2010-07-15 Sending email from a Perl script

If you're on Debian or Ubuntu Linux and you want to send a quick e-mail from a Perl script, use the Email::Send module (this module has been superceded by the Email::Sender module, but that one doesn't seem to be present in the Debian Stable package repository yet).

First, install the appropriate packages:

 $ sudo apt-get install libemail-send-perl

Then use the following snippet:

 use Email::Send;

 my $message = <<'__MESSAGE__';
 To: bartvk@example.com
 From: bartvk@example.com
 Subject: This is a mail from a Perl script

 This is the body of an e-mail from a perlscript
 __MESSAGE__

 my $sender = Email::Send->new({mailer => 'Sendmail'});
 $sender->send($message);

Now go and use this wisely, my young padawan. Some observations:

1. You rely on Sendmail being present
   
2. You trust all input variables
   
3. You are not using HTML, attachments, or what have you