redhat man page for postfix

POSTFIX(1)						      General Commands Manual							POSTFIX(1)

NAME
       postfix - Postfix control program

SYNOPSIS
       postfix [-c config_dir] [-D] [-v] command

DESCRIPTION
       This command is reserved for the super-user. To submit mail, use the Postfix sendmail command.

       The  postfix command controls the operation of the Postfix mail system: start or stop the master daemon, do a health check, and other main-
       tenance.

       The postfix command sets up a standardized environment and runs the postfix-script shell script to do the actual work.

       The following commands are implemented:

       check  Validate the Postfix mail system configuration. Warn about bad directory/file ownership or permissions, and create missing  directo-
	      ries.

       start  Start the Postfix mail system. This also runs the configuration check described above.

       stop   Stop the Postfix mail system in an orderly fashion. Running processes are allowed to terminate at their earliest convenience.

	      Note:  in  order	to refresh the Postfix mail system after a configuration change, do not use the start and stop commands in succes-
	      sion. Use the reload command instead.

       abort  Stop the Postfix mail system abruptly. Running processes are signaled to stop immediately.

       flush  Force delivery: attempt to deliver every message in the deferred mail queue. Normally, attempts to deliver delayed  mail	happen	at
	      regular intervals, the interval doubling after each failed attempt.

       reload Re-read configuration files. Running processes terminate at their earliest convenience.

       The following options are implemented:

       -c config_dir
	      Read  the main.cf and master.cf configuration files in the named directory instead of the default configuration directory.  Use this
	      to distinguish between multiple Postfix instances on the same host.

       -D (with postfix start only)
	      Run each Postfix daemon under control of a debugger as specified via the debugger_command configuration parameter.

       -v     Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple -v options make the software increasingly verbose.

ENVIRONMENT
       The postfix command sets the following environment variables:

       MAIL_CONFIG
	      Directory with Postfix configuration files.

       MAIL_VERBOSE
	      This is set when the -v command-line option is present.

       MAIL_DEBUG
	      This is set when the -D command-line option is present.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
       The following main.cf configuration parameters are made available as process environment variables with the same names:

       command_directory
	      Directory with Postfix administrative commands.

       daemon_directory
	      Directory with Postfix daemon programs.

       config_directory
	      Directory with Postfix configuration files and with administrative shell scripts.

       queue_directory
	      The directory with Postfix queue files, with local inter-process communication endpoints, and with files needed for daemon  programs
	      that run in the optional chrooted environment.

       mail_owner
	      The owner of Postfix queue files and of most Postfix processes.

       setgid_group
	      The group for mail submission and queue management commands.

       sendmail_path
	      The full pathname for the Postfix sendmail command.

       newaliases_path
	      The full pathname for the Postfix newaliases command.

       mailq_path
	      The full pathname for the Postfix mailq command.

       manpage_directory
	      The directory for the Postfix on-line manual pages.

       sample_directory
	      The directory for the Postfix sample configuration files.

       readme_directory
	      The directory for the Postfix README files.

Other configuration parameters
       import_environment
	      List of names of environment parameters that can be imported from non-Postfix processes.

FILES
       $config_directory/postfix-script, administrative commands
       $config_directory/main.cf, configuration parameters
       $config_directory/master.cf, Postfix daemon processes

SEE ALSO
       master(8) Postfix master program

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

																	POSTFIX(1)