It appears that this file is only used to resolve subscriber addresses.  Not a complaint, particularly, but more an observation.

The following entry is in aliases.names for our site:

:nick.PSU.EDU   :alias.MAIL.PSU.EDU  EMAIL.PSU.EDU

I believe this lets [log in to unmask] to also write from [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

However, I have an owner, say [log in to unmask], who tries to write a "send=owner" list from her [log in to unmask] address and the system says

You  are  not  authorized to  send  mail  to  the list from  your
[log in to unmask] account.

Is this working as designed?
--
Bill Verity - 814-865-4758  Fax: 814-863-7049
Postmaster & Listserv maintainer
Center for Academic Computing, Penn State University
At the office - on my Mac, of course ;-)