bsd-mailx command not found

In this troubleshooting guide we learn how to fix bsd-mailx command not found error message

Introduction

When you run more command in linux terminal / console, you get the following error message

bsd-mailx: command not found

or when using sudo you get the following error message

sudo: bsd-mailx: command not found

Solutions to bsd-mailx: command not found

How To Fix bsd-mailx: command not found in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux / Raspbian

In Ubuntu bsd-mailx is provided by bsd-mailx package.

bsd-mailx is:

bsd-mailx is the traditional simple command-line-mode mail user agent. Even if you don’t use it, it may be required by other programs.

The /usr/bin/mail command provided by this package is a very simple one, and does not include many features that can be found in more advanced mail user agents.

For example bsd-mailx DOES NOT support:

  • MIME (i.e. no attachments, no UTF-8 or other charsets support);
  • SMTP protocol (/usr/sbin/sendmail interface only is used);
  • POP3/IMAP (bsd-mailx reads local mailboxes only);
  • maildir format (traditional mbox only format is supported).

If the above features are needed, please consider installing another package providing similar /usr/bin/mail interface:

  • s-nail package,
  • or mailutils package.

To fix this problem, we can install more using the command below.

sudo apt-get -y install bsd-mailx

This command might take some time to finish depending on your machine internet connection.

You can also use apt command to install bsd-mailx.

sudo apt -y install bsd-mailx

Or if you have aptitude installed you can use the following command.

sudo aptitude install bsd-mailx

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to fix bsd-mailx command not found error in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux or Raspbian distribution.