NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     vacation - return ``I am not here'' indication

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     vacation -i [-r interval]
     vacation [-a alias] login

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     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:

           \ric, "|/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''.

     The options are as follows:

     -a alias
             Handle  messages  for  alias  in  the same manner as
those received
             for the user's login name.

     -i      Initialize the vacation database files.   It  should
be used before
             you modify your .forward file.

     -r       Set  the  reply interval to 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.

     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).  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

     Any occurrence of the string $SUBJECT in .vacation.msg  will
be replaced
     by  the  subject  of the message that triggered the vacation
program.

     vacation reads the incoming  message  from  standard  input,
checking the
     message headers for either the UNIX ``From'' line or a ``Return-Path''
     header to determine the sender.  If  both  are  present  the
sender from the
     ``Return-Path'' header is used.

     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    [Toc]    [Back]

     ~/.vacation.db   database file
     ~/.vacation.msg  message to send

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     syslog(3), sendmail(8)

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The vacation command appeared in 4.3BSD.

OpenBSD      3.6                          April      28,     1995