<html> <head> </head> <body> <pre> ALIASES(5) ALIASES(5) <b>NAME</b> aliases - format of the Postfix alias database <b>SYNOPSIS</b> <b>newaliases</b> <b>DESCRIPTION</b> The <b>aliases</b> table provides a system-wide mechanism to redirect mail for local recipients. The redirections are processed by the Postfix <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent. Normally, the <b>aliases</b> table is specified as a text file that serves as input to the <a href="postalias.1.html"><b>postalias</b>(1)</a> command. The result, an indexed file in <b>dbm</b> or <b>db</b> format, is used for fast lookup by the mail system. Execute the command <b>newaliases</b> in order to rebuild the indexed file after changing the Postfix alias database. The input and output file formats are expected to be com- patible with Sendmail version 8, and are expected to be suitable for the use as NIS maps. Users can control delivery of their own mail by setting up <b>.forward</b> files in their home directory. Lines in per-user <b>.forward</b> files have the same syntax as the right-hand side of <b>aliases</b> entries. The format of the alias database input file is as follows: <b>o</b> An alias definition has the form <i>name</i>: <i>value1</i>, <i>value2</i>, <i>...</i> <b>o</b> Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, as are lines whose first non-whitespace character is a `#'. <b>o</b> A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A line that starts with whitespace continues a logi- cal line. The <i>name</i> is a local address (no domain part). Use double quotes when the name contains any special characters such as whitespace, `#', `:', or `@'. The <i>name</i> is folded to lowercase, in order to make database lookups case insensi- tive. In addition, when an alias exists for <b>owner-</b><i>name</i>, delivery diagnostics are directed to that address, instead of to the originator. This is typically used to direct delivery errors to the owner of a mailing list, who is in a better position to deal with mailing list delivery problems than the originator of the undelivered mail. The <i>value</i> contains one or more of the following: <i>address</i> Mail is forwarded to <i>address</i>, which is compatible with the <a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html">RFC 822</a> standard. <i>/file/name</i> Mail is appended to <i>/file/name</i>. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for details of delivery to file. Delivery is not lim- ited to regular files. For example, to dispose of unwanted mail, deflect it to <b>/dev/null</b>. |<i>command</i> Mail is piped into <i>command</i>. Commands that contain special characters, such as whitespace, should be enclosed between double quotes. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for details of delivery to command. When the command fails, a limited amount of command output is mailed back to the sender. The file <b>/usr/include/sysexits.h</b> defines the expected exit status codes. For example, use <b>|"exit</b> <b>67"</b> to simu- late a "user unknown" error, and <b>|"exit</b> <b>0"</b> to implement an expensive black hole. <b>:include:</b><i>/file/name</i> Mail is sent to the destinations listed in the named file. Lines in <b>:include:</b> files have the same syntax as the right-hand side of alias entries. A destination can be any destination that is described in this manual page. However, delivery to "|<i>command</i>" and <i>/file/name</i> is disallowed by default. To enable, edit the <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>commands</b> and <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>files</b> configuration parameters. <b>ADDRESS</b> <b>EXTENSION</b> When alias database search fails, and the recipient local- part contains the optional recipient delimiter (e.g., <i>user+foo</i>), the search is repeated for the unextended address (e.g., <i>user</i>). <b>CONFIGURATION</b> <b>PARAMETERS</b> The following <b>main.cf</b> parameters are especially relevant to this topic. See the Postfix <b>main.cf</b> file for syntax details and for default values. Use the <b>postfix</b> <b>reload</b> command after a configuration change. <b>alias</b><i>_</i><b>maps</b> List of alias databases. <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>commands</b> Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external command. <b>allow</b><i>_</i><b>mail</b><i>_</i><b>to</b><i>_</i><b>files</b> Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external file. <b>expand</b><i>_</i><b>owner</b><i>_</i><b>alias</b> When delivering to an alias that has an <b>owner-</b> com- panion alias, set the envelope sender address to the right-hand side of the owner alias, instead using of the left-hand side address. <b>owner</b><i>_</i><b>request</b><i>_</i><b>special</b> Give special treatment to <b>owner-</b><i>xxx</i> and <i>xxx</i><b>-request</b> addresses. <b>recipient</b><i>_</i><b>delimiter</b> Delimiter that separates recipients from address extensions. <b>BUGS</b> Regular expression alias lookup tables are allowed, but substitution of $1 etc. is forbidden because that would open a security loophole. <b>STANDARDS</b> <a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html">RFC 822</a> (ARPA Internet Text Messages) <b>SEE</b> <b>ALSO</b> <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> local delivery agent <a href="newaliases.1.html">newaliases(1)</a> alias database management <a href="regexp_table.5.html">regexp_table(5)</a> POSIX regular expression table format <a href="pcre_table.5.html">pcre_table(5)</a> Perl Compatible Regular Expression table format <b>LICENSE</b> The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software. <b>AUTHOR(S)</b> Wietse Venema IBM T.J. Watson Research P.O. Box 704 Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA ALIASES(5) </pre> </body> </html>