Provided by: postfix_2.11.0-1ubuntu1.2_amd64 bug

NAME

       bounce - Postfix bounce message template format

SYNOPSIS

       bounce_template_file = /etc/postfix/bounce.cf

       postconf -b [template_file]

DESCRIPTION

       The  Postfix  bounce(8)  server  produces  delivery status notification (DSN) messages for
       undeliverable mail, delayed mail, successful delivery or address verification requests.

       By default, these notifications are generated from built-in templates with message headers
       and  message  text.  Sites  can  override  the built-in information by specifying a bounce
       template file with the bounce_template_file configuration parameter.

       This document describes the general procedure to create a bounce template  file,  followed
       by the specific details of bounce template formats.

GENERAL PROCEDURE

       To  create  a  customized  bounce  template  file,  create  a  temporary  copy of the file
       /etc/postfix/bounce.cf.default and edit the temporary file.

       To preview the results of $name expansions in the template text, use the command

           postconf -b temporary_file

       Errors in the template will be reported to the standard error stream  and  to  the  syslog
       daemon.

       While  previewing  the  text, be sure to pay particular attention to the expansion of time
       value parameters that appear in the delayed mail notification text.

       Once the result is satisfactory, copy the template to the Postfix configuration  directory
       and specify in main.cf something like:

       /etc/postfix/main.cf:
           bounce_template_file = /etc/postfix/bounce.cf

TEMPLATE FILE FORMAT

       The template file can specify templates for failed mail, delayed mail, successful delivery
       or for address verification.  These templates are named failure_template,  delay_template,
       success_template  and  verify_template,  respectively.  You can but do not have to specify
       all four templates in a bounce template file.

       Each template starts with "template_name = <<EOF" and ends with a line that  contains  the
       word  "EOF"  only. You can change the word EOF, but you can't enclose it in quotes as with
       the shell or with Perl (template_name = <<'EOF'). Here is an example:

           # The failure template is used for undeliverable mail.

           failure_template = <<EOF
           Charset: us-ascii
           From: MAILER-DAEMON (Mail Delivery System)
           Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
           Postmaster-Subject: Postmaster Copy: Undelivered Mail

           This is the mail system at host $myhostname.

           I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
           be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.

           For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.

           If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
           delete your own text from the attached returned message.

                              The mail system
           EOF

       The usage and specification of bounce templates is subject to the following restrictions:

       •      No special meaning is given to the backslash character or  to  leading  whitespace;
              these are always taken literally.

       •      Inside  the << context, the "$" character is special. To produce a "$" character as
              output, specify "$$".

       •      Outside the << context, lines beginning with "#" are ignored, as are  empty  lines,
              and lines consisting of whitespace only.

       Examples  of  all  templates  can  be  found  in the file bounce.cf.default in the Postfix
       configuration directory.

TEMPLATE HEADER FORMAT

       The first portion of a bounce template consists of optional template headers.  Some become
       message  headers  in the delivery status notification; some control the formatting of that
       notification. Headers not specified in a template will be left at their default value.

       The following headers are supported:

       Charset:
              The MIME character set of the template message text.   See  the  "TEMPLATE  MESSAGE
              TEXT FORMAT" description below.

       From:  The sender address in the message header of the delivery status notification.

       Subject:
              The  subject  in  the  message  header  of the delivery status notification that is
              returned to the sender.

       Postmaster-Subject:
              The subject that will be used in Postmaster copies of undeliverable or delayed mail
              notifications.   These   copies  are  sent  under  control  of  the  notify_classes
              configuration parameter.

       The usage and specification of template  message  headers  is  subject  to  the  following
       restrictions:

       •      Template  message  header names can be specified in upper case, lower case or mixed
              case. Postfix always produces bounce message header labels of the form "From:"  and
              "Subject:".

       •      Template message headers must not span multiple lines.

       •      Template message headers do not support $parameter expansions.

       •      Template  message  headers must contain ASCII characters only, and must not contain
              ASCII null characters.

TEMPLATE MESSAGE TEXT FORMAT

       The second portion of a bounce template consists of message text.  As  the  above  example
       shows,  template message text may contain main.cf $parameters. Besides the parameters that
       are defined in main.cf, the following parameters are treated specially  depending  on  the
       suffix that is appended to their name.

       delay_warning_time_suffix
              Expands  into  the value of the delay_warning_time parameter, expressed in the time
              unit specified by suffix, which is one of seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks.

       maximal_queue_lifetime_suffix
              Expands into the value of the maximal_queue_lifetime parameter,  expressed  in  the
              time  unit  specified  by  suffix.  See above under delay_warning_time for possible
              suffix values.

       The usage and  specification  of  template  message  text  is  subject  to  the  following
       restrictions:

       •      The  template  message  text  is  not  sent in Postmaster copies of delivery status
              notifications.

       •      If the template message text contains non-ASCII characters, Postfix  requires  that
              the  Charset:  template  header is updated.  Specify an appropriate superset of US-
              ASCII.  A superset is needed because Postfix appends ASCII text after  the  message
              template when it sends a delivery status notification.

SEE ALSO

       bounce(8), Postfix delivery status notifications
       postconf(5), configuration parameters

LICENSE

       The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

HISTORY

       The Postfix bounce template format was originally developed by Nicolas Riendeau.

AUTHOR(S)

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

                                                                                        BOUNCE(5)