Dada Mail 2 10 9 alpha 1 has been released I really need some
feedback on this new version, specifically the new SMTP engine

Here's the direct URL to the download:

http://prdownloads
sourceforge
net/mojomail/dada-2_10_9_alpha
tar
gz? 

download

Here's the Changelog:

2 10 9 alpha 1 Changes/New Features There's a new choice on how to send email - more specifically
there's now two ways to send messages via SMTP - the old way is using Mail::Bulkmail - sometimes this method is problematic, so you
have a second choice: Net::SMTP Net::SMTP also supports CRAM-MD5 SASL authentication and even SSL/TSL connections

 More information on how to use this and the differences between  

the two versions is located in the General FAQ (below)

Bug Fixes * 1489960 2 10 8 - List Owner not filled out in, "List
Invitation" http://sourceforge net/tracker/index php? func=detail&aid=1489960&group_id=13002&atid=113002

 * 1483212 2
10
8 - sendmail and SMTP log/mail confirm msgs !  

similar http://sourceforge net/tracker/index php? func=detail&aid=1483212&group_id=13002&atid=113002

 * 1480009 2
10
8 - blacklist not working correctly?
     http://sourceforge
net/tracker/index
php? 

func=detail&aid=1480009&group_id=13002&atid=113002

 * 1479583 2
10
8 - Login Switch Widget slows down control panel



     http://sourceforge
net/tracker/index
php? 

func=detail&aid=1479583&group_id=13002&atid=113002

 * 1476643 2
10
8 - List Owner not filled out in, "Send a URL  

Email" http://sourceforge net/tracker/index php? func=detail&aid=1476643&group_id=13002&atid=113002

And here's more information on the new SMTP Engine powered by
Net::SMTP and about both the old engine, powered by Mail::Bulkmail

What's are the differences between the two SMTP Engines? Mail::Bulkmail was the original SMTP engine for Dada Mail Net::SMTP is a newer (to us) choice They do a similar job in fairly different ways

     Benefits of Mail::Bulkmail:

     * Can send more than one message per SMTP connection
         Connecting to an SMTP server does takes a little time  

(could be seconds) Multiplied by a list of thousands of email addresses, this time may add up So, if you find that you need a very speedy delivery, maybe look at using Mail::Bulkmail as the backend

     * Supports multiple tries at connecting to an SMTP server

         Instead of completely stopping a mailing because it cannot
         connect to the SMTP server, Mail::Bulkmail does have the
         option to attempt an SMTP connection more than once
 The
         Net::SMTP engine will simply fail at delivering the message
         (currently)


         Although, if Mail::Bulkmail does reach its limit of
         connections per sending to your entire list, sending will
         halt entirely
 In the Net::SMTP engine, if a message cannot
         be sent out because of a connection not being established,
         that specific email address will simply be skipped


     Disadvantaged of Mail::Bulkmail

     * Multiple connections may not work well with your SMTP server
         There seems to be some problems with this very feature (as
         been reported to me)
 It seems to not always work and the
         entire delivery of a mailing list message to your
         subscription list may fail half way when Mail::Bulkmail
         miscommunicates with the SMTP server


     * Bolted on SASL authentication
         SASL authentication - basically a way to authorize  

access to an SMTP server isn't a part of Mail::Bulkmail but was added to the engine by the developer of Dada Mail It does not support as wide of a range of different authentication schemes as the other choice, Net::SMTP does It's also probable that the robustness of SASL authentication via Net::SMTP engine is much better as well

     Advantages of Net::SMTP

     * Good SASL Support
         Out of the box it should support, PLAIN, AUTH PLAIN LOGIN
         and CRAM-MD5 authentication schemes
 Mail::Bulkmail has  

been tweaked to include SASL support, but only the, PLAIN version

     * SSL/TLS support
         Net::SMTP support sending via port 465 on a secure sockets
         layer connection


         You *will* need to manually make sure the, IO::Socket::SSL
         CPAN module is installed on your server - there isn't  

really a way to bundle it in the Dada Mail distribution

     * Net::SMTP widely used
         The Net::SMTP engine is more widely used in Perl
         applications than Mail::Bulkmail

     Disadvantages to Net::SMTP

     * New (to us)
         The only real drawback, other than the advantage of
         Mail::Bulkmail of being able to send more than one message
         per SMTP connection is that Net::SMTP is a very new  

addition to Dada Mail and as such, hasn't seen much Real World use This may cause unexpected results (erm, "bugs") with taking advantage of this engine Let us know, please!

     * SSL support requires IO::Socket::SSL CPAN module
         You'll need to either have the, IO::Socket::SSL module
         installed, or install it yourself
 This module itself
         requires the OpenSSL library


         Long story short, if you were hoping that you can just use
         SSL connections with Dada Mail - you can, but you'll need a
         few things already available on your server


     * Different Logging Schemes
         Mail::Bulkmail could be set up with different logs for both
         errors specifically from mail errors (the,
         *$SMTP_ERROR_LOG*) and also something called a,  

conversation log (the, $SMTP_CONVERSATION_LOG) which would have snippets of the actual conversation between the SMTP server and Mail::Bulkmail These are handy

         Currently, any errors reported will be logged into the main
         Dada Mail Error Log (*$PROGRAM_ERROR_LOG*) and the
         *$SMTP_ERROR_LOG* will not be used at all


         A similar feature to the $SMTP_CONVERSATION_LOG is  

available in Net::SMTP, although this log will still be printed into the $PROGRAM_ERROR_LOG So -

         To activate very verbose logging of the SMTP conversation
         when using when using the Net::SMTP engine, set the
         Config
pm variable, *$SMTP_CONVERSATION_LOG* to, 1
 Please
         note that sensitive information will be logged, while this
         variable is set, so DO NOT have this variable set when you
         are in production


     Both engines do support all the other features of sending and
     SMTP sending: VERP support, batching, etc


     Many of the advanced features of Mail Bulkmail including  

envelop sending and dynamic headers were never supported by Dada Mail, so you shouldn't be missing them in the Net::SMTP engine

     More information -

     * Mail::Bulkmail
         http://search
cpan
org/~jimt/Mail-Bulkmail/Bulkmail
pm

     * Net::SMTP
         http://search
cpan
org/~gbarr/libnet/Net/SMTP
pm

         Also, look at Net::SMTP::SSL, which handles SSL/TLS
         connections

         http://search
cpan
org/~cwest/Net-SMTP-SSL/lib/Net/SMTP/ 

SSL pm

Please please please, if you can, give the alpha a test drive and
report and problems you may be having,

Cheers,