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 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

     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