problem with mail headers

[gxydas]

Hi all,

I use PHP 4.3.10 and Apache 2.0.49 (Fedora) in a Linux system.

I use this script to send an email

mail("someone@somedomain.com", "My Subject”, "Line 1");

When I run this script my webserver occurs a 500 Internal Server Error.
In the server’s errog_log file the below line is being added:
malformed header from script. Bad header=/home/username/dead.letter... S: php-script

This is the contents of dead.letter

From username Tue Jan 10 14:33:03 2006
Return-Path: <username>
Received: (from username@localhost)
by domain.com (8.12.11/8.12.11/Submit) id k0ACX3wX029666;
Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:33:03 +0200
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:33:03 +0200
From: "domain.com" <username>
Message-Id: <200601101233.k0ACX3wX029666@domain.com>
To: someone@somedomain.com
Subject: My Subject

Line 1

Of course domain.com and username are valid.

I see that there is a problem with mail headers but I don’t know what.
Thanks in advance

 

[jpadie]

i think the from is badly formed in the header or your default in the php.ini file. it doesnt conform to a valid address.
try:

$to = ;//valid email address
$subject="test";
$message = test";
$header = 'From: webmaster@example.com';
mail ($to, $subject,$message,$header);

 

[gxydas]

Thanks jpadie for your replay.

In the php.ini file these are the lines relative to mail from:
; For Win32 only.
;sendmail_from = me@localhost.com

; For Unix only. You may supply arguments as well (default: "sendmail -t -i").
sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail -t -i

The web server runs on a linux system.

I tried your script but exactly the same error occured.
The dead.letter file contains now:
From username Wed Jan 11 13:42:49 2006
Return-Path: <username>
Received: (from username@localhost)
by domain.com (8.12.11/8.12.11/Submit) id k0BBgnov017586;
Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:42:49 +0200
Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:42:49 +0200
Message-Id: <200601111142.k0BBgnov017586@domain.com>
To: valid email address
Subject: test
From: username@domain.com

test

 

[jpadie]

try testing sendmail from the command line (i.e. not within php). if this works then you may well have a config or permissions issue.

when you try from the command line sendmail will run as you. when you run through php and a web interface it will run as the nobody user.

 

[gxydas]

I need help.

How can I escape to command line and what is the syntax of the command.

Thanks.

 

[jpadie]

i'm not a *nix boffin i'm afraid. for the answer to the second question check out

http://www.sendmail.org.

i assume you are using a gui front end to fedora. to get a command line open a terminal window (e.g. bash).