In my copious spare time, I am working on a perl script on the Linux
box that hosts our LISTSERV 14.4 server. We run LISTSERV with
Sendmail, so each time we create a list, it requires that the set of
sendmail aliases be created. The way lists get created here is that
anyone who wants a new list contacts the help desk. A select few help
desk managers have the authority to use the wa CGI to create lists
and they have set up some common templates to ease the list creation
process. My script runs via a crontab entry every 15 minutes and what
it does, it does fine. So the sendmail aliases for each new list get
created every 15 minutes.

We've been running this process for nearly the past year and it works
well, but it still involves more manual effort than we prefer. So, my
next step to automate our list creation process is to have my script
send notification once each new list's sendmail aliases are
available. Specifically, I want to have my script send a new list's
owner a message to let him or her know the list is ready. This
message will indicate what the list's email address is and how its
web site can be accessed.

I could always use listview to parse the new list's .list file to get
the email address for each owner. That would involve added
complication though. What I prefer to do is have my script send email
to a generic address such as listname-request, but that address
format will cause LISTSERV to request confirmation for each message.
The email confirmation requirement is understandable, but its not
suitable for this application. These email notifications would be
spoofed to come from our help desk's address and I do not want to
burden the help desk staff with having to confirm each message, not
to mention the fact that it would throw a wrench in my effort to
totally automate this part of the list creation process.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can automate these
confirmation messages with the least amount of perl programming, I
would appreciate learning about you ideas.

Thanks,

Stan