git-send-email: add option to specify sendmail command

The sendemail.smtpServer configuration option and --smtp-server command
line option both support using a sendmail-like program to send emails by
specifying an absolute file path. However, this is not ideal for the
following reasons:

1. It overloads the meaning of smtpServer (now a program is being used
   for the server?)
2. It doesn't allow for non-absolute paths, arguments, or arbitrary
   scripting

Requiring an absolute path is bad for portability, as the same program
may be in different locations on different systems. If a user wishes to
pass arguments to their program, they have to use the smtpServerOption
option, which is cumbersome (as it must be repeated for each option) and
doesn't adhere to normal git conventions.

Introduce a new configuration option sendemail.sendmailCmd as well as a
command line option --sendmail-cmd that can be used to specify a command
(with or without arguments) or shell expression to run to send email.
The name of this option is consistent with --to-cmd and --cc-cmd. This
invocation honors the user's $PATH so that absolute paths are not
necessary. Arbitrary shell expressions are also supported, allowing
users to do basic scripting.

Give this option a higher precedence over --smtp-server and
sendemail.smtpServer, as the new interface is more flexible. For
backward compatibility, continue to support absolute paths in
--smtp-server and sendemail.smtpServer.

Signed-off-by: Gregory Anders <greg@gpanders.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
index 93708ae..3db4eab 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
@@ -167,6 +167,14 @@ Sending
 	`sendemail.envelopeSender` configuration variable; if that is
 	unspecified, choosing the envelope sender is left to your MTA.
 
+--sendmail-cmd=<command>::
+	Specify a command to run to send the email. The command should
+	be sendmail-like; specifically, it must support the `-i` option.
+	The command will be executed in the shell if necessary.  Default
+	is the value of `sendemail.sendmailcmd`.  If unspecified, and if
+	--smtp-server is also unspecified, git-send-email will search
+	for `sendmail` in `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH.
+
 --smtp-encryption=<encryption>::
 	Specify the encryption to use, either 'ssl' or 'tls'.  Any other
 	value reverts to plain SMTP.  Default is the value of
@@ -211,13 +219,16 @@ a password is obtained using 'git-credential'.
 
 --smtp-server=<host>::
 	If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use (e.g.
-	`smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address).  Alternatively it can
-	specify a full pathname of a sendmail-like program instead;
-	the program must support the `-i` option.  Default value can
-	be specified by the `sendemail.smtpServer` configuration
-	option; the built-in default is to search for `sendmail` in
-	`/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such program is
-	available, falling back to `localhost` otherwise.
+	`smtp.example.com` or a raw IP address).  If unspecified, and if
+	`--sendmail-cmd` is also unspecified, the default is to search
+	for `sendmail` in `/usr/sbin`, `/usr/lib` and $PATH if such a
+	program is available, falling back to `localhost` otherwise.
++
+For backward compatibility, this option can also specify a full pathname
+of a sendmail-like program instead; the program must support the `-i`
+option.  This method does not support passing arguments or using plain
+command names.  For those use cases, consider using `--sendmail-cmd`
+instead.
 
 --smtp-server-port=<port>::
 	Specifies a port different from the default port (SMTP