Email reports

Send ad-hoc text or files by email about a managed server.

 ❯ Email me the output of "df -h" from app.example.com
 ❯ Mail /var/log/auth.log to ops@example.com

Where mail comes from

• The first email per host asks where to send from — your workstation or the server itself — and can remember the answer.
• On the server, Hostwarden uses sendmail, msmtp or a running postfix, OpenSMTPD or Exim; mail or mailx alone does not count.
• When none is there, it asks before installing one, and picks one that queues the mail — nullmailer, dma or postfix as a null client — so a relay that is down for a minute does not lose a report; msmtp only when you ask for it.
• Nothing is installed on a Mac or on your workstation.
• It sends as a non-root user when possible.

Attachments

Attachments are checked for readability and size, get a content preview before sending, and a file that likely holds a secret is refused by default.

Every message

Every message closes with a greeting and a signature naming Hostwarden and the operator, both overridable in memory/user.md, and carries the headers that keep out-of-office and vacation auto-replies from answering it.