# postqueue(1) - man - phpman [POSTQUEUE(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/POSTQUEUE/1/markdown) General Commands Manual [POSTQUEUE(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/POSTQUEUE/1/markdown) ## NAME postqueue - Postfix queue control ## SYNOPSIS **To** **flush** **the** **mail** **queue**: **postqueue** [**-v**] [**-c** _config_dir_] **-f** **postqueue** [**-v**] [**-c** _config_dir_] **-i** _queue_id_ **postqueue** [**-v**] [**-c** _config_dir_] **-s** _site_ **To** **list** **the** **mail** **queue**: **postqueue** [**-v**] [**-c** _config_dir_] **-j** **postqueue** [**-v**] [**-c** _config_dir_] **-p** ## DESCRIPTION The [**postqueue**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postqueue/1/markdown) command implements the Postfix user interface for queue management. It im‐ plements operations that are traditionally available via the [**sendmail**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sendmail/1/markdown) command. See the [**postsuper**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postsuper/1/markdown) command for queue operations that require super-user privileges such as deleting a message from the queue or changing the status of a message. The following options are recognized: ### -c The **main.cf** configuration file is in the named directory instead of the default con‐ figuration directory. See also the MAIL_CONFIG environment setting below. ### -f This option implements the traditional "**sendmail** **-q**" command, by contacting the Post‐ fix [**qmgr**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/qmgr/8/markdown) daemon. Warning: flushing undeliverable mail frequently will result in poor delivery perfor‐ mance of all other mail. ### -i Schedule immediate delivery of deferred mail with the specified queue ID. This option implements the traditional **sendmail** **-qI** command, by contacting the [**flush**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/flush/8/markdown) server. This feature is available with Postfix version 2.4 and later. ### -j result is a stream of zero or more JSON objects, one per queue file. Each object is followed by a newline character to support simple streaming parsers. See "**JSON** **OBJECT** **FORMAT**" below for details. This feature is available in Postfix 3.1 and later. ### -p tional **mailq** command, by contacting the Postfix [**showq**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/showq/8/markdown) daemon. Each queue entry shows the queue file ID, message size, arrival time, sender, and the recipients that still need to be delivered. If mail could not be delivered upon the last attempt, the reason for failure is shown. The queue ID string is followed by an optional status character: ***** The message is in the **active** queue, i.e. the message is selected for delivery. **!** The message is in the **hold** queue, i.e. no further delivery attempt will be made until the mail is taken off hold. **#** The message is forced to expire. See the [**postsuper**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postsuper/1/markdown) options **-e** or **-f**. This feature is available in Postfix 3.5 and later. ### -s Schedule immediate delivery of all mail that is queued for the named _site_. A numerical site must be specified as a valid RFC 5321 address literal enclosed in [], just like in email addresses. The site must be eligible for the "fast flush" service. See [**flush**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/flush/8/markdown) for more information about the "fast flush" service. This option implements the traditional "**sendmail** **-qR**_site_" command, by contacting the Postfix [**flush**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/flush/8/markdown) daemon. ### -v -v increasingly verbose. As of Postfix 2.3, this option is available for the super-user only. ## JSON OBJECT FORMAT Each JSON object represents one queue file; it is emitted as a single text line followed by a newline character. Object members have string values unless indicated otherwise. Programs should ignore object members that are not listed here; the list of members is expected to grow over time. **queue**___**name** The name of the queue where the message was found. Note that the contents of the mail queue may change while it is being listed; some messages may appear more than once, and some messages may be missed. **queue**___**id** The queue file name. The queue_id may be reused within a Postfix instance unless "en‐ able_long_queue_ids = true" and time is monotonic. Even then, the queue_id is not ex‐ pected to be unique between different Postfix instances. Management tools that re‐ quire a unique name should combine the queue_id with the myhostname setting of the Postfix instance. **arrival**___**time** The number of seconds since the start of the UNIX epoch. **message**___**size** The number of bytes in the message header and body. This number does not include mes‐ sage envelope information. It is approximately equal to the number of bytes that would be transmitted via SMTP including the line endings. **forced**___**expire** The message is forced to expire (**true** or **false**). See the [**postsuper**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postsuper/1/markdown) options **-e** or **-f**. This feature is available in Postfix 3.5 and later. **sender** The envelope sender address. ### recipients An array containing zero or more objects with members: **address** One recipient address. **delay**___**reason** If present, the reason for delayed delivery. Delayed recipients may have no delay reason, for example, while delivery is in progress, or after the system was stopped before it could record the reason. ## SECURITY This program is designed to run with set-group ID privileges, so that it can connect to Post‐ fix daemon processes. ## STANDARDS RFC 7159 (JSON notation) ## DIAGNOSTICS Problems are logged to [**syslogd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/syslogd/8/markdown) or [**postlogd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postlogd/8/markdown), and to the standard error stream. ## ENVIRONMENT MAIL_CONFIG Directory with the **main.cf** file. In order to avoid exploitation of set-group ID privi‐ leges, a non-standard directory is allowed only if: • The name is listed in the standard **main.cf** file with the **alternate**___**config**___**di**‐‐ **rectories** configuration parameter. • The command is invoked by the super-user. ## CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS The following **main.cf** parameters are especially relevant to this program. The text below provides only a parameter summary. See [**postconf**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postconf/5/markdown) for more details including examples. **alternate**___**config**___**directories** **(empty)** A list of non-default Postfix configuration directories that may be specified with "-c config_directory" on the command line (in the case of [**sendmail**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sendmail/1/markdown), with the "-C" op‐ tion), or via the MAIL_CONFIG environment parameter. **config**___**directory** **(see** **'postconf** **-d'** **output)** The default location of the Postfix main.cf and master.cf configuration files. **command**___**directory** **(see** **'postconf** **-d'** **output)** The location of all postfix administrative commands. **fast**___**flush**___**domains** **($relay**___**domains)** Optional list of destinations that are eligible for per-destination logfiles with mail that is queued to those destinations. **import**___**environment** **(see** **'postconf** **-d'** **output)** The list of environment parameters that a privileged Postfix process will import from a non-Postfix parent process, or name=value environment overrides. **queue**___**directory** **(see** **'postconf** **-d'** **output)** The location of the Postfix top-level queue directory. **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 exam‐ ple, "smtpd" becomes "prefix/smtpd". **trigger**___**timeout** **(10s)** The time limit for sending a trigger to a Postfix daemon (for example, the [**pickup**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/pickup/8/markdown) or [**qmgr**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/qmgr/8/markdown) daemon). Available in Postfix version 2.2 and later: **authorized**___**flush**___**users** **(static:anyone)** List of users who are authorized to flush the queue. **authorized**___**mailq**___**users** **(static:anyone)** List of users who are authorized to view the queue. ## FILES /var/spool/postfix, mail queue ## SEE ALSO [qmgr(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/qmgr/8/markdown), queue manager [showq(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/showq/8/markdown), list mail queue [flush(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/flush/8/markdown), fast flush service [sendmail(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sendmail/1/markdown), Sendmail-compatible user interface [postsuper(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postsuper/1/markdown), privileged queue operations [postlogd(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/postlogd/8/markdown), Postfix logging [syslogd(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/syslogd/8/markdown), system logging ## README FILES Use "**postconf** **readme**___**directory**" or "**postconf** **html**___**directory**" to locate this information. ETRN_README, Postfix ETRN howto ## LICENSE The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software. ## HISTORY The postqueue command was introduced with Postfix version 1.1. **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 [POSTQUEUE(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/POSTQUEUE/1/markdown)