vacation(1) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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VACATION(1)             NetBSD General Commands Manual             VACATION(1)


NAME

     vacation -- return ``I am not here'' indication


SYNOPSIS

     vacation -dIi [-f databasefile] [-m messagefile] [-r interval]
              [-t interval]
     vacation -dj [-a alias] [-F F|R|S] [-f databasefile] [-m messagefile]
              [-s sender] [-T A|D] 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 ``allman''.

     Available options:

     -a alias
             Handle messages for alias in the same manner as those received
             for the user's login name.

     -d      Turn debugging on; don't send an actual message, but print it on
             stdout.

     -f database_file
             Use the specified database_file prefix and append .db to it
             instead of $HOME/.vacation.db.

     -F F|R|S
             Make vacation additionally look in From: (F), Return-Path: (R),
             or Sender: (S) headers to determine the From: field.

     -i

     -I      Initialize the vacation database files.  It should be used before
             you modify your .forward file.

     -j      Do not check if the recipient is present in the To: or Cc: lines.
             Usage of this option is strongly discouraged because it will
             result in vacation replying to mailing lists or other inappropri-
             ate places (e.g., messages that you have been Bcc to).

     -m message_file
             Use message_file instead of $HOME/.vacation.msg.

     -s sender
             Reply to sender instead of the the value read from the message.

     -r interval

     -t interval
             Set the reply interval to interval days.  If the interval number
             is followed by w, d, h, m, or s then the number is interpreted as
             weeks, days, hours, minutes, or seconds respectively.  The
             default interval is one week.  An interval of ``0'' means that a
             reply is sent to each message, and an interval of ``infinite''
             (actually, any non-numeric character) will never send more than
             one reply.  It should be noted that intervals of ``0'' are quite
             dangerous, as it allows mailers to get into ``I am on vacation''
             loops.

     -T A|D  Make vacation additionally look in Apparently-To: (A) or Deliv-
             ered-To: (D) headers to determine the To: field.

     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'', ``Postmaster'', ``UUCP'', ``MAILER'', or
     ``MAILER-DAEMON'' will be replied to (where these strings are case insen-
     sitive) nor is a notification sent if a ``Precedence: bulk''
     ``Precedence: list'' 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 directory, containing
     a message to be sent back to each sender.  It should be an entire message
     (including headers).  If the message contains the string $SUBJECT then it
     will will be replaced with the subject of the original message.  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.
           Your mail regarding "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return.
           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(3).


FILES

     ~/.vacation.db   database file
     ~/.vacation.msg  message to send


SEE ALSO

     syslog(3), sendmail(8)


HISTORY

     The vacation command appeared in 4.3BSD.


BUGS

     Adding -t A or -t D should only be done for misconfigured or non-compli-
     ant MTAs.  Doing so may auto-respond to messages that were not supposed
     to be replied to.

NetBSD 5.1                      August 19, 2004                     NetBSD 5.1