Using the Vacation Command

Vacation is a program that allows your UNIX account to reply to mail automatically while you are away. The reply message text is read from the file .vacation.msg in your home directory.

Starting vacation message functionality is most easily accomplished by typing

vacation

in a terminal window. This interactive procedure walks you through the setup, performing many manual steps for you.

When you return from your trip, simply log into a UNIX machine (such as delta) and type

rm -f ~/.forward

to disable it.

When creating your .vacation.msg file, you should include both the From: and Subject: headers before the text of your message. An example follows.

From: NoJunkmailPlease@ece.northwestern.edu (Pred S. Bundalo)
Subject: I am away.

[This is an automated response from a fake address.  Do not reply.]

I am away on a trip to see the pyramids of Egypt.  I won't
have time to be checking my e-mail.  However, I will reply
when I return.

See you when I get back.

See the fine man page on vacation for more help. You may do this by logging into a UNIX machine and typing

man vacation

in a terminal window.

2145 Sheridan Road . Evanston / IL . 60208
Phone: 847-491-8140 . FAX: 847-491-4455
webmaster@ece.northwestern.edu

Copyright © 2003 Northwestern University § All rights reserved § Fri May 9 11:50:22 CDT 2008