Mail() HELP THANKS A LOT...

here is my mail.php:

<?
mail("fklam@ucdavis.edu", "testing", "nothing here", "From: admin@mydomain.com");
?>
============================
haha... basically, what i want it to do is to send an email to fklam@ucdavis.edu...

but it doesn't work... i'm wondering if i need the fourth parameter, cuz i saw somewhere, they don't have the forth parameter. But what i need to check in the VERY beginning?? i read"ed" somewhere saying i should go to the php.ini file, and point the [mail function] to somewhere? but what exactly i should point it to???

[mail function]
; For Win32 only. <---- i don't understand what it means, i have all my php scrip in unix machine, so do i need this??
SMTP = localhost <---- i saw that i need to change it to something, how do i find this "something"???

; For Win32 only.
sendmail-from = me@localhost.com

;For Unix only.....
;sendmail_path = <---- i don't have sendmail, what should i do???

-----------------
Do i just need to modify the sendmail-form? what should i chaneg it to??? and i also read"ed" somewhere saying i need some sort of email server, hahaha... how do i check if i have setup an email server??? It would be very nice of you, if you can tell me step by step of how to send an email? hahaha... // please assume that i know nothing...

Thanks a lot.

You will need an smtp server for the mail function to work. Do a google search and I'm sure it'll turn up instructions on how to get one setup for whatever flavour/variety of unix you are using.

-KM-

You're on a unix box and don't have sendmail installed? Most unix boxes have it installed by default. Type "which sendmail" at the command line and see what you turn up. If you get a path back, use that for the value in sendmail_path. If you don't have it, download and install it.

i just checked, "which sendmail", it didn't give me anything. hm... download it, and install? i will try, thanks a lot. One other question, so if i had the sendmail and setup the smtp server, i would be able to use mail()?? is that correct? millions thanks =)

Yes, that should be correct. Failing that, there are SMTP classes out there that don't require sendmail (they just open sockets and send the messages). Check phpclasses.org (.net?) for one of those.

Hmmm..
I am working on a project that needs to send mail. I configured my php.ini to point to an smtp server (actually, my ISP's smtp server) :

[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = myISPs.smtl.server

(I am working on winXP)
and everything works fine. My question is more general. Are there any restrictions to which mail servers we can point? Can I use any server I like? What about the traffic that is caused to the smtp server?
Thanks
daidalus13

The only restriction is that you need to be able to use the SMTP server. Most ISP's block ip addresses that don't come from their own range, to prevent people from one ISP from using another ISP's server.
As long as you can use an SMTP server to send mail, so can PHP.

Only problem can be that some SMTP servers require a username/password (VERY rare), as far as I know, there's no workaround for that right now.

i'm still not sure what i should change localhost to:

[mail function]
; For Win32 only.
SMTP = localhost

Any suggestion is appreciated. =)

Thanks

Look in your email program, in settings, for an entry 'outgoing mail'
there will be a server addres there. Copy that one.

email program? =/ not sure what you meant

how do i get to the email program? haha...

I think we need more info:

-What OS is the server running?
-What server is the machine running?
-Is it your own machine?
-Do you have physical access to the machine?
-Do you use it for other things, or is it a dedicated server?
-Do you have root?

-What OS is the server running?
Linux-SUSE

-What server is the machine running?
what server?

-Is it your own machine?
No

-Do you have physical access to the machine?
No

-Do you use it for other things, or is it a dedicated server?
NO

-Do you have root?
Yes

I got the mail() working, but i still want to know how these question would help making mail() work

THANKS A LOT, Itsacon =)

hello, actually this is not a reply but more of a question (problem).
apache (1.3.31, 2.0.50, with and without SSL) plus php 4.3.8. win xp sp2.
i'm within a university, and on win2k i was able to send mails with mail(), the basic function; now, i'm no longer able to send mails even if the settings in the php.ini are correct in my opinion. smtp=address of my mail server.
and it is really weird, because i have a nusphere phped editor which has a webserver incorporated and which is able to send mails with the same php.ini, but with a previous veresion of php (php 4.3.4).

can anyone give me an idea ?