Mailing List Archive

.forward compatibility
> .qmail is a superset of .forward, is it not?

No, it is not. The .forward syntax is much more complicated. Doing a
half-assed parsing job might be acceptable for word processor format
conversion but it's not acceptable for mail.

> how about qmail looking for ~/.qmail, then .forward if non-existant, and
> then default to deliver as usual? looks like the right "UNIXy" solution.

This is what would happen with ALIAS_EMPTY set to

| qmsmfc
./Mailbox

except that the qmsmfc code doesn't exist yet.

---Dan
Let your users manage their own mailing lists. http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.html
Re: .forward compatibility [ In reply to ]
"D. J. Bernstein" <djb@koobera.math.uic.edu> writes:

> > how about qmail looking for ~/.qmail, then .forward if non-existant, and
> > then default to deliver as usual? looks like the right "UNIXy" solution.
>
> This is what would happen with ALIAS_EMPTY set to
>
> | qmsmfc
> ./Mailbox

We could save a fork()+exec() when ~/.forward doesn't exist (=most of the time)
by a small syntax extension to .qmail:

(^-char choosen at random because it's unlikely that it is part of a
email adress)

^./.forward qmsmfc
./Mailbox

^filename cmd meaning: Only execute cmd if filename exists and is readable.

-Andi
Re: .forward compatibility [ In reply to ]
On 23 Feb 1997 19:15:52 -0000, D. J. Bernstein wrote:

>This is what would happen with ALIAS_EMPTY set to
>
> | qmsmfc
> ./Mailbox
>
>except that the qmsmfc code doesn't exist yet.

Gotta love this guy... :-)

-Sincerely, Fred

(Frederik Lindberg, Infectious Diseases, WashU, St. Louis, MO, USA)
Re: .forward compatibility [ In reply to ]
Andi Kleen <andi@mlm.extern.lrz-muenchen.de> writes:
>
>(^-char choosen at random because it's unlikely that it is part of a
>email adress)
>
>^./.forward qmsmfc
>./Mailbox
>
>^filename cmd meaning: Only execute cmd if filename exists and is readable.
>

and is owned by the user, and isn't a symlink, and ...

-Greg
--
Greg Andrews West Coast Online
Unix System Administrator 5800 Redwood Drive
gerg@wco.com Rohnert Park CA 94928
(yes, 'greg' backwards) 1-800-WCO-INTERNET
Re: .forward compatibility [ In reply to ]
Greg Andrews <gerg@wco.com> writes:

> >
> >^filename cmd meaning: Only execute cmd if filename exists and is readable.
> >
>
> and is owned by the user, and isn't a symlink, and ...

Exactly the same checks as done against ~/.qmail. It'll only add one
parse case in a small switch and another function call.

-Andi