qmail-command(8)</STRONG>  for  further
            information.

       (3)  A forward line begins with an ampersand:

                 &amp;me@new.job.com

            <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  takes  the  rest  of  the line as a mail
            address; it uses <STRONG>qmail-queue</STRONG> to forward  the  message
            to  that  address.   The address must contain a fully
            qualified domain name;  it  must  not  contain  extra
            spaces, angle brackets, or comments:

                 # the following examples are WRONG
                 &amp;me@new
                 &amp;&lt;me@new.job.com&gt;
                 &amp; me@new.job.com
                 &amp;me@new.job.com (New Address)

            If  the  address  begins with a letter or number, you

            <STRONG>WARNING:</STRONG> On many systems, anyone who can read a  file
            can <STRONG>flock</STRONG> it, and thus hold up <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>'s delivery
            forever.  Do not deliver mail to a publicly  accessi-
            ble file!

            If  <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  is  able  to  lock the file, but has
            trouble writing to it (because, for example, the disk
            is full), it will truncate the file back to its orig-
            inal length.  However, it cannot prevent mailbox cor-
            ruption if the system crashes during delivery.

       (5)  A  <EM>maildir</EM>  line begins with a slash or dot, and ends
            with a slash:

                 /home/djb/Maildir/

            <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> takes the entire line as the  name  of  a
            directory  in <EM>maildir</EM> format.  It reliably stores the
            incoming message in that directory.   See  <STRONG>maildir(5)</STRONG>
            for more details.

       If <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> has the execute bit set, it must not contain any
       program lines, <EM>mbox</EM> lines, or <EM>maildir</EM>  lines.   If  <STRONG>qmail-</STRONG>
       <STRONG>alias</STRONG>  sees  any  such  lines, it will stop and indicate a
       temporary failure.

       If <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> is completely empty (0 bytes long), or does  not
       exist, <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> appends the mail message to your system
       mailbox in <EM>mbox</EM> format.

       <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> may contain extra spaces and tabs at the end  of  a
       line.  Blank lines are allowed, but not for the first line
       of <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG>.

       If <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> is world-writable or group-writable, <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>
       stops and indicates a temporary failure.

       Incoming  messages  can arrive at any moment.  If you want
       to safely edit your <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> file, first set the sticky  bit
       on your home directory:

            chmod +t $HOME

       <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> will temporarily defer delivery of any message
       to you if your home directory is sticky (or group-writable
       or  other-writable, which should never happen).  Make sure
       to

            chmod -t $HOME

       when you are done!  It's a good  idea  to  test  your  new
       The <STRONG>alias</STRONG> user controls all other addresses.  Delivery  to
       <EM>local</EM>  is  controlled  by  the  file <EM>homedir/</EM><STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>local</EM>,
       where <EM>homedir</EM> is <STRONG>alias</STRONG>'s home directory.

       In the following description, <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  is  handling  a
       message  addressed  to  <EM>local@domain</EM>,  where <EM>local</EM> is con-
       trolled by <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM>.  Here is what it does.

       If <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM> is completely empty, <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> appends the
       mail message to your system mailbox.

       If  <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM>  doesn't  exist,  <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> will try some
       default <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> files.  For example,  if  <EM>ext</EM>  is  <STRONG>foo-bar</STRONG>,
       <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  will  try  first <STRONG>.qmail-foo-bar</STRONG>, then <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG>
       <STRONG>foo-default</STRONG>, and finally <STRONG>.qmail-default</STRONG>.  If none of these
       exist,  <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  will bounce the message.  (Exception:
       for the basic <EM>user</EM> address, <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> treats a  nonexis-
       tent <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG> the same as an empty <STRONG>.qmail</STRONG>.)

       <STRONG>WARNING:</STRONG>  For  security,  <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> replaces any dots in
       <EM>ext</EM> with colons before checking  <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM>.   For  conve-
       nience,  <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> converts any uppercase letters in <EM>ext</EM>
       to lowercase.

       When <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  forwards  a  message  as  instructed  in
       <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM>   (or   <STRONG>.qmail-default</STRONG>),   it   checks  whether
       sage.  Otherwise it retains the  envelope  sender  of  the
       original  message.   Exception: <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG> always retains
       the original envelope sender if it is the empty address or
       <STRONG>#@[]</STRONG>, i.e., if this is a bounce message.

       <STRONG>qmail-alias</STRONG>  also  supports the <STRONG>owner</STRONG> <STRONG>hack</STRONG>: if <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM><STRONG>-</STRONG>
       <STRONG>owner</STRONG> and <STRONG>.qmail-</STRONG><EM>ext</EM><STRONG>-owner-default</STRONG>  both  exist,  it  uses
       <EM>local</EM><STRONG>-owner-</STRONG>  as  the  envelope sender.  This will cause a
       recipient <EM>recip</EM><STRONG>@</STRONG><EM>reciphost</EM> to see  an  envelope  sender  of
       <EM>local</EM><STRONG>-owner-</STRONG><EM>recip</EM><STRONG>=</STRONG><EM>reciphost</EM><STRONG>@</STRONG><EM>domain</EM>.