sendmail(8) System Manager's Manual sendmail(8)
Name
sendmail, newaliases, mailq - send mail over the internet
Syntax
/usr/lib/sendmail [ flags ] [ address ... ]
newaliases
mailq
Description
The command sends a message to one or more people, routing the message over whatever networks are necessary. The command does internetwork
forwarding as necessary to deliver the message to the correct place.
The command is not intended as a user interface routine. Other programs provide user-friendly front ends, while is used only to deliver
pre-formatted messages.
With no flags, reads its standard input up to a CTRL/D or a line with a single dot and sends a copy of the letter found there to all of the
addresses listed. It determines the network 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.
Normally the sender is not included in any alias expansions, for example, if `john' sends to `group', and `group' includes `john' in the
expansion, then the letter will not be delivered to `john'.
Flags
-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.
-bd Run as a daemon. This requires Berkeley IPC.
-bi Initialize the alias database.
-bm Deliver mail in the usual way (default).
-bp Print a listing of the queue.
-bs Use the SMTP protocol as described in RFC 821. 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 mail-
ing lists.
-bz Create the configuration freeze file.
-Cfile Use alternate configuration file.
-Ffullname Set the full name of the sender.
-fname Sets the name of the from person, that is, the sender of the mail. The flag can only be used by the special users and or if
the person you are trying to become is the same as the person you are.
-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.
-n Do not do aliasing.
-ox value Set option x to the specified value. Options are described below.
-q[ time ] Process saved messages in the queue at given intervals. If time is omitted, process the queue once. The time argument is
given as a tagged number, with `s' being seconds, `m' being minutes, `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.
-rname An alternate and obsolete form of the flag.
-t Read message for recipients. To:, Cc:, and Bcc: lines will be scanned for people to send to. The Bcc: line will be deleted
before transmission. Any addresses in the argument list will be suppressed.
-v Go into verbose mode. For example, alias expansions will be announced.
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 flag or in the configuration file.
Afile Use alternate alias file.
c Do not initiate immediate connection to mailers that are considered expensive to connect to. This requires queueing.
dx Set the delivery mode to x. Delivery modes are `i' for interactive (synchronous) delivery, `b' for background (asynchro-
nous) delivery, and `q' for queue only - that is, actual delivery is done the next time the queue is run.
D Try to automatically rebuild the alias database if necessary.
ex 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 in the sender's home directory.
Fmode The mode to use when creating temporary files.
f Save UNIX From lines at the front of messages.
gN The default group id to use when calling mailers.
Hfile The SMTP help file.
i Do not take dots on a line by themselves as a message terminator.
Ln The log level.
m Send to me (the sender) also if I am in an alias expansion.
o If set, this message may have old style headers. If not set, this message is guaranteed to have new style headers (that is,
commas instead of spaces between addresses). If set, an adaptive algorithm is used that will correctly determine the header
format in most cases.
Qqueuedir Select the directory in which to queue messages.
rtimeout The timeout on reads; if none is set, will wait forever for a mailer.
Sfile Save statistics in the named file.
s Always instantiate the queue file, even under circumstances where it is not strictly necessary.
Ttime Set the timeout on messages in the queue to the specified time. After sitting in the queue for this amount of time, they
will be returned to the sender. The default is three days.
tstz,dtz Set the name of the time zone.
uN Set the default user id for mailers.
If the first character of the user name is a vertical bar, the rest of the user name is used as the name of a program to pipe the mail to.
It may be necessary to quote the name of the user to keep from suppressing the blanks from between arguments.
returns an exit status describing what it did. The codes are defined in <sysexits.h>
EX_OK Successful completion on all addresses.
EX_NOUSER Username 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
EX_NOHOST Host name not recognized.
EX_TEMPFAIL Message could not be sent immediately, but was queued.
If invoked as will rebuild the alias database. If invoked as will print the contents of the mail queue.
Restrictions
converts blanks in addresses to dots. This is incorrect according to the old ARPANET mail protocol RFC 733 (NIC 41952), but is consistent
with the new protocols (RFC 822).
Files
Except for these pathnames are all specified in Thus, these values are only approximations.
Raw data for alias names
Database of alias names
Raw data for alias names
Yellow Pages alias database. DOMAINNAME is the YP
domainname for the local area network.
Yellow Pages alias database. DOMAINNAME is the YP
domainname for the local area network.
Raw data for alias names
BIND/Hesiod alias database
Configuration file
Frozen configuration
Help file
Collected statistics
To deliver mail
To deliver ARPANET mail
Temp files
See Also
biff(1), binmail(1), mail(1), rmail(1), aliases(5), mailaddr(7)
DARPA Internet Request For Comments: RFC 819, RFC 821, RFC 822
Sendmail - An Internetwork Mail Router
sendmail(8)