1ALIASES(5) File Formats Manual ALIASES(5)
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6 aliases - Postfix local alias database format
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9 newaliases
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12 The aliases(5) table provides a system-wide mechanism to redirect mail
13 for local recipients. The redirections are processed by the Postfix
14 local(8) delivery agent.
15 Normally, the aliases(5) table is specified as a text file that serves
17 as input to the postalias(1) command. The result, an indexed file in
18 dbm or db format, is used for fast lookup by the mail system. Execute
19 the command newaliases in order to rebuild the indexed file after
20 changing the Postfix alias database.
21 The input and output file formats are expected to be compatible with
23 Sendmail version 8, and are expected to be suitable for the use as NIS
24 maps.
25 Users can control delivery of their own mail by setting up .forward
27 files in their home directory. Lines in per-user .forward files have
28 the same syntax as the right-hand side of aliases(5) entries.
29 The format of the alias database input file is as follows:
31 · An alias definition has the form
33 name: value1, value2, ...
35 · Empty lines and whitespace-only lines are ignored, as are lines
37 whose first non-whitespace character is a `#'.
38 · A logical line starts with non-whitespace text. A line that
40 starts with whitespace continues a logical line.
41 The name is a local address (no domain part). Use double quotes when
43 the name contains any special characters such as whitespace, `#', `:',
44 or `@'. The name is folded to lowercase, in order to make database
45 lookups case insensitive.
46 In addition, when an alias exists for owner-name, delivery diagnostics
48 are directed to that address, instead of to the originator of the mes‐
49 sage. This is typically used to direct delivery errors to the main‐
50 tainer of a mailing list, who is in a better position to deal with
51 mailing list delivery problems than the originator of the undelivered
52 mail.
53 The value contains one or more of the following:
55 address
57 Mail is forwarded to address, which is compatible with the RFC
58 822 standard.
59 /file/name
61 Mail is appended to /file/name. See local(8) for details of
62 delivery to file. Delivery is not limited to regular files.
63 For example, to dispose of unwanted mail, deflect it to
64 /dev/null.
65 |command
67 Mail is piped into command. Commands that contain special char‐
68 acters, such as whitespace, should be enclosed between double
69 quotes. See local(8) for details of delivery to command.
70 When the command fails, a limited amount of command output is
72 mailed back to the sender. The file /usr/include/sysexits.h
73 defines the expected exit status codes. For example, use "|exit
74 67" to simulate a "user unknown" error, and "|exit 0" to imple‐
75 ment an expensive black hole.
76 :include:/file/name
78 Mail is sent to the destinations listed in the named file.
79 Lines in :include: files have the same syntax as the right-hand
80 side of alias entries.
81 A destination can be any destination that is described in this
83 manual page. However, delivery to "|command" and /file/name is
84 disallowed by default. To enable, edit the allow_mail_to_com‐
85 mands and allow_mail_to_files configuration parameters.
86
88 When alias database search fails, and the recipient localpart contains
89 the optional recipient delimiter (e.g., user+foo), the search is
90 repeated for the unextended address (e.g., user).
91 The propagate_unmatched_extensions parameter controls whether an
93 unmatched address extension (+foo) is propagated to the result of table
94 lookup.
95
97 The local(8) delivery agent always folds the search string to lowercase
98 before database lookup.
99
101 The local(8) delivery agent disallows regular expression substitution
102 of $1 etc. in alias_maps, because that would open a security hole.
103 The local(8) delivery agent will silently ignore requests to use the
105 proxymap(8) server within alias_maps. Instead it will open the table
106 directly. Before Postfix version 2.2, the local(8) delivery agent will
107 terminate with a fatal error.
108
110 The following main.cf parameters are especially relevant. The text
111 below provides only a parameter summary. See postconf(5) for more
112 details including examples.
113 alias_database
115 List of alias databases that are updated by the newaliases(1)
116 command.
117 alias_maps
119 List of alias databases queried by the local(8) delivery agent.
120 allow_mail_to_commands
122 Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external command.
123 allow_mail_to_files
125 Restrict the usage of mail delivery to external file.
126 expand_owner_alias
128 When delivering to an alias that has an owner- companion alias,
129 set the envelope sender address to the right-hand side of the
130 owner alias, instead using of the left-hand side address.
131 propagate_unmatched_extensions
133 A list of address rewriting or forwarding mechanisms that propa‐
134 gate an address extension from the original address to the
135 result. Specify zero or more of canonical, virtual, alias, for‐
136 ward, include, or generic.
137 owner_request_special
139 Give special treatment to owner-listname and listname-request
140 addresses.
141 recipient_delimiter
143 Delimiter that separates recipients from address extensions.
144 Available in Postfix version 2.3 and later:
146 frozen_delivered_to
148 Update the local(8) delivery agent's Delivered-To: address (see
149 prepend_delivered_header) only once, at the start of a delivery;
150 do not update the Delivered-To: address while expanding aliases
151 or .forward files.
152
154 RFC 822 (ARPA Internet Text Messages)
155
157 local(8), local delivery agent
158 newaliases(1), create/update alias database
159 postalias(1), create/update alias database
160 postconf(5), configuration parameters
161
163 Use "postconf readme_directory" or "postconf html_directory" to locate
164 this information.
165 DATABASE_README, Postfix lookup table overview
166
168 The Secure Mailer license must be distributed with this software.
169
171 Wietse Venema
172 IBM T.J. Watson Research
173 P.O. Box 704
174 Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
175 ALIASES(5)