POSTLOCK(1)

💌 postlock(1) — General Commands Manual 💌

ok so bestie, let me put you on to postlock — it locks a mail folder and then runs your command. yes literally. she's from the General Commands Manual and she's about to be your new fave. 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

postlock — lock mail folder and execute command 🦋

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

postlock [-c config_dir] [-l lock_style]
        [-v] file command...

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so the postlock(1) command locks file for exclusive access, and then executes command. that's the whole vibe. and the way she locks things? it's compatible with the Postfix UNIX-style local delivery agent — so she fits right in, no cap. 💅

Options, bestie:

• -c config_dir — read the main.cf configuration file in the named directory instead of the default configuration directory.
• -l lock_style — override the locking method that's specified via the mailbox_delivery_lock configuration parameter (scroll down, she's there 👇).
• -v — enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. and like, stack them? multiple -v options make the software increasingly verbose. louder. louder. LOUDER. 🔥

Arguments, bestie:

• file — a mailbox file. the user should have read/write permission. (yes, permission. she will not be gatekept. 🙈)
• command... — the command to execute while file is locked for exclusive access. and listen: the command is executed directly, i.e. without interpretation by a shell command interpreter. no shell, no middleman, no drama. she's her own main character. 👑

---

😭 DIAGNOSTICS 😭

the result status is 75 (EX_TEMPFAIL) when postlock(1) could not perform the requested operation. like, she tried, okay? otherwise, the exit status is the exit status from the command. periodt. 💀

---

🚨 BUGS 🚨

with remote file systems, the ability to acquire a lock does not necessarily eliminate access conflicts. avoid file access by processes running on different machines. fr fr, do not test her on this one. 💀

---

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• MAIL_CONFIG — directory with Postfix configuration files.
• MAIL_VERBOSE — enable verbose logging for debugging purposes.

---

👑 CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS 👑

the following main.cf parameters are especially relevant to this program. the text below provides only a parameter summary — see postconf(5) for more details including examples. (she's not being mysterious, she's just being brief. iykyk ✨)

🔒 LOCKING CONTROLS 🔒

• deliver_lock_attempts (20) — the maximal number of attempts to acquire an exclusive lock on a mailbox file or bounce(8) logfile.
• deliver_lock_delay (1s) — the time between attempts to acquire an exclusive lock on a mailbox file or bounce(8) logfile.
• stale_lock_time (500s) — the time after which a stale exclusive mailbox lockfile is removed.
• mailbox_delivery_lock (see 'postconf -d' output) — how to lock a UNIX-style local(8) mailbox before attempting delivery.

🍓 RESOURCE AND RATE CONTROLS 🍓

• fork_attempts (5) — the maximal number of attempts to fork() a child process.
• fork_delay (1s) — the delay between attempts to fork() a child process.

🧚 MISCELLANEOUS CONTROLS 🧚

• config_directory (see 'postconf -d' output) — the default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration files.
• import_environment (see 'postconf -d' output) — the list of environment variables that a privileged Postfix process will import from a non-Postfix parent process, or name=value environment overrides.

---

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

postconf(5), configuration parameters 🌟

---

📜 LICENSE 📜

the Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software. it's giving legal slay, don't skip it. 💖

---

💜 AUTHOR(S) 💜

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

Wietse Venema Google, Inc. 111 8th Avenue New York, NY 10011, USA

---

ok that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 🫶 go lock something and run something, she's iconic for it. and just so we're cute about it: this was postlock(1) from the General Commands Manual, page postlock(1). bye bestie, stay locked and loaded 💅✨🌸