Forwarding mail to a Php script

[ldesign]

I've started a mailing list that I wrote in Php. I would like to confirm new members (subscribers) via two methods:

1. Send an email with a link (with unique inputs) to a script that confirms their subscription.

2. Allow them to simply respond to the same email. The subject line will have the unique confirmation id, as well.

For No. 2, I want to respond immediately, so I'd like mail coming to a particular mailbox to be forwarded to a script for processing when it arrives.

Is that possible? And if so, how?

(I've read of shell access allowing me a .forward file, but is their another way to do it without having shell access? My UNIX skills are rather dated.)

Chuck

[midwest]

For No. 2, I want to respond immediately, so I'd like mail coming to a particular mailbox to be forwarded to a script for processing when it arrives.

Is that possible? And if so, how?

The mailbox is just a folder, the messages it contains are a text file. check the box every few minutes with a cron job and when it has something in it grab it and put it in a temp folder, clean the mail box, parse the temp, pull the Subject:ID#####(might be more than one) and have the job do what it needs to do or hand it off to another script to finish.

[ldesign]

What do you know. I searched this topic because I'm still interesting in doing this sort of thing. So I find my own post .... and a year and a half later I'm still wondering ... rather than pool the Pop3 mailbox with a cron job, I'd rather use a .forward file to forward email sent to "some address" to be processed by a Php script.

It appears that all I need to do is put a .forward file in /home/username/etc

The question is: what do I put in the .forward file?

(And is this really the correct file and location for doing such a thing?)

[midwest]

.foreward is greedy. Try making a file, .procmailrc containing this

:0 H
* ^To:.*this_address.com
! forwarded@address.com

this file should go in your root, this is not your html root but one folder above public_html.

ps. its a zero, not a cap oh.

[ldesign]

Thanks for the help.

I put a file called .procmailrc in my root folder (as you said - in the folder that contains public_html).

I used the format you specified (zero not oh) and mail is simply not forwarded.
I even tried variations based on some Google searches, but still no luck.

I've tried every variation I've seen in my searching (even tried adding a .forward file with "|/usr/bin/procmail") and I get nothing.

I wonder if it's something at Page Zone.

Thanks,
Chuck

[midwest]

procmail is a mail processor that uses .procmailrc, .forward is a file used by the mail software. The order is .forward then .procmailrc, is either of these are present then they are acted upon. Thats my experience. You might have to ask support for some help.

The format for a .forward file is simple, forward_to@address.com

just a thought. I know the .forward file MUST have a return for a line ending, procmail might also require this.

[Jim]

No your all wrong

If you want to pipe an email to a php script using a cpanel based server create a plain text file and call it aliases (no extention). Put the pertinant info into that file. I'll show a working example:

support: |/home/user/public_html/helpdesk/email_support.pl

********
Upload the file to etc in the root of your account (/home/user/etc)
Any email sent to support@yourdomain will get piped to email_support.pl for processing.

[midwest]

So because of cpanel we dont have procmail?

[Jim]

We could probably make some modifications to the exim.conf file to get procmail working with it but the Exim config file gets replaced automatically without warning from time to time. Creating the aliases file has always worked for me but there are usually about 3 ways to do something. The .forward --> procmail way might work, I haven't done it that way but it is probably possible to do if you know the exact syntax.

edit: Just kidding about the "your all wrong" statement

[ldesign]

I missed your reply earlier, Jim .... thanks.

Unhappily, though, it does not work for me.

I created a plain text file called aliases (no extension), just as you said.

That file contains the line:
emailid: |/home/myusername/public_html/myscript.php

I uploaded the file (aliases) to /home/myusername/etc

The script, myscript.php (not its real name), sends a short email to my main email account (at my ISP) - just for testing.

If I send an email to emailid at mydomain (where the aliases file is), I do not get the email the script should send. I can see the emails arrive in my mailbox at mydomain, so I know they are getting there.

If I merely enter the URL - mydomain.com/myscript.php in my browser, I do get the test email.

What could be wrong?

Chuck

[Jim]

Try making a forwarder in Cpanel but put this in the address to forward to section:

|/home/myusername/public_html/myscript.php

[ldesign]

Tried that. No workie.

I got a mail delivery failure:

----------------------
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

pipe to |/home/myusername/public_html/myscript.php
generated by emailid@mydomain.com
local delivery failed
----------------------

I then tried removing the | but then nothing happened.

Chuck

[Jim]

OK, then try this:

|/usr/bin/php -q /home/myusername/public_html/myscript.php

[midwest]

No need ot edit anything. I prefer grabbing the mail file, I know that is going to work.