command line smtp mailer?

[ToddAndMargo]

Hi All,

Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
email program that is easy to use?

I'd like to be able to put everything on the command
line and not have configuration files to deal with.

I have looked at mailx (snail) and msmtp, but
am a bit overwhelmed by them

Many thanks,
-T

[Marco Moock]

Am 24.03.2025 um 00:13:28 Uhr schrieb ToddAndMargo via users:
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?

Have a look at swaks.

[fedora]

alpine?

On 24/03/2025 08.13, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?
>
> I'd like to be able to put everything on the command
> line and not have configuration files to deal with.
>
> I have looked at mailx (snail) and msmtp, but
> am a bit overwhelmed by them
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

[Peter Boy Uni]

> Am 24.03.2025 um 08:13 schrieb ToddAndMargo via users :
>
> Hi All,
>
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?
>
> I'd like to be able to put everything on the command
> line and not have configuration files to deal with.
>
> I have looked at mailx (snail) and msmtp, but
> am a bit overwhelmed by them

The msmtp is a send-only daemon meant to replace things like Postfix if you only want to send mail to a central „smart“ mailer, using any mail client. If complexity is your issue, the eSMTP variant (no longer maintained, but available in Fedora repo) or sSMTP (also in repo) are easier to config and to use.

Otherwise, something like mutt may meet your requirements (although slightly overkill in your case).

—
Peter Boy
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Pboy
[e-mail]

Timezone: CET (UTC+1) / CEST (UTC+2)

Fedora Server Edition Working Group member
Fedora Docs team contributor and board member
Java developer and enthusiast

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Mon, 2025-03-24 at 00:13 -0700, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?
>
> I'd like to be able to put everything on the command
> line and not have configuration files to deal with.
>
> I have looked at mailx (snail) and msmtp, but
> am a bit overwhelmed by them

$ dnf info sendemail
   Name           : sendemail
   Epoch          : 0
   Version        : 1.56
   Release        : 15.fc41
   Architecture   : noarch
   Download size  : 34.9 KiB
   Installed size : 101.8 KiB
   Source         : sendemail-1.56-15.fc41.src.rpm
   Repository     : fedora
   Summary        : Lightweight command line SMTP e-mail client
   URL            : http://caspian.dotconf.net/menu/Software/SendEmail/
   License        : GPL-2.0-or-later
   Description    : SendEmail is a lightweight, completely command line based, SMTP e-mail
                  : client. It was designed to be used in bash scripts, batch files, Perl
                  : programs and web sites, but is also quite useful in many other contexts.
                  : 
                  : SendEmail is written in Perl and is unique in that it requires no special
                  : modules. It has a straight forward interface, making it very easy to use.
   Vendor         : Fedora Project

I last used this years ago but it worked well at the time and appears to be maintained.

poc

[TSHIMANGA Minkoka]

Don't be impressed by the complexity of s-nail (old mailx or snal).
It does the job.
Take the time to go through its man page, identify and just use the 
options that you need.

I use it in several of my daily cron jobs.

On 3/24/25 08:13, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?
>
> I'd like to be able to put everything on the command
> line and not have configuration files to deal with.
>
> I have looked at mailx (snail) and msmtp, but
> am a bit overwhelmed by them
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

[Christiano Anderson]

Hi,

s-nail can be quite simple and easy on command line:

echo "test" | mail [e-mail]

I personally like the Python's smtplib to send messages from scripts or 
command line, it requires some coding, but nothing complex as well.

Best,

Christiano

On 24/03/2025 08:13, ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?
>
> I'd like to be able to put everything on the command
> line and not have configuration files to deal with.
>
> I have looked at mailx (snail) and msmtp, but
> am a bit overwhelmed by them
>
> Many thanks,
> -T

[Dave Close]

ToddAndMargo via users wrote:
> Anyone have a favorite command line outbound (smtp)
> email program that is easy to use?

You could look into nmh, the "new mail handler", originally from RAND.