NAME
error - Postfix error/retry mail delivery agent
SYNOPSIS
error [generic Postfix daemon options]
DESCRIPTION
The Postfix
error(8) delivery agent processes delivery requests from the
queue manager. Each request specifies a queue file, a sender address, the
reason for non-delivery (specified as the next-hop destination), and recipient
information. The reason may be prefixed with an RFC 3463-compatible detail
code; if none is specified a default 4.0.0 or 5.0.0 code is used instead. This
program expects to be run from the
master(8) process manager.
Depending on the service name in master.cf,
error or
retry, the
server bounces or defers all recipients in the delivery request using the
"next-hop" information as the reason for non-delivery. The
retry service name is supported as of Postfix 2.4.
Delivery status reports are sent to the
bounce(8),
defer(8) or
trace(8) daemon as appropriate.
SECURITY
The
error(8) mailer is not security-sensitive. It does not talk to the
network, and can be run chrooted at fixed low privilege.
STANDARDS
RFC 3463 (Enhanced Status Codes)
DIAGNOSTICS
Problems and transactions are logged to
syslogd(8).
Depending on the setting of the
notify_classes parameter, the postmaster
is notified of bounces and of other trouble.
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
Changes to
main.cf are picked up automatically as
error(8)
processes run for only a limited amount of time. Use the command "
postfix reload" to speed up a change.
The text below provides only a parameter summary. See
postconf(5) for
more details including examples.
- 2bounce_notice_recipient (postmaster)
- The recipient of undeliverable mail that cannot be returned
to the sender.
- bounce_notice_recipient (postmaster)
- The recipient of postmaster notifications with the message
headers of mail that Postfix did not deliver and of SMTP conversation
transcripts of mail that Postfix did not receive.
- config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
- The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf
configuration files.
- daemon_timeout (18000s)
- How much time a Postfix daemon process may take to handle a
request before it is terminated by a built-in watchdog timer.
- delay_logging_resolution_limit (2)
- The maximal number of digits after the decimal point when
logging sub-second delay values.
- double_bounce_sender (double-bounce)
- The sender address of postmaster notifications that are
generated by the mail system.
- ipc_timeout (3600s)
- The time limit for sending or receiving information over an
internal communication channel.
- max_idle (100s)
- The maximum amount of time that an idle Postfix daemon
process waits for an incoming connection before terminating
voluntarily.
- max_use (100)
- The maximal number of incoming connections that a Postfix
daemon process will service before terminating voluntarily.
- notify_classes (resource, software)
- The list of error classes that are reported to the
postmaster.
- process_id (read-only)
- The process ID of a Postfix command or daemon process.
- process_name (read-only)
- The process name of a Postfix command or daemon
process.
- queue_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
- The location of the Postfix top-level queue directory.
- syslog_facility (mail)
- The syslog facility of Postfix logging.
- syslog_name (see 'postconf -d' output)
- The mail system name that is prepended to the process name
in syslog records, so that "smtpd" becomes, for example,
"postfix/smtpd".
SEE ALSO
qmgr(8), queue manager
bounce(8), delivery status reports
discard(8), Postfix discard delivery agent
postconf(5), configuration parameters
master(5), generic daemon options
master(8), process manager
syslogd(8), system logging
LICENSE
The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
AUTHOR(S)
Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
Wietse Venema
Google, Inc.
111 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10011, USA