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 redirect mail 17 for local recipients. The redirections are processed by the Postfix 18 <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 that serves 21 as input to the <a href="postalias.1.html"><b>postalias</b>(1)</a> command. The result, an indexed file in 22 <b>dbm</b> or <b>db</b> format, is used for fast lookup by the mail system. Execute 23 the command <b>newaliases</b> in order to rebuild the indexed file after 24 changing the Postfix alias database. 25 26 When the table is provided via other means such as NIS, LDAP or SQL, 27 the same lookups are done as for ordinary indexed files. 28 29 Alternatively, the table can be provided as a regular-expression map 30 where patterns are given as regular expressions. In this case, the 31 lookups are done in a slightly different way as described below under 32 "REGULAR EXPRESSION TABLES". 33 34 Users can control delivery of their own mail by setting up <b>.forward</b> 35 files in their home directory. Lines in per-user <b>.forward</b> files have 36 the same syntax as the right-hand side of <a href="aliases.5.html"><b>aliases</b>(5)</a> entries. 37 38 The format of the alias database input file is as follows: 39 40 <b>o</b> An alias definition has the form 41 42 <i>name</i>: <i>value1</i>, <i>value2</i>, <i>...</i> 43 44 <b>o</b> Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, as are lines 45 whose first non-whitespace character is a `#'. 46 47 <b>o</b> A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A line that 48 starts with whitespace continues a logical line. 49 50 The <i>name</i> is a local address (no domain part). Use double quotes when 51 the name contains any special characters such as whitespace, `#', `:', 52 or `@'. The <i>name</i> is folded to lowercase, in order to make database 53 lookups case insensitive. 54 55 In addition, when an alias exists for <b>owner-</b><i>name</i>, delivery diagnostics 56 are directed to that address, instead of to the originator of the mes- 57 sage. This is typically used to direct delivery errors to the main- 58 tainer of a mailing list, who is in a better position to deal with 59 mailing list delivery problems than the originator of the undelivered 60 mail. 61 62 The <i>value</i> contains one or more of the following: 63 64 <i>address</i> 65 Mail is forwarded to <i>address</i>, which is compatible with the <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822">RFC</a> 66 <a href="http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822">822</a> standard. 67 68 <i>/file/name</i> 69 Mail is appended to <i>/file/name</i>. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for details of 70 delivery to file. Delivery is not limited to regular files. 71 For example, to dispose of unwanted mail, deflect it to 72 <b>/dev/null</b>. 73 74 |<i>command</i> 75 Mail is piped into <i>command</i>. Commands that contain special char- 76 acters, such as whitespace, should be enclosed between double 77 quotes. See <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> for details of delivery to command. 78 79 When the command fails, a limited amount of command output is 80 mailed back to the sender. The file <b>/usr/include/sysexits.h</b> 81 defines the expected exit status codes. For example, use <b>"|exit</b> 82 <b>67"</b> to simulate a "user unknown" error, and <b>"|exit 0"</b> to imple- 83 ment an expensive black hole. 84 85 <b>:include:</b><i>/file/name</i> 86 Mail is sent to the destinations listed in the named file. 87 Lines in <b>:include:</b> files have the same syntax as the right-hand 88 side of alias entries. 89 90 A destination can be any destination that is described in this 91 manual page. However, delivery to "|<i>command</i>" and <i>/file/name</i> is 92 disallowed by default. To enable, edit the <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">allow_mail_to_com</a>-</b> 93 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">mands</a></b> and <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_files">allow_mail_to_files</a></b> configuration parameters. 94 95<b>ADDRESS EXTENSION</b> 96 When alias database search fails, and the recipient localpart contains 97 the optional recipient delimiter (e.g., <i>user+foo</i>), the search is 98 repeated for the unextended address (e.g., <i>user</i>). 99 100 The <b><a href="postconf.5.html#propagate_unmatched_extensions">propagate_unmatched_extensions</a></b> parameter controls whether an 101 unmatched address extension (<i>+foo</i>) is propagated to the result of table 102 lookup. 103 104<b>CASE FOLDING</b> 105 The <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> delivery agent always folds the search string to lowercase 106 before database lookup. 107 108<b>REGULAR EXPRESSION TABLES</b> 109 This section describes how the table lookups change when the table is 110 given in the form of regular expressions. For a description of regular 111 expression lookup table syntax, see <a href="regexp_table.5.html"><b>regexp_table</b>(5)</a> or <a href="pcre_table.5.html"><b>pcre_table</b>(5)</a>. 112 NOTE: these formats do not use ":" at the end of a pattern. 113 114 Each regular expression is applied to the entire search string. Thus, a 115 search string <i>user+foo</i> is not broken up into <i>user</i> and <i>foo</i>. 116 117 Regular expressions are applied in the order as specified in the table, 118 until a regular expression is found that matches the search string. 119 120 Lookup results are the same as with indexed file lookups. For security 121 reasons there is no support for <b>$1</b>, <b>$2</b> etc. substring interpolation. 122 123<b>SECURITY</b> 124 The <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent disallows regular expression substitution 125 of $1 etc. in <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a></b>, because that would open a security hole. 126 127 The <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent will silently ignore requests to use the 128 <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 it will open the table 129 directly. Before Postfix version 2.2, the <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent will 130 terminate with a fatal error. 131 132<b>CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS</b> 133 The following <a href="postconf.5.html"><b>main.cf</b></a> parameters are especially relevant. The text 134 below provides only a parameter summary. See <a href="postconf.5.html"><b>postconf</b>(5)</a> for more 135 details including examples. 136 137 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_database">alias_database</a></b> 138 List of alias databases that are updated by the <a href="newaliases.1.html"><b>newaliases</b>(1)</a> 139 command. 140 141 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#alias_maps">alias_maps</a></b> 142 List of alias databases queried by the <a href="local.8.html"><b>local</b>(8)</a> delivery agent. 143 144 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_commands">allow_mail_to_commands</a></b> 145 Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external command. 146 147 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#allow_mail_to_files">allow_mail_to_files</a></b> 148 Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external file. 149 150 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#expand_owner_alias">expand_owner_alias</a></b> 151 When delivering to an alias that has an <b>owner-</b> companion alias, 152 set the envelope sender address to the right-hand side of the 153 owner alias, instead using of the left-hand side address. 154 155 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#propagate_unmatched_extensions">propagate_unmatched_extensions</a></b> 156 A list of address rewriting or forwarding mechanisms that propa- 157 gate an address extension from the original address to the 158 result. Specify zero or more of <b>canonical</b>, <b>virtual</b>, <b>alias</b>, <b>for-</b> 159 <b>ward</b>, <b>include</b>, or <b>generic</b>. 160 161 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#owner_request_special">owner_request_special</a></b> 162 Give special treatment to <b>owner-</b><i>listname</i> and <i>listname</i><b>-request</b> 163 addresses. 164 165 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#recipient_delimiter">recipient_delimiter</a></b> 166 Delimiter that separates recipients from address extensions. 167 168 Available in Postfix version 2.3 and later: 169 170 <b><a href="postconf.5.html#frozen_delivered_to">frozen_delivered_to</a></b> 171 Update the <a href="local.8.html">local(8)</a> delivery agent's Delivered-To: address (see 172 <a href="postconf.5.html#prepend_delivered_header">prepend_delivered_header</a>) only once, at the start of a delivery; 173 do not update the Delivered-To: address while expanding aliases 174 or .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 software. 190 191<b>AUTHOR(S)</b> 192 Wietse Venema 193 IBM T.J. Watson Research 194 P.O. Box 704 195 Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA 196 197 ALIASES(5) 198</pre> </body> </html> 199