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Technical document: Linux Mail Server Howto
Appendix A - An example /etc/aliases file
A version of this file may already exist on your system, particularly if sendmail, postfix or other MTA is already installed. Below is a typical file which should be sufficient for most people to get going. Additional entries can be added at any time; however don't forget to re-create the aliases hash table after any changes:

> /usr/bin/newaliases

Note: if instead you called this /usr/bin/newaliases.postfix, you will have to either make a copy called /usr/bin/newaliases or create a soft link with the same name:

ln -s /usr/bin/newaliases.postfix /usr/bin/newaliases

otherwise with the ".postfix" extension the program will hang.

After running newaliases you should find a fresh /etc/aliases.db has been created.

#
# Sample /etc/aliases file. Install in the location as specified by the
# output from the command "postconf alias_maps". Typical path names
# are /etc/aliases or /etc/mail/aliases.
#
#       >>>>>>>>>>      The program "newaliases" must be run after
#       >> NOTE >>      this file is updated for any changes to
#       >>>>>>>>>>      show through to Postfix.
#

# Person who should get root's mail. Don't receive mail as root!
# *** replace with your user name! *** 
#root:          [you]

# Basic system aliases -- these MUST be present
MAILER-DAEMON:  postmaster
postmaster:     root

# General redirections for pseudo accounts
bin:            root
daemon:         root
named:          root
nobody:         root
uucp:           root
www:            root
ftp-bugs:       root
sendmail:       root

# make sure this is included if using postfix as MTA
postfix:        root 

# Put your local aliases here.

# Well-known aliases
manager:        root
dumper:         root
operator:       root
abuse:          postmaster

# trap decode to catch security attacks
decode:         root

# and some extra system ones
webmaster:      root 
system:         root
security:       root
apache:         root

# and some extra business ones:
sales:          root
marketing:      root
info:           root
help:           root

# -- EOF --


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