VACATION(1) General Commands Manual VACATION(1)NAME
vacation - return ``I am on vacation'' indication
SYNOPSIS
vacation -I
vacation user
DESCRIPTION
Vacation returns a message to the sender of a message telling that you are on vacation. The intended use is in a .forward file. For exam-
ple, your .forward file might have:
eric, "|vacation eric"
which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and send a message back to the sender.
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 say:
From: eric@ucbmonet.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
Subject: I am on vacation
Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: the Vacation program
I am on vacation until July 22. If you have something urgent,
please contact Joe Kalash <kalash@ucbingres.Berkeley.EDU>.
--eric
This message will only be sent once a week to each unique sender. The people who have sent you messages are kept in the files .vaca-
tion.pag and .vacation.dir in your home directory. The -I option initializes these files, and should be executed before you modify your
.forward file.
If the -I flag is not specified, vacation reads the first line from the standard input for a UNIX-style ``From'' line to determine the
sender. If this is not present, a nasty diagnostic is produced. Sendmail(8) includes the ``From'' line automatically.
No message is sent if the initial ``From'' line includes the string ``-REQUEST@'' or if a ``Precedence: bulk'' or ``Precedence: junk'' line
is included in the header.
SEE ALSO sendmail(8)4.3 Berkeley Distribution June 16, 1985 VACATION(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
VACATION(1) BSD 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 inappropriate 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 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 Delivered-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
insensitive) 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 $SUBJECT then it will will be replaced with the subject of the original mes-
sage. For example, it might contain:
From: eric@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
Subject: I am on vacation
Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: The Vacation program
Precedence: bulk
I am on vacation until July 22.
Your mail regarding "$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-compliant MTAs. Doing so may auto-respond to messages that were not sup-
posed to be replied to.
BSD August 19, 2004 BSD