what file do you use to create aliases ?

[brass]

What file do you use to create aliases. I tried .bashrc and it did not work !

[OErjan]

.bashrc?
try .bash_profile in the users home dir for "personal" customization, and /etc/profile for systemwide stuff, .bashrc is mainly used for non login shells.
to read some more try http://floppix.com/bashcfg.html for a few pointers.
and toget more than you want try "man bash"
keep asking.

oh, just one thing more, man bash gives this as the "files" used.

FILES
/bin/bash
The bash executable
/etc/profile
The systemwide initialization file, executed for login shells
~/.bash_profile
The personal initialization file, executed for login shells
~/.bashrc
The individual per-interactive-shell startup file
~/.bash_logout
The individual login shell cleanup file, executed when a login shell exits
~/.inputrc
Individual readline initialization file

a good tip is to hit / to get a line at bottom of manpage where you can type word to search for (and usually q exits them, or if that fails ctrl+c)

[meburke]

If you need mail aliases, you need to check your MTA requirements. Smail will use /usr/lib/aliases in the form of

alias: mark, marko, mjk

Look it up for further info.

sendmail uses a similar file and format, but is usually in the /etc directory. (It could reside somewhere else depending on your configuration.)

Your configuration files for qmail and mailhandler all contain a place for you to define aliases so that if johnc@domain.com and John.Cool@domain.com and JohnBCool@domain.com ar all the same person, mail gets directed tot he correct mailbox.

I'm not familiar with all the MTA's out there, so you may need to do more research.