# FreeBSD mail From: override sender name



## bagas (Nov 3, 2022)

Hello.
Monitoring script.
Mailing function.
How to override the sender name?
On Linux script works.


> mail -s "Sites is works $DT." -aFrom:info@mon.tes.com $MAIL < sh/tes_s_check/up.txt


The mail utility does not have the -a option on a FreeBSD system.
I did not find.:


> -a, --append=HEADER: VALUE append given header to the message being sent


How to on system FreeBSD utilit mail* From: override sender name?*


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## zirias@ (Nov 3, 2022)

Instead of using a tool like mail(1), feed the mail directly to your local MTA, which accepts a whole mail including headers on standard input. It's called `sendmail` by convention, even when provided by a different software, so this will work on any system that has a local MTA installed:

```
#!/bin/sh

SENDMAIL=/usr/sbin/sendmail
FROM=${1:-foo@bar.invalid}
TO=${2:-info}

${SENDMAIL} ${TO} <<EOF
From: ${FROM}
To: ${TO}
Subject: Test

foo bar baz!
.
EOF
```

Also note the From header is not the same as the sender. From is what's written _inside_ the mail, while the sender is what's e.g. used in SMTP dialogs (and added as a return-address to the mail before final delivery). If you want to change the sender as well, use the `-f` option to `sendmail`. But be aware this might be rejected, depending on the configuration of your MTA.


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## bagas (Nov 3, 2022)

zirias@ said:


> Also note the From header is not the same as the sender. From is what's written _inside_ the mail, while the sender is what's e.g. used in SMTP dialogs (and added as a return-address to the mail before final delivery). If you want to change the sender as well, use the `-f` option to `sendmail`. But be aware this might be rejected, depending on the configuration of your MTA.


I know about sendmail.


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## zirias@ (Nov 3, 2022)

Uhm, what you quoted wasn't about sendmail specifically, more about Email in general, plus the `sendmail` CLI, which is quasi-standard for an MTA (e.g. dma(8), exim, postfix all implement it). As you were talking about the "sender" while refering to the `From:` header, I _assumed_ there _might_ be some confusion  – if there isn't and you're fine with something different in `From:` than in the actual sender, perfect, then I guess you have your solution?


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## bakul (Nov 3, 2022)

You can specify "-f sender" *after* the recipient address.


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