SYMPA_NEWALIASES(1)

💖 SYMPA_NEWALIASES — alias database maintenance, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about sympa_newaliases and sympa_newaliases.pl — the manual page (section 1, obviously) that keeps your alias database from being a whole mess. no cap, this one's a maintenance queen 👑

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

sympa_newaliases.pl --domain=dom.ain

that's it. that's the whole vibe. one line. slay.

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so sympa_newaliases.pl is literally a program to maintain the alias database. that's its whole job, its whole personality, its main character arc. 💅

typically it gets invoked from the Sympa::Aliases::Template module via sympa_newaliases-wrapper, and then it goes and updates the alias database. it's giving backstage crew energy — you don't see it, but the show does not go on without it.

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🌸 OPTIONS 🌸

sympa_newaliases.pl may run with the following options, bestie:

• --domain=domain — name of the virtual robot on which aliases will be updated. like, which robot's aliases are we touching today? 👀
• -h, --help — print this help message. the classic. the icon. when in doubt, -h it out.

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🎀 CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS 🎀

these site configuration parameters in /etc/sympa/sympa.conf get referred to, fr fr. and plot twist — they may be overridden by robot.conf of each virtual robot. so every robot can have its own little aesthetic. 🌈

• sendmail_aliases — source text of alias database.

default value is $SENDMAIL_ALIASES.

• aliases_program — system command to update alias database. possible values are:
  • makemap — Sendmail makemap utility.
  • newaliases — newaliases(1) or a compatible utility.
  • postalias — Postfix postalias(1) utility.
  • postmap — Postfix postmap(1) utility.
  • Full path — full path to executable file. the file will be invoked with the value of sendmail_aliases as an argument. very "you had one job and you did it" of it.

default value is newaliases.

• aliases_db_type — type of alias database. this one is meaningful when the value of the aliases_program parameter is makemap, postalias or postmap. (so if you're on newaliases, this parameter is just sitting there, prettiest at the party, doing nothing. 💀)

possible values will vary by system commands. for example, postalias and postmap can support any of btree, cdb, dbm, hash and sdbm.

default value is hash.

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⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

• returns with exit code 0. the good ending. 🫶
• if the invoked system command failed, it returns with its exit code — so the blame gets passed along, respectfully.
• on other failures, it returns with 1.

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /etc/sympa/sympa.conf — Sympa site configuration.
• $LIBEXECDIR/sympa_newaliases-wrapper — set UID wrapper for sympa_newaliases.pl. the bouncer at the door, basically.

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💜 HISTORY 💜

sympa_newaliases.pl appeared on Sympa 6.1.18. it was initially written by IKEDA Soji <ikeda@conversion.co.jp>. we love a origin story. 👑

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

Sympa::Aliases::Template.

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⚠️ heads up bestie: please don't mess with the configuration parameters unless you know what you're doing. the alias database does not play. 😭

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and that's the whole page, mwah. this beauty is from sympa 6.2.80, dated 2026-10-19 — so it's current, it's fresh, it's iconic. bye babe, go update those aliases 💅✨