.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1987, 1990, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff%
.\"
.\"	@(#)vacation.1	6.9 (Berkeley) 07/30/91
.\"
.Dd 
.Dt VACATION 1
.Os BSD 4.3
.Sh NAME
.Nm vacation
.Nd return ``I am not here'' indication
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm vacation
.Fl i
.Op Fl r Ar interval
.Nm vacation
.Op Fl a Ar alias
.Ar login
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm 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
.Pa .forward
file.  For example, your
.Pa .forward
file might have:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\eeric, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a allman eric"
.Ed
which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and
reply to any messages for
.Dq eric
or
.Dq allman .
.Pp
Available options:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl a Ar alias
Handle messages for
.Ar alias
in the same manner as those received for the user's
login name.
.It Fl i
Initialize the vacation database files.  It should be used
before you modify your
.Pa .forward
file.
.It Fl r
Set the reply interval to
.Ar interval
days.  The default is one week.  An interval of
.Dq 0
means that
a reply is sent to each message, and an interval of
.Dq Li infinite
(actually, any non-numeric character) will never send more than
one reply.  It should be noted that intervals of
.Dq Li \&0
are quite
dangerous, as it allows mailers to get into
.Dq I am on vacation
loops.
.El
.Pp
No message will be sent unless
.Ar login
(or an
.Ar alias
supplied using the
.Fl a
option) is part of either the
.Dq To:
or
.Dq Cc:
headers of the mail.
No messages from
.Dq ???-REQUEST ,
.Dq Postmaster ,
.Dq Tn UUCP ,
.Dq MAILER ,
or
.Dq MAILER-DAEMON
will be replied to (where these strings are
case insensitive) nor is a notification sent if a
.Dq Precedence: bulk
or
.Dq Precedence: junk
line is included in the mail headers.
The people who have sent you messages are maintained as an
.Xr ndbm 3
database in the files
.Pa .vacation.pag
and
.Pa .vacation.dir
in your home directory.
.Pp
.Pp
.Nm Vacation
expects a file
.Pa .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
.Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
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
.Ed
.Pp
.Nm Vacation
reads the first line from the standard input for a
.Ux
.Dq From
line to determine the sender.
.Xr Sendmail 8
includes this
.Dq From
line automatically.
.Pp
Fatal errors, such as calling
.Nm vacation
with incorrect arguments, or with non-existent
.Ar login Ns Ar s ,
are logged in the system log file, using
.Xr syslog 8 .
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width "vacation.dirxxx" -compact
.It Pa ~/.vacation.dir
database file
.It Pa ~/.vacation.msg
message to send
.It Pa ~/.vacation.pag
database file
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr sendmail 8 ,
.Xr syslog 8
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm vacation
command appeared in
.Bx 4.3 .