<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <title> Postfix manual - aliases(5) </title> </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 67"</b> to simu- late a "user unknown" error, and <b>|"exit 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><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">allow_mail_to_commands</a></b> and <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_files">allow_mail_to_files</a></b> configuration parameters. <b>ADDRESS 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 PARAMETERS</b> The following <b>main.cf</b> parameters are especially relevant. The text below provides only a parameter summary. See <a href="postconf.5.html">postconf(5)</a> for more details including examples. <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_database">alias_database</a></b> List of alias databases that are updated by the <a href="newaliases.1.html">newaliases(1)</a> command. <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a></b> List of alias databases queried by the <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> delivery agent. <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">allow_mail_to_commands</a></b> Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external command. <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_files">allow_mail_to_files</a></b> Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external file. <b><a href="postconf.5.html#expand_owner_alias">expand_owner_alias</a></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><a href="postconf.5.html#owner_request_special">owner_request_special</a></b> Give special treatment to <b>owner-</b><i>listname</i> and <i>list-</i> <i>name</i><b>-request</b> addresses. <b><a href="postconf.5.html#recipient_delimiter">recipient_delimiter</a></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 ALSO</b> <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a>, local delivery agent <a href="newaliases.1.html">newaliases(1)</a>, create/update alias database <a href="postalias.1.html">postalias(1)</a>, create/update alias database <a href="postconf.5.html">postconf(5)</a>, configuration parameters <b>README FILES</b> <a href="DATABASE_README.html">DATABASE_README</a>, Postfix lookup table overview <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>