[Techtalk] getting /var/mail/{whatever} forwarded externally

[Lucia Sanchez]

Conor Daly wrote:
> 
> One thing that comes to mind is, what happens to /var/mail/root when you
> use that redirect?  Does root no longer get the mail as well?  This could
> be relevant if you end up having to log on at the console and want to see
> root's mail.  In that case, you could consider using a /root/.forward file
> to send _copies_ of root's messages rather than redirecting them.
> 

The redirect through /etc/aliases works with postfix, but you'd have to
see if that is the appropriate file for other MTAs (for example, qmail
used something completely different).

If you want to keep a local copy for the user user, you usually edit a
.forward file in that user's home directory that looks like this:

user
forwarding_email1 at something.com
forwarding_email2 at something.com

So I'm guessing the same syntax will work in the /etc/aliases file (and
if it doesn't you will get a warning when running "newaliases"), so the
line for root should probably look like:

root:	root forwarding_mail at something.com

> It's also the case that you can configure individual programs to send
> email to different people.  This can be handy for those that you don't
> want to see.  Typically, it's the MAILTO setting in a program's config.

And you can do it in a similar way through /etc/aliases by making
aliases for the postmaster, webmaster, etc - the typical
administration-related mailing addresses.
-- 
Lu.

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 I will live forever or die trying.
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