.TH "SIEVEC" "1" "May 2026" "e5ac02a" "Dovecot"
.SH "NAME"
\fBsievec\fR - Pigeonhole's Sieve script compiler
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.P
\fBsievec\fR \[lB]\fIoptions\fR\[rB] \fIscript-file\fR \[lB]\fIout-file\fR\[rB]
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.P
The \fBsievec\fR command is part of Pigeonhole (pigeonhole(7)), which adds Sieve (RFC 5228) and ManageSieve (RFC 5804) support to Dovecot (dovecot(1)).
.P
Using the \fBsievec\fR command, Sieve scripts can be compiled into a binary representation. The resulting binary can be used directly to process e-mail messages during the delivery process. The delivery of mail messages and - by means of the LDA Sieve plugin - also the execution of Sieve scripts is performed by Dovecot's local delivery agent (LDA) called dovecot-lda(1).
.P
Usually, it is not necessary to compile the Sieve script manually using \fBsievec\fR, because dovecot-lda(1) will do this automatically if the binary is missing. However, in some cases dovecot-lda(1) does not have permission to write the compiled binary to disk, forcing it to recompile the script every time it is executed. Using the \fBsievec\fR tool, this can be performed manually by an authorized user to increase performance.
.P
The Pigeonhole Sieve implementation recognizes files with a \fB.sieve\fR extension as Sieve scripts and corresponding files with a \fB.svbin\fR extension as the associated compiled binary. This means for example that Dovecot's LDA process will first look for a binary file "dovecot.svbin" when it needs to execute "dovecot.sieve". It will compile a new binary when it is missing or outdated.
.P
The \fBsievec\fR command is also useful to verify Sieve scripts before using. Additionally, with the \fB-d\fR option it can output a textual (and thus human-readable) dump of the generated Sieve code to the specified file. The output is then identical to what the sieve-dump(1) command produces for a stored binary file. This output is mainly useful to find bugs in the compiler that yield corrupt binaries.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.P
\fB-c\fR \fIconfig-file\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Alternative Dovecot configuration file path.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-d\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Don't write the binary to \fIout-file\fR, but write a textual dump of the binary instead. In this context, the \fIout-file\fR value '-' has special meaning: it causes the textual dump to be written to \fBstdout\fR. The \fIout-file\fR argument may also be omitted, which has the same effect as '-'. The output is identical to what the sieve-dump(1) command produces for a compiled Sieve binary file. Note that this option is not allowed when the \fIout-file\fR argument is a directory.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-D\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Enable Sieve debugging.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-o\fR \fIsetting\fR\fB=\fR\fIvalue\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Overrides the configuration \fIsetting\fR from \fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR and from the userdb with the given \fIvalue\fR. In order to override multiple settings, the \fB-o\fR option may be specified multiple times.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-u\fR \fIuser/mask\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Run the \fIcommand\fR only for the given \fIuser\fR. It's also possible to use '\fB*\fR' and '\fB?\fR' wildcards (e.g. -u *@example.org).
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB-x\fR \fIauth_info\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
\fIauth_info\fR specifies additional conditions for the \fBuser\fR command. The \fIauth_info\fR option string has to be given as \fIname\fR \fB=\fR \fIvalue\fR pair. For multiple conditions the \fB-x\fR option could be supplied multiple times.
.P
Possible names for the \fIauth_info\fR are:
.P
\fBservice\fR
.RS 4
.P
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: \fBimap\fR, \fBpop3\fR or \fBsmtp\fR.
.RE 0

.P
\fBsession\fR
.RS 4
.P
Session identifier.
.RE 0

.P
\fBlip\fR
.RS 4
.P
The local IP address (server) for the test.
.RE 0

.P
\fBrip\fR
.RS 4
.P
The remote IP address (client) for the test.
.RE 0

.P
\fBlport\fR
.RS 4
.P
The local port, e.g. 143
.RE 0

.P
\fBrport\fR
.RS 4
.P
The remote port, e.g. 24567
.RE 0

.P
\fBreal_lip\fR
.RS 4
.P
The local IP to which the client connected on this host.
.RE 0

.P
\fBreal_rip\fR
.RS 4
.P
The remote IP where client connected from to this host.
.RE 0

.P
\fBreal_lport\fR
.RS 4
.P
The local port to which client connected to to this host.
.RE 0

.P
\fBreal_rport\fR
.RS 4
.P
The remote port from where the client connected from to this host.
.RE 0

.P
\fBforward_<field>\fR
.RS 4
.P
Field to forward as %{forward:field} to auth process.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "ARGUMENTS"
.P
\fIscript-file\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Specifies the script to be compiled. If the \fIscript-file\fR argument is a directory, all files in that directory with a \fI.sieve\fR extension are compiled into a corresponding \fI.svbin\fR binary file. The compilation is not halted upon errors; it attempts to compile as many scripts in the directory as possible. Note that the \fB-d\fR option and the \fIout-file\fR argument are not allowed when the \fIscript-file\fR argument is a directory.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fIout-file\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Specifies where the (binary) output is to be written. This argument is optional. If this argument is omitted, a binary compiled from <scriptname>.sieve is saved as <scriptname>.svbin. If this argument is omitted and \fB-b\fR is specified, the binary dump is output to \fBstdout\fR.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "EXIT STATUS"
.P
\fBsievec\fR will exit with one of the following values:
.P
\fB0\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Compile was successful. (EX_OK, EXIT_SUCCESS)
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB1\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Operation failed. This is returned for almost all failures. (EXIT_FAILURE)
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB64\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Invalid parameter given. (EX_USAGE)
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB67\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
User does not exist.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB68\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Input file, address or other resource does not exist.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB73\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Cannot create output file.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB77\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Permission error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB78\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Configuration error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fB127\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Unknown error.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "FILES"
.P
\fI/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Dovecot's main configuration file.
.RE 0

.RE 0

.P
\fI/etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf\fR
.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
Sieve interpreter settings (included from Dovecot's main
.RE 0

.RE 0

.RS 0
.RS 4
.P
configuration file)
.RE 0

.RE 0

.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
.P
Report bugs, including \fIdoveconf -n\fR output, to the Dovecot Mailing List \fI\(ladovecot@dovecot.org\(ra\fR. Information about reporting bugs is available at: \fI\(lahttps://dovecot.org/bugreport.html\(ra\fR
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.P
dovecot(1), dovecot-lda(1), sieve-dump(1), sieve-filter(1), sieve-test(1), pigeonhole(7)