NAME

vacation − return “I am not here” indication

SYNOPSIS

vacation -i
vacation [[-a alias] ...] login

DESCRIPTION

vacation returns a message to the sender of a message telling them that you are currently not reading your mail.  The intended use is in a .forward file in $HOME.  For example, your .forward file might have:

\eric, "|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.  The \ preceding eric is required to force direct delivery to eric’s mailbox and prevent an infinite loop through the .forward file. 

No message is sent unless login or an alias supplied using the -a option is a substring of either the To: or Cc: headers of the mail.  No messages from ???-REQUEST, Postmaster, UUCP, MAILER, or MAILER-DAEMON are replied to, nor is a notification sent if a Precedence: bulk or Precedence: junk line is included in the mail headers.  Only one message per week is sent to each unique sender (at each unique host system).  The people who have sent you messages are recorded in a database in the files .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir 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 say:

From: eric@ucbmonet.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
Subject: I am on vacation
X-Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: The vacation program
Precedence: bulk

I am on vacation until July 22.  If you have something urgent,
please contact Joe Kalash <kalash@ucbingres.Berkeley.EDU>.
--eric

Header lines in this file must be left-justified and must not be preceded by any other (including blank) lines (see sendmail(1M)). If there is no .vacation.msg file, vacation uses the file /usr/lib/vacation.def, if it exists.  Otherwise, it logs an error. 

vacation reads the first line from the standard input (the incoming mail message in the example .forward file above) for a UNIX -style From line to determine the sender.  sendmail(1M) includes this From line automatically, and its absence indicates non-mail input. 

Options

-i Initializes the vacation database files.  This option should be used before modifying a .forward file. 

-aalias Identifies another name that can legitimately appear in the To: line of the mail header instead of your login name.  More than one -a option can be specified. 

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES

Environment Variables

LANG determines the language in which error messages are printed. 

DIAGNOSTICS

On error, vacation exits with a value from <sysexits.h> and causes sendmail to report an error back to the sender of the original message.  Errors such as the absence of .vacation.msg or calling vacation with incorrect arguments, are logged using syslogd on the system where vacation actually runs (see syslogd(1M)). The syslog file (/usr/adm/syslog by default − see /etc/syslog.conf and syslogd(1M) for customizations) should be inspected when vacation generates mailer error messages. 

Remember that, in an HP Clustered Environment, mail is handled at the cluster server rather than on client cnodes.  This means that syslog diagnostics appear in the cluster server’s syslog; not the client’s. 

WARNINGS

Errors in the .forward file can lead to loss of mail and infinite mail loops. 

Always send test mail to yourself after configuring vacation just to be sure that it is working properly.  This is akin to checking telephone forwarding before leaving for an extended period, and can prevent loss of messages. 

FILES

$HOME/.vacation.dir database file

$HOME/.vacation.msg message to send

$HOME/.vacation.pag database file

/usr/lib/vacation.def system-wide default header and message

/etc/syslog.conf dictates where error messages are recorded

AUTHOR

vacation was developed by Eric Allman and the University of California, Berkeley. 

SEE ALSO

sendmail(1M), syslog(1M), ndbm(3)

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  HP-UX Release 9.03: April 1994