---
name: "zmailer"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "zmailer"
version: "2.99.55-3"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/zmailer"
---

# zmailer(1)

zmailer control script

## NAME

zmailer - zmailer control script

## SYNOPSIS

**zmailer** \[ **kill** \| **nuke** \] \[ **router** \] \[ **scheduler** \] \[ **smtpserver** \] \[ **newaliases** \] \[ **resubmit** \] \[ **bootclean** \] \[ **cleanup** \] \[ **freeze** \] \[ **thaw\|unfreeze** \]

## DESCRIPTION

*zmailer* is the quick interface to starting and stopping the local mail daemons. There are three daemons, called the *router*, the *scheduler*, and the *smtpserver*.

The *router*'s home directory is *POSTOFFICE***/router**, which it scans every 15 idle seconds for newly submitted message files.  The *router* determines what to do with a message.  It will typically send it on to the *scheduler* queue.  This is maintained in the *POSTOFFICE***/scheduler** directory, which is also the working directory of the *scheduler* and its transport agents.  The *scheduler* process is what listens to the **mailq** TCP port for queries from the *mailq* program used to examine the state of the transport queues.

## OPTIONS

Invoking *zmailer* without any argument is equivalent to giving the three arguments: **router** **scheduler** **smtpserver**. Invoking *zmailer* with only one argument, **kill**, is equivalent to invoking it with the four arguments: **kill** **router** **scheduler** **smtpserver**. The arguments specify actions to take in sequence:

- **freeze**

  sets a flag so that latter options/executions of the *zmailer* script need at first an **unfreeze** to allow restart of various subprograms. The goal is to keep automatically restarting systems from starting up a mailer when there is a maintance going on.

- **unfreeze**

  clears the flag that **freeze** did set. Has an alias: **thaw**.

- **kill**

  sets a flag so that when the following arguments are executed, the relevant process will be shut down gracefully, as opposed to restarted.  If **kill** is the last (or only) argument, it will terminate all three daemons.

- **nuke**

  is like **kill** except the processes are shut down with the KILL signal.

- **router**

  will start up (or shut down if after a **kill**) a new *router* daemon.

- **scheduler**

  will start up (or shut down if after a **kill**) a new *scheduler* daemon.

- **smtpserver**

  will start up (or shut down if after a **kill**) a new SMTP server daemon.

- **newaliases**

  will run the script to recreate the alias database from the *MAILSHARE***/db/aliases** file.

- **resubmit**

  moves messages from the *POSTOFFICE***/deferred** directory to the *POSTOFFICE***/router** directory.  This should be run regularly by cron.

- **bootclean**

  does any necessary boot-time cleanup.

- **cleanup**

  gets rid of old files from the *POSTOFFICE***/postman** and  *POSTOFFICE***/public** directories.  This should be run once a day or week or month.

## EXAMPLES

To stop the currently running daemons:

```
	zmailer kill
```

At boot time, typically the following script fragment will be run to start up all the daemons:

```
	. /etc/zmailer.conf
	if [ -f $MAILSHARE/zmailer ]; then
		$MAILSHARE/zmailer &
			(echo -n ' zmailer')     >/dev/console
	fi
```

## FILES

*/etc/zmailer.conf*\
 */var/spool/postoffice (POSTOFFICE)*\
 */local/lib/mail/router (MAILBIN/router)*\
 */local/lib/mail/scheduler (MAILBIN/scheduler)*\
 */local/lib/mail/smtpserver (MAILBIN/smtpserver)*\
 */local/share/mail/newaliases (MAILSHARE/newaliases)*

## SEE ALSO

[router(8)](/router/8.md), [scheduler(8)](/scheduler/8.md), [smtpserver(8)](/smtpserver/8.md), [mailq(1)](/mailq/1.md), [newaliases(1)](/newaliases/1.md)

## AUTHOR

This program authored and copyright by:\
 Rayan Zachariassen \<rayan@cs.toronto.edu\>\
 Some extensions by:\
 Matti Aarnio \<mea@nic.funet.fi\>