sendmail, 4th Edition

The Output

Each line of output produced during rule testing begins with an indication of the rule set number or name being processed:

canonify           input: Bill Bix < bill >

The word input precedes each address that is about to be processed by a rule set:

canonify           input: Bill Bix < bill  >

The word returns precedes each address that is the result of rewriting by a rule set:

canonify         returns: bill

When rule sets call other rule sets as subroutines, those calls are shown in the output with input and returns pairs. In the following, the Canonify2 rule set is called as a subroutine rule set from inside the canonify rule set 3:

canonify           input: Bill Bix < bill >
Canonify2          input: bill
Canonify2        returns: bill
canonify         returns: bill

The output can also contain rule set operators:

parse            returns: $# local  $:  bill

In this output, the operators are printed as they would appear in the configuration file. The $# selects a delivery agent, and the $: specifies the user. Under old versions of sendmail, those operators are printed in the output as control characters:

rewrite: rule set  0 returns: ^V local  ^X  bill

The correspondence between control characters in the old-style output and sendmail configuration file operators is given in Table 8-2.

Table 8-2. Control characters versus operators

Control	Operator	Meaning
^V	$#	Select delivery agent.
^W	$@	Specify host for delivery agent.
^X	$:	Specify user for delivery agent.