php mail() function returns false

InMotionFans

9 years ago
Answered

Our domain was previously hosted on a VPS account and a php mail() function created to query the server and return database changes in a human-readable format worked without any problems.

Recently, we switched to a shared hosting plan, and now that same php mail() function returns false. I have searched around for answers, and it may be related to the fact that we are now on a shared hosting account? Most of the related questions had to do with PrestaShop, which does not appear to apply to us in this situation. We do not use any pre-installed applications.

The email account configuration information is as follows:

Secure SSL/TLS Settings
(Recommended)

Username: admin@[my-domain].org
Password: Use the email account’s password.
Incoming Server: secure170.inmotionhosting.com
IMAP Port: 993
POP3 Port: 995
Outgoing Server: secure170.inmotionhosting.com
SMTP Port: 465
Authentication is required for IMAP, POP3, and SMTP.

For reference, the script simply sets the $email, $subject, $message and $headers variables. The only thing explicitly set in the $headers variable is "From: admin@[my-domain].org". No additional_parameters are normally set, though I did try "-fadmin@[my-domain].org" and "-f admin@[my-domain].org" in further troubleshooting.

Thank you.

Replies 4

Newest first
Newest first Oldest first

nealb

9 years ago

I ended up calling technical support. They explained that the php.ini file for a VPS account points to a different directory for the php libraries than a shared hosting account does.

Once a fresh php.ini file was generated, the function worked fine.

Reply Link

anonymous

Hello nealb,

I ran some test on your code and while I was getting bool(false) if I visit the url myself, I can run php filename.php from command line (similar to how a cron would work) and it was working just fin and the email sent. I am not fully sure why it fails when visiting the page as that is very weird and not normal. It may be a setting on the shared servers that was not blocked on the VPS server.

Best Regards,
TJ Edens

Most of this code is the manipulation of data retrieved from the db, but I included all of it just in case. And again, this all worked as recently as May of this year. The only thing that changed, that I am aware of, was the account switch at the end of that same month. In the future, is there a way to format code, such as when posting to StackOverflow? If necessary and possible, I can also upload the code as a file. CODE: ------------------------------------------------------- prepare(" SELECT firstname, lastname, id FROM users_stats WHERE active = :active ORDER BY team ASC, title DESC, on_campus DESC, gender DESC, lastname ASC "); $params = array(':active' => 1); $didwork = $query->execute($params); if ($didwork) { $all_users = $query->fetchAll(); $num_users = count($all_users); for ($i = 0; $i < $num_users; $i++) { $get_edits = $db->prepare(" SELECT edit_log.stat_type, edit_log.table_name, edit_log.old_stat, edit_log.new_stat, edit_log.member_id, edit_log.week, edit_log.semester, edit_log.year, all_members.firstname AS att_fname, all_members.lastname AS att_lname, users_stats.firstname AS user_fname, users_stats.lastname AS user_lname, edit_log.timestamp, edit_log.type FROM edit_log LEFT JOIN all_members ON edit_log.member_id = all_members.id LEFT JOIN users_stats ON edit_log.user_id = users_stats.id WHERE edit_log.user_id = :user_id AND edit_log.timestamp BETWEEN :first AND :last AND edit_log.type = :type "); $get_edits_params = array(':user_id' => $all_users[$i]['id'], ':first' => $past_time, ':last' => $current_time, ':type' => 'u'); $didget = $get_edits->execute($get_edits_params); if ($didget) { $edits = $get_edits->fetchAll(); $num_edits = count($edits); if (!empty($edits)) { array_push($edits_array, $edits); } } else { echo 'Failed getting edits for ' . $all_users[$i]['firstname'] . ' ' . $all_users[$i]['lastname'] . '
'; } } $num_user_edits = count($edits_array); // count the number of users that submitted edits $subject = 'Edits made during week ' . $semester_week . ''; if ($_GET['num'] == 'all') { $emails = '[other-addresses]@domain.com'; } else { $emails = '[my-address]@domain.com'; } $headers = "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n"; $headers .= "From: admin@[my-domain].org"; if ($num_user_edits > 0) { // check if anybody submitted edits for ($k = 0; $k < $num_user_edits; $k++) { // loop through all users that submitted edits $loop_info = null; if ($k !== 0) { $loop_info .= "

"; } else { $loop_info .= 'The following edits were made between ' . date('m/j/y', strtotime($past_time)). ' @ ' . date('g:i a' , strtotime($past_time)). ' and ' . date('m/j/y', strtotime($current_time)) . ' @ ' . date('g:i a', strtotime($current_time)) . '

'; } $loop_info .= $edits_array[$k][0]['user_fname'] . " " . $edits_array[$k][0]['user_lname'] . " updated the following stat(s):
"; $num_edits_by_user = count($edits_array[$k]); for ($j = 0; $j < $num_edits_by_user; $j++) { // loop through all edits made by current minister // get timestamp and convert into report format $timestamp = strtotime($edits_array[$k][$j]['timestamp']); $day1 = date('l', $timestamp); $mon = date('M', $timestamp); $day2 = date('j', $timestamp); $time = date('g:i a', $timestamp); $time_string = $day1 . ', ' . $mon . '. ' . $day2 . ' at ' . $time; if (!empty($edits_array[$k][$j]['member_id'])) { // checks if edit was for a member's attendance and adjusts wording $stats = " - Week " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['week'] . ' ' . $edits_array[$k][$j]['stat_type'] . " for " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['att_fname'] . " " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['att_lname'] . " from " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['old_stat'] . " to " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['new_stat'] . " (" . $time_string . ")"; if ($j == ($num_edits_by_user - 1)) { $loop_info .= $stats; } else { $loop_info .= $stats . "
"; } } else if ($edits_array[$k][$j]['table_name'] == 'guest info') { // check if edit was to guest information if ($edits_array[$k][$j]['stat_type'] == 'not submitted') { $stats = " - Submitted a " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['new_stat'] . " guest for Week " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['week'] . " (" . $time_string . ")"; } else if ($edits_array[$k][$j]['stat_type'] == 'deleted') { $stats = " - Deleted guest " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['old_stat'] . " for Week " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['week'] . " (" . $time_string . ")"; } else { $stats = " - Week " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['week'] . ' ' . $edits_array[$k][$j]['table_name'] . ' "' . $edits_array[$k][$j]['stat_type'] . '" from ' . $edits_array[$k][$j]['old_stat'] . " to " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['new_stat'] . " (" . $time_string . ")"; } if ($j == ($num_edits_by_user - 1)) { $loop_info .= $stats; } else { $loop_info .= $stats . "
"; } } else { // edit was for user's stats if ($edits_array[$k][$j]['table_name'] == 'dorm_stats') { $stats = " - Week " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['week'] . ' ' . $edits_array[$k][$j]['stat_type'] . " in dorms from " . floatval($edits_array[$k][$j]['old_stat']) . " to " . floatval($edits_array[$k][$j]['new_stat']) . " (" . $time_string . ")"; } else { $stats = " - Week " . $edits_array[$k][$j]['week'] . ' ' . $edits_array[$k][$j]['stat_type'] . " from " . floatval($edits_array[$k][$j]['old_stat']) . " to " . floatval($edits_array[$k][$j]['new_stat']) . " (" . $time_string . ")"; } if ($j == ($num_edits_by_user - 1)) { $loop_info .= $stats; } else { $loop_info .= $stats . "
"; } } } $message .= $loop_info; } /* testing echo $emails.'
'; echo $subject.'
'; echo $message.'
'; echo $headers.'
'; */ $mailed = mail($emails, $subject, $message, $headers); if ($mailed) { echo 'Email(s) sent'; } else { echo 'Email(s) not sent...'; } } else { // no edits so adjust email message $message .= 'There were no edits made between ' . date('m/j/y', strtotime($past_time)). ' @ ' . date('g:i a' , strtotime($past_time)). ' and ' . date('m/j/y', strtotime($current_time)) . ' @ ' . date('g:i a', strtotime($current_time)) . '

'; mail($emails, $subject, $message, $headers); echo 'Email(s) sent'; } } else { die("Couldn't get list of users."); } ?>

johnpaulb-imhs1

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us about issues with the php mail() function. Several of us looked into this, and we cannot determine what code would work on a vps, but not on shared. Especially, if nothing is explicitly set (such as paths, etc).

We are happy to help you troubleshoot your script further, but will need to see the actual coding to proceed.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Thank you,
John-Paul