.if n \{\ . ds ct " .\} .if t \{\ . ds ct \\(co .\} .TH FASTMAIL 1L "Elm Version 2.5" "USENET Community Trust" .SH NAME fastmail - quick batch mail interface to a single address .SH SYNOPSIS .B fastmail [-b bcc-list] [-c cc-list] [-C comments] [-d] [-f fromname] [-i msg-id] [-r replyto] [-R references] [-s subject] filename|- address-list .br .SH DESCRIPTION .I 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. .PP The starting options are; .TP 1.0i .B "-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. .TP .B "-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. .TP .B "-C comments" This allows a Comments: line to be added to the RFC822 header with any text you desire. .TP .B "-d" Debug. This is helpful for strange, unfriendly errors from the program (etc). .TP .B "-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)" .TP .B "-i msg-id" This allows a message-id to which this message refers. .TP .B "-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". .TP .B "-R references" This allows descriptive/reference text for this message. .TP .B "-s subject" The subject of the message is specified by using this starting option. .PP Either the name of the file containing the message, or a - to indicate usage of standard-in is required. .SH 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: .nf # # 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" $3 person4 < etc > with the invocation: batch-mail "Mr. Big" "Warning to all" warning.text .fi would mail a copy of the 'warning.text' file to person1, person2, person3, etc. "$LOGIN" will also receive a copy of the first message in the mail, \fIsilently\fR. Each resultant message will include the headers: .nf From: big-vax!big (Mr. Big) Subject: Warning to all Reply-To: The-Mr-Big-list .fi This program should turn out to be considerably faster than the alternative methods of accomplishing this task. .SH FILES /usr/lib/sendmail sendmail transport if available .br /bin/rmail transport if no sendmail .br /tmp/fastmail.$$ temporary file .SH AUTHOR Elm Development Group .SH SEE\ ALSO sendmail(1), rmail(1), elm(1L) .SH BUG REPORTS TO Bill Pemberton flash@virginia.edu .SH COPYRIGHTS \fB\*(ct\fRCopyright 1988-1995 by The USENET Community Trust .br Derived from Elm 2.0, \fB\*(ct\fR Copyright 1986, 1987 by Dave Taylor