VACATION(1zm)                                                    VACATION(1zm)



NAME
       vacation - reply to mail automatically

SYNOPSIS
       vacation start

       vacation stop

       vacation -I

       vacation [-t interval] [-m Msgfile] [-d] [-a alias] [user]

DESCRIPTION
       vacation  automatically  replies to incoming mail.  The canned reply is
       contained in the file .vacation.msg, that you  should  create  in  your
       home directory (or the file Msgfile specifiedby in the -m option).

       This file should include a header with at least a ``Subject:'' line (it
       should not include a ``To:'' line -- if you want,  you  may  include  a
       From: line, especially if you use the -m option).  For example:

           Subject: I am on vacation

           I am on vacation until July 22.
           If you have something urgent, please contact
           Joe Jones (joe@blah.utoronto.ca).
                --john

       No  message is sent if the "user" specified in the vacation command (if
       nothing is specified, it uses your username) does not appear explicitly
       in  the  To:  or Cc: lines of the message, which prevents messages from
       being sent back to mailing lists and causing loops.


USAGE
       To start vacation, run the command
           vacation start

       It will create a .vacation.msg file (if you don't already have one)  in
       your  home directory containing the message you want to send people who
       send you mail, and a
           .forward
       file in your home directory containing a line of the form:
           "\name", "|/opt/mail/bin/vacation name"

       Where name is your login name.

       Make sure these files and your home directory are readable by everyone.
       Also  make sure that no one else can write to them, and that no one can
       write to your home directory.

           chmod og-w $HOME $HOME/.forward

       To stop vacation(1zm), run the command:

           vacation stop

       It will move the .forward file to .vacforward,
       and the automatic replies will stop.


OPTIONS
       -aalias
              Handle messages for alias in the same manner as  those  received
              for the user's login name.

       -I, -i initialize  the  .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir files and start
              vacation.

              If the -I( or -i") flag is  not  specified,  vacation  tries  to
              reply to the sender.

       -tinterval

       -rinterval
              Change the interval between repeat replies to the same sender.

              A trailing s, m, h, d, or w scales interval to seconds, minutes,
              hours, days,  or  weeks  respectively.   Default  multiplier  is
              'days'.

              Default  interval  is 1.00 days, unless ZENV data sets something
              else.

              Minimum supported interval is 30 seconds!

       -mMsgfile
              specifies the file in which the message to be sent is kept.  The
              default is $HOME/.vacation.msg.

       -d     disables  the  list  of  senders  kept  in the .vacation.pag and
              .vacation.dir files.

FILES
       A list of senders is kept in the files .vacation.pag and  .vacation.dir
       in  your home directory.  These are dbm database files.  (Note: not all
       database systems have two files, either may be missing.)  The  vacation
       message is in .vacation.msg and the automatic reply is activated by the
       .forward (and saved in .vacforward) The  default  vacation  message  is
       stored in /opt/mail/vacation.msg

ZMAILER NOTES
       On machines running ZMailer, the name argument to vacation is optional,
       and the USER environment variable is used to determine  where  to  look
       for the message and the list of previous recipients.

       The  SENDER  variable  is checked first to determine the reply destina-
       tion.  It is normally set to the SMTP ``MAIL FROM'' address or  equiva-
       lent.  This is an additional safeguard against sending replies to mail-
       ing lists, the PostMaster or the mailer  daemon,  since  standards  and
       common sense dictate that it never points back to an address that could
       cause a loop.  The From_ line is used only as a last resort.

SEE ALSO
       sendmail(8zm), zmailer.conf(5zm), Zmailer Manual (http://zmailer.org/)

AUTHOR
       This program is originally the BSD vacation(1) by:
          Eric Allman
       It was adapted to ZMailer environment by:
          Rayan Zachariassen <no address>
       Further modified over the years 1988-2001 by:
          Matti Aarnio  <mea@nic.funet.fi>



                                  2005-Feb-27                    VACATION(1zm)