daemail 0.5.0

Daemonize a command and e-mail the results

GitHub | PyPI | Issues

daemail (pronounced “DEE-mayl”, like “e-mail” but with a D) is a Python script for running a normally-foreground command in the background and e-mailing its output (by default, the combined stdout and stderr) once it’s done. It should work in both Python 2.7 and Python 3.2+, the only external dependencies being the python-daemon package and the ubiquitous six package.

Installation

Just use pip (You have pip, right?) to install daemail and its dependencies:

pip install daemail

Usage

daemail [-C|--chdir <directory>]
        [-D|--dead-letter <mbox>]
        [-e|--encoding <encoding>]
        [-E|--stderr-encoding <encoding>]
        [-f|--from|--from-addr <address>]
        [-F|--failure-only]
        [-l|--logfile <logfile>]
        [-M|--mime-type|--mime <mime-type>]
        [-n|--nonempty]
        [--no-stdout]
        [--no-stderr]
        [-S|--split]
        [--stdout-filename <filename>]
        [-Z|--utc]
        -t|--to|--to-addr <address>  [-t|--to|--to-addr <address> ...]
        [<send options>]
        <command> [<arg> ...]

where <send options> is one of:

-s|--sendmail <command>  # default

--mbox <mbox>

--smtp-host <host>
    [--smtp-port <port>]
    [--smtp-username <username>]
    [--smtp-password <password> | --smtp-password-file <file> | --netrc | --netrc-file <file>]
    [--smtp-ssl | --smtp-starttls]

Options

• -C <directory>, --chdir <directory> — Change to <directory> after daemonizing but before running <command>; defaults to the current directory

• -D <mbox>, --dead-letter <mbox> — If an error occurs when trying to send, append the e-mail (including a description of the error) to the file <mbox>; defaults to dead.letter. If the file already exists, it must be a valid mbox file.

• -e <encoding>, --encoding <encoding> — Expect the stdout (and stderr, if --split is not in effect) of <command> to be in the given encoding; defaults to the preferred encoding returned by Python’s locale.getpreferredencoding. If decoding fails, the output will be attached to the e-mail as an application/octet-stream file named “stdout”.

  When --mime-type or --stdout-filename is also given, this option has no effect other than to set the default value for --stderr-encoding.

• -E <encoding>, --stderr-encoding <encoding> — Expect the stderr of <command> to be in the given encoding; defaults to the value specified via --encoding or its default. If decoding fails, the stderr output will be attached to the e-mail as an application/octet-stream file named “stderr”.

  This option only has an effect when --split is given, either implicitly or explicitly.

• -f <address>, --from <address>, --from-addr <address> — Set the From: address of the e-mail. The address may be given in either the form “[e-mail]” or “Real Name <[e-mail]>.” If not specified, daemail will not set the From: header and will expect the mail command or SMTP server to do it instead.

• --from-name <name> — Deprecated; set the “real name” in the argument to --from-addr instead

• -F, --failure-only — Only send an e-mail if the command failed to run or exited with a nonzero status

• -l <logfile>, --logfile <logfile> — If an unexpected & unhandleable fatal error occurs after daemonization, append a report to <logfile>; defaults to daemail.log

  • Such an error is a deficiency in the program; please report it!

• -s <command>, --sendmail <command> — Send e-mail by passing the message on stdin to <command> (executed via the shell, in the directory specified with --chdir or its default); default command: sendmail -i -t. This is the default if neither --mbox nor --smtp-host is specified.

• --mbox <mbox> — “Send” e-mail by appending it to the mbox file <mbox>

• -M <mime-type>, --mime-type <mime-type>, --mime <mime-type> — Attach the standard output of <command> to the e-mail as an inline attachment with the given MIME type. The MIME type may include parameters, e.g., --mime-type "text/html; charset=utf-16". If --stdout-filename is not also supplied, the attachment is named “stdout”. Implies --split.

• -n, --nonempty — Do not send an e-mail if the command exited successfully and both the command’s stdout & stderr were empty or not captured

• --no-stdout — Don’t capture the command’s stdout; implies --split

• --no-stderr — Don’t capture the command’s stderr; implies --split

• --smtp-host <host> — Send e-mail via SMTP, connecting to the given host. --smtp-host may be accompanied by the following options:

  • --smtp-port <port> — Connect to <host> on the given port; defaults to 25, or to 465 if --smtp-ssl is specified

  • --smtp-username <username> — Authenticate to the SMTP server using the given username. If a username is supplied (either on the command line or in a netrc file) but no password is, daemail will prompt the user for the SMTP password before daemonizing.

  • --smtp-password <password> — Authenticate to the SMTP server using the given password

  • --smtp-password-file <file> — Authenticate to the SMTP server using the contents of the given file (after removing the final line ending) as the password

  • --netrc — Fetch the SMTP username and/or password from ~/.netrc. If --smtp-username specifies a different username for the host than is given in the netrc file, the netrc file is ignored.

  • --netrc-file <file> — Like --netrc, but use the given file instead of ~/.netrc

  • --smtp-ssl — Use the SMTPS protocol to communicate with the server

  • --smtp-starttls — Use the SMTP protocol with the STARTTLS extension to communicate with the server

• -S, --split — Capture the command’s stdout and stderr separately rather than as a single stream

• --stdout-filename <filename> — Attach the standard output of <command> to the e-mail as an inline attachment with the given filename. If --mime-type is not also supplied, the MIME type of the attachment is deduced from the file extension, falling back to application/octet-stream for unknown extensions. Implies --split.

• -t <address>, --to <address>, --to-addr <address> — Set the recipient of the e-mail. The address may be given in either the form “[e-mail]” or “Real Name <[e-mail]>.”

  • This option is required. It may be given multiple times in order to specify multiple recipients.

• --to-name <name> — Deprecated; set the “real name” in the argument to --to-addr instead

• -Z, --utc — Show start & end times in UTC instead of local time

Caveats

• Input cannot be piped to the command, as standard input is closed when daemonizing. If you really need to pass data on standard input, run a shell, e.g.:

  daemail bash -c 'command < file'

  or:

  daemail bash -c 'command | other-command'