mail.local(8)

NAME
       mail.local - store mail in a mailbox

SYNOPSIS
       mail.local [-7] [-b] [-d] [-D mbdb] [-l] [-f from|-r from] [-h filename
       ] user ...

DESCRIPTION
       Mail.local reads the standard input up to an end-of-file and appends it
       to each user's mail file.  The user must be a valid user name.

       The options are as follows:

       -7        Do not advertise 8BITMIME support in LMTP mode.

       -b        Return  a  permanent  error instead of a temporary error if a
                 mailbox exceeds quota.

       -d        Specify this is  a  delivery  (for  backward  compatibility).
                 This option has no effect.

       -D mbdb   Specify  the  name  of  the mailbox database which is used to
                 look up local recipient names.  This option defaults to "pw",
                 which means use getpwnam().

       -f from   Specify the sender's name.

       -l        Turn on LMTP mode.

       -r from   Specify the sender's name (for backward compatibility).  Same
                 as -f.

       -h filename
                 Store incoming mail in filename in the user's home  directory
                 instead of a system mail spool directory.

       Individual  mail messages in the mailbox are delimited by an empty line
       followed by a line beginning with the string ``From ''.   A  line  con-
       taining  the  string  ``From  '', the sender's name and a time stamp is
       prepended to each delivered mail message.  A blank line is appended  to
       each  message.   A  greater-than  character (``>'') is prepended to any
       line in the message which could be mistaken for a ``From  ''  delimiter
       line (that is, a line beginning with the five characters ``From '' fol-
       lowing a blank line).

       The mail files are exclusively  locked  with  flock(2)  while  mail  is
       appended,  and  a  user.lock  file also is created while the mailbox is
       locked for compatibility with older MUAs.

       If the ``biff'' service  is  returned  by  getservbyname(3),  the  biff
       server is notified of delivered mail.

       The mail.local utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

ENVIRONMENT
       TZ     Used to set the appropriate time zone on the timestamp.

FILES
       /tmp/local.XXXXXX     temporary files
       /var/mail/user        user's default mailbox directory
       /var/mail/user.lock   lock file for a user's default mailbox

SEE ALSO
       mail(1), xsend(1), flock(2), getservbyname(3), comsat(8), sendmail(8)

WARNING
       mail.local  escapes  only "^From " lines that follow an empty line.  If
       all lines starting with "From " should be escaped, use the 'E' flag for
       the local mailer in the sendmail.cf file.

HISTORY
       A  superset  of  mail.local  (handling  mailbox reading as well as mail
       delivery) appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX as the program mail.