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mh-alias(4)
NAME
  mh-alias - Alias file for MH message system

DESCRIPTION
  Aliasing allows you to send mail to a person or group of persons without
  typing their complete mail address.  Both your MH personal alias file and
  the system alias file for mail delivery, /usr/lib/mh/MailAliases, process
  aliases in the same way.  You can specify the name of your personal alias
  file in your .mh_profile.

  A line of the alias file can have the following formats:

       alias : address-group
       alias ; address-group
       < alias-file

  The first line of the example is the standard format.	 The alias appears at
  the start of the line, followed by a colon, followed by the address or
  addresses that it represents.

  If the alias is terminated with a semicolon (;) instead of a colon (:), the
  mail system outputs both the alias and the address-list in the correct
  format.

  If the line starts with a <, the file named after the < is read for more
  alias definitions.  The reading is done recursively, so a < can occur in
  the beginning of an alias file with the expected results.

  Addresses can be expressed in the following formats:

       alias: address1, address2, address3, ...
       alias: <file
       alias: =group
       alias: +group
       alias: *

  Addresses are normally given in a list, separated by a comma and one or
  more spaces.	If the list goes over one line, you can create a continuation
  line by placing a back-slash (\) immediately before the new-line character.

  If the address-group begins with a <, the file named after the < is read
  and its contents added to the address list for the alias.

  If the address-group starts with an =, then the file /etc/group is
  consulted for the group named after the =.  Each login name occurring as a
  member of the group is added to the address list for the alias.

  If the address-group starts with a +, then the file /etc/group is consulted
  to determine the group-id of the group named after the +.  Each login name
  occurring in the /etc/passwd file whose group-id is indicated by this group
  is added to the address list for the alias.

  If the address-group is simply *, then the file /etc/passwd is consulted
  and all login names with a user-id greater than a given number (usually
  200) are added to the address list for the alias.

  Aliases are resolved at posting time in the following way.  A list of all
  the addresses from the message is built and duplicate addresses are
  eliminated.  If the message originated on the local host, then alias
  resolution is performed for those addresses in the message that have no
  host specified.  For each line in the alias file, aliases are compared
  against all of the existing addresses.  If there is a match, the matched
  alias is removed from the address list, and each new address in the
  address-group is added to the address list, if it is not already on the
  list.

  The alias itself is not usually output; the address-group that the alias
  maps to is output instead.  However, if the alias is terminated with a
  semicolon (;) instead of a colon (:), both the alias and the address are
  output in the correct format.	 This makes replies possible, because in MH
  aliases and personal aliases are unknown to the mail transport system.

  MH alias files are expanded into the headers of messages posted.  This
  aliasing occurs first, at posting time, without the knowledge of the
  message transport system.  In contrast, once the message transport system
  is given a message to deliver to a list of addresses, for each address that
  appears to be local, a system-wide alias file is consulted.  These aliases
  are not expanded into the headers of messages delivered.

  An alias file must not reference itself directly, or indirectly through
  another alias file, using the <file construct.

  Using Aliasing

  To use aliasing in MH, you need to set up a personal alias file.  It can
  have any name, but it is usually called aliases, and is usually located in
  your Mail directory.	To set up the file, you need to perform the following
  steps.

  First, add the following line to your .mh_profile:

       Aliasfile: aliases

  If you have chosen a different name for your file, you should use this
  instead of aliases.  If your file is in a directory other than your Mail
  directory, you must supply the full pathname.

  Next, create the file aliases in your Mail directory.

  You can now start to add aliases to your aliases file.

EXAMPLES
  This section gives an example of an alias file, followed by an explanation
  of the entries:

       sgroup: fred, fear, freida
       fred: frated@UCI
       work-committee: <work.aliases
       staff: =staff
       wheels: +wheel
       everyone: *

  On the first line of the example, sgroup is defined as an alias for the
  three names frated@UCI, fear, and freida. On the second line of the
  example, fred is defined as an alias for frated@UCI. Next, the definition
  of work-committee is given by reading the file work.aliases in your Mail
  directory.  The alias staff is defined as all users who are listed as
  members of the group staff in the /etc/group file.  The alias wheels is
  defined as all users whose group-id in /etc/passwd is equal to the group
  wheel.  Finally, the alias everyone is defined as all users with a user-id
  in /etc/passwd greater than 200.

FILES
  /usr/lib/mh/MailAliases
	    System alias file.

  $HOME/.mh_profile
	    Your user profile.

RELATED INFORMATION
  ali(1), send(1), whom(1), group(4), passwd(4), mh_profile(4), mtstailor(4),
  conflict(8), post(8)

Index for Section 4

Alphabetical listing for M

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