VACATION(1)VACATION(1)NAMEvacation - return ``I am not here'' indication
SYNOPSISvacation [-i] [-I] [-r interval] [-x] [-a alias] [-f
database] [-m message] [-s address] [-t time] [-z] login
DESCRIPTION
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 .forward file. For example, your
.forward file might have:
\eric, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a allman eric"
which would send messages to you (assuming your login name
was eric) and reply to any messages for ``eric'' or ``all-
man''.
Available options:
-a alias
Handle messages for alias in the same manner as
those received for the user's login name.
-f filename
Use filename as name of the database instead of
~/.vacation.db. Unless the filename starts with /
it is relative to ~.
-i Initialize the vacation database files. It should
be used before you modify your .forward file.
-I Same as -i (for backwards compatibility).
-m filename
Use filename as name of the file containing the
message to send instead of ~/.vacation.msg. Unless
the filename starts with / it is relative to ~.
-r interval
Set the reply interval to 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.
-s address
Use address instead of the incoming message sender
address on the From line as the recipient for the
vacation message.
-t time
Ignored, available only for compatibility with
Sun's vacation program.
$Date: 2001/07/20 04:19:38 $ 1
VACATION(1)VACATION(1)-x reads an exclusion list from stdin (one address per
line). Mails coming from an address in this exclu-
sion list won't get a reply by vacation. It is
possible to exclude complete domains by specifying
``@domain'' as element of the exclusion list.
-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.
No message will be sent unless login (or an alias supplied
using the -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) database in the
file .vacation.db in your home directory.
Vacation expects a file .vacation.msg, in your home direc-
tory, containing a message to be sent back to each sender.
It should be an entire message (including headers). For
example, it might contain:
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
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.
Fatal errors, such as calling vacation with incorrect
arguments, or with non-existent logins, are logged in the
system log file, using syslog(8).
FILES
~/.vacation.db default database file
~/.vacation.msg default message to send
SEE ALSOsendmail(8), syslog(8)
$Date: 2001/07/20 04:19:38 $ 2
VACATION(1)VACATION(1)HISTORY
The vacation command appeared in 4.3BSD.
$Date: 2001/07/20 04:19:38 $ 3
