summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/gnu/dist/postfix/html/aliases.5.html
blob: 887e9ec3199bf0221584482c5fb71e21255f4884 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
<html> <head> </head> <body> <pre>



ALIASES(5)                                             ALIASES(5)


<b>NAME</b>
       aliases - format of the Postfix alias database

<b>SYNOPSIS</b>
       <b>postalias</b> [<b>-c</b> <i>config_dir</i>] [<b>-v</b>] [<i>file_type</i>:]<i>input_file</i>

<b>DESCRIPTION</b>
       The <b>aliases</b> file provides a system-wide mechanism to redi-
       rect mail for local recipients.

       The file serves as input to the <a href="postalias.1.html"><b>postalias</b>(1)</a> command.  The
       result,  an  indexed file in <b>dbm</b> or <b>db</b> format, is used for
       fast lookup by the mail system. After  an  update  it  may
       take  a  minute  or  so before the change becomes visible.
       Issue a <b>postfix</b> <b>reload</b> command to eliminate the delay.

       The input and output file formats are expected to be  com-
       patible  with  Sendmail  version 8, and are expected to be
       suitable for the use as NIS maps.

       Users can control delivery of their own mail by setting up
       <b>.forward</b> files in their home directory.  Lines in per-user
       <b>.forward</b> files have the same syntax as the right-hand side
       of <b>aliases</b> entries.

       The format of the alias database input file is as follows:

       <b>o</b>      An alias definition has the form

                   <i>name</i>: <i>value1</i>, <i>value2</i>, <i>...</i>

       <b>o</b>      Lines that begin with whitespace continue the  pre-
              vious line.

       <b>o</b>      Blank  lines  are  ignored,  as are lines beginning
              with `#'.

       The <i>name</i> is a local address (no domain part).  Use  double
       quotes  when the name contains any special characters such
       as whitespace, `#', `:', or `@'. The  <i>name</i>  is  folded  to
       lowercase, in order to make database lookups case insensi-
       tive.

       In addition, when an alias exists for <b>owner-</b><i>name</i>, delivery
       diagnostics  are  directed  to that address, instead of to
       the originator.  This is typically used to direct delivery
       errors  to the owner of a mailing list, who is in a better
       position to deal with mailing list delivery problems  than
       the originator of the undelivered mail.

       The <i>value</i> contains one or more of the following:

       <i>address</i>
              Mail  is  forwarded to <i>address</i>, which is compatible



                                                                1





ALIASES(5)                                             ALIASES(5)


              with the RFC 822 standard.

       <i>/file/name</i>
              Mail is appended to <i>/file/name</i>.  See  <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a>  for
              details  of delivery to file.  Delivery is not lim-
              ited to regular files.  For example, to dispose  of
              unwanted mail, deflect it to <b>/dev/null</b>.

       |<i>command</i>
              Mail  is  piped into <i>command</i>. Commands that contain
              special characters, such as whitespace,  should  be
              enclosed  between  double  quotes. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for
              details of delivery to command.

              When the command fails, a limited amount of command
              output  is  mailed  back  to  the sender.  The file
              <b>/usr/include/sysexits.h</b> defines the  expected  exit
              status  codes. For example, use <b>|"exit</b> <b>67"</b> to simu-
              late a "user  unknown"  error,  and  <b>|"exit</b>  <b>0"</b>  to
              implement an expensive black hole.

       <b>:include:</b><i>/file/name</i>
              Mail  is  sent  to  the  destinations listed in the
              named file.  Lines in <b>:include:</b> files have the same
              syntax as the right-hand side of alias entries.

              A  destination  can  be  any  destination  that  is
              described in this manual page. However, delivery to
              "|<i>command</i>" and <i>/file/name</i> is disallowed by default.
              To  enable,  edit  the  <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>commands</b>  and
              <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>files</b> configuration parameters.

<b>ADDRESS</b> <b>EXTENSION</b>
       When alias database search fails, and the recipient local-
       part contains  the  optional  recipient  delimiter  (e.g.,
       <i>user+foo</i>),  the  search  is  repeated  for  the unextended
       address (e.g., <i>user</i>).

<b>CONFIGURATION</b> <b>PARAMETERS</b>
       The following <b>main.cf</b> parameters are  especially  relevant
       to  this  topic.  See  the Postfix <b>main.cf</b> file for syntax
       details and for default values.  Use  the  <b>postfix</b>  <b>reload</b>
       command after a configuration change.

       <b>alias</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b>
              List of alias databases.

       <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>commands</b>
              Restrict  the  usage  of  mail delivery to external
              command.

       <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>files</b>
              Restrict the usage of  mail  delivery  to  external
              file.



                                                                2





ALIASES(5)                                             ALIASES(5)


       <b>owner</b><i>_</i><b>request</b><i>_</i><b>special</b>
              Give special treatment to <b>owner-</b><i>xxx</i> and <i>xxx</i><b>-request</b>
              addresses.

       <b>recipient</b><i>_</i><b>delimiter</b>
              Delimiter that separates  recipients  from  address
              extensions.

<b>STANDARDS</b>
       RFC 822 (ARPA Internet Text Messages)

<b>SEE</b> <b>ALSO</b>
       <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> local delivery agent
       <a href="postalias.1.html">postalias(1)</a> alias database management

<b>LICENSE</b>
       The  Secure  Mailer  license must be distributed with this
       software.

<b>AUTHOR(S)</b>
       Wietse Venema
       IBM T.J. Watson Research
       P.O. Box 704
       Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA

































                                                                3


</pre> </body> </html>