setting reply to in VMS 5.x MAIL

[Peter Coghlan]

>
> Bill,
> Pretty sure in the past the only way to do this was with PMDF. Not sure if PMDF is available with a hobbyist licence or will run on 5.x
> Dave
> G4UGM
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: cctech <cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Bill Degnan via
> > cctech
> > Sent: 04 June 2019 03:28
> > To: cctech <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> > Subject: setting reply to in VMS 5.x MAIL
> > 
> > Is there a way to set the reply-to value in VMS 5 mail?  I want to send mail as
> > SYSTEM but anyone who receives the message on the outside world who
> > wants to reply I'd like it go to to a different email address.
> > 
> > I am working to solve the problem myself, but if anyone knows already and
> > can help save me the time :-)
> > 
> > Thanks
> > 
> > Bill
>

VMS MAIL has no concept of reply-to headers.  If a "foreign mail protocol"
is being used from within VMS MAIL (in%, pmdf%, mx%, or smtp% for example),
that protocol may provide a way of setting a reply-to header, typically by
defining a specified logical name before running VMS MAIL.

If PMDF is installed, you can use

$ PMDF MAIL /REPLY_TO=address

and possibly other methods to set the reply-to address.  PMDF MAIL is
designed to be upwardly compatible with VMS MAIL and uses the same mailbox
files as VMS MAIL.

There is a hobbyist license available for PMDF but I don't know if this covers
versions that will run on VMS 5.x or not.

Installing PMDF also makes the in% (or pmdf%) foreign mail protocol usable
from VMS MAIL.  mx% is provided by Hunter Goatley's MX MAIL package and smtp%
is provided by Process Software's Multinet SMTP client to add SMTP capability
to VMS MAIL.

Regards,
Peter Coghlan.