NAME

vacation − return “I am on vacation” indication

SYNOPSIS

vacation −I
vacation user

DESCRIPTION

vacation returns a message to the sender of a message telling that you are on vacation.  The intended use is in a
 .forward file.  For example, your
 .forward file might have:

\eric, "|vacation eric"

which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and send a message back to the sender. 

vacation expects a file
 .vacation.msg in your home directory containing a message to be sent back to each sender.  It should be an entire message (including headers).  For example, it might say:

From: eric@ucbmonet.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
Subject: I am on vacation
Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: the Vacation program
 I am on vacation until July 22.  If you have something urgent,
please contact Joe Kalash <kalash@ucbingres.Berkeley.EDU>.
--eric

This message will only be sent once a week to each unique sender.  The people who have sent you messages are kept in the files
 .vacation.pag and
 .vacation.dir in your home directory.  The −I option initializes these files, and should be executed before you modify your
 .forward file. 

If the −I flag is not specified, vacation reads the first line from the standard input for a UNIX-style “From” line to determine the sender.  If this is not present, a nasty diagnostic is produced.  Sendmail(1M) includes the “From” line automatically. 

No message is sent if the initial “From” line includes the string “-REQUEST@” or if a “Precedence: bulk” or “Precedence: junk” line is included in the header. 

SEE ALSO

sendmail(1M)

CX/UX User’s Reference Manual