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Running Oracle Linux 5.8 (which is just re-branded RedHat EL 5.8) I must change the From address. But we have scripts that use mailx which cannot be re-written to use any extra flags, so I'd like to use internal variables instead, which I see on the linux.die.net manpage on mailx is an alternative to the -r flag:

-r address
Sets the From address. Overrides any from variable specified in environment or startup files. Tilde escapes are disabled. The -r address options are passed to the mail transfer agent unless SMTP is used. This option exists for compatibility only; it is recommended to set the from variable directly instead.

(Source: http://linux.die.net/man/1/mailx)

How can we use these mailx variables? I tried adding this to /root/.mailrc, no go:

set [email protected]

I also added that to /etc/mail.rc with no gold. So I am turning to you, SuperUsers...

5 Answers 5

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I just tested this in Ubuntu 14.04 and using the -S parameter worked for me:

-S variable[=value]
          Sets the internal option variable and, in case of a string option, assigns value to it.

So, the following command sets the from address to "[email protected]":

echo "This is my test" | mail -S from="[email protected]" -s "This is my subject" "[email protected]"
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Neither using -r nor setting the from variable worked in my environment.

I always got something like:

send-mail: 550 5.7.1 ... Invalid from address ....

What worked for me was adding an sSMTP alias to /etc/ssmtp/revaliases, e.g.

accountname:[email protected]:smtp.example.com

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I'm sure versions matter, but I just struggled with this very problem on RH Server 6.7, having misread the mailx manpage, but eventually I got ~/.mailrc to work.

set [email protected]
set [email protected]

doing both from and replyto is probably unnecessary, but if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing!

1

To add to Richard Betel's answer, you can also specify a full email address in .mailrc, like:

set from="John Smith <[email protected]>"
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Apparently it's not possible to set a mailx variable to do this. This is done with a Sendmail (or equivalent MTA) configuration. But unfortunately no Sendmail configuration was workable for us, and we have to use the -r flag.

1
  • Debian 9 stretch, mailx: option -r works, option -S not available Apr 21, 2018 at 14:40

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