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7BOUNCE(5)                                                            BOUNCE(5)
8
9<b>NAME</b>
10       bounce - Postfix bounce message template format
11
12<b>SYNOPSIS</b>
13       <b><a href="postconf.5.html#bounce_template_file">bounce_template_file</a> = /etc/postfix/bounce.cf</b>
14
15       <b>postconf -b</b> [<i>template</i><b>_</b><i>file</i>]
16
17<b>DESCRIPTION</b>
18       The  Postfix  <a href="bounce.8.html"><b>bounce</b>(8)</a>  server  produces  delivery status
19       notification  (DSN)  messages  for   undeliverable   mail,
20       delayed  mail, successful delivery or address verification
21       requests.
22
23       By default, these notifications are generated from  built-
24       in  templates with message headers and message text. Sites
25       can override the  built-in  information  by  specifying  a
26       bounce template file with the <b><a href="postconf.5.html#bounce_template_file">bounce_template_file</a></b> config-
27       uration parameter.
28
29       This document describes the general procedure to create  a
30       bounce  template file, followed by the specific details of
31       bounce template formats.
32
33<b>GENERAL PROCEDURE</b>
34       To create a customized bounce template file, create a tem-
35       porary copy of the file <b>/etc/postfix/bounce.cf.default</b> and
36       edit the temporary file.
37
38       To preview the results of $<i>name</i> expansions in the template
39       text, use the command
40
41           <b>postconf -b</b> <i>temporary</i><b>_</b><i>file</i>
42
43       Errors  in  the  template will be reported to the standard
44       error stream and to the syslog daemon.
45
46       While previewing the  text,  be  sure  to  pay  particular
47       attention  to  the expansion of time value parameters that
48       appear in the delayed mail notification text.
49
50       Once the result is satisfactory, copy the template to  the
51       Postfix  configuration  directory  and  specify in <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>
52       something like:
53
54       /etc/postfix/<a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>:
55           <a href="postconf.5.html#bounce_template_file">bounce_template_file</a> = /etc/postfix/bounce.cf
56
57<b>TEMPLATE FILE FORMAT</b>
58       The template file can specify templates for  failed  mail,
59       delayed mail, successful delivery or for address verifica-
60       tion.   These  templates   are   named   <b>failure_template</b>,
61       <b>delay_template</b>,   <b>success_template</b>   and  <b>verify_template</b>,
62       respectively.  You can but do not have to specify all four
63       templates in a bounce template file.
64
65       Each template starts with "<i>template</i><b>_</b><i>name</i> <b>=</b> &lt;&lt;<b>EOF</b>" and ends
66       with a line that contains the word  "<b>EOF</b>"  only.  You  can
67       change the word EOF, but you can't enclose it in quotes as
68       with the shell or with  Perl  (<i>template</i><b>_</b><i>name</i>  <b>=</b>  &lt;&lt;<b>'EOF'</b>).
69       Here is an example:
70
71           # The failure template is used for undeliverable mail.
72
73           failure_template = &lt;&lt;EOF
74           Charset: us-ascii
75           From: MAILER-DAEMON (Mail Delivery System)
76           Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
77           Postmaster-Subject: Postmaster Copy: Undelivered Mail
78
79           This is the mail system at host $<a href="postconf.5.html#myhostname">myhostname</a>.
80
81           I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
82           be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
83
84           For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
85
86           If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
87           delete your own text from the attached returned message.
88
89                              The mail system
90           EOF
91
92       The usage and specification of bounce templates is subject
93       to the following restrictions:
94
95       <b>o</b>      No special meaning is given to the backslash  char-
96              acter  or  to  leading whitespace; these are always
97              taken literally.
98
99       <b>o</b>      Inside the &lt;&lt; context, the "$"  character  is  spe-
100              cial. To produce a "$" character as output, specify
101              "$$".
102
103       <b>o</b>      Outside the &lt;&lt; context, lines  beginning  with  "#"
104              are ignored, as are empty lines, and lines consist-
105              ing of whitespace only.
106
107       Examples of  all  templates  can  be  found  in  the  file
108       <b>bounce.cf.default</b>  in the Postfix configuration directory.
109
110<b>TEMPLATE HEADER FORMAT</b>
111       The  first  portion  of  a  bounce  template  consists  of
112       optional template headers.  Some become message headers in
113       the delivery status notification; some control the format-
114       ting of that notification. Headers not specified in a tem-
115       plate will be left at their default value.
116
117       The following headers are supported:
118
119       <b>Charset:</b>
120              The MIME character  set  of  the  template  message
121              text.   See  the  "TEMPLATE  MESSAGE  TEXT  FORMAT"
122              description below.
123
124       <b>From:</b>  The sender address in the  message  header  of  the
125              delivery status notification.
126
127       <b>Subject:</b>
128              The  subject  in the message header of the delivery
129              status notification that is returned to the sender.
130
131       <b>Postmaster-Subject:</b>
132              The  subject that will be used in Postmaster copies
133              of undeliverable  or  delayed  mail  notifications.
134              These   copies   are  sent  under  control  of  the
135              <a href="postconf.5.html#notify_classes">notify_classes</a> configuration parameter.
136
137       The usage and specification of template message headers is
138       subject to the following restrictions:
139
140       <b>o</b>      Template  message  header names can be specified in
141              upper case,  lower  case  or  mixed  case.  Postfix
142              always produces bounce message header labels of the
143              form "<b>From:</b>" and "<b>Subject:</b>".
144
145       <b>o</b>      Template message headers  must  not  span  multiple
146              lines.
147
148       <b>o</b>      Template  message headers do not support $parameter
149              expansions.
150
151       <b>o</b>      Template message headers must contain ASCII charac-
152              ters  only, and must not contain ASCII null charac-
153              ters.
154
155<b>TEMPLATE MESSAGE TEXT FORMAT</b>
156       The second portion of a bounce template consists  of  mes-
157       sage  text.  As  the above example shows, template message
158       text may contain <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a> $parameters. Besides the  parame-
159       ters that are defined in <a href="postconf.5.html">main.cf</a>, the following parameters
160       are treated specially depending  on  the  suffix  that  is
161       appended to their name.
162
163       <b>delay_warning_time_</b><i>suffix</i>
164              Expands  into  the  value of the <b><a href="postconf.5.html#delay_warning_time">delay_warning_time</a></b>
165              parameter, expressed in the time unit specified  by
166              <i>suffix</i>,  which  is  one of <b>seconds</b>, <b>minutes</b>, <b>hours,</b>
167              <b>days</b>, or <b>weeks</b>.
168
169       <b>maximal_queue_lifetime_</b><i>suffix</i>
170              Expands into the value of  the  <b><a href="postconf.5.html#maximal_queue_lifetime">maximal_queue_life</a>-</b>
171              <b><a href="postconf.5.html#maximal_queue_lifetime">time</a></b>  parameter,  expressed in the time unit speci-
172              fied by <i>suffix</i>.  See above under <b><a href="postconf.5.html#delay_warning_time">delay_warning_time</a></b>
173              for possible <i>suffix</i> values.
174
175       The  usage  and  specification of template message text is
176       subject to the following restrictions:
177
178       <b>o</b>      The template message text is not sent in Postmaster
179              copies of delivery status notifications.
180
181       <b>o</b>      If  the  template  message  text contains non-ASCII
182              characters, Postfix requires that the <b>Charset:</b> tem-
183              plate  header  is  updated.  Specify an appropriate
184              superset of US-ASCII.  A superset is needed because
185              Postfix  appends  ASCII text after the message tem-
186              plate when it sends a delivery status notification.
187
188<b>SEE ALSO</b>
189       <a href="bounce.8.html">bounce(8)</a>, Postfix delivery status notifications
190       <a href="postconf.5.html">postconf(5)</a>, configuration parameters
191
192<b>LICENSE</b>
193       The  Secure  Mailer  license must be distributed with this
194       software.
195
196<b>HISTORY</b>
197       The Postfix bounce template format was  originally  devel-
198       oped by Nicolas Riendeau.
199
200<b>AUTHOR(S)</b>
201       Wietse Venema
202       IBM T.J. Watson Research
203       P.O. Box 704
204       Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
205
206                                                                     BOUNCE(5)
207</pre> </body> </html>
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