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

BUG REPORTS TO

Bill Pemberton flash@virginia.edu