Provided by: postfix_3.6.4-1ubuntu1.3_amd64 bug

NAME

       postfix - Postfix control program

SYNOPSIS

       postfix [-Dv] [-c config_dir] command

DESCRIPTION

       This  command  is  reserved for the superuser. To submit mail, use the Postfix sendmail(1)
       command.

       The postfix(1) command controls the operation of the Postfix mail system:  start  or  stop
       the master(8) daemon, do a health check, and other maintenance.

       By  default,  the  postfix(1)  command  sets  up  a  standardized environment and runs the
       postfix-script shell script to do the actual work.

       However, when support for multiple Postfix instances is  configured,  postfix(1)  executes
       the  command  specified  with  the  multi_instance_wrapper  configuration parameter.  This
       command will execute the command for each applicable Postfix instance.

       The following commands are implemented:

       check  Warn  about  bad  directory/file  ownership  or  permissions,  and  create  missing
              directories.

       start  Start  the  Postfix  mail  system. This also runs the configuration check described
              above.

       start-fg
              Like start, but keep the master(8) daemon running in  the  foreground,  and  enable
              master(8)  "init"  mode  when  running  as  PID  1.   This  command  requires  that
              multi-instance support is disabled (i.e. the  multi_instance_directories  parameter
              value must be empty).

              When  running Postfix inside a container, see MAILLOG_README for logging to stdout.
              Postfix logs to syslog by default, which requires  a)  running  a  syslogd  process
              inside  the  container,  or b) mounting the container host's /dev/log socket inside
              the container (example: "docker run -v /dev/log:/dev/log ..."), and c)  a  distinct
              Postfix "syslog_name" prefix that identifies logging from the Postfix instance.

       stop   Stop  the Postfix mail system in an orderly fashion. If possible, running processes
              are allowed to terminate at their earliest convenience.

              Note: in order to refresh the Postfix mail system after a configuration change,  do
              not use the start and stop commands in succession. Use the reload command instead.

       abort  Stop  the  Postfix  mail  system  abruptly.  Running processes are signaled to stop
              immediately.

       flush  Force delivery: attempt to deliver  every  message  in  the  deferred  mail  queue.
              Normally,  attempts  to  deliver  delayed  mail  happen  at  regular intervals, the
              interval doubling after each failed attempt.

              Warning: flushing undeliverable  mail  frequently  will  result  in  poor  delivery
              performance of all other mail.

       reload Re-read   configuration  files.  Running  processes  terminate  at  their  earliest
              convenience.

       status Indicate if the Postfix mail system is currently running.

       set-permissions [name=value ...]
              Set the ownership and permissions of Postfix  related  files  and  directories,  as
              specified in the postfix-files file.

              Specify   name=value   to   override  and  update  specific  main.cf  configuration
              parameters. Use this, for example, to change the mail_owner or setgid_group setting
              for an already installed Postfix system.

              This  feature is available in Postfix 2.1 and later.  With Postfix 2.0 and earlier,
              use "$config_directory/post-install set-permissions".

       logrotate
              Rotate the logfile specified with $maillog_file, by appending a  time-stamp  suffix
              that  is formatted according to $maillog_file_rotate_suffix, and by compressing the
              file with the command  specified  with  $maillog_file_compressor.   This  will  not
              rotate /dev/* files.

              This feature is available in Postfix 3.4 and later.

       tls subcommand
              Enable  opportunistic  TLS in the Postfix SMTP client or server, and manage Postfix
              SMTP  server  TLS  private  keys  and   certificates.    See   postfix-tls(1)   for
              documentation.

              This feature is available in Postfix 3.1 and later.

       upgrade-configuration [name=value ...]
              Update the main.cf and master.cf files with information that Postfix needs in order
              to run: add or update services, and add or update configuration parameter settings.

              Specify  name=value  to  override  and  update   specific   main.cf   configuration
              parameters.

              This  feature is available in Postfix 2.1 and later.  With Postfix 2.0 and earlier,
              use "$config_directory/post-install upgrade-configuration".

       The following options are implemented:

       -c config_dir
              Read the main.cf and master.cf configuration files in the named  directory  instead
              of  the  default configuration directory.  Use this to distinguish between multiple
              Postfix instances on the same host.

              With Postfix 2.6 and later, this option forces the postfix(1) command to operate on
              the  specified  Postfix  instance  only.   This behavior is inherited by postfix(1)
              commands that run as a descendant of the current process.

       -D (with postfix start only)
              Run each  Postfix  daemon  under  control  of  a  debugger  as  specified  via  the
              debugger_command configuration parameter.

       -v     Enable  verbose  logging  for  debugging  purposes.  Multiple  -v  options make the
              software increasingly verbose.

ENVIRONMENT

       The postfix(1) command exports the following environment variables  before  executing  the
       postfix-script file:

       MAIL_CONFIG
              This is set when the -c command-line option is present.

              With Postfix 2.6 and later, this environment variable forces the postfix(1) command
              to operate on the specified Postfix instance only.  This behavior is  inherited  by
              postfix(1) commands that run as a descendant of the current process.

       MAIL_VERBOSE
              This is set when the -v command-line option is present.

       MAIL_DEBUG
              This is set when the -D command-line option is present.

       When  the  internal  logging  service  is  enabled  (by  setting  a non-empty maillog_file
       parameter value) the postfix(1) command exports settings that are used by child  processes
       before they have processed main.cf or command-line settings.

       POSTLOG_SERVICE
              The name of the public postlog service endpoint.

       POSTLOG_HOSTNAME
              The hostname to prepend to internal logging.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS

       The  following main.cf configuration parameters are exported as environment variables with
       the same names:

       config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration files.

       command_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The location of all postfix administrative commands.

       daemon_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The directory with Postfix support programs and daemon programs.

       html_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The location of Postfix HTML files that describe how to build, configure or operate
              a specific Postfix subsystem or feature.

       mail_owner (postfix)
              The  UNIX  system  account  that  owns  the  Postfix  queue and most Postfix daemon
              processes.

       mailq_path (see 'postconf -d' output)
              Sendmail compatibility feature that specifies where the Postfix mailq(1) command is
              installed.

       manpage_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              Where the Postfix manual pages are installed.

       newaliases_path (see 'postconf -d' output)
              Sendmail  compatibility  feature  that  specifies the location of the newaliases(1)
              command.

       queue_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The location of the Postfix top-level queue directory.

       readme_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The location of Postfix README files that  describe  how  to  build,  configure  or
              operate a specific Postfix subsystem or feature.

       sendmail_path (see 'postconf -d' output)
              A  Sendmail  compatibility  feature  that  specifies  the  location  of the Postfix
              sendmail(1) command.

       setgid_group (postdrop)
              The group ownership of set-gid  Postfix  commands  and  of  group-writable  Postfix
              directories.

       Available in Postfix version 2.5 and later:

       data_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The  directory with Postfix-writable data files (for example: caches, pseudo-random
              numbers).

       Available in Postfix version 3.0 and later:

       compatibility_level (0)
              A safety net that causes Postfix to run with backwards-compatible default  settings
              after an upgrade to a newer Postfix version.

       meta_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The  location  of  non-executable  files  that  are  shared  among multiple Postfix
              instances, such as postfix-files, dynamicmaps.cf, and the  multi-instance  template
              files main.cf.proto and master.cf.proto.

       shlib_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The  location  of  Postfix  dynamically-linked libraries (libpostfix-*.so), and the
              default location of Postfix database plugins (postfix-*.so) that  have  a  relative
              pathname in the dynamicmaps.cf file.

       Available in Postfix version 3.1 and later:

       openssl_path (openssl)
              The location of the OpenSSL command line program openssl(1).

       Other configuration parameters:

       import_environment (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The  list  of  environment parameters that a privileged Postfix process will import
              from a non-Postfix parent process, or name=value environment overrides.

       syslog_facility (mail)
              The syslog facility of Postfix logging.

       syslog_name (see 'postconf -d' output)
              A prefix that is prepended to the process name in  syslog  records,  so  that,  for
              example, "smtpd" becomes "prefix/smtpd".

       Available in Postfix version 2.6 and later:

       multi_instance_directories (empty)
              An   optional   list   of  non-default  Postfix  configuration  directories;  these
              directories  belong  to  additional  Postfix  instances  that  share  the   Postfix
              executable  files and documentation with the default Postfix instance, and that are
              started, stopped, etc., together with the default Postfix instance.

       multi_instance_wrapper (empty)
              The pathname of a  multi-instance  manager  command  that  the  postfix(1)  command
              invokes when the multi_instance_directories parameter value is non-empty.

       multi_instance_group (empty)
              The optional instance group name of this Postfix instance.

       multi_instance_name (empty)
              The optional instance name of this Postfix instance.

       multi_instance_enable (no)
              Allow  this  Postfix  instance  to  be  started, stopped, etc., by a multi-instance
              manager.

       Available in Postfix version 3.4 and later:

       maillog_file (empty)
              The name of an optional logfile that is written by the Postfix postlogd(8) service.

       maillog_file_compressor (gzip)
              The program to run after rotating $maillog_file with "postfix logrotate".

       maillog_file_prefixes (/var, /dev/stdout)
              A list of allowed prefixes for a maillog_file value.

       maillog_file_rotate_suffix (%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
              The format of the suffix to append to $maillog_file while rotating  the  file  with
              "postfix logrotate".

       postlog_service_name (postlog)
              The name of the postlogd(8) service entry in master.cf.

FILES

       Prior  to  Postfix version 2.6, all of the following files were in $config_directory. Some
       files are now in $daemon_directory or $meta_directory so that they  can  be  shared  among
       multiple instances that run the same Postfix version.

       Use  the  command "postconf config_directory" or "postconf daemon_directory" to expand the
       names into their actual values.

       $config_directory/main.cf, Postfix configuration parameters
       $config_directory/master.cf, Postfix daemon processes
       $daemon_directory/postfix-script, administrative commands
       $daemon_directory/post-install, post-installation configuration
       $meta_directory/dynamicmaps.cf, plug-in database clients
       $meta_directory/postfix-files, file/directory permissions

SEE ALSO

       Commands:
       postalias(1), create/update/query alias database
       postcat(1), examine Postfix queue file
       postconf(1), Postfix configuration utility
       postfix(1), Postfix control program
       postfix-tls(1), Postfix TLS management
       postkick(1), trigger Postfix daemon
       postlock(1), Postfix-compatible locking
       postlog(1), Postfix-compatible logging
       postmap(1), Postfix lookup table manager
       postmulti(1), Postfix multi-instance manager
       postqueue(1), Postfix mail queue control
       postsuper(1), Postfix housekeeping
       mailq(1), Sendmail compatibility interface
       newaliases(1), Sendmail compatibility interface
       sendmail(1), Sendmail compatibility interface

       Postfix configuration:
       bounce(5), Postfix bounce message templates
       master(5), Postfix master.cf file syntax
       postconf(5), Postfix main.cf file syntax
       postfix-wrapper(5), Postfix multi-instance API

       Table-driven mechanisms:
       access(5), Postfix SMTP access control table
       aliases(5), Postfix alias database
       canonical(5), Postfix input address rewriting
       generic(5), Postfix output address rewriting
       header_checks(5), body_checks(5), Postfix content inspection
       relocated(5), Users that have moved
       transport(5), Postfix routing table
       virtual(5), Postfix virtual aliasing

       Table lookup mechanisms:
       cidr_table(5), Associate CIDR pattern with value
       ldap_table(5), Postfix LDAP client
       lmdb_table(5), Postfix LMDB database driver
       memcache_table(5), Postfix memcache client
       mysql_table(5), Postfix MYSQL client
       nisplus_table(5), Postfix NIS+ client
       pcre_table(5), Associate PCRE pattern with value
       pgsql_table(5), Postfix PostgreSQL client
       regexp_table(5), Associate POSIX regexp pattern with value
       socketmap_table(5), Postfix socketmap client
       sqlite_table(5), Postfix SQLite database driver
       tcp_table(5), Postfix client-server table lookup

       Daemon processes:
       anvil(8), Postfix connection/rate limiting
       bounce(8), defer(8), trace(8), Delivery status reports
       cleanup(8), canonicalize and enqueue message
       discard(8), Postfix discard delivery agent
       dnsblog(8), DNS allow/denylist logger
       error(8), Postfix error delivery agent
       flush(8), Postfix fast ETRN service
       local(8), Postfix local delivery agent
       master(8), Postfix master daemon
       oqmgr(8), old Postfix queue manager
       pickup(8), Postfix local mail pickup
       pipe(8), deliver mail to non-Postfix command
       postlogd(8), Postfix internal logging service
       postscreen(8), Postfix zombie blocker
       proxymap(8), Postfix lookup table proxy server
       qmgr(8), Postfix queue manager
       qmqpd(8), Postfix QMQP server
       scache(8), Postfix connection cache manager
       showq(8), list Postfix mail queue
       smtp(8), lmtp(8), Postfix SMTP+LMTP client
       smtpd(8), Postfix SMTP server
       spawn(8), run non-Postfix server
       tlsmgr(8), Postfix TLS cache and randomness manager
       tlsproxy(8), Postfix TLS proxy server
       trivial-rewrite(8), Postfix address rewriting
       verify(8), Postfix address verification
       virtual(8), Postfix virtual delivery agent

       Other:
       syslogd(8), system logging

README FILES

       Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate this information.
       OVERVIEW, overview of Postfix commands and processes
       BASIC_CONFIGURATION_README, Postfix basic configuration
       ADDRESS_REWRITING_README, Postfix address rewriting
       SMTPD_ACCESS_README, SMTP relay/access control
       CONTENT_INSPECTION_README, Postfix content inspection
       QSHAPE_README, Postfix queue analysis

LICENSE

       The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

AUTHOR(S)

       Wietse Venema
       IBM T.J. Watson Research
       P.O. Box 704
       Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

       Wietse Venema
       Google, Inc.
       111 8th Avenue
       New York, NY 10011, USA

       TLS support by:
       Lutz Jaenicke
       Brandenburg University of Technology
       Cottbus, Germany

       Victor Duchovni
       Morgan Stanley

       SASL support originally by:
       Till Franke
       SuSE Rhein/Main AG
       65760 Eschborn, Germany

       LMTP support originally by:
       Philip A. Prindeville
       Mirapoint, Inc.
       USA.

       Amos Gouaux
       University of Texas at Dallas
       P.O. Box 830688, MC34
       Richardson, TX 75083, USA

       IPv6 support originally by:
       Mark Huizer, Eindhoven University, The Netherlands
       Jun-ichiro 'itojun' Hagino, KAME project, Japan
       The Linux PLD project
       Dean Strik, Eindhoven University, The Netherlands

                                                                                       POSTFIX(1)