exec-notify

• Send email notification if command fails with exec-notify.
• Send unconditional notifications with do-notify.

TODOs

* Send notification about unread local mail only once!

• add PKGBUILD

• Rename python module (and git repository?) to exec-notify

• Use subprocess_util > execute_print_capture

  • This way, the user can see the stdout/stderr while it is executed
  • And we can email the stdout/stderr if the process has failed

• New program flow:

  • Read configuration from /etc/exec-notify -> work_dir (default: ~/exec-notify)

  • Create file $work_dir / $start_date-$id.args with $args as content, e.g. ls foo bar

  • If one or more .exit_code files exists and $end_date of at least one .exit_code file is older than 1 minute, then try to send email

    • If email was sent:
      • delete corresponding .exit_code, .stdout, .stderr, .args
      • continue
    • Else:
      • continue

  • Execute $args and redirect stdout/stderr to $work_dir / $start_date-$id.{stdout,stderr}

  • If error occurred, create file $work_dir / $start_date-$id-$end-date.exit_code with content $exit_code

    • Then, send email and if successful delete .exit_code file

  • Delete .args, .stdout, .stderr files

  • If error was reported, exit(1), else exit(0)

Installation

Installation - global

Requires pip (e.g. pacman -S --needed python-pip).

Note: Make sure that pip is up-to-date and matches your python version:

python --version
#=> Python 3.10.1

pip --version
#=> pip 20.3.4 from /usr/lib/python3.10/site-packages/pip (python 3.10)

Then install with one of the following options:

sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall git+https://codeberg.org/privacy1st/exec-notify
sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade --force-reinstall .
sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade --index-url https://test.pypi.org/simple/ --no-deps de.p1st.exec-notify

Installation - venv

More detailed instructions about venv can be found at https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html

Create a venv:

python3 -m venv ~/exec-notify/venv

Activate the venv:

source ~/exec-notify/venv/bin/activate
# echo "VIRTUAL_ENV=${VIRTUAL_ENV}"

And choose one source of installation:

# Install from git URL
python3 -m pip install git+https://codeberg.org/privacy1st/exec-notify

# Install from local directory
python3 -m pip install ~/Downloads/git/exec-notify/

# Install the module from TestPyPI
python3 -m pip install --index-url https://test.pypi.org/simple/ --no-deps --upgrade de.p1st.exec-notify

Note about usage of TestPyPI and --no-deps:

Since TestPyPI doesn't have the same packages as the live PyPI, it's possible that attempting to install dependencies may fail or install something unexpected. While this package doesn't have any dependencies, it's a good practice to avoid installing dependencies when using TestPyPI.

(Optionally) list installed modules:

pip list

Configuration

Create configuration file /etc/exec-notify/cfg.ini:

install -Dm0600 /etc/exec-notify/cfg.ini << 'EOF'
[DEFAULT]

[mail]
host = smtp.example.com
port = 465
password = examplePassword

from = noreply@example.com
to = me@example.com

[file]
maildir = /home/exampleUser/mail/
EOF

See also: ./etc/exec-notify/cfg.ini.example

Usage

Usage of exec-notify

Add exec-notify in front of your command to execute.

Example:

exec-notify ls /non/existent/file will mail you the exit code, stdout and stderr of ls /non/existent/file

Usage of notify

Send stdout via mail:

echo "Hello world!" | do-notify

Send stdout and stderr via mail:

echo "Hello world!" 2>&1 | do-notify

Send stdout and specify an optional email subject:

echo "Hello world!" | do-notify "someSubject"

Send message without using a pipe:

do-notify "someSubject" "Hello World! What's up?"

Development

When started with environment variable DE_P1ST_EXEC_NOTIFY set, then the configuration file is read from ./etc/exec-notify/cfg.ini.

Testing

See heading "Installation" above with steps to locally install this module.

Uploading to TestPyPI

More detailed instructions can be found at https://packaging.python.org/tutorials/packaging-projects/

1. Set up a venv
2. Increase/Adjust [metadata][version] in setup.cfg
3. Install the build and twine modules to your venv.
4. Next generate a distribution archive:

python3 -m build

5. Upload the distribution packages with twine. For the username, use __token__. For the password, use a test.pypi.org API token:

python3 -m twine upload --repository testpypi dist/*

6. Congratulations! You can view the uploaded module under:

• https://test.pypi.org/project/exec_notify/