DISTRIBUTE

Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: UK-sendmail
Index Return to Main Contents
 

NAME

distribute - send mail to a distribution list  

SYNOPSIS

/usr/local/lib/distribute list-name addresses...  

DESCRIPTION

Distribute sends a mail message to users on a distribution list. It alters the message header received from a contributor mainly to arrange for any error messages to be returned to the list maintainer.

Distribute is normally invoked by sendmail from an alias entry in /usr/lib/aliases of the form:

list-name: "|/usr/local/lib/distribute list-name users..."

With lists containing many names, which maybe subject to frequent alteration, it is best to store the usernames in a file and specify the path name of the file with the syntax :include:file, i.e.

list-name: "|/usr/local/lib/distribute list-name :include:file"

There should be a second entry in /usr/lib/aliases for the list maintainer. This is the name of the list with "-request" appended. This should be aliased to the person who is responsible for maintaining the distribution list. e.g.

list-name-request: postman-pat

Distribute should be setuid to one of sendmail's trusted users, so that it will set the sender address to that of the list maintainer.  

FILES

/usr/lib/aliases  

SEE ALSO

sendmail(8), aliases(5), newaliases(1)
"Recommendations for implementors of the JNT Mail Protocol Specifications (MG.B)" by Steve Kille, April 1985  

AUTHOR

Jim Crammond


 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
FILES
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR

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Time: 06:46:55 GMT, May 19, 2025