html,body,div,span,object,iframe,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6,p,blockquote,pre,a,abbr,acronym,address,code,del,dfn,em,img,q,dl,dt,dd,ol,ul,li,fieldset,form,label,legend,table,caption,tbody,tfoot,thead,tr,th,td{margin:0;padding:0;border:0;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-size:100%;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline}body{font-size:62.5%;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif}h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6{font-family:serif;line-height:1.7;font-weight:bold}h1{font-size:3.0em;text-align:center}h2{font-size:2.2em;text-align:center}h3{font-size:1.7em}h4{font-size:1.5em}h5{font-size:1.3em}h6{font-size:1.1em}@media all and (max-width:640px){h1{font-size:2.4em}h2{font-size:1.4em}h3{font-size:1.25em}h4{font-size:1.2em}h5{font-size:1.15em}h6{font-size:1.1em}}a{color:#037094}a:visited{color:#335024}a:hover,a:visited:hover{color:#000}html,body{height:100%;background-color:#fff}.hidden{display:none}#inner ul,#inner ol{padding:0 0 1em 4em}#inner p,#inner pre{margin-bottom:1em}#inner 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.right_bar.display{display:block;position:absolute;top:0;width:10%;height:100%;background-color:#ddd}#outer > .left_bar{left:0}#outer > .right_bar{right:0}@media all and (max-width:640px){#outer > .left_bar.display,#outer > .right_bar.display{display:none}}.nav{position:relative;top:0;left:0;margin-top:6em;padding:0 0 0.5em 0;width:100%;text-align:center;list-style:none;background-color:#1f3c5a;z-index:1000}.nav li{display:inline;font-size:1.2em;padding:0 0.3em}.nav li a{color:#fff}.nav li a:hover{color:#aaf}.nav li a:visited{color:#aaf}.nav li a:visited:hover{color:#fff}#outer > #nav_float{position:fixed;top:0;left:0;width:100%;display:none;margin-top:0}.nav li.search,.nav form{display:inline;padding-top:4px}.nav .search_field_container.roundit .search_field{border:0;padding:0;margin:0}.nav .search_field_container.roundit{background-color:#fff;-moz-border-radius:1em;-webkit-border-radius:1em;padding:0.1em 1em;font-size:1.2em}.nav 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resize scroll',function(){var header_height=$('#header').height();var top=$(this).scrollTop();if(top>header_height){if(!floating){$nav_float.show();$('#nav_flow').css('visibility','hidden');floating=true;}}else{if(floating){$nav_float.hide();$('#nav_flow').css('visibility','visible');floating=false;}}});$('#outer > .right_bar, #outer > .left_bar').addClass('display');})(jQuery);if(document.location.href.match(/^https?:\/\/([^\/]+\.)*exim\.org\//)){$('#branding').remove();}else{$('#branding').ready(function(){try{var doc=$('#branding')[0].contentWindow.document;if(doc.title.match(/\b(found|404)\b/i)){$('#branding').remove();}else{$(doc).find('a').each(function(){if($(this).attr('title')=='')$(this).attr('title','Sponsor of this mirror');$(this).css('opacity',0.8).mouseover(function(){$(this).css('opacity',1)}).mouseout(function(){$(this).css('opacity',0.8)});});$('#branding').height($(doc).find('img').height()?$(doc).find('img').height()+16+'px':'auto').hide().css('visibility','visible').fadeIn(2000);}}catch(e){$('#branding').remove();}});} (function(){$('#footer').hide();setTimeout(function(){$('#footer').fadeIn('slow')},2000);})();(function(){if(!('placeholder' in document.createElement('input')))$('.nav li.search input.search_field').focus(function(e){if($(this).val()===' '+$(this).attr('placeholder'))$(this).val('').css('color','#000');}).blur(function(e){if($(this).val()===' '+$(this).attr('placeholder')||$(this).val()==='')$(this).css('color','#666').val(' '+$(this).attr('placeholder'));}).blur();if(document.body.style.MozBorderRadius!==undefined)$('.search_field_container').addClass('roundit').click(function(){$(this).find('input').focus()});})();(function($){var jump=function(id){if($('#'+id).length==0)return false;document.location.href=document.location.href.replace(/#.+/,'')+'#'+id;$('html,body').animate({scrollTop:$('#'+id).position()['top']-$('.nav').height()-5},100);return true;};var uri=document.location.pathname;var uri_end=uri.replace(/^.*\//,'');if(document.location.href.match(/#./))jump(document.location.href.replace(/^.*#(.+)$/,'$1'));$('a').live('click',function(e){var href=$(this).attr('href');if(!href.match(/^.*#.+$/))return true;var href_uri=href Exim 4.10 Specification chapter 13 Previous   Next   Contents       (Exim 4.10 Specification)

13. Main configuration

The first part of the run time configuration file contains three types of item:

This chapter lists all the main configuration options, along with their types and default values, in alphabetical order.

accept_8bitmime

Type:  boolean
Default:  false

This option causes Exim to send 8BITMIME in its response to an SMTP EHLO command, and to accept the BODY= parameter on MAIL commands. However, though Exim is 8-bit clean, it is not a protocol converter, and it takes no steps to do anything special with messages received by this route. Consequently, this option is turned off by default.

acl_smtp_auth

Type:  string, expanded
Default:  unset

This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP AUTH command is received. See chapter 37 for further details.

acl_smtp_data

Type:  string, expanded
Default:  unset

This option defines the ACL that is run after an SMTP DATA command has been processed and the message itself has been received, but before the final acknowledgement is sent. See chapter 37 for further details.

acl_smtp_etrn

Type:  string, expanded
Default:  unset

This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP ETRN command is received. See chapter 37 for further details.

acl_smtp_expn

Type:  string, expanded
Default:  unset

This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP EXPN command is received. See chapter 37 for further details.

acl_smtp_rcpt

Type:  string, expanded
Default:  unset

This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP RCPT command is received. See chapter 37 for further details.

acl_smtp_vrfy

Type:  string, expanded
Default:  unset

This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP VRFY command is received. See chapter 37 for further details.

admin_groups

Type:  string
Default:  unset

If the current group or any of the supplementary groups of the caller is in this colon-separated list, the caller has admin privileges. If all your system programmers are in a specific group, for example, you can give them all Exim admin privileges by putting that group in admin_groups. However, this does not permit them to read Exim's spool files (whose group owner is the Exim gid). To permit this, you have to add individuals to the Exim group.

Exim 4.20 Specification chapter 5 Previous   Next   Contents       (Exim 4.20 Specification)

5. The Exim command line

Exim's command line takes the standard Unix form of a sequence of options, each starting with a hyphen character, followed by a number of arguments. The options are compatible with the main options of Sendmail, and there are also some additional options, some of which are compatible with Smail 3. Certain combinations of options do not make sense, and provoke an error if used. The form of the arguments depends on which options are set.

5.1. Setting options by program name

If Exim is called under the name mailq, it behaves as if the option -bp were present before any other options. The -bp option requests a listing of the contents of the mail queue on the standard output. This feature is for compatibility with some systems that contain a command of that name in one of the standard libraries, symbolically linked to /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail.

If Exim is called under the name rsmtp it behaves as if the option -bS were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The -bS option is used for reading in a number of messages in batched SMTP format.

If Exim is called under the name rmail it behaves as if the -i and -oee options were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The name rmail is used as an interface by some UUCP systems.

If Exim is called under the name runq it behaves as if the option -q were present before any other options, for compatibility with Smail. The -q option causes a single queue runner process to be started.

If Exim is called under the name newaliases it behaves as if the option -bi were present before any other options, for compatibility with Sendmail. This option is used for rebuilding Sendmail's alias file. Exim does not have the concept of a single alias file, but can be configured to run a given command if called with the -bi option.

5.2. Trusted and admin users

Some Exim options are available only to trusted users and others are available only to admin users. In the description below, the phrases ``Exim user'' and ``Exim group'' mean the user and group defined by EXIM_USER and EXIM_GROUP in Local/Makefile or set by the exim_user and exim_group options. These do not necessarily have to use the name ``exim''.

Warning: If you configure your system so that admin users are able to edit Exim's configuration file, you are giving those users an easy way of getting root. There is further discussion of this issue at the start of chapter 6.

5.3. Command line options

The command options are described in alphabetical order below.

--

This is a pseudo-option whose only purpose is to terminate the options and therefore to cause subsequent command line items to be treated as arguments rather than options, even if they begin with hyphens.

--help

This option causes Exim to output a few sentences stating what it is. The same output is generated if the Exim binary is called with no options and no arguments.

-B <type>

This is a Sendmail option for selecting 7 or 8 bit processing. Exim is 8-bit clean; it ignores this option.

-bd

This option runs Exim as a daemon, awaiting incoming SMTP connections. Usually the -bd option is combined with the -q<time> option, to specify that the daemon should also initiate periodic queue runs.

The -bd option can be used only by an admin user. If either of the -d (debugging) or -v (verifying) options are set, the daemon does not disconnect from the controlling terminal. When running this way, it can be stopped by pressing ctrl-C.

By default, Exim listens for incoming connections to the standard SMTP port on all the host's interfaces. The port can be varied by means of the daemon_smtp_port option. The daemon can also be restricted to specific interfaces by setting the local_interfaces option in the configuration file. This option is also able to specify a different port for each interface it lists, making it possible to listen on multiple ports. The -oX command line option can be used to override local_interfaces.

When a listening daemon is started without the use of -oX (that is, without overriding the normal configuration), it writes its process id to a file called exim-daemon.pid in Exim's spool directory. This location can be overridden by setting PID_FILE_PATH in Local/Makefile. The file is written while Exim is still running as root.

When -oX is used on the command line to start a listening daemon, the process id is not written to the normal pid file path. However, -oP can be used to specify a path on the command line if a pid file is required.

The SIGHUP signal can be used to cause the daemon to re-exec itself. This should be done whenever Exim's configuration file, or any file that is incorporated into it by means of the .include facility, is changed, and also whenever a new version of Exim is installed. It is not necessary to do this when other files that are referenced from the configuration (for example, alias files) are changed, because these are reread each time they are used.

-bdf

This option has the same effect as -bd except that it never disconnects from the controlling terminal, even when no debugging is specified.

-be

Run Exim in expansion testing mode. Exim discards its root privilege, to prevent ordinary users from using this mode to read otherwise inaccessible files. If no arguments are given, Exim runs interactively, prompting for lines of data. Long expressions can be split over several lines by using backslash continuations. As in Exim's run time configuration, whitespace at the start of continuation lines is ignored.

Each argument or data line is passed through the string expansion mechanism, and the result is output. Variable values from the configuration file (for example, $qualify_domain) are available, but no message-specific values (such as $domain) are set, because no message is being processed.

-bF  <filename>

This option is the same as -bf except that it assumes that the filter being tested is a system filter. The additional commands that are available only in system filters are recognized.

-bf  <filename>

This option runs Exim in filter testing mode; the file is the filter file to be tested, and a test message must be supplied on the standard input. If there are no message-dependent tests in the filter, an empty file can be supplied. If a system filter file is being tested, -bF should be used instead of -bf. If the test file does not begin with the special line 

  # Exim filter

it is taken to be a normal .forward file, and is tested for validity under that interpretation. The result of this command, provided no errors are detected, is a list of the actions that Exim would try to take if presented with the message for real. More details of filter testing are given in the separate document entitled Exim's interface to mail filtering.

When testing a filter file, the envelope sender can be set by the -f option, or by a ``From '' line at the start of the test message. Various parameters that would normally be taken from the envelope recipient address of the message can be set by means of additional command line options. These are:

  -bfd  <domain>  default is the qualify domain
  -bfl  <local_part>  default is the logged in user
  -bfp  <local_part_prefix>  default is null
  -bfs  <local_part_suffix>  default is null

The local part should always be set to the incoming address with any prefix or suffix stripped, because that is how it appears to the filter when a message is actually being delivered.

-bh  <IP address>

This option runs a fake SMTP session as if from the given IP address, using the standard input and output. The IP address may include a port number at the end, after a full stop. For example: 

  exim -bh 10.9.8.7.1234
  exim -bh fe80::a00:20ff:fe86:a061.5678

Comments as to what is going on are written to the standard error file. These include lines beginning with ``LOG'' for anything that would have been logged. This facility is for testing configuration options for blocking hosts and/or senders and for checking on relaying control.

Warning: You canno Exim 4.20 Specification Concepts

Concepts

 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X

$header_
$host  [2]
$host_address  [2]
$value  [2]  [3]
*@ with single-key lookup
+caseful
+defer_unknown
+exclude_unknown
+include_unknown  [2]
-be option  [2]
-bF option
-bf option
-bh option
-bi option
-bp option
-bt option
-bv option  [2]
-C option
-D option
-f option
-f option:for address testing
-f option:for filter testing
-f option:overriding ``From'' line
-M option  [2]
-os option
-q option
-q optioni
-R option
-t option
.ifdef
.include in configuration file
/dev/null
/etc/aliases
/etc/mail/mailer.conf
/etc/userdbshadow.dat
8-bit characters  [2]  [3]
8BITMIME
@ in a domain list  [2]
@ in a host list
@@ with single-key lookup
@[] in a domain list
@[] in a host list
@mx_any
@mx_primary
@mx_secondary

A
abandoning mail  [2]
accept router
ACL:certificate verification
ACL:conditions, list of
ACL:conditions, processing
ACL:customized test
ACL:data for message ACL
ACL:data for non-message ACL
ACL:default configuration
ACL:description
ACL:for non-SMTP messages
ACL:format of
ACL:indirect
ACL:introduction
ACL:modifiers, list of
ACL:modifiers, processing
ACL:nested
ACL:on SMTP connection 
ACL:options for specifying
ACL:relay control
ACL:return codes
ACL:setting up for SMTP commands
ACL:specifying which to use
ACL:testing a DNS list
ACL:testing a local part
ACL:testing a recipient
ACL:testing a recipient domain
ACL:testing a sender
ACL:testing a sender domain
ACL:testing for authentication
ACL:testing for encryption
ACL:testing the client host
ACL:unset options
ACL:variables
ACL:verbs, definition of
ACL:verifying header syntax
ACL:verifying HELO/EHLO
ACL:verifying host reverse lookup
ACL:verifying recipient
ACL:verifying sender
ACL:verifying sender in the header
adding drivers
additional groups  [2]
address list:@@ lookup type
address list:case forcing
address list:empty item
address list:in a rewriting pattern
address list:local part starting with !
address list:lookup for complete address
address list:patterns
address list:regular expression in
address list:split local part and domain
address redirection:broken files
address redirection:disabling rewriting
address redirection:domain, preserving
address redirection:errors
address redirection:included external list
address redirection:local part without domain
address redirection:non-filter list items
address redirection:one-time expansion
address redirection:redirect router
address redirection:repeated for each delivery attempt
address redirection:to black hole
address redirection:to file
address redirection:to local mailbox
address redirection:to pipe
address redirection:while verifying  [2]
address:constructed
address:copying routing  [2]
address:duplicate, discarding  [2]
address:qualification  [2]
address:qualification, suppressing
address:rewriting  [2]  [3]
address:sender
address:source-routed
address:testing  [2]
address:verification
address:without domain
admin user  [2]  [3]
admin user:definition of
alias file:backslash in
alias file:broken
alias file:building  [2]
alias file:exception to default
alias file:in a redirect router
alias file:one-time expansion
alias file:ownership
alias file:per-domain default
alias for host
alternate configuration file
``and'' expansion condition
angle brackets, excess
appendfile transport
appending to a file
asterisk:after IP address
asterisk:in address list
asterisk:in domain list
asterisk:in host list  [2]
asterisk:in lookup type
asterisk:in search type
Athena
AUTH:ACL for  [2]
AUTH:advertising
AUTH:advertising when encrypted
AUTH:argument
AUTH:configuration  [2]
AUTH:description of
AUTH:in plaintext authenticator
AUTH:logging
AUTH:on bounce message
AUTH:on MAIL command  [2]  [3]
AUTH:testing a server
AUTH:with PAM
authentication
authentication:ACL checking
authentication:advertising
authenticati The Exim FAQ

The Exim FAQ

This is the FAQ for the Exim Mail Transfer Agent. Many thanks to the many people who provided the original information. This file would be amazingly cluttered if I tried to list them all. Suggestions for corrections, improvements, and additions are always welcome.

This version of the FAQ applies to Exim 4.00 and later releases. It has been extensively revised, and material that was relevant only to earlier releases has been removed. As this caused some whole sections to disappear, I've taken the opportunity to re-arrange the sections and renumber everything except the configuration samples.

References of the form Cnnn, Fnnn, and Lnnn are to the sample configuration, filter, and local_scan() files. These are hyperlinked from the HTML version of this FAQ. They can also be found in the separately distributed directory called config.samples. The primary location is

ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/email/exim/exim4/config.samples.tar.gz ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/email/exim/exim4/config.samples.tar.bz2

There are brief descriptions of these files at the end of this document.

Philip Hazel <ph10@cus.cam.ac.uk>
Last update: 27-August-2003

Index

A Keyword-in-context index to the questions is available. This is usually the quickest way to find information in the FAQ.

Contents

The FAQ is divided into the following sections:

      0. General debugging         15. UUCP
      1. Building and installing         16. Modifying message bodies
      2. Routing in general         17. Encryption (TLS/SSL)
      3. Routing to remote hosts         20. Millennium
      4. Routing for local delivery         50. Miscellaneous
      5. Filtering         91. Mac OS X
      6. Delivery         92. Freebsd
      7. Policy controls         93. HP-UX
      8. Rewriting addresses         94. BSDI
      9. Headers         95. IRIX
      10. Performance         96. Linux
      11. Majordomo         97. Sun systems
      12. Fetchmail         98. Configuration cookbook
      13. Perl         99. List of sample configurations
      14. Dial-up and ISDN


List of questions

0. GENERAL DEBUGGING
1. BUILDING AND INSTALLING