Provided by: sendmail-bin_8.15.2-22ubuntu3_amd64 bug

NAME

       sendmail - an electronic mail transport agent

SYNOPSIS

       sendmail [flags] [address ...]
       newaliases
       mailq [-v]
       hoststat
       purgestat
       smtpd

DESCRIPTION

       Sendmail  sends  a  message  to  one or more recipients, routing the message over whatever
       networks are necessary.  Sendmail does internetwork forwarding as necessary to deliver the
       message to the correct place.

       Sendmail is not intended as a user interface routine; other programs provide user-friendly
       front ends; sendmail is used only to deliver pre-formatted messages.

       With no flags, sendmail reads its standard input up to an end-of-file or a line consisting
       only  of  a single dot and sends a copy of the message found there to all of the addresses
       listed.  It determines the network(s) to use based on  the  syntax  and  contents  of  the
       addresses.

       Local  addresses  are  looked  up  in  a  file and aliased appropriately.  Aliasing can be
       prevented by preceding the address with a backslash.  Beginning with 8.10, the  sender  is
       included  in  any alias expansions, e.g., if `john' sends to `group', and `group' includes
       `john' in the expansion, then the letter will also be delivered to `john'.

   Parameters
       -Ac    Use submit.cf even if  the  operation  mode  does  not  indicate  an  initial  mail
              submission.

       -Am    Use sendmail.cf even if the operation mode indicates an initial mail submission.

       -Btype Set the body type to type.  Current legal values are 7BIT or 8BITMIME.

       -ba    Go into ARPANET mode.  All input lines must end with a CR-LF, and all messages will
              be generated with a CR-LF at the end.  Also, the ``From:'' and  ``Sender:''  fields
              are examined for the name of the sender.

       -bC    Check the configuration file.

       -bd    Run  as  a daemon.  Sendmail will fork and run in background listening on socket 25
              for incoming SMTP connections.  This is normally run from /etc/rc.

       -bD    Same as -bd except runs in foreground.

       -bh    Print the persistent host status database.

       -bH    Purge expired entries from the persistent host status database.

       -bi    Initialize the alias database.

       -bm    Deliver mail in the usual way (default).

       -bp    Print a listing of the queue(s).

       -bP    Print number of entries in the queue(s); only available with shared memory support.

       -bs    Use the SMTP protocol as described in RFC821 on standard input  and  output.   This
              flag implies all the operations of the -ba flag that are compatible with SMTP.

       -bt    Run  in  address  test  mode.   This  mode  reads  addresses and shows the steps in
              parsing; it is used for debugging configuration tables.

       -bv    Verify names only - do not try to collect or deliver a  message.   Verify  mode  is
              normally used for validating users or mailing lists.

       -Cfile Use  alternate  configuration file.  Sendmail gives up any enhanced (set-user-ID or
              set-group-ID) privileges if an alternate configuration file is specified.

       -D logfile
              Send debugging output to the indicated log file instead of stdout.

       -dcategory.level...
              Set the debugging flag for category to level.  Category is either an integer  or  a
              name  specifying  the topic, and level an integer specifying the level of debugging
              output desired.  Higher levels generally mean more output.  More than one flag  can
              be  specified  by  separating  them  with  commas.   A  list  of  numeric debugging
              categories can be found in the TRACEFLAGS file in the sendmail source distribution.
              The option -d0.1 prints the version of sendmail and the  options  it  was  compiled
              with.
              Most  other  categories  are only useful with, and documented in, sendmail's source
              code.

       -Ffullname
              Set the full name of the sender.

       -fname Sets the name of the ``from'' person (i.e., the envelope sender of the mail).  This
              address  may  also  be  used  in  the From: header if that header is missing during
              initial submission.  The envelope sender address  is  used  as  the  recipient  for
              delivery  status  notifications  and  may also appear in a Return-Path: header.  -f
              should only be used by ``trusted'' users (normally root, daemon, and network) or if
              the  person you are trying to become is the same as the person you are.  Otherwise,
              an X-Authentication-Warning header will be added to the message.

       -G     Relay (gateway) submission of a message, e.g., when rmail calls sendmail .

       -hN    Set the hop count to N.  The hop count  is  incremented  every  time  the  mail  is
              processed.   When  it  reaches a limit, the mail is returned with an error message,
              the victim of an aliasing loop.  If  not  specified,  ``Received:''  lines  in  the
              message are counted.

       -i     Do  not strip a leading dot from lines in incoming messages, and do not treat a dot
              on a line by itself as the end of an incoming message.  This should be set  if  you
              are reading data from a file.

       -L tag Set the identifier used in syslog messages to the supplied tag.

       -N dsn Set  delivery  status  notification  conditions to dsn, which can be `never' for no
              notifications or a comma separated list of the values `failure' to be  notified  if
              delivery failed, `delay' to be notified if delivery is delayed, and `success' to be
              notified when the message is successfully delivered.

       -n     Don't do aliasing.

       -O option=value
              Set option option to the specified value.  This form uses long  names.   See  below
              for more details.

       -ox value
              Set  option  x to the specified value.  This form uses single character names only.
              The  short  names  are  not  described  in  this  manual  page;  see  the  Sendmail
              Installation and Operation Guide for details.

       -pprotocol
              Set  the  name  of  the protocol used to receive the message.  This can be a simple
              protocol name such as ``UUCP'' or a protocol and hostname, such as ``UUCP:ucbvax''.

       -q[time]
              Process saved messages in the queue  at  given  intervals.   If  time  is  omitted,
              process  the queue once.  Time is given as a tagged number, with `s' being seconds,
              `m' being minutes (default), `h' being hours, `d' being days, and `w' being  weeks.
              For  example,  `-q1h30m'  or  `-q90m' would both set the timeout to one hour thirty
              minutes.  By default, sendmail will run in the background.  This option can be used
              safely with -bd.

       -qp[time]
              Similar  to  -qtime, except that instead of periodically forking a child to process
              the queue, sendmail forks a single persistent child for each queue that  alternates
              between  processing  the  queue  and  sleeping.   The  sleep  time  is given as the
              argument; it defaults to 1 second.  The  process  will  always  sleep  at  least  5
              seconds if the queue was empty in the previous queue run.

       -qf    Process  saved  messages  in  the  queue  once  and  do  not fork(), but run in the
              foreground.

       -qGname
              Process jobs in queue group called name only.

       -q[!]Isubstr
              Limit processed jobs to those containing substr as a substring of the queue  id  or
              not when !  is specified.

       -q[!]Qsubstr
              Limit  processed  jobs  to quarantined jobs containing substr as a substring of the
              quarantine reason or not when !  is specified.

       -q[!]Rsubstr
              Limit processed jobs to those containing substr  as  a  substring  of  one  of  the
              recipients or not when !  is specified.

       -q[!]Ssubstr
              Limit processed jobs to those containing substr as a substring of the sender or not
              when !  is specified.

       -Q[reason]
              Quarantine a normal queue items with the given reason or  unquarantine  quarantined
              queue items if no reason is given.  This should only be used with some sort of item
              matching using as described above.

       -R return
              Set the amount of the message to be returned if the message  bounces.   The  return
              parameter  can  be `full' to return the entire message or `hdrs' to return only the
              headers.  In the latter case also local bounces return only the headers.

       -rname An alternate and obsolete form of the -f flag.

       -t     Read message for recipients.   To:,  Cc:,  and  Bcc:  lines  will  be  scanned  for
              recipient addresses.  The Bcc: line will be deleted before transmission.

       -V envid
              Set  the  original  envelope  id.   This  is propagated across SMTP to servers that
              support DSNs and is returned in DSN-compliant error messages.

       -v     Go into verbose mode.  Alias expansions will be announced, etc.

       -X logfile
              Log all traffic in and out of mailers in the indicated log file.  This should  only
              be used as a last resort for debugging mailer bugs.  It will log a lot of data very
              quickly.

       --     Stop processing command flags and use the rest of the arguments as addresses.

   Options
       There are also a number of processing options that may be set.  Normally these  will  only
       be  used  by  a system administrator.  Options may be set either on the command line using
       the -o flag (for short names), the -O flag (for long names), or in the configuration file.
       This  is  a  partial  list  limited  to  those options that are likely to be useful on the
       command line and only shows the long names; for a complete list (and details), consult the
       Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide.  The options are:

       AliasFile=file
              Use alternate alias file.

       HoldExpensive
              On  mailers  that  are  considered  ``expensive''  to  connect  to,  don't initiate
              immediate connection.  This requires queueing.

       CheckpointInterval=N
              Checkpoint the queue file after every N successful deliveries (default  10).   This
              avoids   excessive   duplicate  deliveries  when  sending  to  long  mailing  lists
              interrupted by system crashes.

       DeliveryMode=x
              Set the delivery mode to x.  Delivery modes are `i' for  interactive  (synchronous)
              delivery,  `b'  for  background (asynchronous) delivery, `q' for queue only - i.e.,
              actual delivery is done the next time the queue is run, and `d' for deferred -  the
              same  as  `q'  except  that  database lookups for maps which have set the -D option
              (default for the host map) are avoided.

       ErrorMode=x
              Set error processing to mode x.  Valid  modes  are  `m'  to  mail  back  the  error
              message,  `w' to ``write'' back the error message (or mail it back if the sender is
              not logged in), `p' to print the errors on the terminal  (default),  `q'  to  throw
              away  error  messages  (only  exit  status  is  returned),  and  `e'  to do special
              processing for the BerkNet.  If the text of the message is not mailed back by modes
              `m'  or  `w'  and  if the sender is local to this machine, a copy of the message is
              appended to the file dead.letter in the sender's home directory.

       SaveFromLine
              Save UNIX-style From lines at the front of messages.

       MaxHopCount=N
              The maximum number of times a message is allowed to ``hop'' before we decide it  is
              in a loop.

       IgnoreDots
              Do not take dots on a line by themselves as a message terminator.

       SendMimeErrors
              Send  error  messages  in  MIME  format.   If  not  set,  the  DSN (Delivery Status
              Notification) SMTP extension is disabled.

       ConnectionCacheTimeout=timeout
              Set connection cache timeout.

       ConnectionCacheSize=N
              Set connection cache size.

       LogLevel=n
              The log level.

       MeToo=False
              Don't send to ``me'' (the sender) if I am in an alias expansion.

       CheckAliases
              Validate the right hand side of aliases during a newaliases(1) command.

       OldStyleHeaders
              If set, this message may have old style headers.   If  not  set,  this  message  is
              guaranteed  to  have  new  style  headers  (i.e.,  commas instead of spaces between
              addresses).  If set, an adaptive algorithm is used that  will  correctly  determine
              the header format in most cases.

       QueueDirectory=queuedir
              Select the directory in which to queue messages.

       StatusFile=file
              Save statistics in the named file.

       Timeout.queuereturn=time
              Set  the timeout on undelivered messages in the queue to the specified time.  After
              delivery has failed (e.g., because of a host being down) for this amount  of  time,
              failed messages will be returned to the sender.  The default is five days.

       UserDatabaseSpec=userdatabase
              If  set,  a  user  database  is  consulted  to get forwarding information.  You can
              consider this an adjunct to the aliasing mechanism, except  that  the  database  is
              intended  to  be distributed; aliases are local to a particular host.  This may not
              be available if your sendmail does not have the USERDB option compiled in.

       ForkEachJob
              Fork each job during queue runs.  May be convenient on memory-poor machines.

       SevenBitInput
              Strip incoming messages to seven bits.

       EightBitMode=mode
              Set the handling of eight bit input to seven bit destinations to mode:  m  (mimefy)
              will  convert  to  seven-bit  MIME format, p (pass) will pass it as eight bits (but
              violates protocols), and s (strict) will bounce the message.

       MinQueueAge=timeout
              Sets how long a job must ferment in the queue between attempts to send it.

       DefaultCharSet=charset
              Sets the default character set used to label  8-bit  data  that  is  not  otherwise
              labelled.

       DialDelay=sleeptime
              If  opening  a connection fails, sleep for sleeptime seconds and try again.  Useful
              on dial-on-demand sites.

       NoRecipientAction=action
              Set the behaviour when there are no recipient headers (To:, Cc:  or  Bcc:)  in  the
              message to action: none leaves the message unchanged, add-to adds a To: header with
              the envelope recipients, add-apparently-to adds an Apparently-To: header  with  the
              envelope recipients, add-bcc adds an empty Bcc: header, and add-to-undisclosed adds
              a header reading `To: undisclosed-recipients:;'.

       MaxDaemonChildren=N
              Sets the maximum number of children that an incoming SMTP daemon will be allowed to
              spawn at any time to N.

       ConnectionRateThrottle=N
              Sets the maximum number of connections per second to the SMTP port to N.

       In aliases, the first character of a name may be a vertical bar to cause interpretation of
       the rest of the name as a command to pipe the mail to.  It may be necessary to  quote  the
       name  to keep sendmail from suppressing the blanks from between arguments.  For example, a
       common alias is:

              msgs: "|/usr/bin/msgs -s"

       Aliases may also have the syntax ``:include:filename'' to ask sendmail to read  the  named
       file for a list of recipients.  For example, an alias such as:

              poets: ":include:/usr/local/lib/poets.list"

       would read /usr/local/lib/poets.list for the list of addresses making up the group.

       Sendmail  returns  an  exit  status  describing  what  it  did.   The codes are defined in
       <sysexits.h>:

       EX_OK  Successful completion on all addresses.

       EX_NOUSER
              User name not recognized.

       EX_UNAVAILABLE
              Catchall meaning necessary resources were not available.

       EX_SYNTAX
              Syntax error in address.

       EX_SOFTWARE
              Internal software error, including bad arguments.

       EX_OSERR
              Temporary operating system error, such as ``cannot fork''.

       EX_NOHOST
              Host name not recognized.

       EX_TEMPFAIL
              Message could not be sent immediately, but was queued.

       If invoked as newaliases, sendmail will rebuild the alias database.  If invoked as  mailq,
       sendmail will print the contents of the mail queue.  If invoked as hoststat, sendmail will
       print the persistent host status database.  If invoked as purgestat, sendmail  will  purge
       expired  entries  from the persistent host status database.  If invoked as smtpd, sendmail
       will act as a daemon, as if the -bd option were specified.

NOTES

       sendmail often gets blamed for many  problems  that  are  actually  the  result  of  other
       problems,  such  as  overly  permissive  modes  on directories.  For this reason, sendmail
       checks the modes on system directories and files to determine  if  they  can  be  trusted.
       Although  these  checks  can be turned off and your system security reduced by setting the
       DontBlameSendmail option, the permission problems should be fixed.  For more  information,
       see:

       http://www.sendmail.org/tips/DontBlameSendmail.html

FILES

       Except for the file /etc/mail/sendmail.cf itself the following pathnames are all specified
       in /etc/mail/sendmail.cf.  Thus, these values are only approximations.

        /etc/mail/aliases
              raw data for alias names

        /etc/mail/aliases.db
              data base of alias names

        /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
              configuration file

        /etc/mail/helpfile
              help file

        /var/lib/sendmail/sendmail.st
              collected statistics

        /var/spool/mqueue/*
              temp files

SEE ALSO

       binmail(1), mail(1), rmail(1), syslog(3), aliases(5), mailaddr(7), rc(8)

       DARPA Internet Request For Comments RFC819, RFC821,  RFC822.   Sendmail  Installation  and
       Operation Guide, No. 8, SMM.

       http://www.sendmail.org/

       US Patent Numbers 6865671, 6986037.

HISTORY

       The sendmail command appeared in 4.2BSD.

                                   $Date: 2013-11-22 20:51:56 $                       SENDMAIL(8)