Using msmtp as a Lightweight SMTP Client

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Feb 8, 2011

“Last week, I covered OfflineIMAP to sync IMAP for use with Mutt
or other applications. Continuing with that theme, I want to talk
about another tool I use with Mutt to handle the opposite problem
— actually pushing mail to an SMTP server. Let’s take a look at
msmtp.

“Mutt is a fantastic mailer for admins, but it doesn’t do SMTP.
It expects that to be done by an Mail Transport Agent (MTA).
Usually, this is something like Sendmail or Postfix, and that makes
sense when they’re living on the same system. But it comes to
running Mutt on a laptop or desktop, many admins have better things
to do with their time than to set up a full-blown MTA. You may not
even be running your own mail services in-house, so why dust off
the Sendmail or Postfix documentation just to set up a personal
MTA?

“Actually, you can configure msmtp on the user level or the
system level — so if you want to set up a very lightweight
Sendmail replacement for a system, msmtp should do the job.”


Complete Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.