-. $Cambridge: exim/doc/doc-docbook/spec.xfpt,v 1.88 2010/06/14 18:51:09 pdp Exp $
-.
. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
. This is the primary source of the Exim Manual. It is an xfpt document that is
. converted into DocBook XML for subsequent conversion into printing and online
. the <bookinfo> element must also be updated for each new edition.
. /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-.set previousversion "4.72"
-.set version "4.74"
+.set previousversion "4.75"
+.set version "4.77"
.set ACL "access control lists (ACLs)"
.set I " "
<bookinfo>
<title>Specification of the Exim Mail Transfer Agent</title>
<titleabbrev>The Exim MTA</titleabbrev>
-<date>21 Jan 2011</date>
+<date>06 May 2011</date>
<author><firstname>Exim</firstname><surname>Maintainers</surname></author>
<authorinitials>EM</authorinitials>
<revhistory><revision>
- <revnumber>4.74</revnumber>
- <date>21 Jan 2011</date>
+ <revnumber>4.77</revnumber>
+ <date>03 Oct 2011</date>
<authorinitials>EM</authorinitials>
</revision></revhistory>
<copyright><year>2011</year><holder>University of Cambridge</holder></copyright>
The following Exim mailing lists exist:
.table2 140pt
+.row &'exim-announce@exim.org'& "Moderated, low volume announcements list"
.row &'exim-users@exim.org'& "General discussion list"
.row &'exim-dev@exim.org'& "Discussion of bugs, enhancements, etc."
-.row &'exim-announce@exim.org'& "Moderated, low volume announcements list"
-.row &'exim-future@exim.org'& "Discussion of long-term development"
+.row &'exim-cvs@exim.org'& "Automated commit messages from the VCS"
.endtable
You can subscribe to these lists, change your existing subscriptions, and view
impose its own quotas on local mailboxes; where system quotas are set they will
also apply.
-.new
If a host is unreachable for a period of time, a number of messages may be
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
for the same host. If any are found, they are sent over the same SMTP
connection, subject to a configuration limit as to the maximum number in any
one connection.
-.wen
-.new
.section "Use of tcpwrappers" "SECID27"
.cindex "tcpwrappers, building Exim to support"
in &_Local/Makefile_&, or by setting tcp_wrappers_daemon_name in the
configure file. Consult the &'tcpwrappers'& documentation for
further details.
-.wen
.section "Including support for IPv6" "SECID28"
-.new
.section "Dynamically loaded lookup module support" "SECTdynamicmodules"
.cindex "lookup modules"
.cindex "dynamic modules"
LOOKUP_SQLITE=2
LOOKUP_MYSQL=2
.endd
-.wen
+
.section "The building process" "SECID29"
.cindex "build directory"
The same output is generated if the Exim binary is called with no options and
no arguments.
-.new
.vitem &%--version%&
.oindex "&%--version%&"
This option is an alias for &%-bV%& and causes version information to be
displayed.
-.wen
.vitem &%-B%&<&'type'&>
.oindex "&%-B%&"
Exim behaves in exactly the same way as it does when receiving a message via
the listening daemon.
-.new
.vitem &%-bmalware%&&~<&'filename'&>
.oindex "&%-bmalware%&"
.cindex "testing", "malware"
The &%-bmalware%& option will not be extended to be more generally useful,
there are better tools for file-scanning. This option exists to help
administrators verify their Exim and AV scanner configuration.
-.wen
.vitem &%-bt%&
.oindex "&%-bt%&"
those conditions using &%-bt%&. The &%-N%& option provides a possible way of
doing such tests.
-.new
.vitem &%-bV%&
.oindex "&%-bV%&"
.cindex "version number of Exim"
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.
-.wen
+
As part of its operation, &%-bV%& causes Exim to read and syntax check its
configuration file. However, this is a static check only. It cannot check
values that are to be expanded. For example, although a misspelt ACL verb is
file that exists is used. Failure to open an existing file stops Exim from
proceeding any further along the list, and an error is generated.
-.new
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.
delivery, the use of &%-C%& causes privilege to be lost. However, root can
test reception and delivery using two separate commands (one to put a message
on the queue, using &%-odq%&, and another to do the delivery, using &%-M%&).
-.wen
+
If ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX is defined &_in Local/Makefile_&, it specifies a
prefix string with which any file named in a &%-C%& command line option
must start. In addition, the file name must not contain the sequence &`/../`&.
If DISABLE_D_OPTION is defined in &_Local/Makefile_&, the use of &%-D%& is
completely disabled, and its use causes an immediate error exit.
-.new
If WHITELIST_D_MACROS is defined in &_Local/Makefile_& then it should be a
colon-separated list of macros which are considered safe and, if &%-D%& only
supplies macros from this list, and the values are acceptable, then Exim will
the CONFIGURE_OWNER, if set. This is a transition mechanism and is expected
to be removed in the future. Acceptable values for the macros satisfy the
regexp: &`^[A-Za-z0-9_/.-]*$`&
-.wen
+
The entire option (including equals sign if present) must all be within one
command line item. &%-D%& can be used to set the value of a macro to the empty
string, in which case the equals sign is optional. These two commands are
This option causes the contents of the message body (-D) spool file to be
written to the standard output. This option can be used only by an admin user.
-.new
.vitem &%-Mvc%&&~<&'message&~id'&>
.oindex "&%-Mvc%&"
.cindex "message" "listing in RFC 2822 format"
This option causes a copy of the complete message (header lines plus body) to
be written to the standard output in RFC 2822 format. This option can be used
only by an admin user.
-.wen
+
.vitem &%-Mvh%&&~<&'message&~id'&>
.oindex "&%-Mvh%&"
.cindex "listing" "message headers"
give a colon-separated list of file names, in which case Exim uses the first
existing file in the list.
-.new
.cindex "EXIM_USER"
.cindex "EXIM_GROUP"
.cindex "CONFIGURE_OWNER"
be writeable by the Exim user and/or group. That has been changed in Exim 4.73
since it offered a simple privilege escalation for any attacker who managed to
compromise the Exim user account.
-.wen
+
A default configuration file, which will work correctly in simple situations,
is provided in the file &_src/configure.default_&. If CONFIGURE_FILE
defines just one file name, the installation process copies the default
-.new
.section "Using a different configuration file" "SECID40"
.cindex "configuration file" "alternate"
A one-off alternate configuration can be specified by the &%-C%& command line
can test reception and delivery using two separate commands (one to put a
message on the queue, using &%-odq%&, and another to do the delivery, using
&%-M%&).
-.wen
+
If ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX is defined &_in Local/Makefile_&, it specifies a
prefix string with which any file named in a &%-C%& command line option must
start. In addition, the file name must not contain the sequence &"&`/../`&"&.
If DISABLE_D_OPTION is defined in &_Local/Makefile_&, the use of &%-D%& is
completely disabled, and its use causes an immediate error exit.
-.new
The WHITELIST_D_MACROS option in &_Local/Makefile_& permits the binary builder
to declare certain macro names trusted, such that root privilege will not
necessarily be discarded.
is root, the Exim run-time user, or the CONFIGURE_OWNER, if set. This is a
transition mechanism and is expected to be removed in the future. Acceptable
values for the macros satisfy the regexp: &`^[A-Za-z0-9_/.-]*$`&
-.wen
Some sites may wish to use the same Exim binary on different machines that
share a file system, but to use different configuration files on each machine.
secure (encrypted) LDAP connections. The second of these ensures that an
encrypted TLS connection is used.
-.new
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.
-.wen
.section "LDAP quoting" "SECID68"
random().
-.new
.vitem &*${reverse_ip:*&<&'ipaddr'&>&*}*&
.cindex "expansion" "IP address"
This operator reverses an IP address; for IPv4 addresses, the result is in
.code
4.2.0.192 and 3.0.2.0.0.0.0.c.d.c.b.a.1.0.0.0.9.0.0.0.2.4.c.0.8.b.d.0.1.0.0.2
.endd
-.wen
.vitem &*${rfc2047:*&<&'string'&>&*}*&
zero.
-.new
.vitem &*bool&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*&
.cindex "expansion" "boolean parsing"
.cindex "&%bool%& expansion condition"
.code
${if bool{$acl_m_privileged_sender} ...
.endd
-.wen
-.new
.vitem &*bool_lax&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*&
.cindex "expansion" "boolean parsing"
.cindex "&%bool_lax%& expansion condition"
true. Leading and trailing whitespace is ignored.
Note that where &"bool{00}"& is false, &"bool_lax{00}"& is true.
-.wen
+
.vitem &*crypteq&~{*&<&'string1'&>&*}{*&<&'string2'&>&*}*&
.cindex "expansion" "encrypted comparison"
.cindex "encrypted strings, comparing"
includes the case of letters, whereas for &%gti%& the comparison is
case-independent.
+.new
+.vitem &*inlist&~{*&<&'string1'&>&*}{*&<&'string2'&>&*}*& &&&
+ &*inlisti&~{*&<&'string1'&>&*}{*&<&'string2'&>&*}*&
+.cindex "string" "comparison"
+.cindex "list" "iterative conditions"
+Both strings are expanded; the second string is treated as a list of simple
+strings; if the first string is a member of the second, then the condition
+is true.
+
+These are simpler to use versions of the more powerful &*forany*& condition.
+Examples, and the &*forany*& equivalents:
+.code
+${if inlist{needle}{foo:needle:bar}}
+ ${if forany{foo:needle:bar}{eq{$item}{needle}}}
+${if inlisti{Needle}{fOo:NeeDLE:bAr}}
+ ${if forany{fOo:NeeDLE:bAr}{eqi{$item}{Needle}}}
+.endd
+.wen
+
.vitem &*isip&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*& &&&
&*isip4&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*& &&&
&*isip6&~{*&<&'string'&>&*}*&
have their local parts matched casefully. Domains are always matched
caselessly.
+.new
+Note that <&'string2'&> is not itself subject to string expansion, unless
+Exim was built with the EXPAND_LISTMATCH_RHS option.
+.wen
+
&*Note*&: Host lists are &'not'& supported in this way. This is because
hosts have two identities: a name and an IP address, and it is not clear
how to specify cleanly how such a test would work. However, IP addresses can be
negative response to an AUTH command, including (for example) an attempt to use
an undefined mechanism.
+.new
+.vitem &$av_failed$&
+.cindex "content scanning" "AV scanner failure"
+This variable is available when Exim is compiled with the content-scanning
+extension. It is set to &"0"& by default, but will be set to &"1"& if any
+problem occurs with the virus scanner (specified by &%av_scanner%&) during
+the ACL malware condition.
+.wen
+
.vitem &$body_linecount$&
.cindex "message body" "line count"
.cindex "body of message" "line count"
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 = \
.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.
-.new
+
.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:
.endd
If the value of &%av_scanner%& starts with a dollar character, it is expanded
before use. See section &<<SECTscanvirus>>& for further details.
-.wen
.option bi_command main string unset
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.
-.new
.option ldap_ca_cert_dir main string unset
.cindex "LDAP", "TLS CA certificate directory"
This option indicates which directory contains CA certificates for verifying
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.
-.wen
-.new
.option ldap_ca_cert_file main string unset
.cindex "LDAP", "TLS CA certificate file"
This option indicates which file contains CA certificates for verifying
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.
-.wen
-.new
.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%&.
-.wen
-.new
.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.
-.wen
-.new
.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).
-.wen
.option ldap_default_servers main "string list" unset
with LDAP support.
-.new
.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".
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.
-.wen
-.new
.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
of SSL-on-connect.
In the event of failure to negotiate TLS, the action taken is controlled
by &%ldap_require_cert%&.
-.wen
.option ldap_version main integer unset
the generic transport option &%message_size_limit%&, which limits the size of
message that an individual transport can process.
-.new
If you use a virus-scanner and set this option to to a value larger than the
maximum size that your virus-scanner is configured to support, you may get
failures triggered by large mails. The right size to configure for the
probably safest to just set it to a little larger than this value. Eg, with a
default Exim message size of 50M and a default ClamAV StreamMaxLength of 10M,
some problems may result.
-.wen
+
+A value of 0 will disable size limit checking; Exim will still advertise the
+SIZE extension in an EHLO response, but without a limit, so as to permit
+SMTP clients to still indicate the message size along with the MAIL verb.
.option move_frozen_messages main boolean false
transport driver.
-.new
.option openssl_options main "string list" +dont_insert_empty_fragments
.cindex "OpenSSL "compatibility options"
This option allows an administrator to adjust the SSL options applied
.code
openssl_options = -all +microsoft_big_sslv3_buffer
.endd
-.wen
.option oracle_servers main "string list" unset
This specifies the transport driver that is to be used when a &%mail%& command
is used in a system filter.
-.new
+
.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
If the system filter generates any pipe, file, or reply deliveries, the uid
under which the filter is run is used when transporting them, unless a
transport option overrides.
-.wen
.option tcp_nodelay main boolean true
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.
-.new
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.
-.wen
+
.option tls_verify_hosts main "host list&!!" unset
.cindex "TLS" "client certificate verification"
If the result is any other value, the router is run (as this is the last
precondition to be evaluated, all the other preconditions must be true).
-.new
This option is unique in that multiple &%condition%& options may be present.
All &%condition%& options must succeed.
-.wen
-.new
The &%condition%& option provides a means of applying custom conditions to the
running of routers. Note that in the case of a simple conditional expansion,
the default expansion values are exactly what is wanted. For example:
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%&.
-.wen
.option debug_print routers string&!! unset
section &<<SECTmaildirdelivery>>& below.
-.option maildir_use_size_file appendfile boolean false
+.new
+.option maildir_use_size_file appendfile&!! boolean false
.cindex "maildir format" "&_maildirsize_& file"
-Setting this option true enables support for &_maildirsize_& files. Exim
+The result of string expansion for this option must be a valid boolean value.
+If it is true, it enables support for &_maildirsize_& files. Exim
creates a &_maildirsize_& file in a maildir if one does not exist, taking the
quota from the &%quota%& option of the transport. If &%quota%& is unset, the
value is zero. See &%maildir_quota_directory_regex%& above and section
&<<SECTmaildirdelivery>>& below for further details.
+.wen
.option maildirfolder_create_regex appendfile string unset
.cindex "maildir format" "&_maildirfolder_& file"
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=${message_size}
+.endd
+but you should check the documentation of the other software to be sure.
+It is advisable to also set &%quota_size_regex%& when setting &%maildir_tag%&
+as this allows Exim to extract the size from your tag, instead of having to
+&[stat()]& each message file.
.section "Using a maildirsize file" "SECID136"
frozen, whatever the setting of &%ignore_status%&.
-.new
-.otion freeze_signal pipe boolean false
+.option freeze_signal pipe boolean false
.cindex "signal exit"
-.cidenx "&(pipe)& transport", "signal exit"
+.cindex "&(pipe)& transport", "signal exit"
Normally if the process run by a command in a pipe transport exits on a signal,
a bounce message is sent. If &%freeze_signal%& is set, the message will be
frozen in Exim's queue instead.
-.wen
.option ignore_status pipe boolean false
apply to a command specified as a transport filter.
-.new
.option permit_coredump pipe boolean false
Normally Exim inhibits core-dumps during delivery. If you have a need to get
a core-dump of a pipe command, enable this command. This enables core-dumps
resource consumption can be quite high. Note also that Exim is typically
installed as a setuid binary and most operating systems will inhibit coredumps
of these by default, so further OS-specific action may be required.
-.wen
.option pipe_as_creator pipe boolean false
.option protocol smtp string smtp
.cindex "LMTP" "over TCP/IP"
+.cindex "ssmtp protocol" "outbound"
+.cindex "TLS" "SSL-on-connect outbound"
+.vindex "&$port$&"
If this option is set to &"lmtp"& instead of &"smtp"&, the default value for
the &%port%& option changes to &"lmtp"&, and the transport operates the LMTP
protocol (RFC 2033) instead of SMTP. This protocol is sometimes used for local
deliveries into closed message stores. Exim also has support for running LMTP
over a pipe to a local process &-- see chapter &<<CHAPLMTP>>&.
+.new
+If this option is set to &"smtps"&, the default vaule for the &%port%& option
+changes to &"smtps"&, and the transport initiates TLS immediately after
+connecting, as an outbound SSL-on-connect, instead of using STARTTLS to upgrade.
+The Internet standards bodies strongly discourage use of this mode.
+.wen
+
.option retry_include_ip_address smtp boolean true
Exim normally includes both the host name and the IP address in the key it
if the client does not supply it (as is the case for LOGIN clients), the prompt
strings are used to obtain two data items.
-.new
Some clients are very particular about the precise text of the prompts. For
example, Outlook Express is reported to recognize only &"Username:"& and
&"Password:"&. Here is an example of a LOGIN authenticator that uses those
correct one to use for the password, because quoting is needed only to make
the password conform to the Exim syntax. At the LDAP level, the password is an
uninterpreted string.
-.wen
+
.section "Support for different kinds of authentication" "SECID174"
A number of string expansion features are provided for the purpose of
For &%gnutls_require_mac%&, the recognized names are SHA (synonym SHA1), and
MD5. The default list contains SHA, MD5.
-For &%gnutls_require_protocols%&, the recognized names are TLS1 and SSL3.
-The default list contains TLS1, SSL3.
+.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.
+.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
your resources.
-.new
.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).
otherwise specified, the default action is to accept.
For details on the operation of DKIM, see chapter &<<CHID12>>&.
-.wen
.section "The SMTP MIME ACL" "SECID194"
Notice that we put back the lower cased version afterwards, assuming that
is what is wanted for subsequent tests.
-.new
+
.vitem &*control&~=&~debug/*&<&'options'&>
.cindex "&ACL;" "enabling debug logging"
.cindex "debugging" "enabling from an ACL"
control = debug/opts=+expand+acl
control = debug/tag=.$message_exim_id/opts=+expand
.endd
-.wen
+
.vitem &*control&~=&~enforce_sync*& &&&
&*control&~=&~no_enforce_sync*&
&`$local_part@$domain`& with the &%per_rcpt%& option (see below) in a RCPT
ACL.
-Internally, Exim appends the smoothing constant &'p'& and the options onto the
-lookup key because they alter the meaning of the stored data. This is not true
-for the limit &'m'&, so you can alter the configured maximum rate and Exim will
-still remember clients' past behaviour, but if you alter the other ratelimit
-parameters Exim forgets past behaviour.
+Each &%ratelimit%& condition can have up to four options. A &%per_*%& option
+specifies what Exim measures the rate of, for example messages or recipients
+or bytes. You can adjust the measurement using the &%unique=%& and/or
+&%count=%& options. You can also control when Exim updates the recorded rate
+using a &%strict%&, &%leaky%&, or &%readonly%& option. The options are
+separated by a slash, like the other parameters. They may appear in any order.
+
+Internally, Exim appends the smoothing constant &'p'& onto the lookup key with
+any options that alter the meaning of the stored data. The limit &'m'& is not
+stored, so you can alter the configured maximum rate and Exim will still
+remember clients' past behaviour. If you change the &%per_*%& mode or add or
+remove the &%unique=%& option, the lookup key changes so Exim will forget past
+behaviour. The lookup key is not affected by changes to the update mode and
+the &%count=%& option.
-Each &%ratelimit%& condition can have up to three options. One option
-specifies what Exim measures the rate of, and the second specifies how Exim
-handles excessively fast clients. The third option can be &`noupdate`&, to
-disable updating of the ratelimiting database (see section &<<rearatdat>>&).
-The options are separated by a slash, like the other parameters. They may
-appear in any order.
.section "Ratelimit options for what is being measured" "ratoptmea"
-The &%per_conn%& option limits the client's connection rate.
+.cindex "rate limiting" "per_* options"
+The &%per_conn%& option limits the client's connection rate. It is not
+normally used in the &%acl_not_smtp%&, &%acl_not_smtp_mime%&, or
+&%acl_not_smtp_start%& ACLs.
The &%per_mail%& option limits the client's rate of sending messages. This is
-the default if none of the &%per_*%& options is specified.
-
-The &%per_byte%& option limits the sender's email bandwidth. Note that it is
-best to use this option in the DATA ACL; if it is used in an earlier ACL it
-relies on the SIZE parameter specified by the client in its MAIL command,
-which may be inaccurate or completely missing. You can follow the limit &'m'&
-in the configuration with K, M, or G to specify limits in kilobytes,
-megabytes, or gigabytes, respectively.
-
-The &%per_rcpt%& option causes Exim to limit the rate at which
-recipients are accepted. To be effective, it would need to be used in
-either the &%acl_smtp_rcpt%& or the &%acl_not_smtp%& ACL. In the
-&%acl_smtp_rcpt%& ACL, the number of recipients is incremented by one.
-In the case of a locally submitted message in the &%acl_not_smtp%& ACL,
-the number of recipients is incremented by the &%$recipients_count%&
-for the entire message. Note that in either case the rate limiting
-engine will see a message with many recipients as a large high-speed
-burst.
+the default if none of the &%per_*%& options is specified. It can be used in
+&%acl_smtp_mail%&, &%acl_smtp_rcpt%&, &%acl_smtp_predata%&, &%acl_smtp_mime%&,
+&%acl_smtp_data%&, or &%acl_not_smtp%&.
+
+The &%per_byte%& option limits the sender's email bandwidth. It can be used in
+the same ACLs as the &%per_mail%& option, though it is best to use this option
+in the &%acl_smtp_mime%&, &%acl_smtp_data%& or &%acl_not_smtp%& ACLs; if it is
+used in an earlier ACL, Exim relies on the SIZE parameter given by the client
+in its MAIL command, which may be inaccurate or completely missing. You can
+follow the limit &'m'& in the configuration with K, M, or G to specify limits
+in kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes, respectively.
+
+The &%per_rcpt%& option causes Exim to limit the rate at which recipients are
+accepted. It can be used in the &%acl_smtp_rcpt%&, &%acl_smtp_predata%&,
+&%acl_smtp_mime%&, &%acl_smtp_data%&, or &%acl_smtp_rcpt%& ACLs. In
+&%acl_smtp_rcpt%& the rate is updated one recipient at a time; in the other
+ACLs the rate is updated with the total recipient count in one go. Note that
+in either case the rate limiting engine will see a message with many
+recipients as a large high-speed burst.
+
+The &%per_addr%& option is like the &%per_rcpt%& option, except it counts the
+number of different recipients that the client has sent messages to in the
+last time period. That is, if the client repeatedly sends messages to the same
+recipient, its measured rate is not increased. This option can only be used in
+&%acl_smtp_rcpt%&.
The &%per_cmd%& option causes Exim to recompute the rate every time the
-condition is processed. This can be used to limit the SMTP command rate.
-This command is essentially an alias of &%per_rcpt%& to make it clear
-that the effect is to limit the rate at which individual commands,
-rather than recipients, are accepted.
+condition is processed. This can be used to limit the rate of any SMTP
+command. If it is used in multiple ACLs it can limit the aggregate rate of
+multiple different commands.
+
+The &%count=%& option can be used to alter how much Exim adds to the client's
+measured rate. For example, the &%per_byte%& option is equivalent to
+&`per_mail/count=$message_size`&. If there is no &%count=%& option, Exim
+increases the measured rate by one (except for the &%per_rcpt%& option in ACLs
+other than &%acl_smtp_rcpt%&). The count does not have to be an integer.
+
+The &%unique=%& option is described in section &<<ratoptuniq>>& below.
+
+
+.section "Ratelimit update modes" "ratoptupd"
+.cindex "rate limiting" "reading data without updating"
+You can specify one of three options with the &%ratelimit%& condition to
+control when its database is updated. This section describes the &%readonly%&
+mode, and the next section describes the &%strict%& and &%leaky%& modes.
-.section "Ratelimit options for handling fast clients" "ratophanfas"
+If the &%ratelimit%& condition is used in &%readonly%& mode, Exim looks up a
+previously-computed rate to check against the limit.
+
+For example, you can test the client's sending rate and deny it access (when
+it is too fast) in the connect ACL. If the client passes this check then it
+can go on to send a message, in which case its recorded rate will be updated
+in the MAIL ACL. Subsequent connections from the same client will check this
+new rate.
+.code
+acl_check_connect:
+ deny ratelimit = 100 / 5m / readonly
+ log_message = RATE CHECK: $sender_rate/$sender_rate_period \
+ (max $sender_rate_limit)
+# ...
+acl_check_mail:
+ warn ratelimit = 100 / 5m / strict
+ log_message = RATE UPDATE: $sender_rate/$sender_rate_period \
+ (max $sender_rate_limit)
+.endd
+
+If Exim encounters multiple &%ratelimit%& conditions with the same key when
+processing a message then it may increase the client's measured rate more than
+it should. For example, this will happen if you check the &%per_rcpt%& option
+in both &%acl_smtp_rcpt%& and &%acl_smtp_data%&. However it's OK to check the
+same &%ratelimit%& condition multiple times in the same ACL. You can avoid any
+multiple update problems by using the &%readonly%& option on later ratelimit
+checks.
+
+The &%per_*%& options described above do not make sense in some ACLs. If you
+use a &%per_*%& option in an ACL where it is not normally permitted then the
+update mode defaults to &%readonly%& and you cannot specify the &%strict%& or
+&%leaky%& modes. In other ACLs the default update mode is &%leaky%& (see the
+next section) so you must specify the &%readonly%& option explicitly.
+
+
+.section "Ratelimit options for handling fast clients" "ratoptfast"
+.cindex "rate limiting" "strict and leaky modes"
If a client's average rate is greater than the maximum, the rate limiting
engine can react in two possible ways, depending on the presence of the
-&%strict%& or &%leaky%& options. This is independent of the other
+&%strict%& or &%leaky%& update modes. This is independent of the other
counter-measures (such as rejecting the message) that may be specified by the
-rest of the ACL. The default mode is leaky, which avoids a sender's
-over-aggressive retry rate preventing it from getting any email through.
+rest of the ACL.
-The &%strict%& option means that the client's recorded rate is always
-updated. The effect of this is that Exim measures the client's average rate
-of attempts to send email, which can be much higher than the maximum it is
-actually allowed. If the client is over the limit it may be subjected to
-counter-measures by the ACL until it slows down below the maximum rate. If
-the client stops attempting to send email for the time specified in the &'p'&
-parameter then its computed rate will decay exponentially to 37% of its peak
-value. You can work out the time (the number of smoothing periods) that a
-client is subjected to counter-measures after an over-limit burst with this
-formula:
-.code
- ln(peakrate/maxrate)
-.endd
The &%leaky%& (default) option means that the client's recorded rate is not
updated if it is above the limit. The effect of this is that Exim measures the
client's average rate of successfully sent email, which cannot be greater than
counter-measures (as specified in the ACL), but it will still be able to send
email at the configured maximum rate, whatever the rate of its attempts. This
is generally the better choice if you have clients that retry automatically.
+For example, it does not prevent a sender with an over-aggressive retry rate
+from getting any email through.
+
+The &%strict%& option means that the client's recorded rate is always
+updated. The effect of this is that Exim measures the client's average rate
+of attempts to send email, which can be much higher than the maximum it is
+actually allowed. If the client is over the limit it may be subjected to
+counter-measures by the ACL. It must slow down and allow sufficient time to
+pass that its computed rate falls below the maximum before it can send email
+again. The time (the number of smoothing periods) it must wait and not
+attempt to send mail can be calculated with this formula:
+.code
+ ln(peakrate/maxrate)
+.endd
+
+
+.section "Limiting the rate of different events" "ratoptuniq"
+.cindex "rate limiting" "counting unique events"
+The &%ratelimit%& &%unique=%& option controls a mechanism for counting the
+rate of different events. For example, the &%per_addr%& option uses this
+mechanism to count the number of different recipients that the client has
+sent messages to in the last time period; it is equivalent to
+&`per_rcpt/unique=$local_part@$domain`&. You could use this feature to
+measure the rate that a client uses different sender addresses with the
+options &`per_mail/unique=$sender_address`&.
+
+For each &%ratelimit%& key Exim stores the set of &%unique=%& values that it
+has seen for that key. The whole set is thrown away when it is older than the
+rate smoothing period &'p'&, so each different event is counted at most once
+per period. In the &%leaky%& update mode, an event that causes the client to
+go over the limit is not added to the set, in the same way that the client's
+recorded rate is not updated in the same situation.
+
+When you combine the &%unique=%& and &%readonly%& options, the specific
+&%unique=%& value is ignored, and Exim just retrieves the client's stored
+rate.
+
+The &%unique=%& mechanism needs more space in the ratelimit database than the
+other &%ratelimit%& options in order to store the event set. The number of
+unique values is potentially as large as the rate limit, so the extra space
+required increases with larger limits.
+
+The uniqueification is not perfect: there is a small probability that Exim
+will think a new event has happened before. If the sender's rate is less than
+the limit, Exim should be more than 99.9% correct. However in &%strict%& mode
+the measured rate can go above the limit, in which case Exim may under-count
+events by a significant margin. Fortunately, if the rate is high enough (2.7
+times the limit) that the false positive rate goes above 9%, then Exim will
+throw away the over-full event set before the measured rate falls below the
+limit. Therefore the only harm should be that exceptionally high sending rates
+are logged incorrectly; any countermeasures you configure will be as effective
+as intended.
+
.section "Using rate limiting" "useratlim"
Exim's other ACL facilities are used to define what counter-measures are taken
hints, the callout cache, and ratelimit data).
-.section "Reading ratelimit data without updating" "rearatdat"
-.cindex "rate limitint" "reading data without updating"
-If the &%noupdate%& option is present on a &%ratelimit%& ACL condition, Exim
-computes the rate and checks the limit as normal, but it does not update the
-saved data. This means that, in relevant ACLs, it is possible to lookup the
-existence of a specified (or auto-generated) ratelimit key without incrementing
-the ratelimit counter for that key. In order for this to be useful, another ACL
-entry must set the rate for the same key (otherwise it will always be zero).
-For example:
-.code
-acl_check_connect:
- deny ratelimit = 100 / 5m / strict / per_cmd / noupdate
- log_message = RATE: $sender_rate/$sender_rate_period \
- (max $sender_rate_limit)
-.endd
-.display
-&'... some other logic and tests...'&
-.endd
-.code
-acl_check_mail:
- warn ratelimit = 100 / 5m / strict / per_cmd
- condition = ${if le{$sender_rate}{$sender_rate_limit}}
- logwrite = RATE UPDATE: $sender_rate/$sender_rate_period \
- (max $sender_rate_limit)
-.endd
-In this example, the rate is tested and used to deny access (when it is too
-high) in the connect ACL, but the actual computation of the remembered rate
-happens later, on a per-command basis, in another ACL.
-
-
.section "Address verification" "SECTaddressverification"
.cindex "verifying address" "options for"
specialized interfaces for &"daemon"& type virus scanners, which are resident
in memory and thus are much faster.
-.new
+
.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
.endd
If the value of &%av_scanner%& starts with a dollar character, it is expanded
before use. The following scanner types are supported in this release:
-.wen
+
.vlist
.vitem &%aveserver%&
.cindex "virus scanners" "Kaspersky"
av_scanner = aveserver:/var/run/aveserver
.endd
-.new
+
.vitem &%clamd%&
.cindex "virus scanners" "clamd"
This daemon-type scanner is GPL and free. You can get it at
you be running a version of ClamAV prior to 0.95.
If the option is unset, the default is &_/tmp/clamd_&. Thanks to David Saez for
contributing the code for this scanner.
-.wen
+
.vitem &%cmdline%&
.cindex "virus scanners" "command line interface"
This is the keyword for the generic command line scanner interface. It can be
use the &%demime%& condition (see section &<<SECTdemimecond>>&) before the
&%malware%& condition.
-.new
Beware the interaction of Exim's &%message_size_limit%& with any size limits
imposed by your anti-virus scanner.
-.wen
Here is a very simple scanning example:
.code
&%spam%& condition for its side effects (see the variables below), you can make
it always return &"true"& by appending &`:true`& to the username.
-.new
.cindex "spam scanning" "returned variables"
When the &%spam%& condition is run, it sets up a number of expansion
variables. These variables are saved with the received message, thus they are
available for use at delivery time.
-.wen
.vlist
.vitem &$spam_score$&
The spam score of the message, for example &"3.4"& or &"30.5"&. This is useful
for inclusion in log or reject messages.
-.new
.vitem &$spam_score_int$&
The spam score of the message, multiplied by ten, as an integer value. For
example &"34"& or &"305"&. It may appear to disagree with &$spam_score$&
because &$spam_score$& is rounded and &$spam_score_int$& is truncated.
The integer value is useful for numeric comparisons in conditions.
-.wen
.vitem &$spam_bar$&
A string consisting of a number of &"+"& or &"-"& characters, representing the
and EHLO act as RSET; VRFY, EXPN, ETRN and HELP, act
as NOOP; QUIT quits.
-.new
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.
-.wen
+
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
standard output in a stylized way that the calling program should be able to
If you do not specify anything at build time or run time, that is where the
logs are written.
-.new
A log file path may also contain &`%D`& or &`%M`& if datestamped log file names
are in use &-- see section &<<SECTdatlogfil>>& below.
-.wen
Here are some examples of possible settings:
.display
-.new
.section "Datestamped log files" "SECTdatlogfil"
.cindex "log" "datestamped files"
Instead of cycling the main and reject log files by renaming them
/var/spool/exim/log/paniclog
/var/log/exim/panic
.endd
-.wen
.section "Logging to syslog" "SECID249"
&_Local/Makefile_&, Exim ignores &%-C%& and proceeds as usual.) There is no
default setting for &%ALT_CONFIG_PREFIX%&.
-.new
If the permitted configuration files are confined to a directory to
which only root has access, this guards against someone who has broken
into the Exim account from running a privileged Exim with an arbitrary
to the list. The default setting is &"root"&; this prevents a non-root user who
is permitted to modify the runtime file from using Exim as a way to get root.
.endlist
-.wen
After a new Exim process has interpreted its command line options, it changes
uid and gid in the following cases:
-.new
.ilist
.oindex "&%-C%&"
.oindex "&%-D%&"
For a daemon, queue runner, delivery, or address testing process, the uid
remains as root at this stage, but the gid is changed to the Exim group.
.endlist
-.wen
+
The processes that initially retain root privilege behave as follows:
.ilist
-.new
.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.
-.wen
.section "Use of sprintf()" "SECID279"
Since version 4.70, DKIM support is compiled into Exim by default. It can be
disabled by setting DISABLE_DKIM=yes in Local/Makefile.
-.new
Exim's DKIM implementation allows to
.olist
Sign outgoing messages: This function is implemented in the SMTP transport.
ACL (acl_smtp_dkim), which can be called several times per message, with
different signature contexts.
.endlist
-.wen
+
In typical Exim style, the verification implementation does not include any
default "policy". Instead it enables you to build your own policy using
Exim's standard controls.
Signing is implemented by setting private options on the SMTP transport.
These options take (expandable) strings as arguments.
-.new
.option dkim_domain smtp string&!! unset
MANDATORY:
The domain you want to sign with. The result of this expanded
list of header names. Headers with these names will be included in the message
signature. When unspecified, the header names recommended in RFC4871 will be
used.
-.wen
+
.section "Verifying DKIM signatures in incoming mail" "SECID514"
.cindex "DKIM" "verification"
&%dkim_verify_signers%&, and a global expansion variable
&%$dkim_signers%& exist.
-.new
The global option &%dkim_verify_signers%& can be set to a colon-separated
list of DKIM domains or identities for which the ACL &%acl_smtp_dkim%& is
called. It is expanded when the message has been received. At this point,
.code
dkim_verify_signers = $sender_address_domain:$dkim_signers
.endd
-.wen
+
If a domain or identity is listed several times in the (expanded) value of
&%dkim_verify_signers%&, the ACL is only called once for that domain or identity.
Inside the &%acl_smtp_dkim%&, the following expansion variables are
available (from most to least important):
-.new
+
.vlist
.vitem &%$dkim_cur_signer%&
The signer that is being evaluated in this ACL run. This can be a domain or
.vitem &%$dkim_key_notes%&
Notes from the key record (tag n=).
.endlist
-.wen
+
In addition, two ACL conditions are provided:
-.new
.vlist
.vitem &%dkim_signers%&
ACL condition that checks a colon-separated list of domains or identities
for a match against the domain or identity that the ACL is currently verifying
(reflected by &%$dkim_cur_signer%&). This is typically used to restrict an ACL
verb to a group of domains or identities. For example:
-.wen
+
.code
# Warn when message apparently from GMail has no signature at all
warn log_message = GMail sender without DKIM signature
git://git.exim.org / exim.git / blobdiff