How to send the output from a cronjob to multiple e-mail addresses?

Question

In the beginning of a crontab file you can use the MAILTO instruction to indicate you want the output to be sent as an e-mail to an e-mail address. I would like to send the output to multiple addresses. Is it possible (and how) to specify multiple addresses?

Thanks! Boaz

Answer 1

It may differ depending exactly which cron daemon package you use, but this is from the manpage of Vixie Cron on Ubuntu Hardy:

If MAILTO is defined (and non-empty), mail is sent to the user so named. MAILTO may also be used to direct mail to multiple recipients by separating recipient users with a comma. If MAILTO is defined but empty (MAILTO=""), no mail will be sent. Otherwise mail is sent to the owner of the crontab.

If you're not using Vixie Cron, or aren't sure, try the manual page for the crontab file: man 5 crontab

Answer 2

Except capturing the output in the program being run by crond and emailing it directly from there, it's not really possible (at least to my knowledge. Forthcoming comments may prove otherwise!)

A good workaround might be a .forward file on that user account which sends mail to the appropriate addresses.

Answer 3

The best answer is probably to either check your man pages for your distro's current version of cron/crontab to see if there's something that can be done with the MAILTO parameter or specify a mail address that in turn forwards mail to multiple addresses for you.

Answer 4

From man pages of crontab : "MAILTO may also be used to direct mail to multiple recipients by separating recipient users with a comma"

Answer 5

As an alternative to above answers, you can send it to a single address which is a mail group. This works especially well if you manage multiple servers since it is easier to manage addresses in the group on a mail server then in crontab of each individual server.