linux_wiki:send_email_via_gmail_smtp_cmd_line [Owlbear Consulting

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====== Send Email via Gmail SMTP Cmd Line ======

**General Information**

Send an e-mail message from a bash script or command line program.

**Checklist**
  * Distro(s): Debian/Ubuntu based

----

===== Install msmtp =====
This package will allow you to configure what gmail account to send from and will connect securely via TLS to the gmail SMTP servers.

<code bash>
sudo apt-get install msmtp-mta
</code>

----

===== Install Mailx =====
Install a simple mail transfer agent to actually prepare the e-mail message.

<code bash>
sudo apt-get install heirloom-mailx
</code>

----

===== Configure Gmail Account on MSMTP =====

1) Create a file in your home directory called ".msmtprc"
<code bash>
vim ~/.msmtprc
</code>

2) Paste the following into the config file, change the "your_address" x2 and "your_gmail_password" to refect your information:

<code bash>
#Gmail account
defaults
logfile ~/msmtp.log

account gmail
auth on
host smtp.gmail.com
from your_address@gmail.com
auth on
tls on
tls_trust_file /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/Equifax_Secure_CA.crt
user your_address@gmail.com
password your_gmail_password
port 587

account default : gmail
</code>

**Note:** If you use two factor authentication for gmail, you will need to create an application specific password for this config file. To do that:
  * Login to Gmail
  * Click your Account Icon (top right), then Account
  * Click on the Security tab on the top
  * In the "Sign-in" box, accross from App Passwords, click on Settings.
  * Select a custom name and type something to describe msmtp so you won't forget what it is for.
  * Click Generate
  * Copy and paste the password from the pop up box into the config file above as "your_gmail_password"

3) Secure the config file
Since it contains credentials, ensure only you can read it:
<code bash>
chmod 600 .msmtprc
</code>

----

===== Configure Mailx =====
Setup mailx to use msmtp to send e-mail.

Create a .mailrc in your home folder:
<code bash>
vim ~/.mailrc
</code>

Paste the following in:
<code bash>
set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp"
set message-sendmail-extra-arguments="-a gmail"
</code>

----

===== Send mail from the command line =====

==== Interactively ====

<code bash>
mail -s "Subject Here" address@destination.com
</code>

You will now be able to type in your message. When you want to send it, type ENTER to go to a blank line and then Ctrl+D to end/send.

==== Auto Messages ====
To send an e-mail from a script, you will need to pre-write your message.

Populate a text file, such as "message.txt" with the e-mail to be sent.
Then, send it like this:
<code bash>
mail -s "My Awesome Message Subject" importantperson@cooldomain.com < message.txt
</code>