RMAILER Manual Page


This page is the work of Andrew Funk, KB7UV.

Please email comments to: [email protected]

Last revised: 3 February 2026


RMAILER(1)

Radio Amateur Telecommunications Society



NAME

rmailer - multi-receipient message processor

SYNOPSIS

rmailer [-r ifil] [-w ofil] [-d ddir] [-l ldir] (continued on next line...)
[-a+] [-s] [-i$] [-t+] hname

fbbrmail ifil

DESCRIPTION

RMAILER reads a standard PBBS export file (ifil default rmailer.exp) consisting of messages for the program to process and writes a copy for each of the specified receipients to a standard PBBS import file (ofil default rmailer.imp) that the PBBS program then imports and distributes. The program will remove the input file on successful completion (unless the -s switch is specified).

The local system's heirarchical name (hname) is required to be the final argument on the command line. The switches and their arguments may appear in any sequence preceeding hname. The a, i, s and t switches may be given via the environmental variable RMO (ex. set RMO=t-a+i$ ).

The determination of the receipient list is driven by the to field of the Sx command line of the message as follows:

RMAIL
The list is contained in a RFC-822 style "To:" line (continuation lines begining with a space or tab permitted) with the first address being "rmail@hname" and containing at least one more address. The list may have additional RMAIL lists within starting with "rmail@bbs" and ending with "***EOF".
lstname
Where there is a file in the directory ddir (default SYS) named lstname.dst which lists receipients one per line and may include RMAILs as detailed above.
otherTo
Any other to field contents are taken to be a message that has been re-addressed and is to be resent the BBS is picked up from the Sx command line and re-used.

Once the list for the message is determined the new messages are created. The message as received is placed with a timestamp in a log file {RMAIL|lstname|RESEND}{YY.MON|.LOG} (YY.MON = 2-digit year and three letter month set by -t+, LOG by -t-) in ldir (default .). New messages are generated with prior "R:" headers removed and "Resent-Sender:" and new "To:" lines prepended to the RFC-822 style headers (if there are no RFC-822 headers then "Reply-To:" and "Subject:" are built from the original message and also added). The new S command line is constructed so as to allow the BBS to decide B vs P and to force assignment of a new BID/MID (MID/BID assignment character set using -ix where x is $ or % or # any other value for x to cancel MID forcing).

A confirmation message will be sent to the message originator for postings to mailing lists or of RMAILs if *CONFIrm is included as an 'addressee'. An "Address Correction Notice" is returned to the sender of a resent message giving the corrected address for future reference (suppressed by the -a- switch). All message senders are logged in the ddir directory in a file named "Reply-To.log". The record format is "call call@bbs" one record per line (ROSErver/PRMBS v1.78 and later will use this file as the final lookup for mail to call at the local system if call is not a registered user). It is suggested to sort and remove dupes from the file occasionaly.

The RMAIL function also supports rmail to a buletin routing with an assigned BID$. The buletin "address" must be the first address on the "To:" line after the "rmail@". The assigned BID$ is appended to the "rmail@" on the "To:" line (e.g. "To: [email protected]$bid_this, users@tribbs, kb2ear@kb2ear, kb4cyc").

RMAILER wil also function as a server under the F6FBB BBS. To enable this method of operation the program is renamed as FBBRMAIL instead of RMAILER (or any other name containing "FBB") or the letter 'F' is included in the value of the RMO environmental variable ('F' is not available on the command line due to the constraints on FBB server programs). For the FBB server the log and distribution files are placed in the LOG and FWD sub-directories of the SYSTEM directory respectively. As with any server entries for the appropriate to fields (RMAIL and any mailing lists) are added to INIT.SRV (such as: RMAIL FBBRMAIL.EXE).

Messages to a distribution list with a subject begining with LIST, SENDLIST, SUBSCRIBE, ADD, UNSUBSCRIBE or REMOVE will perform the indicated function rather than expand (subject to controls set by *NOLIST or *RESTRICT entries in the list).

If the second 'address' on the "To:" line of an incomming RMAIL is *NOXTO then that "To:" line is suppressed rather than sent along as an "X-To:" line in the header of the expanded message.

AUTHOR:
Frank Warren,KB4CYC < [email protected] >

CURRENT RELEASE:
2.13

AVAILABILITY:
RMAILER can be obtained via anonymous ftp from ftp://lantz.com/rats/rmailer/.

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