Advice Wanted for Custom Vacation Program

Hey guys,

I'm going to write a custom vacation program for my users (a common
request). I currently use virtual users with a MySQL backend. I'd like for
users to be able to use a custom message (stored in a database), but I
wanted to ask this group about things I should look out for.

First, is there a program out there that will likely already do what I'm
looking for? Vacation won't work for me because these users don't have home
directories and thus no .forward files.

Assuming for now that there's not a perfect program out there for me, what
should I look out for? Here's what I have planned:

- Only send vacation messages to messages that are rated as non-spam
- Only send vacation messages to a particular address once during the
vacation period
- Don't send vacation messages where the message from: is not the same as
the user's email address (to avoid mailing lists and distribution groups)

Anything else?


Michael

Re: Advice Wanted for Custom Vacation Program

On comp.mail.misc, in
<11agvblcs45ej63@corp.supernews.com>, "Michael" wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
> I'm going to write a custom vacation program for my
> users (a common request). I currently use virtual
> users with a MySQL backend. I'd like for users to be
> able to use a custom message (stored in a database),
> but I wanted to ask this group about things I should
> look out for.
>
> First, is there a program out there that will likely
> already do what I'm looking for? Vacation won't
> work for me because these users don't have home
> directories and thus no .forward files.
>
> Assuming for now that there's not a perfect program
> out there for me, what should I look out for? Here's
> what I have planned:
>
> - Only send vacation messages to messages that are
> rated as non-spam

Right on.

> - Only send vacation messages to a
> particular address once during the vacation period

Excellent.

> - Don't send vacation messages where the message from:
> is not the same as the user's email address (to avoid
> mailing lists and distribution groups)

Yes.

>
> Anything else?

Looks like you have it covered.

See the auto-reponse RFC I have reposted here.

-------------------------

http://spamarrest.com/a2?ZG

Mailed you to see if you were using a real email address.
I see that you are using a Challenge-Response System.

Good Work!

However, that web interface is quite clumsy compared to
my little program. (see sig).

And it sent me TWO mails, one in HTML, one in text!

Really: Don't send HTML C-Rs: You'll just piss people
off. And don't send TWO mails!

AC


--
alanconnor AT earthlink DOT net
Use your real return address or I'll never know you
even tried to mail me. http://tinyurl.com/2t5kp
~

Re: Advice Wanted for Custom Vacation Program

On comp.mail.misc, in , "Alan Connor" wrote:
>
>
> On comp.mail.misc, in
><11agvblcs45ej63@corp.supernews.com>, "Michael" wrote:
>
>> Hey guys,
>>
>> I'm going to write a custom vacation program for my
>> users (a common request). I currently use virtual
>> users with a MySQL backend. I'd like for users to be
>> able to use a custom message (stored in a database),
>> but I wanted to ask this group about things I should
>> look out for.
>>
>> First, is there a program out there that will likely
>> already do what I'm looking for? Vacation won't
>> work for me because these users don't have home
>> directories and thus no .forward files.
>>
>> Assuming for now that there's not a perfect program
>> out there for me, what should I look out for? Here's
>> what I have planned:
>>
>> - Only send vacation messages to messages that are
>> rated as non-spam
>
> Right on.
>
>> - Only send vacation messages to a
>> particular address once during the vacation period
>
> Excellent.
>
>> - Don't send vacation messages where the message from:
>> is not the same as the user's email address (to avoid
>> mailing lists and distribution groups)
>
> Yes.
>
>>
>> Anything else?
>
> Looks like you have it covered.
>
> See the auto-reponse RFC I have reposted here.

I should add here that passlists are very advantageous:

Right at the start of your mail processing, take any
mail from individuals/businesses/orgs/domains you want
to hear from, and from mailing lists that you are subscribed
to, right off the top.

That way there is no danger of them being eaten by your
spamfilter and your last step above is rendered moot.

Passlist ---> Spamfilter ---> Autoresponse.

One of the best anti-spam strategies is to kill any
non-passlisted mail that isn't addressed specifically
to you: If your address isn't alone on the To: line ,
and the Cc: line isn't empty: Bye-bye.



AC


--
Please visit my home page:
http://angel.1jh.com./nanae/kooks/alanconnor.html

Re: Advice Wanted for Custom Vacation Program

Michael wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
....
>
> First, is there a program out there that will likely already do what I'm
> looking for? Vacation won't work for me because these users don't have home
> directories and thus no .forward files.
>
....

Sendmail now has a "ForwardPath(J)" option that will allow .forward
files to be stored in another directory, even allow all .forwards to be
stored in a single directory. See:

http://www.sendmail.org/~ca/email/doc8.9/op-sh-4.html

Even though I disapprove of vacation messages (especially in business
situations where another person should be handling the mail, rather
than merely defering it mechanically(), if one must be used, it is
safer to use a standard one.

> Michael

Daniel Feenberg