Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!naitc!karl
From: karl@naitc.uucp (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: Smail3 question
Summary: It works!
Message-ID: <1990Aug6.174129.12940@naitc.uucp>
Date: 6 Aug 90 17:41:29 GMT
References: <1990Jul27.200403.6868@naitc.uucp> <26B5AD05.218B@tct.uucp>
Reply-To: karl@naitc.naitc.com (Karl Denninger)
Organization: A.C. Nielsen Bannockburn, IL
Lines: 43

In article <26B5AD05.218B@tct.uucp> chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
>According to karl@naitc.naitc.com (Karl Denninger):
>>We are running Smail3, and need to have the functionality in
>>"Return-Receipt-To:" that is present in sendmail and elsewhere.
>
>NOTE: I have NOT tested the procedure given below.  This is just a
>hint as to what might work.  On the other hand, I have been spending
>some time lately hacking on Smail 3's innards, so I might be right.
>
>Define a transport that does nothing except send acknowledgements to
>the address(es) listed in a Return-Receipt-To header.  I would
>recommend the use of my Deliver program or a Perl script, but a shell
>script might be good enough if your volume isn't too high.  Call the
>new transport "local_receipt".
>
>Then add "shadow = local_receipt" to your "local" transport
>definition.
>
>Presto, all locally-delivered messages with Return-Receipt-To headers
>are automatically acknowledged.

I wrote a small "C" program that parses the headers of an incoming message
and if it believes that a receipt is to be generated, it does.

Then added the shadow entry to the transports file, and used the other
appropriate flags (hint: use the "pipe" transport driver, and set others as
necessary).

Works great.  Thanks much; wish I could share the program but it is, as they
say, a "work for hire".  It shouldn't take much for someone to duplicate
this functionality though.... it was only an hour's worth of hacking.

I'd like to suggest that someone pick this up and include it in the next
smail3 release or patch; it's quite useful.

I am currently setting the return address for the receipts to "postmaster";
that seems appropriate since it's really the postmaster who's doing the
notification.

--
Karl Denninger	AC Nielsen
kdenning@ksun.naitc.com
(708) 317-3285