[comp.mail.sendmail] need help with mailing list From: line

kirk@braille.uwo.ca (Kirk Reiser) (06/11/91)

I have been trying to set up a mailing list for general discussions of 
programming problems to the handicapped community.  My problem is the mailing
list is distributed if the individual mails to the list specifically, but
if the individual replies to the received mail, it is just mailed back to
the original sender.  I believe the problem is that sendmail is not putting
a From mailing-list line on the mail.  Could someone tell me what I am doing
wrong in my configuration.  I have tried forwarding to the mailing list 
from an account specifically set up for the list and that has not worked.
I must admit I am confused?

Thanx for any help you might have.

  Kirk
-- 
Kirk Reiser				The Computer Braille Facility
email:   kirk@braille.uwo.ca		room H045 Health Sciences Addition
phone: (519) 661-3061			University of Western Ontario
					London Ontario N6A 5C1

rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) (06/11/91)

In article <.676650084@braille.uwo.ca> kirk@braille.uwo.ca (Kirk Reiser) writes:
>
>I have been trying to set up a mailing list for general discussions of 
>programming problems to the handicapped community.  My problem is the mailing
>list is distributed if the individual mails to the list specifically, but
>if the individual replies to the received mail, it is just mailed back to
>the original sender.  I believe the problem is that sendmail is not putting
>a From mailing-list line on the mail.  Could someone tell me what I am doing

  Sendmail is not supposed to put 'From mailing list'.  If you want this, you
need to have the mailing list address send the message to a program mailer
which changes the headers as you require them and remails the message to
the distribution list.

  Be prepared for some flames, as many people think you should not do what you
are trying to do.  With your present setup, someone can reply to just the
sender, or to the sender and mailing list, depending perhaps on whether they
use 'Reply' or 'reply' (this depends on the mail software used to generate
the reply).  And that would seem to provide adequate choice.

  Rather than changing the 'From:' header, you might try adding a
'Reply-To:' mailing list (if no Reply-To: is already present), or appending
", mailinglist" to the end of an existing 'Reply-To:'.  That way you at least
retain the author's name on the 'From:'.


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