-i</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option, which has the same effect as <span class="docbook_option">-oi</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="docbook_emphasis">mailx</span> command in Solaris 2.4 uses it. See also <span class="docbook_option">-ti</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-M</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">queue_domains</span>, <span class="docbook_option">queue_smtp_domains</span>, and <span class="docbook_option">hold_domains</span> are ignored. </p> <p> Retry 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 class="docbook_option">prod_requires_admin</span> which can be set false to relax this restriction (and also the same requirement for the <span class="docbook_option">-q</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-R</span>, and <span class="docbook_option">-S</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 class="docbook_option">-v</span> option as well, or inspect Exim’s main log. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-Mar</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to add the addresses to the list of recipients of the message (“ar” for “add recipients”). 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="docbook_option">-MC</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">transport</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">hostname</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">sequence number</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-MCA</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally by Exim in conjunction with the <span class="docbook_option">-MC</span> option. It signifies that the connection to the remote host has been authenticated. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-MCP</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally by Exim in conjunction with the <span class="docbook_option">-MC</span> option. It signifies that the server to which Exim is connected supports pipelining. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-MCQ</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">process id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">pipe fd</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally by Exim in conjunction with the <span class="docbook_option">-MC</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="docbook_option">-MCS</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally by Exim in conjunction with the <span class="docbook_option">-MC</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="docbook_option">-MCT</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is not intended for use by external callers. It is used internally by Exim in conjunction with the <span class="docbook_option">-MC</span> option, and passes on the fact that the host to which Exim is connected supports TLS encryption. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-Mc</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to run a delivery attempt on each message in turn, but unlike the <span class="docbook_option">-M</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 class="docbook_option">-Mc</span> can be useful when testing, in order to run a delivery that respects retry times and other options such as <span class="docbook_option">hold_domains</span> that are overridden when <span class="docbook_option">-M</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 class="docbook_option">-q</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="docbook_option">-Mes</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to change the sender address in the message to the given address, which must be a fully qualified address or “<>” (“es” for “edit sender”). 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="docbook_option">-Mf</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to mark each listed message as “frozen”. This prevents any delivery attempts taking place until the message is “thawed”, either manually or as a result of the <span class="docbook_option">auto_thaw</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="docbook_option">-Mg</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> 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 “cancelled by administrator”. Bounce messages are just discarded. This option can be used only by an admin user. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-Mmad</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to mark all the recipient addresses in the messages as already delivered (“mad” for “mark all delivered”). 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="docbook_option">-Mmd</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to mark the given addresses as already delivered (“md” for “mark delivered”). 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="docbook_option">-Mrm</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-Mset</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is useful only in conjunction with <span class="docbook_option">-be</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 $message_size and the header variables. The $recipients 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 class="docbook_option">-bem</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-Mt</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>> ...</dt> <dd> <p> This option requests Exim to “thaw” any of the listed messages that are “frozen”, 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="docbook_option">-Mvb</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-Mvc</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-Mvh</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-Mvl</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">message id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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="docbook_option">-m</span></dt> <dd> <p> This is apparently a synonym for <span class="docbook_option">-om</span> that is accepted by Sendmail, so Exim treats it that way too. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-N</span></dt> <dd> <p> This is a debugging option that inhibits delivery of a message at the transport level. It implies <span class="docbook_option">-v</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 “*>” rather than “=>”. </p> <p> Because <span class="docbook_option">-N</span> discards any message to which it applies, only root or the Exim user are allowed to use it with <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-q</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-R</span> or <span class="docbook_option">-M</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 class="docbook_option">-N</span> is set, an address may be deferred because of a configuration problem on a transport, or a routing problem. Once <span class="docbook_option">-N</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="docbook_option">-n</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is interpreted by Sendmail to mean “no aliasing”. It is ignored by Exim. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-O</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">data</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is interpreted by Sendmail to mean <code class="docbook_literal">set option</code>. It is ignored by Exim. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oA</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">file name</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is used by Sendmail in conjunction with <span class="docbook_option">-bi</span> to specify an alternative alias file name. Exim handles <span class="docbook_option">-bi</span> differently; see the description above. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oB</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">n</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_command">smtp</span> transport. If <<span class="docbook_emphasis">n</span>> is omitted, the limit is set to 1. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-odb</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option applies to all modes in which Exim accepts incoming messages, including the listening daemon. It requests “background” 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 class="docbook_option">-od</span> options are present. </p> <p> If one of the queueing options in the configuration file (<span class="docbook_option">queue_only</span> or <span class="docbook_option">queue_only_file</span>, for example) is in effect, <span class="docbook_option">-odb</span> overrides it if <span class="docbook_option">queue_only_override</span> is set true, which is the default setting. If <span class="docbook_option">queue_only_override</span> is set false, <span class="docbook_option">-odb</span> has no effect. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-odf</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option requests “foreground” (synchronous) delivery when Exim has accepted a locally-generated message. (For the daemon it is exactly the same as <span class="docbook_option">-odb</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 class="docbook_option">-odb</span>, this option has no effect if <span class="docbook_option">queue_only_override</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="docbook_option">-odi</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is synonymous with <span class="docbook_option">-odf</span>. It is provided for compatibility with Sendmail. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-odq</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">queue_only</span>) that can be used to queue incoming messages under certain conditions. This option overrides all of them and also <span class="docbook_option">-odqs</span>. It always forces queueing. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-odqs</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is a hybrid between <span class="docbook_option">-odb</span>/<span class="docbook_option">-odi</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-odq</span>. However, like <span class="docbook_option">-odb</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-odi</span>, this option has no effect if <span class="docbook_option">queue_only_override</span> is false and one of the queueing options in the configuration file is in effect. </p> <p> When <span class="docbook_option">-odqs</span> does operate, a delivery process is started for each incoming message, in the background by default, but in the foreground if <span class="docbook_option">-odi</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 class="docbook_option">queue_smtp_domains</span> configuration option has the same effect for specific domains. See also the <span class="docbook_option">-qq</span> option. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oee</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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> 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 class="docbook_option">-oe</span><span class="docbook_emphasis">x</span> option if Exim is called as <span class="docbook_emphasis">rmail</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oem</span></dt> <dd> <p> This is the same as <span class="docbook_option">-oee</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 class="docbook_option">-oe</span><span class="docbook_emphasis">x</span> option, unless Exim is called as <span class="docbook_emphasis">rmail</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oep</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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). The return code is 1 for all errors. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oeq</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is supported for compatibility with Sendmail, but has the same effect as <span class="docbook_option">-oep</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oew</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is supported for compatibility with Sendmail, but has the same effect as <span class="docbook_option">-oem</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oi</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option, which has the same effect as <span class="docbook_option">-i</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="docbook_emphasis">rmail</span>. See also <span class="docbook_option">-ti</span>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-oitrue</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is treated as synonymous with <span class="docbook_option">-oi</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">host address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> A number of options starting with <span class="docbook_option">-oM</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 class="docbook_option">-bh</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-be</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-bf</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-bF</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-bt</span>, or <span class="docbook_option">-bv</span> testing options. In other circumstances, they are ignored unless the caller is trusted. </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> option sets the sender host address. This may include a port number at the end, after a full stop (period). For example: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bs -oMa 10.9.8.7.1234 </pre></div> <p> An alternative syntax is to enclose the IP address in square brackets, followed by a colon and the port number: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -bs -oMa [10.9.8.7]:1234 </pre></div> <p> The IP address is placed in the $sender_host_address variable, and the port, if present, in $sender_host_port. If both <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> are present on the command line, the sender host IP address is taken from whichever one is last. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oMaa</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">name</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMaa</span> option sets the value of $sender_host_authenticated (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 class="docbook_option">-bh</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bs</span> to set up an authenticated SMTP session without actually using the SMTP AUTH command. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oMai</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMai</span> option sets the value of $authenticated_id (the id that was authenticated). This overrides the default value (the caller’s login id, except with <span class="docbook_option">-bh</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="docbook_option">-oMas</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMas</span> option sets the authenticated sender value in $authenticated_sender. It overrides the sender address that is created from the caller’s login id for messages from local sources, except when <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> is used, when there is no default. For both <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-bs</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="docbook_option">-oMi</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">interface address</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMi</span> option sets the IP interface address value. A port number may be included, using the same syntax as for <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span>. The interface address is placed in $received_ip_address and the port number, if present, in $received_port. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oMr</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">protocol name</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMr</span> option sets the received protocol value that is stored in $received_protocol. However, it does not apply (and is ignored) when <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> or <span class="docbook_option">-bs</span> is used. For <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span>, the protocol is forced to one of the standard SMTP protocol names (see the description of $received_protocol in section <a href="ch11.html#SECTexpvar" title="11. String expansions">11.9</a>). For <span class="docbook_option">-bs</span>, the protocol is always “local-” followed by one of those same names. For <span class="docbook_option">-bS</span> (batched SMTP) however, the protocol can be set by <span class="docbook_option">-oMr</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oMs</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">host name</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMs</span> option sets the sender host name in $sender_host_name. 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="docbook_option">-oMt</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">ident string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> See <span class="docbook_option">-oMa</span> above for general remarks about the <span class="docbook_option">-oM</span> options. The <span class="docbook_option">-oMt</span> option sets the sender ident value in $sender_ident. The default setting for local callers is the login id of the calling process, except when <span class="docbook_option">-bh</span> is used, when there is no default. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-om</span></dt> <dd> <p> In Sendmail, this option means “me too”, 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="docbook_option">-oo</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is ignored. In Sendmail it specifies “old style headers”, whatever that means. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oP</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">path</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is useful only in conjunction with <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span> or <span class="docbook_option">-q</span> with a time value. The option specifies the file to which the process id of the daemon is written. When <span class="docbook_option">-oX</span> is used with <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span>, or when <span class="docbook_option">-q</span> with a time is used without <span class="docbook_option">-bd</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="docbook_option">-or</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">time</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">receive_timeout</span> option. The format used for specifying times is described in section <a href="ch06.html#SECTtimeformat" title="6. The Exim run time configuration file">6.15</a>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-os</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">time</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">smtp_receive_timeout</span> option; it defaults to 5 minutes. The format used for specifying times is described in section <a href="ch06.html#SECTtimeformat" title="6. The Exim run time configuration file">6.15</a>. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-ov</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option has exactly the same effect as <span class="docbook_option">-v</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-oX</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">number or string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is relevant only when the <span class="docbook_option">-bd</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 class="docbook_option">-oX</span> is used to start a daemon, no pid file is written unless <span class="docbook_option">-oP</span> is also present to specify a pid file name. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-pd</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">perl_at_start</span> option, forcing the starting of the interpreter to be delayed until it is needed. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-ps</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">perl_at_start</span> option, forcing the starting of the interpreter to occur as soon as Exim is started. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-p</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">rval</span>>:<<span class="docbook_emphasis">sval</span>></dt> <dd> <p> For compatibility with Sendmail, this option is equivalent to </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> <code class="docbook_literal">-oMr</code> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">rval</span>> <code class="docbook_literal">-oMs</code> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">sval</span>> </pre></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 class="docbook_option">-pd</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-ps</span>, that refer to embedded Perl. It is therefore impossible to set a protocol value of <code class="docbook_literal">p</code> or <code class="docbook_literal">s</code> using this option (but that does not seem a real limitation). </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-q</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is normally restricted to admin users. However, there is a configuration option called <span class="docbook_option">prod_requires_admin</span> which can be set false to relax this restriction (and also the same requirement for the <span class="docbook_option">-M</span>, <span class="docbook_option">-R</span>, and <span class="docbook_option">-S</span> options). </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-q</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 class="docbook_option">-qf</span> (see below) if you want to override this. </p> <p> If 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 class="docbook_option">-q</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 class="docbook_option">queue_run_in_order</span> option, but this is not recommended for normal use. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-q</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">qflags</span>></dt> <dd> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-q</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="docbook_option">-qq...</span></dt> <dd> <p> An option starting with <span class="docbook_option">-qq</span> requests a two-stage queue run. In the first stage, the queue is scanned as if the <span class="docbook_option">queue_smtp_domains</span> option matched every domain. Addresses are routed, local deliveries happen, but no remote transports are run. </p> <p> 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 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="docbook_option">-q[q]i...</span></dt> <dd> <p> If the <span class="docbook_emphasis">i</span> flag is present, the queue runner runs delivery processes only for those messages that haven’t previously been tried. (<span class="docbook_emphasis">i</span> stands for “initial delivery”.) This can be helpful if you are putting messages on the queue using <span class="docbook_option">-odq</span> and want a queue runner just to process the new messages. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-q[q][i]f...</span></dt> <dd> <p> If one <span class="docbook_emphasis">f</span> flag is present, a delivery attempt is forced for each non-frozen message, whereas without <span class="docbook_emphasis">f</span> only those non-frozen addresses that have passed their retry times are tried. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-q[q][i]ff...</span></dt> <dd> <p> If <span class="docbook_emphasis">ff</span> is present, a delivery attempt is forced for every message, whether frozen or not. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-q[q][i][f[f]]l</span></dt> <dd> <p> The <span class="docbook_emphasis">l</span> (the letter “ell”) 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="docbook_option">-q</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">qflags</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">start id</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">end id</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">-q</span> option with a starting message id. For example: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -q 0t5C6f-0000c8-00 </pre></div> <p> Messages that arrived earlier than <code class="docbook_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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -q 0t5C6f-0000c8-00 0t5C6f-0000c8-00 </pre></div> <p> just one delivery process is started, for that message. This differs from <span class="docbook_option">-M</span> in that retry data is respected, and it also differs from <span class="docbook_option">-Mc</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 class="docbook_option">-R</span> and <span class="docbook_option">-S</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-q</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">qflags</span>><<span class="docbook_emphasis">time</span>></dt> <dd> <p> When a time value is present, the <span class="docbook_option">-q</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. The Exim run time configuration file">6.15</a>). This form of the <span class="docbook_option">-q</span> option is commonly combined with the <span class="docbook_option">-bd</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> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> /usr/exim/bin/exim -bd -q30m </pre></div> <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 class="docbook_option">-q</span> with a time value, but without <span class="docbook_option">-bd</span>, no pid file is written unless one is explicitly requested by the <span class="docbook_option">-oP</span> option. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-qR</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is synonymous with <span class="docbook_option">-R</span>. It is provided for Sendmail compatibility. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-qS</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option is synonymous with <span class="docbook_option">-S</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-R</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> The <<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> may be empty, in which case the white space before the string is optional, unless the string is <span class="docbook_emphasis">f</span>, <span class="docbook_emphasis">ff</span>, <span class="docbook_emphasis">r</span>, <span class="docbook_emphasis">rf</span>, or <span class="docbook_emphasis">rff</span>, which are the possible values for <<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>>. White space is required if <<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> is not empty. </p> <p> This option is similar to <span class="docbook_option">-q</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="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> start with <span class="docbook_emphasis">r</span>, <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</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 class="docbook_option">-R</span> with <span class="docbook_option">-q</span> and a time value. For example: </p> <div class="docbook_literallayout"><pre> exim -q25m -R @special.domain.example </pre></div> <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 class="docbook_option">-q</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> If the <<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> contain <span class="docbook_emphasis">f</span> or <span class="docbook_emphasis">ff</span>, the delivery forcing applies to all selected messages, not just the first; frozen messages are included when <span class="docbook_emphasis">ff</span> is present. </p> <p> The <span class="docbook_option">-R</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 class="docbook_option">-R</span> option, but it can be configured to run an arbitrary command instead. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-r</span></dt> <dd> <p> This is a documented (for Sendmail) obsolete alternative name for <span class="docbook_option">-f</span>. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-S</span><<span class="docbook_emphasis">rsflags</span>> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">string</span>></dt> <dd> <p> This option acts like <span class="docbook_option">-R</span> except that it checks the string against each message’s sender instead of against the recipients. If <span class="docbook_option">-R</span> is also set, both conditions must be met for a message to be selected. If either of the options has <span class="docbook_emphasis">f</span> or <span class="docbook_emphasis">ff</span> in its flags, the associated action is taken. </p> </dd> <dt> <span class="docbook_option">-Tqt</span> <<span class="docbook_emphasis">times</span>></dt> <dd> <p> 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 “queue times” so that various warning/retry features can be tested. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-t</span></dt> <dd> <p> When Exim is receiving a locally-generated, non-SMTP message on its standard input, the <span class="docbook_option">-t</span> option causes the recipients of the message to be obtained from the <span class="docbook_emphasis">To:</span>, <span class="docbook_emphasis">Cc:</span>, and <span class="docbook_emphasis">Bcc:</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="docbook_emphasis">Bcc:</span> header line, if present, is then removed. </p> <p> If the command has any arguments, they specify addresses to which the message is <span class="docbook_emphasis">not</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="docbook_emphasis">add</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 class="docbook_option">extract_addresses_remove_arguments</span> false. </p> <p> If there are any <span class="docbook_option">Resent-</span> header lines in the message, Exim extracts recipients from all <span class="docbook_emphasis">Resent-To:</span>, <span class="docbook_emphasis">Resent-Cc:</span>, and <span class="docbook_emphasis">Resent-Bcc:</span> header lines instead of from <span class="docbook_emphasis">To:</span>, <span class="docbook_emphasis">Cc:</span>, and <span class="docbook_emphasis">Bcc:</span>. This is for compatibility with Sendmail and other MTAs. (Prior to release 4.20, Exim gave an error if <span class="docbook_option">-t</span> was used in conjunction with <span class="docbook_option">Resent-</span> header lines.) </p> <p> RFC 2822 talks about different sets of <span class="docbook_option">Resent-</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="docbook_emphasis">Received:</span> lines. It is not at all clear how <span class="docbook_option">-t</span> should operate in the present of multiple sets, nor indeed exactly what constitutes a “set”. In practice, it seems that MUAs do not follow the RFC. The <span class="docbook_option">Resent-</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 class="docbook_option">Resent-</span> headers to be renamed as <span class="docbook_option">X-Resent-</span> when a new set is added. This removes any possible ambiguity. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-ti</span></dt> <dd> <p> This option is exactly equivalent to <span class="docbook_option">-t</span> <span class="docbook_option">-i</span>. It is provided for compatibility with Sendmail. </p> </dd> <dt><span class="docbook_option">-tls-on-connect</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">tls_on_connect_ports</span> option. See section <a href="ch13.html#SECTsupobssmt" title="13. Starting the daemon and the use of network interfaces">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="docbook_option">-U</span></dt> <dd> <p> Sendmail uses this option for “initial message submission”, 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="docbook_option">-v</span></dt> <dd> <p> 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 class="docbook_option">log_selector</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="docbook_option">-x</span></dt> <dd> <p> AIX uses <span class="docbook_option">-x</span> for a private purpose (“mail from a local mail program has National Language Support extended characters in the body of the mail item”). It sets <span class="docbook_option">-x</span> when calling the MTA from its <span class="docbook_option">mail</span> command. 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