I'm trying to work out how to set up a system for web-based user self-registration (and self-maintenance) for a system we may impliment soon-ish.

The cgi for filling in forms and updating databases is all fairly straight forward...

One thing I want to do is something inspired by what mailing lists do:
When a user forgets their password, they can supply their email address and ask for a new password. What I'd like to do is to email the user with a message that says "reply to this to get a new password sent to you" - thus avoiding the id-10T who thinks it's fun to fill-in a random email address and get their password changed on them.

Thus, I want to read a message that comes in, probably identified by some random "session-id"-string in the subject-line, and then generate a new password for the user - which I email back to them.

I'm not really able to have the main mail-server configuration changed (it's for the whole Uni, after all :), so I'm really stuck to digging through a mailbox.

I'm happy to code up a bunch of packages etc to do all the creating, posting, updating, etc that is needed... however does anyone have any thoughts on how to logically match a reply with an action? (and I'd try to set up a solution that can be expanded to doing actions other than just changing the password :)

ta...



-- Ian Stuart
A man depriving some poor village, somewhere, of a first-class idiot.

In reply to mail-based interface for database manipulation..? by kiz

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