CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpemail
Rudolf
Rudolf

Reputation: 1886

PHP mail() timeout

First a few infos:

I have isolated the problem of a site timeout to the PHP mail() function. This is the only line of code in a test.php file on my server:

<?php mail('[email protected]', 'test', 'test');

Which seems to take endless and is then terminated by mod_cgi after 40 seconds. The command

php -r "mail('[email protected]', 'test', 'test');"

on the command line sends the email instantly.

Please tell me which log files you want to see, the Apache log is this:

[Thu Jan 17 12:17:00 2013] [warn] [client 178.15.148.43] mod_fcgid: read data timeout in 40 seconds
[Thu Jan 17 12:17:00 2013] [error] [client 178.15.148.43] Premature end of script headers: test.php

I think the problem is that I accidentally ran chmod -R 775 on the root directory a few days ago. I fixed all errors already, besides this one.

Upvotes: 13

Views: 13145

Answers (5)

Mirko Adari
Mirko Adari

Reputation: 5103

Do not rely on mail() as it is unreliable and leads to issues just like these. I've used phpMailer for years quite happily.

If you persist on mail() then check your settings in php.ini (explained at http://www.quackit.com/php/tutorial/php_mail_configuration.cfm). Note that usually CLI has a different php.ini than FastCGI.

Some more common problems:

  • FastCGI doesn't have permissions to use sendmail

  • Memory limit with large attachments

Upvotes: 2

Danilo Kobold
Danilo Kobold

Reputation: 2581

Most likely you use 2 different php.ini versions. one for cli and one for cgi. Debian have this setup i believe.

  • /etc/php5/cgi/php.ini
  • /etc/php5/cli/php.ini

Make sure that your cli and cgi versions have the same email configuration and it will work.

The mail configuration key is: [mail function]

Another possibility is that your web user does't have access to execute sendmail.

Also check spool permissions (updated)

Upvotes: 7

Ricardo Ortega Maga&#241;a
Ricardo Ortega Maga&#241;a

Reputation: 2442

Do you have a problem using:

exec('php -r \"mail('[email protected]', 'test', 'test');\"');

Upvotes: 0

Dentych
Dentych

Reputation: 106

I've been searching for this particular error and have found that it can be caused by a variety of things. I do not know what you have already tried to do to fix it, but here are some suggestions as to what might help:

  • Make sure to start with <?php and end with ?>
  • Make sure to chmod the file to 755
  • Try to include an output of some sort (eg. print "Mail sent.")

There's also another question about this subject here on SO: PHP Mail Function Causes Error - The owner stated that a change of server with the same setup resulted in a working mail() function, which could indicate a problem with the host.

Upvotes: 0

Sajan Parikh
Sajan Parikh

Reputation: 4940

Is it possible that you have a firewall blocking outgoing SMTP connections? Are there other things on that server that can successfully send email?

I would make this a comment, but am not allowed to yet.

Upvotes: 0

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