sending mail from linux commad line

Question

Is it possible to send mail from linux terminal to any gmail account.

If possible then what are the configuration are needed.

I tried with mailx and sendmail but its not working.

I also tried with mutt like this

echo "test" | mutt -s this-is-my-subjest [email protected]

but no use...

I am using CentOS 6.2

Solution 1

I would advise to use sendEmail:

sendEmail-1.56 by Brandon Zehm <[email protected]>

Synopsis:  sendEmail -f ADDRESS [options]

  Required:
    -f ADDRESS                from (sender) email address
    * At least one recipient required via -t, -cc, or -bcc
    * Message body required via -m, STDIN, or -o message-file=FILE

  Common:
    -t ADDRESS [ADDR ...]     to email address(es)
    -u SUBJECT                message subject
    -m MESSAGE                message body
    -s SERVER[:PORT]          smtp mail relay, default is localhost:25

  Optional:
    -a   FILE [FILE ...]      file attachment(s)
    -cc  ADDRESS [ADDR ...]   cc  email address(es)
    -bcc ADDRESS [ADDR ...]   bcc email address(es)
    -xu  USERNAME             username for SMTP authentication
    -xp  PASSWORD             password for SMTP authentication

  Paranormal:
    -b BINDADDR[:PORT]        local host bind address
    -l LOGFILE                log to the specified file
    -v                        verbosity, use multiple times for greater effect
    -q                        be quiet (i.e. no STDOUT output)
    -o NAME=VALUE             advanced options, for details try: --help misc
        -o message-content-type=<auto|text|html>
        -o message-file=FILE         -o message-format=raw
        -o message-header=HEADER     -o message-charset=CHARSET
        -o reply-to=ADDRESS          -o timeout=SECONDS
        -o username=USERNAME         -o password=PASSWORD
        -o tls=<auto|yes|no>         -o fqdn=FQDN


  Help:
    --help                    the helpful overview you're reading now
    --help addressing         explain addressing and related options
    --help message            explain message body input and related options
    --help networking         explain -s, -b, etc
    --help output             explain logging and other output options
    --help misc               explain -o options, TLS, SMTP auth, and more

It works very well for me. Remember to use TLS with gmail. You need to provide details of the server that will send the email with those options:

    -s SERVER[:PORT]          smtp mail relay, default is localhost:25
    -xu  USERNAME             username for SMTP authentication
    -xp  PASSWORD             password for SMTP authentication

It's best for me as it allows to add attachments and can be easily placed in the scripts.

Example usage:

sendEmail -f [email protected] -t [email protected] -s test -m messageBody -s smtp.gmail.com -xu [email protected] -xp xxxxxpass -o tls=auto
Aug 17 16:21:37 z sendEmail[22420]: Email was sent successfully!

Solution 2

The mail terminal program should do the trick. It usually works "straight out of the box" to allow users/programs to send messages locally, inside the system.

Type mail -s 'subject line' [email protected] and hit return. Then type your message and close/send using Ctl-D.

Comments

[Emil Vikström]

What is not working? Do you get an error message? Have you checked any log files?

[Emil Vikström]

You should be able to find a log file in /var/log/. It is often called maillog or similar. What does it say after you try your command?

[max]

nothing, next command prompt will appear.

[max]

in var/log/maillog its showing Network is unreachable

[Cameron Mark Lewis]

Pulling from a file is effective: echo "email from serverX" > ~/testemail; then: mail -s 'another test subject' [email protected] < ~/testemail

[max]

can u provide one simple example?

[mnmnc]

sure i will place it in the answer at the bottom

[max]

I tried this but not working... any configuration are needed, before doing this?

[danielcraigie]

Can you try sending an email to yourself on the machine: mail -d -s subject your name@localhost. The -d option will provide debugging output to tell you what is causing the problem.

[mnmnc]

possibly. but what you probably missed - i'm proposing send-E-mail. not sendmail. i've never had a chance to use sendmail but sendEmail does everything i need.

[max]

no sendEmail command installed, so I tried yum install sendEmail but its giving No package sendEmail available

[mnmnc]

download link : caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Software/SendEmail/… unzip it, then ./configure ./make ./make install

[Kevin Versfeld]

On some systems you have to use mailx instead of mail.