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VACATION(1)		     General Commands Manual		     VACATION(1)

NAME
     vacation - E-mail auto-responder

SYNOPSIS
     vacation  [-a alias] [-C cffile] [-d] [-f database] [-i] [-I] [-j] [-l] [-m
     message] [-R returnaddr] [-r interval] [-s address]  [-t  time]  [-U]  [-x]
     [-z] login

DESCRIPTION
     Vacation  returns	a message, ~/.vacation.msg by default, to the sender in-
     forming them that you are currently not reading your mail.  The message  is
     only  sent  to each sender once per reply interval (see -r below).  The in-
     tended 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.

     -C cfpath
	    Specify pathname of the sendmail configuration file.  This option is
	    ignored  if  -U  is specified.  This option defaults to the standard
	    sendmail configuration file,  located  at  /etc/mail/sendmail.cf  on
	    most systems.

     -d     Send  error/debug  messages to stderr instead of syslog.  Otherwise,
	    fatal errors, such as calling vacation with incorrect arguments,  or
	    with  non-existent	logins, are logged in the system log file, using
	    syslog(8).	This should only be used on the  command  line,  not  in
	    your .forward file.

     -f filename
	    Use  filename  as  name of the database instead of ~/.vacation.db or
	    ~/.vacation.{dir,pag}.  Unless the filename starts with / it is rel-
	    ative to ~.

     -i     Initialize the vacation database files.  It should	be  used  before
	    you modify your .forward file.  This should only be used on the com-
	    mand line, not in your .forward file.

     -I     Same  as -i (for backwards compatibility).	This should only be used
	    on the command line, not in your .forward file.

     -j     Respond to the message regardless of whether the login is listed  as
	    a  recipient  for  the message.  Do not use this flag unless you are
	    sure of the consequences.  For example, this will cause to reply  to
	    mailing  list  messages  which  may  result in removing you from the
	    list.

     -l     List the content of the vacation database file including the address
	    and the associated time of the last auto-response to  that	address.
	    This  should  only be used on the command line, not in your .forward
	    file.

     -m filename
	    Use filename as name of the file containing the message to send  in-
	    stead  of  ~/.vacation.msg.  Unless the filename starts with / it is
	    relative to ~.

     -R returnaddr
	    Set the reply envelope sender address

     -r interval
	    Set the reply interval to interval days.  The default is  one  week.
	    An	interval  of  ``0''  or  ``infinite'' (actually, any non-numeric
	    character) will never send more  than  one	reply.	 The  -r  option
	    should  only  be used when the vacation database is initialized (see
	    -i above).

     -s address
	    Use address instead of the incoming message sender	address  on  the
	    From line as the recipient for the vacation message.

     -t time
	    Ignored,  available  only for compatibility with Sun's vacation pro-
	    gram.

     -U     Do not attempt to lookup login in the password file.  The -f and  -m
	    options  must be used to specify the database and message file since
	    there is no home directory for the default settings  for  these  op-
	    tions.

     -x     Reads  an  exclusion  list from stdin (one address per line).  Mails
	    coming from an address in this exclusion list won't get a  reply  by
	    vacation.	It is possible to exclude complete domains by specifying
	    ``@domain'' as element of the exclusion list.  This should	only  be
	    used on the command line, not in your .forward file.

     -z     Set  the  sender  of  the  vacation message to ``<>'' instead of the
	    user.  This probably violates the RFCs since vacation  messages  are
	    not required by a standards-track RFC to have a null reverse-path.

     Vacation  reads  the first line from the standard input for a UNIX ``From''
     line to determine the sender.  Sendmail(8) includes this ``From'' line  au-
     tomatically.   It	also  scans the headers for a ``Return-Path:'' header to
     determine the sender.  If both are present, the sender from  the  ``Return-
     Path:'' header is used.

     No message will be sent unless login (or an alias supplied using the -a op-
     tion)  is	part  of  either the ``To:'' or ``Cc:'' headers of the mail.  No
     messages from ``???-REQUEST'', ``???-RELAY'', ``???-OWNER'', ``OWNER-???'',
     ``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.  Likewise, a response will not be sent  if
     the  headers  contain  a  ``Auto-Submitted:''  header with any value except
     ``no'' or a ``List-Id:'' header is found.	The people  who  have  sent  you
     messages  are  maintained	as a db(3) or dbm(3) database in the file .vaca-
     tion.db or .vacation.{dir,pag} 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 first line of the subject of the message that triggered the vacation
     program.

FILES
     ~/.vacation.db    default database file for db(3)

     ~/.vacation.{dir,pag}
		       default database file for dbm(3)

     ~/.vacation.msg   default message to send

SEE ALSO
     sendmail(8), syslog(8)

HISTORY
     The vacation command appeared in 4.3BSD.

			  $Date: 2013-11-22 20:52:02 $		     VACATION(1)

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