Mail aliases for incoming emails

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Newsgroups:  comp.mail.misc
Date:        Wed, 25 Feb 2004 16:06:53 +0000 (UTC)

> Where can I find explanations on how to define/delete mail aliases
> for incoming emails. I.e., I want to define alias1, alias2, etc
> all point to my own real email, and delete them afterward sometime
> later.

man aliases
man /etc/aliases

> I am thinking that it might be a good way to guard against some dubious sites
> that insist my giving away my email address.

Perhaps, but you'll need more than a few aliases to effectively combat UCE.

Sahil Tandon

File: /etc/aliases

#
#  Aliases in this file will NOT be expanded in the header from
#  Mail, but WILL be visible over networks or from /bin/mail.
#
#       >>>>>>>>>>      The program "newaliases" must be run after
#       >> NOTE >>      this file is updated for any changes to
#       >>>>>>>>>>      show through to sendmail.
#

# Basic system aliases -- these MUST be present.
mailer-daemon:  postmaster
postmaster:     root

# General redirections for pseudo accounts.
bin:            root
  [...]
ingres:         root
system:         root
toor:           root
manager:        root
dumper:         root
abuse:          root

mailman:        postmaster
mailman-owner:  mailman

newsadm:        news
newsadmin:      news
usenet:         news
ftpadm:         ftp
  [...]
# Person who should get root's mail
#root:          marc

man aliases

This file describes user ID aliases used by sendmail. The file resides as /etc/aliases and is formatted as a series of lines of the form

name: addr_1, addr_2, addr_3, . . .

This is only the raw data file; the actual aliasing information is placed into a binary format in the file /etc/aliases.db using the program newaliases(1). A newaliases command should be executed each time the aliases file is changed for the change to take effect.