Sendmail question

[Derek Hui]

In HP-UX 10.20 using Sendmail 8.9.3. is it possible to send an automatic reply to addresses that send mail to an alias that we no longer want to use?
i.e. If mail is sent to the alias in question, I'd like to
automatically have a reply sent back as "This address is no longer available. Please send your inquiries to newaddess.on.ca".
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[CA538024]

Hi Mary-Anne,

I would post this question in the HP-UX section of the ITRC forums. Here's a link to the home page:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/cm/

Good luck!

Kathy

[CA486125]

The following manual at

http://www.docs.hp.com


http://www.docs.hp.com/cgi-bin/fsearch/framedisplay?top=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90110/B2355-90110_top.html&con=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90110/00/00/42-con.html&toc=/hpux/onlinedocs/B2355-90110/00/00/42-toc.html&searchterms=sendmail&queryid=20020109-171933


has the info you are looking for I believe. Start with a search on the word autoreply and work backwards.

[CA277578 · Accepted solution]

There's a couple things you could try..
Here's a copy of doc showing how to send vacation messages when email hits a mail account. You could just adjust the message to what you want:
=========================
Problem Description

What is vacation(1)? How would I configure it to reply to my
e-mail automatically while I am out of the office?

Solution

If you're wondering what vacation(1) is, read this description from
its man page:

DESCRIPTION
vacation returns a message to the sender of a message telling them
that you are currently not reading your mail. The intended use is in
a .forward file in $HOME.

Configuration steps:

1. Create the file $HOME/.vacation.msg on the machine where you normally
read your mail. This is the message those sending you mail will
receive while you're out. For example:

From: joe@bigsys.atl.hp.com (Joe Knownot)
Subject: I'm on vacation

Sorry, I'm out until June 30. Please try Lou Clueless
(lou@bigsys.atl.hp.com) in my absence.

--Joe

The header lines MUST begin in column 1 and MUST be the first lines
in the file.

2. Initialize the vacation "database" with the command "vacation -i".
This should create the files $HOME/.vacation.pag and
$HOME/.vacation.dir. See the man page for more information.

3. Create the file $HOME/.forward, also on the machine where you normally
read your mail. Unless you're very familiar with .forward syntax, it
would be a good idea to create one exactly like the one below, but
substituting your user name for 'joe':

\joe, |"vacation joe"

The example in the man page shows the pipe | INSIDE of the double
quotes. This is not strict sendmail syntax, but should work as well.

4. That's it! Now go to another machine and send yourself mail to test
it out. A good test message to send yourself is one reminding you
to rename or remove your .forward file when you return from your
absence. Note that only one message per week is sent to each unique
sender (at each unique host). See the man page for more info.

Alternative Keywords

vacation mail sendmail autoreply reply .forward

==========================
Or you might check into something like Procmail www.procmail.org

Just a couple thoughts,
Rit

[CA277578]

Forgot to mention...read the manpage on 'vacation'.

Rgrds,
Rita