Email auto reply in unix

[LordRaiden]

HI all. I run my own mail server at home and I've got two accounts I need to put an auto responder on. I was refered to the vacation system, but I'm unsure of how to use it. Anyone know the best way to set that up? What do I need to do? I've read the man file, but it means squat to me. I'm using procmail for my LDA.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

DESCRIPTION
vacation returns a message to the sender of a message telling them that you are currently not reading
your mail. The intended use is in a .forward file. For example, your .forward file might have:

\eric, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a allman eric"

which would send messages to you (assuming your login name was eric) and reply to any messages for
``eric'' or ``allman''.

[.....]

When started without arguments, vacation will guide the user through the configuration process.

(This means, just run "vacation", and it'll create your .forward file.)

[.....]

included in the mail headers. The people who have sent you messages are maintained as a db(3)
database in the file .vacation.db in your home directory.

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 contain:

From: eric@CS.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Allman)
Subject: I am on vacation
Delivered-By-The-Graces-Of: The Vacation program
Precedence: bulk

I am on vacation until July 22. If you have something urgent,
please contact Keith Bostic <bostic@CS.Berkeley.EDU>.
--eric

Any occurrence of the string $SUBJECT in .vacation.msg will be replaced by the subject of the message
that triggered the vacation program.

[....]

FILES
~/.vacation.db database file
~/.vacation.msg message to send
~/.forward

So run "vacation", you may want to edit your .forward file to put any aliases you may have:

\username, "|/usr/bin/vacation -a <real name or any other name that may appear in the From: header>"

Then make a file called ~/.vacation.msg and put your automated reply in it, including headers.

From: Lord Raiden <your@email.address>
Subject: I am on vacation, beotch

I'm gone, email me later, yo.
- Lord Raiden

And I think that's it.