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vacation(1B)

reply to mail automatically

From the original Amiga UNIX 2.1 manual. Some things it mentions may not be in this release.

Also by this name: vacation(1), General commands

NAME

vacation - reply to mail automatically

SYNOPSIS

/usr/ucb/vacation [ -I ]
/usr/ucb/vacation [ -j ] [ -aalias ] [ -tN ] username

DESCRIPTION

vacation automatically replies to incoming mail. The reply is contained in the file .vacation.msg, that you create in your home directory. This file should include a header with at least a `Subject:' line (it should not include a `From:' or a `To:' line). For example:

     Subject: I am on vacation
     I am on vacation until July 22.  If you have something urgent,
     please contact Joe Jones (jones@f40).
          --John
If the string $SUBJECT appears in the .vacation.msg file, it
is  replaced  with  the subject of the original message when
the reply is sent; thus, a .vacation.msg file such as
     Subject: I am on vacation
     I am on vacation until July 22.
     Your mail regarding "$SUBJECT" will be read when I return.
     If you have something urgent, please contact
     Joe Jones (jones@f40).
          --John
will include the subject of the message in  the  reply.   No
message  is  sent  if the `To:'  or the `Cc:'  line does not
list the user to whom the original message was sent  or  one
of  a  number  of aliases for them, if the initial From line
includes the string -REQUEST@, or if a `Precedence: bulk' or
`Precedence: junk' line is included in the header.  The fol-
lowing options are available:

-I Initialize the .vacation.pag and .vacation.dir files and start /usr/ucb/vacation. If the -I flag is not specified, and a user argument is given, /usr/ucb/vacation reads the first line from the standard input (for a `From:' line, no colon). If absent, it produces an error message. The following options may be specified:

-aalias

Indicate that alias is one of the valid aliases for the user running /usr/ucb/vacation, so that mail addressed to that alias generates a reply.

-j Do not check whether the recipient appears in the `To: ' or the `Cc:' line.

-tN Change the interval between repeat replies to the same sender. The default is 1 week. A trailing s, m, h, d, or w scales N to seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks respectively.

USAGE

To start /usr/ucb/vacation, create a .forward file in your home directory containing a line of the form:

\username, "|/usr/ucb/vacation username" where username
is your login name.  Then type in the command:

/usr/ucb/vacation -I To stop /usr/ucb/vacation, remove the .forward file, or move it to a new name. If /usr/ucb/vacation is run with no arguments, it will permit you to interactively turn /usr/ucb/vacation on or off. It will create a .vacation.msg file for you, or edit an existing one, using the editor specified by the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variable, or vi(1) if neither of those environment variables are set. If a .forward file is present in your home directory, it will ask whether you want to remove it and turn off /usr/ucb/vacation. If it is not present in your home directory, it creates it for you, and automatically performs a `/usr/ucb/vacation -I' function, turning on /usr/ucb/vacation.

FILES