Sendmail, 3rd Edition

Name

A=

Synopsis

The program that is to be run (specified by the P= delivery agent equate) is given its C-language char **argv array (list of command-line arguments) by this A= delivery agent equate. This delivery agent equate is traditionally the last one specified because prior to V8.7, the argv arguments were all those from the = to the end of the line:

Mlocal, P=/bin/mail, F=rlsDFMmnP, S=10, R=20, A=mail -d $u
                                                ↑prior to V8.7, argv to end of line ...

Beginning with V8.7, the A= is treated like any other delivery agent equate, in that it ends at the end of line or at the first comma. The backslash character can be used as a prefix to embed commas in the A= delivery agent equate.

Macros are expanded and can be used in this argv array. For example:

A=mail -d $u

The A= begins the declaration of the argument array. The program that is specified by the P= delivery agent equate (/bin/mail) will be executed with an argv of:

argv[0] = "mail"
argv[1] = "-d"          ← switch means perform final delivery
argv[2] = "fred"← where sendmail macro $u contains fred 

The macro value of $u contains the current recipient name or names ($u). Another sendmail macro that commonly appears in A= fields is $h, the recipient host ($h). You are, of course, free to use any sendmail macro you find necessary as a part of this argv array. Note that $u is special, in that if it is missing, sendmail will speak SMTP to the delivery agent (See this section), or LMTP if the delivery agent has the F=z flag set (F=z). Also note ...