path: root/contrib/sendmail/vacation/vacation.1

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.\"	$Id: vacation.1,v 8.26 2001/11/21 04:21:35 gshapiro Exp $
.\"
.TH VACATION 1 "$Date: 2001/11/21 04:21:35 $"
.SH NAME
vacation
\- return ``I am not here'' indication
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vacation
.RB [ \-a
.IR alias ]
.RB [ \-C
.IR cffile ]
.RB [ \-d ]
.RB [ \-f
.IR database ]
.RB [ \-i ]
.RB [ \-I ]
.RB [ \-l ]
.RB [ \-m
.IR message ]
.RB [ \-r 
.IR interval ]
.RB [ \-s
.IR address ]
.RB [ \-t
.IR time ]
.RB [ \-U ]
.RB [ \-x ]
.RB [ \-z ]
.I login
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Vacation
returns a message to the sender of a message telling them that you
are currently not reading your mail.  The intended use is in a
.I .forward
file.  For example, your
.I .forward
file might have:
.IP
\eeric, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a allman eric"
.PP
which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and
reply to any messages for
``eric''
or
``allman''.
.PP
Available options:
.TP
.BI \-a " alias"
Handle messages for
.I alias
in the same manner as those received for the user's
login name.
.TP
.BI \-C " cfpath"
Specify pathname of the sendmail configuration file.
This option is ignored if
.B \-U
is specified.
This option defaults to the standard sendmail configuration file,
located at /etc/mail/sendmail.cf on most systems.
.TP
.B \-d
Send error/debug messages to stdout instead of syslog.
Otherwise, fatal errors, such as calling
.B vacation
with incorrect arguments, or with non-existent
.IR login s,
are logged in the system log file, using
syslog(8).
.TP
.BI \-f " filename"
Use
.I filename
as name of the database instead of
.IR ~/.vacation.db
or
.IR ~/.vacation.{dir,pag} .
Unless the
.I filename
starts with / it is relative to ~.
.TP
.B \-i
Initialize the vacation database files.  It should be used
before you modify your
.I .forward
file.
.TP
.B \-I
Same as
.B \-i
(for backwards compatibility).
.TP
.BI \-m " filename"
Use
.I filename
as name of the file containing the message to send instead of
.IR ~/.vacation.msg .
Unless the
.I filename
starts with / it is relative to ~.
.TP
.B \-l
List the content of the vacation database file including the address
and the associated time of the last auto-response to that address.
.TP
.BI \-r " interval"
Set the reply interval to
.I interval
days.  The default is one week.
An interval of ``0'' or
``infinite''
(actually, any non-numeric character) will never send more than
one reply.
.TP
.BI \-s " address"
Use
.I address
instead of the incoming message sender address on the
.I From 
line as the recipient for the vacation message.
.TP
.BI \-t " time"
Ignored, available only for compatibility with Sun's
vacation program.
.TP
.B \-U
Do not attempt to lookup 
.I login
in the password file.
The -f and -m options must be used to specify the database and message file
since there is no home directory for the default settings for these options.
.TP
.B \-x
reads an exclusion list from stdin (one address per line).
Mails coming from an address
in this exclusion list won't get a reply by
.BR vacation .
It is possible to exclude complete domains by specifying
``@domain''
as element of the exclusion list.
.TP
.B \-z
Set the sender of the vacation message to
``<>''
instead of the user.
This probably violates the RFCs since vacation messages are
not required by a standards-track RFC to have a null reverse-path.
.PP
No message will be sent unless
.I login
(or an
.I alias
supplied using the
.B \-a
option) is part of either the
``To:''
or
``Cc:''
headers of the mail.
No messages from
``???-REQUEST'',
``???-RELAY'',
``???-OWNER'',
``OWNER-???'',
``Postmaster'',
``UUCP'',
``MAILER'',
or
``MAILER-DAEMON''
will be replied to (where these strings are
case insensitive) nor is a notification sent if a
``Precedence: bulk''
or
``Precedence: junk''
line is included in the mail headers.
The people who have sent you messages are maintained as a
db(3)
or
dbm(3)
database in the file
.I .vacation.db
or
.I .vacation.{dir,pag}
in your home directory.
.PP
.B Vacation
expects a file
.IR .vacation.msg ,
in your home directory, containing a message to be sent back to each
sender.  It should be an entire message (including headers).  For
example, it might contain:
.IP
.nf
From: eric@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
Subject: I am on vacation
Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: The Vacation program
Precedence: bulk

I am on vacation until July 22.  If you have something urgent,
please contact Keith Bostic <bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU>.
--eric
.fi 
.PP
.B Vacation
reads the first line from the standard input for a
UNIX
``From''
line to determine the sender.
Sendmail(8)
includes this
``From''
line automatically.
.SH FILES
.TP 1.8i
~/.vacation.db
default database file for db(3)
.TP 1.8i
~/.vacation.{dir,pag}
default database file for dbm(3)
.TP
~/.vacation.msg
default message to send
.SH SEE ALSO
sendmail(8),
syslog(8)
.SH HISTORY
The
.B vacation
command appeared in
4.3BSD.