SIEVE-TEST(1) Pigeonhole SIEVE-TEST(1)NAME
sieve-test - Pigeonhole's Sieve script tester
SYNOPSIS
sieve-test [options] script-file mail-file
DESCRIPTION
The sieve-test command is part of the Pigeonhole Project (pigeon‐
hole(7)), which adds Sieve (RFC 5228) support to the Dovecot secure
IMAP and POP3 server (dovecot(1)).
Using the sieve-test command, the execution of Sieve scripts can be
tested. This evaluates the script for the provided message, yielding a
set of Sieve actions. Unless the -e option is specified, it does not
actually execute these actions, meaning that it does not store or for‐
ward the message anywere. In stead, it prints a detailed list of what
actions would normally take place. Note that, even when -e is speci‐
fied, no messages are ever transmitted to remote SMTP recipients. The
outgoing messages are always printed to stdout in stead.
This is a very useful tool to debug the execution of Sieve scripts. It
can be used to verify newly installed scripts for the intended behav‐
iour and it can provide more detailed information about script execu‐
tion problems that are reported by the Sieve plugin, for example by
tracing the execution and evaluation of commands and tests respec‐
tively.
OPTIONS-c config-file
Alternative Dovecot configuration file path.
-C Force compilation. By default, the compiled binary is stored on
disk. When this binary is found during the next execution of
sieve-test and its modification time is more recent than the
script file, it is used and the script is not compiled again.
This option forces the script to be compiled, thus ignoring any
present binary. Refer to sievec(1) for more information about
Sieve compilation.
-D Enable Sieve debugging.
-d dump-file
Causes a dump of the generated code to be written to the speci‐
fied file. This is identical to the dump produced by
sieve-dump(1). Using '-' as filename causes the dump to be writ‐
ten to stdout.
-e Enables true execution of the set of actions that results from
running the script. In combination with the -l parameter, the
actual delivery of messages can be tested. Note that this will
not transmit any messages to remote SMTP recipients. Such
actions only print the outgoing message to stdout.
-f envelope-sender
The envelope sender or return path. This is what Sieve's enve‐
lope test will compare to when the "from" envelope part is
requested. Also, this is where response messages are sent to.
-l mail-location
The location of the user's mail store. The syntax of this
option's mail-location parameter is identical to what is used
for the mail_location setting in the Dovecot config file. This
parameter is typically used in combination with -e to test the
actual delivery of messages. If -l is omitted when -e is speci‐
fied, mail store actions like fileinto and keep are skipped.
-m default-mailbox
The mailbox where the keep action stores the message. This is
"INBOX" by default.
-r recipient-address
The envelope recipient address. This is what Sieve's envelope
test will compare to when the "to" envelope part is requested.
Some tests and actions will also use this as the owner's e-mail
address.
-s script-file
Specify additional scripts to be executed before the main
script. Multiple -s arguments are allowed and the specified
scripts are executed sequentially in the order specified at the
command line.
-t trace-file
Enables runtime trace debugging. Trace debugging provides
detailed insight in the operations performed by the Sieve
script. Refer to the runtime trace debugging section below. The
trace information is written to the specified file. Using '-'
as filename causes the trace data to be written to stdout.
-T trace-option
Configures runtime trace debugging, which is enabled with the -t
option. Refer to the runtime trace debugging section below.
-x extensions
Set the available extensions. The parameter is a space-separated
list of the active extensions. By prepending the extension iden‐
tifiers with + or -, extensions can be included or excluded rel‐
ative to the default set of extensions. If no extensions have a
+ or - prefix, only those extensions that are explicitly listed
will be enabled. Unknown extensions are ignored and a warning is
produced. By default, all supported extensions are available,
except for deprecated extensions or those that are still under
development.
For example -x "+imapflags -enotify" will enable the deprecated
imapflags extension along with all extensions that are available
by default, except for the enotify extension.
ARGUMENTS
script-file
Specifies the script to (compile and) execute.
Note that this tool looks for a pre-compiled binary file with a
.svbin extension and with basename and path identical to the
specified script. Use the -C option to disable this behavior by
forcing the script to be compiled into a new binary.
mail-file
Specifies the file containing the e-mail message to test with.
USAGE
RUNTIME TRACE DEBUGGING
Using the -t option, the sieve-test tool can be configured to print
detailed trace information on the Sieve script execution to a file or
standard output. For example, the encountered commands, the performed
tests and the matched values can be printed.
The runtime trace can be configured using the -T option, which can be
specified multiple times. It can be used as follows:
-Tlevel=...
Set the detail level of the trace debugging. One of the following
values can be supplied:
actions (default)
Only print executed action commands, like keep, fileinto, reject
and redirect.
commands
Print any executed command, excluding test commands.
tests
Print all executed commands and performed tests.
matching
Print all executed commands, performed tests and the values
matched in those tests.
-Tdebug
Print debug messages as well. This is usually only useful for devel‐
opers and is likely to produce messy output.
-Taddresses
Print byte code addresses for the current trace output. Normally,
only the current Sieve source code position (line number) is printed.
The byte code addresses are equal to those listed in a binary dump
produced using the -d option or by the sieve-dump(1) command.
DEBUG SIEVE EXTENSION
To improve script debugging, the Sieve command line tools such as
sieve-test support a custom Sieve language extension called 'vnd.dove‐
cot.debug'. It adds the debug_print command that allows printing debug
messages to stdout.
Example:
require "vnd.dovecot.debug";
if header :contains "subject" "hello" {
debug_print "Subject header contains hello!";
}
Other tools like sievec and sieve-dump also recognize the vnd.dove‐
cot.debug extension. In contrast, the actual Sieve plugin for the Dove‐
cot LDA (dovecot-lda(1)) does not allow the use of the debug extension.
So, keep in mind that scripts and compiled binaries that refer to de
debug extension will fail to be run by the Sieve plugin itself.
Note that it is not necessary to enable nor possible to disable the
availability of the debug extension with the -x option.
EXIT STATUS
sieve-test will exit with one of the following values:
0 Delivery was successful. (EX_OK, EXIT_SUCCES)
1 Operation failed. This is returned for almost all failures.
(EXIT_FAILURE)
64 Invalid parameter given. (EX_USAGE)
FILES
/usr/local/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Dovecot's main configuration file.
/usr/local/etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf
Sieve interpreter settings (included from Dovecot's main config‐
uration file)
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List
<dovecot@dovecot.org>. Information about reporting Dovecot and Pigeon‐
hole bugs is available at: http://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
SEE ALSOdovecot(1), dovecot-lda(1), sieve-dump(1), sievec(1), pigeonhole(7)Pigeonhole for Dovecot v2.0 2010-08-23 SIEVE-TEST(1)