View source for Vacation Program - Auto E-Mail Message Responding


== Introduction ==


Our ''CS Grad/Research Net'' and ''Ugrad Net'' e-mail services allow you to set an auto-reply message when you are out of the office.  We utilize a program called '''vacation''' that resides on our Linux systems (and our Grad/Research Net Solaris system, peregrine.cs.jhu.edu)

'''vacation''' allows you to configure your email account to send an automated reply to anyone who emails you, so that you can let them know that you will be unavailable for a time (a.k.a. a "vacation" message).  (Note:  Full information about how it works can be found by running <tt>man vacation</tt>  It also keeps track of who has e-mailed you since the time you set your vacation message, so that the sender doesn't get multiple vacation replies for every e-mail the sender sends to you.

== WARNING! ==

Please realize that if you have "vacation" enabled, all of those who e-mail you will receive an automatic reply back.  That also means that all ''spammers'' who send e-mail to you receive an automatic reply back from you as well.  That automatic reply back to a spammer tells the spammer that your e-mail is indeed an active e-mail address and might be added to more spamming lists, and therefore, produce more spam over time,   So, be aware.

== Basic Setup ==

These basic instructions should work for most people.  <!-- The programs will inform you if you need a more complicated setup.-->

== Enabling Vacation Messages ==

Log into any of the CS [[:Category:Linux Clients|Linux Clients]].

At the command prompt, type:

 vacation

An editor will open with either a sample email or the last email you used
for your vacation message.  Edit it as you see fit and then save and exit
the editor.  A '''.forward''' file is created for you, which enables your vacation message auto-reply.

== Disabling Vacation messages ==

Log into any of the CS [[:Category:Linux Clients|Linux Clients]].  At the
command prompt, type:

 vacation

The program will tell you that vacation messages are enabled and ask if
you want to disable them.  Type <tt>yes</tt> and press enter.  Vacation
messages are now disabled.

If you elect not to disable vacation messages, you will have an
opportunity to edit your vacation message, and vacation messages will
remain active.

== Advanced Setup ==

In some cases the <tt>vacation</tt> program will not be able to automatically set up vacation messages, ''usually because the <tt>.forward</tt> file is already in use (already defined with a custom forwarding line)''.  You should only need the following instructions if the <tt>vacation</tt> program tells you to use them:

=== Manually Enabling Vacation Messages When You Already Use Your Own .forward File ===

To manually enable vacation message auto reply when you already use your own .forward file:

Edit <tt>~/.vacation.msg</tt> with the auto-reply message you want to send to
people.  It should have a <tt>Subject:</tt> line, possibly along with
other headers that you want, followed by a blank line, followed by the
message body.  Here's a sample:

 Subject: I'm on vacation until June 5th.
 
 I will be away on vacation until June 5th.  If you need a response before
 then, please email my colleague, Bob, at bob@email.address.

Next, edit <tt>~/.forward</tt> and add to the line in it a comma followed
by the text <tt>"|/usr/bin/forward ''account''"</tt>, where ''account'' is
your account name.

For example, say your account is "cstest" and your <tt>~/.forward</tt> file contains:

 \cstest, cstest@gmail.com

Then you should edit it so it contains the following:

 \cstest, cstest@gmail.com, "|/usr/bin/vacation cstest"

After that, vacation messages will be enabled.

=== Manually disabling Vacation Messages ===

Simply remove the <tt>"|/usr/bin/forward ''account''"</tt> destination
from your <tt>~/.forward</tt> file.

[[Category:Mail]]