Command Line Email on Ubuntu (mailx version)

For a simpler, updated version of this guide, see this page: http://klenwell.com/is/UbuntuCommandLineGmail

This guide explains how to configure Ubuntu so that you can send email from the command line using mailx with your Gmail account for delivery. This updates a guide I originally posted on the ubuntu forums for mailx, which is part of the current Ubuntu repositories (versions 7 and 8). To use nail, for which this guide was originally drawn up, see this post.

In 5 Fairly Easy Steps

1. Install the needed programs

$ sudo apt-get install msmtp
$ sudo apt-get install mailx

2. Install Thawte certificates for Gmail

EDIT: verisign.com apparently no longer issues certs at the address below. So the ‘wget’ step will not work. adkein, in a comment below (click here), links to another page when you can apparently get the needed cert. I cannot vouch for this as my cert still works. But you might try downloading that and putting it your ~/etc/.certs directory if you’re having issues finding the cert.

This is necessary for Gmail. (Thanks to laurentbois.com.)

$ mkdir -p ~/etc/.certs
$ chmod 0700 ~/etc/.certs
$ cd ~/etc/.certs
$ wget https://www.verisign.com/support/thawte-roots.zip –no-check-certificate
$ unzip thawte-roots.zip
$ cp ‘Thawte Server Roots/ThawtePremiumServerCA_b64.txt’ ThawtePremiumServerCA.crt

3. Configure msmtp
This will open up a new msmtp configuration file

$ gedit ~/.msmtprc

Copy the following lines. Replace UPPERCASE text with your personal settings:

# config options: http://msmtp.sourceforge.net/doc/msmtp.html#A-user-configuration-file
defaults
logfile /tmp/msmtp.log

# gmail account
#account gmail
auth on
host smtp.gmail.com
port 587
user YOURNAME@gmail.com
password YOURPASSWORD
from YOURNAME@gmail.com
tls on
tls_trust_file /home/USER/etc/.certs/ThawtePremiumServerCA.crt

# set default account to use (not necessary with single account)
#account default : gmail

Change permission on this file or msmtp will complain:

$ chmod 600 ~/.msmtprc

4. Configure mailx

$ gedit ~/.mailrc

Copy the following lines and replace UPPERCASE text with your personal settings:

# set smtp for nail
# ref: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=4531994&postcount=6

# gmail account (default)
# $ mailx -s "subject line" -a /path/file recipient@email.com < /path/body.txt
set from="YOURNAME@gmail.com (YOURNAME)"
set sendmail="/usr/bin/msmtp"
set message-sendmail-extra-arguments="-a gmail"

5. Run a test
Send a test message to your gmail account:

$ echo -e “testing email from the command line” > /tmp/test_email
$ mailx -s “nail gmail test” YOURNAME@gmail.com < /tmp/test_email

Check your gmail account and you should have a message from yourself. You can also check your log:

$ gedit /tmp/msmtp.log

I personally prefer nail because it more easily accommodates multiple accounts. But if you don’t have a deliberate need to use multiple accounts and are using a later version of Ubuntu, use this.