Index for Section 4

Alphabetical listing for F

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forward(4)
NAME
  forward - forward mail

SYNOPSIS
  /var/adm/forward/username $HOME/.forward

DESCRIPTION
  The .forward file allows a user to forward messages to another host, or to
  invoke programs (such as vacation(1)) to process their mail.	It is
  formatted as a series of comma-separated addresses in the form:

       addr_1, addr_2, ...

  Alternatively, each address can be on a separate line.

  The newer sendmail.v8 program also allows the use of comments (lines that
  begin with a ``#'') and blank lines.

  As with the aliases(4) file, mail messages can be forwarded to another host
  or given to programs for further processing.	The following is an example
  of the vacation program. Assuming that the user's name is myra, create a
  .forward file and add the following line:

       \myra, "|/usr/bin/vacation myra"

  The previous example forwards mail to myra (the backslash prevents an
  accidental aliasing loop), and also sends a copy of the message to the
  vacation program.

  For security reasons, the file must be owned by the user or by root and it
  should be writable only by the file owner.  In addition, the file must be
  readable by the owner (myra) or root.

  On traditional systems, only the $HOME/.forward file is checked.  The
  sendmail.v8 program allows the use of the system-wide forwarding directory
  /var/adm/forward.  By default, this directory is checked for a forward file
  prior to examining the users $HOME directory.

FILES
  /var/forward/username
	    System-wide forwarding file.

  $HOME/.forward
	    The per-user forwarding file.

RESTRICTIONS
  The sendmail command can hang trying to read the user's $HOME/.forward
  file.	 If the user's home directory is NFS-mounted and temporarily
  unavailable, sendmail will stall until the directory becomes available
  again.  The use of non-NFS mounted directories for the forwarding of files
  is recommended.

  The use of /var/adm/forward is supported only by sendmail.v8.

  The actual path for /var/adm/forward is configurable in the sendmail.cf
  file.

  Incorrect file permissions/ownership are quietly ignored.

  It is easy to create an accidental loop, for example, on host_a

       myra@host_b

  and on host_b

       myra@host_a

RELATED INFORMATION
  Commands:  aliases(4), sendmail.cf(4), sendmail(8)

Index for Section 4

Alphabetical listing for F

Top of page