SIEVE-TEST(1) Dovecot SIEVE-TEST(1)
NAME
sieve-test - Pigeonhole's Sieve script tester
SYNOPSIS
sieve-test [options] script-file mail-file
DESCRIPTION
command is part of Pigeonhole (pigeonhole(7)), which adds Sieve (RFC
5228) and ManageSieve (RFC 5804) support to Dovecot (dovecot(1)).
Using the sieve-test command, the execution of Sieve scripts can be
tested. This evaluates the script for the provided message, yielding a
set of Sieve actions. Unless the -e option is specified, it does not ac-
tually execute these actions, meaning that it does not store or forward
the message anywhere. Instead, it prints a detailed list of what actions
would normally take place. Note that, even when -e is specified, no mes-
sages are ever transmitted to remote SMTP recipients. The outgoing mes-
sages are always printed to stdout instead.
This is a very useful tool to debug the execution of Sieve scripts. It
can be used to verify newly installed scripts for the intended behaviour
and it can provide more detailed information about script execution
problems that are reported by the Sieve plugin, for example by tracing
the execution and evaluation of commands and tests respectively.
OPTIONS
-a orig-recipient-address
The original envelope recipient address. This is what Sieve's enve-
lope test will compare to when the "to" envelope part is requested.
Some tests and actions will also use this as the script owner's e-
mail address. If this option is omitted, the recipient address is
retrieved from the "Envelope-To:", or "To:" message headers. If none
of these headers is present either, the recipient address defaults
to recipient@example.com.
-c config-file
Alternative Dovecot configuration file path.
-C
and its modification time is more recent than the script file, it
is used and the script is not compiled again. This option forces the
script to be compiled, thus ignoring any present binary. Refer to
sievec(1) for more information about Sieve compilation.
-D
Enable Sieve debugging.
-d dump-file
Causes a dump of the generated code to be written to the specified
file. This is identical to the dump produced by sieve-dump(1). Using
'-' as filename causes the dump to be written to
-e
Enables true execution of the set of actions that results from run-
ning the script. Use he -o parameter to specify the mail_driver,
mail_path and other necessary storage settings. This allows actual
delivery of messages can be tested. Note that this will not transmit
any messages to remote SMTP recipients. Such actions only print the
outgoing message to stdout.
-f envelope-sender
The envelope sender address (return path). This is what Sieve's en-
velope test will compare to when the "from" envelope part is re-
quested. Also, this is where response messages are 'sent' to. If
this option is omitted, the sender address is retrieved from the
"Return-Path:", "Sender:" or "From:" message headers. If none of
these headers is present either, the sender envelope address de-
faults to sender@example.com.
-m default-mailbox
The mailbox where the keep action stores the message. This is "IN-
BOX" by default.
-o setting=value
Overrides the configuration setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
and from the userdb with the given value. In order to override mul-
tiple settings, the -o option may be specified multiple times.
-r recipient-address
The final envelope recipient address. Some tests and actions will
use this as the script owner's e-mail address. For example, this is
what is used by the vacation action to check whether a reply is ap-
propriate. If the -r option is omitted, the original envelope recip-
ient address will be used instead (see -a option for more info).
-s script-file
Specify additional scripts to be executed before the main script.
Multiple -s arguments are allowed and the specified scripts are exe-
cuted sequentially in the order specified at the command line.
-t trace-file
Enables runtime trace debugging. Trace debugging provides detailed
insight in the operations performed by the Sieve script. Refer to
the runtime trace debugging section below. The trace information is
written to the specified file. Using '-' as filename causes the
trace data to be written to stdout.
-T trace-option
Configures runtime trace debugging, which is enabled with the -t op-
tion. Refer to the runtime trace debugging section below.
-u user/mask
Run the command only for the given user. It's also possible to use
'*' and '?' wildcards (e.g. -u *@example.org).
-x auth_info
auth_info specifies additional conditions for the user command. The
auth_info option string has to be given as name = value pair. For
multiple conditions the -x option could be supplied multiple times.
Possible names for the auth_info are:
service
The service for which the userdb lookup should be tested. The
value may be the name of a service, commonly used with Dovecot.
For example: imap, pop3 or smtp.
session
Session identifier.
lip
The local IP address (server) for the test.
rip
The remote IP address (client) for the test.
lport
The local port, e.g. 143
rport
The remote port, e.g. 24567
real_lip
The local IP to which the client connected on this host.
real_rip
The remote IP where client connected from to this host.
real_lport
The local port to which client connected to to this host.
real_rport
The remote port from where the client connected from to this host.
forward_<field>
Field to forward as %{forward:field} to auth process.
ARGUMENTS
script-file
Specifies the script to (compile and) execute.
Note that this tool looks for a pre-compiled binary file with a
.svbin extension and with basename and path identical to the speci-
fied script. Use the -C option to disable this behavior by forcing
the script to be compiled into a new binary.
mail-file
Specifies the file containing the e-mail message to test with.
USAGE
RUNTIME TRACE DEBUGGING
Using the -t option, the sieve-test tool can be configured to print de-
tailed trace information on the Sieve script execution to a file or
standard output. For example, the encountered commands, the performed
tests and the matched values can be printed.
The runtime trace can be configured using the -T option, which can be
specified multiple times. It can be used as follows:
-T level=...
Set the detail level of the trace debugging. One of the following
values can be supplied:
actions (default) : Only print executed action commands, like
keep, fileinto, reject and redirect.
commands : Print any executed command, excluding test commands.
tests : Print all executed commands and performed tests.
matching : Print all executed commands, performed tests and the val-
ues matched in those tests.
-T debug
Print debug messages as well. This is usually only useful for devel-
opers and is likely to produce messy output.
-T addresses
option or by the sieve-dump(1) command.
DEBUG SIEVE EXTENSION
To improve script debugging, this Sieve implementation supports a custom
Sieve language extension called 'vnd.dovecot.debug'. It adds the de-
bug_log command that allows logging debug messages.
Example:
require "vnd.dovecot.debug";
if header :contains "subject" "hello" {
debug_log "Subject header contains hello!";
}
, sievec(1) and sieve-dump(1) have support for the vnd.dovecot.debug ex-
tension enabled by default and it is not necessary to enable nor possi-
ble to disable the availability of the debug extension with the
In contrast, for the actual Sieve plugin for the Dovecot LDA (dovecot-
lda(1)) the vnd.dovecot.debug extension needs to be enabled explicitly
using the sieve_extensions setting or sieve_global_extensions setting
setting. The messages are then logged to the user's private script log
file. If used in a global script, the messages are logged through the
default Dovecot logging facility.
EXIT STATUS
sieve-test will exit with one of the following values:
0
Execution was successful. (EX_OK, EXIT_SUCCESS)
1
Operation failed. This is returned for almost all failures.
(EXIT_FAILURE)
64
Invalid parameter given. (EX_USAGE)
FILES
/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Dovecot's main configuration file.
/etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf
Sieve interpreter settings (included from Dovecot's main configura-
tion file)
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List
⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Information about reporting bugs is available at:
https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
SEE ALSO
dovecot(1), dovecot-lda(1), sieve-dump(1), sieve-filter(1), sievec(1),
pigeonhole(7)
78ffb79 March 2025 SIEVE-TEST(1)
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