VACATION(1)						      General Commands Manual						       VACATION(1)

NAME

       vacation - E-mail auto-responder

SYNOPSIS

       vacation  [-a  alias]  [-C cffile] [-d] [-f database] [-i] [-I] [-j] [-l] [-m message] [-R returnaddr] [-r interval] [-s address] [-t time]
       [-U] [-x] [-z] login

DESCRIPTION

       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  stan-
	      dard sendmail configuration file, located at /etc/mail/sendmail.cf on most systems.

       -d     Send  error/debug messages to stderr 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.

       -j     Respond  to  the	message regardless of whether the login is listed as a recipient for the message.  Do not use this flag unless you
	      are sure of the consequences.  For example, this will cause to reply to mailing list messages which may result in removing you  from
	      the list.

       -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 returnaddr
	      Set the reply envelope sender address

       -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  ``Prece-
       dence:  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

FILES

       ~/.vacation.db	 default database file for db(3)

       ~/.vacation.{dir,pag}
			 default database file for dbm(3)

       ~/.vacation.msg	 default message to send

SEE ALSO

       sendmail(8), syslog(8)

HISTORY

       The vacation command appeared in 4.3BSD.

							   $Date: 2002/06/27 23:51:52 $ 					       VACATION(1)