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PIGEONHOLE(7)                       Dovecot                      PIGEONHOLE(7)
NAME
       pigeonhole - Overview of the Pigeonhole Sieve support for Dovecot
DESCRIPTION
       Pigeonhole adds support for the Sieve language (RFC 5228) and the Mana-
       geSieve protocol (RFC 5804) to Dovecot (dovecot(1)).
       In the literal sense, a pigeonhole is a a hole or recess inside a dove-
       cot  for pigeons to nest in. It is, however, also the name for one of a
       series of small, open compartments in a  cabinet  used  for  filing  or
       sorting  mail.  As a verb, it describes the act of putting an item into
       one  of  those  pigeonholes.  The  name  "Pigeonhole"  therefore   well
       describes  an important part of the functionality that it adds to Dove-
       cot: sorting and filing e-mail messages.
       The Sieve language is used to specify how e-mail needs to be processed.
       By  writing  Sieve scripts, users can customize how messages are deliv-
       ered, e.g. whether they are forwarded or  stored  in  special  folders.
       Unwanted  messages  can be discarded or rejected, and, when the user is
       not available, the Sieve interpreter can send an automated reply. Above
       all,  the  Sieve  language is meant to be simple, extensible and system
       independent. And, unlike most other mail filtering script languages, it
       does  not  allow  users to execute arbitrary programs. This is particu-
       larly useful to prevent virtual users from having full  access  to  the
       mail  store. The intention of the language is to make it impossible for
       users to do anything more complex (and  dangerous)  than  write  simple
       mail filters.
       Using  the  ManageSieve  protocol, users can upload their Sieve scripts
       remotely, without needing direct filesystem access through FTP or  SCP.
       Additionally,  a  ManageSieve  server  always  makes sure that uploaded
       scripts are valid, preventing compile failures at mail delivery.
       Pigeonhole provides the following items:
       o   The LDA Sieve plugin  for  Dovecot's  Local  Delivery  Agent  (LDA)
           (dovecot-lda(1))  that  facilitates the actual Sieve filtering upon
           delivery.
       o   The ManageSieve service that implements  the  ManageSieve  protocol
           through  which  users  can  remotely  manage  Sieve  scripts on the
           server.
       o   A plugin for Dovecot's doveadm(1) command line tool that  adds  new
           doveadm-sieve(1) commands for management of Sieve filtering.
       o   The  imap-sieve  plugin  documentation  plugin,  which provides the
           ability to attach Sieve scripts that are run  for  IMAP  events  in
           their mailboxes.
       o   The  imap-filter-sieve plugin documentation that allows refiltering
           mails in a mailbox using Sieve scripts.
       The functionality and configuration of the LDA  Sieve  plugin  and  the
       ManageSieve  service  is  described in detail in the README and INSTALL
       files contained in the Pigeonhole package and in sieve.
       The following command line tools are available outside of doveadm:
       sievec(1)
           Compiles Sieve scripts into a binary representation for later  exe-
           cution.
       sieve-test(1)
           The  universal  Sieve  test  tool for testing the effect of a Sieve
           script on a particular message.
       sieve-filter(1)
           Filters all messages in a particular source mailbox through a Sieve
           script.
       sieve-dump(1)
           Dumps  the  content of a Sieve binary file for (development) debug-
           ging purposes.
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),   doveadm(1),   doveadm-sieve(1),   sieve-
       dump(1), sieve-test(1), sieve-filter(1), sievec(1)
       Additional resources:
       o   sieve
78ffb79                           March 2025                     PIGEONHOLE(7)