THE VIRTUAL SERVER HANDBOOK

For more information about software that enables you to create automated

mailing lists, see Majordomo.com. Majordomo works in conjunction with

the ~/etc/aliases file to automate address addition and removal of recipients

included using the :include: statement.

Creating Autoresponders

Autoresponders automatically send a predetermined reply to anyone that

contacts a specific E mail address and can disseminate information that is

commonly requested such as a product list or FAQ document.

Autoresponders provide confirmation of message delivery. Mail addressed

to an important address may be routed first through an autoresponder to let

your clients know that you have received their message.

To install autoresponder software

1.

From the command prompt, enter

% cp /usr/local/contrib/autoreply ~/usr/bin

% chmod 755 ~/usr/bin/autoreply

To create autoresponder addresses

1.

Edit the ~/etc/aliases file, enter:

alias: recipient, "|/usr/bin/autoreply  f name  

m message  a address"

(The above line is entered as one line.)

Alias

Replace alias with the name of your 

autoresponder

, such

as "info."

Recipient

Replace with the recipient address that receives copies of

incoming messages (in a fashion similar to a normal alias).

| 

Passes the incoming message to the 

autoreply

 program

and sends back the text of a predetermined message in reply.

Name

Replace name with the name you want to use in the "From:"

line of the message your 

autoresponder

 sends.

Message

Contains the pathname of your desired message text. If the 

 m

option is not specified, the reply text is taken from a file

named 

.autoreply

 in the virtual server root directory. The

pathname is your home directory on the system (~) that has

become the new root directory (/).

The following is a sample 

autoresponder

:

info: bob@yourdomain.com, "|/usr/bin/autoreply  f

info reply  a info"

Note:  The 

autoreply

 program searches the "To:" and "Cc:" header

lines for the text specified by the address value. 

Autoreply

 replies to

the message if "address" is found. If "address" is not found, 

autoreply

ignores the message.

COPYRIGHT 

 1999  DIGITAL TOOLS  LLC.

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