When mail is being delivered to a local user , sendmail normally attempts to open and read a file in the user's home directory called .forward . If that file exists and is readable, the addresses in that file replace the local username for delivery. [32]
Under V8 sendmail the ForwardPath option is used to define alternative names and locations for the user's ~/.forward file. The forms of the ForwardPath option are as follows : O ForwardPath= path configuration file (V8.7 and later) -OForwardPath= path command line (V8.7 and later) define(`confFORWARD_PATH', path) mc configuration (V8.7 and later) OJ path configuration file (V8.6 deprecated) -oJ path command line (V8.6 deprecated) The path is a colon -separated list of files. An attempt is made to open and read each in turn , from left to right, until one is successfully read: define(`confFORWARD_PATH',`/var/forward/$u:$z/.forward') Macros can, and should, be used in the path file locations. In this example, sendmail first looks in the file /var/forward/$u (where the macro $u contains the user's login name , $u). If that file can't be opened for reading, sendmail tries reading $z/.forward (where the $z macro contains the user's home directory, $z). Other macros of interest are $w (the local hostname, $w), $f (the user's full name, $f), $h (the user's +detail, Section 12.4.4), $r (the sending protocol, $r), and $s (the sending host, $s). The recommended declaration is to use the name of the local host. Thus: define(`confFORWARD_PATH',`$z/.forward.$w:$z/.forward') If the path or the entire option is omitted, the default is $z/.forward . Therefore, omitting the ForwardPath option causes V8 sendmail to emulate older versions by looking only in the ~/.forward file for user-forwarding information. Beginning with V8.7 sendmail , the F=w delivery agent flag (F=w) must be set for the recipient's delivery agent, or all forwarding is skipped . Previously, this was tied to the delivery agent named local . The ForwardPath option is not safe. If specified from the command line, it can cause sendmail to relinquish its special privileges. |