diff --git a/ietf/settings.py b/ietf/settings.py
index 8f4613d7b..016a959d1 100644
--- a/ietf/settings.py
+++ b/ietf/settings.py
@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ DEBUG = True
 TEMPLATE_DEBUG = DEBUG
 
 ADMINS = (
-    ('Bill Fenner', 'fenner@research.att.com'),
+    ('IETF Django Developers', 'django-project@ietf.org'),
+    ('GMail Tracker Archive', 'ietf.tracker.archive+errors@gmail.com'),
 )
+DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL = 'IETF Secretariat <ietf-secretariat-reply@ietf.org>'
 
 MANAGERS = ADMINS
 
@@ -121,6 +123,11 @@ INTERNAL_IPS = (
         '2001:16d8:ff54::1',
 )
 
+# Valid values:
+# 'production', 'test', 'development'
+# Override this in settings_local.py if it's not true
+SERVER_MODE = 'development'
+
 # Put SECRET_KEY in here, or any other sensitive or site-specific
 # changes.  DO NOT commit settings_local.py to svn.
 from settings_local import *
diff --git a/ietf/utils/mail.py b/ietf/utils/mail.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..edc7f322e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ietf/utils/mail.py
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+from email.Utils import *
+from email.MIMEText import MIMEText
+from email.MIMEMessage import MIMEMessage
+from email.MIMEMultipart import MIMEMultipart
+import smtplib
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.template.loader import render_to_string
+from django.template import RequestContext
+
+def add_headers(msg):
+    if not(msg.has_key('Message-ID')):
+	msg['Message-ID'] = make_msgid('idtracker')
+    if not(msg.has_key('Date')):
+	msg['Date'] = formatdate(time.time(), True)
+    if not(msg.has_key('From')):
+	msg['From'] = settings.DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL
+    return msg
+
+def send_smtp(msg):
+    '''
+    Send a Message via SMTP, based on the django email server settings.
+    The destination list will be taken from the To:/Cc: headers in the
+    Message.  The From address will be used if present or will default
+    to the django setting DEFAULT_FROM_EMAIL
+    '''
+    add_headers(msg)
+    (fname, frm) = parseaddr(msg.get('From'))
+    to = [addr for name, addr in getaddresses(msg.get_all('To') + msg.get_all('Cc', []))]
+    # todo: exception handling
+    server = smtplib.SMTP(settings.EMAIL_HOST, settings.EMAIL_PORT)
+    if settings.DEBUG:
+	server.set_debuglevel(1)
+    if settings.EMAIL_HOST_USER and settings.EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD:
+	server.login(settings.EMAIL_HOST_USER, settings.EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD)
+    server.sendmail(frm, to, msg.as_string())
+    server.quit()
+
+def copy_email(msg, to):
+    '''
+    Send a copy of the given email message to the given recipient.
+    '''
+    add_headers(msg)
+    new = MIMEMultipart()
+    # get info for first part.
+    # Mode: if it's production, then "copy of a message", otherwise
+    #  "this is a message that would have been sent from"
+    # hostname?
+    # django settings if debugging?
+    # Should this be a template?
+    if settings.SERVER_MODE == 'production':
+	new.attach(MIMEText("This is a copy of a message sent from the I-D tracker."))
+    else:
+	new.attach(MIMEText("The attached message would have been sent, but the tracker is in %s mode.\nIt was not sent to anybody.\n" % settings.SERVER_MODE))
+    new.attach(MIMEMessage(msg))
+    new['From'] = msg['From']
+    new['Subject'] = '[Django %s] %s' % (settings.SERVER_MODE, msg.get('Subject', '[no subject]'))
+    new['To'] = to
+    send_smtp(new)
+
+def send_mail_subj(request, to, frm, stemplate, template, context, cc=None, extra=None):
+    '''
+    Send an email message, exactly as send_mail(), but the
+    subject field is a template.
+    '''
+    subject = render_to_string(template, context, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
+    return send_mail(request, to, frm, subject, template, context, cc, extra)
+
+def send_mail(request, to, frm, subject, template, context, cc=None, extra=None):
+    '''
+    Send an email to the destination [list], with the given return
+    address (or "None" to use the default in settings.py).
+    The body is a text/plain rendering of the template with the context.
+    extra is a dict of extra headers to add.
+    '''
+    txt = render_to_string(template, context, context_instance=RequestContext(request))
+    return send_mail_text(request, to, frm, subject, txt, cc, extra)
+
+def send_mail_text(request, to, frm,subject, txt, cc=None, extra=None):
+    msg = MIMEText(txt)
+    if isinstance(frm, tuple):
+	frm = formataddr(frm)
+    if isinstance(to, list) or isinstance(to, tuple):
+        to = ", ".join([isinstance(addr, tuple) and formataddr(addr) or addr for addr in to])
+    if isinstance(cc, list) or isinstance(cc, tuple):
+        cc = ", ".join([isinstance(addr, tuple) and formataddr(addr) or addr for addr in cc])
+    if frm:
+	msg['From'] = frm
+    msg['To'] = to
+    if cc:
+	msg['Cc'] = cc
+    msg['Subject'] = subject
+    msg['X-Test-IDTracker'] = (settings.SERVER_MODE == 'production') and 'no' or 'yes'
+    if extra:
+	for k, v in extra.iteritems():
+	    msg[k] = v
+    if settings.SERVER_MODE == 'production':
+	send_smtp(msg)
+    copy_email(msg, "ietf.tracker.archive+%s@gmail.com" % settings.SERVER_MODE)