Chapter 20. Command-Line Interface
to Exim

Whenever Exim is called, it is passed options and arguments specifying what the caller wants it to do. Because you can call Exim from a shell in this way, this is called the command-line interface. In practice, most calls of Exim come directly from other programs such as MUAs, and do not involve an actual "command line." However, the options and arguments are the same.

Many command-line options are compatible with Sendmail, so Exim can be a drop-in replacement, but there are additional options specific to Exim. Some options can be used only when Exim is called by a privileged user, and these are noted in what follows.