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dot-forward(1)		     General Commands Manual		  dot-forward(1)

NAME
     dot-forward - read a .forward file under qmail

SYNOPSIS
     in ~/.qmail: | dot-forward [ -nN ] file ...

OVERVIEW
     dot-forward forwards incoming messages according to sendmail-style instruc-
     tions in file, if file exists.  Normally file is .forward.

     WARNING:  If  you	create a .qmail file to enable dot-forward, make sure to
     add a second line specifying delivery to your normal mailbox.  For example:

	|dot-forward .forward
	./Mailbox

     COMPATIBILITY WARNING: dot-forward does not support :include: or  mbox  de-
     liveries.	You can use the delivery mechanism described in dot-qmail(5) in-
     stead.

OPTIONS
     -N   (Default.)  Read and forward a message.

     -n   Parse  file and print the forwarding instructions in it, one per line;
	  do not follow the instructions.  You can use this option from the com-
	  mand line to see how your .forward file will be interpreted:

	     dot-forward -n .forward

FILE HANDLING
     When a message arrives, dot-forward opens file and handles it as  discussed
     below.   It  exits  99,  so qmail-local will ignore further instructions in
     .qmail.  Exception: If file specifies delivery directly to you, dot-forward
     exits 0, so qmail-local will read further instructions in .qmail.

     If file does not exist, dot-forward exits 0.  You can list  several  files;
     then  dot-forward	will  try each one in turn, using the first one that ex-
     ists, or exiting 0 if none exist.

     COMPATIBILITY WARNING: dot-forward treats an empty file as if  it	did  not
     exist.   Versions	of sendmail before V8 would throw away the incoming mes-
     sage.

     COMPATIBILITY WARNING: If dot-forward encounters a temporary error  opening
     file, it exits 111, so that qmail-local will try again later.  sendmail as-
     sumes incorrectly that file does not exist.

     COMPATIBILITY  WARNING: file must be readable by dot-forward, which is nor-
     mally running as the user.  sendmail places different  constraints  on  its
     .forward permissions, since it is normally running as root.

FORWARDING
     Normally  file  contains  an  address.  dot-forward forwards the message to
     that address.

     The address is parsed as if it were in an RFC 822 message	header.   Paren-
     thesized comments and bracketed addresses are permitted:

	bob (Bob, the postmaster) @heaven.af.mil

     Addresses with special characters must be quoted:

	"spaced out mailbox"@heaven.af.mil

     Address groups are not permitted.

     file  can	contain  any number of lines, each line containing any number of
     addresses.  dot-forward forwards the message to each address:

	bob, fred, susan
	Joe Shmoe <shmoe@heaven.af.mil>

     An address without a fully qualified domain name is handled as described in
     qmail-header(5).  Exception: Certain addresses  without  domain  names  are
     handled specially, as described below.

DIRECT DELIVERY
     If  an  address does not contain a domain name, and matches the environment
     variable $USER (without regard to case), it specifies delivery directly  to
     you.

     If  an  address  matches $USER@$HOST (without regard to case), it specifies
     delivery directly to you.

     COMPATIBILITY WARNING: sendmail's handling of quotes and  backslashes  vio-
     lates  RFC  821 and RFC 822, and is not supported by dot-forward.	dot-for-
     ward treats \joe the same way as joe.   The  dot-qmail  delivery  mechanism
     lets  each user manage several addresses, so there is no need for a special
     syntax to get around forwarding.

COMMANDS
     If an address does not contain a domain name, and begins  with  a	vertical
     bar, dot-forward takes the rest of the address as a command to run:

	bob, "|vacation bob"

     dot-forward  feeds  the message to the command, preceded by the environment
     variables $UFLINE, $RPLINE, and $DTLINE.

     COMPATIBILITY WARNING: Internet addresses can  legitimately  start  with  a
     slash  or	vertical bar.  dot-forward treats anything with an unquoted @ as
     an address.  sendmail appears to have various problems  coping  with  these
     addresses, and with commands that contain @ signs.

COMMENTS
     Any line in file that begins with # is ignored:

	# this is a comment

     COMPATIBILITY  WARNING:  Versions	of sendmail before V8 did not allow com-
     ments in .forward files.

VERSION
     This   is	 dot-forward   0.71.	The    dot-forward    home    page    is
     http://pobox.com/~djb/dot-forward.html.

SEE ALSO
     qmail-header(5), dot-qmail(5)

								  dot-forward(1)

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