Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!mp.cs.niu.edu!rickert
From: rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: mailing lists
Message-ID: <1991Jun7.215201.24317@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Date: 7 Jun 91 21:52:01 GMT
References: <6979@husc6.harvard.edu>
Organization: Northern Illinois University
Lines: 20

In article <6979@husc6.harvard.edu> ellozy@bets.dfci.harvard.edu (Mohamed el Lozy) writes:
>How does sendmail handle multiple (really many) recipients (as in a
>mailing list)?  Do sendmails get spawned continuously, leading to a
>load average of a zillion, or are they run sequentially?  Where in the
>source does this take place?

  If you are referring to a mailing list managed by say an aliases database
entry, or perhaps a ':include:/path' entry in aliases, then the aliases
are expanded into a large internal list by the main sendmail process.  It
then delivers them in turn by calling deliver() which forks for each delivery
transaction.  Several recipients may be included in a single delivery
transaction, depending on mailer flags.  Such delivery attempts work through
the recipient list until all are delivered or have failed and must be either
bounced or queued for later delivery.

-- 
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  Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science               <rickert@cs.niu.edu>
  Northern Illinois Univ.
  DeKalb, IL 60115                                   +1-815-753-6940