mh-alias man page on Tru64

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mh-alias(4)							   mh-alias(4)

NAME
       mh-alias - Alias file for MH message system

DESCRIPTION
       Aliasing	 allows you to send mail to a person or group of persons with‐
       out typing their complete mail address.	Both your  MH  personal	 alias
       file    and    the    system    alias	file	for   mail   delivery,
       /usr/lib/mh/MailAliases, process aliases in  the	 same  way.   You  can
       specify the name of your personal alias file in your .mh_profile.

       A  line	of  the	 alias	file  can  have the following formats: alias :
       address-group alias ; address-group < alias-file

       The first line of the  example  is  the	standard  format.   The	 alias
       appears	at the start of the line, followed by a colon, followed by the
       address or addresses that it represents.

       If the alias is terminated with a semicolon (;) instead of a colon (:),
       the mail system outputs both the alias and the address-list in the cor‐
       rect format.

       If the line starts with a <, the file named after the  <	 is  read  for
       more  alias  definitions.   The reading is done recursively, so a < can
       occur in the beginning of an alias file with the expected results.

       Addresses can be expressed in the following formats:  alias:  address1,
       address2,  address3,  ...   alias:  <file  alias:  =group alias: +group
       alias: *

       Addresses are normally given in a list, separated by a comma and one or
       more spaces.  If the list goes over one line, you can create a continu‐
       ation line by placing a back-slash (\) immediately before the  new-line
       character.

       If  the	address-group  begins  with a <, the file named after the < is
       read and its contents added to the address list for the alias.

       If the address-group starts with an =, then the file /etc/group is con‐
       sulted for the group named after the =.	Each login name occurring as a
       member of the group is added to the address list for the alias.

       If the address-group starts with a +, then the file /etc/group is  con‐
       sulted  to determine the group-id of the group named after the +.  Each
       login name occurring in the /etc/passwd file whose  group-id  is	 indi‐
       cated by this group is added to the address list for the alias.

       If  the	address-group  is  simply *, then the file /etc/passwd is con‐
       sulted and all login names with a user-id greater than a	 given	number
       (usually 200) are added to the address list for the alias.

       Aliases	are  resolved at posting time in the following way.  A list of
       all the addresses from the message is built and duplicate addresses are
       eliminated.   If	 the  message originated on the local host, then alias
       resolution is performed for those addresses in the message that have no
       host  specified.	 For each line in the alias file, aliases are compared
       against all of the existing  addresses.	 If  there  is	a  match,  the
       matched alias is removed from the address list, and each new address in
       the address-group is added to the address list, if it is not already on
       the list.

       The  alias  itself  is  not  usually output; the address-group that the
       alias maps to is output instead.	 However, if the alias	is  terminated
       with  a	semicolon  (;)	instead of a colon (:), both the alias and the
       address are output in the correct format.  This makes replies possible,
       because	in  MH	aliases	 and  personal aliases are unknown to the mail
       transport system.

       MH alias files are expanded into the headers of messages posted.	  This
       aliasing	 occurs	 first,	 at posting time, without the knowledge of the
       message transport system.  In contrast, once the message transport sys‐
       tem  is	given  a  message  to deliver to a list of addresses, for each
       address that appears to be local, a  system-wide	 alias	file  is  con‐
       sulted.	 These	aliases	 are not expanded into the headers of messages
       delivered.

       An alias file must not reference itself directly, or indirectly through
       another alias file, using the <file construct.

   Using Aliasing
       To  use	aliasing  in MH, you need to set up a personal alias file.  It
       can have any name, but it is usually called  aliases,  and  is  usually
       located	in  your Mail directory.  To set up the file, you need to per‐
       form the following steps.

       First, add the following line to your .mh_profile:  Aliasfile:  aliases
       If  you have chosen a different name for your file, you should use this
       instead of aliases.  If your file is in a  directory  other  than  your
       Mail directory, you must supply the full pathname.

       Next, create the file aliases in your Mail directory.

       You can now start to add aliases to your aliases file.

EXAMPLES
       This section gives an example of an alias file, followed by an explana‐
       tion of the entries: sgroup: fred, fear, freida fred: frated@UCI	 work-
       committee: <work.aliases staff: =staff wheels: +wheel everyone: *

       On the first line of the example, sgroup is defined as an alias for the
       three names frated@UCI, fear, and freida. On the	 second	 line  of  the
       example,	 fred is defined as an alias for frated@UCI. Next, the defini‐
       tion of work-committee is given by reading  the	file  work.aliases  in
       your  Mail  directory.  The alias staff is defined as all users who are
       listed as members of the group staff in the /etc/group file.  The alias
       wheels  is  defined as all users whose group-id in /etc/passwd is equal
       to the group wheel.  Finally, the alias	everyone  is  defined  as  all
       users with a user-id in /etc/passwd greater than 200.

FILES
       /usr/lib/mh/MailAliases
		 System alias file.

       $HOME/.mh_profile
		 Your user profile.

RELATED INFORMATION
       ali(1),	send(1),  whom(1), group(4), passwd(4), mh_profile(4), mtstai‐
       lor(4), conflict(8), post(8) delim off

								   mh-alias(4)
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