fastmail(1)

NAME

fastmail — quick batch mail interface

SYNOPSIS

fastmail [-b bcc-list] [-c cc-list] [-C comments] [-f from-name] [-F from-addr] [-i in-reply-to] [-r reply-to] [-R references] [-s subject] filename address-list

DESCRIPTION

The fastmail command is a simple interface to the mail system that allows you to send a message without the overhead of an interactive mailer. It is particularly efficient in batch-processing mail to very large groups of people.

All addresses should be full e-mail addresses, sendmail aliases in the /etc/mail/aliases file, or local login names.

Options

fastmail recognizes the following options:

-b bcc-list

Include a Bcc: header entry. Send blind carbon copies to the comma-separated list of addresses in bcc-list.

-c cc-list

Include a Cc: header entry. Send carbon copies to the comma-separated list of addresses in cc-list.

-C comments

Include a Comments: header entry with the string value comments.

-d

Debug. Display information on processing steps.

-f from-name

Replace the user name in the From: header entry with from-name.

If the user is x@y, and the user name is MrX, then the default From: line is:

From: x@y (MrX) . 

The option -f Joe changes it to:

From: x@y (Joe) 

-F from-addr

Replace the address in the From: header entry with from-addr. In the -f example above, -F a@b changes the original entry to

From: a@b (MrX) 

-i in-reply-to

Include the In-Reply-To: header entry with the string value in-reply-to. This is usually used to identify a message that you are replying to.

-r replyto

Include the Reply-To: header entry with the single address given in replyto. This is the address where replies will usually be sent, instead of to the address given in the From: header entry, very common with mailing lists.

-R references

Include a References: header entry containing the string value references.

-s subject

Include a Subject: header entry containing the value subject. If this option is omitted, the message is sent without a subject entry.

Operands

fastmail recognizes the following operands:

address-list: A list of one or more blank-separated addresses for the To: header line. These are the principal recipients of the message.
filename: Either the name of a file containing the message, or a dash (-) to read from standard input.

EXAMPLES

A Fully Specified Command

This command has every option specified.

fastmail \ 
    -b "bcc1,bcc2,bcc3,bcc4" \ 
    -C "Just a Comment" \ 
    -c "cc1,cc2,cc3,cc4" \ 
    -d \ 
    -F me@anotherhost.com \ 
    -f My Name \ 
    -i "Your recent message" \ 
    -R REF:13579 \ 
    -r oscar \ 
    -s "Testing fastmail" \ 
    message-file \ 
    addr1 addr2 addr3 addr4 

The online execution displays the following debug messages:

Mailing to addr1,addr2,addr3,addr4 cc1,cc2,cc3,cc4 bcc1,bcc2,bcc 
3,bcc4 [via sendmail] 
cat /tmp/fastmail.5578 message-file | /usr/sbin/sendmail addr1,a 
ddr2,addr3,addr4 cc1,cc2,cc3,cc4 bcc1,bcc2,bcc3,bcc4 

The received message has the following relevant header entries:

From realsender@mycomputer.myhost.com Tue Oct 22 21:14:04 EDT 1996 
Subject: Testing fastmail 
From: me@anotherhost.com (My Name) 
Reply-To: oscar@mycomputer.myhost.com 
To: addr1@mycomputer.myhost.com, addr2@mycomputer.myhost.com, 
        addr3@mycomputer.myhost.com, addr4@mycomputer.myhost.com 
Cc: cc1@mycomputer.myhost.com, cc2@mycomputer.myhost.com, 
        cc3@mycomputer.myhost.com, cc4@mycomputer.myhost.com 
References: REF:13579 
In-Reply-To: Your recent message 
Comments: Just a Comment 

The Bcc: header entry is not transmitted.

A Batch Process

Suppose you are user big on machine big-machine and you have a shell script named 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 

The command:

batch-mail "Mr. Big" "Warning to all" warning.text 

would mail a copy of the warning.text file to person1, person2, person3, and person4, staggered ten seconds apart.

$LOGIN would also silently receive a copy of the first message in the mail. Each resultant message would include the header lines:

From: big@big-machine (Mr. Big) 
Subject: Warning to all 
Reply-To: The-Mr-Big-list 

FILES

/etc/mail/aliases: sendmail aliases file.
/usr/sbin/sendmail: Mail transport agent.
/tmp/fastmail.pid: Temporary file.

AUTHOR

fastmail was developed by HP.