PMDF System Manager's Guide

The format for the .forward file is one or more lines, each line containing one or more comma-separated recipient entries. A recipient entry can take the following forms. When executing certain actions of a user's .forward actions, the l channel becomes that user, referred to below as current-user .

• user@domain requeues a copy of the message to the specified address. In the special case of current-user@official-local-host-name where current-user is the user on whose behalf the .forward file is being processed and where official-local-host-name is the official host name defined on the l channel definition, the message is just delivered "normally" (in addition to any other forwarding specified by other entries).
• \current-user or current-user delivers a copy "normally" (in addition to any other forwarding specified by other entries), where current-user must be the user on whose behalf the .forward file is being processed.
• /directory/path/filename appends a copy of the message to the specified file (which must be writeable by current-user, the user on whose behalf the .forward file is being processed).
• +/directory/path/filename appends a copy of the message to the specified file (which must be writeable by current-user, the user on whose behalf the .forward is being processed) using digest-like boundary markers between the messages.
• |command where command is a shell command will execute that command as current-user, the user whose .forward file is being processed, with standard input coming from the message being delivered.
• |command args where command args is a shell command with arguments will execute that command as current-user, the user on whose behalf the .forward is being processed, with standard input coming from the message being delivered.
• A line beginning with a # or ! character is considered to be a comment line.

Example 17-1 shows a sample .forward file for a user jdoe who wants one copy of his messages delivered normally, one copy sent to another of his accounts, one copy sent to his pager, one copy filed in the file thismonthsmailarchive, and also wants to pipe the message through the procmail utility.

Example 17-1 Sample .forward File for User John.Doe

\jdoe, John.Doe@system2.example.com, John.Doe@pager.example.com /usr/users/jdoe/thismonthsmailarchive "|/usr/bin/procmail jdoe"

The RECIPIENT environment variable is available for use in .forward files; it specifies the envelope recipient of the message.