Name

aliases − aliases file for sendmail

Description

The aliases file is an ASCII file that describes user ID aliases that are used in /usr/lib/sendmail. It is formatted as a series of lines in the following form:

name: name_1, name2, name_3, . . .

The name is the name to alias, and the name_n are the aliases for that name.  Each alias is separated from the next by a new line.

Continuation lines begin with white space.  Comment lines begin with a number sign (#). 

You can only assign aliases to local names.  Loops are not allowed because a message should be sent to a person only once. 

After an alias has been applied, local and valid recipients who have a .forward file in their home directory can have messages forwarded to the list of users defined in that file.

This is only the raw data file; the actual information pertaining to aliases is placed into binary format in the files /etc/aliases.dir and /etc/aliases.pag using the program newaliases(.). The newaliases command should be executed each time the aliases file changes.  This command allows the new changes to take effect.

Restrictions

Because of restrictions in dbm(,), a single alias cannot contain more than approximately 1000 bytes of information.  You can specify longer aliases by chaining; that is, use a dummy name for the last name in the alias, which creates a continuation alias.

The aliases database may be distributed in a network by a naming service, such as Yellow Pages or BIND/Hesiod.  See the Guide to Yellow Pages or the chapter on Hesiod in the Guide to BIND for setup information. 

Files

/etc/aliases

See Also

newaliases(1), dbm(3x), sendmail(8)
"SENDMAIL Installation and Operation Guide", ULTRIX Supplementary Documents, Vol. III: System Manager
Guide to the BIND/Hesiod Service
Guide to the Yellow Pages Service