On Mon, 30 Dec 1996, era eriksson wrote:
On Sat, 28 Dec 1996 23:13:49 -0800, Scott Hirsch <ww(_at_)windworld(_dot_)com>
wrote:
> Thanks for all who voiced their frustration at finding a shortage of
> basic newbie info on Procmail and Smartlist, and who kindly replied with
> offers of help.
In reference to this general topic, it surprises me that nobody has
yet (as far as I've noticed) mentioned Nancy McGough's "Filtering Mail
FAQ". This is a very thorough, very easy (albeit detailed)
step-by-step instruction for getting started with Procmail (among
other programs).
Actually, someone did mention it. The comments were that it was too hard
to follow and required more than a novice's knowledge of UNIX.
Speaking of which, is she going to be writing the book for O'Reilly on
using Procmail? Or is this a dead project?
In reference to the general discussion about help for newbies, well,
I'm no guru, but I see easy questions that I could answer all the
time, and all the more often. However, all too often I just assume
that these newbies are getting competent help in private e-mail.
This is an interesting netiquette issue because on one hand, you want
to help out, but on the other hand, answering newbie questions on the
list is mostly counter-productive (adds volume without adding +real+
content -- after all, mostly it'll be reiterations of stuff that is
already in the manual pages).
I think you have answered part of the question. The man pages take some
reading - but they are understandable for getting the basics. And the
people who give the best answers (IMHO) are also the ones who seem to
advocate reading the man pages the most.
One message posted was someone saying "I Just want to forward mail to
another box".
Third recipe in procmailex demonstrates how to do this.
:0
*^TOsomeone
! them(_at_)elsewhere
You are doing something with your mail. At best, nothing happens. At
worst, you crash someone's system. :( Since you are considering using
procmail, you are probably interested with handling your mail properly.
And that means understanding what Procmail is doing.
If you find a section of a man page confusing, ask about it. You'll
probably get more info than you wanted. :)
This list used to have a very good reputation but I can see the
signal/noise ratio get worse day by day. I think a lot of that could
be done away with with a good FAQ.
Well, procmail does away with it as well. :)
But some folks might also want to consider that a lot of folks take the
holidays off. This is the first time in almost 2 weeks I have read the
list. I can't be the only one. In fact, about 70% of the stuff in my
procmail folder right now is discussion on why nobody is answering
"newbies" questions and what should be done about it. Mostly by people I
don't recognize. :)
Anyway, enjoy Procmail. It does wonders for the elimination of garbage.
:)
--
I'd like to meet the man who invented sex and see what he's working on
now.