mdw@git.distorted.org.uk Git - qmail/blob - INSTALL.alias

   1 qmail lets each user control all addresses of the form user-anything.
   2 Addresses that don't start with a username are controlled by a special
   3 user, alias. Delivery instructions for foo go into ~alias/.qmail-foo;
   4 delivery instructions for user-foo go into ~user/.qmail-foo. See
   5 dot-qmail.0 for the full story.
   6
   7 qmail doesn't have any built-in support for /etc/aliases. If you have a
   8 big /etc/aliases and you'd like to keep it, install the fastforward
   9 package, available separately. /etc/aliases should already include the
  10 aliases discussed below---Postmaster, MAILER-DAEMON, and root.
  11
  12 If you don't have a big /etc/aliases, you'll find it easier to use
  13 qmail's native alias mechanism. Here's a checklist of aliases you should
  14 set up right now.
  15
  16 * Postmaster. You're not an Internet citizen if this address doesn't
  17 work. Simply touch (and chmod 644) ~alias/.qmail-postmaster; any mail
  18 for Postmaster will be delivered to ~alias/Mailbox.
  19
  20 * MAILER-DAEMON. Not required, but users sometimes respond to bounce
  21 messages. Touch (and chmod 644) ~alias/.qmail-mailer-daemon.
  22
  23 * root. Under qmail, root never receives mail. Your system may generate
  24 mail messages to root every night; if you don't have an alias for root,
  25 those messages will bounce. (They'll end up double-bouncing to the
  26 postmaster.) Set up an alias for root in ~alias/.qmail-root. .qmail
  27 files are similar to .forward files, but beware that they are strictly
  28 line-oriented---see dot-qmail.0 for details.
  29
  30 * Other non-user accounts. Under qmail, non-user accounts don't get
  31 mail; ``user'' means a non-root account that owns ~account. Set up
  32 aliases for any non-user accounts that normally receive mail.
  33
  34 Note that special accounts such as ftp, www, and uucp should always have
  35 home directories owned by root.
  36
  37 * Default. If you want, you can touch ~alias/.qmail-default to catch
  38 everything else. Beware: this will also catch typos and other addresses
  39 that should probably be bounced instead. It won't catch addresses that
  40 start with a user name---the user can set up his own ~/.qmail-default.