Mailx

Internal

• Linux

Installation

yum install mailx

Configuration

Verbose and Debug Output

In order to get verbose output, use the -v on mailx command line. This will send verbose output to stdout as the e-mail is being sent.

The debug option dumps the protocol headers, but it configures mailx to not send anything externally - no connection is attempted:

...
set debug
...

Configuring mailx to Use a Google SMTP Server

SMTP Relay Service

• Google documentation: SMTP relay service setting https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491?hl=en

The relay server that requires TLS encryption is smtp-relay.gmail.com:587.

Individual Application SMTP Settings

• Google documentation: Google Apps SMTP settings to send mail from a printer, scanner, or app: https://support.google.com/a/answer/176600?hl=en

TODO unfinished, not working.

First, you will need to make sure mailx has access to a valid Google certificate in an NSS certificate database. Firefox usually has it in its profile directory, but it is a good idea to initialize a private certificate database for mailx.

This page explains how to do that:

Create a New NSS Certificate Database and Import Google's Certificate

This page explains how to "re-use" Firefox Mozilla certificate database:

Re-Use the Firefox NSS Certificate Database

Assuming you provision root GMail SMTP access, move the certs directory created at the previous step under ~root as follows:

mv .../certs ~root/.certs

Configure /etc/mail.rc as follows:

...

account gmail {
set smtp-use-starttls
set smtp-auth=login
set smtp=smtps://smtp.gmail.com:587
set from="root@now510"
set smtp-auth-user=your.smtp.user@gmail.com
set smtp-auth-password=your.pass
set ssl-verify=ignore
set nss-config-dir=/root/.certs
}

TODO: try a per-user mail.rc that is read restricted because it contains sensitive credentials.

Test:

echo "mailx e-mail" | mailx -v -A gmail -s "test" somebody@example.com

Deplete:

• http://www.systutorials.com/1411/sending-email-from-mailx-command-in-linux-using-gmails-smtp/
• http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16799407/mailx-and-gmail-nss-config-dir
• http://serverfault.com/questions/498588/smtp-gmail-com-from-bash-gives-error-in-certificate-peers-certificate-issuer
• http://www.systutorials.com/1411/sending-email-from-mailx-command-in-linux-using-gmails-smtp/
• http://serverfault.com/questions/498588/smtp-gmail-com-from-bash-gives-error-in-certificate-peers-certificate-issuer

Next:

• Clarify mail on now510: be able to send mail and test how does cron reacts to it (success or failure). Document -> [1], understand the nss business.