🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <BszM3G.7rv@space.physics.uiowa.edu>, dyson@sunfish.physics.uiowa.edu (Richard L. Dyson) writes:
> I seem to remember reading about an undocumented feature of VMS MAIL
> that allowed you to set a forwarding address as usual, but that would
> also allow a copy of the incoming mail msg to be left in the original
> mailbox AS WELL AS one being sent to the forwarding address.

    Previous to VMS V5, you could set your mail forwarding to a list
of names, e.g.,

	MAIL> SET FORWARD "USER1,USER2"

The trick was to use a leading _underscore_, like so:

	MAIL> SET FORW "NODE1::FAIRFIELD,_FAIRFIELD"

Then when mail delivered a message to FAIRFIELD on this node, one copy
would get forwarded to NODE1::FAIRFIELD, the other to _FAIRFIELD on the
local node.  The trick is that mail to _FAIRFIELD does NOT get forwarded.
(The effect of the underscore to suppress mail forwarding still works
under V5.5, only the _list_ of names in a forwarding address has been 
disallowed.)

    Depending on your mail interface, you may still be able to get away 
with this.  We are using PMDF and the syntax IN% within VMS MAIL to get 
to PMDF's mail interface (mostly for Internet access).  PMDF hands off
local address nicely to VMS MAIL, and allows a _list_ of names wihtin
a single IN%"addr1,addr2" To: address.  Thus you can do:

	MAIL> SET FORW "IN%""FAIRFIELD@NODE1,_FAIRFIELD"""

and get the pre-V5 effect!  You'd need to experiment with other mail
transports, like SMTP and MX, to see whether the above will work with
them.

    Do use with caution: there is potential for creating mail deleivery
loops...

> On a similiar subject... Does anyone know how to get a mail account to
> forward an incoming msg to a LIST of usernames?

    You can do it with PMDF.

-- 
 Dr. Kenneth H. Fairfield    |  Internet: Fairfield@Slacvx.Slac.Stanford.Edu
 SLAC, P.O.Box 4349, MS 98   |  DECnet:   45537::FAIRFIELD (45537=SLACVX)
 Stanford, CA   94309        |  BITNET    Fairfield@Slacvx
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 These opinions are mine, not SLAC's, Stanford's, nor the DOE's...