PHP mail script to bad address not bouncing

[steve@hunnicutt.com]

I'm trying to create a PHP script to send mail to a list of addresses.
I'm sending mail okay, because the messages arrive in an account that I
can check, but messages to a known bad address aren't being bounced
back to the sending address.

Here's the line of code I'm using:

$mailok = mail("me@goodad dress.com,me@ba daddress.com"," this is a test",
"this is a test", "From: me@sendaddress. com");

I receive the message at me@goodaddress. com just fine. If I send a
manual message to me@badaddress.c om, the message bounces. If I manually
bounce the message that I received at me@goodaddress. com then it
bounces back to me@sendaddress. com.

I need to figure out why messages to me@badaddress.c om sent by the PHP
script aren't bouncing back to me@sendaddress. com.

[Bert Melis]

Re: PHP mail script to bad address not bouncing

steve@hunnicutt .com wrote:[color=blue]
> I'm trying to create a PHP script to send mail to a list of addresses.
> I'm sending mail okay, because the messages arrive in an account that I
> can check, but messages to a known bad address aren't being bounced
> back to the sending address.
>
> Here's the line of code I'm using:
>
> $mailok = mail("me@goodad dress.com,me@ba daddress.com"," this is a test",
> "this is a test", "From: me@sendaddress. com");
>
> I receive the message at me@goodaddress. com just fine. If I send a
> manual message to me@badaddress.c om, the message bounces. If I manually
> bounce the message that I received at me@goodaddress. com then it
> bounces back to me@sendaddress. com.
>
> I need to figure out why messages to me@badaddress.c om sent by the PHP
> script aren't bouncing back to me@sendaddress. com.
>[/color]
The bouncing is handled by the server the mail is sent to. If that
server just deletes mail to bad addresses, nothing will bounce.

Perhaps someone can tell us what will happen when the other server is
not existing?

[Geoff Muldoon]

Re: PHP mail script to bad address not bouncing

steve@hunnicutt .com says...[color=blue]
> I'm trying to create a PHP script to send mail to a list of addresses.
> I'm sending mail okay, because the messages arrive in an account that I
> can check, but messages to a known bad address aren't being bounced
> back to the sending address.
>
> Here's the line of code I'm using:
>
> $mailok = mail("me@goodad dress.com,me@ba daddress.com"," this is a test",
> "this is a test", "From: me@sendaddress. com");
>
> I need to figure out why messages to me@badaddress.c om sent by the PHP
> script aren't bouncing back to me@sendaddress. com.[/color]

Bounces are usually sent to the "reply-to" rather than the "from" address,
and you haven't set one. In any case you are better off setting a
canonical sender address as well as or instead of setting one in the
header, as some spam-catchers will ditch your mail.

Try:
$mailok = mail("me@goodad dress.com,me@ba daddress.com"," this is a test",
"this is a test", "From: me@sendaddress. com", "-f me@sendaddress. com");

As suggested in:

http://php.planetmirror.com/manual/en/ref.mail.php#51406

Geoff M