sendmail, 4th Edition

The V Configuration Command’s Vendor Part

Beginning with V8.6 sendmail, the level for the version command can be followed by the identity of the vendor. The form of that declaration looks like this:

Vlevel/vendor           ← V8.6 and above

The / must immediately follow the level with no intervening space. There can be arbitrary space between the / and the vendor. The string that is the vendor specification is case-insensitive and can be any one of the following:

Sendmail

This is the commercial version of sendmail sold by Sendmail, Inc.

Berkeley

This is a configuration file based on the BSD distribution and is the one you get when you build and install from the source. As of V8.14, this declaration does nothing. If you use this configuration file with another vendor’s version of sendmail, the Berkeley tells the other version that you are using a configuration file based on the open source.

Sun

This is a configuration file intended for use with Sun’s release of sendmail. If it is declared and if you are running Sun’s sendmail, Sun-specific enhancements become available to you. If you are not running Sun’s sendmail, an error is printed.

HP, IBM, DEC, etc.

Beginning with V8.12, other vendors, such as IBM, now add their own vendor designation to the V configuration command.

If any unrecognized string appears in the vendor part, or if the vendor name is absent but the slash is present, sendmail will print the following error and ignore that vendor declaration:

file.cf: line num: invalid V line vendor code: ...