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📖 NAME

postlogd - Postfix internal log server

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
📝 Enable internal logging	maillog_file = /path/to/log in main.cf	Activates postlogd for Postfix‑internal logging
🔄 Reload configuration	postfix reload	Forces postlogd to pick up main.cf changes immediately
🔍 View internal log	tail -f $maillog_file	Monitors the log file written by postlogd
⚙️ Check parameter defaults	postconf -d	Shows compiled‑in defaults for config_directory, syslog_name, etc.

📋 SYNOPSIS

postlogd [generic Postfix daemon options]

📝 DESCRIPTION

This program logs events on behalf of Postfix programs when the maillog configuration parameter specifies a non‑empty value.

🐛 BUGS

Non‑daemon Postfix programs don't know that they should log to the internal logging service before they have processed command‑line options and main.cf parameters. These programs still log earlier events to the syslog service.

If Postfix is down, the non‑daemon programs postfix(1), postsuper(1), postmulti(1), and postlog(1), will log directly to $maillog_file. These programs expect to run with root privileges, for example during Postfix start‑up, reload, or shutdown.

Other non‑daemon Postfix programs will never write directly to $maillog_file (also, logging to stdout would interfere with the operation of some of these programs). These programs can log to postlogd(8) if they are run by the super‑user, or if their executable file has set‑gid permission. Do not set this permission on programs other than postdrop(1) and postqueue(1).

⚙️ CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS

Changes to main.cf are picked up automatically, as postlogd(8) processes run for only a limited amount of time. Use the command postfix reload to speed up a change.

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.
• maillog_file (empty) – The name of an optional logfile that is written by the Postfix postlogd(8) service.
• process_id (read‑only) – The process ID of a Postfix command or daemon process.
• process_name (read‑only) – The process name of a Postfix command or daemon process.
• 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.
• service_name (read‑only) – The master.cf service name of a Postfix daemon process.
• postlogd_watchdog_timeout (10s) – How much time a postlogd(8) process may take to process a request before it is terminated by a built‑in watchdog timer.

📚 SEE ALSO

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

📄 README_FILES

Use postconf readme_directory or postconf html_directory to locate this information.

• MAILLOG_README, Postfix logging to file or stdout

📜 LICENSE

The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.

📅 HISTORY

This service was introduced with Postfix version 3.4.

👤 AUTHOR(S)

Wietse Venema
Google, Inc.
111 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10011, USA

📖 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📝 DESCRIPTION 🐛 BUGS ⚙️ CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS 📚 SEE ALSO 📄 README_FILES 📜 LICENSE 📅 HISTORY 👤 AUTHOR(S)