[Chapter 1] 1.2 Command-Line Switches
Author: Bryan Costales & Eric Allman
Date: 1999-02-04T00:04:13Z

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| Chapter 1 How to Run |

## 1.2 Command-Line Switches

-B `7bit`

  Causes sendmail to clear the high-bit of every incoming byte, or `8bitmime`, which causes sendmail to preserve the high-bit (see §36.7.1).

-ba

  Uses ARPAnet/Grey-Book protocols to transfer mail (see §36.7.3).

-bD

  Runs as a daemon (just as with -bd below), but doesn't fork and doesn't detach from the controlling terminal (see §36.7.4).

-bd

  Forks, detaches from the controlling terminal, and runs as a daemon, listening for incoming SMTP connections and handling them as they arrive (see §36.7.5).

-bH

  Purges (zeroes) persistent host status information (see §36.7.6).

-bh

  Prints persistent host status information (see §36.7.7).

-bi

  Initializes the aliases(5) databases (see §24.5.1).

-bm

  (The default) causes sendmail to read a message from its standard input and to send the read message (see §36.7.9).

-bp

  Prints the contents of the queue (see §23.4).

-bs

  Runs SMTP on standard I/O (see §36.7.11).

-bt

  Runs in rule-testing mode (see 38.1).

-bv root bob

  Verifies the addresses root and bob (see §36.7.13).

-C /tmp/test.cf

  Uses /tmp/test.cf as its configuration file (see §36.7.15).

-c

  Sets the `HoldExpensive` option to true (see §34.8.29).

-d0.4

  Debugging mode to facility 0, level 4 (see §37.1).

-F 'Jolly Roger'

  Sets the sender's full name to Jolly Roger (see §36.7.20).

-f news@our.domain

  Sets sender's address to news@our.domain (see §36.7.21).

-h 20

  Sets the minimum hop count to 20 (see §36.7.22).

-i

  Sets the `IgnoreDots` option to true (see §36.7.24).

-MrUUCP

  Gives the macro $r the value UUCP (see §31.2).

-m

  Sets the `MeToo` option to true (see §34.8.39).

-N `never`

  Says to never return DSN NOTIFY information when a message bounces (see §36.7.28). Can also be -N`success,failure,delay` to give notification on successful delivery, failed delivery, or delayed delivery.

-n

  Suppresses aliasing (see §24.6).

-OMaxQueueRunSize=100

  Sets the `MaxQueueRunSize` option to 100 (see §34.1.2).

-oQ/tmp

  Sets the `QueueDirectory` option to /tmp (see §34.1.1).

-pUUCP:sonya

  Sets the protocol stored in the $r macro to UUCP and the host stored in the $s macro to sonya (see §36.7.32).

-q30m

  Runs sendmail in the background, waking up once every 30 minutes to process the queue (see §23.6.1).

-qR@aol.com

  Processes the queue once, delivering to all recipients in any queued message that contains at least one recipient at aol.com (see §23.6.2.3).

-R `hdrs`

  Bounces only the headers of a message. -R`full` bounces headers and body (see §36.7.34).

-r

  Is a (deprecated) synonym for -f.

-s

  Sets the `SaveFromLine` option to true (deprecated, see §34.8.59).

-T 5d

  Sets the `Timeout.queuereturn` option to 5 days (see §34.8.52).

-t

  Gathers the list of recipients from the message's headers (see §36.7.38).

-U

  Makes this the initial MUA to MTA submission (see §36.7.39).

-V cookie9167B5AS34

  Sets the DSN ENVID string to cookie9167B5AS34 (see §36.7.40).

-v

  Runs in verbose mode (see §36.7.41).

-X /var/tmp/smtp.trace

  Logs both sides of all SMTP transactions to the /var/tmp/smtp.trace file (see §26.4).

1.1 Alternative Names for sendmail |  | 1.3 Some Handy Debugging Switches