mdw@git.distorted.org.uk Git - dot-forward/blob - dot-forward.1

   1 .TH dot-forward 1
   2 .SH NAME
   3 dot-forward \- read a .forward file under qmail
   4 .SH SYNOPSIS
   5 in
   6 .BR ~/.qmail :
   7 .B | dot-forward
   8 [
   9 .B \-nN
  10 ]
  11 .I file ...
  12 .SH OVERVIEW
  13 .B dot-forward
  14 forwards incoming messages according to
  15 sendmail-style
  16 instructions in
  17 .IR file ,
  18 if
  19 .I file
  20 exists.
  21 Normally
  22 .I file
  23 is
  24 .BR .forward .
  25
  26 .B WARNING:
  27 If you create a
  28 .B .qmail
  29 file to enable
  30 .BR dot-forward ,
  31 make sure to add a second line specifying delivery to your normal mailbox.
  32 For example:
  33
  34 .EX
  35    |dot-forward .forward
  36 .br
  37    ./Mailbox
  38 .EE
  39
  40 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
  41 .B dot-forward
  42 does not support
  43 .B :include:
  44 or mbox deliveries.
  45 You can use the delivery mechanism described in
  46 .BR dot-qmail (5)
  47 instead.
  48 .SH OPTIONS
  49 .TP 5
  50 .B \-N
  51 (Default.)
  52 Read and forward a message.
  53 .TP
  54 .B \-n
  55 Parse
  56 .I file
  57 and print the forwarding instructions in it, one per line;
  58 do not follow the instructions.
  59 You can use this option from the command line to see how your
  60 .B .forward
  61 file will be interpreted:
  62
  63 .EX
  64    dot-forward -n .forward
  65 .EE
  66 .SH "FILE HANDLING"
  67 When a message arrives,
  68 .B dot-forward
  69 opens
  70 .I file
  71 and handles it as discussed below.
  72 It exits 99, so
  73 .B qmail-local
  74 will ignore further instructions in
  75 .BR .qmail .
  76 Exception: If
  77 .I file
  78 specifies delivery directly to you,
  79 .B dot-forward
  80 exits 0, so
  81 .B qmail-local
  82 will read further instructions in
  83 .BR .qmail .
  84
  85 If
  86 .I file
  87 does not exist,
  88 .B dot-forward
  89 exits 0.
  90 You can list several
  91 .IR file s;
  92 then
  93 .B dot-forward
  94 will try each one in turn,
  95 using the first one that exists,
  96 or exiting 0 if none exist.
  97
  98 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
  99 .B dot-forward
 100 treats an empty
 101 .I file
 102 as if it did not exist.
 103 Versions of
 104 sendmail
 105 before V8 would throw away the incoming message.
 106
 107 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
 108 If
 109 .B dot-forward
 110 encounters a temporary error opening
 111 .IR file ,
 112 it exits 111, so that
 113 .B qmail-local
 114 will try again later.
 115 sendmail
 116 assumes incorrectly that
 117 .I file
 118 does not exist.
 119
 120 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
 121 .I file
 122 must be readable by
 123 .BR dot-forward ,
 124 which is normally running as the user.
 125 sendmail
 126 places different constraints on its
 127 .B .forward
 128 permissions,
 129 since it is normally running as root.
 130 .SH "FORWARDING"
 131 Normally
 132 .I file
 133 contains an address.
 134 .B dot-forward
 135 forwards the message to that address.
 136
 137 The address is parsed as if it were in an RFC 822 message header.
 138 Parenthesized comments and bracketed addresses are permitted:
 139
 140 .EX
 141    bob (Bob, the postmaster) @heaven.af.mil
 142 .EE
 143
 144 Addresses with special characters must be quoted:
 145
 146 .EX
 147    "spaced out mailbox"@heaven.af.mil
 148 .EE
 149
 150 Address groups are not permitted.
 151
 152 .I file
 153 can contain any number of lines,
 154 each line containing any number of addresses.
 155 .B dot-forward
 156 forwards the message to each address:
 157
 158 .EX
 159    bob, fred, susan
 160 .br
 161    Joe Shmoe <shmoe@heaven.af.mil>
 162 .EE
 163
 164 An address without a fully qualified domain name is handled
 165 as described in
 166 .BR qmail-header (5).
 167 Exception: Certain addresses without domain names are handled specially,
 168 as described below.
 169 .SH "DIRECT DELIVERY"
 170 If an address does not contain a domain name,
 171 and matches the environment variable
 172 .B $USER
 173 (without regard to case),
 174 it specifies delivery directly to you.
 175
 176 If an address matches
 177 .B $USER@$HOST
 178 (without regard to case),
 179 it specifies delivery directly to you.
 180
 181 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
 182 sendmail's
 183 handling of quotes and backslashes violates RFC 821 and RFC 822,
 184 and is not supported by
 185 .BR dot-forward .
 186 .B dot-forward
 187 treats
 188 .B \ejoe
 189 the same way as
 190 .BR joe .
 191 The
 192 .B dot-qmail
 193 delivery mechanism
 194 lets each user manage several addresses,
 195 so there is no need for a special syntax to get around forwarding.
 196 .SH "COMMANDS"
 197 If an address does not contain a domain name,
 198 and begins with a vertical bar,
 199 .B dot-forward
 200 takes the rest of the address as a command to run:
 201
 202 .EX
 203    bob, "|vacation bob"
 204 .EE
 205
 206 .B dot-forward
 207 feeds the message to the command,
 208 preceded by the environment variables
 209 .BR $UFLINE ,
 210 .BR $RPLINE ,
 211 and
 212 .BR $DTLINE .
 213
 214 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
 215 Internet addresses can legitimately start with a slash or vertical bar.
 216 .B dot-forward
 217 treats anything with an unquoted @ as an address.
 218 sendmail
 219 appears to have various problems coping with these addresses,
 220 and with commands that contain @ signs.
 221 .SH "COMMENTS"
 222 Any line in
 223 .I file
 224 that begins with # is ignored:
 225
 226 .EX
 227    # this is a comment
 228 .EE
 229
 230 .B COMPATIBILITY WARNING:
 231 Versions of
 232 sendmail
 233 before V8 did not allow comments in
 234 .B .forward
 235 files.
 236 .SH VERSION
 237 This is
 238 .B dot-forward
 239 0.71.
 240 The
 241 .B dot-forward
 242 home page is
 243 .BR http://pobox.com/~djb/dot-forward.html .
 244 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 245 qmail-header(5),
 246 dot-qmail(5)