9.1.3.8 Delivery Options Processing

Next the mailDeliveryOption attribute is checked. The name of this attribute can be changed with the LDAP_DELIVERY_OPTION MTA option. This is a multi valued option and its values determine the addresses produced by the alias translation process. Additionally, the permissible values are different for users and groups. Common permissible values are program, forward, and hold.” User-only values are mailbox, native, unix, and autoreply. The group-only values are members, members_offline, and file.

The conversion of the mailDeliveryOption attribute into appropriate addresses is controlled by the DELIVERY_OPTIONS MTA option. This option not only specifies what addresses are produced by each permissible mailDeliveryOption value, but also what the permissible mailDeliveryOption values are and whether or not each one is applicable to users, groups, or both.

The value of this option consists of a comma-separated list of deliveryoption=template pairs, each pair with one or more optional single character prefixes.

The default value of the DELIVERY_OPTIONS option is:

DELIVERY_OPTIONS=*mailbox=$M%$\$2I$_+$2S@ims-ms-daemon, \
     &members=*,                                           \
     *native=$M@native-daemon,                             \
     /hold=@hold-daemon:$A,                                \
     *unix=$M@native-daemon,                               \
     &file=+$F@native-daemon,                              \
     &@members_offline=*,                                  \
     program=$M%$P@pipe-daemon,                            \
     #forward=**,                                          \
     *^!autoreply=$M+$D@bitbucket

Each delivery option corresponds to a possible mailDeliveryOption attribute value and the corresponding template specifies the resulting address using the same metacharacter substitution scheme used by URL processing.

Table 9–5 shows the single character prefixes available for the DELIVERY_OPTIONS options.

Table 9–5 Single-Character Prefixes for options in the DELIVERY_OPTIONS MTA option

Character Prefix	Description
@	Sets a flag saying that the message needs to be redirected to the reprocess channel. Processing of the current user/group is abandoned. Flag ignored for messages originating from the reprocess channel.
*	Delivery option applies to users.
&	Delivery option applies to groups.
$	Sets a flag saying expansion of this user or group is to be deferred.
^	Sets a flag saying that the vacation start and end times should be checked to see if this delivery option really is in effect.
#	Sets a flag saying expansion of this delivery option does not need to take place on the entry’s designated mailhost. That is, the following entry is mailhost-independent. This lets the MTA check to see if all of a given user or group’s delivery options are independent of the mailhost. If this condition is satisfied the MTA can act on the entry immediately rather than having to forward the message to the mailhost.
/	Sets a flag that causes all addresses produced by this delivery option to be held. Message files containing these recipient addresses will have a .HELD extension.
!	Sets a flag that says that autoreply operations should be handled internally by the MTA. It only makes sense to use this prefix on an autoreply delivery option. The option’s value should direct the message to the bitbucket channel

If neither * nor & are present, the delivery option is taken to apply to both users and groups.