Tip

On BLAT, a command-line mailing utility

BLAT is a freeware command-line tool that sends the contents of a file, ASCII or binary, in an e-mail message using SMTP. The program is very small (36K), has no system type restrictions (it can be run on any Windows machine, server or workstation) and comes with full C++ source code as well.

There are many situations where a standalone system may need to periodically send e-mails of some kind -- warnings, updates, backup copies of files, and so on. On such a system the overhead involved in installing a full-fledged e-mail server may not be worth it, but a program like BLAT can do the job without unneeded excess baggage (especially if there are problems with licensing, etc). Options that can be passed to the program include port specification, number of retries, and multiple profiles.

BLAT's binary and source code can be downloaded

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here.

Other authors have also created separate implementations of BLAT, one as a .DLL which can be called in the context of a third-party application. This is useful for integration into an existing program, or as something called from a script. The .DLL version can be found here.

Development of BLAT is ongoing, and a discussion list has been created to talk about the program and further possible features.

Serdar Yegulalp is the editor of the Windows 2000 Power Users Newsletter. Check out his Windows 2000 blog for his latest advice and musings on the world of Windows network administrators – please share your thoughts as well!


This was first published in December 2003

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