usr/src/usr.bin/vacation/vacation.1

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.\"     @(#)vacation.1  6.7 (Berkeley) %G%
.\"
.TH VACATION 1 ""
.UC 6
.SH NAME
vacation \- return ``I am not here'' indication
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B vacation
.B -i
[
.B -r
interval ]
.br
.B vacation
[
.B -a
alias ] login
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I 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
.I .forward
file.  For example, your
.I .forward
file might have:
.PP
.ti +5
\eeric, "|/usr/ucb/vacation -a allman eric"
.PP
which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and
reply to any messages for ``eric'' or ``allman''.
.PP
No message will be sent unless
.I login
(or an
.I alias
supplied using the
.B -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 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 an
.IR ndbm (3)
database in the files
.I .vacation.pag
and
.I .vacation.dir
in your home directory.
.PP
The
.B -i
flag initializes the vacation database files.  It should be used
before you modify your
.I .forward
file.
.PP
The
.B -r
flag sets the reply interval to
.I interval
days.  The default 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.
.PP
.I Vacation
expects a file
.IR .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:
.PP
.in +5
.nf
From: eric@ucbmonet.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 Joe Kalash <kalash@ucbingres.Berkeley.EDU>.
        --eric
.fi
.in -5
.PP
.I Vacation
reads the first line from the standard input for a \s-1UNIX\s0-style
``From'' line to determine the sender.
.IR Sendmail (8)
includes this ``From'' line automatically.
.PP
Fatal errors, such as calling
.I vacation
with incorrect arguments, or with non-existent
.IR login s,
are logged in the system log file, using
.IR syslog (8).
.SH FILES
.nf
.ta \w'~/.vacation.msg    'u
~/.vacation.dir database file
~/.vacation.msg message to send
~/.vacation.pag database file
.fi
.SH "SEE ALSO"
sendmail(8), syslog(8)