1.4.3 Aliases and Mailing Lists
Aliases allow mail that is sent to one address to be redirected to another address.
They also allow mail to be appended to files or piped through programs, and form
the basis of mailing lists. The heart of aliasing is the aliases(5) file (often stored in
database format for swifter lookups). Aliasing is also available to the individual user
via a file called ~/.forward in the user??™s home directory.
1.5 Basic Parts of a Mail Message
In this section, we will examine the three parts that make up a mail message: the
header, body, and envelope. But before we do, we must first demonstrate how to run
sendmail by hand so that you can see what a message??™s parts look like.
This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition
Copyright ?© 2007 O??™Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
6 | Chapter 1: Some Basics
1.5.1 Run sendmail by Hand
Most users do not run sendmail directly. Instead, they use one of many MUAs to
compose a mail message. Those programs invisibly pass the mail message to sendmail,
creating the appearance of instantaneous transmission. The sendmail program
then takes care of delivery in its own seemingly mysterious fashion.
Although most users don??™t run sendmail directly, it is perfectly legal to do so. You,
like many system managers, might need to do this to track down and solve mail
problems.
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