APPENDIX A
COMMAND LINE FLAGS
Arguments must be presented with flags before addresses. The flags are:
-Ax
Select an alternative .cf file which is either sendmail.cf for -Am or submit.cf for -Ac. By
default the .cf file is chosen based on the operation mode. For -bm (default), -bs, and -t it
is submit.cf if it exists, for all others it is sendmail.cf.
-bx
Set operation mode to x. Operation modes are:
m
Deliver mail (default)
s
Speak SMTP on input side
a ``Arpanet'' mode (get envelope sender information from header)
d
Run as a daemon in background
D
Run as a daemon in foreground
t
Run in test mode
v
Just verify addresses, don't collect or deliver
i
Initialize the alias database
p
Print the mail queue
P
Print overview over the mail queue (requires shared memory)
h
Print the persistent host status database
H
Purge expired entries from the persistent host status database
-Btype
Indicate body type.
-Cfile
Use a different configuration file. Sendmail runs as the invoking user (rather than root)
when this flag is specified.
-D logfile
Send debugging output to the indicated logfile instead of stdout.
-dlevel
Set debugging level.
-f addr
The envelope sender address is set to addr. This address may also be used in the From:
header if that header is missing during initial submission. The envelope sender address is
used as the recipient for delivery status notifications and may also appear in a Return-
Path: header.
-F name
Sets the full name of this user to name.
-G
When accepting messages via the command line, indicate that they are for relay (gate-
way) submission. sendmail may complain about syntactically invalid messages, e.g.,
unqualified host names, rather than fixing them when this flag is set. sendmail will not do
any canonicalization in this mode.
-h cnt
Sets the "hop count" to cnt. This represents the number of times this message has been
processed by sendmail (to the extent that it is supported by the underlying networks). Cnt
is incremented during processing, and if it reaches MAXHOP (currently 25) sendmail
throws away the message with an error.
Deprecated.
SMM:08-100
Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide