POSTLOG(1) General Commands Manual POSTLOG(1)
NAME
postlog - Postfix-compatible logging utility
SYNOPSIS
postlog [-iv] [-c config_dir] [-p priority] [-t tag] [text...]
DESCRIPTION
The postlog(1) command implements a Postfix-compatible logging interface
for use in, for example, shell scripts.
By default, postlog(1) logs the text given on the command line as one
record. If no text is specified on the command line, postlog(1) reads
from standard input and logs each input line as one record.
Logging is sent to syslogd(8) or postlogd(8), and to the standard error
stream (with Postfix < 3.8, postlog(1) writes to the standard error
stream only if that stream is connected to a terminal).
The following options are implemented:
-c config_dir
Read the main.cf configuration file in the named directory in-
stead of the default configuration directory.
-i (obsolete)
Include the process ID in the logging tag. This flag is ignored
as of Postfix 3.4, where the PID is always included.
-p priority (default: info)
Specifies the logging severity: info, warn, error, fatal, or
panic. 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.
-t tag Specifies the logging tag, that is, the identifying name that ap-
pears at the beginning of each logging record. A default tag is
used when none is specified.
-v Enable verbose logging for debugging purposes. Multiple -v op-
tions make the software increasingly verbose.
SECURITY
The postlog(1) command is designed to run with set-groupid privileges,
so that it can connect to the postlogd(8) daemon process (Postfix 3.7
and later; earlier implementations of this command must not have
set-groupid or set-userid permissions).
ENVIRONMENT
MAIL_CONFIG
Directory with the main.cf file.
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
The following main.cf parameters are especially relevant to this pro-
gram.
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 config-
uration 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".
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 $mail-
log_file is created for the first time, or when the file is cre-
ated after an existing file is rotated.
SEE ALSO
postconf(5), configuration parameters
postlogd(8), Postfix logging
syslogd(8), system logging
LICENSE
The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
HISTORY
The postlog(1) command was introduced with Postfix version 3.4.
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
POSTLOG(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 04:31:15 CET 2025.