mailalias(1) mailalias(1)
NAME
mailalias - translate mail alias names
SYNOPSIS
mailalias [-s] [-p] [-r] [-v] [-P prefix]* [-S suffix]* name . . .
DESCRIPTION
mailalias is called by mail when delivering mail. Note that
aliases affect all mail passing through the system. mailalias
places on its standard output a list of mail addresses
corresponding to name where name can be either a local address
or an RFC 822 address with "@" and a fully qualified domain
name. mailalias uses the shared objects in
/usr/lib/mail/libalias to do the actual translations. It
accesses them in the order given in /etc/mail/lookupLibs. The
following aliasing methods are currently supported:
1. /usr/lib/mail/libalias/home.so looks for a match in the
user's local alias file $HOME/lib/names. If a line is
found beginning with the word name, it returns the rest of
the line.
2. /usr/lib/mail/libalias/file.so looks for a match in the
system-wide alias files and directories, which are listed
in the master path file /etc/mail/namefiles. For each
file listed, if a line is found beginning with the word
name, it returns the rest of the line.
If an alias file name is found to be a directory name,
dir, then it uses the file dir/name. By default, file.so
looks for lines which begin with name; if the -d option is
used, the entire file contents will be output.
By default, the file /etc/mail/namefiles contains the
alias file /etc/mail/names and the alias directory
/etc/mail/lists.
3. /usr/lib/mail/libalias/dns.so looks for a matching MR, MB,
MG or MINFO record in the domain name server. If it finds
one, it returns the appropriate data.
4. /usr/lib/mail/libalias/nis.so looks for a match in the
aliases.byname network information system database. If it
finds one, it returns the data.
5. /usr/lib/mail/libalias/passwd.so looks for a match in the
/etc/passwd file. To do this, it compares the address
with the contents of the finger field, with the spaces in
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 1
mailalias(1) mailalias(1)
the field changed to underscores. If it finds a match, it
returns the user login.
6. Otherwise print name and exit.
The alias files may contain comments (lines beginning with #)
and information lines of the form:
name list-of-addresses
Tokens on these lines are separated by white-space. Lines may
be continued by placing a backslash (\) at the end of the
line.
When multiple names are being translated, each line of output
will normally be prefixed with the name being translated. If
the -s option is specified, the names being translated will
never be prefixed with the name being translated. If the -p
option is specified, each line of output will always be
prefixed with the name being translated, even if only one name
is being translated.
The -r option causes mailalias to recursively expand each name
to its fullest extent.
The -v option causes debugging information to be written.
The -P option strips prefix from the beginning of each address
output. More than one -P can be used on the command line.
The -S option strips suffix from the end of each address
output. More than one -S can be used on the command line.
FILES
/etc/mail/lookupLibs ordered list of shared
objects to use to search
for aliases
/etc/mail/lookupLibs.proto prototype file for
lookupLibs
/usr/lib/mail/libalias/home.so object which searches
private aliases
/usr/lib/mail/libalias/files.so object which searches
system aliases
/usr/lib/mail/libalias/dns.so object which searches
domain name server
aliases
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 2
mailalias(1) mailalias(1)
/usr/lib/mail/libalias/nis.so object which searches
network information
system aliases
/usr/lib/mail/libalias/passwd.so object which searches
the /etc/passwd file
$HOME/lib/names private aliases
/etc/mail/namefiles list of files to search
/etc/mail/names standard alias file to
search
/etc/mail/list standard alias directory
to search
REFERENCES
domainname(1M), mail(1), resolv.conf(4), smtp(1M), smtpd(1M),
smtpqer(1M), uucp(1C)
Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc. Page 3