Let’s use my email address as the exapmle: eric[at]zhiqiangma.info
First add a new account in Pidgin. The configure the new account like this:
Basic Tab:

Protocol: XMPP
Username: eric (First half of Email address)
Domain: zhiqiangma.info (Second half of Email address)
Resource: gmail.com

Advanced Tab:

Connect port: 5222
Connect server: talk.google.com
File transfer proxies: proxy.eu.jabber.org

First, find out Fixforx’s profile directory in the home directory (I believe most of the users on Linux use Firefox. If you are not using Firefox, what you need to do is try it ;) . It has a format like this:

~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default

xxxxxxxx is a random string that’s different for different users. You can easily find it out by looking into the directory ~/.mozilla/firefox.

There are two ways to do this: using all-in-one command or putting configurations into profile. The all-in-one-command way needs no other configurations except the command line itself, while the way using configuration has a clearer command.

All-in-one command

This is an all-in-one command that sends email to $TO_EMAIL_ADDRESS

mailx -v -s "$EMAIL_SUBJECT"
-S smtp-use-starttls
-S ssl-verify=ignore
-S smtp-auth=login
-S smtp=smtp://smtp.gmail.com:587
-S from="$FROM_EMAIL_ADDRESS($FRIENDLY_NAME)"
-S smtp-auth-user=$FROM_EMAIL_ADDRESS
-S smtp-auth-password=$EMAIL_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD
-S ssl-verify=ignore
-S nss-config-dir=~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/
$TO_EMAIL_ADDRESS

Replace the $XXX with the value that is actually used. The meaning is obvious. And remember to change xxxxxxxx to the string that’s part of the Firefox profile directory.

This command will ask for the email content. Type in the mail content and after finishing the email, use “Ctrl+d” to tell mailx you have finished. Then this mail will be sent out through gmail’s smtp server. You can also use pipe like this:

echo "The mail content" | mail -v -s ...

Use configuration file

There are too many options in the above command? Yes… I must confess so. We can write most of them into mailx/mail’s configuration file ~/.mailrc

set smtp-use-starttls
set nss-config-dir=~/.mozilla/firefox/xxxxxxxx.default/
set ssl-verify=ignore
set smtp=smtp://smtp.gmail.com:587
set smtp-auth=login
set smtp-auth-user=$FROM_EMAIL_ADDRESS
set smtp-auth-password=$EMAIL_ACCOUNT_PASSWORD
set from="$FROM_EMAIL_ADDRESS($FRIENDLY_NAME)"

Change the $XXX and xxxxxxx to the right value for you. When sending mails, use this command:

mailx -v -s "$EMAIL_SUBJECT" $TO_EMAIL_ADDRESS

Then, time to enjoy it!

Update history Mar. 11 2010 Apr. 29 2010. Add title. Jul. 12, 2010. Revise the article. Jul. 26, 2010. Add highlight colour to pre tags.

sending-email-from-mailx-command-in-linux-using-gmails-smtp/

在~/.mailrc中设置如下:

set smtp-use-starttls
set nss-config-dir=~/.mozilla/firefox/9jkisjeo.default
set ssl-verify=ignore
set smtp=smtp://smtp.gmail.com:587
set smtp-auth=login
set smtp-auth-user=USER_NAME@gmail.com
set smtp-auth-password=PASSWORD
set from="USERNAME@gmail.com(NAME)"
# sendwait

nss-config-dir中设置为自己相关的firefox目录, 要使用到其中的cert8.db等几个文件.
很明显了.

==========================

其实我配置smtp.gmail.com主要看中可能利用shell来批量发送邮件.
这是我的一个批量上传文件的脚本:

#!/bin/bash

# transfer many files via attachment
# you must set up mailx to be able to email

# author Eric Z.Q. Ma eric.zq.ma@gmail.com
# Feb. 25 2009

echo "Please enter the message sent with mail:"
read message
echo "Please enter the email address you mail to:"
read address
# echo Please enter the email address to reply:
# read reply

if [[ $address == "" ]]
then
    address="username@gmail.com"
fi

# if [[ $reply == "" ]]
# then
#     rreply=""
# else
#    rreply="-r $reply"
# fi

echo "Please select the transfer type:"
echo "1. wait for the last email transferred before transfer another one."
echo "2. transfer several emails at one time and wait a constant time."
read transferType                                                                                                                                    

WAIT_COUNT=-1
WAIT_TIME=0
# set envs
sendwait=no

if [[ $transferType == 2 ]]
then
    echo "Please enter the number of mails transfer at one time:"
    read WAIT_COUNT
    echo "Please enter the time for waiting (s):"
    read WAIT_TIME
# set envs
    sendwait=yes
fi

echo "Transfer begins."

count=0

until [[ $1 == "" ]]
do
    file="$1"
    # echo $file
    if [ -f "$file" ]
    then
        echo "mail  $file  to  $address"  # from  $reply
#       echo "$file -- $message" | mailx -s "$file -- $message" -a "$file"  $rreply $address
        echo "$file -- $message" | env sendwait=$sendwait mailx -s "$file -- $message" -a "$file" $address
    fi
    let "count=count+1"
    if [[ $count == $WAIT_COUNT ]]
    then
        count=0
        echo "Wait $WAIT_TIME seconds to transfer the last $WAIT_COUNT mails."
        echo ""
        sleep $WAIT_TIME
    fi
    shift
done