fastmail(1) General Commands Manual fastmail(1)NAME
fastmail - quick batch mail interface
SYNOPSIS
bcc-list] cc-list] comments] from-name]
from-addr] in-reply-to] reply-to] references]
subject] filename address-list
DESCRIPTION
The 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, aliases in the file, or local login names.
Options
recognizes the following options:
Include a header entry. Send blind carbon copies to the comma-separated list of addresses in bcc-list.
Include a header entry. Send carbon copies to the comma-separated list of addresses in cc-list.
Include a header entry with the string value comments.
Debug. Display information on processing steps.
Replace the user name in the
header entry with from-name.
If the user is and the user name is then the default line is:
The option changes it to:
Replace the address in the
header entry with from-addr. In the example above, changes the original entry to
Include the header entry with the string value in-reply-to. This is usually used to identify a message that you are replying to.
Include the 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 header entry, very common with mailing lists.
Include a header entry containing the string value references.
Include a header entry containing the value subject. If this option is omitted, the message is sent without a subject entry.
Operands
recognizes the following operands:
address-list A list of one or more blank-separated addresses for the header line. These are the principal recipients of the mes-
sage.
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.
The online execution displays the following debug messages:
The received message has the following relevant header entries:
The header entry is not transmitted.
A Batch Process
Suppose you are user on machine and you have a shell script named that contains the following lines:
The command:
would mail a copy of the file to and staggered ten seconds apart.
would also silently receive a copy of the first message in the mail. Each resultant message would include the header lines:
FILES
aliases file.
Mail transport agent.
Temporary file.
AUTHOR
was developed by HP.
SEE ALSO elm(1), sendmail(1M).
RFC 822 "Standard for the Format of Internet Text Messages"
fastmail(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
envelopes(5) File Formats Manual envelopes(5)NAME
envelopes - sender/recipient lists attached to messages
INTRODUCTION
Electronic mail messages are delivered in envelopes.
An envelope lists a sender and one or more recipients. Usually these envelope addresses are the same as the addresses listed in the mes-
sage header:
(envelope) from djb to root
From: djb
To: root
In more complicated situations, though, the envelope addresses may differ from the header addresses.
ENVELOPE EXAMPLES
When a message is delivered to several people at different locations, it is first photocopied and placed into several envelopes:
(envelope) from djb to root
From: djb Copy #1 of message
To: root, god@brl.mil
(envelope) from djb to god@brl.mil
From: djb Copy #2 of message
To: root, god@brl.mil
When a message is delivered to several people at the same location, the sender doesn't have to photocopy it. He can instead stuff it into
one envelope with several addresses; the recipients will make the photocopy:
(envelope) from djb to god@brl.mil, angel@brl.mil
From: djb
To: god@brl.mil, angel@brl.mil, joe, frde
Bounced mail is sent back to the envelope sender address. The bounced mail doesn't list an envelope sender, so bounce loops are impossi-
ble:
(envelope) from <> to djb
From: MAILER-DAEMON
To: djb
Subject: unknown user frde
The recipient of a message may make another copy and forward it in a new envelope:
(envelope) from djb to joe
From: djb Original message
To: joe
(envelope) from joe to fred
From: djb Forwarded message
To: joe
A mailing list works almost the same way:
(envelope) from djb to sos-list
From: djb Original message
To: sos-list
(envelope) from sos-owner to god@brl.mil
From: djb Forwarded message
To: sos-list to recipient #1
(envelope) from sos-owner to frde
From: djb Forwarded message
To: sos-list to recipient #2
Notice that the mailing list is set up to replace the envelope sender with something new, sos-owner. So bounces will come back to sos-
owner:
(envelope) from <> to sos-owner
From: MAILER-DAEMON
To: sos-owner
Subject: unknown user frde
It's a good idea to set up an extra address, sos-owner, like this: the original envelope sender (djb) has no way to fix bad sos-list
addresses, and of course bounces must not be sent to sos-list itself.
HOW ENVELOPE ADDRESSES ARE STORED
Envelope sender and envelope recipient addresses are transmitted and recorded in several ways.
When a user injects mail through qmail-inject, he can supply a Return-Path line or a -f option for the envelope sender; by default the
envelope sender is his login name. The envelope recipient addresses can be taken from the command line or from various header fields,
depending on the options to qmail-inject. Similar comments apply to sendmail.
When a message is transferred from one machine to another through SMTP, the envelope sender is given in a MAIL FROM command, the envelope
recipients are given in RCPT TO commands, and the message is supplied separately by a DATA command.
When a message is delivered by qmail to a single local recipient, qmail-local records the recipient in Delivered-To and the envelope sender
in Return-Path. It uses Delivered-To to detect mail forwarding loops.
sendmail normally records the envelope sender in Return-Path. It does not record envelope recipient addresses, on the theory that they are
redundant: you received the mail, so you must have been one of the envelope recipients.
Note that, if the header doesn't have any recipient addresses, sendmail will move envelope recipient addresses back into the header. This
situation occurs if all addresses were originally listed as Bcc, since Bcc is automatically removed. When sendmail sees this, it creates a
new Apparently-To header field with the envelope recipient addresses. This has the strange effect that each blind-carbon-copy recipient
will see a list of all recipients on the same machine.
When a message is stored in mbox format, the envelope sender is recorded at the top of the message as a UUCP-style From (no colon) line.
Note that this line is less reliable than the Return-Path line added by qmail-local or sendmail.
SEE ALSO qmail-header(5), qmail-local(8), qmail-inject(8)envelopes(5)