APPENDIX B
QUEUE FILE FORMATS
This appendix describes the format of the queue files. These files live in a queue directory. The indi-
vidual qf, hf, Qf, df, and xf files may be stored in separate qf/, df/, and xf/ subdirectories if they are present
in the queue directory.
All queue files have the name ttYMDhmsNNppppp where YMDhmsNNppppp is the id for this mes-
sage and the tt is a type. The individual letters in the id are:
Y
Encoded year
M
Encoded month
D
Encoded day
h
Encoded hour
m
Encoded minute
s
Encoded second
NN Encoded envelope
number
ppppp At least five decimal digits of the process ID
All files with the same id collectively define one message. Due to the use of memory-buffered files,
some of these files may never appear on disk.
The types are:
qf
The queue control file. This file contains the information necessary to process the job.
hf
The same as a queue control file, but for a quarantined queue job.
df
The data file. The message body (excluding the header) is kept in this file. Sometimes the df file
is not stored in the same directory as the qf file; in this case, the qf file contains a `d' record which
names the queue directory that contains the df file.
tf
A temporary file. This is an image of the qf file when it is being rebuilt. It should be renamed to a
qf
file very quickly.
xf
A transcript file, existing during the life of a session showing everything that happens during that
session. Sometimes the xf file must be generated before a queue group has been selected; in this
case, the xf file will be stored in a directory of the default queue group.
Qf
A ``lost'' queue control file. sendmail renames a qf file to Qf if there is a severe (configuration)
problem that cannot be solved without human intervention. Search the logfile for the queue file id
to figure out what happened. After you resolved the problem, you can rename the Qf file to qf and
send it again.
The queue control file is structured as a series of lines each beginning with a code letter. The lines
are as follows:
V
The version number of the queue file format, used to allow new sendmail binaries to read queue
files created by older versions. Defaults to version zero. Must be the first line of the file if present.
For 8.12 the version number is 6.
A
The information given by the AUTH= parameter of the "MAIL FROM:" command or $f@$j if
sendmail has been called directly.
Sendmail Installation and Operation Guide
SMM:08-103