. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
.set previousversion "4.75"
-.set version "4.77"
+.set version "4.80"
.set ACL "access control lists (ACLs)"
.set I " "
<bookinfo>
<title>Specification of the Exim Mail Transfer Agent</title>
<titleabbrev>The Exim MTA</titleabbrev>
-<date>06 May 2011</date>
+<date>17 May 2012</date>
<author><firstname>Exim</firstname><surname>Maintainers</surname></author>
<authorinitials>EM</authorinitials>
<revhistory><revision>
- <revnumber>4.77</revnumber>
- <date>10 Oct 2011</date>
+ <revnumber>4.80</revnumber>
+ <date>17 May 2012</date>
<authorinitials>EM</authorinitials>
</revision></revhistory>
-<copyright><year>2011</year><holder>University of Cambridge</holder></copyright>
+<copyright><year>2012</year><holder>University of Cambridge</holder></copyright>
</bookinfo>
.literal off
overridden if necessary.
+.new
.section "PCRE library" "SECTpcre"
.cindex "PCRE library"
Exim no longer has an embedded PCRE library as the vast majority of
to install the PCRE or PCRE development package for your operating
system. If your system has a normal PCRE installation the Exim build
process will need no further configuration. If the library or the
-headers are in an unusual location you will need to set the PCRE_LIBS
-and INCLUDE directives appropriately. If your operating system has no
+headers are in an unusual location you will need to either set the PCRE_LIBS
+and INCLUDE directives appropriately,
+or set PCRE_CONFIG=yes to use the installed &(pcre-config)& command.
+If your operating system has no
PCRE support then you will need to obtain and build the current PCRE
from &url(ftp://ftp.csx.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programming/pcre/).
+More information on PCRE is available at &url(http://www.pcre.org/).
+.wen
.section "DBM libraries" "SECTdb"
.cindex "DBM libraries" "discussion of"
than a recipient address. This affects any rewriting and qualification that
might happen.
+.vitem &%-bw%&
+.oindex "&%-bw%&"
+.cindex "daemon"
+.cindex "inetd"
+.cindex "inetd" "wait mode"
+This option runs Exim as a daemon, awaiting incoming SMTP connections,
+similarly to the &%-bd%& option. All port specifications on the command-line
+and in the configuration file are ignored. Queue-running may not be specified.
+
+In this mode, Exim expects to be passed a socket as fd 0 (stdin) which is
+listening for connections. This permits the system to start up and have
+inetd (or equivalent) listen on the SMTP ports, starting an Exim daemon for
+each port only when the first connection is received.
+
+If the option is given as &%-bw%&<&'time'&> then the time is a timeout, after
+which the daemon will exit, which should cause inetd to listen once more.
+
.vitem &%-C%&&~<&'filelist'&>
.oindex "&%-C%&"
.cindex "configuration file" "alternate"
&`fail`& keyword causes a &'forced expansion failure'& &-- see section
&<<SECTforexpfai>>& for an explanation of what this means.
-The supported DNS record types are A, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, SRV, and TXT, and,
-when Exim is compiled with IPv6 support, AAAA (and A6 if that is also
+.new
+The supported DNS record types are A, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, SPF, SRV, and TXT,
+and, when Exim is compiled with IPv6 support, AAAA (and A6 if that is also
configured). If no type is given, TXT is assumed. When the type is PTR,
the data can be an IP address, written as normal; inversion and the addition of
&%in-addr.arpa%& or &%ip6.arpa%& happens automatically. For example:
+.wen
.code
${lookup dnsdb{ptr=192.168.4.5}{$value}fail}
.endd
white space is ignored.
.cindex "TXT record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
+.cindex "SPF record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
+.new
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
character followed immediately by the TXT record item separator. To concatenate
-items without a separator, use a semicolon instead.
+items without a separator, use a semicolon instead. For SPF records the
+default behaviour is to concatenate multiple items without using a separator.
+.wen
.code
${lookup dnsdb{>\n,: txt=a.b.example}}
${lookup dnsdb{>\n; txt=a.b.example}}
+${lookup dnsdb{spf=example.org}}
.endd
It is permitted to specify a space as the separator character. Further
white space is ignored.
permitted. This can be useful when processing numbers extracted from dates or
times, which often do have leading zeros.
-A number may be followed by &"K"& or &"M"& to multiply it by 1024 or 1024*1024,
+A number may be followed by &"K"&, &"M"& or &"G"& to multiply it by 1024, 1024*1024
+or 1024*1024*1024,
respectively. Negative numbers are supported. The result of the computation is
-a decimal representation of the answer (without &"K"& or &"M"&). For example:
+a decimal representation of the answer (without &"K"&, &"M"& or &"G"&). For example:
.display
&`${eval:1+1} `& yields 2
supplied number and is at least 0. The quality of this randomness depends
on how Exim was built; the values are not suitable for keying material.
If Exim is linked against OpenSSL then RAND_pseudo_bytes() is used.
+.new
+If Exim is linked against GnuTLS then gnutls_rnd(GNUTLS_RND_NONCE) is used,
+for versions of GnuTLS with that function.
+.wen
Otherwise, the implementation may be arc4random(), random() seeded by
srandomdev() or srandom(), or a custom implementation even weaker than
random().
The value will be retained for the lifetime of the message. During outbound
SMTP deliveries, it reflects the value of the &%tls_sni%& option on
the transport.
-
-This is currently only available when using OpenSSL, built with support for
-SNI.
.wen
.vitem &$tod_bsdinbox$&
.vindex "&$tod_epoch$&"
The time and date as a number of seconds since the start of the Unix epoch.
+.vitem &$tod_epoch_l$&
+.vindex "&$tod_epoch_l$&"
+The time and date as a number of microseconds since the start of the Unix epoch.
+
.vitem &$tod_full$&
.vindex "&$tod_full$&"
A full version of the time and date, for example: Wed, 16 Oct 1995 09:51:40
.section "TLS" "SECID108"
.table2
-.row &%gnutls_require_kx%& "control GnuTLS key exchanges"
-.row &%gnutls_require_mac%& "control GnuTLS MAC algorithms"
-.row &%gnutls_require_protocols%& "control GnuTLS protocols"
.row &%gnutls_compat_mode%& "use GnuTLS compatibility mode"
.row &%openssl_options%& "adjust OpenSSL compatibility options"
.row &%tls_advertise_hosts%& "advertise TLS to these hosts"
.row &%tls_certificate%& "location of server certificate"
.row &%tls_crl%& "certificate revocation list"
+.row &%tls_dh_max_bits%& "clamp D-H bit count suggestion"
.row &%tls_dhparam%& "DH parameters for server"
.row &%tls_on_connect_ports%& "specify SSMTP (SMTPS) ports"
.row &%tls_privatekey%& "location of server private key"
Those options that undergo string expansion before use are marked with
†.
-.option accept_8bitmime main boolean false
+.new
+.option accept_8bitmime main boolean true
.cindex "8BITMIME"
.cindex "8-bit characters"
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.
+
+Historically Exim kept this option off by default, but the maintainers
+feel that in today's Internet, this causes more problems than it solves.
+It now defaults to true.
+A more detailed analysis of the issues is provided by Dan Bernstein:
+.display
+&url(http://cr.yp.to/smtp/8bitmime.html)
+.endd
+.wen
.option acl_not_smtp main string&!! unset
.cindex "&ACL;" "for non-SMTP messages"
See &%gecos_name%& above.
-.option gnutls_require_kx main string unset
-This option controls the key exchange mechanisms when GnuTLS is used in an Exim
-server. For details, see section &<<SECTreqciphgnu>>&.
-
-.option gnutls_require_mac main string unset
-This option controls the MAC algorithms when GnuTLS is used in an Exim
-server. For details, see section &<<SECTreqciphgnu>>&.
-
-.option gnutls_require_protocols main string unset
-This option controls the protocols when GnuTLS is used in an Exim
-server. For details, see section &<<SECTreqciphgnu>>&.
-
.option gnutls_compat_mode main boolean unset
This option controls whether GnuTLS is used in compatibility mode in an Exim
server. This reduces security slightly, but improves interworking with older
invoking Exim with the &%-bV%& flag.
.new
-Historical note: prior to release 4.78, Exim defaulted this value to
+Historical note: prior to release 4.80, Exim defaulted this value to
"+dont_insert_empty_fragments", which may still be needed for compatibility
with some clients, but which lowers security by increasing exposure to
some now infamous attacks.
.wen
+.new
+.option tls_dh_max_bits main integer 2236
+.cindex "TLS" "D-H bit count"
+The number of bits used for Diffie-Hellman key-exchange may be suggested by
+the chosen TLS library. That value might prove to be too high for
+interoperability. This option provides a maximum clamp on the value
+suggested, trading off security for interoperability.
+
+The value must be at least 1024.
+
+The value 2236 was chosen because, at time of adding the option, it was the
+hard-coded maximum value supported by the NSS cryptographic library, as used
+by Thunderbird, while GnuTLS was suggesting 2432 bits as normal.
+
+If you prefer more security and are willing to break some clients, raise this
+number.
+.wen
+
+
.option tls_dhparam main string&!! unset
.cindex "TLS" "D-H parameters for server"
The value of this option is expanded, and must then be the absolute path to
This is used only for OpenSSL. When Exim is linked with GnuTLS, this option is
ignored. See section &<<SECTopenvsgnu>>& for further details.
+.new
+If the DH bit-count from loading the file is greater than tls_dh_max_bits then
+it will be ignored.
+.wen
+
.option tls_on_connect_ports main "string list" unset
This option specifies a list of incoming SSMTP (aka SMTPS) ports that should
instead of using the DNS. Of course, that function may in fact use the DNS, but
it may also consult other sources of information such as &_/etc/hosts_&.
-.option gnutls_require_kx smtp string unset
-This option controls the key exchange mechanisms when GnuTLS is used in an Exim
-client. For details, see section &<<SECTreqciphgnu>>&.
-
-.option gnutls_require_mac smtp string unset
-This option controls the MAC algorithms when GnuTLS is used in an Exim
-client. For details, see section &<<SECTreqciphgnu>>&.
-
-.option gnutls_require_protocols smtp string unset
-This option controls the protocols when GnuTLS is used in an Exim
-client. For details, see section &<<SECTreqciphgnu>>&.
-
.option gnutls_compat_mode smtp boolean unset
This option controls whether GnuTLS is used in compatibility mode in an Exim
server. This reduces security slightly, but improves interworking with older
.cindex "authentication" "CRAM-MD5"
.cindex "authentication" "SCRAM-SHA-1"
The &(gsasl)& authenticator provides server integration for the GNU SASL
-library and the mechanisms it provides. This is new as of the 4.78 release
+library and the mechanisms it provides. This is new as of the 4.80 release
and there are a few areas where the library does not let Exim smoothly
scale to handle future authentication mechanisms, so no guarantee can be
made that any particular new authentication mechanism will be supported
without code changes in Exim.
-.option server_channelbinding gsasl bool false
+.option server_channelbinding gsasl boolean false
Some authentication mechanisms are able to use external context at both ends
of the session to bind the authentication to that context, and fail the
authentication process if that context differs. Specifically, some TLS
name of a directory (for OpenSSL it can be either).
.next
The &%tls_dhparam%& option is ignored, because early versions of GnuTLS had no
-facility for varying its Diffie-Hellman parameters. I understand that this has
-changed, but Exim has not been updated to provide this facility.
+facility for varying its Diffie-Hellman parameters.
+.new
+Since then, the GnuTLS support has been updated to generate parameters upon
+demand, keeping them in the spool directory. See &<<SECTgnutlsparam>>& for
+details.
+.wen
.next
.vindex "&$tls_peerdn$&"
Distinguished Name (DN) strings reported by the OpenSSL library use a slash for
affects the value of the &$tls_peerdn$& variable.
.next
OpenSSL identifies cipher suites using hyphens as separators, for example:
-DES-CBC3-SHA. GnuTLS uses underscores, for example: RSA_ARCFOUR_SHA. What is
-more, OpenSSL complains if underscores are present in a cipher list. To make
-life simpler, Exim changes underscores to hyphens for OpenSSL and hyphens to
-underscores for GnuTLS when processing lists of cipher suites in the
+DES-CBC3-SHA. GnuTLS historically used underscores, for example:
+RSA_ARCFOUR_SHA. What is more, OpenSSL complains if underscores are present
+in a cipher list. To make life simpler, Exim changes underscores to hyphens
+for OpenSSL and passes the string unchanged to GnuTLS (expecting the library
+to handle its own older variants) when processing lists of cipher suites in the
&%tls_require_ciphers%& options (the global option and the &(smtp)& transport
option).
.next
.endlist
-.section "GnuTLS parameter computation" "SECID181"
+.section "GnuTLS parameter computation" "SECTgnutlsparam"
+.new
GnuTLS uses D-H parameters that may take a substantial amount of time
to compute. It is unreasonable to re-compute them for every TLS session.
Therefore, Exim keeps this data in a file in its spool directory, called
-&_gnutls-params_&. The file is owned by the Exim user and is readable only by
+&_gnutls-params-NNNN_& for some value of NNNN, corresponding to the number
+of bits requested.
+The file is owned by the Exim user and is readable only by
its owner. Every Exim process that start up GnuTLS reads the D-H
parameters from this file. If the file does not exist, the first Exim process
that needs it computes the data and writes it to a temporary file which is
a substantial amount of time, causing timeouts on incoming connections.
The solution is to generate the parameters externally to Exim. They are stored
-in &_gnutls-params_& in PEM format, which means that they can be generated
-externally using the &(certtool)& command that is part of GnuTLS.
+in &_gnutls-params-N_& in PEM format, which means that they can be
+generated externally using the &(certtool)& command that is part of GnuTLS.
To replace the parameters with new ones, instead of deleting the file
and letting Exim re-create it, you can generate new parameters using
&(certtool)& and, when this has been done, replace Exim's cache file by
renaming. The relevant commands are something like this:
.code
+# ls
+[ look for file; assume gnutls-params-2236 is the most recent ]
# rm -f new-params
# touch new-params
# chown exim:exim new-params
+# chmod 0600 new-params
+# certtool --generate-dh-params --bits 2236 >>new-params
# chmod 0400 new-params
-# certtool --generate-privkey --bits 512 >new-params
-# echo "" >>new-params
-# certtool --generate-dh-params --bits 1024 >> new-params
-# mv new-params gnutls-params
+# mv new-params gnutls-params-2236
.endd
If Exim never has to generate the parameters itself, the possibility of
stalling is removed.
+The filename changed in Exim 4.80, to gain the -bits suffix. The value which
+Exim will choose depends upon the version of GnuTLS in use. For older GnuTLS,
+the value remains hard-coded in Exim as 1024. As of GnuTLS 2.12.x, there is
+a way for Exim to ask for the "normal" number of bits for D-H public-key usage,
+and Exim does so. This attempt to remove Exim from TLS policy decisions
+failed, as GnuTLS 2.12 returns a value higher than the current hard-coded limit
+of the NSS library. Thus Exim gains the &%tls_dh_max_bits%& global option,
+which applies to all D-H usage, client or server. If the value returned by
+GnuTLS is greater than &%tls_dh_max_bits%& then the value will be clamped down
+to &%tls_dh_max_bits%&. The default value has been set at the current NSS
+limit, which is still much higher than Exim historically used.
+
+The filename and bits used will change as the GnuTLS maintainers change the
+value for their parameter &`GNUTLS_SEC_PARAM_NORMAL`&, as clamped by
+&%tls_dh_max_bits%&. At the time of writing (mid 2012), GnuTLS 2.12 recommends
+2432 bits, while NSS is limited to 2236 bits.
+.wen
+
.section "Requiring specific ciphers in OpenSSL" "SECTreqciphssl"
.cindex "TLS" "requiring specific ciphers (OpenSSL)"
+.new
.section "Requiring specific ciphers or other parameters in GnuTLS" &&&
"SECTreqciphgnu"
.cindex "GnuTLS" "specifying parameters for"
.cindex "TLS" "specifying key exchange methods (GnuTLS)"
.cindex "TLS" "specifying MAC algorithms (GnuTLS)"
.cindex "TLS" "specifying protocols (GnuTLS)"
+.cindex "TLS" "specifying priority string (GnuTLS)"
.oindex "&%tls_require_ciphers%&" "GnuTLS"
-The GnuTLS library allows the caller to specify separate lists of permitted key
-exchange methods, main cipher algorithms, MAC algorithms, and protocols.
-Unfortunately, these lists are numerical, and the library does not have a
-function for turning names into numbers. Consequently, lists of recognized
-names have to be built into the application. The permitted key exchange
-methods, ciphers, and MAC algorithms may be used in any combination to form a
-cipher suite. This is unlike OpenSSL, where complete cipher suite names are
-passed to its control function.
-
-For compatibility with OpenSSL, the &%tls_require_ciphers%& option can be set
-to complete cipher suite names such as RSA_ARCFOUR_SHA, but for GnuTLS this
-option controls only the cipher algorithms. Exim searches each item in the
-list for the name of an available algorithm. For example, if the list
-contains RSA_AES_SHA, then AES is recognized, and the behaviour is exactly
-the same as if just AES were given.
-
-.oindex "&%gnutls_require_kx%&"
-.oindex "&%gnutls_require_mac%&"
-.oindex "&%gnutls_require_protocols%&"
-There are additional options called &%gnutls_require_kx%&,
-&%gnutls_require_mac%&, and &%gnutls_require_protocols%& that can be used to
-restrict the key exchange methods, MAC algorithms, and protocols, respectively.
-These options are ignored if OpenSSL is in use.
-
-All four options are available as global options, controlling how Exim
-behaves as a server, and also as options of the &(smtp)& transport, controlling
-how Exim behaves as a client. All the values are string expanded. After
-expansion, the values must be colon-separated lists, though the separator
-can be changed in the usual way.
-
-Each of the four lists starts out with a default set of algorithms. If the
-first item in a list does &'not'& start with an exclamation mark, all the
-default items are deleted. In this case, only those that are explicitly
-specified can be used. If the first item in a list &'does'& start with an
-exclamation mark, the defaults are left on the list.
-
-Then, any item that starts with an exclamation mark causes the relevant
-entry to be removed from the list, and any item that does not start with an
-exclamation mark causes a new entry to be added to the list. Unrecognized
-items in the list are ignored. Thus:
-.code
-tls_require_ciphers = !ARCFOUR
-.endd
-allows all the defaults except ARCFOUR, whereas
-.code
-tls_require_ciphers = AES : 3DES
-.endd
-allows only cipher suites that use AES or 3DES.
-
-For &%tls_require_ciphers%& the recognized names are AES_256, AES_128, AES
-(both of the preceding), 3DES, ARCFOUR_128, ARCFOUR_40, and ARCFOUR (both of
-the preceding). The default list does not contain all of these; it just has
-AES_256, AES_128, 3DES, and ARCFOUR_128.
-
-For &%gnutls_require_kx%&, the recognized names are DHE_RSA, RSA (which
-includes DHE_RSA), DHE_DSS, and DHE (which includes both DHE_RSA and
-DHE_DSS). The default list contains RSA, DHE_DSS, DHE_RSA.
-
-For &%gnutls_require_mac%&, the recognized names are SHA (synonym SHA1), and
-MD5. The default list contains SHA, MD5.
-
-.new
-For &%gnutls_require_protocols%&, the recognized names are TLS1.2, TLS1.1,
-TLS1.0, (TLS1) and SSL3.
-The default list contains TLS1.2, TLS1.1, TLS1.0, SSL3.
-TLS1 is an alias for TLS1.0, for backwards compatibility.
-For sufficiently old versions of the GnuTLS library, TLS1.2 or TLS1.1 might
-not be supported and will not be recognised by Exim.
+The GnuTLS library allows the caller to provide a "priority string", documented
+as part of the &[gnutls_priority_init]& function. This is very similar to the
+ciphersuite specification in OpenSSL.
+
+The &%tls_require_ciphers%& option is treated as the GnuTLS priority string.
+
+The &%tls_require_ciphers%& option is available both as an global option,
+controlling how Exim behaves as a server, and also as an option of the
+&(smtp)& transport, controlling how Exim behaves as a client. In both cases
+the value is string expanded. The resulting string is not an Exim list and
+the string is given to the GnuTLS library, so that Exim does not need to be
+aware of future feature enhancements of GnuTLS.
+
+Documentation of the strings accepted may be found in the GnuTLS manual, under
+"Priority strings". This is online as
+&url(http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls/manual/html_node/Priority-Strings.html).
+
+Prior to Exim 4.80, an older API of GnuTLS was used, and Exim supported three
+additional options, "&%gnutls_require_kx%&", "&%gnutls_require_mac%&" and
+"&%gnutls_require_protocols%&". &%tls_require_ciphers%& was an Exim list.
.wen
-In a server, the order of items in these lists is unimportant. The server
-advertises the availability of all the relevant cipher suites. However, in a
-client, the order in the &%tls_require_ciphers%& list specifies a preference
-order for the cipher algorithms. The first one in the client's list that is
-also advertised by the server is tried first. The default order is as listed
-above.
-
-
.section "Configuring an Exim server to use TLS" "SECID182"
.cindex "TLS" "configuring an Exim server"
The Exim developers are proceeding cautiously and so far no other TLS options
are re-expanded.
-Currently SNI support is only available if using OpenSSL, with TLS Extensions
-support enabled therein.
+When Exim is built againt OpenSSL, OpenSSL must have been built with support
+for TLS Extensions. This holds true for OpenSSL 1.0.0+ and 0.9.8+ with
+enable-tlsext in EXTRACONFIGURE. If you invoke &(openssl s_client -h)& and
+see &`-servername`& in the output, then OpenSSL has support.
+
+When Exim is built against GnuTLS, SNI support is available as of GnuTLS
+0.5.10. (Its presence predates the current API which Exim uses, so if Exim
+built, then you have SNI support).
.wen
In order to see the contents of messages on the queue, and to operate on them,
&'eximon'& must either be run as root or by an admin user.
+The command-line parameters of &'eximon'& are passed to &_eximon.bin_& and may
+contain X11 resource parameters interpreted by the X11 library. In addition,
+if the first parameter starts with the string "gdb" then it is removed and the
+binary is invoked under gdb (the parameter is used as the gdb command-name, so
+versioned variants of gdb can be invoked).
+
The monitor's window is divided into three parts. The first contains one or
more stripcharts and two action buttons, the second contains a &"tail"& of the
main log file, and the third is a display of the queue of messages awaiting
git://git.exim.org / exim.git / blobdiff