vacation(1)							   User Commands						       vacation(1)

NAME

       vacation - reply to mail automatically

SYNOPSIS

       vacation [-I]

       vacation [-a alias] [-e filter_file] [-f database_file]
	    [-j] [-m message_file] [-s sender] [-tN] username

       vacation [-f database_file] -l

DESCRIPTION

       The vacation utility automatically replies to incoming mail.

   Installation
       The installation consists of an interactive program which sets up vacation's basic configuration.

       To  install  vacation,  type it with no arguments on the command line. The program creates a .vacation.msg file, which contains the message
       that is automatically sent to all senders when vacation is enabled, and starts an editor for you to modify the  message.  (See  USAGE  sec-
       tion.)  Which  editor is invoked is determined by the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variable, or vi(1) if neither of those environment vari-
       ables are set.

       A .forward file is also created if one does not exist in your home directory. Once created, the .forward file will contain a  line  of  the
       form:

       One copy of an incoming message is sent to the username and another copy is piped into vacation:

	 username, "|/usr/bin/vacation username"

       If  a  .forward	file  is  present  in your home directory, it will ask whether you want to remove it, which disables vacation and ends the
       installation.

       The program automatically creates .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir, which contain a list of senders when vacation is enabled.

   Activation and Deactivation
       The presence of the .forward file determines whether or not vacation is disabled or enabled. To disable vacation, remove the .forward file,
       or move it to a new name.

   Initialization
       The -I option clears the vacation log files, .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir, erasing the list of senders from a previous vacation session.
       (See OPTIONS section.)

   Additional Configuration
       vacation provides configuration options that are not part of the installation, these being -a, -e, -f, -j, -m, -s,  and	-t.  (See  OPTIONS
       section.)

   Reporting
       vacation provides a reporting option, -l. See OPTIONS.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -I    Initializes  the  .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir files and enables vacation. If the -I flag is not specified, and a user argument is
	     given, vacation reads the first line from the standard input (for a From: line, no colon). If absent, it produces an error message.

       Options -a, -e, -f, -j, -m, -s, and -t are configuration options to be used in conjunction with vacation in the .forward file, not  on  the
       command line. For example,

	 username, "|/usr/bin/vacation -t1m username"

       repeats replies to the sender every minute.

       -a alias 	   Indicates  that  alias  is one of the valid aliases for the user running vacation, so that mail addressed to that alias
			   generates a reply.

       -e filter_file	   Uses filter_file instead of .vacation.filter as the source of the domain and email address filters.

       -f database_file    Uses database_file instead of .vacation as the base name for the database file.

       -j		   Does not check whether the recipient appears in the To: or the Cc: line. Warning: use of  this  option  can	result	in
			   vacation replies being sent to mailing lists and other inappropriate places; its use is therefore strongly discouraged.

       -m message_file	   Uses ~/message_file as the message to send for the reply instead of ~/.vacation.msg. message_file is a relative path to
			   the desired vacation message file. To prevent directory/file "not found" errors, message_file should  be  on  the  same
			   disk partition as ~/.forward.

       -s sender	   Replies to sender instead of the value read from the UNIX From line of the incoming message.

       -tN		   Changes  the  interval  between  repeat  replies to the same sender. The default is 1 week. A trailing s, m, h, d, or w
			   scales N to seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks, respectively.

       The -l option is neither for initialization nor configuration., but for reporting. The -foption can also be used in  conjunction  with  the
       -l.

       -l     Lists the addresses to which a reply has been sent since the last invocation of vacation -I, along with a date and time stamp.

USAGE

       .vacation.msg should include a header with at least a Subject: line (it should not include a To: line). For example:

	 Subject: I am on vacation
	 I am on vacation until July 22.  If you have something urgent,
	 please contact Joe Jones (jones@fB0).
	      --John

       If  the	string $SUBJECT appears in the .vacation.msg file, it is replaced with the subject of the original message when the reply is sent.
       Thus, a .vacation.msg file such as

	 Subject: I am on vacation
	 I am on vacation until July 22.
	 Your mail regarding "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return.
	 If you have something urgent, please contact
	 Joe Jones (jones@fB0).
	      --John

       will include the subject of the message in the reply.

       No message is sent if the To: or the Cc: line does not list the user to whom the original message was sent or one of a  number  of  aliases
       for  them,  if  the  initial  From line includes the string -REQUEST@, or if a Precedence: bulk or Precedence: junk line is included in the
       header.

       vacation will also not respond to mail from either postmaster or Mailer-Daemon.

       In addition to the above criteria, if a .vacation.filter file exists, it is used to constrain further the set of addresses to which a reply
       is  sent.  Each	line  in  that	file should be either a domain name, an email address, a negated domain name or a negated email address. A
       negated line starts with the single character !.

       Each line is compared in the order listed to the sender address. A line containing an email  address  matches  if  the  sender  address	is
       exactly the same except for case, which is ignored.  A line containing a domain name matches if the sender address is something@domain-name
       or something@something.domain-name. A reply is sent if the first match is an entry that is not negated. If the first  match  is	a  negated
       entry, or if no lines match, then no reply is sent.

       A sample filter file might look like the following:

	 !host.subdomain.sun.com
	 sun.com
	 !wife@mydomain.com
	 mydomain.com
	 onefriend@hisisp.com
	 anotherfriend@herisp.com

       Blank lines and lines starting with  "#" are ignored.

FILES

       ~/.forward

       ~/.vacation.filter

       ~/.vacation.msg

       A  list	of  senders  is kept in the dbm format files .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir in your home directory. These files are dbm files and
       cannot be viewed directly with text editors.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWsndmu 		   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       vi(1), sendmail(1M), dbm(3UCB), getusershell(3C), aliases(4), shells(4), attributes(5)

SunOS 5.11							    20 Aug 2005 						       vacation(1)