. the <bookinfo> element must also be updated for each new edition.
. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-.set previousversion "4.71"
-.set version "4.72"
+.set previousversion "4.75"
+.set version "4.75"
.set ACL "access control lists (ACLs)"
.set I " "
<bookinfo>
<title>Specification of the Exim Mail Transfer Agent</title>
<titleabbrev>The Exim MTA</titleabbrev>
-<date>29 May 2010</date>
+<date>21 Jan 2011</date>
<author><firstname>Exim</firstname><surname>Maintainers</surname></author>
<authorinitials>EM</authorinitials>
<revhistory><revision>
- <revnumber>4.72</revnumber>
- <date>29 May 2010</date>
+ <revnumber>4.75</revnumber>
+ <date>21 Feb 2011</date>
<authorinitials>EM</authorinitials>
</revision></revhistory>
-<copyright><year>2009</year><holder>University of Cambridge</holder></copyright>
+<copyright><year>2011</year><holder>University of Cambridge</holder></copyright>
</bookinfo>
.literal off
.section "Exim documentation" "SECID1"
. Keep this example change bar when updating the documentation!
+
.new
.cindex "documentation"
This edition of the Exim specification applies to version &version; of Exim.
waiting for it by the time it recovers, and sending them in a single SMTP
connection is clearly beneficial. Whenever a delivery to a remote host is
deferred,
-
.cindex "hints database"
Exim makes a note in its hints database, and whenever a successful
SMTP delivery has happened, it looks to see if any other messages are waiting
-
.section "Permanent delivery failure" "SECID21"
.cindex "delivery" "permanent failure"
.cindex "bounce message" "when generated"
.section "Use of tcpwrappers" "SECID27"
+
.cindex "tcpwrappers, building Exim to support"
.cindex "USE_TCP_WRAPPERS"
.cindex "TCP_WRAPPERS_DAEMON_NAME"
further details.
-
.section "Including support for IPv6" "SECID28"
.cindex "IPv6" "including support for"
Exim contains code for use on systems that have IPv6 support. Setting
+.section "Dynamically loaded lookup module support" "SECTdynamicmodules"
+.cindex "lookup modules"
+.cindex "dynamic modules"
+.cindex ".so building"
+On some platforms, Exim supports not compiling all lookup types directly into
+the main binary, instead putting some into external modules which can be loaded
+on demand.
+This permits packagers to build Exim with support for lookups with extensive
+library dependencies without requiring all users to install all of those
+dependencies.
+Most, but not all, lookup types can be built this way.
+
+Set &`LOOKUP_MODULE_DIR`& to the directory into which the modules will be
+installed; Exim will only load modules from that directory, as a security
+measure. You will need to set &`CFLAGS_DYNAMIC`& if not already defined
+for your OS; see &_OS/Makefile-Linux_& for an example.
+Some other requirements for adjusting &`EXTRALIBS`& may also be necessary,
+see &_src/EDITME_& for details.
+
+Then, for each module to be loaded dynamically, define the relevant
+&`LOOKUP_`&<&'lookup_type'&> flags to have the value "2" instead of "yes".
+For example, this will build in lsearch but load sqlite and mysql support
+on demand:
+.code
+LOOKUP_LSEARCH=yes
+LOOKUP_SQLITE=2
+LOOKUP_MYSQL=2
+.endd
+
+
.section "The building process" "SECID29"
.cindex "build directory"
Once &_Local/Makefile_& (and &_Local/eximon.conf_&, if required) have been
.cindex "version number of Exim"
This option causes Exim to write the current version number, compilation
number, and compilation date of the &'exim'& binary to the standard output.
-It also lists the DBM library this is being used, the optional modules (such as
+It also lists the DBM library that is being used, the optional modules (such as
specific lookup types), the drivers that are included in the binary, and the
name of the run time configuration file that is in use.
When this option is used by a caller other than root, and the list is different
from the compiled-in list, Exim gives up its root privilege immediately, and
runs with the real and effective uid and gid set to those of the caller.
-However, if a TRUSTED_CONFIG_PREFIX_LIST file is defined in &_Local/Makefile_&,
-root privilege is retained for any configuration file which matches a prefix
-listed in that file.
-
-Leaving TRUSTED_CONFIG_PREFIX_LIST unset precludes the possibility of testing
-a configuration using &%-C%& right through message reception and delivery,
+However, if a TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST file is defined in &_Local/Makefile_&, that
+file contains a list of full pathnames, one per line, for configuration files
+which are trusted. Root privilege is retained for any configuration file so
+listed, as long as the caller is the Exim user (or the user specified in the
+CONFIGURE_OWNER option, if any), and as long as the configuration file is
+not writeable by inappropriate users or groups.
+
+Leaving TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST unset precludes the possibility of testing a
+configuration using &%-C%& right through message reception and delivery,
even if the caller is root. The reception works, but by that time, Exim is
running as the Exim user, so when it re-executes to regain privilege for the
delivery, the use of &%-C%& causes privilege to be lost. However, root can
require privilege. No check is made on the owner or group of the files
specified by this option.
+
.vitem &%-D%&<&'macro'&>=<&'value'&>
.oindex "&%-D%&"
.cindex "macro" "setting on command line"
.endd
&%-D%& may be repeated up to 10 times on a command line.
+
.vitem &%-d%&<&'debug&~options'&>
.oindex "&%-d%&"
.cindex "debugging" "list of selectors"
option, which may specify a single file or a list of files. However, when
&%-C%& is used, Exim gives up its root privilege, unless called by root (or
unless the argument for &%-C%& is identical to the built-in value from
-CONFIGURE_FILE) or matches a prefix listed in the TRUSTED_CONFIG_PREFIX_LIST
-file. &%-C%& is useful mainly for checking the syntax of configuration files
-before installing them. No owner or group checks are done on a configuration
-file specified by &%-C%&, if root privilege has been dropped.
+CONFIGURE_FILE), or is listed in the TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST file and the caller
+is the Exim user or the user specified in the CONFIGURE_OWNER setting. &%-C%&
+is useful mainly for checking the syntax of configuration files before
+installing them. No owner or group checks are done on a configuration file
+specified by &%-C%&, if root privilege has been dropped.
Even the Exim user is not trusted to specify an arbitrary configuration file
with the &%-C%& option to be used with root privileges, unless that file is
-listed in the TRUSTED_CONFIG_PREFIX_LIST file. This locks out the possibility
-of testing a configuration using &%-C%& right through message reception and
+listed in the TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST file. This locks out the possibility of
+testing a configuration using &%-C%& right through message reception and
delivery, even if the caller is root. The reception works, but by that time,
Exim is running as the Exim user, so when it re-execs to regain privilege for
the delivery, the use of &%-C%& causes privilege to be lost. However, root
It is permitted to specify a space as the separator character. Further
white space is ignored.
-.new
.cindex "TXT record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
For TXT records with multiple items of data, only the first item is returned,
unless a separator for them is specified using a comma after the separator
.endd
It is permitted to specify a space as the separator character. Further
white space is ignored.
-.wen
.section "Pseudo dnsdb record types" "SECID66"
.cindex "MX record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
secure (encrypted) LDAP connections. The second of these ensures that an
encrypted TLS connection is used.
+With sufficiently modern LDAP libraries, Exim supports forcing TLS over regular
+LDAP connections, rather than the SSL-on-connect &`ldaps`&.
+See the &%ldap_start_tls%& option.
+
.section "LDAP quoting" "SECID68"
.cindex "LDAP" "quoting"
As a special case, the numerical value of an empty string is taken as
zero.
+
.vitem &*bool&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*&
.cindex "expansion" "boolean parsing"
.cindex "&%bool%& expansion condition"
${if bool{$acl_m_privileged_sender} ...
.endd
+
.vitem &*bool_lax&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*&
.cindex "expansion" "boolean parsing"
.cindex "&%bool_lax%& expansion condition"
routers, and transports run) the count is increased to include the
&'Received:'& header line that Exim standardly adds, and also any other header
lines that are added by ACLs. The blank line that separates the message header
-from the body is not counted. Here is an example of the use of this variable in
-a DATA ACL:
+from the body is not counted.
+
+As with the special case of &$message_size$&, during the expansion of the
+appendfile transport's maildir_tag option in maildir format, the value of
+&$message_linecount$& is the precise size of the number of newlines in the
+file that has been written (minus one for the blank line between the
+header and the body).
+
+Here is an example of the use of this variable in a DATA ACL:
.code
deny message = Too many lines in message header
condition = \
.section "Data lookups" "SECID101"
.table2
.row &%ibase_servers%& "InterBase servers"
+.row &%ldap_ca_cert_dir%& "dir of CA certs to verify LDAP server's"
+.row &%ldap_ca_cert_file%& "file of CA certs to verify LDAP server's"
+.row &%ldap_cert_file%& "client cert file for LDAP"
+.row &%ldap_cert_key%& "client key file for LDAP"
+.row &%ldap_cipher_suite%& "TLS negotiation preference control"
.row &%ldap_default_servers%& "used if no server in query"
+.row &%ldap_require_cert%& "action to take without LDAP server cert"
+.row &%ldap_start_tls%& "require TLS within LDAP"
.row &%ldap_version%& "set protocol version"
.row &%lookup_open_max%& "lookup files held open"
.row &%mysql_servers%& "default MySQL servers"
.row &%dns_ipv4_lookup%& "only v4 lookup for these domains"
.row &%dns_retrans%& "parameter for resolver"
.row &%dns_retry%& "parameter for resolver"
+.row &%dns_use_edns0%& "parameter for resolver"
.row &%hold_domains%& "hold delivery for these domains"
.row &%local_interfaces%& "for routing checks"
.row &%queue_domains%& "no immediate delivery for these"
&%ignore_bounce_errors_after%&. It is retained for compatibility, but it is not
thought to be very useful any more, and its use should probably be avoided.
+
.option av_scanner main string "see below"
This option is available if Exim is built with the content-scanning extension.
It specifies which anti-virus scanner to use. The default value is:
before use. See section &<<SECTscanvirus>>& for further details.
-
.option bi_command main string unset
.oindex "&%-bi%&"
This option supplies the name of a command that is run when Exim is called with
See &%dns_retrans%& above.
+.new
+.option dns_use_edns0 main integer -1
+.cindex "DNS" "resolver options"
+.cindex "DNS" "EDNS0"
+If this option is set to a non-negative number then Exim will initialise the
+DNS resolver library to either use or not use EDNS0 extensions, overriding
+the system default. A value of 0 coerces EDNS0 off, a value of 1 coerces EDNS0
+on.
+
+If the resolver library does not support EDNS0 then this option has no effect.
+.wen
+
+
.option drop_cr main boolean false
This is an obsolete option that is now a no-op. It used to affect the way Exim
handled CR and LF characters in incoming messages. What happens now is
logged.
+.option ldap_ca_cert_dir main string unset
+.cindex "LDAP", "TLS CA certificate directory"
+This option indicates which directory contains CA certificates for verifying
+a TLS certificate presented by an LDAP server.
+While Exim does not provide a default value, your SSL library may.
+Analogous to &%tls_verify_certificates%& but as a client-side option for LDAP
+and constrained to be a directory.
+
+
+.option ldap_ca_cert_file main string unset
+.cindex "LDAP", "TLS CA certificate file"
+This option indicates which file contains CA certificates for verifying
+a TLS certificate presented by an LDAP server.
+While Exim does not provide a default value, your SSL library may.
+Analogous to &%tls_verify_certificates%& but as a client-side option for LDAP
+and constrained to be a file.
+
+
+.option ldap_cert_file main string unset
+.cindex "LDAP" "TLS client certificate file"
+This option indicates which file contains an TLS client certificate which
+Exim should present to the LDAP server during TLS negotiation.
+Should be used together with &%ldap_cert_key%&.
+
+
+.option ldap_cert_key main string unset
+.cindex "LDAP" "TLS client key file"
+This option indicates which file contains the secret/private key to use
+to prove identity to the LDAP server during TLS negotiation.
+Should be used together with &%ldap_cert_file%&, which contains the
+identity to be proven.
+
+
+.option ldap_cipher_suite main string unset
+.cindex "LDAP" "TLS cipher suite"
+This controls the TLS cipher-suite negotiation during TLS negotiation with
+the LDAP server. See &<<SECTreqciphssl>>& for more details of the format of
+cipher-suite options with OpenSSL (as used by LDAP client libraries).
+
+
.option ldap_default_servers main "string list" unset
.cindex "LDAP" "default servers"
This option provides a list of LDAP servers which are tried in turn when an
with LDAP support.
+.option ldap_require_cert main string unset.
+.cindex "LDAP" "policy for LDAP server TLS cert presentation"
+This should be one of the values "hard", "demand", "allow", "try" or "never".
+A value other than one of these is interpreted as "never".
+See the entry "TLS_REQCERT" in your system man page for ldap.conf(5).
+Although Exim does not set a default, the LDAP library probably defaults
+to hard/demand.
+
+
+.option ldap_start_tls main boolean false
+.cindex "LDAP" "whether or not to negotiate TLS"
+If set, Exim will attempt to negotiate TLS with the LDAP server when
+connecting on a regular LDAP port. This is the LDAP equivalent of SMTP's
+"STARTTLS". This is distinct from using "ldaps", which is the LDAP form
+of SSL-on-connect.
+In the event of failure to negotiate TLS, the action taken is controlled
+by &%ldap_require_cert%&.
+
+
.option ldap_version main integer unset
.cindex "LDAP" "protocol version, forcing"
This option can be used to force Exim to set a specific protocol version for
This specifies the transport driver that is to be used when a &%mail%& command
is used in a system filter.
+
.option system_filter_user main string unset
.cindex "uid (user id)" "system filter"
If this option is set to root, the system filter is run in the main Exim
directory containing certificate files. This does not work with GnuTLS; the
option must be set to the name of a single file if you are using GnuTLS.
+These certificates should be for the certificate authorities trusted, rather
+than the public cert of individual clients. With both OpenSSL and GnuTLS, if
+the value is a file then the certificates are sent by Exim as a server to
+connecting clients, defining the list of accepted certificate authorities.
+Thus the values defined should be considered public data. To avoid this,
+use OpenSSL with a directory.
+
.option tls_verify_hosts main "host list&!!" unset
.cindex "TLS" "client certificate verification"
.code
condition = ${if >{$message_age}{600}{true}{}}
.endd
+
A multiple condition example, which succeeds:
.code
condition = ${if >{$message_age}{600}}
condition = ${if !eq{${lc:$local_part}}{postmaster}}
condition = foobar
.endd
+
If the expansion fails (other than forced failure) delivery is deferred. Some
of the other precondition options are common special cases that could in fact
be specified using &%condition%&.
-
.option debug_print routers string&!! unset
.cindex "testing" "variables in drivers"
If this option is set and debugging is enabled (see the &%-d%& command line
file name (even though &%maildir_tag%& puts it there) because maildir MUAs
sometimes add other information onto the ends of message file names.
+Section &<<SECID136>>& contains further information.
.option quota_warn_message appendfile string&!! "see below"
name to the point where the test &[stat()]& call fails with ENAMETOOLONG,
the tag is dropped and the maildir file is created with no tag.
+
.vindex "&$message_size$&"
Tags can be used to encode the size of files in their names; see
&%quota_size_regex%& above for an example. The expansion of &%maildir_tag%&
be deferred. The expanded tag may contain any printing characters except &"/"&.
Non-printing characters in the string are ignored; if the resulting string is
empty, it is ignored. If it starts with an alphanumeric character, a leading
-colon is inserted.
+colon is inserted; this default has not proven to be the path that popular
+maildir implementations have chosen (but changing it in Exim would break
+backwards compatibility).
+
+For one common implementation, you might set:
+.code
+maildir_tag = ,S=${message_size}
+.endd
+but you should check the documentation of the other software to be sure.
+It is advisable to also set &%quota_size_regex%& when setting &%maildir_tag%&
+as this allows Exim to extract the size from your tag, instead of having to
+&[stat()]& each message file.
.section "Using a maildirsize file" "SECID136"
logged, but are not included in the bounce message, which merely contains
&"local delivery failed"&.
+If the command exits on a signal and the &%freeze_signal%& option is set then
+the message will be frozen in the queue. If that option is not set, a bounce
+will be sent as normal.
+
If the return code is greater than 128 and the command being run is a shell
script, it normally means that the script was terminated by a signal whose
-value is the return code minus 128.
+value is the return code minus 128. The &%freeze_signal%& option does not
+apply in this case.
If Exim is unable to run the command (that is, if &[execve()]& fails), the
return code is set to 127. This is the value that a shell returns if it is
frozen, whatever the setting of &%ignore_status%&.
+.option freeze_signal pipe boolean false
+.cindex "signal exit"
+.cindex "&(pipe)& transport", "signal exit"
+Normally if the process run by a command in a pipe transport exits on a signal,
+a bounce message is sent. If &%freeze_signal%& is set, the message will be
+frozen in Exim's queue instead.
+
+
.option ignore_status pipe boolean false
If this option is true, the status returned by the subprocess that is set up to
run the command is ignored, and Exim behaves as if zero had been returned.
driver = plaintext
public_name = LOGIN
server_prompts = Username:: : Password::
- server_condition = ${if and{{
+ server_condition = ${if and{{ \
!eq{}{$auth1} }{ \
ldapauth{user="cn=${quote_ldap_dn:$auth1},ou=people,o=example.org" \
pass=${quote:$auth2} \
your resources.
+.section "The SMTP DKIM ACL" "SECTDKIMACL"
+The &%acl_smtp_dkim%& ACL is available only when Exim is compiled with DKIM support
+enabled (which is the default).
+
+The ACL test specified by &%acl_smtp_dkim%& happens after a message has been
+received, and is executed for each DKIM signature found in a message. If not
+otherwise specified, the default action is to accept.
+
+For details on the operation of DKIM, see chapter &<<CHID12>>&.
+
+
.section "The SMTP MIME ACL" "SECID194"
The &%acl_smtp_mime%& option is available only when Exim is compiled with the
content-scanning extension. For details, see chapter &<<CHAPexiscan>>&.
Notice that we put back the lower cased version afterwards, assuming that
is what is wanted for subsequent tests.
+
.vitem &*control&~=&~debug/*&<&'options'&>
.cindex "&ACL;" "enabling debug logging"
.cindex "debugging" "enabling from an ACL"
control = debug/tag=.$message_exim_id/opts=+expand
.endd
+
.vitem &*control&~=&~enforce_sync*& &&&
&*control&~=&~no_enforce_sync*&
.cindex "SMTP" "synchronization checking"
specialized interfaces for &"daemon"& type virus scanners, which are resident
in memory and thus are much faster.
+
.oindex "&%av_scanner%&"
You can set the &%av_scanner%& option in first part of the Exim configuration
file to specify which scanner to use, together with any additional options that
av_scanner = aveserver:/var/run/aveserver
.endd
+
.vitem &%clamd%&
.cindex "virus scanners" "clamd"
This daemon-type scanner is GPL and free. You can get it at
because &$spam_score$& is rounded and &$spam_score_int$& is truncated.
The integer value is useful for numeric comparisons in conditions.
-
.vitem &$spam_bar$&
A string consisting of a number of &"+"& or &"-"& characters, representing the
integer part of the spam score value. A spam score of 4.4 would have a
and EHLO act as RSET; VRFY, EXPN, ETRN and HELP, act
as NOOP; QUIT quits.
-No policy checking is done for BSMTP input. That is, no ACL is run at anytime.
-In this respect it is like non-SMTP local input.
+Minimal policy checking is done for BSMTP input. Only the non-SMTP
+ACL is run in the same way as for non-SMTP local input.
If an error is detected while reading a message, including a missing &"."& at
the end, Exim gives up immediately. It writes details of the error to the
If you do not specify anything at build time or run time, that is where the
logs are written.
-A log file path may also contain &`%D`& if datestamped log file names are in
-use &-- see section &<<SECTdatlogfil>>& below.
+A log file path may also contain &`%D`& or &`%M`& if datestamped log file names
+are in use &-- see section &<<SECTdatlogfil>>& below.
Here are some examples of possible settings:
.display
.cindex "log" "datestamped files"
Instead of cycling the main and reject log files by renaming them
periodically, some sites like to use files whose names contain a datestamp,
-for example, &_mainlog-20031225_&. The datestamp is in the form &_yyyymmdd_&.
-Exim has support for this way of working. It is enabled by setting the
-&%log_file_path%& option to a path that includes &`%D`& at the point where the
-datestamp is required. For example:
+for example, &_mainlog-20031225_&. The datestamp is in the form &_yyyymmdd_& or
+&_yyyymm_&. Exim has support for this way of working. It is enabled by setting
+the &%log_file_path%& option to a path that includes &`%D`& or &`%M`& at the
+point where the datestamp is required. For example:
.code
log_file_path = /var/spool/exim/log/%slog-%D
log_file_path = /var/log/exim-%s-%D.log
log_file_path = /var/spool/exim/log/%D-%slog
+log_file_path = /var/log/exim/%s.%M
.endd
As before, &`%s`& is replaced by &"main"& or &"reject"&; the following are
examples of names generated by the above examples:
/var/spool/exim/log/mainlog-20021225
/var/log/exim-reject-20021225.log
/var/spool/exim/log/20021225-mainlog
+/var/log/exim/main.200212
.endd
When this form of log file is specified, Exim automatically switches to new
files at midnight. It does not make any attempt to compress old logs; you
The location of the panic log is also determined by &%log_file_path%&, but it
is not datestamped, because rotation of the panic log does not make sense.
-When generating the name of the panic log, &`%D`& is removed from the string.
-In addition, if it immediately follows a slash, a following non-alphanumeric
-character is removed; otherwise a preceding non-alphanumeric character is
-removed. Thus, the three examples above would give these panic log names:
+When generating the name of the panic log, &`%D`& or &`%M`& are removed from
+the string. In addition, if it immediately follows a slash, a following
+non-alphanumeric character is removed; otherwise a preceding non-alphanumeric
+character is removed. Thus, the four examples above would give these panic
+log names:
.code
/var/spool/exim/log/paniclog
/var/log/exim-panic.log
/var/spool/exim/log/paniclog
+/var/log/exim/panic
.endd
into the Exim account from running a privileged Exim with an arbitrary
configuration file, and using it to break into other accounts.
.next
-If a non-trusted configuration file (i.e. the default configuration file or
-one which is trusted by virtue of matching a prefix listed in the
-TRUSTED_CONFIG_PREFIX_LIST file) is specified with &%-C%&, or if macros are
-given with &%-D%& (but see the next item),
-then root privilege is retained only if the caller of Exim
-is root. This locks out the possibility of testing a configuration using &%-C%&
+
+If a non-trusted configuration file (i.e. not the default configuration file
+or one which is trusted by virtue of being listed in the TRUSTED_CONFIG_LIST
+file) is specified with &%-C%&, or if macros are given with &%-D%& (but see
+the next item), then root privilege is retained only if the caller of Exim is
+root. This locks out the possibility of testing a configuration using &%-C%&
right through message reception and delivery, even if the caller is root. The
reception works, but by that time, Exim is running as the Exim user, so when
it re-execs to regain privilege for the delivery, the use of &%-C%& causes
privilege to be lost. However, root can test reception and delivery using two
separate commands.
+
.next
The WHITELIST_D_MACROS build option declares some macros to be safe to override
with &%-D%& if the real uid is one of root, the Exim run-time user or the
-
.section "Root privilege" "SECID270"
.cindex "setuid"
.cindex "root privilege"
+.section "Dynamic module directory" "SECTdynmoddir"
+Any dynamically loadable modules must be installed into the directory
+defined in &`LOOKUP_MODULE_DIR`& in &_Local/Makefile_& for Exim to permit
+loading it.
+
+
.section "Use of sprintf()" "SECID279"
.cindex "&[sprintf()]&"
A large number of occurrences of &"sprintf"& in the code are actually calls to
Inside the &%acl_smtp_dkim%&, the following expansion variables are
available (from most to least important):
+
.vlist
.vitem &%$dkim_cur_signer%&
The signer that is being evaluated in this ACL run. This can be a domain or
git://git.exim.org / exim.git / blobdiff