Sets a forwarding address in the PMDF alias database.

restrictions

Nonprivileged users can only set or modify their own alias.

Syntax

PMDF FORWARD [forwarding-address]

Qualifiers	Defaults
/ADD	/ADD
/USER	See text
/SUBADDRESS	None
/DELETE	/ADD

Parameters

forwarding-address

The forwarding address the alias will point at. The address is specified in RFC 822 format. Quoting might be required to preserve case or to enclose special characters such as at signs, @.

Description

The FORWARD utility is designed to provide controlled access to the system alias database for regular unprivileged users. Users can establish an alias for the address corresponding to their own username, or any subaddresses associated with their address. There are no restrictions on what the alias is directed to. A privileged user can use this utility to set up a system alias for any address.

If no parameter is given FORWARD simply displays current forwarding information from the alias database without changing it.

PMDF FORWARD also checks to see if a logical name of the form PMDF_forwarding-address_PATTERN is defined. If such a logical name is defined, PMDF will translate it and use the equivalence name as the forwarding-address. The equivalence name is also scanned and the following substitutions are performed:

1. $U and $u are replaced with the username whose forwarding address is being set. Subaddresses are removed; only the actual username is substituted.
2. $F and $f are replaced with the address being forwarded. This includes both the username and any subaddresses.
3. $D and $d are not replaced with anything, but if present set a flag that causes the alias to be deleted if it already exists.
4. $$ is replaced with a single $; $ followed by any other character is replaced with just the character.

System managers enable the FORWARD utility by creating an alias database with the CRDB utility. This can be done with the command

$ PMDF CRDB NLA0: PMDF_ALIAS_DATABASE

Skip this step if you already have an alias database.

Qualifiers

/ADD

Add the entry to the database. This is the default action.

/USER=username

This qualifier is used to specify an alternate user whose alias is to be modified. The default is to modify an alias for the user of the FORWARD utility. SYSNAM privilege is required to set an alias for another user. If using the /USER qualifier, specify it before any other qualifiers.

/SUBADDRESS=subaddress

Specifies a subaddress to be set. Subaddresses are addresses that are explicitly qualified by the username they are associated with; they have a local-part of the form username+subaddress. The /SUBADDRESS and /USER qualifiers are mutually exclusive. Note that subaddresses can be set by using a username of the form username+subaddress in conjunction with /USER; this qualifier is simply a convenience for users who want to set subaddresses for themselves.

/DELETE

The /DELETE qualifier tells FORWARD to delete the specified alias. No parameter is allowed if this qualifier is used.

EXAMPLES

Assuming that the logical name PMDF_YMIR_PATTERN has an equivalence string of $U@YMIR.BITNET, the command

$ PMDF FORWARD/USER=JOHN YMIR

would set up an alias for user NED that translates to the address JOHN@YMIR.BITNET.