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The postsuper command performs maintenance tasks on the Postfix in the waiting line. Use of this command is restricted to the root user.
Man page output
man postsuperPOSTSUPER(1) General Commands Manual POSTSUPER(1)
NAME
postsuper - Postfix superintendent
SYNOPSIS
postsuper [-psSv] [-c config_dir] [-d queue_id]
[-h queue_id] [-H queue_id]
[-r queue_id] [directory ...]
DESCRIPTION
The postsuper(1) command does maintenance jobs on the Postfix queue. Use of the
command is restricted to the superuser. See the postqueue(1) command for
unprivileged queue operations such as listing or flushing the mail queue.
By default, postsuper(1) performs the operations requested with the -s and -p
command-line options on all Postfix queue directories - this includes the incom‐
ing, active and deferred directories with mail files and the bounce, defer,
trace and flush directories with log files.
Options:
-c config_dir
The main.cf configuration file is in the named directory instead of the
default configuration directory. See also the MAIL_CONFIG environment
setting below.
-d queue_id
Delete one message with the named queue ID from the named mail queue(s)
(default: hold, incoming, active and deferred).
If a queue_id of - is specified, the program reads queue IDs from stan‐
dard input. For example, to delete all mail with exactly one recipient
user@example.com:
mailq | tail +2 | grep -v '^ *(' | awk ´BEGIN { RS = "" }
# $7=sender, $8=recipient1, $9=recipient2
{ if ($8 == "user@example.com" && $9 == "")
print $1 }
´ | tr -d '*!' | postsuper -d -
Specify "-d ALL" to remove all messages; for example, specify "-d ALL
deferred" to delete all mail in the deferred queue. As a safety measure,
the word ALL must be specified in upper case.
Warning: Postfix queue IDs are reused (always with Postfix <= 2.8; and
with Postfix >= 2.9 when enable_long_queue_ids=no). There is a very
small possibility that postsuper deletes the wrong message file when it
is executed while the Postfix mail system is delivering mail.
The scenario is as follows:
1) The Postfix queue manager deletes the message that postsuper(1) is
asked to delete, because Postfix is finished with the message (it
is delivered, or it is returned to the sender).
2) New mail arrives, and the new message is given the same queue ID
as the message that postsuper(1) is supposed to delete. The prob‐
ability 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) postsuper(1) deletes the new message, instead of the old message
that it should have deleted.
-h queue_id
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:
incoming, active and deferred) to the hold queue.
If a queue_id of - is specified, the program reads queue IDs from stan‐
dard input.
Specify "-h ALL" to hold all messages; for example, specify "-h ALL
deferred" to hold all mail in the deferred queue. As a safety measure,
the word ALL must be specified in upper case.
Note: while mail is "on hold" it will not expire when its time in the
queue exceeds the maximal_queue_lifetime or bounce_queue_lifetime set‐
ting. It becomes subject to expiration after it is released from "hold".
This feature is available in Postfix 2.0 and later.
-H queue_id
Release mail that was put "on hold". Move one message with the named
queue ID from the named mail queue(s) (default: hold) to the deferred
queue.
If a queue_id of - is specified, the program reads queue IDs from stan‐
dard input.
Note: specify "postsuper -r" to release mail that was kept on hold for a
significant fraction of $maximal_queue_lifetime or $bounce_queue_life‐
time, or longer.
Specify "-H ALL" to release all mail that is "on hold". As a safety mea‐
sure, the word ALL must be specified in upper case.
This feature is available in Postfix 2.0 and later.
-p Purge old temporary files that are left over after system or software
crashes.
-r queue_id
Requeue the message with the named queue ID from the named mail queue(s)
(default: hold, incoming, active and deferred). To requeue multiple mes‐
sages, specify multiple -r command-line options.
Alternatively, if a queue_id of - is specified, the program reads queue
IDs from standard input.
Specify "-r ALL" to requeue all messages. As a safety measure, the word
ALL must be specified in upper case.
A requeued message is moved to the maildrop queue, from where it is
copied by the pickup(8) and cleanup(8) daemons to a new queue file. In
many respects its handling differs from that of a new local submission.
· The message is not subjected to the smtpd_milters or
non_smtpd_milters settings. When mail has passed through an
external content filter, this would produce incorrect results with
Milter applications that depend on original SMTP connection state
information.
· The message is subjected again to mail address rewriting and sub‐
stitution. This is useful when rewriting rules or virtual map‐
pings have changed.
The address rewriting context (local or remote) is the same as
when the message was received.
· The message is subjected to the same content_filter settings (if
any) as used for new local mail submissions. This is useful when
content_filter settings have changed.
Warning: Postfix queue IDs are reused (always with Postfix <= 2.8; and
with Postfix >= 2.9 when enable_long_queue_ids=no). There is a very
small possibility that postsuper(1) requeues the wrong message file when
it is executed while the Postfix mail system is running, but no harm
should be done.
This feature is available in Postfix 1.1 and later.
-s Structure check and structure repair. This should be done once before
Postfix startup.
· Rename files whose name does not match the message file inode num‐
ber. This operation is necessary after restoring a mail queue from
a different machine or from backup, when queue files were created
with Postfix <= 2.8 or with "enable_long_queue_ids = no".
· Move queue files that are in the wrong place in the file system
hierarchy and remove subdirectories that are no longer needed.
File position rearrangements are necessary after a change in the
hash_queue_names and/or hash_queue_depth configuration parameters.
· Rename queue files created with "enable_long_queue_ids = yes" to
short names, for migration to Postfix <= 2.8. The procedure is as
follows:
# postfix stop
# postconf enable_long_queue_ids=no
# postsuper
Run postsuper(1) repeatedly until it stops reporting file name
changes.
-S A redundant version of -s that requires that long file names also match
the message file inode number. This option exists for testing purposes,
and is available with Postfix 2.9 and later.
-v Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple -v options make
the software increasingly verbose.
DIAGNOSTICS
Problems are reported to the standard error stream and to syslogd(8).
postsuper(1) reports the number of messages deleted with -d, the number of mes‐
sages requeued with -r, and the number of messages whose queue file name was
fixed with -s. The report is written to the standard error stream and to sys‐
logd(8).
ENVIRONMENT
MAIL_CONFIG
Directory with the main.cf file.
BUGS
Mail that is not sanitized by Postfix (i.e. mail in the maildrop queue) cannot
be placed "on hold".
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
The following main.cf parameters are especially relevant to this program. The
text below provides only a parameter summary. See postconf(5) for more details
including examples.
config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration
files.
hash_queue_depth (1)
The number of subdirectory levels for queue directories listed with the
hash_queue_names parameter.
hash_queue_names (deferred, defer)
The names of queue directories that are split across multiple subdirec‐
tory levels.
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".
Available in Postfix version 2.9 and later:
enable_long_queue_ids (no)
Enable long, non-repeating, queue IDs (queue file names).
SEE ALSO
sendmail(1), Sendmail-compatible user interface
postqueue(1), unprivileged queue operations
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
POSTSUPER(1)
Help output
postsuper --helpusage: postsuper [-c config_dir] [-d queue_id (delete)] [-h queue_id (hold)] [-H queue_id (un-hold)] [-p (purge temporary files)] [-r queue_id (requeue)] [-s (structure fix)] [-S (redundant structure fix)][-v (verbose)] [queue...]
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