[unix-history] / usr.sbin / sendmail / src / aliases.5

.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1991, 1993
.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)aliases.5	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/16/93
.\"
.Dd June 16, 1993
.Dt ALIASES 5
.Os BSD 4
.Sh NAME
.Nm aliases
.Nd aliases file for sendmail
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm aliases
.Sh DESCRIPTION
This file describes user
.Tn ID
aliases used by
.Pa /usr/sbin/sendmail .
The file resides in
.Pa /etc
and
is formatted as a series of lines of the form
.Bd -filled -offset indent
name: name_1, name2, name_3, . . .
.Ed
.Pp
The
.Em name
is the name to alias, and the
.Em name_n
are the aliases for that name.
Lines beginning with white space are continuation lines.
Lines beginning with
.Ql #
are comments.
.Pp
Aliasing occurs only on local names.
Loops can not occur, since no message will be sent to any person more than once.
.Pp
After aliasing has been done, local and valid recipients who have a
.Dq Pa .forward
file in their home directory have messages forwarded to the
list of users defined in that file.
.Pp
This is only the raw data file; the actual aliasing information is
placed into a binary format in the file
.Pa /etc/aliases.db
using the program
.Xr newaliases 1 .
A
.Xr newaliases
command should be executed each time the aliases file is changed for the
change to take effect.
.Sh SEE  ALSO
.Xr newaliases 1 ,
.Xr dbopen 3 ,
.Xr dbm 3 ,
.Xr sendmail 8
.Rs
.%T "SENDMAIL Installation and Operation Guide"
.Re
.Rs
.%T "SENDMAIL An Internetwork Mail Router"
.Re
.Sh BUGS
If you have compiled
.Xr sendmail
with DBM support instead of NEWDB,
you may have encounter problems in
.Xr dbm 3
restricting a single alias to about 1000 bytes of information.
You can get longer aliases by ``chaining''; that is, make the last name in
the alias be a dummy name which is a continuation alias.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
file format appeared in
.Bx 4.0 .
Commit	Line	Data
78ed81a3	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1991, 1993
78ed81a3	2	.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
15637ed4 RG	3	.\"
	4	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	5	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	6	.\" are met:
	7	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	8	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	9	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	10	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	11	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	12	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	13	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	14	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	15	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	16	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	17	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	18	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	19	.\"
	20	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	21	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	22	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	23	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	24	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	25	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	26	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	27	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	28	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	29	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	30	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	31	.\"
78ed81a3	32	.\" @(#)aliases.5 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/16/93
15637ed4	33	.\"
78ed81a3	34	.Dd June 16, 1993
15637ed4 RG	35	.Dt ALIASES 5
	36	.Os BSD 4
	37	.Sh NAME
	38	.Nm aliases
	39	.Nd aliases file for sendmail
	40	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	41	.Nm aliases
	42	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	43	This file describes user
	44	.Tn ID
	45	aliases used by
	46	.Pa /usr/sbin/sendmail .
	47	The file resides in
	48	.Pa /etc
	49	and
	50	is formatted as a series of lines of the form
	51	.Bd -filled -offset indent
	52	name: name_1, name2, name_3, . . .
	53	.Ed
	54	.Pp
	55	The
	56	.Em name
	57	is the name to alias, and the
	58	.Em name_n
	59	are the aliases for that name.
	60	Lines beginning with white space are continuation lines.
	61	Lines beginning with
	62	.Ql #
	63	are comments.
	64	.Pp
	65	Aliasing occurs only on local names.
	66	Loops can not occur, since no message will be sent to any person more than once.
	67	.Pp
	68	After aliasing has been done, local and valid recipients who have a
	69	.Dq Pa .forward
	70	file in their home directory have messages forwarded to the
	71	list of users defined in that file.
	72	.Pp
	73	This is only the raw data file; the actual aliasing information is
78ed81a3	74	placed into a binary format in the file
78ed81a3	75	.Pa /etc/aliases.db
15637ed4 RG	76	using the program
	77	.Xr newaliases 1 .
	78	A
	79	.Xr newaliases
	80	command should be executed each time the aliases file is changed for the
	81	change to take effect.
	82	.Sh SEE ALSO
	83	.Xr newaliases 1 ,
78ed81a3	84	.Xr dbopen 3 ,
15637ed4 RG	85	.Xr dbm 3 ,
	86	.Xr sendmail 8
	87	.Rs
	88	.%T "SENDMAIL Installation and Operation Guide"
	89	.Re
	90	.Rs
	91	.%T "SENDMAIL An Internetwork Mail Router"
	92	.Re
	93	.Sh BUGS
78ed81a3	94	If you have compiled
	95	.Xr sendmail
	96	with DBM support instead of NEWDB,
	97	you may have encounter problems in
15637ed4	98	.Xr dbm 3
78ed81a3	99	restricting a single alias to about 1000 bytes of information.
15637ed4 RG	100	You can get longer aliases by ``chaining''; that is, make the last name in
	101	the alias be a dummy name which is a continuation alias.
	102	.Sh HISTORY
	103	The
	104	.Nm
	105	file format appeared in
	106	.Bx 4.0 .