On Wed, 20 Jun 2001, Edgar Allen wrote:

> Forwarded message:
> >
> >Um...  Why not simply add an "include" line to /etc/aliases?  As I recall,
> >the syntax is
> >
> >list-address:	:include:/some/path/to/users.txt
> >
> >This lets you manage addresses in users.txt while being able to send a
> >single message to list-address.  It's more efficient in that sendmail only
> >gets called once.
> >
> 
>     Rereading this I get the feeling that it might be interpreted as
>     a flame.  Not my intent but I don't have time to clean it up at the
>     moment.
>
>     So please accept my assurance that my words are not meant to be harsh.
> 
>     I will try to be less ambiguous in the future.
> 
> Because all the deliveries are done sequentially, only recipients at the
> same domain are delivered as a batch, delivery of mail to some users can
> be delayed because of their position behind a failing address.
> 
> Delaying email for a couple of days because some nimrod cannot keep his
> Exchange server running does not seem reasonable to me and apparently
> not to the author of 'fastmail' either.
> 
> I often use alias lists myself but almost always where all but one or
> two names are at the same destination and then that "foreign" address
> goes first in the list so that it gets delivered last.  Sendmail builds
> a stack for deliveries so it is "First In, Last Out".
> 
> By making each message a separate delivery then everybody gets it as soon
> as their system will accept it without clogging up the mail queue because
> of full mailboxes or bad addresses, which become a major pain if the list
> gets big.
> 
> I read his request as wanting to get timely delivery with the minimum of
> hassles/delays.  I guess we have differences of opinion about how valuable
> computer cycles versus human delays are.

I wasn't aware that Sendmail used a FILO queue for its recipient list.
Thanks for the explanation.

As far as human delays go, we have no difference of opinion.  A couple of
the mailing lists that I manage used to have significant delivery delays
for some users, apparently caused by the behavior you describe above. I
fixed the problem by dumping Sendmail in favor of Postfix.  Its queue
manager is quite efficient (see http://www.postfix.org/qmgr.8.html for
details).

BTW, I hadn't heard of fastmail before.  Is it similar to bulk_mailer
(ftp://cs.utk.edu/pub/moore/bulk_mailer/)?

> 
> 
> 
>