mail() not working

rivka

I have a bit of code that e-mails a password to a site user. This bit of code is working on a dozen different servers with no problems...except for one. I've looked at the guy's PHP settings, and can't see anything wrong. His server host says it's not their fault, that they've changed no settings. I think this is incorrect -- this part of the script was working fine on this guy's server up until two days ago, and I have made zero changes to it. Here's the snippet of code:

$subject = "New Password for $sitename";
$mailtext = "Hello, you appear to have requested a new password for $sitename. Your new password is:\n\nPassword: $pass\n\nIt is recommended that you go to Your Account and change the password to something easier for you to remember.";

mail($email, $subject,"Reply-To: $siteemail\r\n","From: $siteemail\r\n" . $mailtext);

$email and other variables are pulled from earlier parts in the code, and I've checked to confirm that those variables do actually exist. Anyway, like I said, it's working on several other servers with no problems. What should I tell this guy to tell his server host to look into? Or is it a problem with the code? Is there anything else I can try that might work? Am ready to start beating my head against the wall in frustration, as this fellow claims that his server host must be correct, that it is a problem with the script, and that I must fix this problem...

cgraz

You have the parameters for mail in the wrong order

mail(to, subject, msg, headers)

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mail.php

Cgraz

rivka

The headers are included in the third parameter section, concatenated before the $mailtext as part of the message -- I found that was working better than putting the headers in the 4th parameter.

rivka

And I just tried a very simplified version of the mail code on his server:

mail($email, $subject, "test");

and nothing is going through...

cgraz

Where are $email and $subject coming from? Are you sure they have values (have you echo()'d them?) If from a form, with a method of POST, make sure to use

$_POST['email']

etc

This server may have globals set to off (as php defaults to)

Cgraz

rivka

$email and other variables are pulled from earlier parts in the code, and I've checked to confirm that those variables do actually exist

I already echoed to confirm that the variables did actually contain values. I know for a fact that register_globals is on.

The person in question just signed up for a new webhost. The script worked just fine with the new host. I would like to know why it's not working with his current host, though.

My main thought is that somehow sendmail is not setup to work with whatever his server is running as (i.e. "nobody"). That's all I could come up with so far. What is weird is that, like I said, it was working on this server before, and now is not. I really think they must have modified some settings somewhere, but what those settings might be, I don't know.

cgraz

i'd contact the host and see what they say.

or run a phpinfo() to check the settings. I don't know much about the sendmail settings though, but if you're familiar with it at all (or do some googling) you should be able to find the problem.

Cgraz