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FASTMAIL(1L)							    FASTMAIL(1L)

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 pro-
     cessing 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-re-
	       quest".

     -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 us-
     age 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

USENET Community Trust		 Elm Version 2.5		    FASTMAIL(1L)
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