postalias.1   [plain text]


.TH POSTALIAS 1 
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.SH NAME
postalias
\-
Postfix alias database maintenance
.SH SYNOPSIS
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\fBpostalias\fR [\fB-Nfinorvw\fR] [\fB-c \fIconfig_dir\fR]
[\fB-d \fIkey\fR] [\fB-q \fIkey\fR]
[\fIfile_type\fR:]\fIfile_name\fR ...
.SH DESCRIPTION
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The \fBpostalias\fR command creates or queries one or more Postfix
alias databases, or updates an existing one. The input and output
file formats are expected to be compatible with Sendmail version 8,
and are expected to be suitable for the use as NIS alias maps.

If the result files do not exist they will be created with the
same group and other read permissions as the source file.

While a database update is in progress, signal delivery is
postponed, and an exclusive, advisory, lock is placed on the
entire database, in order to avoid surprises in spectator
programs.

Options:
.IP \fB-N\fR
Include the terminating null character that terminates lookup keys
and values. By default, Postfix does whatever is the default for
the host operating system.
.IP "\fB-c \fIconfig_dir\fR"
Read the \fBmain.cf\fR configuration file in the named directory
instead of the default configuration directory.
.IP "\fB-d \fIkey\fR"
Search the specified maps for \fIkey\fR and remove one entry per map.
The exit status is zero when the requested information was found.

If a key value of \fB-\fR is specified, the program reads key
values from the standard input stream. The exit status is zero
when at least one of the requested keys was found.
.IP \fB-f\fR
Do not fold the lookup key to lower case while creating or querying
a map.
.IP \fB-i\fR
Incremental mode. Read entries from standard input and do not
truncate an existing database. By default, \fBpostalias\fR creates
a new database from the entries in \fIfile_name\fR.
.IP \fB-n\fR
Don't include the terminating null character that terminates lookup
keys and values. By default, Postfix does whatever is the default for
the host operating system.
.IP \fB-o\fR
Do not release root privileges when processing a non-root
input file. By default, \fBpostalias\fR drops root privileges
and runs as the source file owner instead.
.IP "\fB-q \fIkey\fR"
Search the specified maps for \fIkey\fR and print the first value
found on the standard output stream. The exit status is zero
when the requested information was found.

If a key value of \fB-\fR is specified, the program reads key
values from the standard input stream and prints one line of
\fIkey: value\fR output for each key that was found. The exit
status is zero when at least one of the requested keys was found.
.IP \fB-r\fR
When updating a table, do not warn about duplicate entries; silently
replace them.
.IP \fB-v\fR
Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple \fB-v\fR
options make the software increasingly verbose.
.IP \fB-w\fR
When updating a table, do not warn about duplicate entries; silently
ignore them.
.PP
Arguments:
.IP \fIfile_type\fR
The type of database to be produced.
.RS
.IP \fBbtree\fR
The output is a btree file, named \fIfile_name\fB.db\fR.
This is available only on systems with support for \fBdb\fR databases.
.IP \fBdbm\fR
The output consists of two files, named \fIfile_name\fB.pag\fR and
\fIfile_name\fB.dir\fR.
This is available only on systems with support for \fBdbm\fR databases.
.IP \fBhash\fR
The output is a hashed file, named \fIfile_name\fB.db\fR.
This is available only on systems with support for \fBdb\fR databases.
.PP
Use the command \fBpostconf -m\fR to find out what types of database
your Postfix installation can support.

When no \fIfile_type\fR is specified, the software uses the database
type specified via the \fBdefault_database_type\fR configuration
parameter.
The default value for this parameter depends on the host environment.
.RE
.IP \fIfile_name\fR
The name of the alias database source file when creating a database.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
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Problems are logged to the standard error stream. No output means
no problems were detected. Duplicate entries are skipped and are
flagged with a warning.

\fBpostalias\fR terminates with zero exit status in case of success
(including successful \fBpostalias -q\fR lookup) and terminates
with non-zero exit status in case of failure.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
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.IP \fBMAIL_CONFIG\fR
Directory with Postfix configuration files.
.IP \fBMAIL_VERBOSE\fR
Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes.
.SH CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
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The following \fBmain.cf\fR parameters are especially relevant to
this program. See the Postfix \fBmain.cf\fR file for syntax details
and for default values.
.IP \fBdefault_database_type\fR
Default database type. On many UNIX systems, the default type
is either \fBdbm\fR or \fBhash\fR.
.IP \fBberkeley_db_create_buffer_size\fR
Amount of buffer memory to be used when creating a Berkeley DB
\fBhash\fR or \fBbtree\fR lookup table.
.IP \fBberkeley_db_read_buffer_size\fR
Amount of buffer memory to be used when reading a Berkeley DB
\fBhash\fR or \fBbtree\fR lookup table.
.SH STANDARDS
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RFC 822 (ARPA Internet Text Messages)
.SH SEE ALSO
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aliases(5) format of alias database input file.
sendmail(1) mail posting and compatibility interface.
.SH LICENSE
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The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
.SH AUTHOR(S)
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Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA