PICKUP(8) PICKUP(8)
NAME
pickup - Postfix local mail pickup
SYNOPSIS
pickup [generic Postfix daemon options]
DESCRIPTION
The pickup(8) daemon waits for hints that new mail has
been dropped into the maildrop directory, and feeds it
into the cleanup(8) daemon. Ill-formatted files are
deleted without notifying the originator. This program
expects to be run from the master(8) process manager.
STANDARDS
None. The pickup(8) daemon does not interact with the out-
side world.
SECURITY
The pickup(8) daemon is moderately security sensitive. It
runs with fixed low privilege and can run in a chrooted
environment. However, the program reads files from poten-
tially hostile users. The pickup(8) daemon opens no files
for writing, is careful about what files it opens for
reading, and does not actually touch any data that is sent
to its public service endpoint.
DIAGNOSTICS
Problems and transactions are logged to syslogd(8).
BUGS
The pickup(8) daemon copies mail from file to the
cleanup(8) daemon. It could avoid message copying over-
head by sending a file descriptor instead of file data,
but then the already complex cleanup(8) daemon would have
to deal with unfiltered user data.
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
As the pickup(8) daemon is a relatively long-running
process, up to an hour may pass before a main.cf change
takes effect. Use the command "postfix reload" command to
speed up a change.
The text below provides only a parameter summary. See
postconf(5) for more details including examples.
CONTENT INSPECTION CONTROLS
content_filter (empty)
The name of a mail delivery transport that filters
mail after it is queued.
receive_override_options (empty)
Enable or disable recipient validation, built-in
content filtering, or address mapping.
MISCELLANEOUS CONTROLS
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.
ipc_timeout (3600s)
The time limit for sending or receiving information
over an internal communication channel.
line_length_limit (2048)
Upon input, long lines are chopped up into pieces
of at most this length; upon delivery, long lines
are reconstructed.
max_idle (100s)
The maximum amount of time that an idle Postfix
daemon process waits for the next service request
before exiting.
max_use (100)
The maximal number of connection requests before a
Postfix daemon process terminates.
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 direc-
tory.
syslog_facility (mail)
The syslog facility of Postfix logging.
syslog_name (postfix)
The mail system name that is prepended to the
process name in syslog records, so that "smtpd"
becomes, for example, "postfix/smtpd".
SEE ALSO
cleanup(8), message canonicalization
sendmail(1), Sendmail-compatible interface
postdrop(1), mail posting 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
PICKUP(8)
