RC.SENDMAIL(8)          FreeBSD System Manager's Manual         RC.SENDMAIL(8)

NAME
     rc.sendmail - sendmail(8) startup script

DESCRIPTION
     The rc.sendmail script is used by /etc/rc at boot time to start
     sendmail(8).  It is meant to be sendmail(8) specific and not a generic
     script for all MTAs.  It is only called by /etc/rc if the rc.conf(5)
     mta_start_script variable is set to /etc/rc.sendmail.

     The rc.sendmail script can take an optional argument specifying the
     action to perform.  The available actions are:

     start             Starts both the MTA and the MSP queue runner.

     stop              Stops both the MTA and the MSP queue runner.

     restart           Restarts both the MTA and the MSP queue runner.

     start-mta         Starts just the MTA.

     stop-mta          Stops just the MTA.

     restart-mta       Restarts just the MTA.

     start-mspq        Starts just the MSP queue runner.

     stop-mspq         Stops just the MSP queue runner.

     restart-mspq      Restarts just the MSP queue runner.

     If no action is specified, start is assumed.

     The rc.sendmail script is also used by /etc/mail/Makefile to enable the
     Makefile's start, stop, and restart targets.

RC.CONF VARIABLES
     The following variables affect the behavior of rc.sendmail.  They are
     defined in /etc/defaults/rc.conf and can be changed in /etc/rc.conf.

     sendmail_enable
             (str) If set to "YES", run the sendmail(8) daemon at system boot
             time.  If set to "NO", do not run a sendmail(8) daemon to listen
             for incoming network mail.  This does not preclude a sendmail(8)
             daemon listening on the SMTP port of the loopback interface.  The
             "NONE" option is deprecated and should not be used.  It will be
             removed in a future release.

     sendmail_cert_create
             (str) If sendmail_enable is set to "YES", create a signed
             certificate /etc/mail/certs/host.cert representing
             /etc/mail/certs/host.key by the CA certificate in
             /etc/mail/certs/cacert.pem.  This will enable connecting hosts to
             negotiate STARTTLS allowing incoming email to be encrypted in
             transit.  sendmail(8) needs to be configured to use these
             generated files.  The default configuration in
             /etc/mail/freebsd.mc has the required options in it.

     sendmail_cert_cn
             (str) If sendmail_enable is set to "YES" and sendmail_cert_create
             is set to "YES", this is the Common Name (CN) of the certificate
             that will be created.  If sendmail_cert_cn is not set, the
             system's hostname will be used.  If there is no hostname set,
             "amnesiac" will be used.

     sendmail_flags
             (str) If sendmail_enable is set to "YES", these are the flags to
             pass to the sendmail(8) daemon.

     sendmail_submit_enable
             (bool) If set to "YES" and sendmail_enable is set to "NO", run
             sendmail(8) using sendmail_submit_flags instead of
             sendmail_flags.  This is intended to allow local mail submission
             via a localhost-only listening SMTP service required for running
             sendmail(8) as a non-set-user-ID binary.  Note that this does not
             work inside jail(2) systems, as jails do not allow binding to
             just the localhost interface.

     sendmail_submit_flags
             (str) If sendmail_enable is set to "NO" and
             sendmail_submit_enable is set to "YES", these are the flags to
             pass to the sendmail(8) daemon.

     sendmail_outbound_enable
             (bool) If set to "YES" and both sendmail_enable and
             sendmail_submit_enable are set to "NO", run sendmail(8) using
             sendmail_outbound_flags instead of sendmail_flags.  This is
             intended to allow local mail queue management for systems that do
             not offer a listening SMTP service.

     sendmail_outbound_flags
             (str) If both sendmail_enable and sendmail_submit_enable are set
             to "NO" and sendmail_outbound_enable is set to "YES", these are
             the flags to pass to the sendmail(8) daemon.

     sendmail_msp_queue_enable
             (bool) If set to "YES", start a client (MSP) queue runner
             sendmail(8) daemon at system boot time.  As of sendmail 8.12, a
             separate queue is used for command line submissions.  The client
             queue runner ensures that nothing is left behind in the
             submission queue.

     sendmail_msp_queue_flags
             (str) If sendmail_msp_queue_enable is set to "YES", these are the
             flags to pass to the sendmail(8) daemon.

     These variables are used to determine how the sendmail(8) daemons are
     started:

           # MTA
           if (${sendmail_enable} == NONE)
                   # Do nothing
           else if (${sendmail_enable} == YES)
                   start sendmail with ${sendmail_flags}
           else if (${sendmail_submit_enable} == YES)
                   start sendmail with ${sendmail_submit_flags}
           else if (${sendmail_outbound_enable} == YES)
                   start sendmail with ${sendmail_outbound_flags}
           endif

           # MSP Queue Runner
           if (${sendmail_enable} != NONE &&
               [ -r /etc/mail/submit.cf] &&
               ${sendmail_msp_queue_enable} == YES)
                   start sendmail with ${sendmail_msp_queue_flags}
           endif

     To completely prevent any sendmail(8) daemons from starting, you must set
     the following variables in /etc/rc.conf:

           sendmail_enable="NO"
           sendmail_submit_enable="NO"
           sendmail_outbound_enable="NO"
           sendmail_msp_queue_enable="NO"

SEE ALSO
     rc.conf(5), rc(8), sendmail(8)

HISTORY
     The rc.sendmail file appeared in FreeBSD 4.6.

FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6        October 19, 2013        FreeBSD 13.1-RELEASE-p6