Contents:
Status file lines
"Persistent host status" is described under, and enabled with,
the HostStatusDirectory
option
(see Section 34.8.31, HostStatusDirectory).
The format for each directory created by that option,
as of V\*[sendmail_version] sendmail, looks like this:
HostStatusDirectory/domain./subdomain./host
That is, the canonical name of the host whose status
is being stored is divided into components based
on the separating dots in its name. The dot for each
component, is moved to the end of each component
and all but the host
part are created as directories.
To illustrate, consider the following canonical name:
here.uofa.edu
If the HostStatusDirectory
option were declared
like this:
O HostStatusDirectory=/tmp/.hoststat
the status for the host here.uofa.edu would be stored in the file:
/tmp/.hoststat/edu./uofa./here
The format of the status file (in the above case here
)
is one item of information per line, where each line
begins with a key letter:
letterwhat
The complete list of key letters is shown in Table 38.3.
Letter | Version | Description |
---|---|---|
D | V8.8 and above | The DSN status text |
E | V8.8 and above | The UNIX error number |
H | V8.8 and above | The DNS error number |
R | V8.8 and above | The SMTP status-code text |
S | V8.8 and above | The UNIX exit(2) status |
U | V8.8 and above | The time last used |
V | V8.8 and above | The version of this status file |
. | V8.8 and above | The end of file marker |
In the sections that follow, we describe each key letter in alphabetical order, rather than in the order in which they will appear in the status file.
Note that not all these lines are printed with the
hoststat(1) command (see Section 36.1.1, "hoststat (V8.8 and Above)"). As of
\*[sendmail_version],
only the information in the E
, R
,
and U
lines is printed.
Also note that the letters that are used and the meaning of each are essentially internal to sendmail and are subject to change without notice.
The DSN status text
(V8.8 and above)Delivery Status Notification (DSN) gives the status of a returned message in its
Status:
MIME-body header (see RFC1892). That status is formed from three digits, each separated from the others by a dot, for example:5.0.1The meaning of each digit is documented in RFC1893. This
D
line stores that status as text.
The UNIX error number
(V8.8 and above)The DNS error number
(V8.8 and above)The SMTP status-code text
(V8.8 and above)The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) specifies that all errors be prefixed with three-digit codes. The meaning of all the three-digit codes is given in RFC821 and several newer RFCs.
The
R
line stores this three-digit code as text. If there is no code (as when there is a system error instead of an SMTP error), the text is a lone hyphen.
The UNIX exit(2) status
(V8.8 and above)All UNIX programs return a success or failure value to the program that executed them. These values are called exit(2) values and they may or may not correspond to standard values. The set of values that is understood by sendmail is defined in <sysexits.h>.
This
S
line stores the integer value that was returned by a delivery agent program. Such programs might be called to deliver SMTP network mail.
The last time used
(V8.8 and above)The version of this status file
(V8.8 and above)The end of file marker
(V8.8 and above)