FASTMAIL(1L)        USENET Community Trust(Elm Version 2.3)        FASTMAIL(1L)


NAME
      fastmail - quick batch mail interface to a single address

SYNOPSIS
      fastmail [-b bcc-list] [-c cc-list] [-d] [-f fromname] [-r replyto] [-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.

      -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)"

      -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".

      -s subject
                The subject of the message is specified by using this starting
                option.

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


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FASTMAIL(1L)        USENET Community Trust(Elm Version 2.3)        FASTMAIL(1L)


         sender_copy = $LOGIN
         replto = "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
      Dave Taylor, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories

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

BUG REPORTS TO
      Syd Weinstein     elm@DSI.COM (dsinc!elm)

COPYRIGHTS
      © Copyright 1986, 1987 by Dave Taylor
      © Copyright 1988, 1989, 1990 by The USENET Community Trust









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