SIEVE-TEST(1) Dovecot 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 Pigeonhole (pigeonhole(7)), which
adds Sieve (RFC 5228) and ManageSieve (RFC 5804) support to Dovecot
(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 anywhere. Instead, 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 instead.
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
-a orig-recipient-address
The original envelope recipient address. This is what Sieve's enve-
lope test will compare to when the "to" envelope part is requested.
Some tests and actions will also use this as the script owner's e-
mail address. If this option is omitted, the recipient address is
retrieved from the "Envelope-To:", or "To:" message headers. If
none of these headers is present either, the recipient address
defaults to recipient AT example.com.
-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 specified
file. This is identical to the dump produced by sieve-dump(1).
Using '-' as filename causes the dump to be written to stdout.
-e
Enables true execution of the set of actions that results from run-
ning the script. Use he -o parameter to specify the mail_driver,
mail_path and other necessary storage settings. This allows actual
delivery of messages can be tested. Note that this will not trans-
mit any messages to remote SMTP recipients. Such actions only print
the outgoing message to stdout.
-f envelope-sender
The envelope sender address (return path). This is what Sieve's
envelope test will compare to when the "from" envelope part is
requested. Also, this is where response messages are 'sent' to. If
this option is omitted, the sender address is retrieved from the
"Return-Path:", "Sender:" or "From:" message headers. If none of
these headers is present either, the sender envelope address
defaults to sender AT example.com.
-m default-mailbox
The mailbox where the keep action stores the message. This is
"INBOX" by default.
-o setting=value
Overrides the configuration setting from /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
and from the userdb with the given value. In order to override mul-
tiple settings, the -o option may be specified multiple times.
-r recipient-address
The final envelope recipient address. Some tests and actions will
use this as the script owner's e-mail address. For example, this is
what is used by the vacation action to check whether a reply is
appropriate. If the -r option is omitted, the original envelope
recipient address will be used instead (see -a option for more
info).
-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.
-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>
Field to forward as %{forward:field} to auth process.
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 speci-
fied 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:
-T level=...
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.
-T debug
Print debug messages as well. This is usually only useful for
developers and is likely to produce messy output.
-T addresses
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, this Sieve implementation supports a cus-
tom Sieve language extension called 'vnd.dovecot.debug'. It adds the
debug_log command that allows logging debug messages.
Example:
require "vnd.dovecot.debug";
if header :contains "subject" "hello" {
debug_log "Subject header contains hello!";
}
Tools such as sieve-test, sievec(1) and sieve-dump(1) have support for
the vnd.dovecot.debug extension enabled by default and it is not neces-
sary to enable nor possible to disable the availability of the debug
extension with the -x option. The logged messages are written to stdout
in this case.
In contrast, for the actual Sieve plugin for the Dovecot LDA (dovecot-
lda(1)) the vnd.dovecot.debug extension needs to be enabled explicitly
using the sieve_extensions setting or sieve_global_extensions setting
setting. The messages are then logged to the user's private script log
file. If used in a global script, the messages are logged through the
default Dovecot logging facility.
EXIT STATUS
sieve-test will exit with one of the following values:
0
Execution was successful. (EX_OK, EXIT_SUCCESS)
1
Operation failed. This is returned for almost all failures.
(EXIT_FAILURE)
64
Invalid parameter given. (EX_USAGE)
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 configura-
tion file)
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List
<dovecot AT dovecot.org>. Information about reporting bugs is available
at: https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
SEE ALSO
dovecot(1), dovecot-lda(1), sieve-dump(1), sieve-filter(1), sievec(1),
pigeonhole(7)
2b97ab9 March 2026 SIEVE-TEST(1)
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