2.5 Create the .forward File

The last thing you need to do is create the .forward file on your server. The .forward file is used by Sendmail, and will redirect all unrouted e-mail to the auto responder script.

First, you have to make sure all unrouted e-mail is going to your home directory. You currently have a system e-mail account, which is usually located at username@domain.com. For example, if you own the domain joesmith.com, your system mailbox is probably joesmith@joesmith.com. You MUST make sure all unrouted e-mail is being sent to your system mailbox. If your web host offers dump e-mail accounts, or allows you to specify a default e-mail address, please make sure this is set to your system mailbox. If it is not, the auto responders will not work.

Once you have made sure all unrouted e-mail is being delivered to your system mailbox, you need to create your .forward file. To do this, please follow these steps:

1. Telnet into your server.
2. Stay in the directory you first enter. Do NOT change directories.
3. Determine the full path to the process.pl script on your server. This is in your /cgi-bin/ directory when you uploaded the script.
4. At the prompt, type echo "|/full/path/to/process.pl" > .forward
5. Of course, replace /full/path/to/process.pl with the full path to the process.pl script on your server. Make sure you leave the | mark at the beginning.
6. Next, just chmod the .forward file to 755

Your .forward file should now be successfully created. All auto responder functions should now work perfectly on your server.