VACATION(1zm) VACATION(1zm)
NAME
vacation - reply to mail automatically
SYNOPSIS
vacation start
vacation stop
vacation -I
vacation [-t interval] [-m Msgfile] [-d] [-a alias] [user]
DESCRIPTION
vacation automatically replies to incoming mail. The canned reply is
contained in the file .vacation.msg, that you should create in your
home directory (or the file Msgfile specifiedby in the -m option).
This file should include a header with at least a ``Subject:'' line (it
should not include a ``To:'' line -- if you want, you may include a
From: line, especially if you use the -m option). For example:
Subject: I am on vacation
I am on vacation until July 22.
If you have something urgent, please contact
Joe Jones (joe@blah.utoronto.ca).
--john
No message is sent if the "user" specified in the vacation command (if
nothing is specified, it uses your username) does not appear explicitly
in the To: or Cc: lines of the message, which prevents messages from
being sent back to mailing lists and causing loops.
USAGE
To start vacation, run the command
vacation start
It will create a .vacation.msg file (if you don't already have one) in
your home directory containing the message you want to send people who
send you mail, and a
.forward
file in your home directory containing a line of the form:
"\name", "|/opt/mail/bin/vacation name"
Where name is your login name.
Make sure these files and your home directory are readable by everyone.
Also make sure that no one else can write to them, and that no one can
write to your home directory.
chmod og-w $HOME $HOME/.forward
To stop vacation(1zm), run the command:
vacation stop
It will move the .forward file to .vacforward,
and the automatic replies will stop.
OPTIONS
-aalias
Handle messages for alias in the same manner as those received
for the user's login name.
-I, -i initialize the .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir files and start
vacation.
If the -I( or -i") flag is not specified, vacation tries to
reply to the sender.
-tinterval
-rinterval
Change the interval between repeat replies to the same sender.
A trailing s, m, h, d, or w scales interval to seconds, minutes,
hours, days, or weeks respectively. Default multiplier is
'days'.
Default interval is 1.00 days, unless ZENV data sets something
else.
Minimum supported interval is 30 seconds!
-mMsgfile
specifies the file in which the message to be sent is kept. The
default is $HOME/.vacation.msg.
-d disables the list of senders kept in the .vacation.pag and
.vacation.dir files.
FILES
A list of senders is kept in the files .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir
in your home directory. These are dbm database files. (Note: not all
database systems have two files, either may be missing.) The vacation
message is in .vacation.msg and the automatic reply is activated by the
.forward (and saved in .vacforward) The default vacation message is
stored in /opt/mail/vacation.msg
ZMAILER NOTES
On machines running ZMailer, the name argument to vacation is optional,
and the USER environment variable is used to determine where to look
for the message and the list of previous recipients.
The SENDER variable is checked first to determine the reply destina-
tion. It is normally set to the SMTP ``MAIL FROM'' address or equiva-
lent. This is an additional safeguard against sending replies to mail-
ing lists, the PostMaster or the mailer daemon, since standards and
common sense dictate that it never points back to an address that could
cause a loop. The From_ line is used only as a last resort.
SEE ALSO
sendmail(8zm), zmailer.conf(5zm), Zmailer Manual (http://zmailer.org/)
AUTHOR
This program is originally the BSD vacation(1) by:
Eric Allman
It was adapted to ZMailer environment by:
Rayan Zachariassen <no address>
Further modified over the years 1988-2001 by:
Matti Aarnio <mea@nic.funet.fi>
2005-Feb-27 VACATION(1zm)