ERROR(8)                             System Manager's Manual                             ERROR(8)



NAME
       error - Postfix error/retry mail delivery agent

SYNOPSIS
       error [generic Postfix daemon options]

DESCRIPTION
       The  Postfix  error(8)  delivery agent processes delivery requests from the queue manager.
       Each request specifies a queue file, a sender address, the reason for non-delivery (speci-
       fied  as the next-hop destination), and recipient information.  The reason may be prefixed
       with an RFC 3463-compatible detail code; if none is specified a  default  4.0.0  or  5.0.0
       code is used instead.  This program expects to be run from the master(8) process manager.

       Depending  on  the service name in master.cf, error or retry, the server bounces or defers
       all recipients in the delivery request using the "next-hop" information as the reason  for
       non-delivery. The retry service name is supported as of Postfix 2.4.

       Delivery  status  reports are sent to the bounce(8), defer(8) or trace(8) daemon as appro-
       priate.

SECURITY
       The error(8) mailer is not security-sensitive. It does not talk to the network, and can be
       run chrooted at fixed low privilege.

STANDARDS
       RFC 3463 (Enhanced Status Codes)

DIAGNOSTICS
       Problems and transactions are logged to syslogd(8).

       Depending  on  the  setting of the notify_classes parameter, the postmaster is notified of
       bounces and of other trouble.

CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
       Changes to main.cf are picked up automatically as error(8) processes run for only  a  lim-
       ited amount of time. Use the command "postfix reload" to speed up a change.

       The text below provides only a parameter summary. See postconf(5) for more details includ-
       ing examples.

       2bounce_notice_recipient (postmaster)
              The recipient of undeliverable mail that cannot be returned to the sender.

       bounce_notice_recipient (postmaster)
              The recipient of postmaster notifications with the message  headers  of  mail  that
              Postfix  did  not deliver and of SMTP conversation transcripts of mail that Postfix
              did not receive.

       config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output)
              The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration files.

       daemon_timeout (18000s)
              How much time a Postfix daemon process may take to handle a request  before  it  is
              terminated by a built-in watchdog timer.

       delay_logging_resolution_limit (2)
              The  maximal number of digits after the decimal point when logging sub-second delay
              values.

       double_bounce_sender (double-bounce)
              The sender address of postmaster notifications that are generated by the mail  sys-
              tem.

       ipc_timeout (3600s)
              The  time limit for sending or receiving information over an internal communication
              channel.

       max_idle (100s)
              The maximum amount of time that an idle Postfix daemon process waits for an  incom-
              ing connection before terminating voluntarily.

       max_use (100)
              The  maximal number of incoming connections that a Postfix daemon process will ser-
              vice before terminating voluntarily.

       notify_classes (resource, software)
              The list of error classes that are reported to the postmaster.

       process_id (read-only)
              The process ID of a Postfix command or daemon process.

       process_name (read-only)
              The process name of a Postfix command or daemon process.

       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".

SEE ALSO
       qmgr(8), queue manager
       bounce(8), delivery status reports
       discard(8), Postfix discard delivery agent
       postconf(5), configuration parameters
       master(5), generic daemon options
       master(8), process manager
       syslogd(8), system logging

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



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