Problem scenario
You are using Linux. You want to send emails from your server directly (e.g., from the command prompt using telnet and helo commands) with a customized "Reply-To" email address. How do you do this so the recipient clicks "reply" the "To:" field will be pre-populated.
Prerequisite
Install Postfix. See one this posting if you are using Linux SUSE; see this posting if you have a CentOS/RedHat/Fedora distribution. If you have an Ubuntu or Debian distribution, we recommend trying to use the CentOS/RedHat/Fedora posting, but be prepared to deviate from the directions.
Procedures
1. Edit the /etc/postfix/main.cf file in three ways.
1.a. Find the "mydomain" stanza. Uncomment it out (remove the leading "#"). Set it to the domain you want like this (but replace continualintegration.com with the domain name that you want the "Reply-To" to have): mydomain = continualintegration.com
1.b. Find the "inet_interfaces = all" stanza and uncomment it out (remove the leading "#").
1.c. Append this stanza to the very bottom of the file: smtp_generic_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/generic
2. Edit (or create) this file /etc/postfix/generic so it has these stanzas (but replace continualintegration.com with the domain you want the "reply-to" to have, and "no-reply" with the destination user that you want the email address to have):
root@continualintegration.com no-reply@continualintegration.com
@continualintegration.com no-reply@continualintegration.com3. Run this command to have the changes take effect: sudo postmap /etc/postfix/generic
An Alternative Way To Send Email
Another way to do this is with Python; to learn how to use Python and not install anything else, see this external posting.