Send Emails from Linux with Gmail using msmtp

A clean, lightweight way to send emails from a Linux workstation using Gmail SMTP—perfect for cron jobs, scripts, and system alerts.

Install msmtp

sudo apt update
sudo apt install msmtp mailutils

Generate a Gmail App Password

To use Gmail’s SMTP server, you need an App Password (not your Gmail account password):

Go to: https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords

Configure msmtp

Create the ~/.msmtprc file:

Add the following configuration (replace with your Gmail address and App Password):

account default
host smtp.gmail.com
port 587
auth on
user yourname@gmail.com
password your_app_password
from yourname@gmail.com
tls on
tls_starttls on
tls_trust_file /etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
logfile ~/.msmtp.log

Set Secure File Permissions

chmod 600 ~/.msmtprc

Backup Existing sendmail (Optional)

sudo mv /usr/sbin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail.bak 2>/dev/null

Use msmtp as sendmail

sudo ln -s /usr/bin/msmtp /usr/sbin/sendmail

Send a Test Email

echo "This is a test email from msmtp." | mail -s "Test Email" recipient@example.com

Check the log if needed

cat ~/.msmtp.log