Introduction ------------ This script is a command to send a mass plain-text e-mail to all the addresses in standard input. It can also send attachments. Sendmail must already be configured on the computer for blast to work. A HTML version is being developed. Contact the author if you're interested. Prerequisites ------------- In order for this script to work, Sendmail must be active. There are numerous web pages that describe how to set up Sendmail. My personal favorite for Mac OS X is: http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2002/08/23/jaguar_server.html Also, to be able to include attachments, base64 must be installed. Download base64 from: http://www.fourmilab.ch/webtools/base64/ I had compile errors on Mac OS X 10.2.3 but the application still installed and works perfectly. To compile this software, you will need to have the Developer Tools installed. Contact the author if you have any problems. Configurations -------------- Some minor configuration is required before installing this software. Open the script in your favorite text editor. Mine is BBEdit Lite (see the Warning section below) or good old TextEdit. Edit the lines between the markers: ################# ## CONFIGURE THE LINES IN THIS SECTION ################# and ################# ## END USER CONFIGURATION AREA. YOU SHOULD NOT NEED TO CONFIGURE ANYTHING ## BELOW THIS MARK ################# Specifically, the lines: SENDERNAME="Your Name Here" SENDEMAIL="your_address@domain.com" need to be configured. Enter your name or e-mail address between the double quotes. If you are masquerading as someone else (remember all the legal issues about doing that: the author cannot be held responsible for unethical or illegal behavior of users of this script) you should run the script as root. Otherwise Sendmail will include a warning in the e-mail header. Try and the script will warn you. blast also allows you to make it seem like the e-mail was sent by another e-mail client, such as Microsoft Entourage or Eudora for Windows. Enter whatever you want here. It doesn't really make a difference since most people will never see this anyway. Uncertain of the legality of this, this is commented out in the script. Un-comment it in the header and assume the responsibility. Feel free to add or comment out whatever lines you want in the header section. To include the header, it must be uncommented farther down in the script (yes, below the warning that nothing below needs to be configured). Seek out the line: # header and remove the # to un-comment. Installation ------------ Expand the archive on your desktop (presumably, if you're reading this file, you've already done that) using Stuffit Expander. Then, as the root user, copy the file to /usr/local/bin and make sure all users have execute permissions. A set of installation commands for novices are: su cp -i - /Users//Desktop/Blast\ email/blast /usr/local/bin If you get a "No such file or directory" error after this command type: mkdir -p /usr/local/bin cp -i - /Users//Desktop/Blast\ email/blast /usr/local/bin Finally, set the permissions: chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/blast rehash Instructions ------------ Once configured, this script relatively easy to use. Create a text file that contains the message body text you want to send. For example, "Email message.txt". This file should be plain text, not HTML. Then create another text file that contains the list of addresses you want to send the e-mail to. For example, "rcpt". Presumably, you will be exporting from a database or some address book. Make sure your "rcpt" file uses UNIX line breaks, not Macintosh or DOS. See the "Warning" section below. blast can e-mail attachments that are converted to MIME for cross-platform compatibility. If you intend to include an attachment, add the -a flag followed by the path to the file to attach. If you do not include a subject with the -s flag, blast will use "No Subject" by default. Specify a subject with the -s flag followed by the e-mail's subject in single or double quotation marks (' or "). Examples: blast -s "Welcome to blast, Inc." -a /Users/john/Documents/Company\ Intro.pdf /Users/john/Desktop/Email\ message.txt `cat /Users/john/Desktop/rcpt` -sends the text in "Email message.txt" and the attachment "Company Intro.pdf" to all the addresses in "rcpt". The subject of the e-mail is "Welcome to blast, Inc." blast -s "Test Email" /Users/john/Desktop/Email\ message.txt john@doe.com michaelj@somecompany.com billgates@microsoft.com president@whitehouse.com -sends an e-mail whose subject is "Test Email" containing the message body in "Email message.txt" and no attachment to john@doe.com, michaelj@somecompany.com, billgates@microsoft.com and president@whitehouse.com. Warning ------- Address text files must have Unix line breaks. I recommend using BBEdit Lite from Bare Bones Software as your text editor: (http://www.barebones.com/) Note ---- Currently, this script is only capable of sending plain text e-mails, not html. A version that can send html is under development. Please contact the author if you are interested. Licensing --------- This script is freeware. However, if you make any modifications, please e-mail the author. And if you're in a really generous mood, I'll gladly accept donations to my Paypal account. Donations --------- You can easily send me money by clicking on (or copy and paste into your web browser) the link below: https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=btc%40monaco.net&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD Thanks! Disclaimer ---------- The author hates spam e-mail as much as the next person. So please don't use it for spam. If, however someone does use this script to e-mail spam, the author cannot be held responsible. I express absolutely no guarantee of the results. Use these scripts at your own risk. Bruno Courbage btc_at_monaco.net