[RESOLVED] mail function failure

Dev_M_nX

Hi there,

I have an interesting problem, and cannot for the life of me figure this one out... its probably real simple.

                    $headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
                    $headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
// the original "From: xyz" was pulled out, but replaced with one that mimics the original as exactly as possible
                    $headers .= 'From: abc@defg-hijklm.no' . "\r\n";
// the original $to = 'xyz'; was pulled out, but replaced with one that mimics the original as exactly as possible
                    $to = 'abcd3fgh111@lmnop.qr.st';
                    $subject = 'Test';
                    $message = '
<html>
    <head>
        <titl>Testing</title>
        <style>
        table td
        {
            text-align:center;
            color:#CC4444;
        }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td colspan=2>Top Block</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Block Bottom Left</td>
                <td>Block Bottom Right</td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </body>
</html>'."\n";

                $ret = mail( $to, $subject, $message, $headers );
                if ( $ret != true )
                        echo 'Fail';
                else
                        echo 'Pass';

I've replaced emails with alphanumeric characters... though the '@' signs and periods '.' are in the same places....

this function will always without fail echo 'Fail' message, and I don't get the mail in my mailbox, can anyone help ?

mykg4orce

i just copied and pasted your script onto my server and works fine.

I only changes the last block of code which doesn't make a difference anyway.

if ( !$ret )
echo 'Fail';
else
echo 'Pass';

Dev_M_nX

Interesting... I actually tried your snippet...

if ( !$ret )
echo 'Fail';
else
echo 'Pass';

and well, same results... just fails... :mad:
The interesting thing is, this exact code was working about two weeks ago...

Well, I'm a newly born Linux fanatic, I've done the kernel rebuilding, and installed the "build it yourself" environment once before... 🆒

so for all I know, I changed a setting related to making this function work, and now it refuses to work...

Do you know of any configuration that can stop the mail function from executing ?
sendmail is running and working... tested outside the php env.

This is killing me, I always fiddle and break things, but can never figure out how to fix them again :queasy:

Any help is much appreciated... Thanks

NogDog

Is the "From:" email address a valid email account on the web server? Many mail servers are configured to reject sendmail() requests if not from a valid account on that server, in order to prevent spammers etc. from using that server as a mail relayer.

Dev_M_nX

Not that my system could be used as a spam relay point... got a IPCop system running in the rears... with a high-level config...

Although, I really do like that thought.
Now - I know this is a php forum - but you wouldn't happen to be able to help me create an email account in sendmail from which I can send mail 🙂 ?
I'm not too clued up on sendmail and I'm a little lazy to spend the next full day or two learning about it...

I would be forever in your dept :rolleyes: - 😉

NogDog

Afraid I'm mostly an application programmer, not a server admin, so if one of us is going to do the research, I'll leave it to you. 😉 (Or, if you're lucky, someone here who does know something about it will come along and help.) Alternatively, you could configure PHP to send via SMTP using a remote POP3 or IMAP mail account. I typically do this by using phpMailer, which comes with its own SMTP class for this.

Dev_M_nX

Thanks for the positive feedback...
If I find the solution, I'll post it back here, in the mean time, I hope I might get other posts, just in case...

Thanks though, I think it just might... 🙂

Dev_M_nX

HI again...

I'm now using the PHP Mailer... except I have a few problems...

If I use the IsMail() call... then I get an Instantiation failure... so I've almost completely sworn of the mail() function now... its some config I've messed up, and one day when im not lazy I'll figure out why...

I tried the IsSendmail() function and welll... it completed and said successfuly sent...
But I have not received the mail yet ? its been a few hours...

Im giving it more time just in case, and I've rechecked the sending-to mail a few hundred times to make sure its not a typo error.

Also when I get home I will check my firewall for locks toward sendmail...

any reason you may know as to why the instantiation may fail ? or why the sendmail could possibly not be sending mail 🙂

Dev_M_nX

Well, after short and careful consideration yesterday, I've decided to just use SMTP and nothing else... the Sendmail method was not blocked by my firewall and the mail in the "From:" tag was valid and allowed by sendmail ?

In the end I just used the SMTP method, which works a charm and has all them fancy features like the html support I wanted and even the multipart body for non-html clients... and it does the job...

Thanks for all the help guys, maybe someone else wont be as accepting as me and will actually figure out why sendmail didn't work... but for me, this is a problem solved 🙂

Regards...