Evan Martin (evan) wrote in evan_tech,
Evan Martin
evan
evan_tech

using ssmtp with gmail

I typically don't configure a mail setup on my workstations, but some programs, like darcs, like to be able to send email. Here's how to offload mail sending to gmail with ssmtp, which is a tiny mail MTA.
  1. apt-get install ssmtp
  2. In /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf:
    mailhub=smtp.gmail.com:587
UseTLS=Yes
UseSTARTTLS=Yes
AuthUser=gmail login
AuthPass=gmail password
hostname=your hostname
FromLineOverride=YES
  3. In /etc/ssmtp/revaliases:
    localusername:realemailaddress:smtp.gmail.com:587

Test with "echo hello | mail my@email.address".

(The gotcha is apparently the port number: some sources give a different port and that just makes ssmtp block(?).)
Tags: google, howto
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