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,

--
Justin Simoni

.: Dada Mail "Write Once - Distribute Everywhere" Email Communication
Software

url: http://mojo.skazat.com
ph: 720.436.7701
aolim: leaddadaist






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