ALIASDB

Section: C Library Functions (3)
Updated: June 21, 1989
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NAME

alias_setent, alias_getent, alias_getbyname, alias_end - get mail alias database entries

SYNOPSIS

#include <aliasdb.h>

alias_ent *alias_getbyname(char *name);

void alias_setent(void)

alias_ent *alias_getent(void);

void alias_endent(void);

DESCRIPTION

These routines retrieve information from the mail alias database. alias_getbyname is useful for looking up a single mail alias. The other routines are used for getting all of the aliases. alias_setent initializes the library to point to the beginning of the mail alias list. alias_getent (currently disabled) returns the next alias entry, or NULL for end of list. alias_endent is called to free up any resources that may have been allocated during lookups. The following example illustrates how these latter three routines are typically used:

aliasent *alias;
alias_setent();
while (alias = alias_getent()) {
        handle(alias);
}
alias_endent();

The structure returned by alias_getbyname and alias_getent is defined as follows:

typedef struct aliasent {
        char *alias_name;
        unsigned alias_members_len;
        char **alias_members;
        int alias_local;
} aliasent;

alias_name the name of the mail alias. alias_members_len is the number of members of this alias. alias_members is an array of strings containing the names of each of the members. alias_local indicates whether or not this is a local alias.

BUGS

The alias_getent function is disabled.

Currently, these routines only retrieve information from NetInfo and cannot locate alias entries in /etc/sendmail/aliases or Yellow Pages, even though sendmail(8) may be able to find them.