defined. AAAA records (analogous to A records for IPv4) are in use, and are
currently seen as the mainstream. Another record type called A6 was proposed
as better than AAAA because it had more flexibility. However, it was felt to be
-over-complex, and its status was reduced to &"experimental"&. It is not known
-if anyone is actually using A6 records. Exim has support for A6 records, but
-this is included only if you set &`SUPPORT_A6=YES`& in &_Local/Makefile_&. The
-support has not been tested for some time.
+over-complex, and its status was reduced to &"experimental"&. Exim used to
+have a compile option for including A6 record support but this has now been
+withdrawn.
&`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, SPF, SRV, TLSA 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:
-.code
-${lookup dnsdb{ptr=192.168.4.5}{$value}fail}
-.endd
-If the data for a PTR record is not a syntactically valid IP address, it is not
-altered and nothing is added.
+The supported DNS record types are A, CNAME, MX, NS, PTR, SOA, SPF, SRV, TLSA
+and TXT, and, when Exim is compiled with IPv6 support, AAAA.
+If no type is given, TXT is assumed.
-For any record type, if multiple records are found (or, for A6 lookups, if a
-single record leads to multiple addresses), the data is returned as a
+For any record type, if multiple records are found, the data is returned as a
concatenation, with newline as the default separator. The order, of course,
depends on the DNS resolver. You can specify a different separator character
between multiple records by putting a right angle-bracket followed immediately
.endd
It is permitted to specify a space as the separator character. Further
white space is ignored.
+For lookup types that return multiple fields per record,
+an alternate field separator can be specified using a comma after the main
+separator character, followed immediately by the field separator.
+
+.cindex "PTR record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
+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:
+.code
+${lookup dnsdb{ptr=192.168.4.5}{$value}fail}
+.endd
+If the data for a PTR record is not a syntactically valid IP address, it is not
+altered and nothing is added.
.cindex "MX record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
.cindex "SRV record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
For an MX lookup, both the preference value and the host name are returned for
each record, separated by a space. For an SRV lookup, the priority, weight,
port, and host name are returned for each record, separated by spaces.
-An alternate field separator can be specified using a comma after the main
-separator character, followed immediately by the field separator.
+The field separator can be modified as above.
.cindex "TXT record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
.cindex "SPF 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
-character followed immediately by the TXT record item separator. To concatenate
-items without a separator, use a semicolon instead. For SPF records the
+unless a field separator is specified.
+To concatenate items without a separator, use a semicolon instead.
+For SPF records the
default behaviour is to concatenate multiple items without using a separator.
.code
${lookup dnsdb{>\n,: txt=a.b.example}}
It is permitted to specify a space as the separator character. Further
white space is ignored.
+.cindex "SOA record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
+For an SOA lookup, while no result is obtained the lookup is redone with
+successively more leading components dropped from the given domain.
+Only the primary-nameserver field is returned unless a field separator is
+specified.
+.code
+${lookup dnsdb{>:,; soa=a.b.example.com}}
+.endd
+
.section "Dnsdb lookup modifiers" "SECTdnsdb_mod"
.cindex "dnsdb modifiers"
.cindex "modifiers" "dnsdb"
See also the &$lookup_dnssec_authenticated$& variable.
+.cindex timeout "dns lookup"
+.cindex "DNS" timeout
+Timeout for the dnsdb lookup can be controlled by a retrans modifier.
+The form is &"retrans_VAL"& where VAL is an Exim time specification
+(eg &"5s"&).
+The default value is set by the main configuration option &%dns_retrans%&.
+
+Retries for the dnsdb lookup can be controlled by a retry modifier.
+The form if &"retry_VAL"& where VAL is an integer.
+The default count is set by the main configuration option &%dns_retry%&.
+
.section "Pseudo dnsdb record types" "SECID66"
.cindex "MX record" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
authorization required but absent, or &"?"& for unknown.
.cindex "A+" "in &(dnsdb)& lookup"
-The pseudo-type A+ performs an A6 lookup (if configured) followed by an AAAA
+The pseudo-type A+ performs an AAAA
and then an A lookup. All results are returned; defer processing
(see below) is handled separately for each lookup. Example:
.code
.vitem &*${sort{*&<&'string'&>&*}{*&<&'comparator'&>&*}{*&<&'extractor'&>&*}}*&
-.cindex sorting a list
+.cindex sorting "a list"
.cindex list sorting
+.cindex expansion "list sorting"
After expansion, <&'string'&> is interpreted as a list, colon-separated by
default, but the separator can be changed in the usual way.
The <&'comparator'&> argument is interpreted as the operator
It is only useful as the argument of a
&%certextract%& expansion item, &%md5%&, &%sha1%& or &%sha256%& operator,
or a &%def%& condition.
+If certificate verification fails it may refer to a failing chain element
+which is not the leaf.
.vitem &$tls_out_ourcert$&
.vindex "&$tls_out_ourcert$&"
outbound connection. It is only useful as the argument of a
&%certextract%& expansion item, &%md5%&, &%sha1%& or &%sha256%& operator,
or a &%def%& condition.
+If certificate verification fails it may refer to a failing chain element
+which is not the leaf.
.vitem &$tls_in_certificate_verified$&
.vindex "&$tls_in_certificate_verified$&"
connection, and Exim is configured to request a certificate from the client,
the value of the Distinguished Name of the certificate is made available in the
&$tls_in_peerdn$& during subsequent processing.
+If certificate verification fails it may refer to a failing chain element
+which is not the leaf.
The deprecated &$tls_peerdn$& variable refers to the inbound side
except when used in the context of an outbound SMTP delivery, when it refers to
connection, and Exim is configured to request a certificate from the server,
the value of the Distinguished Name of the certificate is made available in the
&$tls_out_peerdn$& during subsequent processing.
+If certificate verification fails it may refer to a failing chain element
+which is not the leaf.
.vitem &$tls_in_sni$&
.vindex "&$tls_in_sni$&"
.row &%message_logs%& "create per-message logs"
.row &%preserve_message_logs%& "after message completion"
.row &%process_log_path%& "for SIGUSR1 and &'exiwhat'&"
+.row &%slow_lookup_log%& "control logging of slow DNS lookups"
.row &%syslog_duplication%& "controls duplicate log lines on syslog"
.row &%syslog_facility%& "set syslog &""facility""& field"
.row &%syslog_processname%& "set syslog &""ident""& field"
.row &%acl_smtp_mail%& "ACL for MAIL"
.row &%acl_smtp_mailauth%& "ACL for AUTH on MAIL command"
.row &%acl_smtp_mime%& "ACL for MIME parts"
+.row &%acl_smtp_notquit%& "ACL for non-QUIT terminations"
.row &%acl_smtp_predata%& "ACL for start of data"
.row &%acl_smtp_quit%& "ACL for QUIT"
.row &%acl_smtp_rcpt%& "ACL for RCPT"
extension. It defines the ACL that is run for each MIME part in a message. See
section &<<SECTscanmimepart>>& for details.
+.option acl_smtp_notquit main string&!! unset
+.cindex "not-QUIT, ACL for"
+This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP session
+ends without a QUIT command being received.
+See chapter &<<CHAPACL>>& for further details.
+
.option acl_smtp_predata main string&!! unset
This option defines the ACL that is run when an SMTP DATA command is
received, before the message itself is received. See chapter &<<CHAPACL>>& for
.option dns_retrans main time 0s
.cindex "DNS" "resolver options"
+.cindex timeout "dns lookup"
+.cindex "DNS" timeout
The options &%dns_retrans%& and &%dns_retry%& can be used to set the
retransmission and retry parameters for DNS lookups. Values of zero (the
defaults) leave the system default settings unchanged. The first value is the
parameter values are available in the external resolver interface structure,
but nowhere does it seem to describe how they are used or what you might want
to set in them.
+See also the &%slow_lookup_log%& option.
.option dns_retry main integer 0
using TCP/IP), and the &%-bnq%& option was not set.
+.option slow_lookup_log main integer 0
+.cindex "logging" "slow lookups"
+.cindex "dns" "logging slow lookups"
+This option controls logging of slow lookups.
+If the value is nonzero it is taken as a number of milliseconds
+and lookups taking longer than this are logged.
+Currently this applies only to DNS lookups.
+
+
+
.option smtp_accept_keepalive main boolean true
.cindex "keepalive" "on incoming connection"
This option controls the setting of the SO_KEEPALIVE option on incoming
unless you really, really know what you are doing. See also the generic
transport option of the same name.
+.option dnssec_request_domains routers "domain list&!!" unset
+.cindex "MX record" "security"
+.cindex "DNSSEC" "MX lookup"
+.cindex "security" "MX lookup"
+.cindex "DNS" "DNSSEC"
+DNS lookups for domains matching &%dnssec_request_domains%& will be done with
+the dnssec request bit set.
+This applies to all of the SRV, MX, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
+
+.option dnssec_require_domains routers "domain list&!!" unset
+.cindex "MX record" "security"
+.cindex "DNSSEC" "MX lookup"
+.cindex "security" "MX lookup"
+.cindex "DNS" "DNSSEC"
+DNS lookups for domains matching &%dnssec_request_domains%& will be done with
+the dnssec request bit set. Any returns not having the Authenticated Data bit
+(AD bit) set wil be ignored and logged as a host-lookup failure.
+This applies to all of the SRV, MX, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
+
.option domains routers&!? "domain list&!!" unset
.cindex "router" "restricting to specific domains"
.option headers_add routers list&!! unset
.cindex "header lines" "adding"
.cindex "router" "adding header lines"
-This option specifies a list of text headers, newline-separated,
+This option specifies a list of text headers,
+.new
+newline-separated (by default, changeable in the usual way),
+.wen
that is associated with any addresses that are accepted by the router.
Each item is separately expanded, at routing time. However, this
option has no effect when an address is just being verified. The way in which
.option headers_remove routers list&!! unset
.cindex "header lines" "removing"
.cindex "router" "removing header lines"
-This option specifies a list of text headers, colon-separated,
+This option specifies a list of text headers,
+.new
+colon-separated (by default, changeable in the usual way),
+.wen
that is associated with any addresses that are accepted by the router.
Each item is separately expanded, at routing time. However, this
option has no effect when an address is just being verified. The way in which
an address; if such a router is expected to handle "all remaining non-local
domains", then it is important to set &%no_more%&.
+The router will defer rather than decline if the domain
+is found in the &%fail_defer_domains%& router option.
+
Reasons for a &(dnslookup)& router to decline currently include:
.ilist
The domain does not exist in DNS
-.option dnssec_request_domains dnslookup "domain list&!!" unset
-.cindex "MX record" "security"
-.cindex "DNSSEC" "MX lookup"
-.cindex "security" "MX lookup"
-.cindex "DNS" "DNSSEC"
-DNS lookups for domains matching &%dnssec_request_domains%& will be done with
-the dnssec request bit set.
-This applies to all of the SRV, MX A6, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
-
-
-
-.option dnssec_require_domains dnslookup "domain list&!!" unset
-.cindex "MX record" "security"
-.cindex "DNSSEC" "MX lookup"
-.cindex "security" "MX lookup"
-.cindex "DNS" "DNSSEC"
-DNS lookups for domains matching &%dnssec_request_domains%& will be done with
-the dnssec request bit set. Any returns not having the Authenticated Data bit
-(AD bit) set wil be ignored and logged as a host-lookup failure.
-This applies to all of the SRV, MX A6, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
+.option fail_defer_domains dnslookup "domain list&!!" unset
+.cindex "MX record" "not found"
+DNS lookups for domains matching &%fail_defer_domains%&
+which find no matching record will cause the router to defer
+rather than the default behaviour of decline.
+This maybe be useful for queueing messages for a newly created
+domain while the DNS configuration is not ready.
+However, it will result in any message with mistyped domains
+also being queued.
.option mx_domains dnslookup "domain list&!!" unset
.option headers_add transports list&!! unset
.cindex "header lines" "adding in transport"
.cindex "transport" "header lines; adding"
-This option specifies a list of text headers, newline-separated,
+This option specifies a list of text headers,
+.new
+newline-separated (by default, changeable in the usual way),
+.wen
which are (separately) expanded and added to the header
portion of a message as it is transported, as described in section
&<<SECTheadersaddrem>>&. Additional header lines can also be specified by
.option headers_remove transports list&!! unset
.cindex "header lines" "removing"
.cindex "transport" "header lines; removing"
-This option specifies a list of header names, colon-separated;
+This option specifies a list of header names,
+.new
+colon-separated (by default, changeable in the usual way);
+.wen
these headers are omitted from the message as it is transported, as described
in section &<<SECTheadersaddrem>>&. Header removal can also be specified by
routers.
.cindex "DNS" "DNSSEC"
DNS lookups for domains matching &%dnssec_request_domains%& will be done with
the dnssec request bit set.
-This applies to all of the SRV, MX A6, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
+This applies to all of the SRV, MX, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
DNS lookups for domains matching &%dnssec_request_domains%& will be done with
the dnssec request bit set. Any returns not having the Authenticated Data bit
(AD bit) set wil be ignored and logged as a host-lookup failure.
-This applies to all of the SRV, MX A6, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
+This applies to all of the SRV, MX, AAAA, A lookup sequence.
Exim will not try to start a TLS session when delivering to any host that
matches this list. See chapter &<<CHAPTLS>>& for details of TLS.
-.option hosts_verify_avoid_tls smtp "host list&!!" *
+.new
+.option hosts_verify_avoid_tls smtp "host list&!!" unset
.cindex "TLS" "avoiding for certain hosts"
Exim will not try to start a TLS session for a verify callout,
or when delivering in cutthrough mode,
to any host that matches this list.
-Note that the default is to not use TLS.
+.wen
.option hosts_max_try smtp integer 5
legitimate reasons for this (host died, network died), but if it repeats a lot
for the same host, it indicates something odd.
+.vitem &%lookup%&
+A DNS lookup for a host failed.
+Note that a &%dnslookup%& router will need to have matched
+its &%fail_defer_domains%& option for this retry type to be usable.
+Also note that a &%manualroute%& router will probably need
+its &%host_find_failed%& option set to &%defer%&.
+
.vitem &%refused_MX%&
A connection to a host obtained from an MX record was refused.
.cindex "QUIT, ACL for"
The ACL for the SMTP QUIT command is anomalous, in that the outcome of the ACL
does not affect the response code to QUIT, which is always 221. Thus, the ACL
-does not in fact control any access. For this reason, the only verbs that are
-permitted are &%accept%& and &%warn%&.
+does not in fact control any access. For this reason, it may only accept
+or warn as its final result.
This ACL can be used for tasks such as custom logging at the end of an SMTP
session. For example, you can use ACL variables in other ACLs to count
This daemon-type scanner is GPL and free. You can get it at
&url(http://www.clamav.net/). Some older versions of clamd do not seem to
unpack MIME containers, so it used to be recommended to unpack MIME attachments
-in the MIME ACL. This no longer believed to be necessary. One option is
-required: either the path and name of a UNIX socket file, or a hostname or IP
-number, and a port, separated by space, as in the second of these examples:
+in the MIME ACL. This is no longer believed to be necessary.
+
+The options are a list of server specifiers, which may be
+a UNIX socket specification,
+a TCP socket specification,
+or a (global) option.
+
+A socket specification consists of a space-separated list.
+For a Unix socket the first element is a full path for the socket,
+for a TCP socket the first element is the IP address
+and the second a port number,
+Any further elements are per-server (non-global) options.
+These per-server options are supported:
+.code
+retry=<timespec> Retry on connect fail
+.endd
+
+The &`retry`& option specifies a time after which a single retry for
+a failed connect is made. The default is to not retry.
+
+If a Unix socket file is specified, only one server is supported.
+
+Examples:
.code
av_scanner = clamd:/opt/clamd/socket
av_scanner = clamd:192.0.2.3 1234
av_scanner = clamd:192.0.2.3 1234:local
+av_scanner = clamd:192.0.2.3 1234 retry=10s
av_scanner = clamd:192.0.2.3 1234 : 192.0.2.4 1234
.endd
-If the value of av_scanner points to a UNIX socket file or contains the local
-keyword, then the ClamAV interface will pass a filename containing the data
+If the value of av_scanner points to a UNIX socket file or contains the
+&`local`&
+option, then the ClamAV interface will pass a filename containing the data
to be scanned, which will should normally result in less I/O happening and be
more efficient. Normally in the TCP case, the data is streamed to ClamAV as
Exim does not assume that there is a common filesystem with the remote host.
The &%spam%& ACL condition calls SpamAssassin's &%spamd%& daemon to get a spam
score and a report for the message.
.new
-Support is also provided for Rspamd (which can speak SpamAssassin's protocol but
-provides reduced functionality when used in this mode).
+Support is also provided for Rspamd.
For more information about installation and configuration of SpamAssassin or
Rspamd refer to their respective websites at
are options.
The supported option are:
.code
-variant=rspamd Use Rspamd rather than SpamAssassin protocol
-time=<start>-<end> Use only between these times of day
-tmo=<timespec> Connection time limit.
+pri=<priority> Selection priority
weight=<value> Selection bias
-backup Use only if all non-backup servers fail
+time=<start>-<end> Use only between these times of day
+retry=<timespec> Retry on connect fail
+tmo=<timespec> Connection time limit
+variant=rspamd Use Rspamd rather than SpamAssassin protocol
.endd
+The &`pri`& option specifies a priority for the server within the list,
+higher values being tried first.
+The deafult priority is 1.
+
+The &`weight`& option specifies a selection bias.
+Within a priority set
+servers are queried in a random fashion, weighted by this value.
+The default value for selection bias is 1.
+
Time specifications for the &`time`& option are <hour>.<minute>.<second>
in the local time zone; each element being one or more digits.
Either the seconds or both minutes and seconds, plus the leading &`.`&
characters, may be omitted and will be taken as zero.
-Timeout specifications for the &`tmo`& option are the usual Exim
-time interval standard, eg. &`20s`& or &`1m`&.
+Timeout specifications for the &`retry`& and &`tmo`& options
+are the usual Exim time interval standard, eg. &`20s`& or &`1m`&.
+
+The &`tmo`& option specifies an overall timeout for communication.
The default value is two minutes.
-Servers are queried in a random fashion, weighted by the selection bias.
-The default value for selection bias is 1.
+The &`retry`& option specifies a time after which a single retry for
+a failed connect is made.
+The default is to not retry.
.wen
The &%spamd_address%& variable is expanded before use if it starts with
&%spam%& condition has to be called from a DATA ACL in order to be able to
read the contents of the message, the variables &$local_part$& and &$domain$&
are not set.
+Careful enforcement of single-recipient messages
+(eg. by responding with defer in the recipient ACL for all recipients
+after the first),
+or the use of PRDR,
+.cindex "PRDR" "use for per-user SpamAssassin profiles"
+are needed to use this feature.
The right-hand side of the &%spam%& condition is expanded before being used, so
you can put lookups or conditions there. When the right-hand side evaluates to
This is perhaps the most important of the MIME variables. It contains a
proposed filename for an attachment, if one was found in either the
&'Content-Type:'& or &'Content-Disposition:'& headers. The filename will be
-RFC2047 decoded, but no additional sanity checks are done. If no filename was
+RFC2047 or RFC2231 decoded, but no additional sanity checks are done.
+ If no filename was
found, this variable contains the empty string.
.vitem &$mime_is_coverletter$&
If the location of a &'zcat'& command is known from the definition of
ZCAT_COMMAND in &_Local/Makefile_&, &'exigrep'& automatically passes any file
whose name ends in COMPRESS_SUFFIX through &'zcat'& as it searches it.
+If the ZCAT_COMMAND is not executable, &'exigrep'& tries to use
+autodetection of some well known compression extensions.
.section "Selecting messages by various criteria (exipick)" "SECTexipick"