Can' t sign up by sending blank emails

[klausdahl]

Hi Dean,

Thank you for an excellent script that just gets better and better!  

Unfortunately I've discovered that I have a problem with gettings sign-ups by my web visitors sending a blank email to my sign-up email address.

There's no problem with signing up for my list through using the forms at my web site (using the post method to submit the info, new subscribers fill in, to the signup.php file).

But if you try to sign up by sending an email to the email address I've I've set up as an email alias, nothing happens at all. It's very strange.

I've tried to follow all the guideslines in your fine online installation guide:

1. I've configured the relevant signup-listX.cgi file:

   I've   SET the variable $list to the number of my list (and
   corresponding to the "X" in signup-listX.cgi.

   I've SET $listmail_url to my ListMail URL (remembering NOT to
   add a trailing slash).

2. I've uploaded the relevant signup-listX.cgi file in ASCII
   transfer mode.

   I've CHMOD'd the file to 755.

3. I've set up an email alias - carefully following your and my web
   hosts' (Host4Profit) instructions (including having replaced
   "scriptname.cgi" with my script name etc.)

I've followed the same procedure with the bounce.cgi file, and it works correctly.

I've used "Test Mail Settings" to test the mail setup, and it works correctly too.

And everything else in ListMail Pro seems to work correctly - that is, except the schedule function which doesn't seem to work. If I schedule an email it doesn't get sent. Again, nothing happens at all. But maybe in this case it's just me who's mixing things up. I don't know for sure.

I've tested and tested my qmail settings. I've checked all permissions for all the files in ListMail Pro. I've tested all paths. I've tried to use several email addresses to test the blank email sign-up function. I've tested and re-tested (five to ten times at least) everything that I can imagine can be wrong. However, nothing seems to be wrong, as far as I can see. But the problem just persists, which is very unfortunate as I've now lost thousands and thousands of sign-ups.

Dean, can you please help?

Thank you very much in advance!

Warmly,

Klaus Dahl
www.KlausDahl.com

[DW]

Hi Klaus,

Thank you for your kind comments and also for your excellent newsletter to which I am a subscriber and avid reader.

1. I can only think of one thing that might solve both problems.  Did you have to modify the bounce.cgi $http_program variable to get it to work?  An alternative to 'wget' might need to be used in both the signup-listX.cgi script(s) and dailymail task.

A popular alternative is curl, ie:

Code: [Select]

$http_program = "curl -o /dev/null " . $listmail_url . "/signup.php";
and, for your cron task:

Code: [Select]

0 0 * * * curl -o /dev/null http://example.com/mail/dailymail.php?pw=YourDailyMailPass 1> /dev/null 2> /dev/null

2. To be sure the signup-listX.cgi file is uploaded properly you can likely directly "View" the remote file with your FTP program.  If the file is double-spaced, which can happen if the file is transferred in the wrong mode, it might cause a problem.

3. Other possibilities might be a typo or otherwise improperly configured cron task and/or a bug in signup-listX.cgi, which I can look into if necessary.

Regards

[klausdahl]

Hi Dean,

Thank you very much - both for your kind words and for your fast reply!  

The first line of code defintely solved the first problem:

Code: [Select]

$http_program = "curl -o /dev/null " . $listmail_url . "/signup.php";

I've also changed the crontab and now I'll just have to see if it works too.

So far as I remember you can test whether a cron tab works or not, but that's probably not a very wise thing to do as it'll active Dailymail. I suppose it's wiser to just wait and see if it works correctly if I sign up myself?

I'm very impressed by your service and your expertise, Dean!  

Thank you very much once again, my friend!

Warmly,

Klaus Dahl

[DW]

Klaus,

So far as I remember you can test whether a cron tab works or not, but that's probably not a very wise thing to do as it'll active Dailymail. I suppose it's wiser to just wait and see if it works correctly if I sign up myself?

You can test the cron task by setting it to run every minute, with the timing "* * * * *".  If it runs correctly you should receive the dailymail report, if enabled.  You're right - this would be 'live' execution of dailymail, so it's up to you whether or not to wait until it runs daily or test it by running it every minute.  If you have followups and users set to receive those followups I recommend waiting.

Regards