Initially reported via downstream bug report https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1117938:

Currently, a process of migration from cron to systemd timers (fate#323635) is in progress (see boo#1115430 for openSUSE and bsc#1115399 for SLE tracker bugs).

Packagers who are dealing with the upgrade raised a question about a MAILTO function - how to set up systemd to send an email when a unit fails. As cron had this feature, they would like to preserve this mechanism.

Arch Linux brings a solution [1] using a shell script using e.g. sendmail and a service for starting the executable.

Does it make any sense to you to pack this solution within the systemd package? Or should we encourage users to create these scripts on their own? Or do you see any better solution?

Thank you!

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Systemd/Timers#MAILTO

This leads to a more general question I think: should systemd provide a basic notification infrastructure so users are not forced to install a log monitoring software which might be too cumbersome for simply getting a notification when a unit fails for instance.