FASTMAIL(1L)FASTMAIL(1L)NAMEfastmail - quick batch mail interface to a single address
SYNOPSISfastmail [-b bcc-list] [-c cc-list] [-C comments] [-d] [-f
fromname] [-i msg-id] [-r replyto] [-R references] [-s
subject] filename|- address-list
DESCRIPTION
Fastmail is a low-level interface to the mail system that
allows batch processing of mail. It's intended for mail
ing to very large groups of people in a staggered fashion.
The starting options are;
-b bcc-list
This allows a list of people to receive blind-
carbon copies, or BCCs, of the message. This
list should be full email addresses.
-c cc-list
This allows a list of people to receive carbon
copies, or CCs, of the message. This list
should be full email addresses.
-C comments
This allows a Comments: line to be added to the
RFC822 header with any text you desire.
-d Debug. This is helpful for strange, unfriendly
errors from the program (etc).
-f from This overrides the users name in the From: line,
so that if the user was x@y, and their name was
MrX then the default From: line would be "From:
x@y (MrX)". Using "-f Joe" when invoking this,
though, would change it to "From: x@y (Joe)"
-i msg-id This allows a message-id to which this message
refers.
-r replyto
Occasionally, you might send mail but want the
replies to go to a different address (very com
mon with mailing lists). There is a header for
this purpose called "Reply-To:" which can be
utilized by using this starting option. For
example, we could send mail with a reply-to to
list-request by using "-r list-request". The
header generated would then be of the form
"Reply-To: list-request".
-R references
This allows descriptive/reference text for this
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FASTMAIL(1L)FASTMAIL(1L)
message.
-s subject
The subject of the message is specified by using
this starting option.
Either the name of the file containing the message, or a -
to indicate usage of standard-in is required.
EXAMPLE
Let's say we're user "big" on machine "big-vax" and we
have a shell script called 'batch-mail' that contains the
following lines:
#
# Batch Mail - batch mailing of a file to a LOT of users
#
# Usage: batch-mail "from" "subject" filename
sender_copy = $LOGIN
replyto = "The-Mr-Big-list"
fastmail-b $sender_copy -r $replyto -f "$1" -s "$2" $3 person1
sleep 10
fastmail-r $replyto -f "$1" -s "$2" $3 person2
sleep 10
fastmail-r $replyto -f "$1" -s "$2" $3 person3
sleep 10
fastmail-r $replyto -f "$1" -s "$2" $3 person4
< etc >
with the invocation:
batch-mail "Mr. Big" "Warning to all" warning.text
would mail a copy of the 'warning.text' file to person1,
person2, person3, etc. "$LOGIN" will also receive a copy
of the first message in the mail, silently. Each resul
tant message will include the headers:
From: big-vax!big (Mr. Big)
Subject: Warning to all
Reply-To: The-Mr-Big-list
This program should turn out to be considerably faster
than the alternative methods of accomplishing this task.
FILES
/usr/lib/sendmail sendmail transport if available
/bin/rmail transport if no sendmail
/tmp/fastmail.$$ temporary file
USENET Community Trust Elm Version 2.5 2
FASTMAIL(1L)FASTMAIL(1L)AUTHOR
Elm Development Group
SEE ALSOsendmail(1), rmail(1), elm(1L)BUG REPORTS TO
Bill Pemberton flash@virginia.edu
COPYRIGHTS
Copyright 1988-1995 by The USENET Community Trust
Derived from Elm 2.0, Copyright 1986, 1987 by Dave Taylor
USENET Community Trust Elm Version 2.5 3
