GENERIC(5) GENERIC(5)
NAME
generic - Postfix generic table format
SYNOPSIS
postmap /etc/postfix/generic
postmap -q "string" /etc/postfix/generic
postmap -q - /etc/postfix/generic <inputfile
DESCRIPTION
The optional generic(5) table specifies an address mapping that applies when mail is delivered. This
is the opposite of canonical(5) mapping, which applies when mail is received.
Typically, one would use the generic(5) table on a system that does not have a valid Internet domain
name and that uses something like localdomain.local instead. The generic(5) table is then used by
the smtp(8) client to transform local mail addresses into valid Internet mail addresses when mail has
to be sent across the Internet. See the EXAMPLE section at the end of this document.
The generic(5) mapping affects both message header addresses (i.e. addresses that appear inside mes-
sages) and message envelope addresses (for example, the addresses that are used in SMTP protocol com-mands). commands).
mands).
Normally, the generic(5) table is specified as a text file that serves as input to the postmap(1)
command. The result, an indexed file in dbm or db format, is used for fast searching by the mail
system. Execute the command "postmap /etc/postfix/generic" to rebuild an indexed file after changing
the corresponding text file.
When the table is provided via other means such as NIS, LDAP or SQL, the same lookups are done as for
ordinary indexed files.
Alternatively, the table can be provided as a regular-expression map where patterns are given as reg-ular regular
ular expressions, or lookups can be directed to TCP-based server. In those case, the lookups are done
in a slightly different way as described below under "REGULAR EXPRESSION TABLES" or "TCP-BASED
TABLES".
CASE FOLDING
The search string is folded to lowercase before database lookup. As of Postfix 2.3, the search string
is not case folded with database types such as regexp: or pcre: whose lookup fields can match both
upper and lower case.
TABLE FORMAT
The input format for the postmap(1) command is as follows:
pattern result
When pattern matches a mail address, replace it by the corresponding result.
blank lines and comments
Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, as are lines whose first non-whitespace
character is a `#'.
multi-line text
A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A line that starts with whitespace continues a
logical line.
TABLE SEARCH ORDER
With lookups from indexed files such as DB or DBM, or from networked tables such as NIS, LDAP or SQL,
patterns are tried in the order as listed below:
user@domain address
Replace user@domain by address. This form has the highest precedence.
user address
Replace user@site by address when site is equal to $myorigin, when site is listed in $mydesti-nation, $mydestination,
nation, or when it is listed in $inet_interfaces or $proxy_interfaces.
@domain address
Replace other addresses in domain by address. This form has the lowest precedence.
RESULT ADDRESS REWRITING
The lookup result is subject to address rewriting:
When the result has the form @otherdomain, the result becomes the same user in otherdomain.
When "append_at_myorigin=yes", append "@$myorigin" to addresses without "@domain".
When "append_dot_mydomain=yes", append ".$mydomain" to addresses without ".domain".
ADDRESS EXTENSION
When a mail address localpart contains the optional recipient delimiter (e.g., user+foo@domain), the
lookup order becomes: user+foo@domain, user@domain, user+foo, user, and @domain.
The propagate_unmatched_extensions parameter controls whether an unmatched address extension (+foo)
is propagated to the result of table lookup.
REGULAR EXPRESSION TABLES
This section describes how the table lookups change when the table is given in the form of regular
expressions. For a description of regular expression lookup table syntax, see regexp_table(5) or
pcre_table(5).
Each pattern is a regular expression that is applied to the entire address being looked up. Thus,
user@domain mail addresses are not broken up into their user and @domain constituent parts, nor is
user+foo broken up into user and foo.
Patterns are applied in the order as specified in the table, until a pattern is found that matches
the search string.
Results are the same as with indexed file lookups, with the additional feature that parenthesized
substrings from the pattern can be interpolated as $1, $2 and so on.
TCP-BASED TABLES
This section describes how the table lookups change when lookups are directed to a TCP-based server.
For a description of the TCP client/server lookup protocol, see tcp_table(5). This feature is not
available up to and including Postfix version 2.4.
Each lookup operation uses the entire address once. Thus, user@domain mail addresses are not broken
up into their user and @domain constituent parts, nor is user+foo broken up into user and foo.
Results are the same as with indexed file lookups.
EXAMPLE
The following shows a generic mapping with an indexed file. When mail is sent to a remote host via
SMTP, this replaces his@localdomain.local by his ISP mail address, replaces her@localdomain.local by
her ISP mail address, and replaces other local addresses by his ISP account, with an address exten-sion extension
sion of +local (this example assumes that the ISP supports "+" style address extensions).
/etc/postfix/main.cf:
smtp_generic_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/generic
/etc/postfix/generic:
his@localdomain.local hisaccount@hisisp.example
her@localdomain.local heraccount@herisp.example
@localdomain.local hisaccount+local@hisisp.example
Execute the command "postmap /etc/postfix/generic" whenever the table is changed. Instead of hash,
some systems use dbm database files. To find out what tables your system supports use the command
"postconf -m".
BUGS
The table format does not understand quoting conventions.
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
The following main.cf parameters are especially relevant. The text below provides only a parameter
summary. See postconf(5) for more details including examples.
smtp_generic_maps
Address mapping lookup table for envelope and header sender and recipient addresses while
delivering mail via SMTP.
propagate_unmatched_extensions
A list of address rewriting or forwarding mechanisms that propagate an address extension from
the original address to the result. Specify zero or more of canonical, virtual, alias, for-ward, forward,
ward, include, or generic.
Other parameters of interest:
inet_interfaces
The network interface addresses that this system receives mail on. You need to stop and start
Postfix when this parameter changes.
proxy_interfaces
Other interfaces that this machine receives mail on by way of a proxy agent or network address
translator.
mydestination
List of domains that this mail system considers local.
myorigin
The domain that is appended to locally-posted mail.
owner_request_special
Give special treatment to owner-xxx and xxx-request addresses.
SEE ALSO
postmap(1), Postfix lookup table manager
postconf(5), configuration parameters
smtp(8), Postfix SMTP client
README FILES
Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate this information.
ADDRESS_REWRITING_README, address rewriting guide
DATABASE_README, Postfix lookup table overview
STANDARD_CONFIGURATION_README, configuration examples
LICENSE
The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
HISTORY
A genericstable feature appears in the Sendmail MTA.
This feature is available in Postfix 2.2 and later.
AUTHOR(S)
Wietse Venema
IBM T.J. Watson Research
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
GENERIC(5)
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