a.k.a.: Auto respond from an alias
Note: OOO = Out Of Office
OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.8 (Santiago) 64-bit
Sendmail version: 8.14.4
# sendmail -d0.1
Version 8.14.4
---- snip ----
On the mail server:
# grep dusko /etc/passwd
dusko:x:1001:1001:FName Lname:/home/dusko:/bin/csh
# sendmail -bv myalias
myalias... User unknown
# printf %s\\n "myalias: dusko" >> /etc/aliases
# grep dusko /etc/aliases
dusko: myalias
# ls -ld /home/dusko/
drwx------. 15 dusko mail 4096 Dec 7 11:27 /home/dusko/
# ls -lh /etc/aliases.db
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 84K Feb 15 20:16 /etc/aliases.db
# date
Sat Feb 19 21:36:28 PST 2022
# newaliases
/etc/aliases: 572 aliases, longest 60 bytes, 25488 bytes total
# ls -lh /etc/aliases.db
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 84K Feb 19 21:36 /etc/aliases.db
# sendmail -bv myalias
dusko... deliverable: mailer local, user dusko
The vacation program automatically replies to incoming mail. The reply is contained in the file .vacation.msg in your home directory.
The .vacation.msg file should include a header with at least a ‘Subject:’ line (it should not contain a ‘To:’ line and need not contain a ‘From:’ line since these are generated automatically). 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.
In summary, it should have a “Subject:” line, possibly along with other headers that you want, followed by a blank line, followed by the message body.
# vi /home/dusko/.vacation.msg
# cat /home/dusko/.vacation.msg
Subject: Re: $SUBJECT
From: AliasFName AliasLName <myalias@yourdomainhere.com>
I have received your email and it will be replied to as soon as possible.
--dusko
# vi /home/dusko/.forward
# cat /home/dusko/.forward
\dusko, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a myalias dusko"
# vacation -j -a myalias -i dusko
# chown dusko:mail /home/dusko/.vacation.msg
# chown dusko:mail /home/dusko/.forward
# chown dusko:mail /home/dusko/.vacation.db
A list of senders is kept in the file .vacation.db in your home directory.
# sendmail -bv myalias
"|/usr/bin/vacation -a myalias dusko"... deliverable: mailer prog,
user "|/usr/bin/vacation -a myalias dusko"
\dusko... deliverable: mailer local, user \dusko
# sendmail -bv myalias@yourdomainhere.com
"|/usr/bin/vacation -a myalias dusko"... deliverable: mailer prog,
user "|/usr/bin/vacation -a myalias dusko"
\dusko... deliverable: mailer local, user \dusko
# su - dusko
$ printf %s\\n "Testing." | mail -s "Test 1" myalias@yourdomainhere.com
$ printf %s\\n "Testing." | mail -s "Test 2" dusko@yourdomainhere.com
To stop vacation message, remove the .forward file and the response database file .vacation.db.
rm -i ~/.forward
rm -i ~/.vacation.db