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  informing  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 intended 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 relative to ~.

       -i     Initialize the vacation database files.  It should be used before you modify your  .forward  file.
              This should only be used on the command 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
              vacation 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  instead  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 program.

       -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 options.

       -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 automatically.

       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'', ``???-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'' or ``Precedence:
       junk'' line is included in the mail headers.  The people who have sent you messages are maintained  as  a
       db(3) or dbm(3) database in the file .vacation.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

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)