    SPAWN(8)                                                 SPAWN(8)

    NAME
           spawn - Postfix external command spawner

    SYNOPSIS
           spawn [generic Postfix daemon options] command_attributes...

    DESCRIPTION
           The spawn daemon provides the Postfix equivalent of inetd.
           It listens on a port as specified in the Postfix master.cf
           file  and spawns an external command whenever a connection
           is established.  The connection can be made over local IPC
           (such  as UNIX-domain sockets) or over non-local IPC (such
           as TCP sockets).  The command's standard input, output and
           error  streams are connected directly to the communication
           endpoint.

           This daemon expects to be run from the  master(8)  process
           manager.

    COMMAND ATTRIBUTE SYNTAX
           The external command attributes are given in the master.cf
           file at the end of a service definition.  The syntax is as
           follows:

           user=username (required)

           user=username:groupname
                  The external command is executed with the rights of
                  the specified username.  The  software  refuses  to
                  execute  commands with root privileges, or with the
                  privileges of the mail system owner.  If  groupname
                  is  specified,  the  corresponding group ID is used
                  instead of the group ID of of username.

           argv=command... (required)
                  The command to be executed. This must be  specified
                  as the last command attribute.  The command is exe-
                  cuted  directly,  i.e.  without  interpretation  of
                  shell  meta  characters  by  a shell command inter-
                  preter.

    BUGS
           In order to enforce standard Postfix process resource con-
           trols,  the spawn daemon runs only one external command at
           a time.  As such, it presents  a  noticeable  overhead  by
           wasting  precious  process  resources. The spawn daemon is
           expected to be replaced by a more structural solution.

    DIAGNOSTICS
           The spawn daemon reports abnormal child  exits.   Problems
           are logged to syslogd(8).

    SECURITY
           This  program  needs  root  privilege  in order to execute
           external commands as the specified user. It  is  therefore
           security  sensitive.   However  the  spawn daemon does not
           talk to the external command and thus is not vulnerable to
           data-driven attacks.

    CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
           The  following  main.cf parameters are especially relevant
           to this program. See the Postfix main.cf file  for  syntax
           details  and  for  default  values. Use the postfix reload
           command after a configuration change.

    Miscellaneous
           export_environment
                  List of names of environment parameters that can be
                  exported to non-Postfix processes.

           mail_owner
                  The  process  privileges  used while not running an
                  external command.

    Resource control
           service_time_limit
                  The amount of time the command is  allowed  to  run
                  before  it  is  killed  with  force. service is the
                  first field of the entry in the master.cf file. The
                  default  time  limit  is  given  by the global com-
                  mand_time_limit configuration parameter.

    SEE ALSO
           master(8) process manager
           syslogd(8) system logging

    LICENSE
           The Secure Mailer license must be  distributed  with  this
           software.

    AUTHOR(S)
           Wietse Venema
           IBM T.J. Watson Research
           P.O. Box 704
           Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

                                                             SPAWN(8)