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- Newsgroups: comp.sources.misc
- From: berg@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Stephen R. van den Berg)
- Subject: v38i019: procmail - mail processing package v2.90, Part00/11
- Message-ID: <csm-v38i019=procmail.095910@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM>
- X-Md4-Signature: 9dab30ddb073cf3e84fdbb62598a69b7
- Sender: kent@sparky.imd.sterling.com (Kent Landfield)
- Organization: Sterling Software
- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1993 15:03:08 GMT
- Approved: kent@sparky.imd.sterling.com
-
- Submitted-by: berg@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Stephen R. van den Berg)
- Posting-number: Volume 38, Issue 19
- Archive-name: procmail/part00
- Environment: sendmail, smail, MMDF, mailsurr, UNIX, POSIX
- Supersedes: procmail: Volume 35, Issue 21-32,124,125
-
- Most important changes since v2.81 (for a more complete list see the HISTORY
- file in the distribution):
-
- To the installation in general:
- - Transmogrified the installation scripts to tiptoe gracefully through the
- minefield of portability problems that seem to come up now and then :-)
- - Improved the locking tests that autoconf makes
- - Extended the FAQ file (due to popular demand :-)
-
- To procmail:
- - Worked my way around the !@#$%^&*() POSIX setgid() semantics
- - When used as the local delivery agent (instead of /bin/mail) it can now
- pick up an extra meta-argument that can be queried in the rcfile
- - It can be used as a direct filter in sendmail.cf rules now
- - Provided for customised LOGFILE abstracts
- - Allowed an alternate syntax for condition lines in a recipe, to avoid having
- to count them
- - Delivery to multiple directories is possible now (hardlinked files)
- - Support for the o+x-new-mail-flag (see UMASK in procmailrc(5))
- - Support for >4GB files (using off_t, can't imagine why I never did before)
-
- To the mailinglist package:
- - Numerous general refinements
- - Updated and extended the Manual file (reading recommended)
- - Added digest support to the mailinglists
- - Standalone archive servers are now easily created
-
- ----------------------
- The procmail mail processing program. (v2.90 1993/07/01)
-
- Can be used to create mail-servers, mailing lists, sort your incoming mail
- into separate folders/files (real convenient when subscribing to one or more
- mailing lists or for prioritising your mail), preprocess your mail, start
- any programs upon mail arrival (e.g. to generate different chimes on your
- workstation for different types of mail) or selectively forward certain
- incoming mail automatically to someone.
-
- The accompanying formail program enables you to generate autoreplies, split up
- digests/mailboxes into the original messages, do some very simple
- header-munging/extraction, or force mail into mail-format (with leading From
- line).
-
- Also included is a comprehensive mailinglist/archive management system.
- --
- Sincerely, berg@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
- Stephen R. van den Berg (AKA BuGless). berg@physik.tu-muenchen.de
- ----------------------
- Subscription requests for the procmail mailinglist to:
- procmail-request@informatik.rwth-aachen.de
- ----------------------
- A recent version can be picked up at various comp.sources.misc archives.
- The latest version can be obtained directly from the ftp-archive at:
-
- ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (137.226.112.172)
-
- as zipped tar file: pub/unix/procmail.tar.zip <152KB
- as compressed tar file: pub/unix/procmail.tar.Z <216KB
- in compressed shar format: pub/unix/procmail.??.Z 11 parts
- ----------------------
- Feature summary for procmail:
- + It's less filling (i.e. small)
- + Very easy to install (rated PG6 :-)
- + Simple to maintain and configure because
- all you need is actually only ONE executable (procmail)
- and ONE configuration file (.procmailrc)
- + Is event driven (i.e. gets invoked automagically when mail arrives)
- + Does not use *any* temporary files
- + Uses standard egrep regular expressions
- + It poses a very low impact on your system's resources
- + Allows for very-easy-to-use yes-no decisions on where the mail
- should go (can take the size of the mail into consideration)
- + Filters, delivers and forwards mail *reliably*
- + Provides a reliable hook (you might even say anchor :-) for any
- programs or shell scripts you may wish to start upon mail arrival
- + Performs heroically under even the worst conditions
- (file system full, out of swap space, process table full,
- file table full, missing support files, unavailable executables,
- denied permissions) and tries to deliver the mail somehow anyway
- + Absolutely undeliverable mail (after trying every trick in the book)
- will bounce back to the sender (or not, your choice)
- + Is one of the few mailers to perform reliable mailbox locking across
- NFS as well (DON'T use NFS mounted mailboxes WITHOUT installing
- procmail; you may lose valuable mail one day)
- + Supports four mailfolder standards: single file folders (standard
- and nonstandard VNIX format), directory folders that contain one file
- per message, or the similar MH directory folders (numbered files)
- + Variable assignment and substitution is an extremely complete subset
- of the standard /bin/sh syntax
- + Provides a mail log file, which logs all mail arrival, shows
- in summary whence it came, what it was about, where it went (what
- folder) and how long (in bytes) it was
- + Uses this log file to display a wide range of diagnostic and error
- messages (if something went wrong)
- + Does not impose *any* limits on line lengths, mail length (as long
- as memory permits), or the use of any character (any 8-bit character,
- including '\0' is allowed) in the mail
- + It has man pages (boy, does *it* have man pages)
- + Procmail can be used as a local delivery agent with comsat/biff
- support (*fully* downwards compatible with /bin/mail); in which case
- it can heal your system mailbox, if something messes up the
- permissions
- + Allows you to painlessly shift the system mailboxes into the
- user's home directories
- + It runs on virtually all (old and future) operating systems which
- names start with a 'U' or end in an 'X' :-) (i.e. extremely portable
- code; POSIX, ANSI C and K&R conforming)
- + Is clock skew immune (e.g. in the case of NFS mounted mailboxes)
- + Works with (among others?) sendmail, smail, MMDF and mailsurr
-
- Feature summary for formail:
- + Can generate auto-reply headers
- + Can convert mail into standard mailbox format (so that you can
- process it with standard mail programs)
- + Can split up mailboxes into the individual messages
- + Can split up digests into the individual messages
- + Can split up saved articles into the individual articles
- + Can do simple header munging/extraction
-
- Feature summary for lockfile:
- + Provides NFS-secure lockfiles to shell script programmers
- + Gives normal users the ability to lock their system mailbox,
- regardless of the permissions on the mail-spool directory
-
- Summary of what the mailinglist scripts in here provide:
- + The overseeable management of an arbitrary number of mailinglists
- + Convenient and simple creation of new mailinglists
- + Convenient and simple removal of existing mailinglists
- + Fully automated subscription/unsubscription/help-request processing
- (no operator intervention needed)
- + Enough intelligence to overcome the ignorance of some subscribers
- (will direct subscribe and unsubscribe requests away from the
- regular list and automatically onto the -request address)
- + No hardwired format for (un)subscribe requests (i.e. new subscribers
- need not be educated, unsubscribing users do not need to remember
- any particular syntax)
- + *Intelligent* autoremoval of addresses from the list that cause
- too many bounces
- + Submissions can be limited to people on the accept list (which could
- be the current list of subscribers)
- + The fully automated subscription mechanism allows for a reject list
- of unwanted subscribers
- + Auto-digest-generation (configurable per list)
- + Joint management of several mailinglists possible (through hardlinked
- rcfiles)
- + Customisation per mailinglist or mailinglist group possible (simply
- remove or create the desired hardlinks)
- + A listmaintainer can be assigned per list; miscellaneous requests
- that couldn't be handled by the list automatically are then
- forwarded to his mail address (instead of being accumulated in
- a file)
- + Allows for remote maintenance of any mailinglist by a
- listmaintainer
- + Integrated archiving service
- + Integrated diagnostic aid to give hints to the maintainer about
- possible problems
- + You can set up a mailinglist to function as a standalone mail
- archive server
- --
- Sincerely, berg@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
- Stephen R. van den Berg (AKA BuGless). berg@physik.tu-muenchen.de
-
- "Always look on the bright side of life!"
-
- exit 0 # Just in case...
-