NAME

       newaliases - create a forwarding database from /etc/aliases

SYNOPSIS

       newaliases

DESCRIPTION

       newaliases  reads  a table of sendmail-style forwarding instructions from /etc/aliases and
       converts them into a forwarding database in /etc/aliases.cdb.  The forwarding database can
       be used by fastforward.

       For  safety,  newaliases writes the forwarding database to /etc/aliases.tmp and then moves
       /etc/aliases.tmp to /etc/aliases.cdb.  If there is a  problem  creating  /etc/aliases.tmp,
       newaliases  complains  and  leaves  /etc/aliases.cdb alone.  Deliveries can continue using
       /etc/aliases.cdb in the meantime.

       newaliases always creates /etc/aliases.cdb world-readable.

       newaliases makes no attempt to protect against simultaneous updates of /etc/aliases.cdb.

INSTRUCTION FORMAT

       newaliases imitates sendmail's handling of /etc/aliases.  For example,

          root: alice, bill

       says that mail for root should be forwarded to alice and bill.

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: newaliases does not support file deliveries.  You can use the  file
       delivery mechanism described in dot-qmail(5) instead.

SIMPLE ALIASES

       The simplest type of forwarding instruction is a line of the form

          alias: recip

       Any message sent to alias will be forwarded to the recipient address recip.  Addresses are
       compared to alias without regard to case.

       Forwarding instructions are cumulative.  If recip is itself an alias,  messages  to  alias
       will  be  forwarded  the  same  way as messages to recip.  For example, with the following
       instructions, messages to postmaster@heaven.af.mil or root@heaven.af.mil will be delivered
       to Bob:

          postmaster@heaven.af.mil: bob@heaven.af.mil
          root@heaven.af.mil: postmaster@heaven.af.mil

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING:  With  sendmail,  entries  in /etc/aliases can override usernames.
       With qmail, if you install fastforward in ~alias/.qmail-default, it will not see addresses
       that  are  controlled  by  other  users.   See qmail-getpw(8).  To change this, see qmail-
       users(5).

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: Various  versions  of  sendmail  do  various  strange  things  with
       circular alias definitions.  See setforward(1) for details on fastforward's behavior.

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING:  If  there are several forwarding instructions for a single alias,
       sendmail will complain; fastforward will silently use the first instruction.

WILDCARDS

       alias can have the form user@host.dom for one user at one host, @host.dom for all users at
       one host, or user for one user at all hosts.

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING: sendmail supports only user; it does not support per-host aliases.
       It accepts user@host.dom if host.dom is a local host, but it then treats it the  same  way
       as user, applying to all local hosts and virtual domains.

ADDRESS FORMATS

       Addresses in /etc/aliases are parsed the same way as addresses in RFC 822 message headers.
       Parenthesized comments and bracketed addresses are permitted:

          root: bob (Bob, the postmaster)
          joe: Joe Shmoe <shmoe@heaven.af.mil>

       Addresses with special characters must be quoted:

          fred: "spaced out mailbox"@heaven.af.mil

       Address groups are not permitted, since colons have a different use in /etc/aliases.

       Any  recipient  address  without  a  fully  qualified  domain  name  is  fed  through  the
       defaulthost, defaultdomain, and plusdomain mechanisms described in qmail-header(5).

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING: sendmail's handling of quotes and backslashes violates RFC 821 and
       RFC 822, and is not supported by newaliases.  The qmail-local delivery mechanism lets each
       user  manage  several  addresses,  so  there is no need for a special syntax to get around
       forwarding.

MULTIPLE RECIPIENTS

       An instruction may list more than one recipient address:

          alias: recip1, recip2, recip3

       Any message sent to alias will be forwarded to all of the addresses.

       A forwarding instruction may be split across several lines.  Each line past the first must
       either (1) begin with space or tab or (2) be empty:

          hostmaster:
             fred,
             joe

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: sendmail requires the colon to be on the first line of a multi-line
       forwarding instruction.  newaliases doesn't care whether the colon is present at all.

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING:  sendmail  does  not  permit  blank  lines  in   the   middle   of
       continuations.  This has the undesirable effect that a blank line behaves differently from
       a line containing a single space.

COMMENTS

       Any line in /etc/aliases that begins with # is ignored:

          # this is a comment

       A comment may be split across several lines.  Each line past the  first  must  either  (1)
       begin with space or tab or (2) be empty.

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: sendmail does not permit continuations of comment lines.

PROGRAMS

       If  a  recipient  address  does not contain a domain name, and begins with a vertical bar,
       newaliases takes the rest of the address as a program to run:

          weather: "|weather-server"

       fastforward will run weather-server when a message arrives for weather.

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

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: newaliases does not allow a vertical bar before double quotes.

INCLUDE FILES

       A recipient address of the form :include:file means  ``every  address  listed  in  file.''
       (Actually fastforward reads file.bin; see newinclude(1) for further details.)

       Note  that  file  is read by fastforward, not newaliases, so the system administrator does
       not have to run newaliases every time file  changes.   file  must  be  world-readable  and
       accessible to fastforward.

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING:  If an :include: file is unreadable or nonexistent, sendmail skips
       it; fastforward defers delivery of the message.

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: sendmail does not permit spaces inside the literal text  :include:.
       newaliases does.

       COMPATIBILITY  WARNING: Versions of sendmail before V8 did not strip quotes from :include:
       filenames.

ALIAS OWNERS

       If there is an alias for owner-list, any message forwarded  through  list  will  have  its
       envelope sender set to owner-list, so that bounces go back to owner-list.

       COMPATIBILITY WARNING: When an alias includes the same recipient both inside and outside a
       mailing list, fastforward sends  the  message  twice,  once  with  each  envelope  sender.
       sendmail  sends  the  message  only once; its choice of envelope sender for that recipient
       depends on the phase of the moon.

SEE ALSO

       fastforward(1), setforward(1), newinclude(1), printforward(1), dot-qmail(5)

                                                                                    newaliases(1)