xref: /original-bsd/usr.bin/vacation/vacation.1 (revision ea3a8ee8)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1987, 1990, 1991 Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" %sccs.include.redist.roff%
5.\"
6.\"	@(#)vacation.1	6.9 (Berkeley) 07/30/91
7.\"
8.Dd
9.Dt VACATION 1
10.Os BSD 4.3
11.Sh NAME
12.Nm vacation
13.Nd return ``I am not here'' indication
14.Sh SYNOPSIS
15.Nm vacation
16.Fl i
17.Op Fl r Ar interval
18.Nm vacation
19.Op Fl a Ar alias
20.Ar login
21.Sh DESCRIPTION
22.Nm Vacation
23returns a message to the sender of a message telling them that you
24are currently not reading your mail.  The intended use is in a
25.Pa .forward
26file.  For example, your
27.Pa .forward
28file might have:
29.Bd -literal -offset indent
30\eeric, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a allman eric"
31.Ed
32which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and
33reply to any messages for
34.Dq eric
35or
36.Dq allman .
37.Pp
38Available options:
39.Bl -tag -width Ds
40.It Fl a Ar alias
41Handle messages for
42.Ar alias
43in the same manner as those received for the user's
44login name.
45.It Fl i
46Initialize the vacation database files.  It should be used
47before you modify your
48.Pa .forward
49file.
50.It Fl r
51Set the reply interval to
52.Ar interval
53days.  The default is one week.  An interval of
54.Dq 0
55means that
56a reply is sent to each message, and an interval of
57.Dq Li infinite
58(actually, any non-numeric character) will never send more than
59one reply.  It should be noted that intervals of
60.Dq Li \&0
61are quite
62dangerous, as it allows mailers to get into
63.Dq I am on vacation
64loops.
65.El
66.Pp
67No message will be sent unless
68.Ar login
69(or an
70.Ar alias
71supplied using the
72.Fl a
73option) is part of either the
74.Dq To:
75or
76.Dq Cc:
77headers of the mail.
78No messages from
79.Dq ???-REQUEST ,
80.Dq Postmaster ,
81.Dq Tn UUCP ,
82.Dq MAILER ,
83or
84.Dq MAILER-DAEMON
85will be replied to (where these strings are
86case insensitive) nor is a notification sent if a
87.Dq Precedence: bulk
88or
89.Dq Precedence: junk
90line is included in the mail headers.
91The people who have sent you messages are maintained as an
92.Xr ndbm 3
93database in the files
94.Pa .vacation.pag
95and
96.Pa .vacation.dir
97in your home directory.
98.Pp
99.Pp
100.Nm Vacation
101expects a file
102.Pa .vacation.msg ,
103in your home directory, containing a message to be sent back to each
104sender.  It should be an entire message (including headers).  For
105example, it might contain:
106.Pp
107.Bd -unfilled -offset indent -compact
108From: eric@ucbmonet.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
109Subject: I am on vacation
110Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: The Vacation program
111Precedence: bulk
112
113I am on vacation until July 22.  If you have something urgent,
114please contact Joe Kalash <kalash@ucbingres.Berkeley.EDU>.
115--eric
116.Ed
117.Pp
118.Nm Vacation
119reads the first line from the standard input for a
120.Ux
121.Dq From
122line to determine the sender.
123.Xr Sendmail 8
124includes this
125.Dq From
126line automatically.
127.Pp
128Fatal errors, such as calling
129.Nm vacation
130with incorrect arguments, or with non-existent
131.Ar login Ns Ar s ,
132are logged in the system log file, using
133.Xr syslog 8 .
134.Sh FILES
135.Bl -tag -width "vacation.dirxxx" -compact
136.It Pa ~/.vacation.dir
137database file
138.It Pa ~/.vacation.msg
139message to send
140.It Pa ~/.vacation.pag
141database file
142.El
143.Sh SEE ALSO
144.Xr sendmail 8 ,
145.Xr syslog 8
146.Sh HISTORY
147The
148.Nm vacation
149command appeared in
150.Bx 4.3 .
151