MSMTPD(1) | General Commands Manual | MSMTPD(1) |
NAME¶
msmtpd - A minimal SMTP server
SYNOPSIS¶
msmtpd [option...]
DESCRIPTION¶
Msmtpd is a minimal SMTP server that pipes mails to msmtp (or some
other program) for delivery. It can be used with system services that expect
an SMTP server on the local host, or it can be used by end users as a way to
handle outgoing mail via msmtp with mail clients that insist on using SMTP.
The EXAMPLES section below contains examples for both use cases.
Msmtpd listens on 127.0.0.1 port 25 by default, but can also run without its
own network sockets in inetd mode, where it handles a single SMTP session on
standard input / output.
In the string that defines the command that msmtpd pipes each mail to, the
first occurrence of %F will be replaced with the envelope from
address. Furthermore, all recipients of the mail will be appended as
arguments. The command must not write to standard output, as that
would mess up the SMTP session.
If the command that the mail is piped to reports an error, this is typically
reported as a permanent failure by msmtpd (SMTP server return code 554). The
command can optionally signal temporary errors by using return codes defined
in sysexits.h, e.g. 75 for EX_TEMPFAIL. These will then be
reported as temporary failures by msmtpd (SMTP server return code 451),
which means the client should try again later.
To prevent abuse, msmtpd will allow only a limited number of concurrent SMTP
sessions, and if authentication is active and an authentication failure
occurrs, future authentication requests in any SMTP session will (for a
limited duration) only be answered after a small delay.
OPTIONS¶
- --version
- Print version information
- --help
- Print help
- --inetd
- Start single SMTP session on stdin/stdout
- --interface=ip
- Listen on the given IPv6 or IPv4 address instead of 127.0.0.1
- --port=number
- Listen on the given port number instead of 25
- --log=none|syslog|filename
- Set logging: none (default), syslog, or logging to the given file.
- --command=cmd
- Pipe mails to cmd instead of msmtp. Make sure to end this command with -- to separate options from arguments.
- --auth=user[,passwordeval]
- Require authentication with this user name. The password will be retrieved from the given passwordeval command (this works just like passwordeval in msmtp) or, if none is given, from the key ring or, if that fails, from a prompt.
EXAMPLES¶
Using msmtpd as a system service
Only use a local interface to listen on. Run msmtpd with correct user rights
and permissions (e.g. use CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE to bind to port 25
instead of running as root, or use systemd with inetd service capabilities).
Be aware that the pipe command will be run as the same user that msmtpd runs
as. Enable logging to syslog with --log=syslog.
Example for managing msmtpd with start-stop-daemon:
# start msmtpd
start-stop-daemon --start --pidfile /var/run/msmtpd.pid --make-pidfile --chuid
msmtpd --background --exec /usr/local/bin/msmtpd -- --command
'/usr/local/bin/msmtp -f %F --'
# stop msmtpd
start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile /var/run/msmtpd.pid --remove-pidfile
--quiet --signal TERM
Using msmtpd to handle outgoing mail for an SMTP-based mail client
Some mail clients cannot send outgoing mail with a program like msmtp and
instead insist on using an SMTP server. You can configure msmtpd to be that
SMTP server and hand your outgoing mail over to msmtp.
(Similarly, some mail clients cannot get incoming mail from a local mailbox
and insist on using a POP3 or IMAP server. You can configure mpopd to be
that POP3 server and serve incoming mail from a local mailbox. See the
relevant section in the mpop manual.)
For this purpose, msmtpd should listen on an unprivileged port, e.g. 2500.
Furthermore, msmtpd should require authentication because otherwise anyone
connecting to it can send mail using your account, even if it's just other
users or processes on your local machine.
Let's use the user name msmtpd-user for this purpose. You have two
options to manage the password:
- Store the password in your key ring, e.g. with secret-tool store --label=msmtpd host localhost service smtp user msmtpd-user. In this case, use the msmtpd option --auth=msmtpd-user.
- Store the password in an encrypted file and use the passwordeval mechanism. Example for gpg: msmtpd ... --auth=msmtpd-user,'gpg -q -d ~/.msmtpd-password.gpg'
The complete command then is (using the keyring): msmtpd
--port=2500 --auth=msmtpd-user --command='/path/to/your/msmtp -f %F --'
The mail client software must then be configured to use localhost at
port 2500 for outgoing mail via SMTP, and to use authentication with
user msmtpd-user and the password you chose. The mail client will
probably complain that the SMTP server does not support TLS, but in this
special case that is ok since all communication between your mail client and
msmtpd will stay on the local machine.
This setup also works with multiple mail accounts. Msmtp will pick the correct
one based on the envelope-from address given to it via -f %F. You do
not need multiple instances of msmtpd for this purpose, and therefore you
need only one SMTP server in your mail client configuration.
SEE ALSO¶
2021-09 |