Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Michael Orlitzky <michael@××××××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] ssmtp alternatives: msmtp vs. dma
Date: Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:45:14
Message-Id: 50BEDF15.9040304@orlitzky.com
In Reply to: [gentoo-user] ssmtp alternatives: msmtp vs. dma by Grant
1 On 12/05/2012 12:28 AM, Grant wrote:
2 > I was setting up ssmtp but I realized it isn't being maintained and
3 > there are a couple of alternatives called msmtp and dma. Can anyone
4 > recommend one of these over the other?
5 >
6 > I don't like how ssmtp stores the mail password in clear text in its
7 > config file. It looks like msmtp can pull the password from gpg:
8 >
9 > msmtp --passwordeval 'gpg -d mypwfile.gpg'
10 >
11 > I don't have much experience with gpg. Does this mean I can store the
12 > mail password encrypted on each of my systems so it can be used in an
13 > automated fashion to get mail onto my mail server? Do I need to start
14 > gpg-agent and enter a gpg keyring password whenever I reboot each of the
15 > systems?
16 >
17 > Is this the best way to get email alerts from my various systems to my
18 > email address?
19 >
20
21 I switched to msmtp when nbsmtp was treecleaned. The switch was
22 uneventful; it just works, which is high praise.
23
24 You can't encrypt your password unless you're going to be physically
25 present to decrypt it (with some other password). If your machine is
26 physically secure, you can just make the msmtp config file read-only to
27 yourself. If someone can log in as you, they can get your password
28 anyway. There's only a risk if e.g. you're not root, or someone else can
29 get root (access to grub) or walk off with the hard drive.
30
31 If you're worried about either of those scenarios, set up a separate
32 account for your email alerts.

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-user] ssmtp alternatives: msmtp vs. dma Grant <emailgrant@×××××.com>