NAME
fastmail - quick batch mail interface to a single
address
SYNOPSIS
fastmail [-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
mailing 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 common 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 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 resultant 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
AUTHOR
Elm Development Group
SEE ALSO
sendmail(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