---
name: "qmail-users"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "qmail"
version: "1.06-6.2~deb10u1"
release: "Debian 10 (Buster)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/qmail-users"
---

# qmail-users(5)

assign mail addresses to users

## NAME

qmail-users - assign mail addresses to users

## OVERVIEW

The file **/var/lib/qmail/users/assign** assigns addresses to users. For example,

```
   =joe.shmoe:joe:503:78:/home/joe:::
```

says that mail for **joe.shmoe** should be delivered to user **joe**, with uid 503 and gid 78, as specified by **/home/joe/.qmail**.

Assignments fed to **qmail-newu** will be used by **qmail-lspawn** to control **qmail-local**'s deliveries. See [**qmail-newu**(8)](/qmail-newu/8.md). A change to **/var/lib/qmail/users/assign** will have no effect until **qmail-newu** is run.

## STRUCTURE

**/var/lib/qmail/users/assign** is a series of assignments, one per line. It ends with a line containing a single dot. Lines must not contain NUL.

## SIMPLE ASSIGNMENTS

A simple assignment is a line of the form

```
   =local:user:uid:gid:homedir:dash:ext:
```

Here *local* is an address; *user*, *uid*, and *gid* are the account name, uid, and gid of the user in charge of *local*; and messages to *local* will be controlled by *homedir**/.qmail**dashext*.

If there are several assignments for the same *local* address, **qmail-lspawn** will use the first one.

*local* is interpreted without regard to case.

## WILDCARD ASSIGNMENTS

A wildcard assignment is a line of the form

```
   +loc:user:uid:gid:homedir:dash:pre:
```

This assignment applies to any address beginning with *loc*, including *loc* itself. It means the same as

```
   =locext:user:uid:gid:homedir:dash:preext:
```

for every string *ext*.

A more specific wildcard assignment overrides a less specific assignment, and a simple assignment overrides any wildcard assignment. For example:

```
   +:alias:7790:2108:/var/lib/qmail/alias:-::
   +joe-:joe:507:100:/home/joe:-::
   =joe:joe:507:100:/home/joe:::
```

The address **joe** is handled by the third line; the address **joe-direct** is handled by the second line; the address **bill** is handled by the first line.

## SEE ALSO

[qmail-pw2u(8)](/qmail-pw2u/8.md), [qmail-newu(8)](/qmail-newu/8.md), [qmail-lspawn(8)](/qmail-lspawn/8.md)