how to send notification (email, SMS, whatever) stealthy programacticly linux

Question

I have seen many of the posts relating to sending email under linux but they do not address my particular need.

I want to implement code (C/C++) in my linux application that will send me back some kind of notification (in a stealthy way) under a certain program condition. All it needs to send me is less than 50 bytes of status data. The only thing I am guarenteed is that the box will be on a local network which will have access to the Internet via the usual gateway.

One possibility would be to send me a text to my wireless carrier like this: mynumber@verizon_gateway.com. But that assumes that I have a mail client available on the linux box which is not a guarantee. If I programmed this at the socket layer directly using SMTP I would have to manage a TCP connection which is not what I prefer to do.

Any suggestions of what would be a possible way to send me a notification from my linux app?

Thanks,

-Andres

Answer 1

For email you could use something like SendGrid , specifically their WebAPI - this will allow you to send email with only a HTTP request.

For SMS you could use something like Nexmo , which will allow you to send an SMS with a HTTP request .

Note that you'll have to include your API credentials in the compiled code - a potental security issue (for your credentials).

Disclaimer: I do a bit of developer evangelism for Nexmo.