fastmail

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  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
                 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

AUTHOR

       Elm Development Group

SEE ALSO

       sendmail(1), rmail(1), elm(1L)

BUG REPORTS TO

       Syd Weinstein  elm@DSI.COM    (dsinc!elm)

COPYRIGHTS

       Copyright 1988-1992 by The USENET Community Trust
       Derived from Elm 2.0,  Copyright 1986, 1987 by Dave Taylor