How to Install Slimta on NixOS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Slimta on NixOS, a minimalistic Python based SMTP server for delivering email. Slimta is simple to use and has robust SMTP compliance.

Prerequisites

Before beginning to install Slimta on NixOS, ensure you have the following:

• A NixOS operating system.
• An active internet connection.
• A user account with sudo access.

Step 1: Update the system

Before installing Slimta, update your NixOS system to ensure that all the packages and dependencies are up-to-date.

sudo nix-channel --update
sudo nixos-rebuild switch

Step 2: Install Python

Since Slimta is based on Python, you will need to install it to run Slimta. You can install Python by running the following command:

sudo nix-env -i python

Step 3: Install Slimta

Now that we have installed Python, we can install Slimta using Pip3, which is the package installer for Python3.

sudo pip3 install slimta

Step 4: Configuration

Now that Slimta is installed, we must configure it before we can use it.

Create a configuration file named slimta.cfg in the /etc directory using your preferred text editor.

sudo nano /etc/slimta.cfg

Add the following SMTP configuration information in the file and adjust it to fit your setup.

  smtp:
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 8025

Ensure to save the file after making the edits.

Step 5: Test Slimta

To test Slimta, we can send an email using the telnet command. Run the following command in your terminal:

telnet 127.0.0.1 8025

After establishing a connection to the server with telnet, enter the following command to start the email message:

mail from: yourself@example.com

Then enter the TO email address:

rcpt to: recipient@example.com

Then enter the email message data in the following command:

data

Enter the message and include a period (.) at the end of the message.

Hello,

This is an email message from Slimta.

.

Finally, enter the QUIT command to exit the telnet session:

quit

Conclusion

You have now successfully installed Slimta on NixOS and tested it with the telnet command. Slimta is a robust and minimalistic Python SMTP server that is compliant with the SMTP protocol. With some configuration and customization, you can use Slimta to send and receive emails securely.

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