bounce(5)

1BOUNCE(5)                     File Formats Manual                    BOUNCE(5)
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NAME

6       bounce - Postfix bounce message template format
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SYNOPSIS

9       bounce_template_file = /etc/postfix/bounce.cf
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11       postconf -b [template_file]
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DESCRIPTION

14       The  Postfix  bounce(8)  server  produces  delivery status notification
15       (DSN) messages for undeliverable mail, delayed mail, successful  deliv‐
16       ery or address verification requests.
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18       By  default,  these notifications are generated from built-in templates
19       with message headers and message text. Sites can override the  built-in
20       information  by  specifying a bounce template file with the bounce_tem‐
21       plate_file configuration parameter.
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23       This document describes the general procedure to create a  bounce  tem‐
24       plate  file,  followed  by the specific details of bounce template for‐
25       mats.
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GENERAL PROCEDURE

28       To create a customized bounce template file, create a temporary copy of
29       the file /etc/postfix/bounce.cf.default and edit the temporary file.
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31       To  preview  the  results of $name expansions in the template text, use
32       the command
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34           postconf -b temporary_file
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36       Errors in the template will be reported to the  standard  error  stream
37       and to the syslog daemon.
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39       While  previewing  the text, be sure to pay particular attention to the
40       expansion of time value parameters that  appear  in  the  delayed  mail
41       notification text.
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43       Once  the result is satisfactory, copy the template to the Postfix con‐
44       figuration directory and specify in main.cf something like:
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46       /etc/postfix/main.cf:
47           bounce_template_file = /etc/postfix/bounce.cf
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TEMPLATE FILE FORMAT

50       The template file can specify templates for failed mail, delayed  mail,
51       successful  delivery  or for address verification.  These templates are
52       named  failure_template,  delay_template,  success_template  and   ver‐
53       ify_template,  respectively.   You  can  but do not have to specify all
54       four templates in a bounce template file.
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56       Each template starts with "template_name = <<EOF" and ends with a  line
57       that contains the word "EOF" only. You can change the word EOF, but you
58       can't enclose it in quotes  as  with  the  shell  or  with  Perl  (tem‐
59       plate_name = <<'EOF'). Here is an example:
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61           # The failure template is used for undeliverable mail.
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63           failure_template = <<EOF
64           Charset: us-ascii
65           From: MAILER-DAEMON (Mail Delivery System)
66           Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
67           Postmaster-Subject: Postmaster Copy: Undelivered Mail
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69           This is the mail system at host $myhostname.
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71           I'm sorry to have to inform you that your message could not
72           be delivered to one or more recipients. It's attached below.
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74           For further assistance, please send mail to postmaster.
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76           If you do so, please include this problem report. You can
77           delete your own text from the attached returned message.
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79                              The mail system
80           EOF
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82       The  usage and specification of bounce templates is subject to the fol‐
83       lowing restrictions:
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85       ·      No special meaning is given to the  backslash  character  or  to
86              leading whitespace; these are always taken literally.
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88       ·      Inside  the << context, the "$" character is special. To produce
89              a "$" character as output, specify "$$".
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91       ·      Outside the << context, lines beginning with "#" are ignored, as
92              are empty lines, and lines consisting of whitespace only.
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94       Examples of all templates can be found in the file bounce.cf.default in
95       the Postfix configuration directory.
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TEMPLATE HEADER FORMAT

98       The first portion of a bounce template consists  of  optional  template
99       headers.   These  either  become message headers in the delivery status
100       notification, or control the formatting of  the  notification.  Headers
101       not specified in a template will be left at their default value.
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103       The following headers are supported:
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105       Charset:
106              The  MIME  character  set of the template message text.  See the
107              "TEMPLATE MESSAGE TEXT FORMAT" description below.
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109       From:  The sender address in the message header of the delivery  status
110              notification.
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112       Subject:
113              The subject in the message header of the delivery status notifi‐
114              cation.
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116       Postmaster-Subject:
117              The subject that will be used in Postmaster copies of undeliver‐
118              able  or delayed mail notifications. These copies are sent under
119              control of the notify_classes configuration parameter.
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121       The usage and specification of template message headers is  subject  to
122       the following restrictions:
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124       ·      Template  message  header  names can be specified in upper case,
125              lower case or mixed case. Postfix always uses  the  spelling  as
126              shown in the example above.
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128       ·      Template message headers must not span multiple lines.
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130       ·      Template message headers must not contain main.cf $parameters.
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132       ·      Template message headers must contain ASCII characters only.
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TEMPLATE MESSAGE TEXT FORMAT

135       The  second  portion  of a bounce template consists of message text. As
136       the above example shows, template  message  text  may  contain  main.cf
137       $parameters.  Besides  the  parameters that are defined in main.cf, the
138       following parameters are treated specially depending on the suffix that
139       is appended to their name.
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141       delay_warning_time_suffix
142              Expands  into  the  value  of  the delay_warning_time parameter,
143              expressed in the time unit specified by suffix, which is one  of
144              seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks.
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146       maximal_queue_lifetime_suffix
147              Expands  into the value of the maximal_queue_lifetime parameter,
148              expressed in the time unit specified by suffix.  See above under
149              delay_warning_time for possible suffix values.
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151       The  usage and specification of template message text is subject to the
152       following restrictions:
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154       ·      The template message text is not sent in  Postmaster  copies  of
155              delivery status notifications.
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157       ·      If  the  template  message  text  contains non-ASCII characters,
158              Postfix requires that the Charset: template header  is  updated.
159              Specify  an  appropriate  superset  of  US-ASCII.  A superset is
160              needed because Postfix appends ASCII text after the message tem‐
161              plate when it sends a delivery status notification.
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LICENSE

168       The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
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HISTORY

171       The  Postfix bounce template format was originally developed by Nicolas
172       Riendeau.
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AUTHOR(S)

175       Wietse Venema
176       IBM T.J. Watson Research
177       P.O. Box 704
178       Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
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