An Interactive Unix Vacation Mail Script
An interactive script is provided to generate a vacation message under Unix.
A vacation message is a custom reply may be sent to anyone that sends you mail, for instance while you are away. If you don’t have shell access then a different solution will be required.
A script to do this, which generates the relevant .forward and .vacation.msg files in your home directory, is available “here”.
Simply run this script, answer the questions and the system will now send your vacation message to anyone sending you mail, while also keeping a copy of the incoming message in your Inbox. When you return, simply delete the .forward file.
Note - If you use procmail to filter mail, it is better to use the solution discussed “here”.