--- name: "sievec" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "pigeonhole" version: "2.4.5-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/sievec" --- # sievec(1) Pigeonhole's Sieve script compiler ## NAME **sievec** - Pigeonhole's Sieve script compiler ## SYNOPSIS **sievec** \[*options*\] *script-file* \[*out-file*\] ## DESCRIPTION The **sievec** command is part of Pigeonhole ([pigeonhole(7)](/pigeonhole/7.md)), which adds Sieve (RFC 5228) and ManageSieve (RFC 5804) support to Dovecot ([dovecot(1)](/dovecot/1.md)). Using the **sievec** command, Sieve scripts can be compiled into a binary representation. The resulting binary can be used directly to process e-mail messages during the delivery process. The delivery of mail messages and - by means of the LDA Sieve plugin - also the execution of Sieve scripts is performed by Dovecot's local delivery agent (LDA) called [dovecot-lda(1)](/dovecot-lda/1.md). Usually, it is not necessary to compile the Sieve script manually using **sievec**, because [dovecot-lda(1)](/dovecot-lda/1.md) will do this automatically if the binary is missing. However, in some cases [dovecot-lda(1)](/dovecot-lda/1.md) does not have permission to write the compiled binary to disk, forcing it to recompile the script every time it is executed. Using the **sievec** tool, this can be performed manually by an authorized user to increase performance. The Pigeonhole Sieve implementation recognizes files with a **.sieve** extension as Sieve scripts and corresponding files with a **.svbin** extension as the associated compiled binary. This means for example that Dovecot's LDA process will first look for a binary file "dovecot.svbin" when it needs to execute "dovecot.sieve". It will compile a new binary when it is missing or outdated. The **sievec** command is also useful to verify Sieve scripts before using. Additionally, with the **-d** option it can output a textual (and thus human-readable) dump of the generated Sieve code to the specified file. The output is then identical to what the [sieve-dump(1)](/sieve-dump/1.md) command produces for a stored binary file. This output is mainly useful to find bugs in the compiler that yield corrupt binaries. ## OPTIONS - **-c** *config-file* Alternative Dovecot configuration file path. - **-d** Don't write the binary to *out-file*, but write a textual dump of the binary instead. In this context, the *out-file* value '-' has special meaning: it causes the textual dump to be written to **stdout**. The *out-file* argument may also be omitted, which has the same effect as '-'. The output is identical to what the [sieve-dump(1)](/sieve-dump/1.md) command produces for a compiled Sieve binary file. Note that this option is not allowed when the *out-file* argument is a directory. - **-D** Enable Sieve debugging. - **-o** *setting***=***value* Overrides the configuration *setting* from */etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf* and from the userdb with the given *value*. In order to override multiple settings, the **-o** option may be specified multiple times. - **-u** *user/mask* Run the *command* only for the given *user*. It's also possible to use '**\***' and '**?**' wildcards (e.g. -u \*@example.org). - **-x** *auth\_info* *auth\_info* specifies additional conditions for the **user** command. The *auth\_info* option string has to be given as *name* **=** *value* pair. For multiple conditions the **-x** option could be supplied multiple times. Possible names for the *auth\_info* are: **service** The service for which the userdb lookup should be tested. The value may be the name of a service, commonly used with Dovecot. For example: **imap**, **pop3** or **smtp**. **session** Session identifier. **lip** The local IP address (server) for the test. **rip** The remote IP address (client) for the test. **lport** The local port, e.g. 143 **rport** The remote port, e.g. 24567 **real\_lip** The local IP to which the client connected on this host. **real\_rip** The remote IP where client connected from to this host. **real\_lport** The local port to which client connected to to this host. **real\_rport** The remote port from where the client connected from to this host. **forward\_\** Field to forward as %{forward:field} to auth process. ## ARGUMENTS *script-file* Specifies the script to be compiled. If the *script-file* argument is a directory, all files in that directory with a *.sieve* extension are compiled into a corresponding *.svbin* binary file. The compilation is not halted upon errors; it attempts to compile as many scripts in the directory as possible. Note that the **-d** option and the *out-file* argument are not allowed when the *script-file* argument is a directory. *out-file* Specifies where the (binary) output is to be written. This argument is optional. If this argument is omitted, a binary compiled from \.sieve is saved as \.svbin. If this argument is omitted and **-b** is specified, the binary dump is output to **stdout**. ## EXIT STATUS **sievec** will exit with one of the following values: **0** Compile was successful. (EX\_OK, EXIT\_SUCCESS) **1** Operation failed. This is returned for almost all failures. (EXIT\_FAILURE) **64** Invalid parameter given. (EX\_USAGE) **67** User does not exist. **68** Input file, address or other resource does not exist. **73** Cannot create output file. **77** Permission error. **78** Configuration error. **127** Unknown error. ## FILES */etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf* Dovecot's main configuration file. */etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf* Sieve interpreter settings (included from Dovecot's main configuration file) ## REPORTING BUGS Report bugs, including *doveconf -n* output, to the Dovecot Mailing List *⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩*. Information about reporting bugs is available at: *⟨https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html⟩* ## SEE ALSO [dovecot(1)](/dovecot/1.md), [dovecot-lda(1)](/dovecot-lda/1.md), [sieve-dump(1)](/sieve-dump/1.md), [sieve-filter(1)](/sieve-filter/1.md), [sieve-test(1)](/sieve-test/1.md), [pigeonhole(7)](/pigeonhole/7.md)