PIPE(8)                                                                PIPE(8)

NAME
       pipe  - Postfix delivery to external command SYNOPSIS pipe
       [generic Postfix daemon options] command_attributes...

DESCRIPTION
       The pipe(8) daemon processes  requests  from  the  Postfix
       queue  manager  to  deliver messages to external commands.
       This program expects to be run from the master(8)  process
       manager.

       Message  attributes  such  as  sender  address,  recipient
       address and next-hop host name can be  specified  as  com-
       mand-line  macros  that  are  expanded before the external
       command is executed.

       The pipe(8) daemon updates queue files and  marks  recipi-
       ents  as  finished,  or  it informs the queue manager that
       delivery should be tried again at a later  time.  Delivery
       status  reports  are  sent  to  the bounce(8), defer(8) or
       trace(8) daemon as appropriate.  SINGLE-RECIPIENT DELIVERY
       Some external commands cannot handle more than one recipi-
       ent per delivery request. Examples of such transports  are
       pagers, fax machines, and so on.

       To  prevent  Postfix  from sending multiple recipients per
       delivery request, specify

           transport_destination_recipient_limit = 1

       in the Postfix main.cf file, where transport is  the  name
       in the first column of the Postfix master.cf entry for the
       pipe-based delivery transport.  COMMAND ATTRIBUTE SYNTAX
       The external command attributes are given in the master.cf
       file at the end of a service definition.  The syntax is as
       follows:

       directory=pathname (optional, default: $queue_directory)
              Change to the named directory before executing  the
              external  command.  Delivery is deferred in case of
              failure.

              This feature is available as of Postfix 2.2.

       eol=string (optional, default: \n)
              The output record delimiter.  Typically  one  would
              use  either \r\n or \n. The usual C-style backslash
              escape sequences are recognized: \a \b \f \n \r  \t
              \v \ddd (up to three octal digits) and \\.

       flags=BDFORhqu.> (optional)
              Optional  message  processing  flags. By default, a
              message is copied unchanged.

              B      Append a blank line at the end of each  mes-
                     sage.  This  is  required  by some mail user
                     agents that recognize  "From  "  lines  only
                     when preceded by a blank line.

              D      Prepend  a "Delivered-To: recipient" message
                     header with the envelope recipient  address.
                     Note: for this to work, the transport_desti-
                     nation_recipient_limit must be 1.

                     This feature is available as of Postfix 2.0.

              F      Prepend  a "From sender time_stamp" envelope
                     header to  the  message  content.   This  is
                     expected by, for example, UUCP software.

              O      Prepend  an  "X-Original-To: recipient" mes-
                     sage header with the  recipient  address  as
                     given  to  Postfix.  Note: for this to work,
                     the    transport_destination_recipient_limit
                     must be 1.

                     This feature is available as of Postfix 2.0.

              R      Prepend a Return-Path: message  header  with
                     the envelope sender address.

              h      Fold the command-line $recipient domain name
                     and $nexthop host name to lower case.   This
                     is recommended for delivery via UUCP.

              q      Quote  white space and other special charac-
                     ters in the command-line $sender and $recip-
                     ient address localparts (text to the left of
                     the right-most @ character), according to an
                     8-bit  transparent version of RFC 822.  This
                     is recommended  for  delivery  via  UUCP  or
                     BSMTP.

                     The  result  is  compatible with the address
                     parsing of command-line  recipients  by  the
                     Postfix sendmail(1) mail submission command.

                     The q flag affects  only  entire  addresses,
                     not the partial address information from the
                     $user, $extension or  $mailbox  command-line
                     macros.

              u      Fold  the  command-line  $recipient  address
                     localpart (text to the left  of  the  right-
                     most  @  character)  to lower case.  This is
                     recommended for delivery via UUCP.

              .      Prepend "." to lines starting with ".". This
                     is needed by, for example, BSMTP software.

              >      Prepend  ">" to lines starting with "From ".
                     This is expected by, for example, UUCP soft-
                     ware.

       null_sender=replacement (default: MAILER-DAEMON)
              Replace the null sender address, which is typically
              used for delivery status  notifications,  with  the
              specified  text when expanding the $sender command-
              line macro, and when generating a From_ or  Return-
              Path: message header.

              If  the null sender replacement text is a non-empty
              string then it  is  affected  by  the  q  flag  for
              address quoting in command-line arguments.

              The null sender replacement text may be empty; this
              form is recommended for content filters  that  feed
              mail back into Postfix. The empty sender address is
              not affected by the q flag for address  quoting  in
              command-line arguments.

              Caution: a null sender address is easily mis-parsed
              by naive software. For example,  when  the  pipe(8)
              daemon executes a command such as:

                  command -f$sender -- $recipient

              the command will mis-parse the -f option value when
              the sender address is a null string.   For  correct
              parsing,  specify $sender as an argument by itself.

              This feature is  available  with  Postfix  2.3  and
              later  and  was backported to Postfix 2.2.x for use
              with Kolab2.

       size=size_limit (optional)
              Messages greater in size than this limit (in bytes)
              will be bounced back to the sender.

       user=username (required)

       user=username:groupname
              The external command is executed with the rights of
              the specified username.  The  software  refuses  to
              execute  commands with root privileges, or with the
              privileges of the mail system owner.  If  groupname
              is  specified,  the  corresponding group ID is used
              instead of the group ID of username.

       argv=command... (required)
              The command to be executed. This must be  specified
              as the last command attribute.  The command is exe-
              cuted  directly,  i.e.  without  interpretation  of
              shell  meta  characters  by  a shell command inter-
              preter.

              In  the  command  argument  vector,  the  following
              macros are recognized and replaced with correspond-
              ing information  from  the  Postfix  queue  manager
              delivery request.

              In  addition  to  the form ${name}, the forms $name
              and $(name) are also recognized.  Specify $$  where
              a single $ is wanted.

              ${client_address}
                     This macro expands to the remote client net-
                     work address.

                     This is available in Postfix 2.2 and  later.

              ${client_helo}
                     This macro expands to the remote client HELO
                     command parameter.

                     This is available in Postfix 2.2 and  later.

              ${client_hostname}
                     This  macro  expands  to  the  remote client
                     hostname.

                     This is available in Postfix 2.2 and  later.

              ${client_protocol}
                     This macro expands to the remote client pro-
                     tocol.

                     This is available in Postfix 2.2 and  later.

              ${extension}
                     This  macro expands to the extension part of
                     a recipient address.  For example,  with  an
                     address  user+foo@domain  the  extension  is
                     foo.

                     A  command-line   argument   that   contains
                     ${extension}  expands  into as many command-
                     line arguments as there are recipients.

                     This information is modified by the  u  flag
                     for case folding.

              ${mailbox}
                     This  macro  expands  to  the complete local
                     part of a recipient address.   For  example,
                     with  an address user+foo@domain the mailbox
                     is user+foo.

                     A  command-line   argument   that   contains
                     ${mailbox} expands into as many command-line
                     arguments as there are recipients.

                     This information is modified by the  u  flag
                     for case folding.

              ${nexthop}
                     This macro expands to the next-hop hostname.

                     This information is modified by the  h  flag
                     for case folding.

              ${recipient}
                     This macro expands to the complete recipient
                     address.

                     A  command-line   argument   that   contains
                     ${recipient}  expands  into as many command-
                     line arguments as there are recipients.

                     This information  is  modified  by  the  hqu
                     flags for quoting and case folding.

              ${sasl_method}
                     This  macro  expands to the SASL authentica-
                     tion mechanism used during the reception  of
                     the  message.  An  empty string is passed if
                     the message has been received  without  SASL
                     authentication.

                     This  is available in Postfix 2.2 and later.

              ${sasl_sender}
                     This macro expands to the SASL  sender  name
                     (i.e.  the  original  submitter  as  per RFC
                     2554) used during the reception of the  mes-
                     sage.

                     This  is available in Postfix 2.2 and later.

              ${sasl_username}
                     This macro expands to  the  SASL  user  name
                     used during the reception of the message. An
                     empty string is passed if  the  message  has
                     been received without SASL authentication.

                     This  is available in Postfix 2.2 and later.

              ${sender}
                     This macro expands to  the  envelope  sender
                     address. By default, the null sender address
                     expands  to  MAILER-DAEMON;  this   can   be
                     changed  with  the null_sender attribute, as
                     described above.

                     This information is modified by the  q  flag
                     for quoting.

              ${size}
                     This  macro expands to Postfix's idea of the
                     message size, which is an  approximation  of
                     the size of the message as delivered.

              ${user}
                     This macro expands to the username part of a
                     recipient address.   For  example,  with  an
                     address user+foo@domain the username part is
                     user.

                     A  command-line   argument   that   contains
                     ${user}  expands  into  as many command-line
                     arguments as there are recipients.

                     This information is modified by the  u  flag
                     for case folding.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Command  exit status codes are expected to follow the con-
       ventions defined in <sysexits.h>.

       Problems and transactions are logged to syslogd(8).   Cor-
       rupted  message files are marked so that the queue manager
       can move them to the corrupt queue for further inspection.
       SECURITY
       This  program  needs  a  dual personality 1) to access the
       private Postfix queue and IPC mechanisms, and 2)  to  exe-
       cute external commands as the specified user. It is there-
       fore security sensitive.  CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
       Changes to main.cf are picked up automatically as  pipe(8)
       processes  run  for only a limited amount of time. Use the
       command "postfix reload" to speed up a change.

       The text below provides  only  a  parameter  summary.  See
       postconf(5) for more details including examples.  RESOURCE
       AND RATE CONTROLS
       In the text below, transport is the first field in a  mas-
       ter.cf entry.

       transport_destination_concurrency_limit ($default_destina-
       tion_concurrency_limit)
              Limit the number of parallel deliveries to the same
              destination, for delivery via the named  transport.
              The limit is enforced by the Postfix queue manager.

       transport_destination_recipient_limit   ($default_destina-
       tion_recipient_limit)
              Limit the number of recipients per  message  deliv-
              ery,  for  delivery  via  the named transport.  The
              limit is enforced by the Postfix queue manager.

       transport_time_limit ($command_time_limit)
              Limit the time for delivery  to  external  command,
              for delivery via the named transport.  The limit is
              enforced by the pipe delivery agent.  MISCELLANEOUS
              CONTROLS

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

       daemon_timeout (18000s)
              How much time a Postfix daemon process may take  to
              handle  a  request  before  it  is  terminated by a
              built-in watchdog timer.

       export_environment (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The list of environment variables  that  a  Postfix
              process will export to non-Postfix processes.

       ipc_timeout (3600s)
              The time limit for sending or receiving information
              over an internal communication channel.

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

       max_idle (100s)
              The  maximum  amount  of  time that an idle Postfix
              daemon process waits for the next  service  request
              before exiting.

       max_use (100)
              The  maximal number of connection requests before a
              Postfix daemon process terminates.

       process_id (read-only)
              The process ID  of  a  Postfix  command  or  daemon
              process.

       process_name (read-only)
              The  process  name  of  a Postfix command or daemon
              process.

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

       recipient_delimiter (empty)
              The separator between user names and address exten-
              sions (user+foo).

       syslog_facility (mail)
              The syslog facility of Postfix logging.

       syslog_name (postfix)
              The mail system  name  that  is  prepended  to  the
              process  name  in  syslog  records, so that "smtpd"
              becomes, for example,  "postfix/smtpd".   SEE  ALSO
              qmgr(8),  queue  manager bounce(8), delivery status
              reports postconf(5), configuration parameters  mas-
              ter(5),  generic  daemon options master(8), process
              manager syslogd(8), system logging 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

                                                                       PIPE(8)