Mail::Bulkmail handles much of what you want to do already. My Mail::SimpleList is a smaller example. You'll have to write a bit of code with either, but they handle the hard technical work (getting double opt-in working is a bit trickier, however).

First, there are a plethora of CPAN modules to accomplish the mailing out a newsletter part. I have been using mime::lite for a couple years now and can highly recommend it.

One thing that troubles me about your question is the statement that your client wishes you to collect the addresses...from where? Do you intend to harvest addresses from the web or another online source and send your mailings out unsolicited?

If that is what you are being requested to do, I would encourage you to reject the job.

Not only is sending unsolicited mailings to end users who have not knowingly and willingly established a business relationship with your client considered a serious breach of Internet etiquette, it violates the terms of services of most ISP's and could result in you or your client loosing their service.

Sorry if my original query was unclear. My client intends to send the newsletter ONLY to people who request to be on her mailing list.

LizzieT

I second the motion for Majordomo. It is quite possibly one of the most widely used Perl programs on the Net, and has been in use for nearly a decade. It is the first package many system administrators think of when they think "Opt-in mailing list." As mentioned before, it isn't really designed for tens of thousands of subscribers, but it is well suited for hundreds or thousands.

You may read more about it at http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/. That site also contains links to its source code (Perl, of course). If I recall, Majordomo was already in use back in the days of Gopher, Archie, Jughead, and a new-fangled thing called the World Wide Web (early days).



Dave

"If I had my life to live over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein