1<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" 2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> 3<html> <head> 4<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> 5<title> Postfix manual - aliases(5) </title> 6</head> <body> <pre> 7ALIASES(5) ALIASES(5) 8 9<b>NAME</b> 10 aliases - Postfix local alias database format 11 12<b>SYNOPSIS</b> 13 <b>newaliases</b> 14 15<b>DESCRIPTION</b> 16 The <a href="aliases.5.html"><b>aliases</b>(5)</a> table provides a system-wide mechanism to 17 redirect mail for local recipients. The redirections are 18 processed by the Postfix <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent. 19 20 Normally, the <a href="aliases.5.html"><b>aliases</b>(5)</a> table is specified as a text file 21 that serves as input to the <a href="postalias.1.html"><b>postalias</b>(1)</a> command. The 22 result, an indexed file in <b>dbm</b> or <b>db</b> format, is used for 23 fast lookup by the mail system. Execute the command 24 <b>newaliases</b> in order to rebuild the indexed file after 25 changing the Postfix alias database. 26 27 The input and output file formats are expected to be com- 28 patible with Sendmail version 8, and are expected to be 29 suitable for the use as NIS maps. 30 31 Users can control delivery of their own mail by setting up 32 <b>.forward</b> files in their home directory. Lines in per-user 33 <b>.forward</b> files have the same syntax as the right-hand side 34 of <a href="aliases.5.html"><b>aliases</b>(5)</a> entries. 35 36 The format of the alias database input file is as follows: 37 38 <b>o</b> An alias definition has the form 39 40 <i>name</i>: <i>value1</i>, <i>value2</i>, <i>...</i> 41 42 <b>o</b> Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, 43 as are lines whose first non-whitespace character 44 is a `#'. 45 46 <b>o</b> A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A 47 line that starts with whitespace continues a logi- 48 cal line. 49 50 The <i>name</i> is a local address (no domain part). Use double 51 quotes when the name contains any special characters such 52 as whitespace, `#', `:', or `@'. The <i>name</i> is folded to 53 lowercase, in order to make database lookups case insensi- 54 tive. 55 56 In addition, when an alias exists for <b>owner-</b><i>name</i>, delivery 57 diagnostics are directed to that address, instead of to 58 the originator of the message. This is typically used to 59 direct delivery errors to the maintainer of a mailing 60 list, who is in a better position to deal with mailing 61 list delivery problems than the originator of the undeliv- 62 ered mail. 63 64 The <i>value</i> contains one or more of the following: 65 66 <i>address</i> 67 Mail is forwarded to <i>address</i>, which is compatible 68 with the <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822">RFC 822</a> standard. 69 70 <i>/file/name</i> 71 Mail is appended to <i>/file/name</i>. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for 72 details of delivery to file. Delivery is not lim- 73 ited to regular files. For example, to dispose of 74 unwanted mail, deflect it to <b>/dev/null</b>. 75 76 |<i>command</i> 77 Mail is piped into <i>command</i>. Commands that contain 78 special characters, such as whitespace, should be 79 enclosed between double quotes. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for 80 details of delivery to command. 81 82 When the command fails, a limited amount of command 83 output is mailed back to the sender. The file 84 <b>/usr/include/sysexits.h</b> defines the expected exit 85 status codes. For example, use <b>"|exit 67"</b> to simu- 86 late a "user unknown" error, and <b>"|exit 0"</b> to 87 implement an expensive black hole. 88 89 <b>:include:</b><i>/file/name</i> 90 Mail is sent to the destinations listed in the 91 named file. Lines in <b>:include:</b> files have the same 92 syntax as the right-hand side of alias entries. 93 94 A destination can be any destination that is 95 described in this manual page. However, delivery to 96 "|<i>command</i>" and <i>/file/name</i> is disallowed by default. 97 To enable, edit the <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">allow_mail_to_commands</a></b> and 98 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_files">allow_mail_to_files</a></b> configuration parameters. 99 100<b>ADDRESS EXTENSION</b> 101 When alias database search fails, and the recipient local- 102 part contains the optional recipient delimiter (e.g., 103 <i>user+foo</i>), the search is repeated for the unextended 104 address (e.g., <i>user</i>). 105 106 The <b><a href="postconf.5.html#propagate_unmatched_extensions">propagate_unmatched_extensions</a></b> parameter controls 107 whether an unmatched address extension (<i>+foo</i>) is propa- 108 gated to the result of table lookup. 109 110<b>CASE FOLDING</b> 111 The <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> delivery agent always folds the search string 112 to lowercase before database lookup. 113 114<b>SECURITY</b> 115 The <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent disallows regular expression 116 substitution of $1 etc. in <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a></b>, because that would 117 open a security hole. 118 119 The <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent will silently ignore requests 120 to use the <a href="proxymap.8.html"><b>proxymap</b>(8)</a> server within <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a></b>. Instead 121 it will open the table directly. Before Postfix version 122 2.2, the <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent will terminate with a 123 fatal error. 124 125<b>CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS</b> 126 The following <a href="postconf.5.html"><b>main.cf</b></a> parameters are especially relevant. 127 The text below provides only a parameter summary. See 128 <a href="postconf.5.html"><b>postconf</b>(5)</a> for more details including examples. 129 130 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_database">alias_database</a></b> 131 List of alias databases that are updated by the 132 <a href="newaliases.1.html"><b>newaliases</b>(1)</a> command. 133 134 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a></b> 135 List of alias databases queried by the <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> 136 delivery agent. 137 138 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">allow_mail_to_commands</a></b> 139 Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external 140 command. 141 142 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_files">allow_mail_to_files</a></b> 143 Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external 144 file. 145 146 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#expand_owner_alias">expand_owner_alias</a></b> 147 When delivering to an alias that has an <b>owner-</b> com- 148 panion alias, set the envelope sender address to 149 the right-hand side of the owner alias, instead 150 using of the left-hand side address. 151 152 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#propagate_unmatched_extensions">propagate_unmatched_extensions</a></b> 153 A list of address rewriting or forwarding mecha- 154 nisms that propagate an address extension from the 155 original address to the result. Specify zero or 156 more of <b>canonical</b>, <b>virtual</b>, <b>alias</b>, <b>forward</b>, 157 <b>include</b>, or <b>generic</b>. 158 159 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#owner_request_special">owner_request_special</a></b> 160 Give special treatment to <b>owner-</b><i>listname</i> and <i>list-</i> 161 <i>name</i><b>-request</b> addresses. 162 163 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#recipient_delimiter">recipient_delimiter</a></b> 164 Delimiter that separates recipients from address 165 extensions. 166 167 Available in Postfix version 2.3 and later: 168 169 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#frozen_delivered_to">frozen_delivered_to</a></b> 170 Update the <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> delivery agent's Delivered-To: 171 address (see <a href="postconf.5.html#prepend_delivered_header">prepend_delivered_header</a>) only once, 172 at the start of a delivery; do not update the 173 Delivered-To: address while expanding aliases or 174 .forward files. 175 176<b>STANDARDS</b> 177 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822">RFC 822</a> (ARPA Internet Text Messages) 178 179<b>SEE ALSO</b> 180 <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a>, local delivery agent 181 <a href="newaliases.1.html">newaliases(1)</a>, create/update alias database 182 <a href="postalias.1.html">postalias(1)</a>, create/update alias database 183 <a href="postconf.5.html">postconf(5)</a>, configuration parameters 184 185<b>README FILES</b> 186 <a href="DATABASE_README.html">DATABASE_README</a>, Postfix lookup table overview 187 188<b>LICENSE</b> 189 The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this 190 software. 191 192<b>AUTHOR(S)</b> 193 Wietse Venema 194 IBM T.J. Watson Research 195 P.O. Box 704 196 Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA 197 198 ALIASES(5) 199</pre> </body> </html> 200