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Anybody having recent issues with gmail?

Started by Jailer, April 02, 2016, 07:02:20 PM

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Jailer

I've got a small private forum I host from home. I use gmail for forum notifications and activation emails. It's been working flawlessly for quite some time but since 3-29 it quit working. Any time it attempts to send a mail it generates the error "Couldn't get mail server response codes".

Did google change something recently to make gmail no longer work with the forums? Is anyone else having issues or is it just me?

Shambles

I noticed the very same issue at the very same time. I had to switch to using my host's email system.

I wrote a script to duplicate SMFs send_mail function, with diagnostics at each point. Gmail no longer returns a AUTH LOGIN string, which is causing the problem. I'm still working on finding the reason.

青山 素子

Possibly related to new security settings that Google has been rolling out. See Allowing less secure apps to access your account for a possible fix.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Jailer

Quote from: 青山 素子 on April 03, 2016, 11:07:45 PM
Possibly related to new security settings that Google has been rolling out. See Allowing less secure apps to access your account for a possible fix.

Already had that in place and it doesn't work. Tried enabling 2 factor authentication with an app password and I get the same result.

They obviously changed something but what I don't know. I've seen some posts on the gmail support forums where others have had issues receiving mail that started at the same time so something definitely changed.

Shambles

Yep - not 2FA and not a less-secure-app issue (but thanks anyway, 青山 素子)

My wanderings have taken me to google-api discussions where it appears that a business/work account may now be required to pass socket authentication data via smtp.gmail.com from a non Google domain; under these circumstances (if it is correct) the business owner become a Google Admin and can list the domains from which gmail will be authenticated.

Still searching for answers...

Raffoz

Thanks for the discussion.
I'm interested into i.

If I find a solution, I'll share it... :)
MacOsX (last)
SMF 2.0.15 and 2.1.2 (different forums)
Chrome (last) or Safari (last)

Rob Lightbody

Given the number of topics being raised about this in SMF Support 2.0 (one of them was mine, after searching for an answer), perhaps this topic shouldn't just be in chit-chat?     Its a very useful topic, thanks for the contributors so far.

I have the same issue, starting on 29th of March. 

I do have the "enable less secure" turned on (it already was)

Night09

If you took the time to read properly Illori then you would have merged the posts and put them into support thread. Its not a 'chit chat' issue its a concern every SMF forum owners going to face using gmail.

From what I can work out its an Oauth setup needed but not worked out the details so that the site authenticates via secret key with google. SMF isnt the only effected service in the last few days and WP users are reorting it too.

Why would people be looking in 'chit chat' for support related help?....

Jailer

I started it in chit chat becuse I figured it was a gmail problem and not a SMF problem (it's not). But thanks to the mods for moving it to support.

I had read a bit on the Oath problem but from what I could find it seems to be a problem with earlier versions and anything 2.0.x or higher should be working fine.

Rob Lightbody

Hi,

I have changed my SMTP to use a free account with "SparkPost" which is working well for me already.  It has some added bonuses such as reporting on the emails that have been sent etc.

So from my point of view, I'm no longer looking to a solution as to why you can't send email from SMF to Gmail any more!

Thanks for everybody's time and expertise.

- Rob

Jailer

Quote from: The QE2 Story Forum on April 06, 2016, 01:31:55 PM
Hi,

I have changed my SMTP to use a free account with "SparkPost" which is working well for me already.  It has some added bonuses such as reporting on the emails that have been sent etc.

So from my point of view, I'm no longer looking to a solution as to why you can't send email from SMF to Gmail any more!

Thanks for everybody's time and expertise.

- Rob

Have any issues getting things set up at ParkPost? I'm trying to get mailgun working and not having any luck getting the records set up and working with Namecheap.

Jailer

Well I managed to mailgun setup for my forum and it's working great. I'm done with gmail and the constant issues.

I'll keep checking back out of curiosity to see if someone can get this gmail thing figured out.

青山 素子

I'm happy to help out anyone that wants to switch to Mailgun or Mandrill. They're properly built for this kind of use.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Jailer

Mine was more of an issue of getting the records set up properly with namecheap. But I'm a noob at this so that is to be expected.

I'm just glad my forum has working email again for notifications.

Raffoz

Mailgun: https://www.mailgun.com
Maindrill: https://www.mandrill.com
SparkPost: https://www.sparkpost.com

Any tips for configuration?
Comparison between these services?

Tks.
MacOsX (last)
SMF 2.0.15 and 2.1.2 (different forums)
Chrome (last) or Safari (last)

青山 素子

It looks like Mandrill has already stopped accepting new accounts and are moving their service into the main MailChimp completely, so no-cost options are a bit more limited.

Both services are backed by decent companies. MailGun is run by Rackspace and SparkPost by Message Systems. I'm more familiar with MailGun, but they both look like good options for sending out messages.

Regarding pricing, MailGun is a more expensive service. If you're looking to maximize the number of messages you can send before paying, SparkPost will be a better option. One nice bit of MailGun is that it can act as an e-mail forwarder, accepting inbound messages and forwarding to a different address. SparkPost will only post incoming messages as a WebHook.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


asmith

Is there any news on this?

I can't find appropriate topics on Gmail. My search doesn't return anything specific on this.

Samker

Quote from: asmith on April 10, 2016, 02:52:44 AM
Is there any news on this?

---

I have the same question... & still looking for solution which will fix sending via gmail.

Anybody ?!

Thanks!
Samker's Computer Forum - SCforum.info

Shambles

Ok I have found a resolution to this problem, which requires a minor code change.

The clue was in this post here:

EHLO invalid argument in ssmtp


What I've done is edit Sources/Subs-Post.php as follows:

Code (Find) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')




Code (Replace With) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
// if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . 'localhost', $socket, null) == '250')



All seems to be working now.

CoDTurkiye

Thanks, working with gmail.

Quote from: Shambles on April 11, 2016, 09:28:16 AM
Ok I have found a resolution to this problem, which requires a minor code change.

The clue was in this post here:

EHLO invalid argument in ssmtp [nofollow]


What I've done is edit Sources/Subs-Post.php as follows:

Code (Find) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')




Code (Replace With) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
// if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . 'localhost', $socket, null) == '250')



All seems to be working now.

Samker

Quote from: CoDTurkiye on April 11, 2016, 09:44:44 AM
Thanks, working with gmail.

Quote from: Shambles on April 11, 2016, 09:28:16 AM
Ok I have found a resolution to this problem, which requires a minor code change.

The clue was in this post here:

EHLO invalid argument in ssmtp


What I've done is edit Sources/Subs-Post.php as follows:

Code (Find) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')




Code (Replace With) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
// if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . 'localhost', $socket, null) == '250')



All seems to be working now.

Confirmed, it's working now with my Google Apps as well.  ;)

THANKS!
Samker's Computer Forum - SCforum.info

Raffoz

MacOsX (last)
SMF 2.0.15 and 2.1.2 (different forums)
Chrome (last) or Safari (last)

Jailer

I've already moved on to mailgun and it's working great for me but for Shambles I say:





JG00

Much thanks to Shambles and anybody else who helped him.

Seconding Jailer's many thumbs ups.

Sudhakar Arjunan

Quote from: CoDTurkiye on April 11, 2016, 09:44:44 AM
Thanks, working with gmail.

Quote from: Shambles on April 11, 2016, 09:28:16 AM
Ok I have found a resolution to this problem, which requires a minor code change.

The clue was in this post here:

EHLO invalid argument in ssmtp


What I've done is edit Sources/Subs-Post.php as follows:

Code (Find) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')




Code (Replace With) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
// if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . 'localhost', $socket, null) == '250')



All seems to be working now.

I should thank you CoDTurkiye , which i was searching from march 29, 2016 till now for 2 months.

Also thank you Irisado for getting me to the right topic.

Amazingly worked in smtp via gmail.
Working on New Mods & Themes for SMF... Will update soon... My Blog page
My Smf forum : Discuss ITAcumens :: My SMF Forum

Shambles


Tiribulus

Do you still have to do the enable for other devices thing with this code change?
Thanks

Tiribulus

Let me please just ask plainly then. How does one get gmail to work these days? I have mine set to ssl://smtp.gmail.com, port 587 and I get the following errors:



I tried it without the ssl:// prefix and the mails still don't send.  I have done the edit of Sources/Subs-Post.php as per above on this page. I have other related errors in the log on that as well now, but those might not matter.  I have 3 wordpress blogs on that same self hosted server, all using gmail to send notifications and it works fine.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.

Shambles


Tiribulus

Thank you sir. Does this mean that if I use the tls prefix If I do use port 587? Will ssl work with gmail if I use port 465? gmail to specify tls and 587, but I saw somebody saying to try tls:// It's kinda confusing for us non encryption experts.

Of course all I care about is that he notifications send. Thank you again for your help  :)

Kindred

Quote from: Shambles on April 11, 2016, 09:28:16 AM
Ok I have found a resolution to this problem, which requires a minor code change.

The clue was in this post here:

EHLO invalid argument in ssmtp


What I've done is edit Sources/Subs-Post.php as follows:

Code (Find) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')




Code (Replace With) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
// if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . 'localhost', $socket, null) == '250')



All seems to be working now.
Слaва
Украинi

Please do not PM, IM or Email me with support questions.  You will get better and faster responses in the support boards.  Thank you.

"Loki is not evil, although he is certainly not a force for good. Loki is... complicated."

Shambles

Quote from: Tiribulus
Does this mean that if I use the tls prefix If I do use port 587? Will ssl work with gmail if I use port 465? gmail to specify tls and 587, but I saw somebody saying to try tls:// ...

No. There's code in SMF to detect port 465 and a SSL:// prefix, there's no handler for TLS://

Just set SSL://smtp.gmail.com and port 465.

In addition, I recommend setting 2FA within your gmail account and use a generated "app password" for your SMF.

Tiribulus

Quote from: Shambles on May 21, 2016, 12:24:48 PM
In addition, I recommend setting 2FA within your gmail account and use a generated "app password" for your SMF.
Again, I appreciate your guys help. I also would appreciate your patience with my ignorance. I don't know what the statement quoted above means. I've spent 15 minutes clicking every link in my google account and don't see anything like these.  What is "2FA" and where do I get this password? I fully realize this is not google supports here and that SMF is free software and am accordingly demanding nothing. If you would nonetheless be so good as to direct me further, or in some other way to get mail notifications to work, I would continue to be very very appreciative.
Thank you yet again.

Shambles

2FA = Two Factor Authentication

You can set this via your google settings (you'll need to explore the security/login options) but it's not mandatory, just a suggestion.

Tiribulus

Quote from: Shambles on May 21, 2016, 05:54:01 PM
2FA = Two Factor Authentication

You can set this via your google settings (you'll need to explore the security/login options) but it's not mandatory, just a suggestion.
I'm afraid to mess with the google settings because of what it might do to the WordPress sites on this server to be honest.

I have done your edit to the Sources/Subs-Post.php file as I said before. I assume this is still necessary.

Shambles

Quote from: Tiribulus
I'm afraid to mess with the google settings ...

Then just create a new gmail account, say tiribulus.forums@gmail.com and use that as a test.

And yes, the file edit is still required.

Tiribulus





I'll be honest with you. I can't stand Gmail. I'd never touch it again if I had a choice. The account already in use is only used for sending notifications for the wordpress blogs. I don't think I've sent a message on it for 2 or 3 years. If I knew of some other service not requiring this hoop jumping festival, I'd use it in a second. Personally I don't need the extra secure 2 step verification unless it were required to get this working so I'd rather if possible use the existing account.

Above please see the relevant screens. The password is definitely correct. I might wonder if it were the older version of PHP I have, but as I say, all 3 WordPress blogs on this same server send fine with this exact gmail account..


I apologize for being a pain and reiterate yet again how much I appreciate the help.

Jailer

Switch to mailgun. I haven't had a single issue since I made the change.

Tiribulus

I appreciate that friend, but mailgun costs money I don't have. I'm hosting this as a favor for a friend who also won't be able to pay for a service. Is it possible that version v5.3.8 of PHP works with Wordpress, but not with SMF? I can't upgrade that right at the moment either.

Here are the WordPress settings that work on that same server.

Jailer

Mailgun is free up to 10,000 per month. Are you sending out more than that?

Tiribulus

Oh no LOL! I didn't know that. I will check. Thank you very much.  :)  I really would love to get this working.

Tiribulus

I don't mean to sound ungrateful man, but I have absolutely no clue what all this is it wants me to do. This is far more complicated even than gmail. Am I to conclude that it is not possible to simply enter some settings and have SMF send notifications?

Jailer

You have to also set up the records for your domain. It will vary slightly by registrar but it's not too complicated. Mailgun has tutorials and your domain registrar should have instructions as well.

Tiribulus

You guys have all been very gracious to offer to help. I appreciate it. Elastic mail actually ended up working it looks like though.
https://elasticemail.com/
I do think there is some weird under the hood issue with this server too. When I was trying to setup some service I can't even remember right now anymore, it sent an activation mail to the other admin on the site who's email address played no part whatsoever in my test registration.  :o

Jailer

Is the old admins email address still listed in the server settings?  Server settings ->General

ninjawarrior

Quote from: Shambles on April 11, 2016, 09:28:16 AM
Ok I have found a resolution to this problem, which requires a minor code change.

The clue was in this post here:

hxxp:stackoverflow.com/questions/36323790/ssmtp-no-longer-works-invalid-response-501-5-5-4-helo-ehlo-argument-myemaila [nonactive]


What I've done is edit Sources/Subs-Post.php as follows:

Code (Find) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')




Code (Replace With) Select
// EHLO could be understood to mean encrypted hello...
// if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')
if (server_parse('EHLO ' . 'localhost', $socket, null) == '250')



All seems to be working now.

Mine doesnt seem to work.

I tried with a normal gmail account (w/o 2fa) & a own domain email using gmail (2fa, app pw) and both cant work. Changed /subs-post.php as advised and SMTP 465 with SSL://smtp.gmail.com.

yan.uniko.102

Is a bug of all smf version at now. The SMTP server is ssl://mail.gmail.com but when send HELO command the smf says: HELO ssl://mail.gmail.com and the gmail server return a error by malformed HELO.

When says HELO localhost your server fall in black lists, the HELO server canot say localhost.

The solution for me is replace

if (server_parse('EHLO ' . $modSettings['smtp_host'], $socket, null) == '250')

By

if (server_parse('EHLO ' . str_replace('ssl://'.$modSettings['smtp_host']), $socket, null) == '250')

In all lines when use $modSettings['smtp_host'] except to connect in socket.

The smf need a checkbox with "enable ssl" and put the prepend schema ssl:// and check if the input of server name is a real host and not the schema.

Raffoz

I have 3 forums.

In 2 of them the old solution (in subs-post) worked.
In the newone, I created some days ago, it doesn't work.

Everything is similar in the forums.

Can someone help me? :(
MacOsX (last)
SMF 2.0.15 and 2.1.2 (different forums)
Chrome (last) or Safari (last)

Raffoz

Solved.
It should be activated in google apps the "non secure" access for apps.
MacOsX (last)
SMF 2.0.15 and 2.1.2 (different forums)
Chrome (last) or Safari (last)

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