[gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[gevisz]

I want to set up ZFS Event Daemon Notifications to be sent by ZED to
my user account locally.
It is said in ZFS Gentoo Wiki (see,
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/ZFS#ZFS_Event_Daemon_Notifications)
that to do this I have to set my email address in /etc/zfs/zed.d/zed.rc

However, I am afraid that it is not enough as I have not set up any
email client or server in my Gentoo box.

I have read in an Arch Wiki that to do this I have to install s-nail
and have done it.

However, again, I have found no instructions on how to set up the
s-nail for this very simple task
(take the message from ZFS Event Daemon and deliver it to a folder in
my home directory).

P.S. Alternatively, I would be satisfied if ZED will just log to some
file instead of sending emails.

Please, forgive me, if this question is stupid.

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Michael]

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On Saturday, 31 August 2024 15:10:02 BST gevisz wrote:
> I want to set up ZFS Event Daemon Notifications to be sent by ZED to
> my user account locally.
> It is said in ZFS Gentoo Wiki (see,
> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/ZFS#ZFS_Event_Daemon_Notifications)
> that to do this I have to set my email address in /etc/zfs/zed.d/zed.rc
> 
> However, I am afraid that it is not enough as I have not set up any
> email client or server in my Gentoo box.
> 
> I have read in an Arch Wiki that to do this I have to install s-nail
> and have done it.
> 
> However, again, I have found no instructions on how to set up the
> s-nail for this very simple task
> (take the message from ZFS Event Daemon and deliver it to a folder in
> my home directory).
> 
> P.S. Alternatively, I would be satisfied if ZED will just log to some
> file instead of sending emails.
> 
> Please, forgive me, if this question is stupid.

I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've 
installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail


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Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[ralfconn]

Il 31/08/24 19:09, Michael ha scritto:
> On Saturday, 31 August 2024 15:10:02 BST gevisz wrote:
>> I want to set up ZFS Event Daemon Notifications to be sent by ZED to
>> my user account locally.
>> It is said in ZFS Gentoo Wiki (see,
>> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/ZFS#ZFS_Event_Daemon_Notifications)
>> that to do this I have to set my email address in /etc/zfs/zed.d/zed.rc
>>
>> However, I am afraid that it is not enough as I have not set up any
>> email client or server in my Gentoo box.
>>
>> I have read in an Arch Wiki that to do this I have to install s-nail
>> and have done it.
>>
>> However, again, I have found no instructions on how to set up the
>> s-nail for this very simple task
>> (take the message from ZFS Event Daemon and deliver it to a folder in
>> my home directory).
>>
>> P.S. Alternatively, I would be satisfied if ZED will just log to some
>> file instead of sending emails.
>>
>> Please, forgive me, if this question is stupid.
> 
> I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've
> installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:
> 
> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail
> 

My understanding is that daemons (or shell scripts) do not access 
directly the local mailbox, they have to go through an MTA. s-nail is a 
mail client, not an MTA. The latter would be e.g. postfix, sendmail, 
nullmailer.

I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case) 
read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA (nullmailer) 
to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell scripts to 
one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.

I'm sure there is a more linear way so I'd be interested in the answer 
to this not stupid question, email seems to be one of the more 
complicated things to manage in linux.

raf

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Michael]

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On Saturday, 31 August 2024 18:37:06 BST ralfconn wrote:
> Il 31/08/24 19:09, Michael ha scritto:
> > On Saturday, 31 August 2024 15:10:02 BST gevisz wrote:
> >> I want to set up ZFS Event Daemon Notifications to be sent by ZED to
> >> my user account locally.
> >> It is said in ZFS Gentoo Wiki (see,
> >> https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/ZFS#ZFS_Event_Daemon_Notifications)
> >> that to do this I have to set my email address in /etc/zfs/zed.d/zed.rc
> >> 
> >> However, I am afraid that it is not enough as I have not set up any
> >> email client or server in my Gentoo box.
> >> 
> >> I have read in an Arch Wiki that to do this I have to install s-nail
> >> and have done it.
> >> 
> >> However, again, I have found no instructions on how to set up the
> >> s-nail for this very simple task
> >> (take the message from ZFS Event Daemon and deliver it to a folder in
> >> my home directory).
> >> 
> >> P.S. Alternatively, I would be satisfied if ZED will just log to some
> >> file instead of sending emails.
> >> 
> >> Please, forgive me, if this question is stupid.
> > 
> > I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've
> > installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:
> > 
> > https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail
> 
> My understanding is that daemons (or shell scripts) do not access
> directly the local mailbox, they have to go through an MTA. s-nail is a
> mail client, not an MTA. The latter would be e.g. postfix, sendmail,
> nullmailer.
> 
> I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case)
> read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA (nullmailer)
> to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell scripts to
> one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.
> 
> I'm sure there is a more linear way so I'd be interested in the answer
> to this not stupid question, email seems to be one of the more
> complicated things to manage in linux.
> 
> raf

From the previously referenced link:

"... S-nail can also send directly to external SMTP servers, so no local MTA 
is required."

I don't use zfs on linux to have experimented with this arch linux 
recommendation, or know more about it, but s-nail should be usable if need be 
with some scripting to send messages with it.

However, as you mention the local MTA architecture is the orthodox way of 
sending mail messages generated by system services.

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Michael]

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On Saturday, 31 August 2024 18:37:06 BST ralfconn wrote:

> I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case)
> read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA (nullmailer)
> to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell scripts to
> one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.

Probably not relevant to the OP, but did you try to configure T'bird to look 
at a local folder where your mail was stored (you'll probably need T'bird's 
movemail for this):

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1341209
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1718795

I've been able to access local mail storage with mutt and with Kmail - but 
have not tried T'bird.

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[ralfconn]

Il 31/08/24 19:55, Michael ha scritto:
> On Saturday, 31 August 2024 18:37:06 BST ralfconn wrote:
> 
>> I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case)
>> read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA (nullmailer)
>> to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell scripts to
>> one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.
> 
> Probably not relevant to the OP, but did you try to configure T'bird to look
> at a local folder where your mail was stored (you'll probably need T'bird's
> movemail for this):
> 
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1341209
> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1718795
> 
> I've been able to access local mail storage with mutt and with Kmail - but
> have not tried T'bird.

To be sincere, I don't remember. I fiddled a lot to get a working setup 
years ago and promptly forgot what I did. But those links are 
interesting an worth a new try.

raf

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[gevisz]

сб, 31 авг. 2024 г. в 20:45, Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com>:

> > > I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've
> > > installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:
> > >
> > > https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail

Thank you. I will look into this wiki.

> >  email seems to be one of the more complicated things to manage in linux.

That's why I avoided it so far. :)

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[gevisz]

сб, 31 авг. 2024 г. в 20:55, Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com>:
>
> > I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case)
> > read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA (nullmailer)
> > to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell scripts to
> > one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.
>
> Probably not relevant to the OP, but did you try to configure T'bird to look
> at a local folder where your mail was stored (you'll probably need T'bird's
> movemail for this):
>
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1341209
> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1718795
>
> I've been able to access local mail storage with mutt and with Kmail - but
> have not tried T'bird.

I hope to do it with pine if I manage to solve the problem of sending
emails internally at all.
However, I may try mutt as well. Thank you for the hint.

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Dale]

gevisz wrote:
> сб, 31 авг. 2024 г. в 20:45, Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com>:
>
>>>> I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've
>>>> installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:
>>>>
>>>> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail
> Thank you. I will look into this wiki.
>
>>>  email seems to be one of the more complicated things to manage in linux.
> That's why I avoided it so far. :)
>
>

I set this up on my old machine and transferred it over to my new rig. 
I use mail-mta/ssmtp and it works fine.  I haven't tested it yet on new
rig but worked on old rig.  Only thing that uses it is SMART for hard
drives, that I know of anyway.  This is my config file, less comments. 
/etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf


root=postmaster

root=rdalek1967@gmail.com  #Change to your preferred email address

mailhub=smtp.gmail.com:465  #Could also use port 587 for STARTTLS

rewriteDomain=Gentoo-1  #Something to denote your machine's name

FromLineOverride=YES

UseTLS=YES  #Can also try UseSTARTTLS=YES as an alternative

AuthUser=rdalek<annoy bots>1967@gmail.com
AuthPass=<password for email> #Special characters seem to barf with ssmtp

mailhub=mail

hostname=_HOSTNAME_



Don't forget to set up aliases as well.  /etc/mail/aliases



root: rdalek<annoy bots>1967@gmail.com



That's all I had to add.  There is other lines in there that other
packages added.  I wouldn't mess with them. 

I gotta remember how I tested that thing to make sure it works.  I used
to do it but that was years ago.  No clue now. 

Hope that helps.   Someone else may add to this.  Or correct things. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Frank Steinmetzger]

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Am Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 01:57:25PM -0500 schrieb Dale:

> >>>> I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've
> >>>> installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:
> >>>>
> >>>> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail
> > Thank you. I will look into this wiki.
> >
> >>>  email seems to be one of the more complicated things to manage in linux.
> > That's why I avoided it so far. :)
> >
> >
> 
> I set this up on my old machine and transferred it over to my new rig. 
> I use mail-mta/ssmtp and it works fine.  I haven't tested it yet on new
> rig but worked on old rig.  Only thing that uses it is SMART for hard
> drives, that I know of anyway.  This is my config file, less comments. 
> /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
> 
> root=postmaster
> 
> root=rdalek1967@gmail.com  #Change to your preferred email address
>
> […]
> 
> Hope that helps.   Someone else may add to this.  Or correct things. 

Well, the OP wants to have local delivery, not delivery via SMTP to an 
external server. That means the mail is generated by the local service (like 
ZED or smartd), reaches the MTA and that—without any network traffic—puts 
the mail directly into a local folder, where it can be viewed with a reader 
like mutt, or trigger a “you have mail” notification at logon.

I use dma for that. I can’t remember anymore whether I had to set up 
anything specific, but my /etc/dma/dma.conf is completely vanilla and has 
all lines commented out. When I do something like

echo hi | mutt root -s testmail
echo hi | mutt frank -s testmail

I get a new mail in /var/spool/mail/root and /var/spool/mail/frank, 
respectively.

-- 
Grüße | Greetings | Salut | Qapla’
Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network.

Humans long for immortality, yet they don’t know what to do on a rainy Sunday.

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Dale]

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Frank Steinmetzger wrote:
> Am Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 01:57:25PM -0500 schrieb Dale:
>
>>>>>> I expect any MTA would do the task of sending emails - but since you've
>>>>>> installed s-nail check the configuration examples offered here:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/S-nail
>>> Thank you. I will look into this wiki.
>>>
>>>>>  email seems to be one of the more complicated things to manage in linux.
>>> That's why I avoided it so far. :)
>>>
>>>
>> I set this up on my old machine and transferred it over to my new rig. 
>> I use mail-mta/ssmtp and it works fine.  I haven't tested it yet on new
>> rig but worked on old rig.  Only thing that uses it is SMART for hard
>> drives, that I know of anyway.  This is my config file, less comments. 
>> /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
>>
>> root=postmaster
>>
>> root=rdalek1967@gmail.com  #Change to your preferred email address
>>
>> […]
>>
>> Hope that helps.   Someone else may add to this.  Or correct things. 
> Well, the OP wants to have local delivery, not delivery via SMTP to an 
> external server. That means the mail is generated by the local service (like 
> ZED or smartd), reaches the MTA and that—without any network traffic—puts 
> the mail directly into a local folder, where it can be viewed with a reader 
> like mutt, or trigger a “you have mail” notification at logon.
>
> I use dma for that. I can’t remember anymore whether I had to set up 
> anything specific, but my /etc/dma/dma.conf is completely vanilla and has 
> all lines commented out. When I do something like
>
> echo hi | mutt root -s testmail
> echo hi | mutt frank -s testmail
>
> I get a new mail in /var/spool/mail/root and /var/spool/mail/frank, 
> respectively.
>

Oh, that kind of local.  I never tried that.  Although I would like one
day to set up my own email thing so I can use whatever client I want. 
Sounds complicated so that's a while off. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

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Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[ralfconn]

Il 31/08/24 19:55, Michael ha scritto:
> On Saturday, 31 August 2024 18:37:06 BST ralfconn wrote:
> 
>> I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case)
>> read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA (nullmailer)
>> to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell scripts to
>> one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.
> 
> Probably not relevant to the OP, but did you try to configure T'bird to look
> at a local folder where your mail was stored (you'll probably need T'bird's
> movemail for this):
> 
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1341209
> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1718795
> 
> I've been able to access local mail storage with mutt and with Kmail - but
> have not tried T'bird.

I've finally had a chance to look at movemail in TB, seems it was 
removed approximately 7 years ago [1]. Somebody posted a possible 
workaround [2] but I'm not going that way. 2 years ago there was the 
intention to restore it but I see no activity on that bug.

Funny, [4] suggests going back to seamonkey for movemail support. I once 
was a happy seamonkey user then switched to FF/TB because SM seemed 
unmaintained, but from the website it looks like it's still alive and 
kicking.

raf

[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741
[2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741#c35
[3] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1802145
[4] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741#c81

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[Dale]

ralfconn wrote:
> Il 31/08/24 19:55, Michael ha scritto:
>> On Saturday, 31 August 2024 18:37:06 BST ralfconn wrote:
>>
>>> I did not have success making the mail client (thunderbird in my case)
>>> read from a local mailbox so I ended up configuring the MTA
>>> (nullmailer)
>>> to forward the messages produced by my local daemons or shell
>>> scripts to
>>> one of the external mail servers I already used for thunderbird.
>>
>> Probably not relevant to the OP, but did you try to configure T'bird
>> to look
>> at a local folder where your mail was stored (you'll probably need
>> T'bird's
>> movemail for this):
>>
>> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1341209
>> https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1718795
>>
>> I've been able to access local mail storage with mutt and with Kmail
>> - but
>> have not tried T'bird.
>
> I've finally had a chance to look at movemail in TB, seems it was
> removed approximately 7 years ago [1]. Somebody posted a possible
> workaround [2] but I'm not going that way. 2 years ago there was the
> intention to restore it but I see no activity on that bug.
>
> Funny, [4] suggests going back to seamonkey for movemail support. I
> once was a happy seamonkey user then switched to FF/TB because SM
> seemed unmaintained, but from the website it looks like it's still
> alive and kicking.
>
> raf
>
> [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741
> [2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741#c35
> [3] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1802145
> [4] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741#c81
>
>


I think Seamonkey mostly gets bug fixes and updates so that it compiles
with new tools and works with newer software.  I don't think it gets
much else.  I am constantly running into sites that don't work right or
even load with Seamonkey but work fine with Firefox.  Some may recall
the massive Firefox rewrite a few years ago.  Once Firefox got the kinks
worked out, it was a huge improvement.  Also, add-ons were redone as
well.  Seamonkey needs to do the same because there are few add-ons that
work with Seamonkey now.  You have to use the old add-ons, if you can
find them, to use anything and almost none of them get updated.  As a
example, I switched from Lastpass to Bitwarden.  I have to use Lastpass
on any site I want to access that uses passwords because Bitwarden
doesn't have a up to date add-on for Seamonkey.  Lastpass doesn't
either.  It's still stuck on the last version since Firefox did it's
rewrite and add-on change.  Yea, no security updates either.  Basically,
the only reason I still have Lastpass, it was already installed.  If I
were to remove Lastpass, I may not be able to get it back.  If it
stopped working, it would be dead.  There is no update for it in
Seamonkey. 

In my opinion, Seamonkey is slowly dying unless enough people step up
and update it to work like Firefox, including add-ons, and is coded in a
way that websites work like Firefox does.  I mostly use it for the email
part and would like to switch but I don't like Thunderbird to much. 
Links is my biggest problem.  If I click on a link, it wants to open a
new instance of Firefox instead of asking me which instance I want to
open in with a new tab.  As I type, I have four instances of Firefox
open.  Each one had a different set of add-ons installed and are used
for different tasks.  When I click on a link, I just need it to open in
a new tab and ask me where to do it. 

If anyone were to ask me if they should start using Seamonkey, I'd say
no.  It worries me that at some point, it isn't even going to work well
enough just for the email part.  That is about the only part of it that
really works OK.  For web browsing, it's Firefox for 99% of things I do
here.  As it is, I have to copy links in Seamonkey email and then paste
the link in a new tab in Firefox on occasion.  It's annoying. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] How to setup internal email sending

[ralfconn]

Il 29/09/24 21:42, Dale ha scritto:
> ralfconn wrote:
>> Funny, [4] suggests going back to seamonkey for movemail support. I
>> once was a happy seamonkey user then switched to FF/TB because SM
>> seemed unmaintained, but from the website it looks like it's still
>> alive and kicking.
>>
>> raf
>>
>> [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741
>> [2] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741#c35
>> [3] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1802145
>> [4] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1625741#c81
>>
>>
> 
> 
> I think Seamonkey mostly gets bug fixes and updates so that it compiles
> with new tools and works with newer software.  I don't think it gets
> much else.  I am constantly running into sites that don't work right or
> even load with Seamonkey but work fine with Firefox.  Some may recall
> the massive Firefox rewrite a few years ago.  Once Firefox got the kinks
> worked out, it was a huge improvement.  Also, add-ons were redone as
> well.  Seamonkey needs to do the same because there are few add-ons that
> work with Seamonkey now.  You have to use the old add-ons, if you can
> find them, to use anything and almost none of them get updated.  As a
> example, I switched from Lastpass to Bitwarden.  I have to use Lastpass
> on any site I want to access that uses passwords because Bitwarden
> doesn't have a up to date add-on for Seamonkey.  Lastpass doesn't
> either.  It's still stuck on the last version since Firefox did it's
> rewrite and add-on change.  Yea, no security updates either.  Basically,
> the only reason I still have Lastpass, it was already installed.  If I
> were to remove Lastpass, I may not be able to get it back.  If it
> stopped working, it would be dead.  There is no update for it in
> Seamonkey.
> 
> In my opinion, Seamonkey is slowly dying unless enough people step up
> and update it to work like Firefox, including add-ons, and is coded in a
> way that websites work like Firefox does.  I mostly use it for the email
> part and would like to switch but I don't like Thunderbird to much.
> Links is my biggest problem.  If I click on a link, it wants to open a
> new instance of Firefox instead of asking me which instance I want to
> open in with a new tab.  As I type, I have four instances of Firefox
> open.  Each one had a different set of add-ons installed and are used
> for different tasks.  When I click on a link, I just need it to open in
> a new tab and ask me where to do it.
> 
> If anyone were to ask me if they should start using Seamonkey, I'd say
> no.  It worries me that at some point, it isn't even going to work well
> enough just for the email part.  That is about the only part of it that
> really works OK.  For web browsing, it's Firefox for 99% of things I do
> here.  As it is, I have to copy links in Seamonkey email and then paste
> the link in a new tab in Firefox on occasion.  It's annoying.
> 

Thanks Dale, great explanation (as usual!)

raf