Mailing from the command line?

This seems to me a simple problem, but I have looked seemingly
everywhere for a solution and not found one. I simply want to be able
to e-mail from the command line, just the way mozilla does; that is,
connect to an SMTP server, send it my login and password, and give the
message to the MTA that lives on the server. I was under the impression
I needed the mail program, but I can't figure out how to set the SMTP
server. I think what I need is a combined MUA and MDA and that I want
to avoid tangling with an MTA like sendmail, but I'm not sure. Numerous
google hits assume that I am running my own e-mail server, which I am
not going to touch; to much complication for the life of a student.

Can anyone spare what I'm sure is an obvious answer?

-Steve

(put the HHGTTG galactic president's last name in the subject line to
e-mail me personally)

> This seems to me a simple problem, but I have looked seemingly
> everywhere for a solution and not found one. I simply want to be able
> to e-mail from the command line, just the way mozilla does; that is,
> connect to an SMTP server, send it my login and password, and give the
> message to the MTA that lives on the server. I was under the
> impression I needed the mail program, but I can't figure out how to
> set the SMTP server. I think what I need is a combined MUA and MDA
> and that I want to avoid tangling with an MTA like sendmail, but I'm
> not sure. Numerous google hits assume that I am running my own e-mail
> server, which I am not going to touch; to much complication for the
> life of a student.
>
> Can anyone spare what I'm sure is an obvious answer?

Look for either the "mail" or "mailx" commands...

These are command line programs that talk to the SMTP server for you...
--
(reverse (concatenate 'string "moc.liamg" "@" "enworbbc"))
http://cbbrowne.com/info/
If we were meant to fly, we wouldn't keep losing our luggage.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> This seems to me a simple problem, but I have looked seemingly
> everywhere for a solution and not found one. I simply want to be able
> to e-mail from the command line, just the way mozilla does; that is,
> connect to an SMTP server, send it my login and password, and give the
> message to the MTA that lives on the server. I was under the impression
> I needed the mail program, but I can't figure out how to set the SMTP
> server. I think what I need is a combined MUA and MDA and that I want
> to avoid tangling with an MTA like sendmail, but I'm not sure. Numerous
> google hits assume that I am running my own e-mail server, which I am
> not going to touch; to much complication for the life of a student.
>
> Can anyone spare what I'm sure is an obvious answer?
>
> -Steve
>
> (put the HHGTTG galactic president's last name in the subject line to
> e-mail me personally)

the best solution is to use the nail program
it's fully compatible with mailx ( or mail ) and could be configured to
use an smtp server without the need of a local smtp server