'\" t
.\" @(#)vacation.1 1.4 87/02/12 SMI
.TH VACATION 1zm "2003-Aug-28"
.SH NAME
vacation \- reply to mail automatically 
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IP \fBvacation\ \fCstart\fR
.IP \fBvacation\ \fCstop\fR
.IP \fBvacation\fR 9em
\fB\-I\fR
.IP \fBvacation\fR 9em
[\fB\-t\ \fIN\fR]
[\fB\-m\ \fIMsgfile\fR]
[\fB\-d\fR]
[\fIuser\fR]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX vacation "" "\fIvacation\fR \(em automatic mail replies"
.I vacation
automatically replies to incoming mail.  The canned reply is
contained in the file
.IR .vacation.msg ,
that you should create in your home directory (or the file 
.I Msgfile
specifiedby in the -m option).
.PP
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:
.PP
.RS 4em
.nf
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
.fi
.RE
.PP
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.
.PP
.SH USAGE
.PP
To start
.IR vacation ,
run the command
.RS 4em
.nf
\fCvacation start\fR
.fi
.RE
.PP
It will create a 
.I \&.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
.RS 4em
.I \&.forward
.RE
file in your home directory containing a line of the form:
.RS 4em
"\fI\\name\fR", "|@MAILBIN@/vacation \fIname\fR"
.RE
.PP
Where
.I name
is your login name.
.PP
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.
.PP
.RS 4em
.nf
\fCchmod og-w $HOME $HOME/.forward\fR
.fi
.RE
.PP
To stop
.IR vacation (1zm),
run the command:
.PP
.RS 4em
.fi
\fCvacation stop\fR
.nf
.RE
.PP
It will move the \fI.forward\fR file to \fI.vacforward\fR,
and the automatic replies will stop.
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR \-I ", " \-i
initialize the 
.I \&.vacation.pag
and
.I \&.vacation.dir
files and start 
.IR vacation .
.IP
If the
.BR \-I "( or " \-i" )
flag is not specified,
.I vacation
tries to reply to the sender.
.TP
.BI \-t N
Change the interval between repeat replies to the same sender.
The default is 1 week.
A trailing
.BR s ,
.BR m ,
.BR h ,
.BR d ,
or
.B w
scales 
.I N
to seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks respectively.
.TP
.BI \-m Msgfile
specifies the file in which the message to be sent is kept. The default
is $HOME/.vacation.msg.
.TP
.B \-r interval
defines interval in days when not to answer again to the same sender.
(Default is 1 day.)
.TP
.B \-d
disables the list of senders kept in the 
.I \&.vacation.pag
and
.I \&.vacation.dir
files.
.SH FILES
A list of senders is kept in the files
.I \&.vacation.pag
and
.I \&.vacation.dir
in your home directory.  These are 
.I dbm
database files.
(Note: not all database systems have two files, either may be missing.)
The vacation message is in
.I \&.vacation.msg
and the automatic reply is activated by the
.I \&.forward
(and saved in 
.IR \&.vacforward )
The default vacation message is stored in
.I @MAILSHARE@/vacation.msg
.SH ZMAILER NOTES
On machines running
.BR ZMailer ,
the
.I 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.
.PP
The SENDER variable is checked first to determine the reply destination.
It is normally set to the SMTP ``MAIL FROM'' address or equivalent.
This is an additional safeguard against sending replies to mailing 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.
.SH SEE\ ALSO
.IR sendmail (8zm),
.IR zmailer.conf (5zm),
.I Zmailer Manual (http://zmailer.org/)
.SH AUTHOR
This program is originally the
.I BSD vacation(1)
by:
.RS 3em
Eric Allman
.RE
It was adapted to
.B ZMailer
environment by:
.RS 3em
Rayan Zachariassen <no address>
.RE
Further modified over the years 1988-2001 by:
.RS 3em
Matti Aarnio  <mea@nic.funet.fi>
.RE