1 Topic by freddykgb (edited by freddykgb 2008-01-28 01:21)

  • Registered: 2006-02-27
  • Posts: 54

Topic: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

I've tried different things, and follow some of the old thread in this forum about this issue.  But nothing seems to help.  Emails sent from the forum, using the mail() php function won't reach Yahoo/Aol/Hotmail users.  Here's a header sample from one of my punbb emails :


Return-path: <info[at]canadiensexpress.com>
Envelope-to: info[at]canadiensexpress.com
Delivery-date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:34:29 -0500
Received: from nobody by host.locker4adream.com with local (Exim 4.68)
    (envelope-from <info[at]canadiensexpress.com>)
    id 1JJH1B-0007jF-Ee
    for info[at]canadiensexpress.com; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:34:29 -0500
To: info[at]canadiensexpress.com
Subject: Aloa kid!
From: "God" <info[at]canadiensexpress.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:34:29 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
X-Mailer: PunBB Mailer
Message-Id: <E1JJH1B-0007jF-Ee[at]host.locker4adream.com>


I think the 2 things that makes my email treated as spam by hotmail/yahoo are the one i highlited in bold.  Am I correct ?  Can I change them ?


ps i replace @ with [at] to avoid being spammed.  This email was sent from myself, to myself!

A new poker community is rising : see for yourselft at unbluffed.com
  • Smartys
  • Former PunBB Developer
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  • Registered: 2004-04-30
  • Posts: 7,844

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

No, I don't think either of those have to do with it
I would ask your host to set the reverse DNS for your IP to canadiensexpress.com

3 Reply by MattF

  • MattF
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
  • Registered: 2007-03-15
  • Posts: 1,956

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

Seriously, forget about trying to work out why they're binning stuff. It'll drive you to distraction and you'll never get any further forward with it. The likes of AOL/Hotmail/Yahoo have been taking the mick for years with their filtering rules and requirements. Look at any of the MTA mailing-list archives, and you'll see that even the most impeccable MTA setups have suffered rejections or just disappearing mail for no valid reason, where those sites are concerned.

As Smartys mentioned however, make sure your PTR record and everything else are fine first. If after that you're still suffering the problem, it'll most likely ne'er improve no matter what you do.

MattF's Website

  • Registered: 2006-02-27
  • Posts: 54

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

MattF wrote:

As Smartys mentioned however, make sure your PTR record and everything else are fine first. If after that you're still suffering the problem, it'll most likely ne'er improve no matter what you do.

What is PTR and how can I set them ?

MattF wrote:

No, I don't think either of those have to do with it
I would ask your host to set the reverse DNS for your IP to canadiensexpress.com

Done..  still it doesn't works but I will have to wait a few hours for the DNS to propagate. 

Any ideas how to change Received: from nobody and the [b]Message-Id: part to something more..  intelligent ?

A new poker community is rising : see for yourselft at unbluffed.com

5 Reply by MattF

  • MattF
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
  • Registered: 2007-03-15
  • Posts: 1,956

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

PTR record is the reverse DNS to I.P assignment, which you've already sorted by the sounds of it. smile The nobody user is the default system username for the mail pickup, by the looks of it. If you have the option of sending via smtp rather than local delivery, it should use the sender address in admin_options instead. smile With regards to the message ID, that is perfectly fine as it is. That has no pre-requisite format as such, other than being a unique value.

MattF's Website

  • Registered: 2006-02-27
  • Posts: 54

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

Well, i've changed to smtp now.  But no mail is reaching hotmail!  Looks at the header now :

Return-path: <info@canadiensexpress.com>
Envelope-to: info@canadiensexpress.com
Delivery-date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:29:04 -0500
Received: from [74.200.81.156] (helo=mail.canadiensexpress.com)
    by host.locker4adream.com with esmtpa (Exim 4.68)
    (envelope-from <info@canadiensexpress.com>)
    id 1JJLcG-00056d-73
    for info@canadiensexpress.com; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:29:04 -0500
Subject: test smtp 2
To: <info@canadiensexpress.com>,
From: "God" <info@canadiensexpress.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:29:03 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit
Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
X-Mailer: PunBB Mailer

However, using the same address/smtp settings with Roundcube or a mail client, it works.  Look at the header generated by Roundcube :

Return-path: <info@canadiensexpress.com>
Envelope-to: info@canadiensexpress.com
Delivery-date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:40:10 -0500
Received: from [74.200.81.156] (helo=webmail.canadiensexpress.com)
    by host.locker4adream.com with esmtpa (Exim 4.68)
    (envelope-from <info@canadiensexpress.com>)
    id 1JJLn0-0005fh-LE
    for info@canadiensexpress.com; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:40:10 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 23:40:10 -0500
From: <info@canadiensexpress.com>
To: God <info@canadiensexpress.com>
Subject: test from roundcube
Message-ID: <f7c60d7488a2159f28e7901e90279862@localhost>
X-Sender: info@canadiensexpress.com
User-Agent: RoundCube Webmail/0.1-rc1
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit


Really not too different.  But it works !  I am really out of solution right now... sad

A new poker community is rising : see for yourselft at unbluffed.com
  • Smartys
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  • Registered: 2004-04-30
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Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

Interesting.
Have you set up an SPF record on your domain? If not, I would try that.
Otherwise, I'll provide some code a little later to try adding a Message-ID to the headers PunBB sends

8 Reply by MattF

  • MattF
  • Senior Member
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
  • Registered: 2007-03-15
  • Posts: 1,956

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

Just out of curiosity, could you try editing this part out in the mail template in which it's generated:

X-Mailer: PunBB Mailer

and see if that makes any difference.

MattF's Website

  • Registered: 2006-02-27
  • Posts: 54

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

MattF wrote:

Just out of curiosity, could you try editing this part out in the mail template in which it's generated:

X-Mailer: PunBB Mailer

and see if that makes any difference.

Does not makes any difference.  I think now that my problem is my VPS, not punBB...

A new poker community is rising : see for yourselft at unbluffed.com

10 Reply by MattF

  • MattF
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  • From: South Yorkshire, England
  • Registered: 2007-03-15
  • Posts: 1,956

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

Wouldn't surprise me if that was the case. As I mentioned earlier, there never appears to be rhyme nor reason to their blocking criteria.

MattF's Website

  • From: Leuven, Belgium
  • Registered: 2005-06-14
  • Posts: 2,653

Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

Make sure the e-mail address you're supposedly sending from actually exists.

  • Smartys
  • Former PunBB Developer
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Re: Sendmail problem : emails won't reach hotmail/yahoo domain.

OK, message ID time
include/email.php
FIND

$headers = 'From: '.$from."\r\n".'Date: '.date('r')."\r\n".'MIME-Version: 1.0'."\r\n".'Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit'."\r\n".'Content-type: text/plain; charset='.$lang_common['lang_encoding']."\r\n".'X-Mailer: PunBB Mailer';

REPLACE WITH

$headers = 'From: '.$from."\r\n".'Date: '.date('r')."\r\n".'MIME-Version: 1.0'."\r\n".'Content-transfer-encoding: 8bit'."\r\n".'Content-type: text/plain; charset='.$lang_common['lang_encoding']."\r\n".'X-Mailer: PunBB Mailer'."\r\n".'Message-ID: <'.md5(uniqid(time())).'@localhost>';

The reason I suggest it is that it's something your SMTP server really should be adding