Trouble with mail()

Posted: Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:43 pm

Ok, this is a fairly common problem for nuke-users: My new users don't get the activation email. Period. This would of course mean that the won't be able to retrieve lost passwords either. So, in order to test if mail() was at least working, I uploaded the following script:

Quote:

<?
if (isset($submit)) $resultMsg = 'Mailed - This just means that the PHP mail() function is working.<br />If you do not receive the email, then there is probably something wrong with your SMTP setup.';
else $resultMsg = '';
echo "<form action=\"".$_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]."\" method=post>Input your email address to test";
echo "<br />";
echo "<input type=text name=addy size=50>";
echo "<br />";
echo "<br />";
echo "<input type=submit name=submit></form>";
if (isset($submit)&&!empty($addy)) {
unset($submit);
mail($addy,'Test message','Did you get this?') or die('ERROR');
echo($resultMsg);
unset($resultMsg);
die();
}
?>

But rather than receieve a success or die message, it appears to merely refresh, and I of course get no email.

Now, this is a bit out of my league, and I'm getting confused. I talked to my server admin/friend about activating mail(), and this is what he had to say (and I don't know what he's talking about Razz

):

Quote:

Him: qmail
Him: /usr/sbin/sendmail should exist as standard
Him: im assuming
Him: but im not sure Wink

Him: just check for /usr/bin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail etc
Me: k, because mail() wasn't working.
Him: oooh
Him: php mail() is probably not compiled in
Him: lol
Him: the problem is i dont see where mail() support is in the configuration
Him: i only see imap support
Me: o.0
Him: just dont use passthru(/usr/sbin/sendmail $var)
Him: please....

Like I said, I'm real unclear with what's going on....

So anyway, if anyone could offer ANY help or support, I would be eternally greatful. I'd rather get this working then use the "password question" hack.

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 3:01 am

Has your server ever been able to send mail? It may just not have the mail function enabled.

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 3:02 am

It's supposed to, but apparently the mail server's busted ass. Guess that would explain it, huh? Very Happy

Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 8:44 am

Yep I'd say so. They should get it fixed quickly since its a vital part of most websites.

If you still have trouble post fix let us know and we can try and help ya out there.

Worker Joined: Mar 30, 2006 Posts: 111

Here's a weird one. I just installed Raven 2.2 (7.6) and it was a great install! (nice job guys). Everything seamlessly configured and it appeared I was in the clear and ready to launch...until I tried a dummy registration - no mail sent. I tried a feedback...no mail sent...a resend...no mail. It just so happens that on the same server I have standard phpnuke install (7.6 patched to 3.2) and mail sends from that one, so I figure it's a pretty safe bet that mail() is installed and functioning correctly on this server and the problem must be within a not so obvious setting I've overlooked in Raven 2.2. Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

Thank you.

registered · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 5:55 pm

Have you looked in any spam folders?

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 6:09 pm

Yes, that was the first thing I checked, and there was nothing there. I also tried various accounts from different ISPs and none of them came through.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:05 am

Try going to the ACP and click on Tegonuke mailer. Make sure the activate mailer is turned off ... the system should then use mail(). If that doesn't work there are options but that would be the first thing to confirm I think.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:09 am

It's off.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:25 am

I'm waiting for a DNS prop to complete on the same server. Once done, I will install another copy of Raven 2.2 and test the mail feature again. I just finished installing a basic 7.6 install and the mail worked on that.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:06 am

Well we know that the mail() function works on RN 2.2 if the server is working correctly. The SMTP setup does take a bit of configuration and testing but basic mail() should be working fine.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 2:59 pm

There's no question that RN functions with mail() otherwise everyone and their brother would be posting here about it...there's just something screwy on my server with RN, or so it seems so far. I'll you know soon, as I am just now installing another copy of RN under a different domain on the same server.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:00 pm

For no reason at all (I made no server side changes) mail is now being sent. I'm so glad I upgraded my server - *sigh*. Thanks for the responses.

Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 4:54 pm

Something of interest, and hoping there is a solution - As I said, I tried using different email accounts from various providers to test the registration. Once I started getting mail, the hotmail account dropped it in the junk folder, my personal mail server delivered the mail without issue, and my primary ISP doesn't deliver it all (it appears they delete anything that resembles spam).

Now, regarding the basic nuke install (patched 3.2) that registration email gets through my ISP filter (it's a .org), while the other two are .com

Since a lot of my prospective users will likely be using the same primary ISP as I (local site), is there something I can tweak to make the email more acceptable to filters?

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:37 pm

Was the last inquiry just too dumb to respond to, or is there no real way to make our activation and notification mailers more acceptable to filters?

Perhaps there's a definitive post already on this topic that I was unable to find using my search criteria?

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:00 pm

Sorry for the delay. Please have a little patience. You are asking a good question and one I don't know the answer to. But the people with real expertise here are very busy and it could take them a day or two or three to get to your question especially since it is only tangentially related to core Ravennuke. I would hazard a guess that a lot of ISP's don't want to publish their filter rules because then the spammers would know easily how to circumvent them. Kind of a permutation of "security by obscurity".

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:16 pm

I completely understand and certainly do not wish to appear impatient, and if I do - I apologize!!

I have set up a website for a high school tennis team and their parents (it's free, so I'm just trying to do something nice for the kids). I want them to have a safe place to post ideas and coordinate events, and that requires the registrations so I can keep the forums and such locked down. They are excited about it and eager to see it working.

Thank you for responding, at least I know my question wasn't absolutely foolish and unworthy of consideration.

In the meantime I have installed Approve Membership Lite, and so far that is getting them registered, but some notifications are not getting through, so I still have the same issue to resolve, though a little less urgent. Again, thanks for the response.

Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:04 pm

Thanks. I run a bicycle club web site in my real life (Oh, who knows what "real" is?, so I should say another life). A guy who helps me with it runs a web site for teen age athletes too. The requirement to have better control over registrations and to be able to "lock down"access is pretty well understood. It's just hard to do with *nuke. Approve Membership, both in its full and in the lite version is a very good attempt.

I believe that with RNYA (Ravennuke Your Account) which is based on CNBYA, and coming in an August time frame, you will have much better capabilities in this regard. Led by Kguske, we are testing and refining it as I write. However, the notification issue you are speaking of will NOT go away because that is not within the purview of any web site software. I can't say this for sure, but it is also possible that some of the Tegonuke mailer software that Montego built into the 2.20 versions of RN might help, if properly configured. The gist of this issue is that when you send an email from myadminname@mysite.com but it really appears to come from mywebserver@mywebserver.net to the mail recipient software, a lot of spam filters might kick off. With Tegonuke, I think, you can set it up so the email appears more "consistent" to the recipient software and thus avoids tripping spam filters. But honestly I might have this all wrong.

registered · Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:44 am

jazzfuser, you might want to give the TegoNuke(tm) Mailer a try. Try turning that on and just let it use the standard PHP Mail() function (this is the default setting).

Standard nuke code is very old as well as the way it formats the mail headers. The Mailer uses Swift Mailer underneath the covers and it is a much more robust mailer and is RFC compliant for the headers.

I would definitely be interested in hearing back as to whether that helps or not.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:20 am

The activation mailers are getting through using that method. I'll update you on other notifications soon.

The activations might be getting through because I contacted my ISP yesterday and gave them a sample, so it is possible they adjusted the filter. Either way, things are looking up!

Thanks

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 9:51 am

disappointing news - reply and pm notifications are not getting though.

To be sure I did this right; in Tego, turn activate to "on", then select "mail()", yes?

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:52 am

Well, unfortunately, the Forums uses its own mailer script. You might want to give SMTP a try and set that up in the Forums --> Configuration.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:47 am

I will give it a try. Thanks montego, and all who have kindly offered advice!