POSTLOG(1)

💖 POSTLOG(1) — like, the Postfix-compatible logging utility, bestie 💖

okay so welcome to postlog, from the General Commands Manual, section 1. it's a whole vibe and it's gonna log stuff for you. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

postlog — the Postfix-compatible logging utility. that's it, that's the girl 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

postlog [-iv] [-c config_dir] [-p priority] [-t tag] [text...]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the postlog(1) command implements a Postfix-compatible logging interface, for use in — and I quote the vibe — for example, shell scripts. like, if you're writing a script and you want your logging to play nice with Postfix, this is your girlie. ✨

by default, postlog(1) logs the text you give it on the command line as one record. one and done. if you don't specify any text on the command line, then postlog(1) reads from standard input and logs each input line as one record. so it's like, feed her lines, she logs them. iconic behavior honestly. 🎀

Logging is sent to syslogd(8) or postlogd(8), and to the standard error stream. ok so here's the little caveat: with Postfix < 3.8, postlog(1) writes to the standard error stream only if that stream is connected to a terminal. so like, terminal girlies only for the old versions. 💀

The following options are implemented:

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• -c config_dir — the main.cf configuration file is in the named directory instead of the default configuration directory. also peek the MAIL_CONFIG environment setting below, she's related. 🔍
• -i (obsolete) — this one includes the process ID in the logging tag. but bestie, it's obsolete: this flag is ignored as of Postfix 3.4, because from 3.4 onward the PID is always included anyway. so it's giving decorative. 🙈
• -p priority (default: info) — specifies the logging severity. the options are: info, warn, error, fatal, or panic. 🔥 and with Postfix 3.1 and later, the program will pause for 1 second after reporting a fatal or panic condition, just like other Postfix programs. dramatic? maybe. but that's the spec.
• -t tag — specifies the logging tag, aka the identifying name that appears at the beginning of each logging record. a default tag is used when none is specified. so like, your name badge for every log line. 🎀
• -v — enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. and the way that multiple -v options make the software increasingly verbose?? stack them, go feral. 🗣️

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🔒 SECURITY 🔒

okay this part matters, pay attention. 💜

The postlog(1) command is designed to run with set-groupid privileges, so that it can connect to the postlogd(8) daemon process. that's Postfix 3.7 and later.

⚠️ but listen — earlier implementations of this command must not have set-groupid or set-userid permissions. no cap. don't do it.

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

MAIL_CONFIG

Directory with the main.cf file. and here's the thing — in order to avoid exploitation of set-group ID privileges, a non-default directory is allowed only if:

• The name is listed in the default main.cf file with the alternate_config_directories or multi_instance_directories configuration parameter.
• The command is invoked by the super-user.

so like, two keys, two locks, very main character security energy. 🔐

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⭐ 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. 📖

• 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.
• syslog_facility (mail) — the syslog facility of Postfix logging.
• syslog_name (see 'postconf -d' output) — a prefix that is prepended to the process name in syslog records, so that, for example, "smtpd" becomes "prefix/smtpd". cute little name tag situation ✨

🧚 Available in Postfix 3.4 and later:

• maillog_file (empty) — the name of an optional logfile that is written by the Postfix postlogd(8) service.
• postlog_service_name (postlog) — the name of the postlogd(8) service entry in master.cf.

🌸 Available in Postfix 3.9 and later:

• maillog_file_permissions (0600) — the file access permissions that will be set when the file $maillog_file is created for the first time, or when the file is created after an existing file is rotated. 🌀

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🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

• postconf(5), configuration parameters
• postlogd(8), Postfix logging
• syslogd(8), system logging

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📜 LICENSE 📜

The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software. periodt. 💅

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🕰️ HISTORY 🕰️

The postlog(1) command was introduced with Postfix version 3.4. so she's a 3.4 girlie, a lil baby in the grand Postfix timeline 🎀

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💖 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

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🦋 it's from the General Commands Manual and the page itself is titled POSTLOG(1) — that's the header and the footer, no version or date attached to this one, just the name at the top and the name at the bottom like a lil matching set. slay. 💅✨🔥