Vacation
returns a message,
~/.vacation.msg
by default, to the sender informing them that you are currently not
reading your mail.
The message is only sent to each sender once per reply interval (see
-r
below).
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
``allman''.
Available options:
-a alias
Handle messages for
alias
in the same manner as those received for the user's
login name.
-C cfpath
Specify pathname of the sendmail configuration file.
This option is ignored if
-U
is specified.
This option defaults to the standard sendmail configuration file,
located at /etc/mail/sendmail.cf on most systems.
-d
Send error/debug messages to stdout instead of syslog.
Otherwise, fatal errors, such as calling
vacation
with incorrect arguments, or with non-existent
logins,
are logged in the system log file, using
syslog(8).
This should only be used on the command line, not in your
.forward
file.
-f filename
Use
filename
as name of the database instead of
~/.vacation.db
or
~/.vacation.{dir,pag}.
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.
This should only be used on the command line, not in your
.forward
file.
-I
Same as
-i
(for backwards compatibility).
This should only be used on the command line, not in your
.forward
file.
-l
List the content of the vacation database file including the address
and the associated time of the last auto-response to that address.
This should only be used on the command line, not in your
.forward
file.
-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.
The
-r
option should only be used when the vacation database is initialized
(see
-i
above).
-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.
-U
Do not attempt to lookup
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.
-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
vacation.
It is possible to exclude complete domains by specifying
``@domain''
as element of the exclusion list.
This should only be used on the command line, not in your
.forward
file.
-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.
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.
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)
or
dbm(3)
database in the file
.vacation.db
or
.vacation.{dir,pag}
in your home directory.
Vacation
expects a file
.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:
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
