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POSTSUPER(1)                                         POSTSUPER(1)

<b>NAME</b>
       postsuper - Postfix superintendent

<b>SYNOPSIS</b>
       <b>postsuper</b> [<b>-psv</b>] [<b>-c</b> <i>config_dir</i>] [<b>-d</b> <i>queue_id</i>] [<b>-h</b>
       <i>queue_id</i>] [<b>-H</b> <i>queue_id</i>] [<b>-r</b> <i>queue_id</i>] [<i>directory</i> <i>...</i>]

<b>DESCRIPTION</b>
       The <b>postsuper</b> command does maintenance jobs on the Postfix
       queue.  Use of the command is restricted to the superuser.
       See the <b>postqueue</b> command for  unprivileged  queue  opera-
       tions such as listing or flushing the mail queue.

       By  default,  <b>postsuper</b>  performs the operations requested
       with the <b>-s</b> and <b>-p</b> command-line  options  on  all  Postfix
       queue directories - this includes the <b>incoming</b>, <b>active</b> and
       <b>deferred</b> directories with mail files and the <b>bounce</b>, <b>defer</b>
       and <b>flush</b> directories with log files.

       Options:

       <b>-c</b> <i>config_dir</i>
              The  <b>main.cf</b>  configuration  file  is  in the named
              directory  instead  of  the  default  configuration
              directory.  See  also  the  MAIL_CONFIG environment
              setting below.

       <b>-d</b> <i>queue_id</i>
              Delete one message with the named queue ID from the
              named   mail  queue(s)  (default:  <b>hold</b>,  <b>incoming</b>,
              <b>active</b> and <b>deferred</b>).  If a <i>queue_id</i> of <b>-</b> is speci-
              fied,  the  program  reads  queue IDs from standard
              input. For example, to delete all mail from  or  to
              <b>user@example.com</b>:

              mailq | tail +2 | awk  'BEGIN { RS = "" } \
                  / user@example\.com$/ { print $1 } \
              ' | tr -d '*!' | postsuper -d -

              Specify <b>-d</b> <b>ALL</b> to remove all messages; for example,
              specify <b>-d</b> <b>ALL</b>  <b>deferred</b>  to  delete  mail  in  the
              <b>deferred</b>  queue.  As a safety measure, the word <b>ALL</b>
              must be specified in upper case.

              <b>Postfix</b> <b>queue</b> <b>IDs</b> <b>are</b>  <b>reused.</b>   <b>There</b>  <b>is</b>  <b>a</b>  <b>very</b>
              <b>small</b>  <b>possibility</b> <b>that</b> <b>postsuper</b> <b>deletes</b> <b>the</b> <b>wrong</b>
              <b>message</b> <b>file</b> <b>when</b> <b>it</b> <b>is</b> <b>executed</b> <b>while</b> <b>the</b>  <b>Postfix</b>
              <b>mail</b> <b>system</b> <b>is</b> <b>running.</b>

              The scenario is as follows:

              1)     The  Postfix  queue manager deletes the mes-
                     sage that <b>postsuper</b> is supposed  to  delete,
                     because  Postfix  is  finished with the mes-
                     sage.

              2)     New mail arrives, and  the  new  message  is
                     given  the same queue ID as the message that
                     <b>postsuper</b> is supposed to delete.  The proba-
                     bility  for  reusing  a  deleted queue ID is
                     about 1 in 2**15 (the  number  of  different
                     microsecond values that the system clock can
                     distinguish within a second).

              3)     <b>postsuper</b> deletes the new  message,  instead
                     of  the  old  message  that  it  should have
                     deleted.

       <b>-h</b> <i>queue_id</i>
              Put mail "on hold" so that no attempt  is  made  to
              deliver  it.  Move one message with the named queue
              ID from the named mail queue(s) (default: <b>incoming</b>,
              <b>active</b>  and  <b>deferred</b>)  to  the  <b>hold</b>  queue.  If a
              <i>queue_id</i> of <b>-</b> is specified, the program reads queue
              IDs from standard input.

              Specify  <b>-h</b>  <b>ALL</b> to hold all messages; for example,
              specify  <b>-h</b>  <b>ALL</b>  <b>deferred</b>  to  hold  mail  in  the
              <b>deferred</b>  queue.  As a safety measure, the word <b>ALL</b>
              must be specified in upper case.

              Note: mail that is put "on hold"  will  not  expire
              when  its  time  in  the  queue  exceeds  the <b>maxi-</b>
              <b>mal</b><i>_</i><b>queue</b><i>_</i><b>lifetime</b> setting.

       <b>-H</b> <i>queue_id</i>
              Release mail that was put "on hold".  Move one mes-
              sage  with  the  named queue ID from the named mail
              queue(s) (default: <b>hold</b>) to the <b>deferred</b> queue.  If
              a  <i>queue_id</i>  of  <b>-</b>  is specified, the program reads
              queue IDs from standard input.

              Specify <b>-H</b> <b>ALL</b> to release  all  mail  that  is  "on
              hold".   As  a safety measure, the word <b>ALL</b> must be
              specified in upper case.

       <b>-p</b>     Purge old temporary files that are left over  after
              system or software crashes.

       <b>-r</b> <i>queue_id</i>
              Requeue  the  message  with the named queue ID from
              the named mail queue(s) (default:  <b>hold</b>,  <b>incoming</b>,
              <b>active</b>  and  <b>deferred</b>).   To  requeue multiple mes-
              sages, specify multiple  <b>-r</b>  command-line  options.
              Alternatively, if a <i>queue_id</i> of <b>-</b> is specified, the
              program reads queue IDs from standard input.

              Specify <b>-r</b> <b>ALL</b> to requeue all messages. As a safety
              measure,  the  word  <b>ALL</b> must be specified in upper
              case.

              A requeued message is moved to the <b>maildrop</b>  queue,
              from  where  it is copied by the pickup daemon to a
              new file whose name is guaranteed to match the  new
              queue file inode number. The new queue file is sub-
              jected again to mail address rewriting and  substi-
              tution. This is useful when rewriting rules or vir-
              tual mappings have changed.

              Postfix queue IDs are  reused.   There  is  a  very
              small possibility that <b>postsuper</b> requeues the wrong
              message file when it is executed while the  Postfix
              mail system is running, but no harm should be done.

       <b>-s</b>     Structure check and structure repair.  It is highly
              recommended  to  perform this operation once before
              Postfix startup.

              <b>o</b>      Rename files whose name does not  match  the
                     message file inode number. This operation is
                     necessary after restoring a mail queue  from
                     a different machine, or from backup media.

              <b>o</b>      Move queue files that are in the wrong place
                     in the file system hierarchy and remove sub-
                     directories that are no longer needed.  File
                     position rearrangements are necessary  after
                     a  change  in  the  <b>hash</b><i>_</i><b>queue</b><i>_</i><b>names</b>  and/or
                     <b>hash</b><i>_</i><b>queue</b><i>_</i><b>depth</b> configuration parameters.

       <b>-v</b>     Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Mul-
              tiple  <b>-v</b>  options  make  the software increasingly
              verbose.

<b>DIAGNOSTICS</b>
       Problems are reported to the standard error stream and  to
       <b>syslogd</b>.

       <b>postsuper</b>  reports the number of messages deleted with <b>-d</b>,
       the number of messages requeued with <b>-r</b>, and the number of
       messages  whose  queue  file  name  was fixed with <b>-s</b>. The
       report is written to the standard error stream and to <b>sys-</b>
       <b>logd</b>.

<b>ENVIRONMENT</b>
       MAIL_CONFIG
              Directory with the <b>main.cf</b> file.

<b>BUGS</b>
       Mail  that  is  not sanitized by Postfix (i.e. mail in the
       <b>maildrop</b> queue) cannot be placed "on hold".

<b>CONFIGURATION</b> <b>PARAMETERS</b>
       See the Postfix <b>main.cf</b> file for syntax  details  and  for
       default values.

       <b>hash</b><i>_</i><b>queue</b><i>_</i><b>depth</b>
              Number of subdirectory levels for hashed queues.

       <b>hash</b><i>_</i><b>queue</b><i>_</i><b>names</b>
              The  names of queues that are organized into multi-
              ple levels of subdirectories.

<b>SEE</b> <b>ALSO</b>
       <a href="sendmail.1.html">sendmail(1)</a> sendmail-compatible user interface
       <a href="postqueue.1.html">postqueue(1)</a> unprivileged queue operations

<b>LICENSE</b>
       The Secure Mailer license must be  distributed  with  this
       software.

<b>AUTHOR(S)</b>
       Wietse Venema
       IBM T.J. Watson Research
       P.O. Box 704
       Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

                                                     POSTSUPER(1)
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