script to send out a dozen letters?

[Gary Kline]

On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 03:44:04PM -0700, Chris Cowart wrote:
> Gary Kline wrote:

	[[ ... ]]

> 
> Here's a script I whipped up a year or two ago that sends out e-mails.
> You could definitely tweak it to find/replace a LaTeX template and send
> it directly to the printer (circa the `| sendmail` line). See the
> included readme (excuse the twiki formatting). While it was written for
> bash, it may run under /bin/sh (but I make no claims).
> 
> It's really straightforward. I would die a little inside if it were used
> to send HTML e-mail, but there's nothing to stop you from writing HTML
> (by hand) into the template (or saving a message out of your GUI MUA of
> choice into a flat file and using that as your template).
> 
> -- 
> Chris Cowart
> Network Technical Lead
> Network & Infrastructure Services, RSSP-IT
> UC Berkeley


	[[ saving :-) ]]

> 
> <verbatim>
> EMAIL;LNAME;FNAME;FOOD
> ccowart at rescomp.berkeley.edu;Cowart;Chris;Bananas
> keenanp at rescomp.berkeley.edu;Keenan;Parms;Ice Cream
> jeremydw at rescomp.berkeley.edu;Jeremy;Weinstein;Rabbit Food
> </verbatim>
> 
> Call this file ~/email_data.
> 
> *Note:* The only column title with special meaning is "EMAIL" and it *must*
> appear in the data file. All other columns follow brain-dead substitutions
> and do not affect the behavior of the automailer.
> 
> ---++ The Template File
> Here, you compose your e-mail. Note you must conform to RFC822 (Here's a
> summary of the relevant points):
>    * You must include the To, From, Cc, and Subject headers.
>    * Headers must be properly formatted (=Name: Contents Can Have Spaces=)
>    * The headers end with a blank line. There must be a blank line before
>      you begin your message.
> 
> *Example:*
> 
> <verbatim>
> From: The Party Planning Committee <ppc at rescomp.berkeley.edu>
> To: FNAME LNAME <EMAIL>
> Subject: The Potluck
> 
> Hello FNAME,
> 
> Please remember to bring FOOD to the potluck.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> The Party Planning Committee
> </verbatim>
> 
> Call this file ~/email_template.
> 
> *Note:* 
>    * Column titles (see The Data File section) will be substituted with the
>      current record's column contents. The address in the EMAIL column will
>      receive a copy of the message. 
>    * Including a Cc or Bcc header in the template will *NOT* affect who
>      receives a copy of the message.
> 
> *Warning:* The recipient will receive the message AS-IS. 
> __Bcc Headers will not be filtered__.
> 
> ---++ Sending the Message
> 
> After you declare the data file and template file (in that order), you may
> add e-mail addresses to the command line (e.g., hiring at rescomp.berkeley.edu).
> Note that other than the recipient address, no addresses (Bcc or Cc) are
> parsed from your message's headers. As such, if you have cc or bcc recipients,
> you must declare them here. Note also that declaring recipients here does
> *not* affect the To/From/Cc/Bcc headers in the actual e-mail message.
> 
> =automail ~/email_data ~/email_template cc_address1 bcc_address2=



	Thanks to my friends amd fellow nerds who have come thru with this.  
	It turns out that there were only Seven people/firms for what I originally
	wanted.  [ it had to do with sellinf my book ].  --well, actually there
	were 8 but the last one seemed like a stuffed shirt, so i passed on that
	guy.

	where these kinds of scripts will be useful is when i look for a job as an
	ethicist.  (I know, I know; wall street doesn't know what ethics is... .)
	still, there are other places where the discipline is essential.  

	later on, people,

	gary




-- 
 Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
        http://jottings.thought.org   http://transfinite.thought.org
    The 5.67a release of Jottings: http://jottings.thought.org/index.php