POSTALIAS(1)                                                      POSTALIAS(1)

NAME
       postalias - Postfix alias database maintenance

SYNOPSIS
       postalias [-Nfinorvw] [-c config_dir] [-d key] [-q key]
       [file_type:]file_name ...

DESCRIPTION
       The postalias command creates or queries  one  or  more  Postfix  alias
       databases,  or  updates an existing one. The input and output file for-
       mats 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:

       -N     Include the terminating null character  that  terminates  lookup
              keys  and  values.  By  default,  Postfix  does  whatever is the
              default for the host operating system.

       -c config_dir
              Read the main.cf  configuration  file  in  the  named  directory
              instead of the default configuration directory.

       -d key Search  the specified maps for key and remove one entry per map.
              The exit status is  zero  when  the  requested  information  was
              found.

              If  a  key value of - 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.

       -f     Do  not  fold  the  lookup  key  to lower case while creating or
              querying a map.

       -i     Incremental mode. Read entries from standard input  and  do  not
              truncate  an  existing database. By default, postalias creates a
              new database from the entries in file_name.

       -n     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.

       -o     Do not release root privileges when processing a non-root  input
              file.  By  default,  postalias drops root privileges and runs as
              the source file owner instead.

       -q key Search the specified maps for key  and  write  the  first  value
              found  to  the  standard  output stream. The exit status is zero
              when the requested information was found.

              If a key value of - is specified, the program reads  key  values
              from the standard input stream and writes one line of key: value
              output for each key that was found. The exit status is zero when
              at least one of the requested keys was found.

       -r     When  updating  a  table,  do  not warn about duplicate entries;
              silently replace them.

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

       -w     When  updating  a  table,  do  not warn about duplicate entries;
              silently ignore them.

       Arguments:

       file_type
              The type of database to be produced.

              btree  The output is a btree file, named file_name.db.  This  is
                     available  only on systems with support for db databases.

              dbm    The output consists of two files, named file_name.pag and
                     file_name.dir.   This  is  available only on systems with
                     support for dbm databases.

              hash   The output is a hashed file, named file_name.db.  This is
                     available  only on systems with support for db databases.

              cdb    The output is a cdb file, named file_name.cdb.   This  is
                     available only on systems with support for cdb databases.

              Use the command postconf -m to find out what types  of  database
              your Postfix installation can support.

              When  no  file_type is specified, the software uses the database
              type  specified  via  the  default_database_type   configuration
              parameter.   The default value for this parameter depends on the
              host environment.

       file_name
              The name of the alias  database  source  file  when  creating  a
              database.

DIAGNOSTICS
       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.

       postalias  terminates with zero exit status in case of success (includ-
       ing successful postalias -q lookup) and terminates with  non-zero  exit
       status in case of failure.

ENVIRONMENT
       MAIL_CONFIG
              Directory with Postfix configuration files.

       MAIL_VERBOSE
              Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
       The  following  main.cf parameters are especially relevant to this pro-
       gram. See the Postfix main.cf file for syntax details and  for  default
       values.

       default_database_type
              Default database type. On many UNIX systems, the default type is
              either dbm or hash.

       berkeley_db_create_buffer_size
              Amount of buffer memory to be used when creating a  Berkeley  DB
              hash or btree lookup table.

       berkeley_db_read_buffer_size
              Amount  of  buffer  memory to be used when reading a Berkeley DB
              hash or btree lookup table.

STANDARDS
       RFC 822 (ARPA Internet Text Messages)

SEE ALSO
       aliases(5) format of alias database input file.
       sendmail(1) mail posting and compatibility interface.

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

                                                                  POSTALIAS(1)