php mailing list operation

[Cleverbum]

Hi,
I'm using the mail() function to send out newsletters to subscribers,
problem is that it seems a little unreliable...
at the moment I assemble the mail outside a loop then iterate through
all the mail addresses
for($i=0;$i<$numaddresses;$i++){
mail($to[$i],$subj,$message,$fromstr);
}
should i be putting in a delay message or a retry_on_fail method or
anything?

Martin

[Carl Vondrick]

Cl*******@hotmail.com wrote:

Hi,
I'm using the mail() function to send out newsletters to subscribers,
problem is that it seems a little unreliable...
at the moment I assemble the mail outside a loop then iterate through
all the mail addresses
for($i=0;$i<$numaddresses;$i++){
mail($to[$i],$subj,$message,$fromstr);
}
should i be putting in a delay message or a retry_on_fail method or
anything?

Martin

mail() is not usually the best choice - you should try using sendmail or
STMP.

But, anyways, for mail, you should batch them. I send 50 at a time. If
you do not, your script will either time out or your browser will abort.

Carl Vondrick

[Richard Levasseur]

I've had a similar question myself.
I don't want the email to contain a long To: or CC:, but I don't want
to loop a bunch because sometimes mail() takes forever to send.

Is there a way to simply queue them up and let the mailer daemon
process them at its leisure, so the mail() command returns nice and
quick?

I know you wouldn't have any useful information returned as to whether
it mailed or not, but I'm not worried about that.

-Richard Levasseur

[Carl Vondrick]

Richard Levasseur wrote:

I've had a similar question myself.
I don't want the email to contain a long To: or CC:, but I don't want
to loop a bunch because sometimes mail() takes forever to send.
I am by no means a mail expert, but the way I just do it is batch them.
With a little bit of Ajax, the thing is seamless.

Is there a way to simply queue them up and let the mailer daemon
process them at its leisure, so the mail() command returns nice and
quick?

I know you wouldn't have any useful information returned as to whether
it mailed or not, but I'm not worried about that.

-Richard Levasseur

--
Carl Vondrick
www.carlsoft.net
usenet [at] carlsoft [dot] net

[Manuel Lemos]

Hello,

on 02/27/2006 11:44 PM Richard Levasseur said the following:

I've had a similar question myself.
I don't want the email to contain a long To: or CC:, but I don't want
to loop a bunch because sometimes mail() takes forever to send.

Is there a way to simply queue them up and let the mailer daemon
process them at its leisure, so the mail() command returns nice and
quick?

Yes, some MTA provide means to just queue the message and do not wait
for delivery attempt.

Under Linux/Unix, sendmail and exim have switches for this. Under
Windows you can drop the messages in Exchange pickup folder .

If you want to go for these solutions, you may want to try this class.
It has sub-classes specialized in deliverying with different MTA:
sendmail (or exim, or postfix), qmail, SMTP, Exchange pickup folder,
etc.. Just call the class SetBulkMail function before entering the bulk
mail loop.

http://www.phpclasses.org/mimemessage

PS. Do not use SMTP for bulk mailing unless you do not have an
alternative. It is the slowest method of all.
--

Regards,
Manuel Lemos

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