On 12/05/2012 12:28 AM, Grant wrote: > I was setting up ssmtp but I realized it isn't being maintained and > there are a couple of alternatives called msmtp and dma. Can anyone > recommend one of these over the other? > > I don't like how ssmtp stores the mail password in clear text in its > config file. It looks like msmtp can pull the password from gpg: > > msmtp --passwordeval 'gpg -d mypwfile.gpg' > > I don't have much experience with gpg. Does this mean I can store the > mail password encrypted on each of my systems so it can be used in an > automated fashion to get mail onto my mail server? Do I need to start > gpg-agent and enter a gpg keyring password whenever I reboot each of the > systems? > > Is this the best way to get email alerts from my various systems to my > email address? >
I switched to msmtp when nbsmtp was treecleaned. The switch was uneventful; it just works, which is high praise. You can't encrypt your password unless you're going to be physically present to decrypt it (with some other password). If your machine is physically secure, you can just make the msmtp config file read-only to yourself. If someone can log in as you, they can get your password anyway. There's only a risk if e.g. you're not root, or someone else can get root (access to grub) or walk off with the hard drive. If you're worried about either of those scenarios, set up a separate account for your email alerts.
