From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

Can anybody suggest a simple utility for sending emails from the command
line, which I could incorporate in a shell script, please?

I'm trying to replicate what I use in Windows, which looks like this:

mailsend1.19 %from% %to% %subject% %message% %server% %security%
%user% %password%

So I need to specify details of the form:

from=me@mydomain.com
to=you@yourdomain.com
subject="subject text string"
message="message text string"
server=smtpserver@mydomain.com
security= ssl port=465 -auth
smtp_user=me@mydomain.com
smtp_password=<mypassword>

Thanks.
--
Graham J
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On Sat, 7/11/2026 5:32 PM, Graham J wrote:

Can anybody suggest a simple utility for sending emails from the command line, which I could incorporate in a shell script, please?

I'm trying to replicate what I use in Windows, which looks like this:

mailsend1.19 %from%  %to%  %subject%  %message%  %server%  %security% %user%  %password%

So I need to specify details of the form:

from=me@mydomain.com
to=you@yourdomain.com
subject="subject text string"
message="message text string"
server=smtpserver@mydomain.com
security= ssl port=465 -auth
smtp_user=me@mydomain.com
smtp_password=<mypassword>

Thanks.

I tried this as a search

linux administrator command line email

And this is an intro. of that sort of thing.

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/send-email-linux-command-line

Some more examples.

https://devopswithamol.medium.com/mastering-email-from-the-linux-command-line-a-developers-guide-97c839f3404c

Paul
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

To: Graham J

Graham J wrote to alt.os.linux <=-

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

Can anybody suggest a simple utility for sending emails from the
command line, which I could incorporate in a shell script, please?

I'm trying to replicate what I use in Windows, which looks like this:

mailsend1.19 %from% %to% %subject% %message% %server% %security% %user% %password%

So I need to specify details of the form:

from=me@mydomain.com
to=you@yourdomain.com
subject="subject text string"
message="message text string"
server=smtpserver@mydomain.com
security= ssl port=465 -auth
smtp_user=me@mydomain.com
smtp_password=<mypassword>

Thanks.

I use either 's-nail' or 'mailx', depending on what system/distro is
being used. Both work well. You'd want to create a '.mailrc' file in
your home directory.



... Gone crazy, be back later, please leave message.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
Palantir BBS - telnet://palantirbbs.ddns.net
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

Paul wrote:
[snip]

I tried this as a search

linux administrator command line email

And this is an intro. of that sort of thing.

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/send-email-linux-command-line

The digitalocean site repeatedly flashes its cookie acceptance dialog
and is unuseable. This is with both Firefox and Chrome.

Some more examples.

https://devopswithamol.medium.com/mastering-email-from-the-linux-command-line-a-developers-guide-97c839f3404c

I tried to install mailutils. It failed to tell me that I had to use
the <tab> key to navigate the configuration (rather than up/down or
simply <enter> but having discovered the <tab> key was useful the configuration appeared to complete OK.

I can invoke it, with either:

mail
or
mail.mailutils

and in both cases I see:
Cannot open mailbox /var/mail/graham: no such file or directory.

... well, obviously, I don't want a mailbox.

Man mail is voluminous but doesn't give any useful examples.

I suspect it's too sophisticated for my needs. Is there something
simpler that I can install on Mint?
--
Graham J
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.os.linux

On 2026-07-12 10:14, Graham J wrote:

Paul wrote:
[snip]

I tried this as a search

     linux administrator command line email

And this is an intro. of that sort of thing.

    https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/send-email-linux- >> command-line

The digitalocean site repeatedly flashes its cookie acceptance dialog
and is unuseable.  This is with both Firefox and Chrome.

Some more examples.

    https://devopswithamol.medium.com/mastering-email-from-the-linux-
command-line-a-developers-guide-97c839f3404c

I tried to install mailutils.  It failed to tell me that I had to use
the <tab> key to navigate the configuration (rather than up/down or
simply <enter> but having discovered the <tab> key was useful the configuration appeared to complete OK.

I can invoke it, with either:

mail
or
mail.mailutils

and in both cases I see:
Cannot open mailbox /var/mail/graham: no such file or directory.

... well, obviously, I don't want a mailbox.

Yes, you do. It is Linux.

Man mail is voluminous but doesn't give any useful examples.

I suspect it's too sophisticated for my needs.  Is there something
simpler that I can install on Mint?

Don't install, use whatever your distribution uses. You have to ask in a mint forum or group.

For example, in one script of mine, I use:

echo -e "$NOTIFYTYPE\r\n\r\nUPS: $UPSNAME\r\nAlert type: $NOTIFYTYPE\r\n\r\n`upsc $UPSNAME`" | \
mail -r username@MAILSERVER.net -s "NUT report Isengard ($NOTIFYTYPE)" \
MYNAME@gmail.com


But it works that simple because before using mail I configured postfix. mail is actually mailx. mailx can also be configured to work without an SMTP local server.
--
Cheers,
Carlos E.R.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2